#ms Amsterdam

[roleplayfinder]

🪤 || ello ello!

I’m 18 myself and the age range of partners in looking for is around 18+ no younger than so :) i’m honestly pretty desperate for some age regression (SFW!!) roleplays, found family roleplays, and honestly anything with comfort in them, I have a list of plots! (i pref to be the younger one/child/regressor in these plots! but I’m willing to switch it up or take turns with roles like these for it to be fair!)

what I like and pref in rps!!

— please talk to me ooc, head-canons and just talking in general are a must but not too consuming, I like to befriend my roleplay partners and really get to know them! it helps out with the roleplay!

— since I’m mainly looking for comfort roleplays and platonic rps please no sexual 18+ content, (kissing on the cheek cuddling and all that cute stuff is fine, just nothing sexual nor romantic!)

— I have a pref for irl fcs :)

— even though I’m looking for a hurt comfort/agere/platonic roleplay, i like action, super hero’s, slice of life, adoption plots are nice too!

fandoms!!

— i like original characters it helps us explore! (SPIDERSONA’S MAYHAPZ??)

— Ms.Marvel + The Marvels (I will jump up and down for this one, as I love Kamala khan (biggest kin guys.)

— Frozenn!! (I’m mainly looking for Elsa and Anna cause their relationship warms my heart and I recently got deep into the fandom.)

— Stranger things, I muse max, el, will, Robin, Nancy, and Lucas!!

— Percy Jackson, I muse Percy, Annabeth, and Grover!

— New Amsterdam, I muse Lauren bloom and Elizabeth Wilder :)

— Steven universe, Any!!

If you're interested please interact/like and I'll get back to you!

.

[debdarkpetal]

1974.

Via deakycheaky on Instagram.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Seth Mandel

All that was left were the verdicts and sentencing, which we now have for a handful of the defendants. From the wires: “The heaviest sentence imposed was six months in prison, for a man identified as Sefa O. for public violence against several people.” One of the defendants, a 19-year-old, was treated by the court as a minor.

As in past pogroms, the prosecutor seemed to have more sympathy for the perpetrators than for the victims: “The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by antisemitism,” he said.

To recap: The perpetrators said they were carrying out a “Jew hunt”—in other words, a frank declaration of anti-Semitism. Even if you are the type to whine that the term “anti-Semitism” is overused in order to quash the free speech of Hamasniks on campus, you’d probably admit that “Jew hunt” as a motivation for physical violence is unambiguous. If there is such a thing as anti-Semitism, a “Jew hunt” falls into that category.

To understand the prosecutor’s argument, however, you must understand the role he is intending to play, not the role he is technically assigned to do.

The prosecutor sees himself not as a prosecutor of these defendants but as a defense attorney for the future defendants of this crime. Just as they were the night of the violence in Amsterdam, everyone is on the same side.

But wait. Didn’t the prosecutors ask for more time than was given? Don’t they claim to be disappointed by the sentences handed down? To which I’d respond with a question of my own: Are you interested in purchasing a bridge in Brooklyn? If you, as a prosecutor, argue that acts of violence are understandable acts of protest, you are the one who has reduced the sentences of the accused before the trial is even over.

Here’s another example from the same trial: “A 22-year-old identified as Abushabab M., 22, faces a charge of attempted murder but his case has been postponed while he undergoes a psychiatric assessment.

“He was born in the Gaza Strip and grew up in a war zone, his lawyer told the court, while M. sat sobbing as his case was being heard.”

Psychiatric assessment? Is he incapable of not trying to murder Jews because he is from Gaza? That is some kind of defense?

If it sounds familiar, it should. In 2017, a man named Kobili Traoré killed Sarah Halimi at her Paris apartment. He admitted to the crime, and his motive was, as reported by the New York Times, that he “had been troubled by Ms. Halimi’s mezuza.” As he threw Halimi out her own window, he yelled “Allahu akbar” and “I killed the devil.”

[penissekai]

list of font names you use for rentry cause im obsessed / how you get them ghghh

e.g sour_gummy :D

Giggglllwss okiii !!! I’ll put jt all under a cut just cuz I hatw super giant long posts !! I tried to roughly sort them all into categories :3

Round

MyNerve ,, Give You Glory ,, Single Day ,, Loved by the King ,, Fuzzy Bubbles ,, Reenie Beanie ,, Gaegu ,, Waiting for the Sunrise ,, Swanky and Moo Moo ,, Annie Use Your Telescope ,, Cherry Bomb One ,, Schoolbell

Fancy

Tangerine ,, Lavishly Yours ,, Corinthia ,, Fleur De Leah ,, Euphoria Script ,, Luxurious Script ,, Ms Madi ,, Mrs Saint Delafield ,, Style Script ,, Sassy Frass ,, Licorice ,, Mr Bedfort

Irregular

Road Rage ,, Rock 3D ,, Black And White Picture ,, Lacquer ,, Finger Paint ,, Rubik Vinyl ,, Shizuru ,, Oi ,, Plaster ,, Fredricka the Great ,, Rubik Wet Paint ,, Mystery Quest ,, Danfo ,, Chokokutai ,, Henny Penny ,, Londrina Sketch ,, Creepster ,, Snowburst One ,, Moirai One ,, Akronim ,, Rubik Scribble ,, Geostar

Childish (?)

DynaPuff ,, Spicy Rice ,, Mansalva ,, Coiny ,, Macondo ,, Hi Melody ,, Sofadi One ,, Akaya Kanadaka ,, Mrs Sheppards ,, Indie Flowers ,, Bagel Fat One ,, Gochi Hand ,, Gluten ,, Chango ,, Concert One ,, Bubblegum Sans ,, Sriracha ,, Boogaloo ,, Kavoon ,, Ranchers ,, Modak ,, Patrick Hand SC

Bold

Gravitas One ,, Asset ,, Sigmar ,, New Amsterdam ,, Climate Crisis ,, Bevan ,, Goblin One ,, Vina Sans ,, Notable ,, Holtwood One SC ,, Caprasimo ,, Bangers ,, Wendy One ,, Knewave ,, Chela One ,, Fontdiner Swanky ,, Jomhuria

Pixels

Tiny5 ,, Jersey 10 ,, Jacquard 12 ( not many … )

And then for how you get them !!!

