#hettie smith

[egret-orchids]

alternately artemis is the lead singer of a band named huntress which basically consists of sftg's versions of the virgin goddesses. not sure what to name athena yet as only apollo and artemis really share their gods' names. like hestia is hettie. and ares is aaron (vaguely similar names to me) but i can't come up with athena's first name. shes 'a____ thompson' though

(someone please send me an ask on school for the gods it has my SOUL)

[sgt-mark-smith]

I'm so sorry.

[rookheeya]

NCIS Los Angeles

S03 ep22 Neighborhood Watch

Poor Nell...

[ncisladaily]

Since the show is wrapping it’s 14 Season run tonight, I would like to say a lot of thank yous today to a lot of people. 🥰

1st, To all the Series Regulars this show had over the years! A very special thank you to letting us get to know you all and to love you for so long. Linda, Chris, Todd, Dani, Barrett, Peter, Adam, Eric, Renee, Miguel (NEVER FORGOTTEN!!), Nia, Medalion, Caleb and Gerald, thank you all so much for all the memories! 🤗

2nd, To all the followers this blog has amassed over the years! I’m glad you all found this fun site and decided to stick with it.

3rd, To all the wonderful fan content creators on here for all your fun stuff!

4th, To the OG admins of this wonderful blog. Thank you for making and preserving this blog for as long as you did, and to Megan for passing this on to me in 2020.

It’s been a real blast to get to report on this show and to make and share fun content on here for so long of a period.

And not to worry, this blog ain’t going away anytime soon. :) New content will always be welcome (just keep being inspired!). Plus, we enjoy getting to talk about what the cast is doing! We’ll always gladly report on any future cameos in other NCIS’s.

And plus, if a Hetty prequel, or any kind of prequel or spin off to this show happens (it’d be soooo wonderful though if a Hetty prequel was made though!), we’ll gladly report on it with vim and vigor! 

Cheers to everyone 🍷, and I hope you all enjoy the final episode and the 1 hour retrospective!

-Maria ( @blogger360ncislarules )

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have Jabberjaw 1976-1978

[stardreamer28]

spoilers or maybe not lol:

its no secret i hated the wedding lol but the fact we got nallen at the end and chris’ son guesting and nate back made up for it lol. and the 50 ideas we now all have of them on a mission together hehehe.  as much as charlie looked like chris in s1, this kid chip is the spitting image. looks & sounds just like him lol. i kinda called the densi baby but i’m happy for them. though my heart still wanted deeks’ friend ray back (which we were promised years ago) and nadir to see callen ‘cause they had such an impactful episode & it would've made total sense to reconnect. i originally thought since the guy delivering the letter was arabic it’d be from nadir but i’m glad it was from hetty. and understand the possible reasons linda couldn’t be there even though we all wanted to see her. and as they said it was typical hetty & nell to have that side mission hehehe and loved seeing nate back as i apparently missed his appearence last year? oh and i looove arkady flirting with mama deeks!!

[flufallo]

How the hell did I attualy do that I'm confused.

I basically just copied my oc but without the hearing aid wut.

Might as well re name my oc stars then 🤷‍♀️

Here's attempt 2, except the only thing I know about you is that your ginger, and I'm tired so t looks like a five year old drew it 👍

[stargirlshojo]

What are songs that remind you of HMoney?

okok 1. i’m so EXCITED to be getting a genuine ask about them omg

and 2. this was really hard for me but here’s some i think kinda fit

Give up the ghost - Radiohead

idk this just reminds me of the emotional aspect of their relationship that we don’t see much on screen but it’s very clear to me that the #1 thing hetty is afraid of is being hurt. this often leads to issues where she doesn’t think of trevor because of her self preservation, i imagine she would eventually learn to unlearn this and feel safe and secure in their relationship and this song is just one of my favorites ever so i must relate it to them.

It’s hard to turn me on - Quasi

hetty has a certain amount of shame in letting her allow herself to be in a relationship. and i think trevor wouldn’t understand this at first. idk i think they would have to work through this because of hettys repressed-ness and trevor’s seeming openness (but he’s actually not all that secure himself!)

