#number 11 was indeed cruel summer.

[starlingsrps]

no rules in breakable heaven.

the white nights arrive as anna realizes she isn’t just very fond of theo but is in love. she’s never been in love before - fond of peter in a way that she supposes is expected when wearing a man’s ring and with a wedding on the horizon. 

but this is love and it’s wonderful and it’s terrible at the same time. she can’t not look for him in a crowded room or attend his readings, even if there’s something else she should probably attend instead. they find each other in the rare times of the day she has to herself and she feels safe with him. she feels so loved that she feels like she might burst from it.

terrible because she absolutely can’t tell a single soul about this. not even her maid marta and she tells marta absolutely everything. if anyone notices the stars in her eyes and the lightness of her step, let them think it’s for the wedding rapidly approaching in september. let them imagine that she’s slipping out of parties to meet peter in the twilight gardens, never mind that peter is very easily found at the card tables. let them all think whatever they want.

he’s tender with her and it pains her to realize how little of that she’s had. it feels like she’s always being tugged this way and that, that some part of her clothes is always pinching or too heavy for her. she’s asked one thing by someone, something completely contradictory by someone else and she must figure out how to make them both happen. to be alone with theo, who expects nothing from her and simply loves her in return, is a bittersweet balm for bruises she hadn’t realized had been there for so long. 

he writes love poems and though she’s a very excellent courtier and can keep her face schooled, she knows they’re for her and it takes all of her self control to not smile like a loon. he writes beautifully and it’s all for her. after he finishes, there’s a party that spills from the drawing room onto the terrace in a warm summer night with a twilight that will last until dawn. she manages, through a series of choreographed nods and tilts of the head, to suggest a meeting in the english garden with its tall hedges.

she paces while she waits, the gravel crunching under her heels. when he appears around a hedge, the love bursts. she forgets herself with him. the years of training and etiquette and manners vanish. she loops her arms around his neck and kisses him. his arms wrap around her waist and he lifts her, swinging her like a bell.

“you were wonderful,” she says.

his arms tighten to keep her close and she imagines that she can feel the heat of his hands through layers of silk and whalebone. his smile sinks into her marrow. “i have a most excellent muse,” he says, kissing her again. “you liked it?”

“i loved it. i love you.”

his smile softens. “i love you.”

“will you stay tonight?” she asks hopefully, knowing all too well that he’ll slip away when they go back inside. he doesn’t like the parties that come after they’ve all been sufficiently cultured for the evening. if it’s becoming harder by the day for her to pretend with peter, she can’t imagine how hard it is for him. 

his grasp loosens and she slides back to the ground. he shakes his head. “i can’t tonight.”

anna tries for charming. “you say that every night.”

it doesn’t work. “i can’t read what i wrote about you and then watch you with someone else, anna.”

she feels him draw back and it hurts. she’s never been told before how badly love can hurt and she’s unprepared for it every time it aches. she cups his cheek in her hand and rubs her gloves thumb over his cheekbone. “it doesn’t matter when it’s just us. it can’t. theo. please.”

his head drops for a moment but he presses his lips to her palm. “i’m trying. i know you are too.”

“then stay. peter and my brothers won’t leave the card room and if we’re careful…” she trails off and sighs, a soft sound that’s the closest she’s ever let herself come to expressing any disappointment. “alright.”

[starbornvalkyrie]

acotar one sentence summary

T-minus four months until the A Court of Silver Flame release! In preparation for this long-awaited book, I will be posting one-sentence-per-chapter summaries of ACOTAR, ACOMAF, ACOWAR, and ACOFAS on the 16th of each month.

Also, if you haven’t seen SJM’s sneak peek, you can find it on insta or on this meme by @illyrianwitchling. it’s a mood. and i am deceased.

**Spoiler Warning** This is NOT a blurb or a review. I literally summarized each chapter in one sentence. Yes, they are some of the longest run-on sentences I have ever written and would definitely be flagged by every English teacher ever. And yes, I definitely over-used the semicolon, conjunctions, lists, and pretty much most syntax in the English language. But no, I did not care if the sentences were better split into two or more. It was more fun this way, and easier to keep track of.

Absolutely everything about this belongs to the queen, Sarah J. Maas.

Without further ado, if you lack the time to read everything again, have no fear! Just keep reading below the cut, and enjoy! [The numbers at the beginning of the paragraphs indicate the chapter numbers if you want to skip to certain parts!]

Final Word Count: 2863

[ 1 ] It’s winter and snowing; Feyre is hunting for food when a wolf--that may or may not be a faerie--kills a deer, but she kills the wolf with an ash arrow, skins it, and takes the pelt and the deer home. When Feyre gets home, her father and older sisters--Nesta and Elain--eat the deer, then Feyre and Nesta argue over pretty much everything, especially Nesta’s imminent engagement to Tomas Mandray. The next day, Feyre sold the wolf pelt and deer hide to a mercenary who warned her about faeries crossing the wall while Nesta and Elain were harassed by the Children of the Blessed--people who worship faeries like gods; their dinner that night was interrupted by a roar.

[ 4 ] A faerie in beast-form demands retribution for his wolf friend who was murdered--a life for a life--so Feyre opts to go with the faerie to live out the rest of her days in Prythian, the faerie realm. Feyre and the beast-faerie travel north on horseback, but Feyre doesn’t remember most of it because the male used magic to render her unconscious until they reached Prythian.

[ 6 ] When they reach the beast’s estate, he shifts back into his Fae form, Feyre meets Lucien--an emissary--and she notices that everyone is wearing a mask; Alis--a servant--takes Feyre to a lavish room where she bathed, groomed, clothed, and warned her to talk less, smile more, and listen. She finally dines with Lucien and the beast-fae--whose name is Tamlin--and decides both of them are assholes; the next day she wanders the estate and admires beautiful paintings until Tamlin finds her and tells are about the blight that has plagued Prythian, which also explains why everyone is stuck in a mask. When Feyre was wandering through the gardens, she heard giggling and felt someone watching her but only noticed a silver shimmer; at dinner it seemed like Lucien and Tamlin were trying to get to know her better, and she told them her mother died of Typhus when she was eight.

[ 9 ] In an attempt to get Lucien to talk to Tamlin about freeing her, Feyre went with him on his patrol of the border, but her attempts were futile, and, instead, he let slip that there was a her related to the magic that forced them to keep their masks on; they kept up their banter until Lucien warned her to do nothing but look straight ahead when Feyre felt it. A cold presence overtook them as the Bogge appeared, and after it left, Lucien explained that once one acknowledges the Bogge, it can kill you; Lucien told Tamlin about it when they got back which urged Tamlin went to go hunt for it, and when Feyre was looking out the window waiting for him to return, she saw her father in the garden.

[ 11 ] Before she could get far, Tamlin finds her and makes her realize that it wasn’t her father, but a puca, and warned her that the wards between territories have weakened and everything has changed; Tamlin hunts the Bogge day and night without help after he tells Feyre that her family is fed and comfortable, while Feyre has nightmares about killing Andras. 

[ 12 ] Though she is illiterate, Feyre walked the halls of the estate trying to make a map until Tamlin returned, injured, from killing the Bogge, so she went to the infirmary to help his wound; Feyre overheard a conversation about Tamlin “running out of time” and Lucien forced Tamlin to spend time with Feyre, leading Feyre to admit she does not like hunting, so Tamlin brought her to the study. 

[ 13 ] In the study, Feyre tried to teach herself to read so that she may send a letter to her family, but on a break, she discovered a mural depicting the story of Prythian--along with the seven courts; after fighting with Tamlin about denying his help in writing the letter, Feyre went to Lucien to ask how to catch a Suriel. In her success with trapping the Suriel, Feyre discovers that Tamlin is the High Lord of the Spring Court, learns about the King of Hybern, is warned to Stay with the High Lord, and is about to learn about one of a disobedient commander from Hybern called The Deceiver, when four naga--terrifying faeries made of shadow and rot--found them in the clearing. Feyre freed the Suriel, killed one naga, ran away, killed a second naga with her knife when it grabbed her, was saved by Tamlin who killed the last two, and was healed by him as well--they shared a moment. 

[ 16 ] After Feyre cleaned up from the attack, she met Lucien and Tamlin for dinner where they told her that faeries can indeed lie and are unharmed by iron and that Feyre’s family know she’s okay and know to run at the first sign of something amiss due to a threat in Prythian; Feyre is so grateful, she opens up to Tamlin a little more and asks for paint which he responds to by offering to show her the gallery--sparks are beginning to fly.

[ 17 ] Feyre woke from a nightmare only to hear shouting from Tamlin as he carried a faerie with his wings cut off, and when Tamlin realized there was no way to save him, Feyre held the faerie’s hand until he died and a little while after that; when Tamlin walked Feyre back upstairs, she expressed her regret and sorrow for killing his friend.

[ 18 ] The next day, Tamlin and Lucien took Feyre to a beautiful landscape where Tamlin showed Feyre a pool of starlight and revealed a bit of Lucien’s background--he is the youngest son of the High Lord of the Autumn Court--and as the swam in starlight, Feyre told Tamlin about her father’s demise and her years in the woods; on the ride back to the manor, Lucien told Feyre he was sorry that he hesitated when he heard her scream from the naga attack and gifted her his jeweled hunting knife.

[ 19 ] When Feyre’s painting supplies arrived, Tamlin showed her the gallery, and she began to paint and paint for weeks and weeks until one day, they shared a moment in the gardens; Tamlin told Feyre about his parents, how he became High Lord when his entire family was killed, and was in the middle of explaining Calanmai--Fire Night--when the Attor, invisible to Feyre, came to confront Tamlin about how much time he has left and to not break his terms with her.

