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burningvelvet · 10 months

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Mary Shelley’s Lake Geneva diary from August 2nd, 1816…

“Friday, August 2. — I go to the town with Shelley, to buy a telescope for his birthday present. In the evening Lord Byron and he go out in the boat, and, after their return, Shelley and Clare go up to Diodati; I do not, for Lord Byron did not seem to wish it. Shelley returns with a letter from Longdill, which requires his return to England. This puts us in bad spirits. I read Rêveries and Adèle et Théodore de Madame de Genlis, and Shelley reads Pliny’s Letters.”

This was the day that Percy, Claire, and Byron discussed Claire’s pregnancy and what they were going to do about custody rights. Shelley had already known about Claire’s pregnancy for at least a month and was most likely the first to know, since after he and Byron almost drowned on June 25th he had secretly written a will that left sums to Claire and any person of her choice — her name being near the top of the list along with Mary, his wife Harriet, and all his children. Considering that Byron later believed the Hoppner Scandal (unconfirmed rumours that Claire had a secret child with Percy which was given for adoption or aborted) — and that historians believe Claire and Shelley were probably sexually involved at various periods — some people believe that the paternity of the child was called into question. Claire’s identity as the child’s mother would be hidden from the public to protect her reputation, and Byron and Shelley both accepted responsibility for the child (though Shelley was arguably more attached), although everyone agreed that the child (Allegra) looked and acted like Byron, and was therefore his.

Byron in a letter to his sister about Claire and the rumours surrounding his time at Geneva:

“. . . as to all these ‘mistresses’ — Lord help me — I have had but one. Now don't scold — but what could I do? A foolish girl, in spite of all I could say or do, would come after me, or rather went before, for I found her here, and I have had all the plague possible to persuade her to go back again, but at last she went. Now, dearest, I do most truly tell thee that I could not help this, that I did all I could to prevent it, and have at last put an end to it. I was not in love nor have any love left for any, but I could not exactly play the Stoic with a woman who had scrambled eight hundred miles to un-philosophize me, besides I had been regaled of late with so many ‘two courses and a dessert’ (Alas!) of aversion, that I was fain to take a little love (if pressed particularly) by way of novelty. And now you know all that I know of the matter, & it's over.”

A decade later, Claire Clairmont wrote to Jane Williams:

“What would I not give to have an unhappy passion, for then one has full permission and a perfect excuse to fall into a happy one; one has something to expect, but a happy passion, like death, has finis written in such large characters in its face there is no hoping for any possibility of a change. You will allow me to talk upon this subject, for I am unhappily the victim of a happy passion. I had one; like all things perfect in its kind, it was fleeting, and mine only lasted ten minutes, but these ten minutes have discomposed the rest of my life.

The passion, God knows for what cause, from no faults of mine, however, disappeared, leaving no trace whatever behind it except my heart wasted and ruined as if it had been scorched by a thousand lightnings.“

Sadly, Allegra Byron died at the age of five due to a sudden outbreak of typhus in Romagna where Byron had enrolled her in a private convent school. This was a betrayal to Claire, as they had promised each other that Allegra should never be apart from one of her parents, due to Claire’s prediction that something terrible would happen if so. However, Byron argued that having a good Italian-Catholic education would give Allegra higher marriage prospects in Italy than any education she could have in England, partly due to her illegitimacy and partly due to the tarnished reputations of the Byron/Shelley/Godwin households, among other reasons. Claire blamed Byron for Allegra’s death, and she felt that while Shelley sympathized more with her, Mary sympathized more with Byron. Three months later, Shelley followed Allegra to the grave, and the already fragmented social circle would further break apart.

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eirinstiva · 9 months

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The Sussex Vampire: a bit about Perú

In the last two letters from my dear friend Watson we know about The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire so I have an excuse to dust my old book of history, some English-Spanish dictionaries and Todo Sherlock Holmes.

Mrs. Ferguson (we don't know her name. ACD, how hard was to call her María or Violeta?) and her maid Dolores come from Perú (I know I shouldn't use ´ but I have my Latino ID so I'll do what I want). She was daughter of a Peruvian merchant related to importation of nitrates.

After the Pacific War came a National reconstruction period (1884–1895). During this period Peru has huge external debt and lost many industries related to nitrate production, the occupied provinces of Tacna and Arica were under Chilenization. Latex and oil industries become relevant due to Industrial Revolution but the country was in bankruptcy. In 1886 the Grace Contract was signed between Peru and British bondholders to settle this debt, and the Peruvian Corporation was formed. This corporation agreed to cancel Peru's debt in exchange for £80,000 in annual payments, mining rights, and ownership of the Peruvian rail for 66 years. The corporation also agreed to build 160 kilometers of new railroad.

Nicolás de Piérola was elected president of Peru 1895, and the country began its period known as the Aristocratic Republic. During this time the economy was highly dependent of Britain: The Peruvian Corporation (trains), London Pacific (oil), Cerro de Pasco Minning Corporation (copper), Peruvian Amazon Company (latex rubber) Sugar Company (sugar) and Banco Perú Londres (bank) were the motors of the economy.

Mrs. Ferguson was probably from an aristrocratic family and received a proper education for a woman of her social status, including learning a foreign language like English. Her "alien religion" was Catholicism like the biggest part of the country because that religion reached almost every corner in South America (by choice or force) during the Colonial Era.

The maid Dolores had brown skin, so I guess she was indigenous or mestiza (Spaniard+Indigenous). Like her employer she was Catholic too but she hadn't the same education. There were efforts to increase the number of people able to read, but it was a common practice for kids to leave school and work in the same industries as their parents.

Dolores didn't study English like Mrs. Ferguson, that's why she use Spanish grammar when she speaks:

“She verra ill,” cried the girl, looking with indignant eyes at her master. “She no ask for food. She verra ill. She need doctor. I frightened stay alone with her without doctor.”

She no ask for food = Ella no pregunta por comida ✔

The translation into Spanish made by Juan Manuel Ibeas reflects this with the absence of some sounds and words:

—Ta my enferma gimió la muchacha, mirando con ojos indignados a su señor—. No quere comía. Mu enferma. Necesita doctor. Me da miedo estar sola con ella sin doctor.

And "leesten", IIRC in Spanish we don't have long/short vowels, so the /ɪ/ in listen can be /iː/ like in heel, details that make English a hard language for Latinos, and harder for someone with Dolores' background.

ACD wrote a whole chapter of "The Mystery of Cloomber" with some Scottish accent, so I doesn't surprise me. I like the level of accuracy of this accent. There are high chances that Dolores doesn't even read in Spanish, so this details are more accurate that I expected.

I understand (a bit) why Mrs Fergurson didn't dare to tell her husband what his son did. She was in a foreign country alone with her maid, she had to deal with another language, another religion and she doesn't have her family or friends there. I can't imagine going back to Perú by steamship in times when the Panama Canal was in construction.

