#james may's old articles

[blackkat15]

James May on stupid sheep

He talks about Fusker 😭

"This month, I have acquired a cat. He’s a black and white tom, eight weeks old, and I have named him Fusker in memory of the late Bob Cook, father of my childhood friend Robert Cook. He was a man who hated cats.

In fact he would refer to any cat as ‘a little fusker’ and it’s only now I realise that he was probably just sparing Mrs Cook’s blushes. But it’s too late. He answers to Fusker, I love him, and he loves me.

But don’t worry. I’m not going to turn into one of those pathetic pussy-whipped blokes who says, “Ha, ha, it was ever so funny the other day with Fusker he climbed onto my desk and jumped onto the computer keybolrddgdfgk lsdkfj l sdf k sdfsldfkjjjjjjj and I said look Fusker there’s a mouse and he chased it, ha, ha, ha, and I lost everything!”

but the other day – it was ever so funny – I opened the fridge to get another beer and found I’d shut him in it! And he was purring!

In the end, even the most ardent cat fancier has to admit that they just aren’t very bright. They have become the stuff of superstition, various cultures have attributed mystical powers to them, and the ancient Egyptians went as far as to turn a cat into a deity. My own experience, however, suggests that the cat understands only two things – the peerless pleasure of a fresh dollop of Whiskas, and the pain of being trodden on following a mistimed lunge at an approaching booted foot.

Mind you, compared with some of the sheep I have met recently, Fusker is Magnus ruddy Magnusson.

I’ve been meeting a lot of sheep, because I’ve been driving in Scotland and Wales. I thought I liked them. They’re decorative and scenic; they wander, lonely, around the hills and vales like the clouds of the earth. At the risk of being misunderstood, the pedigree sheep of Scotland and Wales are quite handsome brutes.

There are obvious downsides to being a sheep: it must be pretty boring and people keep nicking your coat. But, in many ways, life must be utterly idyllic. There’s no work to do, you fear no natural predators, and when you eat grass and live in the Brecon Beacons the whole world is your lunch. The equivalent for me would be if every street in London was carpeted with plates of egg and chips.

So I have to ask why so many of them, even now, are standing in the middle of the A4067 between Defynnog and Abercraf. I’ve tried to work out, using my knowledge of geometry, what percentage of this region of Wales, by area, is road rather than grass. But it’s so small I’ve given up. Proportionally, it’s smaller than that irritating bit of lemon grass in a Thai curry.

Standing in the middle of the road really is idiotic behaviour even by the standards of the beasts of the fields, and especially when I’m enjoying the new Vauxhall Monaro VXR. As a sheep, standing in front of one-and-a-half tons of V8 muscle car is a bit like turning up to a jousting tournament in a cardigan.

The Monaro is actually an Australian car, which is strangely relevant as the Aussies have a similar problem with kangaroos. But at least a road-kill kangaroo can be made into what the manager of a Nullabor roadhouse once described to me as a ‘pie-flavoured pie’.

Sheep are unbelievably thick, and when you examine one closely you can see why. They appear to be quite big but, as with Richard Hammond’s poodle, there isn’t actually very much animal inside that big ball of fluff. And even then, this surprisingly small creature has a disproportionately small head, and hence brain (I once ate a sheep’s brain in the Middle East, and I have to say I came away still hungry). Hammond’s poodle is merely difficult to shoot at, but a sheep is dangerously witless.

It’s not as if they skip about in the road or scamper away in terror. They just sit there looking sheepish as you bear down on them. But if you stop and get out of the car, they run like hell. What does this tell us?

Clearly, we need to deal with the sheep menace, because it’s spoiling some of the best driving roads in Britain. So I rang the RSPCA, probably the most powerful organisation in the country, to see what they were going to do about it. The phone was answered by a computer which said ‘Press one to report a stray animal’, but as I was still in Wales I could see that becoming boring.

Eventually, I got through to a preventionist, and her first recommendation was the erection of more fencing. Brilliant. We’ve never even devised a means of keeping the Scots and the Welsh in, so I can’t see us getting very far with their livestock. And here’s something else that might surprise animal lovers – according to the RSPCA, there is ‘no scientific evidence’ that those ultra-sonic animal alarm things work. All they mean is that the last thought to pass through the mind of a hedgehog is ‘what’s that irritating whining noise?’

Apparently, your typical Welsh or Scottish sheep is ‘hefted’, that is, free to roam. “They know where they’re supposed to be,” said my contact. “They know where the good grazing is and tend to stay there.”

Well, this is patently untrue. They hide behind rocks in groups and say, “Get ready lads – here comes one now”, before leaping out in front of the big Vozza just as I’ve snicked it into fourth. I can’t stand it. The sheer gormlessness of their faces is putting me off my driving.

The solution is simple. I stopped and spoke to a shepherd in Scotland and he told me that sheep farming is now a completely pointless exercise, with whole fleeces fetching prices that he expressed in pence. So why bother? Get rid of the woolly wastes of space. This is confirmation of something I have suspected for a very long time – that the countryside is not for living  in, it’s just for driving through and admiring.

We can get lamb chops from New Zealand."

[reiniesainyo]

IN BETWEEN. charlie bushnell x reader – 01

01 | SPARKS FLY previous | next | masterfile

SYNPOSIS. when a girl's co-star is good to her and now she wants it more than everything in between. (smau)

A/N. this chapter is more like world building (it's where i explain what the fuck i'm doing with the YN okay)

The "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series at Disney+ has added an unexpected pick to its growing cast.

The new live-action series is based on the hugely successful novels from author Rick Riordan of the same title. We will be seeing YN LN join the series as Rina Velasco, one of the supporting characters of the show.

LN's Rina Velasco is referred to as "the offspring of The Muses, goddesses of the sciences and the arts." Unlike most other demigods, she is born out of the artistic and scientific output of the muses. When the moral ingenuity of humans meets the divine musings of The Muses. Her character is described as a unique allrounder who becomes a mentor figure to our main cast as they embark on their journey.

This will be LN's first on-screen role of her career. LN's experience mostly lies in Broadway, she is known for playing Kim in the Miss Saigon revival on Broadway. LN was nominated for a Tony in 2022 for the same role. She is repped by Salonga/Chien Entertainment and B817 Agency.

Riordan posted on the Meta app, Threads, about this update to the casting saying: "YN was one of the actors we didn't expect to see a tape of but when we saw it, we couldn't help but fall in love with her. She embodies the spirit of Rina so well and is such a kind spirit, we can't wait for you to fall in love with her too! Welcome to the cast, YN!"

The live-action show is based on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson book series. It tells the fantastical tale of the titular 12-year-old modern demigod (Scobell), who's just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover (Simhadri) and Annabeth (Jeffries), Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.

Production on the show is now underway in Vancouver. Riordan and Jon Steinberg are writing the pilot with James Bobin directing. Steinberg and his producing partner Dan Shotz are overseeing the series and serve as executive producers alongside Bobin, Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, Anders Engström, Jet Wilkinson, and Gotham Group's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, and D.J. Goldberg. 20th Television is the studio. Salke was formerly the president of Touchstone Television and originally put the show into development.

liked by percyseries, iamcharliebushnell, and 37,789 others thelnarchive the child of the muses @percyseries

percyseries OUR MUSE!

user1 this is literally perfect casting who cried i did ↳ user2 she's so rina coded! thank the gods for the casting directors

iamcharliebushnell only muse in my life ↳ thlnarchive only traveler in my life ↳ user3 the way filming hasn't started and they're already like this ↳ user4 their chemistry is chemistry-ing

user5 roman empire. she is my roman empire.

dior.n.goodjohn i LOVE LOVE LOVE women ↳ thelnarchive HELP i love you

user6 this is so fcking random but i NEED her in a taylor swift music video

A/N i truly hope you guys can forgive the horrible editing in the pictures. the article portion is based on (and has some parts that are directly pulled from) this article from variety ! here's some succint information about rina velasco, the PJO character YN LN plays (and is my childhood OC!) - rina velasco, filipino, 18 years old (year younger than luke) - she's an offspring of the muses, not directly a child or daughter, though she may be referred as such - by her being an offspring of the muses, i mean that she was born in the same way athena's children are born. - but in rina's case she's more like a weird conglomeration of each muse. her birth is a rare event, but her mothers are honored as minor goddesses so she stayed in the apollo cabin (connection to music) - rina operates as a guidance figure for the main trio, especially annabeth - she's also luke's love interest, there's a lot of tragicness and doomed romance stuff with those two - and for the sake of everyone, we pretend like the weird i love you from the books didn't happen !

[breelandwalker]

JSTOR Articles on the History of Witchcraft, Witch Trials, and Folk Magic Beliefs

This is a partial of of articles on these subjects that can be found in the JSTOR archives. This is not exhaustive - this is just the portion I've saved for my own studies (I've read and referenced about a third of them so far) and I encourage readers and researchers to do their own digging. I recommend the articles by Ronald Hutton, Owen Davies, Mary Beth Norton, Malcolm Gaskill, Michael D. Bailey, and Willem de Blecourt as a place to start.

If you don't have personal access to JSTOR, you may be able to access the archive through your local library, university, museum, or historical society.

