#this is all like. gospel in my mind when it comes to owen | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

abitofboth · 1 month

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owen carvour hcs because he’s in my brain always

he's very reservedly sentimental. the things in his life that mean a lot to him will always have a special place in his heart, but he'd never tell anyone that. his favourite childhood book, a lighter curt gifted him, old letters and photographs etc.

his favourite childhood book is the hobbit. when he was a kid he'd draw in the margins and go through and underline his favourite parts. his childhood pet was a fluffy cat called bilbo!!

left handed. constantly curses out his pens when he's writing and gets ink smudges all over his hand.

an only child, and was never really that close with his parents. his relationship with them grew strained once they found out he was gay.

would happily never interact with a dog for the rest of his life if he could help it. (too slobbery, loud, and boisterous for his liking.)

biiiiig smoker. his hands get twitchy if he hasn't had a cig in a while. he constantly spews some bs about the refined taste of tobacco.

similarly he's a big time wine snob. he gets offended if you suggest it tastes like vinegar and he'll try with all his might to convince you that the aromatics matter.

definitely has a sprinkling of road rage in him. in his opinion he is always in the right, and everyone else on the road needs their license taken from them.

teeny tiny tattoo on his hip of two intertwined mars symbols (♂)

'love' is a name he uses for pretty much everyone on accounts of him being british, but he's much more fond of using 'darling' and 'sweetheart' as pet names when it's just him and curt.

he LOVES the quiet moments between him and curt when they get to spend the night together. watching over him as he falls asleep and running his fingers through his hair are some of his favourite things to do.

he can be surprisingly bashful! talk sweet to him and he’ll blush like hell. pepper kisses over him and he’ll be squirming and giggling like there’s no tomorrow.

he's welsh but moved to london when he was a teenager. he taught himself to speak in an rp accent so he wouldn't be looked down on, and it just kind of stuck. not many people know that he's welsh, not necessarily because he doesn't tell anyone but no one’s ever asked because as far as everyone else is aware, he’s as english as you can get. when he's tired he can slip back into his old accent, and he uses the odd welsh word every now and then around people close to him (mostly curt.)

the first house he lived in in london got destroyed during the blitz, and luckily most of what few possessions he owned survived. he doesn't like to talk about his time during the war often.

after the fall, he gets tinnitus and his hearing is far from as good as it used to be. he lost his right eye, and the glass eye chimera got him has never quite been a perfect colour match. he has trouble with his knee, and has a decent amount of scarring over his body.

post fall there's a part of him that still loves curt, and desperately misses what used to be. it's mostly overpowered by the hatred within him, but the love rears its head out every now and again and catches him off guard.

he likes to cook, but he's kinda shit at it. he doesn't get much practice on accounts of being a spy, so whenever he does cook, something inevitably goes wrong.

once, he'd moved into a new flat and had curt round as his first guest and tried to cook him dinner. it ended up burning and there were full on flames in the frying pan. (curt still takes the piss out of him for this years later.)

he's a bit of a loner, but enjoys his own company for the most part. outside of curt he doesn't really have any close friends, and he isn't in contact with his family.

he has an angry streak in him. he’s easily riled up and the first emotion he goes to is barely concealed rage. he yells more often than he’d like to.

he hates using the term 'boyfriend' to describe curt. he thinks it makes him sound juvenile and he prefers 'partner' way more. plus, he can get away with introducing curt without giving away the fact that they’re together. (he also loves calling curt his 'best friend' in the most romantic sense possible.)

this! bitch! loves! musicals! the wizard of oz is a favourite of his, and he has a soft spot for disney’s cinderella. he has an extra fondness for the term ‘friend of dorothy’ because of this too.

tea over coffee always. two sugars and a splash of milk, not too weak but not too strong.

#GOD I love him!! 😭#this is all like. gospel in my mind when it comes to owen #that’s what I get for having owen brain worms for literal years #spies are forever #saf #tin can bros #tcb #owen carvour #agent curt mega #joey richter #curt mega #curtwen #hc #hcs #millie talks

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love-jesus-but-i-drink-a-little · 3 years

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The Haunting of Bly Manor (Dani x Jamie) fanfiction (ao3):

Tell It To Me Singing - Five pictures of a perfectly strange life

God Knows How She’ll Survive The Gush Of You (Spilling And Spilling From The Basin Of Your Hips Like Warm Bathwater) - Dani and Jamie's second time. Basically, an excuse to write a smutty little fic

Beneath Your Skin (Inside Everything That Glows) - Jamie meets a blonde au pair at the dinner table and is destined to fall in love

Let Me Stay Tender Hearted (Despite Despite Despite) - A 20k one shot of sweet, sad, and comfortable moments in between scenes

Another Day Spent Slipping Away From You - A smutty short one-shot about wondering hands and eager mouths

Oh My Soul Let Me Be In Your Now (Look Out Through My Eyes Look Out At The Things You Made) All Things Shining - Post Dani's death. grief & healing

Singing Praise To One Pair Of Hands - Basically, a super gay short one-shot about Jamie's hands

I dreamed Of Understanding The Sky (Or Touching Your Skin Somewhere Beyond The Bit Of Darkness) - Dani and Jamie just want a moment in which they are not interrupted, when they can sink into each other for the first time in weeks

I Don't Know About The Lake (But Every Time You Say My Name You Make Ripples In Me) - A three-part piece in which Dani Clayton is something uniquely designed for Jamie to crave and love and cherish, and Jamie is the home Dani's been always searching for.

Fear Feels Like This (A Clenched Fist Where Yyour Throat Used To Be) - Sometimes, the only way to coax Dani out of deep dark misery of fear and loneliness and dense scary jungle is with soft kisses and determined hands and idle fingers ready to ground her back to earth. Jamie knows how to do it. Every. Single. Time.

She Pins You To Doors, Not A Goddess Anymore (She Still Looks Like Religion. She Kisses You Godless) - A Tumblr prompt from a sweet anon: "I give you a prompt: Damie and snow :) And if you have other fics where snow is involved please can you share them?"

Fire Under Feet Hot Blood In Your Belly (It’s Not Something You Ever Thought Of Doing) - A vague attempt at plot more like an excuse to indulge in Damie's smut with added cheekiness, because they are idiots in love

Who Were You Before They Touched You (Pressed You Into The Quiet Concave Of The Earth) - A vague attempt at plot more like an excuse to indulge in Damie's smut with added angst, because they were scared before they were happy

Come Here (Let Me Love Those Bruises Out Of You) - A vague attempt at plot more like an excuse to indulge in Damie's smut with added feelings

Was This The Face That Launched A Thousand Ships (And Burnt The Topless Towers Of Ilium)? - A vague attempt at plot more like an excuse to indulge in Damie's domestic smut with added fluff

Today I Love You Like Salt - Five times Dani learns something about Jamie and five times they heal through touching

You Moan Gospels Around Her Fingers (Between Your Teeth) - (6/6) Five times Dani and Jamie could have slept together and one time they actually did

You Demand The Labour Of Love (For The Same Reason The World Made Wheat But Not Bread) - Jamie wants to know about Dani's past, so Dani tells her. A small one shot about best friends, secret desires and accidental kisses that make Jamie slightly jealous

You Dream In Pink (And Wake Up With Fairytales Caught On Your Tongue) - A long one-shot in which Jamie is trying to figure Dani out, Owen and Hannah are soft and Dani is a soft nervous wreck

You Wake (Aching How You've Longed For Touch For So Much Of Your Bodied Time) - A small one-shot of anxious but lovely life and a glimpse of Viola's own awakening

It's Only Water It's Only Fire It's Only (love It's Only Slaughter We're Only Liars, It's Only Blood) - Small moments of hurt and slaughter and pain, but also of love and of kisses and of a life well spent

A Knife Making Love To A Wound (The Sweet Scrape Of A Match Lighting The Lamp Of Her Mouth) - If Dani and Jamie had a chance of a miracle, they'd do it all the same

The Last of Us Part II (Ellie x Dina) fanfiction (ao3):

A World Made Of Numbers (Echoes Of Light Shining Out Of The Midst Of Nothing) - A long one-shot about Ellie's time in Jackson. It's very poetic and comfortable and they play like children, without the pain

Crashing Waves On An Empty Beach (Two Drowning Lovers Lost At Sea) - Ellie is not alone

I Love Your Rough Edges And Soft Parts That Bleed (I Choose Solitude Over Cold Kisses) - Ellie goes back to Jackson and Dina is too happy not to take her back. Also, there is shower sex

Under Her Touch (All Of Me Shudders) - (unfinished) Five times Ellie and Dina had to run for their lives + one time they didn't

Because Nothing Makes Me Happier (And Nothing Makes Me Sadder) Than You - Dina's POV on small events leading to the main story

You Deserve A Dark Haired Lover With Soft Eyes And A Heart Full Of Love - Ellie and Dina meet again

You Are My stubborn compass (Always Pointing Me Back Home) - Sex in abandoned apartments, cute apocalypse girlfriends, and some violence

I Am Always A Stomach Full Of Teeth And Need (It Is Greedy And Hungry And Today I Taste Like Wine) - Ellie can't look herself in the eyes but she can't stop looking at Dina. She can't stop kissing and touching her either

The Leather And The Lace Of You (Your Flushed Cheeks & What Set Them Ablaze) - Ellie is angry and Dina is the only one who knows how to calm her down

What Is Stronger Than The Human Heart Which Shatters Over And Over And Still Lives - Ellie and Dina are stupidly in love, picking a name for a baby is hard and Ellie is a gentle dumbass

A Cathedal Of Light And Your Eyes An Open Pasture Of Colour - Ellie and Dina are in love. There is also bonfires and guitars and quiet songs and passionate sex

I Wrote My Own Story And Still Said All The Wrong Things (All The Shouting I Did About Your Mouth) - A story about big cities and small girls and broken bones and soft kisses

I Hope One Day Somebody Loves You So Much That They Do Not Waste Their Time Trying To Fix You - Five times Ellie asks Dina to tell her a story + one time she doesn't

Sore Muscles Have Always Been A Sign Of Growth (My Heart Looks Like A Bruise And I Almost Don’t Mind) - Ellie and Dina are incredibly horny and it's hard to focus on anything that isn't each other

I'm In Love With My Anger My War-Won Body Tense And Vicious - Some in-between moments, some first meetings, some mutual pining

Maybe Home Is Somewhere I’m Going And Never Have Been Before - Ellie has one destiny and it's Dina, and she's too blinded by revenge to see it

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crowdvscritic · 3 years

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round up // JULY 21

‘Tis the season to beat the heat at the always-cold theatres and next to fans set at turbo speed. While my movie watching slowed a bit with the launch of the Summer Olympics on July 23rd, I’ve still got plenty of popcorn-ready and artsy recommendations for you. A few themes in the new-to-me pop culture I’m recommending this month:

Casts oozing with embarrassing levels of talent (sometimes overqualified for the movies they’re in)

Pop culture that is responding or reinterpreting past pop culture

Stories that get weEeEeird

Keep on-a-scrollin’ to see which is which!

July Crowd-Pleasers

1. Double Feature – ‘90s Rom-Coms feat. Lots of Lies: Mystery Date (1991) + The Pallbearer (1996)

In Mystery Date (Crowd: 7.5/10 // Critic: 6/10), Ethan Hawke and Teri Polo get set up on a blind date that gets so bizarre and crime-y I’m not sure how this didn’t come out in the ‘80s. In The Pallbearer (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7/10), David Schwimmer and Gwyneth Paltrow try to combine The Graduate with Four Weddings and a Funeral in a story about lost twentysomethings. If you don’t like rom-coms in which circumstances depend on lots of lies and misunderstandings, these won’t be your jam, but if you’re like me and don’t mind these somewhat-cliché devices, you’ll be hooked by likeable casts and plenty of rom and com.

2. The Tomorrow War (2021)

I thought of no fewer movies than this list while watching: Alien, Aliens, Angel Has Fallen, Cloverfield, Interstellar, Kong: Skull Island, Prometheus, A Quiet Place: Part II, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith, The Silence of the Lambs, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and World War Z. And you know what? I like all those movies! (Okay, maybe I just have a healthy respect/fear of The Silence of the Lambs.) The Tomorrow War may not be original, but it borrows some of the best tropes and beats from the sci-fi and action genres, so much so I wish I could’ve seen Chris Pratt and Co. fight those gross monsters on a big screen. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6/10

3. Dream a Little Dream (1989)

My July pick for the Dumb Rom-Com I Nevertheless Enjoyed! I CANNOT explain the mechanics of this body switch comedy to you—nor can the back of the DVD case above—but, boy, what an ‘80s MOOD. I did not know I needed to see a choreographed dance routine starring Jason Robards and Corey Feldman, but I DID. All I know is some movies are made for me and that I’m now a card-carrying member of the Two Coreys fan club. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

4. Black Widow (2021)

The braids! The Pugh! Black Widow worked for me both as an exciting action adventure and as a respite from the Marvel adventures dependent on a long memory of the franchise. (Well, mostly—keep reading for a second MCU rec much more dependent on the gobs of previous releases.) Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

5. Liar Liar (1997)

Guys, Jim Carrey is hilarious. That’s it—that’s the review. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7/10

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6. Sob Rock by John Mayer (2021)

It’s very possible I’ve already listened to this record more than all other John Mayer records. It doesn’t surpass the capital-G Greatness of Continuum, but it’s a little bit of old school Mayer, a little bit ‘80s soft rock/pop, and I’ve had it on repeat most of the two weeks since it’s been out. Featuring the boppiest bop that ever bopped, at least one lyrical gem in every track, and an ad campaign focused on Walkmans, this record skirts the line between Crowd faves and Critic-worthy musicianship.

7. Double Feature – ‘00s Ben Affleck Political Thrillers: The Sum of All Fears (2002) + State of Play (2009)

In The Sum of All Fears (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10), Ben Affleck is Jack Ryan caught up in yet another international incident. In State of Play (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7/10), he’s a hotshot Congressman caught up in a scandal. Both are full of plot twists and unexpected turns, and in both, Affleck is accompanied by actors you’re always happy to see, like Jason Bateman, James Cromwell, Russell Crowe, Jeff Daniels, Viola Davis, Morgan Freeman, Philip Baker Hall, David Harbour, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Liev Schreiber, and Robin Wright—yes, I swear all of those people are in just those two movies.

8. Loki (2021-)

Unlike Black Widow, you can’t go into Loki with no MCU experience. The show finds clever ways to nudge us with reminders (and did better at it than Falcon and the Winter Soldier), but be forewarned that at some point, you’re just going to have to let go and accept wherever this timeline-hopper is taking you. An ever-charismatic cast keeps us grounded (Owen Wilson, Jonathan Majors, and an alligator almost steal the show from Tom Hiddleston in some eps), but while Falcon lasted an episode or two too long, Loki could’ve used a few more to flesh out its complicated plot and develop its characters. Thankfully, the jokes matter almost as much as the sci-fi, so you can still have fun even if you have no idea what’s going on.

