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americanredragger · 4 years

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A Letter to My Mother (That I am too scared to send)

Okay. We’re having this talk now. I have been putting it off because there’s never been a way for me to keep my cool long enough to say it straight. I’ve been nice, I’ve been polite. I’ve walked away from conversations rather than address this directly because I don’t want to lose my mom.

Yesterday was unlike anything in American history. There is no both-sides-ism to be taken here. There is no even vaguely similar violence unleashed by the Left. This isn’t to say that NO violence has ever been unleashed by the left, it can and does happen. But nothing like this. This is unprecedented in both it's scope and audacity.

Unless you can point to an instance in which a Democrat president (or Senator, or Governor) whipped up a riot and unleashed those rioters on the Seat of Government of the United States of America, causing it to be breached and overrun by a hostile force for the first time in 207 years, the things don’t equate at all.

Unless you can point to a riot held by alt-right wingers in which the police cracked down on them HARD to the level of being condemned by the International Criminal Court as bordering on war crimes, the things don’t equate at all.

This was a direct assault on our government by a crowd whipped up by a sitting president. This has never happened before.

The Capitol Police removed the barricades and guided the insurrectionists in.

They chatted and took selfies with them. Exchanged fist bumps with them.

The seditionists were allowed to leave with few arrests, just… gently guided out once the barbarian hordes had their fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaPTjQZBLhQ

And yes, Trump (eventually) told them to go home, but refused to condemn what they'd done and finished his speech with "We love you. You're very special." and continued to refer to his political opponents as "evil".

This is quite literally unprecedented in American history. As in, nothing comes close. That's what "unprecedented" means.

If this had been BLM, the response would have been entirely different. DC would be on lockdown. The police would be bringing WAR to the streets. There would be helicopters, APCs, and beat cops dressed like the US Army rolling into Baghdad in 2003. The DC area hospitals would be overwhelmed with rioters suffering from horrific head and spine injuries from trigger-happy use of rubber bullets and night-sticks. Hell, Trump tear-gassed ACTUAL peaceful protesters last summer just so he could stage an awkward photo op in front of a church, which even the Clergy called him out on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzBhYhu7NYI

Don't you DARE equate the two.

I'm tired of the whataboutisms. I'm tired of ignoring the evidence right in front of you. Donald Trump is the single most corrupt, evil man America has ever elected to the presidency. He has worked hard to transform the Republican party into something that actual Holocaust survivors and experts have called "Neofascist" and even less flattering terms.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940610/trump-hitler-history-historian

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/16/its-not-wrong-to-compare-trumps-america-to-the-holocaust-heres-why/

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/2020/10/25/holocaust-survivor-fears-rising-tide-ugliness-blames-trump-opinion/3740781001/

https://forward.com/scribe/455507/100-year-old-holocaust-survivor-compares-trump-to-hitler/

https://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article223718330.html

Historians and victims of fascism the world over point to what Trump and his transformed Republican party have been doing as president when asked how the Weimar Republic fell and the Nazi regime rose.

The overwhelming amount of terrorist attacks in the last five years have been Trump supporters (Well over half stemming from that singular cause, with the rest divvied among a MASSIVE swathe of motives), but none more so overwhelmingly so than yesterday's.

There is no left wing equivalent for this in America until you go all the way back to the Weather Underground bombings, and even they were not goaded on by the incumbent politicians of a party.

Your party has been STOLEN from you. The Party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, and Reagan is no more. And now it’s stealing you from your children as we have watched you and dad drift further and further into the Hannity-Limbaugh-Carlson echo chamber.

88 years ago next month, right wing extremists set fire to the Reichstag in the Weimar Republic. Over the next few days, they seeded reports that it was actually the communists, maybe socialists, no, it was definitely anarchists… or was it trade unionists? Either way, it HAD to have been The Left who burned down the Reichstag.

This was used to expand and hold onto the power of the Chancellor, a man who need not be named. The next few years proved to be sorrowful for everyone.

That same blame-shifting is already happening again, but it's not in some far away country, it's happening here, where we all thought it couldn't.

This sort of event is unprecedented in the United States, or it was until yesterday. It is not so unprecedented elsewhere.

The only difference is that this attempt failed.

The attempt was made because Trump’s own administration found that this was the most secure election in American history, and Trump’s lawsuits to the contrary were laughed out of court by Trump-appointed judges, including his Supreme Court justices, and his exceedingly incompetent and well-documented attempts to get state officials to overturn a legitimate election all failed.

I still believe you and dad are good, honest people. Patriots who want America to do well in the world.

You can not-like Nancy Pelosi, or Obama, or Biden, or Hilary Clinton. That’s your prerogative, and we’ll agree on plenty in that regard. You’re well within your rights to believe that my preferred economics don’t work. We’ll disagree heartily, but that’s normal for families, especially between parents and their kids.

But your party has been hijacked by neofascists, malignant narcissists, and white supremacists.

I am on my knees BEGGING you to see what so many experts and victims have been warning you about for years.

The Left did not do this.

Trump did.

You have been led astray by an vain, selfish, greedy demagogue, a well documented honorless grifter who embodies everything Christ opposed, and uses people until they have nothing more to give him and discards them. He has cloaked this latest grift in the American flag and set a cross upon it, the only way Fascism ever COULD take root in America, as we saw with Joe McCarthy in the Second Red Scare.

It’s changing you. You can’t see it because it’s happening to you, but those around you can, and it’s scaring us.

Please, finally, truly see this. I want my parents back. You’re going down a path I can’t follow and it’s breaking my heart.

In 2016, I broke from the Republican Party because I saw calamity coming in the nomination of Donald Trump. Only 4 years later, and history has soberingly showed me that I was more right than I could have ever guessed, and my world view has never been the same since. I have looked back at the political opinions I wrote and posted then, and they were so selfish and hateful that it was physically painful for me to put myself through that review. I was a puppet. I couldn’t have seen it at the time because I was at the center of it, and I still live in dread of the monster I would have become if I’d kept to that path. I see that same kind of speech coming from you now - the jingoism, the recycled talking points, the Orwellian denials, and the near-unquestioning loyalty to the stars of the Republican Party and their mouthpieces at Fox, OAN, Newsmax, and the AM Radio circuit. I see the most selfish parts of who I used to be, and I know that deep down, you are not that person because I still see you constantly striving to be a good mother, a good Christian, and a model human being.

I’m imploring you to finally look at the evidence, the boundless clear and present evidence, and see what men like Gingrich, McConnell, and Trump have turned your party into. What they are turning you into, the same as they tried with me.

I know you wouldn’t be happy as a Democrat - I myself am only begrudgingly a Democrat because the system doesn’t allow for a viable alternative (and that’s a whole different issue that deserves it’s own library of articles). I’m not trying to convert you. I just need to know that you can look at the evidence with your own eyes like I did and see that you’ve been played for a sucker by men who cry wolf and distract you by having you chase shadows while they line their pockets with money and power. Please stop listening to these monsters, stop swallowing their poison. I know how easy it is to be in that world because I myself have lived in it for most of my life. I fully understand the appeal: there are easy answers for everything, you always know who the enemy is and who your supposed allies and benefactors are. But I also left that behind, and yes, it hurts. It hurts a lot, and frequently. But despite the pain, I know I am better off for having done it.

Yes, I have to question the people who claim to represent me more. I have to question EVERYTHING more because I now know that nothing is as clear cut as I thought it was - once removed from Plato’s Cave, I no longer had the luxury of a simple world. And yet I am still happier because I am so much more my own person now. Yes I falter, and worse still, some days I fall back into the old ways of thinking, but now I recognize that for what it is and it is easier to deal with.

You’ll always be a Conservative, Mom, but I see you on the path that I was on, a path that nearly robbed me of my critical thinking and objectivity, and one which would have weaponized my sense of patriotism to benefit people who are not me. You have kept that course far longer than I. Please put aside the whataboutisms, the both-sides-isms, and finally see the evil, ravenous monster that killed your party from the inside and now wears its skin to deceive you into feeding it further.

I don’t ask that you agree with my politics or economics. I AM begging you though to split from this political machine which is changing you into something I no longer recognize. I want the parents I used to have, the ones who could look at things objectively and form their own opinions instead of repeating talk show buzz lines.

Please, recognize the shadows on the wall of the cave that wicked men are showing you are NOT reality. Please, join me in the truth of the world outside.

#I very nearly sent it #but she's already having tremendous issues between her and my sister and I didn't want to compound those and split the family apart #more than it already has #at any rate #if she doesn't start cooling down by fall #well #at least I have it written down here for easy access #politics #family #trump #republicans #democrats #echo chamber #republican #mitch mcconnell #conservative #conservatives #family issues

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lilsherlockian1975 · 5 years

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I need to unleash about my family and, unfortunately, I must do it here. Else I explode!

Feel free to ignore me but I could really use some love and support. It’s under the cut...

Backstory: About two years ago, I got into a HUGE fight with my oldest sister regarding my mother and her finances. I will admit, I’d made some mistakes. Let me be clear: I wasn’t spending her money - far from it - I had neglected to pay her property taxes at the house she all but abandoned when she moved in with us 7 years ago. Honestly, I lied to my sisters the handful of times they bothered to ask about it (they were more than happy to just ignore most of what was going with her and let me ‘deal’ with everything). I was overwhelmed and refused to admit that I needed help.

**I hate to fail. Hate it!! Especially in the eyes of my family.**

So, I blew them off, “Yeah, all taken care of” when frankly, I had no idea what was going on with it. I didn’t have access to mom’s checking account was not (am still not!) on it, even though she has asked me to do so several times. It’s too much. I have enough on my plate to take on her money as well.