#letters from watson #the sussex vampire #SUSS #history #acd canon #sherlock holmes #i wanted to add ID and more details but my brain is melting #latin american history #lost in translation #todo sherlock holmes #letters in the underground

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threebooksoneplot · 3 months

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love this podcast so much! this is probably a bit of a nuts ask but i just wanted to let you guys know that you've genuinely helped me in real life- I was approached by two Mormon missionaries today (i live in the UK so it was Unexpected to say the least) and for the entirety of the conversation I was remembering how you mentioned on one of your episodes (99% sure it was you guys) about how being on missionary is most Mormons' first experience of the wider world so you should do your best to be polite etc. all the context you gave genuinely helped me navigate the conversation so much lmao, you guys are entertaining AND educational 10/10

oh wow!! daaaamn, good for you!

and yeah, that sounds like something we would say. I (G) can't seem to dig up receipts right now but the tl;dr is that oftentimes, door-to-door evangelism of the kind mormon missionaries and jehovah's witnesses engage in is less effective at converting people, but highly effective at reinforcing to the group's members that all outsiders are Cruel And Sinful and therefore you should never leave The Church because that's where the only good and kind people are.

but also, like, 90% of the time the reason I (G) try to be kind to mormon missionaries is because they're like 20 and have never been allowed the simple joy of a macchiato (but must try to fill that void with vile concoctions of dr pepper, gummy worms, and half 'n half, apparently.)

also, let the record show that "being kind" does not mean showing any interest whatsoever in converting to mormonism, or leading them on to that effect! but it costs $0 to wish them a nice day and be a shining example of how wearing spaghetti straps does not in fact lead to sacrificing live goats to satan.

anyway. we're proud of you, anon! glad you like the ole podcast 🤠

—G

yeah this is awesome to hear!! and even to add onto this, that sort of advice is pretty good to utilize just in general when talking to people from these ultra-conservative, super-sheltered (and yes, usually religious) upbringings. like G said, you don't need to lie to them and make them believe that "oh yeah totally i'm absolutely going to see you this sunday and I sure will consider changing the entirety of my belief system/morals!" but, yknow, just be kind. it's good to do even for Normal Regular people you see on the street. but this isn't sesame street so I won't start that brand of schoolyard lecture.

semi-related, but a little tangential: my super-strict catholic high school used to invite mormon missionaries to come and 'speak with' specific religious classes (usually the TrulyCatholic bitches took these) every year. and every year we heard about how "lol the ridiculous mormons keep coming and being nice to us to try and talk about their religion as if we're EVER going to change our minds and believe in their FAKE and WRONG version of christianity?? isn't it so stupid that they're so patient and kind to us even as sister catherine anne stands back and lets us bully—I mean, debate these guys? anyways I wonder when the morons—I mean, mormons, will stop coming back. 😌💅"

and to this day I still think about those guys! because I never understood their willingness to come back every year, and I could not fathom why they were consistently so nice. learning more about mormonism through this podcast has really helped my ex-catholic ass look at the outside world and be like "oh, we were the assholes. I mean, I knew that already, but shit." and tbh i'm sure they honestly loved coming to my school, because nothing will solidify your own stance/opinion on a group of 'outsiders' than a mob of privileged ravenous catholic teenagers. anyways, let that be a refrain for you on your new day-to-day: don't be like the catholics, be kind. amen 🙏

—shannon

#asks #mormonism mention

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cloverandcrossbones · 4 months

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Who TF decided that the His Dark Materials (Golden Compass) books were for kids/young adults?

I attempted to read them when I was the "target" age for them and it was the first time I ever remember tapping out on a book because it was above my reading comprehension (I regularly read books that were 2-3 years ahead of my "reading level" and was generally up for a challenge so that should tell you how much of I struggled). I gave up partway through the second book, The Subtle Knife, and didn't touch them again until this year.

And, boy, am I glad I waited! There is so much to this series that would have just been totally lost on me as a kid. The way it explores theology and morality would have gone right over my head. Even now with a bachelor's degree in English literature under my belt the depth to these books astounds me.

Every chapter of the Amber Spyglass opens with a quote from Milton's Paradise Lost, or one of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, or some other theologian or philosopher or outright Bible verses. Every chapter. In a series that was regularly promoted to 10 year olds. Yes, kids can be pretty smart and I hate when adult authors talk down to them, but what 10 year old is reading Paradise Lost?

I'm not saying you need a degree to understand this stuff, but you would have to have read a lot of foundational texts to get the full depths of the references. I also ended up leaning a lot on the religious study courses I've taken (and theological education from growing up Catholic) to identify specific religious theories/schools of thought which was just fascinating. Religious groups HATE these books! They're extremely critical of organized religion and Christian beliefs especially as they are canonized by the Catholic and Anglican churches. It's a three-book fiction trilogy exploring and arguing against Milton's interpretation of original sin.

So why was this series labelled as YA? Simple, the protagonists are kids; they're 12 years old.

Why did Pullman write about 12 year olds if the series wasn't meant for them? Because the biggest theme of the story is sin and children are considered innocent. Lyra and Will are coming of age and transitioning from childhood innocence to adulthood and its accompanying consciousness/self awareness that allows us to be held responsible for sinning.

Anyway here's an entry to the literal Wikipedia page for the series that I think sums it up:

Although His Dark Materials has been marketed as young adult fiction, and the central characters are children, Pullman wrote with no target audience in mind.

#This has been buzzing in my head for weeks since I finished the series #This is not as well written as it could be its basically just a first draft but hey this is my Tumblr blog not a published journal #his dark materials #philip pullman #The golden compass #the subtle knife #the amber spyglass #Not trying to tag spam I just legitimately mention all three books and want to categorize them accordingly for my blog #Even tho idk if I've ever reblohhed any HDM stuff here before having never finished the series until now #Religion #Theology #Christianity #Original sin

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batmanisagatewaydrug · 10 months

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Hi! It’s the catholic school maybe ace anon again. I just have one more question.

I want to be open and okay with sexuality and that kind of thing, but from a very young age I’ve been taught it was Not Okay.

Is there anything you can recommend to me (books, blogs, channels, etc.) that might help me.. understand more, ig? I try really hard to keep an open mind, but I don’t actually learn enough to be at a point where I’m chill with it (I try to be, I really do).

hi catholic anon (cathnon, if you will),

I did drop a couple of recommendations in my answer to your last query (shoutout to Lindsey Doe's Sexplanations and Heather Corinna's Scarleteen again, I really can't say enough good things about them!) but let's talk about some more cool resources!

Dr. Nadine Thornhill is an educator doing THE COOLEST work, definitely check her out!

if you want to read about asexuality and aromantic experiences, check out Yasmin Benoit's writing on her website! she's one of the most outspoken aroace figures in the business.

while I have my gripes with Teen Vogue, they write a lot of very accessible articles about sexual topics ranging from abortion info to disability-friendly sex to tips on buying vibrators. give it a look!

Planned Parenthood's website is chock full of useful info that I frequently use as a reference in my work, with a section specifically geared towards teenagers.

for asexual-specific writing you gotta check out Angela Chen's book Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex. it's a fantastic piece of writing, and makes me so hopeful for the future of ace and aro scholarship written from within the community.