Full text list of titles below the cut:

'Hatcht up in Villanie and Witchcraft': Historical, Fiction, and Fantastical Recuperations of the Witch Child, by Chloe Buckley

'I Would Have Eaten You Too': Werewolf Legends in the Flemish, Dutch and German Area, by Willem de Blecourt

'The Divels Special Instruments': Women and Witchcraft before the Great Witch-hunt, by Karen Jones and Michael Zell

'The Root is Hidden and the Material Uncertain': The Challenges of Prosecuting Witchcraft in Early Modern Venice, by Jonathan Seitz

'Your Wife Will Be Your Biggest Accuser': Reinforcing Codes of Manhood at New England Witch Trials, by Richard Godbeer

A Family Matter: The CAse of a Witch Family in an 18th-Century Volhynian Town, by Kateryna Dysa

A Note on the Survival of Popular Christian Magic, by Peter Rushton

A Note on the Witch-Familiar in Seventeenth Century England, by F.H. Amphlett Micklewright

African Ideas of Witchcraft, by E.G. Parrinder

Aprodisiacs, Charms, and Philtres, by Eleanor Long

Charmers and Charming in England and Wales from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century, by Owen Davies

Charming Witches: The 'Old Religion' and the Pendle Trial, by Diane Purkiss

Demonology and Medicine in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, by Sona Rosa Burstein

Denver Tries A Witch, by Margaret M. Oyler

Devil's Stones and Midnight Rites: Megaliths, Folklore, and Contemporary Pagan Witchcraft, by Ethan Doyle White

Edmund Jones and the Pwcca'r Trwyn, by Adam N. Coward

Essex County Witchcraft, by Mary Beth Norton

From Sorcery to Witchcraft: Clerical Conceptions of Magic in the Later Middle Ages, by Michael D. Bailey

German Witchcraft, by C. Grant Loomis

Getting of Elves: Healing, Witchcraft and Fairies in the Scottish Witchcraft Trials, by Alaric Hall

Ghost and Witch in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, by Gillian Bennett

Ghosts in Mirrors: Reflections of the Self, by Elizabeth Tucker

Healing Charms in Use in England and Wales 1700-1950, by Owen Davies

How Pagan Were Medieval English Peasants?, by Ronald Hutton

Invisible Men: The Historian and the Male Witch, by Lara Apps and Andrew Gow

Johannes Junius: Bamberg's Famous Male Witch, by Lara Apps and Andrew Gow

Knots and Knot Lore, by Cyrus L. Day

Learned Credulity in Gianfrancesco Pico's Strix, by Walter Stephens

Literally Unthinkable: Demonological Descriptions of Male Witches, by Lara Apps and Andrew Gow

Magical Beliefs and Practices in Old Bulgaria, by Louis Petroff

Maleficent Witchcraft in Britian since 1900, by Thomas Waters

Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England, 1593-1680, by E.J. Kent

Methodism, the Clergy, and the Popular Belief in Witchcraft and Magic, by Owen Davies

Modern Pagan Festivals: A Study in the Nature of Tradition, by Ronald Hutton

Monstrous Theories: Werewolves and the Abuse of History, by Willem de Blecourt

Neapolitan Witchcraft, by J.B. Andrews and James G. Frazer

New England's Other Witch-Hunt: The Hartford Witch-Hunt of the 1660s and Changing Patterns in Witchcraft Prosecution, by Walter Woodward

Newspapers and the Popular Belief in Witchcraft and Magic in the Modern Period, by Owen Davies

Occult Influence, Free Will, and Medical Authority in the Old Bailey, circa 1860-1910, by Karl Bell

Paganism and Polemic: The Debate over the Origins of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, by Ronald Hutton

Plants, Livestock Losses and Witchcraft Accusations in Tudor and Stuart England, by Sally Hickey

Polychronican: Witchcraft History and Children, interpreting England's Biggest Witch Trial, 1612, by Robert Poole

Publishing for the Masses: Early Modern English Witchcraft Pamphlets, by Carla Suhr

Rethinking with Demons: The Campaign against Superstition in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe from a Cognitive Perspective, by Andrew Keitt

Seasonal Festivity in Late Medieval England, Some Further Reflections, by Ronald Hutton

Secondary Targets: Male Witches on Trial, by Lara Apps and Andrew Gow

Some Notes on Modern Somerset Witch-Lore, by R.L. Tongue

Some Notes on the History and Practice of Witchcraft in the Eastern Counties, by L.F. Newman

Some Seventeenth-Century Books of Magic, by K.M. Briggs

Stones and Spirits, by Jane P. Davidson and Christopher John Duffin

Superstitions, Magic, and Witchcraft, by Jeffrey R. Watt

The 1850s Prosecution of Gerasim Fedotov for Witchcraft, by Christine D. Worobec

The Catholic Salem: How the Devil Destroyed a Saint's Parish (Mattaincourt, 1627-31), by William Monter

The Celtic Tarot and the Secret Tradition: A Study in Modern Legend Making, by Juliette Wood

The Cult of Seely Wights in Scotland, by Julian Goodare

The Decline of Magic: Challenge and Response in Early Enlightenment England, by Michael Hunter

The Devil-Worshippers at the Prom: Rumor-Panic as Therapeutic Magic, by Bill Ellis

The Devil's Pact: Diabolic Writing and Oral Tradition, by Kimberly Ball

The Discovery of Witches: Matthew Hopkins' Defense of his Witch-hunting Methods, by Sheilagh Ilona O'Brien

The Disenchantment of Magic: Spells, Charms, and Superstition in Early European Witchcraft Literature, by Michael D. Bailey

The Epistemology of Sexual Trauma in Witches' Sabbaths, Satanic Ritual Abuse, and Alien Abduction Narratives, by Joseph Laycock

The European Witchcraft Debate and the Dutch Variant, by Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra

The Flying Phallus and the Laughing Inquisitor: Penis Theft in the Malleus Maleficarum, by Moira Smith

The Framework for Scottish Witch-Hunting for the 1590s, by Julian Goodare

The Imposture of Witchcraft, by Rossell Hope Robbins

The Last Witch of England, by J.B. Kingsbury

The Late Lancashire Witches: The Girls Next Door, by Meg Pearson

The Malefic Unconscious: Gender, Genre, and History in Early Antebellum Witchcraft Narratives, by Lisa M. Vetere

The Mingling of Fairy and Witch Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Scotland, by J.A. MacCulloch

The Nightmare Experience, Sleep Paralysis, and Witchcraft Accusations, by Owen Davies

The Pursuit of Reality: Recent Research into the History of Witchcraft, by Malcolm Gaskill

The Reception of Reginald Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft: Witchcraft, Magic, and Radical Religions, by S.F. Davies

The Role of Gender in Accusations of Witchcraft: The Case of Eastern Slovenia, by Mirjam Mencej

The Scottish Witchcraft Act, by Julian Goodare

The Werewolves of Livonia: Lycanthropy and Shape-Changing in Scholarly Texts, 1550-1720, by Stefan Donecker

The Wild Hunter and the Witches' Sabbath, by Ronald Hutton

The Winter Goddess: Percht, Holda, and Related Figures, by Lotta Motz

The Witch's Familiar and the Fairy in Early Modern England and Scotland, by Emma Wilby

The Witches of Canewdon, by Eric Maple

The Witches of Dengie, by Eric Maple

The Witches' Flying and the Spanish Inquisitors, or How to Explain Away the Impossible, by Gustav Henningsen

To Accommodate the Earthly Kingdom to Divine Will: Official and Nonconformist Definitions of Witchcraft in England, by Agustin Mendez

Unwitching: The Social and Magical Practice in Traditional European Communities, by Mirjam Mencej

Urbanization and the Decline of Witchcraft: An Examination of London, by Owen Davies

Weather, Prayer, and Magical Jugs, by Ralph Merrifield

Witchcraft and Evidence in Early Modern England, by Malcolm Gaskill

Witchcraft and Magic in the Elizabethan Drama by H.W. Herrington

Witchcraft and Magic in the Rochford Hundred, by Eric Maple

Witchcraft and Old Women in Early Modern Germany, by Alison Rowlands

Witchcraft and Sexual Knowledge in Early Modern England, by Julia M. Garrett

Witchcraft and Silence in Guillaume Cazaux's 'The Mass of Saint Secaire', by William G. Pooley

Witchcraft and the Early Modern Imagination, by Robin Briggs

Witchcraft and the Western Imagination by Lyndal Roper

Witchcraft Belief and Trals in Early Modern Ireland, by Andrew Sneddon

Witchcraft Deaths, by Mimi Clar

Witchcraft Fears and Psychosocial Factors in Disease, by Edward Bever

Witchcraft for Sale, by T.M. Pearce

Witchcraft in Denmark, by Gustav Henningsen

Witchcraft in Germany, by Taras Lukach

Witchcraft in Kilkenny, by T. Crofton Croker

Witchcraft in Anglo-American Colonies, by Mary Beth Norton

Witchcraft in the Central Balkans I: Characteristics of Witches, by T.P. Vukanovic

Witchcraft in the Central Balkans II: Protection Against Witches, by T.P. Vukanovic

Witchcraft Justice and Human Rights in Africa, Cases from Malawi, by Adam Ashforth

Witchcraft Magic and Spirits on the Border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, by S.P. Bayard

Witchcraft Persecutions in the Post-Craze Era: The Case of Ann Izzard of Great Paxton, 1808, by Stephen A. Mitchell

Witchcraft Prosecutions and the Decline of Magic, by Edward Bever

Witchcraft, by Ray B. Browne

Witchcraft, Poison, Law, and Atlantic Slavery, by Diana Paton

Witchcraft, Politics, and Memory in Seventeeth-Century England, by Malcolm Gaskill

Witchcraft, Spirit Possession and Heresy, by Lucy Mair

Witchcraft, Women's Honour and Customary Law in Early Modern Wales, by Sally Parkin

Witches and Witchbusters, by Jacqueline Simpson

Witches, Cunning Folk, and Competition in Denmark, by Timothy R. Tangherlini

Witches' Herbs on Trial, by Michael Ostling

[whencyclopedia]

Siege of Detroit

The Siege of Detroit (15-16 August 1812) was one of the first major actions of the War of 1812. After a botched invasion of Canada, a US army retreated to Fort Detroit, where it was besieged by British and Native American forces under Major General Isaac Brock and Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh. The Americans quickly capitulated, leaving Detroit in British hands.