Big me - Foo fighters

OK this one is happy finally. idk i love the idea of trevor pining for her for years and her being completely oblivious until they start hooking up and she’s like… yeah… that’s why he was like that…

A certain someone - The sundays

this one a silly one lol idk i just like the idea of hetty being like “well i’m still better than all of you… except maybe him i guess…” obviously not being truthful but eventually i think her trevor would stop acting like they weren’t completely and utterly devoted to eachother even if it’s still in private

Is it really so strange? - the smiths

basically trevor likes her a lot and hetty has a hard time understanding why so she’s like “quit it!!!” and he’s like “no!!!” because it’s all so much for her on an emotional level seeing as she hasn’t had a genuine romantic relationship since the painter like a gagillion years ago. not saying she doesn’t like him just as much she just has a hard time processing it.

stutter - elastica

just for the dynamic of him being totally obsessed with her lol

ok that’s it sorry if these aren’t like all lovey dovey for the most part but i had fun enjoy!

[marcmarcmomarc]

The Owl House: The New Year’s Special

Sarah-Nicole Robles

Wendie Malick

Alex Hirsch

Mae Whitman

Tati Gabrielle

Issac Ryan Brown

Zeno Robinson

Elizabeth Grullon

Cissy Jones

Avi Roque

Keston John

Matt Chapman

Michaela Dietz

Grey DeLisle

Erica Lindbeck

Ryan O’Flanagan

Kimberly Brooks

Ally Maki

Kari Wahlgren

Cast:

