#The oldest library in France

[darth-memes]

Look, I know the situation was awful for the characters. But this made me happy in a way I cannot properly express.

This is Montserrat:

Anyway, time to yap about it under the cut.

It's one of the most important religious sites in Catalonia where I live. It's about one hour away from Barcelona and it is absolutely beautiful.

The building you see there? It's an abbey that has there for over a thousand years. It has survived invasions, fascist dictatorships and many other things and it is still at the center of catalan culture. It has one of the biggest libraries of the country and the oldest boy choir in Europe.

I have an uncle who is a high-ranking monk there so, we have known for years that Lucasfilms was doing something there but until recently we didn't know it was Andor. And I couldn't be happier with the result. I'm not a religious person, but I'm very close with my culture and Montserrat is part of it. Again, it is not that what was in the episode was a terrible situation, but still there were a couple of details that I loved.

The first was the wedding hike. Many people do a pilgrimage to Montserrat, you can get there walking (though if you go I recommend taking the train) and even if it was in a different context I loved seeing this element included in the episode. Also, the part were Mon Mothma says: "Gaze through the ancestral lands, some children sing, the elder waves her hand and we are all purified." Yeah, that sounds exactly like Montserrat. Again, terrible situation for the characters, but it's there! They filmed some scenes in Montserrat and incorporated elements that feel like it!

The other one was the statue that was unveiled in the wedding. Though there is certain tones of colonialism to the gesture, if you know ANYTHING about catalan culture and it's history, you know how to this day, Spain and France have done their best to erase or assimilate it. The language, the culture... The day this episode came out was Sant Jordi, which is one of the most important festivities in Catalonia, one which Spain has been trying to assimilate as "El día del Libro", but traditionally, it has been a catalan festivity.

Montserrat has also been affected because of that during it's long history. And what do they return? They return is a statue!

Guess what's inside Montserrat?

This is La Mare de Déu de Montserrat (Our Lady of Montserrat) or La Moreneta. And, alongside Sant Jordi (Saint George in English) is the patronness saint of Catalonia. It has been in the abbey since it's founding, and although it has never been stolen like the statue in Andor, it has been hidden several times to protect against invaders. It's one of the most important symbols to our people.

So yeah, even though the situation of the characters in Andor it's shitty and not good, I can't believe that it took Montserrat to become Chandrila to see one of the pieces of my culture represented in a big production.

It's kind of bittersweet, because again, it's a terrible situation for Mon Mothma and Leida, but the bits and pieces that relate to Montserrat i found them beautiful and even more respectful than Spanish and French media usually depict (catalans are usually depicted as cold and greedy people who only think of money, when we are not erased all together from the narrative).

If you want to know more, this user has several posts about it:

Thanks!

[whencyclopedia]

30 Statues of English Kings & Queens

This statue gallery covers 30 English kings and queens over 1400 years, from the early Anglo-Saxon rulers to Queen Elizabeth II (reign 1952-2022). The statues are primarily located in England. Some have local significance, based in the former capitals of the small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms like Canterbury, Tamworth and Winchester. However, some of these early rulers were canonised as saints, becoming important figures throughout the Christian world. This explains why St. Oswald (reign 634-642) has a statue in Italy, and St. Edward the Confessor (reign 1042-1066) has one in the United States of America.

There are also statues of foreign consorts and conquerors in their native countries of France and Spain, warrior kings with statues near the site of their death, like Harold Godwinson (reign 1066) at Hastings and Richard III of England (reign 1483-1485) at Leicester and modern monarchs with statues in the former colonies they ruled over, like Australia and India.

Over time, we see the depictions of the king's role change. Richard I of England (reign 1189-1199) and Edward I of England (reign 1272-1307) are depicted as warrior-kings with swords held aloft in victory. Yet, as a king became more of a figurehead and less of a warlord, they would be depicted as spreaders of peace and wisdom, as with the statue of James I of England (reign 1603-1625), standing on the walls of a library, where he wields a book, rather than a sword and above him, is the inscription, "Blessed are the peacemakers."

Some of these statues were controversial at the time of building and continue to be so today. The construction of the Oliver Cromwell (reign 1653-1658) statue outside the House of Commons was fiercely debated and opposed by many who saw it as an offence against the monarchy. In Australia, which retains the British monarch as its Head of State, a statue of George V (reign 1910-1936) was recently beheaded by anti-monarchy activists.

The sculptors who created these statues found ancient and modern inspirations for their subjects. The statues of James II of England (reign 1685-1688) and George III of Great Britain (r. 1760-1820) were constructed not to depict them as they looked but as Roman Emperors, as part of the Classical Art movement. Nor was the statue of Henry V of England (reign 1413-1422) designed to look like him, but rather like the actor Laurence Olivier, who played Henry V in a 1944 movie.

These statues are found in a wide variety of locations. From traditional sites outside churches, castles, and in town centres, some are found in unexpected places. In Hong Kong, a statue of George VI (reign 1936-1952) is to be found in a Zoo. Edward the Confessor's American statue is located on a university campus, while Edward I stands guard next to a football pitch, and Henry V observes traffic from a West Midlands roundabout.

The gallery ends with a statue of Queen Elizabeth II, made in November 2022 to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee (70 years of her reign). It is located on the walls of York Minster, which visitors can observe on their way to see the statue of Henry I of England (reign 1100-1135), which is the oldest statue in the gallery, built during the reign of Henry V, in the 1420s.

Read More

⇒ 30 Statues of English Kings & Queens

[girlactionfigure]

Ona Simaite was a Lithuanian librarian who saved Jews including many children during the German occupation, and preserved literary works from the Vilna ghetto before being arrested by the Gestapo.

Born in Akmene, Lithuania in 1894, Ona was educated in Moscow and began working at the library at Vilnius university in 1940. A book lover and intellectual, Ona was excited to be working at the oldest university in northern Europe, in a city teeming with culture. However everything changed in 1941, when the Nazis invaded Lithuania. Immediately they created a squalid ghetto and imprisoned the city’s large Jewish population. Ona was shocked and horrified when her Jewish students and colleagues suddenly disappeared. 

Without a moment of doubt, she began visiting the ghetto frequently, under the pretext of collecting library books. She was shocked at what she saw there. It was hell on earth. Residents were barely alive, many of them starving to death, while others were shot in the streets, or beaten brutally and then sent to concentration camps. Ona spent the rest of the war helping Lithuanian Jews in multiple ways. In her visits to the ghetto, she smuggled food, medicine, supplies, and small firearms. After each visit, she left with documents: letters from ghetto residents to their loved ones, literary journals describing life in the ghetto, and various other important papers.

Ona helped Jews who managed to escape or avoid the ghetto by sheltering them in her own humble apartment, and when she ran out of room she found other hiding places for them. She procured fake documents enabling them to hide their Jewish identity. Saving Jews from the Nazis became the focus of her entire life. With superhuman strength and courage, she smuggled small children out of the ghetto in her big book sack, and found homes for them with people who would keep them hidden and safe. It is unknown exactly how many this mild-mannered librarian saved, because she spoke to no one about her heroic acts. 

In 1944, Ona was arrested by officers of the Gestapo, the notorious German secret police. She was brutally tortured by the sadistic Nazis, and sentenced to death. Miraculously, right before her scheduled execution, the president of Vinius University found out about it and paid a large ransom for her life. The Nazis agreed not to kill her, but they refused to free her, and instead sent to the Dachau concentration camp, and later an internment camp in France. Ona was finally freed when the Allies liberated France in 1945. 

After the war, Ona remained in Paris, living a quiet life as a librarian, in a home full of books. She was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in 1966, and a tree was planted in her honor. Ona died in 1970, leaving behind a trove of her own writing: letters, journals, articles, and diaries. Many of them were published in the book “Epistophilia: Writing the Life of Ona Simaite.” In 2015, Simaite Street in Vilna was named after her.

For saving an unknown number of Jews, in a multitude of ways, over four years, we honor Ona Simaite as this week’s Thursday Hero. 

[adarkrainbow]

Third part of my journey through the notes of the Grimm märchen:

Hansel and Gretel was originally called "Little-Brother and Little-Sister", resulting in a confusion with the different fairytale of the same name. It was heavily re-edited by Wilhelm Grimm after August Stöber published his own variation of the story (Das Eierkuchenhäuslein), and the Grimms' story always had a strong rival in German culture in the person of Ludwig Bechstein's own variation of Hansel and Gretel (famously illustrated by Ludwig Richter in 1853).

The fairytales of madame d'Aulnoy were spread in German popular culture thanks to their appearance in the Blaue Bibliothek (The Blue Library, corresponding to the French La Bibliothèque Bleue which itself mass-spread the tales of Perrault and d'Aulnoy among France's lower classes).

The Brave Little Tailor was the first story of the 1810 manuscript, opening the collection. It is very likely because it was an homage to Brentano, since The Brave Little Tailor was found by Wilhelm Grimm in a copy of Martin Montanus' Wegkürtzer that he borrowed from Brentano's library. In fact the brothers were VERY interesting by what they perceived as the large and strong influence of Montanus' text over Renaissance and baroque German literature - finding traces of it in the German translation of Gargantua by Johann Fischart, or in Grimmelshausen's Simplicissimus, or in Heinrich von Freiberg's Tristan.

This one is quite famous, but in the original version of the Grimm's Cinderella (as in, the first printed) the "magic tree" was actually planted by Cinderella on her mother's grave by explicit demand of her mother on her deathbed, as she predicts to her that the friend will be a helpful friend in the future.

There were MANY many alternate versions of Cinderella that the brothers collected. One of these continues after the marriage of the prince and Cinderella: the prince has a "forbidden room" a la Bluebeard in his castle. Cinderella opens it when the prince is away and discovers a fountain of blood in it - only for her wicked sister to later throw Cinderella in the blood when she is weakened after giving birth to her child. The sister replaces Cinderella in her bed and pretends to be her, but the guards of the palace hear the moans of the princess from the room and punish the sister. In another variation, the story begins in a way similar to Snow White: a queen wishes for a girl as red as a rose and as white as snow, but after she gave birth to it she is murdered. The queen's servant pushes her out of a window and takes her place as the wife of the king, to which she gives two daughters - starting the "Cinderella" family structure where the first princess is turned into a mere servant. She is helped, however, by the ghost of her mother who gives her a key opening the door of an emptied-out tree in which she finds all she needs to wash herself up and dress herself prettily.

Moscherosch's interpretation of "The little mouse, the little bird and the sausage" is that the three characters embody the three social classes, who must together maintain the cohesion of the State.

The brothers Grimm censored the Frau Holle tale, adding a reason for why the girl jumps into the well - the first versions implying she tries to kill herself.

In the oldest versions of the Musicians of Bremen, the animals aren't fighting robbers but other animals - the heroes are domestic, "civilized" animals who defeat savage animals of the wilderness (such as the dog versus the fox).

An alternate version of "The Singing Bone" is about a brother and a sister being sent by their father the king in search of a flower deep in the forest, to decide which one of them shall have the throne - and the brother kills the sister.

