#dean and righteously murdering kids

[watchingspnagain]

Rewatching When the Levee Breaks

Welcome to “Sam’s Got the DTs (Dimples, Tortured): A Supernatural Rewatch Blog” with Lor and Mace!

Up today, s4e21: When the Levee Breaks

Dean and Bobby keep Sam locked in the panic room, trying to detox him from the demon blood. Sam’s pleading and screaming clearly bother Dean, but they agree that they don’t really have other options. Sam hallucinates all manner of things, including his mother, himself as a teen, and his brother who calls him a monster. Dean calls on Cas for help, who says that Sam likely could kill Lilith but he’d have to drink so much demon blood that he’d no longer be human. He tells Dean that he’s the only one who can stop the apocalypse, and Dean reluctantly swears loyalty to heaven. Cas then, unbeknownst to Dean or Bobby, lets Sam out of the panic room. Bobby catches Sam trying to leave the property, but can’t shoot him. Sam knocks him out and goes to find Ruby, who tells him that there are only a few seals left and Lilith is the only one who can break the last one. Anna comes to Cas to berate him for his actions, but he protests that he is acting on orders before more angels arrive and capture Anna. Sam and Ruby are ready to leave to meet up with a demon Ruby says is close to Lilith, but Dean finds them and tries to kill Ruby. He and Sam fight, and Sam nearly knocks Dean out. As Sam is leaving, Dean tells him that if he leaves he should never come back.

Below is a log of our real-time reactions as we watched. Remember that there may be spoilers for any part of SPN’s 15-season run here. Note also that the nature of our conversation is adult and thus it may contain adult language and themes.

[and we begin:]

Lor:

"if it smells like a duck"?

Mace:

HA

Sam is so hot when he’s mad

Lor:

he IS

Mace:

your Dean is being a butt

Lor:

aw but lookit how tortured he is about it

Mace:

is he though?

i think we’ve seen him much more so

Lor:

well. that's probably true

Mace:

the self-righteousness is helping with it

Lor:

he's in a mood

Mace:

ew gross this dude

DONT YOU TOUCH MY STRINGBEAN

Lor:

right?

ooof, Sammy. your mind is being so mean to you

"oh wait. no one ever wrote one" BOBBY

Mace:

HA

SUCK DIRT AND DIE RUFUS

Lor:

"suck dirt and die" HAAAAAAHAHAHAHA

"he knows"

"you look just awful" SNORK

Mace:

christ he’s hot

Lor:

right? he's all sweaty and tortured

Mace:

YES

Lor:

look, MARY

Mace:

yeah she’s the worst

DIMPLE

TORTURED DIMPLE

Lor:

YAAAS

Mace:

he could just…embrace the evil? I’d still love him…more prolly

Lor:

YES

Mace:

Look, Cas, don’t confuse Chosen One with One You Want to Bone

Lor:

HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA

"if it gives you comfort to see it that way" ooooooof

Mace:

“say it” oooo, dom vibes

Lor:

omg the LOOKS they are giving each other

Mace:

right?

Lor:

"now you wait" PREFERABLY ON YOUR KNEES

Mace:

guys, stand a smidge closer, why don’t you

Lor:

LOLOLOL

"i'm sorry. you prefer sucker?"

Mace:

“the angel’s bitch” a little on the nose there Bobby

Lor:

lolololol

"that's a little too much nothing"

Mace:

toddler parent speak

Lor:

LOL

CLOSE THE DOOR

Mace:

well i think Bobby may actually have been born in a barn, so

Lor:

haahahahaha

Mace:

yeah, dean, quit hurting Sammy

Lor:

omg Dean, your face

Sam's hallucination of Dean has a collar that is VERY popped and real Dean's collar is not at all popped

Mace:

interesting!

Cas, what are you up to

Lor:

poor nugget. doing what heaven tells him to

Mace:

yeah Anna, go away

Oooh, I don’t like that she calls him Cas. Only the boys get to call him that

Lor:

right?

Mace:

oh honey

Lor:

oooof

"i am on call, in my car on the way to murder the bitch"

Mace:

sigh simmer down, dude

Lor:

lol

Mace:

oh sweet jesus that was hot

Lor:

RIGHT?

Mace:

“I know that kid”

I love that he thinks of him as a kid, always

Lor:

YES

and that he really does know him that well, even though Sam thinks he doesn't

like, Dean HAS been a dick to him, but he does really care

Mace:

yeah

Lor:

mmm slicked back hair

Mace:

meh

not my jam

not on him at least

Lor:

that's why he wears it all loose and luscious most of the time

Mace:

YAS

yeah, Dean, stop being a dick

ah, we’ve entered Bigot Dean era. Awesome.

Lor:

yeeeeeah he sure has some trouble with his grayness sometimes

oh Dean. do NOT say that to Sammy

Mace:

Dean, don’t draw lines like that. not cool

Lor:

i mean. Sammy, don't choke out Dean, either. but.

for real, Dean. you know what that means to Sam. don't say that

Mace:

he had it coming

Lor:

squinty eyes

Mace:

i know you love him, but it’s really hard for me to like Dean right now. so self-righteous and I-Know-Best and hypocritical

oh, Sammy’s the monster? Who loves torturing people in Hell, Dean? Huh? WHO?!

Lor:

yeah, he loses me at the monster bit. it's like, is this an addiction or isn't it? cause if you're gonna be all "addiction intervention we have to help you bc you are not capable of helping yourself right now" you can't turn around and be all "you're evil" 12 hours later

(I also kind of don't buy it. it feels like bad writing for Dean. I don't think he ever gives up on his little brother Sammy, and this turn to "you're the monster" feels like giving up on him)

Mace:

OR - hear me out - it IS in line with what we know of Dean: He’s not giving up here on Sam so much as he’s giving up on himself and his ability to save Sam. “Sam is a monster” = “I’m a complete failure as a brother and human garbage because I can’t save Sam from whatever is happening to him, which is just further proof that I’M the monster, but I’m not self-aware enough to understand all this, so I’m taking it out on little bro because Dad never taught me how to figure out feels.” See? It all comes back to John being a Major Bag O’ Dicks.