Sexuality: A Graphic Guide is also a gentle illustrated into to a lot of big ideas about sexuality and orientation, by Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele. you may also be interested in another of Barker's books, How to Understand Your Sexuality, written with Alex Iantaffi.

another book I'm very fond of is Jaclyn Friedman's Unscrewed, which looks at ways in which sex can be exploited by patriarchy and capitalism and contrasts that bleak outlook with people doing real, tangible good to advance sexual freedom, queer rights, and reproductive health.

also hey listen I'm going to say one that's a little goofy but a lot of fun: there's a show on Netflix (or elsewhere, if you know how to pirate) called How to Build a Sex Room that's short (only sex episodes, I think?) and nothing but fun, following designer Melanie Rose building her clients' ideal rooms to have sex in. clients range from eager to overshare to adorably awkward, and Rose is always there to encourage them to think about what they really want and how to express that desire. it's very cute and a great way to get cozy around casual convos about sex!

#sex edventures 2023

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starrysharks · 8 months

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Hihihi!! Sorry if youve been asked this before, but do u have any method for when u design characters or do you sort of just "go with the flow"? I love pretty much every single one of ur designs, theyre always so full of color and so authentic and so sososo so cool

no, i don't think i've been asked this before! when it comes to designing characters, i'd say a lot of characters "design themselves" - like their design will slowly change as i edit their personality. savory is a good example of this. but otherwise, when designing a character, there are 4 key factors: color, concept, shape, and personality. personality being the key, as it determines every other factor and usually comes first after concept when i get a new design idea.

so let's say i suddenly had an idea for a character who is a catholic schoolgirl assassin! that's the concept. i'll look at various sources from different places to educate the design - what is commonly associated with catholicism, schoolgirls, and assassins? i'll often lift things from these sources for the design (such as a weapon - "say, maka from soul eater is a schoolgirl who kills, and she has a scythe, how about my character have one too?" as an example.) and think about the personality at this time. usually the personality/goals are to benefit the story they belong too, but they have to be unique to others in the story who share similar goals. often based on symbolism (so let's say, "all these other assassins are based on deadly sins, let's make this one 'envy'"!).

by now i have a rough idea of what my character will look like because i know she'll be wearing a school uniform, and i know she'll have a sharpish, envious personality - so she'll have sharp edges and a lot of crosses dotted around the design. this is shapes - which also ties into silhouette. there are a lot of base silhs that i use as ref such as top-heavy/bottom-heavy designs based on either body shape or clothing shape or both. now, the hardest part most of the time, especially if the character will be part of a larger cast, is choosing the colors. they should be able to express the personality while looking different to everyone else. i always struggle with this -_- but eventually i'll get it. in this case, desaturated shades of green and red accents. and so we have our character design of vivica de la crux! color - red and desaturated greens/grays, concept - catholic schoolgirl assassin, shape - i guess flowing? it's like a school uniform with a longish skirt, and personality - sharp and envious (though there's more to her than that!)

vivica's just an example here, but this is sort of how i go by designing characters. i always look at a lot of different sources like video games, anime, etc (id say my biggest chara design sources/inspos are disgaea, pokemon, soul eater, panty and stocking, and similar stuff, as well as individual artists.) i'm sorry this is so long but as always i hope it was at least interesting!

#ask zeno #character design #long post #oc rambling #kind of - its rambling about vivs design a bit?#ok goodnighttttt

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charliethomascoxuniverse · 1 year

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In the Footsteps of a Saint

FAITH TODAY：MAY 2011

Catholic actor Charlie Cox is making waves across the Atlantic – and he’s about to hit the cinemas in his native UK playing a saint in a new movie.

FAITH TODAY went to meet him.

How does it feel to be a saint? That’s something no-one alive can ever really know, since sainthood is only acknowledged after death: but up-and-coming actor Charlie Cox knows more about it than most. Cox, 28, is the star of There Be Dragons, a new movie about the early life of St Josemaria Escriva, the Spaniard who founded Opus Dei. So – given that he’s a Catholic himself - how did it feel to Cox to walk in a saint’s shoes, and to portray his holiness on screen?

What struck him most, says Cox, is that ‘there seemed to have been no single moment when Josemaria was saintly... instead, what people who knew him spoke about and wrote about was a lifetime of consistently good decisions and a dedication of his entire life to God’. So in fact, he explains, portraying him meant being very human – and yet aware that decisions often had to be made that weren’t directed at other people, but were directed at God. Playing Josemaria is the latest step on a path that’s fast feeling like the road to the big-time: Cox first appeared on the showbiz radar in 2007 when he got the role of Tristan Thorne in the movie Stardust, and he went on to play the Duke of Crowborough in the ITV drama Downton Abbey. And just a fortnight before we meet, he’s filmed his first episode of HBO’s prohibition drama Boardwalk Empire, the flagship programme of the new Sky Atlantic channel, in which he plays an immigrant from Northern Ireland with ties to the IRA. Cox says he’s loving the part: Steve Buscemi, who recently won a Gold Globe award for his portrayal of Enoch ‘Nucky’ Thompson in the series, is one of his all-time heroes, and he can hardly believe his luck in being cast with him.

’Working with Steve feels amazing, I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been,’ he says, as we chat over coffee at a Madrid hotel on the morning of the premiere of There Be Dragons. He jetted in this morning from New York – he’ll be there filming Boardwalk Empire through the summer and, he says, he can’t imagine a better way of spending the next few months. ‘They’re the nicest bunch of people – and everyone is so confident about how good the series is, so there’s a great buzz about it.’

Working on Boardwalk Empire has taken him a long way from his Sussex roots. He grew up in Hearst Green, the son of publisher parents – and he was raised a Catholic, like his father, although he was educated at a non-Catholic independent school, Sherborne School in Dorset. ‘Only about 70 out of 700 boys were Catholics. We had to get up early on a Sunday to go to Mass at a local girls’ school... it would have been easy to skive off it, but actually we never did. I’ve always loved churches – even now, in a strange city, I’ll often wander around looking at churches.’ There was no history of acting in the family – bar a grandmother who had been at RADA before the second world war – but even as a youngster, Cox was smitten with the idea. ‘My mum and dad had a fantastic attitude to it,’ he says. ‘The school wanted me to go to university, play it in safe mode, have a back-up plan. But my parents came to see me act, and afterwards my dad sat me down and he said: ‘I think you’d be a fool not to pursue this’. And I don’t know whether I’d be here now if it hadn’t been for that one comment...’ Despite living in the US at the moment, and the fact that his parents spend most of their time these days in France, Cox says Britain will always be home – and he’s very close to his family. He has a brother, and three half siblings from his father’s first marriage, and his parents have flown to see him in Madrid while he’s over for the premiere of There Be Dragons. After school, he spent a gap year working for a photographer – and even before he could take up a place at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, he’d landed the role of Theo in the movie Dot the i. ‘An agent took a punt on me and put me up for the part,’ he says. ‘I’ve been incredibly lucky, and that was just one of my lucky breaks.’