Originally there was an alternate version of "The Devil With Three Golden Hairs" in the collection, a story called "The Phenix", about fetching three feathers from the phenix bird. It was later cut out due to being too redundant with the Three Golden Hair.

In an alternate version of "The Maiden without Hands" the titular girl had her hands (and breasts) cut off because her father wanted to marry her and she refused. In another variation the girl regains her hand by plunging them in a magical water-stream after seeing a blind mouse place its head in the water and regain its sight.

"The Snake's Three Leaves" replaced "Herr Fix und Fertig". "The Riddle/The Enigma" (Das Rätsel) replaced "How children played at the butcher". "The Musicians of the Town of Bremen" replaced "Death and the goose-keeper".

[liliesmultiverse]

⋆ˊˎ-•̩̩͙- *̩̩̥͙ OOH, SO YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT POWER? LET ME SHOW YOU POWER... marauders reality reintro!!

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° liliana amour rosier [born sept. 10, 1959] is the heiress to the most ancient & most noble house of rosier and the it girl of hogwarts. i was born in montpellier, france to sylvestre henri rosier & amélie gisèle rosier née dupont as the first of 4 children. i grew up alongside james fleamont potter, whom i've known since birth due to our parents being friends. when i first started university at hogwarts, i was sorted into slytherin and share a dorm with dorcas meadowes, emma vanity & joan djanique. in 2nd year i joined the quidditch team as a chaser alongside dorcas, emma & james.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° my family

༉‧₊˚. sylvestre henri rosier [born feb. 2, 1925] is the lord to the most ancient & most noble house of rosier. he was born in montpellier, france as the oldest of 2 children. he has short golden blonde hair, light blue eyes & sharp regal features. he first met amélie when he was 21 years old and they got married shortly after she finished her 7th year at beauxbatons.

༉‧₊˚. amélie gisèle rosier née dupont [born mar. 22, 1928] is the lady to the most ancient & most noble house of rosier. she was born in paris, france. she has long wavy platinum blonde hair, green eyes, soft features, a warm smile & very light freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. for university, she went to beauxbatons and was sorted into bellefeuille.

༉‧₊˚. evan sylvestre rosier [born jul. 9, 1961] is the most laid back of the rosier siblings. he was born in montpellier, france to sylvestre henri rosier & amélie gisèle rosier née dupont as the 2nd of 4 children with his twin sister, pandora. he has wavy platinum blonde hair, light blue eyes, soft regal features & very light freckles across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. growing up he was extremely close with regulus arcturus black ii and the two, alongside pandora, were inseparable. he's very protective of his siblings and isn't afraid to hex anyone who insults them. he isn't a blood supremacist but would happily use any of the extremely dark curses found in the rosier manor library.

༉‧₊˚. pandora syrena rosier [born jul. 9, 1961] is the seer of the rosier siblings. she was born in montpellier, france to sylvestre henri rosier & amélie gisèle rosier née dupont as the 3rd of 4 children with her twin brother, evan. she has long wavy platinum blonde hair, light blue eyes, soft regal features, a warm smile & very light freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. unlike the rest of her family, she was sorted into ravenclaw. at just 5 years old, she befriended regulus arcturus black ii almost immediately and practically adopted him as her own brother. it's extremely rare to see her angry but when it does happen, she prefers to use hexes she came up with all on her own.

༉‧₊˚. felix alain rosier [born dec. 19, 1968] is the accident of the rosier siblings. he was born in montpellier, france to sylvestre henri rosier & amélie gisèle rosier née dupont as the youngest of 4 children. he has wavy golden blonde hair, green eyes & light freckles across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. he was the result of an accidental pregnancy. growing up, he's always admired all 3 of his siblings and looked up to them, especially evan. he's currently a year 7 secondary student.

༉‧₊˚. druella manon black née rosier [born mar. 19, 1929] is the aunt of the rosier siblings. she was born in montpellier, france as the youngest of 2 children. she has long 3a curly golden blonde hair, ice blue eyes & sharp regal features. she first met her now husband, cygnus, in her 2nd year at hogwarts and the two began dating a few months later. their marriage was later arranged after she fell pregnant with their first daughter, bellatrix, in her 3rd year. she's become an alcoholic but still manages to throw the best events.

༉‧₊˚. cygnus pollux black iii [born feb. 19, 1930] is the man-whore of the black family. he was born in lyon, france to pollux draco black & irma francine black née crabbe as the youngest of 3 children. he has medium length wavy jet black hair, ice blue eyes & sharp regal features. he is the father of bellatrix druella lestrange née black, andromeda vinda tonks née black & narcissa eltanin black.

༉‧₊˚. bellatrix druella lestrange née black [born oct. 24, 1950] is the craziest of the black sisters. she was born in lyon, france to cygnus pollux black iii & druella manon black née rosier as the oldest of 3 children. she has long 3a curly jet black hair, ice blue eyes & sharp regal features. during her years at hogwarts university, she was a slytherin and had joined the quidditch team as a beater. from her 2nd year until the end of her 5th, she'd dated the daily prophet journalist, rita skeeter, until her parents had forced her to break up with the former ravenclaw. in her 7th year, she joined voldemort's ranks and married rodolphus yon lestrange shortly after finishing university.

༉‧₊˚. andromeda vinda tonks née black [born jan. 27, 1952] is the free one of the black sisters. she was born in lyon, france to cygnus pollux black iii & druella manon black nee rosier as the middle child of 3 children. she has long 3a curly dark brown hair, light blue eyes, soft regal features & a warm smile. in her 3rd year, she began dating edward maeda tonks in secret and ran away immediately after finishing university to marry him, which resulted in her disownment. with the help of marlene, i've been able to continue sending letters to her.

༉‧₊˚. edward maeda "ted" tonks [born nov. 30, 1951] is the muggle-born husband of andromeda. he was born in bakewell, england to japanese parents. he was a hufflepuff during his years at hogwarts. he'd fallen in love with andromeda from the moment he'd first seen her and absolutely adores her. shortly after their marriage, him & andromeda moved into a cottage a few doors down from where his parents live.

༉‧₊˚. nymphadora vulpecula tonks [born jan. 4, 1980] is the baby of the family (literally). she was born in bakewell, england to edward maeda tonks & andromeda vinda tonks née black. she is currently 7 months & 23 days old and has curly mousy brown hair, dark brown eyes & pale skin although it changes constantly due to her status as a metamorphmagus. i've only seen her a few times in photos that andromeda has sent me that i keep hidden a box under my floorboards.

༉‧₊˚. narcissa eltanin black [born apr. 2, 1955] is the calmest of the black sisters. she was born in lyon, france to cygnus pollux black iii & druella manon black née rosier as the youngest of 3 children. she has long 3a curly platinum blonde hair, ice blue eyes, soft regal features, a sharp smile & vitiligo. she's currently engaged to lucius abraxas malfoy who actually treats her very well & adores her just as much as ted adores andromeda. she was a seeker on the quidditch team during her years at hogwarts and loves playing quidditch with me, regulus & james during the summer at rosier manor.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° james fleamont potter [born mar. 27, 1960] is the heir to the most ancient & most noble house of potter. he was born in liverpool, england as the only child to fleamont harrison potter & euphemia ximena potter née aguilar-ramírez. he is the nephew of charlus henry potter & dorea alhena potter née black. in primary school we met marlene thaleia mckinnon, who we became friends with immediately even though our parents would've disapproved due to her family's status as blood traitors. he was sorted into slytherin with me and together we joined the quidditch team as chasers in 2nd year. unlike his family, he doesn't care about blood supremacy and for centuries the potters have had a blood feud with the house of black but that hasn't stopped him from befriending narcissa & regulus. since we were 12 years old, we've both had feelings for each other although we're the only two completely oblivious to the fact.

[stinky-winky28]

hey guys I'm back at it with another rambling post

So after my last post when my second hand embarrassment went away (I deleted it a few minutes ago) I sat perched upon a bar stool drinking the finest tap water from my freddy fazbear themed knockoff Stanley and munching on cinnamon Eggo toaster waffles when I was hit with an idea.

I've made all these headcanons about the NPCs, developing their personalities like a mother nurturing her children, so why don't I create a backstory for them as well?

My dearest friends, allow me to introduce my next post, the origin stories for all of the NPCs!

______________________________________________

Barry

I feel like Barry would've been born to a single mother, who has lots of children (most of them with different fathers). He would have 1 sibling that was fully related to him (Lucy from that dream I had), who would be younger than him. He would be the second youngest of all his siblings combined. I also think he would be the only boy.

His mom worked hard to feed all of the children (I'm thinking about 7 in total including Barry), and desperately tried to find a husband that could help her support all the children. Barry's mother always told him that he was the man of the house, and how handsome he was all the time. He developed a big ego and lots of confidence from this. He only got a very basic education, basic math and how to read and write made up most of it. As a result, he's obviously not very intelligent.

Once he was of age, he joined the military to try and help support his family.

Barry compared to the other NPCs is the second youngest

______________________________________________

Jean

Jean was born to a poor family yet again, but since it was in France before the French Revolution, it was much worse. His parents skipped most of their meals to make sure that Jean made it by. He would've had an older brother, but he passed away during infancy. After King Louis was executed, their lives began to improve. Slowly, but better.

Jean met his wife, Angelique, while attending a Sunday mass. They instantly fell in love, and got married after about 6 months of meeting each other. They really hit it off fr. A few years after that, their son Pierre came into the world.

Jean was drafted into the French Army, which he was NOT happy about. He couldn't stand to leave his wife and child behind, but he knew that he had no choice in the matter.

Jean is the oldest of all the NPCs. All of them look up to him (probably because most of them don't have any strong father figures to do so) and he couldn't be more happy to be that.

______________________________________________

Jacob

Jacob was an orphan from a very young age. He doesn't have a single memory of either of his parents, and has no clue if there are any siblings in the mix either. He was placed in an orphanage as a baby, and stayed there until he became of age to be drafted.

He wasn't the most popular in the orphanage, he'd be the punching bag most of the time. When he got his alone time, he'd find a secluded corner to hide in, and crack open a book. He was very quiet, but he loved to read. He taught himself, actually. The nun that worked in the orphanage's library would sneak him books from time to time that he could read I'm his room where no one could see him.

He quickly grew up, and the children who used to pester him quickly stopped. Once he became of age, he was drafted. To be honest, he couldn't have been more happy to get drafted because he was sick of living in the home.

Jacob is right in the middle of the NPCs in terms of age.

______________________________________________

Karl/Klaus/Unnamed Prussian Officer

Karl compared to the other NPCs, had a lavish upbringing. His parents were a very rich Prussian aristocratic family, and he was an only child. He was raised to be very no nonsense, and as a result that's how he acts as an adult. No toys, no fun, no nothing. Also as a result, he has a mix of a sort of rich kid and superiority complex.