Lor:

HA! I am HERE for all interpretations that make it John’s fault. That dillweed

[katsidhe]

15.04 Final Thoughts

Supernatural is a character-driven narrative. Chuck, operating by fiat of plot-manipulation, has not yet realized this.

Wasn’t expecting Becky Redemption 2k19, but, well, I’m here for it. I’m honestly impressed with and happy for how she’s managed to turn herself around into a functional human being.  RIP.

Boy, Chuck and Lucifer really are relatives, huh? Looking to have their egos fluffed by inferior beings… what a mood. It’s interesting to compare and contrast how their (very similar) pathological needs for praise/worship/good PR end up manifesting. 

Sam hates bacon!! I love this. Part of it is his asceticism, to be sure—his careful knowledge about nitrates and saturated fat and the like. But when he spat out the offending mouthful, it was with a more intrinsic disgust. Dean doesn’t understand this aversion, systematically mocks it. It’s meant to be playful. It’s a dick move.   

More Sam things I really liked this episode: he’s Not In The Mood for the bullshit of mere mortals complaining about their suburban issues. 

And Sam doesn’t feel free. Of course he doesn’t. How could he? Dean says “we’re finally free” in the same damn paragraph that he says “we owe it to everyone [to do the job].” Like, even presuming Chuck’s actually gone (LOL), that’s not moving on. That’s the opposite of moving on—that’s an albatross much, much heavier than “God’s making us do this.” 

It’s so, SO chilling and honestly hilarious to me that an episode about parents protecting their child— an episode where Sam and Dean agree, apparently without any sense of irony, that they’d have laid down their own lives for Jack—ends with Dean shooting a kneeling teenager while Sam stands by.  It’s only four episodes later. It’s pretty funny.  

Character-driven versus plot-driven narratives: Chuck doesn’t deal in mind control. Chuck deals in mazes, not in remote steering. So, who put together a case where Sam and Dean would be faced with a young vampire? Chuck. And who’s in control when Dean pulls the trigger? Dean.

Who wins the s15 character development olympics: Becky, Amara, or Rowena? Discuss. 

[readinginthereadyroom]

it’s jump the shark (spn 4x19) and adam milligan is the long lost winchester.

because in early 1990 john winchester sweeps thru a small minnesota town, hunting ghouls. he meets kate, a local nurse, while being patched up in the er for a “hunting accident.” nine months later. adam.

tho it’s actually more like 12 years later. when kate finally calls john and tells him he has a son. and john was so overjoyed he dropped everything. drove all night to meet him.

this would be 2002. pre-series. but now that john knows about adam he makes a point to swing by every year or so. to teach him poker and pool and give him his first beer. driving lessons in the impala. a baseball game for his 14th birthday. a fishing trip.

it’s not a not a nuclear family—not by any stretch. but john’s pictures are still all over the house. kate and adam were his family. even when he wasn’t around.

exept john had another family. sam and dean. who were 6 and 10 respectively, when john left for minnesota. when he met kate.

the code word in john’s journal on adam’s birthday in 2004. “minnesota.” because john showed up for a couple of adam’s birthdays. and yeah, sam and dean are adults by now. sam’s at stanford and he can leave dean to hunt alone every once and a while.

but adam’s oh-so inoculous question. “what’d dad do with you on your birthday?” is like salt in an unhealed wound. dean’s birthday is jan 24th. and we know for a fact that john was in town on jan 9th—that’s the date on the newspaper for when the ghoul-ravaged bodies were recovered. john was also “pretty torn up.” he probably stayed longer to recuperate.

but also this is tv logic. john was in minnesota “roughly, oh, about nine months before the kid was born.” more like 9 months exactly. there are only 5 days between the 24th and 29th.

you have to read between the lines. do some math on the two torn out pages of john’s journal torn out. his selective editing prior to leaving it with dean at the start of the series.

and it all adds up to john missing dean’s 11th birthday to stay in minnesota with kate. a deadbeat dad decision that results in adam.

and dean is pissed. pissed that john would leave sam and dean at bobby’s. at paster jim’s. would abandon them at skeevy motels after dragging them across the country in the cramped impala. pissed that he would miss holidays and birthdays with them. only to make the time for adam years later.

john found out about adam in 2002. sam would’ve been 19 and already at stanford. dean 23 and hunting with john.

which means when john got that first phone call and dropped everything to go meet adam. well that everything was dean. whatever case they were working. whatever monster they were hunting. whatever danger it might mean to hunt alone—john didn’t care. and he left dean deal with it.

so yeah, dean is jealous. righteously so. john meets a woman who looks like mary and tries to make some sorta life with her—a normal life—when he chose not to do that with sam and dean. he chose to haul them into his vengenance crusade. dean is lying to himself. to sam. when he says john had no choice with them. they had to be part of this life.

the winchester curse.

dean lies because the truth with a capital T hurts too much.

that they could’ve had a father not a drill sergeant. that they could’ve had baseball games and fishing trips. a white picket fence and a dog. an absent father who would roll into town once or twice a year to go on family excirsions and make treasured memoires would’ve been than the year round drunk who dragged them thru the blood and gore of the monster world. leaving them nothing but nightmares and bruises.

or maybe it could’ve just been bobby and his rundown house. a chain link fence and rusted out cars. a version of john who dropped sam and dean off at bobby’s. who left the impala behind. who never ever ever came back. that would’ve been even better than the life adam got to have.

but despite all his anger and all his abandonment issues. dean won’t put adam in harm’s way. and it’s not respecting john’s wishes. it’s about dean looking at adam and seeing all the wasted potential of his and sam’s life. adam can go to school. be a doctor. he’s family—but also not. a milligan not a winchester.

because adam has a chance to escape in a way sam and dean never could. in the way sam tried. because the winchester family business isn’t about saving people or hunting things.

it’s about sacrificing yourself, about murdering people—monstrous humans and human monsters alike. it is bloody and it is painful and you’ll end up dead. over and over and over again.

and dean wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone. not on a half brother he doesn’t know. not on john’s favored son. no matter how jealous he is. no matter how much he secretly hates him.

because none of it is adam’s fault. all the blame and the baggage lies at john’s feet.

and besides. turns out adam was dead all along. the long lost winchester indeed.

