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twistedtranslations · 4 years

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Rook Hunt - The real culprit is... you!

You can unlock this story by getting Rook’s SSR Dorm uniform

Translation under the cut

Rook calls Epel “himeringo”, the Japanese word for plumleaf crabapple. I shortened it.

As we know already, Epel sometimes slips in his country accent, hence the weird wording.

Chapter 1

Courtyard

Vil: …8…9…10! Next up is the camel pose. Push your chest out and lean your upper body backward. Hold your ankles with your hands and keep that pose.

Everyone: Yes!

Epel: Ugh… Rook…

Rook: What is it, monsieur Crabapple?

Epel: I came to help with the shooting of the next work of the cinema studies club, but… Argh! Why are we doing yoga… Ugh?

Rook: Epel, you know, it's because we wanted you to take part in relaxing activities. If people relaxed, they will become more flexible mentally, and more active in discussions and communication. Yoga is the best exercise to improve your blood flow, metabolism and it soothes your mind. Moreso, your posture and physique will become much more beautiful! That's why Vil does yoga before his cinema studies activities.

Epel: I, I see… Is there…. An easier method?

Rook: By the way, Epel. You should bend your back more if you want to call it a camel pose. Okay, I will help you out and pull your arms back!

Epel: Eh, no, I'm fine- OUCH!!!!

Rook: Hahaha, monsieur Crabapple, you're body is quite stiff.

Savanaclaw Student A: Hey, look, it's the guys from the cinema studies. What a weird-looking pose is that! Man, I'd be way too embarrassed to wriggle like that in front of everyone.

Cinema studies Student A: Why are you guys butting in suddenly? This is just yoga…

Cinema studies Student B: Leave it be. Those muscle brains from Savanaclaw wouldn't understand our graceful bodybuilding.

Savanaclaw Student B: Huh? Are you picking a fight!

Rook: Oh please, there's no need to get angry! Why don't you join us? We can polish our beauty and deepen our friendship with yoga!

Savanaclaw Student A: Who'd do that! Beauty won't fill your belly. C'mon, let's go.

Epel: … friggin' irritatin'. Rook, I don't know how or why you could invite those guys…

Rook: I thought they might understand the benefits of yoga if they did it. How regrettable. Oh, me of all people! While I was talking, I forgot to help you out. My bad, let's continue.

Epel; Um, no, I don't need it… OUCH!!!!

Vil: Epel?

Epel: Ah… Vil.

Vil: I thought I heard a crushed frog's ugly cry, but that was my imagination, wasn't it?

Epel: Ugh… I'm sorry, I'll pay attention to it.

Vil: Rook, I think there will be no problems if you are by his side but… If anything happens, I hope you will "properly" discipline him. Not only does he lack in manners and aesthetics, but many other facets as well.

Epel: Is… that so?

Vil: Didn't you get frustrated when the Savanaclaw students reprimanded you? Do not involve Pomefiore in trivial arguments. Understood?

Epel: Understood…

Vil: Rook. If Epel quarrels with other dorm students during the shooting period… I will expel you two from the cinema studies- no, the dorm.

Epel: … I'm only here because you asked me to help.

Vil: Did you say anything?

Epel: Nuthin’- I mean, I said nothing.

Vil: In any case. Please refrain from idiotic behavior that could tarnish Pomefiore's name.

Rook: Oui, Roi du Poison. Leave it to me!

Cinema studies Student A: Those three seem to get along well as usual…

Cinema studies Student C: Epel and Rook are amazing. Leaving out the fact that they're from the same dorm, they can talk to Vil so casually. Perhaps I'm still too nervous because I saw him on the TV and in magazines before I entered the college?

Cinema studies Student A: Right. They're amazing for being able to to talk with him without constraints.

Interior Hallway

The next day

Epel: Ah, Rook.

Rook: Hello, Epel. You're here early.

Epel: Yes. My class finished early…

Students: Congratulations!

Rook: You guys too… We are the most enthusiastic people in the club today.