Yu basically just

Extra stuff / Reminders

Only fonts from google fonts will work !!

When trying to use any fonts in rentry you have to replace all spaces with an underscore !!! e.g.,

CONTENT_FONT = Fleur De Leah ( no !!! )

CONTENT_FONT = Fleur_De_Leah ( yes !!! )

Fonts do affect text spacing !! So I recommend picking a font before doing all of the spacing and positioning!! Just cuz you most likely would have to do it all again to fit the font if you decided on one after :3

[jules-writes-stories]

Eris Week 2024 | Day 6 | Modern AU | Read Chapter 1 on AO3

The Night Court Lounge | Tribeca NYC

The beautiful man knew Azriel was studying him. Broad shoulders tapered down to a long body beneath a perfectly tailored suit. He wasn’t built like Tamlin Rose or Helion Day. His strength was something different. This man was far more dangerous. He was like smoke, a viper in waiting. When he struck, one would not see it coming, and it would be deadly. 

Azriel’s hazel gaze met those gilded eyes. Bid on me. His eyes and body were betraying him and screaming out to this dangerous stranger. He looked at the long, pale fingers slowly making circles along the rim of his glass. How would those fingers feel inside him, slowly opening him up, pulling his hair, wrapped around his throat… 

He shifted, uncomfortably hard now. The male clocked the movement and slowly lifted his glass to his lips. He cocked his head to one side, seeming to study Azriel like one would a specimen, something rare and beautiful. It was somehow both demeaning and sexy, and Az would, at that moment, kneel at this man’s feet to have those eyes study him all night. 

“I hear ten thousand from Ms. Suriel.” Azriel snapped back into the moment. His eyes moved towards the elderly woman holding up her white flag. Oh god. Ok. He could sit with her. It would be like going to Bingo secretly with his aljada.

“Thirteen,” Tamlin called out again. And it went on for quite some time. Back and forth. Grandma Suriel had dropped out at twenty thousand. Lord Kal Winters topped out at twenty-five.

An androgynous figure wearing dark shades and a hooded sweatshirt joined at thirty thousand. Azriel could not tell their gender or age beyond the loose-fitting hoodie and sunglasses that dominated a round, pale face. A tuft of dark hair peeked out from beneath the hood. Their mouth was wide and painted purple, and their voice almost had a plurality to it. 

“Thirty thousand for Bryaxis,” Feyre called out. Bryaxis. The famous electronic DJ from Amsterdam. No one had ever seen their face before. Azriel was intrigued, wondering if he’d be the first. What would be this enigma’s kink?

“Forty thousand,” Helion immediately countered. 

Azriel was getting tired. A third of that would be plenty to pay his rent for a few months. And the Days seemed normal enough. He could handle them for a few hours. Besides, his legs were starting to go numb. 

He and Fey had devised a plan where he would tap his thigh three times when he was done, or tug his leash discretely if he felt uncomfortable with a bidder. He tapped his leg. One. Two. Three. 

Feyre looked down and nodded imperceptibly. Az looked up one last time at the golden eyed stranger. The sting of disappointment and a little rejection coiled through him. It was silly. He didn’t even know if this red-haired stranger was into men. But Az swore he’d seen the heat and sheer possession in those amber eyes… 

Feyre called out, “Forty thousand going once, twice, and—”

“Fifty thousand.” A smooth voice called out from the corner. Azriel clenched at the sound. It was like velvet and so sure of itself. 

Feyre’s shrewd eyes immediately clocked Azriel’s body language, the way the winged man sat up on his haunches at the red-haired man’s single bid. She smirked knowingly. “Sold to Eris Vanserra for fifty thousand dollars.”

Read all of Chapter 1 on AO3

Please let me know if you ever want on/off the taglist |

@the-darkestminds @fieldofdaisiies @mistandmemories @secret-third-thing @chunkypossum @erisweekofficial @talibunny30 @amalhe-kofee @shadowsandlint @queercontrarian @molcat07 @c-starstuff-man0 @lovely-vanserra-sunshine @hieragalbatorixdottir @brunetterebel010 @pippsmcgee

[newx-menfan]

NYX # 1 Review

*Spoilers!*

After weeks of waiting, spoilers, comic leaks , and “The Krakoan’s” identity being very brutally obvious…it’s FINALLY HERE guys! The CLOSEST we will probably EVER get the a NXM book!! JK!!😆

The issue starts with Kamala monologuing about her recent acceptance to an after school program in NY to Bruno, who is currently in Amsterdam. (I’ll fully forewarn everyone and be transparent that I only read Kamala when G Willow Wilson was writing the book 😬…so Kamala fans MAY need to help me out a bit, lol) 

Kamala literally runs into Sophie and they go to Prodigy’s lecture…(no offense to Prodigy…but Sofia’s a bit right…the lecture COULD use a little more finessing, lol…)

Sophie gives him shit and Kamala realizes she’s friends with the “cool kids” now, who pointedly go out of their way to embarrass and humiliate their teachers (not that Bruno or Miles isn’t cool, Kamala…)

It’s interesting that in some ways DAVID is going the academic, “through proper channels” route…but it also makes sense considering some of his characterization during NXM: AX…(and why a certain character is the PERFECT FOIL for him, in this storyline!…)

David- who, while calling out characters like Josh…was also a bit of a “rule follower” in a way that certain OTHER characters DEFINITELY weren’t…

Any, Sophie convinces Kamala to go clubbing with her and they run into Anole bartending. Anole gets accosted by some patrons screaming about a mutant “terrorist”. (Also…I really LOVE Sophie swearing all the time 😂🤣…I guess her polite way of sassing has changed after “Riot at Xavier’s” and being dead lol)

Kamala and Sophie get kicked out of the club while defending Anole (I guess they’re not having a “brat” summer….☹️). Kamala then dons her Ms Marvel suit and calls David…sorry… Professor Alleyne… to help unlock a phone (the interaction IS super adorable!) and we learn that the guys at the club are committing crimes and pinning it on mutants. (Or so it would SEEM! Foreshadowing!!)

