#way too many tags…. oy vey

[comradekatara]

wait. if haru is katara’s suki (her ek counterpart who is in a similar position, complements and tempers her personality, they first meet in book 1 but don’t have the time to start a real relationship, but then reunite during the western air temple arc and properly get together) does that make…. jet katara’s yue (her “first love” who died in her arms). yue sweetie i am so sorry………

[evilwickedme]

Tell me more about the significance of Good Guy™ Superman.

Ok I'm typing this all up a second time, a couple of days later, because the first time I typed it all I did it perfectly but it was on my laptop and the hellsite fuckin goofed and it's all gone now so that made me sad. I can't promise to hit all the points I wanted to hit but I'll do my best

We gotta start by clarifying that in the tags that triggered this ask I did specifically say that clark/kal-el/superman being a Good Boy is important to me. I note this because while I have very good justifications for why it's important to me that he's a Good Person™, I acknowledge that this is one of those cases where the facts may back me up, but it genuinely just comes down to matters of individual taste.

So, like, big picture here: superman is Moses. I've talked about this before, you've read about this before, this is more fact than opinion. The parallels are obvious, and loud, and obnoxiously repeated in online spaces just as much as in books such as up, up and oy vey (this is not a recommendation, just pointing out that it's universally acknowledged pretty much everywhere). I'm not going to waste my breath trying to convince you of this fact. Superman is Moses. Moses is, in Judaism, possibly the holiest man to ever live. The first in the prophets. As many of you may recall, in my lecture on Jewish superheros, I argued that Jewish ideas of prophecy found their way into the modern Jewish stories being told by the comic book authors creating the very first superheroes - the very first superhero, of course, being superman.

One noteworthy thing about prophecy as described by Maimonides? The most basic component of prophecy isn't actually talking to god or receiving holy visions, it's actually just... Doing good. Good™. Good as an action, good as an innate need, good for the people around you and the people of the whole world. Moses showed this tendency as a young man - privileged, raised in the house of the pharaoh, he couldn't stand seeing any man get beaten, even if he was a slave. He loses his home over this, the family who raised him. He sees a man getting unjustly punished, and he kills the oppressor over it. And when he goes out again the next day and sees two Hebrews fighting, he tries to stop this as well (Exodus 2). Moses is our holiest prophet; before he ever even acknowledges God's existence, he feels the need to do good and prevent evil; superman is Moses; superman must follow a similar path of goodness as an innate need followed by action.

That's all big picture stuff, though. There's the smaller stuff, too. Not my bigger analysis of comic book heroes and the ideas of prophecy in Maimonides' writing, because honestly that's just... A lot. When it comes down to it, it is so much more satisfying to me that Superman is a person.

He's the first superhero, right? And he's got this insane level of power not really often seen since. Any person who attempts to defeat him needs to use a mix of his one singular weakness and genuine cunning, because there's really no brute forcing your way passed fucking superman. So yeah, you could tell a story like that of the Boys (although I didn't make it past episode 3 of that, my apologies). You could tell a cynical story where terrible people do terrible things and it all gets waved away. But the boys isn't really a story about people who happen to get powers - it's a story about people who have power, positions of authority, government officials and the like, not just superpowers.

That's not Clark Kent's story. Clark Kent is an illegal immigrant who was raised by good people in secrecy. He's handed superpowers, yes, but very rarely power - he's a journalist with farmboy training, and his greatest nemesis is a billionaire who becomes the fucking president of the united states. He fought Hitler in WWII, did you know that? He represents good because it makes for a compelling story. The underdog who's secretly not an underdog at all, choosing every day to fight evil and represent truth (being a reporter is vital to both of these, in case you're wondering). Yeah, he's a bit of a shit dad to Connor, but him not being a perfect person doesn't make him not a good one, especially since - again - in my definition of good, goodness is an action, and one you constantly have to perform and perfect and adapt to changing times.

Going back to Judaism - in Jewish tradition, we all have the force of evil and the force of good inside of us (yetzer hara and yetzer hatov). The word yetzer comes from the same root as the word for creation - we are capable of creating evil and creating good. Superman represents hope and justice because he chooses every day to create good.

And that, in a nutshell, is why it is so important to me that Kal El-Clark Kent-Superman is a Good Guy. Because he can be.