[imaginesforjohnnydepp]

Growing Up Depp (2014 Essence Magazine article)

@takemepedropascal

Actress Sidney Depp talks Guardians of the Galaxy, graduating college, growing up in the south, and what it was like growing up with Johnny Depp as a father

By Candace Sumpter

Sidney Depp is something of a mystery. On one hand she’s famous, but on the other she’s not. Sidney is famous for being the daughter of Johnny Depp, walking red carpets alongside her father, then disappearing for a few years at a time. Nothing is known about her except that she’s the older sister to Lily-Rose and Jack, Depp’s two other kids with French singer/actress/model Vanessa Paradis. Sidney was rarely seen on magazine covers, even during the height of the popularity of online gossip sites like Perez Hilton, TMZ, and Radar Online in the 2000s, and that’s exactly how her parents wanted it to be. 

Thanks to her role as Gamora in Marvel’s highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy set for release this summer, and a starring role in ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder airing this fall, Depp’s star is on the rise, and she talks to Essence about it all.

Essence: There were a lot of people mad about you for taking this role, mainly because you are a black woman taking on this beloved character, even if they were jumping through hoops to say it wasn’t. Did that scare you at all?

Sidney Depp: They can be as mad as they want if that’s what’s going to make them feel better, I don’t care. I was scared a little bit because it was my first movie and I didn’t want to mess it up. I didn’t think my race would be an issue because I’m covered in green paint the whole time, so why should it matter as long as I’m able to accurately portray this character, you know?

Essence: And speaking of your character, what drew you to her?

SD: I grew up reading comics, and I loved the Guardians, the second version came out while I was a sophomore in high school. Gamora is a warrior, she’s an assassin and very lethal, but what saves her is the same thing that can doom her. She has a sense of righteousness. She’s a very righteous individual.

Essence: What was the makeup process like? How long did that take?

SD: The process was actually a lot of fun! My call time on set would be at nine a.m. and I would be in the makeup chair at five, so it took four hours every morning which was fine. I bonded a lot with the makeup artists, and I was able to get a lot of coursework done.

Essence: Oh yeah, you were still in college. Was it difficult to keep up with your work and film a movie?

SD: It was definitely difficult, because when you’re filming a movie, the hours are really strange and hectic. Thankfully we started filming in the summer, in July, but my classes started in August, so I had a little over a month just to focus on the movie. I pre-registered for my classes two months before filming and explained to my professors the situation, and they were very understanding and helpful.

Essence: Did you feel like you weren’t going to graduate on time?

SD: Of course! I definitely got a little too ahead of myself at times. I had been on the Dean’s List for two years, and I was worried that I would fail or that I would have to repeat a class, we wrapped in October before midterms and my grades survived.

Essence: And now you are graduating. Are you excited to be finally done with your education?

SD: Very excited! I graduate in June, just before we begin press, so now I’m in the process of packing up my dorm and looking at apartments with my boyfriend. My invitations are sent out, I have an outfit in mind, and I’m just really happy I don’t have to set an alarm to get ready for school anymore.

Essence: You grew up very different from your younger brother and sister. They grew up in France and you grew up in Louisiana. Was it difficult to keep a close relationship?

SD: I grew up in Louisiana. I’m very close to my brother and sister. I would visit them whenever I wasn’t in school, or they would come down south, and we would send letters and pictures back and forth, and later emails. My mom and Vanessa are still very close friends, and Lily-Rose is an actress too, so we always make sure to meet up if we’re in the same area.

Essence: You said you grew up in the south. What was school like? Was it difficult to make friends because of who your dad is?

SD: I learned very quickly who my friends were, and to this day I still have the same friends, but school was definitely hard. I remember when I was in elementary school, and my mom was a PTA mom. This white girl in my class was having a birthday party and she was inviting everyone except for the black kids, and the school I went to, I was one of the only black kids there. My dad surprised me by picking me up from school one day, which definitely got some double takes, and the next week, I went to this PTA meeting with my mom. By the end of it, I was invited but I didn’t go. 

Essence: What was your dad  like when you were growing up? Was he strict?

SD: He was only ever strict when it came to dating, and he would chaperone when he would come to visit, and if a boy wasn’t okay with it, then I wasn’t allowed to go out with him alone. I was the only one not allowed to go on a date without a chaperone until I got to college, but other than that, he was actually very chill. I have a type-A personality, and he’s always the one to get me to cut loose and have fun and to not take myself too seriously, which I have a hard time doing.

Essence: You mentioned moving in with your boyfriend earlier. What was it like for him to meet your dad?

SD: I was actually very nervous and kept stressing out over it because I never dated in high school. My mom was one of those moms who wanted me to wait until college to start dating and that’s exactly what I did. (laughs) But it went very well actually, and they get along very well, and my boyfriend gets along with my siblings and the rest of my family. My mom loves him.

Essence: What’s one thing no one knows about your dad?

SD: That he’s actually very good at doing hair.

Essence: Really? Johnny Depp can do hair?

SD: Yeah! When I was a kid, my mom would show him how to do my hair when I went to visit him and he learned quickly. Had the Pink Oil lotion, the wide tooth combs, ribbons, rubber bands, and everything else at the ready. 

Essence: Thank you for talking with us! We can’t wait to see you in action on the big and small screens soon!

SD: Thanks for having me be your covergirl. It’s such an honor and a dream come true.

[empirex1020]

Ya know guys, I did a little recon a few weeks ago, looking at various antis Tumblrs, wondering to myself: If a Beauty and the Beast-trope fairytale in space is too problematic for these people, what the hell IS acceptable?

Well I looked at about 10 random blogs and was surprised that we shared a lot of fandoms in common. Apparently these characters/ships/ movies/tv shows are just fine:

Damon Salvatore and Elena - The Vampire Diaries - Damon is a killer who has done some truly reprehensible things for personal reasons.

Bucky Barnes - murdered Tony's parents - and I'm sure a lot of other people. But he was programmed you say. Yes, he was, and Ben Solo was targeted in the womb and gaslighted since he was a child.

Natasha Romanoff - Russian spy. Killed innocent people before she redeemed herself with the help of Clint Barton.