While on the phone, Laura attacks and brakes Kamala’s phone, because Laura is kind of a dick, telling her she’s chasing “ghosts”. (This is why Laura doesn’t have consistent friends guys 😒🤣)

Laura’s characterization…isn’t great… (Laura you were LITERALLY ON a teen X-Men group…you LOST the right to call anyone “kids”!)

Kamala then tells Laura she needs to get a life (which is kind of TRUE…). 

FINALLY…after all the filler…we get to the STAR!…who people have been desperately WAITING FOR…

KRAKELLION! (Sorry @ thestomping-ground …but I’m stealing the name because “the Krakoan” sounds terrible lol)

In one of the COOLEST, MOST AWESOME panels ever (I am really NOT biased)…Krakellion ARISES…ready to enact revenge on the FLATSCANS!!

In HANDS DOWN, ONE OF THE BEST SCENERY CHEWING MONOLOGUES EVER WRITTEN (told you, I’m not biased!), Hellion more or less just calls into question Kamala’s movie to comic book mandated retcon… (Feel like he should have leaned more into the “Emma/Ms Marvel call out of 2006”…but I am not judging, Hellion…)

Kamala then saves the helpless flatscans on the subway- but is then forced to reckon with the fact that humans will ONLY support her because they don’t know she’s a mutant. The minute she’s outed- that hero worship will ultimately go away. ☹️

Kamala then meets up with Sophie and they talk and have coffee (Wait a minute… Kamala is an inhuman too? I thought that couldn’t happen and that’s why Quicksilver had such an identity crisis while married to Crystal??…I told you guys I’m kind of out of the loop on Schrödinger's newest mutant/inhuman…🐈‍⬛😬😂🤣); Kamala also having a mutant friend is adorable…

We transition to the Krakellion walking in some shadowy penthouse, giving Empath shit on the telecom (Brownoses shouldn’t throw stones, Empath! Also Hellion did LOTS of COOL stuff in NXM, OkAy Empath?!) and we see the new….Hellfire Club?…Hellions?…Council??…. Hopefully that gets cleared up in the next issue….

(Also…I bet you 100 bucks Empath FORCED Hellion to drop the name “Hellion” because he couldn’t stand being “Hellion and the Hellions” to Julian lol- Not Julian’s fault he picked the superior name! 😂🤣🤣)

(Also- can anyone tell me what the QR code is- it won’t scan on Kindle and I am waiting on my paper copies ☹️)

Review:

Obviously… I am biased; but this has been one of the few X-books I have been excited about in a while! 

I know people LOVED “Krakoa era” X-Men… but I am personally happy to see return to a more “Astonishing/Mutant Town/Morrison X-Men” type of story.

I am also happy to see a return to a more “Tom Taylor/Tamaki” street level Laura; as much as I whined about Taylor’s representation in the past… Laura really does work better when she’s more low key…

After years of sitting through ��Wolverine and the X-Men” style books…it’s nice to see characters like Prodigy or Hellion being treated AS ADULTS and with narrative care.

The writing is fine; there are moments where I think it could be tighter, but I do think it definitely has its moments and will definitely get better as the writing team goes on and gets more used to the characters voices.

I KNOW people are going to complain that this seems more like a stealth Kamala solo…and while I DO think there’s some validity to that argument (it’s focus is DEFINITELY on Kamala and getting stubborn “Inhuman fans” like me to accept her as a mutant….); I am mostly fine with it, since that seems to be what it takes for fans to get a “New X-Men: Academy X” book.

The biggest complaint I have is unsurprisingly Laura- we’re still sadly in the “Talon-esque”/ “Laura written as Wolverine” representation. Hopefully this gets better the more they feature her…but I do fear this era

will be very disappointing for Laura fans (I haven’t heard much about the Gabby/Laura mini either!)….

Question/Theories:

More and more I am thinking Laura and Julian are in cahoots- possibly Laura didn’t want Kamala involved because of her emotional connection with Julian…. It may just be that she wants to try and reform him; to give him the same chance he gave her…but I think more than likely she’s using Julian to spy on Empath. (Also because I can’t envision Manuel and Julian standing each other for more than five minutes lol)

Is Tag helping Hellion? I feel like Tag SHOULD be helping him, since they’re bros and Tag literally got blown up in a school bus… (Also his powers are cool…)

The BIGGEST question is- Is Hellion blasting “brat” through AirPods under that helmet? Is he having a “brat summer”? Is “Mean Girls” his favorite song? …(someone needs to make a “Hellion/brat YouTube fan vid” like they used to in the 2000’s 😂🤣… @romulanslutempire …?)

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

September 17th

OK HERE WE GO I AM MENTALLY PREPARED TO LEARN ABOUT LUCY’S DEA —

Lucy Westenra's Diary.

Nevermind that. Guess I’ll have to do it all over again.

Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so strong again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed through some long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and feel the fresh air of the morning around me. I have a dim half-remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing; darkness in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present distress more poignant: and then long spells of oblivion, and the rising back to life as a diver coming up through a great press of water.

The pain of hope alright…

To-night Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to be for a day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched; I am well enough to be left alone.

‘Cause here we go, go, go again 🎶

Thank God for mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our friends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change, for last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time. I found him asleep twice when I awoke; but I did not fear to go to sleep again, although the boughs or bats or something napped almost angrily against the window-panes.

EVERYONE. IS TRYING. SO HARD.

Anyways BACK TO RENFIELD:

Suddenly the door was burst open, and in rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion. I was thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown.

Right. But he did escape the facility itself twice, including once with your complicity. So maybe the safety protocols need a liiittle bit of reassessing here.

Without an instant's pause he made straight at me. He had a dinner-knife in his hand, and, as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to keep the table between us. He was too quick and too strong for me, however; for before I could get my balance he had struck at me and cut my left wrist rather severely.

FIGHT!!!!! FIGHT!!!!! FIGHT!!!!! FIGHT!!!!

He was lying on his belly on the floor licking up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was easily secured, and, to my surprise, went with the attendants quite placidly, simply repeating over and over again: "The blood is the life! The blood is the life!"

Renfield’s DYI Guide to Vampirism: now available in a bookstore near you!

