#new rome teachers are not paid enough for this
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Self-Portrait by Alphonse Mucha, 1899
Alfons Maria Mucha (Czech: 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic artist, living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, best known for his distinctly stylized and decorative theatrical posters, particularly those of Sarah Bernhardt. He produced illustrations, advertisements, decorative panels, and designs, which became among the best-known images of the period.
In the second part of his career, at the age of 43, he returned to his homeland of Bohemia-Moravia region in Austria and devoted himself to painting a series of twenty monumental canvases known as The Slav Epic, depicting the history of all the Slavic peoples of the world, which he painted between 1912 and 1926. In 1928, on the 10th anniversary of the independence of Czechoslovakia, he presented the series to the Czech nation. He considered it his most important work. It is now on display in Prague.
Alphonse Mucha was born on 24 July 1860 in the small town of Ivančice in southern Moravia, then a province of the Austrian Empire (currently a region of the Czech Republic). His family had a very modest income; his father Ondřej was a court usher, and his mother Amálie was a miller's daughter. Ondřej had six children, all with names starting with A. Alphonse was his first child with Amálie, followed by Anna and Anděla.
Alphonse showed an early talent for drawing; a local merchant impressed by his work provided him with paper for free, though it was considered a luxury. In the preschool period, he drew exclusively with his left hand. He also had a talent for music: he was an alto singer and violin player
After completing volksschule, he wanted to continue with his studies, but his family was not able to fund them, as they were already funding the studies of his three step-siblings] His music teacher sent him to Pavel Křížkovský, choirmaster of St Thomas's Abbey in Brno, to be admitted to the choir and to have his studies funded by the monastery. Křížovský was impressed by his talent, but he was not able to admit and fund him, as he had just admitted another talented young musician, Leoš Janáček.
Křížovský sent him to a choirmaster of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, who admitted him as a chorister and funded his studies at the gymnasium in Brno, where he received his secondary school education. After his voice broke, he gave up his chorister position, but played as a violinist during masses.
He became devoutly religious, and wrote later, "For me, the notions of painting, going to church, and music are so closely knit that often I cannot decide whether I like church for its music, or music for its place in the mystery which it accompanies." He grew up in an environment of intense Czech nationalism in all the arts, from music to literature and painting. He designed flyers and posters for patriotic rallies.
His singing abilities allowed him to continue his musical education at the Gymnázium Brno in the Moravian capital of Brno, but his true ambition was to become an artist. He found some employment designing theatrical scenery and other decorations. In 1878 he applied without success to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, but was rejected and advised to "find a different career". In 1880, at the age of 19, he traveled to Vienna, the political and cultural capital of the Empire, and found employment as an apprentice scenery painter for a company which made sets for Vienna theaters. While in Vienna, he discovered the museums, churches, palaces and especially theaters, for which he received free tickets from his employer. He also discovered Hans Makart, a very prominent academic painter, who created murals for many of the palaces and government buildings in Vienna, and was a master of portraits and historical paintings in grand format. His style turned Mucha in that artistic direction and influenced his later work. He also began experimenting with photography, which became an important tool in his later work.
To his misfortune, a terrible fire in 1881 destroyed the Ringtheater, the major client of his firm. Later in 1881, almost without funds, he took a train as far north as his money would take him. He arrived in Mikulov in southern Moravia, and began making portraits, decorative art and lettering for tombstones. His work was appreciated, and he was commissioned by Count Eduard Khuen Belasi, a local landlord and nobleman, to paint a series of murals for his residence at Emmahof Castle, and then at his ancestral home in the Tyrol, Gandegg Castle. The paintings at Emmahof were destroyed by fire in 1948, but his early versions in small format exist (now on display at the museum in Brno). He showed his skill at mythological themes, the female form, and lush vegetal decoration. Belasi, who was also an amateur painter, took Mucha on expeditions to see art in Venice, Florence and Milan, and introduced him to many artists, including the famous Bavarian romantic painter, Wilhelm Kray, who lived in Munich.
Count Belasi decided to bring Mucha to Munich for formal training, and paid his tuition fees and living expenses at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. He moved there in September 1885. It is not clear how Mucha actually studied at the Munich Academy; there is no record of his being enrolled as a student there. However, he did become friends with a number of notable Slavic artists there, including the Czechs Karel Vítězslav Mašek and Ludek Marold and the Russian Leonid Pasternak, father of the famous poet and novelist Boris Pasternak. He founded a Czech students' club, and contributed political illustrations to nationalist publications in Prague. In 1886 he received a notable commission for a painting of the Czech patron saints Cyril and Methodius, from a group of Czech emigrants, including some of his relatives, who had founded a Roman Catholic church in the town of Pisek, North Dakota. He was very happy with the artistic environment of Munich: he wrote to friends, "Here I am in my new element, painting. I cross all sorts of currents, but without effort, and even with joy. Here, for the first time, I can find the objectives to reach which used to seem inaccessible." However, he found he could not remain forever in Munich; the Bavarian authorities imposed increasing restrictions upon foreign students and residents. Count Belasi suggested that he travel either to Rome or to Paris. With Belasi's financial support, he decided in 1887 to move to Paris.
Mucha moved to Paris in 1888 where he enrolled in the Académie Julian[18] and the following year, 1889, Académie Colarossi. The two schools taught a wide variety of different styles. His first professors at the Academie Julien were Jules Lefebvre who specialized in female nudes and allegorical paintings, and Jean-Paul Laurens, whose specialties were historical and religious paintings in a realistic and dramatic style. At the end of 1889, as he approached the age of thirty, his patron, Count Belasi, decided that Mucha had received enough education and ended his subsidies.
When he arrived in Paris, Mucha found shelter with the help of the large Slavic community. He lived in a boarding house called the Crémerie at 13 rue de la Grande Chaumière, whose owner, Charlotte Caron, was famous for sheltering struggling artists; when needed she accepted paintings or drawings in place of rent. Mucha decided to follow the path of another Czech painter he knew from Munich, Ludek Marold, who had made a successful career as an illustrator for magazines. In 1890 and 1891, he began providing illustrations for the weekly magazine La Vie populaire, which published novels in weekly segments. His illustration for a novel by Guy de Maupassant, called The Useless Beauty, was on the cover of 22 May 1890 edition. He also made illustrations for Le Petit Français Illustré, which published stories for young people in both magazine and book form. For this magazine he provided dramatic scenes of battles and other historic events, including a cover illustration of a scene from the Franco-Prussian War which was on 23 January 1892 edition.
His illustrations began to give him a regular income. He was able to buy a harmonium to continue his musical interests, and his first camera, which used glass-plate negatives. He took pictures of himself and his friends, and also regularly used it to compose his drawings. He became friends with Paul Gauguin, and shared a studio with him for a time when Gauguin returned from Tahiti in the summer of 1893. In late autumn 1894 he also became friends with the playwright August Strindberg, with whom he had a common interest in philosophy and mysticism.
His magazine illustrations led to book illustration; he was commissioned to provide illustrations for Scenes and Episodes of German History by historian Charles Seignobos. Four of his illustrations, including one depicting the death of Frederic Barbarossa, were chosen for display at the 1894 Paris Salon of Artists. He received a medal of honor, his first official recognition.
Mucha added another important client in the early 1890s; the Central Library of Fine Arts, which specialized in the publication of books about art, architecture and the decorative arts. It later launched a new magazine in 1897 called Art et Decoration, which played an early and important role in publicizing the Art Nouveau style. He continued to publish illustrations for his other clients, including illustrating a children's book of poetry by Eugène Manuel, and illustrations for a magazine of the theater arts, called La Costume au théâtre.
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Vittoria Accoramboni and a Renaissance Revenge Tragedy – Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
This is one of the most riveting stories from the Italian Renaissance history – the kind that seems to be ready-made for the stage or silver screen. It has everything: an ambitious beauty, jealousy, papal intrigues; Medici plots, vengeance and desire, and assassins hiding under beds.
Happy stories tend to end with weddings. This story starts with one.
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Even given Rome’s great population of gawkers, few spectators turned out to watch when, in 1573, Vittoria Accoramboni married Francesco Peretti. The bride was one of the eleven children in a family of impoverished noblemen; the groom was a nephew of a remarkably poor parvenu cardinal whose own father had been a pig farmer in the Marches. There was only one reason that would have made people gaze as the wedding procession led Vittoria along on her traditional white horse, her hair virginally loose – namely, the luminous beauty of the bride.
Vittoria herself knew the value of that beauty. So did her determined mother, Tarquinia, who burned with desire to see the Accorambonis restored to their once-prominent place in society – and the most beautiful of her daughters was to be instrumental in this.
Three centuries ago, back in the 1200s, Vittoria’s family owned a castle in the town of Tolentino, and enjoyed all the accolades due to prominent noblemen in those feudal days. All of this was lost in one unwise move – the Accorambonis went too far, and rebelled against the Pope. In retaliation, they were stripped of their honours and their castle, and exiled to an old house in the tiny Gubbio, where they dwelled quietly for centuries after. This generation, with eleven mouths to feed and nothing more than a too-grandiously-named palazzo in Gubbio to bank upon, should not have been any different. However, Tarquinia was determined to turn the tide. If two of her daughters, Massimilla and Settimia, had no other choice than to join a convent due to their parents not having enough money for their dowry, Vittoria possessed a rare blessing – namely, the kind of beauty that could offer the family a way out of poverty once and for all.
Once on the Roman marriage market, Vittoria attracted a number of suitors. Francesco Peretti was the kind of luck they hadn’t expected at first – his family heard his intentions to court the most beautiful girl in Rome without enthusiasm. His uncle, Cardinal Montalto, might have had the appearance of a frail old man of quiet disposition, but he was not devoid of ambition, and would have much preferred to see his nephew marry a girl with a good dowry and connections who might have enhanced their political prospects. Francesco’s own mother, Camilla, was not amused, either – while not particularly ambitious herself, she always wished her brother success. However, she knew true love where she saw it, and, sighing privately, accepted Vittoria to her house and home with open arms.
Tarquinia, however, had less than romantic thoughts on their mind. She was counting days when the reigning Pope Gregory XIII is finally going to give his soul up to the Almighty, and clear the way for Cardinal Montalto.
While other states in Italy were governed by republican senates or petty princes, and the countries north of the Alps had their great feudal monarchies, in Rome the throne of St. Peter was the shining centre of the universe from which all blessings, material as well as spiritual, doth flow. The Accorambonis have always known it, and not simply because it’s the displeasure of a long-dead Pope that cost them their old fortune. Vittoria’s grandfather, Girolomo, considered the crowning achievement of his medical career to be the fact that he became the personal physician of Pope Adrian VI. Now Tarquinia was aiming for them to find a place even closer to the Vicar of Christ – namely, a familial one.
Most people would have considered her hope for Cardinal Montalto to become the Pope one day to be absurd – however, not everybody, and certainly not Cardinal Montalto himself. Yes, his late father might have been eking out a miserable living growing vegetables and tending pigs; yes, his mother might have been a housekeeper; yes, his sister Camilla might have been a widowed laundress. Still, ever since Montalto, as a young boy, joined the monastery that gave him a good education and his start in life, he was sure of his divine destiny. His parents agreed – after all, how else to explain him surviving the plague that killed his brother, the swimming accident that almost left him floating face down in a pond, and the fire that ignited his bed thanks to a forgotten oil lamp, except by the fact that God had a special plan for him?
Cardinal Montalto thought so, and Tarquinia thought so. Vittoria herself was more sceptical. Nothing in her new household screamed greatness, even a prophesized one. The Venetian ambassador who happened to visit the Perettis’ house some years later, in 1585, wrote in shock that the place was almost devoid of furniture. Moreover, Camilla Peretti, despite being a sister to a cardinal, did her own laundry and that of her household herself, pushing soiled linen with a paddle in steaming cauldrons. The small courtyard of the house, which was not big enough for a horse to properly turn itself around it, was full of running chickens. Cardinal Montalto’s income was only 8,000 scudi a year, which, for his position, was truly miniscule. Besides, he had to not only maintain his own household and that of Camilla, but also to spend greatly on charity works – if he wanted to climb higher in the world, good publicity was a must. This is not to say his contributions weren’t genuine – for example, he built houses for poor families in his down-on-its-luck hometown, and, in 1578, he built a school there and hired a teacher out of his own pocket. However, I highly doubt that any of these things would have meant much for Vittoria.
Neither was she likely to be amused when he used the entirety of her dowry to buy himself a vineyard – and put the land in Camilla’s name. Gradually, Vittoria persuaded him to change this last fact, and legally transfer the land to her and Francesco instead, so that the proceeds from the sale of wine and oil could pay for their upkeep. However, having to wheedle and beg for the ownership of a piece of land bought with her own money must have felt rather degrading. Later, when she realized that the young trees are too young to bear fruit that would bring her any substantial income, she sold the vineyard back to the cardinal for 750 scudi more than it cost initially, and put the difference into annuities.
This particular vineyard might have been paid with her dowry, and thus given her a moral right to protest about its ownership – however, in many other questions, Vittoria went way over the line. One document she and her family presented to Cardinal Montalto bluntly said that
‘And there remain many scudi of old debts that he will be forced to satisfy if he stays in Rome and lives among men’.
In other words, she was not averse to some blackmail – after all, she asked, the cardinal doesn’t want to undo all his charitable efforts by appearing like a skinflint when it comes to his beloved daughter-in-law and her closest relatives, does he?
Perhaps, she would have been more careful if she had known with him if she had known certain facts of his past that he, now that he was a cardinal with quiet papal ambitions, took care to keep from the public…
More on them, however, next week.
Sources:
Eleanor Herman, Murder in the Garden of God
#history#history geek#renaissance history#renaissance#medieval#medieval history#middle ages#the middle ages#historical reference#historical
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Yo did u make that post about your 9th grade science class
oh my God I was talking about it with my friend last night and now I’m losing my mind about it all over again sdkjhdfskh
so the school I went to for 9th grade was a Catholic high school, and it was one with like a GREAT reputation. Like, all the Catholic high schools in my area were ‘good schools’ but this was the like the Big One. Always had the best grades, happiest students, best sports teams, best plays, always did the most outreach with the elementary schools, like it was a very popular school.
But then,
The summer before I started, the city shut down like...a fucking hundred Catholic schools, because no one wants to fund education I guess? And if your parents send you to Catholic school, they usually want you to stay there no matter what. So instead of all these students going to public school...a ton of them were forcibly transferred to this school (in the suburbs). Everyone was pissed- the city kids were mad because they had no attachment to this place and the commute was annoying. The teachers that transferred with them were pissed off about the whole affair. The teachers that previously worked in this school and didn’t lose their jobs to new teachers were stressed and had no way of controlling the overcrowded classrooms. Tuition went THROUGH THE ROOF. And their was a lot of tension between the city kids and the suburb kids for...literally no reason at all tbh, it was just There so all the classes were insane.
But my science class. Took insane to new levels.
So, I need to preface this with the type of student I was: I liked science, I thought it was interesting, but science did not like me, and thought I was a bitch. No matter what I tried I was always just scrapping by in the class- but. I always dedicated myself to being the nice, quiet girl who sits in the front, because then the teachers like you, and whether you’re actually a good student or not they’ll give you allowances. 12th Grade gov class, I literally handed in my requirement-for-graduation research paper in a week and a half late and still got a hundred on it, because when the teacher asked me where it was I told her ‘I handed it in on the due date?’ and she immediately was like ‘Oh my God, you did? I’m so sorry!’, then gave me a day to get a ‘’‘new’’’ copy to her, and she felt so bad she gave me extra credit. Like, genuinely, I was determined to play this part and it paid off lmao.
So for 9th grade I was obviously doing that, but compared to everyone else going crazy, I looked like a literal saint. The teachers in this school weren’t authorized to give detention- we had a school ‘Disciplinarian’, and basically you had to go to his office for him to tell you you have detention, it was weird, but if an entire class was acting up, each room had a call button so he could be summoned to the room to give the full class detention. But all 3 of my science teachers that year, instead of pressing the button, would send me down to his office to bring him back up to the classroom personally, so he would know that everyone EXCEPT me was getting detention. Like, every time one left they literally left in their notes for the new teacher ‘send Molly to get Mr. Chia if the class gets too bad’ it was so fucking funny.
We went through 3 teachers that year.
The first one was this old man with an impossible to pronounce last name, who walked with a cane and was considered one of the toughest teachers in the school. Before the end of October, he had mysteriously vanished. Like- they literally wouldn’t tell us where this man went. I feel like if he died or had a stroke, they would’ve had us pray for him during homeroom or something??? He left us no clues, he literally said to me ‘you did great on the worksheet today! Skip the homework, I’ll see you tomorrow’ and then for the next few weeks we had rotating substitutes until they found a new teacher kjshdgjkhd where did he GO
But anyway- he hated our class. He had the toughest teacher rep to live up to and he literally could not control a single student. Screamed his throat raw. Was constantly changing seating arraignments to try and keep certain kids apart. Was constantly getting bombarded with paper wasps and rubber bands and annoying kids asking invasive questions about his stroke. Kids were threating to fight him if he sent them to get detention. No one ever did the homework, everyone always yelling over him when he was trying to teach- in the later weeks before he disappeared, he literally just taught to me and like 3 other students in the front and tried to tune out the other kids. This poor dude omg.
So, we had various substitutes that just put on movies for a few weeks, and then they found our second teacher. He was a cute, young guy, eager to mold young minds, was active in the church and his sister actually went to the school, so they though they could count on him to get our class together and stick it out for the full school year.
This man was mistreated so badly by these 15 year olds that he RAN AWAY TO ITALY.
I’M NOT EVEN BEING DRAMATIC HE LEGITMATELY MOVED TO ROME TO GET AWAY FROM US.
He stood no chance. The SECOND he walked in all the kids could smell he was weak blood. The chaos went to new levels- people released real wasps into the room so everyone would run around in panic. Physical fights broke out *just* for the sake of disrupting class. No one would ever stop talking over him. A used tampon was once thrown at the chalkboard. I was shot in the arm with a homemade blow dart that a kid made during a test. People were always trying to hack into his laptop to get answers. A fire was started in the trashcan. Someone tried to climb out the window when he snapped and started screaming at everyone. He screamed so much his voice was almost perpetually hoarse in the days before he left. People would make inappropriate jokes about his fiancée and little sister. Someone tried to steal his camera a few times. The all had terrible nicknames for him.
I literally saw this man transform, before my very eyes, from someone happy and excited to live his passion, into a depressed and stressed out man who just wanted an out. I felt SO bad for him. I genuinely cannot imagine being pushed to my breaking point so hard that I decide my only option is to FLEE THE COUNTRY. But he literally came in one day like ‘guess what fuckers! I’ll be in Rome by the end of the week! Have fun in hell!’ ksdjfdskjfd
The third teacher- they had a hard time finding. Even people who were actively looking for teaching positions didn’t wanna take the job because word got around about us literally driving a man out of America. They ended up finding a teacher at another school who was good with ‘’’’’difficult students’’’’’ and offering him an obscene amount of money to switch. He...listen. He was nice.
He comes in the first day, says ‘So I don’t actually know what physical science is- I’m just gonna teach you guys chemistry’ and then proceeded to not actually teach chemistry.
He got mad at the kids every now and then, but he was a lot calmer than the other teachers. He let A LOT slide and put on a lot of science videos to get out of trying to get through to the class.