9. Double Feature – Bruce Willis: Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) + The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

Before Bruce Willis began starring in many random direct-to-DVD movies I only ever hear about in my Redbox emails, he was a Movie Star smirking his way up the box office charts. In the third Die Hard (Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 7.5/10), he teams up with Samuel L. Jackson to decipher the riddles of a terrorist madman (Jeremy Irons), and it’s a thrill ride. In The Whole Nine Yards (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/10), he’s hitman that screws up dentist Matthew Perry’s boring life in Canada, and—aside from one frustrating scene of let’s-objectify-women-style nudity—it’s hilarious.

10. This Is the End (2013)

On paper, this is not a movie for me. An irreverent stoner comedy about a bunch of bros partying it up before the end of the world? None of things are for Taylors. But with a little help of a TV edit to pare down the raunchy and crude bits, I laughed my way through and spent the next several days thinking through its exploration of what makes a good person. While little of the plot is accurate to Christian Gospel and theology, some of its big ideas are consistent enough with the themes of the book of Revelation I found myself thinking about it again in church this morning. (Would love to know if Seth Rogen ever expected that.) Plus, I love a good self-aware celebrity spoof—can’t tell you how many times I’ve just laughed remembering the line, “It’s me, Jonah Hill, from Moneyball”—and an homage to horror classics. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7/10

July Critic Picks

1. Summer of Soul (…or, When the Television Could Not Be Televised) (2021)

Even director Questlove didn’t know about the Harlem Cultural Festival, but now he’s compiled the footage so we can all enjoy one of the coolest music fest lineups ever, including The 5th Dimension, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, and Stevie Wonder, who made my friend’s baby dance more than once in the womb. See it on the big screen for top-notch audio. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

2. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Robin Williams takes on the bureaucracy, disillusionment, and malaise of the Vietnam War with comedy. Williams was a one-of-a-kind talent, and here it’s on display at a level on par with Aladdin. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

3. Against the Rules Season 2 (2020-21)

Michael Lewis (author of Moneyball, adapted into a film starring Jonah Hill), is interested in how we talk about fairness. This season he looks at how coaches impact fairness in areas like college admissions, credit cards, and youth sports.

4. Bugsy Malone (1976)

A gangster musical starring only children? It’s a little like someone just picked ideas out of a hat, but somehow it works. You can hear why in the Bugsy Malone episode Kyla and I released this month on SO IT’S A SHOW?, plus how this weird artifact of a film connects with Gilmore Girls.

5. The Queen (2006)

Before The Crown, Peter Morgan wrote The Queen, focusing on Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) in the days following the death of Princess Diana. It’s a complex and compassionate drama, both for the Queen and for Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen, who has snuck up on me to become a favorite character actor). Maybe I’ve got a problem, but I’ll never tire of the analysis of this famous family. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9.5/10

6. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)

This month at ZekeFilm, we took a closer look at Revisionist Westerns we’ve missed. I fell hard for Roy Bean, and I think you will, too, if for no other reason than you might like a story starring Jacqueline Bisset, Ava Gardner, John Huston, Paul Newman, and Anthony Perkins. Oh, and a bear! Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 10/10

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7. New Trailer Round Up

Naked Singularity (Aug. 6) – John Boyega in a crime thriller!

Queenpins (Aug. 10) – A crime comedy about extreme coupon-ing!

Dune (Oct. 1) – I’ve been cooler on the anticipation for this film, but this new look has me cautiously intrigued thanks to the Bardem + Bautista + Brolin + Chalamet + Ferguson + Isaac + Momoa + Zendaya of it all.

The Last Duel (Oct. 15) – Affleck! Damon! Driver!

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Nov. 11) - I’m not sure why we need this, but I’m down for the Paul Rudd + Finn Wolfhard combo

King Richard (Nov. 19) - Will Smith as Venus and Serena’s father!

Encanto (Nov. 24) – Disney and Lin-Manuel Miranda making more magic together!

House of Gucci (Nov. 24) - Gaga! Pacino! Driver!

Also in July…

Kyla and I took a look at the classic supernatural soap Dark Shadows and why Sookie might be obsessed with it on Gilmore Girls.

I revisited a so-bad-it’s-good masterpiece that’s a surrealist dream even Fellini couldn’t have cooked up. Yes, for ZekeFilm I wrote about the Vanilla Ice movie, Cool as Ice, which is now a part of my Blu-ray collection.

Photo credits: Against the Rules. All others IMDb.com.

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catsnuggler · 3 years

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What didn't help my whole subconsciously-missionary-minded, silent-echoes-of-Mormonism socialism illusion, which made me think it would be selfish and wrong to demand my own liberation, was the misapplication of standpoint epistemology - put simply, when "identity politics" goes bad.

Putting the rest under a cut, because this is a long post.

While it's crude and ultimately incorrect to only say, for example, "Listen to Black voices", without emphasizing the critical thinking skills and empathy necessary to listen to Cornel West, and dismiss Candace Owens for the right-wing corporate hack that she is, what is for certain is that someone like me, a 100% white American settler of Mormon pioneer stock (on one side of my family, anyway), and with no formal education on the subject matter, doesn't have authority to speak on the experience of Black people in America. I have no argument against that, because it's true.

Continuing further, just because, in spite of the fact neither racism nor colonialism oppresses me, capitalism still does, this doesn't mean I have as much authority to speak on it as a Black member of the working class does, as anti-Black racism and capitalism compound on and depend on each other, making the lives of Black working class people more difficult than the lives of white working class people. Doesn't mean I can't speak on capitalism, just means I'm not the leading voice.

That being said - I'm going to talk as if I'm still a believing Mormon, let alone Christian, in this and the next paragraph, to better explain the subconscious workings of my mind, due to their brainwashing - the difference in our positions can be wrongly perceived, especially by someone raised in the illusory colonial missionary mindset, similar to the position of those with "the gospel" and those "of the world", where those with "the truth" have more, but are, like all, oppressed by "sin", yet at least believe themselves to have the knowledge and wherewithal to resist, while those "worldly" people aren't blessed with the wealth of God's Word, nor the solidarity of the church, and are thus further deprived of the perfection God desires for his children than those of His Flock already are, and must be ministered to, brought into the Fold, and Saved from On High.

Yet there must ever be a humility to such actions, there must ever be self-denial, for all are imperfect, even those in the church, as, just as Christ shed His blood, and allowed His flesh to be pierced, even to His death, in limitless sacrifice for the sins of all of the Children of Men, that they may be redeemed, so have countless socialist, communist, and anarchist revolutionaries died for the cause, and yet all who live, who do not seclude themselves from the world and its markets, facilitate the continued exploitation and robbery of each other by the capitalist class. All are imperfect, and all would deserve bondage and bloodshed, were it not for the bleeding hearts of the martyrs.

So, you see, even someone who consciously attempts to reject Christianity can still fall victim to its logic, even after abandoning the official doctrine of it, if proper safeguards against the general thought processes of it are not taken. Returning to the original point I've tried to raise, I've fallen for a long time to a Christian-esque stance of personal martyrdom for the sake of "saving others" to the point I believed pursuing my own liberation would be selfish.

I'm mentally ill and neurodivergent to the point that getting myself to even get into the habit of seeking jobs is difficult, much more so landing myself an interview; and getting an offer of employment? Only happened once, at the end of my first interview. As you predicted, the job sucked, they were desperate to hire me because it sucks, and it wasn't 3 months before I quit. I quit in late September of 2018. It's been almost 3 years of me not having a job.

I got my driver's license in mid 2019, but got into a minor parking accident that only broke a headlight on the car I drove, and didn't damage the other car, in September of that year. It was over a year before I drove again, because of the depth of my depression and anxiety over one accident, which cost about $150. Since January of this year, I've driven somewhat regularly, and have some measure of confidence, but am still anxious every time I'm behind the wheel. I could drive to and from a job, if needed, but it would be a while before that would be comfortable.

I still live with my dad, at the age of 23, and barely have any friends where I live anymore; those local friends I still have, I haven't seen face-to-face for a long time. My dad... my dad could die any day, and I would be royally fucked. Something happened earlier this month, and he wasn't healthy before, but this was really serious. He amazingly got away with few symptoms, and can make a full recovery with the right effort, except... it could still happen again, it would just be less likely. If it does, he could die. Again, I would be royally fucked. I don't know how much his treatment cost, but I know it must be a pretty penny. There's only so long I can continue like this.

Due to my dependence and general impotent state, I can't do a goddamn thing for what I believe in right now. I have to fight self-hatred with the argument that if I die, I'll have died useless and unhelpful, when I could potentially have kept living til I got my act together and finally done something helpful before passing.

I have a college degree. Not a "real" degree, in the sense of it mattering, but I have an Associate degree, DTA. No major; I never could figure out what I wanted to do. It would have been a close call between anything in political science, which would have led toward a government job, which would be unacceptable as an anarchist, or perhaps a professorial job, teaching would-be politicians and bureaucrats, hardly educating anyone of revolutionary intent; or something in chemistry, perhaps biochemistry, leading to some kind of colonial agrichem shit, or making expensive medicines nobody would be able to afford for private entities' profits, possibly having research appropriated by Uncle Sam for weapons purposes - I don't know, but none of that was appealing. I graduated community college with Honors, as a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. I could have had promise as some or other kind of technocrat or bureaucrat - but I wouldn't be able to live with myself. It seems the less one is exploited, the more they exploit others. I don't know what job I can take that would exploit me enough that I wouldn't hurt others so much, while leaving me alone enough that I wouldn't kill myself, which... which has been a temptation, at times. Not too strong, but it is fucking there. I have promise; at short-term memorization and obedience, at least, like a mongrel dog who can read; but no conviction, no confidence, and a surplus of fear.

There are more woes I can recollect, I can continue this pity party in a book, but enough of that. Suffice it to say, all this time, I should have wanted my own liberation. Colonized people (in an American context, Turtle Island Indigenous and Black) have it worse, LGBT* people have it worse, women have it worse, physically disabled people have it worse, people with greater mental disabilities than my own have it worse, and I can't lead any of their struggles. But I do have the right to demand my own liberation, and I shouldn't convince myself otherwise.

*I don't oppose the use of the other word, except people of my demographic have abused that word so goddamn much, I don't want to type it, myself, let alone say it. It's always tainted when it comes from those who aren't of that community. Please don't think I'm either a radfem or a libfem just because I didn't use that word. I support people identifying with that label in using it.

This post became increasingly personal toward the end. However, I hope my flawed perspective, perhaps unique (read: unrelatable) in some aspects, perhaps explaining, at least in part, some of the fucked-up mental hurdles of white socialist "allies" that we need to get our asses over yesterday, might help - whatever I might have illuminated, and whatever I surely missed. I can understand why someone might want to share and add, share and criticize, or leave this alone with a like, nothing at all, or an unfollow.

Not that I can prevent this from being shared in any way, except by not posting in the first place, but I'm okay with it being shared by other socialists, for whatever it's worth... although I understand the more traction it gets, the more likely I'll get anon hate about being full of myself (deserved, to an extent at least), for being some dumb socialist cuck (not exactly wrong, but rude, and likely from a Nazi, so fuck you), or perhaps from non-Mormon Christians accusing me, someone they'd call a Mormon (which is arguably almost a new ethnicity (not race though) as much as it is a religion) of daring to throw the Christian god and Christianity, in general, under the bus, accusing me of being in league with the devil. So be it.

If you're not a reactionary, nor a liberal, nor somewhere in-between, and you want to share this for some reason or another, you may do so.

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invisibleicewands · 4 years

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Michael Sheen (old) interview

He’s played the prime minister and the messiah – now Michael Sheen is plumbing the psyche of the original man in black. Caroline McGinn asks him about the dark side.

It’s been a big year for Michael Sheen. A lifechanger, in fact. The 42-year-old actor is widely admired for his uncanny ability to play real-life characters: a Bambi-ish Tony Blair in a trilogy of films that included ‘The Queen’; David Frost for Peter Morgan’s play-turned-movie ‘Frost/Nixon’; and most recently, a demon-ridden Brian Clough in ‘The Damned United’. But no previous role has come close to the Christ-like leader Sheen played in ‘The Passion’ in his South Wales home town this Easter: an epic 72-hour piece of community theatre which ended in Sheen being crucified on a local roundabout.

‘The Passion’, a local take on the Gospel commissioned by the storming new National Theatre of Wales, was more than just a play. It was a collective story that Sheen probably couldn’t have told anywhere but in Port Talbot, a town divided by the roaring M4 and dominated by a giant steelworks that was once the largest employer in Wales; a place where churchgoing and storytelling are still alive. It’s also his parents’ home. Sheen was so moved that talking about it makes him choke up. ‘I did this seven-mile procession with the cross,’ he recalls, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. ‘It was boiling hot. There were 12,000-15,000 people. And I was seeing these bare-chested tattooed blokes standing outside pubs with pints, with kids, with tears in their eyes going, “Go on, Michael, you can do it!” It’s quite rare to be in the middle of an experience knowing it is probably the most meaningful one I will ever have in my life. Something in me relaxed after that, I think. I could say, “If I died tomorrow, I did that.”’

Over a glass of red wine in the bar at the Young Vic, where he is about to play Hamlet, Sheen does seem completely relaxed: eager, open and very Welsh, with his squiggle of dark brown hair and his neat, expressive hands. He has a shapeshifter’s face: mobile, not memorable, too blurry and mercurial for a romantic lead. And it is a pleasure to hear his real voice: un-damned by Clough’s nasal, northern scorn or Blair’s prim inflections, it is a gloriously unstoppable lilting flow which seems, to my English ears, to come straight from the Valleys.

Sheen currently lives in LA to be close to his 12-year-old daughter with ex-partner Kate Beckinsale. He is an unlikely denizen of La La Land, with his bike helmet, his puppyish friendliness and his lack of pretensions. His spectacular return to his roots at Easter has, he says, redefined who he thinks he is, and what he wants to do with his work: something which he expresses in probably the longest sentence I’ve ever heard anyone deliver. ‘“The Passion” did for me what I hoped it could do for everyone in the town, potentially, which is to experience your life and your home in a different way, because I think there is a tendency – and I have it, and I notice other people have it too, probably everyone has it but certainly people who come from quite challenged areas – there’s a sense that your life is of no interest, that your story is mundane and there is no, for want of a better word, numinosity, no transcendence, and so to be able to tell a story about the biggest things there can probably be, a version of the “greatest story ever told” in the town that is seen to be the least likely town for that to happen in, then the people in that town, every time they go around that roundabout, which is many times, can go, “Not only is that where I get fish and chips, it’s also where the crucifixion happened,” and the everyday becomes transcendent – to something that is miraculous.’