I cannot afford to lose blood just at present;

This is a terrifying and strangely sweet thought and I will be reusing this turn of phrase.

Happily Van Helsing has not summoned me, so I need not forego my sleep; to-night I could not well do without it.

Telegram, Van Helsing, Antwerp, to Seward, Carfax. Do not fail to be at Hillingham to-night.

Now that’s what I call comedic timing.

Anyways back to… Lucy again… Oh…

I write this and leave it to be seen, so that no one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is an exact record of what took place to-night. I feel I am dying of weakness, and have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the doing.

Talk about an emotional roller-coaster.

Presently the door opened, and mother looked in; seeing by my moving that I was not asleep, came in, and sat by me. She said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont:—

"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you were all right."

I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to come in and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down beside me;

SEE WHAT I MEANT LAST TIME. Yes Ms Westenra is dying but she still wants to watch over her little girl! Yes Lucy is a grown adult but she still needs her mum! It’s all about love

After a while there was the low howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly after there was a crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass was hurled on the floor. The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the aperture of the broken panes there was the head of a great, gaunt grey wolf. Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting posture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her. Amongst other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me. For a second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was a strange and horrible gurgling in her throat; then she fell over—as if struck with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and made me dizzy for a moment or two. The room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my eyes fixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole myriad of little specks seemed to come blowing in through the broken window, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust that travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert.

OK OK not to (surprisingly) turn into your local Mrs Westenra Defender™ but. But. If this exact ordeal happened to you and you did not have the benefit of knowing the lore, would your natural conclusion not be that the flowers attracted the wolf? Because that sure as Hell would be mine.

I tried to stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear mother's poor body, which seemed to grow cold already—for her dear heart had ceased to beat—weighed me down; and I remembered no more for a while.

WAIT SHE’S DEAD????? WHAT ARE WE BLAMING HER FOR EXACTLY????? SHE FUCKING DIED

The maids shrieked, and then went in a body to the dining-room; and I laid what flowers I had on my dear mother's breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr. Van Helsing had told me, but I didn't like to remove them, and, besides, I would have some of the servants to sit up with me now.

I WAS TOLD LUCY’S MUM THREW THE FLOWERS AWAY AND THAT DIRECTLY CAUSED HER DEATH. THAT COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. WHAT HAPPENED

My heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay helpless on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry was on the table half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about. I was suspicious, and examined the decanter. It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for her—oh! did use—was empty. What am I to do? what am I to do? I am back in the room with mother. I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window.

WHO WHAT AND HOW

The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do? God shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast, where they shall find it when they come to lay me out. My dear mother gone! It is time that I go too. Good-bye, dear Arthur, if I should not survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me!

LUCY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO —

Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra (Unopened by her.)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

My dearest Lucy,—It seems an age since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote. You will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when you have read all my budget of news.

Why don’t you twist the knife even deeper Bram.

Well, I got my husband back all right;

A little bit of light in this God-forsaken world

'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity; and may every blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child; all are gone, and in my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and the old man clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one.

And twist the knife deeper he did.

So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my bedroom and the drawing-room I can see the great elms of the cathedral close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow stone of the cathedral and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and cawing and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of rooks—and humans.

Windows! Parallels and contrasts!! Something monstrous VS something divine and most of all human!!! I’m fine this is fine we’re all fine —

How is your dear mother getting on?

ALRIGHT BRAM THAT’S ENOUGH TWISTING.

and Jonathan wants looking after still.

🥺🥹 (<- Hanging on by a thread)

And now I have told you my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, and is it to be a public or a private wedding? Tell me all about it, dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests you which will not be dear to me. Jonathan asks me to send his 'respectful duty,' but I do not think that is good enough from the junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker; and so, as you love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead. Good-bye, my dearest Lucy, and all blessings on you.

Yours,

MINA HARKER.

(Thread snapped)

< Prev 🦇 Next >

[oscarwilderobbieross]

at the dndads live show in amsterdam but my plus one fell ill so now im just standing here with my m&ms and my soda

[whencyclopedia]

Interview: Refugees & Reformation in 16th-Century Frankfurt

In the 16th century, German cities and territories welcomed thousands of refugees fleeing the religious persecution sparked by the Protestant Reformation. In Strange Brethren: Refugees, Religious Bonds, and Reformation in Frankfurt, 1554-1608, Professor Maximilian Miguel Scholz explores one major destination for refugees—Frankfurt am Main—and underscores how they inspired new religious bonds, religious animosities, and religious institutions. In this interview, James Blake Wiener speaks to him about his title and the unique social climate that pervaded the Hessian city.

Cover: Strange Brethren: Refugees, Religious Bonds, and Reformation in Frankfurt, 1554-1608

Association of University Presses (Copyright, fair use)

JBW: Professor Scholz, thank you so much for speaking with me on behalf of World History Encyclopedia (WHE). When many think of Protestant refugees in the Early Modern Era, their minds usually turn to the plight of Huguenots or Anabaptists. Many of them found refuge in cities like London, Amsterdam, Geneva, and Hamburg. What was it that first attracted you to the history of 16th-century Frankfurt am Main? Moreover, what differentiated Frankfurt am Main from other Protestant cities within the Holy Roman Empire?

MS: Frankfurt hosted thousands of refugees in the 16th century. It still does today! But the city is often overlooked because the documents pertaining to its 16th-century experience of refugee accommodation were destroyed by the U.S. and British militaries in 1944. I wanted to shine new light on Frankfurt’s centrality in the story of Protestant refugees. Frankfurt lay at the center of Germany, which it still does today. It was also the symbolic capital of Germany, where the Holy Roman Emperors were elected and crowned. (After the Second World War, there was a push to make Frankfurt the capital of Germany once more.) Frankfurt was the transportation hub of Germany then as it still is now. If we want to understand how refugees impacted German society, Frankfurt is the ideal place to start. Beyond its prominence in Germany, Frankfurt was different from other German cities because its Reformation had followed the lead of Martin Bucer rather than Martin Luther (though of course Frankfurters loved Luther too). Bucer had advocated for reforms that fell somewhere between the later Calvinist and Lutheran camps.