Loki - abandoned as a baby, Odin was a shitty dad, Frigga was an awesome mom tho and he was a fucking prince. He still killed a lot of innocent people, before redeeming himself in Infinity War.

Valkyrie - sold people into slavery. Raging alcoholic. But I guess its okay if you're a hot chick?

Hela - awful, genocidal. Shitty dad Odin. But evil and sassy is excusable if you're sexy.

Gamora - life with Thanos fucked her up. In sure she did some really awful stuff before she redeemed herself and fell in love with Quill. Don't forget Nebula, too.

Joker - I mean... Do I really need to explain this?

Magneto - survived the Holocaust, doesn't feel bad if innocent people die in his quest for revenge.

Game of Thrones/Jaime Lannister - sister-fucker. Kin-slayer. Throws little kid out a window. Redeems himself in the end. Most GOT characters are morally flexible at best.

Supernatural - occasionally, Sam and Dean have caused the deaths of innocents. But they feel really bad about it afterwards.

Vikings - EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER ON THIS SHOW HAS DONE SOMETHING AWFUL!

Erik Kilmonger - Saw his dad get killed. Made him genocidal. Extremely misguided.

Captain Hook/CaptainSwan - Captain Hook started out pretty naughty but fell in love with Emma and redeemed himself.

Lily/Brona - Penny Dreadful - Gathers an army of righteously pissed off abused women to go murder men. All men. Not just the bad ones.

Regina/Evil Queen OUAT - Two steps towards redemption, three steps backwards. Season after season you'd think she was gonna turn good, only to see her slide back into making awful mistakes. Still, her love for her son Henry and Robin put her on the path to redemption.

Killing Eve - hot killer and spy play cat and mouse. Again, I guess its cool to kill people though if you're hot and a woman?

Daenerys Targaryen - who, at least in the show, went batshit and became a mass-murderer at the end.

Bucky and Natasha actually showed up on several antis' Tumblrs. But there you have it. Antis' hatred is completely arbitrary, hypocritical, based on personal taste, and a need to feel morally superior.

The irony is the op of that anti reylo post is a larrie. It's even in their blog title. They ship louis and harry from one direction together even though they've asked shippers to stop shipping them irl and it has already ruined their friendship. sorry but I'd rather ship 2 fictional characters no matter how "problematic" they are rather than ship two ppl irl who already said their toxic fandom has ruined real lives. 🤷‍♀️

i kno lol.

[myblackeyedfire]

Robbie Thompson appreciation post

On last year's high holy nerd holiday of Free Comic Book Day, my favorite writer for Supernatural stepped down after five years of screenwriting and co-executive producing. Robbie Thompson never let me down. He wrote my favorite nerdy, larping lesbian hacker (Charlieee!) as well as a wonderful Deaf hunter, Eileen. He wrote Mildred sharing her amazing lifetime of wisdom by telling Dean to follow his heart and that she knew he was pining. He wrote so many complex and interesting women, both extras and frontrunners, on a show with an inconsistent to poor track record for the same. He wrote public murder spree Leviathan Sam and Dean monologuing about their salady self-righteousness and applications for sainthood friendships. He made Charlie and Dean queer besties with the hugs and 'kiddo' and Dean being her handmaiden and proud and that amazing Belladonna moment. He validated fans and transformative fandom with his 200th musical episode and gave a kind nod to the Dean and Castiel romantic subtext and had teen couple Kristen and Siobhan hug, like kids do these days. Robbie wrote Dean watching Game of Thrones and teaching Charlie how to flirt with a man and trying to get Cas and Sam to say 'werepire' because he named a new monster and was so, so proud. He wrote Sam being brave and caring, teaming up with Rowena to save his brother. He wrote Cas wearing a blanket in the bunker while watching Netflix, and giving his vessel's daughter, Claire, a Grumpy Cat from the Hot Topical and trying to make amends. He wrote the crypt scene with the scripted "I love you" and broke my heart before stitching it back together with whisky and floss (though I agree that it was more in character for Dean to say what he did say to Cas, that they're family and he needed him). His latest episode cut me in a way the show hasn't in a long, long time, oh my Chuck. Most importantly, he kept fighting the good fight with the Twitter premiering episode hashtag battles and the ongoing campaign to keep calling Misha Collins 'Dad.' I'm so sorry y(our) favorite original character was killed off and a year later I'm still angry and bitter about it. I'm sorry you never did write the "Fluff N' Fold" laundromat episode. Thank you for all you gave us and how for five years without fail or stuttering you rightfully deserved the fans saying you were one of us. Fare thee well, Sir. Back to the topic at hand: Robbie Thompson is also the writer of several comics: Amazing Spider-Man & Silk, Silk, and Venom: Space Knight. So if you go this weekend please support your local comic shop and buy some stuff because they put this yearly event on at cost and deserve to get some love back. While you're at it, do me a solid and get some of Robbie Thompson's comics if you go.

[the-record-columns]

Nov. 6, 2019: Columns

A compliment from Coit Dyer

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

Over last weekend I saw a blurb somewhere about a young man in St. Paul, Minn., who was driving to Iowa to buy enough Krispy Kreme doughnuts to completely fill up his car every weekend.

He then drove back to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and re-sold the doughnuts to willing customers.  For reasons not stated, there hasn't been a Krispy Kreme in that area for over a decade and this young man had been doing his "route" for several months. 

That is, until the Krispy Kreme folks in Nebraska got wind of it and ordered him to stop for some unspecified liability issues.

The young man took it as a "Oh well, it was good while it lasted" attitude, which I cannot help but think is better than the Nebraska folks have.

Now, stay with me a minute, and let’s go back to the early 1960’s. I had been lucky enough to get a newspaper route delivering the Greensboro paper to about 78 customers in North Wilkesboro. It cost each customer 45-cents a week which I collected on Friday afternoons and Saturday to have money on Monday to pay my newspaper bill for the previous week’s papers.  I have said often in this space that having a seven-day newspaper route was the nearest thing to running a small business an 11-year-old kid from Hinshaw Street could get.