[ladytp]

Use Your Words

Polonius: What do you read, my lord?

Hamlet: Words, words, words.

Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?

Hamlet: Between who?

Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

–Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.

You know the drill. Answer and add some NP Tags. Includes NSFW language. Feel free to answer as one of your OCs or RPs if you like.

I was tagged by @amplifyme – thank you dearly!

A phrase / quote/ word you find funny: “She’ll be right” – which is a typical Australian expression about how it will be all OK - but it has turned at least in my family into an expression that means that everything is anything but OK!

Some of your favourite SFW words: ‘No worries’, ‘cool’.

Favourite cusses, NSFW or otherwise: ‘Oh shit!’, ‘Perkele’ (a Finnish swearword).

What language do you speak? Finnish as my domestic language, and English everywhere else.

Favourite word (s) in a language other than your first: ‘Mea culpa’, ‘Oy vey’.

Movies with subtitles on or off: If it is possible, often with subtitles on – even if the program is in English. I regularly watch movies/TV shows late at night when my other half sleeps and I don’t want to blast the sound out. I also watch a lot of foreign language movies and shows, and then it is must. I am also quite used to it, as in Finnish TV foreign shows are also subtitled, not dubbed – for which I am eternally grateful! Dubbed programs are… *shivers in horror*

Book you’ve read/listened to the most times? Not that many books – but maybe some of Finnish author Mika Waltari’s books would make the list. One that springs to mind is “Johannes Angelos” (English title “Dark Angel”), a story set during the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 – a wonderful, wonderful book!

Do you listen to songs in languages you don’t understand? Of course, all the time! Some of my favourite music channels are internet radio stations on World Music or Ancient music – and languages can be anything from Arabic to Spanish to ancient Greek or old Norse… https://www.radiofrance.fr/fip/radio-monde and https://www.ancientfm.com/  for anyone who might be interested.

Do you express yourself best with words, images or something else? With words, preferably written words – whether for work or other. Writing things down lets me think of what I want to say and how to express it in the best way that is understandable to the reader and deliver the message most clearly. (Not that I always succeed, though).

Do you talk more or less when you’re nervous? More, probably. Or sometimes I can shut down too. Not sure, I am not nervous often.

How do you pronounce February? ‘Fepruari’ (with Finnish spelling) Definitively with the ‘r’!

What kind of accent do you have? Very extremely and exceedingly Finnish! If you have ever heard a Finn being interviewed, for example a rally or Formula F1 driver – that’s me.

If you literally had to “eat your words,” how would they taste? Like neutral saliva. 😊

I’m tagging @zip001, @ownsariver, @littlefeatherr @sister-winter73 and anyone who wants to play! 😉

[qqueenofhades]

Uh why do minors follow you?

Be.... because they want to...?

I assume this is in reference to me answering an ask earlier where one of my long-time anons mentioned that they had just now turned 18. I am amused (if irritated) by the implication that it is my fault, and I should have scrupulously policed my followers, anyone who ever interacts with me, and so forth, all to make sure that They Are Not Minors, Because Then They Might See Something Bad.

Oy vey.

While I absolutely 100% respect the rights of grown-ass adults to designate their blogs/fandom spaces as 18+ and request that minors don't interact with them, I don't do that myself, and there are a few reasons for it. First, for god's sake, not every single interaction between an adult and a child is inherently wrong, morally suspect, predatory, or evil. If a child feels that they can NEVER talk to an adult without being judged (or the adult being judged), then guess what! They won't talk to anyone and they will feel more isolated and be cut off from support systems and people who could be able to help them! Either way, if minors want to follow me, that's their responsibility. I put explicit text beneath cuts, tag for content warnings, provide external links to clearly-tagged and rated AO3 fics, and otherwise perform the usual housekeeping tasks to be sure that if someone is reading something rated M, they have decided to do it of their own free will. If that person is below 18, that is their own responsibility. I am not the internet's babysitter and cannot (and will not) refrain from producing adult content just because someone somewhere might see it. Sorry.

