#and that he got criticized for his support of catholics

[fictionadventurer]

Because @maltheniel has enabled me, I'm going to tell you about William Henry Seward.

If you had the American history education that I had, you might have heard of a thing called Seward's Folly--also known as Alaska. Seward was the Secretary of State who was mocked for buying America territory in what appeared to be a barren wasteland, until he was vindicated by the discovery of oil and gold and a jillion other useful natural resources. If you had the education that I had, this is the only thing you heard about him, but the more I look into the Civil War, the more baffling this is, because this guy is everywhere in the political scene of the time.

Seward was an extremely vocal anti-slavery Whig from New York. He started as a US Senator in 1849, and he became part of President Zachary Taylor's inner circle, influencing him to support measures to keep slavery out of the new territories. After Taylor died, the question of slavery in the territories dominated politics for the next decade, with the conflict getting more heated and the positions getting more polarized. The Whig Party fell apart because of disagreements over the issue; Seward held on for as long as he could, but eventually joined the newly-forming Republican Party, and became well-known for his eloquent speeches against slavery.

When it came time to choose the Republican nominee for the 1860 presidential election, Seward was by far the top candidate. All but a shoe-in. Unfortunately, some of his anti-slavery speeches were a bit too eloquent, and gave him a reputation for being much more radically anti-slavery than he was. A significant portion of the party doubted he could win a nationwide election when slavery was such a divisive issue. This gave Lincoln's team a chance to pitch him as a less-radical option, which allowed him to come from behind and win the nomination.

Seward was extremely gracious about the loss, immediately publishing letters announcing his full support of Lincoln as candidate, and putting his own campaign manager to work getting Lincoln elected. Privately, though, he was seething. He had been in politics for decades, helped to build the party, and then lost his chance at the presidency to a guy who'd been working as a backwoods lawyer for the last twelve years.

But he knew his politics, and knew it was better to support the party's candidate than to oppose him. Lincoln offered Seward the prime Cabinet position of Secretary of State--he was qualified for it and deserved it--and Seward accepted. Seward hoped that he'd be able to help select the other Cabinet members, so he could pick people from his own faction who he'd work well with. Then he, with his extensive connections and political experience, could be the real head of the administration, with Lincoln as a compliant figurehead.

Lincoln was having none of it. He listened to Seward's suggestions, but he'd basically already chosen the people he wanted for his Cabinet, across all factions of the party. While he made use of Seward's expertise and trusted him as Secretary of State, he was going to be head of his own administration and be the one making all the final decisions. After a rocky start, Seward came to recognize that Lincoln had a shrewd mind and good judgement, and he became Lincoln's loyal supporter and a good friend.

But there was a persistent idea that Seward was the real power behind the throne, sparked partly by the prominent role he took in Washington between the election and the inauguration. States started seceding almost as soon aa Lincoln was elected, and Seward was the one who had to hold things together in Washington while Lincoln was tying things up in Illinois. He was getting reports from informants, watching out for Southern spies, and keeping Lincoln abreast of what was going on. He gave a stirring speech to Congress urging the Southern states to keep the Union together, offering all sorts of concessions to mollify them, such as amendments preventing the federal government from interfering with slavery. It was a highly controversial speech, and his wife, Frances, raked him over the coals for it. She understood, earlier than almost anybody, that this crisis would turn into a long war about slavery, and that they couldn't afford to bend on that issue, even to keep the Union together. (Lincoln privately approved of several measures Seward talked about, but publicly said little, preferring to see the public's response to Seward before taking official positions.)

Seward was a little bit like a Civil War version of Evil Chancellor Traytor. Under both Lincoln and Johnson, rumors persisted that Seward was the shadowy figure who was really in charge, secretly manipulating the president into making unpopular decisions, even though most of the time, Seward had nothing to do those decisions, and often disagreed at least partially with what the president chose to do.

Best example of the effects of this misconception is the time Seward came under attack during the middle of the war. The war was going badly, and since people couldn't directly attack the president, they started going after Seward. Chase, the Treasury Secretary, told some members of Congress that Seward was the reason the Cabinet couldn't get along, and that he was always trying to take control. These senators wanted to meet with the president and force him to get rid of Seward. When Seward heard about this, he gave Lincoln his letter of resignation, not wanting to cause problems for the administration. Lincoln responded by allowing the senators to join in a Sewardless Cabinet meeting. When confronted with both the senators and the Cabinet, Chase was forced to admit that his stories had been exaggerated, and the other Cabinet members rallied to Seward's defense, resenting Congress' meddling. Lincoln refused to accept Seward's resignation, and Seward returned to the Cabinet, having been saved by Lincoln's political acumen.

I'm going to skip ahead so I can tell you the craziest part of the story. Four days before the Civil War officially ended, Seward got into a carriage accident that left him bedridden with a broken jaw and a bunch of other injuries. When told of Lee's surrender on April 9th, Seward said (through a broken jaw, after barely surviving a painful accident), "For the first time in my life, you've made me cry." (Which is both touching and an incredibly badass claim, given what he's just suffered.)

Five days later, John Wilkes Booth shot the president at Ford's Theater. Everyone knows (or should know) that part of the story. What I didn't know was that his conspiracy also called for Seward's assassination. Booth knew his Shakespeare and didn't want to leave Seward alive as a Marc Antony to eulogize the dead tyrant. (He also wanted to kill Andrew Johnson, but that assassin chickened out, and it's not really important to this story).

While Booth was at the theater, his co-conspirator went to Seward's house under the pretense of delivering medication. When Seward's son wouldn't let him go upstairs, the assassin tried to shoot him and broke his skull with the gun. The assassin then made his way to Seward's bedroom--where, I need you to remember, Seward was still bed-ridden--and stabbed him five times in the face and neck. Like, sliced away flaps of flesh. The only reason Seward didn't die was because the splint for his broken jaw deflected the blade away from his jugular vein. And because his other son and bodyguard made it into the room and forced the assassin to flee.

Chalk this one up in the "Parts of American History I'm Furious No One Told Me About" column.

While Seward was recovering, they hid the president's death from him, thinking he wouldn't survive the shock. But he figured it out three days later when he saw the flags at half-staff through his bedroom window, and realized that if Lincoln were alive, he'd have been the first to come see Seward after the attack.

Of course, Seward survived (badly scarred) and went on to buy Alaska. Which is an interesting story. But not half so interesting as all the stuff that came before it.

[sepublic]

Christianity for Dana Terrace and TOH

I have to wonder about and consider The Owl House as an expression of Dana Terrace's own nuanced relationship with Christianity. We know she was raised in a Catholic school, and we've heard of the out-of-context incident where she got put into a headlock by a nun as a child (idk if context even matters in this scenario);

Plus, there's the show's obvious critiques of Christianity, via Belos' fanaticism and demonization of witches, plus his superiority complex and belief in predestination. And then we have Tarak bonding with King as a potential father figure, even being mistaken for his dad, only to sacrifice him anyway for the Grand Huntsman despite whatever hesitations he has; This story beat echoes the tale of Abraham and Isaac. The Emperor’s Coven/Cult is clearly Catholic.

But at the same time, we have Steve's reminiscing over the Titan as perhaps just some dude who doesn't know what he wants, either; And he's saying this as a former member of the Emperor's Coven, which itself applied a very Christian understanding of the Titan via Belos. We have Luz meeting the Titan in-person, and seeing that he's not some deity but just a person who meant well and tried his best.

The show emphasizes people being able to improve and get better and needing that chance, plus what I've said about Luz possibly being meant to represent a more positive, accurate portrayal of Jesus Christ; She dies and is resurrected with the power of the Titan, who isn't quite God but maybe she is in a meta sense? It's complicated.

So to psychoanalyze a real life person through their art (which I guess is what single author classes does to a mf), I have to consider that it's not as simple as Dana condemning Christianity as a whole; More than likely, a specific brand of Christianity, namely Evangelicalism, Catholicism, etc. We have to remember that what we often criticize as Christianity is more so a specific denomination, or group of; Christianity is a widespread religion comprised of countless different takes and interpretations of the Bible.

And IIRC (a source would be helpful), I think Dana even clarified that her experience with Catholic school wasn't wholly negative either? She did not consider herself abused, or at least abused abused. Her feelings might be mixed, especially because one doesn’t need to personally experience the worst to know about it; That is another way in which one might become critical.

I don't think Dana is outright resentful of Christianity as a whole, she might just have complicated feelings, criticisms, and thoughts; Tbf, this is how many denominations came to being. So when I see Steve reflecting on the Titan, and Luz getting to meet him... I think these scenes are, in a way, Dana making peace with the idea of God in her life; Getting to consider her relationship with and belief (or lack thereof) in him, and his paternal status to the world as a whole.

She's also recognizing his fallibility, God is a person and like any person his insight and support is illuminating, but not all-encompassing; It's not doctrine, it's just advice, from one person to another. So when the Titan reassures Luz, or Dana, he's not saying she's the specialest chosen one in the world; He's just someone with a lot of experience who can provide some guidance and clarification on life, not unlike Eda.

The Titan saying goodbye to Luz feels like Dana being able to part on -ultimately- good terms after resolving that major anxiety in her life, on a final note that is no longer resentful and more a fond memory overall. It’s her moving to the next stage of her life, as Luz herself does, now able to carry and believe in herself, and not need that same guidance to figure out what to do.

It’s a coming of age moment appreciating what was given by a paternal figure, with Dana now comfortable exploring other beliefs and practices after making her farewell with Christianity by realizing it isn’t absolute, yet still treasuring what it was able to give her. So she carries on what she can, at least in spirit, like… Luz and the glyphs, remembering them, and now having her own palisman to continue her love of magic that the Titan helped support. So we have both the narrative meaning to Luz behind all of this, and the real-life significance for Dana herself, which aren’t quite the same but there is overlap. And there’s also the other meaning for Dana in how the Titan represents her father, which we’ve already discussed.

So The Owl House and the storyline of the Titan could be Dana's own nuanced takeaway from Christianity; Her exploring how she feels about it, what she appreciates, what she doesn't, how it fits into the rest of her worldview. And I don’t think Dana is trying to convert anyone, nor condemn those who feel irreverent. I think she’s more about deconstructing Christianity to reconstruct it.