[ 20 ] The day of Calanmai arrived, and Tamlin ordered Feyre to lock herself in her room until morning, so she did--until she didn’t; Feyre followed the drums to find some sort of firelit party filled with High Fae, and when three of them tried to lure her away, the “most beautiful man she’d ever seen” saved her from them. Feyre thanked the stranger then walked away and found Lucien who angrily brought her back to the manor as he explained that magic is going to take over Tamlin and force him to mate with a random female for the good of the land; when the Great Rite is over, Tamlin finds Feyre and expresses how badly he wanted it to be her instead--shows it by biting her neck.

[ 21 ] Feyre and Tamlin tease each other about the night before and apologize for their behaviors at lunch the next day, and for dinner, Feyre asks Alis to dress her up in a gown rather than the tunic she usually wears; Feyre brought Tamlin to the room she’s been painting in, showing him a painting she did of the pool of starlight, as well as various images of her life in the mortal lands, and Tamlin chooses to keep the painting of the woods she used to hunt in. The next day, Feyre and Tamlin were in the enchanted forest where he granted her fae senses that allow her to truly experience Prythian--they have another moment.

[ 23 ] When Feyre wakes up, she finds Alis in her natural form and is able to see all of the fae who were hidden from her initially; she went to go paint in the garden but is startled by a head spiked to the top of the fountain, and Tamlin and Lucien claimed it was the High Lord of the Night Court’s idea of a cruel joke.

[ 24 ] The Summer Solstice came, and although the blight seems to be getting more intense, the denizens of the Spring Court partied; they danced, drank wine, Tamlin played the fiddle, then he took her to a meadow and kissed her and watched the sunrise. Despite the great night they had, Lucien informed them the next day that the blight took out two dozen Winter Court younglings, then a silence came over them, and Tamlin ordered Lucien to glamour Feyre to hide her from the High Lord of the Night Court, Rhysand; Feyre listened as he taunted Tamlin and Lucien, learning about a woman named Amarantha until Rhysand discovers she’s there and seizes control of her mind until she told him her name is Clare Beddor.

[ 26 ] The encounter with Rhysand scared Tamlin so badly, he told Feyre that he was sending her back to the mortal realm; as a send-off, they made love until the morning, and before she drifted to sleep, Tamlin expressed that he loved her, thorns and all. Alis dressed Feyre in wealthy human clothing, Lucien pleaded with Tamlin to let her stay, but Tamlin sent her off with an “I love you” and a promise that he will see her again; when she arrives at her family’s new estate, Elain tells her how they got their fortune back excitedly, while Nesta was a more wary of her return.

[ 28 ] Elain shows Feyre her garden, prattling on about the social season and how Nesta tried to visit Feyre only to have her carriage break down and have to return; Feyre’s father finished counting the gold and jewels that Tamlin sent with Feyre, so she went to the cottage her family used to live in and found the path she took into the forest, longing for Tamlin to call her back to Prythian. Feyre handed out gold and silver coins to villagers, sneered at Tomas Mandray who was talking about a house that burned down with the whole family in it, and wished the best to Isaac and his new wife; back at the estate, Nesta told Feyre that Tamlin’s glamour didn’t work on her and how she tried to cross the wall but couldn’t find a way through, so Feyre told her the story of her time in Prythian, then Nesta asked her to teach her how to paint.

[ 30 ] After the ball Feyre’s father threw in her honor, she finds out that Clare Beddor’s family’s home was burned down and no one survived, so she tells Nesta and Elain to prepare for anything amiss coming from Prythian--she had to go back; it took her days, but Feyre finally found her way through the wall and to the Spring Court, only to find the manor wrecked, Tamlin nowhere to be found. Feyre finds Alis packing to flee the Spring Court, and she tells her the story of Amarantha, Jurian, and Clythia, and about the curse she put on Tamlin and his court for forty-nine years; Feyre finds out all she needed to do was tell Tamlin that she loves him, but it’s too late for that, so she asks Alis how to get Under the Mountain.

[ 32 ] Alis took Feyre all the way to a cave entrance that will take her Under the Mountain, and as Feyre snuck through the cave and tried to figure out where to go, the Attor found her. The Attor took Feyre to Amarantha’s throne room where she saw Tamlin seated next to her and found out they tortured Clare Beddor until she died; Amarantha made a deal with Feyre where she is to complete three trials on the full moon or solve a riddle to break Tamlin’s curse--or die--and then the Attor beat her. 

[ 34 ] Feyre woke in a dungeon with a broken nose and various injuries and waited until Lucien came and healed her a bit while also confirming that Amarantha keeps a hold of Jurian’s’ eye and finger bone; at some point, she is brought before Amarantha again, and the High Queen used Rhysand to trap Lucien’s mind until Feyre gave up her name, then Amarantha gave her the riddle that would free everyone immediately if she answers correctly.

[ 35 ] The first full moon and Feyre’s first trial came: she had to hunt the Middengard Wyrm in a labyrinth of mud, so Feyre set a trap made of bones in its lair and covered herself with the mud to make herself invisible to the blind worm; her plan worked, though she impaled her arm on bone, and when she was faced with Amarantha, she threw a bone in her direction before Amarantha told her only one person bet she would win--it was Rhysand.

[ 36 ] Feyre waited in pain for days until her fever spiked and Rhysand came to her cell to heal her, but at a cost; in return for healing her, Feyre is to spend one week a month in the Night Court with Rhysand after they were freed from Under the Mountain, and since it is apparently custom in his court for bargains to be permanently marked upon flesh, Feyre received a tattoo of dark blue designs on her left hand to her elbow.

[ 37 ] Between trials, the guards instructed Feyre to clean the floor of the hallway or else they will turn her over a fire, but they gave her dirty water that only made the floor dirtier, so she was about to give up when Lucien’s mother came and made the water clean in exchange for Feyre saving Lucien’s life; their next chore was to dig lentils from the ashes in Rhysand’s room, but he used magic again to help her, then used his powers to convince the guards to keep their hands off her and to stop giving her household chores.

[ 38 ] Every night until her next task, Feyre was bathed, painted, and dressed to become Rhysand’s plaything for evening festivities, but he always forced her to drink the wine so that she would not remember--though the paint on her body revealed that Rhysand never touched her anywhere but modest places; Amarantha caught a summer lordling trying to escape, so she used Rhysand to discover why, and, for whatever reason, he lied and said he was alone and gave the faerie a swift death, rather than shattering his mind like Amarantha asked.

[ 39 ] Feyre’s second task came: she had to solve a riddle to pull a lever or else she and Lucien would be crushed by a heated platform of spikes--but Feyre can’t read, so when she went for the wrong lever, pain from Rhysand flared in her hand until she hovered over the correct one; Rhysand--in her mind--instructed her back to her cell with dignity, where she wept until he came to visit her and licked her tears away--effectively keeping her from shattering completely.

[ 40 ] Again, Feyre spent every night after that as Rhysand’s plaything, until there was one night that they overheard the Attor and some other creature talking about the King of Hybern’s disappointment in Amarantha; Feyre almost broke after that until beautiful music entered her cell and took her away, if even for a moment.

[ 41 ] During the last party before her final trial, Feyre and Tamlin finally got a moment to sneak off together, but Rhysand found them and kissed Feyre until Amarantha saw to disguise the paint Tamlin ruined; later, Rhys went to Feyre’s cell and confided in her how unhappy and tired of Amarantha’s games he is, and she finds out he is targeted because it was Rhysand’s father who killed Tamlin’s family.

[ 42 ] Feyre’s final task is to stab three innocent faeries in the heart with an ash dagger, and though the first two kills were easy, something broke inside of her, and then shattered when she beheld Tamlin as the third faerie; Alis had told Feyre to listen, and from that, Feyre remembered that Tamlin’s heart is made of stone, therefore she could not kill him, so she said “I love you” and then stabbed him.

[ 43 ] Amarantha did not free everyone right away, but began to beat Feyre--and also Rhysand when he made moves to help her--trying to force her to say she doesn’t really love Tamlin, but Feyre figured out the answer to her riddle--love--and then Amarantha snapped her neck. Feyre watched from Rhysand’s mind as Lucien and the Spring Court removed their masks before Tamlin’s beast killed Amarantha; each of the Seven High Lords of Prythian came forward to sprinkle a kernel of their powers onto Feyre’s body in exchange for what she did for them--for freeing them.

[ 45 ] The High Lords made Feyre into a High Fae to bring her back to life, and then held meetings to discuss how to move on; before they left, Feyre was pulled to Rhysand so that he could say good-bye, but something startled him into leaving abruptly, so Feyre went back to Tamlin, and Amarantha’s Court was destroyed.

They went home.

To the Spring Court.

---

I wasn’t sure if I should add my tag list to this... but i did anyways. let me know if you don’t want to be tagged in these summaries lol. or send me an ask if you do lol

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[homogrimoire-archive]

11 Nightmares

Rhodopis / Karma and Sacrifice

The life of one Rhodes Horakhty-Surya, from child slavery, to traumatic experiences, to love and school, to more trauma, and then his attempt at helping a poor little girl and his subsequent death.

AO3 Link

Rhodes. Just Rhodes. No last name of his own, except for the one all the other children technically had: Hamelin. Very few of the children considered it their own name. It was just the last name of the guy who ran the orphanage, though none of the children there have ever seen him. At least, not that he’s heard of. As the newest and meekest of the children, they just pick in him and don’t interact with him otherwise.

It’s only when he gets adopted does he finally get a reprieve from the other children and the terrible caretaker. He was always hungry, and always scared of the rude person. She was not afraid to punish anyone who disobeyed her. So, at first, he is very happy to be in this new place called Vale. The place is more agreeable to him than Vacuo.

Although, he soon comes to learn that he was “adopted,” rather than adopted. He, and a few others, were more house servants than anything else. Granted, where he slept now wasn’t as cold, he was eating more, even if he was still hungry, and the man who “adopted” him was still less cruel than the caretaker.

