#have a great day to all our fellow book lovers !

[matan4il]

An incomplete "there's a good chance the icon you love and support is a Zionist" list

🌟 Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, whose family was murdered during it. Lemkin is responsible for coining the term "genocide," and for every legal provision that exists today against it. His work against genocide was inspired by his Zionism.

🌟 Martin Luther King, Jr., who did not only support Israel and its right to security, a fellow participant at a dinner with MLK shortly before his assassination quotes him as having stopped a student attacking Zionism, and replied, "When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking antisemitism." He also encouraged Americans in 1967 to support the Jewish state, as Egypt blockaded the Straits of Tiran, endangering Israeli citizens by cutting the country off from its oil supply.

🌟 Emma Lazarus, a Jewish American poet, whose words ("Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free") are engraved on the Statue of Liberty's pedestal, after they helped raise the money needed for its completion. Drawing from the value of Jewish solidarity, she also wrote, "Until we are all free, we are none of us free," adopted as a slogan by intersectionality (while many in the movement exclude Jews from it). She was a great supporter of establishing a state for Jews in the Jewish homeland, having argued for this idea years before the word "Zionist" was even coined.

🌟 The 14th Dalai Lama, the leader of the fight against the occupation of Tibet, who was invited in 1994 to Israel, at a time when China's communist regime did its best to prevent his visits anywhere in the world, and who came to Israel more than once, talking about the 2000 years long Zionism of Jewish culture in exile as an inspiration and role model for Tibetans. "Among Tibetan refugees, we are always saying to ourselves that we must learn the Jewish secret to keep our traditions, in some cases under hostile circumstances."

🌟 Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who spoke more than once about how her pursuit of justice is a continuation of that very same thing in Jewish tradition. She had repeatedly referred to American Zionist Jews as sources of inspiration. For example, in 2018, during her fifth visit to Israel, in a speech she gave when receiving the Genesis Award, she mentioned two such women, Emma Lazarus and Henrietta Szold.

🌟 Nelson Mandela had an ambivalent view of Israel, but repeatedly recognized its right to exist, which makes him a Zionist, he also called upon Arab states to do the same, and was favorable towards the Zionist Jews who supported him during his underground days. Mandela being critical of Israel and still a Zionist is an apt reminder that criticizing the Jewish state and opposing its very existence are NOT the same thing, and only one's antisemitic.

🌟 Felix Salten, the Jewish author of Bambi (the book Disney's movie is based on). The tale was originally a metaphor for Jews suffering antisemitism, something Salten personally had to cope with. He was also an ardent Zionist, feeling the self-liberation at the core of this ideology suited his idea of how to deal with Jew hatred.

🌟 Sun Yat-Sen, who helped end the rule of China's last imperial dynasty, was its first provisional president, and is nowadays honored as an important Chinese leader in both China and Taiwan (sometimes referred to as "Father of the Chinese Nation"). He was an enthusiastic supporter of Zionism. Among other instances of expressing that, he wrote in a 1920 letter to a leader of the Jewish community in Shang Hai about Zionism that it is, "one of the greatest movements of the present time. All lovers of Democracy cannot help but support wholeheartedly and welcome with enthusiasm the movement to restore your wonderful and historic nation, which has contributed so much to the civilization of the world and which rightfully deserves an honorable place in the family of nations."

🌟 Magnus Hirschfeld, a gay Jewish sexologist, nicknamed among other things "The Einstein of Sex" and "The Father of Gay Liberation," because his medical and scientific work on human sexuality, as well as social advocacy for women's, gay and trans rights, was nothing short of pioneering. He was persecuted by the Nazis to the point where he died in exile. They broke into his institute of sexual research, where the world's first clinic performing sex reassignments surgeries was located, and burned down the institute's library. Hirschfeld had attended a Zionist conference following the Balfor Declaration of 1917, and his work on sexual liberation found inspiration in young socialist Jewish Zionist workers he met during a visit to the Land of Israel in 1931-2.

🌟 Marcia Langton, a professor and prominent Aboriginal rights activist from Australia, who has been leading the fight against racism and for her community. She spoke out against the hijacking of native rights movements by terrorist sympathizers and antisemites, and has clearly stood against all loss of life, including that of Israelis.

🌟 Felix Zandman, a Holocaust survivor whose work on resistors is integrated into many smartphones, laptops, cars, satellites, hospital ventilators (saving many Covid patients), airplanes and more. Whenever the anti-Israel crowd is scrolling social media on their phones, they're enjoying the work of a Zionist, who enthusiastically supported the State of Israel, and even introduced an important improvement to the Israeli Merkava tank, which has likely saved many Israeli lives, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, and others like him, since Israel's high tech is considered only second to Silicon Valley (going back to at least the 1990's). If they truly wish to boycott everything that's been "contaminated" by Zionism, they should probably just boycott technology.

🌟 Rosa Parks, an African American leader of the civil rights movement (and someone who personally demonstrated how one can resist without turning violent). She was one of 200 notable black American leaders who publicly organized to express their support and respect of Zionism as the Jewish right to self-determination, and Israel as the manifestation of that right.

-> Like I said, this is VERY incomplete, even just in terms of how the overwhelming majority of Jews are Zionist, and have been since the inception of Judaism, which is itself Zionist. Over the years, this led to many non-Jewish human and native rights champions to be supportive of Zionism, too. Take note of who is being vilified, when the term "Zionist" is ignorantly used as if it means anything other than belief in the equal right of Jews to liberation and self-determination in the Jewish ancestral land. Especially when it is used as being inherently evil.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[sandara-and-coco]

₊˚⊹⋆ Howdy there! It’s finally time for Sandrock's final release yay ₊˚⊹⋆

To celebrate this special occasion Sandara pulled off her jewelry making skills to prepare some unique rings for every sandrocker who wishes to propose to their soulmate ! So without further, here's a little story behind each design,

Qi - Sended an intriguing blueprint to Sandara with complex symbols and diagrams…He assured her that it meant something important to his soulmate so she craved the coded message in precious silver with care. Even if she didn’t get Qi special love language as usual she was sure his loved one would get it ;)

Owen - Our favorite bartender showed an intricate design to Sandara, a delicate pattern almost the same as his own parents' engagement ring. Like the gilding flowers on the cover of a fine book he wished to give his lover the beginning of the story they were about to write together in this life.

Fang - The swan holding a special meaning to him Fang requested Sandara to make his ring the shape of that gracious animal to seal his promise to love and cherish his dearest one forever.

Ernest - Came by with this big and expensive pearl that got a special meaning to him asking Sandara if she could add it to his ring. The pearl symbol of his loyalty and love was carefully placed on the gold ring, the initials of his name and his lover one engraved on the inside.

Pablo - He made a special request to Sandara in search of the most colorful metal they could find for his ring in which bismuth mineral was perfect! Showing how bright and full of all the colors of this world his love was for his chosen one.

Arvio - Insisting on getting the most fine materials Arvio asked for a special ring. He showed Sandara a rare sand flower from Baranarok symbolizing hope and renewal inspiring the shape of that jewel meant to bond him and his other half forever.

Miguel - Requested a rather simple but very elegant ring, made with pale gold with a single diamond to show the purity of his love for his chosen one.

Burgess - Asked for something extra special to convey all his will to live in happiness and kindness with his soulmate. The yellow diamond he chose shining in the center of his ring radiating like the sun all his love.

Pen - In secret Pen demanded the most powerful ring Sandara could make to give his special one great strength and power he’s all for. However he never delivered it himself…

Unsuur - While admiring his collection Unsuur couldn't choose which gem was more fitting so he brought them all to Sandara to make a special ring! (even adding a few shards Wilson lost to make the base of his special ring ;)

Justice - Wanted a pretty ring that still felt like him so Sandara took great care at bringing out Justice strong will and honesty toward his most precious one with this silver and copper ring.

