Oh, so would you be if you thought your brother was after your girlfriend.

Jack’s birthday shindig is nearing. Daz amuses Robert and Danny. Sorry Daz, Debbie is not your girlfriend. The group wind up at Robert’s while Andy is stuck with Daz. Elaine and Donna get into it about feminism and ‘role model’ Barbie.

21-Nov-2003

a good sign a sitcom is past its prime is if the women lead has changed her hair

The Ultimate Dark Academia Book Recommendation Guide Ever

The title of this post is clickbait. I, unfortunately, have not read every book ever. Not all of these books are particularly “dark” either. However, these are my recommendations for your dark academia fix. The quality of each of these books varies. I have limited this list to books that are directly linked to the world of academia and/or which have a vaguely academic setting.

Dark Academia staples:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

Dead Poets Society by Nancy H. Kleinbaum

Vita Nostra by Maryna Dyachenko

Dark academia litfic or contemporary:

Bunny by Mona Awad

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

White Ivy by Susie Yang

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates

Attribution by Linda Moore

Dark academia thrillers or horror:

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

Dark academia fantasy/sci-fi:

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

Dark academia romance:

Gothikana by RuNyx

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

Dark academia YA or MG:

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Crave by Tracy Wolff

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Dark academia miscellaneous:

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip

The Finale: Sondheim! The Birthday Concert

At long last, someone has uploaded the full Stephen Sondheim 80th Birthday Concert in 1080p so that we can worship properly. You too can watch it at the link above.

Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday at Lincoln Center with a truly jaw-dropping cast of Broadway legends on March 15 and 16 in 2010. Though he would go on to celebrate many more birthdays, no other event would ever be more sublime than this.

Directed by Lonny Price, conducted by Paul Gemingnani, and hosted by David Hyde Pierce, the event featured Karen Olivo, Alexander Gemignani, Jason Danieley, Victoria Clark, Nathan Gunn, John McMartin, Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason, Jim Walton, Mandy Patinkin, George Hearn, Michael Cerveris, Laura Benanti, all accompanied by the New York Philharmonic.

And as a grand finale, the Ladies in Red: Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, Donna Murphy, and Marin Mazzie, all Sondheim leading ladies who gave one iconic performance after another.

Victoria Clark ("Don't Laugh") Marin Mazzie & Jason Danieley ("We're Gonna Be All Right") Joanna Gleason & Chip Zien ("It Takes Two") Bernadette Peters & Mandy Patinkin ("Move On") Patti LuPone, George Hearn, Michael Cerveris ("A Little Priest") Patti LuPone ("The Ladies Who Lunch") Marin Mazzie ("Losing My Mind") Audra McDonald ("The Glamorous Life") Donna Murphy ("Could I Leave You?") Bernadette Peters ("Not a Day Goes By") Bonus: Elaine Stritch ("I'm Still Here")

so.. here’s the dumbass oc 😰

aphverse oc in mcd! (sorry if the art is weird looking in some parts, it is unrendered)

more info under the cut

TW: mentions of death, torture, and domestic abuse going to start on some simple information on her

* her name is melody elaine, and she is the lord of a village named iuxdale, which is slightly southwest of pikoro and south east of the southern wolf tribe

* iudale is a village with all kinds of different people; known for having a large mix of werewolves, humans, and magick users

* is 24-25

* is a shadow knight and has magicks other than the ones that come with the shadow knight shit (mary sue? little bit, but do i care? no! i'm having fun < 3)

* has gained her immortality by killing her mother who was a very corrupt lord who was taking iudale down a dark path

* has nature magicks, meaning she can easily grow plants, take energy from the land, and communicate with animals (similar to kiki and the powers aph in rebirth)

* very cheerful, barely anything can dampen her smile and so friendly and optimistic-can make friends with practically everyone

* very much so a family girl: has a younger sister, younger brother, older sister, and a head guard that is practically a brother to her

* scars are from torture in the nether as she became a shadow knight

* freckles absolutely everywhere: from both sun and genetics

* in a relationship with laurance (LMAO SHES SO
SELF INDULGENT IM SORRY)

now time for like a timeline thing???

* became head guard for her mother, who was lord, at 17

* was very much so a daddy's girl, was more of a guard for him than her mother

* at 19, she was sent to nether to retrieve an artifact her mother wanted, but never came back.

* she was killed in the nether, and turned into a shadow night-tortured to become another mindless soldier to do the shadow lords bidding

* somehow, the torture did not work; instead, flowers bloomed in the nether around her. her magicks had strangely been unlocked only after she had been turned into a shadow knight.

* before the shadow lord could get to her and take her powers, she was free and dumped back into the human realm: extremely battered and bruised.

* was found by her brother-like figure--jasper, who was now head guard since her disappearance 2 years ago--and taken back to iuxdale

* she was healed up and came to learn that her mother had become a corrupt lord and has been abusing her siblings and father, who was now dying of an unknown illness

* she retook her spot has head guard for a couple months until she couldn't take watching her mother harm people anymore; her breaking point was watching her mother openly hit a younger child for something they couldn't control (their dog running away and getting dirt on her dress)
she cornered her mother and told her that her actions weren't right, and that she needed to stop or she would do something about it--basically led to a fight and melody killing her mother after she stabbed her
melody's father overtook the postion of lord but sadly passed only 2 months after he took the position. both of her blood siblings were too young to become lord, so she took to her people to make the choice of who would lead them now--they chose melody because she had saved their village

* blah blah little while later, she meets laurance in meteili when she went to talk to joh about lord business