Princess: DEE BRADLEY BAKER

Gilbert Park & Faust: ERIC BAUZA

Barcus: BOB BERGEN

Professor Hermonculous: J.B. BLANC

Salty: STEVE BLUM

Gus Porter: ISSAC RYAN BROWN

Skara & Eileen: KIMBERLY BROOKS

Mason: BRUCE CAREY

Steve Tholomule & Harvey Park: MATT CHAPMAN

Tibblet-Tibblie Grimm Hammer III “Tibbles”: PARVESH CHEENA

Manny Noceda: WILSON CRUZ

Adrian Graye Vernworth: NOSHIR DALAL

Bria: FELICIA DAY

Tía Valentina Noceda: ARIANA DeBOSE

Prima Gabi Noceda: ELIJAH DeJESUS

Masha, Katya, Cat, Usurper, & Bonesborough Brawl Security Guard: GREY DeLISLE

Matt Tholomule: JORGE DIAZ

Vee Noceda: MICHAELA DIETZ

Gavin: NIK DODANI

Gwendolyn Clawthorne: DEB DOETZER

Osran: JASON DOUGLAS

Willow Park: TATI GABRIELLE

Flora D’splora: EILEEN GALINDO

Dell Clawthorne: PETER GALLAGHER

Jerbo: NOAH GALVIN

Long-Haired Bat Kid: KIMIKO GLENN

Camila Noceda: ELIZABETH GRULLON

Angmar: HARVEY GUILLÉN

Eye-Eating Monster, Snaggleback, & Papa Titan: ARIN HANSON

King Clawthorne & Hooty: ALEX HIRSCH

Mohawk Bat Kid: HOLLY @hollowtones

Bill: CHRIS HOUGHTON

Tío Emilio Noceda: OSCAR ISAAC

Darius Deamonne: KESTON JOHN

Lilith Clawthorne: CISSY JONES

Kikimora: MELA LEE

Vitimir: JASON LIEBRECHT

Emira Blight: ERICA LINDBECK

Braxas: KEVIN LOCARRO

Odalia Blight: RACHAEL MACFARLANE

Viney: ALLY MAKI

Eda Clawthorne: WENDIE MALICK

Morton: SHANNON McKAIN

Olive (Gabi’s Girlfriend): MOSCO MOON

Abuela Luna Noceda: RITA MORENO

Edric Blight: RYAN O’FLANAGAN

Tío Mateo Noceda: JOHNNY ORTIZ

Bucket Hat Bat Kid: PENNY @snapscube PARKER

Alador Blight: JIM PIRRI

Azura: ANAIRIS QUIÑONES

Philip Wittebane/Emperor Belos: MATTHEW RHYS

Tarak, Bonesborough Brawl Commentator, & Tom: KEVIN MICHAEL RICHARDSON

Boscha, Amelia, Bo, & Abominations: EDEN RIEGEL

Hieronymus Bump: BUMPER ROBINSON

Hunter, Derwin, & Male Camp Friend: ZENO ROBINSON

Luz Noceda: SARAH-NICOLE ROBLES

Raine Whispers: AVI ROQUE

Bat Queen: ISABELLA ROSSELINI

Jacob Hopkins & Warden Wrath: ROGER CRAIG SMITH

Female Camp Friend: HAILEE STEINFELD

Greater Basilisk: APRIL STEWART

Graveyard Keeper: CHRISTOPHER SWINDLE

Malphas: FRED TATASCIORE

Hettie Cutburn: JEN TAYLOR

Tinella Nosa & Severine: DANA TERRACE

Hecate & Harper (Gabi’s Other Girlfriend): MORGAN TERRY

Amber, Eberwolf, Villainous Lucy, & Barista: KARI WAHLGREN

Amity Blight: MAE WHITMAN

Perry Porter: GARY ANTHONY WILLIAMS

Terra Snapdragon: DEBRA WILSON

The Collector: FRYDA WOLFF

[movies-to-add-to-your-tbw]

Title: Superman: Doomsday

Rating: PG-13

Director: Lauren Montgomery, Bruce Timm

Cast: Adam Baldwin, Anne Heche, James Marsters, John DiMaggio, Swoosie Kurtz, Tom Kenny, Ray Wise, Cree Summer, Adam Wylie, Chris Cox, Hettie Lynne Hurtes, James Arnold Taylor, Townsend Coleman, Kimberly Brooks, Kevin Smith

Release year: 2007

Genres: science fiction, action

Blurb: When LexCorp accidentally unleashes a murderous creature, Superman meets his greatest challenge as a champion.

[ineffable-endearments]

No Woman No Cry by Rita Marley with Hettie Jones

What could a memoir by Rita Marley, widow of Bob Marley, one of the most internationally renowned musicians of all time, possibly have to do with Good Omens? This is what I was wondering when I saw it on the "book club" list in Amazon's X-Ray feature, and what I was determined to find out by requesting it from the library.

[ID: A screen capture from Good Omens Season 2 Episode 2: several books on Aziraphale's bookshop shelf. From left to right, the legible titles are: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith; No Woman, No Cry by Rita Marley; The Crow Road by Iain Banks; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon; Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez; Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell; The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler; The Bible; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger; A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket; Herzog by Saul Bellow. There are a few other books, but their titles can't be seen in the screen capture. At the bottom of the frame are Gabriel's blurred fingers as he removes another book from the shelf. End ID]

Screen capture is from cap-that.com.

As a nonfiction narrative about real people, some of whom are still alive, No Woman No Cry is different from all the other books on the list. It's got intimate details about real people's lives and major historical events, and that is why I'm not going to make one-to-one comparisons to my favorite fictional story.

But I will write a summary and a reflection on it.

Warning for the summary and essay below about racism, colonialism, rape, and spousal abuse. Do feel free to chat or ask me about more specifics, if you're concerned about reading those subjects. Also, though it's a memoir rather than fiction, there are, of course, many spoilers.

So, first of all: I am in so very far over my head when it comes to discussing the deeper themes of this book. I grew up a middle-class white girl in Connecticut, USA in the 1990s and 2000s and experienced neither abuse nor fame in early adulthood; this memoir is written by a woman who grew up a dark-skinned black girl in deep poverty in Jamaica in the middle of the twentieth century, then experienced a dizzying combination of fame and abuse almost all at once. I can empathize with Rita's story as she tells it, but to analyze and extrapolate in any sort of insightful way? No, I don't think I can do that. No Woman No Cry deserves reflection, though. Please kindly bear with a little clumsiness.

I can see from online discussion that a lot of people come out of this book feeling shocked and dismayed to discover that Bob Marley did, indeed, abuse his wife, including an instance she described as "almost rape" when he simply would not accept a sexual rejection. After writing about all this and more, though, Rita Marley continues to miss, love, and admire Bob; per the online comments, many readers seem to have decided that she is misguided, afflicted, or outright delusional for feeling this way. Although I could not forgive Bob's abuses, I also cannot dismiss the positive meanings that Rita has taken from her time with Bob. It's her story, not mine, and she already has her own way of synthesizing the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Summary

No Woman No Cry starts with Rita Marley recalling Bob Marley's death.

But then I started to cry and said, "Bob, please, don't leave me." And he looked up and said, "Leave you, go where? What are you crying for? Forget crying, Rita. Just keep singing. Sing! Sing!" So I kept singing, and then I realized, wow, that's exactly what the song was saying: "I will never leave you, wherever you are I will be..."

