#moony institute

[warmhappycat]

I cannot BELIEVE I missed that addition, uh, 7 years ago. Potter Cottage Children’s Home and the Alphard Youth Grant are now canon.

Imagine the advances to wizarding society if Sirius Black had lived…

After the war, Sirius would have had a huge inheritance from parents he wanted to spite and a lot of leisure time to find good uses for it. We could have had…

1. Fleamont House: A house - perhaps even a heavily renovated 12 Grimmauld Place - where Hogwarts students can stay over breaks if going “home” wouldn’t be good for them (i.e., students like Sirius, Harry, or Tom Riddle).

2. Rest for Regulus: A seemingly bottomless grant awarded to the Auror department with the goals of:

Researching a way to deactivate Inferi;

Applying this research to deactivate all Inferi in Voldemort’s cave;

Identifying the remains taken from the cave using the best of both wizarding and muggle technology; and

Returning the remains to their next of kin for proper burial, or, if no next of kin is available, interring them respectfully within the Ministry.

3. Justice for All: A lobbying organization dedicated to pressuring the Ministry to improve their legal system, most notably,

By requiring that all suspects be awarded a full and fair trial before being sent to Azkaban; and

By working to outlaw the use of dementors in any correctional facility, including Azkaban.

4. Gentle Jails: Working in close collaboration with Justice for All, Gentle Jails builds small, secure, and humane (in particular, dementor-free) holding facilities for suspects awaiting trial. Gentle Jails funds their construction projects with donations, thereby cutting through all financial excuses the Ministry has for only using Azkaban to house suspects.

And finally, his personal favorite, the first one to be founded, the most heavily funded, the one that gets the most of his personal time and attention…

5. The Moony Institute for Lycanthropic Studies: A multidisciplinary research and applications powerhouse dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by lycanthropy.

The research division includes:

Anthropologists who document the life experiences of werewolves both in and outside of packs;

Psychologists studying the mental impact of lycanthropy, and how to make it easier;

Historians working to prevent the erasure of werewolf accomplishments and contributions; and of course,

Medical scientists searching for better treatments, and ultimately, a cure.

The applied research and services division works in a tremendous and ever-expanding variety of ways, including:

A hotline number that can be called anonymously with any lycanthropy-related question or crisis;

A counseling program, based largely on the research of the anthropology division, aimed at helping newly-bitten werewolves find social support within their community rather than joining a pack;

A second counseling service available to packs to improve their standard of living and help integrate them into society to whatever degree they desire;

A third counseling service, which provides short- and long-term therapy to werewolves and their loved ones on a sliding payment scale, with many clients treated for free;

A library of all things related to lycanthropy, which is open to the public (anyone can view the materials in the building; getting a card to take things home requires a small fee);

Partnering with potioneers to provide Wolfsbane potion (and other treatments developed by the research division) on a sliding scale of payment - with many patients paying nothing;

The construction and management of a building full of secure but comfortable transformation rooms, available at no charge and without any ID. Any werewolf can request a safe place to spend the full moon, no questions asked, no money required. Rooms come equipped with sound-proof walls, soft furniture, a pool of drinkable water, a protein-rich meal, and things like sticks or toys to chew on and destroy if the mood strikes;

An awareness team that visits schools and other events to dispel myths about werewolves and discourage prejudice;

Employment services to help clients find werewolf-friendly jobs. In addition to helping with job searches, this division keeps track of their clients’ experiences with different companies to better inform future applicants;

Lobbying efforts to repeal hateful laws and pass new ones including laws to (1) give werewolves equal rights as non-werewolves, (2) criminalize anti-werewolf discrimination in employment, housing, and public access to services, (3) establish Safe Haven zones for parents to abandon their bitten children (proposed after the heartbreaking discovery of a high rate of post-bite infanticide; the Moony Institute itself was the first Safe Haven location tonbe announced), (4) require employers to offer medical leave for werewolves around the full moon, and (5) require hospitals be trained in lycanthropic medicine;

Lobbying efforts to end the shuffle of werewolves between the beast and being divisions of the Ministry, and instead classify them as human (this was the project Sirius was most passionate about); and

Project Pup, which pairs werewolves with a dog to keep them company and soothe them during full moons. Werewolves apply for Project Pup and have to pass a background check and psychological evaluation (to make sure the dog will be safe). Much like Guiding Eyes for the Blind, it is then the recipient’s responsibility to take care of the dog. When the dogs get too old to accompany the client on full moons, they can either return it to the Moony Institute to be adopted out, or they can keep it as a pet (which most do). Either way, they are automatically eligible for a replacement full moon companion. All dogs are pulled from “death row” at high-kill Muggle animal shelters (that part was Hermione’s idea). (This was Sirius’s first project, and it is probably the Moony Institute’s most acclaimed accomplishment.)

The Moony Institute became much larger than Sirius ever envisioned, and it had tremendous impact on the lives of people with lycanthropy all over the world. A surprising number of donors came forward to keep it afloat and non-profit (even the Black fortune couldn’t do it alone forever!). It created a lot of jobs, and preferentially hired werewolves to fill them. So much of the staff has lycanthropy, in fact, that many offices shut down altogether around the full moon! (Which is fine, because their clients are in poor shape at that time too.) It brought Sirius endless joy to put his bigoted family’s money to use improving the lives of “half-breeds,” especially because it was all inspired by his half-blood friend.

Finally, although he may never hear of it since it’s a Muggle charity, but if he ever found out about the Innocence Project, Sirius would be a regular and generous donor.

(Obviously these headcanons rest on the assumption that he experienced some personal growth, which I think is entirely possible if he had time to heal from Azkaban and got to spend more time with Harry and Remus.)

[whatisonthemoon]

Young Oon Kim, Lofland, Stark, and the Institute for Personality Assessment and Research

Both parts excerpted from Mike and Virginia McClaughry’s research:

▲ Pictured: Front row Eileen Lemmers, Patty Pumphrey, Pauline Verheyen, unknown, Doris Orme, Young Oon Kim Back row: unknown, George Norton, Galen Pumphrey, Calvin Carey, unknown

The CIA group Institute for Personality Assessment and Research, was at UC Berkeley. Erving Goffman was a Sociology professor at the University of California in Berkeley. Goffman had previously received CIA funding under MK Ultra.    71

John Lofland was invited to Berkeley to work as a Teaching Assistant to Erving Goffman, starting in the Fall semester of 1960. Rodney Stark was one of their Sociology students.

CIA funding was provided to research conversion in a deviant religious group. The project was under the Institute for Personality Assessment and Research. John Lofland and Rodney Stark were assigned to be the researchers. Goffman received CIA funding and he acted as handler for Lofland and Stark.

On 21 November 1960 Young Oon Kim finally stepped foot into San Francisco Haight-Ashbury district. She was now ready to begin her real assignment – the making of the Unification Church.   59 Young Oon Kim was not gaining very many converts by preaching Moon’s religious beliefs.

In the Fall of 1961 John Lofland and Ronald Stark hook up with Young Oon Kim. The Divine Principle is a book containing Moon’s religious teachings. Lofland helped Kim re-write the Divine Principle to make it more acceptable.

Lofland also taught Kim to use interpersonal relationships to recruit people. That meant that converts should bring in their family and friends. That worked. Membership in the Unification Church then began increasing dramatically.

. . . .

John Lofland was invited to Berkeley to work on his Ph.D as a Teaching Assistant to Erving Goffman.

CIA funding was provided to research conversion in a deviant religious group. The project was under the Institute for Personality Assessment and Research. John Lofland and Rodney Stark were assigned to be the researchers.

Lofland and Stark would soon take Young Oon Kim under their wing.

Interview with Stark –

Stark: I enrolled at Berkeley in the fall of 1960.

Stark gets “given a research appointment at the end of the first semester“. That is December 1960. Stark says he “went to the Survey Research Center” that was directly under the purview of the CIA Institute for Personality Assessment and Research.

As his Curriculum Vitae verifies. Specifically, it says that he was working as a “researcher for a research associate” under Charles Glock and its recently formed Survey Research Center.

John Lofland and Rodney Stark deliberately sought out a “deviant religious group” to study because that was their assignment, that’s what the grant money stipulated.

Lofland and Stark would have been reporting/discussing in to both Charles Glock and Erving Goffman throughout the whole period that they were there with the Moonies.

This shows that Erving Goffman was receiving CIA funding –

In 1995, Raymond Prince published an illustration consisting of photo reproductions of pages of the Human Ecology Fund Annual Report of July 1961.

Under “other studies, grants” and sub-heading “Other publications, monographs” we see several names that are most definitely actual full-out witting MK-Ultra operatives, such as James A Hamilton. Under ‘publications, monographs’: we see Erving Goffman show up again, clearly illustrating that he is a repeat grantee of the CIA’s largesse. (Price Anthropology Today June 2007)

In March 1962 Lofland and Stark officially moved in with the Moonies.

We said that friendship ties were in the first instance much more important than theology. That people learned the theology, but they learned it only after having already learned to trust it because their friends did.

Progress Through Theology “An interview with Rodney Stark, author of For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-hunts, and the End of Slavery” David Neff/ July 1, 2003

As Lofland and I settled back to watch people convert to this group, the first thing we discovered was that all of the current members were united by close ties of friendship predating this …with Miss Kim. …became friends with Miss Kim after she became a [?] with one of them. By the time Lofland and I arrived to study them, the group had never succeeded in attracting a stranger. All had been tied to group members through friendships.