Tecumseh and Brock at Fort Detroit

A.M. Wickson (Public Domain)

Background: March to Detroit

By April 1812, war between the United States and the United Kingdom seemed just over the horizon. On the high seas, British warships had been boarding American merchantmen and impressing American sailors with impunity, while on the northwestern frontier, British agents were believed to be aiding two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and the Prophet, in their attempt to form a Native American confederacy and resist US encroachment onto their hunting grounds. In Congress, a clique of belligerent, newly-elected representatives – called 'War Hawks' – clamored for war, despite the reluctance of the general population and the underpreparedness of the military. To prepare for a conflict that seemed increasingly likely, the administration of President James Madison looked to shore up defenses in the northwest, where the US shared a border with British-controlled Canada.

As part of this plan, the Madison administration ordered a new army to be raised in the Michigan Territory and then marched to the outpost of Fort Detroit. William Hull, the 59-year-old governor of the Michigan Territory, was commissioned as a brigadier general and offered the command. Hull, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, was reluctant to accept – he had, after all, recently suffered a stroke – but his fear of an increase in Native American attacks against Michigan settlers led him to take the command. On 25 May, Hull arrived in Dayton, Ohio, where his makeshift army was being assembled, and was dismayed at what he found. The volunteers were noisy and undisciplined, lacking adequate arms or powder. Organized into three militia regiments, the volunteers insisted on electing their own officers. As such, the men they selected as colonels – Duncan McArthur, James Findlay, and Lewis Cass – were all either politicians or aspiring politicians, men with no military experience.

After a botched army inspection in which Hull was nearly flung from his horse, the army of Ohio volunteers set out on 1 June. Proceeding at a slow pace, they reached the frontier community of Urbana ten days later, where they were joined by Lt. Colonel James Miller and a regiment of regulars, the 4th US Infantry. At Urbana, some of Hull's volunteers refused to go any further, claiming that they had not received the full pay that had been promised to them. Though they were eventually prodded along by Miller's regulars, it was not a promising start. A few days later another incident took place when one militiaman, drunk on moonshine, was startled by a noise in the dark and shot one of his fellow sentries. The man was promptly court-martialed and given the "grotesque sentence" of having his ears cropped and each cheek branded (Berton, 94). The army then marched into the Great Black Swamp, northwest of Ohio, where incessant rainfalls had overflown streams and turned the ground to mud. Meanwhile, they were, unbeknownst to them, being closely watched by Tecumseh's scouts, hiding amongst the trees.

William Hull

James Sharples Sr. (Public Domain)

On 26 June, Hull received a letter from the US Secretary of War dated 18 June, warning him that war was imminent and ordering him to get to Detroit "with all possible speed". On 1 July, Hull reached the mouth of the Maumee River where he hired the schooner Cuyahoga and loaded it with anything that was slowing the army down, including his personal dispatches, officers' baggage, extra uniforms, medical supplies, and around 30 sick men. The Cuyahoga then sailed into Lake Erie to transport the supplies to Detroit. The next day, Hull received a second letter from Washington, also dated 18 June, informing him that war had been declared, but it was too late to recall the schooner. As it attempted to enter the Detroit River, the Cuyahoga, carrying Hull's dispatches, was captured by a Canadian vessel. On 5 July, Hull finally reached Detroit, where he was joined by several companies of Michigan militia, bringing his total number to about 2,500 men. Hull, whose army was running dangerously low on supplies, had hoped to find food in Detroit but was disappointed.

Continue reading...

[fullcolorfright]

Reveal any secrets you may know about the history of gore in old horror movies?

I’m not an expert but I’ll give you what I’ve got!

(^from the Wikipedia article on splatter films)

Blood Feast (1963) is generally considered to be the first splatter film, due to both the graphic onscreen gore in its kill scenes and the high frequency which these occur through the movie (rather than just having one shocking scene, which would be more common). Blood Feast was inspired by the lack of onscreen gore in blockbuster horror at the time (specifically in Psycho).

Still, there was a variety of pre-Blood Feast horror that didn’t mind flouting the censors (especially in mad scientist films- in the pre-slasher era, surgical gore was more common). When Hammer studios received an X rating for a 1955 film of theirs, they changed the name to “The Quatermass Xperiment” to capitalize on the rating. Two years later, critics were outraged by the blood in Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), with studio head James Carreras quoted as saying, “blood doesn’t look like anything unless it’s good and red.” Eyes Without a Face (1960) has an on-screen surgery scene that still shocks, despite concerns of censorship during production. And then there’s the 50s low-budget drive-in type films, which capitalized on mutilation and sometimes showed its effects (I’m thinking of I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) specifically).

The Hays Code’s enforcement from the mid-30s to the 60s definitely put a damper on gore in American films- though its focus was more on nudity, “brutal killings should not be presented in detail” was one of its points.

In any case, most pre-code films tended to use a tell-not-show method for gore; Dr. X (1932), for instance, mentions cannibalism and serial killing as the driving forces of its plot, but artfully hides any victims from the camera. On-screen gore was possible (for example, in 1936’s short film The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar) but uncommon.

If we go back far enough, the influence of the French Grand Guignol theater becomes apparent in the type of onscreen gore presented. It’s very pulpy and theatrical- featuring mad doctors, mysterious slayings, and executions- and often in the service of non-horror genre films (These shots are from Good Night, Nurse! (1918) (comedy), Les Vampires Episode 1: The Severed Head (1915) (crime), and The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895) (history)).

Basically- gore in film has always been around, it just took until the 60s to really become accepted!

[queenshelby]

Yes! Mr Murphy (Rewritten)

PART 27: RESIGNATION

Pairing: Cillian Murphy x Reader

Warning: Lots of Angst, Age Gap, Teacher x Student, Pregnancy Loss, Infertility

One week later

One week passed, and you finally left the hospital after missing work and school, putting you behind with the curriculum.

During this time, Emma was looking after you, calling in sick from work herself and even Nina visited you twice, once with Connie and once with Cillian, who politely waited outside.

Seeing him still bothered you, and you were not over the fact that he had slept with his assistant, who, you knew, had it out for him, and this did not make it easy on you. You were disgusted by the sheer thought of it, him pleasuring her the way he pleasured you.

You felt disgusted, and you wondered whether he enjoyed it. Did he want her? Was she better than you in bed? She was older, sure. But was she more experienced? The answer was probably yes.

After telling Emma about these thoughts, she told you to try and forget about him. Being an actor probably made him a player, and you may have dodged a bullet when he broke up with you.

“He is not worth your tears,” she reminded you before embracing you. She had been your best friend for life, and you knew she was probably right.

You had to forget about Cillian, regardless of how hard it was or how much you were still in love with him. He was twice your age as well, and he was famous, both matters which could create much trouble for you in the future.

***

While trying to forget about Cillian, you spent most of the weekend catching up on reading the play Enda Walsh had given you to prepare for, and this play, too, reminded you of Cillian.

It was one of his own, called Disco Pigs, and you knew that this was Cillian’s first ever on-stage performance after he had dropped out of law school when he was just 19 years old.

“Christ, why?” you cursed as you put the book aside for the night, and Emma, again, reminded you that this, too, would pass.

“Try not to think of him”, she told you, but this was easier said than done as you missed him a lot and wondered whether he missed you too.

***

After a while, you got some sleep, and then, the following day, you went to school early to address your dispute with James.

James, however, tried to avoid you, and it wasn’t until you asked him whether two could talk that he pulled you aside, and you had the chance to confront him.

“Save it. I won’t say anything to anyone,” James told you before you could say anything yourself. He was squirming, and his reaction surprised you.

“Great, but why the change of mind?” you asked, crossing your arms.

“Your boyfriend’s lawyer sent me a letter, but I am sure you already know that,” he told you, causing you to grin.

“No…well yes…maybe I did” You smirked while James shook his head in disbelief and told you he was embarrassed for you.

“I did see the article in the Irish Times, though,” James thus pointed out, explaining that your lover was a player, and you simply fell for his charm like a silly young girl.

“We aren’t together, James,” you felt the need to point out, but James simply shrugged it off and disappeared into the crowds. He no longer cared, and you found out later that day that he was seeing an old friend of yours.

***

Following your day at drama school, you finally went to dance school to teach the evening class. A new teacher had run the course in your absence, but you knew you could still supervise your students and review their routines even though you were not allowed to perform. You had not healed yet and were instructed to wait at least two weeks before resuming any exercise.

When you arrived at the facility, you were asked to see your employer immediately and wondered what this was all about.

You did not think that you had done anything wrong but had a bad feeling in the pits of your stomach as soon as you walked into his office.

Your employer had a stern look and asked you to sit down. A small manila folder was sitting on his desk, staring at you, and you could not help but ask whether you were in trouble.

“For a matter of fact, you are,” your boss said, and your chin dropped while anxiety filled your mind.