Be Gay, Do Witchcraft of course, I think there is a catharsis in exploring that. And also, because the sentiment behind that phrase might be less about Christianity being inherently evil, and more so that many queers don’t care what evangelicals think of them anymore; So sure, we’ll humor your fears for fun, we ARE the demons we’re accused of being. It’s like Eda saying “Well we ain’t!” in response to Belos’ claim that humans are inherently better. Plus demonized belief systems that aren’t Christianity deserve validity as well, hence the pagan influences being portrayed positively, with the narrative questioning the dismissal of certain ideas being ‘demonic’ or ‘savage’.

And of course, co-existence IS possible. And I find this important because it can be easy to just dismiss religion entirely in an edgy internet atheist type of way, but in the end one must reconcile that religion means a lot for a lot of people, many whom ARE chill and willing to co-exist; The narrative presents the spirituality of the Boiling Isles as something precious, for example. All belief systems are valid, not just these select few.

And maybe they don’t have to be mutually exclusive with queerness or “alternative” lifestyles, because a lot of people from these demographics aren’t quite comfortable with just getting rid of religion entirely, and they’re entitled to still maintaining that connection. If feminists can still have a nuanced relationship with femininity, so can believers with their religion.

People are simply asking to be allowed to exist and practice their beliefs in peace, they aren’t really calling for the eradication of the other. Just as queers don’t actually intend to abolish heterosexuality, they just want to be left alone. Let people decide how they feel about certain things, instead of making them get rid of it for their own good; That is every individual’s personal choice, just as yours is. And that feels relevant, given how much Choice is a theme in this show, and especially in the finale in which Luz meets the Titan properly, with the Titan emphasizing this agency to her.

[summer-nights19]

Omertá prologue

Romeo Scorpius Lucci x reader

Preface: Just to clarify, the reader in this fic isn't the mc from tkdb.

The canon age of the characters isn't clear, so I've gone with around university age (early 20s).

Before you begin, I should probably warn you that if you're sympathetic to the Catholic Church as an institution, especially its allegations of corruption and attitudes towards queer people, this fic probably isn't for you, as I plan on including major criticisms of it in later chapters

Part 1

Napoli, 18 years earlier...

The full moon shined through the window and cast a dim glow in the dark corridor before you. Trying your hardest not to make a sound, you tip toed to the door on the other side of the corridor and pressed your ear against the wall. From the other side of the door, your father's voice rang out loudly as he discussed something about "shipments", "partnerships" and "profits," with two other men. At the time, you understood none of it, but your father's work had always been a source of intrigue to you, like forbidden fruit. Even though you were young, you'd noticed how everyone tensed up as soon as it was brought up, and you didn't really understand why. According to your mother, it was dangerous and it didn't concern you, but curiosity always got the better of you in the end...

You'd always been taught to keep to yourself and be quiet, especially when your father was conducting business in his private study. According to Nonna, that was serious grown up stuff that your brothers would become in charge of when they grew up, so it would never concern you in the slightest. Whenever she'd say that, you'd ask her what your job in the family would be, and she'd tell you it was to "support". She never told you what you would be supporting exactly - she usually lost her patience with you before the conversation went that far - but if there was one thing you could remember about your childhood was having a lot of questions and very few answers.

There was muffled laughter and the clink of wine glasses coming on the other side of the door. Maybe your father was hosting a party ? It wouldn't be the first time, but parties were normally earlier in the day and required a lot of preparation. They were quite boring, really... you'd only be allowed to eat a plate of food before being dismissed along with your younger brothers while the adults "discussed business".

"Y/N ? What are you doing still awake ?"

Suddenly, you heard the door unlock with a metallic click, your father coming out with a smug grin, his business associates trailing in his wake. His eyes widened and he frowned slightly as soon as he saw you.

Before you could reply, your father kept talking.

"It doesn't matter. You're lucky I'm in a good mood. I'll finish things up with Mr Lucci here and then I'll accompany you back to bed,"

Mr Lucci ... you'd heard the name before several times. He belonged to another very influential family in the city, and, underneath his fashion brand, he had a very different business going on. Recently, he'd done a lot of business with your father, whatever that meant. If you remembered correctly, he also had a son around your age who you'd seen at functions a few times.

Your father turned back to Mr Lucci.

"I look forward to working with you. May our partnership be mutually beneficial for both our families,"

Mr Lucci gave him a nod and shook his hand, cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"I'm certain it will be. I'll be heading off then, Mr L/N. I wouldn't want to intrude on your family any further,"

Your father smiled at him, and something about it sent chills down your spine, before leading him out of the corridor and to the front door across the living room.

"Nonsense, my associates are practically family. We take care of each other,"

Mr Lucci met your father's smile with an equally unsettling one before nodding in agreement and walking out of the door to the parked Lamborghini waiting in front of your house. The windows were blacked out.

As soon as Mr Lucci left, your father walked up to you and took your hand in his own, the smile that had been previously disfiguring his face replaced with an almost tender expression.

"I'll let your snooping around slide for tonight, but don't make a habit of this, Y/N, or there will be consequences. Let's get to bed now,"

Masterlist

[blue-rose-soul]

The Devil's Dear Friend - A What if?

Alastor's connection to Lucifer was overwritten when he tried to save his mother from her employer and was killed first. He ended up in heaven for his sacrifice.

Nicaise was not granted the same reward. One moment she was screaming and holding her son, the next she was alone and staring up at a blood red sky.

A century later, Charlie hears a knock on her door and opens it to find a fierce overlord literally marked by grief and wearing a bright smile. "Hello Princess! I heard you're looking to make some changes around here?"

I was about to start with how hypocritical that would be of Heaven, since the whole reason Nicaise even got in that altercation with her employer is because she was trying to protect Alastor in the first place. Then I remembered; Heaven's leadership is hypocritical, and even they don't know what the requirements to get in are.

I've always depicted Nicaise as a friendly and sweet person, but most of my posts about her take place after she'd been living in Heaven for almost a century. While she is a shrewd person who was suspicious of Heaven's leadership and knew there was something not quite right, she still lived in relative safety and comfort for a long period of time and could afford to relax her guard. On Earth she had it quite a bit harder as a woman of color as well as a single mother. Especially in the early 1900s. I imagine Nicaise as someone who actively chose to take joy wherever she could, but also a grounded person who did what she had to to make sure she and Alastor were okay. Nicaise took great pains to never let Alastor see her struggle and give the impression she always had every situation under control.

Gee, sounds familiar, don't it?

She built herself a strong support network, making as many friends as she could. During the day she cleaned wealthy people's homes and at night she played piano at the bar, to put food on the table. She made connections in both places, with other servants, with the bar staff and patrons, with shopkeepers and store owners, with just about anyone she could strike up a conversation with. She knew how to trade favors and get discounts and was able to build a relatively comfortable life even after her parents passed and she had no other family to help support her and Alastor.

In Hell, Nicaise again does what she needs to to survive. Even if that means making deals. I'm a little undecided on what sort of powers Nicaise would develop if any. In the main branch of the the Devil's Bastard AU I decided that the person Alastor made a deal with Eve, and that she specifically chose him because he is Lucifer's son. But Eve doesn't have any way of knowing about Nicaise mothering Lucifer's child in the Devil's Dear Friend so I don't have a reason for her to make a deal with Nicaise. She wouldn't manifest with overwhelming magical power like Alastor did, she would have to slowly build it up over time. Nicaise grew up Catholic because of her father, but her mother was vodou practitioner, so there could be some overlap in their abilities as Nicaise gets stronger.

So Nicaise forms connections, begins building a power base. Along the way she meets and befriends Rosie, and at some point or other sinners start looking to Nicaise for protection. Becoming an Overlord isn't something Nicaise set out to do, but she wields the title with pride. Sure, she's grown more ruthless over the years, more bloodthirsty, and sure, she hasn't thought about her son in... years now.

She did mourn at first. But these days she's, well, she's not exactly happy about it, but Nicaise is at least satisfied with the knowledge that Alastor is safe in Heaven. She has some criticisms but at least she knows her child isn't in any danger of being hunted down by an exorcist, or any of the more commonplace dangers of Hell. It's bittersweet, and she can't help but wonder why they had to take her away from her child, but on the day-to-day her main concern is with survival.

Eventually she does learn about the Royal Family and Princess Charlie Morningstar, but it isn't until Charlie's segment with Katie Killjoy that Nicaise actually gets an opportunity to meet her. Nicaise isn't sure what to make of the Happy Hotel project. She's not opposed to the idea that people could change for the better but, given she doesn't even know what she did to end up in Hell, she's not so certain Heaven would accept any damned souls even if they did. And as an Overlord, she knows full well how dangerous it is to show even a slight amount of weakness.

Still, she's intrigued. How could she not be? This girl is the Princess of Hell and she's trying to change one of the fundamental rules of How Things Work. Nicaise could get some answers. She could learn what she did that was so terrible that she was condemned to an eternity in Hell for it. She might even get a chance to see Alastor one last time.

If nothing else, there is an opportunity to get in good with the Princess of Hell, a powerful ally to be sure. Unlike most of the fools in Hell, she knows better than to dismiss Charlie's power just because she doesn't flaunt it.

At first she's not really counting on getting to meet Lucifer again just because she's made contact Charlie. After all, while Charlie was running around post-extermination rescuing survivors and treating their injuries, Lucifer remained holed up in isolation. Frankly, after her initial surprise that that little goofball she met at Mardi Gras years ago was Lucifer himself, she didn't think too much of him. He'd been out of reach to her for so long, and Nicaise preferred to focus on things within her scope of influence. When Charlie invites Lucifer to the Happy Hotel a month before the early extermination, Nicaise doesn't even expect him to recognize her.

He does. He very obviously does. Not only can she see it, so can everyone else with the way Lucifer stares at her, eyes wide, and says her name before being introduced.

Nicaise says the only thing she can think of to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Hello, Luci. I'm here for that child support you owe me."