Classroom

Rook: Vil isn't here today because of work, therefore I will instruct you on the activities…

Cinema Studies B: … Is something wrong?

Rook: La vache (Oh the cow)… how terrible. Look at that.

Epel: Argh! Vil's clothes are torn into pieces!?

Cinema studies Student A: And it's not only his clothes but also the photo sets on the wall…

Everyone: !!

Epel: The heck, what are those weird words written in red…

Rook: "A defective beauty"… It must be a message from the one who tore up the clothes. Fufu, this is quite a case… And a direct declaration of war on us!!

Chapter 2

Classroom

Rook: Fufu, this is quite a case… And a direct declaration of war on us!!

Epel: Is there anyone in the cinema studies club who’d tear up his clothes with ill intent…? Who would do that…

Cinema studies Student A: Hey, those marks on those ripped clothes… Don't they look like they've been made by sharp claws?

Cinema studies Student B: Claws… Then this could be the work of the Savanaclaw students. But why would they…

Cinema studies Student A: … Could it be those guys from yesterday?

Epel: Do you mean the ones who made fun of us..?

Cinema studies Student A: Yeah. The guys from Savanaclaw said it then, right? "Beauty" won't fill your belly.

Cinema studies Student B: So a Savanaclaw student with a grudge from yesterday wrote a message on the wall and tore up Vil's clothes?

Epel: If they didn't like it, they can face us up front. This is cowardly.

Cinema studies Student A: Epel, you are a good person. Even though you aren't part of the cinema club, you still get angry for us.

Epel: I ain't forgivin' them for goin' behind our backs… I mean, we cannot allow them to do this.

Cinema studies Student C: Yeah. We won't stay quiet about these precious clothes being destroyed!

Epel: Yeah! Let's search for those guys from yesterday and have'm complain to our face!

Everyone: Yeah!

Cinema studies Student A: Hey, wait everyone- ... And they went.

Rook: Oho, everyone seems very passionate.

Cinema studies Student A: Rook, are you not following them?

Rook: The sadness of losing such a beautiful thing stunned me for a moment.

Cinema studies Student A: … I see. I'll stop Epel and the others.

Rook: Oh my, to be in such a situation on the day Vil isn't here. Or to be more precise, "because he isn't here". Moreso… "A defective beauty". I should solve this case before Vil returns.

Rook: I should investigate to see if I can find evidence that links to the culprit. Let's start at the place where the fabric was torn. …As I expected. It's not a scratch even though it resembles one. They used 25 cm long scissors with 9 cm long blades to cut it. From the angle of the tears, I can guess that the culprit is right-handed. They held it with their left hand by the torso and used their right hand to cut from the shoulder to the waist with the scissors…

Rook: The culprit is probably around 168-172 cm. That narrows it down a bit! Fufufu… Even though I've experienced the hunt for an animal's traces many times, it still elates me. Oho, I can't let myself get carried away. I have to concentrate on the investigation… … Aha. I see… Fufu, I have deduced the animal. Now it's hunting time!

Courtyard

Savanaclaw Student A: Shut up! We didn't do it. Who gives a shit about your clothes!

Epel: If there's anythin' you wanted to say, tell 's up front instead of harassin'… you're so unmanly, senior.

Savanclaw Student A: What!?

Cinema studies Student B: If we cannot agree and don't progress then… We will have a duel!!!!

Savanaclaw Student B: Hah, come at me. I don't think you culture boys will be much of an opponent though.

Everyone: HAAAAH!!

/Fighting sounds

???: Stop it!

Savanaclaw Student A: Huh…

Cinema studies Student A: All our magic was swept away!?

Epel: Rook!?

Rook: Turn your magical pen in, everyone. It's forbidden to use magic for your personal struggles. Besides, you’re in the wrong by blaming them. They have nothing to do with what happened.

Epel: Huh…

Savanaclaw Student B: Pf! You got us involved in some weird stuff. We did nothin' so we're off.

Cinema studies Student B: … How foolish! If they didn't do it, then please tell us who did such a horrible thing!

