#b) that loss being a direct hit on the foundations of his new identity

[adammilligan]

something about how michael was built for war and he’s lived through and won endless battles and did win the war against lucifer so long ago but the first time we actually see him lose his composure on screen is when adam asks him, very gently, if he still cares about what god thinks of him after he left him in the cage. when he gets frustrated and even snaps at one point and adam is still so kind to him anyway. something about heaven’s most terrifying weapon being rendered speechless at one string of words spoken with nothing but gentle concern. not to drag a quote into this but quite literally sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof you’ve been ruined

[andybondurant]

New Post has been published on Andy Bondurant

New Post has been published on https://andybondurant.com/2022/10/10/identity-theft-todays-spiritual-crisis/

Identity Theft: Today’s Spiritual Crisis

If you a follower of Jesus, you find identity in being made in the image of God and being adopted as a child of God. This is what makes you special and sets you apart. However, identity theft is a real problem in our world. Has your identity as a Jesus follower been mistaken or even worse, has your identity been stolen?

Mistaken Identity

Are you familiar with Britain Covey? If not, your first clue is to decide if Britain Covey is a person, place or thing. Britain Covey could definitely be a place – it sounds a lot like a nice suburban homes association. “Oh yeah, I had a friend who grew up in Britain Covey. He loved living in that neighborhood!”

Alas, Britain Covey is not a place…or thing. Knowing you can leave to google the answer for yourself, I’ll cut to the chase. Britain Covey is a person — a rookie NFL punt returner for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played in his first home game for the Eagles just a few weeks ago, and Britain will never forget the game — for nothing that happened on the field.

Britain was on the practice squad (the B Team) for the Eagles up until the night before the game. He received the call up to the first team, and he showed the next morning, game day, to the team parking lot. At this parking lot, Britain encountered two problems: first, he didn’t have the proper identification to enter the parking lot, and second, the parking staff didn’t recognize this white man standing at 5’8’’ weighing 170lbs. He doesn’t look like an NFL player! After some discussion, the staff directed him to the closest fan parking lot…a quarter mile away, and Britain Covey walked to the game like every other “regular” person in the stadium. 

Stolen Identity

Much worse than mistaken identity, though, is stolen identity. Identity theft is a rampant problem in the world today. In my home, we dealt with identity theft in 2021. Someone took my daughter’s identity tax fraud, and someone else stole my identity to claim unemployment. 

Thankfully, these have been relatively easy to deal with on a personal level, but this isn’t always the case. I’m sure just like me, you have heard the horror stories of an identity stolen. Beyond the personal, on a global scale, identity theft is a massive problem (stats from IdentityTheft.org):

Losses from identity theft cost Americans $5.8 billion in 2021

The FTC received 5.7 million total fraud and identity theft reports in 2021

Fraud cases are up 70% from 2020

Fraud cases are up 1700% in the 20 years between 2001 and 2021

There is a new identity theft victim every 22 seconds

The Upside Down World

Sometimes the physical world is a mirror to what is happening in the spiritual world. It reminds me of the premise behind the hit Netflix show, Stranger Things. Most people in the show worry about the problems happening in the small Indiana town of Hawkins, but the heroes battle in the “Upside Down” — the supernatural, unseen, other side of Hawkins.

In the physical world, unseen villains steal identities from the individual and the system. Likewise, In the spiritual world, an unseen villain is stealing identities from Christians (those made in the image of God and adopted as children of God). In the physical world, identity theft is destroying both individual bank accounts and world systems of finance. In the spiritual world, identity theft is blowing up the faith of individual followers of Jesus and eating away at the foundation of the church itself.

Identity: A Gen Z Crisis

Identity may be THE biggest issue facing this generation of Christians.

Gen Z is the label for the current youth generation. They are currently between the ages of 10 and 25 (born between 1997-2012). There are 68 million American Gen Zers (25% of the population). Gen Z is unique in several ways.

Gen Z is the first non-white majority generation, and they celebrate diversity of every kind.

Digital Natives is another title for Gen Z. They’ve only known a connected world. Though some in this generation are isolated from the physical world, they are connected via the digital world.