* they had a little fling and afterwards they kept contact by sending each other letters more time later
first time she meet aphmau is when she comes to phoenix drop for donna and logan's wedding, her being friends with donna when she used to live in o'kasis and logan coming from her village beofre moving to phoenix drop

* meets aph, they become close friends in a short time, yeah

* wedding happens, melody goes home, zane shit happens

* they meet again in that little adventure aph and her little guard boys go on from like ep 64-76

* more specifically after they leave pikoro village

* logan needs another break and so her takes them to iuxdale so they can rest

* they stay at melody's house, laurence and melody have like soem gross heart to heart shit about them both being shadow knights and melody never mentioning it before they started their 'courtship' (LMAOOO) and yeah

i'm done for now, that's all i've got. and it was a lot. sorry but not sorry LMAO.

i may share more information about her, or show her in the ph and mystreet universes (which in my little rewrite shit is kinda like mcd but modern AND NO FUCKING WEIRD WEREWOLF SHIT???), and yeah!

sorry for talking so much and enjoy my self indulgent oc :33

top ten sondheim songs in your opinion (can be in any order)

Anon, I hope you know that asking me this is the equivalent of asking a mother to pick her favorite kid. Yeah, sure okay, she has a favorite, but making her admit it is like pulling teeth. So. I've compiled two lists for you: one of my personal top ten, and one of the objective top ten I think should/could be considered the best. I'm also going to be indicating my preferred renditions of these songs, because that plays a major factor into things. Also, because I'm incapable of being concise, you're also getting a brief explanation on at least my top ten, so...enjoy. Or, my condolences, I guess. You had no idea the can of worms you were opening.

My Personal Top Ten: (in no particular order, and only at this specific point in my life right now this second)

1. The Ladies in Red segment of the Sondheim 80th Birthday Celebration concert (2010): "The Ladies Who Lunch," (Company) - Patti LuPone* "Losing My Mind," (Follies) - Marin Mazzie* "The Glamorous Life," (A Little Night Music) - Audra McDonald "Could I Leave You?" (Follies) - Donna Murphy* "Not a Day Goes By," (Merrily We Roll Along) - Bernadette Peters "I'm Still Here," (Follies) - Elaine Stritch* Right off the bat, I'm cheating. Four (*) of my top ten are just from this segment of the concert so I'm squeezing them all into one so I can include more songs. Quick rundown of why: self-explanatory, c'mon. Donna's "Could I Leave You?" is my number one Sondheim, hand's down.

2. "The Girls of Summer," (The Girls of Summer) - Gabrielle Stravelli Sondheim Unplugged is a monthly cabaret series at 54 Below, and I go to every show. It's really opened my eyes to some of these hidden gems. It's just a fun little number.

3. "What More Do I Need?" (Saturday Night) - Kelli O'Hara (90th Birthday Concert) The song that finally made me decide that I was in love with Kelli O'Hara and sopranos were actually breathtaking people who deserved my adoration. (Still an alto lover at heart though)

4. "We're Gonna Be All Right," (Do I Hear a Waltz?) - Marin Mazzie & Jason Danieley Naughtiest couple on Broadway sing a naughty duet. Truly, what more could I ask for? I love a bitingly antagonistic song.

5. "There's Always A Woman," (Anyone Can Whistle) - Jan Maxwell & Victoria Clark And speaking of bitingly antagonistic. This is a song where two Divas get to be catty bitches to an absurd degree, and I cannot get enough of it. I also deeply love and miss Jan Maxwell. And where else are you going to get Jan Maxwell calling Vicki Clark a whore? Incredible.

6. "The Madame Song," (The Seven Per-Cent Solution) - Bebe Neuwirth Clever wordplay, sexy brothel madame, wink-wink nudge-nudge raunchy. Sung by my beloved Bebe Neuwirth. Obviously a winner.

7. "The Story of Lucy and Jessie," (Follies) - Jan Maxwell Follies is my favorite Sondheim show, and Phyllis Rogers Stone is my favorite Sondheim character. And while Donna Murphy is my favorite Phyllis, I go to Jan Maxwell for this song. She was just so sublime. The song itself is clever, cutting, and choreographed wonderfully every time.

8. "Take Me to the World," (Evening Primrose) - Soara-Joye Ross The actual movie this is from is so fucking weird, and if it were Charmaine Carr's version, I wouldn't look twice at it. But I had the pleasure of hearing Soara-Joye Ross sing this song at the first Sondheim Unplugged show two days after his death. And it was just...wow.

9. "The Miller's Son," (A Little Night Music) - Elizabeth Stanley It has everything I love in a Sondheim. Clever lyrics, brutal pacing, and the danger of tripping up even the best cabaret performer. When you're cocky, that's when Sondheim gets you. Elizabeth Stanley has only ever been attractive to me in this specific video.

10. Being Alive," (Company) - hear me out. Hear me out. Marquee Five (ft. Sierra Rein) Okay, okay, I know, obscure choice here. However. Up until I heard this rendition, I did not really care about this song. Any male version went in one ear and out the other. If you couldn't tell by my list, I am almost exclusively dedicated to older broads. And yes, Patti has a fantastic rendition, and so do lots of other women. But this one with its harmonies and its alto lead singer does it for me like no one else.