Rita Marley's full maiden name was Alfarita Constantia Anderson, but she went by Rita her whole life. Her parents separated, as was common, and she lived with her beloved Aunty Viola for much of her youth. Rita was bullied by her classmates for her dark skin; though most Jamaicans are people of color, eurocentric beauty standards brought in by colonialism still led to a strong bias toward lighter skin.

Rita met Bob Marley in Trench Town when they were both getting into music; Rita was in a group called The Soulettes, and Bob was in a group called The Wailers with his friends Peter and Bunny. They bonded over music. They also bonded over Bob's generosity with Aunty and taking care of Rita's child, as Rita was a single mother at the time and Bob was nurturing toward her baby daughter, Sharon. Interestingly, Rita stated she initially got involved in Bob's personal life because she felt she wanted to take care of him, as he didn't have anywhere comfortable to live.

Bob got Rita interested in Rastafari, which connected with her spiritually and helped her gain confidence in her beauty and worth as a black woman. Rita gives Bob a great deal of credit throughout the narrative for helping her discover herself.

Rita and Bob had very little income for the early part of their marriage. They had to stay in a single room at Aunty's house, and although they loved Aunty, it was just too crowded, especially since Aunty and Rita's brother did not approve of all of their decisions. They were judgmental of Rastafari, for example, which had no respect in Jamaica. (Although there is still bias against Rastafarians today, things are a bit better.)

Over the next several years, Rita and Bob moved a few times while continuing to work on Bob's music; they had homes in Nine Mile and then again in Kingston. Rita describes the two of them getting into "love fights" and then making up; they would fight "like children," as she put it, although she was left with physical injuries at times. Aunty warned Rita against staying with a spouse who would hit her. Rita, however, didn't want to leave, partly out of love and partly because she felt that maintaining the marriage was a duty. She also believed she and Bob would always actively choose to be friends, no matter what happened. Bob made up with both Rita and Aunty.

Rita considered different career paths, which included some music, but also the possibility of nursing. On the other hand, Bob devoted himself entirely to music, except for a short time working in the United States. Both Bob and Rita worked in the United States at different times. Neither of them liked it. During Rita's stay in the US, she hated being away from home and felt like she was growing apart from Bob. When Rita got back to Jamaica, she discovered that two other women were pregnant with Bob's children. Though she was angry, Rita decided that because of her spirituality and her continued love, she would remain married to Bob, but would focus on taking care of herself and the children. By now, the family had three children: Shannon (who Rita had before meeting Bob and who Bob formally adopted), Cedella, and David Nesta (better known as Ziggy).

This whole time, Bob had been working on music, with Rita helping when she wasn't away in the US. They had been establishing relationships with studios and selling records, and were seeing some success.

Bob and the Wailers' new producer gave them a house as a space to work and make music. That house was at 56 Hope Road in Kingston, and it's still a famous site today. By the time they got that house, Bob was entirely the one performing with the Wailers, while Rita was mostly taking care of the children. Because of the constant activity from strangers, business dealings, and womanizing that went on at Hope Road, Rita did not want to raise her children there, and she decided to get a government-sponsored house in Bull Bay, another city.

Bob ultimately bought the house in Bull Bay at Rita's request. Rita worked hard on developing her independence while she was raising the children there; she learned to drive and garden, and the garden yielded many fruits and vegetables. Aunty and other friends helped out, too.

Bob financially supported Rita and the children. He divided his time between the house in Bull Bay, the house at 56 Hope Road in Kingston, and tours. Rita and Bob's relationship seemed to be somewhat fluid here; on one hand, Rita describes herself as a "friend" or "sister," and she strongly contemplated divorce. But she also describes how she got a basement studio at the Bull Bay home, and how she and Bob would go down there to make out sometimes, or, more often, to make music. Sometimes, they'd even have little family "events" in that basement studio wherein the children, who were now a bit older and had strong interests in music themselves, could put on imaginary little shows for fun.

Although Bob constantly had girlfriends, he got inordinately jealous of Rita's friend and neighbor, Owen Stewart, known as Tacky. Tacky was not initially a romantic interest. However, Bob assumed he was. One night, Rita informed Bob that she didn't want to have sex anymore because of his constant philandering; she wanted to take a stand. But he was absolutely insistent, arguing that he should be able to have sex with her because she was his wife, until she finally went along with him. Rita comments, "I was almost raped that night."

It sounds like it was rape to me. And Rita got pregnant from it. She and Bob now had another son, Stephen.