“What did I do?” you asked, thinking that it was because you were absent for the past week.

“It came to our attention that you had an intimate relationship with one of our student’s parents,” your employer exclaimed, and you inhaled sharply. Sweat was now building up on your forehead, and your hands started to fidget nervously. You did not know how to respond, and there was silence for a long minute.

“Of course, you have nothing to say to this, do you?” your employer asked, and you told him quickly that you regretted your intimate relationship with the student’s father.

“The problem is two-fold, Miss Y/LN. Firstly, Mr Murphy has a certain standing in the community, being an actor subject to much publicity. Secondly, he is not divorced yet, and we are, as you know, an institution funded by the Catholic Church,” your employer lectured you, seeing that the academy was attached to one of the best schools in Dublin, which, of course, being in Ireland, happened to be catholic.

“I understand, and I can guarantee you that this affair was short-lived”, you reassured your employer, who handed you a three-page document entitled “Non-Disclosure Agreement”.

“That may be the case; however, we have already found a replacement teacher for you, and your services here will no longer be needed,” your boss told you, to which you shook your head.

“You can’t just fire me,” you told him, but he begged to differ.

“I can because your intimate relationship with Mr Murphy constitutes misconduct in the workplace. But, I would much rather ask you to voluntarily resign and sign this agreement which will entitle you to redundancy pay of six weeks’ worth of wages,” your boss told you while handing you a ballpoint pen.

For a minute, you considered telling him to get lost. Still, then you read the agreement, which prevented you from speaking to the press about your relationship with Cillian and prevented him from doing the same. In addition, your employer could not issue you with a bad reference because of it, which you knew he would do if you did not sign and voluntarily walked away from your job. 

“You see, Miss Y/LN, neither us nor Mr Murphy has any interest in making this public,” your employer told you as you considered your options, taking your time.

“You have spoken to him?” you asked, surprised. You did not expect Cillian to take likely to such a threat.

“No, but I have spoken to his assistant about it, and she concurred”, your boss informed you, causing you to laugh.

“Of course, she concurred”, you chuckled before putting pen to taper. You knew you had no choice, and, at least this way, you were getting paid.

After signing the agreement, you packed up your things and left, tears streaming down your face. You loved teaching these excellent students you had, and now, all of this was coming to an end.

You were not even given a chance to say goodbye to your students, and, just as your boss’s secretary saw you out the door, some of the parents stared at you, being escorted out of the building like some criminal.

You wondered who did this to you, and, in the end, it did not matter. Your short-lived fling with Cillian slowly destroyed your life, and you regretted every moment.

It was your fault. Getting involved with him was wrong; now, you must face the consequences.

***

Unfortunately, you were not the only one to suffer from this, and just as the class commenced without you, the parents began to gossip while their children started to listen.

According to one of the mothers, she had been told by your employer’s secretary that you were fired because you slept with one of the parents.

“He is married too,” she whispered, causing Cillian’s wife, Lorraine, to chuckle.

“How typical of these young women. She is probably after money,” Danielle whispered without knowing who it was you had slept with.

Only Connie decided not to engage in the conversation, telling the others that she did not like to spread unsubstantiated rumours, and it was then that Danielle tried to catch her out.

“It may have been Dermont”, she teased, causing Connie to laugh.

“Uhm, if my husband could land the girls’ dance teacher, I would even go so far as to congratulate him on his achievement, but no, it is not Dermont. I am sure of it,” Connie chuckled, seeing that Danielle was trying to get under her skin.

“Maybe it was Cillian?” another one of the mothers then said, now teasing Danielle, who, too, began to laugh and brushed it off.

“Doubtful. My soon-to-be ex-husband is shagging his assistant, just as I had suspected all those years. Also, this rag of a dance teacher is not his type,” Danielle spat, and it was obvious to the other women who were present that she was still somewhat upset that her husband had moved on with his assistant.

“I suppose we will never find out, so how about we just leave it at that,” Connie said as she began to notice the children listening in; even though Nina was not nearby, she did not want this kind of gossip to be spread amongst the students.

***

Following a rather eventful and unpleasant evening at the dance academy, Nina threw her bag and shoes into the boot of her mother’s car, and it was apparent to Danielle that her daughter was angry and confused.

Danielle knew that Nina liked you and, with that in mind, tried to comfort her in the best possible way.

“It’s all right; you will get used to having someone else teach you. I know you liked Y/N, but she resigned, so there is not much you can do about it,” Danielle explained as they got into the car and drove to Cillian’s house, where Nina would stay for the next three nights.

“She did not resign. She got fired,” Nina pointed out angrily while playing around on her phone and texting you to see whether you were all right. After turning fourteen, she had recently joined Instagram and Facebook and added you as a friend across these platforms, occasionally sharing links with you to dance performances she liked.

“What makes you say that?” Danielle wondered before asking Nina to look at her and get off her phone.

“Oh god, Mum, I am not stupid. I heard the gossip,” Nina told her mother, who was worried about what she may have heard.

“So you know what happened?” she thus asked, gauging the situation.

“Yes, I know what happened, but I don’t know why,” Nina told her mother before accusing her of being the culprit. “Did you tell the academy? Because it seems like something you would do to get back at Dad. It’s just like the stupid court orders he had to get to see me,” Nina spat, telling her mother how upset she had been with these events.

“What are you talking about?” Danielle asked as she pulled the car over in shock.

“What I am talking about is that you did not like the fact that Dad was dating Y/N, so you had her fired. Because all you care about is yourself,” Nina accused, causing her mother’s chin to drop.

“Your dad was dating your dance teacher?” she asked, and Nina quickly realised she screwed up. Her mother did not know, causing Nina to curse and cover her mouth with her hands.

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 15 May 1970, police opened fire just past midnight on a small group of Black students protesting at Jackson State College, Mississippi, killing two, including a bystander, and wounding 12. This was just 10 days after the much more widely known killings of white students at Kent State. Protests by Jackson State students had been held against the bombing of Vietnam and Cambodia, against the killings at Kent State, and again on this evening in response to rumours of a racist murder. Those killed were Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21 (left), father of an 18-month-old baby, and James Earl Green, a 17 year old grocery store worker who just happened to be walking home after his shift. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8718/jackson-state-massacre To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio then click this photo https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=626491269524092&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

[ohgodwhatdoiputhere]

words: 748

QUIDDICH HEARTTHROB JAMES POTTER HAS A NEW LOVER? Article by Rita Skeeter

We all know and love the quidditch star James Potter, ever since he first came to hogwarts he has captivated all of us with his charming looks and personality, truly the sun in person!

That's why ever since he reached the number one spot in rumours!'s "Hogwarts' most eligible bachelor" everyone has been desperate for a date with him.

However, James Potter himself just admitted to having a crush! And who wouldn't return this boy's feelings?

Last week we did a poll on who you thought could be this mystery person, here are the results! Stay till the end to find who was voted the most.

6. Severus Snape - 15 votes

Ever since stepping foot in Hogwarts these two seemed to have a strong rivalry, going as far as fighting each other on the hallway!

Despite the last 6 years, they seem to have made up? Since a few months ago they have been seen talking normally like nothing ever happened.

Did something happen between them? Some readers say that love was the glue that fixed old wounds, how romantic!!

5. Peter Pettigrew - 19 votes

Being childhood friends, it wouldn't be such a surprise if something happened between them. They are in the same friend group, have the same tastes, even share a room!

Apparently, some readers close to the boys have said that even though they are in the same group of friends, they seem to be more closed off with each other, preferring to keep to themselves in the group.

It's no doubt they have been though a lot together, maybe it was shared experices what pulled them together.

4. Regulus Black - 22 votes

Being his best friend's younger brother, they see each other quite a lot. But that's not only why this couple is so popular between the students.

Whilst James is caring and charismatic, Regulus is more reserved and mysterious, making them the perfect opposites attract!

"James is like the sun and Regulus the stars" Truly beautiful words by a secret informant.

They have even been seen practicing together. Even though they are enemies and in rival houses! It seems like love knows no limits.

3. Barty Crouch Jr. - 30 votes

What an unexpected duo! At a first glance, they would look like they have nothing in common, however, our readers are more observant than that.

Because Barty is a year younger, their first years together they didn't interact much, but as the years passed they seemed to become closer.

The couple has been caught spending time alone in quiet spaces more than once, and when questioned, they quickly change the subject. How suspicious!

One of Barty's housemates said he even went to look for him to speak privately during valentine's day. What could this mean? Our readers are certainly eager to find out more!

2. Sirius Black - 34 votes

He's James' best friend and has been ever since they first met. They are always together, and some people even refer to them as soulmates!

Sirius' good looks landed him the second spot in most eligible bachelor right next to James. It would be no surprise that they end up together.

The duo is known for their elaborate pranks, always being up to something. That's why even teachers have noticed their habit of constantly touching and whispering to each other.

They may cause trouble, but they certainly cause even more confusion about the nature of their relationship.

With their beauty, I'm sure everyone will have mixed feelings about them becoming a couple.

1. Lily Evans - 40 votes

With a whopping 25% of the votes, miss Lily Evans is positioned on first place.

She's the brightest witch of her age, has a heart of gold and strikingly good looks. They met during their first year and since then they have built a beautiful friendship.

James has shown an interest in Lily many times before, going as far as rejecting other people trying to flirt for her.

And even though Lily used to appear mad at him for these acts, lately she seems much more pleased with him than before.