I take care of her entirely alone. Not just a bit, I literally do everything for her except feed her and light her cigarettes (although on bad days or if it’s windy, I sometimes do). At our old house, she could at least get around, somewhat on her own, but not here. Someone (90% of the time me) has to wheel her from room to room and outside to smoke.

Since moving, she seems to be in the beginning stages of dementia (I have a Speech Therapist coming over this week for an assessment). She has good days and bad. Sometimes, on bad days, she forgets how to walk - and when I say walk, I mean transfer from chair to wheelchair or wheelchair to toilet and so on. Last night, for instance, after her bath, she suddenly forgot how to stand and pull up her diaper at the same time. I was forced to hold her full weight of 200lbs and pull up the diaper at the same time. She put all her weight on my left shoulder, dead weight. I managed to keep her from falling, but because she’s so short (about 5′1″ and I’m 5′11″) I had to drop to my knees and brace her like I was changing a toddler. I thought she’d dislocated my shoulder but in now I think it’s probably just a pulled muscle. We’ll not talk about my knees, which aren’t in good shape from years of abuse, playing sports. My point is: this is fucking hard. I quit my job to do this and it affects every aspect of my life, my marriage, my family. My typical day starts at 7.30am. If I’m lucky, Mom’s still asleep when I take H to school, but she’s always awake when I get home, yelling my name: Liiiiilllliiiiaaaan! In a sing-song voice. I HATE my name. Please never call me Lillian. Ever! I help her out of bed and into her wheelchair - about half the time she’s either soaked the bed (thankfully, my brilliant husband bought her a water-proof hospital mattress and it can be cleaned easily with bleach - but the laundry is another story), peeing through her diaper or crapped herself - no matter what time I get her up. We wheel into the bathroom and I clean her. If it’s bad (a nasty poo): Bathtime! If not, I still have to clean my mother’s bottom and girl-bits (repeat that about 4 to 5 times a day). She wants her meds next (my mother LOVES taking medicine) then wants to smoke, so it’s off to the porch. While she’s out there, I prepare her breakfast (usually an Ensure, some fruit and something sweet - old people love sweet things because those are the last tastebuds to ‘die’, or so I’m told). I’ve also been giving her some tea to replace the craptastic Diet Rite that I now refuse to let her have (she’s still mad at me about that one!). She’s usually good for about an hour or so, then it’s back outside for more cancer sticks. In between her smoking trips, I’m cleaning, doing laundry and P’s homeschooling (which is basically at an end, but he’ll be doing a smaller summer program too). Sometimes she naps, sometimes, when her bipolar is flaring, she calls me over and over, just for attention. I understand, it’s part of her and there’s nothing she can do about it. Then lunch (and clean up, because she always drops food) smoking, bathroom, smoking, bathroom. Dinner - clean up. Smoking, bathroom, smoking, bathroom. She’s suddenly refused to read - the only thing I remember actually doing from my youth - and now obsessively watches CNN. I feel responsible for this; I’ve turned my conservative, fundamental Christian mother into (and I’ll quote my beloved father on this one) a Pinko! She’s a liberal all of a sudden. Whatever. Every other day, she gets a bath. Once a week I wash and set her hair. I have to apply eye treatments, help her with her nebulizer, and administer her meds (if not, she overtakes them). I also try to keep her mind engaged, hoping it will stave off any deterioration that’s happening, talking about current events, reading my (not smutty) stories, asking any questions I can think of to make her brain ‘work’. She goes to bed at 10 on the dot every night and FINALLY, I can be alone with my husband if we manage to get the boys to leave alone, that is.

Why would I do this? And, why am I bitching? I asked for it, right?

I’ve only mentioned this once before, and just recently broached it with my psychiatrist (because he figured it out, the sneaky bastard! “Lillian, did your father pointedly ask you to take care of your mother before he died?” - Internally: Of course he did, you sadist! Out loud: “Yes, he did. And I promised him I would.” - “What did he say? His exact words? I know you remember them.” - I really don’t want to do this... “Someone will have to take care of her, Lillian, she’s never taken care of herself. Never balanced a checkbook, never pumped her own gas. I can’t leave not knowing she’ll be okay. I love her too much...” I’ll never forget it. That man’s devotion is why I’m so fucked up! “And you feel like you can’t let him down?” Fuck me! Now I’m crying!)

I don’t know if he had similar conversations with the other kids (three of them, all much older and none of them with kids at home! Frankly, I don’t care. ALL of them make significantly more money than me and Mr Lil - we are practically destitute compared to all of them!) but I got her and she’s mine. I do this because it’s the right thing to do.

Now, to my current frustration, finally. Gin, my oldest sister, is selling mom’s house for $10,000. It may be worth more, but this is not my problem. Mom’s agreed to it and I don’t want to be involved. Her day to day care is my problem, not her money. I don’t touch it other than to reimburse us for what we spend on her, and nothing more. Mom, on one of her better days, told me she wants to pay me for caring for her, but I’m afraid about the backlash from the family. Mind you, she (alone!) makes more than we do as a family of 4. She also wanted to give us $2000 toward the house. I refused it for the same reason. She doesn’t know this, thinks I took it. Gin has access to her account - she put herself on the account - she did this even though mom wasn’t really comfortable with it. Today, she texts me & our other sister in a group text, telling me to send a $3000 check to pay off the back property taxes (that she was supposed to be taking care of since I failed to... um, she failed as well, what do ya know?!). I text back, ‘can mom pay that much at once’ - she says, ‘yes’ - I still have to buy mom’s meds and a new walker this week and all her normal expenses, so I ask Gin how much mom has in her account. Her response? ‘Enough, Lillian. Just send the check.’.

I ask you, how is that suppose to make me feel? It’s like she doesn’t trust me with the amount. Like I’m gonna go nuts and buy myself somethin’ French! But the idiot doesn’t realise that I have the account holder in my living room. I have mom call the bank and find out. She’s got well over $6000. How is that not enough to know that I’ve not been thieving from our mother?! I’m so tired of being trusted to wipe her ass but not with anything else! I work my ass off for her - never going on vacation, never really taking much (or any) time for myself while the others take two, three, four trips a year. I can’t leave her alone and just go shopping or have a day out with my family. The other night, we wanted to go out to eat and try the new Mexican place in town. Mom didn’t want to go. We couldn't leave her, so... nope. Pizza again. When the four of us went to see End Game, my mother-in-law came to sit with her, not either of my sisters (and certainly not my worthless brother who, admittedly, lives 3 hours away but hasn’t phoned ONE TIME in the last 7 years to check on her... or me!). They couldn’t be arsed. Gin has promised over and over to ‘take her for the weekend, every two weeks’ to ‘give me a break’. It’s happened once, the weekend we moved. Never before, never again. She’s never really thanked me, even though she told our sister that she has. After returning mom after the move she told me that she told her husband, “Lillian deserves sainthood for doing this every day. Mom exhausted me and I only had her for two and a half days.” It was the only (I’m not even exaggerating) time she’s ever even mentioned how hard this is. I don’t want anything from them. I don’t ask for their help because I know they won’t give it (my middle sister actually said, ‘don’t ask me to help with mom, I won’t do it’) but how about not making me feel like a dirtbag? How about, I don’t know, saying, “Hey, Lillian, Mom has plenty of money, you should pay yourself a bit every month. You work hard to make her quality of life really good and deserve it.” Or even a simple, “Thank you. Thank you for taking care of our mother, we appreciate that you do it and we don’t worry about her safety and wellbeing.” No one has EVER said this to me. Not once.

#personal #caring for the elderly #family issues #stress #anxitey #mentions of bipolar

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burnouts3s3 · 6 years

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Let's Talk About: Carl Foutley and Hoodsey

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.

"Let's Talk About" is a series of articles focused on individual character or characters and their development and commentary throughout the work in question. THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF THE WORK, but rather what the character says about the world around them. If you wish to read a strict review, please click on the link to read it. My reviews focus more on the purely technical aspects of the work. There are bad characters with good messages. There are good characters with bad messages and so on and so forth. Thank you.

Author’s Note: Okay, this is going to be a weird one. Originally, I wanted to do a review of As Told By Ginger, one of my favorite childhood shows and cartoon I sincerely hope people get to watch. But, thanks to Paramount, the studio that owns Nickelodeon and, by proxy, ATBG, trying to buy the official releases of this show have been a nightmare! While Paramount ‘has’ released DVDs of the show, they are very sparse and leave out way too many episodes. Even attempts to upload episodes to Youtube have been shut down by Paramount. For some reason, Nickelodeon refuses to sell episodes of the show digitally through venues like Amazon or itunes. As such, I’m going to be skipping over my review of this show and focusing on a topic near and dear to my heart.)

Let's Talk About: Carl Foutley and Hoodsey

As Told By Ginger is probably one of my favorite childhood shows growing up. The characters felt real. The situations were relatable and the humor was on point.

For those who don’t know, As Told By Ginger was a Nickelodeon Cartoon that ran through the 2000’s that depicted the everyday life of Ginger Foutley, a middle school student who tries to get through her day to day by writing in her journal. It was a simple premise but executed spectacularly thanks to the animation studio of Klasky Csupo (who also did other shows such as Rugrats, the Wild Thornberrys and Rocket Power).

While Ginger would be dealing with her problem (such as a cute boy who’s using her to get a good grade in Chemistry class or helping her friends, Dodie Biship and Macie Lightfoot, with a problem), her younger brother who was in Elementary School, Carl Foutley, and Dodie’s younger brother, Robert Joseph “Hoodsey” Bishop, would be getting into trouble.