Rook: The cause of this tragedy is deep love. The real culprit is… You!

Chapter 3

Rook: The cause of this tragedy is deep love. The real culprit is… You!

Courtyard

Cinema studies Student B/Epel: Huh…

Cinema studies Student C/D: No way…

Cinema studies Student A: …

Cinema studies Student B: He can't be the culprit, Rook! He's the costumer of the cinema studies club!?

Cinema studies Student A: That's right. You saw it, right? That "A Defective beauty", what a disgusting and criminal declaration!!

Rook: Yes, I saw it. That felt out of place. As the Savanclaw students said, they don't only not care , but even negate the very existence of "beauty". Despite that, do you think they would use an eloquent expression like "Defective"? While I was thinking about that, I inspected the garment that seemed to be torn apart by claws carefully.. And followed the clues to you.

Cinema studies Student A: Why… Me?

Rook: The scratches on the garments. They were cut by scissors in the shape of a beast's talons. And by examining the traces of your cut, I could deduce their height and their dominant arm, which happens to concur with yours. And there's more evidence. What I hold in my hand right now is a piece cut from the garments… Look at the lining?

Epel: The lining? What's wrong with it?

Rook: It's loosely sewn. This garment hasn't been used once for a photoshoot, and it's not the only part that doesn't harmonize well on the camera… Vil is the kind of person who strives for perfect quality from the fabric to the sewing and the accessories. He wouldn't have let this shoddy tailoring pass.

Epel: Um, so someone tore up the garments of the cinema studies club. But it was a fake, and not the real one…? I, I'm confused.

Rook: He hesitated at the moment of the crime when he was about to tear Vil's clothes, so he replaced it with a fake. The essential part is that the fake was made intending to fit Vil perfectly. There are only two people besides Vil that know his measurements exactly. The first one is me. And the other one is…

Epel: The costumer… who is in charge of taking his measurements?

Cinema studies Student A: Ugh…

Rook: I suggest you don't make more excuses now. Won't you tell us your reason?

Cinema studies Student A: I-, I did it because… I was jealous! You and Epel get along great with the esteemed Vil!

Epel: Huh! You think we're getting along great? The only thing he does is scold me though…

Cinema studies Student A: That's plenty! I admire Vil, studied what he likes, and devoted myself with all my might to the cinema studies club! Even so, I never got any closer to him since I enrolled! So I tried to make you two fight the other dorms… and have you expelled from the cinema studies club.

Epel: Well ain't you a peach…

Cinema studies Student A: … I'm sorry for causing an inconvenience to everyone in the club. I'll take responsibility and quit the club.

Rook: Quit the club? Non!! That would be outrageous, my dear costumer!

Everyone: Huh!?

Cinema studies Student A: W-Why…

Rook: This case. His love for Vil created and destroyed it. Thus… Love only won't make you able to finish a piece that can be mistaken for the real thing. The way your fingers assembled this with thread and needle, it's actually beautiful. If the cinema studies club were to lose a talent like yours, Vil wouldn't be pleased. Your atonement will be your contributions to the club.

Cinema studies Student B: It's just as Rook says. You are the best out of us at dressmaking, if you weren't here it would stump us. Come on, let's go back to the clubroom. Let's repair this garment before Vil comes back from his work!

Cinema studies Student A: ! Y-Yes!!

Rook: Okay! That settles one case.

Epel: Rook! That was splendid. You are so observant, to tell it's a counterfeit just by the seams.

Rook: Ah. That was a lie! No one hand-sews anything these times. They all use a sewing machine. You can't see that with the naked eye, right? It was a trick.

Epel: Huh… Huuuh!? Then how did you know it was a fake?

Rook: Fufufu, the truth is much simpler. Smell. The counterfeit clothes didn't have a single atom of the characteristic and unique mellow fragrance that Vil has, so I knew immediately.

Epel: What!? That investigation method is kinda… gross, you know?

Rook: Listen, Epel. I regard the information you can get by smelling highly, as it's useful for hunting. You can know the places one visited or in this case, the person's characteristics, by the traces of their smell. For example… sniff sniff. What you had for lunch today-

Epel: Argh!? S-Stop this!