Religions in Europe in the 16th Century

Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND)

JBW: Repeated bombing by British and American air forces destroyed many of Frankfurt’s churches and archives in 1944. If I’m not mistaken, Frankfurt was formerly the largest half-timbered city center in Germany too, so a great deal was lost in a very short period of time. Could you comment on the tremendous hurdles you and fellow scholars face in researching Frankfurt am Main’s Early Modern history as a result?

MS: Yes, Frankfurt’s archive suffered grievously. The archive’s director believed the Nazi fantasy that Germany was impervious to assault, so he did not protect the archive’s treasures by moving them underground. Thus, the bombings of 1944 destroyed about 70% of the archive’s holdings, including the Acta Ecclesiastica, which documented the birth of Protestantism in Frankfurt. Historians interested in the religious changes of the 16th century need to use either non-civic sources (like the records of the Dutch and French Reformed communities in Frankfurt, which were not housed at the archive) or reproductions of the original sources, which can be found in the appendices of many pre-WWII histories of Frankfurt. My book relied on documents from an imperial court case in 1720. The Dutch and French Reformed (i.e. Calvinists) sued the city of Frankfurt at the imperial supreme court, and both the sides collected and printed documents from the Reformation that they believed helped their case.

Reformation Wall

Henri Bouchard and Paul Landowski  (CC BY-SA)

JBW: Frankfurt am Main received French-, Dutch-, and English-speaking Protestant refugees throughout the 1550s, 1560s, and 1570s. Many of the earliest refugees were the so-called “Marian exiles.” Who were these early exiles, what brought them to Frankfurt am Main, and how long did they stay in Hesse?

MS: These exiles were the earliest Protestants (though they did not call themselves that), and they were fleeing Catholic rulers. The point of contention was the Catholic mass. The refugees in my book refused to attend the Catholic mass, because they rejected the idea that a priest could perform a ritual on an altar that would summon forth the actual body of Jesus. These people considered this idolatrous and believed the mass should be replaced by a simplified eucharist, which would focus on the Bible and memorialize the Last Supper. The Catholic authorities began to violently persecute those who did not attend the mass, and these early Protestants faced a choice: be martyred at home or flee abroad. Thousands fled to Frankfurt, which as an independent city (it was not then part of Hesse) could rule its own religious affairs, to an extent. In the case of English Protestants fleeing the Catholic Queen Mary I of England (the Marian exiles), they returned when she died and was replaced by the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England. Thus, they were in Frankfurt for just five years. Other refugees from the Low Countries settled in Frankfurt and have descendants who still live in the city.

JBW: Professor Scholz, how did Lutheran elites and ordinary citizens in Frankfurt am Main first react to the presence of Calvinist refugees? What subsequently changed over the next few decades?

MS: At first, they welcomed them. They considered these newcomers brethren, who had suffered under the cruel rule of tyrannical Catholics like Charles V and Mary Tudor. But it proved difficult to live alongside these newcomers, many of whom were richer than the citizens of Frankfurt. When Frankfurters witnessed the church services of the refugees, they realized that these people practiced Christianity differently. Frankfurters were scandalized that the refugees took the bread of the eucharist into their own hands. And they were further disgusted that the refugees brought their screaming children with them into the churches. Frankfurt’s pastors were the first to turn on the newcomers, demanding that they conform to Frankfurt’s ritualistic practices or leave the city. The pastors whipped up a popular hatred of the refugees.

Martin Bucer

Unknown Artist (Public Domain)

JBW: I think some readers who are relatively unfamiliar with the history of the Protestant Reformation may be surprised to learn about the high degree of confessional strife and rivalry between Calvinists and Lutherans. Could you thus explain to us how officials in Frankfurt am Main ultimately circumscribed Calvinist worship and freedom?

MS: The refugees and native Frankfurters split into two religious camps that we now call Calvinist (they called themselves Reformed) and Lutheran (they called themselves Evangelical), and this division became violent at times. For Americans, living in a country that has separated religion from government, it can be hard to imagine how little differences in worship or belief could have resulted in legal trouble, expulsion, or worse. Once Frankfurt’s leaders concluded that the refugees were “Calvinists” they banned them from applying for citizenship and closed their churches. Periodic riots against the refugee community resulted in deaths and the burning down of a small chapel the Reformed had built outside the city wall.

JBW: How would you characterize the Calvinist refugees’ religious and civic impact upon Frankfurt am Main? Can we still detect their legacy in the city today?

MS: They enriched Frankfurt enormously by bringing in goods and industry from the Low Countries. The Low Countries were the most industrially advanced part of Europe, and the Protestants who fled places like Antwerp took their industrial know-how with them into German cities like Frankfurt. And when Frankfurt began to harass these newcomers, they settled in little towns outside of Frankfurt, towns which became (and still are) hubs of industry, like Hanau and Offenbach.

Frankfurt on the Main, c. 1617

Matthäus Merian (Public Domain)

JBW: What lessons can we draw from the experiences of the Calvinist refugees in Frankfurt am Main that could perhaps be applied to our own era?

MS: Welcoming, resettling, and integrating refugees into a city can be very difficult and may provoke problems that persist for generations. But it is not impossible. The internal cultural organizations of a refugee community (like the Calvinist consistory in 16th-century Frankfurt) can help facilitate financial support for refugees, management of their affairs, and integration into the host city. We need to confront the reality that it may take generations for refugees and their descendants to embrace (and be embraced by) host societies.

JBW: Professor Scholz, thanks so much for your time and consideration! I wish you many happy adventures in writing and research.

MS: Thank you so much for your questions.

Professor Maximilian Miguel Scholz

Association of University Presses (Copyright, fair use)

Biographical précis:

Professor Maximilian Miguel Scholz specializes in the social and religious history of early modern Europe and teaches at Florida State University. His first book, Strange Brethren: Refugees, Religious Bonds, and Reformation in Frankfurt, 1554-1608 (University of Virginia Press, 2022) explores the fate and impact of Reformation refugees by looking at one center of European refugee life, the city of Frankfurt am Main. His second book, tentatively titled The Great Refugee Realignment: How Forced Migrants Transformed Government in Northern Europe, 1550-1750 uses refugee treaties collected from archives across Europe to illuminate the ways refugees transformed governments, stimulating the growth of centralized bureaucracies and contributing new ideas about political membership and new systems for managing religious, ethnic, and migration-status diversity.