Logan - The only one Sandara didn’t made because well Logan made it himself for his special one! On late hunt nights he sat by the fire and carefully carved this ring in bones with the will to give his loved one something he made with all his heart.

This isn’t much but I hope everyone will have much fun playing and living wonderful adventures with Sandrockers friendly as romantic ones ! As I used to study jewelry making it was very much fun to do and fitting hc that Sandara would make them for the town folks !

It’s been already one year that I have being in this fandom and so so grateful for everything it brought me and the wonderful people it allowed me to meet ♡

I’m currently working on the girl next and some custom ones for my fellow builders who helped me with the designs ◇

₊˚⊹⋆ Happy Sandrock day ! Wish you all the best and see you soon to continue this journey together ₊˚⊹⋆

[crowleyholmes]

Hello friends, lovers, hereditary enemies, and fellow Good-Omens-brain-rot-afflicted!

Inspired by some lengthy conversations and the need for reassurance regarding a renewal for season 3, the lovely Eena @michaelsheens and I have decided to start a little Project!

(Sorry, Crowley, we had to…)

THE NICE AND ACCURATE PROPHECIES* WEEK

Running from SEPTEMBER 25TH to OCTOBER 1ST, it’s all themed around season 3 and the assumption we’re gonna get that renewal. (Manifesting, baby.)

✨ THE PLAN ✨

Every day will focus on a theme around which everyone who wants to participate is encouraged to create any kind of content they want to! Art, fanfic, edits, playlists, speculation, meta, go nuts!

(Also please don’t worry if something doesn’t fit neatly into a day’s theme; they’re only meant to give somewhat of a prompt and structure. Ultimately it’s not that strict and serious, we just wanna see your stuff :))

✨ HOW TO PARTICIPATE ✨

Share whatever your big heart and massive brain comes up with and use the tag #gomensnaap

(It’s like a long nap or something.)

You’re also welcome to give shoutouts to other people’s work you love and want to celebrate, but please make sure to link and credit properly (!!!)

Most importantly: have fun <3

✨ THEMES ✨

(under the cut)

DAY 1: “And there will be great lamentations.”

Let’s talk the Second Coming! We start off and warm up with everything plot-related. Theories, meta, crack ideas, let’s hear your thoughts on where you think the Big Main Plot is going to go!

DAY 2: “I can make a difference!”

For day two, let’s focus on Aziraphale’s arc in season 3. Did he go to Heaven with a plan? Or is he winging it? (Pun only somewhat intended.) Was he threatened or manipulated or both or neither? Will he tell Heaven just where they can stick it or can he actually succeed? What’s in store for our favorite angel?

DAY 3: “Hated by Heaven, loathed by Hell. How will our hero cope?”

Day three is all about Crowley and what we think he’s going to get up to. Is he going to go drink himself senseless and have a good cry? Go snek and hybernate for a bit? Hang out with Muriel and do some tempting? Does he have a plan and how will he cope being on his own?

DAY 4: “There was magic abroad in the air…”

Let’s talk Ineffable Husbands! How are Crowley and Aziraphale going to resolve things between them? Will there be a massive fight? Radio silence for days/weeks/months/years? Will they learn to Actually COmmunicate? Will there be grudges, grand gestures, secret meetings, a big rescue mission from either side?

DAY 5: “Extreme sanctions.”

On day six we wanna make ourselves anxious, sad and upset. (As one does.) What thing that may or may not happen in season 3 are you most worried about? Dark/depressed/evil/etc Crowley? Memory-wiped/brain-washed/archangel Aziraphale? Book of Life? How could Neil & Co hurt us the most?

DAY 6: “Do you…want a hot chocolate?”

After day 5’s spiral, it’s time for a metaphorical treat. What are you most looking forward to in season 3? What do you really want to see? Headcanons coming true? Scenes you wish for? Things that’ll make you wanna name your cat/dog/fish/insert other pet here Neil Richard Gaiman or Sir Terence David John Pratchett?

DAY 7: “It’s starts, as it will end, with a garden.”

Finally, to finish it all up, let’s speculate about the end of season 3. How do you think we’ll leave this story? Will things just go back to how they’ve always been? Will there be peace? Earth hidden from Heaven and Hell with a big 500 Lazarii miracle? Aziraphale and Crowley turned human? Or will they get their cottage in the South Downs for the rest of eternity?

[vickyvicarious]

Dracula Declarations of Love

There is so much love, and so much talk of love, in this book. It's extremely hard to pick a favorite, but let's give it a go (or just get emotional over a bunch of quotes lined up together).

I tried to stick mostly to declarations/talk about (rather than acts of) love, primarily to focus on specific quotes and help me narrow it down to just twelve (still a big challenge). Before anyone asks, no, "I too can love" is not on here because Dracula's version of love doesn't stack up to the others for me in terms of emotional impact. And these were definitely chosen by my personal preference of specific quotes; there are a bunch of other great words of love that didn't make it in. Also, important note - this is not exclusively romantic love by any means.

The whole quotes don't fit in the poll, so please read below before you vote.

Full Quotes:

11 May, Lucy: "Oh, Mina, couldn't you guess? I love him. I am blushing as I write, for although I think he loves me, he has not told me so in words. But oh, Mina, I love him; I love him; I love him!"

24 May, Quincey: "If that other fellow doesn't know his happiness, well, he'd better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal with me. Little girl, your honesty and pluck have made me a friend, and that's rarer than a lover; it's more unselfish anyhow."

19 August, Mina: "I have cried over the good Sister's letter till I can feel it wet against my bosom, where it lies. It is of Jonathan, and must be next my heart, for he is in my heart. [...] I must write no more; I must keep it to say to Jonathan, my husband. The letter that he has seen and touched must comfort me till we meet."

24 August, Jonathan and Mina: "Then he took my hand in his, and oh, Lucy, it was the first time he took his wife's hand, and said that it was the dearest thing in all the wide world, and that he would go through all the past again to win it, if need be. [...] Well, my dear, what could I say? I could only tell him that I was the happiest woman in all the wide world, and that I had nothing to give him except myself, my life, and my trust, and that with these went my love and duty for all the days of my life."

24 August, Mina: "Lucy dear, do you know why I tell you all this? It is not only because it is all sweet to me, but because you have been, and are, very dear to me. It was my privilege to be your friend and guide when you came from the schoolroom to prepare for the world of life. I want you to see now, and with the eyes of a very happy wife, whither duty has led me; so that in your own married life you too may be all happy as I am. My dear, please Almighty God, your life may be all it promises: a long day of sunshine, with no harsh wind, no forgetting duty, no distrust. I must not wish you no pain, for that can never be; but I do hope you will be always as happy as I am now."

7 September, Arthur: '"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it. My life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body for her."'

17 September, Mina: "Jonathan asks me to send his 'respectful duty,' but I do not think that is good enough from the junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker; and so, as you love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead."

30 September, Mina and Arthur: '"I loved dear Lucy, and I know what she was to you, and what you were to her. She and I were like sisters; and now she is gone, will you not let me be like a sister to you in your trouble? I know what sorrows you have had, though I cannot measure the depth of them. If sympathy and pity can help in your affliction, won't you let me be of some little service—for Lucy's sake?" [...] "I know now how I suffered," he said, as he dried his eyes, "but I do not know even yet—and none other can ever know—how much your sweet sympathy has been to me to-day. I shall know better in time; and believe me that, though I am not ungrateful now, my gratitude will grow with my understanding. You will let me be like a brother, will you not, for all our lives—for dear Lucy's sake?"'

