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alpaca-clouds · 22 days ago

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On Santa, the Christkindle, Krampus and Frau Holle

Let me tell you Americans something – because I know that most people on this specific hellsite are in fact American, while I am not. I am European. German, to be exact, with some Asian roots, according to my mother. And a few days in a rather useless attempt to get a bit into the Holiday spirit, I watched the movie “Red One”. An American friend already noted, how he was aware that in the finale of the movie, it does not make a lot of sense to save Christmas, given not everyone celebrates Christmas around the world, and how also a couple of countries have the presents out on January, 6th, on the Epiphany. Which, yes, is true.

When I watched the movie, though, and got to the place, I messaged that friend: “By the way, do you know that Santa does in fact not bring us the presents in Germany? Or most of Europe, in fact. Oh, and also, Krampus is in fact not really the Anti-Santa or Santa’s brother or some shit, but that goes back a whole lot further than just Christianity.”

On the next day, though, I could not help it, but think about the entire thing. Because I was not quite sure whether I had some cognitive bias about Krampus – or if my gut feeling was right. And that got me down a long, long rabbit hole.

So, my dear Americans, let me regail you with Christmas stories from Europe, and why Krampus has more to do with white men being butthurt than anything else. Alright? Alright!

Christkindelein, Christkindelein

Now, I will not go too deeply into the entire Santa thing. Just know: Yes, St. Nikolaus is in fact connected to Christmas traditions all over Europe. However, in quite a lot of European countries, like in Germany, St. Nikolaus only comes on December 6th, where he will bring a bit of chocolate, and maybe some socks. No big presents. Those are for Christmas.

So, why does Nikolaus come on December 6th? Well, this has to do with Saints’ Days in the Catholic calendar. Basically: Every saint in the Catholic canon has a day dedicated to them. And yes, we have more than 365 saints, so yes, several saints will usually share a day. St. Nikolaus, the Turkish bishop, has his day on December 6th, hence this is the day when someone dressed as a somewhat more historical St. Nikolaus will appear in German kindergardens and schools. And also in some other countries. (Not all countries celebrate this.) That will usually look something like this.

Now, Germany will have the presents on Christmas Eve. Not on the morning of December 25th, but the tradition was originally for the family to go to Christmas (like a literal mas) on the evening of December 24th, and then come home for a good feast and presents, because the presents had been “delivered” while the family was in the church. But no, they were not delivered by St. Nick, but by the Christkind, the Christ Child. And generally speaking in most of the Catholic areas of Europe it tends to be either the Christ Child who delivers the presents, or the Magi – in those areas of Europe where the presents get to the kids on Epiphany.

And yes, there are absolutely a lot of families in Europe today, who have not a strong religious tradition, and hence just use Santa, because American Imperialism is a thing, and most movies the kids are aware off use Santa. After all those families will usually not go to Church for the literal Christmas and… Well, what difference does it make.

However, I should not that it is generally not a thing over here – even in those families that were taken in by American Imperialism – to put out cookies and milk for Santa. That very much is an American thing. Please, dear Americans, just do not assume that something that is a traditions with you folks gets done the same everywhere on the world. Because in fact, very few things Americans celebrate are celebrated the same way anywhere else (outside of Canada, I guess).

But this is actually the less interesting part of this little essay.

No, I actually wanted to talk with you about Krampus.

Krampus is not Santa’s Brother

Now I will tell you something, that has surprised all my American friends: I never heard of Krampus until I was 18. Never once was I aware that Krampus was a thing that existed, despite me being from Germany. Shocking, right?

Because here is the thing: Krampus does not originate in Germany, but in Austria. And specifically the Krampus tradition originates in Styria. Which once more is the moment I will remind my dear Castlevania fans that: Yes, indeed. Styria is a real place. It is a region within Austria. And to be exact it is the region in Europe that was Christianized the latest. (Please mind: Yes, there were other region that were not-majority Christian later, but those got Christianized before, but were taken over by Muslims afterwards. Meanwhile Styria was only Christianized majorly in the 12th century. Mainly because it is an area that is so high up in the mountains, that pretty much everyone until then who tried to forcefully Christianize failed.)

And when I was 18, I moved in with my then boyfriend, who lived in Leoben in Styria. So that year was the first time, that I ever heard of Krampus, because there was a lot of Krampus related stuff happening in Styria. Mainly there was a Krampuslauf pretty much everywhere on December 5th, so in the night before December 6th, before St. Nikolaus came. And yes, as you might be aware, the story about Krampus is usually about how he will take the naughty children and kidnap and eat them in some way or form.

In Austria meanwhile this looks like this: A whole lot of men dress up with creepy masks, run through the streets, and hit people with whips. A very Castlevania holiday indeed. Yes, usually some bullshit happens, because of people are anonymous some bullshit always happens, right?

And for my whole life I have always wondered: While I was living in Austria I noticed a whole lot more references to Krampus in American media. I chucked it up to be a cognitive bias. You know, when you learn about a new word for example, you notice it a lot more being used. So I shrugged and went on with my life, not really thinking about this again. Until that conversation a couple of days ago. And this time… This time I could not help myself. Because I was like: “I am pretty sure the Krampus tradition is older than the St. Nikolaus tradition in that area. So it is probably not a Christian thing.” But I also kept thinking: “Is it though?” Mainly, because during this years @fluff-cember I also wrote a story about Perchten, and I could not help but notice one thing: Krampus has an awful lot of similarity to Perchten.

Mother Holde and Perchten

Hey, you. Americans specifically. Do you know the story of Frau Holle? Because while I know you might probably not be familiar with a lot of European folklore, there is a good chance you at least will know the fairytale by the Brothers Grimm.

If you don’t, don’t worry. I will give you the short rundown. (Mind you, like with all fairlytales, there are about 10 different versions of this story going around. Because those were oral stories first.)

The short version however is like this.

A miller looses his wife and marries anew. And his new wife has a daughter from a previous marriage. Now they have two daughters named Marie. And like it goes in those fairytales, the stepmother treats the Marie from the old marriage very poorly, especially after the father dies. However, this Marie is a diligent child. She will do all her chores without complaining. And one day she is send to spin yarn at the local well. However, her spindle falls into the well – and when she tries to fetch it, she falls into it as well. However, instead of being stuck in the well, it turns out she gets basically isekai’d into another realm, where an old woman meets her, introducing herself as Frau Holle. And she offers this Marie to help her with her chores, and if Marie does so, she will be rewarded. Marie, being the diligent child, obviously agrees. And she does the chores, that unbeknownst to her actually allow the season on earth to move on properly. Part of it is to beat out the pillows and blankets, making it snow on the world. And after a while, Frau Holle is very impressed with her, and showers her in gold, before sending her back home. Now, the stepmother finds this child now rich and golden, and asks her where she got all that gold. And Marie, being the diligent child, tells her. So the stepmother tells her own daughter to do the same. So this daughter will also spin by the well, drop her spindle, fall in and get isekai’d. And indeed. It happens. However, this Marie is lazy and not at all diligent. And after a while Frau Holle has enough with her, and instead of with gold, she showers this Marie in pitch and sends her back.

And then there is this moral about being a diligent girl and diligence being rewarded and stuff.

However, Frau Holle actually goes far, far back into German, and especially alpine mythology to the goddess Holde, Berchte, or Perchten.

Now, we have a pretty good idea from mythological research, that Berchte (to be translated as “the bright one”) was probably very related to Frigg from Norse mythology, just with some adjustments given that this was a goddess who was prayed to in the alps, rather than Scandinavia – and mythology will always shift to reflect the area people live in.

But yes, Berchte was – from all we can reconstruct – always linked to spinning, and to the midwinter holidays. After all, most cultures did celebrate the solstices in some way or form. And it seems that indeed Berchte was connected to bringing gifts during the solstice, but also with punishing lazy and naughty children and servants. While we do have little written evidence for this in the pre-Christian culture (because they wrote down very little), we know that Berchte was said to roam around during the Christmas holidays, after these areas got Christanized.

And while Berchte would both appaear as a pretty young woman, and a motherly old woman, there seemed at some point a shift to happen. And when she came to punish those who had been lazy or naughty, she would appear as a monsterous woman with goat horns, who more commonly was called Perchten. (Still same word root though.) It is not quite clear whether Perchten at that point already was a different being from Berchte – or just a slightly varied name for a different incarnation. But however it happened: Over the next few centuries the Berchte worship died out, but Perchten survived.

Perchten and the Angry White Men

Now, here comes the interesting bit. Because we have written evidence of Perchten going as far back as the 12th century. And we know that even after Christianization of these area, Perchten stayed around. And in fact, it became a tradition for the women to dress up as Perchten during the Christmas celebrations (which back in the day lasted for 12 days, as you might know) and play tricks on everyone, who they perceived to have been naughty.

And… Well, here is the thing. We do not know how it happened. But one of the current theories is, that simply some men were like: “Why do women get to have all the fun?!” And kinda wanted to make a male pendent for Perchten. Which ended up being Krampus.

Now, please consider two things: 1) There is a theory too, that Krampus might have been influenced by Ottoman and Balkan mythology, though this connection is kinda hard to source, though it would explain the origins of the name. 2) In northern areas of the Germanic people, St. Nikolaus was already celebrated and had a companion, who was indeed punishing the naughty kids. Servant Rupert (Knecht Ruprecht). However, this companion was not monstrous like Krampus, but just a guy in a servant’s uniform and with a whip made of twigs. Simple as that. It still might have been an influence.

One way or another: Ethnologists are very, very certain that Krampus did come to be as a reaction to Perchten and the Perchtenläufe, which also explains the visual correlations between Krampus and Perchten.

The first written sources we have for Krampus showing up only go back to the mid-17th century, but historians assume that this tradition started in the late-16th century. But the exact details are fairly hard to pin down.

It turns out, though, that my very subjective experience of not noticing a whole lot of Krampus stuff earlier was very correct. Because… this tradition kinda got lost mostly during the 19th century. Like, sure, some places still had a Krampuslauf of some sort, and had Krampus come with St. Nikolaus during the celebrations, but for several reasons (one of them being that the Krampus just appeared too pagan) the tradition mostly got lost for a long, long while.