[alicentsultana]

Hi! Sorry if im bothering you again but i wanted to ask you two questions ,if you dont mind

1)What are your thoughts on Alys Rivers?

2)Since you see have watched the Tudors ,what are your overall thoughts about the show?

Anyway ,have a good day!

Hi! Sorry for taking so long!

1. Alys Rivers was made to contradict Aemond and his hate for bastards. I haven't read the books and I do not intend to, I do not know what the book says about her, so I follow what people have said about her only, she is a bastard, she's a witch, and I kind of feel like she will have this change of sides. I'm actually excited to see how her relationship with Aemond will progress, but I also want to know her personality, like she doesn't strike me as a badass witch (but I can be wrong), only this beautiful seer that maybe is kind enough, I mean, why Aemond would order to kill a bunch of people and let her alive? What did she said? How did she act? Aemond is very polite and is very well educated, what does this woman have/did that was different? So I don't believe she have a """""""great (strong, femme fatale) personality""""" otherwise she would clash with him. But this completely based on the voices in my head I feel like we will have a very different Alys Rivers. To support my claim, there is also the fact that he stated that he wouldn't mind marrying Helaena, while Aegon was complaining about it, so Alys could kind of fit in this type, which I don't look forward to, but again, only my speculations.

2. The tudors have a special place in my heart no matter how badly it represented the people of that time. I was in a very great six wives obsession at the time, so along with the show I watched lots of documentaries and read a lot of historical takes and opinions about that time period, so I never let the show and critical part mix. However, I believe they did a good job in representing some key events of the time, like Henry's despair over what he did to Anne, his feelings about Mary and Elizabeth, the change in character he had when he suffered the accident, that also happened in real life, how he must have felt when Jane died and like he got rid of three wives some way and it must have gotten to him.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is hot, Henry VIII was described as hot when he was younger because he was like athletic, redheaded viking and taller than most men so ambassadors were like 👁👄👁 about him, and he was perfect catholic Prince, he was Aragon and Castella son-in-law, and they captured this glorious beginning and his ups and downs till the end of his life.

Let's not talk about the clothes, even though I love it, I wish it was more accurate.

I really like also how they portrayed his love story with Anne, because we have his surviving letters to her and he would do teenager things like draw their first name initial letters together with arabesques and hearts, he redecorated his palace to have tiles and figures of this drawings, hearts and symbols to represent both of them, he move heaven and earth for her, and it was shown in the show. Though real life Anne was apparently more reluctant at the beginning, and more daring and witty when he couldn't get rid of Catherine. They had a deep love story and after that he wasn't as passionate and not as engaged in his relationship as he was with her, or not as devoted as he was about Jane who gave him his heir.

So overall is a good show, and I watched many times to kill time when I could. If you haven't watched, I believe it's worth it give it a try!

[igottoomuchtime]

Famous Inventor’s Icks.

Henry Ford

Apparently, he hated Jews. He even made an entire newspaper section dedicated to telling the public just how much they're trying to achieve world domination continuously for a good number of years, on the front page, called “The International Jew: The World's Problem,” even Hitler was hyper aware of his works and praised them, soon even awarding Ford the Grand Cross of the German Eagle on his 75th birthday, 30 July 1938. Which he accepted since you know, they were far away buddies.

Thomas Edison

He hated tons like an elephant weight number of tons. 1 – Any form of criticism, got extremely annoyed when Henry Morton, the President of the Stevens Institute of Technology, called his light bulb a "conspicuous failure" in a public letter. 2 – Most (if not all) black inventors getting any kind of credit for things he majored in like, Edison sued Granville T. Woods, a prolific Black inventor, twice in the 1880s, claiming that he invented the telegraph for trains first. 3 – Tesla. Tesla eventually resigned from Edison's company after becoming convinced that Edison hadn't lived up to a promise of bonuses.

Madame Curie

Xenophobia, Curie faced xenophobia as part of the right-wing press campaign against her. Sexism was also an obvious and huge problem for her as well, some of her coworkers didn’t enjoy her much because they felt she was spending too much time in the lab rather than with her own children. In 1911, Curie was denied a seat in the French Academy of Sciences, likely due to sexism and religion. The right-wing press spread false rumors about her, including that she was Jewish and not truly French.

Nikola Tesla

He absolutely despised germs, this man was the definition of a germaphobe to the point where he declined to shake hands, even wore gloves to avoid germs and hair, just simply hated the feeling of touching hair, some speculate that his hate of feeling hair is stemming from a childhood illness, made him particularly sensitive to the idea of hair carrying bacteria.

Benjamin Franklin

Hated Germans, even saying that they weren’t “as smart as the people already living in the colonies.” As of 1750s, disparaging "low women," Catholics, and Jews; decrying "alien" German immigrants who would "swarm into our settlements;" and labeling Native Americans as "drunken "savages who delight in war. take pride in murder," and should be pursued with "large, strong, and fierce dogs." Yet, in the 1760s, when white Americans attacked an Indian settlement, he labeled the attack "white savagery." African Americans, he described as "sullen, malicious, revengeful" and "by nature [thieves.]" Yet, ever the inquiring scientist, he visited a school for black children, emerging from the visit with a "higher opinion of the black race than I had ever before entertained."

Hedy Lamarr

Lamarr was not a supporter of her husband's political views and hated fascism. She was concerned about the war and didn't feel comfortable making money in Hollywood while the world was in such a state, Lamarr was unhappy in her marriage to Mandl, a wealthy armaments producer for the Nazis. She described him as controlling and said he prevented her from pursuing her acting career. Lamarr escaped to Paris in 1937 and divorced Mandl.

Steve Jobs

Jobs famously disliked styluses, saying, "You have to get 'em, put 'em away, you lose 'em. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus. So, let's not use a stylus". He also killed the Newton, a tablet-like device that used a stylus, also didn’t like Bill Gates very much, Jobs called Gates "unimaginative" and said that Gates was more comfortable in philanthropy than technology.

All information from google, I tried not to use Wikis, but if it’s incorrect then blame the internet, not me.

[satohqbanana]

Josephine

Summary: This is a translation of my nonfiction essay on Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippines' national hero, and his relationship with his wife Josephine Bracken. As this was first published in 2015 with the assumption that the reader would have working knowledge of Dr. Jose Rizal's life, I've taken the liberty to add helpful details and context to give readers a better picture of the topics being discussed. Note that this was NOT proofread.

Dr. Jose Rizal was in a great deal of loneliness in his exile to Dapitan City, Philippines (a decision by the then ruling clergy and government officials, following the publishing of his two "subversive" novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which criticized the Spanish colonial rule over the Philippines at the time, and his support of groups who are against the Spanish colonial rule). He was miles away from his family and close friends. Though he had plenty of lovers, none else have ever been as close to his heart as the late Leonor Rivera, his childhood sweetheart. Come the end of February 1895, his life lightened up at the arrival of Josephine Bracken.

If one would consider how real life goes, such a fairy tale romance was too good to be true. Many relationships dissolve due to the flames of passion dying out - the same flames that once blazed when they met, lonely and yearning for companionship. In Dr. Rizal's case, while he had plenty of patients, none of them became his friends or caught his fancy. It was as if he'd been truly alone, until he met Bracken.

Bracken was then 18 years old at the time. She was born in Hong Kong to Irishmen James Bracken and Elizabeth Jane MacBride. Her mother died in childbirth, and hence she was set up for adoption. The one who took her in and raised her was George Taufer, her godfather, who at the time was blind. Taufer found no doctors in Hong Kong who could treat him, and it led him to Dr. Rizal, who was famous as an ophthalmologist. Of course, in his trip to the Philippines, Taufer brought Bracken along.

In Professor Gregorio Zaide's book, Jose Rizal: Life, Works and Writings of a Genius, Writer, Scientist and National Hero, which I used as my major reference for this essay, Bracken too fell in love at first sight. It was not mentioned how so, but they already decided to get married within one month of meeting each other. "Unfortunately", Father Antonio Obach, the head clergyman of Dapitan City, did not agree to marry them, for they did not have permission from the bishop of Cebu, who held jurisdiction over marriage and other Catholic ceremonies in Dapitan City. This is possibly due to Dr. Rizal being excommunicated from the Catholic church for his critique of the corrupt Catholic clergy at the time. It is likely that the couple never got permission to marry at all, for it is also stated in Professor Zaide's book that no other priest would agree to marry them, either.

Could we call this love? Can we consider a very quick decision to marry as a serious relationship? Did Bracken truly feel love for Dr. Rizal, or was it that she was filled with overwhelming pity for the man that she mistook it for such? Did Dr. Rizal hurry their relationship for he could already foresee his death? Was Bracken simply too young to understand and make a clear decision on such matters?

Based on the above given situation, I would say it wasn't as serious. A strong and stable relationship that is intended to last long, such as marriage, is not easily formed in such a short time. Partners ought to spend time not just to learn more about each other or each other's families, but also to find within themselves the efforts and commitments they could give to the prospective married life. Such decisions should not be rushed to avoid regrets in the end.

Even in today's society, everyone is in a hurry with regards to romantic relationships. The younger generation is too eager, and the older generation is running out of time. So many end up committing grave mistakes and feeling deep regrets. Despite such stories and warnings, people keep rushing anyway. They (we) never learn.

It is possible that Dr. Rizal and Bracken were the same way. And possibly, due to their whirlwind romance and their age gap (Dr. Rizal was then 33 years old), Taufer too opposed their relationship. He tried to use suicide as a leverage against Josephine - a very abusive tactic - and it was successful.

Taufer and Bracken eventually left for the capital of Manila. Taufer never received treatment as Dr. Rizal deemed his condition incurable anyway, and soon Taufer left for Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Bracken chose to stay with Dr. Rizal's family in Manila.

In the book* that Professor Merriam Bernardo Cesar lent us for our project, it is said that Dr. Rizal's family thought Bracken was a spy sent by the clergy, a threat to Dr. Rizal's life. This is understandable, as around that time, someone pretended to be a relative in an attempt to steal Dr. Rizal's letters of correspondence with actual relatives and friends.