We also found it instructive that during most of her first year in America Miss Kim had tried to spread her message directly by talks to various groups and by sending out many press releases. Later, in San Francisco, the group also tried to attract followers through radio spots and by renting a hall in which to hold public lectures. But these methods yielded nothing. As time passed Lofland and I were able to observe people actually become Moonies. The first several converts were old friends or relatives of members who came from Oregon for a visit. Subsequent members were people who …close friendships with one or more members of the groups.

We soon realized that of all the people the Moonies…in their efforts to…the only ones who joined were those with interpersonal attachments.

…In short, conversion is not about working or embracing an ideology, it is about bringing one’s religious behavior into alignment with that of one’s friends and family members. …Of persons who did join, many were newcomers to San Francisco whose attachments were all …far away. As they formed strong friendships with group members these were not counterbalanced because distant friends and and families had no knowledge of the conversion in progress.

The Craft of Religious Studies pp 175-196 On Theory-Driven Methods RODNEY STARK

Kim tried to attract followers through press releases and advertising, but this produced no results. Instead, what made for new converts was personal relationships. If a person had a friend or family member who was a Moonie, the prospects for conversion increased dramatically.

“Conversion is not about seeking or embracing an ideology; it is about bringing one’s religious behavior into alignment with that of one’s family and friends,” Stark says.

Stark explains, “Conversion to new, deviant religious groups occurs when, other things being equal, people have or develop stronger attachments to members of the group than they have to non-members.”

Late 20th Century Conversions: How the Moonies Did It by Julie Garner, editorial Martyrs, Myths and the Mighty, Columns magazine, U of W Alumni December 1998 issue.

John Lofland helped Young Oon Kim rewrite the Divine Principle because people found it unconvincing –

“While the second edition was far better than the first, by October, 1962, Miss Kim had begun making revisions and typing out the manuscript for the third edition. In part, this new effort came at the urging of Gordon Ross, a new member and former Woodrow Wilson scholar in linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. He pointed out deficiencies in the text that had hindered his study and which if not amended would in his view lead scholars to dismiss it.

This time, Miss Kim was anxious to produce an authoritative version. She finished typing the manuscript on December 1, 1962, and proofreading began two days later with Gordon Ross and John Lofland, a doctoral student in Sociology at the University of California who was studying the group. They finished on December 5th. A second proofreading began on the 9th and finished on the 11th.” (Mickler, Chapter 2)

John Lofland wrote his thesis. It shows his research into the Moonies was CIA funded. It says –

This investigation was supported in part by a Public Health Service fellowship to the senior author from the National Institute of Mental Health (MPM-16, 661; 5F1 MH-16, 661-02).

John Lofland, as the senior author, was paid to do this from the CIA’s main funding conduit at this time.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

SAHRA WAGENKNECHT (L.) SPRACH BEI EINER VERANSTALTUNG DES ICD, DIRK NIEBEL (2. V. L.) SASS BIS MAI IM BEIRAT. DAS INSTITUT UNTER LEITER MARK DONFRIED (R.) PFLEGT VERBINDUNGEN ZUR MOON-SEKTE, BEKANNT FÜR IHRE MASSENTRAUUNGEN DURCH HAK JA HAN ALIAS "MUTTER MOON" (2. V. R.)

Studierende stört, dass sie nichts lernen. Der Leiter des Instituts hat auch kaum wissenschaftliche Expertise – dafür Kontakte zu Politikern und Sektenmitgliedern.

Von Sabrina Winter SD Von Sascha Düerkop 27.10.2023

Im Konferenzraum riecht es nach einer Mischung aus Parfüm, Pups und Mensa. An diesem Nachmittag im Februar füllt sich der Raum mit Studierenden, Praktikanten, Sekten-Mitgliedern und ein paar Leuten, die sich womöglich wirklich für das Thema der Konferenz interessieren. Der Raum ist so voll, dass sich Leute in den Türrahmen drängeln. Denn gleich spricht die Bundestagsabgeordnete Sahra Wagenknecht (damals Teil von Die Linke) zum Krieg in der Ukraine. Umstrittene Politiker sind hier oft zu Gast, nur selten sind sie so bekannt wie Wagenknecht. 

Hier, das ist das Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) in Berlin. Es ist eine Mischung aus Nichtregierungsorganisation, Konferenz-Agentur und Hochschule. Und: Es ist ein Treffpunkt für religiöse Fanatiker. Wer hinter die Kulissen des ICD schaut, merkt schnell: Das Institut erscheint als bloße Fassade. Dahinter spinnt ein Trio sein Netzwerk aus Kriminellen und Politikern. Dafür nutzt es junge Menschen aus und lässt sich von Studierenden viel Geld zahlen. Vor allem bietet es einen Raum für eine Sekte: Auf den Konferenzen können Sektenmitglieder werben und mit jungen Menschen über Frieden, Familie, Gott und wer weiß was noch reden. Dass die Sekte auf den ICD-Konferenzen für ihre Lehren werben darf, verneint das Institut. Doch die Kooperation bestätigt man aber: "Unserer Erfahrung nach war die Zusammenarbeit erfolgreich." 

Zu Teil 2 dieser Recherche

Machine translation to English: LINK

[m00neroni]

in response to your latest reblog re: popular fics, are there any lesser known fics you'd recommend? I feel like every tiktok or tumblr rec list is full of the same stuff now... preferably on the medium to long side (90k+)

oh, hi, nonnie! love this ask because I love yapping about fics! it feels like my moment! let's see, 90k+ directly from my very messy bookmarks that are, in my opinion, highly underrated:

(The yapping got too long, sorry)

Precious Love by AdrianManwaring: Remus and Sirius, upon moving to a new city, are called to become foster parents. Really lovely story about family and finding a place in the world. (kid fic-adoption. established wolfstar. 188k.)

call it fate, call it karma by veridity: Sirius wants to make an entire corrupt empire fall down and recruits Remus, a journalism student with a big sense for justice and his sworn enemy since, probably, day 1. A personal favourite, highly highly recommended. (university au. journalism. 103k)

Harry Potter and the Dog and The Wolf Series by thewholeofthemoon (on-going, main story finished): The Full Moon doesn't fall during the Shack reunion, so Peter never escapes and things adjust according to it. I always recommend this series for a reason. One of my favourite wolfstar. I've reread it several times. (fix-it/canon rewrite. 605k)

Second Generation Series by @languagelessonswolfstar: Teddy is found in a broom closet with his boyfriend, Leo, who happens to be Sirius' kid. When their parents are called into school, things get a bit awkward, considering they are exes. Completely obsessed with this fic and this dynamic and the pain.

Glorified Foresight by irrelevanttous: Remus comes back to England with the promise of Wolfsbane and has to face his previous life, very pissed off with him ex lover included. This fic is such a fucking rollercoaster. It also has one of my favourite magical battle scenes so !! (kinda enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers again! and a mystery! canon divergence. 157k)

How Long 'Til My Sould Gets It Right by @severedreamerfox: Remus and Sirius try to build a life together while they stay at Grimmauld Place. But destiny has its surprises, ones better than others. If you know me, you know how much I love krabapple's fics, but this will probably always be my favourite, not only of hers but of any fic ever. Highly recommended. (bring back black. mpreg. 88k)

The World Is Waiting For You by thechanchanman: Lily and Remus participate in a reality show around the world. Their main rivals happen to become more than that at quick speed, but first, they need to win the race. Very light funny and lovely story if you need fluff in your life. (amazing race au. 92k)

couple more, this time shorter:

Ullswater by @eyra: Winter term at the Ullswater Institute. Lots of classical music, pining and just, so lovely. (university au. 30k)

Let Me Get What I Want (This Time) by Sierra_Sitruc: Teen Sirius starts having visions that seem from a different life. Personal favourite, right at the top and brilliant concept. (canon divergence/fix-it. 69k)

The Adventures of Captain Sirius Black and His Most Excellent Dragon Padfoot by OptimisticDinosaur: Sirius is a pirate who, somehow, gets adopted by a lovely dragon and fights a war alongside a very grumpy Remus. They fall in love while on it. THE DRAGONS !!!! THE ACTION !!! just so good (historical fantasy. 37k)

The Killing Time (unwillingly mine) by @kaaaaaaarf: Sirius loves getting engaged to lame and insufficient men, so Remus takes matters into his own hands. I love this fic so much I went down a rabbit hole of making all my friends read it, so trust my delirium. (murder husbands. 17k)

9 Months by @billspaid: Lily is expecting, and these are the nine months of her journey. Such an amazing and heartwarming fic from such an amazing and talented friend. Any of her works is brilliant, but this one will always be my favourite. (pregnancy fic. 32k.)

Blood Sugar Sex Moony by @emeryhall: Sirius and Remus from 1981 London are magically deposited in 1995 Sunnydale High, with its cliques and a bit of murder. The concept of this fic is the coolest thing ever I devoured it in a day !! (canon divergence. 63k)

Step & Repeat by @theresthesnitch: In which Remus accepts to be famous actor Sirius' fake boyfriend, they platonically share bed and live in a lovely denial. I want to remark not only the amazing writing and story but also the media content used in the fic, because it is such a brilliant work it needs to be addressed. (fake dating au. 62k)

Best Friend's Wedding by amberlink: Sirius is in love with James. But James is marrying Lily. So Sirius has a plan to get James back, and it involves Remus. What can go wrong? An absolute masterpiece of pining and bad decisions. (fake dating au. 61k)

drop your recs too if you want!!