In his Doghouse (a memory Carl holds onto in hopes his runaway dog, Monster, will return), he and Hoodsey create ideas to swindle his classmates. Carl and Hoodsey would usually have their own subplot where in Carl hatches a scheme to get money, get revenge or attempt to get his petrified eyeball away from Blake Gripling.

See, producers and executives are a bit wary to catering to a single demographic. In ATBG’s case, catering to girls. (To be fair, even in the original pilot Carl and Hoodsey were there). As such, while Ginger and Dodie were doing “girly” or “feminine” things, Carl and Hoodsey were doing “boy” things and had the share of the gross out humor.

It’d be easy for Carl and Hoodsey just to be the comic relief. Their material is funny and they break up a lot of the dramatic moments with their antics. But as the series progressed, I began to realize that the show runners were doing a lot more with the two than I realized.

For example, I thought there was a strong sense of “children during the face of mortality”. When Hoodsey and Dodie’s grandmother dies in “Losing Nana Bishop”, Hoodsey has a different reaction from the rest of his family. See, while Dodie, his father and his mother are all grief stricken with the loss of his grandmother, Hoodsey isn’t. And he feels weird about it, saying “But I don’t feel sad, Carl.”. A child realizing their apathetic towards their own relation’s death is a strangely mature arc to go through. Hoodsey eventually comes around saying he will miss her but in his own way stating “I’ll never look at blue foam or a raisin and not remember how Nana used to laugh at me and pinch my cheek really hard."

This happens earlier in the series. Carl begins a sort of May-December Romance with Maude, an elderly lady he meets at a nursing home. (To be fair, it’s said that these feelings only come from Carl and Maude doesn’t return his feelings but finds him entertaining company). As Carl prepares to propose to her, Maude dies and Carl has to deal with it.

But the biggest impact was during No Hope for Courtney, when Carl realizes Ms. Gordon has retired because Carl pulled a prank too far and traumatized her. Because of that, Carl does everything he can to get her back. Eventually, he wins her over. However, the night before class, Carl wakes up and calls out her name. The next day, it’s revealed that Ms. Gordon died in her sleep. (This was done as a tribute to her voice actress Kathleen Freeman passing away). The final shot is Carl crying over her death.

Religion is also a big part of the show (which is surprising, given that this was a Nickelodeon show meant for children). Carl is an atheist, but it’s only really mentioned in passing when Ginger nearly dies from a burst appendix.

In contrast, Hoodsey is seen more as the more religious of the duo, if not necessarily the more moral. What I mean is that Hoodsey is as willing, if not more so, to get into much trouble as Carl is but Hoodsey does believe in a divine power. We get glimpses of this. When Carl and Hoodsey get Mrs. Gripling’s money so Hoodsey can pretend to be a homeless boy for her (Mrs. Gripling was trying to become the head of a social club and did so by faking to do actual charity work), Hoodsey argues they should give the money back, stating "when the big guy sends me a message, I try to pay attention." In “Losing Nana Bishop”, Hoodsey says that their grandmother is somewhere in “that great big bingo hall in the sky”.

Normally, Christianity vs Atheism debates are reserved for the internet Youtube videos or conservative propaganda pieces. In fact, there’s a scenario you could see how Carl would argue with Hoodsey about religion.Instead, the writers of the show establish this through a clever and subversive way.

Hoodsey believes in Santa Claus while Carl does not. The two get into an argument about how ‘real’ Santa is, with Hoodsey being so devoted to Santa he breaks his friendship with Carl.

Eventually the two bury the hatchet and decide they’re better off laughing at things such as neon signs of reindeer pissing.

"Sure you're cool hanging with a non-believer?" Carl asks Hoodsey.

"To each his own and all that," Hoodsey replies.

What led to Carl’s jadedness towards Santa Claus, Carl replies "Something stupid. I think I used to wish my dad would come home for the Holidays or something like that". This is a reference to the fact that his birth father left his family when he was young.

In the world of sitcoms and cartoons, the showrunners sometimes depict various family units and how they contrast with one another. Carl’s family had a Single mother, Lois Foutley, and Ginger. He was the only male character in the house and the youngest child.

Through the 90’s most shows had nuclear, if dysfunctional, families with a mother and father and multiple children. Even if the sons were often trouble makers, they had father figures to look up to. Bud Bundy had Al, Chris Griffin had Peter, Eric Forman had Red, Bobby Hill had Hank and Bart Simpson had Homer.

Hoodsey, whose parents are still together and haven’t separated, even makes a side comment to Carl "You see how complicated having two parents can be?"

To be fair, as time went on other cartoons and cartoon characters have commented on divorce. Sharon Spitz from Braceface, Pepper Ann Pearson from Pepper Ann, Sammy "Squid" Dullard from Rocket Power, Will Vandom from W.I.T.C.H. and Tino Tonitini from the Weekenders are all products of divorced/separated couples. But whereas their mothers they stay with are considered embarrassing, overprotective, smothering, or strict, the absent father figure is usually idolized and admired, even with their actual presences hidden or built up. For the first times we hear about them, we never actually "see" what Pepper Ann's father and Tino's father looked like until later in the series after they're mentioned.

It's also implied that the absent father figure is the better off or the richer of the two households with a "cool" profession. Pepper Ann's father is a pilot, Squid's father is an executive, Will's father is seen driving a sports car (implying he's wealthy) and Sharon Spitz's father is a rock star. As such, it's seen as an idolization of the absent father figure. "My dad's not here because he's busy being cool somewhere else".

Then, we finally get hints of who Ginger’s father is.

In "Hello Stranger", Ginger gets a congratulations letter for graduating Elementary School (an event, as her friend Darren mentions, that happened ages ago) from her father. Ginger invites her father to attend her poetry reading only for him not to show up. Lois decides to send flowers to Ginger and has them written to be from Ginger's Father (even though he had nothing to do with them). Ginger sees through the guise but thanks her mother anyway.

When we do finally meet Ginger's Father, Jonas, the truth is finally revealed: he is a mall Santa who can't be bothered to make it to her daughter's poetry reading. It's also implied he's not well off financially. "I'm sort of a Jack of all trades and Master of none" he says in a later episode.

When Carl and Jonas do meet on Christmas Day, Hoodsey inadvertently stages a meeting between them, Carl, meets him with scorn and hatred. He even says "My Mom always warned me about getting in a car with a total stranger." Jonas gives Carl a globe full of peanuts, not knowing that Carl is violently allergic to them.

The show doesn't mince words; Jonas Foutley is a deadbeat dad who doesn't know his own children and his attempts to be there fall flat. (To be fair, the show gave him redeeming values such as giving GInger good advice or having him wrestle rogue attacking turkeys).

Ginger and Carl have very different reactions to their birth father. Ginger attempts to get Jonas back into her life as much as possible while Carl wants nothing to do with him.

Consider how strange that is. Ginger, the older female child, idolizes her father while Carl despises him. Carl instead attempts to help Dr. Dave, a recurring character and co-worker of his mother, help woo Lois. Carl who’s the younger child instead feels more comfortable with his step father while Ginger, who would be older and would have more memories of her father leaving her, is dedicated to making her father a part of her life as much as possible.

It’s interesting to see how he, who is barely entering middle school not only wants to embrace his potential new father, but harbors resentment against his birth father. He even goes so far as to address him as Jonas while calling Dr. Dave Dad. Carl even accuses Jonas of conspiring to ruin Lois and Dave's wedding!

In one of the final episodes of the season, Carl helps Lois find a new house. Lois decides to indulge Carl's gross out side and shows off houses that she thinks Carl would like before settling on a real house. Except, throughout the episode, Carl dismisses each of the houses and commits himself to finding an actual home.

When Lois asks why Carl is acting out of character, Carl responds.

"It's my last duty as Man of the House before Dave steps into the role", he says.

Think about that. Carl, despite admitting he loved the creepy and gross houses Lois showed him, decides to take the responsibility of house hunting seriously because he considers it the last duty "as man of the house" before Dave comes in. He is deliberately choosing to step away from his own selfish desires and deciding to 'act like a man'. Not masculine as in gaining muscles or beating up people or acting as an authority figure, but doing something as simple as helping his mother and changing his attitude and behavior.

Consider the context: Carl favors Dr. Dave, a step-father, despite Dave not being his birth father and him acting squeamish and cowardly, more of a man than his actual parent. Why? Because Dave is there and helps his family while Jonas, Carl's birthfather, has been mainly absent from his childhood.

So naturally, Carl's viewpoint of masculinity and manhood are changed. Rather than being assertive of muscular, it's simply being there and supporting his family when he can.

That's strangely profound in a child.

It feels like Carl’s arc is that of maturity. But through the series, attempts into forcing Carl to mature all fail. Ms. Gordo and George (a strict boy scout who uses military training to straighten out Carl), all fail. Attempts to force Carl to destroy the dog house, his secret lair and his nostalgia into hoping his long lost pet, Monster, will come back fail. Even when a classmate tricks Carl into growing up fails. But instead, Carl chooses by his own accord when he's finally ready to destroy his dog house. He chooses to turn his back against pranking. He chooses to help his mother out with the wedding and move.

(It should also be mentioned that Carl was willing to let his dog house be destroyed when George blackmails Carl that by leaving he would cast the blame on Ginger whose program is failing). Then, on Lois’ wedding day, Monster, the dog Carl has been waiting to come back, returns to him.