Eventually, Bracken made her way back and reunited with Dr. Rizal. In Professor Zaide's book, it was stated that since no one would give them the sacrament of marriage, the couple went to a church, held hands, and accomplished the ceremony themselves. If man can't do it, God himself will do it. They were not legally husband and wife, but they lived as though they were, which caused a lot of rumor-mongering in Dapitan City.

I've seen something similar in an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. In a dilapidated church, which had the cross by the altar intact, the titular characters too held hands and made their vows by themselves, with no one else - not the clergy, not their families, and not even their friends - to support them. How pitiful such couples are. Two individuals who firmly decide to love each other and be with one another, separated by the selfish interests of other individuals. Perhaps I'd been wrong in my initial assumption of the depth of Dr. Rizal and Bracken's relationship.

It is also written that they were eventually blessed with a child the following year, 1896. However, the child was born premature, lived for three hours, and was named by his father after his own father: Francisco Rizal y Bracken.

Such a tragedy is truly unfortunate and very sad to think about. As Professor Cesar said in our interview with her, it is only Bracken who Dr. Rizal ever had a child with. Even the name that he gave to their son was the same name as his own father. Due to this, I can conclude that Bracken was indeed very, very important and dearest to Dr. Rizal's heart. I have been mistaken in my limited judgment.

If there was something even sadder to think about, it is the couple last moments together. There are those who say that Dr. Rizal and Bracken might've been married, with actual priests present, just before Dr. Rizal was shot in Bagumbayan, Luneta, Manila. (Dr. Rizal was eventually tried and sentenced to death by firing squad on December 30, 1896, months after his son's birth and death.) Dr. Rizal's last gift for Bracken was a book with the words, "To my dear, unhappy wife, Josephine." How agonized the two must've been - Bracken, who was so young and had already lost a child, and Dr. Rizal, who before loving her, loved his nation and homeland so dearly he'd give up his life and his own happiness defending its rights.

And this nation that he prioritized over anything else, has not yet seen a true sliver of freedom even until today.

Tis truly a tragedy.

[catholic-on-main]

thank you so much for your blog lol. i've unironically learned a lot from it. i'm 17 and interested in becoming a catholic. i read the new testament and i believe it, i try to pray and learn more about christianity as much as i can, and from the research i've done on different christian denominations i think catholicism seems the most correct & resonates with me the most. never been to church though yet, but i plan on going when i move out lol. but i'm from a secular/ethnically jewish background and i'm nervous to talk to the people in my life about wanting to convert to christianity, because they think religious people are stupid and misguided and that christians are bible-thumping rednecks with no critical thinking skills basically. my friends make fun of christians a lot, and my dad doesn't want to take me to church while i live with him. i've also realized i am more conservative-leaning, for lack of a better word, on issues such as transgender and abortion, though honestly i never thought these were good things on my own but got peer pressured into supporting them. but my area is so liberal/secular and people constantly talk about these issues in ways i very much disagree with or make fun of religious people and i just stay quiet because i'm too much of a coward to say that i'm the person they're talking about. i feel like i would lose a lot of my friends online and irl if i started talking about the impact christianity has had on me and how much it means to me. i know christians are supposed to be open about their beleifs and be able to explain and defend them. i want to explain to people that i want to be a christian and that i don't mean any harm for having different beliefs from them, but i'm honestly too scared to lose my friends. do you have any advice for this situation? (i'm sorry for the long ask!!!)

Anon, thank you for the kind words! I'm glad that my blog was able to help you out. I'm sorry you're in that kind of situation. It's definitely difficult to be in that position, and it's very scary.

I recommend looking into videos on catholic apologetics (how to explain and defend your faith to others). Father Mike Schmitz has lots of videos explaining different aspects of the catholic faith, and I highly recommend his videos! I watch them fairly regularly myself, as he's energetic and can break down difficult subjects into smaller pieces. I also recommend looking into catholic groups you can attend for support. Local churches tend to have groups for young adults that can range from Bible studies to more casual hang-outs. If you cannot attend these due to your family, then look online! There are groups on social media and apps like Discord that can be a healthy access point for others of the faith. You can also reach out to local churches via e-mail to get in contact with someone who can talk to you and get you any resources you might be looking for.

As for difficulties with friends, that's probably the scariest thing. First off, do not feel responsible for changing their mind. If you strive to live your life as a good example of the faith, then you've done your best. Pray a lot over it! I pray rosaries often when I am stressed out about something. I find the repetition helps soothe my anxieties. Ask that you might find the words to best use in your conversations. And feel free to ask others to pray for you as well! You are not in this alone, though it may feel like it. Going into a conversation, ask that they be respectful and hear you out, and say that you will be respectful in return. Make it clear that you aren't accusing or attacking them. If they come at you with questions that you struggle to answer, you are absolutely able to say that you aren't certain how to answer at the moment, and you can get back to them later after you look into that topic. Especially since you are rather new to the faith, but even people raised catholic can struggle with how best to address certain concerns.

Your situation is difficult, and I'm sorry if my response does not seem super helpful or instructive. While I have lost friends in the past due to my faith, it was more of a gradually growing apart rather than direct confrontation, so I don't have the same experiences. I will be praying for you. Feel free to contact me again if you'd like.

And if any mutuals or followers of mine have some of their own advice, especially those who converted to the faith, you all are absolutely welcome to reblog with your experiences!

[beardedmrbean]

The overwhelming majority of New York voters blame President Biden for letting the migrant crisis spiral out of control, a new poll released Tuesday reveals.

The Siena College survey found that a stunning 84% of voters consider the influx of migrants a serious problem, with 57% identifying it as a “very” serious problem. Only 12% of respondents said the problem is not serious.

“It’s a sad case and Biden doesn’t even care. This is a federal problem and has always been a federal problem,” said Maria Ortiz, 37, works in retail and says she constantly sees migrants begging on the train with their babies.

“I’m not voting for him. I voted to get him in office and it’s [been] my biggest regret since,” she said at Jamaica Station in Queens. 

Nearly two-thirds of voters — 64% — flunked the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant influx, while only 29% approved.

The poll suggests the crisis at the southern border that has swamped the Big Apple with the thousands of asylum seekers is dragging down Democrat Biden’s popularity even in blue-leaning New York.

“While other issues in Washington and abroad have largely driven the news cycle over the last few weeks, the influx of migrants to New York remains top of mind for voters, with 84% saying it’s a serious – 57% very serious – problem for the state,” said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg said.

“Seldom do we see an issue where at least 79% of Democrats, Republicans, independents, men, women, upstaters, downstaters, Blacks, whites, Latinos, Catholics, Jews, and Protestants all agree – that the migrant influx is a serious problem.”

The survey indicates that even immigrant-friendly New York has reached the breaking point with the unrelenting crisis.

Nearly two-thirds of voters, 64%, say New Yorkers have done enough for new migrants and must now work to “slow the flow” of migrants from the border, compared to 29% who say the state should accept and work to assimilate them. That’s a higher figure than the 58% of voters who said so in August.

Mayor Eric Adams was roundly criticized for saying the migrant crisis would “destroy New York City” without aggressive federal intervention. But 58% of voters said they agreed with Adams’s statement, and the support of his dire claim was consistent from all regions of the state.

54% of voters said migration has been more of a burden, while just 32% said it’s a benefit, a worse figure than in the prior August poll.

Biden, 80, has trouble with his own base. A majority of New York Democratic voters — 52% — said they want a nominee other than Biden to be the party’s standard bearer for president. Only 41% of Democrats said they want him as the nominee for re-election.

Thomas Barnes, a 44-year-old transit mechanic, predicted a “huge red wave” in the 2024 contest.

“If this election goes any other way, I think it is time for the American citizens to take a good look at our election system.“ 

“Biden’s funding two proxy wars, Americans are not only broke, it’s getting worse — the crime rate is sky high. Law abiding citizens are afraid for their lives. I’m a transit worker, I see shit every night. Democratic policy is what got us to this point,” he said, while adding he also blamed Republican Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot for sending migrants to sanctuary cities.

“The working class is getting squeezed to nothing. We got nothing left. It’s our tax dollars, not the rich. I think Donald Trump has a really good shot [with] demographics that have historically voted Democrat — it’s all over social media. Black people are done with the Democrat party. It’s promise after promise during election season. Tons of pandering and no follow through. No delivery.” 

His favorability and job approval ratings are underwater and he leads former Republican President Donald Trump — who is fighting four indictments — just 46% to 37% in a hypothetical matchup, with the rest of the voters undecided. His lead over Trump is shaved to 7 percentage points if Robert Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West run on minor party lines.

Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who has fought the opening of migrant shelters on her Staten Island turf, said, “New Yorkers overwhelmingly disapprove of Democrats’ open borders.

“From President Biden to Governor Hochul to Mayor Adams, they have created an unsustainable and unsafe crisis at the expense of their own citizens,” Malliotakis continued.

“Senators Schumer and Gillibrand should stop holding up our Border Security Act that passed the House in May and end this madness.”

Former Democratic Rep. Max Rose, who lost his seat to Malliotakis three years ago said the president “can’t ignore” the migrant issue.

“The Biden administration and Democrats have to show they can effectively and humanely manage the migrant issue or face serious election consequences,” said Rose.

“This could make the 2022 backlash over riots and crime look like a walk in the park,” he said.

Rose predicted Biden will carry New York in the presidential race next year because of the overwhelming Democratic vote in NYC. But Democratic candidates for Congress could lose if Biden fares poorly at the top of the ticket in the suburbs and upstate, he said.

In terms of popularity, 52% of voters said they had an unfavorable view of Biden compared to 45% who had a favorable view. Similarly, 51% of respondents disapproved of his job performance while 46% approved.

A staggering 65% of New Yorkers say the United States is going in the wrong direction under a Biden presidency, while just 25% said it’s on the right track with the remainder undecided.

Felix Ramos, a 26-year-old security worker, said if the polling trend continued, Biden would have to blame himself. 

“New York might just become a red state, and that’s when you know you did a bad job as a president.” 

Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2-1 and the last GOPer to carry New York in a presidential race was Ronald Reagan in 1984. But last year, Republican Lee Zeldin ran a competitive race for governor against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and the GOP picked up congressional seats.