But it’s not just luck – Cox is immensely likeable, and he’s obviously genuinely passionate about acting. He’s also been smart enough to realise that he can learn a huge amount from more seasoned actors – so he saw acting alongside Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust, for example, as a fantastic opportunity to soak up knowledge. And he’s learnt lots more, too, from Roland Joffe, director of There Be Dragons, who was also the film-maker behind The Mission (about the early Jesuits in south America) and The Killing Fields (about the murderous Pol Pot regime in Cambodia), both of which were Oscar nominees.

‘I didn’t think twice about taking the part of Josemaria, and that was down to Roland,’ he says. ‘He’s such a great director – he really understands the processes that actors have to go through to give their best. I learnt so much from working with him.’

Given the subject-matter of There Be Dragons, Cox also spent time in the run-up to filming learning about Opus Dei, which has the status of a ‘personal prelature’ within the Catholic Church. ‘I visited several Opus Dei houses, and I went on a retreat and had a lot of help from an Opus Dei priest, Fr John Wauck.’

Before he made the film, he admits, he’d never heard of Josemaria – and all he knew about Opus Dei was what he’d read in Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code. But researching Josemaria, he says, what struck him most was the saint’s humanity – and his ability, examined in the film, to forgive. ‘It was an example I had to put into practice, because one day when we were filming I returned to my trailer to find someone had broken in and cleaned the place out completely,’ he says. ‘They’d even taken my computer, and the charger, and even my clothes.’ ‘The following day I was due to film one of the big scenes in which Josemaria shows how he can forgive, and I remember thinking: this is really interesting. And the thing is that I did manage to forgive the guy who nicked my stuff.’ ‘And what I realised, through that incident, was that – though we think of forgiveness as something very moral and impressive, it’s actually something that works totally in your own favour. Because if you don’t forgive then you’re angry inside – and that anger doesn’t hurt the other person, but it really hurts you.’ Since filming finished for There Be Dragons, Cox has been working on another movie – Moby Dick, due to be released later this year – and now Boardwalk Empire. It all suggests, I tell him, that fame – which he’s told previous interviewers frightens him – could be beckoning. ‘It’s tricky,’ he says, candidly. ‘I’ve got friends who have gone on to extraordinary fame, and what I’ve realised through them is that it’s never quite as appealing as it promised to be. ‘On the other hand, like everyone else I want recognition. I like people to think I’m good at what I do. That’s human nature, isn’t it?’

~*~

#just me archiving another old interview 😊#had to check I didn't have this one yet but no I don't xd #thank you so much to Charlie's parents for supporting him in becoming an actor from the start 🙏💕#charlie cox #josemaria escriva #there be dragons #baby charlie #interview #article

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jacquesthepigeon · 4 months

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Re: Catholicism in America - "[C]an’t ask if there’s a hurricane coming" Wait, what? This is the first I've heard of that; can you please elaborate?

Not in America for clarification

I went to catholic school for middle and high school and my 7th-8th grade religion teacher was kinda insane, all of the mentioned examples of extreme catholics come from her. Rumor has it she got hit by a car and an angel appeared to tell her to educate the youths and that’s how we got stuck with her telling us we’d burn in hell for the dumbest shit.

Anyway

It’s hurricane season and there seemed to be one coming our way, as they usually do, so she started off the morning prayers with asking God to protect us from the possible hurricane and whatnot. This poor kid then speaks up to ask “is it coming though?”

A moment of silence as the teacher looks at him sternly

“You don’t believe in God?!?!?!??!”, the accusation comes out. Chaos probably ensued, I can’t remember. I was so flabbergasted by the whole thing. A priest at the school was confused about it as well when I brought it up to him during confession. She was truly in her own league.

#anon #ask

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tepkunset · 2 years

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X-Men Evolution ft. Alpha Flight

Been enjoying X-Men Evolution recently, and it made me think about how great an Alpha Flight episode could've been. Hell, there was a Captain America one, so why not?

Anyway, some thoughts about what an Evolution version of the characters might be like:

KIDS -

JEAN-PAUL BEAUBIER / NORTHSTAR:

Age 16, Québécois

Super-speed, flight, can create blinding light by linking with his sister

A jerk, but in his defence is straight up not having a good time. Only does homework for the classes he likes

Backstory only semi-unlocked because it's none of these clowns's business: Kid on his way to being an Olympic-level skier who is hinted to having been blackmailed into joining AF by Guardian, but mostly remains for the sake of his twin sister he only recently reunited with

I didn't bother designing new superhero outfits for JP and JM because why mess with existing perfection?

JEANNE-MARIE BEAUBIER / AURORA:

Age 16, Québécois

Super-speed, flight, can create blinding light by linking with her brother

Either very outgoing and bubbly or very shy and quiet, (depending on if she's Aurora or Jeanne-Marie of course). Definitely forgot about the homework

Backstory unlocked: Raised in a very old-fashioned Catholic boarding school hinted at to be abusive, until running away as Aurora and was found and recruited by Guardian. Really not sure how her DID might be handled in a kid-friendly cartoon, but I think it should still be present because I don't see why children can't be educated on such things

I originally had her civvies designed to reference her 2.0 yellow costume, but then I liked the idea of JM wearing blue and JP wearing pink too much

MARRINA SMALLWOOD:

Age 14, Newfoundlander

Super-speed underwater, can breathe underwater as well as on land

Just happy to be here; tries too hard to seek validation from everyone older than her. Agonizes over not being able to go to public school due to her looks

Backstory unlocked: Was adopted by a small coastal family and raised in a very happy environment, joined AF because she wanted to see more of the outside world and genuinely believes Guardian is teaching them to do good

I literally just drew her in a wetsuit for a superhero outfit lol

ELIZABETH "LIZ" TWOYOUNGMEN / TALISMAN:

Age 15, Albertan / Tsuut'ina

Deus ex machina mystic powers

Running on anxiety and bitterness towards Guardian. Won't let you copy her homework but will help you with your own for as long as it takes

Backstory unlocked: She and her father were recruited to Alpha Flight as what she believes is a PR stunt for so-called Reconciliation. Her magic circlet helps her control her mystical powers, but unlike in the comics she's capable of taking it off

Of all the characters I was most excited to design a new age-appropriate look for her, since 90% of her outfits in the comics look like they're racist Spirit Halloween costumes

ANNE MCKENZIE / SNOWBIRD:

Age 17, Nunavummiuq / Inuk

Animal shape-shifting

Easily forgotten from being so quiet, very prim and proper behaviour that can sometimes come off as up-tight. Studies above and beyond regular homework because she feels like she has to work twice as hard to be respected

Backstory semi-unlocked: With her parents divorced, Anne was used to spending the school year down south with her father and summer up north with her mother, but when her powers started manifesting, her father scorned her and wanted to give up his custody. Instead she now spends her school year under the care of Department H

I hate Snowbird's comic backstory so much; the whole "she's 100% white because her mother was a goddess who temporarily transformed into a white woman to appeal to her white father" makes zero sense and also has gross connotations, so I decided since this is my adaptation, she's not a demigod but rather just a mutant, because why not...