Rook: Hahaha! Just kidding. My nose isn't that good either.

Epel: I thought you were amazing like a detective, but… maybe you're really just a weirdo.

#twisted wonderland #epel felmier #rook hunt #vil schoenheit #translation #personal story

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jaskiersbrokenlute · 3 years

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Lute’s 200 follower prompt list

(All based on song lyrics by Keaton Henson, amalgamated by yours truly)

Angst

1. Sweetheart, what have you done to us? 2. I’m sorry I broke it, never forgive me. 3. Tire of me if you will my dear, but I will not tire of you. 4. She broke my head, it’s been four years and this does not end. 5. If you must die, die knowing your life was my life’s best part. 6. I’m just as damn disappointed as you only I just do better to hide it. 7. I’m truly alone and I like it. 8. How can you sleep knowing, that you’d be much better off there with him. 9. This has been the best of me, I hope you end up missing me. 10. They’ll die or leave you either way. 11. ‘Did you love me like the way you wrote?’ ‘I’m afraid so.’ 12. How could I have known you were the air I breathe if I don’t believe in love? 13. What is good lust but love without trust? 14. I’m amazed that you ever loved me.

15. She left him and he left everything. 16. Teach me how to love you like I wrote and say it like I mean it when I don’t 17. I’m a tough luck friend and I reckon she’ll stay with me ‘til the end. It means more than I pretend. 18. Is it love you regret? 19. Darling, your eyes are so still when you speak. Do they weep? 20. Please don’t cry or say goodbye. 21. Now that you’re all I have, is it fair to love me too? 22. Do you wake up lonely everyday? 23. Let’s just have this fight today, say I’m worthless and I feel betrayed. 24. Don’t leave I’ve got more to say. 25. You know one day there’ll be hell to pay. 26. Please don’t be home late. 27. I’ll be right here if you need a failure, my love. 28. And I’ll be the place you hate. 29. How can you fail me now that I’m here on the ground? 30. Tell me I’m worthy of something. Love at least. 31. I still don’t cry, I’ve been meaning to. 32. I’m hoping I don’t die after you. 33. I still need to be loved. 34. You’re enough. 35. I’m frightened to death you’ll forget. Don’t forget me. 36. She seems disappointed, when I say that I’m not happy yet. 37. When I say do you love me, say you don’t know. 38. Just don’t leave me, baby stay here. 39. I just can’t bear to be apart. 40. Be near me lover, and be another that I can’t please, 41. I’ve been so lonely. 42. How could you allow me to love you? How cruel a thing. 43. If you’d only come back now, I’d not let you down again. 44. I guess I could have been, a better man. 45. I seek comfort in being alone. 46. Does he know, not to talk about your dad? 47. Do you notice when you’re sad? 48. I don’t feel well, can’t you tell? 49. Please forget me, you were right dear. 50. Though I’ll miss you lover, I am weak and therefore fold. 51. This is love, this is hell, this sweet plague that follows me. 52. I feel love, I feel alone. 53. I just wish you would come home. 54. There’s no one else. I loved you more than I love myself. 55. I see pictures now of you two and it makes me sick. 56. Teach me how to hold you in my arms, without squeezing too damn tight and causing harm. 57. Give me lessons in your ways, but don’t expect me to change. 