"This truly is a match made in heaven" their yearmates say.

Everyone is excited about these two, how could you not love them!!

These were the results of the poll, who do you think he will end up with? Send us an owl if you have any more information, we're dying to know!!

[conhivemindcent]

So I’ve been consuming a lot of the posts about Oceangate and now that it’s safe to assume the passengers are dead, I want to give my own take. Feel free to disagree.

Firstly, I never heard this on the news. I did hear about the boat where 78 immigrants were killed and hundreds missing off the coast of Greece. This may be a cultural and proxemics thing though, as I’m British (we have shit immigrant laws) and the Oceangate fiasco took place closer to America and Canada. So those claiming this is probably a case of Tumblr once again being American-centric.

Secondly, i don’t know how to feel about the deaths. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. They knew what they were getting into with this, and that their deaths were very likely. I do think this was a failing of their own hubris and also a huge waste of money. Insert something about capitalism and the woes of such here. But if the ship didn’t implode, it would’ve been a living hell. Starving, cramped, excrement everywhere, dark. It sounds like something out of a nightmare rather than something real. I don’t know if I feel sorry, as it’s most likely I won’t experience this ever in my life, but I definitely feel bad about it.

Third, I hope Oceangate gets sued. This was unsafe af, and where most of my anger is directed. These people tried turning a tragedy (itself also being rooted in capitalism) into a tourism spot for only the elite. Not to mention the unsafe conditions and the knock-off Xbox controller used to pilot the ship. This definitely seems like a scam and I hope they suffer repercussions for their actions, especially now it’s likely the CEO is dead.

Forth, I hope the ship imploded. That seems like the most humane way for this all to end. Battle about humaneness all you want and whether the rich deserve it, whether a 19-year-old nobody knew about prior to this deserves this, but I hope they all died quickly rather than long, drawn out, and suffering from lack of oxygen.

Fifth, some of the memes are funny. Mostly the ones about the Xbox controller. I don’t really like memes making fun of people dying. But then again I’ve never liked to make fun of death, whether deserved or not. (Exception to the kind of things in r/peoplefuckingdying because those are over-exaggerations of the most mundane stuff.)

Sixth, this should be taken as a cautionary tale. Don’t underprepare and do your research on shady seeming stuff. Don’t think you’re above death because you’ve got a spare load of money.

Seventh, leave the damn titanic alone. Everyone who was on it is now dead. The ship itself is crumbling. Leave it to rot, and let it echo through history books and that one James Cameron movie. Let children learn about it and use it to learn how to write newspaper articles and as a fun research project, which fun fact: is how I learnt about it. As an 8-9 year old. The novelty’s worn off in the past few years. Let’s just leave it as something cool for kids to learn and not add onto it with stupid stuff like Titan.

[tinydeskwriter]

Buzzfeed:The 10 Times Harry Styles and Y/n Y/l/n Made Us Believe in Love

A/n: I have been working in this for some time, I was pretty much inspired by my Jack Harlow piece, someone send a ask about doing one for Harry, and it’s just fluff💗 all the pictures are just illustrative, there is no face-claim, nothing, it’s just o ‘illustrate’ the article (?)

The 10 Times Harry Styles and Y/n Y/l/n Made Us Believe in Love

10. They Have Known Each Other for Years Before They (Finally) Started to Date

When it comes to famous couple we hardly ever know how they met, but not with this hot couple. It was Stevie Nicks who first spilled the beans:superstar Harry Styles and nepotism babe Y/n Y/l/n met back in May 2015 at the backstage of a Fleetwood Mac concert in London, while attending with mutual friends and Mr.Styles took her out for a bite afterwards. According to rumours Styles and Miss Y/n were seen out and about around London during the month of May and she was photographed in a One Direct concert in Wales, and then Harry reportedly dated a string of Victoria Secret models and Camilla Rowe… 

Asked about it in a interview with Vanity Fair, Y/l/n said:”I was very young back then, just seventeen, still a little green and naive in this whole ‘love game’, we liked each other very much, but at that time we would have just… crashed and burned. Feelings were hurt, but it’s safe to say we’ve kept special places for each other in our hearts, and when we met again at Shangri-La we just fitted together…” 

A Bonus: While promoting her new movie with Julia Roberts, Y/n Y/l/n was asked by James Corden about the rumor that her famous mom ‘just loves to public  embarrasses her’, to which Y/n gave us a funny story: ‘So, as a teen I just loved Harry Styles, you know: the hair, the eyes, the dimples… I was like: we are soulmates, we are destined for each other. I had a framed poster of him in my bedroom. So… we are traveling from London to LA, my mom had just finished a movie, we are at the airport, and a few foot away, handsome as ever is Harry Styles, and his whole boyband… my mom recognized him from my posters and basically all my gadgets background, and she goes: excuse me… hi, Harry, my name is Y/m/n Y/l/n, my daughter just loves you… and she wouldn’t stop… let’s just say I spent a long time hiding in the ladies restroom’ Y/l/n added: ‘Harry actually finds the story funny and always tells all of our friends’.

There it goes: Y/n Y/l/n is jus like every other teenage with a Harry Styles crush.

9. They Rekindled Their Romance at the 2019 Met Gala

Harry co-chaired the event. Y/n made her solo debut—this is her third year attending the gala, but the first time without either her famous parents—, she attended as a guest of Gucci, dressed in a green-glittered-feathered gown custom designed for her by Alessandro Michele. The twenty four years old singer and the twenty years old actress were pictured in he pink carpet and, I mean, just the way they looked at each other screams volumes. 

We may not know what happened inside the gala, but we can have a idea by the after party picture, and let’s just say:you can manage to see a photo of either of them where the other isn’t by their side or the background.

Dating rumors started after pictures were published of Harry and Y/n leaving the after-after party in the same car with Styles gentlemanly carrying Y/l/n red gown’s train. 

The same month ‘sources close to the couple’ reported that Harry and Y/n actually met months in advance to the gala ‘Y/n was working with Mark Ronson at Shangri-La in Malibu, her and H stared as friends, just going out and spending time together, things changed in Italy in early 2019 when they decided to go together for fittings with Alessandro’.

When questioned about the young couple went with the standard: We’re just friends.

8. Their Romance is Packed With PDA

Though they keep their ‘Just Friends’ answers, the couple haven’t shied away from some good old Public Displays of Affection. And this says something when we’re talking about Harry Styles.

And they’re cutie. 

7. We Got a Glimpse of Their Romance in August 2019 When Photos of Y/n Got Shared in The Internet

O-kay, it’s totally not okay for someone close to you—someone you clearly trust— to leak private pictures of your private instagram to the world. Y/n private IG account went from 167 followers o 165 after pictures the actress posted on her profile were printed and leaked.

That being said… We can’t deny Y/n and Harry are a cute and romantic couple:

I mean: she even uses his picture as a book-marker, this is pure fluff

6. Fans Noted This Little Detail in Paps Photos 

The couple has a matching tattoo, and we’re dying. Nothing screams ‘Love’ like a matching tattoo.

5. That Lego Bouquet

Y/n was there for her man during SNL, as Harry was both host and musical guest. And she got him a bouquet… of Legos. 

Sources said ‘Y/n has been here with Styles all week, Harry, surprisingly is a very shy guy, so she was  always keeping him calm and relaxed, helping him with his anxiety, and just being a helping hand, they keep  in their own bubble but are very approachable’.

4. December Was a Emotional Month For Harry and Y/n ‘s Fans

Little Women was released and our girl slayed as Jo March in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation. During promotion Y/l/n was paired with Pugh and Chalamet, and those tree were the trio of BFF’s we needed. Y/l/n and Chalamet chemistry—this is their second movie together— generated a few rumors of troubles in paradise.

But it was all just rumors, as Y/n was photographed at Styles one-night-only show at The Forum in Los Angeles, 

She was once again by his side in London. 

The bomb that broke millions of hearts came in 28 December.

In a joined statement was released by Styles and Y/l/n teams… After Academy Award winner filmmaker and producer, Y/f/n Y/l/n, communicated to the world in his official website that his wife and him ‘are happy to announce the marriage of their youngest daughter to Mr. Harry E. Styles’ all very formal like Y/f/n usually is.

The couple got married in 18 December at Hampstead Town Hall in London, both their families were in attendance. The couple asked for respect of their privacy, and announced that they would continue to live bi-continental.

3. Harry Styles Music Videos and… Surprises.

We hoped, but we weren’t sure, that we would see Y/n in Styles Music Videos, I mean, isn’t a rule somewhere that if you got a gorgeous, Academy nominated actress for a WIFE, you must put her in your MV’s? No?

Harry didn’t disappoint us. The singer and his wife frolicking by the beach, feeding each other fruits is a state of mind.

It also marks the debut of Y/n in Styles public feed.

Styles was praised by models in his video for asking for consent to touch them while filming, it was also said that the couple is very much in love and still in their honeymoon phase, just enjoying being together with one saying ‘when they looked at each other, you sometimes felt like you’re invading a private moment, Harry wouldn’t stop gushing over Y/n and how she inspired his more soft romanic songs’ and ‘they are just so nice to everyone’.

The surprise came months later during the release of ‘Golden’. The song is said to be about Y/l/n, with fans nothing that the actress and our favorite nepo babe has ‘you’re so golden’ tattooed in her ribs since 2017. 

The video was filmed in the Amalfi Coast, with Styles running and driving around, Y/l/n doesn’t show up until the end, looking very gorgeous in white… and sporting a small baby bump. Yep, the couple probably had the best pregnancy announcement of 2020.