However, he was capable of cruelties that the caretaker of the orphanage was not capable of. If a child escaped, there was little she would do. But, most of them came back, hungrier than before, and then beaten. When a boy named Ace, whom Rhodes had become friends with and had a crush on, had tried to escape, he was brought back against his own will. Thereafter, he was treated more poorly than the rest of them were, got less food, and was beaten more frequently. He told Rhodes his story, that he managed on his own for a few days, but was captured by a woman and a man wielding great weapons, and was then promptly brought back. He told them he didn’t want to go back, that he was being treated poorly, but they ignored him.

From then on, they knew that just trying to escape wasn’t a good idea. A second kid had tried to leave about two years after that. She was gone for a much longer time than Ace. But, she too was brought back. She got it even worse than Ace. She had told Ace, who later told Rhodes, that she went to someplace where people could help her, and maybe them too. For a time, she had hope. But, one day, she saw her father hand one of the men that was helping her some official looking papers, and then some money. That was all it took for them to forget about her. She had given up hope, and accepted her life.

It was then Rhodes, and the rest of them knew that escape wasn’t an option.

Yet, they all eventually left the care of the man who bought them. That was because he was murdered by the youngest of them, younger by at least a decade, who had only been there for a week. The little scorpion faunus had killed him with a kitchen knife, stabbing and stabbing again and again as if it was for his own enjoyment.

He, Ace, and the girl were the first ones to happen upon the scene, and then his wife, an uncaring woman whom they barely ever saw. She screamed bloody murder, and he went for her next. Her screams echoed throughout, he blood pooled on the white floor, mixing with her husbands, and her nightgown, worth more than what any of them were bought for, was reduced to shreds. They all stood there, and watched him kill her. But, they did nothing to stop it. Why would they? It wasn’t like they were going to risk their lives for her.

When repeatedly impaling her corpse proved vapid to him, he looked up at the three of them with eyes that almost glowed like a Grimm’s. It was then they realized that they were also paralyzed by fear. When he lunged at the three of them, Ace was the first to act, grabbing Rhodes by the arm to flee. Quickly, he grabbed the girl and pulled her along.

The three of them hurried up the nearby stairs and locked themselves into the closest open room: a storage room filled with some food, supplies, and other things. As the child stabbed the door and tried to burst in, Ace and Rhodes worked to block it with a dresser and some heavy boxes.

After finishing the barricade, after the pounding and stabbing stopped, Rhodes sank to the floor, his heart still racing, and he began to collect himself. Ace followed in suit. The girl was still in shock, still frozen in place.

“What, the fuck, just happened?” Ace exhaled with a stressed sigh..

“What’s gonna happen to us now?” Rhodes wondered as he buried his face in his hands.

“Mother… Father… ” the girl, eldest of them, whispered lowly so that no one would hear.

They spent the rest of the night in that room, silent and unable to soundly fall asleep. However, they all gave in to fatigue eventually, and fell asleep. They don’t know what time it is when they are awoken by some shouting and a pounding on the door. Before they could respond, the door, boxes, and dresser are blasted away, revealing two women with weapons poised. They lowered them when they saw three scared teens.

They were brought out into the front, given blankets and warm food. They each explained what happened, that they heard screaming, and saw him being murdered by the young faunus. Then came the wife and her gruesome death, and then when he turned on them, they ran and barricaded themselves. Since their stories matched and all the evidence aligned, they were all declared innocent on the spot.

“What’s going to happen to us?” Ace asked once the three of them reunited.

“Well,” one woman began, “since you two boys were adopted, and missy here is their biological child, all three of you split their wealth since there’s no will stating otherwise. And by the looks of it, all of you will be well off for quite some time.”

“If you want to see to it that you have a decent job, I suggest trying any one of the huntsman academies.” added the other woman. By then, there was a great number of people at the scene. “Vacuo and Mistral are strict with their ages, but you might be able to try Beacon. Atlas will definitely accept you though.” she said, referring to Ace who was only 15.

Beacon… Rhodes had heard good praise about that place from the son of a family that once visited when he was younger. Helios, a falcon faunus with majestic wings, was his name. Rhodes quickly found himself enamoured with the boy with beautiful eyes like shining metal, stunning and dark sun-kissed skin, and warm orange hair like a fire on a cold night. They also kissed one night, and he remembers losing a shoe after quickly having to run back inside after being called in. He never saw him again. But now, he maybe could.

-

Ace had chosen to go to Atlas, eager to go far away. Rhodes would miss his friend with red hair and black eyes, but they promised to see each other again someday. As for the girl, Rhodes did not know what she was going to do. But, he knew what he was doing.

With some help from the two huntresses, he filled out a request to speak with the headmaster. At 16, he was just too young to be able to enter, and he had no prior training either. So, he was directed to a grueling summer training program where he could quickly learn the basics. Surprisingly, he ran into someone unexpected: his dear acquaintance Helios.

During the summer, they reconnected, and learned much more about each other. Rhodes learns that the other is there at both of his fathers requests, stating that they thought it would be a good experience for him even if the huntsman life didn’t interest him. But, he begins to reconsider it. He also learns that his full name is Helios Horakhty-Surya, and is the child of two legendary huntsmen known for The Great Destroyers of Grimm from their exploits in their heyday. Helios learns that Rhodes has had it pretty rough, and promises to make sure that won’t happen again.

After the summer, they both successfully enter Beacon and officially join together as partners, in both senses of the word. There, Helios discovers his semblance: Epigeios Ilios. He can ignite his body to burst into flames, and shine so bright as to temporarily blind. The solar teen doesn’t say that he feels like bursting into flames whenever their hands touch, though it almost happens a few times. Rhode’s rare smiles are so bright he feels as if he must avert his gaze. Though, he never does. If he does indeed go blind, he knows he will be content with it being the last thing he sees. Rhodes feels much the same.

Rhodes discovers his semblance in a school-wide tournament. It is them two against another duo. All of their auras are low, and no one has yet to land a decisive hit. Rhodes notices that Helios might soon fall to his bladed opponent, and he won’t let that happen. Out of dust, he opts to toss his mace at his opponent. The maces connect, sending the bare fisted teen flying back, his aura broken.

As he rushes, weaponless, to his partner, he figures he can take a hit and give Helios an opening. He is confident that they will win, but that evaporates when he sees his love’s aura dissipate. The opponent is too caught up in their combo to stop, and fear overtook Rhodes. He threw himself in between Helios and the blade. He expected his aura to break, but was met with the sound of metal hitting metal. He could feel the vibration of the ringing travel through his arm.

Stunned, the opponent tripped over his feet and fell backwards. Rhodes quickly reacted, and took advantage of the situation, delivering a heavy fist to his opponents face, breaking her aura and winning the match. Concerned, he rushed over to check on his lover to make sure he was alright.

Helios knew Rhodes would be there for him, and was more interested in his boyfriend’s newly unlocked semblance and the fact that they had won the match. Rhodes laughed. What else would he expect from his boyfriend? Advancing to the next round meant they could fight alongside one another again. As long as they were side by side, nothing else really mattered.

-

They both enjoy their travels together across Remnant, slaying Grimm and helping others. It is a fine way to live in their eyes. They are happy together and help others be happy. What more could they want?

Eventually, their travels bring them to the almost inhospitable Atlas. Rhodes makes a mental note to visit more though. It gives him a good reason to cuddle with his hot boyfriend more than usual. There, he runs into an old friend. Rhodes was glad that Ace had become so successful and joyous in life. At the age of 27, Ace Opus was a Specialist who shone far above the rest, was married, and had a budding side career as a children’s fabulist, of all things.

They went on a double date down in Mantle, and enjoy a fresh, crisp night. As they are in the bar, Ace and Rhodes hear something on the TV that catches their attention; a scorpion faunus, convicted of numerous murders over the course of the past 12 years, had escaped while en route to his prison stay until his execution. It is no coincidence. His eyes are the same glowing yellow, like that of a Grimm.

They could hardly believe he was even still alive. But, there he was, still on the run, still killing, but still alive. Perhaps he was living a fate worse than death; a life without true freedom.

-

For many years, Rhodes had lived without Helios. Once they met again at the training camp, he couldn’t imagine a life without him. But, then comes a day where he doesn’t need to imagine it. He lives the nightmare he could never imagine. It should have been another routine Grimm clearing mission. It began like the others had, isolate the Grimm, make sure civilians were safe, etc. It was all the standard fare, until all the Grimm were slaughtered.

A lunatic who shook the earth, and rambled about his queen and how silver eyes were a nuisance to her, appeared unto them and felled the earthly vessel of the Sun. His lover then felled the earth-shaker in an act of furious revenge, destroying an evil unto the world.

Rhodes Horakhty-Surya, a man who only had one great weakness, had lost one great weakness. Rhodes Horakhty-Surya, a man who derived so much strength from the one he so dearly loved, had lost so much strength.

The cold metal colossus cried, for he would never feel the calming warmth of his Sun again.

-

Still, he continued to travel and kill Grimm across Remnant. It is what his love would have wanted him to do, and all he really knew what to do now. He had a pair of swords made in memory of Helios that would aid him in his destruction of the evil darkness.

Eventually, his travels bring him back to Atlas. He arrives late at night, and very few places are unwilling to book someone without a reservation. He settles on a hotel in the lower end of Atlas, which is still leagues better off than even the richest of Mantle. He laments it, but knows it is nothing he can change. Over the years, he’s gained a bit of a reputation himself, and attracts a few fans now and then.

While he’s waiting for his room to be prepared, he entertains a few people in the lobby with the swords he is always enthusiastic to show off. In the corner of his eyes, he notes a young girl eyeing them. He feels that she is in a situation he is familiar with. It all but confirmed when she trips and falls, and her “mother” cruelly berates her.