Also: I used to be that 15-year-old kid who read stuff that was way too old for me, and that was, all things considered, probably not things my parents would have approved of (if they had known, because I was good at covering my tracks). I was a sheltered teenager in a sheltered town and there was no way I was going to encounter this stuff otherwise, and sorry to say this, but kids are curious. Kids are also people. Kids have the right to read whatever they want (yes, you heard me) and to think about it, question it, whatever they want to do. I definitely didn't grow up into some weird malformed morally deranged person who somehow thought everything that I read about in fiction was now morally okay in real life, because I am someone who can tell the difference between these two things. As are most children. I don't know how to tell Tumblr that they, again, are real people. Young people with limited experiences, and adults who interact with them in real life or on a consistent basis obviously have duties of care toward them, but if I ever end up having children for whatever reason, they will be allowed to read whatever they want, full stop. They will know that they can talk to me about it, and that there are certain preconditions that come with having that responsibility, but I am very firm on this point. Progressives trying to reinvent conservative evangelical purity culture and ban books/texts/AO3/anything whatsoever that Might Be Bad are exactly what the right-wing whackos are doing right now with their book bans and interfering in what public schools are and are not allowed to teach (basically, anything to do with racism and gay people, the end). This shared hysteria that the Children might Learn about Sex!!! is... honestly, baffling, since last time I looked, this was not 1880.

Basically: if you're a minor and you're following me, that's your choice, you know what you're in for by now, I trust you to make your own decisions about what you do and don't want to see, and I hope that I've provided a space where you can feel comfortable asking me questions about things that you want to know. Because as I said, if children are told that every adult is wrong and evil for even thinking about talking to them (which is totally absurd on many, many levels, but welcome to Anti Logic!), then... again, what are they going to do? Struggle along as best they can? If I am here and I can help, or just offer an ear as a caring adult(ish) person, I am happy to do that. Growing up is scary, especially fucking right now. I don't need to make it harder on them. As I said, I was once that kid, and I didn't have anyone to talk to. Besides, how on earth is this whole "the children can't find out about sex!" thing even supposed to WORK? Not to mention that it enables sexual abuse by the people who ARE up to no good, if kids are taught that it is bad, shameful, and should never be looked at or discussed. As I said! Straight-up conservative evangelical purity culture! And by now, I think we all know how much that screws people up, and the long, long time that it takes to undo that damage.

Tl;dr: Censorship is always wrong and I don't do it. Children are people. Please go outside and meet another human being sometime.

[hummingbird-games]

Dev Blog # 11

“It’s gonna be MAY!”

Except. It already is by the time you’re reading this.

Spare main menu screen, anyone?? And peep the icon I (struggled with) made?? Canva tricks me into thinking I’m a graphic artist and I haven’t decided if that’s a terrible thing or not.

If you’ve noticed, there’s been a ‘slight’ rebrand. After some feedback and months of going back and forth on my end, there’s been a title change, but moving forward I will still use the “sd:jy” tag as I don’t feel particularly eager to go back and update posts too. Also it’s just one word, so I’m not too pressed. 

Also at the time of posting this, the last romance path (Langston) is undergoing edits (rewrites), and I’ve sent off the demo to my beta testers. Oy vey. Once again, I’m sure there’s an easier way to go about this, but I haven’t figured it out yet...

(By the way, I’m still taking beta testers for the demo, so if you are interested, please shoot an email to hummingbirdstudio.games@gmail.com)

Don’t take this as set in stone, BUT we’re looking at going public on June 1st. The full game will be out 2022 still, but an exact date is dependent on many factors. 

What’s Next

Coding sprites (coding really is the enemy, y’all)

Finalizing last LI route edits

coding music and SFX

more playtests and beta tests

BACKGROUNDS 😖 so...so many....and for what?

the achievements page/screen/whatever (aka something I didn’t account for that came up later to bite me)

It’s so easy to look over my shoulder and see the other VNs coming out and wish I was doing the same features, or art, or story tropes they’re doing, but then I remember that just a few months ago I didn’t know how to do any of this. 

So. Here’s to celebrating the little things. I made this game because there’s a story I wanna tell after all, so I can’t stop now. 

If you’ve read or skimmed this far, thank you!! I’m getting my second dose later this morning so I will be taking it easy for the next couple of days. Look out for the demo coming very soon, and if there’s anything you’d like to see more (or less of) on this space, let me know!

E R R R...and give the Ko-Fi page a visit? I’ve decided to post some fun treats that are free for anyone to view in the next coming weeks 🤗

[thisisurl]

I was tagged by @lee-e uwu

Rules: Answer twenty-one questions and then tag twenty-one blogs you'd like to know better!