In some ways, Carl’s story is a view of masculinity but through the lens of grade school boy. Through this sense of jadedness, we see a boy who’s grown weary of the world but works through it by being as gross and angry as possible. But instead of pursing masculinity as a form of power or revenge fantasy, he views it as an aiding tool and someone who genuinely wants to help (even if that help causes more trouble than aids).

Tress MacNille is a voice acting professional who’s shown her merit through shows such as the Simpsons, Futurama and other works. But it’s with Hoodsey that she embodies a character and gives said character real depth. But it’s Jeannie Elias who absolutely delivers as Carl (she also played Botley in Jumpstart 3rd grade adventures). It’s not uncommon for female voice performers to voice young boys (this is done for a variety of reasons as animated shows can go on for years and female actresses tend to ‘sound’ younger than male ones), but Elias performance while holding a scratchy voice manages to convey anger, sadness, humor and cunning at all the right times. Kudos to her.

The series ends, showing an Adult Ginger reading her book to a group of her adult friends as well as Darren with their child. Hoodsey and Carl are seen sitting next to each other.

Though, there is one detail I do find funny. In an episode, Carl says "I can see Me and Hoodsey being friends 30 Years from now".

I guess some friendships do last a lifetime after all.

https://amzn.to/2UHi4lk

#carl #hoodsey #carl and hoodsey #robert joseph bishop #as told by ginger #atbg #nick #nickelodeon #carl foutley #klasky csupo #rugrats #the wild thornberrys #rocket power #dodie #dodie bishop #macie lightfoot #macy lightfoot #lightfoot

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theresgloryforyou · 7 years

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Two weeks ago a man in France was arrested for raping his daughter. She’d gone to her school counselor and then the police, but they needed “hard evidence.” So, she videotaped her next assault. Her father was eventually arrested. His attorney explained, “There was a period when he was unemployed and in the middle of a divorce. He insists that these acts did not stretch back further than three or four months. His daughter says longer. But everyone should be very careful in what they say.” Because, really, even despite her seeking help, her testimony, her bravery in setting up a webcam to film her father raping her, you really can’t believe what the girl says, can you? Everyone “knows” this. Even children. Three years ago, in fly-on-the-wall fashion of parent drivers everywhere, I listened while a 14-year-old girl in the back seat of my car described how angry she was that her parents had stopped allowing her to walk home alone just because a girl in her neighborhood “claimed she was raped.” When I asked her if there was any reason to think the girl’s story was not true, she said, “Girls lie about rape all the time.” She didn’t know the person, she just assumed she was lying. Fast-forward three years, again in a car. This time a 13-year-old refused to believe that when the newly appointed pope was 12 he’d written a “love letter” to the girl living next door. The child insisted stubbornly that the woman, now in the news, had to be a liar because the pope, even as a boy, would not have written a love letter. In both cases, to my children’s bottomless pool of chagrin, I pulled the car over so I could ask the girls why they were so sure that the women’s accounts were not credible. We talked about their assumptions, about who gets to be believed, double standards regarding sex, and how culture portrays women. Fun times with Mom. No one says, “You can’t trust women,” but distrust them we do. College students surveyed revealed that they think up to 50% of their female peers lie when they accuse someone of rape, despite wide-scale evidence and multi-country studies that show the incidence of false rape reports to be in the 2%-8% range, pretty much the same as false claims for other crimes. As late as 2003, people jokingly (wink, wink) referred to Philadelphia’s sex crimes unit as “the lying bitch unit.” If an 11-year-old girl told an adult that her father took out a Craigslist ad to find someone to beat and rape her while he watched, as recently actually occurred, what do you think the response would be? Would she need to provide a videotape after the fact? It goes way beyond sexual assault as well. That’s just the most likely and obvious demonstration of “women are born to lie” myths. Women’s credibility is questioned in the workplace, in courts, by law enforcement, in doctors’ offices, and in our political system. People don’t trust women to be bosses, or pilots, or employees. Pakistan’s controversial Hudood Ordinance still requires a female rape victim to procure four male witnesses to her rape or risk prosecution for adultery. In August, a survey of managers in the United States revealed that they overwhelmingly distrust women who request flextime. It’s notable, of course, that women are trusted to be mothers—the largest pool of undervalued, economically crucial labor. ***** So how exactly are we teaching children that women lie and can’t be trusted to be as competent or truthful as men? I mean, clearly, most people aren’t saying “girls and women lie, kids, that’s just the way God built them.” First, lessons about women’s untrustworthiness are in our words, pictures, art, and memory. It’s simple enough to see how we are overwhelmingly portrayed as flawed, supplemental, ornamental, or unattainably perfect. It’s also easy to find examples of girls and women routinely, entertainingly cast as liars and schemers. For example, on TV we have Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, Don’t Trust The Bitch in Apartment 23, Devious Maids, and, because its serpent imagery is so basic to feminized evil, American Horror Story: Coven. The lessons start early, too. Take, for example, the popular animated kids movie Shark Tale, which featured the song “Gold Digger,” a catchy tune that describes women as scheming, thieving, greedy, and materialistic. There is no shortage of music lyrics that convey the same ideas across genres. It’s in movies, too. Consider, for example, the prevalence of untrustworthy mad women, or the manipulative women of Film Noire, and the failure of most films to even allow two women to be named or speak to one another about anything other than the male protagonists. But pop culture and art are just the cherry on the top of the icing on a huge cake. The United States is among the most religious of all countries in the industrialized world. So, while some people wring their hands over hip hop, I’m more worried about how men like Rick Santorum and Ken Cuccinelli explain to their daughters why they can’t be priests. I know that there is hip hop that exceeds the bounds of taste and is sodden with misogyny. But, people seem to think that those manifestations of hatred are outside of the mainstream when, in reality, it’s just more of the same set to great beats. Sometimes, however, there’s a bonus, synchronous two-for-one! Delilah, a renowned biblical avatar of female untrustworthiness, made it into the lyrics of JT Money’s “Somethin’ ‘Bout Pimpin’”: I got a problem with this punk ass bitch I know Ol’no good skanlezz switch out ho An untrustworthy bitch like Deliliah Only thing she good for is puttin’ dick inside her In other words: “Amongst all the savage beasts none is found so harmful as woman.” — John Chrysostom “What she cannot get, she seeks to obtain through lying and diabolical deceptions. One must be on one’s guard with every woman, as if she were a poisonous snake and the horned devil.” — St. Albertus Magnus “Women were made either to be wives or prostitutes.” — Martin Luther “I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children.” — Augustine While most religious leaders aren’t going around spouting overtly denigrating opinions about women, many, through default and tradition, casually and uncritically expose children to religious texts that are fundamentally misogynistic. I have to believe that most Sunday school lessons are not concerned with deconstructing, say, the creation story, a seminal text in our culture whether you are religious or not. Religious misogyny is tied to institutional power that ends up in children and women being impoverished and dying. Ideas about women, credibility, legitimacy, authority and—notably—Catholic and Evangelical “priesthood” are important and have deep roots in religious thought and philosophy. And those ideas have contemporary expression (see links): Tertullian: “Women are the devil’s gateway.” Thomas Aquinas: “As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten.” St. Clement of Alexandria: “Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman…the consciousness of their own nature must evoke feelings of shame.” St. John Chrysostom: Women are “weak and flighty…For what is a woman but an enemy of friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a domestic danger, delectable mischief, a fault in nature, painted with beautiful colors?” St. Jerome: “Woman is the root of all evil.” There’s Origen, one of Christianity’s greatest thinkers, a man who castrated himself and who considered women worse than animals. And, not to be left out, St. Augustine. Why focus on these musty, long dead theologians and philosophers? These thoughts are alive and well and have a super long tail outside of religion—think: domestic work, pay discrimination, and sex segregation in the workplace. Every time a young girl can’t serve at an altar, or play in a game, or dress as she pleases; every time she’s assaulted and told to prove it, it’s because she cannot, in the end, be trusted. Controlling her—her clothes, her will, her physical freedom, her reputation—is a perk. Conventional Abrahamic religious thought cannot escape the idea that we have to pay, as women, with lifelong suffering and labor and be subject to the authority of men lest our irrationality and desires result in more evil and suffering. Until religious hierarchies renounce beliefs and practices based on these theologies, these long-dead men, creatures of their time, might as well be the ones repeatedly showing up in Congress to give their massively ill-informed opinions on women’s health and lives. Especially in our political lives. Is it really surprising to anyone that a Santorum staffer said, in the run up to the last election, that women shouldn’t be President because it’s against God’s will? What about the “news commentator” who thinks women shouldn’t be allowed to vote? The Senate candidate who thinks rape is a gift from God? Or the Senator and presidential aspirant who thinks it’s just another form of conception? Or the doctor who thinks women deserve to die for having abortions? How about the nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia who thinks fetal birth defects are punishment for parents’ (read: mothers’) sins? If women die bearing children, so what, that’s what we’re here for. Even if we insist on not talking about the degree to which legislators’ religious beliefs inform their political actions, it is obvious that they do. An entire political party’s “social policy” agenda is being pursued under a rubric that insists women need “permission slips” and “waiting periods.” The recent shutdown? Conservatives holding the country hostage because they want to add anti-abortion “conscience clause” language to legislation. Whose consciences are we talking about? All the morally incompetent and untrustworthy men who need abortions? It’s no exaggeration to say that distrust of women is the driving force of the “social issues” agenda of the Republican Party. From food stamps and “legitimate rape,” to violence against women and immigration policy. “We need to target the mother. Call it sexist, but that’s the way nature made it,” explained the man who penned Arizona’s immigration law. “Men don’t drop anchor babies, illegal alien mothers do.” I could do this ad infinitum. The pervasive message that women are untrustworthy liars is atomized in our culture. There is no one source or manifestation. It fills every nook and cranny of our lives. I find it sad and disturbing that children learn so quickly and normatively to distrust women. Any commitment to parity means challenging the stories we tell them. It means critically assessing the comforting institutions we support out of nostalgia, habit, and tradition. It means walking out of places of worship, not buying certain movie tickets, closing some books, refusing to pay for some music, and politely disagreeing with friends and family at the dinner table. It’s not easy. But, really, what’s the alternative?