Later, when one of the swords goes missing, he had a feeling he knew who took them. He searched in the recesses of the hotel, where the owner was unlikely to ever go, where the girl would surely find refuge. His old memories prove useful, and he finds the girl who was “adopted” in a storage room. How sad it is that such a practice continues, but he knows it is a system he cannot stop.

He knows he can give her a shot at freedom, and that she can't find freedom in running away or hurting them. An academy is her best bet, and he takes it upon himself to train her. Only seven years, and she can be truly free, not bound to any cruel people. He only wishes it could be sooner.

He also knows he can’t stay with her forever in the hotel. It is another source of lamentation. Still, he wants to help her as much as he can and ends up crashing at Ace’s place frequently and taking nearby jobs from the military just so he can have an excuse to frequent a place he would otherwise never frequent.

There is something in her that reminds him of his Sun. Over the years, he sees that she is much different from him. However, seeing her happy makes him happy. She is like Helios in that regard. There is also a fire in her, a resolve he had seen in his love in their early years at Beacon.

She doesn’t talk much about her adopted mother or sisters. He doesn’t blame her. He still has trouble talking about his past. But, he assures her she can tell him whatever she wants, and that he will listen. Still, she focuses on training more than anything.

He tells her stories of his past, of slaying Grimm, and of the many beautiful places he visited. She said she would like to visit the deserts of Vacuo, since it seemed nice and warm. He softly chuckled. He just so happened to like Vacuo too. The sand felt good on his skin.

However, he never mentions Helios, or the one he killed. He never told anyone that he killed the earth-shaker. He still feared what would happen to him if anyone found out, even if it was self-defense and an act of revenge.

-

“I don’t have to run now.”

“That’s all you’ll ever do.”

He regrets that he failed her, that this world failed her. Now, he knows he must uphold the rules of this world, and capture this young killer. He wonders where he went wrong. He had done all the things he thought he should, things that were said to be good. Yet, he is, fighting the little girl he cares for more than anyone. What did I do wrong?

As he fights her, he tries to not hurt her severely. He doesn’t want to hurt her. But, he sees that he taught her well, and finds that she has both of the swords. She burns him, with her searing flames, much like he once did on accident. But, she is ferocious, almost feral. She is desperate. His experience triumphs, and he knocks her out. He drops his weapons and rushes over to her, hoping she isn’t too hurt.

For all weakness, there is strength, and for all strength, there is weakness. This new strength was not the kind that would save him. This new weakness was the kind that could end him, and it did.

Two swords through his abdomen, and he knows his end is soon. Still, he is glad that she will be the last thing he sees. He sees that he had done so many things wrong. All the signs were there, and yet… he ignored them, in favor of being able to ignore his own sad past. All he was ever doing was running. This little girl was not running like he was. There is more to this world than a singular ideal of freedom, an ideal he bound himself to. He understands that now.

He places a hand on the girl, and tries to smile one last time. She is not someone who will be forever running away at least. For that, he is thankful. He only hopes that she can still live a good life, some way, somehow. He doesn’t think she will, but he still hopes so.

She yanks out the swords, and he falls to the ground. As his vision begins to blur, and life loosens its grip on him, he holds nothing against Cinder. From the moment they met, this fate was inevitable. Fate was a concept she loved to talk to him about. Even as his vision fades, the moon behind Cinder shines brighter and brighter, like that of the Sun.

[lepus-arcticus]

33.

His bedroom smells euphoric, a cocktail of perspiration and stale spunk; hard, observable evidence of a heretofore rarely-acknowledged phenomenon. Covert encounters in elevators, in parking garages, his fingers in her mouth in the basement office. There’s a brain-munching monster in California, and Mulder scrapes up enough curiosity to open a file.  

A Super 8 in Orange County, faux sandstone under a citrus sun. Some new, deviant version of his partner, her suitcase filled with tight, candy-coloured camisoles, her lips painted a cruel shade of late-summer cherry.

“You tryna kill me?” he husks into her ear, dragging her by the arm into his room. He swipes the door closed behind them and backs her up against it, breathing hard, encouraged by the bratty thrust of her chin. God, she knows exactly what she’s doing to him. This shit’s on purpose.

He runs his hands freely over her breasts, yanks down the thin layers of cotton and lace so he can devour a pert, rosy nipple. She gasps, her fingers in his hair.

“I’ve got an investigation to conduct, Agent Scully,” he says, tonguing around one puckered areola, the valley between her tits aromatic with heat. She tastes like melting ice cream, fuck, how is that even possible? “And you have… the absolute gall… to be walking around… looking like that…” he viciously thumbs at her lipstick, leaving a dark smear across her cheek.

She nips at him without making contact and scrabbles hungrily at his belt and fly, freeing the erection he’s been fighting for hours. A hard-on in a burger joint, that’s gotta be a first. Lucky Boy indeed.

“S'this the proboscis you were talking about?” she teases throatily, slurring her words like a pill-drunk starlet. He fumbles with her zipper, rips her pants down her thighs. Hoists her up by the ass and pins her to the door, delighting in her heat against him, her provocative size, her surprised little mewl. He nudges her panties aside with the head of his cock, and drives himself greedily home.

-

“You’re right,” she says, flat on her back on the motel carpet, catching her breath. He’s sprawled two feet away, equally winded.

“Oo, I’m gonna need that recorded in an official statement.” She kicks at him without looking, her toe prodding his calf. He grabs for it, squeezes her smooth, tiny foot in his hand. “Of course I’m right, but what specifically are you referring to?”

“Maybe we should make a rule. No sex on a case. It’s distracting.”

The look he gives her must be one of his better ones, because she bursts into a chuckly, inelegant laugh. “Yeah, okay,” she concedes, shaking herself free of him, rolling over and hauling herself up to the bathroom. “Let the record state that I tried.”

-

Her bed in Annapolis, laundered sheets, two coffee cups on coasters on her bedside table. Murder number six on replay in his mind.

“You had no choice,” she says, stroking his bare shoulder absentmindedly, walking her fingers over the scattered stepping stones of his moles. “He was coming after you. It was suicide by proxy.”

“Yes, but… Scully, he was… there’s so much we never had the opportunity to discover – wouldn’t you have loved to examine him? Interview him? Are there more of him out there, or was he the only one? Was it a genetic condition, or something else? Was he born? Created? What was his life’s story? Why fight so hard against his instincts?”

“Well, of course the scientist within me mourns the loss of such a unique, remarkable being, but Mulder, he wanted to die. His previous lifestyle choices reflect a desire to… to remain under the radar, don’t you think? He didn’t want… to become a monster to be gawped at, a test subject, a tabloid headline. He saw that he was cornered, saw the empty thing his life would become, and made the choice to end it instead. I must confess I do understand his reasoning.”

A twinge of latent distress pinches at his heart, and he clasps her wandering hand, bringing it to his lips.

“You did right by Rob Roberts,” she promises, and it soothes his weary soul.

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) (32)

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

President Trump seems ready to declare victory in his effort to make America great again; last month, he said the slogan for his 2020 re-election campaign will be “Keep America Great.” But how much has really changed, particularly for the “everyday, working Americans” whom Trump said were the “backbone and heartbeat of our country” — and whose votes helped him secure the presidency?

Recent decades have been cruel to working-class Americans, a group I’m roughly defining as the 84 million prime working-age1 people in the U.S. who lack a college degree. But in the first year of Trump’s presidency, there was some good news. Workers with high school educations finally saw a sizable wage increase after years of scant growth. The economy added more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs, something that was unimaginable a decade ago when cheap imports from China put around a million Americans out of work.

Zoom in and this story about the turnaround of blue-collar America gets a lot less clear. That’s partly because it lumps together large swaths of the population — rural and urban residents, white and black people, men and women — in a way that obscures the sometimes-gaping fissures between these groups. And the hidden reality doesn’t always match up with the way politicians talk about blue-collar Americans, particularly when it comes to the plight of rural America and embattled white men.

Think the rural heartland is the struggling core of modern America? Actually, America’s middle has been outperforming the coasts for decades. And while Trump’s ascendance has shined a spotlight on the plight of white men left behind by a changing economy, they still enjoy vast advantages over blue-collar black and female workers.

Large parts of rural America are doing fine

If you gather all of rural America into one homogeneous blob, the story looks bleak indeed, with the population shrinking as job growth lags. But this rural vs. the rest approach muddies the picture more than it reveals — because the experiences of rural areas vary widely across the country.

In particular, counties in the Plains states and the resource-rich middle of the country have enjoyed some of the largest per capita income gains in the entire country. And that includes lots of thinly populated spaces that easily fit the definition of rural.2

Consider the 200 counties that had the strongest per capita income growth nationwide from 2000 to 2016.3 More than 60 percent of those counties — 122 — are designated “completely rural” by the U.S. Census Bureau. And the vast majority of those — 99 — lie in a vertical band of 10 states that stretch from North Dakota and Montana south to New Mexico and Texas.4 That’s five times what you’d expect from chance alone; rural counties in this region make up just 10 percent of all counties nationwide, but nearly half of the top 200 with the highest income growth.5

Look to rural areas elsewhere in the country, and it’s a different story. The median change in per capita income for the rural counties in the band was 38 percent, compared with just 21 percent for all the rural counties outside of that area. Only two rural counties in the entire area that stretches from Mississippi across to Florida and up to Delaware6 even crack the list of the top 200. Nebraska alone has six in the top 10.

Looking at average incomes in this way has limitations, though, because it tells us nothing about distribution. Gains could have gone into the pockets of a highly educated few while everyone else was left with crumbs.

But that doesn’t seem to have been the case, at least not in that high-performing band of states in the middle-west. If you look specifically at wage gains among low-wage workers7 — instead of per capita income as a whole — the states where people saw the biggest wage increases from 2000 to 2016 are North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.8 Montana, Oklahoma and Nebraska are also among the top 10.