Nickname: my name's zohy but you can just call me the jellyfish uwu

Star sign: libra

Height: somewhere around 160cm

Last film I saw: finally saw Ralph brakes the Internet, like... Three months late

Favourite musician: there's too many to choose from, impossible

Song stuck in my head: change your mind, I will never get over that masterpiece of an episode uwu

Do I get asks: not really

Other blogs: my danky Hebrew sideblog @thisisthejellyfish

Blogs following: 414, but I do have to clear it up a bit I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of not active ones

What am I wearing: my giant black tee I sleep in

Dream job: no fucking idea

Dream trip: somewhere cool, that's also green and bear the ocean

Play any instruments: always wanted to learn piano or guitar, but there's no way I can learn that I ain't smart enough to learn those

Languages: English, Hebrew and Russian

Favourite food: ice-cream

Favourite songs: again, wayyyy to many to choose from, have you ever seen my Spotify playlists? I'VE GOT MORE THAN 650 SONGS MARKED FAV

Random facts: I'm hands down the most scarred person you will ever meet, there no competition to speak of

@yaldashelhasatan @eligeek @corgicupcake @hamoralimona @oy-vey-zmir @wildroombas @viktor-halesbit @pugi-bepita @pinklem @connversefangirl @artishok-betaam-gamba @tovnoo @ghosts-are-fabulous @m8al @dark-and-fucking-twisted @samsamtha @fiddlergodofmischief

[animalgardensculptures]

Garden Statues Fundamentals Explained

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In Contemporary Hebrew, Golem is used to mean "dumb" or "helpless". Equally, it is usually utilized now for a metaphor for any brainless or entity

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[elizabethhollowswriting-blog]

Writing Process Questions!

So I was tagged by @gold-from-straw and this seemed like a fabulous, fun thing to so, thank you!

If you want to hear me answer questions about my writing process, please click the cut below :)

1. What are your favourite genres and/or styles to write in?

Fantasy and Science Fiction are my top two. I love being able to create the world, cultures, creatures, abilities and histories of different planets and the fantasy worlds a character lives in. It’s kind of “anything goes” and that allows me to be as creative as I want. It’s fabulous!

2. What was the last writing project you finished and felt successful with?

I always feel excited about finishing anything! I do love completing a story idea that’s been in my drafts for a long time or one that I’ve been working on for a number of months. I get so much satisfaction from knowing that it’s finally had it’s time to shine.

I did feel particularly excited when I finished my “Assorted Short Stories - Collection 2″ since I had struggled with it at the beginning of the year. I ended up switching out a number of short stories and just letting what inspired me take control. It meant only two of the original tales remained, but I’m really pleased with the success of finishing it :)

3. If you have a WiP how do you feel it’s going? What stage are you in?

The current story that I’m working on is a homosexual romance that is set in the 1920′s called “Courting Me Softly”. It’s on it’s fourth chapter of an estimated seven or eight. I’m really exited for this one since it’s been on my “closet writing list” for a number of months now. 

I’m also looking to post this story to tumblr when it’s complete as a free OC story that will be update every week or so for you all to enjoy! It’s going well so far apart from some “meet the family” dynamics, oy vey. 

I’ll let you know more about this story when it gets closer to finishing :)

4. What are your favourite places to write?

I only ever write on my computer and I prefer to be in a room in my home where it’s dark, quiet and isolated. While I will sometimes write when I’m at a cafe/out and about, it’s rare. I like solitude and comfort and I find that best in a cosy spot in my home.

5. Do you prefer to write with long hand or type? Or some other method?

Type. 

I have the penmanship of a drunken chicken. The only time I can get my handwriting to be something legible is if I’ve typed the prose out first and can take my time copying it down. My writing can’t keep up with my brain and it becomes a smeared, scribbled mess I can’t always translate. 

I love writing on a computer as my quick speed/touch-typing allows me to keep up with my brain as paragraphs are created. I also like the fact that everything I might need is readily accessible: internet for research, music for background noise, apps for friends who I can pester with questions and all my documents saved in one place. Typing and computers are the way for me!