Nones is another title for Gen Z. The majority of this generation don’t claim any religious background, and 16% consider themselves agnostic or atheist. 

Gen Z follows in the footsteps of their parents, Generation X and their aunts, uncles and mentors, The Millennials.

Generation X is generation of cynics.

Millennials are relative in their belief systems (truth is fluid).

Because of all of these factors – raised by cynics, taught there are no core truths, diversity celebrated, the digital world at our fingertips, and the lack of a spiritual foundation – shape identity in a thousand different ways. Most of which diminish how the Bible defines our identity – as made in the image of God and adopted as children of God.

My First Identity

For example, culture tells me I identify FIRST as a white, male, heterosexual, father of four, husband of a female wife, American, SKC fan, pastor, member of Cross Points Church. Each is true, but as a follower of Jesus they don’t define me. Christians find identity FIRST in being made in the image of God and being adopted as a child of God. In fact, there are times when I must lay down any and every other identity to be true my Christian identity.

Therefore, I am excited with what I have to share with you over the next few posts. Come back to read about what it means to be made in the image of God and adopted as a child of God. Then read about how to know if your identity has been stolen. Finally, make sure to visit in a few weeks to know how to regain what Satan is trying to steal from you (empty yourself, be filled with the Holy Spirit, embrace Scripture).

Whatever you do, don’t forget that as a follower of Jesus, you are made in the image of God and you are adopted as a child of God!

[mattmarlinwrites]

Album Review: Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound

Hi there, readers! I wrote this extended analysis/writeup of Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound for a collection of online essays about notable indie albums in 2016, but never shared it here! Hope you enjoy it!

Background

Blood Orange is the current solo project of Devonte “Dev” Hynes, whose music primarily falls into contemporary/alternative R&B, but also incorporates elements of indie rock, pop, jazz, funk, and soul. Hynes was previously a member of the dance-punk band Test Icicles and recorded other solo albums under the name Lightspeed Champion before beginning to perform and record as Blood Orange in 2009. His previous album, Cupid Deluxe, was released in 2013 with a large number of guest musicians ranging from Clams Casino to David Longstreth (of Dirty Projectors) and received mostly positive reviews, including accolades on Pitchfork’s year-end list as well as their list for best albums of the decade so far.

In November 2015, Hynes sold a cassette recording of the previously-unreleased Nelly Furtado-featuring song “Hadron Collider” at his shows, sparking speculation about a new album. He announced Freetown Sound – named after the capital city in Sierra Leone where his father was born – in April 2016 and later revealed the album’s artwork in June, hinting at some of the release’s guest features in a promotional video that accompanied the album art reveal. (On an interesting side note, Hynes’s album announcement did not contain any track names, just the fact that the album would have 17 songs.) Hynes’s press release that accompanied this announcement detailed that the album would be about “my life, my upbringing, being black in England, being black in America...my movement to this country at the age of 21.” On June 28, Hynes made the album available to hear three days earlier than his previously announced release date of July 1, simultaneously sharing a video for the lead single “Augustine” (which features cameo appearances from Julian Casablancas and Porches’ Aaron Maine).

Review

2016 was a garbage year. There’s no way of ignoring that. On top of the dumpster fire of US politics and the seemingly nonstop high profile deaths, racial tensions and murders of people of color continued just frequently as they had in the past few years. Even worse, the strides the LGBT movement made just last year with the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality hit a lot of pushback between North Carolina’s HB2 and the Pulse shooting. Not to mention all the ways these struggles were amplified for those who had intersecting marginalized identities, such as of women of color.

For me, no album this year encompassed all the experiences of these various identities in 2016 quite as extensively and vividly as Freetown Sound. In retrospect, this strikes me as odd considering this album only came out midway through the year. And yet, it seems even more relevant now than it did upon its release, almost as if it presaged that the year would only grow worse. But what kept bringing me back to Freetown Sound was its role as a conscious source of relief, a release I knew I could always turn back towards to assure myself that there’s some hope in spite of all the negativity. Hynes certainly made these songs with this aim in mind, publishing an Instagram post upon album’s release that said, “This album is for everyone told they’re not black enough, too black, too queer, not queer the right way, the underappreciated. It’s a clapback.”