Well, a pleasant young lady named Mickey Ross came by The Record last week and placed an ad for the restaurant area in Holland Clothing on Tenth Street in North Wilkesboro, proclaiming, among other things, that the "1920’s Era 'Smithey Burgers' Are Back!"

 Immediately upon talking to Mickey, my mind went right back to my paper route and the old Smithey's Goodwill Department Store where the Holland's are now.  In those days, every corner had a gasoline station of one kind or another and they all were covered up every Saturday washing cars. Those Smithey Burgers at that time were 10-cents each, and, since I had some money in my pocket each Saturday from my collections, I ordered ahead, and would pick up 50 of those burgers at 11 a.m., each Saturday morning — for $5 — plus 15-cents tax for Gov. Terry Sanford.

I put them in the basket of my bicycle and began my circuit through town to all those gas stations, selling the guys washing cars Smithey Burgers for 15-cents each — and they were glad to get them.  If all went well, I would make for sure $2 and sometimes $3 every Saturday.  Cokes were a dime, as was a ticket to the Liberty Theater, so this was good money.

  Now, I hadn't thought about this in years, but the Minnesota story reminded me of something.  In the early 1970’s I began working for Paul Cashion at WWWC radio selling advertising.  One of my customers was the Goodwill Store on Tenth Street and I often ate my lunch there — I had remembered that taste like no other, and, while they cost more than 10-cents by then, they were still quite a bargain.

One day, while I was having lunch at the Goodwill, one of the managers walked up to me. It was a gentlemen named Coit Dyer — and I specifically use the word gentleman — because he truly was.  A kindly, soft-spoken man, he sat down with me and we visited for a few minutes.  Then he told me the reason he stopped by was to tell me he remembered me from years ago when I would buy all those Smithey Burgers on Saturday mornings.  One of the ladies at the lunch counter told him about the gas station circuit and Mr. Dyer patted me on the shoulder and said he just wanted me to know he was proud of me.

That meant a great deal to me coming from Mr. Coit Dyer, for he was a man not known for wasting words. 

When I heard about the Krispy Kreme story from Minnesota, I couldn't help but be reminded of that conversation and thought that the Krispy Kreme folks should have been more like Mr. Dyer from the Goodwill. 

Spammed by God

By HEATHER DEAN

Record Reporter

October 18, 7:59 a.m.

I had not even had a sip of my morning coffee when I received a text message from a local looking number, albeit not one saved in my phone.    When I opened it, it was a familiar bible verse.   Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.” I blinked and reread it. Was I awake? I was. Well, then…. Thinking it was a joke, or worse, that a self alienated family member still infused in the cult of my youth had ratted me out to the church leaders, I debated on how to respond.

After wondering WWJD if he were being harassed by the Pharisees, and imagining a retort of “Take that rafter out of your eye first, before you start judging people, and PS by the way, didn’t I tell you to stop doing that?”   I did what any level headed and objective person does in this technological era- I posted it to social media and asked my friends, a fantastic mesh across the spectrum from Christian to Atheist, what they would do. Being both wise and hilarious, they did not disappoint.  

* Block them. Nobody needs that judging drama.

* "Seek ye first your own business."  Me. Chapter  11 verse 2.

* “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will.” Aleister Crowley

* We could all spam the number back

*You could retort, but it's wasted on someone with such an odd belief system

*Well I’m pretty sure God is a woman , only a woman would make the hair fall out on my head then grow out of every where else as a chuckle

Turns out no one can hide, and of my tech savvy friends posted a link to the number that texted. Turns out it’s a real person, not just computer generated. I reached out to my sister who works for a local carrier and asked her if spamming by evangelists was actually a real thing. It is. After doing some research I found out this is because we tend to put in our phone number when downloading apps, even when it isn’t necessary, which  opens you up to spam by real people who are also on the same app. There are evangelicals lurking on even the most sordid of sites, looking to save a lost sheep.  

On the page attached to this number there is a comment section.  One read “Text me again and I'll contact my lawyer.” I also found several Christian based forums telling people not to spam others, links to court judgments that have been passed on those doing this specific kind of spamming, and advice on if you are being spammed, how to report your fellow followers.    

As for me, my retort to being told to seek first the kingdom of God before coffee was “Well, that doesn’t seem to be working for most of the Christians I know in this impoverished area. Then there are those with mega- churches-They DO have everything, but it’s not because they love God.

But I’m glad you brought up Matthew Chapter 6. One of my favorite scriptures is in this chapter.  Allow me to direct you to verse 5. Take a look at it the next time you’re planning on standing out there with your signs and books.

And this is why I had a bumper sticker that said “Jesus, please save me from your followers.” Judgmental cows are lucky I didn’t go full throttle Christ and start flipping tables and chasing them with whips for being dangerous enough to engage me before coffee.

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”

Hitler died in a bunker — Al-Baghdadi died in a tunnel

By AMBASSADOR EARL COX and KATHLEEN COX

Special to The Record

The Democrats just can’t stand the fact that President Donald Trump now has a very major victory in his portfolio and it’s thanks to absolutely nothing from the Democrats.

 In fact, the success of Trump’s well-planned attack on al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader, which resulted  in his elimination, was largely due to the fact that the Democrats were not informed or involved in any way otherwise the secrecy of the mission would likely have been compromised and therefore sabotaged. 

 In a surprise nighttime raid, al-Baghdadi’s compound was infiltrated and bombed.  In an attempt to save his evil hide, al-Baghdadi ran into a cave, or tunnel, with two of his young children and, hitting a dead end, blew himself up. This ruthless terrorists’ leader, who was dubbed as the Islamic Caliph, was reportedly being chased by one or more highly trained U.S. military canines. 

Like al-Baghdadi, the Democrats were caught completely off guard so they had to come up with a counter strategy to detract from Trump’s success.  Due to the flawless execution and success of the mission, they could find little of which to be critical.  

Grabbing on to a flimsy straw, they began a campaign of making it very popular to berate President Trump’s description of al-Baghdadi as “dying like a dog and whimpering.”