Thanks to Sheen’s great-grandfather, street preaching runs in the family. But the starry-eyed idealism behind doing a passion play in Port Talbot, to reach thousands of people who would never set foot in a theatre, might easily have backfired. It was an unglamorous risk for a local bloke-turned-Hollywood big shot to take. You can’t imagine the area’s other famous filmmaking sons, ultra-cool customer Antony Hopkins or hard-living Richard Burton, pulling it off – though Burton did enjoy making a splash on the local beach with Liz Taylor and his private helicopter. ‘The Passion’ was supposed to shine a light on the miracle workers who do what Sheen calls the ‘unseemly’ work of care: for the old, the sick, the battered wives and the young offenders. For it to work, its makers had to gain the trust of the town.

‘After the Last Supper, when the Manics played, I was put on trial on the back of a truck and the crowd took over,’ he says. ‘It was at that moment I realised they understood it was their story. It was frightening and exhilarating. We didn’t know what was going to happen. Along the procession route people put photos of things they’d lost. Then, on the cross, I did a litany. Of things I remembered, or that I’d gathered from people, of people and places that don’t exist any more.’ It was Sheen’s epic personal connection to South Wales, where his dad once worked as a Jack Nicholson impersonator, and where his great-grandfather got rich when God told him to buy a tin mine. Sheen’s codirector Bill Mitchell and writer Owen Sheers spent a year getting stories from locals, and fed them into the piece. ‘I was just a participant: we all were,’ he says. ‘My mum and dad said a woman came to their house and told them I’d called her mother’s name when I was on the cross, and it had changed something for her. The need that drama first came from was community, witness, celebration and catharsis. We were trying to find a way for that to happen on a large scale.’

The Port Talbot ‘Passion’ has already gone down in theatre history. So where do you go after scaling the twin messianic peaks of Blair and Christ? Down into the doubt-ridden depths of Hamlet, naturally, the biggest role that a young (or young-ish in this case) actor can play. Judging by Sheen’s wordflow, those famous soliloquies won’t be a problem. After all, the actor made his name on stage: he won his first professional role at the Globe opposite Vanessa Redgrave in 1991 before he had graduated from Rada.

His CV is full of monster roles: Caligula, Peer Gynt, Amadeus (playing Mozart was his break into Broadway in 1999). Clough, and even Blair and Frost, creep into that list – though he’s obviously bored of talking about the factional film roles that made him famous: ‘I’ve done relatively few characters based on real people,’ he protests, just a little bit too much. ‘I’ve been working on stage now for more years than I care to mention.’

‘Project Hamlet’ has been on the cards for a while, but Sheen was waiting ‘for the right director and the right theatre’. Unlike recent celebrity Hamlets David Tennant and Jude Law, he didn’t want to do conventional West End Shakespeare, hence the Young Vic, with its younger, mixed audience and its imaginative approach, which includes – mysteriously – reconfiguring the playing space so that ‘Hamlet’ audiences must arrive 30 minutes early to take a ‘different route’ in. Sheen’s director of choice is Ian Rickson, the ex-Royal Court boss who has helped actors achieve career-defining roles (Kristin Scott-Thomas in ‘The Seagull’; Mark Rylance in ‘Jerusalem’). Hamlet tends to demand something very personal from actors: one reason why so many of them crack up over it, though Sheen seems remarkably unfurrowed by the prospect. ‘It is,’ he says, ‘good not to have to worry about people saying, “He doesn’t sound like Hamlet.” It’s me: I’m not doing a voice or playing a character, so to speak. It’ll sound like me and look like me, a bit of Welsh mixed with a bit of posh.’

Sheen sees ‘Hamlet’ as ‘like a portal. Or a living organism in some way. Other Shakespeare plays don’t have that quality of seeming to change. “Hamlet” works on you and sucks up everything you have. It’s a bit like looking into the abyss. What “Hamlet” makes everyone confront are all the things that are most frightening: irrationality, betrayal, madness and abandonment. It is very, very dark, and it dances along through that darkness.’

Sheen’s prince promises to be darker than most. Not just a mad Hamlet, but maybe even a bad Hamlet. ‘Me and Ian have taken a completely different approach,’ he explains. ‘The most interesting way to approach it is not to trust anything that Hamlet says, to assume that he’s an unreliable narrator. And once you do that, you realise how many assumptions there are about the play.’ Sheen cites Philip K Dick, David Lynch and Edgar Allan Poe as influences. The production will be set in a world ‘that feels as if we’re in some sort of institution’. Madness will be the keynote: ‘I discovered when working on it,’ says Sheen, ‘that it’s the first time anyone used the phrase “the mind’s eye”.’ Horatio says, “A mote it is, to trouble the mind’s eye.” Meaning a piece of grit. It sums up what I think the play is. It’s a bit of grit in the mind’s eye of the Western world. We’ve tried to expel it, by smoothing out its inconsistencies and by stopping it from being irritating. That’s a way to neutralise it and make it safer. But actually it’s the most dangerous of plays.’

Rickson and Sheen have found unorthodox inspiration in anti-psychiatrist RD Laing and G Wilson Knight, the twentieth century scholar who wrote an off-beam but brilliant essay on Hamlet, the ‘ambassador of death’ in the land of the living. ‘Laing said that if you take mad people on their own terms then maybe they’re just talking in a sort of heightened language about their lived experience,’ says Sheen. ‘And our take on “Hamlet” definitely questions the boundaries of what you would consider madness to be.’

So where do you go as an actor, after the heights of being crucified, and the depths of Hamlet’s psyche? ‘The answer to that is that I just don’t know,’ says Sheen. There are a couple of projects: Sheen says he was ‘roped in’ on a set visit to a new untitled film by cinema’s man of mystery, Terrence Malick, starring Sheen’s girlfriend and ‘Midnight in Paris’ co-star Rachel McAdams. And there’s also Wales-set thriller ‘Resistance’, out this month. But he has his heart set on directing a film about Edgar Allan Poe. ‘He was an extraordinary character. Very dark.’ The legacy of this life-changing year is a sharper, stronger passion for a live Welsh tradition: storytelling. ‘I just don’t know where you go after “The Passion” and “Hamlet”,’ says Sheen ‘But I do know that I want to tell stories that are powerful, that can reach people and equate to Greek theatre now. People still do need that. They respond to it. But you have to take risks to find them.’

(x)

#Michael Sheen #Interview #Hamlet #The Passion #old interview

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relatablemormonmoments · 5 years

Text

October 2019 Saturday Session Notes

Morning

Jeffrey R. Holland

Anonymous women and men identify Christ as reason for clamor

Find Jesus at center of it all

Our faith can be overwhelming

Love of heavenly PARENTS

Recieve your sight, your faith has healed you

Skeptics and faithful still contend

Faith and service

Terrence M. Vinsen

Build the lord's temple instead of staying in our safe houses

Earneth wages to put in a bag with holes (oooo graphics)

Less wifi and more Nephi

We shouldn't let the gospel be an added extra or just go to church 2 hours on Sundays. Church is extended 6 more days a week

Fair Dinkum->being commited

If we think things will be easy we will lose

Parable of the Fat Lip and Broken Jaw -> resulted in giving our all

Giving our all =/= blessings and success, Giving our all=Happiness

When he falls he shall rise again

Never waivered in faith and goodness, but deeply hirt for a long time

Wound expanding over our hearts

Pain in heart = Pain in soul, If we go to God it can be taken away

What should I do ghat I may have eternal life, that I shall return to God?

Prepare to give up all we have

Consider your ways

I hope this guy becomes an apostle 😍😍😍

Stephen W. Owen

Cellphone intentions quickly become distractions

Missed scripture study and subsequently the blessing and spiritual healing that comes with it

24 gour news cycle = bad

We must learn to recieve revelation

Herd of deer trapped outside of habitat-could starve. Deer can't eat well meaning hay -> starve to death with stomachs full

Spiritual nourishment is not trending on social media

Pride of world causes us to abandon church

Motions of spirituality do not mean true conversion

We need to be faithful, not faithless

Home centered church helps us thrive in days of spiritual malnutrition

Master of distraction, author of procrastination = Satan

Children need more of your time, not less

Curriculum for meetings is being adjusted

Moved to new neighborhood at age 14-> feels like tragedy

Parents, let youth know they are not alone as they walk

Your influence might be the church support that that young person needs.

D. Todd Christoffersen

We can feel joy regardless of what is happening or what's not happening in our lives

Those who serve God and are chaste are more joyful than those who are only obedient

Recieving the gospel makes us feel like a free bird

Be of good cheer

Joy of returning to geaven

Bring light, relief, and happiness ro our brothers and sisters

Michelle Craig

How can I tell when God is trying to tell me something?

Be intentional about creating time and space to hear God's voice

Imagine what would happen if we were as intent in staying connected to heaven as we were to staying connected to wifi

Lord can use your ordinary skills to accomplish his extraordinary work

Dale G. Renlund

New but unwavering commitment to Jesus Christ

Unchanging fidelity to God

MY ARCHAEOLOGIST BRAIN ISNT HAPPY WITH THE IDEA OF THROWING THE ITEMS RELATED TO OUR OLD IDENTITIES AWAY AND COMPLETELY DESTROYING IT

Begin new life in Christ

Spiritual sneeze, faithful flu- doesnt work

Recieve Christ's image more fully.

Constant flow of Faith

"Isn't this the truth that we have heard"

Anchor yourself to the Savior

Oaks

No.

Afternoon

David A. Bednar

Yesss its my boy

Camoflauged cro odiles -> Satan vs. Youth (Packer)

Cheetahs, fastest accelerating mammals on earth

Cheetahs stalk Topies while working in tandem to hunt them.

Alternating pattern to dostract and decieve the Topies and keep them from knowing there was any danger

Older Topies watching give warning and Topies escape.

Cheetahs still pursue, restless.

Beware of evil's beguiling disguises

Restored Gospel light in our lives

Stay awake and be alert

Don't be complacent or careless

A cheetah is a predator, Satan is the enemy of Righteousness

PLAN OF HAPPINESS Provides direction and enduring joy to God's Children

Lucifer seeks to frustrate our progression via misusing our bodies

Powerful parables are obtained from our daily lives

Ruben V. Alliad

Jesus is the Lord of Lost Things, he loves Lost Things

200 copies of the book of mormon in one room

"And when ye shall recieve these things..."

Pray about book of mormon and you WILL know that its true

Found directly through power of BOM

Think hard and answer honestly, follow up on baptism promises

Diligently seek the BOM

Holy Ghost confirms our knowlege

Russell M. Nelson

Youth Battalion

(If any of you saw my previous post this talk is what tipped my Grandmother off about Hitler's Youth)

Quentin L. Cook

Smartphones = bad

Youth must be the focus of Bishops and other leaders

Youth have more personal responsibility at you bf er and younger ages now

Announcements do not limit bishoos responsibility over Young Women

Young Women leader is besf for meeting the needs of Young Women

YOUNG MEN PRESIDENCIES NO MORE

Ward youth council, mutual is retired

Mark L. Pace

God loves us

70 steel piles provide firm foundation

Increase faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement

Adversaries increasing attacks on our faith

Come follow me a chance to bear testimony and learn differently

Consistent Effort throughout the week

Remodel home into center of Gospel Learning

Come follow me helpsnus establish foundation

L. Todd Budge

Peace and Joy when we surrender ourselves to God

Afflictions and Sorrow prepare us for joy -13th century poet

Afflictions are small

Life full of purpose and meaning

The lord will not allow us to suffer in darkness

How can we make it through the day without the Lord?

Questions and concerns -> Faith and Love

"I don't feel safe, but I am"

Wind never ceases to blow us towards the promised land

Didn't cease to praise the Lord

I really like this guy. He gives me peace and brings me joy

Jorge M. Aluardo

Some blessings come soon, late, or not until heaven, but they will come

Temple

Works at temple bless you with increased revelation and peace

Example of righteous parents

Strong familial chain link

Follow your own council (kid eating too much candy)

This man brings me joy

"Amazing Papa!"

Ronald A. Rasband

Grateful for the Lord's eternal companionship

Promises to improve

Promises to eachother increase promise to the Lord

Partnership with the Lord

The lord will be with you

Women's Session

Reyna J. Alberto

Black clouds which blind us and cause us to question God

When our minds are suffering, it is appropriate to seek help

Together we realize there is hope, and we do not have to suffer alone. Find resources about emotional illnesses!

Isolation thrives in secrecy and shrinks in empathy

When it comes to healing, we all need Him desperately

Nothing you have experienced will change the fact that you are God's child

Lisa L. Harkness

Living under Christ's name

Jesus is here for us

Do we honor the name of Christ

Bonnie H. Cordon

Sure knowlege of divine purpose and identity

NEW YW THEME ( I DIDNT CATCH THE WHOLE THING BUT): I am a beloved daughter of HEAVENLY PARENTS

Shift from we to I

Peace and Guidance will be yours

We need to have shelters and sanctuaries from life's storms

Be a light to those around you.

All classes are now unified under one name: Young Women

Every class should have a class presidency

Make the calling of leading class presidencies a priority

Revelation is real

We need the Wisdom, Council, and Energy in youth council

Henry B Eyring

Divine mission is to help lift the souls of others

We do not know the time or duration of our assignments

Preparation of a powerful loving heart

Minister to every stranger as a neighbor and a friend

We must be a mother in some way

Mold living clay to your hopes in tandem with God

God loves you

Oaks

NO!!! (Homophobic version)

Russell M. Nelson

He is now the church grandpa

Access to all spiritual treasures for Lord's children

How do we draw the savior's power in our life? Holy Ghost will prompt you

Bad men are not allowed- men must drink respect women juice

RESPECT WOMEN JUICE!!

Misogyny bad

Women are society's guardians, wonderful, magnificent

Covenants = Priesthood power for women

I LOVE MY NEW GRANDPA

Encouraged to participate in ward councils

166 temples and more to come (TEMPLES ANNOUNCED IN WOMEN'S SESS? THIS IS A FIRST)

8 new temples -> sierra leone, utah x2 , arkansas, philippines, texas, guatemala, utah

Strengthen your faith in the Lord.

#mormon #mormon teen #lds #lds conference #lds general conference #lds church #ldsconf #lds convert

58 notes · View notes

deepdisireslonging · 5 years

Text

Family Found Part 42: Business as Usual

The choices are getting harder for the Reader, and everyone is taking notice. If she’s not careful, the fallout will be catastrophic not only to the roster but to her relationship with her cousin, Dean.