As an only child, the pressure was solely put on him to be successful. He was put in the finest schools, given tutors, etc. He didn't really need them, though. He could pick things up easily enough. But anything that he didn't do well on, well... yeah. His parents didn't like that.

Even with all his achievements, his parents deemed it not good enough, and Karl, a failure. They had honestly hoped he would've been amazing at everything, and they regretted not having more kids (which they said to his face). After that, the only thing Karl could contribute to the Littman house (my headcanon last name) was heirs to continue the bloodline. However, Karl refused to be wed to a random woman his parents had picked for him and instead demanded he should be able to join the Prussian Army. They agreed after loads of convincing. He quickly climbed his way up to his rank of officer.

Karl is the youngest of the NPCs.

______________________________________________

American Ferryman (Christopher)

Christopher Bailey was born to a lower middle class family in the state of New York. His parents were massive con artists, and made their 3 children help them with their crimes. Christopher has 3 younger siblings, 1 girl and 2 boys.

The Bailey family traveled all across the east coast, doing different jobs and schemes. Often times, they would even change their names every few times. Christopher couldn't have been more sick of it.

As soon as he was old enough, Christopher finally decided to break away from his family. He joined the army, and never looked back. Well, that's what he likes to say. He's tormented on the inside because he had to leave his siblings to run around and risk their lives just to live.

Christopher is the second oldest of the NPCs.

______________________________________________

If you couldn't tell my original idea was for Karl specifically and I could've written more but I wanted to spare you the time

Also I'm sorry my Ameriferryfans I lost effort and I'm tired but I tried my best 😔

My fingies hurt

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Kylia Reads Pact: Bonds 1.1

(This is a liveblog of Pact, written as I read. Please do not spoil me, I am trying to maintain a spoiler free experience of reading Pact)

I was already regretting coming.  Damn me, I thought, not for the first or second time.

I don't think I have ever used the phrase 'damn me' in my life, or heard anyone else use it, in this sort of manner.

Their eyes on my back, I pushed my motorcycle, guiding it through the gap between car and fence.  I set it on the lawn, leaning against the inside of the fence.

He has a motorcycle? Does he look cool on it?

It fit, somehow.  No consideration to the guests, only self-aggrandizement.

*snort*

I kicked off my boots and made my way past the front hallway and into the actual house, tucking my shirt into my jeans as I went.

A nice touch about his family, that he feels the need to tuck his shirt in before seeing them. I don't bother to do that before I see either of my parents. Especially not with jeans.

Books lined shelves in nearly every room with an available wall, some old with cracked spines, some new, recent bestsellers.  It was all sorted more like a library than a home, clearly by some arrangement of age and alphabetized.

Okay, but now I'm jealous. I want this house. A house that is more like a library than a house sounds perfect.

A litterbox, with a toy.  Not a dirty litterbox, to look at it, which struck me as odd.  I couldn’t imagine my family had emptied it.  It didn’t fit them.

Someone has to, Blake (I assume Blake?). Unless they just have a litterbox but no cat for some weird twisted reason.

When I crested the top of the stairs, I saw them.  One family, divided into four factions, all dressed in black.

Ah, politics.

Nine cousins, spread into three camps.  Uncle Paul, his ex-wife, and my Aunt Irene.

Four factions and three camps? What, is there one faction no cousins want to be in? Poor that faction? Or do the camps cross-section the factions the way pre-1789 France was a crazy quilt of overlapping and mutually exclusive jurisdictions for every little thing? (Court districts didn't line up with provinces didn't line up with tax districts didn't line up with church dioceses)

My Uncle Paul had a wealth of kids, four by his first wife, two by his second. The oldest of my cousins had a child of her own, while his youngest was twelve.  Six in all, with Paige and her twin brother Peter in the middle.  Those two would just be partway into college, I was pretty sure.

Am I going to have to keep track of all of these cousins?

Paige and Peter being the only ones namechecked suggests that maybe they're the only ones that matter.

Paige looked like she wanted to approach me, but doing so meant getting between Uncle Paul and Aunt Irene, as they pointed fingers, digging at each other. I tuned the words out.  It had been a while, but I knew this refrain already.

I may not like spending time with my extended family (most just because I am an introvert who'd rather just sit and read) but while I'm jealous of the Thornburn house, not jealous of this family. Not at all.

Uncle Paul’s family, his first wife Stephanie, my Aunt Irene, each with their respective kids.  Three groups, three factions. The fourth group would be ‘mine’, for lack of a better word.  My cousin Paige had recognized me before they did.  My parents.

Ah. So there are no cousins in the 4th faction because it's his branch of the family. At least until someone marries their cousin. Which I already feel like I couldn't put it past someone in the Thornburn family.

Kinda boring that the factions are just that simple tho. Any mutual assassinations? if there's no assassinations, are they even factions?

“Except for leaving to spend the night with friends and never coming back?” my dad asked.  I responded with a glare.   He changed the topic, “I can’t help but notice you got tattoos.” I looked down.  The shadows of my tattoos were visible through the sleeves of my dress shirt.  I pressed my sleeve down so it was flat against my arm, making the tattoos, clear.  “Watercolor tattoos, by friends.  An artist friend I owe a lot to offered to outline them, another friend inked them.”

If I had this family, I'd leave and never come back too, at least if I had to deal with it regularly.

Watercolor tattoos? Those are a thing? He can't mean like, someone painted on his skin with watercolors, right?

I had set rules for myself, to avoid getting caught up in this energy, yet I was baiting my father.  I could see him squirm, wanting to say something.  Question was, would he be willing to criticize the tattoos so soon after my homecoming?

Old habits die hard?

“I’m glad you’re safe,” he said, with almost no affect.  “You know I never harbored any ill will.” “I know you didn’t.”  I held my tongue before I added anything else.  That wasn’t ever the problem, was it?  I shrugged, my hands in my pockets, and looked at the baby.  “Who’s this?”

So was the problem the lack of any will, not just ill will?

“Ivy,” my mother said.  “She’s one and a half.” “Hi Ivy,” I said.  She responded by pressing her head against our mother’s shoulder.  “Busy soaking it all in, kiddo, so you have some good stories to tell your therapist, ten years down the line?”

So Blake didn't even leave a phone number or email or social media? What kind of teenager isn't on Faebook, or whatever socialmedia the Otherverse has?

(are there even Fae in the Otherverse? Don't tell me)

“How hard did you look, Dad?  Mom?  I got in touch with some of my old friends, you know.  Seeing what happened.  My friends, the only ones you actually called, said you stopped asking about me after a month.”

What, was this some sort of BS test to see if they cared? Man, Blake, that's stupid.

“Nothing to say,” I said.  “Is it okay if I send Ivy some presents for the special occasions?  Birthdays, Christmas?” “You don’t get to pick and choose,” my dad said.  “Family isn’t a halfway thing.”

....I don't see how sending presents for occasions is 'picking and choosing'. I can see why Blake wanted out if this is how the family defines things.

“Got a call,” I said.  I glanced back at my parents.  The lawyer found me, alive and well, without much trouble. 

Lawyer has a job and money on the line if he doesn't find Blake. That'll always motivate someone.

 figured this was maybe the last time we’d all be together. 

So at least the shitty cousins don't live in the same house as Blake.

(As an aside, I am now recalling the experience of feeling like a Worm Chapter should be over about 2/3s of the way through it. He really does write long chapters.)

“If you think you’re going to worm your way in-“ “If I was, do you think I’d be wearing these jeans?”

Someone's dead and there's a will, obviously.

“Jesus fuck,” she said, for the second time. “Hey, Paige.” She reached out, arms extended for a hug, and I flinched.  I stepped back, and nearly knocked a picture off the wall behind me as I bumped into the wall. She looked stricken.  Her arms dropped to her side.  Her hair was done up in a french braid, and she looked as comfortable in her clothing as her older sister hadn’t.  It was how she’d always been.  Prim, proper, preppy.  She was almost into her twenties, now, but I could see where she could easily be at home in the world of ties and pantsuits. “No, I just-” I said. “I… reflex.”

Why doesn't he like being hugged?

Also where's Rose? That's like the only other spoiler I have, that she exists.

I knew what she was asking, but I answered a different question instead.  “I didn’t see any reason to stay, so I left.” “You ran away.” “I always think of little kids leaving with a bundle on a stick, when I think of ‘running away’.”

I think we can all blame old Warner Brothers cartoons for that.

“Not a word, not a call?  I mean, I know we weren’t close, but I thought maybe you’d say something, let me know you were okay.” “I didn’t make it hard to find me.  I figured I’d go back or whatever if anyone bothered enough to track me down.  But they didn’t, so I didn’t.”

Okay, so yeah, it was a test, ish. Pretty shit move, Blake.

“You still keep in touch with the people from high school?  Shannon?  Miracle?” “Mira.  She’s finally going by a different name.  No longer a testament to why immigrants shouldn’t let their kids choose their English names.  She still asks about you, you know?”

I mean, Miracle ain't a great name, but I've heard far worse ones given to white people born in America by white people born in America. Does Canada not have stupid Candians giving their kids stupid names, or is Paigey just a bit racist?

“Yeah,” Molly said, hugging herself tighter.  “They weren’t all made up.  That bit about great-grandpa and great-grandma being related?”

CALLED IT!

*banjos begin playing in the background*

“Killed,” Paige said.  “I don’t think it counts as murder if it’s during a duel.”

Depends on the laws involved. And also if dueling is legal. Or was, anyway.

“I love arguing semantics,” Paige said, smiling mischievously.  “Don’t get me started.”

You'll make a great lawyer then, Paige.

Too many things that don’t fit.  Strangers knowing who I am and not liking me right off the bat.  Does that make sense?”

Getting real 'the store that wasn't there' vibes.

 Like a third of the people around here have decided we’re their mortal enemies.”

Nothing like a good blood feud to keep an urban fantasy story full of hexes and curses.

“You are their mortal enemy, Molly.  We are.  It’s a small town, people obsess over the smallest things, and this is a big deal to people.

Fuck Small Towns. All my homies hate small towns.

“Fuck you, Peter.  Fuck you!” Paige said.  Even from the far end of the hallway, there were tears in her eyes. Peter smirked.  “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” “You don’t know anything, you asshole.  Fuck you!  I needed this.” “Ellie needs it more.” “Ellie needs it because she’s a fuckup that hasn’t worked a day in her life.  I’m trying to go to school, Peter!  You make up lies, to sink me?  You’re supposed to be my twin!”

Girls, girls, calm down, I'm sure you both suck.

Someone clearly didn't get much in the will. Wonder what lies Peter spread.

“I think you and Ellie have demonstrated you aren’t worth the effort,” Uncle Paul said, his voice low.  He’d approached Paige, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder.

Father of the Year, eh? *golf clap*

She stepped away, instead.  She was crying, now.  “I thought you’d at least play fair, Peter.  Maybe you have to be loyal to Ellie because you grew up with her, but I thought you’d be fair, with me.  We’re supposed to have a connection.”

Twins, but Peter grew up with Elle?