3 October, Jonathan: '"Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word [unclean]. I would not hear it of you; and I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out his arms and folded her to his breast; and for a while she lay there sobbing."

3 October, Jonathan: "To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks."

11 October, Mina: "You are nearest and dearest and all the world to me; our souls are knit into one, for all life and all time."

31 October, Mina: "We are truly in the hands of God. He alone knows what may be, and I pray Him, with all the strength of my sad and humble soul, that He will watch over my beloved husband; that whatever may happen, Jonathan may know that I loved him and honoured him more than I can say, and that my latest and truest thought will be always for him."

[whoistartaglia]

Heeeey, from your 1500 followers event, can I have enemies to lovers with kaeya and al haitham? Tysm have a great day and congrats 🤸��♀️💗

i love academic rivals to lovers. thanks for the submission!

trope: enemies to lovers.

including: kaeya, al haitham

kaeya.

“knight.”

“captain.” you give kaeya your worst smile. “i suppose fate has brought us together again.”

“more like bad luck,” he clips back. kaeya got the orders last night—travel to the monstadt border to make sure everything is okay as strange reports have been occuring. it seemed easy enough, until he saw you were assigned to go with him.

“shall we?” you ask. you don’t wait for his response as you head towards the city gates.

a couple hours later, you and kaeya are still walking. he doesn’t talk to you, you don’t talk to him. you’d like the keep it that way, but it appears that kaeya doesn’t.

“how have you been?” he asks, breaking the silence. “i haven’t seen you since… well, you know.”

“yes, i do know,” you say, smiling tightly. this is the worst. “i’ve been doing well. and you?”

“likewise.” kaeya’s smile is all teeth.

after another hour, you and kaeya decide to set up camp for the knight. you start the fire—as per your pyro vision.

“wow, very impressive.”

“do you ever stop?” you ask.

“it’s too bad you weren’t ever made a captain,” kaeya continues.

“and it’s too bad that you were,” you bite back. kaeya looks like he wants to say something else before a noise catches both of your attentions. a second later, a group of hilichurls appear.

kaeya pushes you behind him. you shove yourself back next to him.

“i’m touched,” you say sarcastically.

“can’t you ever just— ugh, let’s just get this over with.” it doesn’t take long for you and kaeya to deal with the hilichurls. really, it’s akin to a warm up than an actual training exercise.

“that was easy.”

“you did great,” kaeya says genuinely. he takes a seat at the fire.

“…so did you,” you respond. you don’t sit right next to him, but you’re not too far, either. it’s strange, you think, as you and kaeya talk—not argue, talk. you still resent him a little since you wanted to be captain instead of him… but this was nice.

when you both fall asleep, and wake up not quite in each other’s arms, not quite not in each others arms, you have to consider whether you want to keep bickering with kaeya, or maybe explore something else. or both—you don’t actually think you could ever stop bickering back and forth with him, even if you tried.

al haitham.

“give. me. that.”

“no.” you give him a sweet smile. you and al haitham both clutch the same large book, essential to both of your individual research.

“i grabbed it first,” al haitham snaps.

“but i found it first!” you respond. you not-so subtly try to yank on it again, but al haitham doesn’t budge. “it’s not my fault you’re taller and reached it before me.”

“i’ll give it to you after.”

“after what? a month? two?”

you know how dedicated al haitham is to his search. while you, a fellow scholar, can admire it, you’re still annoyed how greedy he is with materials. to make things worse, you both need a lot of same papers and books to refer back to since your fields of search are so entwined.

“i promise after three months—“

“three months!”

“well? what else can i say? there aren’t any other copies, so three months is as good as it’s going to get, [name].”

“no.” you relax your grip ever so slightly on the book, and so does al haitham. “we’ll use it… together.”

al haitham looks at you as if you’re joking, but you look completely serious.

“we can’t—“

“we can,” you insist. “our research is similar, anyways. i’m sure it’ll be just fine.”

he considers. if al haitham was in your position having to wait three months for this particularly important book…

“fine,” he says at last. “but—“

al haitham doesn’t finish his sentence because you’ve just pressed a thank you kiss on his cheek. he stills, and you take that opportunity to finally yank the book out of his slackened grip, and bound off. over your shoulder you call, “just kidding! but thanks for generously letting my take this! see you in three months!”

al haitham just stares off as you exit the library, and touches his cheek. he fears he might be slightly blushing. he really needs to learn how to keep his guard up with you.

[straightplayshowdown]

Indecent: The story of Sholem Asch’s controversial play, The God of Vengeance, and the passionate artists who risked everything to bring it to the stage. The story—about the daughter of a brothel owner who falls in love with one of her father’s prostitutes—was polarizing even at its first readings, with many of Asch’s fellows arising him to burn it. Nevertheless, it achieved great success on the stages of Europe and in the Yiddish theatre scene of downtown New York City. But when an English-translation was attempted on Broadway, the play—featuring the first kiss between women on a Broadway stage—proved too scandalous for the general public, and the entire cast was arrested and charged with obscenity. 

Arcadia: The show takes place in a single room on the Coverly estate in two separate times: the Regency period and the present. 1809 finds a household in transition, where an Arcadian English garden landscape is being uprooted to make way for picturesque Gothic gardens, complete with hermitage. Meanwhile, brilliant thirteen-year-old Lady Thomasina proposes a startling scientific theory that is only starting to be figured out more than 200 years later. In the present day, we find two competing scholars researching the world of the estate in the Regency Era.

Propaganda under the cut!

Indecent:

Best, most emotionally resonant play I have ever seen performed. It recounts the controversy surrounding the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, which was produced on Broadway in 1923, and for which the producer and cast were arrested and convicted on the grounds of obscenity. In God of Vengeance, the brothel owner's daughter falls in love with the female prostitute. Vogel's play goes far beyond recounting the censorship. It's a complex story that follows the show's playwright and performers and how their relationship to the material changes from the plays original run, to the Broadway censorship, to the Holocaust. It focuses on the need for hope and love.

A troupe of ghosts rise to keep alive the story of author Scholem Asch's most controversy play. In three languages & innumerable roles (including a turn by Katarina Lenk in the 2017 Broadway production) the lovers in God of Vengeance preserve for the stages of eternity one rain-soaked & sacred night. Meanwhile Asch, once a passionate defender of the plays love story against intracommunal accusations of fueling antisemitism and well, indecency...he gets quieter as Lemml becomes the stage manager of a story whose ending he will always forget. The play that convinced me that I could & would read Yiddish theater.

A breathtaking play about art, censorship, and Jewish lesbians, by THE Jewish lesbian. "He’s crafted a play that shrouds us in a deep, deep fog of human depravity: then like a lighthouse, those two girls. That’s a beacon I will remember."

Arcadia: 

it's the COOLEST. it's an exploration of entropy and how time scrambles popular perception and desire derails supposedly perfect plans and how knowledge makes its way through the years as sources get lost. 

it's about math and also lord byron is a character and there's a turtle

This is his best play (and pretty accessible for Stoppard). It’s an exploration of humanities vs. science, chaos theory, the interpretation of history, and also a love story. 

This is such a beautiful play about academia and how we do research and understand the past. And it's about love and friendship and biases and egos and so much more. 

THOMASINA: Oh, Septimus! -- can you bear it? All the lost plays of the Athenians! Two hundred at least by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides -- thousands of poems -- Aristotle's own library!....How can we sleep for grief?

SEPTIMUS: By counting our stock. Seven plays from Aeschylus, seven from Sophocles, nineteen from Euripides, my lady! You should no more grieve for the rest than for a buckle lost from your first shoe, or for your lesson book which will be lost when you are old. We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at a loss for a corkscrew?