Warnings/Promises: wrestling violence, Ambrose Angst, angst in general, sassy Elias

Word Count: 2810

Note: Sooo, had to look it up, but because my series doesn’t align with the actual events of Raw, Dolph Ziggler never held the IC in 2018. Keep that in mind. Wow, a lot of stuff has happened. Thank you guys for sticking around with this series! Also, correction: the next PPV is Fastlane, not Starrcade. My bad.

Part 1: Welcome to the Team

Part 41: Fall Short (Elimination Chamber)

Monday Night Raw – February 25, 2019

“I’m sure our general manager, Y/N Ambrose, is not happy with how tonight started,” Cole reported. “Apparently, Dean stormed into her office and demanded a title match. He did get one, but it’s for the number one contender’s spot for the Universal. We could possibly see Ambrose versus Rollins at WrestleMania or sooner if the cousins work out a deal.”

“Unlikely,” Corey added.

Renee was in agreement. “After their spat last week, I don’t think they are going to see eye to eye any time soon. Do you guys think there will be an Ambrose versus Ambrose match?”

“What does it matter?” Corey chuckled. “We all know who you’d root for.”

“Perhaps.” Renee’s voice dropped to barely audible. “I would prefer them not to fight at all.”

Dean made his way to the ring, bouncing around while he waited for his opponent. You sent out Mojo Rawley. He hadn’t fought in a while, and he was eager to try for another title chance. Even if it meant facing an irate Dean.

To Mojo’s credit, he was willing to do anything not waste this opportunity. His own body was on the line, taking a lot as Dean punched through his frustration. You watched from backstage, glad this worked out as the opening match. The crowd was on its feet and chants for both opponents were split down the middle. But Mojo got a little too into it. You flinched as the referee forcefully pulled him away from stomping on Dean while holding the ropes but ignoring the five-count. You headed to Gorilla.

In the time it took you to make it there, Mojo had disqualified himself. You rushed out onto the stage. “I don’t think we’ve seen enough of this match. Have you?” you asked the audience. The smattering of boos was easily ignored with a surface smile. “Let’s restart this as a no disqualification, no count-out match.”

Dean grinned. He rolled out of the back of the ring and came up with a steel chair. Mojo had rolled the other way. He came back into the ring with a kendo stick. They began again. Dean’s eyebrow opened with a small gash that bled down his face. Mojo backed away, suddenly unsure of Dean’s calm as the referee checked on him. Then the referee turned to double check on Mojo.

It was then that Elias rushed up the back-right steps and pulled Dean’s head back into the turnbuckles before pushing him forward to fall on his face. Mojo knew a chance when he saw one. Elias disappeared. Mojo leapt for the pin. The referee counted to three. Dean didn’t come around until Mojo was already having his hand raised.

Backstage, you breathed a sigh of relief.

Maybe if you avoided your office, Dean couldn’t find you to ask questions you didn’t have answers for.

***

He found you anyway, waving away a medic. “Okay, maybe I was a little pushy getting that match, but what the hell was that?” Dean growled and rolled out an ache in his neck.

It took all your strength to keep a neutral face. “You’ve been complaining for months that I wasn’t putting you in matches. But then I restarted this match so you could win not by disqualification, and you’re still mad at me.”

Dean shook his head. “No. Don’t turn this around. Yeah, I’m still confused about the last several months. Last week you won’t let me help you. This week you sent your attack dog to ensure I lost. Is it because I wronged you in another life, or is it because I couldn’t stop child services from taking you away? I thought I apologized for that already, but I can do it again.”

You scoffed. “I doubt your pride could take the hit.”

“Then maybe you should apologize. Because some’s got to clear the air around here.”

“No. I won’t say I’m sorry for what I did. My choices have been my own. There’s nothing I can do to change them. The bridge is burned, and I hated to watch it, but here we are. You. And me.” The force behind your statements almost made you believe them.

Dean stared you down. You shuffled on your feet, feeling more and more like the little girl caught borrowing his lock-picking set than the general manager of Raw. Finally, he sighed. “You really are gunning for a match between us, aren’t you? Fastlane or WrestleMania?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to!” The words burned passing your lips. If you stayed any longer you were going to tell him everything. Your mask of assuredness was beginning to break. His brow was already starting to crease as he realized you were holding something back. Before you could spill, you turned on your heel and hurried away.

***

Dolph Ziggler had taken over the ring in the meantime. He strutted around seeming very proud of himself. A review of the elimination chamber had just played, showing off his talent and how he’d been the last one eliminated. He was almost laughing too hard to speak. “I think I did rather well at Elimination Chamber, don’t you? All things considered, from Drew’s betrayal back at TLC, to getting walked over in opportunities, to having to fight for my spot in that match, I made it to the last two. And not just that, I almost had Drew pinned.” He hummed in delight. “I was runner up in the chamber.” He sang that little comment again and smiled. “And as such, I believe I deserve the first chance at the Intercontinental Championship.”

He would have said more, but the crowd overpowered him as Finn Balor’s music hit. “I ‘ave to congratulate ya on your accomplishment last week. Runner up against everyone in tha match is quite the accolade.”

Pseudo-bowing at the waist, Dolph thanked him. His head tilted in confusion as Finn began to make his way down the ramp instead of going backstage.

“But, that’s all you’ve ever been when it comes ta Drew. Runner up. Second best. An aftert’ought.” He stepped through the ropes. “Come on, Dolph. How long ‘as it been since you’ve been champion? I had to look it up. December of 2017, and ya told the WWE Universe t’at they didn’t deserve you. Then you vacated the title and haven’t ‘ad one since. It seems the titles and Universe decided they didn’t deserve you. Now, I’ve just been a champion. An’ I will be again because I’m still hungry for it. Even if I have ta go through you. You, who seems to have lost his edge.”

Dolph stepped to get in his face. “Maybe so. But at least I don’t need a demon to sit on my shoulder to win matches. I will beat McIntyre for the Intercontinental Champion. And I’ll do it before you can get your hands on it.”

Both men turned and readied for a fight as bagpipes took over the speakers. But Drew McIntyre came out in a black suit, making the white and gold belt stand out. “You are both welcome to try and take this title from me. Tell ya what… I’ll have an open challenge next week. But, it’s only open for one spot. Whoever makes it to the ring first, gets the opportunity. Deal?” He grinned as Finn and Dolph shouted in agreement. “May the best man step up, then.”

***

Charly Caruso sighed in relief as she spotted Elias. “Thank goodness I found you.”

He was not as enthusiastic. “Charly, why are you interrupting my rehearsal time? Do you have any idea how long it took me to find a quiet space in this lousy arena? I think it probably would have been easier to leave this untalented city entirely so that I could hone my craft.”

“Please, Elias. WrestleMania is rapidly approaching, as is Fastlane. You have yet to announce who you will be challenging for the main event match you won by winning the Royal Rumble. As the championships sit, would you rather face Seth Rollins for the Universal or Drew McIntyre for the Intercontinental Championship?” She held out her mic.

Elias looked at it indignantly but answered anyway. Sort of. “The Universal I would have to say has the most prestige. It’s been a hard championship to win, and an even harder one to hold onto… unless you are a certain incarnate beast. But some people say that the title is cursed to bring title ends in terrible ways. Balor’s injury. Kevin Owen’s forgettable reign. Goldberg’s twenty-second WrestleMania loss. Maybe I don’t want it. The Intercontinental is a classic. It’s got style, almost as much as it deserves. Around my waist again, it would be given back it’s well-deserved glory. But McIntyre seems a little busy with squabblers. And one more that he hasn’t paid enough attention to, besides me.”

He shook his head and stood. “Nah, I just might wait until after Fastlane to pick. Now if you’ll excuse me… I need to find a new spot to perfect my melodious gospel.”

With a huff, Charly dropped her mic and watched as Elias drifted into the shadows.

***

The second spot in Fastlane’s match for the tag team titles was up for grabs next. Tyler Breeze and Dana Brook were the surprise winners last week. This week, the match came down to the B-Team and the Ascension.

“And can you believe it, Y/N is considering making Fastlane’s match a triple threat. How is anyone supposed to compete with those kinds of odds?”

Cole grit his teeth at Corey’s outburst but had a quick enough answer. “The same way they have before I suppose: keep their head on a swivel.” He flinched and called Konnor’s drop of Bo Dallas.

The tag was made from each corner, bringing in the two wearied teammates. Viktor stumbled through a strike, giving Curtis Axel the room to catch him and drop him. As he went for a pin, Bo rushed forward and kept Konner from interfering. The B-Team was going to Fastlane to face an unknown number of opposing teams.

***

Rhonda Rousey fiddled with the mic in her hands. It took her a moment to gather up the last of her thoughts. “At first, I wanted to talk things over with Natalya in private. But the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that you guys need to hear her answers too.” She took a deep breath. “A few weeks ago, Natalya and I had a match to determine which one of us was going to have a spot in the chamber match. I went into it thinking I was entering the ring with a friend. If either of us lost, there weren’t going to be any hard feelings. But then… well. Maybe we should just show the clip.” She turned to look at the Titantron. First, it showed the impromptu ‘Moment of Bliss’ interview.

Alexa smiled. “What happens if one of you wins the Raw women’s championship after the Elimination Chamber? What happens to the-” she gestured between them, “the friendship?”

“Nothing.” Rhonda squirmed in her seat. “I’ve been here for almost a year. Natalya is my closest friend here.” She faced Natalya. “Why can’t we try one of those things where we help one of us get the title, then we’re the first challenge? Between the two of us, we could either rack of title reigns or help one another ensure long, successful ones.”

Not it was Natalya’s turn to squirm in her seat. “Rhonda, I’ve been in this business my whole life. I’ve seen-“ She sighed. “You know those don’t actually work, right? Someone always wants to be the best. They can’t be that if they’re always in their friend’s shadow.”

Then, the clip showed part of the match.

Natalya sprung forward, renewing her attack. “Take what you can get,” she muttered. Rhonda heard and faltered in her steps. She caught a kick to the face that put her in the perfect position for a Sharpshooter. Natalya released her as soon as the referee told her Rhonda had tapped.

With the clip over, Rhonda was about to speak when Natalya entered the arena. She stepped only as far as center stage, establishing that she wasn’t going to enter the ring. “What’s your point, Rhonda. This is the WWE. We wrestle. We fight. We win opportunities and we win titles.”

“I get that. And I get that sometimes the goals come between people. But was it worth it? You lost to Nia and had to start the title match. Then, you were eliminated by Mickie and Alicia. The opportunity you fought so hard for fell flat.” Rhonda stepped closer to the ropes, halting as Natalya took a step back yards away on the stage. “Why can’t we work together like they did. Like Sasha and Bayley do?”

“You realize you’ve picked the worst examples, right?” Natalya huffed with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m a third generational wrestler, Rhonda. Title reigns have come and gone, some recently for me. But with each passing week, I can physically feel them getting further and further away. When I think about it, it’s hard to breathe. I don’t want that burn, that desire to hold gold again, to go on so long that it slips into feeling normal. I can’t.”

A pause separated the two women. Rhonda quietly said, “so where do we go from here? Sometimes I feel like you’re my only true friend here, but nowadays even that is disappearing.”

Natalya looked off into the crowd instead of at Rhonda. “We continue to train together. Business as usual. Let life and work roll on. This will work itself out.”

“Business?” Rhonda nodded. “Okay. So be it.”

***

The non-title match between the Riott Squad and the team of Nia Jax and Tamina was supposed to be the main event.

Ruby Riott was ringside, doing her thing and keeping an eye on anything that might threaten her teammates. The Squad themselves were keeping up with the powerhouses. Liv Morgan was successfully irritating Tamina into making mistakes, and Sarah was surprising Nia with strength of her own. The Squad had switched so it was Nia versus Liv at the moment when Ruby drifted to thinking about her own plans. She was still keeping a lookout by looking to one side, but her thoughts kept her blind to what was coming from the other direction. It wasn’t until Sarah was knocked off the apron to fall over her that Ruby realized her mistake.

While Liv rushed to the ropes to check on her partners, Tamina rushed back and tagged in. She rushed to grab Liv’s pink locks and slammed her back for the pin. Sarah scrambled to get in the ring, but she was too late to stop it.

Beaten, the Riott Squad tried to hasten a retreat. Nia’s voice over the speakers froze their steps.

“You know, Tamina, I don’t feel like we’ve had enough excitement for tonight.”

“You know, Nia. I have to agree. What did you have in mind to change that?”

“I thought maybe, since Ruby Riott hasn’t done anything tonight, I might just challenge her to a match.” She grinned.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Tamina continued. “But what about the other two? They might get in the way.”

Nia draped an arm over her shoulder. “That’s what I’ve got you for. Someone who really knows how to watch my back. Someone who doesn’t… get distracted.”

That final addition made Ruby grit her teeth. Before her squad could hold her back, she slid into the ring and told the referee to ring the bell. Tamina rolled to the floor before it did, cutting Liv and Sarah off from getting closer. She kept an eye on the match by glancing at the Titantron.

In the ring, Nia was already built up from her last match. Ruby was still distracted. And now angry too, which kept blinding her to obvious feigns from Nia and the consequences of her own mistakes. She was able to hold an upper hand for a while, but Nia shut it down. A final Samoan Drop ended the match, leaving Ruby in a heap.

Tamina held up her arms as Liv and Sarah ran past. They ignored the other team leaving and rushed to help Ruby sit up. Liv took the tag title just now being returned to them and set them to one side. Ruby’s eyes followed them. As her teammates patted her on the back with uplifting words, she kept her gaze on the pair of white and gold. She reached her hand out to them, but couldn’t bring herself to touch them. Liv and Sarah flinched away as she shrugged them off.

Part 43: It’s Official

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

Forever Tags: @blondekel77 @hallemichelles @laochbaineann@ramblingsofabourbondrinker @savmontreal @southsidebucky@tinyelfperson @zuni21798

WWE/Series Tags: @a-home-for-stray-stories @kingslayers-queen @top-1-percent @mother-forker @neversatisfiedgirl @racheo91 @roman-reigns-princess @secretagentfangirl @thetherianthropydaily @scuzmunkie @cait-kae@ramsaypants @sony-undead18 @brianaraydean @st4yingstrong@dopeybubbles @crystallizeme @jessica91073 @denise8691 @stalelight @kenyadakblalock @1dluver13xx @lauren-novak @lunatic-desert-child@littledeadrottinghood @livelifewondering

#Family Found Series #42/50 #cousin!dean ambrose #cousin!reader #general manager!reader #Road to WrestleMania #ambrose angst #wrestling angst #sassy Elias #elias samson #renee young #riott squad #natalya hart #rhonda rousey #finn balor #dolph ziggler #drew mcintyre

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madewithonerib · 3 years

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Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the LORD (Ebook) | By Michael Reeves

Our inner convictions & values shape our lives & our ministries.