“And also true is that right now, Biden has his worst-ever New York favorability and job approval ratings,” said Siena’s Greenberg. “The good news for Biden is the election is more than a year away. The bad news is there’s more bad news,” Greenberg said.

“While 70% of Democrats view Biden favorably, and 70% of Democrats approve of the job he’s doing, 52% of Democrats say they want a different presidential nominee in 2024.”

Zeldin, for his part, said “President Biden should start preparing a concession speech” if the trend continued.

“If New York is close, you can only imagine where voters are heading in swing states,” the former Long Island congressman said.

“There is an intensified desire for a correction over disastrous one-party Democratic rule in New York.”

Only 30% of voters statewide approve of Adams’ handling of migrants’ issue while 46% disapprove. Even in New York City, 50% of Adams’ constituents disapproved while 41% approved.

Only 30% of voters statewide approve of Adams handling of migrants’ issue while 46% disapprove. Even in New York City, 50% of Adams’ constituents disapproved while 41% approved.

Only 37% of respondents statewide approve of Hochul’s handling of the migrant crisis, while 52% disapprove.

Public safety remains a major concern — 59% of voters statewide say crime has gotten worse over the past year, while just 9% said it’s gotten better and 28% said the same.

In New York City, 51% of voters said crime has gotten worse, while 33% said the same and just 12% better.

That’s a potential problem for Adams, who made bolstering public safety his top campaign pledge for City Hall in 2021.

The survey of 1,225 registered voters was conducted from Oct. 15-19, after the terrorist group’s Hamas invasion and slaughter of Israelis and Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza. It has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

The poll found that 57% of New Yorkers support providing more military and economic aid to Israel, compared to 32% opposed.

Meanwhile, 51% of responders back providing more military and economic aid to Ukraine while 38% were opposed.

“New York needs help and we have been asking for help but all [Biden] does is send help to other countries and lounge on the beach. Pathetic,” said Ortiz, the Queens straphanger.

On the Middle East war, 50% of voters agreed with the statement that Israel must do everything it can to get back the hostages taken by Hamas, but Israeli attacks in Gaza will largely hurt innocent Palestinian civilians more than anyone else

But 32% of voters agreed with the statement that after the surprise terrorist attacks Hamas carried out on Israeli civilians, Israel must do everything it can in the Gaza territory to make sure it never happens again, regardless of casualties.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"...it is not surprising that a group of [political] Catholic youth would focus on the anti-religious content of the UO [Université ouvrière] message. But, as we have seen above, [dissident communist Albert] Saint-Martin’s opponents on the left frequently made the same point. The historian Andrée Lévesque has examined the surviving transcripts of lectures from the later years of the UO (starting in 1932) and comments:

Few dealt directly with communism, and a large number were anti-clerical harangues denouncing the power and wealth of the church or Roman Catholic dogmas such as the Immaculate Conception.

In a piece looking back at interwar Montreal, Communist Party secretary Stanley Ryerson was highly dismissive of Saint-Martin, describing him as an “anti-clerical socialist”:

French-Canadian communists in Montreal were critical of this anti-clerical trend. To Saint-Martin’s anti-religious diatribes (lectures on the ‘Immaculate Conception’ and the like), they counterposed proposals for united action in support of … the unemployed; to which Saint-Martin’s rejoinder was to advocate at most a Ghandi-like [sic] policy of passive resistance.”

Immediately after this criticism, however, Ryerson admitted that “even among the militant francophone radicals … the trace of an earlier ex-Catholic aversion to the robes noires remained.” He described riding as the passenger of the communist Roméo Duval, who startled him by suddenly swerving and speeding towards a priest who was crossing the street. The clergyman just barely leaped to safety. Shocked, Ryerson asked Duval why he had done that. The driver replied “off-handedly” that he always did it when he got the chance; he couldn’t help himself. Ryerson’s pairing of these anecdotes belies his assertion that orthodox communists always avoided the anticlerical extremes of the heretical Saint-Martin."

- Elliot Hanowski, Towards A Godless Dominion: Unbelief in Interwar Canada. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024. p. 181-182.

[coochiequeens]

I know there is a lot to say about the Catholic Church but what exactly was the point of this display of exhibitionism?

An active member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of predominantly gay men who openly mock Catholics, was arrested in California last month for indecent exposure after witnesses say he masturbated in public for an hour, according to a sheriff’s office report obtained by The Daily Wire. 

The man, 53-year-old Clinton Monroe Ellis-Gilmore, was arrested by police at a beachside park after they received a report of a male “exposing himself in the driver’s seat of a parked vehicle,” the Humboldt County Sheriff’s department said. 

“According to numerous witnesses, Ellis-Gilmore had been at that location for approximately one hour, sitting in his truck with the door open, masturbating,” according to a sheriff’s report on the incident, which took place on August 12 at around 6:41 p.m. “The conduct does not appear to have been directed at anyone in particular.” 

The arrest took place at Table Bluff County Park in Loleta, California, with over an hour of daylight still left. Google lists the park as “good for kids” and home to “kid-friendly hikes.”

A mugshot obtained by The Daily Wire from Ellis-Gilmore’s booking indicates that he was at least shirtless at the time of the arrest. The Eureka Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence did not respond to a request for comment on Ellis-Gilmore.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence made headlines earlier this year after the Los Angeles Dodgers decided to honor the group at a “Pride” event. The group makes fun of Christianity and its members are men in traditional nun clothing that frequently use sexually suggestive names. It won the support, however, of many in the media, which defended the group from critics who said it was a perverted hate group and celebrated it for its “dedication to community service.”

Ellis-Gilmore’s initial arrest was only reported by a local Humboldt County website, The Lost Coast Populist, which located many of his old social media posts and first linked Ellis-Gilmore to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Randy Fleek, a witness who spoke with the arresting deputies, told The Daily Wire that Ellis-Gilmore made no attempt to hide what was going on. He said that Ellis-Gilmore parked two spots away from his trailer and had his left leg out the open door of the truck and right leg up on the dashboard with no pants on, which gave him full side view of Ellis-Gilmore “playing with himself.”

“Well this is f***ed up,” Fleek said of what he saw. “It’s obvious. You cannot help but see this guy, he’s not hiding it. He wants everyone to see what he’s doing.”

He added that cars came and went throughout the hour, including some with young women. He also said that Ellis-Gilmore had his shirt on at the beginning but was naked by the end. He said he was happy when the sheriff deputies arrived, took him out of the truck, and got him dressed.

“There’s something wrong with that man. He’s got a weird f***ing desire to show off to the public, to anybody that wants to look at him,” Fleek said. “He puts himself in a position and in a spot that you can’t help but look at the son of a b***.”

He described the location as “popular” and one where a lot of vehicles come through to look at the ocean which he said made what he witnessed more disturbing. “People pull in to see the ocean, they don’t pull in to see this. But you can’t help but see,” he said of Ellis-Gilmore’s alleged actions. 

Ellis-Gilmore, the alleged public masturbater, has been active in the local Eureka, California, chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for years. Ellis-Gilmore appears to go by several names in the group, including “Novice Sister Bethe Cockhim,” and “Novice Sister Man Romeo,” according to social media posts. 

Pictures on social media place him at numerous events with his husband, Bill Gilmore, who goes by “Saint Gives More” — “Sainthood” in the group is bestowed on only the most dedicated community members. 

Among the Eureka Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence events that Ellis-Gilmore participated in was a book reading at an elementary school where a man wearing a mock-nun outfit and Ellis-Gilmore, wearing fake blond braids, a dress, and fishnet tights, read to children.

Facebook Screen shot.

“Yesterday sisters had the most magical time reading story books to the Peninsula elementary school kids in recognition of them Studying LGBT awareness month! Thanks for the honor!” a post from October 31, 2018 said. 

The post tagged the Facebook account for “Novice Sister Bethe Cockhim,” an account that appears to be run by Ellis-Gilmore. 

Prior to the event at the school, Ellis-Gilmore and his group had a history of sexually charged posts on social media. One post from the Sisters exhibited two members holding a plastic penis while posts from Ellis-Gilmore showed off his nipple piercing and a cartoon “gay” Smurf illustration that featured erections and pubic hair. 

The event took place at Peninsula Union, a public elementary school in Humboldt County nearby where Ellis-Gilmore was arrested. The school did not respond to a request for comment on the Sisters, and whether it has hosted the group since.

Ellis-Gilmore’s social media is filled with Satanic and sexual themed posts, including one meme about oral sex featuring a pacifier, a lollipop, an ice cream bar, and a penis with the caption “Shhhhhhhh….it’s ok, you’ve been preparing for this your whole life.” 

Another post features a faux certificate from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence that says “pleasure should be your god, lust your temple, and sex your sacrament” while another said “Be gay, hail Satan.”

Ellis-Gilmore was charged with indecent exposure, a misdemeanor on first offense, which according to California penal code can result in six months of prison time, a $1,000 fine, and a requirement to register as a sex offender. 

[skinnedlknees]

BASICS

FULL NAME: KIM CHAN-YEOL [ 김찬열 ]

» MEANING: Kim [ (Hangul: 김) is the most common surname in Korea. Kim is written as 김 (gim) in both North and South Korea. The hanja for Kim, 金, can also be transliterated as 금 (geum) which means "gold, metal, iron". ) was the name of a family that rose to prominence and became the rulers of Silla for 700 years. .]; Chan-yeol [ From Sino-Korean 燦 (chan) "vivid, illuminating; bright" and 烈 (yeol) "fiery, violent, vehement, ardent".]

VERSES: The Game, Excess Baggage, Fear of 13.

NICKNAME(S): Chan, Channie.

AGE: 28-years old.

DATE OF BIRTH: 1994 September 12, Monday.

PLACE OF BIRTH: Gwangju, South Korea.

OCCUPATION: English/Korean Teacher.

RELIGION: Born Catholic, non-practicing. Spiritual but not religious.

ORIENTATION: Heterosexual; heteroromantic.

GENDER: Cisgender male.

PERSONALITY

STRENGTHS: Loyal, Analytical, Kind, Hardworking, Practical.