[happylikeasadsong]

"About the Blogger" meme

Thank u sm for tag @cruciomione!!

Star Sign(s): Cancer sun, Libra moon and Leo rising (i couldn't explain it i you asked, tho)

Favorite Holidays: Christmas and New Years i love how crazy people go about decorations and seems like there's no end to imagination. Also it's that time of the year i have the most delicious food and share quality time with my family. And New Years's so special bc i get to celebrate with friends and usually the parties are lit.

Last Meal: A strawberry delight crepe as a 'well done' gift from me to me or not dying during my exams and finishing them all, yayyy

Current Favorite Musician: i always find it hard to just mention one, so here goes my top three rn: coco jones, the maine and rbd (latin pop band).

Last Music Listened To: back to life by lawson. this one scratches my brain like no other.

Last Movie Watched: me and one of my closest friends do this list of christmas movies every year bc we love christmas movies, no matter how awful and cringe they are. last night i watched 'exmas' with leighton meester and robbie amell and i was surprised that it wasn't the worst, so it's a win in my book.

Last TV Show Watched: it was this week's episode of fellow travelers. jonathan bailey and matt bomer are breaking my heart in a million little pieces, but i think it worth it?? it's so so so sad and tragic but they do such a great job portraying hawk and skippy's story.

Last Book/Fic Finished: i wanted distract myself from my daily problems so i reread 'remember me, remebering you' by amiera_saphire on ao3 last weekend.

Last Book/Fic Abandoned: i prefer the term 'hiatus'. i have a jatp fic that i never really finished and the thought of it hunts me.

Currently Reading: a very boring article on managerial finance i have to write on by friday (my last assignment of the year, yay!). i hated it, so i came here to get enough endorfins to go back to it.

Last Thing Researched for Art/Writing/Hyperfixation: ships in the 1800's, also dresses of that time period so i can better my shitty description in my period fic. i only had an idea and a dream on that one.

Favorite Online Fandom Memory: uhh i think it was back in the cursed years (2020, eww) and after i watched julie and the phantoms i found some really good people here and on twitter. our day consisted in checking every news outlet about the show and pics, videos about them. also the fics were so incredibly good!! those were fun times.

Favorite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence: arrowverse when it was good, maybe? idk but olicity had a choke on me in a concerning way. but then it went bad, so bad, and i suffered through until arrow ended and stopped watching the shows.

Favorite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big "Fandom" but You Wish It Did: felicity. it's mainly bc it's such an old show and bc of that, no one is really talking about it anymore, but it was my shit when i 'discovered' back in college.

Tempting Project You're Trying to Rein In/Don't Have Time For: i'll quote @cruciomione about the multi chapter fics, i feel you! one shots are better for me bc i can just write my idea down.

i've been working on a multi chapter about a second chance/lovers-to-strangers-to-lovers. i love the angst i have panned out in my head lol maybe during the break it could revisit it.

loved doing this!!

tagging some ppl to do this too, only if you want!

@imliterallyjustablackgirl, @ethxocore, @laryssamedeirss, @vacationship, @ruethrills

[shatar-aethelwynn]

As you know, I love our exchanges of ideas, that's why I will make you a gift and I will reproduce here for your use those texts from Benjamin R. Foster's Before the Muses that refer to sexuality in the cult of Ishtar in Late Period Babylonia and have or may have some relation with the Babylonian "sacred prostitution'" that we were discussing some days ago.

So, Foster writes in his Introduction to Part IV of his work, which has as subject the Late Period of Akkadian literature (1000-100 BCE), that in the Late Period "Ishtar tends to shed her militarism...to reveal her qualities as princess, lover, even prostitute (III43e, IV28; Gilgamesh Epic). Texts as III.43e. IV.28, and IV.17 provide glimpses into aspects of her persona that may have seemed horrifying and perverted to some Babylonians" (p. 777).

The III43 of his anthology to which Foster refers is a hymn to Ishtar which comes from the Mature (1500-1000 BCE) or Late Period of the Babylonian literature and has as title (given by Foster) "Ishtar will not tire". I will reproduce here only some lines from this hymn to make you understand the general tone: ""Since I am ready to give you all that you want, Get all the young men of your city together, Let's go to the shade of the wall!" Seven for her midriff, seven for her loins, Sixty then sixty satisfy themselves in turn upon her nakedness, The young men have tired, Ishtar will not tire. Put it to my lovely vulva, fellows. As the girl demanded, The young men heeded, gave her what she asked for", while each line of the hymn is followed by the refrain: "The city's built on pleasure!" (p. 678).

IV17 of Foster's anthology is his translation of the Late Babylonian epic Erra and Ishum, from which I will transcript here the lines concerning our topic (Tablet IV, lines 52-53). These lines form the most explicit text about the relation betrween Ishtar and "sacred prostitution" in Late Period Babylonia (what is in parentheses is in Foster's text, not my additions): "...Uruk, the dwelling of Anu and Ishtar, the city of courtesans, harlots, and prostitutes (for the cult), Whom Ishtar deprived of husbands and reckoned as her own (?)". Foster comments in a note on this and the immediately following passage (lines 55-59: "...the actors and singers of Eanna, Whose manhood Ishtar turned to womanhood to strike awe into the people, The wielders of razors and daggers, vintner's shears and flint knives, Who take part in abominable acts for the entertainment of Ishtar") that "the cult of Ishtar was associated with prostitution, both male and female (lines 52,56), and, perhaps, self-mutilation (57)". (p. 904).

IV28 is presented by Foster under the title "Love Lyrics of Ishtar of Babylon" as "fragmentary collections of enigmatic songs and rituals involving Ishtar of Babylon [that] seem to the modern reader scurrilous, abusive, and bizarre". He translates for example one of these fragments as "By night there is no prudish housewife, By night there is no prudish housewife, By night no man's wife makes objection", whereas the rest of these cultic songs are too scurrilous to be reproduced here. But this scurrilous collection of cultic songs closes with a beautiful and moving exaltation of Ishtar (pp. 947-948).

As a plus, but also in order to give you the opportunity to compare and combine with what the Babylonian sources say, I will reproduce also Herodotus' famous text on the Babylonian "sacred prostitution" (Book I, 199 of Histories), as traditionally understood and translated (more about this later): "The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger once in her life. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to mingle with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and stand there with a great retinue of attendants. [2] But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; passages marked by line run every way through the crowd, by which the men pass and make their choice. [3] Once a woman has taken her place there, she does not go away to her home before some stranger has cast money into her lap, and had intercourse with her outside the temple; but while he casts the money, he must say, “I invite you in the name of Mylitta” (that is the Assyrian name for Aphrodite). [4] It does not matter what sum the money is; the woman will never refuse, for that would be a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. So she follows the first man who casts it and rejects no one. After their intercourse, having discharged her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. [5] So then the women that are fair and tall are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfill the law; for some of them remain for three years, or four. There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus" (transl. A. D. Godley).

Moreover, the Jewish apocryphal Letter of Jeremiah (included as Ch. VI in the Book of Baruch), a Letter which is dated by scholars from the mid-6th to the late 2nd century BCE, with perhaps most probable date the last decades of the 4th century, and has very probably as author a Jew of Babylon, includes as part of its presentation of the (abominable for the author) religious practices of the Babylonians the following description of Babylonian women, in fact very similar to that of Herodotus (Baruch VI 42-44): "And the women, with cords around them, sit by the roads, burning chaff for incense; and whenever one of them is taken aside by some passerby who lies with her, she mocks her neighbor who has not been thought thus worthy, and has not had her cord broken. All that is done for these gods is a fraud; how then can it be thought or claimed that they are gods?"(on line source for this translation https://bible.usccb.org/bible/baruch/6 ).