He was...not the most attentive. I distinctly remember being in the lab, and we were doing that thing where you make flames change colors, and while he had his back turned a guy at my table lit his worksheet on fire, laughed, wasn’t paying attention and let the flame get to his sleeve, had his sleeve catch fire, panicked and beat it out, all in a few moments, all before Mr. Sliffy managed to turn around to catch him. It was an almost completely silent affair, but I feel like the teacher should’ve noticed the residual smoke coming off a kids arm??? He didn’t say anything though khdfsfhkds
So we really skated through for the last trimester that year- apart from a few labs he’d just put on like, ocean life documentaries and if he saw you paying attention he’d give you full class credit. He gave out candy to ‘anyone who’s not being an asshole’, so while some kids were still wild and unruly, everyone calmed down enough so the constant screaming turned into more. Bearable chatter. Tests were few and far between and not that difficult.
But I still cannot believe I had to live through this class like....I think I developed tinnitus just from sitting in it everyday. I was like constantly on guard for a fist or a dart to hit me for months afterward. It was too much like...can we please do something about schools oh my God. I don’t even know how to officially end this post. Please be nice to teachers oh my God.
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My unpopular opinion: Chiron is a horrible teacher, protector, whatever. He’s as bad dumbledor. He often manipulates children and put them in danger? Also is RR really trying to tell me not one single demigod from before percy’s generation made it to adulthood? Not even demigods of minor gods? If not then why haven’t we heard from them, why weren’t they called to fight in the war so that literal children didn’t have to? I have more but I’m not brave enough to post them lol
Fuck, I gotta check my asks more often. Too much stuff laying around and oh please people! Send your stuff in! Don’t be shy! It’s so interesting to see what’s on your mind! Let’s have that conversation and ask me!! :D I mean a bunch of people agreed and disagreed with my stances (Part 1/Part 2), let’s see how I feel about yours!
Anyway HERE WE GO BOYS! LET’S GO LESBIANS LET’S GO!
LET’S HAVE THAT WHOLE DAMN ESSAY!
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Chiron is clearly a self insert from Riordan. I mean come on…
That’s a solid Chiron if I see one. Which is pretty ironic as Chiron’s the shitty teacher who we all know and love. Got something to admit, Riordan? You as a former teacher? HMM?
Hiding incompetence under the disguise of the gentle old wise teacher is definitely something that Dumbledore and Chiron share. Chiron is the old centaur who lived for aeons and helped out the most famous heroes of their times, so shouldn’t modern times be considered to be an easier job for him? He’s barely present, highkey vague and has absolutely no problems with tossing children literally out into the open across the entire fucking US and A to clean the gods’ bathroom messes.
Had the heroes been in their 20s like in the original myths (or even older) it would’ve made more sense to let them find their own ways. It would be rude, but somewhat okay. You could expect adults to find the way and connect the dots. But this is just messing with a bunch of 12 year olds because you can at this point.
Chiron is that supposed sweet teacher that just fucks up. We all had one, you know the one. Seems gentle and nice and but has clearly chosen the wrong job. Don’t know if that’s the trauma of living that long and/or seeing kids dying constantly that’s hitting him in the back of the head.
I have the feeling that people are projecting their teacher fantasies on to him just like step-father fantasies that include Paul. Because we want a guide who is trustworthy, we want an authoritative figure that we can share our concerns with and who guides us to solid solutions without betraying our trust.
But like I said, he’s essentially sending out kids to deathly missions and encouraging deep traumas. Yes, we can partially blame Chiron, but most of the blame goes to the gods who enable and encourage this weird dynamic. Would all of them straight up cut the bullshit and mostly resolve their own issues without using their children as pawns, it would’ve been easier for everyone involved. Additionally, there are many kids in camp to keep busy, look after and care for. I don’t know how many there were pre-TLO but I’d assume the number was in the hundreds? Of course, in larger cabins are camp counsellors that help out and guide next to camp schedules. But since Percy’s the only kid in the Poseidon cabin I guess that thought went south? Percy being the special kid would actually mean that there should be a focus on him unless you’re going for the “I’m neutral” spiel. Chiron knew from day one that Percy was walking Poseidon seed, come on.
Also like I somewhat implied, seeing people die left and right might have impacted Chiron to make him feel indifferent/despressed (could also be a stretch, who knows). Which isn’t an excuse, but might explain some takes. Explaining the same stuff for millennia in its essentials is probably getting tiring.
I think this is the third time that I mentioned it on my blog but showing and telling are the most powerful story telling concepts/fundamentals and you see Rowling and Riordan constantly failing at that which is concerning. Instead of Chiron (or Dumbledore) just simply getting down to the point and telling and explaining stuff briefly, he only eludes, vaguely formulates and it is simply confusing especially for a child in a brand new environment who just lost his mother (if we’re speaking about TLT). This does nothing but add more stress in such a fragile situation especially when a new and bigger threat makes its way.
There’s also the discussion on how much of Greek myth Percy actually gets. He has the basic/ obvious knowledge which many tend to forget. He doesn’t come in with no knowledge. He had Latin classes back at the academy, he studies with Annabeth, he knows some of the monsters. What he simply doesn’t know, is the magic of it all. That is the most confusing part for him.
The actual magic is not explained, which it doesn’t have to be in all of its entirety, but needs to be addressed somehow and gradually.
Percy asking a simple question like how the camp stays sunny and covered 24/7 and how the wardens work and Chiron casually sitting here like you a stoopid one
doesn’t help.
What many people forget: Magic doesn’t erase logic. Even in a magical setting, unless clearly stated, there has to be some kind of logic to connect the dots. It doesn’t need to be a clear cut A to B, but it should be comprehensible for both the readers and the characters in a particular situation. And that’s just not happening for Percy as the character. This also sets up the premise of Percy being ”stupid” which he isn’t. He is surrounded by incompetent teachers and staff that don’t bother telling him how things work and assume that he’ll just manage.
Yeah. Both Dumbledore and Chiron are awfulness in a sweet calm disguise.
Onto part two of the ask. I have had so many talks with people on that exact problem. It simply boils down to one issue:
Rick Riordan‘s inconsistency in world building and setting. The story telling doesn’t make any sense.
So kids are dying like flies before 18 but many are also super famous and in powerful positions? Many are historical figures that made it well over 18? Make that make sense. Also was WW2 supposed to be kicked off by some 12 year olds with that logic? The biggest man made catastrophe of the modern era boiled down to a bunch of fighting kids? No. We all know it. Just simply no. I actually don’t mind the WW2 background but Riordan should’ve given it another thought and be a bit more sensitive…? Like the whole fascist gang being team Hades? Uhh… sure…. nope.
Also the same logic applies to Civil War? You’re telling me a bunch of kids were supposed to have started this stance? Who was for and who was against slavery then? What in the actual fuck? Using children as child soldiers to stand in for these large complex historical issues that stretch over years and show many of humanity’s horrifying sides is just….eh.
No. This whole thing about campers dying as soon as they reach the magic number of 18 are either bedtime stories to scare the kids or toughen them up orrrr my guess, Riordan actually managed yet again to fuck up his own lore.
It’s the same logic with New Rome. You have a whole city full of adults but have a few kids run that bitch? You did your ten years of service as a child soldier and then do one of these?
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As if adults magically exit this world. Like is that the reason why Percy’s been 17 for a whole damn decade? Because otherwise he gotta hand riptide in and all of the boys scout medals he has collected so far? Adults would’ve had the experience and expertise to win those fights but it would break the magic and charm of the books that a bunch of kids are saving the world for the younger demographic. Let’s do not forget that the targeted audience of the books are middle schoolers. Makes somewhat sense with PJO but with HOO Riordan really shot himself in the leg. He should’ve matured the OG characters at least.
(Also speaking about the actual myths again. A good chunk of them died in their 20s/30s/40s. Odysseus guided as an old man. The heroes weren’t twelve and dipping by the age of 16. The Trojan war went on for 10 years for example. So whereas the real Perseus lived a longer life and had a somewhat happy ending in comparison to his peers, he wasn’t the only one that made it into adulthood.)
Riordan mixing up his own lore is just a shame. Yes, it’s human and he already gets a lot of flag for other stuff. I also get it as a writer with my fanfic where I really have to scroll up to search tiny details that I’ve embedded and not noted down. Perhaps it’s my inner capitalist speaking, but for I’m way more forgiving towards a free product, a gift like a fanfic, rather than something I’ve paid actual money for when it comes to this. The process of publishing a book is large. You mean to tell me that there was no editor at Disney that bothered to fact check? Riordan got a check from us all and doesn’t even bother looking up his own stuff. A little bit more effort, Ricardo. Please. You have an entire damn wiki you could use to check for free if you’re too lazy to read your own books/don’t use authors softwares. Like what?
It’s stupid. You know it, I know it. And as you can see, I fully agree with you.
#ask#ask me anons#percy jackson#percy jackson and the olympians#pjo#chiron#chb#rr crit#rick riordan#hoo#heroes of olympus#my rants#camp half-blood#dumbledore#pjo hot takes
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514 Dad Jokes
What do you call a fake noodle? An Impasta.I would avoid the sushi if I was you. It’s a little fishy.Want to hear a joke about paper? Nevermind it’s tearable.Why did the cookie cry? Because his father was a wafer so long!I used to work in a shoe recycling shop. It was sole destroying.What do you call a belt with a watch on it? A waist of time.How do you organize an outer space party? You planet.I went to a seafood disco last week... and pulled a mussel.Do you know where you can get chicken broth in bulk? The stock market.I cut my finger chopping cheese, but I think that I may have greater problems.My cat was just sick on the carpet, I don’t think it’s feline well.Why did the octopus beat the shark in a fight? Because it was well armed.How much does a hipster weigh? An instagram.What did daddy spider say to baby spider? You spend too much time on the web.Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.There’s a new type of broom out, it’s sweeping the nation.What cheese can never be yours? Nacho cheese.What did the Buffalo say to his little boy when he dropped him off at school? Bison.Have you ever heard of a music group called Cellophane? They mostly wrap.Why does Superman gets invited to dinners? Because he is a Supperhero.How was Rome split in two? With a pair of Ceasars.The shovel was a ground breaking invention.A scarecrow says, "This job isn't for everyone, but hay, it's in my jeans."A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog stand and says, "Make me one with everything."Did you hear about the guy who lost the left side of his body? He's alright now.What do you call a girl with one leg that's shorter than the other? Ilene.I did a theatrical performance on puns. It was a play on words.What do you do with a dead chemist? You barium.I bet the person who created the door knocker won a Nobel prize.Towels can’t tell jokes. They have a dry sense of humor.Two birds are sitting on a perch and one says "Do you smell fish?"Do you know sign language? You should learn it, it’s pretty handy.What do you call a beautiful pumpkin? GOURDgeous.Why did one banana spy on the other? Because she was appealing.What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef.What do you call a cow with two legs? Lean beef.What do you call a cow with all of its legs? High steaks.A cross eyed teacher couldn’t control his pupils.After the accident, the juggler didn’t have the balls to do it.I used to be afraid of hurdles, but I got over it.To write with a broken pencil is pointless.I read a book on anti-gravity. I couldn’t put it down.I couldn’t remember how to throw a boomerang but it came back to me.What should you do if you are cold? Stand in the corner. It’s 90 degrees.How does Moses make coffee? Hebrews it.The energizer bunny went to jail. He was charged with battery.What did the alien say to the pitcher of water? Take me to your liter.What happens when you eat too many spaghettiOs? You have a vowel movement.The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray was a seasoned veteran.Sausage puns are the wurst.What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.Why shouldn’t you trust atoms? They make up everything.What’s it called when you have too many aliens? Extraterrestrials.Want to hear a pizza joke? Nevermind, it’s too cheesy.What do cows tell each other at bedtime? Dairy tales.Why can’t you take inventory in Afghanistan? Because of the tally ban.Why didn’t the lion win the race? Because he was racing a cheetah.What happens to nitrogen when the sun comes up? It becomes daytrogen.What’s it called when you put a cow in an elevator? Raising the steaks.What’s america’s favorite soda? Mini soda.Why did the tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing.What kind of car does a sheep drive? Their SuBAHHru.What do you call a french pig? Porque.What do you call a line of rabbits marching backwards? A receding hairline.Why don’t vampires go to barbecues? They don’t like steak.How do trees access the internet? They log on.Why should you never trust a train? They have loco motives.Is your refrigerator running? Better go catch it.The future,the present and the past walked into a bar.Things got a little tense.I saw an ad for burial plots, and thought to myself this is the last thing I need.I just found out I'm colorblind. The diagnosis came completely out of the purple.I'd tell you a chemistry joke but I know I wouldn't get a reaction.Have you ever tried to eat a clock? It's very time consuming.I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.Read enough of our funny puns, and you'll be punstoppable.Yesterday a clown held the door for me. It was a nice jester.I used to go fishing with Skrillex but he kept dropping the bass.The wedding was so emotional even the cake was in tiers.What does a house wear? A dress.Why can't bicycles stand up on their own? Since they are 2 tired.I owe a lot to the sidewalks. They’ve been keeping me off the streets for years.Imagine if alarm clocks hit you back in the morning.It would be truly alarming.Why is a skeleton a bad liar? You can see right through it.What do you receive when you ask a lemon for help? Lemonaid.A man sued an airline company after it lost his luggage. Sadly, he lost his case.What does a dog say when he sits down on a piece of sandpaper? Ruff!What do you call crystal clear urine? 1080pee.At my boxing club there is only one punch bag. I hate waiting for the punch line!An untalented gymast walks into a bar.Einstein developed a theory about space, and it was about time too.I was accused of being a plagiarist, their word not mine.My friends say they don’t like skeleton puns. I should put more backbone into them.Let me FILL you in on my trip to the dentist.Why does the singer of Cheap Thrills not want us to Sia?Traveling on a flying carpet is a rugged experience.Cartoonist found dead in home. Details are sketchy.The old woman who lived in a shoe wasn’t the sole owner,there were strings attached.Did you hear about the crime in the parking garage? It was wrong on so many levels.My new diet consists of aircraft, its a bit plane.Have you ever tried to milk a cow which has been cut in half? Udder madness.Why are there fences on graveyards? Because people are dying to get in.Why do trees have so many friends? They branch out.Models of dragons are not to scale.Never discuss infinity with a mathematician, they can go on about it forever.Why don’t some couples go to the gym? Because some relationships don’t work out.Don’t trust people that do acupuncture, they’re back stabbers.A persistent banker wouldn’t stop hitting on me so I asked him to leave me a loan.I ordered a book of puns last week, but i didn't get it.People say i look better without glasses but i just can't see it.Don’t judge a meal by the look of the first course. It’s very souperficial.I heard Donald Trump is going to ban shredded cheese, and make America grate again.I relish the fact that you’ve mustard the strength to ketchup to me.What do you call a young musician? A minor.Police were called to a daycare yesterday, where a 2-year-old was resisting a rest.If artists wear sketchers do linguists wear converse?I changed my iPod name to Titanic. It’s syncing now.Jill broke her finger today, but on the other hand she was completely fine.I smeared some ketchup all over my eyes once. It was a bad idea in Heinz- sight.I flipped a coin over an issue the other day, it was quite the toss-up.I got hit in the head with a can of soda? Luckily it was a soft drink.I heard that the post office was a male dominated industry.Why isn’t suntanning an Olympic sport? Because the best you can ever get is bronze.What do you mean June is over? Julying.Why is Kylo Ren so angry? Beause he’s always Ben Solo.These reversing cameras are great. Since I got one I haven’t looked back.The candle quit his job because he felt burned out.Our maintenance guy lost his legs on the job, now he’s just a handyman.Going to bed with music on gave him sound sleep.A magic tractor drove down the road and turned into a field!I met some aliens from outer space. They were pretty down to earth.The plane flight brought my acrophobia to new heights.My phone has to wear glasses ever since it lost its contacts.I, for one, like Roman numerals.How do mountains see? They peak.The show was called Spongebob Squarepants but everyone knows the star was Patrick.This is not alcohol, water you thinking?!Novice pirates make terrible singers because they can’t hit the high seas.I told my friend she drew her eyebrows too high. She seemed surprised.The earth's rotation really makes my day.If I buy a bigger bed will I have more or less bedroom?Two peanuts were walking in a tough neighborhood and one of them was a-salted.Two ropes were walking in a tough neighborhood and one of them was a-frayed.What kind of shoes do ninjas wear? Sneakers.I got a master’s degree in being ignored; no one seems to care.After eating the ship, the sea monster said, I can’t believe I ate the hull thing.Smaller babies may be delivered by stork but the heavier ones need a crane.A bartender broke up with her boyfriend, but he kept asking her for another shot.I had a pun about insanity but then I lost it.He couldn’t work out how to fix the washing machine so he threw in the towel.Why does the man want to buy nine rackets? Cause tennis too many.Why don’t cannibals eat clowns? Because they taste funny.If I got paid in lots of Pennes I would make loads of pasta.I thought I saw a spider on my laptop, but my friend said it was just a bug.A doctor broke his leg while auditioning for a play.Luckily he still made the cast.The tale of the haunted refrigerator was chilling.Why are frogs so happy? They eat whatever bugs them.If you wear cowboy clothes are you ranch dressing?I was addicted to the hokey pokey but I turned myself around.Simba, you're falling behind. I must ask you to Mufasa.I bought a wooden whistle but it wooden whistle.The bomb didn't want to go off. So it refused.The sore mummy needed a Cairo-practorI feel sorry for shopping carts. They’re always getting pushed around.The display of still-life art was not at all moving!On Halloween October is nearly Octover.Pig puns are so boaring.Why couldn’t the dead car drive into the cluttered garage? Lack of vroom.What do you call Samsung's security guards? Guardians of the Galaxy.What does Superman have in his drink? Just ice.How does a penguin build it’s house? Igloos it together.Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.The safe was invented by a cop and a robber. It was quite a combination.What do you do when balloons are hurt? You helium.One hat says to the other, "You stay here, I’ll go on a head."How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh? Ten tickles.When does a farmer dance? When he drops the beet.When the scientist wanted to clone a deer, he bought a doe it yourself kit.If people ask how many puns I made in Germany I reply, "nein"Did you hear about the invention of the white board? It was remarkable.If Donald Trump becomes president, America is going toupee.Can February March? No, but April May.I hate Russian Dolls, they are so full of themselves.What do you do to an open wardrobe? You closet.The magazine about ceiling fans went out of business due to low circulation.So what if I don’t know what apocalypse means? It’s not the end of the world!Some aquatic mammals at the zoo escaped. It was otter chaos.A backwards poem writes inverse.Getting the ability to fly would be so uplifting.I asked my friend, Nick, if he had 5 cents I could borrow. But he was Nicholas.The soundtrack for Blackfish was orcastrated.Where do you imprison a skeleton? In a rib cage.There’s a fine line between the numerator and the denominator.I used to work at a hairdresser but i just wasn’t cut out for it.Why is metal and a microwave a match made in heaven? When they met, sparks flew.The lumberjack loved his new computer. He especially enjoyed logging in.Garbage collectors are rubbish drivers!When the church relocated it had an organ transplant.Lettuce take a moment to appreciate this salad pun.The scarecrow get promoted because he was outstanding in his field.Sleeping comes so naturally to me, I could do it with my eyes closed.I never understood odorless chemicals, they never make scents.What do prisoners use to call each other? Cell phones.Why was dumbo sad? He felt irrelephant.When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.Old skiers never die. They just go down hill.Did you hear about the pun that was actually funny? Neither have we.You know why I like egg puns? They crack me up!Want to hear a pun about ghosts? That's the spirit!I used to make clown shoes… which was no small feat.Did you hear about the human cannonball? Too bad he got fired!What happened when the magician got mad? She pulled her hare out!Did you hear about the circus that caught on fire? It was in tents.The one day of the week that eggs are definitely afraid of is Fry-day.A hen will always leave her house through the proper eggs-it.The man who ate too many eggs was considered to be an egg-oholic.All the hens consider the chef to be very mean because he beats the eggs.Eskimos keep all of their chilled eggs inside of the egg-loo.Under the doctor’s advice, the hen is laying off eggs for a few weeks.I had a real problem making a hard-boiled egg this morning until I cracked it.The best time of day to eat eggs is at the crack of dawn.The chicken coop only had 2 doors since if it had 4 doors it would be a sedan.Crossing a cement mixer and a chicken will result in you getting a brick layer.That reckless little egg always seems to egg-celerate when he sees the light turn yellow.Hopefully this egg pun doesn't make your brain too fried or scrambled.Don't ever have multiple people wash dishes together. It's hard for them to stay in sink.People using umbrellas always seem to be under the weather.I dissected an iris today. It was an eye-opening experience.What was Forrest Gump’s email password? 1forrest1.What planet is like a circus? Saturn, it has three rings!Before my father died he worked in a circus as a stilt walker. I used to look up to him.Why did the lion eat the tightrope walker? He wanted a well-balanced meal!I really look up to my tall friends.I hate negative numbers and will stop at nothing to avoid them.Long fairy tales have a tendency to dragon.It takes guts to make a sausage.Why shouldn’t you give Elsa a balloon? Because she’ll “Let It Go”!What do you call cheese that’s not yours? Nacho cheese!How do you make a tissue dance? Put a little boogie in itWhat do you get when a witch goes to the beach? A sand-witch!Where do cows go on Friday nights? To the mooooo-vies!What did the mommy tomato say to the baby tomato? C’mon, ketchup!Why did the banana go to the doctor? Because he wasn’t “peeling” well!What did one snowman say to the other? Do you smell carrots?Why didn’t the skeleton go to the dance? Because he had no body to go with!What is a pirate’s favorite letter? Arrrrrr!What does a piece of toast wear to bed? His pa-JAM-as!What does one eye say to the other eye? Something between us smellsWhy did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide!What happens when an egg laughs? It cracks up!What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear!Why didn’t the teddy bear want dessert? Because he was stuffed!Why can’t you tell a joke while ice skating? Because the ice might crack up!What do you call a pig that knows karate? A pork chop!What’s mommy and daddy’s favorite ride at the carnival? A married-go-round!How did Cookie Monster feel after eating all the cookies? Pretty crummy!What do you call a skunk who flies in a helicopter? A smelly-copter!What do you get when you shake a cow? A milkshake!How do you catch a squirrel? Climb up a tree and act like a nut!Why did the bee get married? Because she found her honey!What did the ocean say to their airplane? Nothing, it just waved!Where do eskimo pigs live? In pig-loos.What’s a dinosaur called when it’s sleeping? A dino-snore!What did the cookie say to the annoying cookie? Crumb on!Why did Mickey Mouse go up in space? To find Pluto!What does Olaf eat for lunch? Icebergers!What letter is always wet? The C!How do you throw a space party? You planet.How was Rome split in two? With a pair of Ceasars.Nope. Unintended.The shovel was a ground breaking invention, but everyone was blow away by the leaf blower.A scarecrow says, "This job isn't for everyone, but hay, it's in my jeans."A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog stand and says "Make me one with everything."Did you hear about the guy who lost the left side of his body? He's alright now.What do you call a girl with one leg that's shorter than the other? Ilene.The broom swept the nation away.I did a theatrical performance on puns. It was a play on words.What does a clock do when it's hungry? It goes back for seconds.What do you do with a dead chemist? You barium.I bet the person who created the door knocker won a Nobel prize.Towels can’t tell jokes. They have a dry sense of humor.Two birds are sitting on a perch and one says “Do you smell fish?”Did you hear about the cheese factory that exploded in france? There was nothing but des brie.Do you know sign language? You should learn it, it’s pretty handy.What do you call a beautiful pumpkin? GOURDgeous.Why did one banana spy on the other? Because she was appealing.What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef.What do you call a cow with two legs? Lean beef.What do you call a cow with all of its legs? High steaks.A cross eyed teacher couldn’t control his pupils.After the accident, the juggler didn’t have the balls to do it.I used to be afraid of hurdles, but I got over it.To write with a broken pencil is pointless.I read a book on anti-gravity. I couldn’t put it down.I couldn’t remember how to throw a boomerang but it came back to me.What did the buffalo say to his son? Bison.What should you do if you’re cold? Stand in the corner. It’s 90 degrees.How does Moses make coffee? Hebrews it.The energizer bunny went to jail. He was charged with battery.What did the alien say to the pitcher of water? Take me to your liter.What happens when you eat too many spaghettiOs? You have a vowel movement.The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray was a seasoned veteran.Sausage puns are the wurst.What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.How did Darth Vader know what luke was getting him for his birthday? He could sense his presence.Why shouldn’t you trust atoms? They make up everything.What’s the difference between a bench, a fish, and a bucket of glue? You can’t tune a bench but you can tuna fish. I bet you got stuck on the bucket of glue part.What’s it called when you have too many aliens? Extraterrestrials.Want to hear a pizza joke? Nevermind, it’s too cheesy.What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.What do cows tell each other at bedtime? Dairy tales.Why can’t you take inventory in Afghanistan? Because of the tally ban.Why didn’t the lion win the race? Because he was racing a cheetah.Why did the man dig a hole in his neighbor’s backyard and fill it with water? Because he meant well.What happens to nitrogen when the sun comes up? It becomes daytrogen.What’s it called when you put a cow in an elevator? Raising the steaks.What’s america’s favorite soda? Mini soda.Why did the tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing.What kind of car does a sheep drive? A lamborghini, but if that breaks down they drive their SuBAHHru.