[lizardsfromspace]

The conservative newspaper run by Falun Gong, and the other one run by the Moonies, makes me think of what a weird artifact the Christian Science Monitor is.

Christian Science is the group that disbelieves in all modern medicine, and preaches prayer instead (mysteriously their membership numbers are in regular freefall). So naturally, their newspaper is...a respected, largely secular and reliable institution that's won seven Pulitzers? How on Earth did that happen

(the answer is that their founder created it as part of a feud with...Joseph Pulitzer?)

(also they are a unreliable cult propaganda rag when it comes to medical news, which makes the Pulitzers even weirder)

[fangroyal]

10 first lines tag game

Many thanks to @hey-flynn for the tag! 🥰It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these! Unfortunately, I didn’t publish anything in 2022, and I also haven’t really been writing anything at all for over a year now. I know it’s just one of those things - life stuff, taking a break from writing - but sometimes I get down about it. It was really nice to be tagged in this, though, and, like...essentially remind me I’m still a writer even if I’m not writing right now, lol! So thank you, it’s really appreciated! 🖤

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to, but I went ahead and ordered these from most to least recent!

“Draco Malfoy exited the lifts on Level Two amidst a flurry of bright purple memos, all zooming down the long corridor of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, bound for the Auror Offices.“ (I Will Follow You into the Dark, Drarry, NC-17)

“"Unbelievable," Ron muttered to himself.” (Plumage, Dron, NC-17)

“Weasley really looked amazing tonight.“ (An Inconvenient Attachment, Dron, NC-17)

“Draco Malfoy was no stranger to the way living purely Muggle could dull a wizard's senses.“ (In Plain Sight, Snaco, NC-17)

“Kingsley Shacklebolt had, upon officially taking the position of Minister for Magic several years prior, instituted an 'open door' policy throughout the organization, requiring that all office doors remained open during operating hours, except in the cases of private meetings or other special circumstances.” (Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Dron, NC-17)

“"I'm going to bloody kill you when this is over."” (Pass The Salt, Brother Dear, Sirius/Regulus, NC-17)

“It was a particularly chilly evening in early October, and the streets of Knockturn Alley were quiet.“ (The Black Adder: Knockturn's Caped Crusader, Dron, R)

“"Who all's gonna be there tonight?"“ (In The Closet, Snupin, NC-17)

“It was around three-thirty on Christmas morning when Sirius woke with a start, a feeling deep in his gut that something wasn't right.“ (The First Christmas, previous Jily, unrequited Prongsfoot, R)

“Twenty minutes have passed since the clock struck midnight on January 1, 1979.“ (Moony, Lily, Padfoot, and Prongs, Jily and Wolfstar swinging lol🤤, NC-17)

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent wip's and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

As I said, I’ve not written much of anything at all in the past year or so, lol. But these are snippets from WIPs I still have an attachment to and hope to return to at some point in time. Most of them don’t have set-in-stone titles yet, so I’ve just left descriptors in the parentheses!

I’d also like to note that I, uh.......write pretty non-linearly most of the time, haha! So very few of these (if any at all) are actual first lines for these stories. More likely just whichever random line happens to be at the very top of the doc currently.

“"Yes, I'm here to learn how to cook," Malfoy practically spat, his jaw clenching rhythmically behind his scowl.“ (Dron - Ron gets into teaching Wixen cooking classes, and Draco becomes one of his students, much to Ron’s surprise)

“The first time Draco saw the Golden Trio again, it was at a dinner at the Burrow.” (Dron - was meant to be for a prompt from Annchen for last year’s Crack!Fic Fest, but as I said...not writing much at all in the last year, lmao - Ron is, contrary to my usual headcanoning of him, a TERRIBLE cook that constantly causes chaos, much to his boyfriend Draco’s chagrin - oh, and of course there’d be food sex 😜)

“Of all the things that could've ― and should've ― killed Harry Potter in his lifetime, somehow the prospect of a vampire's bite had never crossed his mind.“ (Drarry - was meant to be for a prompt from @veelawings​ for last year’s Fangfest, but as I said...........😂 - Harry’s a vampire, and Draco discovers, quite spectacularly, that he’s a Veela in the middle of a sparring class)

“So much blood kept pouring out from between his lips, Ron was scared he would choke. He helped Malfoy sit up, resting his back against the nearest wall, even as he whimpered and struggled.” (Dron - was meant to be my self-prompt for last year’s Ron/Draco Fest, buuuuuuttttttt ^^^^^^^ - Ron and Draco are Auror partners - Draco gets turned into a vampire on a raid, is let go from the Ministry, and disappears - Ron doesn’t see him again until a couple years later when he’s sent on a mission to investigate mysterious deaths happening around the Wixen-creature neighborhoods)

“The air rings with the crack of a Beater's bat.“ (Dron - was meant to be for a prompt from @veelawings​ for the 2021 Quidditch Fest, but etc. etc., looool - Ron and Draco are playing on the Chudley Cannons together and keep getting into fights - their manager sends them on a wilderness retreat in order to work out their differences before the next big match)

“"Potter," he says. The 'p' pops distinctly in his mouth, and suddenly Harry feels transported back ten years, and it takes everything in him not to scowl.“ (Drarry - originally from a prompt by @jalesidor​ - Draco is an artist, and Harry is sent to him to have his portrait painted to be hung in Hogwarts for the ten year anniversary of the Battle)

“Friday night at the Dragon's Head was packed.“ (Dron - what I for so many years felt like was gonna be my magnum opus, but haven’t worked on in literally forever, lmao - where do I even begin...Fred (who lived in this story) and George open a sex shop that sells dildos modelled after the Weasley brothers’ cocks - Draco buys Ron’s, Ron finds out and is intrigued, and thus begins a series of secret hookups while they try to sort out their true feelings for each other)

“Oliver Wood remembered with vivid clarity the exact moment his professional Quidditch career came to an end.“ (Flintwood - originally from a prompt by @mxrcusflint - Marcus and Oliver are rival youth Quidditch coaches)

“The very last thing Draco had expected that fateful morning was to find Harry Potter on his doorstep.“ (Dron - HP Love Island with Dron endgame)

“Tweek's parents were fucking nuts, but it was better than Harbucks. Pete hadn't had to pay for his own coffee for his last two years of high school. He'd really been living the dream.” (CuRed from South Park - adult, and estranged, Mike and Pete are forced to navigate a conformist zombie apocalypse together)

Like @hey-flynn, I’m not sure that I have ten people I could comfortably tag for this! Haha! I’ve been so out of the loop, it feels like, for the past year or so. I only even started regularly using my Tumblr again super recently, so.....I’m gonna go ahead and just tag the following people! If you’ve already done this one, or don’t feel like doing it, please feel free to ignore. 😅

@veelawings​, @danpuff-ao3​, @braingray​, @mildredmost​, @maesterchill, @jalesidor​​

[kellyurban18]

Chapter Two

Harry received a response the following evening which was a little surprising considering Kreasiara Institute was a long flight for owls. He had received the letter at dinner but had waited until he was back in his dorm room to actually open it.

Dear Harry,

I must confess I am surprised to receive your letter. The Potter Family has always been very close knit and has always kept track of our members since the 1700s. However, as my father said, when my best friend came to live with us 'the more the merrier'.

I would love to tell you about the Potter Family. As much as you would love to hear. My other two kids are not interested in our past and family. Though occasionally I can get a story out about a family member that I remember.

Before I do that, however, I would feel better verifying this information. When I was 20 my wife gave birth to twin boys. This was the height of the War, and we were members of the Order, making this a very stressful, but joyous time. We had to go into hiding and regrettably; we chose the wrong person as our secret keeper. He betrayed our location to Voldemort in 1981, three months after my son's first birthday.

One son remained untouched and in his crib, but the attacker took the other twin that night with only a few items. You mentioned being adopted and only having a few items that belong to you, which is why I am telling you this. My son, Harry, coincidentally, had four stuffed animals and a baby blanket he slept with every night. He wouldn't be in a separate room without them, which was quite the hassle for us when traveling, but it was quite adorable.

These four animals had tags with their names on them. It's a family joke. The animals were a wolf, a dog, a stag, and a rat and the names were Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail. The baby blanket is handmade, knitted by my mother and my wife. My mother had started both blankets, but had passed before she could finish them, so my wife finished them.

If you did the Bloodline Potion, I think you did, then it would have revealed me to be your biological father. If that is the case, just know you ended up in that orphanage by mistake. Your mother and I never would have given you up. Your twin brother, Charlie, was the harder baby. He would have been the one to go for sure. I'm joking. I love my kids, all of them equally, and never would have given them away.

Lunch sounds great. I work at Hogwarts currently to stay close with my kids while they go to school, but as a professor I may leave when I need or want to as long as preparations have been made. I know little about Kreasiara Institute, but I am more than willing to go there and sit with you if that is required.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours,

James.

To say Harry was shocked and confused would be a vast understatement.