I add that a recent study by Eva Anagnostou‑Laoutides (a Classicist and Assyriologist) and Michael B. Charles (a Classicist), with as title “Herodotus on Sacred Marriage and Sacred Prostitution at Babylon", Kernos, 31, 2018), suggests with serious philological arguments that Herodotus' text on the Babylonian "sacred prostitution" may have been traditionally misunderstood and mistranslated under the influence of what Strabo wrote on the same topic some centuries later and that what Herodotus very probably really meant was that the "sacred prostitution" was religiously mandatory in Late Period Babylonia for the women who sat in the temples trying to secure some special favor from Ishtar (and in a sense devoted themselves to her), not for every Babylonian woman.

What do you make of all this, my dear friend?

I apologize for how long it took to respond but I wanted to try to find the essay you cited first. And then I needed to find time to actually read it. It was interesting, so thank you for that.

I’m not entirely certain what you’re trying to get from me here. Unless you want me to concede that Herodotus’ account is trustworthy at face value, which isn’t going to happen. I do respect the argument about Strabo, but I don’t believe it can be used to entirely wave away the problem of taking Herodotus at his word. We are, as is usual with Herodotus, forced to speculate on whether he is writing down what he heard in his typical “this is what I heard, I’m not judging if it’s true, I’m just repeating it” manner, or if he has edited his account to garner a specific reaction from his audience, and one essay does not academic consensus make. In fact, the essay by Anagnostou‑Laoutides &Charles may even support the point I have repeatedly attempted to make here when the topic of Herodotus has come up: he cannot be taken at face value if we want to get any real use from him, and his usefulness is limited. In this case, the authors attribute the problem to a misunderstanding on the part of Strabo which shaped how people have read him since. Even if we take Strabo’s bias in explanation into consideration, we must still wrestle with the realities of working with texts in translation - both linguistically and culturally. The authors appear to be of the opinion that the problem is in the translation and that Herodotus didn’t actually mean “all women”. This is a valid speculation, but it is still a speculation. Let us assume that they are correct, we must still weigh Herodotus’ claim against the Babylonian evidence, and as they point out “the only two inscriptions that provide evidence of “sacred prostitution” come, not from Mesopotamia, but from Roman Tralleis in Caria, where women describing themselves as pallakides make dedications to Zeus”. We must consider whether simply saying that Herodotus didn’t mean all women, and he was being hyperbolic, is sufficient enough to make his account probable when we still don’t know who he is then referring to.

Additionally, Babylon as a center of debauchery was already practically a trope by this point in time, regardless of how much of it was actually true. If someone could imagine something shamefully hedonistic and immoral the Babylonians must have been doing it. How much of it was truth and how much was propaganda takes careful unpicking because we have to consider that the lives of the poor and the lives of the debauched rich were not the same, and “all” does not always mean “all” in historical texts. There is no such thing as a text without propaganda or a bias to enforce.

Now, while I thank you for your effort in kindly copying these quotes, I’m sorry to say they’re not doing much to convince me that Herodotus’ sacred prostitution was accurate. Your excerpts do a great job of showing that Ishtar was a highly sexual being. I have never argued against that. Your excerpts demonstrate that prostitution existed in Babylon. I have never argued against that. Your excerpts demonstrate that there was some sort of association between prostitutes and Ishtar. I have never argued against that. My argument is that when Herodotus says “all women” we should be in doubt (although you have provided a source which seems to claim “all” is maybe a misunderstanding), and that “sacred prostitution” is too vague a term to be of any use. You do not take into consideration that sexuality in the ancient world was not, especially in a religious context, viewed the same way it is viewed by people today. You do not take into account the Babylonian view of gender roles and norms, or that Ishtar’s priests are known to fuck with that norm – and that says something about her, and raises questions about the nature of her sexuality. You also do not take into account that Ishtar’s “prostitutes” might not have been working solely for another’s pleasure – that their work may have had healing or devotional aspects, which ordinary sex work does not. In addressing love poems/songs you fail to take into account that such texts in the ancient world were very sexual in general in a way they often are not when written today, they had different metaphors and different standards than we have today, and that texts which serve a ritual or magical purpose could use sexual imagery as well. As demonstrated in your quote by Foster that they may “seem to the modern reader scurrilous, abusive, and bizarre” (emphasis added). There’s a reason some people who study the ancient world will occasionally make joking references to “magical penis power”.

So if you want to convince me with these excerpts, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I can get my hands on a copy of the book. Or give me the official text citations so I can go look for the full translations and types of texts involved.

As for the Letter of Jeremiah, we cannot discount that the author is influenced by reading Herodotus. The date of the text is not agreed upon but the introduction in my copy places it in the 300s bce. That’s more than enough time for the author to have been able to access a copy of The Histories. There are also some interesting translation differences between the copy you cited and mine, which means I would need to do a deeper dive into the research around the text or see if I can find an interlinear version before I would be willing to speculate on what phrasing is more accurate. For example, the one you cited says they “sit by the roads” while mine has “sit along the passageways”. Yours says “she mocks her neighbor” while mine says “she derides the woman next to her”. It may seem like these are minor things, but if we’re going to be working with translations these mean something different and that changes how the situation is understood. Does the woman mock her residential neighbor, or the woman who has the same role as her sitting in the temple? Is the mockery part of a ritual? Where exactly is she working, and does that say anything culturally about what she is doing? The author says nothing about who these women are – whether, like Herodotus, it is all the women, or just a specific group – not even whether they are common women or dedicated temple workers, temporary or permanent. We could easily read the Letter as being about a far more restricted group than Herodotus speaks of.

Finally, Anagnostou‑Laoutides &Charles are correct to say “it seems that Herodotus’ references to the customs of 'sacred marriage' and 'sacred prostitution' have excited the imagination of both his ancient and modern readers.” We would do well to abandon these terms altogether and start from the beginning to define what life was actually like for the Babylonians.

Here is a link to the essay so you can confirm I have read the one you were citing.

[rockislandadultreads]

Nonfiction Thursday: Great Outdoors Month

A Wilder Life by Celestine Maddy

In our technology-driven, workaday world, connecting with nature has never before been more essential. A Wilder Life, a beautiful oversized lifestyle book by the team behind the popular Wilder Quarterly, gives readers indispensable ideas for interacting with the great outdoors. Learn to plant a night-blooming garden, navigate by reading the stars, build an outdoor shelter, make dry shampoo, identify insects, cultivate butterflies in a backyard, or tint your clothes with natural dyes. Like a modern-day Whole Earth Catalog, A Wilder Life gives us DIY projects and old-world skills that are being reclaimed by a new generation.

Divided into sections pertaining to each season and covering self-reliance, growing and gardening, cooking, health and beauty, and wilderness, and with photos and illustrations evocative of the great outdoors, A Wilder Life shows that getting in touch with nature is possible no matter who you are and—more important—where you are.

The Campfire Cast Iron Cookbook by Editors of Cider Mill Press 

What is better than cooking with cast iron? Cooking with cast iron on an open fire, camp stove or grill is better!

There’s no such thing as spending too much time outdoors. The cravings you work up exerting all that energy in nature will be satisfied when you cook with The Campfire Cast Iron Cookbook, making for a healthy and delicious adventure. This guide to outdoor cooking over a campfire guarantees that the more time you spend outside, whether in the backyard or the backcountry, the better your meals will taste. Inside you'll find:

- Over 100 recipes for all meals and all tastes - Chapters dedicated to breakfast, sides and starches, meat, seafood, vegetables, and desserts - An in-depth description and explanation of different types of cast iron cookware - A guide on how to set up your fire and cookware for the perfect outdoor cooking experience - Tips and tricks for cooking and clean-up, including how to properly care for your cooking fire and firepit

From roughing it to van life and glamping, The Campfire Cast Iron Cookbook has your outdoor meal needs covered.