And at Union—the cooperative ministries of Union School of Theology/Publishing/Research/Mission (www.theolo.gy)—we long to grow & support wo/men who will delight in GOD, grow in CHRIST, serve the Church, & bless the world.

This Union series of books is an attempt to express & share those values.

They are values that flow from the beauty & grace of GOD.

The living GOD is so glorious & kind, HE cannot be known without being adored.

1.] True Love

Those who truly know HIM will love HIM, & without that heartfelt delight in GOD, we are nothing but hollow hypocrites.

That adoration of GOD necessarily works itself out in a desire to grow in CHRIST-likeness.

2.] Servant Heart

It also fuels a love for CHRIST's precious bride, the Church, & a desire humbly to serve—rather than use—her.

3.] Share HIS Concerns

And lastly, loving GOD brings us to share HIS concerns, especially to see HIS life-giving glory fill the Earth.

Each exploration of a subject in the Union series will appear in two versions: A full volume & a concise one.

The idea is that Church leaders can read the full treatment, such as this one, & so delve into each topic while making the more accessible concise version widely available to their congregations.

My hope & prayer is that these books will bless you & your Church as you develop a deeper delight in GOD that overflows in joyful integrity, humility, CHRIST-likeness, love for the Church, & a passion to make disciples of all nations.

Read Chapter 1: Do Not be Afraid!

CH1: Do Not be Afraid!

As children we were sacred of the dark & the monsters under the bed. We were both fascinated & repelled by our fears.

And not much changes when we grew up: Adults love scary movies & thrills that bring us face-to-face with our worst fears..

Fear is probably the strongest human emotion.

But it is one that baffles us.

1.1] To Fear or Not to Fear?

● Is fear a good thing or a bad thing? ● Is fear something to embrace or flee?

Many times SCRIPTURE clearly views fear as a bad thing, from which CHRIST has come to rescue us.

[1 John 4:12,18, Luke 1:74-75, Romans 8:15, 2 Timothy 1:7]

● 1 John 4:18 | ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.

● 1 John 4:12 | ¹² No one has ever seen GOD; but if we love one another, GOD remains in us, & HIS love is perfected in us.

● Luke 1:74-75 | ⁷⁴ deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve HIM without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness & righteousness before HIM all the days of our lives.

● ��Romans 8:15 | ¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the SPIRIT of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! FATHER!”

● 2 Timothy 1:7 | ⁷ For GOD has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, & self-control.

The author of Hebrews agrees, arguing that CHRIST came specifically to “deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” [Hebrews 2:15]

Hebrews 2:14-16 | Now since the children have flesh & blood, HE too shared in their humanity, so that by HIS death HE might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ & free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶ For surely it is not the angels HE helps, but the descendants of Abraham.

In deed, the most frequent command in SCRIPTURE is:

“Do not be afraid!”

Yet again in SCRIPTURE we are called to fear.

Perhaps even more strangely, we are called to fear GOD.

The verse that quickly comes to mind is Proverbs 9:10.

Proverbs 9:10 | ¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, & knowledge of the Holy ONE is understanding.

But while that is the best known, it is far from alone. At the start of the Book of Proverbs we read,

Proverbs 1:7 | ⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom & discipline.

David prays,

Psalm 86:11 | ¹¹ Teach me YOUR way, O LORD, that I may walk in YOUR truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear YOUR name.

Isaiah tells us that “the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure” [Isaiah 33:6]. Job’s faithfulness is summed up when he is described as “a blameless & upright man, who fears GOD” [Job 1:8].

And this is not merely OT state of affairs that the NT rises above. In the Magnificat, Mary says that [Luke 1:50]

● Luke 1:50 | ⁵⁰ HIS mercy extends to those who fear HIM, from generation to generation.

● Isaiah 33:6 | ⁶ He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, & knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

● Job 1:8 | ⁸ Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered MY servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless & upright, who fears GOD & shuns evil.”

JESUS describes the unrighteous judge as one “who neither feared GOD nor respected man” [Luke 18:2].

Luke 18:2 | ² “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared GOD nor respected men.

Paul writes, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body & spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of GOD” [2 Corinthians 7:1];

& again, “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the LORD” [Colossians 3:22].

Clearly, the NT agrees with the “Preacher” when he concludes Ecclesiastes: “The end of the matter; all has been heard.

Fear GOD & keep HIS commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” [Eccles. 12:13]

In fact, the fear of GOD is so important a theme in SCRIPTURE that Professor John Murray wrote simply,

“The fear of GOD is the soul of godliness.” ¹

The seventeenth-century Puritan John Owen likewise argued that in SCRIPTURE, “the fear of the LORD” means “the whole worship of GOD, moral & instituted, all the obedience which we owe unto HIM.” ²

And Martin Luther taught in his Small Catechism that the fulfillment of the law means “we are to fear, love, & trust GOD above all things.” ³

Walking his people through the Ten Commandments, Luther wrote that a right understanding of each meant knowing “we are to fear & love GOD.”

All of which can leave us rather confused.

On the one hand, we are told that CHRIST frees us from fear; on the other, we are told we ought to fear—& fear GOD, no less.

It can leave us discouraged & wishing that “the fear of GOD” were not so prominent an idea in SCRIPTURE.

We have quite enough fears without adding more, thank you very much.

And fearing GOD just feels so negative, it doesn’t seem to square with the GOD of love & grace we meet in the GOSPEL.

Why would any GOD worth loving want to be feared?

It is all made worse by the impression that fear & love are two different languages preferred by two different Christian camps—perhaps two different theologies.

The one camp speaks of love & grace & never of fearing GOD.

And the other camp seems angered by this & emphasizes how afraid of GOD we should be.

The fear of GOD is like cold water on the Christian’s love for GOD.

We get the impression that the fear of GOD must be the gloomy theological equivalent of eating your greens:

something the theological health nuts binge on while everyone else enjoys tastier fare.

My aim now is to cut through this discouraging confusion.

I want you to rejoice in this strange paradox that the GOSPEL both frees us from fear & gives us fear.

It frees us from our crippling fears, giving us instead a most delightful, happy, & wonderful fear.

And I want to clear up that often off-putting phrase “the fear of GOD,” to show through the BIBLE that for Christians it really does not mean being afraid of GOD.

Indeed, SCRIPTURE will have many hefty surprises in store for us as it describes the fear of GOD that is the beginning of wisdom.

It is not what we would expect.

Take just one example for now.

In Isaiah 11:1–3 we are given a beautiful description of the Messiah, filled with the SPIRIT:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, & a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the SPIRIT of the LORD shall rest upon HIM, the SPIRIT of wisdom & understanding, the SPIRIT of counsel & might, the SPIRIT of knowledge & the fear of the LORD.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

Those last two statements should make us question what this fear of the LORD is. Here we see that the fear of the LORD is not something the Messiah wishes to be without.

Even HE, in HIS sinless holiness & perfection, has the fear of the LORD—but HE is not reluctant about it.

It is not that HE loves GOD & has joy in GOD but finds [unfortunately] that to fulfill all righteousness HE also must fear GOD.

Quite the opposite:

the SPIRIT who rests on HIM is the SPIRIT of the fear of the LORD, & HIS delight is in the fear of the LORD.

It forces us to ask, what is this fear, that it can be CHRIST’s very delight? It cannot be a negative, gloomy duty.

Today’s Culture of Fear

But before we dive into the good news the BIBLE has about our fears & the fear of GOD, it is worth noticing how anxious our culture has become.

Seeing where our society now is can help us understand why we have a problem with fear—& why the fear of GOD is just the tonic we need.

These days, it seems, everyone is talking about a culture of fear.

From Twitter to television, we fret about global terrorism, extreme weather, pandemics, & political turmoil.

In political campaigns & elections, we routinely see fear rhetoric used by politicians who recognize fear drives voting patterns.

And in our digitalized world, the speed at which information & news are disseminated means we are flooded with more causes of worry than ever.

Fears that once we would never have shared cross the world in seconds & are globally pooled.

Our private, daily routines are filled with still more sources of anxiety.

Take our diet, for example:

If you choose the full-fat version on the menu, you’re heading for a heart attack. Yet we’re regularly confronted with the latest discovery that the low-calorie alternative is actually carcinogenic or harmful in some other way.

And so a low-grade fear starts with breakfast.

Or think of the paranoia surrounding parenting today.

The valid but usually overblown fear of the kidnapper lurking online or outside every school has helped fuel the rise of helicopter parenting & children more & more fenced in to keep them safe.

Small surprise, then, that universities are now expected to provide previously unheard-of “safe spaces” to protect or quarantine students.

Children have grown up so protected that they are not expected to be able to cope with opposing viewpoints or criticism.

It is just one indicator that they are considered more fragile than students were a generation ago.

However, it is wrong to single out the pejoratively named Generation Snowflake:

as a whole, we are an increasingly anxious & uncertain culture.

Anyone in management knows about the staggering proliferation of bureaucratic red tape around health & safety.

Yet it has not made us feel safer.

If anything, we triple-check our locks even more obsessively.

The certain safety we long for evades us, leaving us feeling vulnerable, like victims at the slim mercy of everyone & everything else.

And therein is an extraordinary paradox, for we live more safely than ever before.

From seatbelts & airbags in our cars to the removal of lead paint & asbestos from our homes, our safety is guarded more than our shorter-lived ancestors could have imagined.

We have antibiotics to protect us from infections that in other centuries would have been all too easily fatal.

But rather than rejoicing, we worry we’re becoming immune & so heading into a post-antibiotic health apocalypse.

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crushing83 · 7 years

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Soooo... @saawek sort of tagged me (I saw my name in the post because I was flipping through my newsfeed at just the right time, but the link didn't work or show up in my activity, so I'm assuming I can do this...), and now I'm listing my works-in-progress. I might tag a few people at the bottom because I, too, am a curious kitten and I love hearing about what other people have on the go.

Writing:

Fanfic side:

Tolkien/Fast & Furious >> Thranduil/Owen Shaw >> Bullets and Blades 10... I actually cracked it open this weekend and started picking at what I'd written last. (Oh, and to anyone who started following me after I unintentionally hiatus-ed this one? Yes, you read that pairing right. Thranduil and Owen Shaw. Yep, yep.)

Tolkien >> Thranduil/Bard >> Spins and Pirouettes 4 was started a long time ago and then it started to get sad and I didn't like that so I focused on B&B instead. I'll eventually get back to it. There were a lot of mistakes in it---writing mistakes---and having a beta point out things in another story made me realise what I was doing in this one, and it's been hard to go back. I'll get there, eventually. Yes.

SPN >> mostly gen >> The Winchester Gospel, where a tricksy archangel (who lives, obviously) makes sure his dad's work is discovered as ancient scrolls. Kind of hops all over my timeline right now, because I'm writing it in bits and pieces and not at all chronologically. Follows some faves, follows descendants of faves. Haven't started posting it yet. >> Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester/Female Reader >> An untitled story that was supposed to be for @mrswhozeewhatsis' April Fools challenge, but got away from me and now I don't know how to end it. The reader's ace!spec, there's some non-sexual kink stuff, Dean and Sam both have squishy feelings for the reader/character (because it's my fantasy), they have a great big hunt in the middle of a werewolf den (it's not what you think)… oh, and Ketch is a scary douche (predictable). >> Team Free Love-ish/Female Reader >> Forging a Bond. There are two chapters left. I will get there. I promise. They just need editing. >> Gabriel/Sam Winchester >> Six Months, one of my vape shop AU fics. I've been chipping away at the next chapter recently. >> Gabriel/Sam Winchester >> An untitled AU story about ace!spec Sam, trying to figure out a way to tell his brother he's ace (or demi). This one's been super hard to write. But, I'm pushing through it. >> Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Dean/Castiel (eventually) >> A "what if Josie was never possessed and Henry never went to the future" fic. I have one chapter written, and it's basically turning into a husband!spy vs wife!spy sort of showdown between Mary and John with the boys in the middle.

SPN/Beyond Belief (TAH) >> Frank Doyle/Sadie Doyle, slight Gabriel/Sam Winchester >> A sequel to When God Comes to Call..., because Gabriel needs to grow up and face the flannel-wearing duo. And because I want Frank and Sadie to meet 'em, too. I'm just... stuck, right now.

SPN/Criminal Minds >> Gabriel/Spencer Reid, maybe Gabriel/Spencer Reid/Sam Winchester >> Falling is the Easy Part, my drop-Spencer-into-season-nine-and-see-what-happens fic. Some of it's been posted. It's going to be long. I'm not 100% sure where it's going yet, though. So, I'm taking my time.

SPN/Marvel Cinematic Universe >> An untitled "what if Justin Hammer somehow found out about the supernatural side of the world and tried to harness it for his own gain" fic. I only have about a hundred words written so far, so I'm really not sure what it's gonna be yet. Mostly it's an excuse to have Sam and Dean interact with the Avengers, if/when I get there.

SPN/Sanctuary >> Helen Magnus/Sam Winchester >> An untitled fic where Helen is tracking down Sam for some MOL information. I only have about 200 words written so far. But I want to see these two be dangerous together and then geek out together.

Dark Angel >> An untitled fic about what could happen after "Freak Nation." Mostly, it's Alec remembering things, doing things to keep his pack or unit together, and trying not to hold a grudge against Max because she doesn't know any better when it comes to having so many of Manticore's soldiers together. I think I started this after getting sick of watching her tear down Alec. Not that he's a saint. But. It made me cranky, watching her put him down all the time.

Personal project side: >> NaNoWriMo 2016 >> This story will never be finished. I hit the word limit. But I need about double that to wrap it up, and I'm really, really stuck. One of the themes is magic is dying. Another theme is the main character's, where she's looking for a place where she (and her ace!spec-ness) fits in. And then it's all mostly set inside a bdsm club. The sequel to the story is already sort of in my head, but I can't get to that point because I'm so stuck and bogged down with the first story.

Illustration (and animation):

Fandom side: Quattro Formaggio >> Four Cheese comics >> I still have two or three waiting to post... and I want to get to an even 12. So I need to write and render a few more. A couple are thumbnailed. >> Jailbreak 2016 >> I cut audio from a few clips of the concert, and I have the animatic done... but animation makes my brain seize up. It's like I'm blocked. So... that's on hold for a while. >> Space Jam Dance >> I really want to animate the cheeses dancing. To a song from Space Jam.