He was... Stolen? Kidnapped?

Harry set the letter down on his desk and sat back in his chair letting it sink in. He decided to set the letter aside and focus on his homework for his other classes until he knew what to do. It was only Wednesday evening after all he had a few days before the weekend arrived.

***

After four days without a reply, James decided, against his better judgment, to go to Kreasiara Institute himself. He was desperate and he needed answers. He feared that if he let it go too long Harry would never contact him again and that just couldn’t happen. It took a few hours on Sunday to figure out where exactly Kreasiara Institute was located and how to get there, but after that James was able to plan his trip easily enough. Asking Remus to cover his classes without telling him the reason why was harder, but eventually he was entering the Headmaster’s Office of Kreasiara Institute.

“Lord Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you. I’m Headmaster Cox.”

“You poor guy.” James said unable to help himself, the Headmaster thankfully laughed good naturally.

“I’ve heard it all. Every generation thinks they’re creative with a new one and I have to beak their spirits to tell them I’ve heard it before. They grow out of it after a few years. So, what do we owe the pleasure, we do accept transfer students as long as they pass the required tests if that is what you are here for.”

“No not that. I was contacted by one of your students a few days ago for a class assignment.”

“Magical Families?”

“That’s the one.”

“Say no more. Though I must admit I am surprised. I can take you to the professor. He should have a free period now. He can help you contact the student.”

“Great, Thank you.”

James followed the headmaster through the castle corridors. They stopped outside an open door and an older man with white curly hair sat behind his desk.

“Professor Maldonado, this is Lord Potter. A student of yours contacted him.” The headmaster introduced him.

“Ah yes Harry I remember. Are you here to speak to him? His class starts in ten minutes. I don't mind releasing him for the period.” The headmaster took his leave nodding to them both before he turned and left the room leaving James alone with the professor.

“No, I was actually hoping you had a copy of this bloodline result? The Potters have always kept track of our bloodline and family members, even the ones who went and married muggles. Not saying an illegitimate child isn’t a possibility, but I was hoping to have a little more information about his specific lineage from the family to better help him. That way I’m not giving him unneeded information.” James lied through his teeth, but he made sure to keep a respectful smile on his face to hopefully hide the fact.

“Oh no I do not I’m afraid. We only make one copy and due to the sensitive nature of the information we let the students keep it. We also make the students hide the biological information from us so we can’t see it, we only need to know their closest magical family after all. But Harry I’m sure wouldn’t mind letting you see it. He’s a great student, top in all his classes actually despite his young age.”

“Young age? I assumed he was in his sixth year.”

“Seventh year actually.” All of James’ hopes were crushed by those two words, his shoulders sagging a little. A chime rang through the castle and by the sounds of students in the corridor, James assumed that meant the end of class, “You’re welcome to sit in if you’d like.”

“Oh, I don’t know if-“

“Ah! Harry, just the boy we were talking about!”

James turned towards the door expecting to see a boy with some Potter traits, maybe the unruly hair or the popular hazel eyes. If there were illegitimate children out there, then James was their only family, and he would never turn away family. However, he saw himself. Not an exact replica of course, but there was no denying that Harry, his Harry, had just entered the classroom. Harry looked up from his books he was carrying, and James was met with bright emerald eyes that had a shine to them that was almost unnatural. The young teen stared at him for a moment clearly confused then something must have registered as he came towards them.

“Hi. I was going to respond I promise. I got caught up in studying for my other classes and honestly it was sort of shocking. I wanted to talk to my Papa, but he’s out of the country at the moment.”

“Harry you can be excused for this class. The class will be going to the library to find books and resource material anyway.” Maldonado said handing Harry a black journal, “notes, resources, direct quotes, drafts, anything. It will expand as needed and at the end of the year you’ll turn this in with your final report. Just so we can read where you got your information.”

“Of course. See you in the next class then.” James followed Harry out of the classroom, “I really did mean to reply to you, it’s just I didn’t know what to say. I also wanted to talk to my Papa about the situation.” James chuckled as he shoved his hands into his robe pocket walking beside his son who was alive and right there within touching distance.

“It’s quite alright. I just wanted to know if what I was thinking was true or not. I was desperate to be honest.”

“Can’t say I blame you. I am quite great.”

“Not conceited at all.” James joked watching as Harry grinned, chuffing lightly.

“We can go outside. I can show you the test there and we can talk.”

They walked through a beautiful courtyard that put Hogwarts’ to shame by a lot. Though James still preferred Hogwarts over this, Kreasiara Institute practically had ‘I’m richer than you’ on every wall. Past the courtyard was a perfectly trimmed and cared for grounds, a Willow tree rested against a lake with a picnic table underneath it that Harry headed towards.

They sat opposite of each other, Harry placing his books on the table and his bag on the bench beside him. As Harry dug into his school bag James noticed a graded paper on top of his books so he tilted his head a little to get a better look. A red 1000% was on the corner and under it was an O+ now he was even more intrigued.

“Do you mind?” James asked, reaching for the parchment, Harry at him then his paper then shook his head.

“Go for it.” As he said that he pulled out a scroll holder and set it on the table between them, “That’s the test and that is just an essay from last term.

“ Just an essay? You got a perfect score.”

“Well yeah.” Harry said as if that shouldn’t be such a surprise, “There’s a reason why I’m top of my graduating class this year.”

Which reminds him…

“Speaking of you’re only sixteen. You do know that right?” James asked

“I started school at age 10 under the recommendations of healers. My magic was growing at a rapid pace, and I couldn’t control it anymore. According to Papa my magic had always been strong for a child, but after an accident it grew faster and stronger.”

“So, you’re the youngest in your year and the top of the class. That’s impressive.” Harry shrugged at James’ praise.

“I am very ambitious.”

“Do you mind if I take this with me to read it?” James asked, holding the essay.

“Keep it or else my Papa will add it to the wall of embarrassment at the house. You’d love it, it has pictures of me from when I was first adopted to three weeks ago when Papa caught me sleeping with my baby blanket and stuffies. There is a very good explanation for that.” Harry said quickly defending himself when James looked at him with a raised brow and a slow smile spreading across his face.

“Oh really? Do tell.”

“I…got scared and needed my MooMoo to protect me. Simple as that. Perfectly reasonable so there is no need to look further into it.”

“Your MooMoo?”

“Yes. Don’t give me that look, I was like three, okay.”

“Actually, you were one.”

“I’ve always said that?”

“Oh yes. Those were your first words. Your mother was pissed. You had been making the ‘m’ sound for about a week before then and we were all convinced you’d say mama. Then Remus or as we call him Moony came through the front door and you lit up and screamed ‘Moo Moo!’. And that is how you became Remus's favorite for about two months until you finally said Dada. Then you were all mine again.”

“So I have a twin brother?” Harry asked.

“You do. His name is Charlie, he's in his sixth year at Hogwarts. You also have a little sister, Ariel. She's in her third year. Then there’s your godfather, Sirius and his husband, Remus. Remus is Charlie’s godfather. Though we all live together at the family manor, so really, they’re sort of like two other dads who are more lenient with the rules.”

“It’s just Papa and I. Well there was Papa’s husband for a little while, but he and Papa got a divorce years ago and we don’t speak to each other anymore. I have family friends who are like my aunts and uncles, I talk to Uncle Frankie the most. He’s a werewolf pack leader near the forest we live by. Papa is a Healer for werewolves and other magical creatures like them.”

“Well that’s good I don’t have to worry about anyone being upset that I introduce you to a werewolf then.”

“Going by his very original nickname and plushie choice, I’m assuming it’s Remus?”

“Yes. He was bitten as a kid, revenge against his father by Fenrir Greyback. Dumbledore allowed him to come to Hogwarts as a student after safety precautions were in place and we met there. We were all in Gryffindor house. We found out Remus was a werewolf when we were thirteen and came up with a plan to become animagi to be with him on the full moons, so he wasn’t alone. At fifteen we finally succeeded. I was a stag and Sirius was a large black dog.”

It did not escape Harry’s notice that James didn’t mention the rat, so Harry didn’t either.

“So tell me about this project of yours.”

“Well it can be about any generation or era I want it to be about. It has to be at least two thousand words for the essay and I have to do a family tree that follows who and what is mentioned. The people and the historical events, if there are any.”

“Two thousand words? Really?”

“Well it goes towards my NEWT scores, so that's the bare minimum. It’s why we are given so long to do it.”

“Do you have a time you want to look into?”

“I’m not sure. What’s the most recent historical event and we’ll go from there.”

“The most recent?” James asked, watching as Harry nodded, “The most recent is actually about you.”

“Me? What? Why?” Harry asked, frowning.

“In 1980 before you were born a prophecy was made about Voldemort and the one destined to be his downfall. The month mentioned in the prophecy passed and there were two babies born that fit. Neville Longbottom was born on July 30 just before midnight and you were born July 31st just before midnight. That is the reason we went into hiding, someone told Dumbledore Voldemort thought you were the most likely threat. No one knows why he chose you, but he did and we chose the wrong man to be the secret keeper. He betrayed our location and Voldemort came after us in 1981.”

“Really? I mean…I always figured my birth family was attacked by Voldemort. Well it was the conclusion Papa and I made after enough nightmares. Though you clearly survived.” James nodded, putting the nightmare comment to the side for now to come back to later.