No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs

For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing's holy grail: to stand atop the world's fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. As he recounts his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go. A cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest, but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs has an unyielding motto, "Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory." It is with this philosophy in mind that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues.

America’s Best Day Hikes by Derek Dellinger 

Beautifully illustrated, this best-of compendium features the most memorable one-day hikes in every region of the United States from Sierra Buttes Lookout in Tahoe National Forest to Grinnell Glacier Trail in Montana's Glacier National Park to Giant Mountain in Adirondack Park and beyond. Organized by region, this guide goes into detail about what makes each hike so remarkable and why it might be worth a detour or even a special journey for someone looking to broaden their horizons. All of the hikes are doable during daylight hours and none require camping.

America’s Best Day Hikes comes with all the information anyone would need to experience these unique locations, including details about the hike itself—difficulty, duration, seasonal hazards, and more—as well as traveling, planning, and packing suggestions. All this paired with Derek Dellinger’s stunning photography makes this incredible volume a must-have for any lover of the outdoors.

[ends-of-the-wayward-storm]

Avaria Voice Lines: Part 2

And here we have the next batch of lines featuring her thoughts on some characters she's met and vice versa. These were kinda interesting to make considering the fact that I haven't written the below characters before, but I think I did pretty good.

(Avaria Intro) (Part 1) (Part 3)

~ ~ ~ ~

• About Amber: I've talked to her a few times. She seems nice enough, I guess.

Vice versa: Oh I remember her! I heard she's really good in combat, but she seemed kinda lonely the times I've talked to her.

• About Chongyun: He's really someone I can talk to, and I really admire his skills. We've sparred a few times before, and it feels different from other sparring I've done before.

Vice versa: Lady Avaria has much control over her Vision and great skill in combat, but she's never content when others commend her on them. Regardless, I've seen her willingness to find her own way, and I like to consider her a friend of mine.

• About Childe: He's all right, I guess, even if he does work for the Fatui. He has asked me about my weapons once, but I didn't give him an answer. He probably caught me running errands that day. . . .

Vice versa: I've seen Ava in combat a few times. Ruthless is what I would call it, but elegant. I can tell she's had a lot of training, and perhaps a natural talent for combat. Yet she won't say a thing about it when asked of it. That only makes me more intrigued.

• About Thoma: Thoma? You've see him? So . . . he's okay? That's good. I haven't seen him in a really long time. We used to be best friends, actually. I wonder if he still thinks of me as a friend. . . .

Vice versa: Ava? How's she holding up? Is she okay? . . .That's good to hear. She and I used to be really close. Even when her studies kept us from hanging out, we managed to keep in touch by writing letters to each other—that is until her parents found out and kept us from talking for a while. *sheepish laugh* If you meet up with her again, could you tell her I said hi? Actually, could you give her this letter for me? I meant to ask you last time but, y'know. Duty calls! Hahaaa. *sighs* Really wish I could go visit some time.

• About Xingqiu: He really knows his books. I can easily talk to him for hours about them. But Chongyun's told me he pranks him sometimes, so I tend to be on edge whenever he stops by the Wanwen Bookhouse.

Vice versa: It's nice to find a fellow book lover in Lady Avaria. And I can tell she's very well-educated.

• About Zhongli—Encounter: I was carrying a really big pile of books once that needed to be delivered as soon as possible, but I couldn't see where I was going, so I ended up crashing into him by accident. Neither of us were hurt, but I felt really embarrassed about it and ended up apologizing a lot. But he was very nice and helped me pick them up.

He even asked if I needed help delivering them but I said I could handle it. But he insisted, so I eventually let him help. And I'm really glad I did. But it wasn't until after we went our separate ways that I found out he was Mr. Zhongli from the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. I can't believe I never realized it before.

Vice versa: Avaria is a very thorough and disciplined young lady who always seems to be going from one place to another. I remember finding it very easy to tell she was not familiar with Liyue, and she was very disorganized back when she had first started working at the Wanwen Bookhouse. She even crashed into me once with quite the amount of deliveries on her hands. I'm glad she's been able to get a better grasp on things now.

[wrongweaponsdrawn]

Lady Nevermore Diary- 10/21/22

My fellow detectives wanted me to write down their origin stories (i.e how they became detectives), in this book for future prosperity. For them, I will happily oblige. Keep in mind that these are headcanon backstories and names, and are not endorsed by Jackbox Games, the devs, and anyone who's not Booloo. (for those not in the know, don't worry about that last part ;)) Click read more to see them all, as this is a long post.

First, off, we have Miss Emily Rose. She's the pink detective of our group with a penchant for roses and a hankering for drama. Fittingly, she used to be a movie star with an overbearing dad during the golden age of Hollywood. As in, he had strict standards, forcibly controlled every aspect of her life, was abusive, and profited off his daughter's fame. After a series of flops and resulting abuses because of her increasing age, Mr. Rose threatened to do...something to poor Emily if she didn't get a successful leading role. (Miss Em does not like to talk about it, so to respect her wishes the exact threat has been omitted.) Something inside her snapped, and she murdered everyone with a mixture of poison and gunshots at the tryouts for that movie the very next day, including her father and the crew. On the run is where I found her, and I took her in after hearing her tale.

Next is Agatha LeBlanc, our maid/clown dressed girl who's good at sounding psychotic. As much as it might surprise you, she's a trans female and proud. Aggie used to work as a butler for a very abusive and homophobic man...but before she came out, she was favored as his best employee. After she came out was like hell on earth, and the abuse drove poor Agatha to poison her owner's tea and flee the scene of the crime. Luckily, I found her before the cops did.

Frances Edison is our green mad scientist and gadget guru extraordinaire. They used to be rejected by the scientific community a whole bunch, though. Frances wanted to create life in game-changing, but less than scientifically ethical ways...think Frankenstein, but in real life. Not surprisingly, their findings were rejected many times, culminating in being expelled from Oxford's science program and blacklisted by a bunch of other science schools. Predictably, Frances went mad, spent several years perfecting their corpse reanimating technique, and joined me after I sent them an invite. Gertrude Gold is our resident pet lover, owning a Guinea Pig named Chippy the Second. The reason there is a second Chippy, however, is that she was a famous author in a time where fat women and African Americans weren't authors. She never revealed her face for a long time, writing under a pen name. The one time she did, she was "doxxed" (the ancient equivalent), and all her pets were slaughtered by one of her author rivals. The person foolishly left his I.D, and the next morning a devastated Gertude killed him in his sleep. Like Agatha, I also found her before the cops did. Arthur King, our orange detective, is named after the great King Arthur, and, quite fittingly, was a member of nobility. For the sake of keeping this already long essay in check, he did a Macbeth and murdered his king to assume the throne...only this time, he didn't get away with it. I saved him from the gallows. Henry Adams and Theodore Gumshoe, our blue bookworm detective and well-dressed plum detective respectively, were hitmans for hire that angered the wrong guy and died via an assassination. Fortunately, Theodore had bet his and Henry's souls in a deal for immortality in exchange for their first death effectively transferring ownership of the souls to me. I'm a chill demon, though, and was impressed by their murdering skills. So, instead of going to hell, they were lucky to stay with my group. Win-win, even if Henry wasn't happy at first with the whole situation... And finally, Edgar Constance, better known to others as General Constance. Our red-dressed general detective suffered through the horrors of war, yet he still stayed in service for over 30 years because of his legacy of being the best general the British army ever had, and he often was assigned to very, very gruesome tasks. That prolonged, unnecessary exposure to the most brutal battles you could imagine is what made him snap, and he was forcibly discharged and arrested. I rescued him while he awaited his sentence in jail.