Soraya Chemly, How We Teach our Kids Women are Liars (2013)

#L #she's one of those not radical feminists you could still organize with #she also isn't a sloppy thinker or writer

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dovebuffy92 · 4 years

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Check my review of the Mrs. America finale and the rest of the miniseries:https://fandomopolis.com/author/paloma-bennett/

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, neither the ERA movement nor the STOP ERA achieved victory.

Spoilers:

Mrs. America Episode 9 ” Reagan” ends with none of the women getting what they want. Virginia is the third state to ratify the ERA in 2020, finally, but since the Republican Controlled Senate won’t budge, we still don’t have the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution. Phyllis Schlafly and the STOP ERA movement may have delayed the ERA’s ratification, but Schlafly never gained the power she wanted.

The women activists unravel because their male politician’s allies turn on them. Jimmy Carter disrespects the National Advisory Commission for Women by setting a meeting two years after the National Women’s Conference. The meeting is set, so Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus can tell him about the Women’s Bill of Rights. Steinem and Jill are outraged because Carter only agreed to a fifteen-minute meeting. The Feminists point out to Bella that the meeting sounds more like a photo op. They decide to publish a press release stating that Carter is not taking the women who helped get him elected seriously.

After Abzug meets with the President, Jimmy Carter’s Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan fires Bella from her leadership position for her lack of “loyalty” and aggressive nature — the same aggressive outgoing behavior that got her the job in the first place. Bella deflates in front of our eyes as Jordan dresses her down. She begs him to fire her quietly so she can save face. Abzug asks if she can resign from the National Advisory Commission for Women, but the chief of staff snidely tells Bella that he already told the press about her firing.

Gloria Steinem, Jill Ruckelshaus, Midge, Jean O’Leary, Audrey Rowe Colom, and the rest of the women resign from the National Advisory Commission for Women in protest Carter treated one of the Mothers of the second-wave feminist movement. Gloria tells Jordan that the President can no longer expect the ERA movement to vote for him automatically. Jimmy Carter needs to give the Feminists something in the form of policy or political appointments. Both Liberal and Conservative men in authority can be sexist and disrespectful to women, especially older ones who have helped their parties for generations.

The ERA movement weathered a lot in 1979, but Phyllis Schlafly suffers a much bigger fall. At the start of “Reagan,” Phyllis feels like she is on top of the world. She has just taken the Illinois Bar Exam, meaning she no longer needs Fred to bring her legal clout.

Before her political demise, she was at her highest peak of power. Two years prior, Phyllis had hosted a successful “Pro-Family Rally” in Houston to counter-act the National Women’s Conference, so now all of the Republican Presidential Candidates want her endorsement. They know that with Schlafly’s mailing list, they could reach a significant number of potential supporters. She cannot even be brought down when her best friend Alice Macray shows up after not coming to STOP ERA meetings for a year and questions her on the factual accuracy of her newsletters. Schlafly lying about the number of attendees to her rallies reminds me of a particular Republican President.

During the Pro-Family Gala honoring Phyllis, we witness how much she has morally compromised herself so she could have so many supporters. Schlafly has Rosemary Thompson and another STOP ERA member dressing up as Abzug and Steinem to do a satirical dance and song number kicking the two Feminists while they are down. Phyllis gives an inflammatory, sexist, religious, pro-life, and homophobic speech catered to please the Evangelical Christians. Alice Macray silently judges her friend for shifting from merely trying to protect stay-at-home homemakers to pandering to the hateful majority.

When Ronald Reagan’s campaign advisors wish to talk to her, Schlafly has won the political clout that she had always craved. Schlafly endorses Ronald Reagan thinking she would be the first woman to get a Presidential Cabinet appointment. She gives him her whole mailing list. She believes she would finally earn a seat at the table.

In 1981, Ronald Reagan won the election. Phyllis is ecstatic, especially when Reagan calls her personally. Reagan graciously thanks her for the mailing list, saying he would have never succeeded without her, but that he cannot appoint her to any Cabinet positions. The political battle that got her a phone call from the President-Elect made her too polarizing. The Feminist movement would go after him if Phyllis were in the administration. Instead, a Pro-ERA Republican named Jeanne Kirkpatrick became the first woman to serve as a U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.

The series ends with Phyllis Schlafly stiffly telling her husband that she will make dinner. All of her moral comprises, and hard work did not earn her the respect of the men in Washington, D.C. Schlafly walks to the kitchen puts on an apron and starts to make an apple pie. Phyllis transforms back to being a powerless housewife, something that she fought the “right” to be an ironic punishment for a conservative, traditional woman who wants to be in the boy’s club.

As the finale end titles state, the legacy of the 1970’s ERA fight is a polarized country split between Liberals and Conservatives. The genuinely hopeful part of Mrs. America is when Republican and Democratic women work together for the common good. Hopefully, one day we all find a way to all respect one another no matter our political beliefs because we can agree on what is morally right.

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michelles-garden-of-evil · 5 years

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Episode 10 Review: The Stowaway

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Synopses: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

{ Screencaps }

After my long archiving project followed by a week of preparing for the holidays, I have finally found the time to review the next episode of Strange Paradise. After what feels like long last, I finally return to what I created this blog for: reviewing this fun, often baffling show and posting too many pictures of Colin Fox.

In our last episode, eccentric billionaire Jean Paul Desmond and zombie servant Quito sailed to the French Leave Café to visit boring artist Tim Stanton--but only after Tim got to flirt with 20-year-old teenage heiress Holly Marshall and Jean Paul and Quito waste half an episode searching for Raxl for no reason except filler. At the very end, though, Holly stands up and comes face-to-face with the very man she’s been trying to escape: the Reverend Matt Dawson himself, aka Reverend Stalker.

Holly: “If you flew down here to play the good padre to show me the error of my ways, you can just rev up your wings and fly right back again!”

This episode, like the last one, is mostly Holly-centric, focusing on the love triangle between her, Matt, and Tim. Some recap: Matt loves Holly, but Holly doesn’t love him back because she blames him for her mother’s decision to send her to Westley House, his group home for wayward girls. (Mrs. Marshall did all of this with the hopes of keeping the fortune that Holly will soon inherit for herself.) In Episode 7, Holly escaped Westley House and made her way to the French Leave Café, where she began a cliché Hollywood rom-com romance with Tim. Like all healthy relationships in the real world that last and aren’t at all dysfunctional, this romance consists mainly of petty bickering. (I don’t like this subplot much, if you haven’t already figured that out.) Now we get to see the stalker and the boring guy fight over her--or, rather, not fight over her because neither one feels like fighting or even holding a shouting match. Instead, they just have a calm chat about Holly and then Matt leaves.

He’s embarrassed to be playing such a dull character on this show. In a few months, in fact, after he passes out on the sound stage and wakes up in darkness, he will believe that he has died and been sent to Hell as a punishment for bad acting. (Link contains spoilers for the end of the Maljardin arc.) I’m sure that Bruce Gray was most likely kidding, but it’s still a funny story and it still shows that he didn’t think highly of the show or his character.

Vangie of all people advises him to persuade Holly to return with Matt to Westley House just as Holly herself returns after a few minutes of hiding. Tim tells her that Matt “seems like a pretty regular guy” and then adds this, which is probably exactly what Reverend Stalker believes about her:

Stalker logic.

He looks so confused when Holly stomps away from him, obviously not pleased. He follows her, she tells him off, and they bicker some more, him being just as patronizing to her as everyone else so far with his advice to just suck it up, return to Westley House, and wait until her twenty-first birthday to leave. When even Vangie Abbott says patronizing things to you, there’s a problem. God, Holly is almost 21 and everyone so far treats her like she’s 15, even Tim who is probably supposed to be only a few years older. I feel bad for her, not to mention grateful to live in a time when twentysomething women are taken more seriously than in the 1960s.

I promised better screencaps of Jean Paul’s suit in this episode. Not too fond of this one because he looks angry, but still a good, relatively clear shot.

Here he is, doing drugs. ;) No, it’s probably just a sedative.

Jean Paul arrives for Tim, who leaves to put his things on the boat while he goes to the bar to take a pill (not clear what kind, but most likely a sedative like people on the other, more famous Gothic soap take for everything). “I used to read your cards,” Vangie says when she finds him there, “but now I’m afraid to.” (Because of all the death she foresees in the fortunes of everyone connected to him?) Then they chat about her father the Conjure Man, who Jean Paul says “taught [him] a lot about the beyond.” Exactly what he taught him is never explained, making this another unexplored plot point. He also starts to tell her about how he should renew something to do with the Conjure Man (some blessing, maybe?), but is stopped by...

It’s Jacques time!

Why, hello there, Jacquet.

...Jacques Eloi des Mondes! The handsome devil with the huge garnet ring comes out to play once more, because...why not? There isn’t any reason for him to possess Jean Paul at this particular moment (unless it’s Ian Martin’s way of keeping whatever he was about to say a mystery), but, for me, Jacques is always welcome to liven up any scene; I don’t need a reason and perhaps he doesn’t either. Both Vangie and Tim are taken aback by the sudden change in Jean Paul’s demeanor, but it doesn’t stop Tim from boarding the ship to go paint Erica’s portrait.