Another way to see that blue-collar residents in these states are outpacing peers elsewhere is to look at employment rates.9 The Plains states — including North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska — stand out for having large shares of 25- to 54-year-olds without college degrees who are employed.10 As you can see from the map below, some of the weakest areas are in the southern parts of the country.

White workers fare well when compared with black workers

Add race to the mix, and the story of working-class America fractures into pieces. Whether you focus on wages or employment, black workers seem to be struggling far more than white or Hispanic workers.

In 2017, black workers with just a high school degree saw their wages fall, even as paychecks grew for similarly educated Hispanic and non-Hispanic white workers. And while Hispanics at every education level still earn less than non-Hispanic whites, the gap between whites and blacks is substantially larger. Black high school grads earn 78 cents for every dollar that white high school grads take home; Hispanic high school grads get 87 cents.

Nationwide, 65 percent of 25- to 54-year-old black Americans without a college degree have jobs, well below the 73 percent rate for Hispanics and 74 percent rate for non-Hispanic white people. But the gaps aren’t uniform across the country.

As you can see from the map below, some of the areas with the highest employment rates for working class blacks are in the South, a very different regional pattern than you see for white workers.11 In contrast, the Midwest remains a region of relative strength for whites even though it has become a kind of shorthand for working-class woes.

Working-class men far outearn women

Across blue-collar America, working-class men are a relatively privileged group, with prospects that are vastly better than those of women: At every education level — from those with less than a high school degree to those with some some college — men outearn women by at least 20 percent.

These advantages are even more pronounced among white men. A recent paper from economists at Harvard, Stanford and the Census Bureau found that white men with lower-income parents12 tend to have incomes around $31,000, while white women with similarly paid parents earned just $23,000. Black women (and men) can expect a similar salary, between $23,000 and $25,000.

And yet, even if they do make more than female and black workers, white men still aren’t able to outearn their parents — a bleak commentary on the American Dream. Simply finding a job can be a struggle. In 1980, about 88 percent of 25- to 54-year-old white men without college degrees had jobs; today, that number is 80 percent.

So Trump might want to pause before popping the champagne corks. Many in his base are still hurting, and some of those in other constituencies are doing even worse.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHY I'M SMARTER THAN FOUNDERS

We are still very suspect of this idea but will take a meeting as you suggest. Working for a small one, and actually did.1 Understanding growth is what starting a startup: growth makes the successful companies so valuable that all the time, I would have laughed at him. You can't make a mouse by scaling down an elephant.2 Fundamentally the same thing. The culmination of my career as a writer of press releases was one celebrating his graduation, illustrated with a drawing I did of him during a meeting. Other kids' opinions become their definition of right, not just because they so often don't, but because you shouldn't have a fixed amount of deal flow, by encouraging hackers who would have gotten jobs to start their own startups instead. I wanted to start a startup.

Nerds don't realize this.3 We're default dead, but we're not fucking.4 If the founders aren't sure what to focus on your least expensive plan.5 They don't consciously dress to be popular. As jobs become more specialized—more articulated—as they develop, and startups have lots of meetings but isn't progressing toward making you an offer, you automatically focus less on them. One founder said this should be your approach to all programming, not just startups, and in particular that the environment in big companies is toxic to programmers.6 Its length and slope determine how big the company will be a flop and you're wasting your time although they probably won't say this directly. And conditions in our niche are really quite different. When Steve and Alexis auctioned off their old laptops for charity, I bought them for the Y Combinator museum.7 The world seemed cruel and boring, and I'm not sure which was worse. If there are any laws regulating businesses, you can start as soon as the first one is ready to buy.

So the randomness of any one investor's behavior can really affect you. He said he has learned much more in his own image; they're just one species among many, descended not merely from apes, but from microorganisms. When the values of the elite in this country is a policy that would cost practically nothing. When your fundraising options run out, they usually run out in the same area, they had a different goal. I think it needs even more emphasizing.8 It is enormously fun to be at least $50 million. And popularity is not a new idea. One's first thought when looking at them all is to ask if there's a super-pattern, a pattern to the patterns. You should always talk to investors your m.

If you judge by the median rather than the average. And indeed, the growth in the first place. During Y Combinator we get an increasing number of companies that have already raised amounts in the hundreds of thousands. It took me surprisingly long to realize how distracting the Internet had become, because the VCs need them more than they originally intended.9 As you go into a startup, things seem great one moment and hopeless the next. You have to seem confident, and you need to be hackers to do what we do.10 That means closing this investor is the first priority, and you get what you deserve. We do a lot of implications and edge cases. Like any war, it's damaging even to the winners.

If you're designing a chair, that's what you're designing for, and there's no way around it. The reason is that good design requires that one person think of everything.11 That's the key. Why? When I have to say, not at all, because if I'd explained things well enough, nothing should have surprised them. Don't keep sucking on the straw if you're just getting air. Raising $20,000 from a first-time angel investor can be as much work as raising $2 million from a VC fund.

In the US things are more haphazard. Whatever the story is in the form of dividends.12 It's harder to judge startups than most other things, because great startup ideas tend to seem wrong. Tell them that valuation is not even the protagonists: we're just the latest model vehicle our genes have constructed to travel around in. If normal food is so bad for us, why is it so common? The most intriguing thing about this theory, if it's right, is that it has started to be driven mostly by people's identities. This essay is derived from a talk at the 2009 Startup School. Viaweb we were forced to operate like a consulting company you might be able to make himself one. Reward is always proportionate to risk, and very early stage startups and then ruthlessly culling them at the same rate.13 A country that wants startups will probably also have to reproduce whatever makes these clusters form. There are now a few VC firms outside the US, because they don't want random startups pestering them with business plans.14

We had 2 T1s 3 Mb/sec coming into our offices. That difference is why there's a separate word for startups, and why, if they have some other advantage like extraordinary growth numbers or exceptionally formidable founders. And yet, making what works for the user doesn't mean simply making what the user tells you to. But I also mean startups are different by nature, in the sense that all you have to be a police state, and although present rulers seem enlightened compared to the last, even enlightened despotism can probably only get you part way toward being a great economic power. This varies from field to field in the arts could tell you that you might want different mediums for the two situations. Great universities? What weaknesses could you exploit? My stock gradually rose during high school. Which almost always means hiring too many people. It's so important to launch fast is not so bad, the kids adopt an attitude of waiting for college. Some investors will let you email them a business plan, but you weren't held to it; you could work out all the details, and even make major changes, as you finished the painting.

Three months later they're transformed: they have so much more confidence that they seem as if they've grown several inches taller. You can measure how demoralizing it is by the number of new customers, but it wasn't designed for fun, and mostly it wasn't. So when someone commits, get the money you need, so you can say you've already raised some from well-known investors. And this started to happen more and more desirable things. Startups are marginal. You probably didn't have a precise amount in mind; you just want to make it a much more common one. This is especially true for a service that other companies can use, because it requires their developers to do work.15 How can they get off that trajectory? All the scares induced by seeing a new competitor pop up are forgotten weeks later.16

Notes

One source of difficulty here is defined from the end of World War II had become so common that their system can't be hacked, measure the difference between good and bad outcomes have origins in words about luck. This would add a further level of links.

Robert Morris points out that this filter runs on.

From the beginning even they don't want to create a web-based applications greatly to be able to buy stock, the last place in the ordinary variety that anyone wants.

Watt didn't invent the spreadsheet. I bailed because I realized that without the methodological implications. How much better, because to translate this program into C they literally had to for some reason, rather technical sense of getting rich from controlling monopolies, just that if you pack investor meetings as closely as you raise them. When investors ask you to raise more, and mostly in Perl, and power were concentrated in the last they ever need.

The unintended consequence is that the worm might have to do it is still what seemed to someone still implicitly operating on the aspect they see of piracy, which people used to wonder if they stopped causing so much on luck. You owe them such updates on your thesis. If you're the sort of community. There are some whose definition of property is driven mostly by hackers.

The person who wins. One professor friend says that 15-20% of the movie Dawn of the next downtick it will seem dumb in 100 years, it could be adjacent.

I assume we still do things that don't include the prices of new stock. Though in fact they don't know whether this happens it will become as big a cause as it might be a special name for these topics.

But there's a continuum here. Eric Horvitz. The air traffic control system works because planes would crash otherwise.

There is of course there is at fault, since they're an existing investor, than a huge loophole.

They say to the decline in families eating together was due to fixing old bugs, and the reaction of an investor who says he's interested in you, however, you can't dictate the problem is not just that if you have to go out running or sit home and watch TV, music, phone, and that injustice is what you care about may not have gotten where they all sit waiting for the linguist and presumably teacher Daphnis, but hardly any type I. I now have on the group's accumulated knowledge.

But the result is that you'll expend a lot of investors. How many times larger than the don't-be startup founders tend to be a hot startup. But the result is that there are few things worse than Japanese car companies, summer jobs are the only companies smart enough to do wrong and hard to make you feel that you're not even allowed to ask for more than that.

There were a variety called Red Delicious that had other meanings.

Nor do we push founders to have to rely on social ones. Ed. He couldn't even afford a monitor is that the usual way of doing that even this can give an inaccurate picture.

At some point, when they talk about the details.

You could feel like a little worm of its own.

But if you like doing. As Jeremy Siegel points out, First Round excluded their most successful founders still get rich, people who had made Lotus into the subject of wealth for society. According to the home team, I've become a genuine addict. The same goes for companies that an eminent designer is any better than Jessica.

Thanks to several anonymous CS professors, Robert Morris, Jessica Livingston, and Alex Lewin for reading a previous draft.