What the Democrats, the mainstream media, and the general population, in the U.S. have failed to understand, is that Trump’s description was not meant primarily for Western ears and sensibilities but rather was meant for the ears of Middle Eastern fanatics.  Thankfully, someone on Trump’s team apparently understands that one of the worst insults for an Arab is to be called a dog and to be described as such and to ”die being chased by a dog,” strikes horror in the hearts of al Baghdadi’s followers.

Al-Baghdadi was a vile and ruthless terrorist, rapist and murderer.  

By no stretch of the imagination was he an “austere religious leader” as reported by The Washington Post and others (many of whom have since repented). While his forces pillaged, plundered and inflicted grave suffering on innocent and helpless people, Al-Baghdadi himself lived “high on the hog.” These words, too, represent another very insulting phrase for Arabs as pigs are considered unclean.

While Trump’s victory speech was short on eloquence and political polish, the fact remains that he successfully eliminated a man who was a dangerous threat to the entire world. Trump succeeded in “cutting off the head of the snake.”

Even so, while Trump served as the important central player in this mission, the real thanks is owed to God and the brave men and women of the Special Forces, their exceptional canine division, and those foreign governments who knew what was about to happen but wisely and responsibly kept this knowledge a secret.   

Sunday with Jan Karon

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

So, there we were on stage at the Hub Center in Hudson. It was a full house; the band was in tune and the cameras were rolling. New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon was in her element as we talked about all things Mitford.

It was Sunday and the continuation of Jan Karon Days. Saturday morning had featured the Jan Karon parade with local citizens as well as Mitford personalities. The remainder of Saturday included, among other things, a luncheon like what you might read about in one of Jan’s Mitford novels; It even had an Orange Marmalade Cake adventure in which I participated.

I was so moved by the cake experience; I included the story in my monologue during Sunday’s show.

From the moment Jan walked on the stage and we took our seats, she was gracious and engaging.

Jan was born in Lenoir at the Dula Hospital and raised for much of her childhood by her grandparents in Hudson. She attended the Hudson School which is now the Hub Station. It serves the community with a variety of business, educational and entertainment options and on this weekend, it served as the perfect setting for our broadcast production.  

As we were talking about Jan’s early memories of growing up in Hudson, one of her stories was about her first book, written at the age of 10 and inspired by “Gone With the Wind”.

The story goes like this: Jan’s curious sister discovers Jan’s book, reads all 14 pages and runs to their grandmother exclaiming, ‘Jan has written a book and it’s got damn in it!’

Well sure enough it did. Jan felt that using that word from “Gone with the Wind” would in some way elevate her writing.

The problem was that her grandmother did not allow the use of such words. The worst part of this story was that Jan had to participate in her own punishment by fetching the switch.  

To this day, Jan’s books have for the most part remained curse word free. I say ‘for the most part’ because there was one other time…but the publisher fixed it with black magic markers and yes there was a t-shirt made.

We went on to talk about all sorts of things and with the help of talented actors, a few of Mitford’s personalities came to life. The audience was thrilled and so was Jan.

Down the Hall was our house band and the music chosen was to celebrates our Scots-Irish heritage. The music provided a perfect segue to talk about Jan’s research trip to Ireland. With hundreds of personalities to create, research is important.

At the end of the show we had a good amount of questions from the audience. A common question was about when another Mitford book might hit the shelves. As of now that is not expected, Jan is considering other projects; however, now she is simply enjoying her own personal Mitford experience.

After the show, Jan visited with fans down the hall in the classroom she attended many years ago as a child.

It was a fine day with a lot of memories and literary celebration.

Whether you live in Mitford or a town not so far away, may we all have the comfort of friendships and someone who cares.

Carl White is the executive producer and host of the award winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In the Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its eleventh year of syndication.   For more on the show visit  www.lifeinthecarolinas.com and join the free weekly email list. It’s a great way to keep up with the show and things going on in the Carolinas. You can email Carl White at Carl@lifeinthecarolinas.com.  

[nyklifsondiviiportfolio-blog]

Hook Man

Throughout cinema characters with hand replacements have been seen in a villainous light, immediately being immoral by their missing body part. One classic trope is the villain who has a hook attached to one of their arms. From the evil Hook in “Peter Pan” to the ghost story Chris, from “Adventures in Babysitting”, tells the kids about a monster scraping off children’s faces with his hook. Harry M. Benshoff discusses these tropes manifesting in cinema, “When villainous characters with a disability are given little motivation for their evil behavior, then the horror film seems to fall back on these earlier notions of sin and disability”(76 Benshoff). Before medicine started trying to “cure” disabled people, the belief was that a body that differentiated from societal norms must be that way due to the sin in their soul.

The body suffers in film, but the people being represented suffer more. The longest running fantasy show in the United States, “Supernatural”, upholds many prejudices that have a specific artistically imagined stereotype. The two white cisgender male leads, Dean and Sam Winchester, fight the created ominous other with toxic masculinity. This is shown in one episode called “Hook Man”, and yes, that is the actual name of the episode. The duo figure out that the ghost is a vengeful preacher who originally murdered 13 sex workers, when he was alive. He deemed them immoral and so continues to kill in the name of righteousness, but “when the revenge itself is tied to a disability, as it is with the Obsessive Avenger, then such stories draw upon able-bodied assumptions that people in the disabled community are usually bitter and angry about their disabilities”(79 Benshoff). Because he is a preacher his sexuality is erased, so is his depth. He lives to kill those who are unworthy, fueled by the hook. The leads are not able to kill this threat until they melt the cross necklace the hook was made into after Preacher Jacob Karns was executed.

Lori, the college student who is being cursed by Karns, adds to the cycle of sexism taking place in this episode. She is the daughter of a preacher and so is chaste with her boyfriend, and disapproves of her partying-sorority-sister-roommate. Both are slaughtered by the dead Preacher. In addition, her father, a Reverend, is having an affair on his wife. Jacob Karns seems to appreciate her white girl purity because, “dominant notions prefer to understand disabled bodies as non-sexual”(76). He is avenges those who are sexual due to his anger over his inability in the eyes of society to have agency over his sexuality and desires since the preacher is considered abnormal.   

The angry spirit shown and not shown in this episode is just another disabled character tarnished by stereotypes of what is considered medically and societally a deformity.  Which is all possible due to “the separation of Otherness intact, able-bodied perceptions are free to objectify”(76 Benshoff). And horror has taken this harmful acceptance and used the human body to “generate fear”(73 Benshoff).