Objective Top Ten Sondheim Songs: (order arbitrary, rendition my preference)

1. "A Weekend in the Country," (A Little Night Music) - the Rebecca Luker one 2. "Getting Married Today," (Company) - Madeline Kahn (alt. Katie Finneran) 3. "Could I Leave You?" (Follies) - Donna Murphy 4. "Being Alive," (Company) - Marquee Five 5. "Losing My Mind," (Follies) - Marin Mazzie 6. "Someone in a Tree," (Pacific Overtures) - 90th Birthday Concert 7. "A Little Priest," (Sweeney Todd) - 80th Birthday Concert, but most renditions are fantastic. 8. "Finishing the Hat," (Sunday in the Park with George) - Mandy Patinkin 9. "Sunday," (Sunday in the Park with George) - Marquee Five, but any version is transcendent. 10. "Loving You," (Passion) - Donna Murphy If you're somehow not sick of me yet, ask me to give a no-commentary top 100, ranked in order, then we'll really have fun.

new teen titans as horror movie protagonists

raven: carrie from carrie (1976). self-explanatory

donna: anna from possession (1981). self-explanatory

vic: swamp thing from swamp thing (1982). horrible lab accident transforms man into sexier man.

wally: michael from the lost boys (1987). could have been in a cool club but he wanted to go to college instead.

kory: elaine from the love witch (2016). when will someone love her like she can love?

gar: the guy from american psycho (2000). that was just him planning donna's wedding.

dick: the brother from hereditary (2018). i think the point of this movie was grief causing parents to push guilt onto their children.

WIP Wednesday Game

(per @kedreeva)

It’s WIP Wednesday, time for a little accountability, sharing your work, and getting a kick in the pants.

Here’s how it works:

In a reblog (or new post w/ rules attached), post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to post!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can’t share from (for example, an event fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. I’ll be searching the reblogs to find people to send asks to!

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

If you see someone posting a WIP Wednesday Game snippet, send them an ask! Make them write.

~~

My files:

due South:

undercover fic

elaine & rayk partner fic

CLAMP:

Mokona

So this friend of yours

The Doctor studied Syaoran with a heavy intensity--comparable, truthfully, to the original Dimensional Witch. "So where are they?" he asked.

"We landed in a corridor," Syaoran said. "So we split up to see if we could find the owner, apologize for intruding, and if possible, leave--but since outside isn't something I think Mokona could carry us through, we're going to have to respectfully request passage, instead."

Donna patted his shoulder. "See, Spaceman? Not everything is dire death and emergency."

RAY STANTZ’S ROMANTIC INTERESTS

@thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @angelixgutz @themousefromfantasyland @amalthea9 @budcortfancam @bixiebeet @spengnitzed​ @professorlehnsherr-almashy​

Unlike his friend Peter Venkman, the more sincere and sensitive Ray Stantz is not constantly pursuing different women for romance or sexual pleasure. Besides the fact that he is mostly shown focusing on his research of technology to hunt and study the supernatural, while having some fantasies, his aproach to relationships is wanting to know the other person pretty well to see if there will be afinity and a deep emotional connection that makes them compactible for a relationship.

So, outside of the movies, there were two ladies who becamed memorable candidates for a romantic relationship with the hearth of the Ghostbusters.

ELAINE PHERMON

Appearing in the Real Ghostbusters series episode Look Homeward, Ray, Elaine Phermon was Ray’s childhood friend and crush in his hometown of Morrisville. When the Ghostbusters became famous, Elaine kept track of their exploits mainly because of Ray's involvement. She had just inherited a place known as the Pallo Mansion but was unable to sell it, on account that it was haunted. Despite watching Ray fail twice, Elaine never gave up on her childhood friend and attempted to cheer him up. With her help, Ray was able to find out that the bully Alan Favish was trying to use magic to make Ray look bad. She kissed Ray on the cheek when the town reinstated him as the star of the parade. Her introduction had great potential to develop an interesting dynamic of two childhood friends who slowly become romantically involved in adulthood, but unfortunally Elaine Phermon didn’t appear in other episodes to make this development possible.

JENNY MORAN

A character that was created for the IDW licensed comics, with a design inspired by actress and model Donna Dixon (Dan Aykroyd’s real life former spouse), Jenny Moran was one of the three ladies that the selfish anti hero Ron Alexander hired to staff his Ghost Smashers, an enterprise that tried to rival the Ghostbusters on their business by stoling their technology (wich backfired horribly). Despite that enterprise going south in a hurry, Jenny managed to strike up a relationship with Ray Stantz that quickly developed into a romance. She subsequently appeared as a backup Ghostbuster, and landed a job as the PCOC (Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission) liaison to the Ghostbusters...

Then she died and becamed a class 4 ghost, able to pass for human and ingest food, and Ray kept trying to make a relationship with her work, until she sacrificed herself by entering the Ghosts Containment Unit to prevent it from melting down.

I am more inclined for the light hearted romantic subplots, so my favorite of these two ladies is probably Elaine Phermon. What about you?