White People and their Lost Culture

And this brings me back to me never ever hearing anything about Krampus until I moved to Austria about 15 years ago. Because when I was in Austria, everyone told me that, yeah, sure, this Krampus thing is totally an old tradition. And heck, many of them might not even have meant to lie to me, given they were themselves fairly young. But indeed, the widespread comeback of the Krampuslauf actually only started in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Again, no, it was never a fully dead tradition, but it had petered off over the centuries and only was a thing in very few places until Styria came into the problem, that a lot of western European nations generally have to struggle with: “Well, Christianity got pushed onto us during the middle ages, and we actually do not fucking know a whole lot about our culture before Christianity, do we now? So if I do no longer align with Christianity, what the heck is my culture?” This need to have a culture of their own clearly also was influenced by the influx of immigrants and the racist reflex to be like: “Hey, this is our culture” in comparison.

And so… someone stumbled across the entire Krampus thing and was like: “Welp, this certainly does feel kinda pagan, doesn’t it?” And so Krampus was brought back, and within a couple of years became a tradition pretty much every place in Styria participated in, before it even spread to other parts of Austria.

Which brings me back to being a little alpaca standing in Austria and being like: “Huh, I never heard of it.” And then seeing horror movies themed around Krampus spring up, tilt my head and wonder: “Wait, was this always a thing?”

The answer is: Nope. Nope, it wasn’t! American references to Krampus in media go only back until 2004, and actually the big push to include Krampus in western media only happened in the early 2010s. So no, it was actually no subconscious bias on my side. It was true. Krampus was actually fairly new and the reason I never noticed this before was, that it simply had not been a thing for very long, when I came to Austria – and that indeed American media only started to broadly include Krampus in the early 2010s.

Which brings me back to the most important thing this rabbit hole has taught me: It was actually not my subconscious cognitive bias! HOORAY!

So, what about St. Nikolaus?

Let me finish with this: St. Nikolaus has been a figure who has brought treats and presents to children and servants (I cannot stress the later part enough) at least since the 11th century, probably already earlier. The historical figure that inspired this tradition goes back to the 4th century, obviously, and the way St. Nikolaus has given out presents in Europe for the most part was related to the legend around the historical figure. And yes, from all we know, the tradition of giving St. Nikolaus some sort of other person who accompanies him and at times is responsible for punishing the evil kids and servants might go back at least until the 12th century. Those servants of St. Nick have had a whole lot of names in a whole lot of different areas, and talking about them all would let me write at least a small novella here.

And in a way, I am somewhat sad, that the one of the figures who somehow managed to get picked up by Americans is actually Krampus – and how very much divorced from the cultural context he originated it became.

I guess in some way it is fitting, given that of course the American version of St. Nikolaus is also very much divorced from any cultural context he once had. It is simply the thing American culture does: Divorcing things from their cultural context. I mean, I am gonna be mean here, but I am gonna bet that I know more about the bible than pretty much 95% of American Christians, given how Christianity came ot the US and is taught there to this day. Again: Fully divorced from the cultural context.

And still, I wish it would not be that way. It would at least make Holiday movies a whole lot more interesting. Be it the ones about Santa dealing with Santa actually being a brown man, or the ones about Krampus dealing with my horny boy originating from men wanting to have a horned representation as well, while running around the alps during the winter months.

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notesfromthepalace · 1 year ago

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Some Things are Not for Tea Time

My Father once said "... people will hate you [and be jealous of you] because they see you with a new nail set every week, not knowing you do your own nails at home to save money".

Let me explain:

What my Father was trying to convey is people will dislike you over the smallest things i.e. like me doing my nails on my own every Saturday morning to save money (back in my college days), but jealously having an effect on their perception; "Oh she has so much money she gets her nails done every week" - then going into the rabbit hole of assumptions just because they are choosing to dislike me.

Again, as I always say, this blog is for the girls who get it, because if you don't, the first two paragraphs will go right over your head (if it hasn't already) and you will be lost in the sauce the entirety of this blog post.

But for the girlies who get it: the nice, mind your business, your man and money type of girls who stay prayed up but don't tempt me to jump because "knuck if you buck".

Yes, you darling!|

Hey friend!

So, just to be clear, if you did not know: not every woman who smiles in your face is your friend, and not every compliment comes from a place of being genuine.

That being said, not every woman you have conversations with should be privy to every good thing that happens in your life - to include your plans for the future.

I believe I have touched on this subject before but the more and more I vet my social circle and distance myself from certain people, the more and more apparent how important it is to safe guard the things that are so precious me.

Story Time! *Mariah Carey voice

Over the last few months, I have received a vast amount of good news and there have been new things, new investments, and new moves. But recently, certain people have been reaching out to me to inquire about my whereabouts, my love life and so on.

To be quite frank, it is none of their business.

So myself and my African Prince have gone for holiday in Times Square, met each other's close families and friends and have started to move as one - 2024 is going to be a movie (if you know what I mean).

God has been really great to me and through prayer, and learning to be more discreet with what I am working towards, my dreams and visions are coming to fruition. For example, last year I bought my first pair of Christian Louboutin heels:

I didn't do a "show-in-tell" or an unboxing. No tea no shade to people who do that, I just chose not to. I wore the hell out of these shoes though! The photo above is from my Ghanian Sweetheart taking me to The W in Bellevue for date night. But when I bought the first pair, I told myself that I would have the pumps, this time next year - it's this time next year, is it not?

My African King was literally in my mind. He got me the very shoes that I told myself I would have by December 2023!

There was a time I was doing hair and make-up on the side for some extra money. I'm aware that there are plenty of girls who had my address who may not be the finest company. So I didn't want to post the nice things I had or the nice things my man would do for me before someone tries to rob me - jealous people do that.

I am currently enjoying the Christmas Holiday with my man in our home away from the city and during this time of love and bliss, I received a call from a girl I used to be close with.

She called me on FaceTime - in tears (and inebriated) asking why we don't hangout, how come she doesn't know what's going on in my life, why I don't call her; Then goes on to insult the girls I do hangout with like "you only hang out with your boujie friends, yeah I saw that you went to the Powder Room" - like yeah I did go to the Powder Room (very nice restaurant by the way) because I was invited by a friend to go. Like I have said in previous posts, I frequent high-end establishments all of the time.

Don't get me wrong, a part of me felt bad bad because I genuinely like and care for the girl. But as I was evolving, she would ridicule the changes that she saw and insinuate that I was acting like I was better than her or the other girls we used to go out with.

To put things into perspective, she and I started hanging out when I dumped my ex. And I remember I called her on a Saturday morning and she was surprised, like "What, you're calling to go out with us tonight? We always ask you to come out and you say 'no'".

She was right, I would typically say no, but I didn't want to be one of those girls who sits in their flat and cries because they just went through a breakup. I was ready to go to the club and just be out. I needed to take my mind off of the hurt. So we went to club that night.

But, in my typical Sarah Chanel fashion, I got tired of the club quick. I don't mind it from time to time, in a section with my girlies from back home. But I remember the last time we went to the club, she got kicked out for being drunk and disorderly.

I was low-key cool off the entire situation. I was also going through my own personal evolution and changing what I do, how eat, the places I frequent - just for her to ridicule the changes. That was another reason why I distanced myself. As a friend, I wasn't asking her to do the things I was doing or to change herself; I would've loved her support though. My best friend and I have been friends of over a decade and when I would talk to her about taking my walk with God more seriously, she didn't make me feel bad for it or act weird, even as a person like herself who isn't extremely religious - she supported me from afar, so I know it's not impossible or an extreme ask.

Not to mention she would put me in compromising positions like trying to hook me up with a man that she knew was in a fully committed relationship with another woman, or acting a complete fool in a restaurant and yelling at the waiter.

So naturally I distanced myself. And to be fair, she's not the only person I distanced myself from. Over these last two years, I have seen so much change in my outlook on life, my spiritual life and walk with God, my ideas and interests, my love life and so on.

I am also of the understanding that everyone you meet can not go on your journey, especially if they choose to remain in the same place mentally, that they were in back in 2022 - we are on the brink of 2024, become anew.

Take tips from my blog, it'll help.

And I don't say that to be a mean girl.

I want to see all women, especially young women of color evolve and be of their higher selves. But I can't make the horse drink the water if it doesn't even want to come to the well.

With less than a week left in 2023, leave the need of giving everyone an explanation in 2023 - ITS NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS!

For the girlies who have already been living their lives in luxe and love, keep doing it.

But for the girls who don't know where to start, sissy pooh, start at Notes From the Palace. And will it be lonely someone times, yes. Will your character be questioned by people that you thought were your friends, yes. But will the grass be greener on the other side, YES!

Happy New Year and I pray all of my readers, even the low key haters have a year of prosperity, peace, love and money

With Love,

Sarah Chanel

P.S.

You see that shoe! I almost forgot the most important part. Walk with Jesus, for real. And I will be walking right along our Lord and Father Jesus Christ for the rest of my life because all of the great things I have obtained and will achieve are all in thanks to the Most High! Stay prayed up!

#black women #black women in luxury #luxuriousbw #black women in leisure #black love #happy new year #holidays #christmas #jesus christ #merry christmas #new years resolutions #level up #black femininity #black beauty

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th3finalboy · 5 months ago

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i know this isn’t in the “ask me!” list but i’m just curious, what are your favourite sub genres in horror? which movies do you always gravitate toward bc they have certain themes/elements? i love finding out what makes horror “scary” for people!! <3

first off i want to say SORRY for taking so long to answer this, i haven't had the time to sit down and collect my thoughts because i really want to give this an articulate response. i have loved horror movies since i was little, so at this point there is little that necessarily "scares" me in the same way that other people get scared. however, some types of horror still get under my skin, for sure. but outside of what may personally scare me, there are subgenres that i just enjoy. note that a lot of the movies i list apply to multiple genres but. like. idk deal with it.