Also this does sound a bit odd from Paige just assuming Peter would side with her, tho if he did lie, that still seems a bit much on his end.

“It feels like all the rest of them are dressed like they can’t wait for my funeral.  Or maybe they’re too cheap to buy two outfits for the occasion.”

I like this Granny. She's got attitude.

“With all due respect,” I said, picking my words carefully, “I don’t give a flying fuck, you disgusting, evil, rancid cunt.” I could see the nurse tense, though the lawyer didn’t react.

Lawyers hear worse than that from their clients every day, I'm sure.

“I would argue they are at the roots of their individual problems.  I didn’t make them petty, I didn’t make them greedy,” she said.  She sighed a little.  “This ridiculous money business.”

Bitch, you raised them all. I'm sure you had a hand in making them petty.

“You took advantage of those things, making all of this one big fucked up game.  Laying down the rule, that only one person gets the property and the millions from selling it.  Then you say it has to be a grandchild-“

Well, that's a surefire way to create decades of intrafamilial spite and anger. Great going Granny.

“Don’t offer me anything, then, thank you,” I said.  I looked at my grandmother.  “I don’t want anything she has to offer.  Not tea, not the inheritance-“ “To clarify,” she said, “I’ve stressed repeatedly that it’s a female grandchild that will get the inheritance.” “I’m not about to rule out the fact that you’re messing with us, grandmother.  I could see you handing something over to Callan just to see our reactions.  Not to mention the trouble I’m having with the ‘I’m dying’ bit, which you’re doing a really bad job of selling.”

:cackle:

Gotta say, I'm liking Blake, and at least right now, I'm enjoying the drama.

“Weren’t you a lawyer?” “I am a lawyer, Master Blake, and I expect to be one until I pass on.  I’m disappointed that you would make assumptions about a whole profession.”

Lawyers don't generally actually lie. At least, they don't lie by falsehood. They lie with the truth. It's Tumblr's 3rd most favorite passtime, after lying with falsehood and lying by omission.

“He also fucked his cousin, if I remember right.”

*banjo intensifies*

“I only want to understand my grandchildren before I make my decision.”

Liar

“Then pick Paige,” I said.  “She’s smart, she’s hard working, she’s independent.  If you’re looking for a clone of yourself to inherit the place, to look after it, I’m betting she’ll fit the bill pretty well.  She’s not a bitch, but I imagine you’ll have to make some concessions.  Besides, if anyone can squeeze a few dollars out of this stone, without breaking the rules you set, it’s her.  Get bribes from people, maybe, or figure out a way to keep the house while still draining the marsh, so she can go to law school.”

*cackle*

“I have to say, I’m painfully disappointed,” my grandmother said. Nobody had words to reply. “Don’t worry.  The feeling is mutual,” I said, because someone had to.

I like Blake. I really do.

“Molly,” my grandmother said. “No,” Molly responded. “Until you’re twenty-five, the estate and all materials herein, my accounts, and all other pertinent materials enclosed in the documents,” my grandmother tapped the papers the lawyer held, “will be managed by Mr. Beasley and his firm.  For that time period, you retain control over those assets, with free access to the full funds, modest as they are, and full access to all things relating to the property, excepting the ability to sell it.  When you turn twenty-five, you may do with it as you wish.” “I don’t want it,” Molly said, stepping forward. “Molly!  Don’t be rash!” Aunt Irene admonished her. “I don’t want it,” Molly said, again.  She grabbed the footboard of the bed.  “No.“ “Molly, don’t be silly.”

I mean, sell it when you're 25 and give the money to someone you like then? I don't really see the problem.

But also I'd bet Granny was looking for the granddaughter who did not want the property.

I watched as the nurse approached the bedside.  He touched my grandmother’s hand. Things went quiet very quickly. Nurse Rich looked at his watch.  “Two past twelve.”

Ah. So some sort of magic reason she was dying, to be so sure of the general when.

“Get out,” Molly said, her voice hard. “You heard my daughter,” Aunt Irene said.  “Out.  It’s her house and her say.” “You too,” Molly said.  “Everyone out.” Aunt Irene looked shocked at that.  Uncle Paul, for his part, smirked.

:rofl:

“Why is the cat dead?” she asked.

Presumably, it's her familiar.

Four months later.

Or maybe not 2/3s of the way through. Jesus christ Wibbles this is a long chapter. Good thing I was only planning on reading the one today.

“Huh,” the man at the one end of the table said.  A member of the family.  “I’d hoped she would slip in her old age.  A shame, she made other arrangements.”

Suicide play? The plot thickens.

“Cold-forged iron,” he responded, a little sullen.  “Bone.  Paper.  Every other follows different rule.  What looks like a goblin could be a demon, or a wraith, or a glamour.  I mean, you remember those ‘vampires’ from out west.”

I'm inclined to assume 'vampires' is in quotes because they aren't vampires since I gathered once WB doesn't want to write Vampires. (man has no taste, surprise surprise) But I guess we'll see.

“The faerie?  Sure.” “You’re not getting what I’m saying.  If they can fool themselves into thinking they’re vampires, and believe it to the point it becomes sort of true, sparkly skin aside, then they can fool us.

A dig at twilight. How 2013 Internet of him. :rofl:

“Molly’s dead,” she said.  “You’re next.”

<cue the dramatic chipmunk gif>

It wasn’t my face in the mirror above the sink.  Nor my body.  A girl looked at me, her forehead creased in worry.  She was wearing a camisole and pyjama bottoms.  She looked strangely familiar.

Huh. I thought Rose was his sister, but now I'm vaguely recalling something about her being a genderswapped version of him? Huh. is this rose?

“Blake, I get it.  I do.  But you’re next, understand?  Grandmother made other arrangements, and those arrangements just came into play.  The house is in your custody now, and so are all of Grandmother’s enemies.  Understand?  She has a lot.  The house is sanctuary, Blake.  Molly died because she panicked, and she left the safe ground.  Don’t make that same mistake.  Move.  Run.” “But-” “Run!”  She hit the mirror, and it cracked from the point of impact.  Pieces on my end fell, landing on the countertop and sink. I ran.

Welp.

I'll give Wildbow a lot of shit, for stuff in Worm and Ward and his WoGs and his general conduct and probably for some shit in Pact, but uh... yeah. This sure is a great start.

[scotianostra]

John Barbour, the early Scottish poet, died on March 13th 1395.

Barbour was a Poet, churchman and scholar, probably born in Aberdeen, where he spent most his life and held the position of Archdeacon. He was granted passage to study at Oxford and Paris. Several poems have been attributed to Barbour, one of which, The Stewartis Originall, relates the fictitious pedigree of the Stewarts back to Banquo and his son Fleance, yes they were real characters and not just made up by Shakespeare!

His long patriotic poem The Brus, awarded a prize of 10 pounds by the King Robert II, is his most famous work. It supplies some facts of Robert the Bruce, many of which are told in anecdotal style and emphasises Bruce’s exploits in freeing Scotland from English rule. This poem is also where we can find the quotation “A! Fredome is a noble thing!”

Barbour’s The Brus (The Bruce) is considered to stand right at the beginning of Scots literature and history, since it is the oldest Scots manuscript still in existence. It is an epic poem which tells the bloody tale of King Robert the Bruce, Sir James of Douglas and Edward Bruce and their fight for Scottish independence from a ruthless Edward I of England who wanted Scotland (along with Wales and France) to become part of his kingdom. The poem includes a graphic depiction of the Battle of Bannockburn, and also relates the skulduggery and intrigue that surrounded Robert the Bruce in his accession to the Scottish throne. The language is essentially that of 14th century Scotland – which by my clock makes it over 600 years old. A lot can happen to a language in 600 years. Reading it now it’s difficult to get past the weird spellings, obscure words, twisted sentence structure, etc. But if you read it aloud (not recommended in libraries), or read it into yourself and try to hear the words as they are written, then you have won half the battle.

Here is an excerpt, and translation from The Brus

…and led thar lyff in gret travaill

and oft in hard stour off batail

lwan gret price off chevalry

and war voydyt off cowardy

as wes king robert off scotland

that hardy wes off hart and hand

and gud schir james off douglas

that in his tyme sa worthy was

that off hys price and hys bounte

in ser landis renownyt wes he

off thaim I thynk this buk to ma

now god gyff grace that I may swa

tret it and bryng till endyng

that I say nocht bot suthfast thing

translates roughly to Who led their life through great troubles,

Often in the hard struggles of battle,

And won the great prize of chivalry

And never knew what it was to be cowardly.

Such was King Robert of Scotland

Who was strong of heart and hand,

And good Sir James Douglas,

A worthy man in his time,

Who for his esteem and his generosity

Was famous in far off lands.

I make this book with them in mind.

Now God give me the grace that I may

Write it well and bring it to the end

Telling you nothing but the truth.

Imagine the world back then, to technology at all, the church was your main, if only, source of news, in the years after The Brus, the country was flushed with victory and to hear the stories of the struggles of their grandfathers, this poem sang the glories of freedom, and pictured the civic and knightly virtues of Bruce and Douglas. It’s largely thanks to this work that we know s much about King Robert and The Good Sir James.

Barbour called it a romance, it is regarded as being in essential points a faithful history, and was so received by generations of readers. Walter Scott used it for the basis of several of his books and every book that has been written about this period of Scottish history since, has used The Brus as a basis of their research. Barbour spent much of his later life as a courtier to Robert II, who commisioned The Brus and The Stewartis Originall, although the latter is highly embellished to put the Stewarts in a much better light, Robert II being the first of their line would have been the source for Barbour to write the story. As well as the ten pound he received for writing The Brus, the King also granted Barbour a pension of a pound a year for the rest of his life. He went on to write a number of other poems, though most have been lost and the authorship of others is debated. The 33,000 line poem Legends of the Saints was probably written by him, as was as The Scots Buik of the most noble and vailyzeand Conqueror Alexander the Great.

Many view him as the father of Scots language poetry. As well as being in Robert II court, Barbour continued to fulfil his duties at St Machars’ Cathedral until the early 1390s, and he died in Aberdeen in 1395, a plaque in the city remembers him.

The pictures include one of the two earliest surviving manuscripts of The Brus, it shows a description of the initial phases of the battle of Bannockburn. This is a copy made by John Ramsay, Prior of the Carthusian monks at Perth, made this copy of the poem in 1489 and is held at The National Library of Scotland. The link takes you to the NLS page with and interesting timeline and links to important documents held in their archives

The second pic is on the walls of The National Portrait gallery, a magnificent frieze of Scottish history, the aforementioned plaque, that can be found at Castle Street, Aberdeen, and finally the slap at the top of the mound fittingly marking the steps up to Makar’s Court in Edinburgh’s Old Town, the full stanza reads

A! Fredome is a noble thing! Fredome mays man to haiff liking. Fredome all solace to man giffis, He levys at es that frely levys!

It translates to

Freedom is a noble thing! Great happiness does freedom bring. All solace to a man it gives; He lives at ease that freely lives.