2. Harry Styles Being a Supportive Husband

2021 was a great year for Y/n Y/l/n, and no one can deny. 

The actress  welcomed her first child in early February. She went on to own a Golden Globe and a Emmy for her Netflix Miniseries. 

The couple had their red carpet debut while attending the Grammys, with Styles proudly showing off his wife, the actress got candid while admitting that it was her first time going out without the baby, and though the child was with ‘grannie Anne’ the new mom still felt anxious.

In a interview with Kelly Clarkson while talking about parenthood Y/n said ‘It’s a crazy rollercoaster, they grow so fast! We decided, for now, not to have a nanny,  we just want to enjoy all those little moments that we can, so it is being kinda of nuts, but we have a great team and a very supportive family. Harry is great, he aced the nappy game and night feeding, he’s a amazing daddy, we often joked that H had amazing fun uncle potential, but he’s positively surprising us all, he just goes beyond, the  best parenthood partner a girl could ask for.  Definitely  my favorite dilf.’

1.Harry’s House.

Months before the ‘Adore You’ crooner announced his new album, Styles shared a candid picture of himself, his wife Y/n and their babygirl Delilah, with the caption: Home. 

In early  April the lyrics of ‘As It Was’ confounded fans a little, until four months later the couple announced the birth of their second daughter, Talulah, and their relocation to England in a more permanent scale. The couple not only has been living in London since mid 2021, they also acquired two homes in Styles motherland. Styles in a interview with Apple Music, said about his move: ‘A lot has change in my life the last few years, my home are now three amazing girls, my gorgeous wife and our two baby-daughters, but England is my comfortable place, initially we moved because I was going to film a movie, Y/l was still pregnant with Talulah, one night I come home after shooting and my wife goes: what do you think about moving here for real? And she goes on: I just spent an afternoon at a public park with Lilah without men with cameras following us around. It was a no brainer decision, we’re very happy, Lulah was born in London, my mum and sister are always around, I’ve never been happier’. 

[thislovintime]

A very brief snippet of footage from the 1968 tour; I’ve tried to sync it with audio of Peter performing “Cindy, Cindy” during that tour.

“The one thing the tour is proving, is that the Monkees, individually and collectively, have talent. […] And they each do individual numbers which show off their talents.Davy Jones sings a spiritual, Peter Tork performs with his banjo, Mike Nesmith does a rock ’n’ roll send-up of Chuck Berry, and Micky Dolenz does a show-stopping impression of James Brown.” - article by Jock Veitch, The Sydney Morning Herald, September 22, 1968 “I love the five-string banjo and some of those lonely old mountain songs.” - Peter, The Life, May 3, 1996

[charlestownbound]

Miscellaneous misadventures of Washington's aide-de-camps

John Laurens had a rather interesting relationship to clothing, as is seen in a few of his letters to his father. Is this a product of his privileged upbringing and something that cannot really be helped? Most certainly. But is it something I find quite amusing? Indeed!

In a letter dated February 9, 1778 to his father, Henry Laurens, John makes the claim that white is an easy color to clean. He writes:

"...I wrote to James for some Hair Powder, & Pomatum but received only the latter with a Comb. As I am on the subject of dress, it will not be premature to inform you, that if you should command me to remain in my present Station, blue and buff Cloth, Linding, Twist, yellow flat double gilt Buttons sufficient to make me a Uniform Suit will be wanted, besides corded Dimitty for Waistcoats and Breeches against the opening of the Campaign, and I must beg the favor of you to write to some Friend in South Caroline to procure me these Articles - a pair of gold Epaulettes and a Saddle Cloth may be added if not too expensive - if you should give me leave to execute my black project, my uniform will be a white field, (faced with red) - a Color which is easiest kept clean and will form a good Contrast with the Complexion of the Solider."

(Source)

For the next account, I have been unable to track down the letter and relay this to you from George Washington's Indispensable Men by Arthur S. Lefkowitz. He cites Laurens Papers, 12:31. After much digging, I am unable to find a letter that matches the date given (September 16, 1777) even upon looking through volume 11 rather than 12.

"My old Sash rather disfigur'd by the heavy Rain which half drown'd us on our march to the Yellow Springs, (and by which by the bye spoilt me a waistcoat and breeches of white Cloth and my uniform Coat, clouding them with the dye wash'd out of my hat.)"

John Laurens was, in his heart, a material girl.

[myemuisemo]

Is there a gas leak at Baskerville Hall? I am so frustrated with my cinnamon roll Dr. Watson in chapter VIII of The Hound of the Baskervilles. We've suddenly gone epistolary, which fits the Wilkie Collins mood of all the derring-don't. and Watson has. lost. his. mind.

Selden the Murderer has either "got clean away" or been lurking in a neolithic hut, occasionally tackling and gnawing sheep for nourishment. (Here's Grimspound, as an example of neolithic huts.) Given that Baskerville Hall and Merripit Hall are both sparsely staffed (and Lafter Hall may be as well), Selden could just move into a disused wing and pilfer pies from the kitchen.

Mr. Frankland of Lafter Hall is nothing like the modern MP I expected (which is not Watson's fault), being instead a "choleric" old man who enjoys bringing law suits. "Apart from the law he seems a kindly, good-natured person," Watson says, thereby lining up with the legions of men who've refuted claims that a fellow man is awful by saying well, but he's always nice to me.

It would not in the least surprise me if Mr. Frankland had a long-term plan regarding property rights in Devon, and Watson just never thought to ask.

Speaking of asking, directly inquiring of Barrymore whether he got the telegram seems pointless because:

If he was up to no good, he knows he needs to lie and will.

If he isn't up to no good, his true answer will be exactly the same as if he were lying.

Meanwhile, because Mrs. Barrymore is a stolid, muscular sort of woman, nobody asks what overwhelming grief has her sobbing in the night. Watson does entertain the idea that her husband is a "domestic tyrant," but he does nothing about it.

Our old friend James Mortimer drops by with a skull he dug up because of course he desecrates graves. To be fair, grave robbing for cadavers to use in medical school was still done in the 1880s, so Mortimer wouldn't feel the kind of ick that we do. (Here's an article from Smithsonian and also a tangentially relevant article on how, in the U.S., it was usually Black cadavers that were disrespectfully obtained.) Since Mr. Frankland intends to sue Mortimer over this, perhaps Frankland does have an enlightened agenda that he's working toward, one brief at a time.

Where is Mrs. Mortimer? Sir Henry and Dr. Watson are entertaining Mr. Stapleton and Miss Stapleton somewhat regularly. it would seem little trouble to make it six at the dinner table and have another woman to accompany Miss Stapleton to the parlor for tea while the gentlemen remain at the dining table to pass port and cigars.

Meanwhile, previously daffy and harmless butterfly-chaser Jack Stapleton has developed "a dry glitter in his eyes, and a firm set of his thin lips, which goes with a positive and possibly a harsh nature." I feel like Watson is struggling to find a new man to focus on, now that his recent crush, Sir Henry Baskerville, is showing interest in the "exotic" Beryl Stapleton.

Watson is troubled that Beryl is seen to "continually glance at him [Stapleton] as she talked as if seeking approbation for what she said." WATSON. He's her brother. She's a woman in 1889. Yes, they might be hiding a terrible secret, but she also has no real power to do anything without her brother's approval. Watson hangs on the tiniest potential clues of a rocky family relationship for the beauteous Beryl but downplays big, flashing red signs saying FAMILY TROUBLE HERE from Mrs. Barrymore.

One would imagine that such a match would be very welcome to Stapleton, and yet I have more than once caught a look of the strongest disapprobation in his face when Sir Henry has been paying some attention to his sister. 

WATSON. What did Beryl do the minute she met you? Thinking you were Sir Henry, she told you to flee the moor. If her brother is up to something nefarious, of course he doesn't want her talking to Sir Henry. If she's merely superstitious, there's still the danger she'll drive away the only nearby gentry to batten on for dinners and socializing.

Maybe Beryl isn't that into Sir Henry but feels she can't say anything without ruining her only opportunity to socialize at all. I mean, it'd be gothic af to reveal that she's actually Stapleton's wife and maybe also the daughter of Rodger Baskerville, but there are other, simpler explanations for a little tension in the air.

In the vein of simpler explanations, Watson finds Barrymore skulking about Baskerville Hall in the wee hours of the night. "[T]here was something indescribably guilty and furtive in his whole appearance." Yes, Watson: because it's two in the morning. Everyone looks guilty at two in the morning, padding about trying not to wake anyone up.

Barrymore appears to be signaling with a candle from a window, which could be hound-related or Selden-the-murderer-related but could also have the simple, traditional explanation of smuggling.

Watson and Sir Henry have a plan to investigate this. I do not feel at all sanguine about their abilities to do anything other than blunder about, tripping over each other and shooting at the shadows.

If Sherlock Holmes suddenly appeared, having been disguised as Perkins the groom, the elderly Merripit Hall butler, or even one of the moor sheep, I would be so relieved.

This is one of those weeks when I viscerally understand how there was a huge Holmes fandom all discussing, arguing, and predicting between installments.

[whencyclopedia]

The Nûñnĕ′hĭ and Other Spirit Folk

The Nûñnĕ′hĭ are the Cherokee "spirit people", similar to the fairy as sometimes depicted in European medieval folklore, and The Nûñnĕ′hĭ and Other Spirit Folk is a collection of anecdotes about them compiled by American ethnographer James Mooney (l. 1861-1921) and included in his Myths of the Cherokee (1900). The Nûñnĕ′hĭ appear in many Cherokee myths and legends.