Jacques talking to Vangie and looking cute.

Such a lovely outfit he’s wearing. Why are none of the men I see in real life this dashing? (Also, look at that huge, clear mike shadow in the top right corner and whatever that string thing is in the top left.)

Tim kisses Vangie goodbye (I kid you not) and leaves her to fear for his safety. When they have arrived on Maljardin, we see them leaving the boat, but the boat is not empty. Someone else stowed away on it, too, and I think you can guess who...

It’s Holly!

She sees Quito and flips out, screaming and trying to fight back when he grabs her. But then he shakes his head as though trying to say, “I don’t want to hurt you or send you back” and gently rubs her hand, then picks up her bags and leads her towards the château. If any of the male characters so far deserve Holly, it’s Quito who is only ever kind and never says or does anything patronizing to her.

Quito rubbing Holly’s hand...

...and leading her towards the château.

Meanwhile back on the mainland, Matt and Vangie discuss, of all things, tarot cards. Matt, you see, is interested in the tarot and other matters of the occult. “A minister should have an interest in all spiritual phenomena,” he explains. "The tarot is the soul's way to God. Any path that leads to God should have a minister's approval." Clearly Matt is not a Christian fundamentalist with their strong disapproval of the occult, and possibly not even a mainline denomination given that he approves--or at least claims to approve--of the tarot. If I had to guess, he is from a very liberal denomination that accepts all religious and spiritual paths as valid. I find it interesting that a character who on the surface seems so much like the Dark Shadows character Gregory Trask (the voice, the Catholic priest outfit he wears in Episode 3, the interest in young women that extends beyond the spiritual) is otherwise so unlike him both in personality and what he professes to believe (the Trask men being outwardly very conservative, crazy fundamentalist types).

He questions her about Holly and she responds that she left, but doesn’t know where, and we cut back to Maljardin, where Quito leads Holly inside. She introduces herself and Jean Paul agrees to let her stay.

Jean Paul, you're so proper. If this were Jacques, he would have said something like, "It's obvious you would like to know the young lady in the Biblical sense.”

Tim makes the obligatory comment about how the portrait of Jacques looks exactly like Jean Paul, so the latter sends him upstairs. When he sits down to rest and rub his head, the handsome devil starts to mock him through the portrait. “Tired?” Jacques coos, feigning sympathy. “Awwww. It’s been a very trying day.”

“No, please,” says Jean Paul. “Not tonight.”

“Now, why do I have to watch you every minute? Bring us no more guests. We have enough”--he snickers--”to resolve our destiny and theirs.”

Jean Paul falls asleep--or at least tries to--in the armchair facing the portrait. The credits to this episode are in a slightly different font than the one used in most episodes.

With this episode, we have the end of the second week of Strange Paradise. Stay tuned for the second Bad Subtitles Special on Friday and my review of Episode 11 next week. Coming in the next episode: Jean Paul and Holly get to know each other, Raxl returns from wherever she was hiding, and that “real swinger” Jacques has a little fun. Stay tuned.

{ <-- Previous: Episode 9 || Next: Episode 11 --> }

#strange paradise #review #gothic soap opera #maljardin arc #week 2 #episode 10 #ian martin #dark shadows #holly/quito #1960s slang #tarot #twentysomethings treated like children #unexplored plot point

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italkstuff · 7 years

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BEDS Day 2: Why I Left the Church

I know. Starting off BEDS with something lighthearted and non-controversial, right? But this is something that’s been on my mind lately, and it’s something that affecting a thing I’ve been trying to do, so I wanted to get it out there.

I grew up in the church. My mother, as many of you already know, was a minister in the United Methodist church. (She’s retired now.) This meant that I attended church like a good little Preacher’s Kid nearly every Sunday for the first eighteen-and-a-half years of my life. This also meant a lot of moving, because that’s the way the UM church works, but that’s not strictly relevant to this story.

So as you can imagine, there was a certain expectation for me. Regular kid doesn’t participate fully in church stuff, no big deal. Preacher’s kid? It’s basically a requirement. My parents never overtly pressured me about my religious choices, but on some level I knew that skipping out on church or exhibiting any reticence toward anything related to the church was pretty much a no-no for me. Fortunately, my mother’s pretty liberal religiously, so I knew that it was okay for me to be thinking some of things I found myself thinking. I just knew better than to say any of it in front of the more conservative members of the churches we attended.

Now, none of this is to say that I didn’t believe in message or stories of Christianity. I did, just not quite in the same way everyone else did. I don’t think I ever fully believed in God as a person. I definitely never believed God was an old white man in the clouds. To me, the perception of what God was wasn’t terribly interesting. The divinity aspect of Christianity didn’t strike me as terribly important. Is God real? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Is there life after death? I didn’t really care about any of these questions. To me, those were just the stories we told to help us understand the faith we were practicing, and you don’t have to believe that stories are literally true for them to have meaning. The more important element of Christianity was the practical one: how we treated other people and how we conducted ourselves in the world. I also felt very strongly that church should challenge people. That it should get people to think outside themselves, to contemplate the greater mysteries of the universe, imagine others complexly, and encourage personal growth.

Fast forward a few years. After I went to college, I still attended church every Sunday for years. I attended the church that my father had attended and where my mother actually started preaching years ago. My grandparents still attended there as well, so I was known. And I had a role to play, singing in the church choir and playing with the bells. In my last year in college, I helped established a campus ministry based at our church. When I started graduate school in the same area, I rejoined that ministry, joined the church staff first as bell choir director and then as praise team leader, and eventually became an actual member of that church. This was my church for years, one that I felt I had chosen for myself, and one that felt like home to me. It’s the reason I was inclined to stay in Northwest Ohio for as long as I did.

At a certain point, though--and it’s honestly difficult to say when this was--the church rhetoric started to sound very empty. I started to notice that my church was very much caught up in its own bubble. Our senior pastor was very timid, didn’t want to rock the boat or make waves, and his preaching reflected that attitude. The sermons he preached were very bland and empty. (It hadn’t always been this way with him, but it became that way.) The associate pastor was, if anything, worse, because he was new and still not very good at preaching, which would have been fine if he’d had a senior pastor willing to mentor him. But our senior pastor wasn’t willing to do that. As a result, people started to leave our church, searching for other places where they could find more spiritual fulfillment. I probably would have too, had I not been working there.

So how did I get caught up in all this? Well, there were two services at my church, a traditional and contemporary style one. The traditional one had been around longer, of course, and the people running it knew what they were doing. But I don’t think either of the pastors really understood contemporary worship, which is the service I was basically running solo. Our pastors noticed that membership was down particularly in the contemporary service, which meant it was up to me to figure out why and fix the problem.

And here’s the thing: I knew perfectly well why people were leaving the church. It was the same reason I wanted to. The preaching sucked, plain and simple. People attending the traditional service didn’t like it any better, but these were the people who had been attending the church for decades, and they weren’t about to leave because of one bad preacher, or even two. Contemporary congregations are a bit more picky, and they can fulfill their contemporary spiritual needs any number of places. But I couldn’t just go in there and straight up say, “You. You’re the problem,” so because I was the only other staff member who worked the contemporary service, it was on my shoulders to make all these fixes.

And I did try. I tried really hard. And I feel like I was making some progress. But I was working a job with a very non-specific job description and absolutely no oversight, which meant they could basically dump all their problems on me, overwork and underpay me, and get away with it. They had done this same thing with a couple other positions at that church in previous years. And I’m not entirely faultless here, because I did take on the burden and I do have a hard time saying no. But after a few months, it got to be way too much pressure, and change wasn’t happening quickly enough for our senior pastor, so he started to go about the business of quietly shoving me out the door. I won’t go into details as to how this happened, but I was basically forced to quit because they were making things so miserable for me there, and I’m not very good at hiding my dissatisfaction. Basically, I got fucked by the church. Big time.

I’m pleased to say that the senior pastor who caused this whole thing is no longer there. But the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t leave the church immediately. I was, at that point, working at a second church, which was much more open and progressive and outward oriented, but that church was also not without its problems, and it eventually closed, because it was a plant church, and that’s what typically happens with plant churches. When it did, I didn’t feel much of a compulsion to seek out another church. I find the religious rhetoric very, very empty now, and I find it difficult to be a part of an institution that feels like it is dying a slow, painful death.

I don’t feel like my beliefs have changed all that much when it comes to spirituality. But I’ve found it increasingly difficult to ignore the hypocrisy of so many of the church’s representatives. And what I’ve come to realize is that religion is really a means to an end. The end is spiritual enlightenment, finding peace with the universe, with the world around us, and with ourselves. That’s always what religion has sought to do, help us understand the world and our place in it. But I feel as though Christianity in particular has become a means unto itself. The goal is not spiritual enlightenment, but rather just sustaining itself, keeping the religion breathing in a world that is increasingly turning away from it. I find it distasteful, and not at all spiritual. So I left. I realize that not all churches are like this, and if you continue to find spiritual enlightenment in the church, that’s wonderful, and I truly do envy you. I wish I still could.

However, I do still seek the kind of fulfillment I had as a church member, and to that end, I see this as something of a spiritual journey for me, an opportunity to find that kind of fulfillment elsewhere.

More on how that’s going in a later post. Tomorrow will be something lighter and happier, I promise. Until then, friends and fellow VEDS/BEDSies!