Pics are a memorial to John Barbour at St Machars, Aberdeen, an 18th century copy of his work in The National Museum of Scotland and the above mentioned inscription at The Mound, Edinburgh.

[movedtonewblogcheckpinnedpost]

Reacting to The Vampire Lestat - Part VI (with maybe big spoilers and quotes?)

Part 1

First chapter without Armand since his first introduction. I'm in my grieving era, leave me alone.

"And as we said our farewells, I believed that Nicolas and the little coven had every chance for survival and that Armand and I were friends." Why does this sound like a 'five minutes before disaster' situation? (If you say "that's because it is", I'm blocking you... shhhh)

It's like Anne didn't even bother to be subtle about it lmao.

"Nowhere did I meet a vampire who was in any way a magnetic creature, a being of great wisdom or special accomplishment, an unusual being in whom the Dark Gift had worked any perceivable alchemy that was of interest to me. Armand was a dark god compared to these beings. And so was Gabrielle and so was I." Armand mention! I'm gonna collect these like Pokemon while I wait for princess to come back (let's hope nothing bad happens when he returns :) <3 /hj).

"In the main it is Our Oldest Friend [Armand, obviously] who is relied upon to restrain him. And that he does with the most caustic threats." What I'm getting is that book!Armand and show!Lestat went to the school of Latin American mothers. Btw, the "Armand, obviously" made me laugh because it was so informal, it's like I was getting notes from Lestat himself and not reading an official book? Not to mention it was so unnecessary because it's clear that's Armand lol. But thank you, Lestat, for clarifying that I guess.

"I cannot say that we do not love him. For your sake we would care for him even if we did not. But we do love him. And Our Oldest Friend, in particular, bears him great affection." The show and even fandom gave me a totally different idea about Armand and Nicki? I didn't imagine Armand would ever care about Nicki in the slightest.

"As for Our Oldest Friend, I wonder if you would know him now. He has built a great manse at the foot of your tower, and there he lives among books and pictures very like a scholarly gentleman with little care for the real world. Each night, however, he arrives at the door of the theater in his black carriage. And he watches from his own curtained box." There you go my little neurodivergent princess with low social battery. We are the same.

I can't believe Eleni pulled a "Lestat, come back home, the children miss you!" lmao.

"And when I wasn't out roaming, I was traveling the realm of the books that had belonged to Gabrielle so exclusively all through those dreary mortal years at home." I'm so happy he can read and drown himself in books now. <3 Not being able to do it before left such a big impact in his life and it's great that he loves books as much as he thought he would. I think music, theater and literature are his biggest interests. I don't know if he has a favorite, but those are definitely his passions.

There's such a contrast between Lestat and Gabrielle because he was the one that got to go out there, hunt, kill wolves and have 'adventures', while she was at home reading. But he'd rather read those books and even as chaotic and adventurous as Lestat is, he's more disciplined and laid-back than her? And once Gabrielle is a vampire she's like "I'M DONE WITH BOOKS I'M GOING TO THE WILD I'M GONNA CLIMB MOUNTAINS AND SLEEP ON THE GROUND AND JUMP FROM HILLS AND LIVE AMONG ANIMALS AND EXPLORE THE WORLD" lmao. But I guess I'm with Lestat there, I'm way more inclined to arts than nature and adventure.

"Before we even got to Italy, I knew enough Latin to be studying the classics, and I made a library in the old Venetian palazzo I haunted, often reading the whole night long." Yeah you go baby learn how to read by accident and expand that knowledge to new languages now <3

"The truth was, I didn't want to forget them. I never stopped writing to Roger for news of my family. I wrote to him more often than I wrote to Eleni at the theater. I'd sent for portraits of my nieces and nephews. I sent presents back to France from every place in which I stopped." No matter what Lestat says, he is still a child that cares about his relatives even after everything, that deep down wanted a simple happy family life, that wants to keep his humanity, still has a conscience and cares about God. Many of his conflicts stem from that tbh. Just some Catholic village boy really.

"I do not know why I go on. I do not search for truth. I do not believe in it. I hope for no ancient secrets from you, whatever they may be. But I believe in something. Maybe simply in the beauty of the world through which I wander or in the will to live itself. This gift was given to me too early. It was given for no good reason. And already at the age of thirty mortal years, I have some understanding as to why so many of our kind have wasted it, given it up. Yet I continue. And I search for you." Not him mayhaps getting borderline suicidal that soon...

FFS, FORGET MARIUS! He cannot help you, stop putting your hopes on him, you don't know the guy! Babygirl, what you need is THERAPY!

I don't want to read the name Marius anymore btw. Maybe that will change when he shows up, but like this? No, thank you very much, but NOPE!

"For all my complaints about loneliness, I was used to it all. And there were new cities as there were new victims, new languages, and new music to hear. No matter what my pain, I fixed my mind on a new destination." Sometimes being right is not fun at all.

"It seemed no matter where I was that Armand and Nicki were both with me." I can partially relate.

I'm confused, did Nicki's hands grow back like Gabrielle's hair?

"'Oh, I'm monster enough to understand it,' I said. 'Do you remember what you told me years ago, before we ever left home? You said it the very day that he came up the mountain with the merchants to give me the red cloak. You said that his father was so angry with him for his violin playing that he was threatening to break his hands. Do you think we find our destiny somehow, no matter what happens? I mean, do you think that even as immortals we follow some path that was already marked for us when we were alive?'" One of my favorite pieces of the writing. Just deep and gorgeous. Also, Lestat still a Catholic boy after all this time with this reasoning.

However, I was expecting his death to be WAY MORE DRAMATIC and not this "told in a letter" thing? I was imagining the whole plot to be devastating, actually... And it wasn't? Maybe because Nicki was so mad since the beginning and didn't get enough book time, but I could never grow to care about him that much... I hope the show does a better job with it.

"Maybe people had to be dead six thousand years for her to love them." Ouch.

Second time that I think I'm having a completely different take compared to many people or even the whole fandom lmao. Noice.

Part 2

"'I can't and you know it,' I said. 'I can't do it any more than you can stay with me.' All the way back to Cairo, I thought on it, what had come to me in those painful moments. What I had known but not said as we stood before the Colossi of Memnon in the sand. She was already lost to me! She had been for years. I had known it when I came down the stairs from the room in which I grieved for Nicki and I had seen her waiting for me. It had all been said in one form or another in the crypt beneath the tower years ago. She could not give me what I wanted of her. There was nothing I could do to make her what she would not be. And the truly terrible part was this: she really didn't want anything of me! She was asking me to come because she felt the obligation to do so. Pity, sadness-maybe those were also reasons. But what she really wanted was to be free." This is sad, but I also think this is very human, relatable, realistic, well-written and a great conflict to explore on the show.

I do think Gabrielle genuinely wanted to stay with him, that wasn't pity or obligation, but they just want different things. She loves him, but they love different kinds of life and that's the problem.

The plot twist that is not that much of a plot twist because it's predictable (but still good) with Lestat's family...

If somebody was meant to be spared couldn't they just make one of his brothers decent and keep him and the children alive?

Btw, we don't even know much about his family. I know he had parents, three bothers that lived into adulthood and nieces and nephews. But the book only acknowledged Gabrielle, his father and Augustin. Maybe one of the brothers wasn't really that bad and was forced to do that stuff. Idk.

Anyways, it doesn't matter now...

His dream omg???

Kind of weird, kind of messed-up, kind of sad.

The fact that he's still going back to his father, omg...

I feel bad for him. I also feel bad for him because that probably won't solve anything and just hurt him more. I don't see his father changing.

Lestat and Gabrielle's goodbye was so well-written. One of the best moments of the book.

If I'm to give my full opinion on the incest, it would have to be on a separate post just about that. But in short, at first I thought it had some logic that worked in a book like this, but it wasn't necessary and the show could go fine without it... Now I believe it might be necessary to explore Lestat and even Gabrielle as individuals.

Like, the relationship isn't cute, sexy or fun like some people make it seem. At least not for me. But I do think it is a sign of their inner struggles and that it might be a necessary discomfort for us to fully understand them?

I don't know. I don't have a conclusion yet. Still thinking about it. But I trust Rolin to adapt the book properly and not just be controversial for the sake of it and trivializing this look some fans do.

I do hope that the times Lestat and Gabrielle hug it will be JUST HUGS. Those moments were so great and the kisses left me like... WHY RUIN IT LIKE THAT? I can and would rather live without it, tbh.

Okay, so Marius is here.

Marius is a blonde? Wasn't expecting that. I don't know who to fancast as him.

Not really found of blondes except for a feeeeeeew exceptions. Anyway, I'll wait for the revelation to come to me, I guess.

If anybody wants to share their fancast, I'm willing to listen. Maybe it will help me picture him too lol.

Last chapter, here we go.

[atotaltaitaitale]

.

After visiting Bibliothèque St Genevieve and favorite the Bibliothèque Nationale de France it’s time to have a look at Bibliothèque Mazarine just across from l’académie française.

The Bibliothèque Mazarine, or Mazarin Library, is located within the Palais de l'institut de France. Originally created by Cardinal Mazarin as his personal library in the 17th century, it today has one of the richest collections of rare books and manuscripts in France, and is the oldest public library in the country.

The library today contains about 600,000 volumes. The oldest part of the collection, brought together by Mazarin, contains about 200,000 volumes on all subjects. The more modern collections specialize in French history, particularly religious and literary history of the Middle Ages (12th–15th centuries) and the 16th and 17th centuries. Other specialities are the history of the book and the local and regional history of France.

Among the library's collection of 2,370 incunabula is a Gutenberg Bible known as the Bible Mazarine. The original is kept in a vault, while a facsimile copy is on display in the reading room.

[archinform]

Rosehill Mausoleum, Chicago

The mausoleum features a rotunda with relief panels of the four seasons by Leon Hermant, sculptor

Rosehill Masoleum. Source: Rosehill Cemetery, Dignity Memorial

Background:

Rosehill Cemetery, in northwest Chicago, is the city's largest and oldest cemetery, dating back to 1859, and contains at least 200,000 grave sites in a 350-acre garden setting.

Dedicated in 1914, the cemetery's Rosehill Mausoleum was designed by architect Sidney Lovell, who is interred within. The interior is almost entirely of marble, with the floors composed of Italian Carrara marble. Several later additions would be made to the building; there were six additions made after 1913, and a final one in 1975.

Leon Hermant (1866–1936) was an American sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture. Hermant was born in France, educated in Europe and came to America in 1904 to work on the French Pavilion at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri.

For most of his career he was based in Chicago, working mostly in the American midwest, and frequently with a partner Carl Beil.

From 1904, when they met in St. Louis, until 1927, Hermant and Beil were partners at their Sculpture Studio at 21 East Pearson Street in Chicago.  Leon was the Artist, Carl, the "Executioner."  Hermant continued his art after Beil's death in 1927, receiving a major commission for the Indiana State Library in 1934. Hermant exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1920s, and would complete many sculptures throughout the U.S. [Chicago Sculpture in the Loop]

In 1928 Hermant was awarded the Légion d'honneur by the French government for his Louis Pasteur Monument in Grant Park, Chicago.