Rita and Tacky had by then started having a sexual relationship, which Bob tried to confront Tacky about. One of Bob's girlfriends just happened to appear right while he was talking to Tacky, which was a massive embarrassment and which Tacky correctly used to point out Bob's hypocrisy. Bob stopped arguing, and Rita continued her relationship with Tacky. Rita also had a child with Tacky, a daughter named Stephanie, who Bob adopted.

Life, incredibly, moved on, and Rita suggested to Bob that she should start a juice bar with some of her produce at his Hope Road studio location. Bob agreed, and Rita started the stand that eventually became the Queen of Sheba restaurant. Everyone loved her organic food; Rita comments that Bob was her best customer and PR man.

While running the Queen of Sheba restaurant, Rita reconnected with some friends: Minnie, Judy, and Marcia. Minnie helped a great deal with the restaurant. Rita, Minnie, and Judy wanted to start a Rastafarian women's organization and school for Rastafarian children, while Rita, Judy, and Marcia agreed to sing together at a club. It was Rita's first public performance in a long time.

Right after this, The Wailers broke up. Specifically, Bob signed on again with the same record label and would still work with new singers as "Bob Marley and the Wailers," but the other Wailers, Peter and Bunny, left. They weren't happy with the way the label was headlining Bob. Bob felt deeply hurt by the group's dissolution, but he asked Rita, Marcia, and Judy to come sing backup with him in the studio and on tour.

Bob was paying Rita, as well as Marcia and Judy. But at the same time, Rita got to make music with Bob again, and she loved that. She was very happy to go on tour with him, partly out of a desire to spend time together again - through all the horrible things that had happened, they still loved each other and wanted to spend time together. Rita was also happy to be working on her own musical career. Rita, Marcia, and Judy had named their trio the I-Three, and this would be solid work for all of them.

Rita insisted on getting to be her own separate person on tour, a member of the I-Three instead of Mrs. Marley. She writes about wanting to continue looking after Bob on the road - ensuring his laundry was done and meals were eaten, for example. But otherwise, she stated, she was free to do whatever she wanted on the road in a way she couldn't be at home and wouldn't have been if she were expected to be acting as Mrs. Marley the whole entire time. She also, however, writes about missing her children and her home dearly.

Again, Bob and Rita's relationship continued to seem very fluid. Bob would get jealous if he thought other men were involved with Rita; there was even an incident when he came into her hotel room, started shouting when he saw a male friend in there, lifted Rita up off the bed, and dropped her back on the bed. But he also continued to have affairs and children with other women. Rita writes that she wasn't threatened by many of these women because there were so many of them and they didn't represent serious relationships. Rita also felt it was easier to just take Bob's children by other women into her home, and she often had friendships with their mothers. There were a few women who seemed serious enough for Rita to be hurt by their presence, but over and over again, she chose not to worry about it, because she viewed her role as more important.

Despite the difficulties of dealing with Bob's womanizing and being away from home, Rita chose to stay on tour for all those years because she was instrumental in holding together "such a good thing" - Bob's musical tours with the I-Three - and she sensed it was important to people all over the world. She also loved the sense of individual development she got from that time. Rita comments:

Take your troubles to the Lord and not to the people, I'd tell myself. So I did just that---I prayed. And I gave my part, I gave it honestly. I gave my part, from the heart, and I was paid for it. Paid every week, just like everybody else. So I could maintain myself, not just physically, but with a lot of spirit. And on good days, even though I wasn't altogether happy, I felt so independent, thinking, well, now I can do whatever I want, now I can buy clothes and shoes that I like, I can be---whew---just what I wanna be!

During the seven years they were touring (interspersed with time at home in Jamaica), Bob and Rita did have their arguments and fights, but they overall got along well and were still in love, so they solidified their relationship "as man and wife" again.

However, Rita still didn't feel individuated in the way she wanted to, so she signed with a record company named Hansa Music. Bob did not like this because he wanted to be the one to give Rita her big break; he wanted to keep the music in the family. He felt like white people (Hansa Music was a French company) were taking Rita away. But Rita and the record company were persistent, and he finally agreed to cooperate. Rita started working on her own individual music.

Bob had a political presence - people had come to think of him as "the voice of the people," and youth from the ghetto tended to look to him for help. People would come to Hope Road looking for favors and financial help, with which Bob was generous. But a lot of the people looking for help were mixed up with crime. He became anxious, even paranoid, as people sought help with matters that could endanger Bob and the family - people asking to stay at Hope Road to avoid gang violence, for example.