Books Read / To Be Read in 2023

Updated 1/29/23

Read in 2023 How to Write a Song That Matters - Dar Williams How Language Began: The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention - Daniel L. Everett Currently Reading in 2023 The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within - Stephen Fry Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music - Hugh Barker Piranesi - Susanna Clarke The Red House Mystery - A. A. Milne To Be Read in 2023 - Non Fiction Dear Mr Andrews - Latham, Lotte Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose - Cowart, Leigh How to Read Literature Like a Professor - Foster, Thomas C. The Anatomy of Anxiety: Rethinking the Body, Mind, and Healing of Anxiety - Vora, Ellen The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of "Proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park - Lynch, Jack Noise: a Human History of Sound and Listening - Hendy, David Rude: Stop Being Nice and Start Being Bold - Reid, Rebecca The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters - Rachel, Daniel Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life - Nagoski, Emily The Embodied Mind: Understanding the Mysteries of Cellular Memory, Consciousness, and Our Bodies - Verny, Thomas R. Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good - Brown, Adrienne Maree First Light: Switching on Stars at the Dawn of Time - Chapman, Emma Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages - Deutscher, Guy Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter - Errico, Mike Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation - DuMez, Kristin Kobes A Sense of Self: Memory, the Brain, and Who We Are - O'Keane, Veronica Priestdaddy - Lockwood, Patricia Appetites: Why Women Want - Knapp, Caroline Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love - Prioleau, Elizabeth The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You - Aron, Elaine N. You're History: The Twelve Strangest Women in Music - Chow, Lesley Burn It Down: Women Writing about Anger - Dancyger, Lilly Fear Is My Homeboy: How to Slay Doubt, Boss Up, and Succeed on Your Own Terms - Holler, Judi Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance - Tan, Siu-Lan How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond - Powell, John Together: Why Social Connection Holds the Key to Better Health, Higher Performance, and Greater Happiness - Murthy, Vivek Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious - Damasio, Antonio R. Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World - Lewis, Jacqui The Kindness Cure: How the Science of Compassion Can Heal Your Heart and Your World - Cousineau, Tara How to Write One Song: Loving the Things We Create and How They Love Us Back - Tweedy, Jeff Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? - Smith, Julie The Sunny Nihilist: A Declaration of the Pleasure of Pointlessness - Syfret, Wendy Awake Where You Are: The Art of Embodied Awareness - Aylward, Martin The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom - Baker, Willa I Didn't Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt to Embrace the Hidden Value in Daily Life - Dore, Madeleine A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution - Popkin, Jeremy D. The Atoms Of Language: The Mind's Hidden Rules Of Grammar - Baker, Mark C. The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax and Other Irreverent Essays on the Study of Language - Pullum, Geoffrey K. The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos - Batalion, Judy A Molecule Away from Madness: Tales of the Hijacked Brain - Peskin, Sara Manning Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters - Monroe, Marilyn The Assertiveness Guide for Women: How to Communicate Your Needs, Set Healthy Boundaries, and Transform Your Relationships - Julie de Azevedo Hanks, PhD Not Nice: Stop People Pleasing, Staying Silent, & Feeling Guilty... And Start Speaking Up, Saying No, Asking Boldly, And Unapologetically Being Yourself - Gazipura, Aziz The Nice Girl Syndrome: Stop Being Manipulated and Abused -- And Start Standing Up for Yourself - Engel, Beverly Miss Leavitt's Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe - Johnson, George Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman - Petersen, Anne Helen Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time - Buonomano, Dean Music, Math, and Mind: The Physics and Neuroscience of Music - Sulzer, David Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics - Benade, Arthur H. Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts - Bell, Matt How to Write Like Tolstoy: A Journey Into the Minds of Our Greatest Writers - Cohen, Richard A. Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You - Nerenberg, Jenara Bow Down: Lessons from Dominatrixes on How to Be a Boss in Life, Love, and Work - Goldwert, Lindsay Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald - Fitzgerald, F. Scott Bodyfulness: Somatic Practices for Presence, Empowerment, and Waking Up in This Life - Caldwell, Christine Sex Outside the Lines: Authentic Sexuality in a Sexually Dysfunctional Culture - Donaghue, Chris The Art of Possibility - Zander, Rosamund Stone Physics and Music: The Science of Musical Sound - White, Harvey E. Music and Mantras: The Yoga of Mindful Singing for Health, Happiness, Peace & Prosperity - Girish The Sound Book: The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World - trevor cox Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World - Kraus, Nina Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger - Traister, Rebecca The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again - Price, Catherine Big Wild Love: The Unstoppable Power of Letting Go - Murray, Jill Sherer Sensitive Is the New Strong: The Power of Empaths in an Increasingly Harsh World - Moorjani, Anita Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief - Kessler, David Equipment for Living: On Poetry and Pop Music - Robbins, Michael Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting - Gauthier, Mary The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination - Le Guin, Ursula K. How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers Afraid of Poetry - Sol, Adam The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain - Flaherty, Alice W. Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club - Edwards, Martin Writing Poetry To Save Your Life: How To Find The Courage To Tell Your Stories - Gillan, Maria Mazziotti Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein - Bernstein, Jamie It's Too Late Now: The Autobiography of a Writer - Milne, A.A. Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships - Ryan, Christopher Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep—Love - Levine, Amir Mating in Captivity: In Search of Erotic Intelligence - Perel, Esther You Are Your Own: A Reckoning with the Religious Trauma of Evangelical Christianity - Finch, Jamie Lee #ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing - Allison, Emily Joy The Journey from Abandonment to Healing - Anderson, Susan How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't - Moore, Lane From Heartbreak to Wholeness: The Hero's Journey to Joy - Carlson, Kristine How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love - Ury, Logan Anxiously Attached: Becoming More Secure in Life and Love - Baum, Jessica The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read - Leedom, Tim C. Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion - Winell, Marlene A Manual for Being Human - Mort, Sophie Whenever You're Ready: How to Compose the Life of Your Dreams - Kim, Jeeyoon Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive - Neff, Kristin This Is Not a Book about Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something--Anything--Like Your Life Depends on It - Carvan, Tabitha Find Your True Voice: Stop Listening to Your Inner Critic, Heal Your Trauma and Live a Life Full of Joy - Brunner, Emmy Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession - Bolin, Alice No Kidding: Women Writers on Bypassing Parenthood - Mantel, Henriette Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic - Smith, Eliza No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to HearBowler, Kate Little Weirds - Slate, Jenny The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth - Spitzer, Michael Why Good Sex Matters: Understanding the Neuroscience of Pleasure for a Smarter, Happier, and More Purpose-Filled Life - Wise, Nan The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny - Davidson, Ian The Golden Age of Murder - Edwards, Martin Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty - Etcoff, Nancy L. Real Men Don't Sing: Crooning in American Culture - McCracken, Allison Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood - Mann, William J. Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them - Prose, Francine The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language - Bragg, Melvyn Seven Types of Ambiguity - Empson, William The Literary Mind: The Origins of Thought and Language - Turner, Mark Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen 1947-1950 - Goodrich, Joseph Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language - McCulloch, Gretchen Mind – A Journey to the Heart of Being Human - Siegel, Daniel J. The Consciousness Instinct: Unraveling the Mystery of How the Brain Makes the Mind - Gazzaniga, Michael S. The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race - Lieberman, Daniel Z. The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness - Solms, Mark Rethinking Consciousness: A Scientific Theory of Subjective Experience - Graziano, Michael S.A. Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive - Brackett, Marc The Empathy Effect: Seven Neuroscience-Based Keys for Transforming the Way We Live, Love, Work, and Connect Across Differences - Riess, Helen Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion - Tolentino, Jia The Self Delusion: The New Neuroscience of How We Invent—and Reinvent—Our Identities - Berns, Gregory The Power of Agency: The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective Decisions, and Create a Life on Your Own Terms - Napper, Paul Don't Read Poetry: A Book About How to Read Poems - Burt, Stephanie Singing School: Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters - Pinsky, Robert The Sound of Poetry / The Poetry of Sound - Perloff, Marjorie The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide - Pinsky, Robert The Poetics of American Song Lyrics - Pence, Charlotte The Poetry of Pop - Bradley, Adam Laziness Does Not Exist - Price, Devon In Awe: Rediscover Your Childlike Wonder to Unleash Inspiration, Meaning, and Joy - O'Leary, John It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle - Wolynn, Mark The Child in You: The Breakthrough Method for Bringing Out Your Authentic Self - Stahl, Stefanie The Good Girl’s Guide To Being A Dck: The art of saying what you want, asking for what you need and getting the life you deserve - Reinwarth, Alexandra The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully - Ostaseski, Frank Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger - Chemaly, Soraya Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement - Karlgaard, Rich Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste - Gasser, Nolan Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women - Engeln, Renee A People's History of the United States - Zinn, Howard The Future of the Brain: Essays by the World's Leading Neuroscientists - Marcus, Gary F. The Brain: The Story of You - Eagleman, David Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts - Dehaene, Stanislas How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed - Kurzweil, Ray Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom - Hanson, Rick Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain - Damasio, Antonio R. Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life - Johnson, Steven The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness - Damasio, Antonio R. Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain--and How it Changed the World - Zimmer, Carl How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain - Barrett, Lisa Feldman Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain - Eagleman, David Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space - Levin, Janna The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime - Flanders, Judith The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock - Worsley, Lucy To Be Read in 2023 - Fiction The Lost Apothecary - Penner, Sarah The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - Schwab, V.E. Wakenhyrst - Paver, Michelle Garden Spells (Waverley Family, #1) - Allen, Sarah Addison Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (Books of Faerie, #1) - Stiefvater, Maggie All the Crooked Saints - Stiefvater, Maggie Heartsick (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell, #1) - Cain, Chelsea Not Even Bones (Market of Monsters, #1) - Schaeffer, Rebecca If We Were Villains - Rio, M.L. Eileen - Moshfegh, Ottessa A Certain Hunger - Summers, Chelsea G. Wild is the Witch - Griffin, Rachel The Whalebone Theatre - Quinn, Joanna The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, A Rún, Vol. 1 (The Girl from the Other Side, #1) - Nagabe Siren Queen - Vo, Nghi Poison for Breakfast - Snicket, Lemony The Essex Serpent - Perry, Sarah A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (The Shadow Histories, #1) - Parry, H.G. We Are the Fire - Taylor, Sam Flyaway - Jennings, Kathleen Hild (The Light of the World Trilogy, #1) - Griffith, Nicola Ring Shout - Clark, P. Djèlí Anatomy: A Love Story - Schwartz, Dana Comfort Me with Apples - Valente, Catherynne M. In the Ravenous Dark - Strickland, A.M. Small Favors - Craig, Erin A. The Bone Maker - Durst, Sarah Beth The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home (Welcome to Night Vale #3) - Fink, Joseph You Feel It Just Below the Ribs - Cranor, Jeffrey Deathless - Valente, Catherynne M. Tripping Arcadia: A Gothic Novel - Mayquist, Kit Nothing But Blackened Teeth - Khaw, Cassandra Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology - Wells, Richard Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Tokarczuk, Olga The House in the Cerulean Sea - Klune, T.J. The Wilds - Elliott, Julia Foul Lady Fortune (Foul Lady Fortune, #1) - Gong, Chloe Spells for Forgetting: A Novel - Young, Adrienne Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution - Kuang, R.F. Nettle & Bone - Kingfisher, T. Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Brunt, Carol Rifka Villainous: An Anthology of Fairytale Retellings - Ward, L.T. The Glass Woman - Lea, Caroline For the Wolf (Wilderwood, #1) - Whitten, Hannah The Wolf and the Woodsman - Reid, Ava What We Devour - Miller, Linsey Down Comes the Night - Saft, Allison The City Beautiful - Polydoros, Aden Wake the Bones - Kilcoyne, Elizabeth The Other Girl - Major, C.D. Plain Bad Heroines - Danforth, Emily M. The Year of the Witching (Bethel, #1) - Henderson, Alexis Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) - Muir, Tamsyn Rebel Rose (The Queen's Council, #1) - Theriault, Emma Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1) - McGuire, Seanan The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home (Fairyland, #5) - Valente, Catherynne M. The Boy Who Lost Fairyland (Fairyland, #4) - Valente, Catherynne M. Radiance - Valente, Catherynne M. 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The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales - Bettelheim, Bruno The Book of English Magic - Carr-Gomm, Philip On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears - Asma, Stephen T.