Pasteur Monument, Grant Park, Chicago

In the 1929 Fourth Addition to Rosehill Mausoleum, a marble rotunda features relief panels of the four seasons executed by Hermant, placed between engaged marble columns. Each panel contains a brief quote below, appropriate to the season. Leon Hermant's signature appears on the bottom right of only one panel, Winter.

The yellowish lighting within the rotunda is so dim that photography is difficult, and one strains to appreciate the quality of the sculptures. I'd admired these panels before, but it was thanks to some thorough research by Jim Craig of Under Every Tombstone that I was alerted to their sculptor's identity.

Leon Hermant, 1866-1936 Source: Under Every Tombstone

Construction News, February 22, 1913, pp. 6-7. Click to view larger

See detail of ad below:

Photos from my recent visit to Rosehill Mausoleum, July 19, 2024:

Rosehill Mausoleum, corridor leading to the rotunda

Rotunda east side, Winter (left), Spring (right)

Rotunda west side, Summer (left), Autumn (right)

The south of the rotunda is occupied by the elegant Rawson family crypt. The north opens to a corridor leading to other areas of the mausoleum.

The Four Seasons

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Inscriptions at the base of the four panels:

SPRING

Hail bounteous May, that dost inspire

Mirth, and youth and warm desire

Hill and dale dost boast thy blessing

This we salute thee with our early song

and welcome and wishe thee long.

                                          Milton.

SUMMER

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

…So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

                                             Shakespeare

AUTUMN

There is no death! The stars go down

To rise upon some other shore.

And bright in heaven's jeweled crown

They shine for evermore.

…For all the universe is life…

There are no dead."

                                       Maeterlink

WINTER

When once our heavenly souls shall climb

Then all earthly grossness quit.

Attired with stars we shall forever sit

Triumphing over death and change and thee

O time!

                                       -Milton-

Detail of Autumn

Signature of Leon Hermant Sc. [sculptor] on the Winter panel

A sculpture inside a family crypt [not attributed to Hermant, but I liked it]

Plan of main level of Rosehill Mausoleum; yellow circle indicates location of the four seasons rotunda.

Beil and Hermant created the relief sculptures above the mausoleum's main entrance (see below).

The mansions of the silent, by Booth, A.L. Published in: Fine arts journal, 1916.

Leon Hermant's other works in Chicago include:

Former Illinois Athletic Club, now SAIC MacLean Center; 12th floor frieze (1908); Zeus presiding over athletic contests.

William Shakespeare, (1915) Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

Louis Pasteur Monument, (1928) Grant Park, Chicago

City Hall and Cook County Building, (1911), Chicago

Radisson Chicago Hotel [Medinah Athletic Club] Reliefs, (1929), Chicago; According to an article in the Chicago Tribune from Sept 16, 1928 entitled “Building art inspires panels,” “The friezes were designed by George Unger, in collaboration with Walter Ahlschlager, and carved by Leon Hermant."

One North Lasalle Street (1930), Vitzthum and Burns architects, Chicago

via Prabook site

SOURCES/ LINKS:

Léon Hermant, Wikipedia

Sidney Lovell, Wikipedia

"The Mansions of the Silent," by Anne Lisle Booth, Fine Arts Journal, Vol. 34, No. 6 (Jun. - Jul., 1916), pp. 265-274

"Rosehill Cemetery Mausoleum," Construction News, February 22, 1913, pp. 6-7.

[mask131]

The cosmogony of French fantasy

The title is not by me - this is actually the title of an article I want to kind-of-translate kind-of-recap here. "Cosmogonie de la fantasy française - Genèse et émancipation", "Cosmogony of French fantasy - Genesis and emancipation", by Marie-Louise Bougon. It was an article part of the "Worldbuilding" issue of the French National Library review (La revue de la BNF), back in 2019, and it brings a lot of interesting element for those who are curious about what fantasy literature looks like currently in France (since all the fantasy we talk about is mostly American or British).

Here is the rough translation/summary:

Fantasy only appeared quite late in France - and if the first translations of English-speaking fantasy only come from the 1970s, we will have to wait for the new editorial dynamic of the 1990s for a true "French fantasy" to appear and specialize itself - many talk of a "French touch" that makes these books clearly different from their English companions.

I) The first translations: a fragmented territory

The first translations in French of fantasy books started in the 70s. The decisions of publishing houses at the time made it quite hard for a reader to identify "fantasy" as its own genre. Indeed, most fantasy authors (especially British ones) were published by houses specializing in "general literature" - The Hobbit was translated as "Bilbo le Hobbit" in 1969 by Stock, before it took care of the Cycle de Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, while in 1972 Christian Bourgeois releases the first French translation of the Lord of the Rings. Another part of fantasy books - more American, these ones, the inheritors of the pulp aesthetic, the sword and sorcery books - was rather translated in collections dedicated to either science-fiction, or fantastique. [N.o.T.: The French term "fantastique" designates a specific literary genre in which supernatural elements suddenly happen in an otherwise normal, regular and mundane setting identical to our own - as opposed to "merveilleux" which is about describing worlds where the magical and fabulous is mundane. Dracula would be "fantastique" while fairytales are "merveilleux".] There was the collection "Aventures fantastiques" by the editions Opta, or the science-fiction collection of Lattès.

Fantasy was perceived originally as merely a sub-genre of science-fiction - an idea that was kept alive by collections such as "Pocket science-fiction" or "J'ai lu - SF" that published a mix of science-fiction and fantasy works throughout the 80s. Outside of the short-lived collection "Heroic Fantasy" by Stan Barets at the Temps futurs publishing house (it only lasted from 1981 to 1983), we would have to wait for quite some time before publishers started to understand that fantasy was its own genre. In 1988, the Atalante creates the "Bibliothèque de l'évasion" (Library of evasion) collection. Fleuve noir creates in 1998 a fantasy collection called "Dentelle du cygne" (Swan's lace), that in 2002 was replaced by "Rendez-vous ailleurs", "Meetings at other places". These were for large formats - pocket formats also started their own specific collections. J'ai lu Fantasy in 1998, for example, and in 1988 the Pocket SF collection started to add sub-titles such as "Fantasy", "Dark Fantasy" or "Science-fantasy" to differentiate the works. However, despite all these efforts, the original decades-old confusion between fantasy, SF and general literature hindered the growth of the genre in France, since it never got a true visibility...

II) Cartography of the "great old ones"

If people only start to realize and understand the genre itself at the end of the 80s, it doesn't mean that there never was any French fantasy works until this date. In fact, the Callidor editions, specializing in "fantasy archeology", have made an effort to dig up and bring back to light the works that shaped the French fantasy - and for them, the oldest French work of fantasy would be the epic Les Centaures, in 1904, written by André Lichtenberger. In 2005, the author Laurent Kloetzer went even further than this - he claimed that Flaubert's Salammbô (an 1862 sensual, violent and Orientalist historical novel) was one of the earliest examples of French fantasy. Kloetzer notably pointed out the similarity between Salammbô's baroque style, and the one of Michael Moorcock's Gloriana, and how the way Robert Howard described bloody battles was quite close to Flaubert's own war descriptions. By retrospectively considering these works as fantasy, this would make the French fantasy a continuation of the merveilleux genre (see my mentions above).

So, French precursors did exist - but they remained lonely and rare experimentations, that never got any true success upon their release. Nathalie Henneberg, an author of science-fiction (who often published under the name of her husband, Charles Henneberg) did made a few fantasy pauses in her SF career during the 1960s - Le Sang des astres (The blood of celestial bodies) and Les Dieux verts (The Green gods), republished by Callidor in 2018. However the most notorious example of this "primitive French fantasy" would be Jacques Abeille's Cycle des contrées, published in 1982 at Flammarion, then re-edited in 2012 by the Attila editions, and finally released in pocket format by Folio SF in 2018. This cycle, that describes the exploration of another world full of wonders and magics, took more than thirty years to be recognized as a fantasy works - and that despite Abeille having sent his manuscript to Julien Gracq, one of the greatest French fans of Tolkien at the time. If people did notice a similarty between fantasy books and Abeille's works, editors made nothing of it - one would have to wait for the more modern reedition for the "fantasy" aspect to be advertised. In 2011, in an interview, Jacques Abeille recalled a sentence one of his readers said to him: "As a kid, I watched Star Wars. As a teen, I read Tolkien. As an adult, I read you."

Abeille's new success in modern fantasy is however an exception, since other "precursors" of fantasy never regained such a late recognition: for example, Isabelle Hausser's Célubée, published in 1986 by Julliard, is still not sold as a fantasy work, and that despite being re-edited by Fallois in 2000 (with a Marc Fumaroli preface). Among other French early attempts, we can find Sous l'araignée du Sud (Under the South spider), a 1978 novel by Dominique Roche and Charles Nightingale, published by Robert Laffont. Unlike the previous works, this novel actually had a consciousness that it belonged to a new and "infant" genre. The back of the book doesn't use the "fantasy" word yet, but it does describe it as "a marvelous and terrifying fairy tale, in the line of Tolkien's work, in the heroico-fantastical tradition of the Anglo-Saxons, but this time written in French, in a rich and visual language, sparkling with humor."

In the 1980s, we see an hesitaton, an ambiguity between publishing/editing decisions that made the birth of this first fantasy completely invisible to the public, and a slow, creeping recognition by authors and publishers of a new genre. In 1983, Francis Berthelot's Khanaor duology was published in the Heroic Fantasy collection of Temps futurs - and in the preface the author clearly states its "fantasy" status. "No need to lie to ourselves, the same way general literature disdains SF, the SF disdains heroic fantasy. It makes it a sub-sub-genre, a doubly-poor parent of the Letters with a big L." This preface highlights the bad reputation of the genre at the time - for French people of the 80s, fantasy was just a sub-science-fiction, less thoughtful, less prone to reflexion, more turned towards adventure and entertainment. Despite all this criticism, fantasy will still manage to grow away from science-fiction, and find its place in the "genre literatures".

III) An expanding universe

It was around 1995 that a true turn of event happened, around the same time the first French publishing house entirely dedicated to fantasy were created (Mnémos and Nestiveqnen). Mnémos, originally conceived by Stéphane Marsan and Frédéric Weil to publish role-playing game novelizations, still edited during its first years French authors such as Mathieu Gaborit, Fabrice Colin, Laurent Kloetzer, Pierre Grimbert and Sabrina Calvo. Nicknamed "the Mnémos generation", these authors created a true boom and multiplication of the French fantasy works in the 2000s. Les Chroniques des Crépusculaires (The Chronicles of the Dusk-people), of Mathieu Gaborit (1995-96) and Le Secret de Ji, by Pierre Grimbert (prix Julia Verlanger in 1997) form the two first commercial successes of French fantasy.