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Holiday Movie Challenge Prompt and Badge lists
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Hellooooo shippers of all Marvel ships!
This marks the kickoff to HEA (Happily Ever After) Marvel’s Holiday Movie Challenge! If you don’t know us, we’re a group of crafty mods under the direction of our own personal Pepper Potts ( @betheflame ), so really, this is going to be great fun, and we hope that you’ll join us!
A brief intro to our event:
At no point do you need to sign up for this event. You are not beholden to post anything, even if you say that you will. This is a guiltless, fun event!
Pick a prompt, any prompt!
Interpret the prompt any which way you wish. We have prompt examples available for people to peruse on our blog and on our Discord, if you’re in need of a few examples.
Write (or art, podfic, or moodboard, etc.) any ship you want, even polyamorous relationships of any number or type (even if the prompts contain just two characters!).
Include additions from our badge list if you wish! They function like video game achievements (think World of Warcraft, or Xbox) and you will be rewarded with little achievement badges designed by the wonderful @kocuria that you can display anywhere you please.
The collection will open on November 1st and close on December 24th.
Around then we will provide a Google form to submit the badge info and other info for your fic.
BUT REMEMBER! All contributions to this event must have a Happily Ever After as per holiday movie standards (doesn’t mean there can’t be tons of angst and pain in the middle, though).
For any further info, please check out our Holiday Movie Challenge page, our Prompt and Badge page, our Frequently Asked Questions page, or ask us questions on Tumblr, Twitter, or on Discord! (Links on Tumblr.)
But that’s enough mod-splaining, let’s take a look under the cut at the prompts and badges that we’ve been eagerly waiting to share with you!
*We have included both (1) images to download and save as well as (2) text for those who prefer or need that medium! The images are at the bottom of this post.
Here’s a separate post with just the images.
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Prompts
1. Character A is a big city lawyer who swore to never go back to their hometown. Suddenly, their grandfather dies and leaves them the family Christmas Tree farm. They’re determined to go back and shut down the farm. Character B runs the farm and is determined to save it.
2. After losing their job as an au pair in New York, Character A accepts a position as a nanny in the castle of a small European principality no one has ever heard of. Character B is a single parent & ruler of the country.
3. When architect and Christmas amateur Character A finds themselves hosting their family for Christmas, they recruit holiday coordinator Character B to bring holiday joy to their home.
4. A high-powered executive reconsiders their priorities when car trouble leads them to Christmas Valley, a town in love with Christmas.
5. Two new students at nearby university, Character A and Character B, meet the first day of classes and become study partners. A local bookstore becomes a close part of their lives as their relationship grows.
6. Character A - a famous author who writes about how to stay single - is forced to look after their niece and nephew over the holidays. With the help of their Christmas-loving neighbor, Character B, they learn to find love and the Christmas spirit.
7. A young royal (Character A) escapes their entourage to explore New York City over Christmas. They meet Character B who shows the beautiful stranger their side of the city.
8. As Christmas approaches, Character A (the Lizzie Bennet character), a New York event planner, is sent to a quaint, small town to organize their holiday festival. When they arrive, they find Character B (the Darcy character), a high-profile billionaire lacking in holiday spirit, in the process of selling the charming estate they hoped to use as a venue.
9. An anxious bride-to-be (Character A, “bride” is non-gender assigned) throws in with broken-hearted and cynical Character B and a happily married couple for an emergency ride to NYC from New England.
10. Character A has to go to their cousin’s holiday wedding that’s taking place a year to the day they were left at the altar. Unable to face going alone, they con Character B into going “just as friends.”
11. When a restless young married Character A is granted a wish by a Christmas Angel to be single again, they soon discover their new life isn't what they bargained for, and embark on a quest to win Character B back.
12. Character A and Character B have been archrivals ever since a memorable fight over a coveted Christmas recital solo in elementary school. Now adults, they work side-by-side at the same school where they still constantly compete over everything. As the holiday season approaches, the entire school is getting into the spirit with the annual fundraising festival, which will feature an exciting new event - a teacher Christmas Cookie Bake-Off, judged by a tough five-star chef.
13. Character A inherited a toy factory. The town needs the factory to stay open, but they have no interest in being tied to their hometown. Especially when they find out that Character B - who broke their heart in high school - is the town’s mayor.
14. A WWII era nurse (Character A) is transported in time to 2019 and meets Character B who helps them discover the bonds of family and that the true meaning of Christmas is timeless.
15. Stranded at an airport at Christmastime, Character A accepts a ride from Character B, who has just rented the last car in town.
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Badges
Length
500
1k
5k
10k
15k
20k+
Ships
We’ll be custom-making the badges for whatever ship you choose to bring to the table! (Just keep in mind our limits: no underage, no non-con, no nazis.) Popular ship or rarepair+, this group of multishipping mods would love to see whatever you choose to write!
General fic elements
Baking/Cooking
Needing a passport
Non-abled character
Neuro-diverse character
Passes the Bechdel Test
Set outside the United States
Addresses a legitimate societal ill/charity/cause
Character learns a craft as a coping mechanism
Someone eats popcorn in a dramatic scene
Mention or include a Hallmark store or movie
Character is tracing their genealogy
Character writes fanfiction
Character learns a new skill
NSFW
A/B/O
Sentinels & Guides
Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Historical AU: Scottish or Irish clans
Historical AU: Ancient Rome or Greece
Historical AU: Regency or Victorian
Historical AU: American West
Inclusion of animal other than a dog, cat, or horse
‘It Takes a Village’ (town or community helps them hook up)
Use of holiday other than Christmas - including non-winter holidays
One sentence or more spoken in a language other than Russian
Discussion on classic literature and/or classic rock ‘n’ roll
Write a pairing you’ve never written before
Holiday Movie and general tropes
Inversion/Subversion of any trope
Main character has a cuddly dog
Presence of a small town festival
'And they were roommates!'
Fake Relationship
Only One Bed
Snowball fight
Ice skating or Ice hockey
Interrupted first kiss
Stories from childhood
Sassy/nosy best friend
Conniving co-worker
Kid as matchmaker
Single parent
Holiday specific
Yule log
Playing Dreidel
Holiday movie pick: Die Hard
Use of the phrase “Santa! I know him!”
Home Alone style shenanigans, serious or not
Trying to balance an egg on the Solstice
A non-Jewish character mixes up Passover and Hanukkah
Writing format/style
Outsider POV
First Person POV
Text Message/Chat Room
3+ perspectives in one story
Dialogue Only
Epistolary
Avengers stereotypes/fanon
Thor is foreign
Bots as children
Tony has insomnia
Tony Is Worthy (of Mjolnir)
Tony as a non-Iron Man mechanic
Ceiling vent Clint Barton
Budapest Explanation
Natasha is a scary spy/likes sneaking
Super-Nanny Phil Coulson
Peter Parker being a klutz
Peter and Shuri team up on Tony
Bruce has anger management problems
Avengers Movie Night
Darcy uses her taser
Bucky speaks Russian
Steve and/or Bucky need to play catch up on modern and pop culture
Shrunkyclunks (Modern Steve/CA & non-Avenger Bucky)
Shrinkyclinks (Modern Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier & non-CA Steve)
Side Character speaking role (any apply): Dr. Doom, Reed Richards, Galactus, Ghost Rider, Frank Castle, any Inhuman, any Runaway, Sif or one of the Warriors Three, Frigga, Amora or Lorelei
Set in a Marvel canon universe (even if not canon-compliant), for example: 1872, Noir
Mod Requests
Supernatural creatures
Gender swapped MC
Someone wears a tiara
Someone wears a kimono
Long-distance relationship
Snuggling to keep warm
1940s AU
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Disclaimer: The above plot summaries in the prompt list belong to numerous movies in the Hallmark catalogue. We do not claim to own them, and are not making any money off of this, nor are we being paid by Hallmark to run this event.
Additionally, as of December 14th, 2019, we are no longer associating with Hallmark even in name, due to their poor choice to cave to pressure and remove an advertisement of a gentle, loving same-sex kiss occurring at their own wedding. We cannot and will not abide that.
#heamarvel#hallmarkholidaychallenge#Hallmark Challenge#marvel comics#mcu#marvel 616#marvel ultimates#deadpool#x-men#mod post#prompt post#badge post#mod: juuls#holiday movie challenge
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updated character list, because i’m procrastinating Work and also I've made major changes since the last one, woops
Adele Adler
the handler, the woman in charge. She runs relay between all four teams, doling out missions, handling issues that arrive on and off base, and acting as go between for the Teams and the Council. she’s supposed to keep her distance between them, and had managed that for all the teams before now, but…the men are growing on her! she has a surprising soft spot for most of them, and finds herself more and more willing to turn blind eyes on their shenanigans.
_-_
West Team
Jeremy - Speedster
a rough upstart from the streets of Los Angeles. he spent nearly six years bouncing from city to city, and did a very large stint running drugs for a prominent crime organization. with hands that have been broken more than a few times and a serious case of ADHD, paired with a short temper and a habit of fighting dirty, he’s a firecracker out on the field.
Joshua - Sharpshooter
born in Roturoa, but more often found in the wilds away from other people. if it moves, he’s been paid to hunt it before. perpetually tired and with a bad eye from an old shooting injury, it can sometimes be surprising that he’s so fierce out on the field. especially when it comes to people bothering what’s his.
Feliciano - Rouge
served in the Iradium War just outside of Rome, briefly, and made a living as a bodyguard for a while. he’s used to being neither seen or heard as a result, and it’s led to a very slow process in finding a place for himself on the team. that being said, he’s got a fondness for making poorly timed jokes on the field, directly before stabbing an opponent in the neck.
Lukas - Techie
a former teacher at the SPFOT, where he created the original prototype for prosthetic limbs fueled by iradium. knows more about the strange element than anyone else, and found himself working for the GSC after being framed for the murder of a former colleague. you’ll often find him building devices that will stop him from having to get involved with hand in hand combat.
Deiter - Doctor
after losing everything that he owned during WW2, Deiter found himself working as a black market doctor, trading treatment for food and places to stay. extremely fond of the team that he has now, and very invested in making sure that they consistently come back in one piece - despite the occasional code disruptions that occur.
Jamie - General
from a small town to the fields of the Iradium War, he’s been fighting from the moment he had the chance. close contact with constant iradum boom’s have left him with some pretty bad hearing loss, and a strong dislike for explosives work. excels in planning and finding the strong points in his comrades.
_-_
East Team
Scout - Scout
grew up in Boston, where he was raised by a single mother, with five younger siblings. between the ADHD and the dyslexia, he’s lacking in confidence, and making up for it in bluster. a proud owner of pigeon wings, an iradium baseball bat, and a true master at sleight of hands, including coin tricks.
Jane - Guard
a former soldier in WW2, who came away from the fight with some hearing issues. very loud and a little too blunt for most people’s likings. has eagle wings, but one of them’s broken and held in place with a handmade strap. takes great pride in his job. very good at sewing, and gets a kick out of Scout’s jokes even if he won’t admit it.
Corentin - Thief
he was drafted into the Korean War, where he served a grueling eight months before being attacked by military trained dog-horses and sent home. a chronic insomniac who never settled back into civilian life, and has an abysmally childish sense of humor. usually tasked with cooking meals on his team. lovebird wings.
Ollie - Arsonist
a firebug from Daytona who was picked up by Seamus, and not Adele. really wants to do his job well and not fuck things up, but has a case of chronic bad luck. paired up with Scout, they become the gruesome twosome, and cause prank-Hell for the rest of the team. collects lighters. sparrow wings.
Seamus - Gunner
an alcoholic with a penchant for creating updated guns, and a fondness for loud music. he/s a great cook but never bothers with it. got caught in a car bomb when he was younger, and has pretty bad back issues now. Ollie’s proving to be good for him. great skua wings. (subclass - Builder)
Sasha - Healer
a doctor with a love for guns, and a history with a cult in Siberia. she’s an optimistic person, though large crowds make her a little nervous. has more common sense than the ret of her team mates put together, drinks vodka in her tea, and has vulture wings. heavily linked to a hypothetical angel of death. (subclass - gun enthusiast)
_-_
North Team
Tony - Runner
local loudmouth of North team. you cannot pay this boy to be quiet, and he’s both stupid as a bag of bricks and also incredibly intelligent. from New York, where he had a lovely stint robbing the Italian mafia blind with his husband, Rizzo, until they were both shot up and picked up by Adele. part of a modern day bonnie and clyde.
Rizzo - Demolitions Expert
pretty adorable if you can get past the fact that he’s incredibly crass and has no filter between mind and mouth. Hopelessly in love with his husband, even if no one else realizes they’re married. he will burn water if you let him cook, so maybe best if you don’t.
Loto - Archer
from the Louisiana bayous, and great with a cross bow. has an old coonhound-horse that sleeps in bed with him, but who Loto claims to hate. often forgets that he needs to actually go to the kitchen and get food, and that the food he needs is easily available.
Braeburn - Mechanic
the longest running member of any of the active teams. has a prosthetic arm. really fond of sweet tea, and has more idea of what’s going on than he’s willing to let on. bound up in so many contracts, it’s literally woven into his Intent.
(N/A - Medic)
(N/A - Assassin)
_-_
South Team
Elias - Soldier
a big softy, under all that gruffness. a pretty shy guy, and any kindness will make him flustered. was pulled into a unit of winged soldiers for the Iradium War on a technicality. spent four years traveling around the states with BJ. has a severe case of HEARTsickness. greater frigate wings.
BJ - Hurricane
left an abusive home at fourteen and has been on the streets since. took a contract with GSC to get Elias medical treatment. dyslexic, and often described by his team as “being a lot”. a baseball enthusiast from Orlando, who’s basically Florida Man with hummingbird wings.
Olek - Firepower
can probably punch you hard enough to get a KO, but fights with an Iradium powered flare-gun that does serious damage. from Russia, with a strict I won’t tell you anything about my past policy, and a bizarre fondness for bears. great at giving hugs when you’re down. curly goose wings.