WEAKNESSES: Shyness, Workaholic, Insecure, Overly Critical, Worry a lot.

APPEARANCE

FACE CLAIM: Kim Nam-joon.

HEIGHT: 6’0��� [ 182 cm.]

WEIGHT: 154 lbs. [ 70 kg. ]

BUILD: Athletic.

GAIT: TBA.

HAIR COLOR: Black.

EYE COLOR: Brown.

BIRTHMARK: TBA.

OVERVIEW:

» SCARS: Small ones from playing when he was little.

» TATTOOS: None.

BACKGROUND

HOMETOWN: Gwangju, South Korea.

RESIDENCES: Gwangju and Seoul, South Korea.

NATIONALITY: Korean.

ETHNICITY: Asian.

FINANCIAL: Lower middle-class.

EDUCATION LEVEL: University graduate.

DEGREES: Education.

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: Chanyeol is fluent in Hangul, his native language. He is also fluent in English which he teaches in high school. He is also learning some other European languages like French and Spanish. He is fluent in Japanese and can converse well in Mandarin.

RELATIONSHIPS

PARENTS: Names to be added; both alive.

SIBLINGS: Younger brother and sister.

CHILDREN: He has no children.

PETS: He has a cat.

SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS: Chanyeol is very good friends with Riri. They met when Chanyeol briefly lived in Jeju with his mother’s parents due to some hardships. He went to school there but eventually transferred back to Gwangju to finish. 

» TBA.

FAMILY HISTORY: There’s nothing much extraordinary about Chanyeol’s life. He grew up in a loving home although you can say his parents are ‘traditional.’ They were strict and still are and stressed out the importance of finishing school. His mother was an elementary teacher and his father was a farmer. Chanyeol and his siblings helped out their parents as they grew up not having a lot although their parents always made sure there's food on the table. 

Chanyeol and his siblings were raised to be humble and family-oriented.

Chanyeol went to college in Seoul; his parents working hard to send him to a university where he could get good education. He worked at the same time to help pay for his tuition although he did get scholarship because of his exceptional grades.

Chanyeol didn’t right away finish college. He had to stop for a year when his father got sick. He went back home to help around the farm and also support his younger siblings. He finally returned to university when his father was strong enough to manage some work. 

Once he graduated, he right away went job hunting and once working, he made sure to help out his parents. His mother still teaches but only part-time and manages a small store with his father as well. Both of his siblings are also in school. 

Chanyeol is very focused on work; he loves teaching. He works part-time as a sub at a high school in Seoul and he does cram school teaching English as well. He does private tutoring which makes him most of his money.

Re-connecting with Riri in Seoul gave Chanyeol an opportunity to open up a whole new side of his career. He has been hired by a few managers and trainers to tutor their young idol trainees. 

ROMANTIC HISTORY: Chanyeol dated but when his parents start nagging him about getting married, he doesn’t necessarily get scared but he breaks up with his s/o - he doesn’t like the pressure of being forced to start his own family. Besides, he has a lot he would like to achieve. 

PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS: He is good friends with Riri and Hajun.

THOUGHTS ON LOVE: "Has its time and place.”

HEALTH

PHOBIA(S): Nothing really.

HANDICAP(S): None.

MENTAL DISORDER: Anxiety.

PHYSICAL DISEASE(S): None.

PREDISPOSITION(S): Depression.

[grison-in-space]

My queue reminded me about this one as desired. I toddled off to find some reporting about the current state of the AZ hotline, because it's been a few weeks since March. As of last week, at least one Arizona public education advocacy organization is already beginning to push to kill this thing on grounds that it's a waste of time asking parents to "snitch on teachers", and the prank calls and emails are giving her some excellent ammo. As of last report they'd had about 2,000 emails and 600 voice calls, the vast majority of which have not yielded any useful information. The AZ Central is openly calling for citizens to flood the hotline with calls to support teachers, bless them.

I also found this US News note, which mentioned a few similar hotlines:

In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin created a tip line in January 2022. But his office said it was deactivated in September after it “received little to no volume” of pertinent calls, USA Today reported. In 2021, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson established an online portal for concerns about anything being taught in the state's public schools. Many used it to send in criticisms of him.

And the Louisiana Illuminator, bless their hearts, filed a FOIA request and got the text of all the complaints submitted to Louisiana's "Protecting Minors" tipline.

It's looking pretty great, y'all. The Illuminator piece has some incredible ideas for wasting time:

Hundreds of users complained about The Bible, pointing to passages that describe explicit sexual activity, rape, incest and abortion. The complaints say these portions of the Bible are inappropriate for children. 

Several complaints raged at Landry for refusing to set up a tip line for clergy abuse. 

“In 2018, the Louisiana attorney general stated that he couldn’t set up a tip line for people to report clergy sexual abuse because he didn’t have the authority to prosecute them… Clearly the Church has an established history of child sexual abuse, but you have decided to waste funds on a dead-ended search for that abuse in libraries rather than where it really exists,” wrote one user, only identified as John. 

Others submitted the addresses of Catholic churches and lists of Louisiana clergy members who have been accused of sexual assault. 

Out of the thousands of pages of complaints, only a small handful appeared to be made with serious intent. Upon closer inspection, some comments that initially appeared to be serious were actually against schools, libraries and books that do not exist. 

The key takeaway here is that flooding these tiplines works to tie up the hands of the people doing the investigations, makes them ineffective, and wastes the time of American taxpayers. It's a great thing to do when you're feeling helpless, however you can muster. The sheer diversity of the calls, letters, and emails presented proves that this is something that millions of Americans care deeply about, and that no one is going to sit down and let these book-burning assholes put their mealy-mouthed, regressive words into the mouths of teachers and public schools.

(And they make mighty good reading for journalists to publish, just saying.)

So Arizona launched an “education hotline” that allows “concerned parents” to report “””critical race theory””” and other things like ~gender identity~ being taught in the classroom

It would be a shame if the number and email were spread to bad actors looking to prank call the AZ Department of Education

602-771-3500 or empower @ azed .gov 🤡

[thedisastrouslifeofnia]

Take Me To Church

breaking down hozier's "take me to church"

My lover's got humor She's the giggle at a funeral Knows everybody's disapproval I should've worshiped her sooner If the Heavens ever did speak She's the last true mouthpiece

The first two lines of the song could be meant as the lover of the protagonist being a sweet person with a warm and carefree personality whom they met at the church(=funeral) — the church is compared to a funeral because of how grim and strict the church was.

The third and fourth lines speak of how the church of their love was against the norms of the church, hence the disapproval of others. Referencing the first and second line where the protagonist speaks of his lover warmly, it could also be interpreted as how his lover could bring joy and warmth of a religion compared to the cold church — the “I should’ve worshipped her sooner” line supports this interpretation, as he sees his lover as someone more worthy of worship and to follow than to the church’s cold and harsh norms.

His lover being the true mouthpiece, “mouthpiece” is defined as “one that conveys the opinions or sentiments of others”. If the Heavens ever did speak, it would be his lover that would convey all the divine messages of Heaven to humanity - he is equating his lover to that of an angel.

Every Sunday's getting more bleak A fresh poison each week "We were born sick", you heard them say it My church offers no absolutes

Every Sunday's getting more bleak with a fresh poison each week could be interpreted as the weekly sermon of the church and how they would spew such poisonous teachings to others — the teachings of the Christians and Catholics are not poisonous, but how those teachings are being used to antagonize anyone who has humane desires and the minorities, demanding only purity from humans is what we can say is poisonous.

“Born sick” is usually used against the minorities of the LGBTQIA+ communities, so it could be said that Hozier is criticizing the church’s way of condemning the queer community. 

The church offering no absolutes could mean how contradicting the church’s belief practice was. Most churches praised the Lord and how His love could be the one to “save” the queer community, as one of the most popular misconceptions of queers is that they are hypersexual, filled to the brim with lust, which is one of the great sins. They preached of how God’s love can “save” the queer community and insisted on spreading “the love”, not realizing or even understanding that trying to “save” the queer community from what they call sin is an act of hatred towards other people’s sexuality, refusing to "love thy neighbor".

The church insists on how spreading the love of the Lord is what would “heal” the queer community, yet whenever they do this, they are not spreading love but instead was practicing a form of oppression towards the queer community.  

This song is about a gay love that sparked within the harsh, cold community of a church that looks and brings down homosexuals and all the other things that are human.

Another interpretation of “we were born sick” could also be about how humans were conceived and born into sin - lust being one of them. This couple could be a highly sexual-driven couple and one of them or even both are ashamed of these “unholy” acts.

She tells me, "Worship in the bedroom" The only Heaven I'll be sent to Is when I'm alone with you I was born sick, but I love it Command me to be well A-, Amen, Amen, Amen 

His lover is telling him to “worship in the bedroom”, which could be a piece of advice regarding the religious dilemma/trauma that the protagonist goes through as he tries to accept himself as a queer man. Instead of feeling guilty about being what they are, his lover suggests reclaiming their sexuality and accepting themselves and one of the first steps to do that together was to worship each other in the bedroom(=sex).

The “the only Heaven I’ll be sent to is when I’m alone with you” line proves that the previous advice worked for the protagonist. He feels the sex they have is truly divine and the love of his lover was enough for him to start worshipping them - a figure that is loving and full of passion, unlike the cold and suffocating church and its teachings.

The “I was born sick, but I love it” line speaks of how the protagonist is now accepting himself, using the words of the church and claiming to love the fact that he’s a queer man. “Command me to be well” was a request to his lover, whom he now worships - he feels so much love and passion that he was willing to do anything his lover wanted and all they had to do was to command him. 

Take me to church I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife Offer me that deathless death Good God, let me give you my life

The chorus talks of how the protagonist, now accepting himself and learning more about his religious dilemmas, attends the church. He asks to be taken to church, perhaps a line to express his anger or bitterness at the fact that he had been following its teachings, worshipping in the shrine of lies(=church). 

“I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife” might meant that upon admitting his so-called “sins”, he was aware of the judgment that will follow after and hurt him. This was essentially how most conservative churches work where they will use the confessions (secrets) of others against you to become stronger, by using cleansing methods to erase “all evil”.