This new fashion was certified by the creation in 2000 of the Bragelonne editions: this very prolific publishing house released translations of English works, but also promoted the writers of the "Mnémos generation", while discovering new authors. For example, Henri Loevenbruck with his Celtic saga La Moïra (2001-2002), or the Ange duo (already famous for their work on comic books and roleplaying games) with their cycle Trois Lunes de Tanjor (Three Moons of Tanjor, 2001-2003, re-edited in 2005 under the title Ayesha). Les Editions de l'Oxymore (The Oxymoron Editions), created in 1999, also allowed numerous French authors to start in the genre, via periodical anthologies - these anthologies contained short stories from authors now quite well-known, such as Justine Niogret, Mélanie Fazi or Charlotte Bousquet. The editorial expansion follows all the way throughout the 2000s, with new publishing houses opening regularly. Le Bélial', which created the Bifrost journal, published fantasy novels since 1998 (their collection "Fantasy", renamed "Kvasar" in 2011). The webzine ActuSF becomes an editing house in 2003, and dedicates its collection "Trois souhaits" (Three wishes) to French authors. Les Moutons électriques (The electrical sheeps) were born in 2004, and made famous Jean-Philippe Jaworski, while La Volte, around the same time, started the very noticeable Horde du Contrevent (Horde of the Counterwind) by Alain Damasio. The years 2010s also saw a few house apparitions - such as the Critic, Callidor and Scrineo editions - and there was also a very dynamic microedition market.

Of course, French youth publications also stayed very rich and prolific - finding a true audience after the Harry Potter phenomenon. Two famous French series played on the idea of "the adventures of a young wizard" - the Tara Duncan series by Sophia Audouin-Mamikonian, started in 2003 and a mass commercial success, and also started in 2003 the saga of the "world of Gwendalavir" by Pierre Bottero. While these works all evoke the Potter-phenomenon (teenage characters promised to a great destiny and magical powers in a fantastical parallel world), they do keep an original voice, find their own themes and specificities, and thus gain a faithful audience. In the Fantasy forum of the university of Artois, Pierre Bottero was the most frequently mentionned French author when participants were asked "Who is your favorite author?", making him a good rival of English-speaking fantasy authors.

If French fantasy managed to build itself, and to singularize itself - and if the genre became even more visible thanks to the recent mediatic success of the Game of Thrones TV series, Jérôme Vincent (director of ActuSF) made a quite disappointing observation in a 2017 interview. He noted that the "wave" expected did not happen. "The big cinema blockbusters all belong to either science-fiction or fantasy, the great TV series are all tied one way or another to fantasy, that's the same thing in comic books and video games, and that's without talking of role-playing games... [...] But it seems that is no effect, no repercusion of this onto fantasy literature." In order to ameliorate the visibility and the sales of fantasy books, since 2017 publishers created the "Mois de l'imagination" (Month of the imagination), a way to rival the "literary new year". While it is too early to establish if this worked or not, it is quite a hopeful sign to see that in "fantasy reading recommandations", French names start to pop up alongside the great English ones. As Estelle Faye wrote, "French fantasy seems to still suffer from an inferiority complex" - but we can only hope authors and readers will manage to fight it off.

IV) A world of its own ?

Is there a "French touch", a specificity to French fantasy? This question, frequently debated by fan forums, became the subject of a podcast produced by the website Elbakin.net, in which was noted the lack in France of huge cycles carried over several volumes (a very prominent feature of English-written fantasy). French fantasy authors prefers one-shots, short series (rarely more than a trilogy), or series of distnct novels merely sharing a same world (for example, the works of Lionel Davoust that take place in the Evanégyre world). This formal difference would however be due to the "fear" of editors, who do not dare putting in the world too-ambitous projects. Due to this format specificity, it seems that there is a lesser importance of the worldbuilding in French fantasy - which might be why its authors had a hard time building an audience in the beginnings. As David Peyron wrote it in Culture geek, fantasy fans tend to prefer the quality of the worldbuilding over the quality of the style. "If the quality of the world becomes essential, in return some traits such as the literary style, which gives its value to a cultural object in a classical system, are pushed aside." French fantasy, which is less of a worldbuilder and much more literary than its English counterpart, is as a result swimming against the stream. However, nowadays this particularly is accepted by the fans. Indeed, in recent reviews and articles, several French authors such as Jean-Philippe Jaworski or Alain Damasio are praise for their mastery of style - the first one because of how he writes like Alexandre Dumas, the second because of how versatile he can be with tones and genres. These literary qualities are obviously tied to the inspirations of the French authors, who do not have the "pulp inheritage" and rather take from French classics or swashbuckling novels. Of course, we also cannot ignore the theory that French readers are more sensible to the style when it comes to writing in their own language.

If we go towards themes, we can see several recurring motifs and traditions shared by both English-speaking and French-speaking fantasy. For example, Arthurian fantasy has sparked a certain interest in France - La Trilogie des Elfes (The Elf trilogy) of Jean-Louis Fetjaine (1998-2000), or Justine Niogret's Mordred (2013). However, French authors truly seem to express a taste for historical but non-medieval fantasy. Jean-Philippe Jaworski's Gagner la guerre (Win the war, 2009) takes place during a reinvented Renaissance, Johan Heliot's takes an interest in the rule of Louis XIV in his Grand Siècle (Great century) saga (2017-2018), Pierre Pevel choses the 17th century for the setting of his Les Lames du cardinal (The Cardinal's blades, 2007-2010), and finally Fabrice Anfosso takes inspiration from World War I in his Le Chemin des fées (The road of fairies, 2005). Urban fantasy also has a big success in France - especially one focusing on a reinvented Paris. There are numerous works reimagining the French capital as either filled with surpernatural beasts, either invaded by a scientific-marvelous touching to both the steampunk and gaslamp fantasies. For examples you have the Paris des merveilles cycle, by Pierre Pevel (Paris of marvels, 2003-2015), Un éclat de givre by Estelle Faye (A fragment of frost, 2014), Les Extraordinaires et Fantastiques Enquêtes de Sylvo Sylvain by Raphaël Albert (The Extraordinary and Fantastical Investigations of Sylvo Sylvain, 2010-2017), or Les Confessions d'un automate mangeur d'opium by Mathieu Gaborit and Fabrice Colin (Confessions of an opium-eating automaton, 1999).

Jacques Baudou described with enthusiasm the originality of French fantasy, whose main specificity is - according to him - a tendency to go to the margins. "The best works of French fantasy [...] operates a subversion of the codes, they practice the art of mixing, and as thus come off as greatly original literary objects". It seems indeed that, due to its late apparition, French fantasy benefited from a certain look-back on its own genre, making it easier for French authors to play with or subvert its codes. Anne Besson, however, nuances this opinion: she points out that the small number of French fantasy authors (compared to the mass of English-speaking authors) makes the differences in tones, themes and motifs much more obvious - which creates what is merely a feeling of a greater diversity.

Another element of French fantasy that seems to be born of its "lateness" is its reflexive dimension: French authors have a strong tendency towards the commentary and the erudition. For example, the fantasy anthologies of the Editions de l'Oxymore include between its short stories things such as critical files or textstaken out of classics of French culture. These practices seem to be an attempt at legitimizing a genre that still has a hard time being recognized as "true literature" - even though modern days receive fantasy works with much more benevolence than before.

V) To the conquest of the world ?

If French fantasy grew enormously since the first experiments of the 70s, and if it now benefits from a much better visibility, its market stays quite weak. A proof of that: the numerous funding campaigns launched these last years by different actors of the genre. French fantasy also has a hard time crossing the frontier. Le Livre et l'épée by Antoine Rouaud (The Book and the sword, first volume released in 2013) was translated in English, German, Dutch and Spanish. Le Secret de Ji of Pierre Grimbert (Ji's Secret) was also published in English via Amazon Crossing in 2013. But these are exceptions to the rule. But there is hope for future French publications - for example the Bragelonne publishing house established a partnership with the British Gollancz, a science-fiction specialist.

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — In synagogues, schools and ordinary streets across Europe, Jews are voicing a similar refrain: They live in a different world from the one they knew before Oct. 7.

That’s not only because Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel killed the most Jewish civilians in one day since the Holocaust. Across Europe, the rate of antisemitic incidents has fueled an atmosphere of fear and motivated some to conceal their Jewish identity.

European governments have made it a point to protect their countries’ Jews from antisemitism in recent decades. The fruits of those efforts are seen in the increased security at Jewish institutions across the continent and the continued public statements by Western leaders meant to call out and condemn hatred against Jews.

But there is a new wrinkle to that arc: a clear, tortured confusion in European governments and police departments about how to distinguish between anger against Israel and antisemitism, between the right to assemble at pro-Palestinian rallies and the crime of hate speech. The debate was punctuated on Monday by the firing of British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who made a series of divisive remarks about pro-Palestinian demonstrators last week.

A new era?

Over a month into the bloody aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israeli towns and Israel’s bombardment and siege of the Gaza Strip, antisemitism is soaring far from the scene of the conflict.

France has registered over 1,000 antisemitic acts since Oct. 7, exceeding in weeks the number recorded over the past year, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. The Community Security Trust, a group that tracks antisemitism in Britain, has reported 1,205 incidents in that time frame — the highest total in a 35-day period since it began recording offenses in 1984. And in Germany, the federal agency RIAS verified 202 antisemitic incidents between Oct. 7-15, up 240% from the same week last year.

The incidents run the gamut: Assaults, threats to Jews and Jewish businesses, damage to Jewish property, hate mail and online abuse.

On Nov. 4, a Jewish woman in Lyon was stabbed in the stomach at her home, while a swastika was found graffitied on her door. French prosecutors have also opened a probe into a viral video that showed a group of youths chanting on the Paris metro: “Fuck the Jews and fuck your mother, long live Palestine, we are Nazis and proud of it.”

Meanwhile, Berlin police are investigating two Molotov cocktails thrown at the Kahal Adass Jisroel synagogue, along with multiple Stars of David marked on apartment buildings. The Oct. 27 cover of the German magazine Der Spiegel, one of the most widely circulated news magazines in Europe, read “Wir Haben Angst” (“We are scared”). One of the four German Jews pictured on the cover is 90-year-old Holocaust survivor Ivar Buterfas-Frankenthal.

Marina Chernivsky is the founder and director of OFEK, a Berlin counseling center that specializes in antisemitic violence and discrimination. The group has struggled to manage a 12-fold increase in requests for psychological counseling since Oct. 7, she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. In just three weeks, OFEK received 390 requests; its previous record was 370 in an entire year.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Chernivsky. “It’s just one indicator of the situation now, because it’s a very high barrier to decide to call an institution and tell the story and also ask for support. It’s not easy and many people do not do it.”

London police received reports of 657 antisemitic and 230 Islamophobic incidents between Oct.1 and Nov. 1, a significant jump in both categories. On Nov. 2, staff at London’s Wiener Holocaust Library — the world’s oldest Holocaust library and research center — found graffiti that read “Gaza” across their building’s sign.