I thought about giving her tunniit, but since I know so little I figured I wasn't the best person to depict them

WALTER LANGKOWSKI / SASQUATCH:

Age 17, British Colombian

Super-strength, super-stamina (when in gamma form)

Biggest nerd in any room, pretty chipper. Will do your homework for you just for fun

Backstory unlocked: Walter was taken in by Department H after being branded as a failed experiment by a group of scientists playing with gamma radiation—except the experiment didn't fail, turning Walter into a gamma mutate, but one with control over himself and the transformation

I had such a hard time trying to decide what to do with this bitch... His power is to turn into a 'cryptid' that is just lifting from spirits across multiple Indigenous cultures so that's really awkward, but I didn't want to leave him out since that felt weird? I do imagine this version of him having a different personality though, where he's less annoying

ADULTS -

JAMES MACDONALD HUDSON / GUARDIAN:

Age 35, Ontarian

Flight and super-strength granted by super-suit

Thinks acting like a Cool Dad™ will make children like him. Believes recruiting kids to work for the government is justified because they have superpowers, but at the same time hypocritically insults the X-Men

Backstory unlocked: Oil corporation research and developer who designed a super-suit for oil extraction, except then the Canadian government put him on the payroll to head Department H for monitoring superhumans in Canada

I knew I still wanted him to be decked out with the maple-leaf because it fits his asshole nature, but I wanted to make him look like he's trying too hard to be Hip

MICHAEL TWOYOUNGMEN:

Age 40, Albertan / Tsuut'ina

Healing mystic powers

Is the actual Cool Dad because he's so chill and actually cares about the well-being of the kids

Backstory Unlocked: A surgeon who turned to traditional medicines in attempt to save his wife when western medicine failed her, and though he he did not succeed, he did discover he had innate mystical powers, putting him on Department H's radar. Just here to protect and patch up the children the best he can

EUGENE JUDD / PUCK:

Age 42, Saskatchewanian

Super-durability

Says thinks like 'back in my day' and 'eh' unironically way too much, low-key waiting on that inevitable divorce between the Hudsons

Backstory semi-unlocked: Is mostly there to train the kids how to be superheroes and survive the experience

Like Snowbird I think Puck's backstory is some bullshit that they should've just left alone instead of trying to create this magic explanation for his dwarfism and chronic pain... just let him be disabled! Disabled superheroes exist! So again, in this version he's just a mutant who happens to also have dwarfism and chronic pain

HEATHER MCNEIL-HUDSON:

Age 37, Albertan

Guardian's wife, tries to be a Team Mom and make up for her annoying husband

#alpha flight #x men evolution #jean paul beaubier #northstar #jeanne marie beaubier #aurora #marrina smallwood #snowbird #walter langkowski #sasquatch #james hudson #guardian #michael twoyoungmen #shaman #eugene judd #puck #heather mcneil hudson #art

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ejenvs3000w24 · 4 months

Text

How Privilege Shapes our Relationship with Nature

My working definition of privilege goes as follows; the disproportionate, unwarranted opportunities given to an individual, not based on the merit of a person’s character, but one in which a person is born into, that consciously or not, receives and takes advantage of benefits not available to others; not because the latter is undeserving, but because the former has unique socio-economic traits that give them an advantage in life based off traditional, biased, societal norms (Beck et al., 2018, Gallavan, 2005)

Growing up, I was not taught about my privilege, it was only until I started to see with my own eyes the differences in my life to my friends. Peggy McIntosh is correct when she says individuals born into privilege are taught that their lives are morally neutral; because that is what I thought as a younger kid (Gallavan, 2005). I was born into a middle class household, white, male, put into Catholic school, was able to participate in after school sports; I was given every opportunity to be able to freely explore my surrounding environments without worrying about costs, food, or being discriminated against because of my race or gender, whereas for my friends, they cannot say the same.

I have unfortunately encountered many privileged white men in my life where they seem to think just because they’ve experienced heartaches growing up, that this puts them in the same class as other minorities. That is like comparing going on a hike with a perfectly paved path with designated lookouts and pit stops, versus being kicked off that path, having to work much, much harder than the former to end up in the exact same destination.

The role privilege plays in nature interpretation extends from, but not limited to, economic, cultural, communicative or discriminatory barriers (Beck et al., 2018). These are the contents in which I believe McIntosh refers to as our “invisible backpacks”. Some people’s bags are empty, some maybe only have one or two things, and others have so much in their bags that they don’t even feel the weight anymore (Gallavan, 2005). What I mean by this is, if you are born with privilege, you are most likely unaware of the compounded benefits (weight of the bag) that you receive, because that’s all you’ve ever experienced. If your bag is always 50lbs, eventually that weight will feel lighter and lighter. Similarly, if you’ve always had access to higher education, food, speaking English or having a Canadian passport, you won’t realize how ahead in the game you really are.

One thing that really stood out to me in the chapter 7 readings was the differences in perspectives of going camping between the privileged and underserved. To middle-class individuals, camping is seen as an escape from the city, where you choose to sleep in tents and cook hotdogs over the fire because that is an a-typical experience which seems “new” and “refreshing”. Alternatively, if you come from a lower economic status, can’t speak much English in an English speaking country, or simply don’t have the transportation to get to and from locations, these factors limit one's ability to interact with nature. Additionally, the textbook raised another very important aspect which I admittedly hadn’t given much thought about until now, and that's how minorities potentially view camping as a “rich white person activity” where they typically associate sleeping outside in a tent with being poor or homeless (Beck et al., 2018). When you look at it from this perspective, it is really eye opening to think about how privileged individuals have gotten so used to their lifestyles, that for fun, they choose to sleep outside in tents, under the elements, without a worry of being stuck in this situation, because they have a car or trailer on stand-by, and a warm 3-story home waiting for them.

The minimal concerns privileged individuals have for not having to worry about transportation, food, wasting time when you could be making money or being a victim of discrimination when visiting a National Park is one of the highest forms of privilege. Based on our readings and from my own life experience regarding privilege in nature, if your skin is white, you speak English, you have a Canadian passport, were raised middle-class, always had food on the table, and didn’t have to worry about being discriminated against, you had the opportunities to interact in nature where others could not; in short, you were undoubtedly, privileged. From the words of Peggy McIntosh, you were born with an infinite amount of unearned assets at your disposal, that could be used at any given time to put yourself in an advantageous position relative to others. Where you might have a theoretical backpack full of privileged opportunities, based on your unearned socio-economic status, others barely have enough space in the palm of their hands (Gallavan, 2005).

References:

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World. Sagamore Publishing.