Saturday Night Salad >> The full line-up >> I'm in the process of turning almost everyone into a 3D vegetable---or fruit. I want to make a big poster with everyone in it. Right now, the ones I've done... I think the next one on my list is... celery, but that'll be one of the last almost-regular SNS-ers. So. Those ones are modelled. And then I have to finish the occasionals. And then go through the texturing and rigging process.

Team Free Breakfast (or Brunch) >> The line-up of five >> I'm still rigging Pancake!Cas. Not because it's hard, but because I rig every day at work. And getting psyched up about coming home and doing more rigging? Doesn't happen all that often.

#Blame The Musk >> The product line-up >> For now, I'm just trying to get the products textured. They're all modelled and sort-of rigged (just single controls on everything so I can move 'em around later). Later, I will be making mock advertisements with all the products.

Personal project side: >> Various 3D projects >> I started renovating an old robot project from school, hoping to make it something for a new reel (but it's a mess, because I was a student and scrambling to finish things for project deadlines, so I find the whole thing discouraging). I've also been trying to model a character so I can work on a face rig set-up---but organic modelling is SO NOT MY THING. The only other thing I've been working on is a sort of bdsm dungeon that fits in a shoebox. I haven't looked at it in probably a year. Most of it's modelled, it just needs texturing. The point was to comp it into video footage of an actual shoebox being put on or taken off a shelf. >> Tattoo design >> So. When I was a wide-eyed and innocent frosh, with the taste of freedom from my very demanding (but lovable) parents fresh in my heart, I ran out and got a tattoo. I designed it, which may have been stupid, but whatever. It's an abstract take on a claddagh ring, just the lines, and with spiky sort of wings instead of hands. It's on my lower back. Which was fine for a couple of years. (Then, the term "tramp stamp" became a thing.) I feel like it's important to say I do not regret getting it. It was freedom. Probably the first I felt ever, really, and I will always love it for that. But. I didn't take care of it as well as I should have. And I gained weight (because college) then lost it, gained it and then some, lost it, and gained more, and so on. So the tattoo is a little fuzzy. And I do feel shame about that. I've been trying to turn this little fuzzy thing into a larger back piece that's like a collage of different style and different elements and imagery. I can't do the finer details because I'm not that good at drawing, but I've been trying to rough something out so I can go to an actual artist (someday lol) and give them the sketches and go from there.

But getting all of this stuff done is contingent on my shoulders and arms not being sore enough---or just being numb enough---so I can sit and work on this stuff. (Backstory: my work desk is well on its way to killing me, and there's no alternative; we're in those call-centre almost-cubicles and the desks are about three to five inches too tall for me. Shoulder and arm pain for years. Goes to show how artists rate, huh? Can't even get a desk to fit! /rant+whining) So, I have a bunch of things on the go, and when I feel like I can move without wanting to scream, I tinker on something that matches my mood or snags my interest. Eventually (hopefully), I'll finish something.

Aaaaaand.

Now. Who do I want to pester today, hmm? *rubs hands together*

@lacqueluster and @thequeervet... am I allowed to ask what you two are working on? Or what you're thinking about working on? And @evansluke, @piyo-13 @little-red-83, and @ofplanet-earth? How about you guys, toooooo?

What have you all been up to creatively lately? Any words? Or art? Video? Photography? Body art? Fanmixes? Metalworking? (I don't know if any of you do that. Just throwing it all out there because there are different ways to be creative. I was following the example format I was given, but there are so many more things that can be done.)

Okay. I am so sorry to anyone seeing this because it got very long. Whoops!

#tagged #progress report #fic wips #art wip

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mcdouglecompany-blog · 5 years

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Prager University Part 37.

Father Absence Is the Biggest Issue Facing Black America.

Left vs. Fact: Rent Control Hurts Renters.

The Beatles' Ringo Starr: Brexit Is Good for Britain Why I Don't Want and Don't Deserve Reparations.

Trailer: The Candace Owens Show Featuring Douglas Murray.

Tolerance Is a Conservative Value.

Climate Activists Use Kids to Fuel Hysteria.

Is College Worth It?

Sports & Politics.

How the Government Made You Fat.

Trailer: The Candace Owens Show Featuring Vice President Mike Pence.

Left vs. Fact: Male and Female - What's So Confusing?

Trailer: The Candace Owens Show Featuring Nathan Latka

Father Absence Is the Biggest Issue Facing Black America.

https://youtu.be/ENprGZXlXUk

PragerU

Which poses a bigger threat to black communities: Racism? Or absent fathers? Children who grow up without a father are: - 5 times more likely to live in poverty - 9 times more likely to drop out of school - 20 times more likely to end up in prison Candace Owens and Larry Elder show just how important black fathers are in turning boys into responsible and happy men--and how their absence has had a tragic impact on millions of black Americans.

Left vs. Fact: Rent Control Hurts Renters.

https://youtu.be/vZyeNFTje2A

PragerU

Think you support rent control? This might change your mind. Rent control sounds like a great way to make affordable housing more available. Unfortunately, these laws have the opposite effect. Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute shows why price ceilings on apartments hurt those it intends to help.

The Beatles' Ringo Starr: Brexit Is Good for Britain.

https://youtu.be/_XE1SYsDoFM

PragerU

Is the European Union good for Britain? Or would the British be better off without it? "I think it's a great move...to be in control of your own country is a good move." - Ringo Starr Nigel Farage, a member of the European Parliament and a leader of the UK's Brexit movement, also shares his view.

Why I Don't Want and Don't Deserve Reparations.

https://youtu.be/18tGOIvotFE

PragerU

The Reparations Movement — a government payout to descendants of slaves — is making a comeback. Super Bowl star Burgess Owens, who happens to be black and whose great grandfather was a slave, finds this movement both condescending and counterproductive. He wants no part of it. In this video, he explains why.

Script: My great-great-grandfather, Silas Burgess, came to America shackled in the belly of a slave ship. He was sold on an auction block in Charleston, South Carolina, to the Burgess Plantation. Orphaned by age 8, he was, fortunately, surrounded by elder slaves who, though physically chained, mentally envisioned themselves as free men. They escaped, taking young Silas with them, making their way to West Texas. Silas worked hard and saved his money. Eventually, he became the owner of 102 acres of farmland, which he cultivated and paid off within two years. I proudly carry the name of my first American ancestor—who, like millions of others drawn or brought to our country, struggled past overwhelming obstacles to live the American Dream. Silas founded the first black church, the first black elementary school in his town. He was a Republican, a Christian, and a pillar of his community. He was proud and industrious and taught his children to be the same. Now, because great-great-grandpa Silas was once a slave, so-called “progressives” want to give me money. Never mind that, like him, I am an entrepreneur who received an excellent education, built businesses, raised a remarkable family and, unlike most white Americans, earned a Super Bowl ring. Because of work I’ve never done, stripes I’ve never had, under a whip I’ve never known, these progressives want to give me money I’ve never earned. The fact that this money will be forcibly taken from others who also dreamed, worked and sacrificed for it, I’m told is not my concern. But it is. At the core of the reparations movement is a distorted and demeaning view of blacks and whites. It grants superiority to the white race, treating them as an oppressive people too powerful for black Americans to overcome. It brands blacks as hapless victims, devoid of the ability which every other culture possesses to assimilate and to progress. The reparations movement conveniently forgets the 150 years of legal, social, and economic progress obtained by millions of American minorities. It also minimizes the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of white Americans and a Republican president who gave their lives to eradicate slavery. I think Grandpa Silas would have seen this loss of American lives as payment in full. Every grateful black American, then and now, would feel the same. The reparations movement also reinforces a view of racial relationships that undermines America’s Judeo-Christian foundation. It defies the ideals of forgiveness and second chances and scorns individual accountability. Proponents of reparations believe that black Americans are incapable of carrying their own burdens, while white Americans must bear the sins of those who came before them. Proponents do not take into account the majority of white Americans who never owned slaves, who fought to end slavery, or who came to America long after it was ended. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/why-i-d...

Trailer: The Candace Owens Show Featuring Douglas Murray.

https://youtu.be/iIm3j8p8zlQ

PragerU

The Left is obsessed with race. It gives them purpose. And it is harming society—creating more problems, which also gives them... more purpose. 😤 Stop it. Don't miss author/ journalist Douglas Murray on The Candace Owens Show this Sunday. Find out more about his devastating new book The Madness of Crowds here: https://amzn.to/2nWgf77

Tolerance Is a Conservative Value.

https://youtu.be/up-p0-Wm430

PragerU

Are you tolerant? You probably think so. But who is tolerant in America today? Is it those on the left, or those on the right? Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson was caught on a hot mic swallowing a big red pill 💊Leftism makes people mean. It does.

Climate Activists Use Kids to Fuel Hysteria.

https://youtu.be/nHmsaAAdn2Y

PragerU

Leftists are telling children that climate change is going to kill them and everyone they know—and then place those terrified kids in front of cameras to beg for their lives. Want some "propaganda"? Here you go.

Is College Worth It?

https://youtu.be/nFIMiQ5eApk

PragerU

Is college a good investment? It’s getting harder and harder to make that case. Student loans have suckered a LOT of students into massive debt, with little more than a useless degree and a hangover to show for it. 🤕

Sports & Politics

https://youtu.be/ZTR_3ylevwM

PragerU

Journalist says black athletes should leave 'white' colleges. Um. What? Sports have a unique ability to unite our communities and our nation. Until recently, that is. How did sports get so politicized? Clay Travis, host of Outkick the Show, tackles the country’s cultural divide and its effect on our favorite pastime.

How the Government Made You Fat.

https://youtu.be/Q7vJZAYoFPk

PragerU

Ever since the introduction of the Food Pyramid in the early '90s, the average American has gotten fatter and sicker. Has this government-approved nutritional guideline — the basis of the modern “healthy diet” — led us astray? If so, how did this happen, and what can we learn from it? Cardiologist Dr. Bret Scher offers some food for thought on this very weighty issue.

Script: Here’s a riddle: How is it that ever since the government began telling us what to eat, we have gotten fatter and sicker? In 1977, when the government first set dietary guidelines, the average American male weighed 170 pounds. He now weighs 197. It’s not any better for women —145 to 170. And you don’t need an academic study to know the same thing is happening to kids. Just look around. The weight gain has real-life consequences: the percentage of Americans diagnosed with type 2 diabetes—a condition that can lead to severe medical issues—has risen from 2% in 1977 to over 9% in 2015. In hard numbers, that’s five million people to over 30 million people. How did this happen? It all started innocently enough in the 1950s, when President Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack while in office. Suddenly, the issue of heart health became a national obsession. Keep in mind this was an era when scientists had harnessed the power of the atom, unlocked the secrets of DNA, and cured once incurable diseases like polio. Surely, there had to be a scientific solution to heart disease. There was. And a charismatic medical researcher from the University of Minnesota named Ancel Keyes had it. Cholesterol, Keyes claimed, was the villain of the heart disease story. His now famous “seven countries study” determined conclusively—in his mind, at least—that people who consumed high amounts of fat—specifically, saturated fat—had higher cholesterol levels and thus, higher rates of heart attacks. Lower your fat intake, and you would lower heart disease risk. The ever-confident Keyes spread the gospel. As an influential member of the American Heart Association, he was in a very strong position to do so. There was only one problem: Keyes’s study was bad science. The sample size was so small, the data collection integrity so shoddy, and the life-style variables between the countries he studied so great, that his research had no scientific validity. In other words, he asserted a conclusion he couldn’t prove. When other scientists questioned Keyes’s conclusions, they were invariably met with stern responses like: “people are dying while you’re quibbling over data points.” And, “there are great benefits and no risks” to adopting this new way of eating. In 1973, the American Heart Association set the dietary limit on saturated fat at 10%, and in 1977, the US government followed suit. Where did the 10% value come from? It didn’t come from any scientific data. It was merely a government committee’s best guess. This was despite contrary evidence like the 1957 Western Electric Company employee study showing no difference in heart attacks in those who ate more or less saturated fat. A longer-term study of the same Western Electric subjects in 1981 reached the same conclusion. But again, no one wanted to hear it. To make this all easier to understand and to spread the message to schools, “the food pyramid” was created. That’s the chart you first saw in third or fourth grade with all the supposedly good foods at the bottom—meaning, “eat a lot of those,” and the bad foods at the top—"eat those ones sparingly.” What our kids are fed in school, what our military troops are fed on bases, what sick people are fed in hospitals; what crops we plant and how we raise our cattle, are all predicated on this deceptive nutritional concept. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/how-the...

Trailer: The Candace Owens Show Featuring Vice President Mike Pence.

https://youtu.be/OT7jGEUQYFM

PragerU

This Sunday, Candace Owens sits down with Vice President Mike Pence to discuss family, faith, and growing opportunities for black Americans. Tune in for a very special episode of The Candace Owens Show at the White House! Never miss a new episode! Get notified here: https://www.prageru.com/candace/

Left vs. Fact: Male and Female - What's So Confusing?

https://youtu.be/n3Wsp66QSyE

PragerU

Singer Sam Smith has come out as gender non-binary, identifying as they/them. It's all very woke but it doesn't change the fact that he's still biologically male. Ashley McGuire, author of "Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female," explains the confusion surrounding gender identity.

Trailer: The Candace Owens Show Featuring Nathan Latka

PragerU

In this Sunday's episode of The Candace Owens Show author and self-made millionaire, Nathan Latka, shares tips on how to gain wealth, why you should avoid the blame mentality, and why capitalism is the only system that lifts people out of poverty. Tune in! Sign up for notifications so you never miss a new episode: https://www.prageru.com/candace/

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stretchearsnotvaginas · 5 years

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There are 329 records in my collection as of January 9, 2019. This list includes Alternative Rock, Christmas, Classical, Comedy, Country, Dance, Folk, German, Hip Hop, Jazz, Kids, Metal, Outlaw Country, Pop, Rock, Rockabilly, and Soundtrack.

To organize and keep track of all of these, I use an app on my iPad called MusicBuddy and it catalogs and organizes all of my records for me. So when I get more records, I’m going to continue to add to this blog. This collection is a conglomeration of records given to me by my mom, grandparents, friends, and records I’ve found at local thrift stores.

They’re organized first by genre, then by artist. If you see any that are in the wrong category, feel free to message me so I can fix it. Like I said, my app placed them into the genre Discogs placed them into.

KEY: Artist – Album Name 1, Album Name 2, Album Name 3, etc..

All records that are underlined are the ones that are photographed.