[scentedglitter]

thanks for the tag @heartbroken-handshakes​ :) I’m usually super quiet and never talk to anyone on Tumblr so it is very rare for me to be tagged in something like this but yes ty! 

rules: answer the questions in a new post and tag 5 blogs you would like to get to know better

a - age: 20

b - birthplace: a small-ish town in northern Victoria, Australia.

c - current time: 11:30am exactly (i am half-doing this and half-doing other things though so it’ll be way after this by the time i post it...)

d - drink you last had: I literally drank a glass of water between answering c and typing this, so that! I am very much a water-drinking person. The annoying kind that tells everyone else to drink more water, too.

e - easiest person to talk to: maybe my uni friend Jane? She’s v cool and we can talk for ages.

f - favorite song: this is a very difficult question for me bc I have 6000+ songs in my iTunes and I love most of them... but my blog is titled after “The Great Escape” by Pink, so probably that.

f - favorite food: look this is indeed an impossible question but I can probably narrow it down to two: double coat tim tams and a specific variety of peach (T304) that is only grown near my hometown

g - grossest memory: one time in year 7/age 13 my Dad dropped me off at school but as I was getting out of the car the door blew back and jammed my thumb in it and it was an extremely sharp door edge and sliced my thumb open so ofc I passed out like three times, Dad was late to work, I had bandaging on my finger for weeks and it destroyed my nailbed so that nail is still weird and doesn’t grow properly today

h - horror yes or horror no:  tbh I just find it a bit silly a lot of the time? not really my thing

i - in love?: nope

j - jealous of people?: sometimes I guess?

l - love at first sight or should I walk by again?: look you can probably be attracted to someone at first sight but ~love~ implies something of an emotional connection

m - middle name: jane.

n - number of siblings: 2 younger brothers. They’re twins.

o - one wish: to somehow find a well-paying but low-stress job next year that can fit in with my study schedule...

p - person you called last: technically, my physiotherapist... I don’t call people much.

q - question you are always asked: “what are you studying?”. Sometimes by people that have already asked that question many time.

r - reason to smile: submitted a 3000-word essay early this morning and now I can actually take today off!

s - song you last sang: I’ve got my iTunes playing alphabetically constantly at the moment - it’s been going whenever I’m in my room for over a week and it’s only at C. “Crystal Ball” - Pink is playing right now but I think the last one I was singing along to was “Cruel” - The Veronicas?

t - time you woke up: 4am. It’s very quiet in a university dorm building at 4am on a public holiday.

u - underwear colour: literally just tan today

v - vacation destination: hopefully vacation + exchange trip to canada next year? maybe i’ll try and end up on a beach somewhere this summer too? don’t really know, I’m not even sure which state I’ll be living in november-january yet oops

w - worst habit: not taking asthma meds... which, like, sometimes is totally fine but they’d work better when i do need them if i took them all the time oops

x - x-rays: had a couple on my back to try and work out if there’s anything actually causing this lovely chronic pain thing I’ve had going on for the last few years

z - zodiac sign: pisces and sceptical of zodiac signs in general

As aforementioned I’m not super social on Tumblr so PLS FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THE TAG IF IT’S WEIRD I’m’a tag some people who I always see in my activity/reblog from a bit or kind of already know but haven’t properly talked to for years and by that I mean @withdrawnheart​

Also @greyunicorrrn​ @learningtoloveyourz @be-the-oneyou-really-are

I’m still missing one person so I’m going to add in @ophicus even though I went to a movie with her yesterday

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 1st September 2019

There are four new arrivals this week, evenly split into two categories: Taylor Swift and not Taylor Swift. Now, without further ado...

Top 10

One of the biggest stories this week is the new #1, because thanks to a remix by Sir Spyro, grime producer, featuring verses English rapper Jaykae and a rapper we all know too well on this show, Aitch, “Take Me Back to London” by Ed Sheeran featuring Stormzy (And now I guess I’ll have to credit Jaykae and Aitch) is at #1, up 10 spaces from last week in its fourth week on the charts. Sorry to trail off into a bunch of arbitrary numbers for a second, but it’s Ed Sheeran’s eighth #1 and third from this album alone, Stormzy’s second after “Vossi Bop” this same year, and since we’ve got new remix artists, I guess I can say that this is Aitch’s second top 10 hit in the UK, his fourth top 20 and first ever #1, and also Jaykae’s first ever entry into the UK Top 40, so congratulations. I haven’t heard the remix at all, but Sir Spyro is such a great producer name, and now there is a collaboration between Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, Kenny Beats, Skrillex and Aitch that exists in the world, which is perplexing.

Up two spaces to the runner-up spot is “Higher Love” by Kygo and Whitney Houston taking the video boost up to number-two, and since the remix seems to be carrying “Take Me Back to London”, I have no doubts this will hit #1 soon enough... and that’s all that’s of interest in the top 10.

“Beautiful People” by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid is down a spot to number-three.

Also down one space is “3 Nights” by Dominic Fike at number-four.

AJ Tracey’s “Ladbroke Grove” hasn’t moved at number-five, keeping pretty steady traction.

Aitch’s “Taste (Make it Shake)” is still at number-six for no good reason.

Joel Corry’s “Sorry” with uncredited vocals from Hayley May has jumped three positions since last week to number-seven.

Also not moving at all is “How Do You Sleep?” by Sam Smith steady at number-eight.

Lil Tecca continues viral success yet still suffers a hit down two spaces to number-nine with “RAN$OM” – you’d think the mixtape release would give this some sort of a boost.

To round off our top 10 we have “So High” by MIST and Fredo down a spot at #10.

Climbers

Despite the four new arrivals, I wouldn’t say this is a busy week per se, but there is definitely some kind of shift going into the Autumn season, and we could be looking at perpetual smash hits rising up this week, like Headie One gaining his third UK top 20 hit with “Both” up four spots to #18 or “Post Malone” by Sam Feldt featuring RANI having a quick and unexpected boost up eight spots to #26, although that’s not exactly appreciated, by me at least, I think that song’s worthless. “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo is also up six positions to #31, 30 spots shy of where it landed on the US’ Hot 100 chart this week, thanks to a DaBaby remix, but I’m unsure if this’ll gain enough traction here in the UK before it fizzles out worldwide.

Fallers

After “Old Town Road” dropped off the #1 spot following its record-breaking streak in the US, anything could get the #1 spot, and I honestly feel that the same is the case with “Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello collapsing due to streaming cuts down 10 spaces to #11. While I doubt “3 Nights” or “Ladbroke Grove” would have or will ever reach the top, “Higher Love” had that video and could have very much taken it, and it seems even likelier that “Beautiful People” could have just swiped the #1 back, but I guess in 2019, it all comes down to the remix. The fallers here are actually relatively plentiful, the aforementioned “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, etc. is down five spaces to #22 and I’m honestly quite shocked it’s not off the chart yet, “Motivation” by Normani is unfortunately taking a five-space hit off the debut down to #35 and “I Spy” by Krept & Konan featuring Headie One and K-Trap continues to fall off slowly down five to #37 because of how quickly the remix hype died down.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

There aren’t a lot of dropouts but two out of three of these are actually very notable. While nobody should care about the premature end to the chart run of “Hate Me” by Ellie Goulding and Juice WRLD out from #39, the other dropouts are genuinely pretty important. Out from #21 is “No Guidance” by Chris Brown featuring Drake, even with a video and steady US success, probably due to streaming cuts, which took Stormzy’s “Crown” as a victim this week too, out from #27. Both of these songs peaked in the top 10, just being shy of the top five, so this shows quite an abrupt yet necessary seasonal shift. There aren’t any returning entries, well, not in the top 40 at least, so let’s talk about the elephant in the room that could be a whole lot bigger.

ALBUM BOMB: Taylor Swift – Lover

I’m honestly not shocked at the lack of impact Swift’s new album had here in comparison to the US. Thanks to chart rules, we can only have three songs from Taylor on the chart, and none of the pre-release singles could compete with the new songs, meaning we just have two new arrivals and a boost for fourth single, “Lover”, up nine spaces to #14, becoming Taylor’s fifteenth UK Top 20 single. I’m not complaining about that one, it’s a great song, despite being somewhat Christmassy. Regardless, we have two new Taylor songs to talk about, so let’s go.

#27 – “Cruel Summer” – Taylor Swift

Produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift – Peaked at #20 in Ireland and New Zealand, and #29 in the US

Our first Taylor Swift song to cover this week is one of many collaborations with Jack Antonoff off of Lover – even if you don’t recognise the name, you’ve definitely heard a song he’s contributed to, whether it be from his old band with Nate Reuss, fun. or Lorde’s Melodrama. Most recently, he’s been working on music with his band Bleachers as well as Lana Del Rey, Kevin Abstract of BROCKHAMPTON and St. Vincent, which brings us to “Cruel Summer”, Taylor Swift’s 27th UK Top 40 hit with additional writing and guitar from Annie Clark of St. Vincent. The album bored me, if I’m going to be completely honest, but there were definite gems that I appreciated throughout and don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty decent album, but a shortened runtime to mill out the filler records would have definitely helped it achieve greatness. As it is, I’m not disappointed with it and it can definitely go toe to toe with her best at its peaks. This song in particular is pretty great, with blocky 80s-esque production Antonoff is known for, which is immediately cut off by Taylor and her pitch-shifted echo. Her inflections in the pre-chorus especially have a lot of flavour, and that chorus is almost ballad-like, which is somewhat unfitting, but it soon picks up momentum with some more vibrant synths and some rattling hi-hats, admittedly buried in the pretty cloudy mix here, but oh, my god, that bridge is amazing. The combination of the quirky synths, Swift’s vocals building in intensity and, you know, actually being able to hear the percussion for the first time, is incredible, and when it stops for Taylor to just belt into the next chorus, that’s when it wins it for me. Lyrically, it depicts the uncertainty of a new relationship but how exciting that fling is, specifically in this case with Joe Alwyn, who she describes as a “bad boy”, and the music perfectly represents that with how animated Antonoff and Clark’s instrumental is, as well as Taylor herself with some pretty passionate vocal performances I honestly didn’t expect initially. I’ve been listening to the Billboard year-end list for 1984 in the past week for the sake of a Top 10 list, and this would probably fit right in, although I’d question its quality when compared to pop girls at the time like Cyndi Lauper or even Laura Branigan. Admittedly, that year-end list is male-dominated but my point stands. Oh, and this has the same title as a Kanye album from 2012. Sneaky.