Jakob - Maker
has a highly advanced prosthetic eye. losing the vision in his other eye. the guy who picked up BJ and Elias. has a real morality struggle between the job he does, and his own views on Mercy. probably needs a hug more than he lets on. rhode island red wings.
Jules - Spy
one of the longest lasting members of the Compass teams. served in WW2, and the Iradium War. genderfluid, and doesn’t remember their real name. walks a thin line between being distant and flirtatious as fuck, with the bad habit of falling asleep while he’s smoking. used to have cardinal wings
Gabe - Hunter
a former worker on an Alaskan fishing boat, he’s a remarkable shot with a rifle and can catch most anything in traps including humans. head strong and doesn’t take direction well. falcon wings. (sub class - Field Medic)
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A Slice of Boterkoek
A scene involving my version of Siebren and Selene.
The two had met in passing outside between classes, but had not had a true conversation since the impromptu lunch and chocolate moment two weeks ago. In the time between, Siebren had consumed anything and everything he could find on reputable sources about schizophrenia, especially regarding treatments. He had missed this feeling of a new interest and voracious desire for more information, but had decided midway through to keep things to himself unless she brought it up. He didn’t want to seem prying, and the simple accidental mention of her sister nearly sent her into tears, he did not want to be the cause of that.
Siebren had no real skill in the kitchen past easy, ready-made meals, so he decided to stop by a bakery on the way to campus and pick up one of his favorites to share with his new acquaintance—could he call her that? He had always been the odd child in any group, and any time he had attempted to gain friends, they had always shunned him for daring to rejoin the group the next day. But the word fit. It felt right. And unlike most, she didn’t seem to judge him on anything.
It was that reason that led him to choose the boterkoek from the display case. And, in his purely professional observation, food tended to be a better social lubricant.
The third time meeting, and you’re bringing her a cake, his inner voice noted. Aren’t you afraid she’ll take the calorie-laden dessert as an offense? Afraid she’ll state it’ll spoil her girlish figure?
Siebren silenced the voice with a shake of his head. What would one small slice do? Selene clearly enjoyed food, but perhaps this “social experiment” of his might teach her a more epicurean approach. How to savor, how to taste the different notes and how they became a symphony together. He snorted and shook his head again. Back to music. It circled back around to music.
He found himself walking perfectly in time to the synth music playing through his headphones, fighting the urge to let more of his body express itself. Walking in a regular rhythm was socially acceptable; flat-out “grooving” would only earn him more stares than he usually received for his height and build. He did allow himself a small head bob and a shoulder swing here and there but otherwise tried to keep his mask of normalcy firmly planted. He had started to turn towards the entrance to the building when he caught motion out of the corner of his eye. He initially dismissed it as a bird of some sort but as he turned slightly, noticed the side to side motion couldn’t be duplicated by a bird, save a large one like a crane, and those were only found in zoos in this area. He turned to face the motion fully and found Selene kneeling and waving furiously at him. He smiled, plucked an earbud out and waved back with the same hand. He noted that she had left her hair down, this being the first time he could truly see the length--and, his inner voice noted, how the sunlight caught the highlights in her auburn hair.
He shook the voice silent again, replaced the earbud, and turned back to the door, Selene’s waving returning to the previous intensity. He faced her again, pointed towards the door, and nodded in the same direction.
She shook her head, moved her arms in a large “no”, and pointed to a spot across from her on the grass.
He shook his head with exaggerated movements, and pointed back to the door.
She scowled, planted her hands on her hips, and settled into a deeper kneel.
He narrowed his eyes, but Selene had done all but put down roots. He clearly wasn’t going to win. He sighed, turned on his heels, and walked over to where she sat on the grass, dodging a flock of freshmen en route to their classes, plucking out his remaining earbud and pocketing both.
“I thought we could sit under the stars,” Selene began as he approached the edge of her blanket, the opposite edge pinned down by her bookbag.
He loomed over her, feeling the nearly-ever-present frown begin to tug at his face. “It’s daytime,” he replied dryly.
“Star, then,” she replied, not missing a beat. “The Sun is a star, yes? And technically we are under the stars, the Sun is just bright enough to outdo their light.” She smiled up at him, the smile unwavering until Siebren sighed and sat on an open corner of the blanket. “You look like you could use some outside time anyways.”
He casually ignored the dig at his complexion and brought the bag with the confection around to the front, having it join the spread Selene already had set out. There were slices of various cheeses both soft and hard that joined different types of sausages and salami on two plates. Next to those on other plates were both fresh and dried fruits and two different types of bread, one a sliced baguette, the other a loaf clearly intended to have chunks pulled off as needed. “What inspired the charcuterie al fresco?”
“I wanted something different. Routine is nice, but it’s also nice to change things up every now and then. Agreed?”
Siebren stayed silent as he untied the knot in the bag and pulled out the boterkoek. That point of view was almost the polar opposite of his own. Routines were comfy, predictable. Inside was still; outside was loud, windy, messy. This change would probably throw his entire day off.
“Ooh, what’s that?” she asked, adopting the same child-like gaze she had when she noticed the projector when they had first met.
“Dessert,” he replied simply. She fixed him with a look, and he returned it with like intensity. “Dessert means after the meal. And after the meal, I will share with you one of my favorite things.”
She snorted in annoyance, but his look remained unwavering. She grumbled, grabbed a slice of Calabrese salami, folded it, and inserted the entire thing into her mouth, chewing with exaggerated motions. He tried to remain stern, but he could feel one corner of his mouth pulling up into a smirk. He waited until she had finished her angry chewing before crossing his legs in front of him in a more comfortable position, reaching out for one of the softer cheeses, brie, he believed. It was a young brie, the rind not quite sitting in his nose like it should. Still, it was a good compliment to the Genoa salami and...sourdough?
“I got a 90 on my last math test,” she started, grabbing a sip of water from her bottle. “He said he’d give it to my lab teacher for me to work through and maybe get some points back.”
He smiled. “Glad you took my advice on seeking accommodations.” He plucked a grape off the bunch and popped it into his mouth. A bit of sweet to offset the abundance of savory. “Let me know if it helps.”
She nodded, mouth full of a bite of bread. “It seems to be,” she answered after swallowing. “I don’t like the fact that math is this hard for me.”
He shrugged. “I am bad at expressing myself in writing. I have trouble keeping my numbers straight, but I’ve learned strategies over the years.” He rolled up a slice of cheese, then glanced over at her. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all. And perhaps your mistakes come from your state of constant hurry.”
Selene stared up at him, pulling the cheese cube away from her tongue. “And what do you mean by that?”
He leaned back, placing the cheese on his lap, letting it unroll. “Think back to the first day we met.”
“I was trying to get some food in my stomach before my class. I hadn’t had breakfast that day, so I was getting something to keep me from keeling over.”
“Ah, there it is. Time management.”
She adjusted the way she was sitting. “You’re not trying to psychoanalyze me, are you?”
“Budding astrophysicist, not psychologist. Or psychiatrist, I can never remember which. But no, your problem is time management. You have little to no sense of time...” he paused slightly, catching the glare over her water bottle, “and when it’s time to do something, it has to happen now or else. Have you considered a planner?”
“Use them for two months, then forget where I put them. Next option.”
Siebren inclined an eyebrow. He was not used to having a suggestion so quickly dismissed. “The calendar on your phone, perhaps?”
“I’ve never used it,” she stated, tearing off another hunk of bread.
“Perhaps now is the time to start?” he proposed, a hint of amusement in his voice.
She sighed, pulled her phone out of her bag, and tossed it across the blanket to land in front of him.
He sighed as well, adopting a pose he more commonly had when listening to underclassmen explain why they needed more time on an assignment to professors in the department. He purposely took other assignments that didn’t involve being a TA for that reason. “I was going to talk you through, but if you’d like me to set up the first few reminders…”
“Reminders for what? When to get to class?”
“No,” he muttered, slightly disturbed she had no security on her phone--perhaps the next lesson? “Important things. Like remembering to eat. To take a drink of water. To use the bathroom…” He glanced up, her ice blue eyes studying him. “I get caught up in my work too. There have been days where I’ve forgotten to eat and drink anything, and I’ve paid dearly for it.” Her eyes sized him up as he said that. “Let’s start simple. When do you wake up?”
“When do I have to, or when I should?”
He snorted in amusement. “When you should be up. An attempt to retrain your mind into useful habits.”
She plucked two grapes and squirreled them into her cheeks. “My first class is at eight. I live on campus, though.”
He nodded. “And what is your morning routine?”
“Routine?”
“Surely you have things you do every morning? Take a shower, brush your teeth—” he rubbed his tongue over his front teeth subconsciously, noting that he had neglected his own teeth this morning “—have a cup of coffee with hagelslag…” She stared at him with half a slice of sausage in her teeth. “Buttered bread with chocolate sprinkles.”
“For breakfast? That’s considered a normal breakfast?”
He nodded and made a mental note to stop by the store and pick up another box for later. “Do you eat breakfast?”
She shook her head. “It’s not normally a thing. I’m not hungry until like two hours after I wake up, and it’s just easier to skip until lunch.” She stared down at the plates, consolidating the six down to three.
“Perhaps you could consider a breakfast shake of sorts? I have a lovely recipe for one using cooked oats, peanut butter, a banana, seasonal fruit...fix it before you leave and sip on it as you go.”
“I’ll think about it.” She made a sandwich using a slice of baguette, sausage, Swiss cheese, and a grape, somehow managing to get the entire thing into her mouth. “So I have a wake up alarm and a eat breakfast alarm?”
He nodded. “Now, what is your class schedule this semester?”
She pulled a crumpled half sheet of paper from her bag, rolled up onto her knees and handed it over to him. He glanced down at the page, then back up to her.
“Yes, I know you’re judging me.”
“Not judging. Just...considering other methods. Examining at a different angle. A three-ring binder with a front pocket, for instance, is a good starting point. Reprint this schedule, slide it into the front, put notes and such inside, since you also like doing things by hand—”
“It kinda becomes muscle memory if I write things down,” she stated, picking up the train of thought easily. “I watch my classmates type stuff and...it feels like we’ve lost touch. My parents were telling me and my sister once that they were probably the last ones to be taught cursive in class.”
Siebren briefly held his breath and stole glances over at her while he inputted when and where her first class was as well as when she should be leaving to get there on time. She had simply continued talking about how she felt she was the only one in her classes who hand wrote anything aside from response papers, seemingly glossing over the mention of her sister. He let his breath out slowly and continued adding reminders and alarms as she finished her train of thought and any meat and cheese that remained on the plates, leaving a small bunch of grapes and two dried apricots on the now stacked plates. He had waited until she had finished her train of thought before taking over, explaining how each of his alerts worked, how he had learned these coping mechanisms in Secondary School and how they had carried over easily to University, requiring only slight tweaks each semester. When he had finished explaining his methods, he noted an odd silence from Selene. He stopped and glanced up.
Selene gazed up at him, head cradled in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. “Your voice...you sound like a chocolate cake.”
“Pardon?”
“Or maybe...the warm caramel drizzle on cold vanilla ice cream.”
He set the phone down and regarded her with another raised eyebrow. He had received comments on his deep baritone voice before, but had never been compared to...food before.
“I’ve heard some people compare it to a smooth bourbon, but I don’t drink.”
He blinked. “The caramel, or…”
“You have the most wonderful sounding voice,” she said, sitting up, still with a stupid grin across her face. “I could just listen to you go on and on…” she trailed off.
He cleared his throat and rolled up his sleeves. It had been a comfortable temperature outside before, had it gone up since they had started the picnic? “Uh...perhaps time for dessert?” he asked, rubbing at the back of his neck.
Her eyes redirected to the box still between them. He let out a grateful sigh at the change of attention. He opened the box while she pulled out two of the cleanest plates in the stack, then scoffed when he pulled out the slice.
“Is that all?”
No fears of losing her figure here, he chided his inner voice. “You’ve never had boterkoek?” She shook her head. “You poor thing. Let me enlighten you.” He handed her a piece, fished through the bag for a fork, and waited for her to take a bite. She practically purred as she bit into the dense cake.
“Oh...this is good...really good.” She closed her eyes as she swallowed. “How has this not made it over to the States?”
Ah, she is American. “I’m certain there’s areas it’s found. Surely there must be a ‘Little Amsterdam’ to go along with ‘Little Italy’ and ‘Chinatown’?”
“Not in my area.” She took another forkful, chewing slowly, moving it from one side of her mouth to the other. “What did you say this is again?”
“Boterkoek. Butter cake, in essence.”
“Butter cake?”
He nodded. “Butter, sugar, flour. Some add vanilla or lemon zest. I prefer it as is, but if flavor is added, almond, in my opinion, is best.”
“Is that what I’m tasting?”
He shook his head as he grabbed a slice of his own. “I figured I would start you out on what I feel is the purest take. A control, if you will.”
She raised her eyebrows. “So...this is an ongoing experiment?”
“If you will. Many data points.”
“Indeed. Are you providing the samples?”
“I can. But there must be time between the samples. As to not overwhelm the data pool.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She took another bite. “Sound scientific method. I take it you’ve done this experiment before?”
“A purely original hypothesis.”
“I see.” She gave him a sideways grin.
There was a part of him that told him he was clearly missing something socially, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Rather than focus on that, he instead turned his attention back to the dessert. If this was his control, how could he possibly improve?
“So...next week is the next sample size?”
“Perhaps,” he said, swallowing. “Perhaps I assist you with some of your issues in the interim?”
“What issues would that be?”
“Homework?” He watched something in her demeanor change. “Perhaps these meetings become more frequent, I help tutor you, I introduce you to my culture, you enlighten me to yours?”
She smiled. “That sounds fair. Can we switch off where we meet? I know you like inside, but on days like this, can we study al fresco?”
“That sounds agreeable. Tomorrow in the eatery? It’s expected to rain.”
“Sure. I’ll bring dessert.”
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Fox Rain chapter 03
@lilanette-week
@supermenteuse
@emblian
@starcrossed-stardust
I’m back! Sorry for the delay, but I needed to find information on foreign etiquette-and writing it was absurdly hard. Anyway, I started writing this chapter after the first episode of season 3. I will take some hints from that, but I still remain of the opinion I had when I started writing this: that Lila, when she first appeared, wasn’t evil. That, and in her months of absence she had been the target of a very experienced manipulator capable of using excessive means (seriously, financing a movie just to piss Lila off at the right moment?!)… And today we have the decisive moment. What, at least in my version, would have started pushing Lila toward the one villain that Papillon cannot control, but, due different circumstances, has a completely different outcome.
Chapter 03: Her Holyland
“Salima, was Vorpika hidden inside a half-Klingon, half-duck creature?!”
“I suppose we could call it that, y-”
The suite’s phone ringed, prompting Salima to distract herself-just long enough for her charge to leave.
Natalie took the pre-paid SIM card out of the old burner dumbphone, broke it, and threw it in the public thrash bin. It had done its job to try and isolate Lila Rossi from her oldest friend, and no matter if it worked or not it wouldn’t do to risk it being traced back to her. She had made the call from her car as she went to work for that reason, after all.
As she prepared to go back to Agreste’s mansion she started hoping it would work. She was painfully aware of how they were acting, and would be rather infuriating if it failed.
“WHO IN THE FUCKING WORLD WAS SUCH A DERANGED IDIOT TO PUT THIS ON LILA’S DESK?!” Lila and Marinette heard shouting.
That the shouter was Chloe Bourgeois, that she was pointing at the sheet of paper in her hand, and she had been cursing were all hints it was something unforgivable and she was beyond furious. Enough Lila glanced around for an Akuma, before grabbing the sheet from a very surprised Bourgeois and seeing it was a printout of a gossip site praising “Vorpika, the Real Wielder of the Fox Miraculous” and shitting on Volpina.
“I take I was being punked when they told me it’s a Parisian tradition to give new students some toilet paper?” Lila replied as she crumpled it, stopping Bourgeois mid-step as she was about to bolt.
“You-you aren’t getting Akumatized? I mean-”
“Just some idiot running their mouth and someone who should deal with I-know-what a better way.” Lila declared. Then, noting the whole class was there, she continued: “Speaking of idiots, I apologize for considering you one, and I think I did call you that, for taking at face value that claim about Jagged Stone. I had no idea it was believable.”
“Huff! As long as you admit you were wrong…” the mayor’s daughter replied. “But for the future, remember that in the class where everyone but two students and the homeroom teacher have been Akumatized at least once everything is believable.”
“And that makes sarcastic claims much more difficult to do.” the Italian girl replied with irritation. She had spent two whole weeks to come up with something unbelievable that would be immediate to the French, only to end in the same class as the daughter of Jagged Stone’s landlord and the girl who designed and created his Eiffel Tower glasses in an afternoon and drew the cover art for Rock Giant… What was she supposed to claim if she didn’t want to be believable? That Jagged Stone had a kitten? No, if what she had heard about his crocodile was true that could be believable too…
“Why don’t you use calling cards that declare you’re the Queen of Sheba?” Rose proposed, answering to the unvoiced question.
“For a very good reason: I hadn’t thought about it. You’re a lifesaver.”
With that Lila went to her seat, near Kudzberg, wondering why did Marinette and some of the others seemed so surprised about Bourgeois’ actions. Obviously she didn’t believe she’d let someone get Akumatized on purpose, so why she was so surprised?
As the class was being let out for the lunch break, Marinette was still having trouble believing that Chloe had been trying to stop an Akumatization. Maybe she was being unjust with her, but with everything she had pulled, especially in the four years before Marinette received her Miraculous, it was just surreal to see her trying to be helpful.
“But seriously, what’s with that stupid name? Vorpika, ha!” Chloe let out as she had been talking with Sabrina of the new hero, putting the world back in place.
“It’s Italian slang for “Fox-themed antihero from Rome”.” Marinette explained.
“And you expect me to believe it?”
“Would a confirmation from a Roman of Rome help?” Lila intervened. “The short version is that, back in the 1960s, the comic book Diabolik and its villainous protagonist made such an impression that it spawned an entire subgenre of Italian crime comics, and between that and Disney, of all publishers, getting in the game, in Italy names that end with “-ik” are reserved for villains and antiheroes of both genders, and “-ika” for female antiheroes(1). And if you add it to an actual word you can also get the character’s theme. For example, an evil guitarist would be named Chitarrik(2), a certain most evil comic book character was named Satanik(3) and Vorpika takes her name from the word for “fox” in Romanesco, the dialect of my beautiful Rome.
“An association quite obvious to an Italian… But not to a Frenchgirl, especially so far from the border. Let me guess, Italian relatives?”
“My grandmother, she used to visit often enough I picked up the language, well, I understand it, and a few other things, including body language. I used to be mistaken for an Italian on that alone…”
“Could have been worse, you could have been mistaken for an Englishgirl.”
Marinette was starting to get worried about Lila’s apparent hatred for England, but before she could even think to ask anything a tan boy their own age, dressed in rather covering clothes and with a pair of dark glasses and the most fake pair of mustache on his face, barged in and started addressing Lila in a language Marinette didn’t understand, with Lila covertly passing her phone to Rose that for some reason, used it to call someone as she left the classroom.
As Lila was calming down the newcomer, Marinette went in a corner and covertly asked Tikki what was happening.
“He guessed that Lila is Vorpika, apparently she “signed” her first appearance.” Tikki whispered. “Also, he thinks she got Akumatized on purpose to cover for it.”
As Marinette tried to process the fact someone could think Lila would do something like that (and noticed that Adrien too was in a corner and looked as Lila as she had grown a second head), none other than prince Ali’s chaperon came in and grabbed the boy with the fake mustache, who was looking at Lila in surprise.