DAYLIGHT HORROR:

one of my favorite subgenres (if you can even call it that?) is daylight horror. horror movies typically happen during darkness/night time, which makes sense. obscured vision, more isolation, lack of awareness around you. what could be lurking in the darkness? what is there that you can't see? however, i think that daylight horror works really well because it's about what IS seen. that despite it being a seemingly "safe" time, there is still danger. and you can see it, but it can't be avoided. something about horror being in plain sight gets to me. some examples of this that i personally love are: the texas chainsaw massacre (1974), of course the passenger (2023), and midsommar (2019).

COSMIC HORROR:

i personally think there's something very primally horrific with cosmic horror. the idea that all of this, every single thing you feel or believe in, being completely insignificant in the grander scheme of things. that none of it even really matters at the end of the day because it was all completely out of your control. i dont know, things like that get to me especially for some reason! though they dont necessarily scare me, i find myself really relating to the characters and finding myself in their helpless plight to fight against something so much bigger than themselves. some examples of this that i am a fan of are: the thing (1982), in the mouth of madness (1994) , color out of space (2019), event horizon (1997).

BODY HORROR:

yesss... YESSS!! i am personally a big fan of gore in movies so, body horror is like my favorite thing. the desecration of the human body, twisting and morphing into something completely unrecognizable like yaesss... there's a lot of different ways movies utilize it, and typically body horror is coupled with cosmic horror so you'll probably see both in a movie. the thing and color out of space have good body horror, i'd also add society (1989), videodrome (1983) (honestly anything by david cronenberg is good), slither (2006), hellraiser (1987).

OCCULT HORROR:

now, here i have to admit a personal bias. i grew up in a very christian household, so, i think that definitely has something to do with occult horror getting to me. it's strange though because satanic horror typically doesn't really get to me, i think aside from longlegs but i think that movie utilized dread really well. i find satanic horror mostly lame and cheap tbh. but occult horror? something about that does get to me. i think it's because it also sort of plays into cosmic horror themes of helplessness and insignificance in the face of something bigger and greater. some movies that i really like are hereditary (2016), longlegs (2024), the wicker man (1973) , apostle (2018), rosemary's baby (1968) , suspiria (both the 1977 and the 2018).

PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR:

man, i really love psychological horrors. i love when fucked up things happen to people's psyches! i love when characters are driven to madness! love when they're confronted with their worst fears in the worst ways possible! love it, love it. another persona bias for me just because i am a psych student lol. there's so many i can list, uhm. love love love silence of the lambs (1991), get out (2017), the shining (1980), the lighthouse (2017), the ritual (2017), possessor (2020), jacob's ladder (1990), the night house (2020) (underrated honestly! im sad this one went under the radar), audition (1999), martyrs (2008), i could honestly go on and on...

SLASHER HORROR:

slashersss... oh my beloved, what can i really say? slashers are probably one of, if not my absolute favorite subgenre of horror. i know people tend to find them trite because of how formulaic they can be and how oversaturated the genre is, but if you really start looking, you can find some GREAT, great movies. i love the popular choices, like scream (1996) and halloween (1978) of course, but i think there's a lot of other hidden gems that come into play. behind the mask: the rise of leslie vernon (2006) is a really good commentary of the slasher genre as a whole. i think house of wax (2005) was also really fun! tucker and dale vs. evil (2010) is also another good satire of slashers. i really loved a nightmare on elm street 3: dream warriors (1987), too! aside from what they do with nancy :,) my bloody valentine (1981), chopping mall (1986)...

#buffy answers #horror #i know this is probably longer than you had intended for me to answer for this question but uhm . its awesome.

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tristandelarkadien · 1 year ago

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On Clive & Maurice, pt. 1

Let me try to write out my thoughts on one of my favourite novels, and explain why the casting changes the implications of the movie.

I watched Maurice a while back. The film, not the novel. I had looked forward to seeing Hugh Grant, as I thought him a good choice for the main character. Needless to say, I was surprised and confused to see him playing Clive. Even more surprised and confused to see a small blond actor playing Maurice, and not Clive.

The blond guy was not a bad choice. I am sure he was a good actor. But he came across as more emotional than expected. The fact that he seemed a bit smaller than Clive's actor gave them a different dynamic than the one I had come to expect from the book.

I will lay out my ideas here. If this has already been touched upon in some prior essay, I apologise, but the sadly now ephemeral nature of Tumblr's search function makes it hard to locate.

(I also do not wish to turn this into an 'X is better than Y' debate. Both the film and movie are lovely stories, and they both deserve attention from their respective/shared devotees.)

I would love to cite or review the books involved, but unfortunately, they are outside of my reach due to reasons of money & location. I have endeavoured to cite what I am able to, in hopes of one day being able to afford scholarly literature written on the subject.

Introduction to Romantic friendships

In the early-to-mid 19th century, muscular christianity crossed over with ideals of manliness to create ideas about intense friendship between same-sex people being a precursor to romantic love with individuals of the opposite sex.

This friendship was meant to be mutually enriching. After the embers of passion had given way to mutual companionship, the two were to have a strong, but ultimately ‘normal’ friendship, less passionate than that of youth, as that emotion was now to be directed towards women.

These friendships were depicted in didactic children’s novels, as well as bildungsromans / Coming-of-age tales. We can see this in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, where a school matron puts the unruly, boisterous Tom together with meek, religious Arthur who looks younger than his years.

"Oh, Master Brown," went on the little matron, when the rest had gone, "you're to have Gray's study, Mrs. Arnold says. And she wants you to take in this young gentleman. He's a new boy, and thirteen years old, though he don't look it. He's very delicate, and has never been from home before. And I told Mrs. Arnold I thought you'd be kind to him, and see that they don't bully him at first. He's put into your form, and I've given him the bed next to yours in Number 4; so East can't sleep there this half."

Tom was rather put about by this speech. He had got the double study which he coveted, but here were conditions attached which greatly moderated his joy. He looked across the room, and in the far corner of the sofa was aware of a slight, pale boy, with large, blue eyes and light, fair hair, who seemed ready to shrink through the floor. He saw at a glance that the little stranger was just the boy whose first half-year at a public school would be misery to himself if he were left alone, or constant anxiety to any one who meant to see him through his troubles. (Tom Brown, pt 2, c. 1)

It doesn’t take long for the two to get better acquainted, in a way that enriches both of them, according to the dominating ideology of the age. Tom instructs Arthur in how to ‘fit in’ and not get singled out for bullying, while Arthur makes Tom’s fighting instincts kick in to protect Arthur, rather than roughhouse.

"What a queer chum for Tom Brown," was the comment at the fire; and it must be confessed so thought Tom himself, as he lighted his candle, and surveyed the new green-baize curtains and the carpet and sofa with much satisfaction.

"I say, Arthur, what a brick your mother is to make us so cozy. But look here now, you must answer straight up when the fellows speak to you, and don't be afraid. If you're afraid, you'll get bullied. And don't you say you can sing; and don't you ever talk about home, or your mother and sisters."

Poor little Arthur looked ready to cry.

"But please," said he, "mayn't I talk about—about home to you?"

"Oh yes, I like it. But don't talk to boys you don't know, or they'll call you homesick, or mamma's darling, or some such stuff. What a jolly desk! Is that yours? And what stunning binding! Why, your school-books look like novels!"

And Tom was soon deep in Arthur's goods and chattels, all new and good enough for a fifth-form boy, and hardly thought of his friends outside, till the prayer-bell rang. (Tom Brown, pt 2, c. 1)

Seeing Arthur set a good example by praying leads Tom to remember his own religion, which he has forsaken by refusing to pray before bed.

Tom was sitting at the bottom of his bed unlacing his boots, so that his back was toward Arthur, and he didn't see what had happened, and looked up in wonder at the sudden silence. Then two or three boys laughed and sneered, and a big, brutal fellow, who was standing in the middle of the room, picked up a slipper, and shied it at the kneeling boy, calling him a snivelling young shaver. Then Tom saw the whole, and the next moment the boot he had just pulled off flew straight at the head of the bully, who had just time to throw up his arm and catch it on his elbow.

"Confound you, Brown, what's that for?" roared he, stamping with pain.

"Never mind what I mean," said Tom, stepping onto the floor, every drop of blood in his body tingling; "if any fellow wants the other boot, he knows how to get it."

What would have been the result is doubtful, for at this moment the sixth-form boy came in, and not another word could be said. Tom and the rest rushed into bed and finished their unrobing there, and the old verger, as punctual as the clock, had put out the candle in another minute, and toddled on to the next room, shutting their door with his usual "Good-night, gen'l'm'n."

There were many boys in the room by whom that little scene was taken to heart before they slept. But sleep seemed to have deserted the pillow of poor Tom. For some time his excitement, and the flood of memories which chased one another through his brain, kept him from thinking or resolving. His head throbbed, his heart leapt, and he could hardly keep himself from springing out of bed and rushing about the room. Then the thought of his own mother came across him, and the promise he had made at her knee, years ago, never to forget to kneel by his bedside, and give himself up to his Father, before he laid his head on the pillow, from which it might never rise; and he lay down gently and cried as if his heart would break. He was only fourteen years old. (Tom Brown, pt 2, c. 1)

It is also evident in David Copperfield, where David moons after a boy named ‘Steerforth’ who eventually forsakes him. (Notably, asking if the ‘vulnerable’ boy has a sister is done in Tom Brown as well.)

‘Good night, young Copperfield,’ said Steerforth. ‘I’ll take care of you.’ ‘You’re very kind,’ I gratefully returned. ‘I am very much obliged to you.’

‘You haven’t got a sister, have you?’ said Steerforth, yawning.

‘No,’ I answered.

‘That’s a pity,’ said Steerforth. ‘If you had had one, I should think she would have been a pretty, timid, little, bright-eyed sort of girl. I should have liked to know her. Good night, young Copperfield.’

‘Good night, sir,’ I replied.

I thought of him very much after I went to bed, and raised myself, I recollect, to look at him where he lay in the moonlight, with his handsome face turned up, and his head reclining easily on his arm. He was a person of great power in my eyes; that was, of course, the reason of my mind running on him. No veiled future dimly glanced upon him in the moonbeams. There was no shadowy picture of his footsteps, in the garden that I dreamed of walking in all night. (David Copperfield, Chapter 7)

They reunite as adults, the 90’s miniseries has Steerforth kiss David’s head at that point. David still looks up to Steerforth at this point, which eventually leads to Steerforth forsaking him. The point here is that these friendships were not supposed to go on for too long.