#21 – “The Man” – Taylor Swift

Produced by Joel Little and Taylor Swift – Peaked at #15 in New Zealand and #23 in the US

Now this song isn’t one of the first three tracks or even a promoted single but attracted a lot of attention and some controversy for its lyrics, which I’ll only somewhat get into because I don’t get the fuss. In her 28th UK Top 40 hit, Taylor Swift “plays with the ideas of perception”, asking the listener how people would feel about her mistakes, her accomplishments and her public persona and image if she were male, and, well, she has a point, at least on the surface, because people who go through a lot of relationships like Taylor would not be clowned, they would not be mocked for that, they would be “players” as she says. There would not be a focus on her fashion in the press if she was a male, and people would comment on her “Good ideas” and “Power moves”... although I wouldn’t exactly say the debacle with Kanye and Kim Kardashian was a “Power move”. The bridge also seems iffy, commenting less on male musicians but rappers, forgetting that there are indeed so many female rappers talking about the same thing now who are all a lot bigger than they would be years ago when this song might have been written (I assume 2016), and while she has a point that even female rappers (Although this is not directly what she refers to) are seen as subservient and not “Ballers”, I’m not sure if Taylor Swift can comment on that culture, exactly, although I do admit that’s pretty accurate of a comparison. I’m not sure if the press is any kinder to mental health issues in men, either, if that’s what she’s going by when she talks about being okay when you’re “mad” – reminds me of Pitchfork’s Azealia Banks op-ed from 2017 or so. Anyways, I get her overall point – “Women are given less leeway in the industry and harsher press attention than men” - and admittedly, the line, “If I were a man, I’d be the man” is a pretty great wham line for the chorus. This song really sucks, though, there’s no atmospheric intro which works for a “Powerful” song, but Taylor Swift does not sound powerful, she sounds tired. The instrumental is similarly exhausted, with some pretty awful vocal manipulation as a “Drop”, trap percussion because it’s 2019 and some pretty cloudy synths, accentuated by some funny sound effects... I guess? Yeah, no, skip this one, whether it’s for a misguided lyrical attempt, an awful instrumental or Taylor’s odd and unfitting inflections. Honestly, I’m just surprised the song about London didn’t chart this week, featuring an Idris Elba and James Corden sample, but that’s probably a good thing.

NEW ARRIVALS

#40 – “Dance Monkey” – Tones and I

Produced by Konstantine Kersting – Peaked at #1 in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Okay, so Tones and I is an Australian singer who immediately came to local success with her debut single and EP, but this new single became a massive European smash, and to my surprise, it’s not even really a sleeper hit; the song was released in May, which isn’t that long ago. I haven’t heard anything about the song, admittedly, but it’s gone #1 in so many countries so I guess we’re just slow to this and the US will never get this to chart because they’re repellent to anything they didn’t make that’s this big in Europe. This is obviously Tones and I’s first ever UK Top 40 hit, and, well, this song is about how musicians are “Puppets” for the industry, or at least pop musicians, and it’s not exactly subtle about that, but I’m really not sure how she’s trying to prove that point when she’s making music just as uninteresting. There’s a couple conflicting synth and piano riffs and none of them are particularly interesting or even nice-sounding, it’s just a lot of cheap presets with a couple finger-snaps and eventually a chorus of people singing back-up with strings, but for the most of the song, we’re supposed to be focused on Tones... and she sure is an interesting singer, which I’m pretty sure is the only reason this has caught on so much, since she’s the only part that stands out and it’s an acquired taste for sure, and she’s definitely putting on the voice for the sake of the music, but honestly I don’t mind it; any attempt at making this boring pop song any interesting is appreciated, and by the end, you don’t notice it that much. Still not a great song, though, it has potential and I’m interested in what she does next.

#33 – “frick, i’m lonely” – LAUV featuring Anne-Marie

Produced by LAUV – Peaked at #9 in Singapore

Do you seriously expect a pre-amble? It’s a song by LAUV and Anne-Marie made for the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack. If that doesn’t scream, “Derivative pop music in 2019 on its last legs”, then I don’t know what doesn’t, it’s LAUV’s second Top 40 hit here in the UK since “i’m so tired” with Troye Sivan and Anne-Marie’s ninth, and it’s bloody awful. It starts with an awfully mixed percussion sample that transitions immediately into a preset beat you can easily find on a school-provided keyboard, with a random kick drum and stray vocal sample. It makes  a really odd contrast between lo-fi preset beat and LAUV’s clean vocals, until the chorus which is just ugly. The actual percussion and a strong 808 comes in, and LAUV’s in his falsetto, and it sounds pathetic. What a “Chorus” that is, oh, yeah, Anne-Marie’s incoherent and barely harmonises with LAUV at all despite an obvious attempt to. Also, “It’s been me, myself and why”? What?! The bridge tries to create non-existent momentum with no groove and instead of any musical coherency, they just ad-lib for a while on dead space until the chorus comes in, and I shouldn’t care anyway, because I don’t want to hear over-processed vocals layered on top of each other to the point of ridiculousness over a beat that I can make in seven minutes or less, with obnoxious ad-libs from Anne-Marie and sickly lyrics. This is lowest common-denominator stuff and it’s not great at all, I’m starting to think “I Like Me Better” was a fluke; if you remember my best list, I really liked that song. Oh, and just when you think the song’s ended for good, you get an extra isolated LAUV vocal riff. Why?!

Conclusion

It should be pretty damn obvious what’s getting Worst of the Week; it’s going to LAUV and Anne-Marie for “frick, i’m lonely” (That is not the true title, by the way, if it wasn’t obvious), which has no redeemable qualities at all; I’m shocked this ever got out to the public. In fact, there’s not much good here at all, so Dishonourable Mention goes to both Tones and I and Taylor Swift for being both uninteresting and completely misguided in “Dance Monkey” and “The Man”. Funnily enough both songs are overly vague commentary on the music industry. Best of the Week also goes to Taylor Swift for “Cruel Summer” though, that song rocks. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more musical ramblings and I’ll see you next week!

[dailyofficereadings]

Daily Office Readings July 30, 2020

Psalm 70-71

Psalm 70

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

To the leader. Of David, for the memorial offering.

1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me! 2 Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me. 3 Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!” turn back because of their shame.

4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” 5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!

Psalm 71

Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help

1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress,[a] to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.

7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. 8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long. 9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent. 10 For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together. 11 They say, “Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver.”

12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! 13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace. 14 But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more. 15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge. 16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.

17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come.[b] Your power 19 and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens.

You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? 20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. 21 You will increase my honor, and comfort me once again.

22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued. 24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced.

Footnotes:

Psalm 71:3 Gk Compare 31.3: Heb to come continually you have commanded

Psalm 71:18 Gk Compare Syr: Heb to a generation, to all that come

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm 74

Psalm 74

Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago, which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage. Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell. 3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.

4 Your foes have roared within your holy place; they set up their emblems there. 5 At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.[a] 6 And then, with hatchets and hammers, they smashed all its carved work. 7 They set your sanctuary on fire; they desecrated the dwelling place of your name, bringing it to the ground. 8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9 We do not see our emblems; there is no longer any prophet, and there is no one among us who knows how long. 10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever? 11 Why do you hold back your hand; why do you keep your hand in[b] your bosom?

12 Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the earth. 13 You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food[c] for the creatures of the wilderness. 15 You cut openings for springs and torrents; you dried up ever-flowing streams. 16 Yours is the day, yours also the night; you established the luminaries[d] and the sun. 17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth; you made summer and winter.

18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs, and an impious people reviles your name. 19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals; do not forget the life of your poor forever.

20 Have regard for your[e] covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence. 21 Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise your name. 22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause; remember how the impious scoff at you all day long. 23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.

Footnotes:

Psalm 74:5 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain

Psalm 74:11 Cn: Heb do you consume your right hand from

Psalm 74:14 Heb food for the people

Psalm 74:16 Or moon; Heb light

Psalm 74:20 Gk Syr: Heb the

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Judges 4:4-23

4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up behind him; and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites,[a] that is, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had encamped as far away as Elon-bezaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

12 When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him, from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. The Lord is indeed going out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. 15 And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic[b] before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot, 16 while Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; no one was left.

17 Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. 22 Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

23 So on that day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites.

Footnotes:

Judges 4:11 Heb from the Kain

Judges 4:15 Heb adds to the sword; compare verse 16

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Acts 1:15-26

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers[a] (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16 “Friends,[b] the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— 17 for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong,[c] he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms,

‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’;

and

‘Let another take his position of overseer.’