“Charlie was spared, your mother and I were under a fake death curse but we were able to hear everything. He cast the killing curse at you, the entire house filled with this deathly green light then smoke then miraculously we heard you crying. Screaming your lungs out as if in pain, we couldn’t move and eventually we lost consciousness.

“We woke up in St. Mungo’s and you were gone and the papers, before they knew you were missing, named you The Boy Who Lived. The first person to ever survive the killing curse, the person who defeated Voldemort and ended the war. For months the papers sent out massive rewards for any tips on your whereabouts, but eventually they came to the same conclusion everyone else did eventually. That you had been killed in revenge or maybe you were being raised in a torturous home. No one really knew for sure.”

“Why me? Why not my twin brother?”

“Charlie was born on August 1st at 12:15am. He wasn’t the prophecy child only you and Neville were.”

“So why not Neville?”

“We don’t know what made him choose you. Actually very little is known about him and who he was before he was Voldemort.”

“Okay…so maybe not recent history.” Harry said scratching at his forehead making James frown as he spotted what looked to be some type of scar.

“What happened there?” James asked, grabbing Harry’s wrist. He moved Harry’s hair away from his forehead revealing a lightning bolt scar that started at the right temple breaking off into seven branches with three zigzags for each branch. Almost like the wand movement of the Killing Curse was scarred on his forehead seven times.

“Oh that? Papa says I’ve always had it.”

“No...definitely not as a baby. Does it hurt at all?”

“No I forgot about it honestly. Well sometimes I get these weird dreams or nightmares and it tingles a little, but other than that no pain.”

“That’s good.” James said though he was still frowning as he sat back on the bench deciding to not ask about the nightmare this time.

“So what’s the coolest history of the family?”

“Tell you what. Why don’t I get the family book for you and you can look for yourself. I’ll bring it to you sometime this week then maybe this weekend we can get lunch? You can meet the others.”

“That works. There’s a few lunch spots in Ballycastle, it’s the magic town near the school just a short walk from here. Papa says it’s what Hogsmeade is for Hogwarts students.”

“You should invite him too. I’d like to meet him and I’m sure everyone else would too.”

“I’ll extend the invite.”

They stayed outside talking about small things until the next chime was heard then James walked Harry to his next class, History of Magic where Harry surprised him by hugging him in front of almost everyone. Something no sixteen year old boy would typically do, but James treasured it as he hugged him a little tighter.

“See you later.” Harry said, smiling at him.

“Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll bring the book for you. It’s not something an owl can deliver.” Harry nodded as he headed into his class. James lingered only for a moment before he turned and headed back to Hogwarts.

[darkmaga-returns]

By Victoria White Berger

The Population Research Institute just released grave findings on Tim Walz’s connections to the Chinese communists:

Tiananmen Tim? The more we learn about Walz’ ties to China, the more disturbing—even disqualifying—they are.

The author of the Walz exposé and on-the-ground Chinese Communist Party expert, Steven Mosher, introduces us to the Walz of the CCP thusly:

Why would the Department of Homeland Security be so concerned about Tim Walz’s China ties that his name repeatedly comes up not only in internal communications, but in classified documents? According to Congressman James Comer, Chairman of the U.S. House’s Committee on Oversight, whistleblowers have revealed “serious concerns among DHS personnel regarding a longstanding connection between the Chinese Communist Party and Minnesota Governor Timothy James Walz. I share those concerns.  It could not be more obvious to me, a China-hand of long standing, that Walz has been ‘captured’ by the CCP.

Mosher defines the CCP tactic of seduction and subsequent corruption of Americans—to align with the CCP—as “elite capture.”

“Elite capture” harks us back to the Moonies and their hideous destabilization and corruption of middle to upper class American youth in the 1970’s.

However, Walz was not a “youth” with the excuse of youthfulness, but a mature teacher of the youth when we took the bait from the CCP, as Mosher delineates. In Walz’s case, the author saw the beginnings of his CCP-designated capture at first hand:

[lenbryant]

Play review (long post)

Review: In ‘Russian Troll Farm,’ You Can’t Stop the Memes

An unlikely dark comedy imagines the people pushing #PizzaGate, Donald Trump and who knows what next.

No one misses the early days and dark theaters of the Covid pandemic, but the emergency workaround of streaming content was good for a few things anyway. People who formerly could not afford admission suddenly could, since much of it was free, and artists from anywhere could now be seen everywhere, with just a Wi-Fi connection.

That’s how I first encountered “Russian Troll Farm,” a play by Sarah Gancher intended for the stage but that had its debut, in 2020, as an online co-production of three far-flung institutions: TheaterWorks Hartford, TheaterSquared in Fayetteville, Ark., and the Brooklyn-based Civilians. At the time, I found its subject and form beautifully realized and ideally matched — the subject being online interference in the 2016 presidential election by a Russian internet agency.

“This is digitally native theater,” I wrote, “not just a play plopped into a Zoom box.”

Now the box has been ripped open, and a fully staged live work coaxed out of it. But the production of “Russian Troll Farm” that opened on Thursday at the Vineyard Theater is an entirely different, and in some ways disappointing, experience. Though still informative and trenchant, and given a swifter staging by the director Darko Tresnjak, it has lost the thrill of the original’s accommodation to the extreme constraints of its time.

Not that it is any less relevant in ours; fake news will surely be as prominent in the 2024 election cycle (is Taylor Swift a pro-Biden psy-op?) as it was in 2016. That’s when, as Gancher recounts using many real texts, posts and tweets of the time, trolls at the Internet Research Agency — a real place in St. Petersburg, Russia — devised sticky memes and other content meant to undermine confidence in the electoral process, sow general discord, legitimize Trumpism and vaporize Hillary Clinton.

Egor (Haskell King) is a friendless, robotic techno-nerd who just wants to win the microwave oven that’s a prize for productivity. Steve (John Lavelle) is a Soviet revanchist who calls the Enlightenment a mistake and Gorbachev the “world’s biggest cuck.” Nikolai (Hadi Tabbal) is a moony screenwriter manqué who thinks what he does is evil but still wants ��to do a good job at it” — causing Steve, who went to junior college in California, to deride him as a “human latte” and a “performative bookstore tote bag.”

The fourth troll is the newbie, Masha (Renata Friedman). A disillusioned journalist who took the job at the agency for the pay, she wants nothing more than to move to London and recover from Russia by doing yoga. Naturally she becomes the focal point of several interconnected bids for love and dominance among Steve, Nikolai and Ljuba, whose bureaucratic fury belies a troubled emotional life beneath.

The snappy dialogue draws moderate laughs, often by squeezing banal office politics against the scarier kind. (“No Nazi content unless specifically requested by supervisor,” Ljuba warns the others.) But though Gancher subtitles the play “a workplace comedy,” you may in the end be left wondering what’s funny. The trolls’ various schemes for advancement and connection all end disastrously, as many in the audience surely feel the election did, too. Nor does it help that the cast works so hard to get a response from the audience, sometimes annoyingly demanding participation and thus a kind of complicity.

Complicity was not of course possible in the no-longer-available 2020 streaming production, which required viewers to process it on the fly, in much the way they process social media, deciding for themselves what to laugh at — and what to ponder, repost or trash. Lacking that formal congruence, the live “Russian Troll Farm” has a temperature problem: Instead of cool, it feels overheated; instead of suggestive, prosaic.

It was likewise unsettling, in 2020, that you never quite knew where the characters existed, except in the electronic ether; now, on Alexander Dodge’s white box set, they are fixed in a highly specific, nonvirtual space, with ergo chairs and a photo of Putin. Likewise, the ear-scratching interstitial noise (by Darron L West and Beth Lake) and strobey light (by Marcus Doshi) and projection effects (by Jared Mezzocchi) are almost too gorgeously professional, failing to reproduce the deliberate crudeness of the original’s fuzz, pixelation and green-screen blur.

Crudeness is key. Not only does it elicit the poetry of Gancher’s writing, which despite its shiny surface has depth; it is also expressive in itself, because crudeness is a hallmark of the trolls’ greatest hits. Egor considers his English spelling mistakes (“libral” for “liberal”) a useful way of promoting engagement. People who comment on the errors are merely being pulled even farther into the web — and the whole point of the troll farm, as an author’s note points out, is “to stir up trouble.”

At that, it succeeded, though Russia has no patent on trolls. Indeed, the Internet Research Agency shut down last year, collateral damage from the Wagner Group rebellion, but fake news has never been riper. It’s just more local. I suppose “Russian Troll Farm” wants us to consider whether we would participate in its strange, chaotic economy of lies if given the opportunity — and a microwave.

Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy Through Feb. 25 at Vineyard Theater, Manhattan; vineyardtheatre.org. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

Jesse Green is the chief theater critic for The Times. He writes reviews of Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway, regional and sometimes international productions. More about Jesse Green

A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 9, 2024, Section C, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: Even in Person, They Just Can’t Stop the Memes. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

[thedragonagelesbian]

What's Adelaide's opinions on constancy, secrecy, and fidelity? (lmao)

secrecy

Adelaide absolutely values secrecy, but I think in a kind of different way compared to, say, Gwendolynn's sect valuing secrecy. Because for them and for Gwendolynn, secrecy actually serves, like, a function: the sect (mistakenly or otherwise) believes that it benefits their operation to be secretive.