[collectionofnothingstories-blog]

Dean’s Vacation (fanfic for season 10)

(1,562 words)

               The sun hit his skin perfectly, like it never had before. He could feel sunburn starting but he didn’t care. He’d never had sunburn from the beach before. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he had sunburn. With sand between his toes, waves hitting his skin, and the sound of peace washing over him there was nothing better in the world. “Doesn’t it feel great Sammy? I told you I’d get my vacation.” Dean smiled and turned his head, finally opening his eyes.

               But suddenly he was no longer on his peaceful, beautiful beach. He was on the beach of Hell and bloodshed. The sun was now a burning red, tenting the blood flowing into the ocean. All of the happy faces who had once been enjoying the day with him now lay dead on the ground. Rage filled his core, covering the despair and sadness. That was until he heard a whimper, a small terrified whimper. He looked down to see the blade in one hand and his brother, scared and gasping for air, clenched in the other. “Sammy?” He wanted to let go but he couldn’t. The mark on his arm shone bright.

               “That’s right Dean, you finally got your vacation.” Cain appeared from nowhere, walking slowly through the sand. “You got your sunny beach and a nice little sunburn to go with it. Aren’t you happy?” He smiled something wicked. “Aren’t bloodbaths to die for?”

               Dean tried to step forward, tried to attack Cain, but his anger only sent the blade in his right hand closer to his brother being held in his left. “You’re doing this. This is all you. This is the mark. I’m not…this isn’t my fault.” Dean tried to rationalize this in his head. There is no way he would do any of this. He was just having some fun on the beach, thinking about joining the girls (who now lay bloody on the ground with their throats slashed) by the net for some beach volleyball.

               Cain simply laughed. “That’s right. Just keep telling yourself that. Keep encouraging that self-esteem of yours. ‘It can’t be me, I would never hurt anyone. It has to be the mark.’” Cain laughed at his wimpy impression. “How many people have you hurt over the years Dean? How many have you killed? This is in your blood. This was a part of you long before you stop by for a visit. The mark only brought it to surface, only sped things along.” He was closer now, Dean could smell his breath. “You are going to go out bloody. Isn’t that something you always said? That you will go down fighting? I bet you never thought you’d be fighting as the bad guy, did you?” He patted Dean’s shoulder. “Just accept it Dean.”

               “No, I won’t hurt my brother.” Dean couldn’t hurt his brother, not the little kid he had raised and spent his whole life trying to protect.

               “Fine.” Cain waved his hand and Sam was released from Dean’s grip only to be held down to the bloody sand floor. “What about your little angel friend?” And with that Castiel appeared, bound and gagged. “Would it be easier for you to start with him? Because you are going to kill them all, it is just a matter of time.”

               Sam struggled from where he lay. “No Dean, you don’t have to do this! You’re stronger than…” Before he could finish his words of faith and encouragement, Cain was wrapping a piece of cloth around his mouth.

               “Jeez, little brothers, they just talk and talk and talk. It’s so annoying. I’m so glad I got rid of mine.” He smiled. “So, what’s it going to be Dean? Are you going to kill him or should I?” Cain pulled Castiel forward. “The poor thing trusts you unconditionally, I honestly don’t get it. I mean, is he even a real angel anymore? Sure, he got his grace back but what’s an angel without a mission?”

               Castiel didn’t look at Cain, didn’t listen to his words. He only looked at Dean, his face full of peace and understanding. He knew he was going to die. He had seen that Dean Winchester would be the death of him the moment he pulled him from perdition. And he was glad to do it, because this was his mission. Finding a family, finding a reason to be proud of what he had done in life. Helping two boys save the world and themselves, that was his mission and it was a damn good one.

               “No, I won’t.” Dean closed his eyes. Castiel was the best friend Dean ever had. He had always been jealous of the others in his classes growing up who had close friends but he was never around anyone long enough. Everyone died. He couldn’t watch Castiel die again and he most definitely couldn’t watch Castiel die at his own hands. “I won’t kill him. I won’t let the mark do this. I’m stronger than this.”

               “Ughh! Enough with the self-righteousness! Just let it go! Give in!” Cain grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the blade. Then he removed Castiel’s gag. “Kill him!” He pushed the two together.

               Without meaning to, without realizing what he was doing, Dean took a swing at the angel. “No!” Dean yelled out against himself and tried so hard to keep the blade at bay but it was hungry for another kill. It was ready to swing at the angel again, begging for it, begging for blood.

               “It’s okay Dean. Everything is going to be…” Before Castiel could finish the blade sunk deep into his chest and the life in his beautiful blue eyes faded away, causing him to sink into the sand. As Dean pulled away, tears running down his face, the blood-red water reached out and took the body away.

               A hand fell on Dean’s shoulder. “It felt good, didn’t it?” The voice whispered in his ear and there was nothing but “Kill” on his mind. Dean turned and threw the blade through the air, not caring where or what he hit. It was a mistake. As the blade found flesh, as warm blood splatter onto Deans face reminding him of the sun rays he had felt earlier, Sam’s face came into view.

               Dean fell to his knees, catching Sam and bringing him in to cradle his brother in his arms. “No, no, no, no, Sam this can’t be happening. You’re not supposed to die like this. You can’t die like this. You’re supposed to be the one who takes me out. Damn it Sammy! Come on!” Dean shook his brother, feeling numbness spread through his body. “Sammy!”

               “Dean? Do you remember when we were kids and we would play cowboys and Indians? You would never shoot me, not even pretend.” He smiled. “It’s a little ironic now, huh? You spend your whole life protecting me just to kill me. Hell, you brought me back, sold your soul. And now…” Sam coughed, blood spilling out onto his chin. “Fight the mark Dean. Remember what you told me all those years ago, huh? You keep on fighting, fight the good fight? Jerk…” A ghost of a smile played on his face as his last breath faded away with the wind, leaving nothing but an empty body.

               “No, no…Sam! Sammy?” Dean felt something inside of him shift.

               Cain lowered himself to be eye-level with Dean. “I told you. You will kill your brother.”