And yes, depending on children to raise children in a milieu without adult supervision can definitely go wrong. Even the writers of the age knew it, both Vachell (The Hill) and Hughes (Tom Brown) mention abuse in their novels. Talbot Baines Reed (The Fifth Form at St: Dominic) mentions a clear cut example of grooming. I mention this, because it will be relevant later on.

From the above passages, we can extract the following framework: An ‘inexperienced’, vulnerable boy, is shielded and educated by an ‘experienced’ boy. I can write multiple essays on the topic (And I just might), but at the end of the day, this is what we need in order to move on to part 2.

#Maurice #Maurice 1987 #Boarding School Canon #Edwardian #e. m. forster #Essay #text #1910's #Great Britian #19th century

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rockinlibrarian · 11 months ago

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10, 16, 24 for the fandom ask 🧡🧡

Whoo-hee, I have an Ask! (To be fair, I've HAD an Ask for several days, but this is the first I've gotten on my computer proper to answer it).

So let's see.

10. a blog (mutual or one you follow) that has made your fandom experience brighter:

I'm going to give this one to @non-plutonian-druid, who not only posts delightful fan art, they also post delightful fan art in even more delightful crossovers, which is just very fun.

16. a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate:

Ah. Hmm. Which canon even? Oh you know what, I'm going to be obnoxious and say, if you pay attention in TUA you'll NOTICE that Five totally reacts differently to Viktor than to everyone else. He smiles more. He's less insulting. There's this scene in S3 where he goes "I hate to say I told you so" and Viktor shoots back "You LOVE to say I told you so," and Five just smiles and nods! You CANNOT tell me he wouldn't have a snappy comeback if ANYONE ELSE had dared! So I know I can't convince anyone to ship them but you DO SEE they have a DIFFERENT relationship from the others, right? :P

24. how has fandom positively impacted your life?

Well. I have been writing stories since I learned how to write, and making them up for longer, but after my first child was born it was like everything shut off. I was so tired! I had no more free time! How could I take time out of my busy day to write when I could be using that time to, Idaknow, sleep? Before I could get into the habit again I started doing collection development for the library, and it was like, do you have any idea how many books are published in a year? And it's really important for more diverse voices to be uplifted. So like why do I, a white (basically-)straight mainstream-Christian (relatively-)able-bodied (not neurotypical, but come on, Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908 and she's the most perfect female-with-ADHD character ever, so it's not like THAT one's lacking) ciswoman even need to write a book? Who cares? Yes, I am aware this is a lie ones brain tells to be obnoxious, but it still made it impossible for me to actually carve out time to write when who cares?

The first step in me getting past this was the writing prompt that became "The Pipeweed Mafia Epic," which was, technically, fanfiction. It gave me permission to just HAVE FUN with writing, without thought to whether the story is Needed or if anyone's going to read it at all. Some of the only other stories I managed to get out for the next few years were ALSO fanfics. But it was infrequent, and I didn't share them. AND THEN, here on Tumblr, I saw a post for a Legion FX fic exchange and I said, "You know, I think I can do that. I should take the chance!" So I did, and ended up writing not just my assignment but also a little fic that popped into my head just in the process of me deciding what I wanted to ask for! And now I had an AO3 account, which meant I suddenly had an outlet when I saw a movie that desperately required some rethinking! And suddenly I was waking up to emails that said "You've Got Kudos!" and THAT'S a hit of dopamine, so it suddenly became so much easier to just get an idea for a silly little story I could stick on AO3 and maybe get a "You've Got Kudos!" message the next day!

So long story short, fandom helped me get WRITING again. I'm still not sure when I'll ever get back to ORIGINAL fiction, but at least the storytelling itch in my brain has an outlet!

#ask game #fanfic #writing

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emiliosandozsequence · 1 year ago

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I just found your the passion of the christ vibes tag and i'm curious now lol since everybody seems to consider it the best religious movie of all time. What did you hate and like about it?

Btw what happened to Jim Caviezel, i saw a picture on twitter where he said Tru*mp is the new Moses.....

jim caviezal is just...a terrible person from everything i've ever heard about him rip, so i wish i had the answer to that question, but alas i do not :/

as for the film itself:

i've always found christianity as a religion very fascinating, so me watching the passion of the christ was going to happen one way or another despite all the bad things i'd heard about it throughout my life. i think what i disliked about the film mostly had to do with who was making it tbh (jim caviezel and mel gibson; plus all the stupid proselytizing crap they said during press for the film and whatnot) and also just...the way the story was told too. i just really didn't like how everything was done.

as for what i liked?? tbh i really liked the fact it was all in aramaic. i thought that was super cool. i really liked the scene with jesus in the garden. i really liked how satan was represented, but i also hated it a lot at the same time lol. i really liked the part where jesus was being flogged (that scene really spoke to me idk and i'm not even christian lol).

i'm aware you didn't ask for this, but i love this movie too much not to bring it up: an example of a christian film that i, to this day, am deeply obsessed with is mary magdalene. the film that came out in 2018. i think the reason i liked that one so much was because it was told from a very jewish place...and also the score is beautiful.

#ask #anonymous

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tracingbackirises · 2 years ago

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Tagged by @definitelydivergent Thank you friend!

What book are you currently reading? Re-reading Anne of Green Gables. By the way, if anyone has any book recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

What’s your favourite movie you saw in a cinema this year? I believe the only movie I saw in theaters in the last twelve months was Lifemark, which is an amazing movie and based on a true story!

What do you usually wear? Normally I try to stick with clothes, but when I'm getting my hair dyed I tear holes for my arms and head into a trashbag and wear that

How tall are you? 5'4" on a good day

What’s your star sign?

Do you share your birthday with a celebrity or historical event? I'm sure I share my birthday with many historical events; whether or not I share my birthday with any significant historical events is a different question, to which I know not the answer

Do you go by your name or a nickname? Mostly my name. Very few people call me by a nickname

Did you grow up to be what you wanted to be as a child? I wanted to be many things as a child. I've long since lost interest in being a doctor or a horse, but still hope and dream to work with children and write books

Are you in a relationship? Who is your crush if not? I'm not in a romantic relationship, but I very ardently adore the man who came up with goat cheese (goat cheese, my beloved)

What’s something you’re good at versus something you’re bad at? I'm actually pretty good at learning how to read and write in my target languages, all things considered. I still have a long way to go, but I know that if I were to have more self discipline and put in some effort, I'd actually be pretty impressive. On the flip side, I'm not so good with the speaking and hearing part. My pronunciation is often way off and I struggle to hear the different vowel sounds, except in Spanish (Spanish vowels, my beloved).

Dogs or cats?

What’s something you’d like to create content for? You know, I'm not actually sure! My favorite piece of media is Earthbound, but I've never really thought of creating content for it. I always thought Earthbound would work so well as an animated series, so it might be a fun little challenge for myself to write scripts and create story boards for it. I would also love to write Christian fiction, but have not been confident in my ability to do so in a way that is not either cheesy or too worldly.

What's something you're currently obsessed with? The idea of making goat cheese and mushroom quesidillas! Saw a recipe online and I have been in love ever since!

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year? I'm not aware of having been disappointed this year. I've had a pretty amazing year, actually. If there was something that disappointed me that I'm forgetting, I would not like to remind myself

What's a hidden talent of yours? Well if it's hidden, how am I supposed to know about it?

Are you religious? Yes, I have a personal relationship with Jesus and have made Him the Lord of my life!

What’s something you wish to have at this moment? Would it be beating a dead horse to say goat cheese? Yes? Okay, then I'll settle for a million dollars (huehuehue)

Tagging @sapphiremoonandstars if your heart so desires

#tag game #cannot stress enough that i dont actually want a million dollars #i would love goat cheese and a long hug #xD

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motsimages · 1 year ago

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I watched Joy Ride the other day and while it's entertaining and has some good ideas, it is not as original or fun as I thought it would be. I guess, for some reason, I was not expecting yet another americanada and I don't know if they are aware of it.

After the cut there is a list of things I liked and didn't like. Obviously, all of the spoilers are there:

Things I liked:

Actresses of that age when they start to disappear and that body type that never exists.

Lots of sexual jokes, some actually quite funny or well thought out and respectful (the assisted masturbation is chef's kiss), which is some stereotype breaking for women that age in the US, and Asian women of all ages in general. While it is a very sexual-based comedy, they are very respectful of the one who doesn't want to have sex. They are not mocked or ridiculed. They were given the instruction "have fun" and they all had fun in their own way.

A very gnc character that apparently is non-binary (I read it in comments, I missed it during the movie). Also very clearly neurodivergent with interesting moments and showing that her silly special interest actually helps.

Make up and costuming sometimes is eye candy (the k-pop costuming)

Some scenes are real gems, as are some dialogues. It actually threads quite well some things between them.

There are some international relationships commentary and some "get your head out of your ass, USamerican" (it still falls short to me but it is there).

Deadeye.

Things I didn't like:

As I already said, for a movie that spends quite a lot of time emphasizing about the difference between Chinese-Chinese and Chinese-American, it is still very American: the Chinese-Chinese star of a Chinese show looks very western and speaks in perfect English with his fiancée, his Chinese-Chinese co-star who studied in the US. He is Christian, which fine, there are Christians in China, but I am going to guess they are not like Christians in the US so what was all that "leave room for Jesus" thing? And also, we don't see other beliefs and how they manifest in real Chinese-China so we can't know that Christianity is a minority religion in Asia (unless we already knew).

As a matter of fact, for a story that happens partially in rural China, there sure are a lot of people who speak English quite well, including an old grandmother. Sure, the adopted one who doesn't speak Chinese is at a loss, but they mainly say "oh USamericans never learn other languages" and that's that. She had two friends who were going to serve as interpreters and we barely see that happening. And when we do, they just make up whatever translation they want.