#church #christianity #agnostism

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castawayeric-blog · 7 years

Photo

CHARACTER SHEET: ERIC ALEXANDER ANDERSEN

Oh I'm out in the waves / I'm hoping and praying / Please let this wind blow me home / Night after night there's an empty horizon / And my God do I feel so alone / Sometimes life, most times I, feel just like a sailboat

Basic Information

Full Name: Eric Alexander Andersen

Nickname(s): None! ( yet. )

Age: 25

Date of Birth: August 18th

Hometown: Copenhagen, Denmark

Current Location: Swynlake, England

Ethnicity: White

Nationality: Danish

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He / Him

Orientation: Straight / Heterosexual

Religion: Christianity

Political Affiliation: Definitely more liberal but has some conservative values thanks to Dad.

Occupation: Sailor / Lifeguard

Living Arrangements: Has his own apartment in Swynlake

Language(s) Spoken: English, Danish, French, German, and ( learning Gaelic )

Accent: You can tell he has a bit of an accent from a different Europian country with certain words but for the most part he’s lost it with how many other languages he speaks

Physical Appearance

Face Claim: Chris Wood

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Blue

Height: 6′0

Weight: 208 lbs

Build: Average, Slim but decent build

Tattoos: He’s got one sleeve of sailor jerry styled tattoos ( it sort of looks like this )

Piercings: None

Scars: A few on his arms, chest, and legs. Training.

Clothing Style: He likes his plain V-necks and hoodies with jeans

Usual Expression:

Health

Physical Ailments: None.

Neurological Conditions: ( PTSD - Survivor’s Guilt ) Eric suffers from Survivor’s Guilt associated with being the only survivor of the shipwreck. He lost his entire crew, some of which were childhood friends, and definitely questions why he deserved to survive when they didn’t. Certain events trigger his PTSD and thunder storms tends to be one of those things. He can have panic attacks and only feel safe if he’s inside.

Allergies: None.

Sleeping Habits: Eric tends to sleep late as he just can’t fall asleep early and wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares. If he does manage to stay asleep, he still tends to wake up early in the morning so he can get started with the day.

Eating Habits: He has rather healthy eating habits and often fishes to get his meals? His mother keeps his bank account stocked on the down low so he takes care of himself for her.

Exercise Habits: He goes to the gym every other day and every morning he goes sailing so he’s pretty fit.

Emotional Stability: 7 out 10. He’s very good at hiding what’s hurting him and what happened but when he deals with his trauma it’s clear not everything is okay.

Sociability: He’s both an extrovert and an introvert. He needs interaction with people to feel better but when he has too much interaction he needs to take a step back and be by himself for a second.

Body Temperature: Cold hands, Warm heart

Addictions: None.

Drug Use: None. ( Takes medication for his PTSD )

Alcohol Use: On occasion! He is a sailor.

Personality

Label: The lost hero.

Positive Traits: Kind, flirtatious, sophisticated, fun-loving

Negative Traits: Secretive, Tractable, Impulsive, Rebellious

Goals/Desires: To sail away without a plan

Fears: Having to kill someone or something else

Hobbies: Sailing, drinking, exploring

Habits: He bites his lip sometimes when he’s talking. Especially when he’s nervous.

Favourites

Weather: Sunny skies with a nice breeze

Colour: Dark Blue and Gold

Music: He likes his rock music but then likes 60s music too?

Movie: Saving Private Ryan

Sport: Water Polo & Hockey

Beverage: Water

Food: ...Fish...

Animal: Also fish! He thanks them for their sacrifice lol.

Family

Father: Edward Andersen

Mother: Christina Andersen

Siblings: None ( But has someone that’s like a little sister to him )

Children: None

Pet: Max, an old english sheepdog

Family’s Financial Status: Very Wealthy

Extra

Zodiac Sign: Leo

MBTI: ESTJ

Enneagram: 8, The Protector

Temperament: Sanguine

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Good

Primary Vice: Wrath

Primary Virtue: Courage

Element: Water

#eric | ( about )#eric | ( inspo )#character sheet #( whoop! One done! )

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fear-god-shun-evil · 6 years

Text

I No Longer Say, “If …” – Spiritual Awakening

Christian marriage | By Xiaoju Xinlian wept and complained, “How could I marry you? You are capable of nothing. I can never enjoy a happy life with you in all my life. If …” Her husband sat there in silence, with a helpless look. After her husband went to work, Xinlian sat there and fell into a reverie. Scenes of the past leaped before her eyes, and her thoughts ran back over the past …

Xinlian has a gift for singing. When she was in primary school, she won the first place in the school singing contest. Once, a theatrical college came to her school to recruit students. Her teacher specially informed her to take the examination. On the day when she took the examination, she wore new clothes, and walked toward the examination room happily. She was glad to have the chance to show herself. She wished for a good result to reflect credit on her parents and her school. The exam began. She waited outside the room excitedly …

“Next one, Xinlian.” When hearing her name called, Xinlian was pleased and nervous. After all, it was the first time for her to encounter such a situation. Meanwhile, it also was an opportunity for her to change her fate. She walked into examination room with vigorous strides. The recruiter asked her, “How old are you?” “Twelve,” answered she. The recruiter said, “Well, only twelve. No, you are too young. It must be thirteen at least.” Immediately, her smile faltered. Her dream ended in smoke in an instant. She then thought, “Alas! If only I had told them I was 13 when entering my name.” She didn’t know how she went back home that day.

When Xinlian was in junior high school, her sister couldn’t go to work because she was sick. So their parents wanted Xinlian to replace her sister’s work. However, Xinlian persistently clung to her studies. Her parents had to agree with her. Later, she fell to pass the college entrance examination. Her parents knew she had a good foundation in study, so they repeatedly advised her to cram for the examination. Yet, caring about face, she put an end to her studies, no matter what her parents said.

When she started to reach marrying age, her high school classmate Li Bin asked to marry her. He was a city dweller and promised that he would find her a job if they got married. At that time, it was hard for some people to get in with the townsfolk. But Xinlian was conservative: She felt shy to be in love with her classmate. Consequently, she chose her current husband.

After she got married, her father-in-law died of illness, and her husband became a laid-off worker. Her husband was supposed to replace his father’s work. However, in order to ease their mother of her burden, they allowed their brother to be the replacement.

In her spare time, Xinlian always thought: If I had said I was 13 years old when taking the entrance exam for acting school, then my fate perhaps would have been changed. If I had taken my sister’s place at work that year, maybe … If I had accepted my parents’ suggestions and crammed for the exam, I probably would have gotten in to university. If I had chosen to marry my classmate, maybe … If my husband had been the successor, maybe… Recalling this, she lamented over the setbacks she had suffered, over her changing fortunes, and wondered why she couldn’t control her fate. She often regretted her past wrong choices. For this reason, she looked up to heaven to sigh deeply, and the more she thought about it, the more she suffered, sinking into the scenes of “If … maybe …”, and unable to escape. And these also confused her.

One day, Xinlian came across her old classmate Yanmin. They had not seen each other for several years. After greetings, her classmate asked her how things were with her. Xinlian tirelessly told her classmate about her years of ifs and maybes. Seeing Xinlian’s perplexed look, Yanmin tapped her on the shoulder and comforted her, “There are not so many ifs in our life. A common saying goes, ‘Human fate is ordained by Heaven.’ You need not live in pain all day. Here is a book. The word within it is very good. Let me read for you, ‘From the moment you come crying into this world, you begin to perform your duty. You assume your role in the plan of God and in the ordination of God. You begin the journey of life. Whatever your background and whatever the journey ahead of you, none can escape the orchestration and arrangement that Heaven has in store, and none are in control of their destiny, for only He who rules over all things is capable of such work’ (‘God Is the Source of Man’s Life’). ‘Your temperament, caliber, appearance, stature, family in which you were born, your job and your marriage, the entirety of you, even the color of your hair and your skin, and the time of your birth were all arranged by My hands. Even the things you do and the people you meet every single day are arranged by My hands, not to mention the fact that bringing you into My presence today is actually My arrangement. Do not throw yourself into disorder; you should proceed calmly’” (“The Seventy-fourth Utterance”). Hearing these words with authority, Xinlian nodded her head ceaselessly, as if she found the answer. Indeed, no one can control his fate. Looking back over the past years, she had experienced lots of matters great or small, and so many of them were mistakes, but she was unable to do anything with them, and moreover, she was in control of nothing. … Yanmin saw her thoughtful air, saying, “What roles we play in our life are predestined by God. Everyone has his own duty and mission. Our families in which we were born, our jobs and our marriages all are arranged by God. No one can escape from the Creator’s orchestrations and arrangements. Because you haven’t come before God, don’t know the Creator, and don’t believe in His orchestrations and arrangements, you have been resisting them all along, with the result that you are living in such pain. If we can defer to the authority of the Creator, then we won’t have so many ifs and we won’t live in pain. Just as this passage of words says, ‘Only when one accepts the Creator’s sovereignty, submits to His orchestrations and arrangements, and seeks true human life, will one gradually break free from all heartbreak and suffering, shake off all the emptiness of life’” (“God Himself, the Unique III”).

Listening to what Yanmin read, Xinlian felt these words really were good. Later, they usually read these words together, and shared their feelings and understandings with each other.