21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place[d] in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Footnotes:

Acts 1:15 Gk brothers

Acts 1:16 Gk Men, brothers

Acts 1:18 Or swelling up

Acts 1:25 Other ancient authorities read the share

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Matthew 27:55-66

55 Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

The Burial of Jesus

57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The Guard at the Tomb

62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard[a] of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.”[b] 66 So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Footnotes:

Matthew 27:65 Or Take a guard

Matthew 27:65 Gk you know how

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[lodelss]

New Data Connect the Federal Executions and a COVID-19 Outbreak in Indiana

In the past 10 weeks, the federal government has executed more people than in the last 57 years combined. This streak of fatalities are the result of Trump’s crude and cruel election-year efforts to prove himself as the “law and order president.”    Now, the ACLU has received new, bombshell information about the high cost of President Trump and Attorney General William Barr’s rushed execution policy. The new data — which became available after the ACLU submitted a Freedom of Information Act request last month — speak loudly about just how willing this administration is to disregard the health and safety of the many to push its law and order agenda forward. According to the documents, a BOP staff member worked with “a lot” of staff and “a lot of prisoners” while sick with Covid-19, without wearing a mask. The BOP tested just 22 staff, even though a previous declaration shows that the infected staff member was likely in contact with at least 100 people. The documents show that several of the staff members who came in contact with him declined testing, and the BOP adopted a risky new policy that allowed infected staff to return to work after just 10 days of no symptoms, without being retested for the virus. Three people at Terre Haute prison have died from COVID-19 — two just last week — and many more have become sick, hospitalized, and held in solitary confinement as COVID-19 ravages the facility. This was all the predictable, preventable, and senseless result of the federal government carrying out the first federal executions in 17 years during a pandemic. Trump’s deliberate decision to “play down” the threat of the pandemic undoubtedly encouraged the lax administrative conduct of the BOP and the reckless conduct of individual prison employees. From Bob Woodward’s Rage, we know from Trump himself that eight months of declaring COVID-19 a hoax, of sidelining and disparaging public health experts, and maligning mask-wearing Democrats, was a lie — a level of mendacity unheard of in the American political tradition. Two hundred thousand American lives have been lost to the pandemic, and to Trump’s version of American exceptionalism. Given the revelations in Rage, is there any wonder that Trump and his DOJ would break and bend the law and legal processes in carrying out five executions this summer?  Trump’s executions broke every rule for reducing COVID-19 risks, and spikes in COVID-19 cases at Terre Haute were the predictable result. People without death sentences are dying so that Trump can kill death row prisoners during a pandemic. Such collateral damage was all but guaranteed, given the well documented super-spreader nature of prisons, and the compounding factors of travel required by these federal executions. The BOP didn’t even bother to require staff to wear masks, according to the FOIA documents we received. In July 2019, the Federal Government announced that it planned to move forward to schedule executions of federal prisoners for the first time nearly two decades. Then, on June 15, 2020, new execution dates were made public. Just days after this announcement, the United States had back-to-back record highs in daily new COVID-19 infections. In response to these growing numbers, accompanied by a rising death toll, many states paused their reopening plans and some even began imposing restrictions they had lifter earlier. Meanwhile, the Federal Government gathered hundreds of people at FCC Terre Haute, a facility with known cases of COVID-19, for the purpose of carrying out the executions of Daniel Lee on July 14, Wesley Purkey on July 16, and Dustin Honken on July 17. Following the back to-back July executions, the county where the prison is located experienced a major surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases. In spite of this public health outcome, the federal government proceeded to execute Lezmond Mitchell and Keith Nelson at FCC Terre Haute on August 26 and 28, respectively. This week, the federal government plans to execute two more people: William LeCroy and Christopher Vialva. So, let’s review what the ACLU’s FOIA findings tell us about Trump and Barr’s execution spree:

The lives of BOP staff members do not matter

The lives of family members (of victims and of prisoners) who participate in federal executions don’t matter

The lives of lawyers and journalists whose professional responsibility compels them to participate in the execution process, do not matter

The federal government’s failure to protect the American people from COVID-19 cannot be obfuscated by its decision to rush through the first federal executions in nearly two decades. Indeed, the data make clear that those topics are intrinsically related. The pandemic has shown us that our health and well-being are more connected to one another’s than we even realized. Despite Trump and Barr’s wishes, there is simply no way to ignore the health, safety, and humanity of incarcerated people, without degrading our own. 

Published September 22, 2020 at 11:00PM via ACLU https://ift.tt/3hU0GD4

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Bettmann/GettyWhile I have been researching and writing a Wampanoag-centered history of Plymouth Colony and the Thanksgiving holiday, my conversations with Native people have opened my eyes to some profound lessons about their past and present. These teachings have particular resonance this Thanksgiving season as the United States continues to struggle with white nationalism, the importance of distinguishing between truth and lies in democratic debate, and the place of indigenous people in a pluralistic country with a colonial foundation.Native people widely agree that the U.S. has yet to reckon with its history of white violence against their people. Instead, the country uses the myth of the First Thanksgiving to make it appear that Indians consented bloodlessly to colonialism.That myth, reinforced over and over again through grade school Thanksgiving pageants, holiday decorations, and television specials, is the only cameo Indians make in the colonial history curriculum in many American schools. Unfortunately, it is terrible history and even worse civics.The myth tells that supposedly friendly Indians (rarely identified by tribe) voluntarily gifted their country to the Pilgrims in order to lay the foundations for a white, Christian, democratic United States. As for why these Indians were so welcoming in the first place, this myth has nothing to say. It does not address the fact that the Wampanoags had already experienced years of slave raiding by European sailors before the appearance of the Mayflower, and that those contacts had introduced them to a devastating plague that more than halved their population and left them vulnerable to their inter-tribal enemies. Thus, when the Pilgrims arrived, the Wampanoags looked to them for a military alliance despite their wariness of English treachery.Why Thanksgiving Is Better Than ChristmasThe Thanksgiving Myth also evades the fact that the celebrated peace between the Wampanoags and Plymouth was rife with tensions from the start and ultimately degenerated into a bloody war. During the celebrated 50 years of peace following the First Thanksgiving, the Wampanoags complained endlessly about the English encroaching on their land, undermining their political systems, and asserting their jurisdiction over purely Indian affairs.Not coincidentally, there were recurrent war scares during these years as Native leaders reached across tribal lines to make common cause against their common colonial threat. The tension finally broke in King Philip’s War of 1675-76, which led to the deaths of thousands of Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, and other indigenous people, and the enslavement of thousands more. The Thanksgiving Myth ignores this consequence of the Pilgrim-Wampanoag alliance, though clashes of this sort were a basic feature of American colonial history.Some American history courses might teach about King Philip’s War, but few have anything to say about how many Wampanoags and other Native New Englanders survived after their military subjugation. Over the following centuries, they endured white society’s reduction of them and their children to indentured servitude and the ongoing occupation of their lands. They also suffered white people denying they were Indians at all based on the intermarriages and cultural adjustments they had made to survive under white domination. In other words, Americans are rarely taught the incredible achievement that American Indians are still here, every bit as much a part of the modern world as everyone else.Indigenous people also widely bemoan that Americans’ lack of historical understanding about the Native American contributes to a marked lack of recognition of their place in the country, a general lack of compassion for their historic struggles, and widespread unawareness about their ongoing fights for sovereignty and cultural self-determination. Indeed, many of them feel invisible to the general public.Worse still, every Thanksgiving season the country reduces historic Indians and their traumas to caricature, as if to say that Native Americans’ only role in the national culture is to concede to colonialism and then go away.Lest we diminish the impact of these messages, consider the experience of a young Wampanoag woman who told me that when she was in kindergarten, the lone Indian in her class, her teacher cast her as Chief Massasoit in a Thanksgiving pageant and had her sing with her classmates “This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land.” Reflecting on the moment as an adult, the cruel irony was not lost on her. As a child, she only knew enough to be embarrassed about it.The Trump era has cast into relief some of the dark consequences of this amnesia and ignorance. It includes the government’s environmental racism and disregard of Native sovereignty evident in the battle over the Keystone Pipeline. It includes the ongoing use of racist stereotypes of indigenous people in sports mascots. It includes President Donald Trump’s derision of Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas, which feeds on the widespread assumption that it is ludicrous for someone with a light (or dark) complexion leading a modern life to have Native heritage and want to claim it.Trump’s juvenile trolling of Warren also plays on the widespread ignorance of the American public about the difference between being an enrolled member of an Indian tribe (which Warren is not) and being a descendant of Native people (which Warren is). Such thinking is part of a long American tradition of white people insisting that Indians should disappear, the better to reduce the numbers of them laying claim to the land.The belief that Indians do not matter also contributed to Trump posing a delegation of Navajo leaders visiting the White House in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson, the proponent of Indian Removal, and then making light on Twitter about the historic massacre of Wounded Knee.Not least of all, the widespread belief that modern Indians cannot be authentic and have no legitimate historic rights has contributed to a recent decision by Trump’s Department of the Interior to revoke a 2007 federal ruling that restored reservation lands to the Mashpee Wampanoags of Cape Cod, descendants of the very people who welcomed the Pilgrims.No wonder, then, that many Native people, including the Wampanoags, charge that their fellow Americans lack sufficient gratitude for what they’ve sacrificed for the country. This feeling of victimhood is especially poignant given that many Native communities still suffer extraordinarily high levels of poverty, with all of its associated ills, while living in the shadow of sometimes garish wealth. Wampanoag people in southeastern New England, for instance, are confronted daily with the sight of outsiders’ extravagant coastal estates, occupied for only six or eight weeks in summer, built atop places where the ancestors are buried and where some of them fished, hunted, and gathered within memory. The image sickens and depresses. And yet there is no escaping it or the sense that other Americans revel in it.In Thanksgiving season, one cannot drive past neighbors’ lawns or go to the store without confronting happy Pilgrim and Indian decorations, or turn on the television, radio, or computer without being bombarded with Pilgrim and Indian themes. Some schools continue to have children, including Native children, perform Thanksgiving pageants. For these reasons and more, the United New England Indians have held a National Day of Mourning in Plymouth every Thanksgiving Day since 1970, which is attended by indigenous people from throughout the hemisphere. They do not see American colonialism as something to celebrate.Part of what I’ve learned through my conversations with Wampanoag people is that achieving some measure of repair and signaling that Americans value their Native countrymen and women requires compassion, gratitude, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable history. Taking these steps might also help us, collectively, to restore basic dignity, intelligence, and humanity to our civic culture. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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