“Had Rose call Salima, because, seriously, you have a crack shot as a chaperon for a reason.” Lila told her friend-who Marinette realized was the Prince Ali. “Seriously you can’t just come here like that!”
“After school at the hotel?” Ali replied.
“After school at the hotel. Stay safe, Lustro.”
“Don’t get into your nickname, Shijjar.”
As she looked at the prince being grabbed away by his chaperon, Marinette went to Lila, trying to speak through the shock.
“Yes, we are on nicknames term, comes with being each other’s oldest non-imaginary friend.” Lila said. “And no, we aren’t dating even if someone seems convinced we’re secret lovers.”
As Rose gave a shy smile at the remark, Marinette started wondering exactly how much had Lila actually lied, and why. It made no sense…
Trixx liked Lila for many reasons. Among others there were her cunning, her ability to use the illusions to their full and devastating effect, the “if I’m smart enough to pull it off” attitude (though that meant he’d have to work a lot to keep it in check. Especially at how she had accidentally used the “I’m half-Klingon half-duck”(4) in-joke between her and her friend and outed herself on the first sortie), the fact she actually knew how to play the dizi (he was a musical kwami, he needed that and instructing the Holder was always a pain), the wealth and related unwillingness to spend too much (by the description of her wardrobe, he’d have cried in pain had he been entrusted to Chloe Bourgeois), and the immense quantity of hair (made possible by the wealth) that allowed the kwami to stay close to her head without being noticed. The latter was especially useful right in that moment, as Lila, after visiting her royal friend, had just been given a potentially devastating news.
“What did you say?” Lila whispered in shock.
“This morning a woman called us and revealed that not only you aren’t friends with Ladybug, but also that you refused an offer of friendship.” Salima, the chaperon, repeated. “I of course reported this and all the very numerous details to His Majesty, who gave precise instructions.”
“Shijjar, my friend, you must make amends with Ladybug.” the prince said, looking pained. Trixx believed it was because he knew Lila well enough to anticipate her answer, or what she was thinking. “You are my sister in anything but blood, but our kingdom cannot afford to be seen linked to the enemies of Paris’ protector.”
Trixx knew exactly what Lila was thinking, who she was going to blame, and how she was going to react. He understood how angry she was, and that she’d blame the wrong person-unless he made her notice something:
“The chaperon said “woman”, not “girl”.” he whispered to his Chosen. And by her slight wincing he knew she had understood.
“It is not His Majesty’s policy to support such foolishness.” Salima said.
“But letting a terrorist use him and his heir to manipulate a girl is?” Lila replied coldly.
“What are you trying to come up with to get out of your trouble?”
“Who were the witnesses?” the prince instead asked, quickly realizing what his old friend meant.
“Only Ladybug, Adrien Agreste and myself were present for the initial encounter, though the terrorist Papillon obviously knows though the same magic he uses to find his victims. As for our later disagreement, it took place above Gustave Eiffel’s apartment in the Tower, with only Ladybug, Chat Noir and myself present-and the terrorist once again knows thanks to his magic.” Lila explained.
“And we actually don’t know if he has accomplices.”
“What?! Your Highness, you can’t believe this girl!” Salima protested.
“Why, exactly? It certainly makes more sense than the alternative. Would you please inform my father about this?”
“There is no need.” an unfamiliar voice announced, coming from an equally unfamiliar man that had appeared in the computer’s screen. Unfamiliar to Trixx, because the humans appeared to know who it belonged to, though both Lila and the prince appeared startled.
“Your majesty, I was not aware of your presence.” Lila said to the man without bowing, heavily hinting what country this man was king of. The following words confirmed it: “And I believe your son wasn’t either.”
“That was the point. I needed to know if he was ready to assume greater duties-though I cannot say I’m displeased to have missed this chance due something we should have suspected all along.”
“In the current circumstances? Easily forgiven.”
“Then I believe you should share the saltiest bread.”
“Of course, father.” the prince replied with a smile.
“I’m grateful for your attention, though I believe your subjects are worthier of it than myself.” Lila continued, in a display that would have likely confused many of the other kwami who lacked experience with the Arabic etiquette.
“I’ll follow your suggestion, then. Just… Please, find an honorable peace with Ladybug as soon as possible. Be well.”
As the king of Akdor left the conversation, Lila turned to Salima with an unpleasant smile.
“And so, we kept you from causing a mess.” she stated. “Though I believe I should be grateful-now I know who I should ruin.”
“Lila, calm down.” the prince told her.
“I am calm. Calmer than I thought I’d be with this mess.”
“That’s what worries me-you were just like this before you started denying non-existing rumors at your London school.”
“I agree, we should all calm down and discuss things around a good coffee.” Salima added.
“I’m not taking advice from you. You almost cost me my place in the world, my trust in people and my friends, my… Uh uh… My Holyland, that’s what you nearly cost me.”
“What did you say?” the woman hissed.
“Nevermind, I’ve read the hotel’s brochure and I see we need one of their services. Follow me, both of you… And please don’t interfere.”
The tone of the last phrase worried Trixx. The prince too, he looked focused and wondering what his old friend was thinking to do.
As she, her friend-currently doing something with his phone-and the add-on went to look for the one she needed, Lila was taking deep breaths to keep calm after being completely manipulated like that. Just a simple phone call from an accomplice and Papillon had her murderously furious at Ladybug, to the point she had almost been about to renounce to what until the previous day had called her oldest non-imaginary friendship just to have a shot at destroying her, and lose all remaining trust in her friends in the process. Sure, Lustro, the add-on and His Majesty had been fooled too, but considering what their realm was going on they had an excuse to not notice on the spot, while she had needed Trixx to realize what was happening.
Still, raging would not help. All she needed was to play along, wait for her chance, and at the right moment rip the Butterfly Miraculous from him and throw him to the authorities-no matter what his reasons were, the Princess Fragrance incident had left the French government and judiciary with no reason but hitting him with the full weight of their laws, and that was without counting Volpina and everything else(5). Maybe the French authorities would consider reopening Devil’s Island just for sake of a papillon pun(6)-that was what she’d do if she could, at least.
For now, however, she’d be content with exposing him for what he was besides a terrorist, and crumble the romantic ideas some people had to have on him. Not personally or by Lustro’s hand, she needed him not knowing she had found out. No, the Tiger would do it-she wouldn’t deny her this favor, and as she was in Beijing and normally lived in Tokyo and showed her location on the Ladyblog’s forum it was unlikely she’d be connected to her, even if the bowtie hebephile could track internet connections.
And now that she had found Bourgeois, she could get the password for the wi-fi and talk to her friend.
“Bourgeois, I need your help.” she asked to the mayor’s daughter, who had been using the phone.
“Uh… Just a moment.” the blonde replied before doing something and turning to her. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, I would need the wi-fi password, even a temporary one. I need to urgently contact a friend who’s currently in Beijing, a friend that doesn’t have the, how is it said in French, well, she’d end up spending a lot if I called her without internet and I just don’t have the time to go back to the Italian embassy or register at an internet cafe.”
“Does that have anything to do with your current collective mood?”
“Yes.”
“And it’s a o-”
Chloe was interrupted by her phone’s ringtone, Clara Nightingale’s It’s Ladybug, but touched it and put it away.
“Sorry for the interruption, Lila. Now, this thing that’s getting you furious and that you need need the wi-fi password for, it’s a one-time only, right?”
“Of course. I know I’m not registered as a guest and shouldn’t access the wi-fi, but…”
“Save it, here’s the password.” Chloe said as she pulled out a ticket with a password. “But remember, you owe me.”
“Thanks.” she replied, and web-called her friend.
“What’s up, Zorra?” her friend saluted her in French-one of the languages they shared-except for the chosen word for “female fox”.
“Just a thing that happened today.” she replied in Japanese. A language none of the presents knew, aside for Trixx, so they wouldn’t be able to stop her. “It’s a bit long to explain, and it’s urgent, but… Could you start a discussion on the Ladyblog’s forum and denounce Papillon as a pedophile?”
“… Why aren’t you doing it by yourself? Wait, are you planning to try and make yourself an accomplice to strike him down at the right moment?!”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t you think it’s crazy?”
“Precisely. And why it’ll work.”
“Uh-uh. By the way, does your Arabian prince know of what happened to make you plan that? Because I was on the forum right now and someone from Paris, username “Fatimid”, has just started that very discussion.”
“Come, scusa?”
“A guy calling himself Fatimid has started this very discussion a few minutes ago. Sounds like Prince Ali to me.”
“Oh. Sorry for disturbing you. I suppose tomorrow you’ll have to work with the movie…”
“Second day of shooting… And he’s even hotter in person!”
“Just… Just don’t make your parents grandparents, ok?”
“Not for another three years-no child of mine will be called a bastard! Good luck in that madpeople cage!”
“And you don’t start a revolution. Good night!”
Lila took another deep breath to calm herself, then she turned to the prince and leveled a glare to him.
“I’m your oldest non-imaginary friend, remember? We may have met before the Pantherhunt, but I still know exactly how you think.” Ali reminded her, completely unfazed. “And I’m not letting you get in that kind of mess.”
“What if I wanted to get in that kind of mess?”
“Then you were too angry to think straight.” called an unexpected voice, prompting Lila to turn-and see Ladybug and Chat Noir standing near a very smug Chloe, who was showing that her cellphone had an ongoing call… With Ladybug.
“Listen, Ladybug, I just discovered that Papillon tried a horrible thing, and-” Lila started, but was interrupted.
“And you’re going to let him anger you and give him power over you?”
Lila stopped, surprised at what she had just been said. She had to admit, at least to herself, she had screwed up. And she should be grateful to Ladybug-but why had she done it? She could have manipulated her so easily had she just let her stay angry…
“Wait, where’s Vorpika?” Chloe asked, jolting Lila from her thoughts.
“She’d been in Tokyo until a few days ago and was too busy investigating a possible trail to Papillon to rest.” Ladybug explained, surprising Lila again. The superheroine was quite good at lying for someone who hated lies so much…
Nathalie Sanscour was a user of the Ladyblog forum, and prone to use it during work hours. “Secretly”, of course-officially she had to keep it secret from Gabriel or risk a reprimand or being fired, something that would come handy if Adrien or the Gorilla (she really needed to find out his real name) saw her while she looked if someone slipped something useful for Paris’ supervillain. And her scouting of the forum was the reason for her current anger.
“Nathalie, calm down.” Gabriel told her, ignoring Nooroo as he chuckled at the irony.
“Calm down?!” the woman replied. “Sir, they’re calling you a pedophile! A PEDOPHILE!”
“And how did we act with Rossi?”
“Well, we tried to manipulate her, and-”
“She’s fourteen. Or fifteen. Between the age gap and teenagers being Akumatizable far more often than adults, it was only to be expected they’d mistake me for a pedophile.”
“But-”
“Don’t worry, I can shoulder this until I win-and then, it will have never happened. Now excuse me, but I need to set a supervillain on Rossi or the prince as soon as possible-I have a character to keep.”
As she waited for Vorpika with Chat Noir at the Eiffel Tower, Ladybug thought at what she had seen of Lila at the hotel-and the effect of her words. It had been a gamble, based on how close she was acting to certain things she had wanted to do before Tikki… And it had worked. That gave her a different perspective on the Italian traveler-one she’d rather not have, if it wasn’t for the bullet everyone, and especially Lila, had just dodged. If nothing else, Chat had accepted to just follow her lead on that-she hadn’t managed to tell about that even to Tikki, and Chat, sadly, was out.
“Hi, guys.” Vorpika said as she arrived, before coming extremely close to Ladybug. “The thing at the hotel, how, and why?”
“Well, we gave Chloe our numbers due the many Akumatizations she causes so at least she can get us to intervene, and she hadn’t abused it.” Chat interjected, trying to distract the fox. “Not yet, at least. We gave them to the mayor, Jean David the butler, the Agreste’s Gorilla, Marinette…”
“Makes sense… But it wasn’t about that. Ladybug, how did you know what to say to calm me down, and why?”
“I’d rather not talk about how I knew-and frankly, you wouldn’t believe it.” Ladybug replied. “As for why… Why not?”
“Because you could have easily turned me into your pawn, eliminated a future enemy and gained the best attack fox in Paris, that’s why!”
“Maybe I don’t want that. I want you as a friend, not a pawn.”
Vorpika stepped back, thoughtful and curious, muttering something about owing Ladybug her “holyland” (and using the English word). Then, after a few seconds, she asked: “Where did you guys learn how to fight without weapons?”
“I did some karate(7)-” Chat started.
“What style? Goju Ryu, Shotokan, Kyokushin? Was it sundome, or-”
“I was five and mom and father pulled me out after a month. Never knew why.”
“Oh. And you, Ladybug?”
“Well, I try and imitate my cousin, she’s a Savate practitioner and often shows off her moves to try and get me to join.” Ladybug said.
“So, one may or may have learned something years ago and never practiced again, and the other tries to imitate advanced moves without knowing the basics. Explains why you’re so bad. Fists in front of the face, now.”
After that, Vorpika taught them the jab-cross combo, or one-two. The very basic of boxing, she had said while she moved Ladybug’s left arm through the jab motions. Ladybug knew it was her way to not feel indebted for pulling her out of her anger at the hotel, not an actual sign of friendship, but was willing to wait. Maybe it would never happen, but at least she’d make sure to save her from herself and that she didn’t need saving-that was what she promised to herself.
Notes
(1)The longer version is as follows: in 1962 Diabolik was first published, and its success spawned the “Nero Italiano” (Italian Noir) genre, comic books characterized by being a rather violent take on the crime genre and featuring protagonists whose name includes the letter “k” (not used in Italian words) or, sometimes, the suffix “-ik”; among the public outrage (including even judicial seizures and trials) also appeared parodies such as Cattivik (created by Bonvi, of Sturmtruppen’s fame, and then gifted to fellow author Silver) and Dorellik, and Disney Italy, when creating an antihero alter ego for Donald Duck, named it Paperinik (also known as “Duck Avenger” in the English-speaking world), adding the suffix “-ik” to Donald’s Italian name “Paperino”, and this being still Disney they also gave one to Daisy (in Italy, “Paperina”. Disney is usually more clever than this…) and called it “Paperinika”; while the genre all but disappeared under moral outrage and the low quality of most of Diabolik’s successors, it and especially Diabolik (who is still published) had already left a standing impact on Italian comics and media, that included the association of the suffix “-ik” with antiheroes and villains and “-ika” with female antiheroes.
(2)That is how Guitar Villain is named in the Italian dub of Miraculous Ladybug.
(3)An actual Italian comic book created to ride on Diabolik’s success, whose protagonist renamed herself Satanik upon getting the power to act on her revenge plans.
(4)Blame Astruc, he said that when he was asked about Lila’s ethnicity. Then again, that and crazier could be applied to all Italians…
(5)The Princess Fragrance incident saw an Akuma villain attack foreign royalty and diplomatic personnel (what the prince’s chaperon would count as), both covered by diplomatic immunity, and he made a full threesome of attacks on people covered by diplomatic immunity the moment he Akumatized Lila, the daughter of an Italian diplomat. Simply put, after those stunts the minimum Gabriel can get is life in jail with eligibility for parole at 18 years.
(6)The Bagne du Cayenne (Penal Colony of Cayenne), also known as Devil’s Island, was a French prison famous for being used for internal exile of political prisoners and the harsh treatment of the inmates (up to 75% death rate). Closed in 1953, the prison is the subject of numerous books and movies, including Henri Charriére’s best-seller Papillon.
(7)Chat said that in “Simon Says”. Given his performance and Gabriel being Gabriel, either his dojo wasn’t focused on combat (more common than one would expect) or he didn’t stay there long.
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“Guard well this incomparable treasure
by the Spirit of Holiness living within you.”
this is how Paul begins his 2nd Letter to Timothy
[Introduction]
From Paul, an apostle of Jesus the Messiah, appointed by God’s pleasure to announce the wonderful promise of life found in Jesus, the anointed Messiah.
My beloved son, I pray for a greater release of God’s grace, love, and total well-being to flow into your life from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ!
You know that I’ve been called to serve the God of my fathers with a clean conscience. Night and day I pray for you, thanking God for your life! I know that you have wept for me, your spiritual father, and your tears are dear to me. I can’t wait to see you again! I’m filled with joy as I think of your strong faith that was passed down through your family line. It began with your grandmother Lois, who passed it on to your dear mother, Eunice. And it’s clear that you too are following in the footsteps of their godly example.
I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you. For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control. So never be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be embarrassed over my imprisonment, but overcome every evil by the revelation of the power of God! He gave us resurrection life and drew us to himself by his holy calling on our lives. And it wasn’t because of any good we have done, but by his divine pleasure and marvelous grace that confirmed our union with the anointed Jesus, even before time began! This truth is now being unveiled by the revelation of the anointed Jesus, our life-giver, who has dismantled death, obliterating all its effects on our lives, and has manifested his immortal life in us by the gospel.
And he has anointed me as his preacher, his apostle, and his teacher of truth to the nations. The confidence of my calling enables me to overcome every difficulty without shame, for I have an intimate revelation of this God. And my faith in him convinces me that he is more than able to keep all that I’ve placed in his hands safe and secure until the fullness of his appearing.
Allow the healing words you’ve heard from me to live in you and make them a model for life as your faith and love for the Anointed One grows even more. Guard well this incomparable treasure by the Spirit of Holiness living within you.
Perhaps you’ve heard that Phygelus, and Hermogenes and all the believers of Asia have deserted me because of my imprisonment. Nevertheless, so many times Onesiphorus was like a breath of fresh air to me and never seemed to be ashamed of my chains. May our Lord Jesus bestow compassion and mercy upon him and his household. For when he arrived in Rome, he searched and searched for me until he found out where I was being held, so that he could minister to me, just like he did so wonderfully as I rested in his house while in Ephesus, as you well know.
May Jesus, our Master, give him abundant mercy in the day he stands before him.
The Letter of 2nd Timothy, Chapter 1 (The Passion Translation)
Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 24th chapter of 2nd Kings that documents the exile to Babylon due to God’s Judgment:
It was during his reign that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the country. Jehoiakim became his puppet. But after three years he had had enough and revolted.
God dispatched a succession of raiding bands against him: Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite. The strategy was to destroy Judah. Through the preaching of his servants and prophets, God had said he would do this, and now he was doing it. None of this was by chance—it was God’s judgment as he turned his back on Judah because of the enormity of the sins of Manasseh—Manasseh, the killer-king, who made the Jerusalem streets flow with the innocent blood of his victims. God wasn’t about to overlook such crimes.
The rest of the life and times of Jehoiakim is written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. Jehoiakim died and was buried with his ancestors. His son Jehoiachin became the next king.
The threat from Egypt was now over—no more invasions by the king of Egypt—for by this time the king of Babylon had captured all the land between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River, land formerly controlled by the king of Egypt.
[Jehoiachin of Judah]
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. His rule in Jerusalem lasted only three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem. In God’s opinion he also was an evil king, no different from his father.
The next thing to happen was that the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem and put it under siege. While his officers were laying siege to the city, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon paid a personal visit. And Jehoiachin king of Judah, along with his mother, officers, advisors, and government leaders, surrendered.
In the eighth year of his reign Jehoiachin was taken prisoner by the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar emptied the treasuries of both The Temple of God and the royal palace and confiscated all the gold furnishings that Solomon king of Israel had made for The Temple of God. This should have been no surprise—God had said it would happen. And then he emptied Jerusalem of people—all its leaders and soldiers, all its craftsmen and artisans. He took them into exile, something like ten thousand of them! The only ones he left were the very poor.