They are all (except Deadeye) terrible people and not very good friends, generally speaking. They use "have a real job and make a career" as a way of showing that you are mature enough and old enough when they tend to behave like teenagers most of the time. They are all very self-centered (which is interesting because an Australian-Chinese makes the point of saying that Chinese people don't hold individuality as a rule, as opposed to USamericans BEFORE they all get angry with each other because of being self-centered).

I can suspend my disbelief for quick travels and no jet-lag for sci-fi and cyberpunk, but not for a more or less realistic set in the present movie. They go from the US to China with no jet-lag. In theory they are only 4 days in China but they travel around it in unsual means of transportation because they can't get on a bus or a train in a way that would take them weeks to reach their destination. They even travel to Korea in those 4 days.

Oh they get their passports stolen. Yes, the Chinese one living in China too, apparently because she worries as much as the others. They do not think of calling the Embassy to fix it as soon as possible, they just keep travelling. They even go to Korea without passports and back to the US. So basically, not having passports doesn't affect their trip in any way whatsoever.

They kind of insist on "respecting someone's decision no matter what" as a good friend behaviour but sometimes your friends make terrible decisions and your job is telling them. The one engaged to a Christian?? She loves sex, she just stopped having sex and pretended she never had sex to be with him. And he lied about that too. And they had been dating for 3 years. When one of them finally confronts her to that (in the worst possible moment and possible way, because as I said, they are all terrible people), another one says "it's her business!" as if it was not one big mistake to base an entire relationship on a lie. And we are not really shown why she likes him other than that he is very hot, so why is she waiting?

That rule, btw, applies to some things only because when it comes to the adopted one saying "I don't want to meet my birth mother", it can be pushed and manipulated.

The men are all eye-candy, which is not necessarily a critique for this kind of movie but they are also very hot according to the Western taste, including having rounder eyes or being bronzed. They criticise the adoped one for not liking Asian men and 1) dismissed her one-time fling with a guy from Kazakhstan because they don't know if that counts as Asia in quite a racist dialogue but I guess it's alright because they're Chinese-American! and 2) they seem to not like real Chinese men either if what we are given is the Western taste of men instead of the Chinese taste.

They constantly tell the Chinese who was adopted that she is so white and criticise her for it, but then they are unaware of their own biases towards other cultures (unless other Chinese people are being racists towards Japanese, for instance). Which could be a good point to make, the way we all have our biases and xenophobia and all that, but they somehow don't know how to make it because it really centers all around "the white one" (adopted). Even after it is found out that she was actually born from a Korean mother and a whole family that had previously accepted as one of their own now rejects her, her friends still mention how white she is. There is a whole story there with the Korea-China relationships and we miss it because it's more important to make jokes.

While they grow more accepting of Deadeye, the scene of bonding between the main character (who didn't like them) and Deadeye felt forced and out of the blue. And also, they are only superficially more accepting. When Deadeye suggest doing their annual best-friends travel to some very US place that they like, they quickly ignore them because it is not as fancy as Paris.

They spend the whole movie mocking the adopted one because she can't eat Chinese food but then they go to Paris and say that they don't have to try French food. It all feels so hypocritical that even comments as silly as this one just add to the whole mess with xenophobia and racism this movie is.

Also, how is the adopted one "so white"? Her white parents wanted her to study Chinese (which she did for one year or so), they introduced her to the only Chinese family so that she had a connexion with her culture. She could have practiced Chinese with them and learned more things about Chinese culture. I guess she didn't do it because she always wanted to fit in, but this is more me putting things together than an actual real explanation in-world.

The message of the movie in the end is basically the same US message of success and hard work. So going to China serves no more purpose than just doing shenanigans that they wouldn't do in the US because that's what travelling is for, I guess.

f you find yoursefl recognising you and your friends in the three girls of this movie, you better find other friends. They all use each other shamelessly, lie to each other, manipulate each other, can't listen to each other and accuse each other of whatever terrible thing instead of facing their own emotions.

#If there is nothing better on tv it works #but I wouldn't watch it on purpose

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shychick-52 · 1 year ago

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I saw 'Sound of Freedom.'

Oh, my gosh, I thought I was prepared. I was not. I fucking SOBBED.

After seeing the movie for myself, I can confirm that there is NOTHING political about it. Absolutely nothing. I have NO idea why Hollywood and the media are BASHING this movie as "alt-right conspiracy theory bullshit", and even saying this movie is only for Trump supporters.

WHAT THE HELL. The mental gymnastics are astounding. How is anti-child trafficking alt-right garbage?? I don't understand this at all.

This film is based on a true story. Tim Ballard is a hero. Child-trafficking is A VERY REAL AND DAILY OCCURENCE, and is probably the most important human rights issue in the world. And not nearly enough people talk about it. It's an unpleasant subject, but it needs to be talked about. And this film is designed to spread awareness of that.

And I am damn thrilled that this movie is doing so incredible at the box office. I'd heard how amazing it's doing before I saw it, I've heard how showings have been sold out in theaters everywhere, and I saw that for myself at my own theater. I'm so glad people care about this issue.

This movie- the message behind the movie, the reality of it- has NOTHING to do with politics, left or right. And Angel Studios may be a faith-based studio (which likely automatically gives some people the wrong impression), but the movie isn't necessarily a "Christian" movie. That isn't the point of it at all, that isn't the focus of the movie. Child trafficking isn't a "Christian issue" or a "right-leaning issue." It's a HUMAN issue. Children are the most vulnerable of all people. The horrific things that are done to them in trafficking rings...

Here's a line from the movie that truly stuck with me- "Child trafficking has already surpassed the illegal weapons trade, and soon it will surpass the drug trade. Do you know why? You can sell a bag of cocaine once. A 5-year-old child, you can sell them 5-10 times a day, for 10 years straight."

#Shy speaks #sound of freedom

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alpaca-clouds · 2 years ago

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Medieval Food - Let's Talk

You know what? One week later and I am still fairly annoyed.

First of all: Yes, I am very much aware that technically one should not take MatPat too seriously and that for the most part if anything the “XY Theory” channels are just mild entertainment… But let’s face it: There are thousands of kids watching this, who are gonna take it seriously. And even a lot of adults, who do not know better.

So, as this is a topic near and dear to my heart and also a topic that the internet just throws around so much misinformation around on, let me talk a bit about Medieval Cuisine.

The Offense

Let me start with the thing that annoyed me so much, even though the issue is not so much about the issue at hand and more about the missing context in this one. Last week the @gametheoreoy sister channel Food Theory uploaded a video on Medieval Cuisine. While some of the information in there was good and included some important stuff that a lot of folks get wrong (like the fact that tomatoes, potatoes and maize were foods that came from the Americas and hence were not around in medieval Europe), the thing that annoyed me most about the video was… that MatPat and team absolutely ignored the fact that the place in question, medieval "Spain", was in that timeframe under under Black Muslim rule. In fact, there was technically no “Spain” at the time in question. Not as we imagine it today. Instead there was Al-Andalus (or Andalusia, how we know it today) and Leon-Castille. While the latter was Catholic, yes, the former was Muslim.

This really makes me angry, as it once again just plays into the misconception that medieval Europe was all white and Christian. Which it was not. For most of the medieval period, large chunks of the Iberian peninsula were under Muslim rule, which was also a reason that a lot of persecuted minorities – for example Jews, some Sinti and Romani people and also followers of Christian sects, that were not Catholic – fled there, as at that time Muslim rulers tended to not persecute those minorities, while the Catholic church did.

Now, it should be said that under Muslim rule, nobody who was not Muslim was forced to follow Muslim religious law, as not eating pork. But from what we know there was a lot less pork consumed on the Iberian peninsula at the time, than elsewhere in Europe. Instead, lamp, veal, dear and poultry were the more popular meats.

And I am sorry, MatPat, but talking about this part of Europe in the medieval times without speaking about Muslim rule is just a super bad look. Because it erases some important history.

While we are on it

But while we are on it, allow me to talk about Medieval cuisine, because bow, howdy, do people get this topic wrong.

For reference: No, I am no historian. But I am an autistic person, who spend a couple years hyperfixating on the history of food and henceforth getting annoyed with a lot of books, movies and the like, whenever they are depicting food in the medieval times.

Some things that I have seen in those contexts are, obviously, the tomatoes, potatoes and maize. But especially potatoes. Oh, boy, howdy, do people love depicting medieval folks eating potatoes. Maybe not surprising, given that the potato is in fact a main stay in modern day European cuisine. Also, obviously, the potato has still the reputation of a pauper’s food, which then easily combines with the common misconception of “people in medieval times were very poor and ate very poorly”. But, again, the potato would not reach Europe until probably 1519, though it would still be a while until people figured out how to eat potatoes (given that the green parts of the plants are in fact poisonous). Same goes for tomatoes, all sorts of peppers and again maize (corn, for the Americans).

Meanwhile people would go up to me and tell me seriously that “people in the medieval times did not have noodles”, which is… ridiculous, given that noodles and all sorts of pasta were around in Europe since ancient times. Even the old Greeks and Romans ate noodles, just not in those many fancy forms we know today. For the most part in medieval times people ate some sort of ribbon noodle, something we might call ravioli today, just noodles cut into square and something that was called lasagna, though it did not resemble today’s lasagna much. But noodles there were.

Another food that people do not associate with the medieval times, even though it was very much around in Southern European places, was rice. Other than the Americas, people kinda always knew about Asia and were trading with them. Even in Roman times. Which lead to the Romans actually cultivating a strain of rice, that did well enough in Europe. Now, while rice was not a common food in medieval Europe, it was certainly around.

Probably the weirdest thing, someone claimed about medieval food, was, that there was no “stew” around in medieval times, because it was “too complicated for the people back then”. You know, stew, the food where you basically just put a lot of different stuff into one pot and cook it… “Too complicated”. Honestly, I do not know what to say about that. Stew was not only around, but also very common. Especially as a lot of people did not have actual kitchens and were instead cooking their food over their fireplace, that often enough would only allow for one pot.

The thing about meat

One thing that MatPat gets mostly right – though, again not for Al-Andalus/Spain, because things were different there – is the bit about meat in the middle ages, though while he says the right thing here, he kinda misses a bit of context.