Gallavan, N. P. (2005). Helping teachers unpack their "invisible knapsacks". Multicultural Education, 13(1), 36. https://link-gale-com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/apps/doc/A137921591/AONE?u=guel77241&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=9fe2f151

#nature interpretation

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spine-buster · 2 years

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I thought you said you were catholic? How can you be for abortion and claim to be catholic? Abortion rights are not human right, the sanctity of life supersedes this. As a catholic you should know and do better. Also you shouldn’t be posting this on your blog, we don’t come here to see that messaging.

Oh my darling, you are so very lucky that you sent this to me at a time when I've finished teaching for the summer, but you're still going to get educated today.

Don't you dare come on my blog and tell me what I can and can't post. For the record, if you're here for my fics, I want you to know that every single one of my OFCs is extremely pro-choice and have zero issue with abortion. If that's ruined my stories for you, oh fucking well.

I was born and raised Catholic, work in a Catholic environment, and I still practice the faith. However, there are portions of my faith that I staunchly don't agree with. That's healthy. You're going to sit there on your little keyboard and send me this message seriously? How many lives have been saved from stem-cell research, which the Catholic Church is against? What about birth control and how it tackles not just fertility, but a range of women's health issues like cysts and hormone imbalance that women used to literally die from? How can you argue that it's okay that women still can't become priests? Moreover, how can you justify the Church's covering up of systemic sexual abuse of young children and nuns? The hoarding of their wealth? The colonization they participated in and continue to participate in?

I wrote that abortion rights are human rights and I fucking meant it. You want to come on to my blog and talk to me about the sanctity of life? What about the sanctity of life of the person carrying the child? The sanctity of life of a clump of cells does not supersede anything. What if a person is not religious and doesn't believe in sanctity? Why should they abide by a Christian set of principles (but more on that later)? What about the life of the 11-year-old who was raped by her uncle and now has to carry his baby? What about the sanctity of her life? Or is she just some jezebel harlot who was asking for it, hmm? What do you have to say about that? Why is it that a group of cells has more rights than an 11-year-old child in Texas, in Georgia, in South Dakota, in Idaho? If a living, breathing, human being has been stripped of their right to bodily autonomy, privacy, and health, what is left? What goes next? They have already lost their ability to choose what is the best course of action for them in their life -- so who is to choose for them? Their father? Brother? Uncle? Their priest/deacon/pastor/religious leader? What right do they have to make a decision for another person?

"As a Catholic you should know and do better" bitch shut the fuck up. I do know better and do do better. Jesus never said anything about abortion. And don't even attempt to throw Leviticus or any other Old Testament verses at me. The Last Supper brought about the New Covenant, and Jesus' death is the basis of the promise in the New Covenant. The Old Covenant between God and Moses / Yahweh and the Hebrew people, with obedience to Mosaic Law is, for lack of a better term, deemed null and void because of Jesus and the Last Supper. Luke 22:20 explicitly states "And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying 'This cup that is poured out for you is the new and everlasting covenant in my blood.'" THIS IS LITERALLY SAID DURING EVERY MASS BEFORE WE RECEIVE EUCHARIST. This is like basic Catholicism 101. If you had paid attention in religion class or Sunday school you may have remembered this. And, like, I'm not even gonna get STARTED on Catholic social teaching and the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.

Good fucking riddance. Get the hell of my blog and never come back.

#answered

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liminalpebble · 10 months

Text

Eddie's Education: Chapter 10

Masterlist link

Minors DNI

Chapter 10

During their next shift at The Hideout, Eddie was behind the bar in a cheap nylon Dracula cape while Leia changed into her costume.

In a few minutes, she met him there wearing an authentic Catholic school uniform with splotches of fake blood over the knee-length paid kilt and the white button down.

“Whoa! That's a pretty detailed costume!”

She laughed as she studied the strategically placed blood stains. “Well it's not exactly a costume. It was my actual school uniform.”

“Wait wait wait...Vespero...do you mean to tell me that you were an honest-to-god Catholic school girl? Like...a sign of the cross, kneeling to pray, going to confession, Catholic school girl?”

“Yup! Kindergarten to high school graduation. My dad was cool and nerdy enough to name me Leia, but then he found the lord and got into this really oppressive religious phase. It was...a special kind of hell but I got a really good costume out of it.”

“Yeah it is! But that blood will never come out, you know.”

“Ah, that's okay. I had to wear this fucking thing every school day for 4 years. I was almost ready to burn it.”

“I can't imagine growing up like that,” Eddie said in awe, shaking his head. “It must have been so hard.”

She shrugged, “yeah, you could say that. I spent a lot of time being terrified of hell and trying to be very good...trying to be perfect. So obviously, now I'm just an atheist with trauma, but hey, on the bright side, at least sex will always feel filthy and sinful, right?” It was a joke she'd used many times to distract from the dreary subject, but she'd realized as soon as Eddie stared and stuttered with his mouth hanging open, that maybe that was the wrong joke to make.

She quickly followed it up with, “And you're not gonna fucking believe this, but we weren't allowed to celebrate Halloween or anything related to 'evil' things or the occult...a true Satanic panic situation. No trick or treating, no horror movies or devil costumes. So obviously, I'm obsessed with all of that now.”

“You've gotta be shitting me,” he said, genuinely shocked.

Chuckling, she said lightly, “I shit you not! But don't worry! I've made up for lost time since then. It's my favorite holiday...my favorite month.”

“You know,” Eddie said, considering the outfit with his arms crossed and head tilted. “It's not at all what porn and anime have led me to believe.”

Leia smacked him playfully, and chuckled. “Gross, Eddie. And no...there's nothing sexy about the real thing. Can you help me with the zombie part of this zombie school girl, though? The blood isn't enough, it has to look...you know...gray and corpse-y”.

As she opened the make up kit full of blue and gray hues to make her skin look lifeless, he was jolted into the horrible memory of Chrissy...sweet innocent Chrissy in her cheerleader uniform, cursed by Vecna as her eyes rolled back and skin sunk in, turning that same putrid gray. He saw the replay in his mind as clearly as the moment it happened; her little body pinned to ceiling like a bug in a collection, eyes hollow as a dead cicada. He could still hear the sickening sound of her bones breaking one by one as she turned lifeless and desiccated. Then she fell to the floor, a sightless tangled broken shell of the girl he had a crush on. He remembered how he ran. His heart ached with a deep disorienting nightmarish shame as he left her behind.

Leia noticed Eddie was beginning to shake and his skin was going white and clammy, his breath teetering on the brink of hyperventilation.

“Eddie?” Leia asked, placing a hand on his shoulder which made him flinch away from her for the first time in their friendship. She suddenly realized what was happening, having encountered the signs before from students who were war veterans.

“Hey, Eddie? Can you hear me?”

He nodded his head violently as his eyes welled up and his breath began to hitch.

“Just listen to my voice, okay? I'm right here. Take a deep breath with me.”

He followed her lead, listening and watching her inhales and exhales to match them, while he sank to the floor and she knelt next to him.

“Good. You're doing so well. Now, can you feel your rings on your fingers.”

“Uh..y...y...yeah.”

“How many rings are you wearing on your right hand.”

“Three,” he answered, running his thumb along them.

“How do they feel?”