Deathless death could refer to two things; an eternal afterlife or what some may refer to as Heaven and love, but personally I think it refers to love more as Hozier once stated that “falling in love or being in love was a death, a death of everything”. Love is not a literal death, but in a way it could bring the death of self-hatred, loneliness, and much, much more. A deathless death.

🗣️ “A fundamental pledge made to you in church. After you pass away, they assure you of a paradise. But you won’t gain anything on the other end until you put in your living hours. And it’s a really bad bargain!” - Hozier, regarding the afterlife.

“Good God, let me give you my life” could be the protagonist’s pleas to his lover instead of the church — however, it could also be the protagonist is still willing to give and dedicate himself to his church despite knowing their shrine of lies and their wrong teachings.

If I'm a pagan of the good times My lover's the sunlight

He is choosing his lover as the object of his worship instead. The Pagans do not believe in the typical Christian God but instead believe in divinity within nature, the sun being one of them. Also, “pagans” has been used many times as an insult to someone who is considered “irreligious” or “hedonistic” by the church, so this could also be the protagonist using the church’s words and claiming that if having a good time is considered a sin, then his lover would be the center of his sin. 

It also could be some sort of wordplay where the protagonist believes his lover is someone who sheds light on his dark, gloomy life where he has been hating himself for who he is. His lover is “the light of his life”. 

To keep the Goddess on my side She demands a sacrifice Drain the whole sea Get something shiny

This one is pretty self-explanatory. To keep the “Goddess”, his lover, by his side, there need to be some sort of sacrifice. Pagan beliefs practice offerings instead of sacrifices and the protagonist compares that practice with being in love, where to keep the relationship happy and well, he needed to offer something.

Sometimes the things needed seemed impossible, like “draining the whole sea” and perhaps even accepting himself, which is something the protagonist had thought to be impossible before his lover came. But other times, a piece of simple jewelry could suffice (both in offerings and to his lover). 

Something meaty for the main course That's a fine-looking high horse What you got in the stable? We've a lot of starving faithful That looks tasty That looks plenty This is hungry work

This one is pretty interesting to me because I see it as a bunch of wordplay.

“Something meaty for the main course” implies there’s a hunger that is felt and it craves something specific with full interest. Who feels a craving? Is it the protagonist? What does he crave?

The high horse here could be used to criticize the church and their belief of the queer community is full of sin and that the church’s way is the “true” path, placing themselves and their views on a pedestal and teaching and/or forcing others to do the same. 

But as I’ve said before, this stanza is a bunch of wordplay in my eyes, so the fact that a “horse” is mentioned right after implying the want of something “meaty”(=interesting) could be strung together to insinuate there is a hunger or a want for something that is similar to the high pedestal the church has. 

“What you got in the stable?” could be a way to ask "what sort of belief do you have?” as the previous line refers to the belief of the church as a “high horse”. 

“We’ve a lot of starving faithful” feels like a callout to the people who do not yet have a belief — their minds still empty, a vessel yet to be filled by doctrines of the old. It could be Hozier’s way of saying people come to the church in pursuit of a belief that could satisfy them (I use the term 'satisfy' very loosely here). Upon finding what exactly is the practice that is being set, all sorts of comments began to pour in, such as “that looks tasty” and “that looks plenty”, which means the church’s beliefs and the way they practice it is something that satisfies themselves.

“This is hungry work” meant that the practice of the general church where they demonize and condemn minorities, specifically the queer community, was just a way to satisfy themselves — the feeling of being above others and hating on them was the work of people hungry for a sense of superiority. This also serves as some sort of warning about how not processing the teachings of the Bible could end up very bad to the point they’d go against the teachings themselves.

One with a mind who cannot process the teachings of a billion-year-old scripture is bound to be easily brainwashed by the church.  

No masters or kings when the ritual begins There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene Only then I am human Only then I am clean Oh, oh, Amen, Amen, Amen

“When the ritual begins” could mean when sexual intercourse unfolds. There is no master or king in such a personal act — only people with equal footing who chose to love and worship each other, giving themselves to each other as proof. They do not think about social norms, the church, or God. They only think of each other.

“There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin” is my favorite line in the song. The gentle sin mentioned is referring to their sexuality or even their intercourse — the protagonist uses the word “sin”, a word that would always be present when you sit down to talk about homosexuality or fornication (at least, outside of marriage) in the perspective of a Christian or Catholic church was beautiful because no sin had ever been gentle. There is no sweeter innocence than their “gentle sin” because there’s no sweeter innocence to love someone of the same gender and to have sex to prove that. Both homosexuality nor sex is a sin — it is love and never has it been a sin to love someone.

“In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene” refers to the madness he sees outside of the safe space he has with his lover — a cruel world and community they’re both a part of that hates them for who they are, something they were born with and cannot change about themselves. 

“Only then I am human” is a wonderful line because all this time, the protagonist has been referring to himself as a dog. Perhaps he felt like one because of this loyalty he has to his church or their hard-to-get-rid-of principles or because society has been treating him like an animal just because he wasn’t straight. He feels like he could easily accept himself in the presence of his lover “when the ritual begins”, reclaiming his sexuality. 

“Only then I am clean” is the protagonist’s way of saying the effects of the church’s teachings are still in his head and he thinks that he is still “dirty” of sin and he feels like the only way to feel cleansed was to be with his lover who he had said to be “a giggle at a funeral”. In a way, his lover sheds light on his life of religious dilemmas and helps him feel like he’s human, teaching him that there is nothing wrong with loving one another.

[back-and-totheleft]

The old college triad

Call them city boys. Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Spike Lee are not only NYU film school’s most prominent graduates, they’re provocateurs in the most colorful Gotham sense.

Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of NYU’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television (part of the Tisch School of the Arts), asserts the filmmakers reflect the curriculum’s “strong auteur philosophy.”

Stone likes to think they share “a New York state of mind,” or, as he elaborates for Variety, “an irascibility … something energetic, and off-putting sometimes, and it comes out in Spike’s work and in Marty’s, and I think it comes out in mine — but each in different ways.”

All three are experiencing a banner year with big-studio productions featuring strong scripts written by relative novices. And for Stone and Lee, who are coming off what might be termed a baroque period of overly mannered movies that served as fresh meat for their detractors, vindication is sweet.

Newsweek’s David Ansen called Lee’s “The Inside Man” a film that “crackles with the seriocomic tension of thin-skinned New Yorkers thrown together in a crisis,” while the New Yorker’s David Denby says with “World Trade Center,” “Stone bulls his way into our emotions with his usual force but with greater clarity, sanity and measure than in the past, and he is better at violent spectacle and at capturing the stages of dying than any other director.”

Scorsese, whose classes Stone and Lee attended at NYU, has received the most uniform praise with “The Departed,” a crime drama in which his chosen milieu — the mean streets of New York — have been replaced by those of Boston’s South Side. “This is the movie that Scorsese fans have been yearning to see for a very long time,” wrote Joe Morgenstern in his Wall Street Journal review, “and it’s a crowd-pleaser in the bargain.”

In a way, working within the confines of genre — albeit with strong narratives and punchy dialogue — has benefited both Scorsese and Lee. For his part, Stone was dealing with a subject — the terrorist attacks of 9/11 — that required the kind of sensitivity with which he’d appear to be at odds.

“The grandiosity (of recent Stone projects) looked like his self-indulgence knew no bounds,” says author, film scholar and critic Molly Haskell. “With (‘World Trade Center’), he couldn’t dominate the story, so he chose instead just to serve it.”

If Scorsese, Lee and Stone have been shaped by their experience at NYU — which Stone calls “a home of ideas” — they hailed from different backgrounds.

Scorsese, a native of Manhattan’s Little Italy, seriously considered joining the Catholic priesthood before attending film school in the early ’60s.

Stone, the son of a successful Wall Street stockbroker, dropped out of Yale and did a tour of duty in Vietnam (for which he was awarded the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart) before he enrolled at NYU.

And Lee, who spent his formative years in Brooklyn, attended Morehouse College before earning a graduate degree from Tisch.

The three directors have not only given back as instructors (Lee has been teaching at NYU for the past 10 years) and with financial support, the subjects and themes they explored as students remain very much with them today.

Scorsese’s senior class short, “It’s Not Just You, Murray” (1964), centers on an aging mobster who reflects on his life of crime; Stone’s 11-minute student film from 1971 is titled “Last Year in Viet Nam”; and Lee’s controversial NYU short “The Answer” (1980) reimagines a remake of D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” from the perspective of a black screenwriter.

“When you start out young, you’ve got to believe you’re going to change the world,” Haskell says. “They certainly did. And they wanted to change the way movies were made. They all had more of an agenda than most people who come out of film schools, especially West Coast film schools. They weren’t looking to get into the industry to do smooth, polished work. There was something more gritty, more urban, more violent, edgier.”

School for scrappers

Or, as Morgenstern puts it, “They’ve all been infected by the idea of film as more than something that opens on a Friday night, makes a killing over the weekend and disappears.”

That ethos is reflected in NYU’s fostering of individual voices.

Campbell says: “One of the things our faculty says about teaching is, ‘I’m not interested in the film that I want to make, I’m interested in who you are and the film you want to make.’ And everything we do is about finding out what your story is, and then giving you the tools to make that story.”

Stone recalls NYU as offering “a certain degree of independence. We were all on our own, there was no money, it was like a rat’s nest of competing ideologies. We’d have to fight for our budgets, our scripts. I remember every film was a struggle. So it was a scrappy way of learning.”

This struggle has remained with Scorsese, Stone and Lee throughout their careers. Even in the wake of such career high points as “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas,” Scorsese has always harbored the fear that every film could be his last, that whatever suit was signing his checks could pull the plug at any moment.

“At least until recently, (Scorsese, Stone and Lee) have represented a sort of urban New York counterpart to the industry,” Haskell explains. “They’re sort of anti-industry, and maybe that’s one of the reasons they’ve had such a hard time in terms of Academy Awards.”

Between the three of them, they have earned 20 Oscar nominations, but only Stone has won, thrice: for directing “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July” and for writing “Midnight Express.”