Meat was expensive in medieval times. Why? Because in a time before factory farming it was expensive to raise an animal. Some of you might’ve heard about “economy of scale”, which basically just says, that the more of a thing you produce, the cheaper it will become. And yes, this very much is true for factory farming. (Note: Factory farming is evil, simple as that. No living being should be treated the way, we treat those animals on factory farms.)

So, yes, without factory farms it was just more expensive to make the meat. Which was especially true for smaller animals like chicken. Especially as medieval chicken breeds were smaller than those chickens we see today.

Hence, for a lot of people, meat was just not a thing that they could eat more than once or twice a week. Or, more realistically, a lot of meat was eaten at once, when an animal was slaughtered, while only parts of the animal that could be conserved would then be served over a longer period of time.

It should also be noted that at least Christians tended to use all parts of the animal upon death, including blood and organs. (Muslims did not, as stuff like the blood is not halal.)

Now, one thing that should be noted, is, that most animals that were kept, were kept for multi purposes. Chicken lay eggs. Cows, sheep and goats give milk, with sheep obviously additionally providing wool, making them a very well-beloved animal in medieval times indeed. Horses you can ride. And yes, the pigs were useful, too, as they disposed of garbage, which was why in a lot of places you would just have pigs roaming the streets to take care of that.

Which brings me to the thing, a lot of folks do not want to hear, but… yeah, no, we have sources that tell us that medieval folks did at least also eat their dogs, when those were too old to help on the farm. We do not know how common this was, but we know that it happened. (Just as a note to the white folks getting all snooty about some Asian cultures eating dog meat.)

Of course, game was not kept but hunted. And yes, some people might go out to hunt when they were hungry for meat, but technically speaking it was illegal in many parts of Europe, based on the fact that game living in an area would belong to the nobility owning the land. Now, how those laws were enforced depended a lot on the area and how much game there was. But technically it was considered as such.

About vegetables

Having established that tomatoes, bell peppers, chilies and potatoes were not around in medieval times, this leaves the question: But what was around?

Well, two stable foods we still eat a lot today were definitely around: Carrots and peas. Especially peas were rather cheap and hence were eaten a lot. There was also at least one type of bean around in medieval Europe. Yes, only one. But horse beans were around in medieval Europe and were in fact eaten. Lentils were also quite popular.

Other than that, we also know of turnips, beets, cabbage, kohlrabi, onions and garlic being eaten. But that is not all, as there were several other types of vegetables, that are not around today that much, having been eaten. Especially a lot of root vegetables, like celeriac and parsnip for example.

But also fennel, that tends to be rather unpopular with modern people, was very much around and eaten.

One other vegetable that had some types around in Europe, was the pumpkin. Specifically, the gourd, that originated from Africa, but was cultivated in Europe rather early on.

Also there was a lot of salads and herbs, that also might be eaten as a form of salads.

But how do we know about medieval cuisine?

Another big thing that people tend to be kinda confused about, is, how we know what medieval people ate. Because, yes, at the time books were very expensive and a lot of folks could not read or write. While I will always harp on about the point that we greatly overestimate the number of completely illiterate folks in medieval times, as a lot of people were at least able to read a bit and write down the results of the harvest. But… written language was definitely not the main method of conserving information. Hence, there are only a handful of books around, that are primary texts and are collections of recipes. Most of them originate from noble or royal households, where the chefs would write down what the lord and lady of the house favored.

Other than that, we have a couple of letters, in which people shared their recipes.

But a lot of what we know “existed” is more from mentions within letters and diaries of “today I ate this and that” and historians then trying to figure out what that could have been, based around what we know about the foods that we know were available to the people. At times we also have findings of preserved foods. Now, of course those foods did not preserve for hundreds of years, but we can do chemical testing on what remained and hence figure out what originally had been preserved.

And of course there are pictures we have, that depict foods.

What we thankfully do have, is well documented harvests and things like ledgers from the likes of butchers and farmers based on the stuff they might have sold or given off as a form of taxes (which were often paid in goods, not coin). So, we know at least the raw materials and what might have been available.

And yes, there are also those kind of food that we know where around at ancient times and that are around in some form today. So, we can gather that they have been around the entire time. A good example for this are garlic bread and a version of pizza. We know that even in ancient times people baked bread with garlic butter and bread with vegetables, meat if available and cheese on them. It does not take a genius to figure out that bread with molten cheese on it, is pretty awesome.

Something I want to note as well is, that those recipe books we do have basically all originate from France, Germany and England, with two also originating in Italy. Medieval Europe was more than those four places. Which leads to my issue that a lot of folks tend to ignore that there were cultural differences and that, yes, we kinda are forced to rely on finds and maybe letters. (Believe me, as someone who writes about medieval Wallachia for my fics, it is a pain in the butt.)

But what did medieval people eat?

So, let me overgeneralize a bit. Because again, what you would eat in those times was dependent on where you were living and how wealthy you were. Richer people and nobility would eat meat a lot more often than less wealthy folks.

Generally poor folks would most of the time have some form of porridge for breakfast. That was: Oats cooked in water. If they could afford it, those might be cooked in milk. Maybe with honey. When it was the season, there might’ve been some fruits or nuts in there, too. But most of the times just oats in water. As oats were one of the cheapest forms of corn, they were good for that. Some people might use other corn like rye or barley softened in water as well.

If you could afford it, you might have head bread as well. For most folks it was a rye bread or rye sour dough, because rye was cheaper than wheat. This bread would not be eaten in slices, but rather eaten together with whatever was available. Maybe together with cheese. Maybe dunked in stew or soup. (Which, by the way, leads me to the fact that most taverns only served stew or soup with bread. Not “nice pork grilled over a fire” as we so often see it depicted in media.)

And yes, as a main warm meal there was stew and soup – vegetable soup for the most parts, because again: Meat was expensive. When there was meat in the soup, chances were, that It was all sorts of meats and in fact it was more likely that it would be hare or sheep, rather than pork or poultry. At times the same stew would be eaten for more than a week, with just new stuff being added, whenever it was half-empty, so you might actually get a mix of meats in there. (This was, again, also quite common in taverns, where people might just bring some stuff they had lying around and add it to the so called “everything stew”.) While it might sound disgusting to us today, it actually allowed for pretty deep flavor profiles.

Again, poor folks would often not have a dedicated kitchen or stove and rather would prepare their food over the fire place that was also used to heat the house. Which would lead to a lot of “one pot meals” as we would call it these days. And if there was meat, it often would be prepared as a larger chunk, instead of small cuts being prepared in a pan.

Of course, those were things that rich people could afford more easily. Though this did not necessarily mean nobility, but also folks like tradesmen and the likes. Who not only might have a dedicated kitchen, but also some maid to cook for them.

And there was of course the thing about spices: Medieval cuisine for the most part did not use spices, but only herbs. Because spices mostly originated in North Africa and South Asia and hence had to be traded over long distances. This would make them rather expensive, so many folks were not able to afford them. (Again: the entire colonialism affair started, because everyone wanted spices, while the Ottoman Empire controlled the spice trade.) This does, however, not mean that spice heavy recipes were unknown to medieval folks. They were expensive, yes, but we have both archeological and written evidence from meals, we would today call “curry” being prepared both in England and France.

Milk, no matter what animal it came from, would often be turned into some form of cheese, because most animals would only give milk, when it was season for their young. So, making the milk into cheese was a good way of making the milk last for longer. And yes, lots of folks knew how to make cheese. So, cheese was something that was often enough served to the side. Though dairy as well was not as common as it is today.

Wheat, again, was expensive. So, bread and other food based around wheat was more expensive than rye. Often wheat would only be enjoyed by rich folks and men of the cloth (meaning church folks). And only very rich people could afford white flour based food, while everyone else was eating food based around whole grain flour.

And yes, for the observant ones it should be obvious: Poor folks were eating a lot more healthy, than rich people were. Which led to interesting stuff like the fact that poor people often did not suffer from dental problems, even though dental hygiene was not yet a thing. Simply because they were eating better and less sweet.

Oh, and also: Most people would in fact drink alcoholic beverages (though with a lot less alcohol content than what we know today) instead of just pure water. Why? Well, because chances were, it made you less sick. And yes, also it tasted a lot better than stale water you got from a well. For most folks that was beer or ale, for richer folks wine or at least thinned wine. Except, again, in areas where there was a Muslim majority, because those obviously would not drink alcohol, so there would often be fewer breweries.

Medieval people did not eat badly

Now, let me make one thing clear, because it is a thing I tend to get annoyed by a lot: No, medieval people did not eat badly. Which was the other thing that annoyed me about MatPat’s video, given that the title card was “Medieval Food SUCKS!”, which… no, it doesn’t. It didn’t. It was different, from what we eat today, yes, but it was not bad food.

See, it is something that a lot of modern first world folks (especially white folks) are just too picky eaters and with that also kinda wasteful. We will only eat certain bits of dead animals, will not eat a lot of dead animals that are gonna die either way (heck, we have laws against eating certain animals, that are not based in any other reason but people’s emotional attachment to those animals), will not eat many vegetables that would be easier to grow and so on.

And sure, the fact that there was so little spice in medieval food, that makes it kinda… meh. But herbs can be used for those purposes, too. And yes, they can make things rather tasty indeed.

And yeah, I kinda bemoan the way we consume food today. Part of it has a lot to do with capitalism, of course. With the fact that we just do not have the time and means to grow our own food and the fact that of course, that to keep food prices low (which is necessary) but also keep the profits high, food production is plagued by all sorts of inhumanities. Be it slave labor, violence again humans (just look into the history of Chiquita or Dole) and of course the inhumane ways we keep animals.

A lot of folks do not even know how to prepare their own food properly. And do not know where it comes from. And as someone who identifies with the solarpunk culture, I just wish we could change away from that.

So, yeah, Let me just say: The MatPat video was just not that good and ignored an important part of history. Also, a lot of media depicts medieval food culture wrong, leading people to have all sorts of misconceptions about it.

Currently I am writing a fanfic about medieval cooking based around the Castlevania fandom. You can find it on Ao3! Though, yeah, the characters here are rich enough to eat spices.

And if you liked this little rant essay, maybe consider leaving me a little something on Ko-Fi!