Adelaide keeps things secret about herself because she maintains an investment in small-town propriety. You don't Talk About Those Things because it's Just Not Done and if people Knew Those Things they would Think Differently about you/your father/the church.

It isn't like a rational thing to care about or be invested in given that it is precisely that sense of propriety that has shielded Wyatt from any consequences, but, like. Adelaide cares what people think about her, she doesn't want this to define her. So she just Doesn't Talk About It (until Moony invariably forces her hand as he's done twice now).

(The other half of Adelaide's investment in secrecy is that she for sure knows not-so-deep-down that a lot of her fantasies & actions are supremely fucked up, and she wants to continue rationalizing & justifying them w/out experiencing consequences for them, like working with Daybreak. Another thing Moony is going to force her hand on lol)

constancy + fidelity

Constancy vs fidelity is an age-old semantics debate. In conceptualizing them personally, I've often relied on the notion that constancy is reciprocal: it names a mutual orientation between bodies, whereas fidelity is more unidirectional and even action-oriented.

That said, I don't know if that distinction is particularly meaningful either for Adelaide personally or conceptualizing her as a character. Indeed, her narrative might even be said to reject the intrinsic goodness of these values as abstractions: Adelaide had constancy forced upon her, and the precise institution to which she was most faithful/loyal became an instrument in trapping her in Harborview.

At the same time, (although she doesn't realize it!) the only hope for Adelaide's like humanity and soul and being able to escape Harborview without losing herself or ending up in another cage are constancy and fidelity: her faith in and love for Nat; Moony's constancy toward her & (for the moment) continued support & protection & care.

I guess that's all to say: to the extent that Adelaide holds these as values (and I think she holds them more so now since Nat's come back & since Moony found out about Wyatt), she views them as highly contextual.

As she's told Aether, she's done blind faith before. She's not interested in doing it again.

[whatisonthemoon]

Howard Wiarda on the Moonie-Organized “Global Economic Action Institute” (GEAI)

Howard J. Wiarda was an academic, associated with both Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

In the mid-1980s, I contracted with the Global Economic Action Institute (GEAI) to edit a book on development successes and democracy in the Third World. The main case studies were Costa Rica, Hungary, Ivory Coast, and Malaysia, so the project required me to acquire expertise on three countries that I didn't know well (Hungary, Ivory Coast, and Malaysia; Costa Rica I already knew well) — countries whose development I have followed closely over the years. I was not a completely independent actor in doing this small book: GEAI had given me a partially completed manuscript drafted by some of its own personnel and advisers that had a strongly pro-democracy, pro-free market slant. The draft was way too strident and conservative for me, but I could certainly support a moderate democracy/free market position. My assignment from GEAI was to take this draft, rewrite it, and convert it into prose that academics, think tankers, and policy experts could support. A handsome honorarium was involved.

So, I took the draft, started from word one to rewrite, toned down the more ideological language of the original manuscript, and introduced a tone into the report that was social-scientific and academic. The report forced me to do considerable new research; it also got me thinking seriously not just about analyzing development in the Third World but, for the first time in a policy sense, how to achieve development. Some twenty years later, I would return to these themes in my own, single-authored book on the developing nations where the main subject was what works in development and what doesn't.

I was about halfway through the project before I came to realize that GEAI was a front for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. This was a "Moonie" project, and I was working for the "Moonie Church." I hadn't realized this before since all the officials I'd dealt with at GEAI, as well as the individuals who'd done the first draft, were all Americans. What to do? Rev. Moon, he of the karate chop delivery, the mass marriages (in the thousands in a football stadium) of his followers, and some truly bizarre religious and political beliefs, was not my favorite fellow. I didn't want to sell out my academic reputation; on the other hand, the money was good, and I had been assured of complete academic freedom. So, I finished the project. It turned out to be a respectable monograph and was published by GEAI, even though, fearing for my reputation from being associated with the Moonies, I asked that my name not be listed as the author on the front cover.

In the course of doing this project, I got invited to several Moonie events in the Washington area. One was a large, annual Moonie reception for all its friends and hangers-on at the luxurious Marriott Hotel in downtown Washington. Iêda and I were amazed to find over 2,000 people present, the cream of Washington society and politics. We were also invited to other Washington Institute (another front for the Unification Church) sponsored seminars and policy forums; there I was surprised to find such luminaries as intellectual Richard Rubenstein, former Kissinger aide Hal Sonnenfeldt, philosopher and editor Morton Kaplan, and political boy wonder, then head of the Republican Young Americans for Freedom, Ralph Reed. All of these were friends or acquaintances of mine from Washington policy circles; I was as surprised to find them at a Moonie event as they were to find me. Rev. Moon had certainly bought himself access and influence in Washington; I assumed that, like me, they were all on the Unification Church payroll.

Related

Fishing for Respectability - on the Unification Church’s “Global Economic Action Institute”

C-Span videos of Global Economic Action Institute conferences and panels - one of these videos ("Foreign Trade and Domestic Subsidy Policy") features Most Durst

Moon on why he founded the Global Economic Action Institute:

I founded the Global Economic Action Institute to help distribute and re-invest inactive, or "sleeping" money to make it work for the world. A world-level bank is necessary to go beyond the boundaries of any one nation. This bank will not lend to individuals, but only to nations. The world is coming into unity, which means that independent governments will merge into one to be more operable on a global scale. Only global thinking and institutions can solve the world's economic problems.

The Imperial Ghost in the Neoliberal Machine (Figuring the CIA)

Emperor of the Universe video.                                       

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Many parents suffered heartbreak after losing their children to the Moonies

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 8

February 16, 1976

Our son, [redacted], has been affiliated with one or another of Sun Myung Moon’s many “front ” groups for the past 3½ years, during which time we have had many personal experiences which convince us that Moon is engaged in personal aggrandizement and the accumulation of political power, rather than truly leading a religious movement.

Any questions we have put to responsible members of the groups, including our son, relative to the flow of cash, or group insurance, or group health plans for the members, have been met with evasions, generalizations, half-truths or lies. We have seen at first hand, serious exploitation of the rank and file group members selling flowers and the like on the streets of our cities, producing enormous money for the movement, but living at a below-subsistence level, jeopardizing their physical well-being.

Although Moon and his followers profess to aid the people of the world, we have seen no evidences of the usual charitable assistance or retraining functions. We have seen instead, the purchase of palatial estates and specially-built limousines. Other vast sums have been spent on high-cost media promotions and lecture tours nationwide by Mr. Moon.

We firmly believe Sun Myung Moon represents a serious threat, not only to the members and families of his groups, but potentially to our entire democratic society and institutions.

We urge strongly that Moon’s claim to religious tax status be thoroughly investigated by the proper government agencies and another investigation be mounted in the area of fiscal probity and responsibility.

[redacted] and I are prepared at any time to support the above through personal experiences at the Boonville, Oakland and Berkeley, California and New York, New York properties of Moon.

_____________________________________

February 13, 1976

[redacted] is the youngest of three children. She was born in 1957. She graduated from high school in June 1975 and three days later moved into the Unification Church Center at Southeast 39th & Hawthorne in Portland. She has since been transferred to the Center at [redacted]

She was a four year honor roll student with a G.P.A. for four years of 3.89. She was a member of the speech team, the honor math club, and was active in tennis, journalism, and track. During her senior year she dropped all activities and wanted to graduate early to join the MOON group. I refused to let her do this but after graduation she joined them.

The group travel around to different towns and are expected to be up sometimes twenty hours a day trying to get others to join them and to earn from $100 to $200 a day selling candy, flowers and homemade granariums. They have no service to people and all funds above their most urgent needs are sent to the MOON Headquarters.

Since last June I have seen very little of her. At Thanksgiving she came home for one day. Her father and I tried to talk to her but she withdrew and practically said nothing more to us. At Christmas she was home two nights and one day. During this time she was picked up three times by the group for a couple of hours and spent very little time with us. Christmas night her older brother asked three friends to the house to talk to her. One, a close girl friend, and the other two are bible students from an eastern bible college. One of the boys had written a college paper on Moon’s Divine Principle and could compare it to actual Bible Scriptures. They talked with her from 5:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. She left once and came back saying she did not wish to talk to them anymore. After family pressure they again talked to her. They were unable to penetrate the MOON brainwashing.

On January 27th, her older sister, father and I found she was in [redacted] and tried to take her out for breakfast and visit with her. She refused to leave the group and we could only see her inside the Center. After twenty minutes the group started singing “You Are My Sunshine” so loudly that we could no longer hear. She intends to spend the rest of her life there.

[redacted] has all the signs described in the many articles about the group. The exhausted glassy eyed, fixed facial smile. These remarks have been made to me by people at our home on Christmas Eve who know her well. She is not the same person.

Please help us in our endeavors for a Congressional Investigation.

_____________________________________

To all concerned,

This letter is to inform you of our son’s involvement in the Unification Church and our efforts to get him released through the organization of Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families, Inc. (CERF)

Our son, [redacted] age 19 – honor graduate from North High School, June 1975 – recipient of two scholarships.... The youngest of our four children, member of the United Methodist Church, ex Boy Scout, member of DeMolay,....