Continue reading...

[ilikethisacompletelynormalamount]

Since Andrew is taking some well deserved time away from the public at the moment, let's revisit (or visit for the first time, if you're new here) this stunning photoshoot from Mr. Porter, October 2019, when he was doing press for Modern Love and his Ripley casting had just been announced (yes, it's taken that long for it to come out).

Mr Andrew Scott’s big brown eyes are open wide in amused disbelief. “That was not an Irish accent,” he says in his musical Irish brogue. “That was a West Country accent.” How embarrassing for an interviewer who thought to connect with her subject by lightly mocking Mr Ed Sheeran’s ­– again – not-Irish accent in his cameo in Mr Scott’s episode of Amazon’s upcoming anthology series, Modern Love. Panic sets in. “It’s all right,” he says, soothingly. “It’s all right. Accents are such funny things.”

You know what else is a funny thing? Sitting with Fleabag’s “hot priest” – 2019’s most unexpected sex symbol – in a wine bar in Bermondsey, southeast London, talking about vulnerability, romcoms and love stories. Or, to take another angle: sitting across the table from the deranged Jim Moriarty and letting him pick out a rosé. That tickles, too. Having Hamlet express the need for a mini-break in, he doesn’t know, Copenhagen? Amsterdam, maybe? Surreal.

But actually, Mr Scott, who is wearing what can only be described as a modified sweatsuit (shorts and a zip-up sweatshirt, no shirt beneath) after our photoshoot isn’t funny funny. No, Mr Scott is serious: reserved and contemplative, but with the energy of a theatre nerd who, every once in a while, rests his head in his hands, cupping his fingers around his eyes to form blinkers while he thinks about a question you’ve just asked. In this quiet wine bar. He’s not an evil murderer, an agent of a shadowy organisation, or an overly excited (wink) cleric. He’s just a nice guy who sympathises about the difficulty of parsing the subtleties of the many accents in the British Commonwealth (and beyond).

Mr Scott is still hot off his run in Fleabag, even though the show ran from March to April of this year. A few weeks ago, he received a GQ Men of the Year Award, and just a few weeks after that, was in Los Angeles at the Emmy Awards where Fleabag cleaned up, winning three awards.

Of course, this is not Mr Scott’s big break. He’s been in the business since moving from Dublin to London 20 years ago to pursue acting. His dad worked in employment, helping young people find the right careers and his mother was an art teacher. “They were definitely into following your passion and doing that for the rest of your life,” he says. “Rather than, ‘You should be a lawyer,’ or whatever the fuck.”

And this has been a year for Mr Scott’s passions. Aside from Fleabag, and an episode of Black Mirror that landed on Netflix this June, he’s making a poignant appearance in the aforementioned _Modern Love,_­ which will drop all at once on 18 October. A series of discreet episodes, each one features its own starry cast (Mr Dev Patel, Mr John Slattery, Ms Tina Fey, Ms Anne Hathaway and, of course, Mr Ed Sheeran, among others), based on the much-loved New York Times column from which it takes its name. Mr Scott’s episode, which co-stars Ms Olivia Cooke and Mr Brandon Kyle Goodman, is loosely based on an early column written by the sex-and-relationships writer Mr Dan Savage about the unusual experience he and his partner had with adoption. “It’s just a really sweet little story. It’s not about a romantic relationship,” he says, (many Modern Love entries are not). “It’s simply about the relationships between people.”

He’s also currently filming in Cardiff for the BBC TV series of His Dark Materials. And maybe there’s a Marvel movie in his future? “Oh, fuck. Completely false,” he says. “Someone said, ‘Are you going to be in a thing?’ I said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘There have been discussions.’ And it’s like ‘Andrew Scott has been in discussions.’”

That’s what happens when suddenly everyone wants you – to use Twitter parlance – to run them over with your car. The Priest, unlike his other characters, was a sex symbol, one that wears the hell (forgive me, Father) out of a cassock. But who could be surprised that Mr Scott turned a priest into the “Hot Priest” simply by saying “kneel”? (If you don’t know what that means, stop reading now, watch the show, come back.) In fact, he has been making words positively drip with meaning for nearly a decade.

Consider Moriarty, the insane criminal puppet master Mr Scott played for six years across four seasons of the BBC’s Sherlock, opposite Mr Benedict Cumberbatch in the titular role. This particular Moriarty – Holmes’ famous nemesis, who has also been played by Messrs Orson Welles, John Huston and Sir Laurence Olivier – is indelible and utterly idiosyncratic. “If you’re going to do it, I don’t see there’s any point in doing it without putting your own stamp on it. I never look at any previous incarnations,” says Mr Scott. The result of this thinking – in Sherlock, at least – was a Moriarty who is all sing-song eeriness, molten physicality, and questionable cutaway collars. “He was quite theatrical; he was grotesque, sort of the archetypal villain,” he says. Archetypal, indeed: the role propelled him into the world of maniacal superfandom. He might not have received a dedicated stan nomenclature like his co-star (ahem, “Cumberbitches”), but the role made Mr Scott a household name.

Of course, establishing yourself as adept at playing evil incarnate probably leads to people wanting to cast you in more Moriarty-like roles. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yeah,” he says, six times. “Yeah, exactly right,” (one more). “I turned down a lot. The shadow of that character took over for a little while.”  The craze got to be so tiresome that he asked the interviewer for a recent profile in The Guardian not to ask him about Moriarty at all (two years after he last appeared in the series). But now he sees a bigger picture, understands how being the object of abject obsession can be a good thing. “I think to answer your questions,” he says, tapping his fingers on the table, “it’s been really good fun.”

Mr Scott demurs when asked what it’s like to be the quencher of many thirsts on the internet. “People don’t say that to me. People don’t say, ‘Oh my God...” He shakes his head and trails off, perhaps in horror of what fans could be saying to him. It’s a little hard to believe that he wouldn’t be mobbed as he walks down the street. After all, one major British publication declared that Fleabag and the Priest were the only couple worth talking or tweeting about this year. (We guess Meghan and Harry, and Kim and Kanye can relax.)