#History #medieval cooking #medieval food #food theory #historical cooking #medieval europe #learning #education #middle ages #spain did not exist in the middle ages #white washed #white washed history #long reads #rant post #food history

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ahopkins1965 · 2 months ago

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My New Associations with God & the Saints

Anthony Joseph Hopkins

2765 Wentworth Avenue #607

Dayton, Ohio 45406

This is titled my new associations with God and the saints for a specific reason. It is simply because my new associations with God, Jesus Christ, and the Saints are very important to me. My salvation and your salvation came from Jerusalem, but first from Galilee. Jesus died victoriously for the world and for all of our sins. This means to me that I am a free man in Christ Jesus. Father, into my hands I command out my spirit. In 1 Corinthians 15:56-58 is emphasized because it pertains to the importance of salvation, death, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God for the victory in Jesus for saving mankind. Jesus died for me and everyone else so that we will earn a second chance at life. Always remember where God had brought you from.

We are here to do our Father's will; Psalms 31:5. By his strips we are healed. The passion of the Christ was extremely graphic and it was a real depiction of the resurrection and life of Jesus Christ. A Steven Speilbush directed movie that had made a strong impact in the lives of many Americans. This is what Jesus went through. He was aware of God's presence. He invoked God as His Lord and as His father. Father into my hands I command my spirit. He died confidently, victoriously, and violently.

New Associations with God, Jesus Christ, and the saints means to me that I am supposed to be around members of my church that I attend on a regular basis. I am supposed to feel connected with my new associations. These are believers of God and Jesus Christ. I love my church; which is Greater Allen AME Church in Dayton, Ohio. I love all of my church members. I also love the atmosphere as well as the church itself. The church itself at one time used to be a library a very long time ago. New associations to me are being around my fellow believers, family, friends, and around those who have the same love for Jesus as I do.

How confidently do we trust the scriptures in the old and New Testament in the Holy Bible? Try to ask God to have your word in your heart. Do not hide your words from my heart. Maintain your words inside of me Jesus always. The people that I am involved with are very happy and inspiring. My AA sponsor is a person who inspires me on a daily basis. He is like a father that I really did not have in my own life. He is a man of God. He encourages me each day to read God's word and to remain positive. We need to learn how to speak the word of God to each other on a daily basis. We need to stop speaking of the world. The world has many challenges on a daily basis. We need to be available for one another in Christian love.

I will fight for my life each day for God and Jesus Christ. My new associations are people who love me for the person that I am. My new associations are encouraging, positive, respectful, constructive, and eager to tell me what is right and truthful. In my life today, I strive to stay positive each day. I like to say positive things each day. I am eliminating all of the things that are negative and ridding things from my past. I do this by closing the door on Satan. You can close the door on Satan by changing your way of thinking and avoiding people who are a negative influence. You can be healed through the things we say that are positive.

We all must start being accountable for your own words and actions. What comes out of your mouth reveals your personality, fear, sadness, depression, anxiety, and anger. Do not hang around people who are selfish and nonbelievers. I have noticed that most of my non-believing friends and enemies do not attend church. They say things to you to turn you away from God and His blessings from you. The enemies that I have right now are trying to overturn my positive confessions that I have for God and turn it into negativity. I stay busy for God and Jesus Christ by praying, fasting, loving others, doing for others, and reading my bible each day. I say busy blessing everything and thanking God for what I have each day. Scriptures of interest are as follows: 1 Corinthians 3:1, James 3:10, Deuteronomy 28:5-9, Psalms 100:4, 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

God's intent of humility of our lives means that we are supposed to love one another and stop criticizing each other all of the time. When a person is judgmental and discontent, this means that his problems tend to be inside of himself. He shares his disagreements with others all of the time without trying to resolve them. I am a person that likes to get things done. My friends know that I am a person who gets things done. I know that I have been distracted lately with the illegal brain implant called synthetic telepathy. I know that I have been changing my way of thinking and doing things by reading the sword of the Spirit.

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sbbreflections · 6 months ago

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LEVITICUS

3. Leviticus

The Lord, through Moses, further solidifies His relationship and covenant with the Israelites, and outlines His list of non-negotiable rules - along with blessings for those who obey, and punishments for those who would disobey Him. It is a call to Holy Living through choice and action.

This is the book where proper practices for making Holy Sacrifices and Offerings to God are detailed. A major thing of note that casts a sort of shadow on Leviticus is the “Sin Offering” which at the time needed to be done on occasion of specified sin as well as on a yearly ritualistic basis to cleanse the people. If I understand correctly, this particular offering practice would become obsolete when Jesus was crucified and died for our sins.*

Also defined are:

1. Clean and Unclean Animals (which should and should not be eaten/touched),

2. Particular Purification Rituals,

3. Prohibitions regarding Sexual Practices and the handling of Blood, and

4. Personal Holiness/Conduct (how one sets themselves apart as “holy” and in reverence to The Most High) {Leviticus 19}

Some of the ordinances set in this chapter had not been mentioned previously and that means to me that God was capable of not only creation and destruction, but also of awareness and modification. It’s almost as if he utilized the SWOT analysis after each Human Hiccup. I believe that the Lord set these laws with the Israelites as a continued test of faith and loyalty to Him. “Before we go any further, hear me and hear me well.” I mean, yes He would want to see his children prosper, but He didn’t mind executing with fury, as well. If His people could rebuke the sins of those who they lived with before, and refuse the sins of those who they would come into contact with BECAUSE GOD SAID, they would of course find favor in His eyes.

Think in Morgan Freeman’s epic voice: “I have saved these {people} and given them food, water and protection. Still, they are capable of doing what they want because I have also given them free-will. I give them what they need, and still, they consistently find new ways to defy me - even after I tell them what should not be done and what will happen if they do… when I show them my Glory, they fear me awhile and turn back to their wits soon enough. They are either brave or stupid. But at least if I tell them *everything* they need to know not to do, their punishments (or rewards) would be justified. They will worship me, for I am the Lord their God, or they will perish.”

I’m not mocking The Lord at all, I assure you. I like movies and this is how I imagined he may have felt during the times. I do pray this is not offensive to anyone who matters.

I can fully understand how this chapter (the one that basically calls most of us all Sinners) could be a trigger for most people in the world today - it is where [who we are] and [what we do] that would have undeniably disappointed our Father in Heaven is written plainly and lives forever. It is where our devilish neighbors pull a line from to demonize the next sinner. While some of the information is outdated and/or simply irrelevant for modern day Christians*, other parts do give us a first glance at right and wrong in the eyes of TMH (and those who walk with Him). And so, it is a very important book to familiarize yourself with if you want to be “good” in the general sense of the word. Because of Jesus’ crucification, we experience wrath and reward much differently from what is written here - as in, punishments are not carried out the same as they were anymore, and some of these regulations no longer apply.

Be wise. Use discernment.

Numbers is next.

Originally post dated February 21, 2024.

Written x SP

#bible reflection #bible study #the book of leviticus #Leviticus #law #the levites #law keepers #judge #commandments #biblical regulations #old testament

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geeese420 · 7 months ago

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hey dudes. I wanted to share one of my favorite essays i’ve ever written. it’s about growing up bi/ace in a southern christian household and how being a part of two communities that notoriously butt heads affected me growing up.

I wrote this paper for a university english class on women, gender, and sexuality. I had to use sources from the class in my paper but I was kind of just letting the feelings flow, so if my citations seem kind of out of place that’s why.

for the sake of my privacy I will be editing this a bit, but if you take the time to read it, thank you!

hope everyone had a happy pride month

disclaimer: I have a deep respect for religion and religious people. I am even a bit religious myself to this day. I do not respect hateful people. there is a difference.

content warning: sexual abuse of a minor, religious trauma

please respect my privacy and beliefs if you choose to comment.

Bridging the Gap, by Jaiden M Goodman (creative work pseudonym)

The world is healing and growing in its view towards difference, but there is no denying that we have a long way to go. Modern American society, possibly one of the most accepting societies towards the LGBTQ+ community on Earth, is still incredibly founded in systemic homophobia and fear of difference. This stems largely from religion and the death grip it has on our world. From this grip, stereotypes and stigmas have blossomed like poisoned flowers. I would like to discuss the effect that stigma and growing up in a religious household had on my own coming out, and the way similar issues are addressed in the movie, “But I’m A Cheerleader.”

Before I begin, I would like to clarify that I am aware that arguing against homophobia by speaking on religion in a negative light is hypocritical. I do not take issue with religion. I take issue with the fact that certain groups of people will use religion as an excuse to be cruel, which defeats the purpose of religion as a whole.

I grew up in a very Catholic household. My grandparents and parents are extremely Catholic, I went to Catholic private schools K-12, and I went to go to church twice a week without missing a single time for eighteen years of my life. I always felt distressed, because I loved and still love my God and have had a very deep connection with them for a long time, but I also agreed with certain beliefs from other religions, an act I was taught could summon demons, and I was made to sit in a church twice a week where I was expected to fall to my knees in shame of my human nature and ability to make mistakes. I was told over and over that the God I loved was a hateful, masculine figure. That he created women to be beneath men, and that he hated gay people and people who are different, and that he created humans with the ability to romantically love just to have sex and reproduce in order to create more Catholics. I was also told that in accordance with my faith, I, a young girl, was expected to grow up and have a husband who I lived to serve. Everything I was to do would be to put him at ease. Him, a man I did not yet know. I feared growing up and entering into that kind of life. I feared womanhood. What was even more confusing for me was that I found myself seeing women and hoping for their touch, my gaze lingering on their soft curves and long, beautiful hair. My mother and other Christian women told me I simply wanted to be more like these women. I see this reflected on Megan in “But I’m A Cheerleader.” Megan sees girls and finds herself attracted, but her religious upbringing and parents have caused her to rule out the possibility of homosexuality altogether. She thinks her desires for women are “normal,” which in this context implies heterosexual. She has been conditioned to see the perfectly natural and beautiful homosexual thoughts she has as platonic desires (12:17). Growing up, my mother would tell me that she also looked at girls and admired their beauty, and that it was normal to appreciate women. I always knew my “appreciation” was something much deeper in the back of my mind, but being conditioned to think it was typical heterosexual admiration silenced my desire to explore my attraction and understand myself. In fact, I was raised around people who claimed homosexuality made them uncomfortable, and thus developed a homophobic mindset of my own. Like Megan, I was conditioned to see gay people as “unnatural” (8:07), “unhealthy,” and against what God intended (3:24). What is interesting to me, though, is what made my youth different from theirs. Since I was raised in the digital age, I had access to a lot of media involving gay people during my formative years. No one could really shield me from what they deemed “inappropriate.” My adolescence was during the peak of Tumblr and huge internet groups that bonded over support for homosexual “ships,” or fictional relationships, canon or otherwise. Having access to the internet during this time made me a lot more accepting of gay men. The interesting part is that I was still very lesophobic. Lesbians were much less represented in the media I consumed then, and I think being a young girl who had only ever heard of fairytales and fictional women being straight made me a lot less open to the idea that women can be gay.