Through the usual tactics, days at the [redacted] Center, working on their cars, weekends at “retreats”, three week “training” in Minneapolis (“to see if he really wanted to join”) – [redacted] was brainwashed and taken into the Unification Church. By using him they succeeding in getting his girl friend out of college at [redacted] in September. He then was sent off to Barrytown, New York for 40 days training. He was sure, when he left for Barrytown that he would be home for Christmas. He was not, the last day we saw him was October 16, 1975. We thank God that he does contact us occasionally. He says: “I want to come home, but can’t” — “The happiest day of my life will be when I can see all of you again” — “I miss home and all of you more than you can imagine” — “I would come home if I could, but I can’t”. Needless to say we will do anything to get him back .

We fear not only for the mental and physical well being of [redacted] but also for all the special youth who have been taken into such organizations in the world. Also, we feel such organizations are a great threat to our country and the world.

We pray daily that something can be done and we will help in any way we can.

More detailed information about our experiences with the Unification Church and [redacted] involvement in it will gladly be given upon request.

Sincerely,

[redacted]

_____________________________________

The sequence of events which occurred to my son in his involvement with the Unification Church

[redacted] was approached last summer on the steps of the New York Library, while studying for his Law Boards, by members of the Unification Church who induced him to go to their 43rd street headquarters. [redacted] visited there several times, unbeknownst to his mother and myself and later, instead of going back to school at [redacted] College, where he had two semesters to go, went to a seven day indoctrination program into the Moon Movement.

He emerged from this a totally changed person, disregarding his schoolwork to a great extent, alienating himself from his friends at school, as well as his family. He now spouted gibberish such as, “Six million Jews perished in Europe due to the fact that they were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ”. A few months ago, prior to his involvement with the Moon Movement, [redacted] would have been shocked at this association.

Upon his completion of his next to last semester at [redacted], he has quit school and entered full time into the movement. He has lost all contact with family and friends. He was kept physically from speaking to his mother when we went to Tarrytown to see him and, at present, his whereabouts are kept secret from us so that all communications have stopped.

He is a total stranger to his entire family, to his friends and to all his former beliefs and has totally withdrawn and been brainwashed by this insipid movement which is avowed to take over the U.S. as well as the rest of the world.

In Mr. Moon’s manifesto he states that his is the Messiah, that he must become the richest and most powerful man on earth, in order to control it, and can use any means whatsoever to obtain this end.

My son, we understand now, is “fund-raising” which means he is selling flowers or candy in the streets, being moved from town to town. The money he raises goes tax free to enrich Rev. Moon. All of [redacted] ambitions, hopes and aspirations for the future have been taken away from him and he is no longer master of his own destiny.

Name withheld

_____________________________________

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 1 Ken Sudo’s 120-day Training Manual and Moonie telephone fraud

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 2 Moon’s mass marriages are “a form of sex perversion”

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 3 Our son “seemed to be in a bizarre world of science fiction”

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 4 “only if she got rid of the baby and gave it up for adoption”

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 5 Moon is a man devoid of of human compassion

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 6 “One of your ancestors was a peeping Tom.”

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 7 Secret marriage, shaking and vomiting

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 9

[sarieu]

This piece got a lot of attention this weekend at the con so I though I would repost it. I did this print as an assignment at my last year of The Kubert School, where we had to take an existing painting and do a parody of it. I choose "Dianna and Endymion", one of my favorite paintings at The Art Institute of Chicago, and changed the characters to Sailor Moon characters. Moonies will understand the reference lol. So I pretty much tried to make the style of the 90's show while taking colors from the original painting for the background. Honestly one of my favorite assignments I worked on.

[wolfstarlibrarian]

Thank you so much to Maria (@mad1492) for giving us so much insight into her process and inspiration in the interview! She's also graciously picked some of her own works to share with everyone as well as some of her favorite works by other creators.

Check out her recs for both fics and art below!

🎨

List 5 of your own pieces of art that you’d like to showcase/share.

Focusing on wolfstar I think my favourites would be these ones: /no titles because I’m shitty at them/ :)

A lil'bit late but Happy father's day

Remus and Sirius with books and a drink

Morning in bed with Remus, baby Harry, and Padfoot

Remus touching Sirius’s wheat tattoo

If Remus and Sirius would have raised Harry

📚

Do you have any favorite fanfics you can share?

Ok, favorite fics, that is a difficult one, and also I must say in advance that I mostly read Darry so… Yep, all my favorites are going to be drarry (there's some flint/wood pretty high in my list because I really enjoy the enemies dorkly in love trope -yep, I'm all for the clichés-). So, not in a particularly order but I would say that some of my favorites are (and I'm also probably forgetting a lot):

Date Blindness by dysonrules

Harry was perfectly happy with his life until Hermione decided to set him up on a blind date.

Temptation on the Warfront by alizarincrims0n

Draco Malfoy is forced into hiding with the Golden Trio and dragged into their search for horcruxes. What ensues is a journey of redemption, unexpected friendships and an unwanted, turbulent romance with Harry Potter. Warnings for swearing, sexual content, and dark themes.

Draco Malfoy, It's Your Lucky Day by Faith Wood (faithwood)

Even though he's unarmed, injured, lost in the Forbidden Forest, and facing a possible murder charge, Draco Malfoy gets lucky.

Then Comes a Mist and a Weeping Rain by Faith Wood (faithwood) *(yes, I really like how Faith Wood writes)

It always rains for Draco Malfoy. Metaphorically. And literally. Ever since he had accidentally Conjured a cloud. A cloud that's ever so cross.

And I'm gonna add a Wolfstar one (in Spanish, it is quite short but I really like how it's written)

Un cuadro de Mucha by Adhara

En esa tarde, en 1978, en un pub muggle, con las orejas ateridas de frío, Remus sabía que el dueño del bar no consideraba perfecto el hecho de que fueran casi las once y él acabara de entrar en el local.

🎨

Do you have any favorite wolfstar art/artists that you'd like to share?

And regarding favorite wolfstar artist, also suuuuuper difficult to choose, I love like a ton, but when I want to make a list my mind is unable to make any names so I am probably forgetting a lot of people and, as soon as I finish writing this a lot of names will pop up (actually I had to check my likes in tumblr and insta to remember what I like because I’m kinda stupid).

moony, you flirt by @tamehill

Their wolfstar is *chef kiss* like, seriously. Is it possible to be in love with an art style? I think so because I am, go check @tamehill stuff.

tired, lonely nights at 12 grimmauld place by @upthehillart

Upthehill art like… She is kinda an institution on the fandom, love all her art

wolfstar kiss by @trashcanprince

I discover her quite recently and… well look at her stuff because everything is so cute and wholesome

this and this and this by @fruityhag

This is so pretty, I’m wanna cry in a corner. I really like them as adults being happy again

But seriously, there are so many amazing artists in the fandom I am forgetting to add.

🎨

Thank you SO MUCH to @mad1492 for taking the time to put together this list of works. This list is wonderfully extensive and hopefully, you all enjoyed finding some new works!

[hyena-frog]

Random headcanons that have no bearing on the plot:

When Pax grows up, he is his mother’s height at most. Very tall for a Red but short for a non-Bronzie Gold. Sevro is in denial that Pax is taller than him until the difference is too much to ignore.

Electra on the other hand is Victra’s height and bullies Pax mercilessly about it. She’ll lean her elbow on his head, look around in mock bewilderment like she can’t see him, that sort of thing.

Calypso is the opposite. She is her father’s height but has her mother’s looks. She enjoys teaming up with Electra against Pax even though he is taller than her.

Diana-Selene is an enigma. She looks related to her sisters but isn’t obviously Barca or Julii either way. She’s bubbly and excitable. No one understands where she came from. Still, in some ways, she scares Pax more than Electra does.

Pax has a celebrity crush on Cassius. Cassius is the only major Rising figure he has never met, so there is a certain mystique about him. On rare occasions, Darrow would talk about him with a weird mix of fondness and wistfulness. So Pax associates Cassius with good things. Pax knows the bad things Cassius did but he can’t help the positive association through his father. (Virginia talks about Cassius even less and is strictly neutral and guarded.) Talking about Cassius agitates Electra, though, so Pax keeps this all to himself.

Cassius and Julian met Apollonius several times growing up since he and Karnus were drinking partners. Apple’s personality stressed Julian out but Cassius, like Darrow, was fascinated by his flamboyancy.

Before the Institute, for a year or two, Julian was obsessed with Rim culture. He even studied Japanese since it’s still commonly spoken there. This baffled Cassius but it made Julian happy so he endured the obsession. Cassius still understands some Japanese to this day but can’t speak or read it. Karnus made sure to crush Julian’s spirit about liking Moonie stuff at every chance because he hated anything Julian liked on principle.

Pytha has known Cassius since he was born. They obviously weren’t close at the time, but she crossed paths with the Bellona kids often enough for Cassius to know her name. He is grateful for their serendipitous reunion after the Rising. It is comforting to have even a small piece of House Bellona with him. Still, he was a bit startled by how fast she adjusted to calling him by his first name rather than dominus, even though he insisted on it.

Pytha loved to blast loud techno in the Archi. Lysander always hated it. Cassius did at first too but he grew fond of it over time. He’ll never admit it though.

After living on the Archi for so long, Cassius is used to living in cramped spaces, and fighting space pirates in tight corridors. Wide open areas make him nervous. Sort of the opposite of Darrow’s claustrophobia, but it’s not a full blown PTSD symptom in this case.