Alternative Rock: 7 records

Dance Gavin Dance – Artificial Selection, Instant Gratification (signed), Mothership, Summertime Gladness/Pussy Vultures (7″)

David Lee Roth – Just Like Paradise

Jefferson Airplane – The Worst of Jefferson Airplane

Pink Floyd – A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Christmas: 15 records

Andy Williams – Merry Christmas

Charles M. Shulz – A Charlie Brown Christmas

Elvis Presley – Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, Christmas Album

Floyd Robinson – Charlie the Hamster Plays Christmas Songs With Floyd…

Jim Nabors – Jim Nabors’ Christmas Album

John Denver – A Christmas Together, Rocky Mountain Christmas

Johnny Cash – The Christmas Spirit

Luciano Pavarotti – O Holy Night

Richard P. Condie – Christmas Carols Around the World

Tennessee Ernie Ford – O Come All Ye Faithful, Sing We Now of Christmas

Classical/Easy Listening: 17 records

101 Strings – Henry Mancini, John Denver

2Cellos – Score

Arthur Fiedler – Arthur Fiedler Superstar

Boston Symphonic Orchestra – Appalachian Spring/The Tender Land – Suite

Clarinet Kings – The Best Polka

Copperas Cove Bands – The Proud New Generation Band ’74

Engelbert Humperdinck – King of Hearts

Ferrante & Teicher – Moonlight Melodies

Heintje – “Mama”

Hollyridge Strings – The Beatles Songbook

Jean-Pierre Rampal – Fascinatin’ Rampal

Mannheim Steamroller – Saving the Wildlife

Richard Clayderman – Love Songs of the World

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – Hooked on Classics

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Die Zauberflaute, The Magic Flute (box set)

Comedy: 8 records

All in the Family Cast – All in the Family

Bill Cosby – 200 mph, Bill Cosby, Bill Cosby ‘Live’ Madison Square Garden, For Adults Only, When I Was a Kid, Wonderfulness

Various – The Watergate Comedy Hour

Country: 40 records

Alabama – Just Us, Mountain Music

Barbara Fairchild – Kid Stuff

Barbara Mandrell – He Set My Life to Music, Love is Fair, Meant for Each Other

Buck Owens and His Buckaroos – The Kansas City Song

Charley Pride – The Best of Charley Pride, The Best of Charley Pride Vol. III, From Me to You, Pride of Country Music

Conway Twitty – By Heart, I Love You More Today

Don Francisco – Forgiven, Got to Tell Somebody, Holiness, Traveler

Don Williams – Cafe Carolina, Greatest Hits

Freddie Hart and The Heartbeats – The Pleasure’s Been All Mine

Glen Campbell – Galveston, Glen Campbell’s Greatest Hits

Jean Shepard – A Real Good Woman

Kendalls – The Best of the Kendalls

Kenny Rogers – The Gambler

Loretta Lynn – Coal Miner’s Daughter, Entertainer of the Year – Loretta, Here I Am Again.., Just a Woman, You’re Lookin’ At Country

Moe Bandy – Rodeo Romeo

Skeeter Davis – A Place in the Country

Sonny James – The Sensational Sonny James

Statler Brother – Bed of Roses

T.G. Sheppard – Perfect Stranger

Tammy Wynette – The First Lady, Just Tammy, Tammy’s Greatest Hits

Various – America’s Greatest Country Stars Live and In Person, Country Girls

Dance/Electronic: 4 records

Crystal Fighters – Cave Rave

Devo – Oh, No! It’s Devo, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

M|A|R|R|S – Pump Up the Volume (7″)

Folk: 29 records

Albert Hammond – The Free Electric Band

Andy Williams – Andy Williams’ Greatest Hits, Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes

Cat Stevens – Foreigner, The Very Best of Cat Stevens

Dale Evans – Heart of the Country

Jim Nabors – Everything is Beautiful

John Denver – John Denver’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2, Poems Prayers & Promises

Johnny Cash – America: A 200 Year Salute in Story and Song, Any Old Wind That Blows, At Folsom Prison, Believe in Him, The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus, Heroes, I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, Johnny Cash’s Greatest Hits Vol. 1, Look At Them Beans, Ragged Old Flag, Starportrait

Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash – Carryin’ On With, Johnny Cash and His Woman

Johnny Horton – Johnny Horton’s Greatest Hits

Marty Robbins – Greatest Hits Vol. IV

Peter, Paul & Mary – Album 1700, The Best Of…

Simon & Garfunkel – Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme

Various – Zenith Presents Hootenanny Special

German: 20 records

Extrablatt – Vico Ganz Neu!

Flotte Franz Und Seine Bierbrummer – Ja Das Haben Di Madchen So Gerne

Gaudeamus Igitur – Romantic Old Heidelberg

Hoffbrau Singers – Ein Prosit! A Toast!

Ivan Rebroff – Kosaken Mussen Reiten

Johannes Heesters – Da, Geh’ich Ins Maxim

Lucie Baierl – Wine, Women and Schrammeln

Paul Horbiger – Servuswein

Peter Alexander – The Golden Album of Peter Alexander, Peter Alexander Prasentiert Walt Disney’s Welt

Robert Stolz – Ein Shoner Herbst

Serge Jaroff – The Best of Serge Jaroff and His Don Cossacks

Various – A Echte Gaudi, Ein Heurigenabend Bei Toni Karas, Music of the Austrian Alps, Musical Memories of Germany Vol. 2 “Auf Zum Oktoberfest”, Schenkt Man Sich Rosen In Tirol

Wiener Schrammelguartett – Erinnerung An Wein

Winer Terzett – Tanze Aus Dem Alten Wein

Hip Hop: 6 records

Boogie Boys – City Life

LL Cool J – Radio

New Kids On The Block – Hangin’ Tough, Hangin’ Tough (Calendar Pack 7″)

Snap! – The Power

Various – Electric Breakdance

Jazz: 12 records

Dean Martin – Dean Martin Hits Again, Gentle On My Mind, This is Dean Martin!

Frank Sinatra – I’m Glad There Is You/You Can Take My Word for It Baby (7″), Strangers in the Night, Ultimate Sinatra

Jack La Forge – Unchain My Heart

John Tropea – Short Trip to Space

Paul Winter – Common Ground

Various – Happiness Is (Box Set), Kings of Swing

Winter Consort – Road

Kids: 20 records

Al Smith – Happytime Songs for Children

Candle – The Music Machine

Carole and Jimmy Owens – Ants’hillvania

Children’s Television Workshop – Songs From Sesame Street 2

Disney Choir – It’s A Small World

Disney – Walt Disney Presents Mickey Mouse and His Friends

Ethel Barrett – Children’s Stories: The Mysterious White Envelope

Marcy Tigner – Sings Nursery Rhymes, Wear a Smile

Nancy F.A. Woolnough – The Adventures of Raindrop #3

Peter Pan – Popeye the Sailor Man 4 Exciting Stories

Richard Wolfe Children’s Songs – A Raggedy Ann Songbook

Sesame Street – Sesame Street Gold! The Best of Sesame Street, Sleepytime Bird, The Year of Roosevelt Franklin: Gordon’s Friend

Sharron Lucky – Follow the Clouds

Singspiration Trio – Songs for Children No. 2

Strawberry Shortcake – Strawberry Shortcake and Her Friends (photo disc)

Susie and Johnny – Sings Stories by Susie and Johnny and Their Singing Pals

Thomas Moore – Sleepy Time

Metal: 10 records

Bloodrock – Live

Jethro Tull – A Passion Play

Metallica – The Good The Bad & The Live: The 6 1/2 Year Anniversary Collection, Harvester of Sorrow, Jump in the Fire, Kill ‘Em All

Motley Crue – Girls, Girls, Girls

Slayer – Hell Awaits

Twisted Sister – Love is for Suckers, Under the Blade

Outlaw Country

Johnny Rodriguez – Foolin’ With Fire

Kris Kristofferson – Border Lord, Me and Bobby McGee, The Silver-Tongued Devil and I

Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge – Full Moon

Merle Haggard – Amber Waves of Grain, The Best Of The Best Of Merle Haggard, It’s All in the Movies, Same Train Different Time

Tanya Tucker – What’s Your Mama’s Name

Waylon Jennings – Wanted! The Outlaws

Willie Nelson – Willie Nelson’s Greatest Hits

Willie Nelson & Family – Honeysuckle Rose

Pop: 38 records

Connie Francis – The Very Best of Connie Francis

Cyndi Lauper – True Colors

Debby Boone – Surrender

Eurythmics – Greatest Hits

Gene Pitney – The Many Sides of Gene Pitney

Go-Go’s – Beauty and The Beat

Halsey – Badlands

Helen Reddy – Long Hard Climb

Johnny Mathis – Close to You, More Johnny’s Greatest Hits

Maureen McGovern – The Morning After

Michael Jackson – Thriller

Neighborhood – I Love You.

Neil Diamond – Classics The Early Years, Gold, Hot August Night, Tap Root Manuscript

Oh Wonder – Ultralife

Olivia Newton-John – Olivia’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2, Physical

Panic! At The Disco – Death of a Bachelor, Pray for the Wicked

Paul Anka – 21 Greatest Hits

R.B. Greaves – R.B. Greaves

Ready for the World – Oh Sheila

Rick Springfield – Working Class Dog

Righteous Brothers – Back to Back

Sonny & Cher – All I Ever Need Is You

Sylvan Esso – Sylvan Esso

Toni Basil – Word of Mouth

Various – 24 Groovy Greats, From Broadway to Hollywood, Love is Blue (box set), Super Stars – Super Hits, They Come to America, Zenith Presents The Hit Makers

Wayne Newton – Summer Wind

Wham! – Make it Big

Rock: 54 records

4 Skins – A Few 4 Skins More Vol 2

AC/DC – Fly On the Wall

Adolescents – Brats in Batallion

Alice Cooper – Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits

Animals – The Best of the Animals

Bad Religion – Against the Grain

Bauhaus – Mask

Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill

Beatles – 1962-1966, Introducing… the Beatles

Billy Joel – An Innocent Man

Blood, Sweat, and Tears – Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Boatz – Boatz

Bob Seger – The Distance

Bobby Darin – It’s You Or No One

Camel – Breathless

Chuck Berry – Chuck Berry’s Greatest Hits

Circle Jerks – Group Sex

Cliff Richard – Two a Penny

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Deja Vu

Cure – Boys Don’t Cry, Japanese Whispers

Dad Punchers – These Times Weren’t Made for You

Everly Brothers – Everly Brothers’ Original Greatest Hits, The Golden Hits of the Everly Brothers, Very Best of the Everly Brothers

Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac, Greatest Hits, Rumours, Tango In The Night, Tusk

Free Beer – Highway Robbery

Grateful Dead – Touch of Grey (7″)

Green Day – Dookie

Hard-Ons – Dickcheese, The Worst Of…

J Geils Band – Freeze-Frame

Jerry Lee Lewis – By Request: More of the Greatest Live Show On Earth

Jesse Colin Young – Love On The Wing

Journey – Escape

Kenny Loggins – Nightwatch

Kenny Loggins & Messina – The Best of Friends, Native Sons

Lee Michaels – 5th

Mike & The Mechanics – Mike + The Mechanics

Pat Benatar – Crimes of Passion, Get Nervous, Heartbreaker, Live From Earth

Stevie Nicks – Bella Donna, Rock a Little

Tom Jones – Live in Las Vegas, This Is Tom Jones, The Tom Jones Fever Zone, Tom Jones Live! At The Talk Of The Town

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Rockabilly: 12 records

Elvis Presley – Almost in Love, Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite, Elvis Now, Elvis’ Golden Records, G.I. Blues, How Great Thou Art, Let’s Be Friends, Pure Gold, Rock ‘N’ Roll, Welcome to My World, Worldwide Gold Award Hits

Ricky Nelson – Legendary Masters Series

Soundtrack: 24 records

Burt Bacharach – Lost Horizon

Dory Previn – Valley of the Dolls

Isaac Hayes – Shaft

Jack L. Warner – 1776

Leonard Bernstein – West Side Story

Mary Martin – Mary Martin Sings The Sound of Music

Mr. Pickwick – Mr. Pickwick Sings Songs from Mary Poppins

Neil Diamond – Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Suite from “The Nutcracker”

Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters

Rossini – The Barber of Seville (box set)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Graduate

Unknown – HearSeeDo: Hanna-Barbera Record of Safety, Superman

Various – 2001 A Space Odyssey, 50 Happy Years of Disney Favorites (1923-1973), Fantasia, The Fox and the Hound, Grease, Song of Norway, That’s Entertainment: Musical Highlights from Camelot! Sounds of Music! etc., Top Gun, Urban Cowboy

Vince Guaraldi – Selections from the Soundtrack ” A Boy Named Charlie Brown”

Record Collection There are 329 records in my collection as of January 9, 2019. This list includes Alternative Rock, Christmas, Classical, Comedy, Country, Dance, Folk, German, Hip Hop, Jazz, Kids, Metal, Outlaw Country, Pop, Rock, Rockabilly, and Soundtrack.

#author #babe #blog #catalog #Collections #collector #hobbies #keep up with me #keeping up with a skillings #metal #new blogger #records #vintage #vinyls #writer

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marilynngmesalo · 6 years

Text

Mourners gather for Aretha Franklin’s funeral; diva dressed in gold

Mourners gather for Aretha Franklin’s funeral; diva dressed in gold https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Mourners gather for Aretha Franklin’s funeral; diva dressed in gold

DETROIT — Organizers of Aretha Franklin’s funeral insist it will be a service, not a show. Yet the Queen of Soul’s final send-off on Friday certainly will encompass many elements, emotions and grand entrances that were hallmarks of her more than six decades on sacred and secular stages.

And it boasts a lineup of speakers and singers that would rival any of the hottest revues, past or present.

To be sure, the funeral at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple, which caps off a week of events that included high-profile public viewings and tribute concerts, comes with all-star speakers and performers. Among those offering words will be former President Bill Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Smokey Robinson. Songs will be provided by Stevie Wonder, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, Faith Hill, Shirley Caesar, Chaka Khan and more.

The street outside Greater Grace was filled Friday morning with pink Cadillacs — a nod to Franklin’s funky ’80s tune, “Freeway of Love,” which prominently featured the car in the lyrics and video. Her casket was carried to the church in a 1940 Cadillac LaSalle hearse that also took Franklin’s father, legendary minister C.L. Franklin, and civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks to their final resting places at Woodlawn Cemetery, where the singer will join them.

Hundreds of fans lined up near the venue before dawn for an opportunity to get into the funeral.

Franklin’s body arrived more than two hours before the service was scheduled to start. She was dressed in a sparkling full-length gold dress with sequined heels for her final outfit — the fourth outfit Franklin has worn during a week of events leading up to her funeral.