Eventually, the government asked Bob to do a peace concert called "Smile Jamaica" to encourage peace in the population before an election. Bob agreed, because he believed in peace.

Just after a rehearsal shortly before the concert, Bob and Rita were shot in an assassination attempt; Rita was shot in the head but the bullet didn't cause a fatal wound because of her thick dreadlocks, and Bob was grazed across the chest and shot in the elbow, where the bullet remained for the rest of his life.

Bob insisted on doing the concert anyway, with the bullet in his arm. Rita was up there with him, even though they hadn't been able to remove the bullet from her head yet, either.

After the assassination attempt, the shaken family spent some time in the Bahamas, in Nassau. Bob then went "into exile" in England, where he reconnected with one of his girlfriends. Rita and the children went back to Jamaica for school, but no longer felt safe in their Bull Bay home, so Bob bought a three-sister (three-family) house for them in Kingston. Rita and Bob continued to talk almost every day by telephone.

The political situation didn't lighten up - Bob's influence was being tracked in the United States, and this included intelligence agencies monitoring his mail - but he decided to return to Jamaica after about half a year because he missed his home. However, Bob returned to increased political activity, including more people asking for dangerous favors; again, gang members asked to stay in his home and wanted to act as his personal security.

Before what would be their last tour, Rita wanted to get a different house for the children. She and Bob disagreed on the house; Rita wanted a smaller but beautiful house on a hill overlooking Kingston, while Bob had plans to build a mansion he could settle into with all of his children and work on his music. Rita realized Bob was planning much more for himself and the children than for her, even though he also made a bunch of promises about being a better father, friend, and husband after this tour. He was planning to settle down. Rita told him that was nice, but still decided to put her advance from the tour toward the house on the hill.

During this next tour, Bob injured one of his big toes twice, first in 1975 - after which point it never fully healed because Bob would not give it a rest - and then again in 1977, after which the nail fell out and he developed malignant melanoma. He was advised to have the toe amputated. However, he refused, believing he couldn't perform without his big toe, that audiences wouldn't want to see that, and he was told the doctors were lying. He believed the doctors were lying.

They proceeded with the tour. Bob was extremely famous at this point, and Rita felt she was losing him; other people controlled all his time and influenced his every decision, and Bob felt obligated to keep up with all the demands, even at the expense of his own health. Eventually, Bob collapsed and was taken to the hospital, at which point he discovered his cancer had spread to his brain and he had only months to live. Because the diagnosis was terminal, Bob's managers were planning to keep him touring until he died, but Rita was outraged about this and called everyone she knew to insist on bringing the tour to a stop.

Bob did get cancer treatment, first in the US and then with a specialist in Germany. The German doctor, Dr. Josef Issels, managed to keep Bob alive six months longer than the other doctors believed was possible; however, he soon died very young, at the age of 36.

Rita was devastated. As they were both young, Bob's death was the first major loss Rita had experienced.

Moreover, Rita was immediately thrown into managing a ton of issues that had never been planned for. Rita was betrayed and taken advantage of by people who had been involved in managing Bob's finances, and she even ended up on trial because they accused her of misusing Bob's money after his death. However, everything Rita had used the estate's money for was legitimate. She acted according to the financial advice of his manager, and took care of the children, and paid for his funeral, and paid legal fees. Bob also simply was not as wealthy as people believed; his legacy has generated a lot of money over decades, indeed, but at the time of his death, he wasn't inordinately wealthy, or he wouldn't have felt so much pressure to do all that touring.

Summing up their relationship after Bob's death, Rita writes:

I thought Bob did the greatest thing by leading me to find myself. ... 'You are what you are, you are black and you are beautiful.' And I know there are many, many others who learned that same lesson from him.

Rita went on to carry Bob's legacy forward, keeping his music alive. In 2000, Time magazine awarded the "Song of the Century" title to Bob's song "One Love" and the "Album of the Century" title to Bob's album "Exodus." Bob's children now have musical careers, which Rita has nurtured.

Rita was able to set Aunty up, eventually, with everything she wanted, and Rita's father came home to spend time with his many grandchildren. Eventually they both passed away, and as keenly as she felt the losses, Rita was able to lean on her friends. Rita also had one more daughter named Serita with Tacky.