The opening moments of the album set this tone immediately, providing the framework for what’s to come. “By Ourselves” begins somewhat theatrically in its approach, almost like the overture to the themes and sound of the album in the 16 songs that follow. A warped piano recording – the grainy quality to the audio’s texture reflective of the less-than-pristine conditions those in Hynes’s songs face – leads into a group vocal reminiscent of Greek chorus, before the song gives the spotlight to poet Ashlee Haze reciting her piece “For Colored Girls” over a fiery saxophone solo, ending with the foundation-laying words about the album’s aims for representation:

I will tell you that, right now There are a million black girls just waiting To see someone who looks like them

The album then immediately propels itself into its other main mode: downright groovy R&B tunes. “Augustine” walks a delicate balancing act with Hynes providing three different vocal modes – a whispered low-register that details the parallels between his life and his parents, a falsetto reflection on the murders of black youth like Trayvon Martin, and the closest he comes to belting it out on the album during the chorus – all while a punchy drum machine keeps the song to a steady beat. This track, too, is an overture of sorts, compiling the themes of connectivity, race, and sexuality – the chorus providing a queer reinterpretation of the titular African saint as Hynes’s means of grappling with the hypocrisy of Christian homophobia – that are at the heart of the album. It all culminates in a passionate address to Nontetha Nkwenkwe, a major South African figure known for being imprisoned (and eventually killed) trying to bring peace and unity to her divided nation.

From here, the album moves into something of a more free-flowing state, with tracks like “Chance” and “With Him” veering from typical song formats in pseudo-interludes meant to connect to the next substantial centerpiece of a song. These moments also introduce hooks and melodies that seem incomplete on a first appearance, only to be expanded upon in later tracks, making the record sound more like a film soundtrack to city life and all the recurring leitmotifs that come with it.

In fact, much of what would be dead space in other albums feels bustling and alive here instead. The gaps between songs are occasionally filled in with ambient noise from city streets – the shuffling of feet, protest chants from activists, interview clips from the likes of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Vince Staples encapsulating the lyrics that preceded them. Hynes implemented this specific production choice to allow listeners to hear the album how he hears it: as “music… to listen to on headphones to soundtrack… walking around.”Hynes even referred to the album as “like my version of Paul’s Boutique... kinda like a long mixtape.” Each of these interludes and soundbites, then, is vital to the album’s overall flow, transitioning from one mood to the next to simulate what Hynes experiences emotionally just walking around New York City.

But whenever the album reaches a centerpiece song, they always feel cathartic, their explosions of passion earned by the buildup of themes and reflections Hynes has been accumulating in previous tracks. “Best to You” is probably the clearest example of this, the liveliest song on the album with its multiple overlapping percussion tracks and Empress Of’s evocative vocals. Yet, this all comes even as its lyrics center around someone desperately pleading to be loved by another who clearly doesn’t love them back. “E.V.P.” falls into this category as well with Debbie Harry of Blondie joining Hynes on vocals among a memorably distorted synth line and a bombastic chorus. Later in the album, Carly Rae Jepsen fills a similar role on “Better Than Me,” a personal favorite track of mine that adds a winding keyboard melody and a pulsating percussion track into the fray. Each of these tracks brings the personal angle that Hynes mentioned in his press release, dealing with everything from finding self-worth to relationship troubles.

But, for me, the strongest moments of the album come when Hynes intertwines the personal with the bigger concepts. “Better Than Me” resounds exceedingly well in this field, implying that the song’s romantic prospect rejects Hynes because his blackness and/or queerness makes him inadequate by comparison. “But You” and “Hands Up” are perhaps the most powerful songs on the album in this regard, both of them direct addresses to the listener as forms of personal reassurance in the face of larger social pressures. The former fuses a commandingly patient bass line with stirring piano in the chorus, building to a simple statement about one’s personal value, but earns such a moment with the lines that come directly before it:

If you don’t know what that means Don’t tell me that it’s true Teach yourself about your brother ‘Cause there’s no one else but you

