#introducing him to her birds. celebrating jewish holidays with him.

[itslikeababywithamustache]

Okay full disclaimer this post has zero to do with the EFU I’m sorry, but I just wanna ramble.

Has anyone here watched Superstore? I love it, but every other time I go watch it I get sucked into an AU where Dina and Jonah end up dating and it’s driving me insane.

Cause the first time I watched the show, in the first few episodes I honestly? Really liked Dina? I mean I still do, but like. She’s an attractive woman who isn’t super thin, she’s assertive and sure of herself, and yeah she has trouble making friends but she grows over the seasons.

And Jonah is a (canonly assumed at least) straight guy who pushes back toxic masculinity and is confident in being his not-super-manly self.

And before they had Dina go the kinda creepy route in her attraction to Jonah, picking up on signals that weren’t there and assuming he returned her feelings, I was like. Rooting for them tbh.

Rooting for the them where Jonah WAS interested and Dina didn’t push herself on him, to be clear. If the show writers had actually been serious about that relationship and made it actually happen? Where the woman was more masculine and assertive than the man, the Protective One in the relationship? Like, that exists! Write about it! I think it could’ve been great.

And now I just always think about what Might Have Been... I mean I love Amy too, and I love that she‘s the one who makes more money and he doesn’t care, and she’s assertive too and they’re cute, but I just. I was rooting for Dina first. And I can’t get over it.

[sextonsharpwinhalstead]

Okay, so I’m a slut for medical dramas but I also get frustrated when there’s a lack of diversity or when queer/PoC/disabled etc characters exist solely to suffer at the hands of writers. Could you rank the current medical dramas from best to worst in terms of diversity?

 HO’S UNITE! 

I completely understand. Not only in the lack of diversity but also a lack of the KIND of diversity. I have a weird theory about television and often movie casts. Of course this ranking is only of the shows I watch. Worst to Best.

The Resident

The Good: 

The show begins with the audience following Devon Pravesh, a Gujarati and South Asian man. He’s on of the most realistic characters considering most medical shows seem to gloss over the fact that most people in medical school as well as working practitioners look an awful lot like Devon and less like Conrad. They have the shoot-for-excellence-at-all-times Nigerian immigrant surgeon and all around bad-ass Mina Okafor, and of course The Raptor, AJ Austin who was adopted by a Chinese man and a Black American woman. The newest edition of Dr. Barrett Cain adds another bit of chocolate goodness to look at too.

The Bad:

Aside from Mina’s poorly cast mother Lynne Whitfield and the introduction of Devon’s parents the show hasn’t figured out how to weave in the different ethnicity's and backgrounds of their characters of color. No one speaks in their mother-tongue, celebrates any holidays or traditions tied to their respective cultures and religions and of course the most obvious. EVERYONE here is straight and able-bodied. And there are only TWO female leads, with most of the other recurring female characters being sent away or killed off.

The Good Doctor

The Good:

Although not the first medical drama to introduce a character with Autism it is the first to have one as the lead and his autism is a focus of the show. In the beginning there was the English born Dr. Jared Kalu, we know he comes from money and is assumed to be Asian, the actor is actually Nigerian and white, after he left the show Dr. Park was introduced. The Good Doctor has had the most Asian representation on a medical show I believe EVER in the history of prime-time television. Allegra Aoki, Dr. Aurdrey Lim, and Dr. Jackson Han round the out the Asian representation on the show.  Carly Lever, Dr. Claire Browne, and Dr. Marcus Andrews are represented as black or mixed-race Black Americans. Dr. Neil Melendez is the only Latino or Hispanic character he really doesn’t lean into it. Dr. Glassman and his wife are both Jewish.

The Bad:

The Good Doctor is doing something different having an autistic character as the lead, and although Freddie Highmore is a talented actor, he isn’t autistic. Also it would’ve been even better if Shaun could’ve been Shauna. A chance was missed here by taking a look at the often under diagnosed sect of girls and women who are autistic. The show has a lot of women on it both recurring and regular but ALL of them, just like the men,are straight. And a missed opportunity too considering the actress who plays Carly has been married to a woman since 2013. Also, Carly and Claire can pass the paper bag test, NO ONE is bilingual, and if they are they don’t show it or any of the other aspects of their cultural differences it’s very “American.