hiiiii <3 --- 3, 4, 11, 19? <3

hiiiii vicky :^)

3. favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

umm well it wasnt the First time i listened to them but i’d be remiss not to say radiohead………. also the sundays and the rest of the britpop people <3 ALSO again not the first time i’d listened to her but the first time i’d really listened to her on my own: donna summer Beloved !!!

4. movie of the year?

so so so many but i’m going to say mikey and nicky (1976) dir elaine may bc it’s the only one i wrote an essay on alsjdhsjdhs

11. something you want to do again next year?

so many things actually :^) going 2 be Really annoying and tag them and say i’d like to see em @timehascomeagain again <3

19. what’re you excited about for next year?

i’m moving out of home which is WILD and something i’m looking forward to ! also ummm meeting you :^) existing in the same part of the world as u :^)

💌 roll up roll up it's love letters night! to you, the troy to my gabriella, the donna sheridan to my sam carmichael, the elaine paige to my barbara dickson. knowing me and knowing you so well, i don't ever need to go my own way. in the immortal words of pat benatar, we belong together 💛

couldn't have said it better myself 💖💖💖 love youuuuuuuuuu 😘

do you have any book recs for books like the atlas six? (Dark academia, found family kind of lol, university/school/secluded setting, mystery, maybe even romance)

hi hi, thanks for the ask! here ya go!

the absolute best dark academia books according to me in addition to TA6:

- Babel: An Arcane History by RF Kuang

- The Secret History by Donna Tartt

other enjoyable dark academia recs:

- If We Were Villains by ML Rio

- Vicious by VE Schwab

- These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

- A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

- Bunny by Mona Awad

kinda fun YA academia-based books in boarding schools:

- Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

- The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

- Crave by Tracy Wolff

Dark + POC academia satire: Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Choi

Also, this video has tons of recs! Leo never fails to supply recommendations like this!

Bernadette Peters in Caricature

I am so behind, so we're just going to plow right through these. Bernadette has not one, not two, not six, but eleven Hirschfelds, more than any other Diva left.

George M! With Joel Grey, Bernadette Peters, Nanette Fabray, Jack Cassidy - Tv Special 9/6/70

On The Town- Bernadette Peters, Phyllis Newman, Donna Mckechnie, Jess Richards, Remak Ramsay, Ron Husman. (10/31/71)

“Seven Sparklers In Fall Firmament”(Clockwise From Top Right) Peter Firth In Equus; Angela Lansbury In Gypsy, Gerladine Page, Richard Kiley And Sandy Dennis In Absurd Person Singular; Ben Gazzara In Hughie; Maureen Stapleton, Jack Lemmon, And Walter Matthau In Juno & The Paycock, Robert Preston And Bernadette Peters In Mack & Mabel; And Charlton Heston In Macbeth, 1974

Mack And Mabel With Robert Preston, Bernadette Peters, Lisa Kirk, And Robert Fitch, 10/6/74

Sunday In The Park With George, Bernadette Peters And Mandy Patinkin, 1984

Bernadette Peters In Sunday In The Park With George (6/8/84)

Bernadette Peters In Annie Get Your Gun (2/28/99)

Into The Woods With Joanna Gleason, Robert Westenberg, Tom Aldredge, Bernadette Peters, Barbara Byrne, And Chip Zien, 11/1/87

The Goodbye Girl: Carol Woods, Tammy Minoff, John Christopher Jones, Martin Short, Bernadette Peters (2/28/93)

Cameron Mackintosh With Characters From Shows He Has Produced. Last Revised 4/92

Rick Steiner With Characters From Six Of His Plays, Ink And Goauche 9/02

Bernadette also has a portrait at Sardi's, but heaven knows I can't find it just by googling, and it's not a week to ask me to do deep dives like I usually do. Check back in three-to-five business days.

Elaine Stritch and Bernadette Peters in "A Little Night Music," 2010 - Squigs

Bernadette Peters and the new company of Hello, Dolly! 2018 - Squigs

Bernadette Peters, Joanna Gleason (my beloved), and the company of Into the Woods, 2014 - Squigs

Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell (my beloved), Jayne Houdyshell, Mary Beth Peil, and the company of Follies, 2011 - Squigs

Out of intense curiosity, what are your favorite old movies with intentional or unintentional homoerotic subtext??