6. Do you remember your first character? If so can we meet them?

Oh man. I was 12 and I started writing a novel called “The World of Green” it started with a young girl who was tending the garden with her dog Bongo and having difficultly finding those “whatcha-ma-call-it” tools. I can’t remember the girl’s name but I know her search was interrupted when she was asked to go pick some strawberries from down by the river in a nearby forest. She took a basket down there along with her dog. I think Bongo located something from another world and she ended up going to that world with him. But I... really can’t remember the rest and the document is long lost, heh.

7. Where do you get your inspiration?

Um, from everything? I can be watching a TV show, hearing a news report, see a picture, hear a song, think up a hypothetical question/scenario, talking to someone, hear a turn of phrase, see a bird fly past me - and suddenly, my brain asks a question or imagines a different scenario and bam, there’s a story idea. It’s why I have hundreds upon hundreds of story ideas just filling up dozens of folders on my computer.

I’m also really bad at coming up with a single idea and not making additional novels, series, etc from it. I’ll have a “short story” and it will become a novel because there’s just too many new pathways that form the more I look at the idea/character/world. I’m getting better at telling my brain “no” and not sequel-ing things, but it doesn’t always work ^^;

8. Do you outline a story before writing it, or does it all live in your head until the first draft gets put down?

It depends on the idea but most of the time when I come up with an idea I open a document and start rambling about it in this giant flow of free thought, just letting it go where it needs to go and pen what is in my head. The more I type it out, the more it can snowball and give me additional details on the story, character backgrounds and motivations.

Sometimes, an idea might only be a single sentence long other times it might be pages upon pages. Once my notes are complete and I’ve “got the story out of my head” I can usually save it and shelve it to be picked up at a later date. 

When I start writing a story, I tend to expand on those notes as new things are developed through the prose and character interactions. Some stories will follow the original notes completely, others will end up completely different and disregard a lot of plans along the way.

So I suppose I do outline a story even if there’s little method and many holes. It develops as I go and I spend long periods lost in my head running scenarios and creating the characters as I go about my daily tasks (before rushing back to dump more information in the documents before I forget them).

9. Where do you go/ What do you do when you’re feeling stuck?

Depends on the level of “stuck”. I will usually either sit back and contemplate what the problem is and different scenarios I could take to find something to push the story forward. Sometimes I will go do housework or shower and spend the time picking at the problem and try to untangle it, other times I’ll message a friend and ramble at them about the story (this is usually a great way to unblock myself since I’m forced to explain the situation to them and that means articulated description).

Other times, I can open a document and try to work on a story only to just know that it’s not going to happen. Something in me just goes “nope”. I usually switch to a different task when that happens and go away from my laptop so I can come back refreshed and revitalized. I may also open a random, new document for some “fun writing” in a fresh new setting, depends on how encompassing that “nope” is :)

10. What got you starting writing/doing Art? (Because I always love origin stories)

When I was a child--I’m talking like six or seven--my mother used to read me stories at night. My Dad didn’t like reading stories so when it was his turn he used to “make one up” and since (as he claims) he was not very creative he used to prompt me for what happens next. I only have vague memories of this, but I would usually be the one taking over and telling the story. I also used to create large dramatic productions with my stuffed animals and get irritated when my friends used to get bored but I was in the middle of the tale and wanted to see what else happened!

I don’t know when I first started writing stories but I do remember writing a bunch around the time of “The World of Green” and then I just never stopped. I loved writing and did it during most of my free time. Then I realized that it could be a career in late primary school and well, that was me set. I can’t ever imagine doing anything else. I love it so much <3

Now, as for the tagging, I pick: @hardlyhalcyon, @staglynxspider @sentient-teapot @rmh8402 and anyone else who wants to participate!

And if you have any other writing (or general) questions, please feel free to send me an ask! I love asks :D

[traincat]

Hi! I've read most of your Spideytorch tag and every post where you've mentioned Homecoming, and I've gotta ask, why do you think Peter Parker should be Jewish? I've seen people claim he comes across that way before because he'd used Yiddish words, but never specifically because of his guilt complex. Like, I'm a Jew (an Israeli one) and I've always thought religious guilt was a Christian thing. And wouldn't making Peter Jewish now retcon the bits where he was protestant?