                 “NO! Sam!” Dean jumped awake gripping his sheets; his whole body drenched in sweat for a moment he thought it was blood. It took him several minutes to calm his breath, to realize he was in the bunker and not on the bloody beach. Still he couldn’t help but look down at his hands expecting to see them covered in blood, Sam’s blood. “It was just a dream.” He had to take a few more breaths before he could get out of bed and leave his room.

               When he found Sam and Castiel in the kitchen, arguing over something in hushed voices he had to fight the urge to run over and hug them both because they were both alive, he hadn’t killed them. “Hey, good morning, what are you two bickering about now? Did Castiel forget to change the toilet roll again? I know how that upsets you Sammy.” He put on his best smile, reaching for the coffee.

               “I don’t use the toilet Dean, I’m no longer human.” Castiel gave in his usual monotone voice.

               “Uh, no, we found a case.” Sam hurried away from the subject because they had been arguing about Dean. “So, Eureka, Illinois, there have been some mysterious…” He droned into his usual facts and theories and Dean listened, praying that he had more mornings like this.

               Not mornings where he woke up scared and screaming, but mornings where his best friend and brother were right there alive and breathing. Mornings where he could drink his coffee and talk about a case that didn’t involve the mark; mornings where he was still the hunter and not the monster, not the murderer. But he knew. He could still hear that voice at the back of his mind counting down the days. He could feel the itching under his skin on his forearm…the mark was calling to him…

[grandmasgirl-dot-com]

IF you think the church's job is to make you feel warm and fuzzy, think again.  The sham smiles you might see in television "churches," as the camera pans the audience, are not real, neither do they reflect what is happening in the Master's Vineyard today.  In church we conduct eternal transactions.  We deal with matters of spiritual life and spiritual death, and there is nothing more solemn that that.

Does the church talk a lot about sin?  Yes, but only in the same way an oncologist talks about cancer; not because he likes it but because it is the enemy, and the church is not afraid to say the enemy's name out loud. Who is the enemy?  The answer to that may surprise you.  In the words of the Gradual we prayed this morning, "Let not man prevail!" or to borrow the words of the famous Pogo comic strip, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." What a prayer that is!

Let not man prevail!

Anyone who prays that prayer is guilty of treason, of high crimes and misdemeanors.  He spits in the face of the proud culture.  He "disses" its church, its hymnal, its doctrine, its practice and its god.  It is sacrilege!  An intolerable offense against the human family that worships itself as the only true god.

Let not man prevail!  What does this mean?  For the answer we need look no farther than the day's propers.  The Collect is brutally honest, more than a person could tolerate except he be drenched in divine grace, except that in the church we know that the Good News always follows the bad and is magnitudes more good than the bad news is bad.  In this collect we learn that the things we suffer in life are the "just consequence of our own sin."

That is harsh, but in the church we must not "live in denial" as the timid culture does.  We are under no illusions, supposing that one day it will all be better, just as soon as we elect the right politicians and distribute the world's goods to all men equally.  The Christian version of utopia is just as sinister.  Just as soon as Christians really learn what their faith is all about and begin to live it, then the world will be a good and decent place.

Now it is true that the Bible exhorts the baptized to every virtuous work, but it also recognizes human limitation.  It knows that all people, believer as well as unbeliever, are compromised by sin, so that not only are our wrongs are exceedingly wrong, but even the good we do:  our prayers, our worship, our loftiest thoughts and greatest sacrifices are tainted by the sin that dwells in us (Rom 7:17)

Does that depress you?  It need not because Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.  You are those sinners.  You, your father and mother, your kids and spouse, brothers and sisters, neighbors and rulers, your barista and your barber all alike.  This is why the church prays, "Let not man prevail," because however bad things are, how much worse would they be if men, who are turned in on themselves, driven by unquenchable desires as they are, were to have their way, instead of Christ?

Let not man prevail, but let God who is rich in mercy and who takes us in at the 11th hour, prevail; and let Jesus who is our Rock and who bore the burden of our sins and heat of their judgment, reign as King of Glory and Lord of all. Let not man prevail!  We learn this in today's Old Testament lesson.  At Rephidim the people were dying of thirst.  They were tired, hungry, oppressed and at the end of their rope.  The "social contract " (which is tenuous in the best of times) was about to be dropped into the shredder.  They would have stoned Moses in a heartbeat and murdered one another in cold blood for a cup of cold water.  

Let not man prevail!

The Lord answered their prayer by a stick and a rock.  Moses used the stick to strike the rock at God's command.  Water came out and the people were saved, once again at peace, but let us also connect the dots to Christ.  The stick Moses carried symbolized the cross.  It looked ahead 1,400 years to a hill far away, to Calvary, where He who is the righteous branch, by a branch prevailed over our sins and the infernal tyranny of the devil; and the water from the "rock that is Christ" prophesied baptism with dead accuracy, the sacrament by which we enter the kingdom of God and become heirs to every blessing.

Let not man prevail!

We find the same in today's Epistle lesson.  The founding members of the church in Corinth are remembered for the shame they brought on the Gospel.  They professed themselves Christians but lived like pagans, even as we too often do.  Repent!  Confess your sins and come to Calvary's holy mountain to be cleansed by the body and blood of Christ.

Let not man prevail!

We learn the same in today's Gospel.  All the workers contracted with the master to do so much work for so much pay.  End of story, until payday that is when they noted the master's strange way of doing business and they grew jealous and resentful.  Given the opportunity there's no telling to what lengths they might have gone, what property they might have looted, or what innocent blood they would have spilled in order to re-write the bargain in their favor. 

 Let not man prevail!

Yet if any man should prevail, let it be the Perfect Man, the "Man Christ Jesus" who is the only mediator between God and man.  Let Christ prevail, who like a lamb going to slaughter permitted evil men to prevail over Him, and bore every pain, every thorn due to us, so that neither death, devil nor sin should ever prevail over us.

Let God in Christ triumph!  He who gives you life with immortality, splendor with righteousness, truth with confidence, faith with assurance and self-control with holiness.  Let God arise, and his enemies be scattered.  Amen.

Rev. Dean Kavouras