My mother, who I see now is quite homophobic, though she tries and means so well, always insisted she could not be homophobic since her best friend growing up was a lesbian. I grew up knowing this woman and her now wife. They are both butch presenting lesbians, and my mother taught me that all lesbians dressed like men because they wanted to be men, since men were allowed to love women. I thought I couldn’t be attracted to girls because I didn’t want to be a man. My mom would also ask her friend not to kiss her then girlfriend in front of her or my family, but that rule did not apply to straight couples in her presence. I remember one time, when I was a bit older, I went to Disney World with my family, and there was a gay couple kissing and taking selfies in front of a fountain. I was happy to see a couple in love, especially since the right to homosexual marriage had been recently legalized and I was old enough to understand the importance of such a victory. My mother scowled and said it was disgusting for them to do that in public, and that just because it was legal now doesn’t mean they should flaunt it. Most of my family shares this viewpoint. They pretend to be okay with homosexual couples as long as they hide it in public and only express love for one another in complete privacy. They say it’s too sexual, and that children won’t understand it and they’ll be corrupted. I could never understand why it was any different from seeing a straight couple hold hands or kiss. How does the sexual orientation of the couple change the activity taking place? It was the exact same amount of sexual energy.

I realized as I grew old enough to understand sex that gay people are widely seen as hypersexual. I am not entirely sure why we are seen this way, but “But I’m A Cheerleader” displays this stigma as well. The opening scene shows cheerleaders jumping with closeup shots on their butts and chests (00:48), and when we meet Mary, the head of the camp, she describes lesbian desires in an extremely sexual and objectifying way (12:01). I think a lot of people hear “gay” or “lesbian” and automatically think of sodomy. To this day, I don’t understand why gay relationships are seen as purely sexual, but this made discovering my asexuality very confusing. I discovered I was bisexual at fifteen years old, the same year I lost my virginity to my abuser. I had so many sexual firsts ripped from me that sex had suddenly lost all its excitement and charm. I came out as bisexual to my parents before I came to terms with my asexuality. I quickly reassured my parents that I had a major preference for boys (though the opposite was true), but my mother’s first words back to me after “No, you’re not,” were “How will you have children?” I still think about this. Her first thought was of her sixteen-year-old’s future sexual endeavors. How my sex would be sinful because it was not “as God intended.” A similar concept is shown in “But I’m A Cheerleader,” as Mary has the campers essentially assaulted while she watches, saying it’s “beautiful” and “as God intended” (1:09:50). It sickens me that people fail to notice how much more there is to love than sex. If straight people can cuddle and hold hands without spreading their legs, so can gay people; and I guarantee God did not cheer every time I was coerced, and they do not weep when I wave my asexual flag.

After I was coerced for the first time, I was greatly confused as to why I didn’t enjoy the act of sex. It’s worth mentioning that I did not know I had been coerced until much later. Sex was such a taboo topic growing up, especially since I was raised on the “save yourself for marriage” philosophy. Not only was I overcome by religious guilt, but I felt like I had no one to talk to about my experience with sex. I eventually decided sex simply had been oversold to me and tricked myself into thinking I was enjoying it when in reality I would just lie there and let it happen, praying for it to end until it did. At the time I had never heard of coercion. As far as I was concerned there was only rape and consensual sex and no grey area. I was convinced I was completely consenting when I would say “fine, I guess,” after saying no and listening to my abuser beg and promise to be quick. It got so bad that once or twice they even offered to pay me.

After the relationship finally ended and I realized I had been abused, I found it very hard to find my place in the LGBTQ community. Bisexual media online was often very sexually charged, whether it was couples kissing or comic strips exchanging steamy remarks, I often felt like being bi meant I had to feel sexual attraction towards men and women the same way. I think what made me realize I was asexual was a post I came across on Instagram when I was about 17 years old. The post was an image of a scantily clad anime woman with a speech bubble saying, “twice the options, twice the fun.” I thought about this for a while and realized that sex with my first boyfriend had never once been fun for me. It had only ever been tiring or stressful. It felt like a chore. My then-girlfriend and I weren’t yet intimate, but I realized that I at least had some sexual attraction to her. I did some research and concluded that I was technically a biromantic homosexual, or just bi and ace to make things simple. Once I realized there was a name for what I was experiencing, I found my community right away. I watched videos about married couples talking about living asexually and I found online communities of people my age with shared experiences.

In college I entered my first somewhat healthy relationship with an AMAB person and learned of the term “demisexual.” Demisexual is a term under the ace umbrella that essentially represents the grey area in between a typical sex drive and being completely asexual. More specifically, it means that you only feel sexual attraction after having formed a deep romantic bond with someone, usually over a long period of time, and if you’re like me, you still don’t have a very high sex drive after that. These little specific sub-labels and niche parts of the LGBTQ community are a hassle to some people, but to me, having that extra specific relatability with a group of people is really special. I have never felt more comfortable with my sexuality. Sure, some people still hear I’m bisexual (I choose not to use the term “biromantic” or “panromantic,” though they are more accurate, so people understand what I mean easier.) and automatically think I’m just confused or a “f*ck-anything-that-moves” teenager, but knowing who I am and where I belong makes me care a whole lot less, and makes me love myself and the person God created me to be that much more.

My sexuality has not torn me from my faith. In fact, it has led me on the ultimate spiritual journey of my life. I have found myself so much closer to my spirituality than I ever was before because of the ostracization I faced from the people in my religious community. Feeling like an outsider in the Catholic Church led me to research and experiment with elements of other faiths from a variety of cultures and groups of people, and finding my place spiritually has had a very similar comforting feeling to finding my place in the LGBTQ community. Many members of the LGBTQ community are deterred from religion, and rightfully so, given the history of religion with queer folk, but for many people, finding a sound religious identity is extremely comforting and affirming. I hope for a future where queer folk can be openly religious if they choose, and be safe doing so, and I hope for a future where love is not assumed to be null and void without sex.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

source:

Babbit, Jamie. "But I'm a cheerleader." Universal City, CA : Universal Studios : 1999

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leonbloder · 1 year ago

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Die Hard Advent Calendars & Hope

As we prepare to enter the season of Advent, we have the opportunity to pause for a moment and reflect on the true nature of this measure in the liturgical rhythms of the Church.

And we also get the chance to buy some really awesome Advent calendars.

In fact, today, I purchased what may be my favorite Christmas decoration purchase in a very long time. It will be delivered tomorrow, which makes me even happier.

It's a "Die Hard" Advent calendar from the motion picture Die Hard with Bruce Willis, which is absolutely, without a doubt, a Christmas movie.

The calendar is a wooden replica of Nakatomi Plaza, the high rise from the movie that is taken over by master thief and terrorist Hans Gruber and his crew of miscreants.

In the closing moments of the final struggle between Gruber and John McClane (Willis), Gruber falls dramatically from the top of the building to a well-deserved doom.

So this Advent calendar has a tiny little Hans Gruber that falls 25 floors from the beginning of December until Christmas Day. It's amazing. You move it down each day with the help of magnets.

At this point, you probably realize a couple of things: 1) I might have a twisted sense of humor, and 2) I am a genius at picking Christmas movies.

You might also be rankled a bit that a pastor would take such glee in what appears to be something a bit irreverent. If you spend time with me, you'll figure out that I have a penchant for irreverence, so there's that.

If it makes you feel any better, we have a traditional Advent calendar where different parts of the Nativity story are added daily. Also, the various nativity sets we've collected over the years will soon cover my house.

But the "secular" nature of the Die Hard Advent calendar appeals to me on many different levels.

It speaks to the earthiness and culture-bound aspect of Christ's arrival and how our expectations around the Advent season must be reframed with that in mind.

The culture of the Roman Empire dominated the first-century Middle Eastern culture within which Jesus was born. Roman culture permeated very nearly every aspect of society wherever it was planted.

I've seen enough first-century forums, amphitheaters, hippodromes, and Roman temples in the Middle East to know this is a fact, not a supposition.

Even Jewish synagogues in what is now modern-day Israel were not immune to the influence of Roman art and culture.

I once stood over the floor of an ancient synagogue decorated with a vast mosaic floor depicting astrological figures and Roman gods and goddesses. This was not an issue for most people in Jesus' day.

It was art. It was culture. It was the world within which they lived.

While they bristled and eventually rebelled against Roman economic oppression, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Jewish communities Jesus inhabited were not only aware of Roman cultural influences, they often embraced them.

Within this context, Christ arrived, taking up residency with humanity, as the Gospel of John puts it.

And this gives me joy and hope because the Christian tradition teaches us that Christ keeps arriving; the Messiah shows up throughout the ages and inhabits the world within which we live.

For this reason, when I look at my "Die Hard" Advent calendar, I will remember that Christ's arrival into the world isn't neat, clean, picturesque, and most definitely not bound to a time long ago.

As Advent approaches, I want to hold on to the hope that this brings. We aren't just telling the story of something that happened; we are telling the ongoing story of an event that never ends.

Jesus shows up whenever and wherever love is needed, peace is sought, hope is failing, and joy has disappeared. Jesus shows up in our time and space, and how we mark that arrival should remind us of that.

Happy Almost-Advent. Hans Gruber will be falling soon in my house; bless him.

But my hope will be rising.

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.

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