58. I never loved you enough. 59. Please do not hurt me love, I am a fragile one. 60. As we lie in bed I feel lonely. 61. I some ways I feel I do love you, babe I’m not in love with you. 62. I found her but now she is gone. 63. I was better where, I was miserable why didn’t you leave me there? 64. I love you, please don’t go. 65. Is this all that you can give me back? 66. If you’ve no more to say than that, oh well I’ll be leaving and I won’t come back. 67. You think you’re better than them, but they don’t have to pretend. 68. Believe me, this loneliness won’t go away. 69. I’m just getting started let me offend. 70. All I want is to be left alone. 71. Can you see, they feed you lies thus keeping you weak. 72. Leave me, my heart is dead for all to see. 73. Please just come here, don’t fight with me. 74. Don’t call me lover, it’s not enough. 75. After all you’ve put me through, this one’s for you. 76. I’m in bad love. Don’t feel sad love. 77. I love you, but I worry about letting you leave. 78. It leaves me pretty good at pretending I’m fine. 79. I’m saving you up, all for the day you leave. 80. I know it’s ending. 81. Speak up, I’m losing you. 82. Hate me to death if you must. 83. Am I waiting to lose you? 84. I’m just so fucking sorry that you’re afraid. 85. I’ve tried so long not to cry that I don’t know if I can when you die, But I’m sure as damn hell gonna try. 86. I’m afraid to let myself be frightened. 87. I’ll play until my fingers bleed just to get you out of me. 88. I’m afraid. 89. One day you’ll thank the lord I didn’t stay. 90. Bury it all down underneath, it’s unhealthy but it sure keeps all the pain out. 91. I’m so damn scared of dying without you. 92. I see the dark things you all try to hide. 93. I won’t give up, not until I’m holding you. 94. Don’t let go of my hand. 95. Your love’s leaving me loveless. 96. I won’t leave here until I’m back with you. 97. Please don’t let me sleep. 98. We can’t pretend that I’m just like him. 99. Lead me on, I just something to stop me from jumping the gun. 100. I’m not coming back without you. 101. I’d write you a song if you’d just break my heart. 102. I’m a sick kind of lover and I’m cruel to myself. 103. I’m a writer who’s nothing if he’s not in hell. 104. Mistreat me and put me through hell. 105. If I die before I reach you, please know I meant to love you until I did. 106. Tell my friends goodbye. 107. I loved her, and left her too soon. 108. I’m scared that you’ll know what to do if I die before you. 109. I didn’t dare earn their respect. 110. If I’m to die before I hold you, know my arms were the worse off for it. 111. I’m tired of feeling alone. 112. Please tell me how to let go. 113. Your book will end just fine, but I’m a different story. 114. When I get tired and eventually leave, I’ll get back on the road and leave you in peace. 115. I’m just hoping I wont miss you today. 116. It hurts more with every breath. 117. I’m all used, so there’ll be nothing left for you. 118. I am alone and I need you to be kind. 119. Do you have time to tell me pretty lies? 120. Maybe I didn’t treat you quite as good as I could have. 121.I didn’t love you as often as I could. 122. There are things I should have said and done, I just never took the time. 123. I made you feel second best. 124. I’m so sorry, I was blind. 125. Please don’t walk away.