for the sake of this reclist not being fifteen pages long this is not all encompassing/i am not going to include every old movie that has gay subtext/text but these are some of my faves pre-1985 (picked as an arbitrary cutoff for “old”):

wings (william a. wellman, 1927)

mädchen in uniform (leontine sagan, 1931)

design for living (ernst lubitsch, 1933)

queen christina (rouben mamoulian, 1933)

the maltese falcon (john huston, 1941)

anchors aweigh (george sidney, 1945)

red river (howard hawks, 1948)

rope (alfred hitchcock, 1948)

strangers on a train (alfred hitchcock, 1951)

calamity jane (david butler, 1953)

johnny guitar (nicholas ray, 1954)

rebel without a cause (nicholas ray, 1955)

trapeze (carol reed, 1956)

edge of the city (martin ritt, 1957)

sweet smell of success (alexander mackendrick, 1957)

cat on a hot tin roof (richard brooks, 1958)

the defiant ones (stanley kramer, 1958)

some like it hot (billy wilder, 1959)

suddenly last summer (joseph l. mankiewicz, 1959)

the children’s hour (william wyler, 1961)

the singer not the song (roy ward baker, 1961)

victim (basil dearden, 1961)

lawrence of arabia (david lean, 1962)

the tale of zatoichi (kenji misumi, 1962)

the servant (joseph losey, 1963)

hamlet at elsinore (philip saville, 1964)

modesty blaise (joseph losey, 1966)

luv (clive donner, 1967)

the killing of sister george (robert aldrich, 1968)

the odd couple (gene saks, 1968)

butch cassidy and the sundance kid (george roy hill, 1969)

midnight cowboy (john schlesinger, 1969)

funeral parade of roses (toshio matsumoto, 1969)

the boys in the band (william friedkin, 1970)

husbands (john cassavetes, 1970)

cabaret (bob fosse, 1972)

female trouble (john waters, 1974)

mikey and nicky (elaine may, 1976)

la cage aux folles (édouard molinaro, 1978)

a question of love (jerry thorpe, 1978)

the tempest (derek jarman, 1979)

polyester (john waters, 1981)

deathtrap (sidney lumet, 1982)

making love (arthur hiller, 1982)

silkwood (mike nichols, 1983)

yentl (barbra streisand, 1983)

desert hearts (donna deitch, 1985)

the color purple (steven spielberg, 1985)

my beautiful laundrette (stephen frears, 1985)

obviously this is not a complete list/there is no “perfect representation” here/i didn’t include any documentaries/i recommend looking up content warnings but this is a place to start!!

This is rather delayed, but I’ve got some thoughts on Waking Rose after my last reread. Below the cut for spoilers and extreme length.

Timeline/Continuity:

Rose says it’s been almost three years since she met Fish - but if she’s 19 now, it should only be two years (it also makes more sense for Blanche and Bear to get married a year after Black as Night rather than two years after).

Back to Steve/Steven Foster (instead of Stephen).

Per Rose, Fish and Bear slept on the Fosters' couch.

Ben was 13 when his mom died, 16 when Father Raymond died.

Little Things Short Comments (mostly):

I love Bear inviting Rose to dance with him and Blanche on the last song - remembering that it started with the three of them.

Kateri is an observant and good friend - I too would probably tell Rose Fish wasn't worth it under the circumstances.

"Your particular brand of exuberance"

Ach, but Rose wants Fish to be happy and he tells her he's "happy enough" (...true for very low values of "happiness") but follows it up with "God's going to take care of me," which IS true.

Rose’s dramatic “I shall have twenty cats...” poetry.

Fish trying to make himself look like someone who doesn't folk dance. 

"What you see in front of you is fighting."

Rose thinking Fish's vocation is to be at the right place at the right time; Ben would probably argue that, but there is an extent it’s true.

We get the charges against Edward (I think this is the first time we learn his first name) Freet: (2) Attempted murder - Rose and Bear, (2) Assault - Rose and Fish (or Bear - it’s unclear), (3) Kidnapping - Fish, Rose, and I’m not sure if the third charge is for his involvement in Blanche’s kidnapping?

“Not that it was going to make much of a difference in the world, but it was good to attempt to bring some justice to this literary question.”

Fish dealing with the nuns is...I’m not sure humourous is the right word for it, but I appreciate his internal “they’re crazy, Father Raymond warned me about Catholics like them” dialogue.

“He had known too many manipulative women to be convinced by tears.” Well, Elaine is the first one to come to mind - no idea who the others are.

I know we get the hints towards the Rumpelstiltskin retelling with Fish (I think his role is the servant?), but I’m torn between going a) YES, GIVE ME MORE and b) no way I want to see Fish suffer even more, as I know he will in that story.

Alex assigning everyone who gets in trouble to read Thomas Aquinas outside.

I love that Kateri and Ben become really good friends - she asks after his health and knows when he’s cooking a Scheme and he keeps an eye out for her and worries after her and bails her out of jail.

“You’ve got to be kidding. I don’t want to be explaining to some bereaved parent or college official why their charge is dead, maimed, or serving a prison sentence because of something I set up.” “Since when were you expendable? Says the older brother who nearly went out of his mind scouring the streets of New York for you when you were kidnapped for three days.”

The idea of a fatal/fundamental doubt is echoed when Ben doubts that Dr. Murray is guilty for just a second.

Ben warning Alex that he’s now an arrested suspect and that by driving off with him in the car, he could be liable for part of his crime, and Alex just being like, “Well, I guessed that much - where do you want to go?”

Ben telling Alex about the assault and looking him in the face to do it - something he has struggled with so much - and Alex just taking it calmly and with sorrow.

Ben being like, “You don’t understand how bad this is,” and Alex being like, “Maybe not, but I understand enough, and it doesn’t change anything.”

Also, Alex basically blessing Ben as he goes off to the barn? Ach.

Ben’s birthday is in April, and so is little Ben’s!