Over the past few decades, Rita has continued to pursue her dreams and live an incredibly active life. She has continued to promote Bob's music, but also moved to Ghana and started a nonprofit called The Rita Marley Foundation, caring for infants and the elderly. She has done a great deal of humanitarian work.

Worth noting that Rita structured this book so it ended with the same idea with which it started:

So I started to sing, as he told me to do, and just as he said it would be, everything was all right. Rastafari!

The Big Picture

The way I see it, a big part of No Woman No Cry is about identity and individual will. The concept of identity is in the ways we're defined by our connections, from intimate connections to large-scale social contexts, and in the ways we're defined by our own choices. It hit me with almost every chapter how strong Rita's individual will was while at the same time being interconnected and interdependent with so many other people in her life, and, of course, being shaped by her race and Jamaica's status as a colonized nation until 1962.

This book is also a study in the complexity of human connections - particularly, in how it is possible to meld hopes and dreams with another person's, and to unreservedly lean on other people, without losing one's sense of self. Rita and Bob chose to marry because they had mutual dreams; Rita chose to stay with Bob, though, because of the way she personally wanted to live. And she simultaneously pushed for her independence, which in the end was the thing that allowed her to do so much of her own humanitarian work and carry on Bob's legacy, too.

This pattern, wherein individual will and relationship connections mutually strengthened each other, carried out with all of Rita's close friends and loved ones. I'm thinking especially of Aunty - Rita and Aunty clashed a great deal in Rita's youth, and yet, each valued their family connection as much as their own individual will. They stuck together despite the friction; Aunty helped raise the children, and later, Rita was able to provide Aunty with a comfortable life. That in turn was possible only because of Rita's insistence on making her own choices while Aunty insisted on continuing to provide support.

Hand-in-hand with the concept of identity is memory. This is, after all, a memoir. Its very purpose is to solidify memories, to put them in the form of a book and to help other people understand Rita's life with Bob. When Rita explains her motivations in writing, she's giving her individual will, her choices, a material presence in the world. Although I don't believe Rita comments on this in the book, I'm imagining that the act of putting her memoir in writing helps solidify her power over the narrative of her life; by writing out our stories and the thoughts that inform them, we can illuminate the power our own choices have.

Another theme running strong throughout No Woman No Cry is faith. In high contrast to the themes of The Crow Road, Rita Marley's faith doesn't hold her back; it gives her strength and connects her to others. "Faith" for Rita means Rastafari. It helped her connect with her inherent worth as a black woman, and it helped her see her own success as part of a better world overall. Rita shores up her faith against the oppressive, authoritarian nature of colonialism. For Rita, faith isn't something that subdues her with dreams of another world; it's something that moves her to act in this one.

The book opens and closes with assurances that Rita should just keep moving forward (singing, in her case) and everything will be all right. That's also faith - the belief that she will succeed if she just presses forward, even if she's not sure how that can happen. Her spirituality allows her to tap into this, but it isn't specific to a particular belief system. It's just about being willing to believe, time and time again, that one foot in front of the other will ultimately lead somewhere good.

Altogether, I believe No Woman No Cry was on the Good Omens book club list because No Woman No Cry centers the depth of the human experience: the things that make us who we are, the ways we connect with other people, and how we can figure out where we belong.

[childlikegoblinqueen]

Micro Writing Notes. and preview…

In the present, Hunter realizes how important it is to stand up for himself and how this will be key in protecting his family.

In flashbacks, Hunter is trying to prove himself to someone who would never actually accept him.

He’s used to this.

But back then there was the question of owning up to one person who definitely had something to say about the everlasting oath he’d made with Hermoncules.

“YOU DID WHAT?”

Okay. Willow – no — his girlfriend – no. The Captain was mad. Very, very mad.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Hunter dropped to his knees, “Please don’t leave me, Captain. I won’t fail you, I promise.”

A soft hand fell on his cheek.

“Hey.” Willow knelt down to his level, “I’m not going to leave you. Why would you even say that?”

“Consequences… “ Hunter whispered. “I made a decision that could affect the Entrails and because of my actions, you would be down a player.” His eyes trailed to the floor. All he could see was his and Willow’s knees barely touching. “Actions have consequences…” he whispered.

Also… Hettie is still missing! 😱

No body = good news? I guess that depends on what you think about Hettie!?

[thecryptidbard]

Back at it with another Ghosts tarot card—this one is Hetty as The High Priestess!