Cassius enjoys playing Karachi. Lysander hates it because it relies on reading people rather than strict game logic. (I’m pretty sure that was stated somewhere in Iron Gold, actually, but I can’t find it.) Diomedes is weirdly good at the game, like to a scary degree. Ajax hates card and board games in general. He only ever played them with his mother because she never judged him harshly for making bad moves.

Holiday used to third wheel at Trigg and Ephraim’s outings early on in their relationship because Trigg was too nervous to go alone. After they became more established, they did go on dates with just the two of them, but Holiday would still often join them because they had a lot of fun together. It turned out Holiday and Ephraim got along really well. In the end, Trigg often had to do damage control on their appalling behavior when they got too drunk and unruly.

[warmhappycat]

Update

Minerva McGonagall has always loved Sirius, and has been especially sympathetic to him and his needs after his long, horrid, wrongful imprisonment in Azkaban. The only thing that could move her from that position is the need to protect younger, more vulnerable students, and a few years ago she hit a breaking point.

“Sirius,” she said warmly but firmly, swooping into his home office unannounced.

“Merlin’s beard, do your access charms from the war still work on the door!?”

“No, my regular charms work on your husband!”

Sirius chuckled. “Fair enough, Minnie. Have a seat. What’s going on?”

“You know, that I know, that mental health is a sore subject for you, and I have tried not to push you too hard too fast.”

“Yes, and I…”

“But! Have you seen this?!” She thrust a small stack of papers at him, crisp and white, not at all like regular parchment.

“An outprint from a Muggle comp-puter? No, Minerva, of course I haven’t.”

“Read it.” Minerva put the papers on the desk and sat back in her chair to wait. There was no room for discussion or negotiation.

Sirius read. He’d heard of this vile Muggle woman before - whom many wizards suspected to actually be Rita Skeeter in magical exile - but the things she was saying were new lows. Deranged things, cruel things, fantastical things that made no sense. Sirius had seen some of the worst of the world, Sirius has known (and been related to people) who were erratic and predatory seemingly just for fun, but even he could not place her accusations anywhere within a worldview that made sense, or resonated with his experiences.

“Well. She seems horrible,” he said at last.

“Yes, she is, and it is affecting my students!” That got Sirius’ attention. “Every time she goes on a tirade like this, more and more students feel unsure, unsafe, or just plain unhappy. Worse, there are students who think she makes good points, and it becomes my problem to convince them otherwise!” Minerva paused. “Look, it’s not like there are so many transgender witches or wizards. But there are some, and I want them to feel safe at Hogwarts. I want them to be safe in the world! And I don’t want to have to fight another war in another 20 years because some new villain has convinced everyone to hate somebody!”

“I see,” Sirius said. “I agree, of course, but what do you want me to do? I can send the team back to the school to talk to your kids, but surely you don’t think I can therapize her out of doing this again, do you?”

“No, no, of course not. To be honest, my dear, and I feel grubby saying it, but what I really want from you is just money. There’s this organization, Mermaids, that I think could do a lot of good with a large donation.”

“We’re letting mermaids handle this!?!?”

“It’s muggles, dear, they don’t know… it’s just a name, a metaphor…”

“Oh, ok, ok. Fine. Sizable donation, you got it. Is that all you wanted to ask? Because y’know, Minnie, there’s no need to be so apologetic about it. You can just waltz in and ask for a check; I’ll give it to you!”

“There is one more thing,” Minerva said, looking down.

“Oh?”

“In the United States…”

“You’re losing me, Minnie.”

“I know, I know. But you know how they just let companies basically buy members of parliament over there?”

“Uh huh…”

“Well, I… I was thinking… no, no, it’s…”

“Say no more, Professor McGonagall,” Sirius said with his best Marauder grin.

From that day forward, whenever “that horrible Muggle woman” opened her mouth to say something hateful, a transgender legislator got their wings.

Imagine the advances to wizarding society if Sirius Black had lived…

After the war, Sirius would have had a huge inheritance from parents he wanted to spite and a lot of leisure time to find good uses for it. We could have had…

1. Fleamont House: A house - perhaps even a heavily renovated 12 Grimmauld Place - where Hogwarts students can stay over breaks if going “home” wouldn’t be good for them (i.e., students like Sirius, Harry, or Tom Riddle).

2. Rest for Regulus: A seemingly bottomless grant awarded to the Auror department with the goals of:

Researching a way to deactivate Inferi;

Applying this research to deactivate all Inferi in Voldemort’s cave;

Identifying the remains taken from the cave using the best of both wizarding and muggle technology; and

Returning the remains to their next of kin for proper burial, or, if no next of kin is available, interring them respectfully within the Ministry.

3. Justice for All: A lobbying organization dedicated to pressuring the Ministry to improve their legal system, most notably,

By requiring that all suspects be awarded a full and fair trial before being sent to Azkaban; and

By working to outlaw the use of dementors in any correctional facility, including Azkaban.

4. Gentle Jails: Working in close collaboration with Justice for All, Gentle Jails builds small, secure, and humane (in particular, dementor-free) holding facilities for suspects awaiting trial. Gentle Jails funds their construction projects with donations, thereby cutting through all financial excuses the Ministry has for only using Azkaban to house suspects.

And finally, his personal favorite, the first one to be founded, the most heavily funded, the one that gets the most of his personal time and attention…

5. The Moony Institute for Lycanthropic Studies: A multidisciplinary research and applications powerhouse dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by lycanthropy.

The research division includes:

Anthropologists who document the life experiences of werewolves both in and outside of packs;

Psychologists studying the mental impact of lycanthropy, and how to make it easier;

Historians working to prevent the erasure of werewolf accomplishments and contributions; and of course,

Medical scientists searching for better treatments, and ultimately, a cure.

The applied research and services division works in a tremendous and ever-expanding variety of ways, including:

A hotline number that can be called anonymously with any lycanthropy-related question or crisis;

A counseling program, based largely on the research of the anthropology division, aimed at helping newly-bitten werewolves find social support within their community rather than joining a pack;

A second counseling service available to packs to improve their standard of living and help integrate them into society to whatever degree they desire;

A third counseling service, which provides short- and long-term therapy to werewolves and their loved ones on a sliding payment scale, with many clients treated for free;

A library of all things related to lycanthropy, which is open to the public (anyone can view the materials in the building; getting a card to take things home requires a small fee);

Partnering with potioneers to provide Wolfsbane potion (and other treatments developed by the research division) on a sliding scale of payment - with many patients paying nothing;

The construction and management of a building full of secure but comfortable transformation rooms, available at no charge and without any ID. Any werewolf can request a safe place to spend the full moon, no questions asked, no money required. Rooms come equipped with sound-proof walls, soft furniture, a pool of drinkable water, a protein-rich meal, and things like sticks or toys to chew on and destroy if the mood strikes;

An awareness team that visits schools and other events to dispel myths about werewolves and discourage prejudice;

Employment services to help clients find werewolf-friendly jobs. In addition to helping with job searches, this division keeps track of their clients’ experiences with different companies to better inform future applicants;

Lobbying efforts to repeal hateful laws and pass new ones including laws to (1) give werewolves equal rights as non-werewolves, (2) criminalize anti-werewolf discrimination in employment, housing, and public access to services, (3) establish Safe Haven zones for parents to abandon their bitten children (proposed after the heartbreaking discovery of a high rate of post-bite infanticide; the Moony Institute itself was the first Safe Haven location tonbe announced), (4) require employers to offer medical leave for werewolves around the full moon, and (5) require hospitals be trained in lycanthropic medicine;

Lobbying efforts to end the shuffle of werewolves between the beast and being divisions of the Ministry, and instead classify them as human (this was the project Sirius was most passionate about); and

Project Pup, which pairs werewolves with a dog to keep them company and soothe them during full moons. Werewolves apply for Project Pup and have to pass a background check and psychological evaluation (to make sure the dog will be safe). Much like Guiding Eyes for the Blind, it is then the recipient’s responsibility to take care of the dog. When the dogs get too old to accompany the client on full moons, they can either return it to the Moony Institute to be adopted out, or they can keep it as a pet (which most do). Either way, they are automatically eligible for a replacement full moon companion. All dogs are pulled from “death row” at high-kill Muggle animal shelters (that part was Hermione’s idea). (This was Sirius’s first project, and it is probably the Moony Institute’s most acclaimed accomplishment.)

The Moony Institute became much larger than Sirius ever envisioned, and it had tremendous impact on the lives of people with lycanthropy all over the world. A surprising number of donors came forward to keep it afloat and non-profit (even the Black fortune couldn’t do it alone forever!). It created a lot of jobs, and preferentially hired werewolves to fill them. So much of the staff has lycanthropy, in fact, that many offices shut down altogether around the full moon! (Which is fine, because their clients are in poor shape at that time too.) It brought Sirius endless joy to put his bigoted family’s money to use improving the lives of “half-breeds,” especially because it was all inspired by his half-blood friend.

Finally, although he may never hear of it since it’s a Muggle charity, but if he ever found out about the Innocence Project, Sirius would be a regular and generous donor.

(Obviously these headcanons rest on the assumption that he experienced some personal growth, which I think is entirely possible if he had time to heal from Azkaban and got to spend more time with Harry and Remus.)