Cherokee Beadwork Sampler

Uyvsdi (Public Domain)

The Nûñnĕ′hĭ and Other Spirit Folk describes the entities – as well as others – and their various antics and is partly drawn from stories told by James D. Wafford, also known as Tsuskwasun'nawa'ta of the Western Cherokee nation. Wafford became a great Cherokee storyteller who collected and memorized the tales of the people and is referenced in the following text.

To a modern audience, the belief in the "Little People" may seem only a superstition, but this is a relatively new understanding when placed in the context of world history. Belief in spirits, fairies, ghosts, and other supernatural entities has been a part of the human condition far longer than the popular modern-day skepticism and cynicism. The Teihiihan ("Little people") of the Arapaho nation, as well as similar entities of other Native peoples of North America, were recognized as realities of life for centuries and still are today.

The literal truth of any of the tales of the Nûñnĕ′hĭ is never questioned, but neither is it ever vouched for, in keeping with Cherokee storytelling tradition, which follows the policy of "I know not how the truth may be/I tell the tale as 'twas told to me" (Mooney, 236). According to Mooney, however, all the following anecdotes were verified using different sources. The tales are still recited by Cherokee storytellers in the present day, and the Nûñnĕ′hĭ are still understood, as in the past, as simply another aspect of life on earth.

Text

The following text is taken from Myths of the Cherokee (1900) by James Mooney, republished in 2014 by Dover Publications.

The Nûñnĕ′hĭ or immortals, the "people who live anywhere," were a race of spirit people who lived in the highlands of the old Cherokee country and had a great many townhouses, especially in the bald mountains, the high peaks on which no timber ever grows. They had large townhouses in Pilot knob and under the old Nĭkwăsĭ′ mound in North Carolina, and another under Blood Mountain, at the head of Nottely river, in Georgia.

They were invisible excepting when they wanted to be seen, and then they looked and spoke just like other Indians. They were very fond of music and dancing, and hunters in the mountains would often hear the dance songs and the drum beating in some invisible townhouse, but when they went toward the sound it would shift about and they would hear it behind them or away in some other direction, so that they could never find the place where the dance was.

They were a friendly people, too, and often brought lost wanderers to their townhouses under the mountains and cared for them there until they were rested and then guided them back to their homes. More than once, also, when the Cherokee were hard pressed by the enemy, the Nûñnĕ′hĭ warriors have come out, as they did at old Nĭkwăsĭ′, and have saved them from defeat. Some people have thought that they are the same as the Yûñwĭ Tsunsdi′, the "Little People"; but these are fairies, no larger in size than children.

There was a man in Nottely town who had been with the Nûñnĕ′hĭ when he was a boy, and he told Wafford all about it. He was a truthful, hard-headed man, and Wafford had heard the story so often from other people that he asked this man to tell it. It was in this way:

When he was about 10 or 12 years old, he was playing one day near the river, shooting at a mark with his bow and arrows, until he became tired, and started to build a fish trap in the water. While he was piling up the stones in two long walls a man came and stood on the bank and asked him what he was doing. The boy told him, and the man said, "Well, that's pretty hard work and you ought to rest a while. Come and take a walk up the river." The boy said, "No"; that he was going home to dinner soon. "Come right up to my house," said the stranger, "and I'll give you a good dinner there and bring you home again in the morning." So the boy went with him up the river until they came to a house, when they went in, and the man's wife and the other people there were very glad to see him, and gave him a fine dinner, and were very kind to him. While they were eating a man that the boy knew very well came in and spoke to him, so that he felt quite at home.

After dinner he played with the other children and slept there that night, and in the morning, after breakfast, the man got ready to take him home. They went down a path that had a cornfield on one side and a peach orchard fenced in on the other, until they came to another trail, and the man said, "Go along this trail across that ridge and you will come to the river road that will bring you straight to your home, and now I'll go back to the house." So, the man went back to the house and the boy went on along the trail, but when he had gone a little way he looked back, and there was no cornfield or orchard or fence or house; nothing but trees on the mountain side.

He thought it very queer, but somehow, he was not frightened, and went on until he came to the river trail in sight of his home. There were a great many people standing about talking, and when they saw him they ran toward him shouting, "Here he is! He is not drowned or killed in the mountains!" They told him they had been hunting him ever since yesterday noon and asked him where he had been. "A man took me over to his house just across the ridge, and I had a fine dinner and a good time with the children," said the boy, "I thought Udsi′skală here"—that was the name of the man he had seen at dinner—"would tell you where I was." But Udsi′skală said, "I haven't seen you. I was out all day in my canoe hunting you. It was one of the Nûñnĕ′hĭ that made himself look like me." Then his mother said, "You say you had dinner there?" "Yes, and I had plenty, too," said the boy; but his mother answered, "There is no house there—only trees and rocks—but we hear a drum sometimes in the big bald above. The people you saw were the Nûñnĕ′hĭ."

Once, four Nûñnĕ′hĭ women came to a dance at Nottely town and danced half the night with the young men there, and nobody knew that they were Nûñnĕ′hĭ, but thought them visitors from another settlement. About midnight they left to go home, and some men who had come out from the townhouse to cool off watched to see which way they went. They saw the women go down the trail to the river ford, but just as they came to the water they disappeared, although it was a plain trail, with no place where they could hide. Then the watchers knew they were Nûñnĕ′hĭ women.

Several men saw this happen, and one of them was Wafford's father-in-law, who was known for an honest man. At another time a man named Burnt-tobacco was crossing over the ridge from Nottely to Hemptown in Georgia and heard a drum and the songs of dancers in the hills on one side of the trail. He rode over to see who could be dancing in such a place, but when he reached the spot the drum and the songs were behind him, and he was so frightened that he hurried back to the trail and rode all the way to Hemptown as hard as he could to tell the story. He was a truthful man, and they believed what he said.

There must have been a good many of the Nûñnĕ′hĭ living in that neighborhood, because the drumming was often heard in the high balds almost up to the time of the Removal.

On a small upper branch of Nottely, running nearly due north from Blood Mountain, there was also a hole, like a small well or chimney, in the ground, from which there came up a warm vapor that heated all the air around. People said that this was because the Nûñnĕ′hĭ had a townhouse and a fire under the mountain. Sometimes in cold weather hunters would stop there to warm themselves, but they were afraid to stay long. This was more than sixty years ago, but the hole is probably there yet.

Close to the old trading path from South Carolina up to the Cherokee Nation, somewhere near the head of Tugaloo, there was formerly a noted circular depression about the size of a townhouse, and waist deep. Inside it was always clean as though swept by unknown hands. Passing traders would throw logs and rocks into it, but would always, on their return, find them thrown far out from the hole. The Indians said it was a Nûñnĕ′hĭ townhouse, and never liked to go near the place or even to talk about it, until at last some logs thrown in by the traders were allowed to remain there, and then they concluded that the Nûñnĕ′hĭ, annoyed by the persecution of the white men, had abandoned their townhouse forever.

There is another race of spirits, the Yûñwĭ Tsunsdi′, or "Little People," who live in rock caves on the mountain side. They are little fellows, hardly reaching up to a man's knee, but well-shaped and handsome, with long hair falling almost to the ground. They are great wonder workers and are very fond of music, spending half their time drumming and dancing. They are helpful and kind-hearted, and often when people have been lost in the mountains, especially children who have strayed away from their parents, the Yûñwĭ Tsunsdi′ have found them and taken care of them and brought them back to their homes.

Sometimes their drum is heard in lonely places in the mountains, but it is not safe to follow it, because the Little People do not like to be disturbed at home, and they throw a spell over the stranger so that he is bewildered and loses his way, and even if he does at last get back to the settlement, he is like one dazed ever after. Sometimes, also, they come near a house at night and the people inside hear them talking, but they must not go out, and in the morning, they find the corn gathered or the field cleared as if a whole force of men had been at work. If anyone should go out to watch, he would die. When a hunter finds anything in the woods, such as a knife or a trinket, he must say, "Little People, I want to take this," because it may belong to them, and if he does not ask their permission, they will throw stones at him as he goes home.

Once a hunter in winter found tracks in the snow like the tracks of little children. He wondered how they could have come there and followed them until they led him to a cave, which was full of Little People, young and old, men, women, and children. They brought him in and were kind to him, and he was with them some time; but when he left, they warned him that he must not tell or he would die. He went back to the settlement and his friends were all anxious to know where he had been. For a long time, he refused to say, until at last he could not hold out any longer, but told the story, and in a few days he died. Only a few years ago two hunters from Raventown, going behind the high fall near the head of Oconaluftee on the East Cherokee reservation, found there a cave with fresh footprints of the Little People all over the floor.

During the smallpox among the East Cherokee just after the war one sick man wandered off, and his friends searched, but could not find him. After several weeks he came back and said that the Little People had found him and taken him to one of their caves and tended him until he was cured.

About twenty-five years ago a man named Tsantăwû′ was lost in the mountains on the head of Oconaluftee. It was wintertime and very cold and his friends thought he must be dead, but after sixteen days he came back and said that the Little People had found him and taken him to their cave, where he had been well treated, and given plenty of everything to eat except bread. This was in large loaves, but when he took them in his hand to eat, they seemed to shrink into small cakes so light and crumbly that though he might eat all day he would not be satisfied. After he was well rested, they had brought him a part of the way home until they came to a small creek, about knee deep, when they told him to wade across to reach the main trail on the other side. He waded across and turned to look back, but the Little People were gone and the creek was a deep river. When he reached home his legs were frozen to the knees and he lived only a few days.