This card is so much about reconciling one’s inner and outer selves, and learning how to effectively express that internal world; one of the things that really fascinates me about Hetty is that she has such a carefully curated Public Persona (largely thanks to her era/class), but also has such a rich interior life with these withdrawn spells where she just stares out of windows contemplatively for hours at a time, which is what really made me see her as this card. I hope that we get to keep seeing her break down the boundaries between these different sides of herself going forward.

The original Pamela Colman Smith tarot card my design is based on can be seen here, and you can see the first Ghosts card I drew, Flower, here in my Ghosts Tarot tag.

[ncisladaily]

Fun throwback to the Season 7 premiere Tweet party!

from Barrett's IG

[demi-shoggoth]

2023 Reading Log pt. 14

Where the hell did November go?

66. New World Monkeys: The Evolutionary Odyssey by Alfred L. Rosenberger. In the introduction, the author laments that there aren’t any good books outlining the evolution and ecology of the New World Monkeys. If that's the case, there still aren’t. This book does alright by the ecology part—it has good summaries of the anatomy, behavior and feeding interactions of the covered monkeys. But the evolution is a mess. Rosenberger’s take on the evolutionary relationships between the animals covered here is iconoclastic, to say the least. He distrusts molecular phylogeny, uses synapomorphic characters that are basically just vibes, and has an entire chapter dedicated to lambasting the idea that any mammals could disperse across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to South America (the consensus explanation) in favor of a hypothesized trek through Greenland and North America that has no evidence and still requires open ocean crossings. This was an incredibly frustrating experience to read, because there’s enough good content among the dross that I didn’t want to just abandon it.

67. Seaweeds of the World by John H. Bothwell. The weakest of Princeton University Press’ “X of the World” series. For one thing, the subtitle is usually “A Guide to Every Family”, whereas here it’s “A Guide to Every Order”. The book’s general coverage of seaweeds is pretty good—it explains why “seaweed” is a polyphyletic category but still useful in common English, explains the anatomy and the complex life histories of seaweeds. But the actual coverage of groups is lacking. Again, it doesn’t cover every family. And it’s more interested in seaweeds of economic importance than it is in their actual ecologies. Plus the writing is just kinda boring. This is the first entry in this series I do not recommend.

68. Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones by Hettie Judah. Now this is more like it! This book is a series of short essays about stones and their cultural impact. I’m a sucker for cultural histories in general, and this is a very good one. I especially liked that it doesn’t just cover gemstones, as I originally expected, but also stones used in art and architecture, resources like coal, and the use of earthworks in religion. The focus is much more on the culture than the geology, but the book does discuss things like deposition of sediments and how metamorphic rocks yield gemstones in explaining why certain places have certain rocks. The book is also lovely to look at, with minimalist bands of color along the sides of the pages in the hues of the stones covered in that chapter.

69. Monsters and Monarchs: Serial Killers in Classical Myth and History by Debbie Felton. I was excited for this one. I had read Felton’s chapter in Monster Anthropology, which suggested that Greek traveler’s tales about werewolves and the murderous robbers encountered by Theseus in myth were both expressions of cultural fears about serial killers. Unfortunately, that article already covered the bulk of Felton’s actual argument and evidence, and this book is those 20 pages fluffed to 200. The only other really good material is some coverage of the distinction between Greek and Roman attitudes towards law and order, and what “counted” as murder in each society. The rest of it is handwaving and extrapolation from very little data, with just about every instance of mass killing that we have records of, from political uprisings to court intrigue, being taken as the work of a possible serial killer. Plus, the author is a Freudian, so we have to hear about coded references to rape and sexual violence in stories where there really aren’t any. Sometimes a bed where you get your legs cut off is just a bed.

70. Cult of the Dead: A Brief History of Christianity by Kyle Smith. They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, of course, but that title and that cover made an instant sale for me. I’m glad it did, too, because this is a good one. An explanation of the importance of martyrdom to Christianity, it does an excellent job of explaining why, exactly, so many people were willing and eager to die for their faith, and how this persisted in building a persecution complex among the dominant European religion for centuries. The book avers from discussing the present day for the most part, tapering off with the work of reformist Catholics poring over the many, many legends about saints and trying to determine which, if any of them, represent actual historical events rather than religious fictions. Other topics covered include the trade in relics, the role in martyrologies in shaping the modern calendar, and how women could most easily play a role in the Church through the mortification of the flesh. The book is eminently readable and very well illustrated.