The year Lee received a screenplay nom for “Do the Right Thing” — his incendiary drama about racial tension in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood — presenter Kim Basinger famously departed from the script on Oscar night when she said: “We have five great films here and they are great for one reason — they tell the truth. But there is one film missing from the list that deserves to be honored because, ironically, it might tell the biggest truth of all. And that’s ‘Do the Right Thing.’ ”

“I think there was always that (sentiment),” recalls Haskell of Basinger’s extemporaneous remarks, “especially with (Lee), because there was this sort of desperate desire for some black filmmakers to make good. I think he’s very talented, but I think people put up with a lot from him, too, just because they wanted him to succeed, and they wanted that voice in movies, that vision.”

That vision still abounds in “The Inside Man.”

In the guise of a bank-heist movie, Lee injects the narrative — from a script by Russell Gewirtz — with a melting pot of ethnic flavors and post-9/11 paranoia that’s at once tense and funny.

Veneration gap

“He brought all that New York energy to the film,” Morgenstern says. “The movie is really densely populated, and it’s fascinating to me that after all these worthy attempts at small, personal films that haven’t really connected with an audience — black or white — here Spike Lee was brought in as a director for hire, and he’s obviously had his way with the script, and his imprint is on the material.”

If Lee has felt shortchanged by the Academy, he’s not saying. Multiple calls and emails to his handlers went unanswered. But, like Scorsese, who also is not talking to the press, he seems to have made peace with an industry that has given him multiple platforms and opportunities as a filmmaker.

“I think they sort of exorcized some of their personal demons,” says Haskell of NYU’s power trio. “And once you become accepted, or even venerated, you don’t make the same films anymore. And there would be something faux about it if they did. They have grown, they’ve matured.”

Stone, who now makes his home in Los Angeles, puts it another way. “Hollywood — it’s a muse, and also a bitch goddess, but it’s made a good life for me. In the end, I can’t complain, because I do think she gave me some good breaks. And I couldn’t get those in New York, which is why I had to leave.”

-Steve Chagollan, "The old college triad," Variety, Oct 25 2006

[dominickeating-source]

Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine (2002)

Set Phasers on Stunned

Brit. actor Dominic Keating tells what it's like zooming at warp speed from failed cocktail waiter to playing weapons lieutenant Malcolm Reed on Enterprise, the latest incarnation of Star Trek.

Just two years ago, a frustrated Dominic Keating, who had emigrated from England in the early 1990s with the single-minded goal of making it big as an actor, was on the verge of "throwing in the towel" -- like untold thousands before him.

After too many near-misses, his decision to split was spurred by his failure to land a guest-starring spot on Star Trek: Voyager after he thought he'd aced the audition. Austin, Texas, and a change of career beckoned. Then came a call from Star Trek's executive producer Rick Berman, who wanted to see Keating again. He'd been saving the actor for a role in the franchise's 5th series in 35 years, Enterprise.

Keating, who was living in a $400-a-month apartment at the time, recalls the moment his life changed: Berman asked him, "Are you free for the next 7 years?" In an instant, the now-thirtysomething Keating went from earnest wannabe to TV star with a long-term contract in hand.

Enterprise, which is seen in more than a dozen countries worldwide, made its U.S. debut in September 2001 with boffo ratings for UPN and critics suggesting that it had re-energized the aging franchise. As Weapons Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, Keating is one of a seven-person ensemble cast (led by Scott Bakula as Capt. Jonathan Archer). And though Keating isn't involved, the new film "Nemesis" opens in theaters this month to further stoke interest in the current show.

Keating has participated in a dozen sci-fi conventions around this country and in Europe. In Germany, 7,000 screaming fans made him feel like he was "headlining in a boy band." A multicity Australian tour beckons in 2003.

His tale is an Everyman story, about a hard-working, average guy whose cards came up trumps. Keating tells "Spirit" how he beat the odds.

Spirit: Your face is now seen by millions of people around the world, but what has your first professional job?

Keating: I made my professional performing debut in a "two-man" drag act at the Cabaret Club in Bournemouth, England. When this good Catholic boy finally plucked up the courage to tell his mum what he was doing to get his union card -- dancing nightly in a pair of black Lycra shorts with the bum cut out in red piping -- she sent me a good luck card, saving "Let's hope your bottom gets you to the top!"

Spirit: What did you really thank would happen when you got to Hollywood?

Keating: I thought I'd be famous in a year <laughs>. I used to sit near the Hollywood sign, looking out across LA, and I had conversations with this town about what I was going to do here. But a year before landing Star Trek, I was watching daytime TV, scratching by backside, and waiting for that call. I also quit because I thought I'd missed the boat.

Spirit: What was your first job in Hollywood?

Keating: A sexy cable series called "Love Street." I gatecrashed the audition. I played a pop star who was down on his luck, but through the love of a good woman with ample assets, his creative juices, so to speak, are rekindled. When I first read the script, it was -- very smart car, great costumes, fabulous house, pop-star makes love by a fireplace, makes more love in the swimming pool. And it was very Al Pacino, if I say so myself. But I'm afraid with time out for commercials, it came down to just 20 minutes and a soft-focus lens. It's probably the worst job I've done since I've been here.

Spirit: What did you find was the key to hanging in there?

Keating: Well if I had to do it again, I'd have taken therapy earlier <laughs>. The way I see it, you can have enormous talent and even a lot of luck, but I reckon hard work and tenacity win the day. I've supported my craft by doing everything -- thieving, begging, the usual stuff. I've been a fence builder, courier, cocktail waiter. At one point, I think I'd been fired from just about every bar on the Kings Road in Chelsea. I couldn't hold down those jobs. When I think of it, I've been fired from every job that wasn't an acting job.

Spirit: What advice would you give to aspiring actors?

Keating: I would never tell a child of mine to be an actor. It's just too hard, man, I'd never advise anybody to act or do anything, quite frankly, that's creative for a living. But if they can't stop themselves, then it was right for them to do it. When I decided to be an actor, I was so unemployable in any other field that I really had nowhere else to turn. For me, it's my outlet. If it wasn't for acting, I'd probably be dead.

My one gripe about the business is that very often it doesn't matter how good an actor you are. I've had to take that on the chin -- not to say that I'm the best actor, but I'm not a bad one. But it doesn't matter. So much of it is determined by how you look, physically <laughs>. I just wish I'd been better looking.

Spirit: What have you learned about dealing with Hollywood?

Keating: Rejection is the name of the game, and it's never easy. You gotta knock on a lot of doors. Contacts are invaluable. Agents -- can't live with 'em, can't work without 'em. Getting a good one is like pulling teeth, mate. It really is a catch-22. Yet, this town is built upon perception. You really need people to talk you up. I want to nail every audition I go to, don't get me wrong. But maybe I'm a little more pragmatic now about why I don't.

Spirit: What else would we not necessarily know about acting?

Keating: *Hurry up and wait* is the operative phrase in Hollywood. When they want you on set to do a scene, they want it now. But you've waited 3-1/2 hours and now you're caught in the loo with your trousers down, and suddenly now you gotta be ready for your close-up.

Spirit: But you're not complaining?

Keating: The actual acting is a lot easier than you think. I've learned that camera acting is a lot different than stage acting. Twenty-six episodes [in the 1st season alone] back-to-back, have allowed me to have more of a friendship with this black box [camera] that follows you around. Before, I was very anxious and very self-conscious because it brought out all sorts of self-esteem issues. But now I'm learning to work that camera, like the way I had an instinct how to do it in a live venue.

Spirit: Tell us about Trekkies, conventions, and why aren't there seat restraints on Star Trek bridges?

Keating: Why? It's a TV show. That's what I tell a lot of the fans. *It's a TV show.* Actually, the serious ones call themselves Trekkers. Anyway, I love 'em, mate. God bless 'em. Without them, none of this is possible. My first convention was pretty surreal. But they give me a chance to give back, if you will, for all that they're giving me.

The lucky thing for an actor getting a gig on the latest version of Star Trek is that you are guaranteed this fan base that wants to like it. So if you don't mess it up too badly, the fans are going to want you. I'm a bit of an Irish-Catholic and there's that part of me that wants to work for the money, so I do the conventions, sign the photos, and extend my hand, because they want to meet us. So why not give 'em what they want?

Spirit: Do you actually like science fiction?

Keating: As a kid, happiness was sitting in front of the TV with Scooby Doo and Star Trek. It was quite erotic, actually. Captain Kirk and chiffon ladies every week. That and the cover of "Cosmopolitan" were my early forays into [sex]. I loved Kirk because of the sexy chiffon and that two-fold scream of his [demonstrates]. Hands to the ears, pause then head thrown back.

Spirit: What's the secret to Star Trek's longevity?

Keating: It's got humor, drama, interesting characters, cool locations, and a little bit of the cat suit -- the sexy stuff. I read in the "Hollywood Reporter" that Star Trek was the most searched for TV classic on the Internet last year. Five different franchise series in 35 years -- it's a worldwide phenomenon, a monster.

Spirit: What are your general thoughts about television?

Keating: Cor, blimey! The opium of the masses. All my life I've sat in front of a television, and I'm trying not to have the TV on carte blanche now.

Spirit: What's the best and worst about working on a hit TV show?

Keating: The best? We've got a seven-year contract. I get to work every day. The money gives you freedom. I stepped up to a home in the Hollywood Hills with a pool and a killer view. Actually, just driving through those legendary Paramount gates, having the security guy nod at you, is special. There is no "worst" thing. Yeah, you might be there 16 hours a day, but you get a lovely trailer, and the food and phone calls are free. There's nothing to complain about.

Spirit: What'd you do with your first pay check?

Keating: The check I got for doing the pilot was the largest I've ever received for acting [nearly $36,000], so I photographed it with a digital camera and it's in my computer for all time. I didn't spend it; I hoarded it.

Spirit: What's your favorite line from the show so far?

Keating: It was spoken in the pilot, when my character introduced phaser pistols with two settings -- stun and kill. And I say, deadpan: "It would be best not to confuse them."

Source: www.dominickeating.com