“C...c...cold. Smooth...” he answered, breath beginning to still and eyes focusing back on her instead on his memory. A spark of life finally emerged from behind the blackout curtain of his unsettling, distant, gaze.

“Hey,” she said softly, “Sorry, I touched you. I forgot it's not great to do that when somebody is...you know...having...”

“No no no. It's okay! I'm so sorry, Leia. I didn't mean to scare you.”

She said in a soothing tone, “Don't worry about that. I just want to make sure you're okay. Here. Drink some water, try to breathe.”

He sipped and cycled as much air as possible through his lungs for a few minutes, while she took the make up away. She packed it up tightly and buried it out of sight, realizing something about it must have been the trigger. What happened to this poor man? I wish he would tell me. I wish I could hold him.

He was looking a lot better by the time she came back as he smiled and asked, “Hey..um...is it okay if we don't make a...a uh...dead school girl costume?”

“Sure...sure, Eddie. I'm so so sorry. I didn't realize.”

He reached out his hand to her from where he was sitting against the wall and she took it gladly. His big brown eyes staring up at her punctured her heart with longing, like a hot needle.

“No! Don't apologize, please. Most of the time even I don't know what's gonna hit me.”

He lifted himself up, wobbling slightly, as she looped her arm around his lanky waist. She felt a little guilty, realizing how happy she was for an excuse to touch him there, feeling the smooth hard curve of his torso against her palm. Once he was steady again, she reluctantly let him go to stand on his own.

He took a deep breath and met her eyes saying, “Thank you for bringing me back.”

She nodded. “Anytime.”

He looked around, desperate for a distraction from the odd moment, and saw a little pot of fake blood sitting on the bar. “Oh hey,” he said, “come here. I have an idea.”

Her dark brows knit together curiously as she came closer. He took two fingers and dipped the tips in the little pot. A giddy little shiver danced through her as his hand wove into her hair, gently coaxing her head to the side, revealing her neck. He stamped two red dots over the line of her jugular vein and dragged down to create the illusion of a bite.

Eddie smiled, his hand still cradling her head. As he met her gaze he said, “Thanks for rescuing me, Princess Leia. I know it's a little backwards, but I did just give you eternal life. I hope that's fair. You don't mind drinking people to death periodically, right?”

“No, Leia rescues Han, remember?”

He slowly slid his hand away, but his eyes still locked with hers in honey-sweet admiration. “Touche. I know when I'm bested. May the force be with you, Princess.”

“And also with you,” she quipped, giving herself the sign of the cross, and throwing Eddie into a hysterical laughing fit.

----

It was a slow night, as weeknights so often were, but Dale, Leia, and Eddie were all grateful for the calm before the storm of the Halloween Extravaganza coming up that weekend.

“So,” Eddie asked as they stocked the fridge together. “Are you all ready for the big party? What's your costume gonna be?”

“It's a surprise,” she said coyly, winking.

He raised his eyebrows. “Well then...mine will be too. Let's just hope we don't end up wearing the same thing. Actually, can I borrow that uniform? You'd never know it but I have great legs.”

She laughed, but thought, and I would love to see them. Preferably, from between them. He loved the sound of her laugh, loved seeing her smile, loved that there was more and more of both whenever she worked here with him. He was finally willing to concede that maybe, just maybe, it was because of him. That he, The Freak...The Banished, was a blessing for this sweet smart lost woman. He promised himself, right then, that he would take care of her, no matter what. She was worth not running away scared.

The door swung open as a customer came in and strolled up to the bar.

Eddie turned to face him, hands propped on the counter, “Hey man, what can I get you?”

“Hey, can I get a...Leia? Hah...Leia, what the hell are you doing working here, and in that costume?” he said, dripping with smarmy chagrin.

Eddie watched as Leia turned to the customer, face blanching and panic written over her big dark eyes. He'd never seen her look so scared. It was bone deep terror, like a little girl in the middle of a nightmare. Leia felt for a moment, that it was a waking nightmare, that it couldn't be real.

“Sam?” she gasped in disbelief, “What are you doing here? In Hawkins?”

“Oh, just coming back to visit my folks,” he looked her up and down chuckling, “My my, how the mighty have fallen.”

Her expression turned icy, shooting daggers from her onyx eyes. “What do you want, Sam?”

“Well,” he shrugged, combing through his mop of ginger hair pensively and nudging his black plastic frames back up to the bridge of his nose. “I just came here for a beer, but as usual, all the selections are total piss, so I'll pass. But, you know, Molly is still stuck in Chicago working and I'll be here a few days. I can come by and you can give me head for old time's sake later. That'd be a good start.”

Eddie leaned closer over the bar getting up in Sam's face. “What the fuck did you just say to her, you rude prick?”

“Fuck off, Sam!” She yelled, uncharacteristically raising her voice. Dale heard and began moving closer to the bar, keeping an eye on the scene.

Sam laughed and his sharp cruel green eyes bored through her...eyes that she used to find so entrancing and lovely. “Oh, so this is who you're fucking now?” He pointed a long, pale finger to Eddie then turned to face him, “You're in luck, buddy. She was a virgin when I got her...so...you know...barely used, but doesn't exactly know the ropes so well.”

Eddie, was around the bar in an instant, cracking an empty bottle on the bar and holding the jagged edge to Sam's throat where he had him gripped by the collar.

Dale, shouted, “Eddie!” and ran over. “Eddie...relax okay.”

Sam added, “Yeah, call off your guard dog, will you?” to which Eddie just tightened his grip on his collar.

Dale sighed, saying, “I wouldn't make this situation worse if I were you, fella. I suggest you fuck off before Eddie...or I...have to do something regrettable”.

Sam squinted. “Are you threatening me? I could press charges, on both of you.”

Dale retorted, “And I could do the same for harassing my employee. Now I suggest you get the fuck out and never come in here again.”

Eddie let go of his collar, and Sam flipped his hair out of his eyes, smoothed out his shirt. His pale skin was now fire-engine red as he stormed out the door. As it slammed, Leia flinched, still silent and trembling.

Dale turned to Eddie, saying quietly with a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, why don't drive Leia home and I'll watch the bar, okay. I can take the rest of the night, it's a slow one anyway.”

Leia finally snapped out of it and piped up. “Dale, I'm fine.”

“You're not!” both men turned and said to her simultaneously.

Dale sighed, “Darlin', for my sake, I'd feel better if you let Eddie drive you home.”

She took a deep breath, nodded, and slung her bag over her shoulder, still incandescent with embarrassment. As she followed Eddie out the door she turned to the 6 assorted weeknight drunks and said weakly, “Sorry, everyone.”

Andy, the old timer from her classes at the community college, waved if off and raised his bottle with a nod, slurring out, “Don't worry about it. Get home safe, Miss Vespero.”

Despite the situation, or maybe because of the absurdity of it, Leia chuckled as she said, “ Good night, Andy,” and Eddie led her to his van with a protective arm around her.

As soon as the door shut and they were alone in the cocoon of the car, she threw her arms around Eddie and began to sob as he hugged her close and stroked her hair.