Chicago Med

The Good:

Out of all the One Chicago Shows, Med has the most racially diverse cast as well as diverse recurring characters. They have four black women on the cast. April Sexton whose real surname is Suassuna is Afro-Brazilian, who speaks both Spanish and Portuguese, attends family functions based on her heritage and has even shared a few anecdotes and beliefs from her culture which also include her brother Dr. Noah Sexton. Ditto for the recurring character Dr. Isidore Latham. He has Asperger’s, is Jewish, and observes all aspects of Judaism including wearing a kippah, and sharing some Jewish based jokes. Dr. Ethan Choi is believed to be Korean and Iranian born Dominic Rains has been added to the cast as Dr. Crockett Marcel rounding out the leads of Asian descent. 

The Bad:

Ethan’s ethnicity and race has only been brought up when it was being demeaned. Other than that the show leans heavily on his military background to give him depth but gives zero basis for any customs or cultural traits he probably had growing up. Nary a mention is given about Crockett’s race only his southern New Orleans heritage leaving us as an audience wondering if he’s Creole? Spicy White? No idea. Also April is Brazilian but almost exclusively speaks Spanish when not speaking English to her brother which is by far the strangest considering I have never met anyone who chooses English if they are raised in a multicultural household, and definitely not in conversation with their family members. But never Portuguese. All of these shows fail at representing Black American cultural, which leaves Maggie and Sharon with very little to share. And of course the most obvious. There are no LGBT characters on the show. None are leads and it doesn’t appear as though they are adding any or thinking about opening any new doors within the characters.

New Amsterdam

The Good

New Amsterdam does a lot of things right. My dear Vijay Kapoor who’s Indian identity is very wrapped in who he is, from his accent, to his prayers, mannerisms, and discussions of his past he isn’t just a token he’s a full character. Although the show has yet to address it Dr. Helen Sharpe who is obviously black is played by Freema Agyeman who is not so obviously half Iranian on her mothers side. But she is English and her disposition, her language and slang are represented in that regard. Lauren Bloom is a neurodivergent character with ADHD and a struggling addict. Dr. Floyd Reynolds is Black American who has Sunday dinners at his mothers. And Dr. Iggy Frome is a gay married man with 50 bajillion Pakistani children and aiming for one more. Recurring characters, Dr. Valentina Castro, Dora, and Casey are all  Latino and Evie Floyd is mixed race, white and Black American. Not to mention this show has plethora of diverse peripheral characters, little people, hijabs, turbans, kippahs,everywhere, you name it you’ve probably seen it. The show has to be diverse because it’s in New York and it’s supposed to be an international hospital. The place is MASSIVE. 

The Bad:

All that diversity, all the difference, cultural richness, ripe stories running amok and the entire show is centered on a cis-het white man. Not mention Casey and Dora don’t even have last names. Maybe that’s why the actress isn’t on the show anymore and is now on Emergence, New Amsterdam’s rival at that time slot. 

Grey’s Anatomy

The Good

Where do you start with the longest running medical drama on television.

They’ve had it all and still do. They constantly have LGBT characters, who are shown to get hot and heavy the same as their het-counterparts. Where other shows have two men bird-kissing like they don’t even want to touch, Levi and Nico are rolling around in ambulances and hooking up in on-call rooms. Ditto for the women, I stan Callie x Arizona especially their golden years. Nothing will ever touch the way Arizona used to say “Calliope” when they first started dated, it still makes me smile thinking about it. They’ve had addicts, alcoholics, neurodivigent characters, every race you could think of, Muslim, Christian,Jewish,and atheists. All kinds of socio-economic backgrounds. If you can think it they’ve had it and there really isn’t much reason or room to list all the characters both recurring and regular who have checked damn near every box.

The Bad:

It’s time for more brown Asians. And a regular neurodivergent character although there is more than enough room to diagnose a few of the characters if they wanted to. I’d be happy with a deaf doctor too. Also Carina DeLuca is currently the only Bi-character and she’s been kind of only used as a bed warmer which is...well, yikes. 