This track in particular evokes one of Hynes’s interviews about his intent in making the album, in which he said, “I think of this record as [being] fully aware of, ‘Yeah, my life is in danger on a daily basis,’ but using that as strength to rise up and stand tall and be proud of who you are and accept who you are.” On “Hands Up,” Hynes takes a similar approach through a devastating chorus where he fears about a friend’s safety in the wake of the country’s many racist murders, tying a variation on the titular protest chant into the refrain. Likewise, “Desiree” tells a narrative about Hynes’s transgender friend that he calls “an ode to her strength,” especially uplifting with the widespread hate the transgender community faces, accompanied with audio from the drag ball documentary Paris is Burning and a skittering drum beat.

But all of this would fall flat if the album didn’t deliver emotionally and back up its message with palatable sincerity, which Freetown Sound deftly manages to pull off. “Hands Up” is especially poignant in the context of the overwhelming amount of news about black murders, Hynes’s falsetto on the chorus aching with the pain of how close these losses hit. Towards the end of the album, “Juicy 1-4” wrings its emotion through one of the record’s most memorable bass lines and Hynes building up to a musing on how crucial sources of comfort are, but how difficult they can be to find when society views you as othered. “Hadron Collider” is an exceptional track in this regard too, with the song’s comparatively slower tempo spotlighting Nelly Furtado’s vocals. The bridge on this track offers a powerfully melancholic hypothetical that sums up one of the album’s core sentiments: “Oh, to be brave” when so much of the world is pitted against you.

When it comes to albums that I find vital and want to revisit most each year, I consider a few things. I consider how much the album reflects the world and its major enduring struggles. I consider how effectively an album makes its statements as a unified collection of music. And, perhaps most importantly, I consider how much the album resonates with me and my personal struggles. As a queer person trying to navigate one of the most devastating years of my life and wondering, fearfully, how my friends and I will endure in the face of the imminent danger we know is coming our way, I found myself returning to this album more and more frequently as the year went on. And each time, Freetown Sound proved to be uniquely therapeutic for me, providing the same comfort and reconciliation that I found in talking with friends about the issues that envelop the album, grateful just to know that I had people on my side, ready to stick by me. Even though Freetown Sound doesn’t provide any concrete answers to the issues it covers (and, if 2016 is any indication, any potential answers are easier said than done), Dev’s album helps in at least one way: opening up a dialogue. As he noted in an interview with Pitchfork earlier in the year, “Well, there really isn’t a takeaway, especially on this album. You’re just kind of listening to me thinking for 58 minutes. There’s no real solution or answer.” Reading back those words, listening to the album once more, hearing the soft, slightly warped guitar of “Better Numb” trickle through my headphones as Dev cries out the refrain, a reprisal of the one on “E.V.P.,” the one that never fails to incite chills or start tears welling, I feel like I am finding that comfort, that support, in the music.

Favorite Lyrics

Choosing what you live for It's never what you make your life How could you know If you're squandering your passion for another?

“E.V.P.”

It's real as gold Chains and all All the things that make us bold Make us bold Black is gold Rightly so

”Juicy 1-4”

Oh, they took and skinned my name Try to raise the feeling I saw right through, tried to love them They threw it in your face Tell you what you're feeling How could they know?

“By Ourselves”

Looking at the girl with the thick, blonde braids And you're tryin' to make out what her t-shirt says No one really ever cares what 'thug life' means They wanna be surrounded but they hate to breathe The air is thick as I plan my escape

“Chance”

The door was open I could've stepped inside Oh to be brave, want to be brave To be brave In this battle of the ages

“Hadron Collider”

Talking Points

What do you see as the primary overarching themes of the album? What resonated with you?

How do you think this album compares to similar continuously flowing and/or socially conscious 2016 releases like A Seat at the Table and Blonde?

What are your thoughts on the various soundbites and interviews spliced into the album? Thoughts on the guest features?

Dev Hynes’s voice: fitting for the type of music he’s making or undercooked? If you find his voice lacking, what kind of vocal style would work for you on an album that sounds like this?

I know Dev only toured the album at a few festivals and cities, but did you get the chance to see him perform the album live? What did you think? Did it improve or weaken your thoughts of the album?