He took Jehoiachin into exile to Babylon. With him he took the king’s mother, his wives, his chief officers, the community leaders, anyone who was anybody—in round numbers, seven thousand soldiers plus another thousand or so craftsmen and artisans, all herded off into exile in Babylon.
Then the king of Babylon made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Mattaniah, his puppet king, but changed his name to Zedekiah.
[Zedekiah of Judah]
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he started out as king. He was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah. Her hometown was Libnah.
As far as God was concerned Zedekiah was just one more evil king, a carbon copy of Jehoiakim.
The source of all this doom to Jerusalem and Judah was God’s anger—God turned his back on them as an act of judgment. And then Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.
The Book of 2nd Kings, Chapter 24 (The Message)
my personal reading of the Scriptures for Tuesday, december 29 of 2020 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs
A post by John Parsons about the fear (reverence) of Heaven:
Reading the news of the world is a demonstration of Romans 1:28: "Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." This is the word that describes our godless and brazen generation: "Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD (יראת יהוה), they refused my counsel and despised my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices" (Prov. 1:29-1:31). God is patient and loving, of course, though there comes a time when his patience runs out, when -- after repeated warning and appeals -- a culture tragically hardens its heart further and further until God withdraws and people are left to their own vain imaginations and darkened impulses.
A widely accepted maxim of the Talmud is: "All is in the hands of God except the fear of heaven (yirat shamayim)" (Berachot 33b; Niddah 16b). In other words, though God constantly showers the world with grace and light, He does not “force” us to revere His Presence but rather leaves that choice with us. Of course God could overwhelm us all so that we had no choice but to see and fear Him, but He “withdraws” Himself and restrains His influence in our lives so that we can exercise faith. As Blaise Pascal said, "there is enough light for those who want to believe, and enough shadows to blind those who don't." The Hebrew word for seeing (ראה) and the word for fearing (ירא) share the same root. We cannot genuinely "choose life" apart from personally seeing it, but we cannot see it apart from the reverence of God. The reverence of God sanctifies our perception and enables us to see clearly. Therefore the righteous “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). [Hebrew for Christians]
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12.28.20 • Facebook
and another post about seeds:
"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Gal. 6:8). Here we see the importance of feeding the divine nature given to us in Messiah - to "sow" or "plant" truth within our hearts so that we will yield the "fruit of righteousness." However, feeding the lower nature, gratifying the desires of the flesh, disregarding the truth of eternity for the sake of temporal pleasure, and so on, leads to corruption and to death. Spirituality (רוּחניוּת), then, is of utmost importance to us, as we learn to "renew our minds" and yield ourselves to the truth of God (Gal. 5:16). We are engaged in the battle daily - an internal struggle to direct our hearts and to make the decision to be awake to the Lord’s Presence or to surrender to our fallenness, fear, and despair. The Lord has promised us his very strength for the battle, but we must choose to believe in order to receive the blessing. Since God will surely help us as we seek to do His will (see 1 John 5:14), let us therefore draw near to the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). God makes the way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). The LORD God Almighty says to your heart: "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God: I will strengthen you, yea, I will help you, yea, I will uphold you the right hand of my righteousness (Isa. 41:10). [Hebrew for Christians]
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https://hebrew4christians.com/
12.28.20 • Facebook
Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research
December 29, 2020
True Education
“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” (Genesis 18:19)
This is a very important verse comprising the first direct reference in the Bible to what we today would call education, and it is given in connection with God’s approving testimony concerning Abraham. Note that nothing is said concerning degrees or diplomas, the sciences or humanities, school buildings or textbooks.
It does tell us that God’s highest priority in the training of the young is that they learn to “keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment.” Such instruction is the responsibility of the home—not of the government or some educational association. It is to be given in the context of God’s promises and plans (thus in the context of divine revelation) and is to be framed in terms of “commands.”
This is also the teaching of the New Testament: “Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
The Bible never refers to “education,” but there are many references to teaching, learning, and instruction. There are no references to teaching under the sponsorship of the government, however. As far as biblical precepts and examples are concerned, teaching the young is strictly a function of the home and the church (this could no doubt include several homes and churches cooperating in the provision of advanced or specialized instruction). Most importantly, all instruction, in every subject, should be governed by biblical criteria, for “all Scripture...is profitable...for instruction....That the man of God may be perfect [i.e., ‘fully prepared’]” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) for the work God wants him to do. HMM
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Entry 15 -- Hadrian’s Hedge
Okay, so it’s a bit taller than most hedges, and I’m sure it was taller in its prime. We trekked down to Hadrian’s Wall on a bit of a cloudy day, but that didn’t ruin the view!
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This wall spans across the country, built by the Romans. It separated the land that the Romans had conquered of the British Isles except for the land occupied by who they called the Picts due to the pictures on their skin (tribal tattoos). While originally, historians thought that the wall was to keep out the Picts. Now, however, due to archlike forms they found in the stone and the fact that it may not be very effective to keep anyone out, they suspect that this was used more like a toll gate for people to pay taxes to Rome. So like, when you pay money to go to Illinois, even though you don’t actually want to go there.
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Next on this trip, we visited the little historical site of New Lanark on the River Clyde southeast of Glasgow. It was quite pretty. It was and still is a textile village with mills as tourist attractions, along with the social experiment that went on here in the 19th century. A man named Robert Owen created a socialist town, where he managed the jobs and owned the housing, health, and schooling. My teacher thought it sounded pretty nice, but the idea of someone else owning parts of my life so that they can dictate what I do would repulse me. Probably why Robert Owen’s attempt to instate a similar place in the USA didn’t go over well XD We’re notoriously more individualistically independent than the people here. Supposedly, people liked living here, and apparently Owen had strict rules on what he considered moral behavior, and he let them be Christian, but thought religion was for the weak minded. My professor laughed at the idea that this guy was a communist, apparently because “the term communism wasn’t a thing back then,” but that didn’t sound like a real argument to me. Most things weren’t called what we call them now at the time. The names of the different time periods, the names of early civilizations... just because it wasn’t labeled “communism” then doesn’t mean it doesn’t fit the current description of a communism.
Something that I find strange is how many here and actually several in my school think socialism/communism would work. How does one find motivation to do good work when their amount of work is rewarded the same as everyone else? Not everyone has the same work ethic. Additionally, how would you motivate enough people to have jobs that are necessary without providing the amount of money they earned by going through more/less school and their amount of hours?
I was sick the other week, and my wonderful host family got me to a doctor. Michael, who used to be a doctor, had to write out a list of things I had to say so that they would give me an appointment. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have gotten treated for a pulmonary infection mixed with asthma. I waited for ten minutes on the phone to talk to someone, and then more to talk to a nurse who got me an appointment. This is their version of urgent care. Michael said I was lucky that they didn’t take half an hour like they did when he broke his toe, and said they had to be picky because they don’t have enough doctors. The people aren’t motivated to become doctors to work for the government--they don’t get paid enough to make up for how long they have to go to school and what they need for their families.
I suppose this is why most communist mass murders have gone on--Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin, etc. You need to eventually force people to do work. And when people don’t agree with your methods (and historically, people tend to disagree with one another) then they must be silenced or the balance is messed up, because people aren’t willing to do as the all powerful government says. Communism would only work if everyone agreed on everything, if everyone was not motivated by rewards that equal their amount of work, if stealing was okay, and if everyone was alright with not being responsible for their own lives.
Maybe people here are more alright with government control because that’s how Scotland has always been; it started as a monarchy, and now they have a parliamentary system. I guess I never considered this difference: our country was founded on the idea that every person is equal under God, and equally divinely individual and independent with a purpose that they are meant to fulfill-therefore, they needed a country that would allow them to do so. With true freedom, without anyone but God above them (with reasonable government restrictions of course, no killing, no stealing, etc) to control them. This is not true in Scotland. Their state church is intertwined with the government, making government partly God to them in a way. I don’t mean this in a condescending manner, but from my view, it seems as if they’d rather be kept safe by the government than be truly free. If you’ve never been truly free, how does one know to desire it?
I think being here has helped me understand the founding fathers better. It may be a bit more dangerous at times, but I know why someone would be willing to die for true freedom, for knowing that no other person can get in your way of your God-given purpose if you work hard for it. I love being here, I do. Worth every penny for this experience, the people are sweet and intelligent, and I’m learning so much! However, I’ve heard people say that European countries are just as free, but with the amount of regulations required here and the taxes, I certainly wouldn’t feel that way if I lived here. As much as my professors my not like it, I’ve grown proud of my home country, and happier to live there.
Sorry for the rant; just me trying to lay out my thoughts.
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Still, very pretty area! It was fascinating to learn about all the same. Below is just Aodan because you needed to see the size of the beers they give here.
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And Indian food! There are so many Indian restaurants here, and Italian. They seem to enjoy spicy and rich food, which I definitely approve of. I’ve never tried Indian food before I came here, but I found I really enjoy it.
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I’ll be going to London tomorrow, so I’m trying to catch up in posts! I have so much to tell you about Spring Break!
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«✧ ( RILEY VOELKEL, FEMALE, SHE/HER ) *✧.:°░。 is that LOIS SKYSWORN ?! you know them, right? they are the 29 year old SHADOWHUNTER !! they’re known for being ASTUTE & RESOURCEFUL - but i’d be careful if i were you because they’re also UNTRUSTWORTHY & CONTROLLING.
«✧ Hey Everyone! I’m Shay and I’m super excited to be here?? I’m a huge fan of TMI/TID (not so much the TV show unfortunately), so I’m excited to put all the useless lore that I’ve absorbed over the years to good use. Anyways, here’s a little bit on Lois, please don’t hesitate to message me if you’re interested in putting together past connections or future plots!
Lois comes from a long & respected line of prominent shadowhunters. The Skysworns have a family history of running institutes stretching back generations.
In more immediate history, Lois’ father, Jonathan Skysworn, followed in the family traditions and was appointed the prestigious position of head of the institute in Rome (if this clashes with anything let me know and I’ll change the city!).
He met Lois’ mother on a trip to Idris. Violet was a brilliant, intelligent woman, and a rising star in the council. However, she and Jonathan quickly fell in love, and were married. Consequently, Violet gave up her future in Idris to join her husband in Rome.
It quickly became apparent to Violet that Jonathan was not the capable leader she thought he was. The once-proud institute was in ruins, being led to disaster by a man who had been handed a position of power due to his name rather than anything he had personally done. Jonathan was undoubtedly far more interested in fighting, in battle and his own personal glory, than the intricacies of running an institute. As she prepared to leave, and inform the council of his inept leadership, it was with a jolt she realised she was pregnant with his child. This was enough to give her pause to stay.
Lois was born, and for the first few years of her life, doted on by her beloved father. While he continued to run the Rome into the ground, without a care for the consequences, Violet suffered the brunt of his neglect. Rome was staffed by sycophants who worshipped Jonathan, and so it fell on her to pick up the slack. Struggling under the weight of the responsibility, bitter over the life she had lost in Idris, and increasingly resentful of her husband by the day, she kept herself distant from her daughter, the most persistent reminder of the mistakes she had made.
Eventually, the Skysworns were found out. After a council hearing, in which they were both blamed, the couple were reassigned to a far less important institute in New Orleans, Louisiana when Lois was 5 years old.
Everything changed in New Orleans. Jonathan, shamed by the stain he had left on the family name, withdrew into himself, whereas Violet took far greater interest in Lois’ life. Both were unstable, rocked by their loveless marriage and inevitable downfall, and both drank far too much, so from a young age, Violet learned to isolate herself, and attend to her own needs where she could, but it was often difficult to step out from her mother’s iron grip.
Where Jonathan had failed, Violet was determined her daughter should succeed, and from the day she got her first rune, she’s groomed her to head an institute of her own, imparting on her the lessons she wished Jonathan had paid attention to. The thing she stressed on her daughter, above all else, was that battle was not the only aspect of being a shadowhunter, and the benefits of playing with politics. This is where Lois continues to excel to this day.
When she was 16, Lois left New Orleans, and ended up LA institute, where she completed her training. When she came of age, her intelligence gained her a position as a tutor to the younger shadowhunters.
When the leadership of the institute became available, Lois was only 24, and many doubted her capabilities. However, as a long-term resident of the institute, and a skilled diplomat, she was the natural selection.
While many think Lois’ aims are to restore honour to the Skysworn name, she’s more interested in what’s going on now than the past. However, her father’s mistakes have left her cautious, and she doesn’t take well to controversy. She demands order in her institute, and likes things done a certain way.
She’s clever, shrewd, perceptive and resourceful, but always has a trick up her sleeve and has a silver tongue that is more than willing to say what it thinks her opponent wants to hear to bend them to her way of thinking. She can certainly be considered to be conniving.
Due to her solitary upbringing, she is prone to isolating herself and not accepting help from others. However, she is fiercely protective of younger shadowhunters. I see her sort of taking on a bit of a “mother” role- she’s strict on them, discipline wise, but god forbid anybody else do anything to hurt them.
«✧ Potential Connections
Maternal cousins
Former mentees/tutees/pupils- depending on their age, she either could have aided them in their studies, or been their main teacher.
Confidant
Rivals
Frenemies
Ex-friends
Maybe somebody who was meant to be her parabatai, but they called it off.
Younger sibling-type figure
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Inson Wongsam :
Traveling and seeking on a new world
Silpakorn University during half a century ago like a small world in a narrow frame and not as open as today because communication with the outside world is difficult. The news received from Europe which is considered a civilized world. Most of them are publications especially books about art are the best medium. Aside from that, it is a story of Professor Silp Bhirasri and some students who have studied in Italy which is like a lap of western art. Being a good artist is believed to have many basic elements. One important element that helps artists to create works more efficiently is the experience of both life and art. Artists must accumulate both types of experience as fuel to drive creativity. In addition, artists must have imagination, which is an abstract world in which artists can
transform into concrete through their artistic strategies that they are good at. Lastly, the artist must have ingenious intelligence enough to collect experience. Imagine being a work of art with quality. The search for experience of life and the artistic experience of Inson is different from general people that may be obtained from reading books. Travel to study abroad traveling to experience the new world of Inson is different from general
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people traveling by airplane or international boat. But Inson chose to travel by motorcycle. Inson is therefore the creator of the legend in the modern art industry of Thailand and is an endless story to this day The land that Thai artists in the past have dreamed of visiting the most is Italy, France and various countries in Europe, especially Italy, which is considered the most charming because it is the birthplace of genius artists like Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), as well as Professor Silpa Bhirasi (CorradoFeroci: 1892-1962) Inson has a strong desire to travel to the land of art himself but traveling across the continent more than half a century ago is not as easy as today. It is even more difficult to travel through the streets through different terrain. He must meet people of many nationalities and languages, and the most important thing is that having money is a very important factor and knowledge of foreign languages but both is not a stumbling block for him because he thinks money can be obtained if skilled and intelligent. As for language, the same thing is because “language .. (dogs) can learn” when he is a human, why can not learn the language of people together Inson wants to travel to a new world that he has never seen on land which is very difficult for general people but Inson intends to prove his ability to do so. Inson therefore began to plan his travel carefully by offering travel to Berie Lucker, a Lambretta scooter dealer, the company has given a scooter for use in traveling. In addition, Inson also requested funds from Esso Company Limited to ask for support in the amount of travel oil which also received a good response Therefore, the problem of the traveling vehicles therefore disappeared but still having problems with personal expenses while traveling Inson solved the problem by bringing more than 200 pieces of his art into works on paper that can be conveniently rolled into a cylinder tied to the car. Inson’s works include printmaking, line drawing, and sketching. These works, Inson, are displayed in various locations. To sell to make money as traveling expenses From New Delhi Inson to travel to Lahore, Karachi. Inson exhibited at The Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan (1957). ) Upon arrival at Tehran, Iran. Inson exhibited with Preecha Na Bangnoi (an old friend at Silpakorn University) at Gilgamesh Gallery, Teharan. (2032) When traveling to Turkey, Inson exhibited solo works at the Consulate de France Istanbul, Turkey (1963) When traveling to Athens, Greco-Inson exhibited works at Plaka Art House in Athens (1963) only in Greco, which is the source of civilization of that world Inson was especially impressed. He stayed in Athens for about 2 months to admire the great Greek art. He then traveled to live with Corfu fishermen for 6 months because he was impressed with the beautiful nature andfriendliness of the fishermen. On Corfu Island, Inson met an American artist named Alexander Is a New Yorker and was the person who bought a certain amount of Inson’s print work with the promise that once he returns to New York, he will pay later and will accept the client on Corfu Island, Inson created a new set of woodblock prints. To keep selling as a factor in traveling further throughout the journey of Inson must overcome many obstacles. For example, while traveling to Istanbul Turkey’s capital runs out of money, can’t sell photos So there is no money He had to live with a fish seller and ask for bread and grilled fish every day without paying.by deferment to the fish dealer that if able to sell the image, fish and bread will be paid. Soon Inson was starving Esso Company in Bangkok sent 200 US dollars to bid for Inson’s work in Bangkok, giving him money to pay for bread and grilled fish. About suffering because of lack of money during that trip Inson must always experience He told me that he once lacking money, without money to buy food, had to fast for two days without knowing where to make money from the picture, it can not be sold in the end, must use the walk in the community then lay down on the ground to ask for attention when he saw that somebody came to see it enough Therefore got up and opened to receive donations in hats. In this way he can survive. Aside from fasting sometimes without money Inson must sleep under the bridge. These things require a strong and witty mind to perform in order to survive. However, finally, Inson traveled to Rome. Around August 1963 (1973), it took time to travel from Bangkok to Rome. Italy for almost 2 years. Seems to be the first person in the world to ride a scooter from Thailand to Italy. By using a scooter produced in Italy and sent to sell in Thailand, is the first person to successfully drive back to its place of origin In Rome’s journey to Rome was like worshiping sacred things in the city of art. Inson desires to reach Geovenni,near Florence, home to Professor Silp Bhirasri. The visit to the birthplace of Professor Silp is Damrong Wong- upparaj, another student of Professor Silp Bhirasri. Traveled to join with Even if the professor had already left this world but to pay respect to the master at the front of the house would be a great joy for both of them while in Florence, Italy, Inson and Damrong displayed art at the Numero Gallery in Florence (1963). Their artistic performances were a tribute and remembrance of their teachers. After Damrong went back to Thailand. While Inson desires to travel to Paris France instead of Rome because at that time, Paris was like the capital city of modern art Rome is just a glorious past. For this reason, Paris is his dream destination. Inson traveled to Austria and exhibited solo works at the Gallerie Fuchs in Vienna, Austria (1957), then traveled to Switzerland and France by train because the scooters are no longer in a condition to travel long distances Go Inson gave to the Thai Embassy in Rome and traveled to various countries in Europe until finally Paris, France. While Inson traveled to Paris He almost didn’t have any money. But luck always stayed with Inson. He has worked in a Vietnamese restaurant as a waiter and promoted to Chef Resulting in food to eat and income. Then, after 6 months, he resigned to work that he was skilled at, namely painting, decorating, welding, advertising signs, Inson stayed in Paris until 1966. During that time Have the opportunity to study art at L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts De'coralifs until graduation. After that, Inson exhibited art works at the Gallery de Huat Pave, Paris (1966) and many other times which is quite successful. Giving him the capital to pursue his dreams in another hemisphere, New York, USA. Inson sets out from Paris, the center of 19th-century modern art. To New York City, the center of modern art in the 20th century. Inson traveled with an American woman named Barbara Wood (Brabala Wood) who studied art in France While he only has one dollar Many years in foreign countries, he knows that finding money is not difficult. Finally, Inson was able to build a studio in the East Village successfully He stayed in New York for about 6 years before moving to New Jercy Inson lives in the United States for about 7 years (1967-1974), living with Barbara.