In Italy’s capital, four Holocaust memorial plaques were found blackened with a torch and spray paint last week. The bronze blocks, called “pietre d’inciampo” or “stumbling stones” in Rome, are embedded on the sidewalk in front of apartment buildings where Jews were rounded up from the Nazi-occupied city and sent to Auschwitz in 1944. They show the names of the Jews who lived there and the dates when they were born, deported and murdered.

Milan officials are also investigating dozens of antisemitic incidents, including death threats graffitied in a hospital, a bakery and a nightclub. At a recent Milan rally, some protestors chanted, “Open the borders so we can kill the Zionists.”

Spain and Portugal have seen their share of synagogue graffiti, too. In Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast, a group of protestors gathered in front of a synagogue and burned an Israeli flag.

In the Netherlands, the number of antisemitic incidents reported to a leading Dutch-Jewish watchdog is up 818% from the monthly average of the past three years. This figure only includes interpersonal incidents, such as threats, verbal and physical abuse and direct messages, not general antisemitic statements on social media.

“We see lots of incidents at schools, where Jewish or Israeli kids are being attacked because of what’s going on in Israel and Gaza,” CIDI director Naomi Mestrum told JTA. “One kid was threatened with a knife and hit with a bottle, while the other kids were swearing, ‘kankerjood’ — in Dutch, that means ‘cancer Jew.’”

The Dutch Jewish Weekly changed its delivery packaging from transparent plastic to an anonymous white envelope after Oct. 7, according to editor-in-chief Esther Voet, because subscribers were anxious about their neighbors finding out they were Jewish. Their requests follow a pattern of fear among Jews taking measures to hide their identity in Europe, from removing or camouflaging their mezuzahs to taking off their kippahs in public and avoiding speaking Hebrew on the street. One Syrian Jewish refugee in the Netherlands told JTA he no longer sleeps in his own apartment after his window was defaced with a swastika.

Although antisemitism typically flares in Europe when there is fighting in Israel and the Palestinian territories, tracking groups in France, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands all report that European Jews are living in a new landscape.

“We’ve never seen this before, both this increase in numbers and the threatening types of incidents,” CIDI researcher and policy advisor Hans Wallage told JTA. “I also hear from the Jewish community that they’ve never experienced this before, and they’re very afraid and anxious for the future.”

The free speech debate

In the face of this crescendo, European governments have been conflicted over how to crack down on antisemitism without inhibiting free speech.

In France, Darmanin attempted to impose a blanket ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, declaring them “likely to generate disturbances to public order.” Vincent Brengarth, a lawyer for the Palestine Action Committee, called this order a “serious attack on freedom of expression.” The ban has since been overturned by France’s top administrative court, although local authorities can still block protests on a case-by-case basis.

London’s Metropolitan police have been open about their difficulty in determining which protest chants are lawful and which could incite violence. In a bulletin on Oct. 20, they discussed the popular chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which has various interpretations. Some activists say it means that Palestinians should be free of Israeli occupation, with rights and dignity equal to Israelis. Critics, including Israeli leaders and Jewish groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, say the chant calls for a Palestinian entity that has eliminated Jews and Israelis between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

“While we can envisage scenarios where chanting these words could be unlawful, such as outside a synagogue or Jewish school, or directly at a Jewish person or group intended to intimidate, it is likely that its use in a wider protest setting… would not be an offense and would not result in arrests,” said the Metropolitan police.

Meanwhile, the British government is divided. Ahead of a massive pro-Palestinian rally in London on Saturday, Suella Braverman wrote an op-ed calling the protestors “hate marchers” and accusing the police of being overly lenient with them. In a letter to senior police officers last month, the former home secretary argued that waving a Palestinian flag and chanting “From the river to the sea” should both be considered as possible criminal offenses.

Britain’s Labour party, just a few years removed from a longstanding antisemitism scandal, is similarly divided. Party leader Keir Starmer has shown a zero-tolerance policy for anything he sees as approaching hate speech against Jews. Labour parliament member Andy McDonald was suspended, pending an investigation, after the party alleged that he made “deeply offensive” comments at a rally on Oct. 29. He said in the speech: “We will not rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty.”

Although Germany’s constitution protects freedom of expression, opinion and assembly, various local authorities have imposed bans on pro-Palestinian protests — including Hamburg, the second-largest city. In some places, resistance to these orders has led to clashes between protestors and riot police. Berlin’s education senator Katharina Guenther-Wuensch has allowed schools to ban the keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, along with the phrase “Free Palestine.”

Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, has said he believes that protest bans are “definitely justified” to prevent “anti-Israel, aggressive and antisemitic” actions.

But some vocal opponents of the protest bans are Jews. In an open letter published in the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung and the New York-based magazine N+1, over 100 Jewish artists, writers and scholars in Germany said the suppression of pro-Palestinian rallies did not make them feel safer.

The group noted the surge in violent intimidation against German Jews and expressed fear that “the atmosphere in Germany has become more dangerous — for Jews and Muslims alike — than at any time in the nation’s recent history.” However, they denounced bans on nonviolent protest, saying these restrictions often come with brutality to immigrants and minorities and can escalate instead of preventing violence.

“As Jews, we reject this pretext for racist violence and express full solidarity with our Arab, Muslim, and particularly our Palestinian neighbors,” said the letter. “What frightens us is the prevailing atmosphere of racism and xenophobia in Germany, hand in hand with a constraining and paternalistic philo-Semitism. We reject in particular the conflation of anti-Semitism and any criticism of the state of Israel.”

[terebelli]

Mazarine Library, Paris. Oldest public library in France. Established 1643.

📸 @antoine_never

[elfboyeros]

Gloves

Alright, I’m here because this motherfucker decided to do a little TikTok video with the sound “A boy would be the son of France, but you Marie-Therese shall be mine” with Finnegan and Aurora with the context being that it is Amethea is saying it to Aurora because they have similar conditions, so guess what sluts, I am writing a little thing after Their Northern Lights after Aurora is out of her coma and in recovery because I think about this whole family way to much! Read about these nerds ➡️🎒Bridgehid Masterlist💀

The sound of Waltz No.2 on the violin rang throughout the large cottage strings being played in Indigo’s library near one of the windows, played by the eldest of Indigo’s children, named after the northern lights and the dawn, with her hair of candy apple red and caramel skin. Sweet Aurora Marguerite Bookstone-Corals, now playing her violin with purple hands.

“Shostakovich.” Amethea remarked softly from the entrance of the library, making her granddaughter turn around after she finished playing, “Hi, mon cœur.”

“Granny?!” Aurora retorted, setting her violin down in the window seat.

“You sound surprised,” she chuckled, walking towards her.

“If you came to see how I am doing, I am doing just fine, I’m just staying inside like I was advised to do.”

Amethea frowned, “It’s fine I've never been a big fan of being outside anyway.” Aurora said with a shrug.

“Yet, you like the beach,” Amethea replied, “and gardening, flowers, and herbs.”

Aurora shrugged again, “But that’s not why I am here.” Amethea remarked, “I came to give you these,” She pulled a pair of cute gloves out of her dress pocket, “Your father told me you’ve been staring at these hands a little too long, so I wanted to give you these.”

“Granny, I—”

“You don’t have to wear them,” Amethea added placing the gloves in her hands, “It not difficult to have hands like this, but it make you feel out of place, even if you don’t wear the gloves, you have them if you ever what them.”

“Thank you,” Aurora muttered tears building up in her eyes.

“Mon cœur?”

“I’m a horrible person!”

“Aurora!”

“I knew about everything! I knew what Alex and Finn were doing, and didn’t tell mère or père, I didn’t stop them either! I made mère and père fight—”

“Sweet girl, they weren’t fighting—”

“Alex said they didn’t talk to each other for almost 2 months! They always have something to talk about! mère and père rarely ever fight, let alone stop talking to each other and I caused that! Finn’s been training like crazy, and not just so he can be the best mage like he always says, he’s training because he feels like he has to protect me and Alex! I’m the oldest! I’m supposed to be the one to protect him! I’m also supposed to be the good one! The one that follows every rule, that listens to my parents, that tells on my siblings when they are doing something wrong! I am—”

“You more like your mother than you realize, you know that?” Amethea remarked with a hum picking Aurora's violin before sitting in the window seat, “Come here,” she remarked, patting the place next to her, ordering her granddaughter to sit.

Aurora rested her head on Amethea's shoulder, “You choose to suppress the hard and heavy emotions, and then when it becomes too much it feels like you explode,” Amethea explained her hands grazing the violin now in her lap, “That’s one of the many reasons your parents an excellent match. Your father loves to listen and observe, especially to your mother, I’ve never seen anyone, let alone a man, be so love-sick over one person,” the older woman chuckled to herself, “and that will never change. Just as he loves her, he loves you and your siblings just as much if not more! When it comes to 3 being harmed, for better or for worse your father forgets reason and stops listening, and your mother continues to suppress. So, when you were in your coma and Calvin decided to continue to work to keep an eye on you, your mother took that as a sign that he was angry with her because she did nothing upon seeing you hurt.”

“Père has never been angry with mère,” Aurora muttered.

Amethea chuckled, “They worry about you and this most recent event has only made it worse.” the older woman remarked, “Which is not your fault, you did what is right.”

“I still feel horrible,” Aurora sighed, “I’m the oldest—”

“You being the oldest has no bearing on how you should choose to live your life.” Amethea remarked, “Your brother is becoming more and more like your mother everyone every day, I swear. Are you the one who made him the protector?”

“No, but—”

“Then him choosing to be the protector over the three has nothing to do with you!”

Aurora sighed, “Everything just feels weird.”

“Being in a coma for 5 months will do that, mon cœur.” Amethea hummed.

“Thank you, granny.” Aurora hummed.

“You’re welcome, mon cœur.” She replied.

[izahelle]

Izahelle's comic library

Come in ! We're open. Take your time, have a look.

(Comics are sorted like this :

Theme :

Most recent oldest)

Video games :

Phasmophobia

Dragon Age Origins : Izahelle plays DAO First Impressions

Fallout 4

The Long Dark

Mass Effect Trilogy

Mass Effect Andromeda : Ruby Ryder and the neverending wrong choice making Jealousy About that Reyes Vidal (old version)

Series and Movies :

Supernatural : Supernatural inspiration

Good Omens : Inktober 2023

Working at the cafe :

Lights out Service contradiction Cleaning day Cafe Campers My corner Tavern Intel

Seasonal :

Summernate Autumn, finally ? Hoodies

Music band :

Echos & Merveilles 2025 (Bruguières, France) : Lazing on a Sunday afternoon Sunday Morning The Beer The Arrival Train

Life, and all that jazz :

In the fridge Iron beard Paradox 01 Passionate Small lines Anatomy drawing Glitter Honesty Solo Adventure ? I want to be a witch Outsider One year Hiking adventures Butterfly Emptiness Inner attitudes Everyday life How it all began This is me !