Hope that covers it, guys. They all owe me a nice, refreshing glass of champagne after this, mark my words. I still love them all with everything I have, though, and we'd both never trade our friendship for the world. Till we meet again, Mrs. Raven Nevermore

[jaenan13]

The Brighter Future Rizal Saw

The pride of our country and the emblem of the nation's independence, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, is an excellent figure of a true Filipino patriotic citizen and is considered one of history's greatest heroes. In particular, he is a man with dignity and vision who is also nationalistic, godly, and a nature lover who ought to be ingrained. Rizal had a vision for all of us, something bigger than what we had back then during his time, a brighter future. Being a Filipino is more than just being a citizen of this country; in order for us to achieve the qualities of an invaluable countryman, we must make our complete attempt to participate in the rest of the nation for the betterment of every individual in the community that provides our necessities as well as the blessings and riches we partake conducive to the growth that God offers us all, which is what his teachings are mainly about.

Numerous people are still perplexed about why the Rizal course is necessitated by law. However, Rizal's topic will continue to be important to me. Reading his books and other works of literature is only one of the few aspects of studying Rizal's life and career; one must also comprehend how those works contributed to the fight against our conquerors throughout history. 

What I have learned personally from Rizal, aside from his novels, are the great moral lessons you can pick up from them, whether it be from the characters that he had created that showed ruthless greed, the characters that offer the utmost true love, to the characters that show you how brave you should be to stand up for what is right, etc. I interpret this as if Rizal was trying to show all of us a message. That he was trying to show us the people who we should be and the people we should not. But sadly, in our era today, despite his teachings and novels, people do not appreciate what his literature stands for. Hope. Hope for a better future for all of us, "Ang kabataan ay pag-asa ng bayan."- Dr. Jose Rizal. The real question is, are we? My answer is no. As I progressed throughout this course, I read the lectures and asked myself, "Would Rizal be proud of what we were all doing today?". From the corruption that is progressively worsening, to the poor who can barely even feed themselves anymore. Sadly, the future he had envisioned for us was not what he had expected. But I believe that one day, we can all make him proud, and it all starts from within. I have been awakened that we need to change for the betterment of our future, and the only way we can do that is to wake ourselves up and inspire the youth just like he did. We are now these role models, and if we can't be the change they see for the future, who will be? Literature like his will always serve as the spark for generations to come. Though, I believe that most of the students we have nowadays only view his works as stories or something they have to accomplish. They view it as something they will never use again and find irrelevant, just like I used to. We need to develop more ways to spread his word, and it starts with things just like this blog I am making. It is how I think how the power of the media nowadays should be utilized; we can use it to our advantage. We can show the power of his literature and the virtues he always held.

I say this because I see it as one of the most important lessons Rizal taught me: to love our homeland. That being said, we must also love the people within it and support one another in building a strong nation and enhancing it in all positive ways to prosper. It can be through every way, like in our economy, for example, the simple act of not being greedy as well as respecting the rules and regulations that demonstrate our respect for our fellow citizens. The main goal is to be open and transparent to help each other develop our potential because it will be the key to our growth in general as a nation, the nation he envisioned. A few people may find it tedious, but we must never forget that what took place in the past led to the situation we are in now. It is people like Rizal who made it possible for us to live in peace today. We must always commemorate our heroes in honor of their heroic deeds from that period. Moreover, as Rizal is an excellent example for all of us, this academic course has aided me greatly in my growth as a person. I hope that I have touched the hearts and minds out there who still value nationalism and have inspired a few as well who are interested in learning more about the values, life, and works of our one and only Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

[billconrad]

The Final Result

    I did not suddenly decide to become an author. Instead, I invented stories in my bonkers mind for years, and only when I had three fully vetted ones did I write them down. Since that fateful day, I now use an outline to visualize the entire plot before committing a story to paper.

    I was Facetiming a fellow author recently, and she described her method of writing. It involves jumping on the keyboard and blasting away. The plot, characters, and details develop as she types. I equate this to somebody asking me to “make up a story.” Unfortunately, I am not great at this activity, and I fill my lousy verbal results with pauses.

    We both write well (at least I do in my radically biased opinion), but which method is better? I would argue that the means do not matter and only the final result counts. After all, that is what the reader experiences. Yet, there is room for discussion.

    Do outlines improve the quality? They are a plot development tool for people like me who cannot create a story on the fly. Perhaps a story with a solid foundation is superior, but artistic creations are best when made without structure.

    Let’s invent a simple plot starting with “Sally walked down the hill.” Challenge accepted. “Sally walked down the hill, turned left, and headed to the grocery store. She purchased a sandwich at the deli and ate it in the parking lot. Sally bought apples at the store, walked home, and fell asleep.”

    That effort was not exciting, but there is a foundation. Now, the writer could build up the story with details, flush out all the problems and share their creation.

    However, there is a glaring problem. The above story is awful. Nothing happened, and I should immediately delete it. However, it was the best I could do on short notice. Some people have a fantastic ability to make things up on the fly. Obviously, I do not. Instead, I noodle an idea for months before committing it to an outline. On two occasions, I had to start over.

    What makes a good story? The term “garbage in, garbage out” applies to the process. A talented author will create a fantastic book, and bad will follow bad. However, readers cannot see how a person makes a book. Instead, they only see the published work.

    Do we only look at the final result for other parts of our life? Society, physics, and biology have rules with dire consequences. The process for producing results is often important, visible, and open to criticism. For example, one cannot be a successful cab driver by breaking traffic laws. What about creating a blog? Did it matter how I came up with this topic or how I wrote it? Nope.

  You’re the best -Bill

  May 03, 2023

  Hey book lovers, I published three! Please check them out.

  Interviewing Immortality is a psychological thriller about a 500-year-old woman who forces a disgraced author to interview her.

  Pushed to the Edge of Survival is a drama, romance, and science fiction story about two unlikely people surviving a shipwreck and living with the consequences.

  Cable Ties is a classic spy novel about two hunters discovering that government communications are being recorded and the ensuing FBI investigation.

  These books are available in soft-cover on Amazon and eBook format everywhere.

[cpblaylock-blog]

What Makes People Great?

It seems like a simple question with mostly likely a rudimentary, standard answer. But I have always posed this question to myself in relation to athletic or professional performance standards and personal expectations. Admittedly, I am a nerd, lover of meaningful quotes, full of useless information, who sends her kids inspirational quotes almost daily on Instagram. I am sure they get sick of them but some of them resonate so deeply with me that I feel compelled to share them in hopes they will have one take-away to improve their outlook on life and the day. Sometimes, when I hear a preacher or presenter speak and the words cause me to pause and give thought to how they can be applied to my life as a parent, significant other or sibling, I write them down and put them in places where I know I will see them in the future when I have time to write about them. When I read books for pleasure, I make a vocabulary list of the words I don’t know, Mr. Moss would be so proud.

“What makes people great?” was a prompt from a motivational book I read years ago when I was in education and coaching. Seeking ways to motivate my student-athletes to find their purpose and their own success, I attended coaching clinics, educational seminars and read countless books on said topic. During my tenure, I began cultivating a list of attributes and qualities that resonated with me to appropriately depict people I regarded as “great”. I should also disclose, that this is a running list that will likely have additions as I meander past mid-life into my 50’s and 60’s where perspective is tempered with wisdom and life experience, I only wish I had in my 20’s.