“Hey,” he soothed, “I'm here. It's okay. You're safe.”

@sunflowerdaydreamer

#eddie munson x ofc #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson #strangers things fanfic #stranger things

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the-trans-folk-witch · 1 year

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An untimely intro: Numb and hollow

Howdy folks!👋

This “blog” or cringey tumblr page is a battle cry at best- maybe a cry for help at worst. A plague of words ensues…

Grammar, punctuation and clever wording misses me despite being educated on writing formal statements/grants at a postgraduate level 🤡. Enjoy the occasional plot twist, gobsmack, misplaced comma, and tone-deaf emoji use. This “blog�� is a mix of occult texts, free books, zines, and works made by me and others. It is a crossroads of formalities and comedic slander. And the occasional look into my thoughts.

I’m sure anyone reading this already knows me from Instagram and my now late podcast of the same name as this blog. So I won’t waste your time reintroducing myself and my goals. You know my brand, and roughly, my views despite how they may have changed since we last spoke. My goal here is to write more and slowly ease into the release of my first book and my second zine. I want to relive my edgy tumblr days with a more anarchistic approach than before. I invite you to join me. maybe this will help me learn how to avoid run-on sentences… or what fonts the public will judge me for using. (Comic sans girlies rise up). Perhaps I’ll learn to use parentheses and dashes correctly for once. Time will tell.

Now that I’ve fed you an over-cooked appetizer, let’s move on to the meat of the discussion. This is an update on my writings of the Guardian Angel and the other texts I have been forming. It has been a year in the making and hopefully I will be done with it this summer. It will not be long. It is a free book styled to appear as a cheesy church pamphlet. It is UPG laced with the some dogma from the Catholic church and the occasional hint of Protestant revivalist churches from the hills. I plan to reinvigorate the use or relation to the Holy Guardian Angel (HGA) in a roundabout way that incapsulates my own practice while leaving room for yours. I want it to be used as a guide, But not as a Bible. Hopefully it will come across as well as I intend for it to. It has been harder than I imagined.

Now for the long term plans for this blog. As of now, my podcast is on hold. So consider this it’s child despite the difference between my written voice and my informal speaking voice. The podcast is canned. Possibly forever. I may come back to it. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe years from now. I’m sure you all caught onto that. I have removed most every episode. The only ones available are ones that I had friends guest star in. Thank you to all of you who helped me become who I am today in this community. Even though as of now my following is only 500-600 people, it’s bigger than I’ve ever been anywhere before. I’m rather private. In fact that’s why I’ve removed most of my podcast. As many have been told, I have been receiving a lot of hateful messages from terfs and neo-pagans. Topics such as transphobia and anti-folk-catholic shit has taken over my inbox on many platforms. However, this is not the only reason I’m stepping back from my podcast. I recently graduated from school and I am working on my career. I have decided to make myself less accessible to the public for my mental health but also to focus on privatizing my practice. I want to revolutionize my followers and to have proper discussions surrounding witchcraft that make people uncomfortable. I want an interaction that my podcast could not allow. I want to write in lengths and words that Instagram does not allow. I feel as though I’ve lost my voice since my early college days when I wrote daily. I hope to strengthen my bonds with those I’ve met online while closing myself off to those who I do not trust. Making a public blog is not the way to go about that I’m aware. But who uses tumblr? 😂. This is a starting place. I may one day put a price tag on my writing. Definitely for my other books and zines I have been working on this past year. But until then, enjoy my ramblings.

Dialogue is always welcome. Oh, and don’t make a fumblr account just for me. My blog is accessible on a browser without a log in. I’m not chasing likes. I’m just typing into the void.

The trans folk witch, out ✌️ 💋.

#traditional witchcraft #folk witchcraft #folk catholicism #transgender witches #ozark magic #big tiddy gf #esoteric bimbo

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scaryspears · 1 year

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Muggleborn Slytherin

I redid the sorting with my sister and I'm in Slytherin. Thing is, when I did it as a 13 year old I ended up in Ravenclaw. Anyways, my sorting has inspired me to share this original character I've come up with. I can't draw eloquently so I used a dress up game.

Name: Orisha 'Sasha' Nwaeze

Date of Birth: August 31st 1975

Ethnic: Black African British (Nigerian), Muggleborn

Potronous: Wolf

Familiar: Billie-Jean (Barn owl)

Wand: Dragon wing, Maple (I'm not an expert on wands)

Quotes: "That's the thing about wolves. They actually stay away from people, but if the time calls for it then they will attack."

"You'll come to find that I'm not very good at taking care of my socks, sir." - To Snape.

Orisha grew up in a Catholic household, to which she was regarded as the problem child due to her tendency to get in strange predicaments and the many times she was caught doing something bizarre, like turning flower petals into butterflies.

When Orisha's Hogwarts letter arrives her parents go into a frenzy and have her sent to her aunt's house, who is known as the family black sheep. It is then her family refuses to have any contact with her, leaving her entirely in her aunt's care.

Orisha's aunt tries her best with Orisha, and is even willing to spend more than enough on her. When doing supply shopping she meets her familiar, a Barn owl she names Billie-Jean due to having an MJ obsession.

The first person Orisha meets at Hogwarts is Percy, who gives her a rundown on all the houses during their boat ride towards the castle. At the sorting ceremony she watches as Percy and any other potential friend is sent to their houses. When it's her turn the hat shouts "SLYTHERIN" and the table she belongs to is awfully quiet and displeased.

Percy refuses to talk to her, and her housemates refuse to acknowledge her. She constantly questions Jesus about her situation and what this means for herself morally. She is able to make friends with Myrtle Warren, the ghost that hangs in the girls bathrooms.

Her head of house, Professor Snape, introduces her to Marcus Flint and Adrian Pucey who both have reluctantly agreed to look out for her. After a few weeks Percy starts talking to her again but explains why he's been avoiding her. Apparently she's in the 'evil' house, and it's full of people who hate her because of her blood type. She can't be trusted.

Orisha would spend her time borrowing books from the library, learning as many spells as she can and testing her own abilities. Improving her potion brewing, boosting her knowledge on magical creatures, charms, transfiguration, and some herbology. The only thing Orisha hasn't bothered to learn is anything to do with magical history. She isn't very good at flying and tries to create her own flying spells, and is unsuccessful.

One afternoon Snape slips a piece of paper on her desk that reads "Levicorpus". She tries the spell ,and while the results don't end well takes inspiration from it. She finally creates her flying spell, but keeps the knowledge to herself, getting rid of any evidence that she had created it.

As soon as Christmas rolls around she stays with her aunt and confides that she wants to leave Hogwarts. Her aunt discusses this with Dumbledore and they come to the agreement that Orisha would study each year for the first term before going back to the muggle world.

After graduating school she finds out that there's more to her family than she knew. Using her Hogwarts education, she spends her life living normally while being paid to do "small tasks".

She has no clue about the battle of Hogwarts when it goes down, but is unfazed about the events that transpired once she learns of it.

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