Once the Yûñwĭ Tsunsdi′ had been very kind to the people of a certain settlement, helping them at night with their work and taking good care of any lost children, until something happened to offend them, and they made up their minds to leave the neighborhood. Those who were watching at the time saw the whole company of Little People come down to the ford of the river and cross over and disappear into the mouth of a large cave on the other side. They were never heard of near the settlement again.

There are other fairies, the Yûñwĭ Amai′yĭnĕ′hĭ, or Water-dwellers, who live in the water, and fishermen pray to them for help. Other friendly spirits live in people's houses, although no one can see them, and so long as they are there to protect the house no witch can come near to do mischief.

Tsăwa′sĭ and Tsăga′sĭ are the names of two small fairies, who are mischievous enough, but yet often help the hunter who prays to them. Tsăwa′sĭ, or Tsăwa′sĭ Usdi′ga (Little Tsăwa′sĭ), is a tiny fellow, very handsome, with long hair falling down to his feet, who lives in grassy patches on the hillsides and has great power over the game. To the deer hunter who prays to him he gives skill to slip up on the deer through the long grass without being seen. Tsăga′sĭ is another of the spirits invoked by the hunter and is very helpful, but when someone trips and falls, we know that it is Tsăga′sĭ who has caused it. There are several other of these fairies with names, all good-natured, but more or less tricky.

Then there is De′tsătă. De′tsătă was once a boy who ran away to the woods to avoid a scratching and tries to keep himself invisible ever since. He is a handsome little fellow and spends his whole time hunting birds with blowgun and arrow. He has a great many children who are all just like him and have the same name. When a flock of birds flies up suddenly as if frightened it is because De′tsătă is chasing them. He is mischievous and sometimes hides an arrow from the bird hunter, who may have shot it off into a perfectly clear space but looks and looks without finding it. Then the hunter says, "De′tsătă, you have my arrow, and if you don't give it up, I'll scratch you," and when he looks again, he finds it.

There is one spirit that goes about at night with a light. The Cherokee call it Atsil′-dihye′gĭ, "The Fire-carrier," and they are all afraid of it, because they think it dangerous, although they do not know much about it. They do not even know exactly what it looks like, because they are afraid to stop when they see it. It may be a witch instead of a spirit. Wafford's mother saw the "Fire-carrier" once when she was a young woman, as she was coming home at night from a trading post in South Carolina. It seemed to be following her from behind, and she was frightened and whipped up her horse until she got away from it and never saw it again.

Continue reading...

[firstelevens]

Very excited you’re doing this game again!! Let’s do Sebastian Stan, Rahul Kohli, James Roday-Rodriguez, Emily Axford, and Kristen Bell

song: Burial Ground by The Decemberists

Here among the fallen leaves Are we alone the ones that dare to breathe?

synopsis:

In the year 1902, renowned spiritualist and medium Sylvester Alcott-Worth dies peacefully at his family estate in the Peak District, Wendwych Park. In the following weeks, his greatest skeptics are sent letters and first class fares to come stay at Wendwych and discover where on the grounds he’s hidden his last will and testament. Alcott-Worth has left strict instructions with his solicitors that the first person to find his will become the primary beneficiary, receiving most of his family’s considerable wealth and property.

All five recipients accept the invitations, and assemble on the grounds of Wendwych Park a month hence. The first to arrive is Cambridge historian Bilal Mirza (Kohli), recently revealed to be the author of a series of anonymous articles disputing the claims of miracle-working that made Alcott-Worth so popular early in his career. Arriving on Mirza’s heels after a lecture series at Oxford is American mystery writer MH Alexander (Roday Rodriguez), whose popular, evidence-oriented private detective inspired a small but vocal rationalist movement in direct opposition to Alcott-Worth’s followers.  

Suffragist Annabelle Croft (Bell), a vocal critic of the transactional component of the spiritualist movement, takes the train from London along with Rose Halliday (Axford), a doctor known for being the black sheep of her old money family, who very publicly clashed with Alcott-Worth at salons in New York and Boston. Rounding out the party is Vicar Adrian Lazar (Stan) who began clashing with the Alcott-Worths after taking over the parsonage in the nearby village and fielding complaints from his congregation about seances and rituals in the middle of the woods.

It soon becomes clear that Alcott-Worth may have been more astute than any of them were anticipating, and every competitor finds themselves pulling out all the stops in order to best the others and beat them to the hidden will, but is there another secret hidden in the walls of Wendwych Park? One that none of them could have accounted for?

[divinum-pacis]

This is an opinion article by Thomas Reese.

Read below:

"Many people give up on religion when what they really need to do is change their image of God and how they relate to him. Too many people, when they grow older, give up on the God they learned about as children. What they really need to do is think about God in a more mature way. 

This can be a crisis of faith for many people, especially young people who can no longer relate to the God they learned about as children. Too often, priests will tell them that this is a temptation. They are told to have greater faith. Hold on to their God and don’t let go.

In truth, when someone is undergoing a crisis of faith, they may need to leave their old image of God for a new one. We need to change our understanding of God as we mature, just as we need to change our understanding of our parents as we mature.

Psychologists, like Erik Erikson, teach us that humans go through stages of development as they mature. The great Catholic mystics taught the same thing for centuries when they wrote of the purgative, contemplative and unitive ways. More recently, spiritual writers like James Fowler have used modern psychology to enrich our understanding of spiritual development.

My own simplified vision of spiritual development has three stages: turning away from sin, the practice of virtue and being embraced by God’s love. These stages are not airtight compartments but more a matter of emphasis. All our lives involve turning away from sin and practicing virtue, but the emphasis will be different as we mature.

Many of the greatest saints were first great sinners. They had to go through a conversion, reject sin, do penance and accept God’s mercy. Many Christian ministers put a great emphasis on this process, focusing on sin and the need for conversion in their preaching. Their God is a lawgiver and judge and sometimes even a policeman. God’s wrath will fall on sinners, but his mercy will come to those who turn away from sin.

Pentecostals, Baptists and conservative Catholics are good at challenging sinners and calling them to repent. This approach can be especially successful in dealing with prisoners and those with addictions.

Knowing that God is watching can also keep ordinary Christians from falling into sin. The fear of getting caught and punished keeps many people from doing wrong. We are like children who behave because we don’t want to be spanked.

The prayer life of a person at this stage of development is all about contrition, recognizing we are sinners and saying we are sorry. If we hear the parable of the prodigal son, we identify with  the prodigal and his brother, and how we are just like them. We spend a lot of time examining our conscience and listing all the sins we have committed in confession.

At this stage, God can sometimes come across as arbitrary and vindictive. When I was a child in the 1950s, we were taught that it was a mortal sin to eat meat on Friday or miss Mass on Sunday. Adolescents were told that they would go to hell if they enjoyed a “dirty thought.” Wives were told to stick with their husbands, even in cases of abuse.

For many, it seemed absurd to burn in hell alongside Hitler for eating a hamburger on Friday. This was a God who could be easily rejected.

At some point after turning away from serious sin, a Christian needs to move on from a focus on sin to a focus on the practice of virtue. If you are no longer a great sinner, it is time to move from the negative to the positive. We need to move from “How can I stop sinning?” to “How can I be a better Christian?” Scrupulosity is a sure sign that it is time to move on.

In this second stage of spiritual development, God is not so much a judge as a coach. We ask him for help to be a better Christian. He urges us on to greater and greater virtue. When we pray and read the Gospels, we don’t focus on sin, but on Jesus as the person we want to follow and imitate. “What can I do for the Lord?” “How can I be better?”

Most Christians spend most of their lives at this stage of spiritual development. We are not great sinners, but neither are we saints who practice the virtues perfectly. We try to be better but frequently fail. We don’t pray well, we don’t love as much as we should, we struggle and don’t seem to get better.

This can get tiresome after a while. The coach wants us to run faster, but we know we are never going to win a gold medal. We begin to resent the coach for asking too much of us.

At this stage of development, we are like a teenager trying to win someone’s love with the perfect clothes, hairstyle, makeup, conversation and social media. We are looking in the mirror all the time, not at the person we are with. By being good, we think we will earn God’s love.

In the third stage of spiritual development, we focus not on ourselves but on God. We look less at the prodigal son and his brother than at their father. Many Scripture scholars call the story the parable of the prodigal father because of the love that he showers upon his sons.

When we look at Jesus in the Gospels, we see someone who will not just tell us to stop sinning and follow him. Rather he is someone who is wonderful and who tells us about his Father, who is loving and compassionate. In this stage of development, we are not looking for sin or ways to be better; we are looking at the Scriptures to learn how awesome and wonderful God is.

I sometimes think that the hardest act of faith is not to believe a particular dogma but to believe that God loves us unconditionally, that above, behind and in the universe is a benevolent God.

In each stage of spiritual development, our prayer life is different. In the first stage it is mostly contrition (I am sorry), in the second stage it is mostly petition (help me) and in the third stage it is mostly thanksgiving and adoration (you are amazing).

To truly fall in love, we must forget ourselves and focus on the person in front of us. God is amazing and we give thanks to him for all that he has done for us. In the final stage of spiritual development, we fall in love. We aren’t good out of fear or to win God’s love; we are loving and kind because God has first loved us."