“If I’m honest, it’s only really just starting to dawn on me, the global effect the show has had. People like a bit of transgression, they just do.” Any follower of his career, though, understands that it’s more than just good writing that makes him so very watchable (though good writing, is, politely, what he puts it down to). His chemistry is electric with Ms Phoebe Waller-Bridge, as it was electric with Mr Cumberbatch, and palpable even if you weren’t lucky enough to catch his rendition of Hamlet and – like this interviewer – had to watch a clip on YouTube.

Mr Scott’s character, Tobin, in Modern Love is the most subdued we might ever see him. There’s very little shouting, and none of the wide-eyed glaring that has defined his roles to date. Instead, he plays sweetly, quietly off a tiny baby, and tells goodnight stories to an adorable little girl. Perhaps this is a harbinger of softer roles to come. “I’d love to be in a romcom,” he says. “I love watching people fall in love, and how mad it is.” And yet: it was just announced that he will be playing Tom Ripley in a new adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley. So much for avoiding the nutters.

“What always amazes me is how innocent we are as human beings,” he says, sidestepping yet another probing question about being so irresistible right now. “We are very easily manipulated by stories. If someone puts scary music behind someone and they’re told this person’s eyes are absolutely terrifying, you go: ‘Oh my God, that person is scary, and his eyes totally freak me out.’”

“But then,” he continues, “[you’re told] ‘the priest is hot, wait till you see him’. And then you look at his eyes in a very different way and it’s the manipulation of the storytelling. It literally changes your character.” Hmmm.

“The success is the writing,” he tries, again, to argue. But it’s hard to be convinced that an actor who’s hopped from one iconic character to another is simply lucky with writing. He sees he’s not getting anywhere and changes tack. “Acting is just a way of experimenting with different parts of myself. Vulnerability is something I’m really, really interested in. I think vulnerability is at the centre of every character I’ve ever played even if they don’t appear or present as vulnerable.”

Throughout this conversation, his eyes have flicked around the bar, and he pauses from time to time to comment on the other patrons. At one point, a woman is coughing so vehemently, he stops mid-sentence to remark, humorously, on whether she might be dying. Now, he spots something on the bar. “Oh my God, she’s reading Brené Brown.” We both turn to stare at the book.

“She writes a lot about vulnerability,” he explains, excited. “[Being vulnerable] is how you get ahead. I really, really strongly believe that. [Vulnerability is] strong, it’s really strong.”

Perhaps this is the secret we’ve been trying to distil about his appeal: Mr Scott uses vulnerability to bring us all into a space of fear or sadness or lust or anger with him so that every character he plays – whether it’s the hottest priest in London, a gay man in Brooklyn trying to become a father, or a murderous villain – thrums with the heartbreak that comes with being human.

“The more I work,” he continues, “the more I just think every story is in some way concerned with love – or the lack of it.” He smiles an earnest little smile and we both know this is the place to stop. “That’s the way life is,” he says. “It’s so fast and furious.”

https://www.mrporter.com/en-hk/journal/fashion/the-softer-side-of-mr-andrew-scott-1052122

[simgerale]

TAG: People You'd Like To Get To Know Better

tagged by @morrigan-sims 💛😊

Last Song: that's kind of embarrassing spotify says American Pie lol

Favorite Color: right now it's pastel blue

Currently Watching: uhh this medical drama called New Amsterdam !! sometimes you just gotta watch dramatic medical shows

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: sweet AND savory (^: never changing this answer. i mean, have you tried a handful of popcorn and then some m&ms? amazing

Relationship: MARRIED!!!!!!! today is our... fifth month anniversary! crazy how time flies

Current Obsession: working slowly on progeny stuff!! lots of hours building and decorating and making sims and writing (^:

Last Thing I Googled: let me check hmm LOL i looked up the definition of "vexing" to make sure i was using it right. i was writing ch. 4 👀

TAGGING:

@sublimesims @warmsol @passiberri @rusticottage

@retro-plasma @rillabrooke @samssims @stillgotme

@sammyshuno @payte @stellarfalls @wildmelon and YOU!! 🥰

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jörg Luyken

Published: Nov 18, 2024

Jews and gay people should hide their identity in parts of Berlin with large Arab populations, the German capital’s police chief has warned.

“There are areas of the city, we need to be perfectly honest here, where I would advise people who wear a kippah or are openly gay to be more careful,” said Barbara Slowik.

“There are certain neighbourhoods where the majority of people of Arab origin live, who also have sympathies for terrorist groups,” she said, adding that they were often “openly hostile towards Jews”.

She told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that “violent crimes against Jewish people are few and far between, but every act is one too many”.

A fortnight ago, a youth football team from Makkabi Berlin, a Jewish sports club, reported being “hunted down” by youths carrying sticks and knives after a match in an Arab neighbourhood of the city. The victims, aged 13 to 15, said they were spat at and insulted throughout the match.

The incident took place on the same night that migrant gangs filmed attacks on fans of the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv after a European football match against Ajax in Amsterdam.

Germany has seen a surge in anti-Semitism since the beginning of the war in Gaza, with reported incidents doubling in 2023 compared with previous years.

Since Oct 7 last year, Berlin’s police have opened more than 6,000 investigations connected to anti-Semitism, according to Ms Slowik. Most of these concern online hate speech or graffiti.

Other incidents in Berlin include a football fan being attacked for wearing a scarf with a Star of David on it, a petrol bomb attack on a synagogue shortly after the Oct 7 massacres in southern Israel, and a couple being attacked in a fast-food outlet for speaking Hebrew.

On the day of the Hamas massacres, men handed out sweets in celebration in the Berlin neighbourhood of Neukolln, an incident that shocked Germany and led to deep anxiety over whether the recent waves of migration had made Jewish life less safe.

Neukolln, also famous for its LGBT nightlife, is the Berlin district with the highest Arab population. The two communities have coexisted for years, although there have been several incidents of gay couples being physically assaulted in recent years.