It’s not that I think Peter should be Jewish so much as that I think the character is Jewish, in that he was conceived specifically as a Jewish character at a time where that couldn’t be addressed on the page, much the same way Ben Grimm was intended by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to be Jewish. It wasn’t until Fantastic Four v3 #56, in 2002, that Ben was ever declared on-page Jewish, even though it was clear long before this point to anyone with the tools to recognize it. The same is true for Peter Parker – we just haven’t hit our Fantastic Four v3 #56. Andrew Garfield, who is Jewish on his father’s side, notably recognized it and decided to play the character as Jewish, which is a big reason why, to me, this is the only film version of the character that strikes me as an honest representation of Peter Parker.

Look at it this way: even if we leave out the fact that Stan Lee was raised Jewish and any speculation on what personal influences a Jewish man living in New York at that time might have brought when creating a superhero character designed to be easy to relate to, who had problems Just Like You, there’s the location to account for. New York is a heavily Jewish and heavily Jewish-influenced area in general, but Peter’s not just from New York City – he’s from Forest Hills, Queens, a historically Jewish neighborhood. (Since you mentioned my Homecoming posts, I don’t think it’s a coincidence they moved him out of Forest Hills, with the writers citing the area as “too old-fashioned.”) To compare him to Ben Grimm again, Ben also hailed from a famously Jewish neighborhood long before the character was ever addressed as Jewish on page, even though, you know, he obviously was. Ben, like Peter, also has a distinctly New York Jewish speech pattern, albeit a different one from Peter’s, accounting for their differently Jewish backgrounds. 

While I would normally personally view the use of Yiddish as something of a grey area – the Marvel universe being centered around New York and populated by characters who commonly have fast-paced, banter-y dialogue style, I would expect most of them to have picked up a phrase or two – but it’s the frequency and the skill with which Peter deploys Yiddish in his snappy, aggressive New York banter, coupled with his place of birth and a thousand other things. If Clint Barton throws around an oy vey or a fakakta, I’m like, yeah, that boy’s watched some Seinfeld, huh. When Peter Parker does it, it feels different to me.

In addition to the Yiddish, 616 Peter also references lesser known Jewish holidays:

How many non-Jewish guys would casually drop Shavuos? Or call it, as an Ashkenazi man from Forest Hills is likely to, Shavuos instead of Shavuot? If Peter isn’t Jewish, then I’d be raising a touchy eyebrow at him so casually throwing around mentions of a faith that isn’t his. 

But Brian Michael Bendis wrote this. And Brian Michael Bendis knows Spider-Man is Jewish. 

When asked about Peter’s tendency to litter his speech with Yiddish in Spider-Men, Bendis flatly replied “he’s Jewish.” When asked if Peter Parker was Jewish in Ultimate Marvel, he replied that every Peter Parker is Jewish. I’ve spoken before about my own personal issues with taking social media statements from writers in multiple creator, non creator-owned properties as hard canon facts, but Bendis is so incredibly prolific that I have to break my rule a little for him. At the very least, given that he wrote all of Ultimate Spider-Man, I think it must be conceded that Ultimate Peter Parker is Jewish. (Every Peter Parker is Jewish.)

Regarding the concept of guilt, I literally have an e-mail from Chabad labeled “How to Manage Jewish Guilt” sitting in my inbox right now, so this might be an American-Israeli Jewish cultural difference –Jewish guilt is very much considered a thing here. Catholic guilt is a thing too, but it’s a different flavor of guilt. (I’m Jewish on my mother’s side and my father was raised Catholic, plus one of my great aunts is a nun – so I’m pretty familiar with both breeds.) There are a lot of articles online detailing the difference between the feeling, but Peter’s version of guilt imho lines up exactly to Jewish guilt, and not to a Christian form. Jewish guilt is responsibility, even if it’s a whacked out neurotic overblown explosion of it. There’s also a thing I get annoyed with in fandom quite often, which is this very Christian desire to “absolve” Peter of his guilt, this “oh if only he could work through this, he wouldn’t feel so responsible, he’d let other people help,” etc, and like, let’s leave the guilt aside for a moment, but from my own Jewish perspective, that sense of responsibility isn’t something that should be resolved. He should feel responsible. It’s good that he feels responsible. We should all feel responsible. Look at what happens when people don’t. Peter Parker’s ethical code is rooted in Judaism. You don’t get to absolve that. 