[sabrinasgrimoire]

Ostara

Northern Hemisphere Dates: circa March 19th - 23rd

Southern Hemisphere Dates: circa September 19th - 23rd

Similar Celebrations: The most obvious parallel for Ostara is the Christian Easter. This is the day when Jesus emerges from his tomb after sacrificing himself the previous Friday on Black Friday. Though doesn’t obviously have anything to do with Ostara, it deals with the same themes of rebirth, renewal, light, and love. The Jewish holiday of Passover also occurs at the time of Ostara. This is a very somber holiday that honors the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. Alban Eiler is the Druidic celebration of Ostara, which celebrates the time that crops are sown. This is known among the druids to be a very magickal time. Bacchanalia was a celebration in Ancient Rome that was in honor of the God of Wine Bacchus or Dionysus. This was a time of drunken revelry and sex.

Purpose: Though the Sabbat is named after the Goddess Eostre, historians debate if she was actually worshipped at all. A monk named Bede was the first one to introduce this Goddess, but other than his writings, there is very little writing or historical evidence of this Goddess. Although this is the case, many ancient peoples took note of the spring or vernal equinox. Many monuments and megalithic cairns have been built to display the position of the sun at the equinoxes and the solstices. Some examples are the Mayan El Castillo, America’s Stonehenge in New Hampshire, Fajada Butte in New Mexico, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and Mnajdra in Malta. The origin of Ostara is with Gerald Gardner, who took the idea of the spring equinox and mixed it with the Goddess Eostre and a few other existing traditions around this time. Despite the lack of historic celebration, we know this time to be a time of renewal, where new life is brought into the world, and the God is getting stronger and warming the world once again. This is also a time of beginnings and renewals, where we must continue to grow into our new selves.

Goddess and God: The Goddess is in the form of a maiden, and is fertile as she walks the earth awakened from her slumber and bringing new life to all she touches. The God is in the form of a young, lustful man who will soon become a father. He is the wild, green man.

Key Words: Agriculture, Balance, Beauty, Fertility, Growth, Life, Light, Love, Rebirth/Renewal. These themes represent the coming of spring. Because the vernal equinox is the first official day of spring, it is truly the time when we start to see new life in the form of sprouts and baby animals. The balance of this Sabbat is represented when the sun reaches its zenith and the day is as long as the night.

Decorations: The traditional decorations for Ostara are decorated eggs. This comes from a myth about the Goddess Eostre. It is said the Eostre was wandering the winter woods, and came across a dying sparrow. In order to help the poor bird, she tried to transform him into a hare. Unfortunately, the magick didn’t all together work, and though the bird looked like a hare, he still lay eggs. This is the origin of the Easter Bunny! Along with decorated eggs, baskets, seeds, and hares are symbols of the season.

Correspondence Chart:

Trees: Ash, Birch, Maple, Yew

Herbs & Spices: Daffodil, Gorse, Honeysuckle, Lily, Rose, Violet

Stones & Metals: Aquamarine, Moonstone, Rose Quartz

Animal Totems: Hare, Rabbit, Sheep (Ram), Snake, Cormorant, Hawk, Sparrow, Swallow

Deities: Aphrodite, Ariadne, Artemis, Astarte, Athena, Coatlicue, Cybele, Dememter, Diana, Eos, Gaia, Hera, Idunn, Iris, Ishtar, Isis, Juno, Minerva, Ostara, Persephone, Venus, Vesta, Adonis, Attis, Cernunnos, the Dagda, Sumuzi, the Green Man, Mithras, Odin, Osiris, Pan

Planet: the Sun

Time: Dawn

Season: Spring

Element: Air

Zodiac: Aries, Pisces

Colors: Light Blue, Green, Pink, Yellow

Ogham: Onn

Works Cited:

Sandra Kynes (2013), The Complete Book of Correspondences, Llewellyn, e-book, page 379

Scott Cuningham (1996), Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, Llewellyn, print

Kerri Connor (2015), Ostara: Rituals, Recipes, and Lore for the Spring Equinox, Llewellyn, print