Fluff

126. You love is the thing that I need to remind me I’m living. 127. I know that it’s hard for you to tell me the truth, but while we are doing so (name) I love you. 128. Miss you terribly already. 129. I still worry more about you. 130. You are infinitely interesting to me. 131. It was so unexpected, my heart’s unprotected. 132. I’m so thankful for the way you look at me. 133. You don’t like to be touched, let alone kissed. Does he know where your lips begin. 134. I wish I had the guts to say, you look the best today. 135. I’ll love you, if I don’t have to. 136. Why did she finally leave? Cause all you think of is me. 137. Despite the bad moods she never goes away. 138. I know every mark on your hand. 139. Come on baby, make me fall in love with you. 140. Would it be so bad? 141. I woke to find your tired arms around me. 142. I’ve still got songs in me yet. 143. Love, take it easy on me. I’m older now and I long to be twenty-three. 144. I’ll allow, my heart to get over you now. 145. I’ll be fine, and you’ll be alright. 146. You know me, I worry. 147. Can I get lost in you? 148. I haven’t many words to say, I thought about you everyday. 149. I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine. 150. I’ll be your brother, I’ll be your lover. What do you need? 151. You’re the one that I love the most. 152. Love, I feel you know me better than most. 153. In spite of real distance we’ll always be close. 154. Something my soul needs, is you lying next to me. 155. Damn, I love you. 156. I’d kill just to watch as you’re sleeping. 157. Damn it, I’m calling you mine. 158. Work to leave some part of you on this earth. 159. Just live. 160. You’re kind and you’re beautiful too. 161. You seem to look through me, I wonder what you see. 162. I figure you love to read, don’t look for the fault, like me. 163. I wish I could wake at dawn, to see you without makeup on. 164. I feel I know your smile, like I saw it when I was a child. 165. I’d give you all I have. 166. I got addicted to us. 167. I wanna love you while I can. 168. I want to live with you until I die. 169. We’ll miss you to death when you go. 170. It seems like yesterday, you took my breath away. 171. Must you be leaving so soon? 172. I know you’re sad, sweetheart, but it will pass. 173. She was dear to you, so you cannot be blamed for feeling low. 174. If I could fix it then I would. 175. Come here, give me time to let you in. 176. I’m hoping you fall into me. 177. Here’s to us. 178. I would walk all the miles if you’d play your part. 179. Just love me and hold me, and then let me be. 180. I would love you forever. 181. Would you love me and leave me with something to write? 182. I would love you with all of my heart if I could. 183. I hope to be holding you soon. 184. I feel like I’m just what you need. 185. I don’t let anyone in, but I can’t help but let this begin. 186. You seem happy. I can tell. 187. Love, I know you’ll be alright. 188. I know I’m a mess and I love most people less. 189. They don’t love you like I love you. 190. Hold me tight in your arms. 191. Give me glimmers of hope. 192. Let me lay in your bed, talk of things you don’t know. 193. Just don’t fall for me. 194. I’m born everyday just to love you. 195. I was as far as I could be when I fell. 196. I’m looking for a lover who doesn’t need truth. 197. I need you. 198. Like the thickest moss, you grew on me. 199. It’s the worst parts of you I admire. 200. I have fought battles with nothing but words. 201. Tell me you’ll be mine. 203. How hard I’ve tried, love. 204. You were always on my mind. 205. I’m so happy that you’re mine. 206. Tell me that your sweet love hasn’t died. 207. Give me one more chance to keep you. 208. Visit me everyday.

Hurt/Comfort

209. I think I love you, please don’t be afraid of me. 210. I won’t sing ‘til you know me 211. Here’s to you you miserable fuck. 212. I’ve been thinking of leaving, 213. I’m gonna fuck all my plans. 214. I’m hoping I don’t die after you. 215. It is love, but I fear it won’t do. 216. Tell me what you want from me. 217. Was it really that worth writing about? 218. It’s a goddamn shame that you’re not here with me. 219. It won’t be long ‘til you know my songs, then you’ll know and you’ll come back. 220. How am I expected to behave, when I’m alone with myself everyday. 221. There’s a whole lot of nothing to me. 222. Please don’t wait up for me. 223. I’m afraid that’s lost on me. 224. I’ll write until there’s nothing left of me. 225. I’ll cry for help when I need it, thanks. 226. Are you still listening? 227. It may not just be tomorrow, it may be the rest of your life. 228. I’m deep undercover, i don’t look like me. 229. I win when you lose. 230. Darling, you’ve been my greatest defeat. 231. We cling with desperate fingers onto life. 232. I was starting on hoping you’d stay. 233. I don’t want to be the best. 234. I’m going to live if it kills me. 235. The world is unfair and it will not change. 236. I won't be the damndest bit fucking surprised. 237. The distance won’t comfort me for long. 238. Please don’t look at me. 239. How is the sex, love? I hope it’s the best part of him. 240. I struggle with stages and can’t take bad reviews. 241. I didn’t hold you all those long and lonely times. 242. I guess I never told you.

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suzukiblu · 3 years

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Fic Writer Meme

Tagged by my dear @dancinbutterfly, and like, obviously I will take any excuse to talk about writing.

1) how many works do you have on ao3?

168, although a few of those are podfics that the podficcer credited me as a co-author on. Actually less than I would’ve expected, tbh.

2) what is your total ao3 word count?