Longer Comments (In no particular order or level of clarity - apologies):

Fish shows his propensity for law and justice while questioning Donna (even though or maybe especially because he’s angry and loses his temper). And then Kateri shows her heart by her interactions with Donna. I really like the conversation she and Ben have after they leave and when they clear the air, including the fact Kateri has had a grudge against Fish for ages.

I appreciate Alex more and more this reread. In addition to the above comments, he’s the one who suggest and inducts Rose and Nanette into being Ladies of Sacra Cor (and basically tells them it means they’ll start training too), he’s the one who remembers to call Ben Ben, and he’s the one who’s training the other guys and deciding when they’re ready to be knighted.  ALSO, he and Ben challenge each other - he tells Ben that the world doesn’t stop being evil just because you stop fighting, and Ben is the one who tells Alex to put his beliefs into action and back Kateri up.

The whole scene where Alex, Kateri, and Ben are wandering around Graceton looking for Paul and how Ben says that for being so tall, Paul sure got himself pretty lost, and they all nod BECAUSE THEY’RE ALL AVERAGE TO SHORT HEIGHT. And then how mad Alex is at Paul for going off on an interesting diversion and making him late for the proctor meeting and assigns him Thomas Aquinas to read.

“Blanche, you are a lifesaver,” Ben says when she tells him about Nurse Johnson. And, though he doesn’t know it, it ends up being quite literal as that starts the chain of believing Dr. Prosser is behind everything, leading to Ben doing his sting operation, and ultimately leading towards him realising Rose isn’t actually comatose and thus her being woken and saved.

Okay, so in the car going to see Rose, and they’re talking about Christmas plans and Fish says he’s staying there, so James asks where Fish’s parents are from. Fish says New York, but they’re both dead. James says, “Oh, sorry,” AS YOU DO and Fish replies back, “That’s okay. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.” AND YOU KNOW THAT BOTH YOUR PARENTS DIED FROM MEDICAL ISSUES, BEN - IT’S VERY MUCH NOT JAMES’ FAULT.

Also, when Donna does go and tell Fish about following Rose to the barn - Fish very much doesn’t trust her, but he does thank her and even goes with her to talk to the police (again, legal/experiential side coming through). (Also, “Fish, being Fish, didn’t want to answer the question directly.” But he then gives her an answer by reasoning out that she has nothing to gain from telling him.)

On a tangent, the entire idea of Fish being the protector and having never wanted the Briers (or any other bystanders) involved in his and Bear’s work is why it’s so important that Rose gets into trouble all on her own: it means that Fish doesn’t feel guilty (...well, besides his stray thoughts which he thankfully gets under control pretty quickly) about causing Rose’s coma or obligated to look into what she was investigating for any reason beyond his own desire and sense of justice. And it takes a while, but that’s why it’s so important he does decide to do the undercover sting and try to bring justice to this - not as an obligation but as an active choice to try to fight the evil in the world.

Dinner at Fish’s apartment after the sit-in is great. Paul is not at all chill about being a hero in Kateri’s story and then there’s the stare-down between Alex and Kateri with loaded subcontext (how awkward might that have been for Donna, Paul, and Ben?).

Fish tells Donna that he’s convinced by actions, not words. Which makes sense, but it’s also interesting to see how that works out - because when she comes clean and tells him she lied, he believes her but he doesn’t trust her. And he accepts her into the group because Kateri trusts her and he trusts Kateri, but then he decides to trust her with the makeover for the sting operation. And, after that, he trusts her to take him to the barn and then - most of all - to get the antidote back to Rose in time.

Fish tries to claim he’s expendable and Bear is having none of that. Also, Bear puts his foot down about Fish working solo - either he has backup, or he doesn’t do this. And so Fish asks Alex to be his getaway driver.

And then Kateri and Paul and James and Leroy and DONNA! They all came even though Alex explained the situation and told them not to, and Ben is mad and explains how much legal trouble they’ll be in, but they don’t care. As Kateri says, “We’re not letting you do this alone.”

Alex organising the troops and planning it all out so that there’s the best chance for Rose to survive and for Ben to make it through. And Kateri being indignant about being left out of the lineup until Alex tells her her job is to sacrifice herself to save Paul and Rose, if the staff get through him and Leroy and James. Even if Paul won’t let that actually happen.

DONNA. I had forgotten that Donna not only played a crucial part in saving Rose’s life by getting through the staff/police barricade but also in saving Ben’s by sending Bear to the barn to help him. And I’m just so happy that she was redeemed and healed and she fully joined in - she could have easily said no or just done the bare minimum, but she waded in just the same as the rest of the group. Although it’s not explicitly stated, I fully expect her and Kateri to have been full-fledged ladies of Sacra Cor by their last appearance if they weren’t already. And she tells Ben she’s praying for him and gives him a kiss on the cheek, and he tells her thank you, truly and sincerely, and there’s peace!!

And Kateri also!! She and Ben have become full friends now, and he gets a kiss on the cheek from her and there’s half an idea that he’s kind of smug and pleased about her and Alex.

I wonder if Blanche had a premonition about Ben at all? Since she has them (or references them) multiple times in the previous books, it would make sense (and also help explain why she sent Bear off after him so soon after baby Ben’s birth - granted, she probably knew there was a sting operation, if not details), but there’s no comment about it at all.

I still would have liked a reunion between Rose and her family (beyond just a scene with her and Jean - though, I guess we got to see her and Bear’s meeting again, but it was pretty distracted, of course), even if it wasn’t strictly necessary for the story.