Earlier this month, a large majority of lawmakers in the Bundestag, Germany’s national parliament, voted for a new resolution against anti-Semitism that mentioned migration from the Middle East as a factor.

The resolution, drafted by the Greens, the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats, warned of an “alarming extent of anti-Semitism based on migration from countries where anti-Semitism and hostility to Israel are widespread due to state indoctrination”.

The resolution could lead to refugees having their asylum status taken away if they are found guilty of committing anti-Semitic crimes.

The migration debate flared again in the summer amid fears of a rise in terrorism, but is likely to play second fiddle to Germany’s stagnating economy in the upcoming election.

The hard-Right Alternative for Germany has cited the protection of the country’s Jewish minority as a reason to push through a much tougher policy of mass deportations of refugees back to countries such as Syria.

==

there have been several incidents of gay couples being physically assaulted in recent years

That's so weird that there could be violence problems with the Arab population... Have there been any incidents of gay people attacking Arab people? If not, why is the problem unidirectional?

Gee, I wonder what the underlying cause of that could be...?

🤔

/s

Jewish and gay people should hide.

In Germany.

Are you even fricking kidding me? Did they learn literally nothing?

When people claim to be fleeing persecution, but then exhibit the same values, attitudes and behaviors as those they claimed to be fleeing, they forfeit the right to our sympathy and sanctuary. That's not how our society operates, and you do not have the right to make it so or demand that we make it so.

They should be ejected and sent back to their friends. This is not a "racist," "Islamophobic," or "hard-right" position.

[debdarkpetal]

Flying to Amsterdam, 1974.

First picture via deakycheaky on Instagram.

[ms-m-astrologer]

Ms M blows off steam

(And the annual plea for help)

Why, in the 21st Century, do people insist on cultural appropriation? And eco-unfriendly activities?

I have been reading a series of books (each written by a different author) about pagan-based spirituality, aimed at a Western audience (European, USA, Canadian, Australian), and just finished one which recommended working with various non-European deities. People seem to think, “Wow, what a cool practice - I want to do that, too.”

Speaking for just myself: this here 73% German-derived woman, living in the US of A, has no fucking business “borrowing” from other cultures’ pantheons. And if it isn’t your roots, then neither do you.

(I’ve done enough ancestry research to know I’m mostly from southern Germany - around the Black Forest - so when I find deities from that area, that’s where I direct myself. When there’s no equivalent, I use the rest of my Scots-Irish heritage.)

Another recommended the use of glitter for anything/everything - regular glitter qualifies as a microplastic and helps poison Mother Gaia further. No nature-based practitioner should condone such a thing.

(There are eco-friendly brands of glitter, but the author didn’t specifically refer to them - they’re too expensive for yours truly, but if that’s what floats your boat and you can afford it, go for those brands.)

In many pagan-specific books and articles, the astrology is (way) off, but that’s so prevalent I just blip over those parts.

(Example: the “zenith” is when the Sun is directly overhead - “high noon” - every single day, not just on this or that Sabbat.)

It really brings home to me how much our own experiences and our locale have to do with our practice.

+++ === *+=+* === +++

My “day job” is being a paraeducator in the public schools. It’s an hourly, not a salaried, position - which means when I’m not working (like now, in the summer), I don’t get paid. Sometimes I manage to save enough money, over the course of the academic year, to get me through the summer. Other times, I’m not so successful - inflation making food more expensive, unexpected medical bills, etc.

This summer is one of those “other times” - I could use some financial help, please! All this blog’s content is provided free of charge, because I know what it’s like to be unable to afford anything beyond basic survival (and to have to struggle just for that much), and I want to reach as many willing people as possible.

(Yes, I have adult children who could help out, and they’re both traveling pretty extensively/expensively in August - one to Amsterdam, the other to California. Plans are finalized and they’re fiscally unavailable to me in August.)

Two ways to send help:

Venmo @Mary_Brack

Paypal @MaryVBrack

I am really grateful for all of your support and encouragement! If you’re broke, too, don’t worry - just send me good thoughts. “Ms M has more money than she knows what to do with” has a nice vibe to it….

[cuppachar]

Jamie Tartt, Battler by Cuppa_Char

Fandoms:Ted Lasso (TV)  

Gen

Summary:

Jamie signs up for the auction.

When Ms Welton asks what made him change his mind, Jamie just shrugs and grins.

“We’re a team, ain’t we?” Jamie finds himself saying again. “Gotta wear the same kit.”

----

He tries to look away, turns sluggishly to the left only to see Cheryl grinning - leering at him, the image of Keeley teasingly mouthing her tongue through her fingers - and suddenly it’s not the auction or the function room of a swanky hotel room - it’s a room behind the glass window, draped red curtains, and a body pressed over him, whispering ‘that’s it, such a good boy’ and the memory of his dad yelling ‘go on lad, make your old man proud’.

Trigger Warning: Child abuse, non/con, mention of underage rape, Amsterdam Trauma, Charity Auction Trauma

[ughhhdavid]

I still find it so strange because.... Why even introduce most of these storylines. They could've focused the season on roy and jamie's feelings for keeley as well as their growing friendship... Keeley and barbara becoming friends... Jamie's dad in rehab.. And ted slowly realizing he's bettter off in kansas. Why even bring in shandy, jack, dr. Jacob, and waste entire episodes on their storylines. Why even keeley's scandal, if the only thing that came of it was jamie's misogynistic "claim" to her? Why even bring up jamie w his dad in amsterdam if they were going for forgiveness for his character? Why bring in edwin akufo just to make sam magically be on the Nigerian team w no explanation? Why bring in Trent Crimm just to talk to colin like 3 times and then not even read from his book? Why make Ted bring out the green matchbook at all if no tedbecca? Why make ted say stuff like "fluid, free" and "i love our family, no matter what it looks like" just for it to end in the most conventional way imaginable? Why colin's "i don't wanna be a spokeslerson" if he was just gonna kiss his boyfriend in such a public setting? Why make bex and ms kakes show uo at rebecca's door just to never see them again????

Why fill this season with so much, and give 0 pay-off, and then start completely other storylines in THE LAST EPISODE, when they could've cut the unnecessary stuff and just focus on those from the beginning?