I’ve mentioned before that one of the things I find interesting about Peter Parker is how for a street level superhero, he’s seriously overpowered. Seriously! He’s super strong! Fast enough to dodge a bullet! He heals much faster than a normal man! He has a freaking danger sense! (As a Jewish person in America, I wish I had a danger sense.) What more can you ask for? You can ask for the one superpower the spider didn’t give him: Peter Parker’s super freaking smart. If there are two Jewish super powers, they’re survival (Spider-Man always gets back up) and intelligence. And it’s not just that Peter’s smart, he strives for education. It’s important to him. (I’m not saying that these things can’t exist and be important to non-Jewish characters, of course, but I am saying there is a cultural slant, especially, again, accounting for where Peter comes from.) There’s so much I keep thinking of tackling here: the secret keeping, his spy parents who were framed as traitors by the Red Skull, the stereotype of the weak Jewish intellectual and Peter’s aggressive defiance of that, coupled with people’s desire to strip that out of the character – all of those things feed into the character’s Jewishness. 

As for retconning Peter being protestant – see, the thing is, it doesn’t like, matter. It’s not like retconning the religion of a character like Matt Murdock or Nightcrawler, where an integral piece of the lens through which they view the world would have to be altered. Christianity has never informed Peter’s character in any notable way. Okay, so we see him celebrating Christmas at home with his family – that’s not uncommon in America. My family does that. To label Peter Parker Protestant isn’t to have that religion inform the character, which ideally a religion or lack of one should do; it’s a label put in place to say “see, look, it’s okay, he isn’t Jewish.” Because he is Jewish. Marvel, the company, who is concerned with sales and popularity overall, just doesn’t want to admit it, because they’ve built up this concept of Spider-Man as the most relatable character. And if he is the most relatable character in the world, to the most people in the world, then he can’t be Jewish. (Except that he is.)

It’s not that I would even want Peter to be more religious than he is in canon, which isn’t very. As someone with a complicated relationship with my own spirituality, I don’t mind that he doesn’t seem, as a Jew Marvel won’t admit is a Jew, to be particularly observant. I would like of course to see him in temple for the High Holidays, or simply celebrating Hanukkah with Ben Grimm and Kitty Pryde in a Marvel holiday special, but if he continued on the exact way he was – a guy who talks to and argues with God, a distinctly Jewish trait, and that seems to be the end of the story – I’d be okay with that. I would just like it done with honesty, and bravery, and truthful storytelling.

Bottom line, these days I hear a lot of talk about how Peter as a white male nerd doesn’t resonate with readers anymore because he’s supposed to be the underdog, and nerd culture is no longer synonymous with that. To which I say: Peter Parker never belonged to the nerds. He always belonged to the Jews.

[thisisurl]

First, wow I’m so honored to be tagged thank you so much @thewillofalbusdumbledore

Second, you tagged me as both thisisurl and thisisthejellyfish, so well… I guess now you know I’m both, if you didn’t before? jebsjshdksbdndj I’m gonna reblog it there too, that makes sense right?

Rule: tag 15 people you want to get to know better!

1) Relationship status: a single hopeless romantic

2) Lipstick or chapstick: i love both, always carry one of each

3) Three favourite foods: ice cream, potatoes, ice

4) Song stuck in your head: we don’t believe what’s on tv by twenty one pilots

5) Last movie you watched: loving vincent, saw it like… two months ago

6) Top 3 shows: that’s an impossible decision to make, i watch way too many shows and i love em all. instead, last three i watched we’re it’s always sunny in philly, the venture bros and adventure time (that finale killed me)

7) Book I am currently reading: last book i read was “The Terminal Experiment” by Robert J. Sawyer, but that was in like… may? (also i had no idea that was it’s original name, the hebrew translation is called “hobson’s choice”… who knew)

8) Last thing I googled: דופנשמירץ תעשיות רשע בע”מ, (doofenshmirtz evil inc. ,for the not hebrew speaking people. don’t judge me)

9) Time: 17:07

10) Dream trip: i don’t know…somewhere nice and pretty… definitely somewhere with the ocean near by…

11) Anything you want: i have a list of those on my phone, wait a second… ok, first thing is world peace, second is for people who hate animals to die, then to go to burning man, then for people to care about the earth and a metalocalypse conclusion… after that it’s mostly vague things.//

daffkjgfdsdfghjkjhgfdi really fucking blabbered here… sorry anyway

okay… now the hard part… people

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sooooo sorry if i’m intruding... you don’t have to do this