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Floral arrangements from such singers as Barbra Streisand, Sam Moore and Mariah Carey and the family of Otis Redding, whose “Respect” Franklin transformed and made her signature song, were set up in a hallway outside the sanctuary. Moore’s arrangement included a card that read, “You know I always adored and loved you to bits and pieces … Even when we would fuss.”

Bishop Charles Ellis III of Greater Grace knows well of the boldface guest list and surrounding pomp and circumstance, but he has a higher mission in mind for the service that may well exceed five hours.

“It is my goal and my aim to ensure that people leave here with some kind of spiritual awakening,” Ellis said. “This is not a concert, this is not a show, this is not an awards production. This is a real life that has been lived, that a person regardless of how famous she became no matter how many people she touched around the world, she still could not escape death. And hopefully, a lot of people here with money and fame and influence and friends and notoriety and wealth, hopefully they will think of their mortality and say there is something bigger than fame, there is something bigger than Hollywood, something bigger than being a recording artist and selling gold albums or what have you.”

Of course, some get-down and lift-up need not be mutually exclusive.

“I really believe that this … is going to be an eye-opening experience for everybody in the world watching,” said gospel artist Marvin Sapp, also among the scheduled performers. “We really celebrate because we really recognize that those we call the dearly departed, they wouldn’t want for us to cry and be sad and sorrowful. But they would want us to celebrate their lives because they transitioned from this life to a better one.”

Sapp wouldn’t reveal what he will perform Friday, but said every song is one picked out by Franklin. Robinson also didn’t share what he will say, but that’s for a different reason.

“I do not plan anything (with) someone I love like that,” Robinson, a Motown great who grew up with Franklin, told The Associated Press. “I love her. She was my longest friend.”

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Robinson said he will just make it “personal,” since he remained close with Franklin until the end. He said they “talked all the time,” the last just a couple weeks before she became too ill to speak.

“We saw all of our other close friends go,” Robinson said. “We used to talk about that — we saw a lot of soldiers go.”

Amid the sadness of these days, Robinson can find uplift — and believes Franklin’s legacy is secure. A new generation of singers like Grande who are inspired by the late Queen of Soul is just the beginning.

“There are some girls who haven’t been born yet … who will be inspired by Aretha,” he said.

Sabrina Owens, Franklin’s niece, told the AP she started putting thoughts to paper about events earlier this year as her aunt’s health failed. Since Franklin’s Aug. 16 death at 76, Owens said a close group she described as “Aretha’s angels” have “worked tirelessly” and have been guided by a single question: “What would Aretha want?”

“After all she gave to the world, I felt we needed to give her an appropriate send-off that would match her legacy,” Owens said.

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investmart007 · 6 years

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DETROIT | Mourners gather for Franklin's funeral; diva dressed in gold

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DETROIT | Mourners gather for Franklin's funeral; diva dressed in gold

DETROIT — Pink Cadillacs filled the street early Friday outside Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple, and hundreds of fans lined up as they awaited the funeral of Aretha Franklin, who was dressed in a sparkling gold dress for her final outfit.

Dignitaries attending Friday’s service include Clive Davis, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Jennifer Holliday.

Franklin’s body arrived, in a 1940 Cadillac LaSalle hearse, more than two hours before the service was scheduled to start. She was dressed in a sparkling full-length gold dress with sequined heels for her final outfit — the fourth outfit Franklin has worn during a week of events leading up to her funeral.

Her casket was carried to the church that also took Franklin’s father, legendary minister C.L. Franklin, and civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks to their final resting places at Woodlawn Cemetery, where the singer will join them. The Pink Cadillacs outside refer to a Franklin hit from the 1980s, “Freeway of Love.”

Floral arrangements from such singers as Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett and from the family of Otis Redding, whose “Respect” Franklin transformed and made her signature song, were set up in a hallway outside the sanctuary. An arrangement from singer Sam Moore included a card that read, “You know I always adored and loved you to bits and pieces … Even when we would fuss.”

Funeral organizers insist it will be a service, not a show. Yet the Queen of Soul’s final send-off certainly will encompass many elements, emotions and grand entrances that were hallmarks of her more than six decades on sacred and secular stages.

And it boasts a lineup of speakers and singers that would rival any of the hottest revues, past or present.

To be sure, the funeral which caps off a week of events that included high-profile public viewings and tribute concerts, comes with all-star speakers and performers. Among those offering words will be former President Bill Clinton, Jackson and Franklin’s friend since childhood, Smokey Robinson. Songs will be provided by Wonder, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, Faith Hill, Shirley Caesar, Chaka Khan and more.

Bishop Charles Ellis III of Greater Grace knows well of the boldface guest list and surrounding pomp and circumstance, but he has a higher mission in mind for a service that may well exceed five hours.

Of course, some get-down and lift-up need not be mutually exclusive.

Sapp wouldn’t reveal what he will perform Friday, but said every song is one picked out by Franklin. Robinson also didn’t share what he will say, but that’s for a different reason.

“I do not plan anything (with) someone I love like that,” Robinson, the Motown great, told The Associated Press. “I love her. She was my longest friend.”

“We saw all of our other close friends go,” Robinson said. “We used to talk about that — we saw a lot of soldiers go.”

“There are some girls who haven’t been born yet … who will be inspired by Aretha,” he said.

“After all she gave to the world, I felt we needed to give her an appropriate send-off that would match her legacy,” Owens said.

By JEFF KAROUB and NEKESA MUMBI MOODY,Associated Press

#Aretha Franklin #Detroit #diva dressed #Franklin #Funeral #Jesse Jackson #mourners gather #scheduled #street early friday #TodayNews

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thejoydaily-blog · 6 years

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NOVEMBER 22, 2016 Made for Another World

Remembering C.S. Lewis

Article by David Mathis

Executive Editor, desiringGod.org

He went quietly. It was very British.

While the Americans rocked and reeled, and the world’s attention turned to Dallas and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, one Clive Staples Lewis breathed his last in Oxford just a week shy of his 65th birthday. Strangely enough, science-fictionist Aldous Huxley passed the same day, and in one calendar square, three of the twentieth-century’s most influential figures were gone.

It was November 22, 1963.

C.S. Lewis is known best for his series of seven short fiction books, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” which have sold over 100 million copies in 40 languages. With three of the stories already becoming major motion pictures, and the fourth in the making, Lewis is as popular today as he’s ever been. But even before he published Narnia in the early 1950s, he distinguished himself as a professor at Oxford and Cambridge, the world’s foremost expert in Medieval and Renaissance English literature, and one of the great lay thinkers and writers in two millennia of the Christian church.

Discovering Truth and Joy

Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1898. He became an atheist in his teens, and stridently such in his twenties, before slowly warming to theism in his early thirties, and finally being fully converted to Christianity at age 33. And he would prove to be for many, as he was for his friend Owen Barfield, the “most thoroughly converted man I have ever known.”

What catches the eye about Lewis’s star in the constellation of Christian thinkers and writers is his utter commitment to the life of the mind and the life of the heart. He both thinks and feels with the best. Lewis insisted that rigorous thought and deep affections were not at odds, but mutually supportive. And as impressive as he was in arguing for it, he was even more convincing in his demonstration.

What eventually led Lewis to theism, and finally to Christianity, was Longing— an ache for Joy with a capital J. He had learned all too well that relentless rationality could not adequately explain the depth and complexity of human life, or the textures and hues of the world in which we find ourselves. From early on, an angst gnawed at him which one day he would express so memorably in his most well-known single book, Mere Christianity: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

This World and the Other

Such is the heart of his genius, his spiritual genius. So few treat the world in all its detail and contour like he does, and yet so few tirelessly point us beyond this world, with all its concreteness and color and taste, with the aggression and ardor of C.S. Lewis.

And so for many his impact has been so personal. For me, it was a six-word sentence in Lewis — “we are far too easily pleased” — that popped the hood on a massive remodeling of my soul.

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Does Jesus really find our desires not too strong, but too weak? I had long professed Christianity, but this tasted so different than what I knew. It tasted good! This affirmation of happiness and pleasure and desire and delight was, to me, so new in the context of the Christian faith. And Lewis was the chef.

My notions about God and the Christian life were exposed as mere duty-driven, and my soul was thrilling at the possibility that Christianity might not mean muting my desires, but being encouraged (even commanded!) to turn them up — up to God.

Feel the Weight of Glory

As a layman, Lewis didn’t preach often, but occasionally had his chance at a pulpit. His most remembered sermon is one he preached under the title “The Weight of Glory.”

When he breathed his last and quietly slipped from this life more than fifty years ago now, he took one big step toward becoming the kind of glorious creature in the coming new creation he speaks about in that sermon.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.

This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously.

For a growing number of us, Lewis occupies a class to himself. Few, if any, have taught us so much about this world, and the next, save the Scriptures. If you’d like to take him seriously, and with the smile and warmth he requests, start with his Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Abolition of Man, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” or just about anything you can find with his name as author. His writings are pervasively thoughtful, engaging, provoking, and rewarding. He will not disappoint.

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out-of-egypt-blog · 6 years

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Latin@s and the Reformation

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to get lunch with my Greek professor. As we were talking, I told him of my journey in discovering Church history and how stumbling across theologians like Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Piper, etc. etc., really shifted my theological framework. It gave me a more historic and full sense of my Protestant faith. As I read books and commentaries, I could see the ways in which those saints who came before me made the Gospel fresh and were used in mighty ways by God to illuminate His Truth. My professor then asked me why I thought so few Latino/as held onto Reformed theology. I told him I would think about it and get back to him.

As I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks, a few thoughts came to mind. The first and probably most important reason is that, in a sense, the Reformation never reached Latin America. Tenochtitlan fell to Cortes in 1521, the same year that Luther was officially excommunicated from the Church. Since the conquistadores were all of the Catholic faith, that is what they spread into the Meso-American civilizations. Sailing alongside the conquistadores, the priests of the Catholic church quickly got to work in Christianizing the natives. The British empire which would be the cause of the spread of Protestantism across the globe wouldn’t officially separate from the Catholic church for another 13 years when Henry VIII started the Church of England. At this time, the Roman Catholic faith was pretty much the official religion of all of Europe. With no other competing faith, and with stronger military might, Catholicism spread throughout Latin America as the conquistadores conquered more and more land. As a result, most natives and the countries that would arise in the next few centuries were influenced by the Catholic faith.

The second reason is that due to the overwhelming influence of the Catholic church, Protestant groups rarely had any success in Latin America. After the many revolts and rebellions which liberated the countries from Spain and Portugal, Protestant groups started coming back in. However, due to their rejection of Catholic dogmas, as well as strict rules regarding smoking and drinking, these groups were seen as outsiders by Latin Americans in many places. It wouldn’t be until after the Azusa Street Revival that many Latino/as who had been there would return to their home countries with Pentecostalism as their cry. Pentecostal missionaries flooded into Latin America and the movement quickly spread, especially among people of the lower class. Since the Pentecostal movement had no tangible ties to the Reformation, many of the missionaries who carried it with them also didn’t bring the history of the Protestant faith with them. All they knew was that God was doing a new thing in their days.

The third problem that I see with why Reformed theology hasn’t taken off in Latin America is that in a sense, a lot of it feels intellectual. That’s not a bad thing. I’m just saying that sometimes it feels that to understand Reformed theology, you have to buy a lot of books and spend time reading these men and listening to sermons. Pentecostalism was a big hit among the poor and marginalized in Latin America. There’s a good chance that a lot of them couldn’t read or needed to work a lot to survive. I know that people will probably argue and say that “Preach from the Bible and you’ll get Reformed theology” but at the same time I cannot emphasize how much time I’ve had to spend on the internet and reading books and talking with people to understand some of the finer details. The Pentecostal movement said “This is what the Spirit is doing. Anyone can receive the gifts and minister to those around them.” What could be more appealing to a simple laborer than the open invitation that they too could be a witness with nothing more than a Bible on hand?

The fourth and final issue I would bring up is an issue that I’ve talked about before with other mediums. There is no Latino/a representation. If you make a list of Reformed preachers that you should read/listen to it will most likely include Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Owens, Whitefield, Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, MacArthur, Sproul, and Piper. All white men. One could also say that Thabiti Anyabwile and Voddie Bauchman have also influenced Reformed thought among African-Americans. But where are the Latino theologians? There is nothing wrong with reading these men, and I say this as someone who has read a good portion of these authors and been built up and edified by them. But in a sense these are men who are also speaking the Gospel truth to their culture and to their times. What would it look like for a Latino theologian to talk about the sovereignty of God to a Latino/a audience whose history involves oppression and whose present includes a desire by a nation to keep them out? Calvin talks about submitting to the authorities that God has put in place but what does that look like to an immigrant who is fleeing a war torn country? Why should I care about church politics that happened half a century ago on a different continent? As much as I disagree with the Catholic church on different issues, one could admire the way that they try to mix their dogmas with the culture they come across. For many Mexicans, La Virgen de Guadalupe is a cultural/national treasure. It represents the Virgin showing up to Juan Diego and speaking in his native language. La Virgen is practically synonymous with the Mexican identity. She didn’t show up speaking English or Latin. She showed up speaking Nahuatl. And yet, when you come to Reformed Theology it comes to you in a European language. It comes to you as a set of principles of worship that were decided a long time ago in a different cultural context. The challenge to Reformed theology is how can it adapt to different cultural contexts. The stoic song singing of traditional Protestant churches won’t hold much sway among a culture where emotions are worn on your sleeves. You can pretty much always tell how a Latino/a feels by how they look when you walk up to them. We push deep into our emotions. Times of rejoicing call for songs of loudest praise while times of lament call for deep and introspective songs. On top of that you have the desire to integrate our cultural background into Christianity. What does it look like to adapt hymns to a more rhythmic style such as bachata, cumbia, or merengue? Can you imagine singing A Mighty Fortress while being led by a mariachi band?

This isn’t meant to be a discouragement. I think Reformed theology and Latin America can definitely get along. Total depravity? Just look at about any Latin-American government and people will know what you’re talking about. God’s sovereignty over every aspect of creation? Latino/as are the first to abrogate any phrase with “Si Dios permite” (If God allows it). We are notorious for holding on to a view that things happen cause God allowed it. Irresistible grace? Go up to any praying mother who is constantly interceding for her wayward children to come back to God.

At it’s core I think Reformed theology would do a lot of good to many Latino/as. It would give them the sense of historic continuation that the Catholic church can give to its members. It would help build them up in spreading the Word to those around them. But at the same time, it needs to start spreading outside of a European-centric identity. It’s time for a generation of Latino/a theologians to arise and challenge the preconceived notions of Reformed theology while still holding on to its central tenets.

Soli deo gloria.

#solideogloria #reformation #latinamerica #latinos #latinas #reformedtheology #reformation500

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