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Inson and Barbara have a son, Inson Wood (now director of architecture and design, David Easton Incorpolation Graduated from Cornell University and a masters degree from Harvard University). Barbara lives with cancer while his son was 14 years old. Inson married another American woman named Laula Lipnin but parted ways when Inson returned to Thailand in 1974. While residing in New York Inson has held solo exhibitions and collaborations with other artists many times, such as solo performances at Lichfield Gallery Conn, and collaborated with Brazilian artists (1967), showing solo works at Eleven Gallery New York (1968), showing joint work with Phanom Suwananat (1914-present, an old friend at Silpakorn University studying at New York City at that time Currently residing in the United States of America) at De Mena Gallerly, New York City (1969).Living in New York City is not that easy but with being a life fighter and capable around the example Allowing to survive in every situation Starting from renovating the hair salon to a studio and showroom that he produced using the knowledge inherited from his father who is a silversmith. The knowledge gained from Silpakorn University and design, studying from Paris. By Inson, using scrap brass, copper to make earrings, necklaces, bracelets using plating methods into various colors doorknob, window hook and scrap materials used to make candlesticks, place trees and other home decorations, and Inson’s studios are receiving attention, and there are enough customers to help Inson live without difficulty. The But with the hustling lifestyle of the big cities, he saw that living in a capitalist world characterized by competition and cost of living is difficult, stressful, leading to various diseases. Finally, he saw that If living in a drought-free world Would not be good for his sensitive mind Inson decided to return to his homeland. In order to return to their roots in the year 1974 after living abroad for more than ten years. The thing that Inson brought back was Life experience and art experience Without assets and money Inson said that “… When going empty-handed, coming back empty-handed …”.
อินสนธิ์ วงศ์สาม กับการเดินทางและการแสวงหาบนโลกใหม่
มหาวิทยาลัยศิลปกรเมื่อครึ่งศตวรรษที่ผ่านมา เหมือนโลกใบเล็กๆ ที่อยู่ในกรอบแคบๆ ไม่เปิดกว้างเหมือนปัจจุบัน เพราะการสื่อสารกับโลกภายนอกนั้นกระทำได้ยาก ข่าวสารที่รับมาจากยุโรปซึ่งถือเป็นโลกอารยะนั้น ส่วนมากเป็นสิ่งพิมพ์ โดยเฉพาะหนังสือเกี่ยว��ับศิลปะเป็นสื่อที่ดีที่สุด นอกจากนั้นก็เป็นคำบอกเล่าของศาสตราจารย์ศิลป์ พีระศรีและศิษย์บางคนที่ผ่านการศึกษาจากประเทศอิตาลี ซึ่งเป็นเสมือนตักศิลาของศิลปะตะวันตก
การเป็นศิลปินที่ดีนั้นเชื่อว่าต้องมีองค์ประกอบพื้นฐานหลายประการ องค์ประกอบสำคัญประการหนึ่งที่ช่วยเสริมให้ศิลปินสามารถสร้างสรรค์ผลงานได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพคือ ประสบการณ์ ทั้งประสบการณ์ชีวิตและประสบการณ์ศิลปะ ศิลปินต้องสะสมประสบการณ์ทั้งสองประเภทไว้เป็นเชื้อเพลิงขับเคลื่อนการสร้างสรรค์ นอกจากนี้ ศิลปินจะต้องมี จินตนาการ ซึ่งเป็นในโลกแห่งนามธรรมที่ศิลปินสามารถแปรเป็นรูปธรรมด้วยกลวิธีทางศิลปะที่ตนถนัดและเชี่ยวชาญ ประการสุดท้ายศิลปินต้องมี ปัญญา ที่แยบยลพอที่จะมีประมวลประสบการณ์ จินตนาการให้เป็นศิลปกรรมออกมาได้อย่างมีคุณภาพ การแสวงหาประสบการณ์ชีวิตและประสบการณ์ทางศิลปะของอินสนธิ์ต่างไปจากคนทั่วไปที่อาจจะได้จากการอ่านหนังสือ เดินทางไปศึกษาต่อต่างประเทศ การเดินทางไปแสวงหาประสบการณ์จากโลกใหม่ของอินสนธิ์ต่างจากคนทั่วไปที่เดินทางโดยเครื่องบินหรือเรือโดยสารระหว่างประเทศ แต่อินสนธิ์เลือกเดินทางด้วยรถจักรยานยนต์ อินสนธิ์จึงเป็นผู้สร้างตำนานให้กับวงการศิลปะสมัยใหม่ของไทยจนเป็นเรื่องเล่าขานไม่รู้จบมาจนทุกวันนี้
ดินแดนที่ศิลปินไทยในอดีตใฝ่ฝันที่จะไปเยือนมากที่สุดคือ อิตาลี ฝรั่งเศส และประเทศต่างๆ ในยุโรป โดยเฉพาะอิตาลีนั้นถือว่ามีมนต์เสน่ห์มากที่สุด เพราะเป็นถิ่นกำเนิดอัจฉริยะศิลปินอย่าง มีเกลันเจโล บูโอนาร์โรตี (Michelangelo Buonarroti : 1475-1564) เลโอนาร์โด ดา วินชี (Leonardo da Vinci : 1452-1519) รวมถึงศาสตราจารย์ศิลป์ พีระศรี (Corrado Feroci : 1892-1962) อินสนธิ์มีความปรารถนาอย่างแรงกล้าที่จะเดินทางไปยังดินแดนแห่งศิลปะเหล่านั้นด้วยตนเอง แต่การเดินทางข้ามทวีปเมื่อกว่าครึ่งศตวรรษที่ผ่านมาไม่ง่ายเหมือนทุกวันนี้ ยิ่งยากลำบากมากขึ้นเมื่อต้องเดินทางไปตมถนนผ่านภูมิประเทศที่แตกต่างกัน ต้องพบกับผู้คนหลายชาติ หลายภาษา และสิ่งสำคัญต้องมี เงิน ึ่งเป็นปัจจัยที่สำคัญยิ่ง และความรู้เรื่องภาษาต่างประเทศ แต่ทั้งสองสิ่ง ไม่ได้เป็นอุปสรรค์สำหรับอินสนธิ์เพราะเขาคิดว่า เงินนั้นสามารถหาได้หากฝีมือและมีปัญญา ส่วนเรื่องภาษาก็เช่นเดียวกันเพราะ “ภาษา..(หมา) เรียนได้” ในเมื่อเขาเป็นคนทำไมจะเรียนรู้ภาษาของคนด้วยกันไม่ได้
อินสนธิ์ต้องการเดินทางไปยังโลกใหม่ที่เขาไม่เคยเห็นทางบก ซึ่งเป็นเรื่องยากมากสำหรับคนทั่วไป แต่อินสนธิ์มุ่งมั่นที่จะพิสูจน์ความสามารถว่า เขาทำได้ ดังนั้น อินสนธิ์จึงเริ่มวางแผนการเดินทางอย่างรอบคอบ โดยเสนอการเดินทางแก่บริษัท Berie Lucker ซึ่งเป็นผู้จำหน่ายรถสกูตเตอร์แลมเบรทตา บริษัทฯ ได้มอบรถสกูตเตอร์ให้ใช้ในการเดินทางคันหนึ่ง นอกจากนี้อินสนธิ์ยังขอทุนจากบริษัท เอสโซ จำกัด เพื่อขอการสนับสนุนที่น้ำมันในการเดินทางจำนวนหนึ่ง ซึ่งก็ได้รับการตอบสนองด้วยดีเช่นเดียวกัน ดังนั้นปัญหาเรื่อง ยานพาหนะในการเดินทางจึงหมดไป แต่ยังมีปัญหาเรื่องเงินค่าใช้จ่ายส่วนตัวระหว่างการเดินทาง ซึ่งอินสนธิ์แก้ปัญหาด้วยการนำผลงานศิลปะของเขามากกว่า ๒๐๐ ชิ้น เป็นผลงานบนกระดาษที่สามารถม้วนใส่กระบอกผูกติดกับรถได้สะดวก ผลงานที่อินสนธิ์นำไปได้แก่ ภาพพิมพ์ วาดเส้น และงาน สเก๊ตช์ ผลงานเหล่านี้อินสนธิ์นำไปจัดแสดงตามสถานที่ต่างๆ เพื่อจำหน่ายหาเงินมาเป็นค่าใช้จ่ายในการเดินทาง
จากกรุงนิวเดลลีอินสนธิ์เดินทางต่อไปยังเมืองละฮอร์(Lahore) การาจี อินสนธิ์จัดแสดงผลงานที่ The Arts Council of Pakistan นครการาจี ประเทศปากีสถาน (พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๕) เมื่อเดินทางไปถึง กรุงเตหราน ประเทศอิหร่าน อินสนธิ์จัดแสดงผลงานร่วมกับปรีชา ณ บางน้อย (เพื่อนเก่าที่มหาวิทยาลัยศิลปากร) ที่ Gilgamesh Gallery, Teharan. (พ.ศ. ๒๕๗๕) เมื่อเดินทางไปถึงประเทศตุรกีอินสนธิ์จัดแสดงผลงานเดี่ยวที่ Consulate de France นครอิสตันบูล ประเทศตุรกี (พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๖) เมื่อเดินทางไปถึงกรุงเอเธนส์ ประเทศกรีช อินสนธิ์จัดแสดงผลงานที่ Plaka Art House กรุงเอเธนส์ (พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๖) เฉพาะในประเทศกรีชซึ่งเป็นแหล่งอารยธรรมของโลกนั้น อินสนธิ์ประทับใจเป็นพิเศษ เขาอยู่ที่เอเธนส์ประมาณ ๒ เดือน เพื่อชื่นชมศิลปกรรมที่ยิ่งใหญ่ของกรีก จากนั้นเขาเดินทางไปอาศัยอยู่กับชาวประมงบนเกาะคอร์ฟู (Corfu) เป็นเวลานานถึง ๖ เดือน เพราะประทับใจธรรมชาติอันงดงามและความเป็นมิตรของชาวประมง ที่เกาะคอร์ฟูอินสนธิ์ได้พบกับศิลปินชาวอเมริกันคนหนึ่งชื่อ อเล็กซานเดอร์ เป็นชาวนิวยอร์ก และเป็นผู้ที่ซื้อผลงานภาพพิมพ์ของอินสนธิ์ไปจำนวนหนึ่ง โดยสัญญาว่าเมื่อเขากลับไปถึงนิวยอร์กแล้วจะจ่ายเงินให้ภายหลังและจะรับอินสนธิ์ไปอยู่ด้วย
ที่เกาะคอร์ฟูอินสนธิ์ได้สร้างงานภาพพิมพ์แม่พิมพ์ไม้ชุดใหม่ขึ้นจำนวนหนึ่ง เพื่อเก็บไว้จำหน่ายหาเงินเป็นปัจจัยในการเดินทางต่อไป ตลอดการเดินทางของอินสนธิ์ต้องฝ่าฟันอุปสรรคนานัปการ เช่นขณะเดินทางไปถึงอิสตันบูล เมืองหลวงของตุรกีเงินหมดขายรูปไม่ได้ จึงไม่มีเงินติดตัว เขาต้องอาศัยอยู่กับพ่อค้าขายปลาและขอขนมปังกินกับปลาย่างทุกวันโดยไม่ต้องจ่ายเงิน โดยผัดผ่อนกับพ่อค้าปลาว่า หากขายรูปได้จะจ่ายค่าปลาและขนมปังให้ อินสนธิ์อดอยากอยู่ได้ไม่นาน บริษัทเอสโซ จำกัด ในกรุงเทพก็ส่งเงินค่าประมูลผลงานของอินสนธิ์ที่กรุงเทพไปให้ ๒๐๐ ดอลลาร์สหรัฐ ทำให้เขามีเงินจ่ายค่าขนมปังและปลาย่าง เรื่องความทุกข์ยากเพราะขาดเงินระหว่างการเดินทางนั้น อินสนธิ์ต้องประสบอยู่เสมอ เขาเล่าให้ฟังว่า ครั้งหนึ่งขาดเงินไม่มีเงินซื้ออาหารต้องอดอาหารถึงสองวัน โดยไม่รู้จะหาเงินมาจากไหนรูปก็ขายไม่ได้ในที่สุดต้องใช้วิธีเดินไปในชุมชน แล้วล้มตัวลงนอนดินเพื่อเรียกร้องความสนใจ เมื่อเห็นว่ามีคนมามุงดูพอสมควรแล้ว จึงลุกขึ้นเปิดหมวกรับบริจาค ด้วยวิธีนี้ทำให้เขามีชีวิตรอดไปได้ นอกจากเรื่องอดอาหารแล้ว บางครั้งไม่มีเงิน อินสนธิ์ต้องอาศัยนอนตามใต้สะพาน สิ่งเหล่านี้ต้องอาศัยจิตใจที่แข็งแกร่งและไหวพริบปฎิภานอย่างมากจึงจะเอาชีวิตรอดได้ อย่างไรก็ตาม ในที่สุดฮก็เดินทางไปถึงกรุงโรม ประมาณเดือนสิงหาคม พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๖ (ค.ศ. ๑๙๖๓) ใช้เวลาในการเดินทางจากกรุงเทพฯไปถึงกรุงโรม ประเทศอิตาลีเกือบ ๒ ปี ดูจะเป็นคนแรกของโลกที่ขี่รถสกูตเตอร์จากประเทศไทยไปถึงประเทศอิตาลี โดยใช้รถสกูตเตอร์ที่ผลิตในอิตาลีแล้วส่งมาขายที่เมืองไทยอินสนธิ์เป็นคนแรกที่ขับกลับไปถิ่นกำเนิดของมันได้สำเร็จ
การเดินทางไปกรุงโรมของอินสนธิ์เสมือนการไปนมัสการสิ่งศักดิ์สิทธิ์ในนครแห่งศิลปะอินสนธิ์ปรารถนาจะไปให้ถึงเมือง Geovenni ใกล้เมืองฟลอเรนซ์ถิ่นกำเนิดของศาสตราจารย์ศิลป์พีระศรี การไปเยือนบ้านเกิดของศาสตราจารย์ศิลป์นั้น มีดำรง วงศ์อุปราช (พ.ศ. ๒๔๗๙-๒๕๔๔) ศิษย์อีกคนหนึ่งของศาสตราจารย์ศิลป์ เดินทางไปสมทบด้วย แม้ศาสตราจารย์ได้จากโลกนี้ไปแล้วก็ตาม แต่การได้ไปคารวะอาจารย์ถึงหน้าบ้านคงเป็นความปลื้มปิติของคนทั้งสองอย่างยิ่ง ระหว่างที่อยู่ในเมืองฟลอเรนซ์อิตาลีอินสนธิ์และดำรงได้จัดแสดงผลงานศิลปะที่ Numero Gallery เมืองฟลอเรนซ์ (พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๖) การแสดงงานศิลปะของทั้งสองคนเป็นการแสดงคารวะและระลึกถึงอาจารย์ของเขาทั้งสอง หลังจากนั้นดำรงก็เดินทางกลับประเทศไทย ขณะที่อินสนธิ์ปรารถนาที่จะเดินทางไปกรุงปารีส ประเทศฝรั่งเศสแทนที่จะอยู่กรุงโรม เพราะช่วงเวลานั้นกรุงปารีสเป็นเสมือนนครหลวงของศิลปะสมัยใหม่ กรุงโรมเป็นเพียงอดีตที่เคยรุ่งโรจน์เท่านั้น ด้วยเหตุนี้ กรุงปารีสจึงเป็นจุดหมายปลายทางที่เขาใฝ่ฝัน อินสนธิ์เดินทางต่อไปยังประเทศออสเตรีย และได้จัดแสดงผลงานเดี่ยวที่ Gallerie Fuchs กรุงเวียนนา ประเทศออสเตรีย (พ.ศ. ๒๕๐๗) จากนั้นเ��ินทางต่อไปประเทศสวิสเซอร์แลนด์ และฝรั่งเศส ด้วยรถไฟ เพราะรถสกูตเตอร์ไม่อยู่ในสภาพที่จะใช้เดินทางไกลได้อีกต่อไป อินสนธิ์จึงมอบให้สถานเอกอัครราชทูตไทยในกรุงโรม แล้วเดินทางไปยังประเทศต่างๆ ในยุโรปจนภึงกรุงปารีสประเทศฝรั่งเศสในที่สุด ขณะที่อินสนธิ์เดินทางไปถึงกรุงปารีส เขาแทบไม่มีเงินติดตัวเลย แต่โชคมักเข้าข้างอินสนธิ์เสมอ เขาได้ทำงานในร้านอาหารเวียดนามเป็นเด็กเสิร์ฟ และได้เลื่อนตำแห��่งเป็นกุ๊ก ทำให้มีอาหารกินและมีรายได้ จากนั้น 6 เดือน เขาจึงลาออกไปทำงานที่ใช้ความสามารถตามที่เขาถนัดคือ งานทาสี ตกแต่ง เชื่อมโลหะ ทำป้ายโฆษณา อินสนธิ์พำนักในกรุงปารีสจนถึง พ.ศ. 2509 ระหว่างนั้นเข้ามีโอกาสได้เข้าศึกษาศิลปะเพิ่มเติมที่ L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts De’coralifs จนสำเร็จการศึกษา หลังจานั้นอินสนธิ์จัดแสดงผลงานศิลปกรรมที่ Galleries de Huat Pave กรุงปารีส (พ.ศ.2509) และที่อื่นๆอีกหลายครั้ง ซึ่งประสบความสำเร็จพอสมควร ทำให้เขามีทุนเดินทางตามความฝันในอีกซีกโลกหนึ่งคือ นิวยอร์ก สหรัฐอเมริกา
อินสนธิ์ ออกเดินทางจากกรุงปารีสซึ่งเป็นศูนย์กลางของศิลปะสมัยใหม่คริสต์ศตวรรษที่19 ไปสู่มหานครนิวยอร์กซึ่งเป็นศูนย์กลางของศิลปะสมัยใหม่คริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 20 อินสนธิ์เดินทางไปพร้อมกับสตรีชาวอเมริกันชื่อ บาร์บาร่า วู๊ด(Barbara Wood) ที่ไปศึกษาศิลปะในฝรั่งเศส ขณะที่เขามีเงินเพียงหนึ่งดอลล่าร์เท่านั้น หลายปีในต่างแดนทำให้เขารู้ว่าการหาเงินไม่ใช่เรื่องยาก ในที่สุดอินสนธ์ก็สามารถสร้างสตูดิโอที่หมู่บ้านตะวันออก(East Village)ได้สำเร็จ เขาพำนักในนิวยอร์กประมาณ 6 ปี ก่อนจะย้ายไปอยู่ที่ มลรัฐนิวเจอร์ซี(New Jercy) อินสนธิ์ใช้ชีวิตอยู่ในสหรัฐอเมริกาประมาณ 7 ปี(พ.ศ.2510-2517) โดยใช้ชีวิตร่วมกับบาร์บาร่า อินสนธิ์และบราบาลามีบุตรชายด้วยกันหนึ่งคนชื่อ อินสนธ์ วู๊ด (ปัจจุบันเป็นผู้อำนวยการฝ่ายสถาปัตยกรรมและการออกแบบบริษัทDavid Easton Incorpolation สำเร็จการศึกษาจากมหาวิทยาลัยคอร์แนลและปริญญาโทจากมหาวิทยาลัยฮาวาร์ด) บราบาลาเสีชีวิตด้วยโรคมะเร็งขณะที่ลูกชายมีอายุได้ 14 ปี อินสนธิ์ได้แต่งงานกับสตรีชาวอเมริกันอีกคนหนึ่งชื่อลอร์ลา ลิพนิน(Laula Lipnin) แต่แยกทางกันเมื่ออินสนธ์เดินทางกลับประเทศไทยในปี 2517 ระหว่างที่พำนักในนิวยอร์ก อินสนธ์ได้จัดแสดงผลงานเดี่ยวและผลงานร่วมกับศิลปินอื่นๆหลายครั้ง เช่น การแสดงเดี่ยวที่ Lichfield Gallery Conn และแสดงผลงานร่วมกับศิลปินบราซิล (พ.ศ.2510) แสดงผลงานเดี่ยวที่ Eleven Gallery นครนิวยอร์ก (พ.ศ.2511) แสดงผลงานร่วมกับพนม สุวรรณนาถ (พ.ศ. 2457-ปัจจุบันเพื่อนเก่าที่มหาวิทยาลัยศิลปากรไปศึกษาอยู่ที่นครนิวยอร์กขณะนั้น ปัจจุบันพำนักอยู่ในประเทศสหัฐอเมริกา) ที่ De Mena Gallerly นครนิวยอร์ก(พ.ศ.2512) การใช้ชีวิตในนครนิวยอร์กไม่ง่ายนัก หากแต่ด้วยความเป็นนักสู้ชีวิตและมีความสามารถรอบตัวอย่างอินสนธ์ ทำให้เข้าเอาชีวิตรอดได้ทุกสถานการณ์ เริ่มตั้งแต่ปรับปรุงร้านทำผมให้เป็นสตูดิโอและห้องแสดงเครื่องประดับตกแต่งที่เขาผลิตขึ้นโดยใช้ความรู้ที่ได้รับสืบทอดมาจากบิดาที่เป็นช่างเงิน ความรู้ที่ได้มาจากมหาวิทยาลัยศิลปากรและการออกแบบที่ร่ำเรียนมาจากปารีส โดยอินสนธิ์นำเศษทองเหลือง ทองแดง มาทำเป็นต่างหู สร้อย กำไล โดยใช้วิธีชุบให้เป็นสีต่างๆ นำลุกบิดประตู ตะขอเกี่ยวประตูหน้าต่าง และเศษวัสดุเหลือใช้มาทำเป็นเชิงเทียน ที่วางต้นไม้ และของแต่งบ้านอื่นๆทำให้สตูดิโอของอินสนธิ์ได้รับความสนใและมีลูกค้ามาอุดหนุนพอที่จะช่วยให้อินสนธิ์มีชีวิตอยู่ได้โดยไม่ลำบากนัก แต่ด้วยวิถีชีวิตที่เร่งรีบบีบคั้นของเมืองใหญ่ทำให้เขาเห็นว่า การมีชีวิตอยู่ในโลกทุนนิยมที่เต้มไปด้วยการแข่งขันและค่าครองชีพสุงนั้นยากลำบาก เครียด จนนำไปสู่โรคภัยต่างๆจนในที่สุดเขาก้เห็นว่า หากอยู่ในโลกที่แล้งน้ำใจต่อไป คงไม่เป็นผลดีต่อจิตใจที่อ่อนไหวของเขา อินสนธิ์จึงตัดสินใจเดินทางกลับมาสู่มาตุภูมิ เพื่อคืนสู่รากเหง้าของตนในปี พ.ศ. 2517 หลังจากใช้ชีวิตในต่างแดนนานกว่าสิบปี สิ่งที่อินสนธ์นำติดตัวกลับมาคือ ประสบการณ์ชีวิตและประสบการณ์ศิลปะ โดยปราศจากทรัพย์สินและเงินทอง อินสนธิ์กล่าวไว้ว่า “…เมื่อไปมือเปล่า ก็กลับมาตัวเปล่า…”
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BRENDA LEE - ALL ALONE AM I
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018. (Agony pt. 2)
A colleague once said, “One day, Tina, you’re gonna wake up, and the whole school is gonna be younger than you, and you’re gonna wonder, ‘How the heck did this happen?’.”