My current list includes:

1. Someone who displays a declaration of commitment to others.

2. Someone who chooses to live honorably.

3. Someone who pursues excellence in everything.

4. Someone who acknowledges presence by offering respect to those who have earned it.

5. Someone who accepts challenges and failures as opportunities for growth.

Recently, a friend and colleague of mine passed away unexpectedly. He was battling cancer and had made remarkable progress but ran into complications. By the grace of God, DC entered the Kingdom of Heaven on, of all days, Good Friday. DC was a fellow colleague at Aflac, and although we only worked for the same employer for a few years, he was one of those people who left a lasting impression. You see, DC was a manager for the Atlanta Aflac team, not mine. Even though I lived in Georgia, I covered the Alabama market and had a different manager. When I placed my first big case, DC was the 1st person to call and offer words of congratulation. We played golf several times as we were members of the same club and even won a tournament with his dad on our team. More often than not, my interaction with DC was usually me calling him asking for clarification or advice about how to approach a client or broker because my own manager fell miserably short of ring genuine or leading by example. DC, however, would call me periodically and say, “do we need to have a check-in session” which almost always ended with wise words like “control what you can control, Caroline”. It certainly wasn’t rocket science or groundbreaking advice on selling in the insurance industry, but it was masterful in the art of relationship building and empathy for those whom you genuinely care about in life. DC’s objective, in hindsight, was nothing more than to boost my confidence, offer advice and help me hit my objectives. He certainly did not have to make the effort as he had a team of 6-7 people he managed on his own team but he made me feel relevant and supported by just a simple gesture. At DC’s celebration of life, the presence of Jesus was palpable as 4-5 speakers used words like genuine, joy, intentional, love, empathy and kindness to describe him. What I realized at DC’s service was, there is so much we can appreciate and learn about ourselves and how we live from what we observe and learn from others who may precede us in an earthly death. When it was over, I walked away with another characteristic of greatness that DC so resolutely possessed, even though he absolutely checked off 1-5.

6. Someone who truly knows Jesus, is genuine and can see the potential in others and empowers them to navigate their path to success.

For the record, I don’t usually attend funerals because they are awkward and sad, but not long ago I attended one where the message was, “go to the funeral as gesture of respect”. So, on a beautiful sunny Saturday, when I would normally have played 18-36 holes, I attended DC’s service as a final show of respect and to say a prayer of thanksgiving to a man of considerable greatness. I can only hope to possess a few of these traits when my journey on earth ends but I can assure you I will work every day to emulate people like DC along the way.

[preyforthewicked]

21.

I dated Eli for about a year and a half. It was fun for a college relationship. He was deeply insecure about a lot of things (he was over 21 years old without a driver’s license because his mom was a crazy neurotic hellbent on keeping him at home forever because she couldn’t stand the thought of not being needed by her kid anymore) and though I tried to be the best girlfriend, I was fucked up and got a lot of things wrong, too. Still, it was good until he made a sorry attempt at a sexual joke (“I wish you’d grab your ankles more!”) and out he went. This abrupt goodbye happened in July of 2015 and I never regretted it. He thought he’d bagged a good thing and I felt I could do much better. 

What followed was a sloppy summer fling and then a tightening of my physical boundaries. Once Senior year had begun, I entered the online dating sphere, went on a few dates, got ghosted by a guy I really liked who ended up getting back together with his ex (whom he of course swore up and down to me was crazy and he was beyond over her), and by March of 2016 had given up on boys. The ones around my age all seemed to be immature, uninteresting, or have psychological problems.

Then, serendipitously, I met the man I would later marry at a psychology conference in New York. 

From the very start, he was nothing like David. When we first saw each other in that huge conference room full of people, he looked at me and really seemed to see me, not just my physical form but whatever me was on the inside, too. We talked for four hours about music, movies, books, religion. I got his phone number and within a week, we decided to give dating a shot.

Whatever I had thought was love before was a pitiful shell of what I felt for Joseph. It was heady and almost overwhelming in its power. Being so deeply in love with someone is like being possessed or tripping on acid 24/7. I was overcome. It felt so good to connect with someone so deeply, so passionately. We told each other we were not only on the same page, but the same letter of the same word on so many things. Joseph told me I was the female permutation of his soul. We were so in sync and in harmony it was hard to believe it was real.

We married in September of 2017, a year and a half after meeting. Joseph was and is so incredibly amazing as a life partner; he loves me for everything I am. He appreciates my body, sure, but he also loves that I’m a writer, a fellow gamer, a Lord of the Rings fan, a lover of music. He knows my ambitions, interests, desires, and fears almost as intimately as his own. He takes care of me like I never imagined a spouse could. He loves me for me, all of me, not just the fleshy vessel I happen to occupy and what it might be able to do for him. 

We do have phenomenal sex, though, in case you’re wondering. I’ve never been eaten out and overall pleasured so much in my entire life.

The seeds David sowed did not stop growing after Joseph entered my life. I never had the desire to reach out to him again, but he still haunted me. On paper, my life was fantastic. Great marriage, stable full time job, owned a house, was physically the fittest I’d ever been, had a couple books published and worked on writing nearly every day. But in my head, I was never good enough. There were always things wrong. I felt attacked by my own thoughts, startled by their harsh negativity. My body, though in the best shape ever, was still nowhere near perfect. 

Alcohol became easier to acquire, my drinking easier to hide. Whenever I felt bad, which was more often than not, I drank. It got bad enough that I was drinking at my full time job just to get through the day. Just to cope with living inside my head. It was not a nice place to live. I was not kind to myself. I was not happy, and I couldn’t even articulate why.

It was not until 2020, 3 years into my perfect marriage with alcohol abuse and depressive thought loops in full swing, that it occurred to me David had never been in our relationship for love. That I was a victim of his abuse, something very far from a consenting party. 

This was 7 years after I ended it.

10/12/2020

A letter to my oppressor.

I loved you

(Or whatever it is a 15-year-old girl thinks is love).

I trusted you.

I sacrificed sleep

And friends

And time for you.

And you abused my naivete with relish

For years – 4 to be exact – 

And all that time I never knew

I was dressed as the victim in this play.

Did you really love me? Or was that just a leverage word

To pry my top off?

To peel open my legs?

I never questioned it, but now

7 years later,

A moment of bitter clarity.

After everything you took from me

I want nothing 

Except the apology you owe

Not only me

But my family, then and now.

You tricked me. Ruined me.

Fucked me in more ways 

Than one.

And all I want now 

is to know –

Are you sorry?            

(I never heard you say it.)

Did you know what you were doing

All along? Preying on innocence

In a time of vulnerable isolation?

Spinning stories about a future together

To a gullible girl with stars in her eyes?

From the bottom of your soul,

Trembling at the judgmental feet

Of Old Testament God, 

Are you sorry? 

Do you think that’s enough to save you

From the gates of Hell?

It was not until now, 2022, 9 years after I cut ties, 24 weeks pregnant with mine and my loving husband's first child, a daughter, did it dawn on me that David had abused me. Taken full advantage of me and abused me. Not by force but coercion and pressure. With “I love yous” and smiley emojis and promises of marriage. Yes, I was a precocious teen, a “wise for her age” fifteen-year-old girl. And it is true I agreed to everything he asked me to do. But he never really had my consent. 

[longspice]

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This week’s ‘Sex Geek Secrets’ include comedian & author Sara Benincasa’s alien lovemaking, Reid Mihalko’s party foul at a queer pornstar orgy, plus a sweet-yet-dirty cover song that’s the perfect complement to Sex Nerd Sandra’s femme-centric pile-on. I hope you’re ready cause BOOM, we’ve passed 200 episodes! We’re celebrating with part 2 of our LA collaboration show with Sex Nerd Sandra.