One day, Xinlian saw the words in the book, “Because people do not recognize God’s orchestrations and God’s sovereignty, they always face fate defiantly, with a rebellious attitude, and always want to cast off God’s authority and sovereignty and the things fate has in store, hoping in vain to change their current circumstances and alter their fate. But they can never succeed; they are thwarted at every turn. This struggle, which takes place deep in one’s soul, is painful; the pain is unforgettable; and all the while one is frittering away one’s life. What is the cause of this pain? Is it because of God’s sovereignty, or because a person was born unlucky? Obviously neither is true. At bottom, it is because of the paths people take, the ways people choose to live their lives. … After you recognize this, your task is to lay aside your old view of life, stay far from various traps, let God take charge of your life and make arrangements for you, try only to submit to God’s orchestrations and guidance, to have no choice, and to become a person who worships God” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). Not until she read these words did she realize that the reason why she lived in pain was not because God doesn’t rule well, nor because her fate arranged by God is bad, but because after having been corrupted by Satan, she always relied on the rule of life “The fate of man is controlled by his own hands” to live, wanted to control her fate, and failed to obey the situations orchestrated by God. This is actually the base means by which Satan corrupts and deceives man to stay away from God. For these sakes, she lived in pain. After understanding this, she came before God and prayed to Him. She resolved to bid farewell to her previous lifestyle, leave her all under the control of God, obey the Creator’s plans and His sovereignty in her rest time, and follow God to live a meaningful life.

Xinlian then read these words to her husband, and he nodded approvingly. Afterward, with the fellowship of a friend, her husband also accepted God’s work. On one occasion, due to a small thing, she complained about her husband again, “If …” Her husband interrupted her, and said seriously, “Everything has been predetermined by God. You have no way to control yourself, nor do I. Only obeying the Creator’s plans and His sovereignty is the wisest option. …” At his words, she was so ashamed that she could find no words. From then on, she didn’t say, “If …”; rather, she learned to obey the Creator’s plans and His sovereignty in everything. Practicing in this way, she felt more and more relaxed, free, liberated.

#Christian life #Christian Marriage

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recklesslatina · 7 years

Text

Biography

ｘｔ��ｅｆａｃｔｓｘ "ʜᴀʟꜰ ᴏꜰ ᴍy ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ɪꜱ ɪɴ ʜᴀᴠᴀɴᴀ"

Name: Alejandra Carlyn Lopez Nickname: Ali, Cubanita Date of Birth: 1st June Zodiac: Gemini Place of Birth: Habana del Este, Havana, Cuba Current Place: Brooklyn, NYC, New York, USA Nationality: Cuban Spoken languages: Spanish (native language), English & Portuguese Height: 5′2 ft / 1,52 m Weight: 110 lbs / 50 kg Blood Type: B- Religion: Christian Job: Aurologist trainee at the MACUSA Religion: Christian

ｘａｌｌａｂｏｕｔｔｈｅｍａｇｉｃｘ "ᴄᴀʟʟ ɪᴛ ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ, ᴄᴀʟʟ ɪᴛ ᴛʀᴜᴇ"

first visible signs of magic: at the age of six. A mirror exploded when she got angry was told she is a witch: when she was four Wand: Fir wood with a phoenix feather core, 9 ¾" and reasonably supple flexibility Patronus: Adder Animagus: A bunny (registered) animal companion: a black tabby cat named midnight

ｘｆａｍｉｌｙｘ "ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏᴏᴛꜱᴛᴇᴩꜱ, ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ꜱᴀɪᴅ"

Father: José Lopez, Captain of the Aurors at the Cubanian Minsitry of Magic Mother: Charo Lopez, interior decorator Brother: Pedro Lopez, Quidditch Correspondent noteable ancestors: Carlos Lopez, one of the original twelve Aurors of the MACUSA

ｘｅｄｕｃａｔｉｏｎｘ "ɪ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ꜱᴇɴꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ɢᴇᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀy"

former School: Ilvermorny former house: Thunderbird graduated: yes E.A.G.L.E. grade point average: Mastery, Exceptional H.A.R.E. grade point average: Good favorite subjects: Divination, No-Maj Studies, Research of Enchanted Species least favorite subjects: Native American Magical Culture (NAMC), Potions, Herbology former exchange student at: Hogwarts former house sorted to: Gryffindor Year of exchange: 6th

ｘａｐｐｅａｒａｎｃｅｘ "ɪ'ᴍ ɪɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜᴀᴩᴇ ᴏꜰ yᴏᴜ"

Ethnicy: Latina Eye color: dark brown Hair color: dark brown Hair structure: a little wavy Dyed: no Length: long Face shape: oval Lips: full Nose: small and defined

Style: Alejandra has a rather girly style. She likes dresses but for work she mostly wears a pair of jeans and a shirt because it appears to be more useful. She mostly wears small studs, but changes them if she is going out with friends Tattoos: none Piercings: none Glasses/Contacts: yes, both

Left/right handed: left handed

ｘｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｉｓｔｉｃｓｘ "ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ yᴏᴜ ᴛʀy ᴛᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴏʀᴍ"

Personal Motto: “Life is short; but it barely takes a second to smile.“ (Cuban saying) Theme Song: Camila Cabello - She loves control Alternate Theme songs: Camila Cabello - Real Friends Dua Lipa - Rules

Keywords: self-confident, feminist, feisty, honest, dreamer Biggest fear: small spaces Hobbys: exploring the city, shopping, traveling, heading to clubs with friends, playing with her cat positive traits:

adventurous

kind

compassionate

tolerant

enthusiastic

observant

brave

witty

passionate

conscientious

reliable

determined

negative traits:

bashful (at first)

absent-minded

cold-hearted (but has a soft core)

unorganized

feisty

lazy

moody

reckless

tactless

ｘｆａｖｏｒｉｔｅｓｘ "ɪ'ᴠᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍɪꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇꜱ"

Color: teal & coral Food: Cuban Food, ice cream and fast food Non-alcoholic drink: iced-tea Alcoholic drink: Mojito Music: RnB, Pop, Latin Artists: Beyonce, Maluma, Jóse Balvin, Luis Fonsi, Rihanna Season: Spring time of the day: evening/night Flowers: Tulips Enchanted animal: Niffler non-enchanted animal: Cat

ｘｓｔｏｒｙｘ "ᴡʜᴏ ᴀʀᴇ yᴏᴜ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ?"

Alejandra was born in Cuba and lived there all of her life until she moved to New York at the age of 18. She was born to a wizard father and a no-maj mother. Her parents never had a easy time being together. Her ancestor, Carlos Lopez, was one of the original twelve Aurors and ever since then her family had quite a high reputation in the wizwarding world and they could look back on generations of Aurors, following in the steps of Carlos Lopez. Although the wizarding community was for sure more accepting concerning no-majs, they were still proud on their heritage. Her father however fell in love with a cuban no-maj woman during a vacation and when she appeared just a few months later in New York, being pregnant with Alejandra's older brother Pedro, he immediately told her he would support her in any way he could. His conservative father was however not content with his son's decision and kicked him out of the house. He then moved with Alejandra's mother together back to Cuba, where Pedro, and three years later Alejandra, were born. Alejandra's parents José and Charo eventually married and Jose told his wife about him being a wizard even before Pedro showed any magical signs. While Pedro attended Castelobruxo, Alejandra begged her parents to go to Ilvermorny. She wanted to know more about the country she actually came from.

Alejandra was sorted to Thunderbird, which became her home for the next seven, well six years as she attended Hogwarts as a exchange student during her sixth year. Alejandra even stayed in Ilvermorny during some vacations and explored the mountains near the castle with her friends. Once she graduated, she applied at the MACUSA and went through several selection tests to find the best fitting job for her. Alejandra ended up in the Aurologist training. Found just fiveteen years ago, because the wizarding community kept expanding, new spots for them had to be found, and magical crimes had to be solved and hiring experts from foreign countries was too expensive after a while, the Aurology Department was the smallest in the MACUSA. Alejandra was only one of two trainees in the department and close to finishing her training. It was not an easy job and beside a lot of talent wizards and witches mostly needed a lot of perseverance and devotion to pass the exhausting training. She loved her Job and the large amount of traveling she could do during it.

ｘｌｏｖｅ，ｌｏｖｅ，ｌｏｖｅｘ "ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ʟᴇꜱꜱ ʟᴏɴᴇʟy ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ"

Sexual orientation: straight First boyfriend: a fellow Thunderbird student at the age of 14 Number of ex-boyfriends: 3 Number of sexual partners: 9 Current relationship status: Single

ｘｏｏｃｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎｘ "ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ꜱᴇᴇ yᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴛɪʀᴇᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴄᴛɪɴɢ"

Faceclaim: Camila Cabello Writer: ʙᴀᴢɪɴɢᴀ Experience: +12 years Style: 3rd person simple present perfect f.e. “She has worked a lot “ Length: Anything between 1-15 tweets (usually)

Rules:

please try to write more than just a few words. It is depressing if you put a lot of effort in tweets and all you get is a 5 word reply. (this doesn't go for banter)

If ever there should be a problem: DM me, not anyone else. I am sick of hearing from others "Hey a friend of mine is really annoyed by what you did/wrote". If you don't come to me, don't ask others to do it. No TL drama!

I will not accept racism, homophobia and discrimination (unless it is only in RP and is planned between two RPers)

And the most important: HAVE FUN! This is (at least for me) an escape from real life and fun is my no. 1 priority.

ｘｓｏｕｒｃｅｓｘ "ɪ'ʟʟ ᴩᴀɪɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴩɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ, ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ꜱᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴄᴇɴᴇ"

Ilvermorny Subjects

a big thanks to Σмεяαld, whose super detailed bio inspired me to write this one. Follow her!

This List of Character Traits by Eddie is a real help

#Bio

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