I previously mentioned the agony of longing for change over situations that can’t be helped, but another side of that which could also lead to agony is the resistance of change. Many of us have found ourselves in situations where we have fought against change, but when it inevitably came rushing in all around us, we coped by shutting it out and interacting exclusively with what we’ve always known and have been comfortable with.
In my first year of teaching seventh grade, I had a chilling realization of how year after year, the new students I receive will always be the same age, but I will never stop aging. It then led me to realize that although I was one of the young and new teachers back then, there will always be a need for more educators (especially with many of our veteran educators going into a well-deserved retirement), so I wasn’t going to be among the young and the new for very long.
How we are seen is not who we are.
We could be young and new to a group or community one day, but (if we’re lucky enough to stick around) we will become one of the veterans, and that’s pretty awesome. Understand that who we are is simply becoming. It’s important to not become attached to a certain identity because, just like the world around us, our identities are constantly changing based on what’s going on in our lives. Therefore, striving to become a pillar of wisdom and guidance for newcomers is one of the most fulfilling ways to live out our lives and to leave a legacy. It’s also, in my eyes, one of the best ways to cultivate a thriving community. (If only I could find a job where I would get paid to guide others — that would be the most fulfilling career ever for me.)
But really, you could be the light of someone’s life one day, and the next you could be their biggest burden. Likewise, you could be considered dispensable one day, and the next you could be invaluable.
People are fickle, so I’ve learned that the best thing to do to keep from losing ourselves in a fight to stay relevant would be to completely detach from any perceived identity bestowed upon us. A desire to stay “relevant” really is just a desire for the approval of others, and who the heck has the energy to care about that? One of my favorite passages is from Eat, Pray, Love, in which Elizabeth Gilbert muses over the silent regality of the Augusteum in Rome despite all that it has endured. I remember reading this passage shortly after turning twenty-one. It’s been almost a decade, and the core value of this message continues to resonate within me.
“I look at the Augusteum, and I think that perhaps my life has not actually been so chaotic, after all. It is merely this world that is chaotic, bringing changes to us all that nobody could have anticipated. The Augusteum warns me to not to get attached to any obsolete ideas about who I am, what I represent, whom I belong to, or what function I may once have intended to serve. Yesterday I might have been a glorious monument to somebody, true enough--but tomorrow I could be a fireworks depository. Even in the Eternal City, says the silent Augusteum, one must always be prepared for riotous and endless waves of transformation.” - Elizabeth Glibert
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Could subjects soon be a thing of the past in Finland?
By Penny Spiller, BBC News, Finland, 29 May 2017
Finland has long been renowned for the quality of its education and always scores highly in international league tables.
Now it is rethinking how it teaches in the digital age--seeking to place skills, as much as subjects, at the heart of what it does. But not everyone is happy, and there are fears it could bring down standards.
It is a chilly morning in a remote village in southern Finland, but the thoughts of this class of 12-year-olds are elsewhere--in ancient Rome.
Their teacher is taking them through a video re-enactment--shown on the classroom’s interactive smart board--of the day Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the city of Pompeii.
In groups they take out their mini laptops. Their task is to compare ancient Rome with modern Finland. One group looks at Roman baths and today’s luxury spas; another puts the Colosseum up against modern-day stadiums.
They use 3D printers to create a miniature of their Roman building, which will eventually be used as pieces for a class-wide board game.
This is a history lesson with a difference, says Aleksis Stenholm, a teacher at Hauho Comprehensive School. The children are also gaining skills in technology, research, communication and cultural understanding.
“Each group is becoming an expert on their subject, which they will present to the class,” he explains. The board game is the culmination of the project, which will run alongside normal classroom teaching.
For nearly two decades, Finland has enjoyed a reputation for having one of the world’s best education systems. Its 15 year olds regularly score amongst the highest in the global Pisa league tables for reading, maths and science.
Its ability to produce high academic results in children who do not start formal schooling until the age of seven, have short school days, long holidays, relatively little homework and no exams, has long fascinated education experts around the world.
Despite this, Finland is shaking up the way it is doing things--a move that it says is vital in a digital age where children are no longer reliant on books and the classroom to gain knowledge.
In August 2016 it became compulsory for every Finnish school to teach in a more collaborative way; to allow students to choose a topic relevant to them and base subjects around it. Making innovative use of technology and sources outside the school, such as experts and museums, is a key part of it.
The aim of this way of teaching--known as project- or phenomenon-based learning (PBL)--is to equip children with skills necessary to flourish in the 21st Century, says Kirsti Lonka, a professor of educational psychology at Helsinki University. Among the skills she singles out are critical thinking to identify fake news and avoid cyber-bullying, and the technical ability to install anti-virus software and link up to a printer.
“Traditionally, learning has been defined as a list of subject matters and facts you need to acquire--such as arithmetic and grammar--with some decoration, like citizenship, built in around it,” Ms Lonka says.
“But when it comes to real life, our brain is not sliced into disciplines in that way; we are thinking in a very holistic way. And when you think about the problems in the world--global crises, migration, the economy, the post-truth era--we really haven’t given our children the tools to deal with this inter-cultural world.
“I think it is a major mistake if we lead children to believe the world is simple and that if they learn certain facts they are ready to go. So learning to think, learning to understand, these are important skills--and it also makes learning fun, which we think promotes wellbeing.”
Hauho Comprehensive School is nestled among forests and lakes, some 40 minutes drive north-east of the city of Hameenlinna.
With just 230 pupils aged between seven and 15, it has a homely feel. Shoes are left at the front entrance, exercise balls are used instead of chairs in some classrooms, and there are pull-up bars in the doorways.
Teachers are relaxed about mobile phones in the classroom; it is a chance, they say, for children to appreciate their value as a research tool, not just as a means for communicating with their friends.
On this cold day, the older students huddle around their phones during the lunch hour while some of the younger children brave the snow flurries to use the skate park, football and basketball pitches.
Head teacher Pekka Paappanen is a firm believer in PBL and looks for a variety of ways of integrating it into the school’s curriculum.
“I talk through ideas with our teachers, and then I make sure there is time and space in the schedule for them to happen,” he explains.
“I think teachers have more power in this way, but they have to realise they can’t do everything. We are leaving some old traditions behind, but we are taking it slowly too--the job of teaching our children is too important and we mustn’t get it wrong.”
One big project last year was on the subject of immigration, when the flow of migrants into Europe was making headlines around the world.
Aleksis Stenholm says they chose the topic because it became clear many of their students had little personal experience of immigrants and immigration. The topic was incorporated into German and religious classes.
Their 15-year-olds carried out street surveys to garner local opinions about immigration, and they visited a nearby immigration centre to interview asylum seekers. They shared their findings via video-link with a school in Germany, which had carried out a similar project.
“It was really powerful, how the students reacted to it. They started thinking about things, questioning their opinions,” Mr Stenholm recalls.
“If I had just taught this over, say, the course of three lessons, the effect would have been very different.”
The idea behind phenomenon-based learning has its critics. Some, like physics teacher Jussi Tanhuanpaa, fear it does not provide children with a strong enough grounding in a subject to enable them to study it at a higher level.
He teaches in Lieto, just outside the south-west city of Turku, and says that of one cohort of children he knew who took advanced-level maths post-16, some 30% of them had to drop down a level.
He also worries it is widening the gap between the most and least able students--a gap that has been historically small in Finland.
“This way of teaching is great for the brightest children who understand what knowledge they need to take away from an experiment. It allows them the freedom to learn at their own pace and take the next steps when they are ready to,” he says.
“But this is not the case for children who are less able to figure it out for themselves and need more guidance. The gap between the brightest and the less able has already begun widening and I am very afraid that this will only get worse”.
Anneli Rautiainen of Finland’s national agency for education accepts there are concerns and says they are introducing the changes gradually: schools are only required to provide one such PBL project for its pupils a year.
“We want to encourage teachers to work in this way and for children to experience it, but we are starting it slowly. There are still subjects being taught and goals to be reached for each subject, but we also want skills to be embedded in that learning,” she explains.
“We are not too keen on metrics in this country overall so we are not planning to measure the success of it, at least not for now. We are hoping it will show in the learning outcomes of our children as well as in the international tables such as Pisa,” she says.
What’s unusual about Finnish schools?
Teaching is a highly respected, well-paid profession
There are no school inspections or teacher evaluations
The school system is highly centralised and most schools are publicly funded
School days are short and the summer break is 10 weeks
Children are assessed by their teachers. The only nationwide exam is for those who continue studying to 18
Average school size is 195 pupils; average class size is 19 pupils
Success has been attributed to a traditionally high regard for teaching and reading, as well as a small, largely homogenous population
While not everyone is convinced by this revolution in Finnish teaching, it has been given the thumbs up by most students and parents at Hauho.
Sara, 14, says it is “not so tiring. It’s much more interesting--I like that about it”. Anna, also 14, says her older sister is envious because she thinks “school is much more fun than when she was here”.
Mum Kaisa Kepsu says most parents she knows are positive about the changes to the curriculum. “There has been a wider discussion about the need to ensure children are still learning the basic facts, and I agree with that,” she says. “But raising their motivation and making the world more interesting is also important. I don’t see anything wrong with school being fun”.
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In celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the first recordings by Zabelle Panosian this month.
Zabelle (sometimes Zabella) Panosian was born in Bardizag (present-day Bahçecik, Turkey) on June 7, 1891. She emigrated to the U.S. in April 1896 and married the photo-engraver Aram Sarkis Panosian, 12 years her senior. She lived in Brookline, Mass., from 1908 until at least 1920. During that time, she sang with the Boston Opera Company. (In 1918, she recorded "Charmant Oiseux" - "Charming Birds" - from Felicien David's La Perle du Bresil, the only song she recorded in any language other than Armenian and which had been recorded by, among others, Luisa Tetrazzini in 1911, who had also sung with the short-lived Boston Opera Company.)
In April, 1917, she recorded five songs in Columbia’s studios in the Woolworth building on Broadway and was given the exceptional luxury of recording as many as seven takes during her recording sessions. It was common practice to record no more than three takes of any given performance by immigrant musicians, and the vast majority of recordings for Columbia's E (ethnic) series were made in one or two takes.
We do not know whether she had any relationship with her peer Torcom Bezazian, who began recording for Columbia with success in February, 1915 and released nearly 80 performances on Columbia, Victor, and Edison labels before his recording career ended in 1921. We do know that she was close to the great singer Amenag Chah-Mouradian, having toured with him in the late 10s in benefit of the Near East Relief Campaign. (There is photographic evidence of an appearance by the two of them in Syracuse, NY in 1917.) Chah-Mouradian himself made a string of iconic discs at Columbia’s studios starting in May, 1917.
In 1870, there were fewer than 70 Armenians in the United States. About 100,000 arrived in the U.S. following the Hamidean massacres between 1894 and 1914. Between the onset on WWI and the passing of the Johnson-Reed act (which restricted immigration, allowing only 100 Armenian a year to enter the U.S. until 1952), another 30,000 Armenians arrived. Of those in the U.S., in the mid-10s, most came to the shattering realization that not only was there no longer any home to go to, but that everyone they had left behind was likely dead, as a million Armenians had been slaughtered. Meanwhile, the U.S. formally declared war with Germany on April 6, 1917, and the Ottoman Empire, having sided with Germany, formally severed diplomatic ties with the U.S. on April, 20th.
It was that same month that Zabelle Panosian recorded her first sides, including her masterpiece, Groung. I first heard it about a decade ago on a broken copy of the disc and worked for days, obsessively, to restore it, ultimately publishing it on my compilation To What Strange Place in 2011. Tens of thousands of people have heard it since then, and, as a direct result, it was arranged for strings and played by the Kronos Quartet in both New York and Yerevan a couple of years ago. Even so, little of Zabelle has been paid attention to.
“Groung” was the first of her recordings to be released and far and away her best-seller. Columbia kept it in print through numerous pressings until 1931 when they stopped selling Armenian-language material. It spoke directly to the dilemma of Armenians in the U.S., stranded by the chaos back home. The words are: “Crane, where are you coming from? I am servant of your voice. Crane, have you not news from our country? Hasten not to your flock, you will arrive soon enough! ”
Presented here are five of the six songs she recorded in April, 1917. (The remaining title “Kilikia,” was apparently issued as the B-side of some, but not all, copies of her performance of “Mi Lar Pibool,” the following year.) Also presented are alternate takes of “Groung” and its flip side, which were apparently scheduled for release as relatively expensive 12” discs. 12” copies have not surfaced, if they were ever issued. Instead, we find the performance was issued on 10” discs, nearly identical in appearance to the other take, at a faster speed in order to cram the longer duration on to the sides. (This is the only instance of the practice that I have ever encountered in my 20 years of collecting and studying 78rpm discs; I would be interested to hear of any other examples of this practice.) We have presented these amazing performances at their correct speed. All were given only light restoration and are presented from very good copies of the original discs, recorded almost a decade before the invention of microphones for the benefit of those interested.
She returned to the studio, probably just a few weeks after her April session and recorded one more piece – “Tzain Dour Ov Dzovag,” also presented here – to round out her releases. She recorded only four more sides in June the following year. They did not sell as well.
In 1920, Zabelle Panosian applied for a passport to visit France to study (likely with the great patriarch of Armenian music, Komitas Vadarpet, who composed or arranged at least four of the songs presented here; Harout Arakelian has found a Variety notice stating that she organized a concert at Salle Pleyel in Paris in June, 1922), to Italy to see her brother, and to England and Egypt to “locate lost relatives.” Robert Karayan has noticed that she was profiled, in photo only, in an edition of “Hai Guine” (Armenian Woman), the first feminist bi-monthly journal of Istanbul, founded, published, and edited by Hayganouche Mark from 1919-33. Panosian and her daughter returned through Ellis Island two and a half years later on Jan. 23, 1924, from the port of Cherbourg, France, to her husband at 520 E. 183rd St. in Manhattan. A few years later, she made another trip with her daughter Adiena (or Adrina).
She and her husband had three children. None of them had children themselves, and all of them are dead. Zabelle Panosian died in 1986. Her career was long forgotten. We have, at this point, five photographs of her.
In memory and admiration, 100 years later.
ADDENDUM: Harry Kezelian has just turned up a huge amount of material on Zabelle Panosian (including two new photos - one here: http://ovenk.com/zabel-aram/), starting with his having noticed a bio for her in a 1940 issue of the Armenian language Daroni Ardziv magazine, in which it is made clear that she used the stage name Zabel Aram. From that, he found a bunch of stuff, including her teacher's name (we still need to get the spelling right), and a mind-blowing reference in Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy's book Sacred Justice: The Voices and Legacy of the Armenian Operation Nemesis, stating that Zabelle performed at a 1919 banquet at the Copley Hotel in Boston in honor of a delegation from then-independent Armenia including its Prime Minister Kachaznouni, Calvin Coolidge, Alice Stone Blackwell, and General Antranik. Holding the flag of the Armenian Republic, Zabelle sang "Groong" "to thunderous applause." Photo-documentation apparently exists.
We also now know from Alice Navsargian's Book Armenian Women of the Stage that Zabelle was a huge star in Europe, having toured from London, Manchester, Paris, Greece, Egypt, Geneva, Rome, and Milan, where she received the "Serata in Honore" award at Opera La Scala, among others, and that she had a repertoire that included Schubert, Monteverdi, Verdi, Puccini, Bizet, and Rossini. And we know for sure that she met Komitas in Paris in 1920 and wrote about the experience in an article in Veradznoud. So! There must be a lot of documentation about her life and work scattered around archives in Europe as well as in Boston. And! the question is now open - did she record more while she was there under her stage name? Are there more Zabelle Aram/Panosian records? We shall see.
I am humbled and excited.
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