1,431,989. Honestly also kinda less than I would’ve expected at this point. I will blame all those old fics I never brought over from LJ and ff.net for this expectation.

3) how many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

I literally cannot tell you, the ancient ways have been lost to me. I can give you my Ao3 fandoms, though!

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Overwatch

The Witcher (Netflix)

Young Justice (Cartoon)

Animorphs

Star Wars

Good Omens

Venom

Fantastic Four

Leverage

League of Legends

Daredevil

Supernatural

Care Bears

World of Warcraft

Spider-Man

X-Men

Slender Man Mythos

Additionally, long ago: Naruto, Gundam Wing, Digimon, Ranma ½, Bleach, Inu-Yasha, and many scattered other fandoms of my youth. So, so many others. So I’ve written for 25+ fandoms, at least.

4) what are your top 5 fics by Kudos.

a mark, a mission, a brand, a scar (13004)

I once started out to walk around the world but ended up in Brooklyn (8450)

it’s a long way forward (so trust in me) (6965)

oh don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me (6818)

if the bad times are coming let ‘em come (5362)

5) do you respond to comments?

Not really these days, though I hoard and treasure them like a freaking DRAGON. I used to respond to all of them but sometimes I’m just not around and then it becomes awkwardly late to reply and also they kinda . . . pile up a bit. I do try to answer all the comments with questions in them, at least, as long as the questions aren’t literally spoilers or anything like that.

6) what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t usually write super-angsty endings, I think? I don’t FEEL like I usually write super-angsty endings, anyway, at least not these days. I think I did it more often when I was more into, like, drabbles and shortfic. Now I just spend way too long on stuff to give it a downer ending.

The most recent angsty ending I can think of is wanna hold him, maybe I’ll just sing about it, though eventually I did write a sequel to that to soften the blow a bit. And also torment people a bit. Both, technically. Technically both.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

blondes really do have more fun, definitely. It’s very . . . giddy, I guess? What with the gender euphoria and all. There’s angst and heavy emotions in the actual plot but the highs of the happy parts/ending are probably the highest/happiest ones I’ve written, and Supergirl gets everything she wants without having to compromise or give up anything else.

8) do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

I write fusion fic more than crossovers, really, but I have written a LOT of fusion fic. Some of it has been weirder than others, tbh, but probably the Avatar: The Last Airbender/Animorphs fusion that I have been lovingly slaving over deserves to be this answer if only for how much extremely sincere effort I have put into it over the years.

9) have you ever received hate on a fic?

Mild hate, but occasionally. I don’t really tend to remember negative comments, tbh, though it does sometimes make me not want to reread the comment section I know they’re in. But a lot of the hate I’ve gotten in the end just seemed like socially-awkward people being unnecessarily blunt instead of just hitting the back button, so I try not to take it personally. Can’t please everyone. Don’t WANT to please everyone, frankly.

10) Do you write smut? What kind?

Yes, and the kind is “a lot”. Sometimes I don’t really feel like it but definitely I have done a lot of it. I try for Feelings and also to be safe, sane, and consensual as much as I can.

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

I . . . am not sure? Though probably, after being at this for all this time. Someone once told me that someone picked up a fic I’d (at the time) abandoned and just started writing/posting more of it without asking or telling me about it, but I never actually found said fic and I don’t know if that technically counts as “stealing” anyway.

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

A few times, yup, it’s pretty gratifying! I also like to run them back through Google Translate and see what they say, haha.

13) have you ever co-written a fic before?

yoooo @dancinbutterfly, @rainnecassidy! Also done it with a few other people long, LONG ago, but that was back in the LJ era. Don’t think I’ve technically collabed with anyone else lately, although sometimes people will give me ideas for stuff I’m writing or offer suggestions when I’m stuck on a thing, which is very helpful.

14) what’s your favourite ship?

Like . . . per fandom? ‘Cuz we could be here a while. Most recently it’s Jaskier/Geralt, for a while it was Aziraphale/Crowley, DEFINITELY for a while it was Steve/Bucky . . .

You know, I guess technically my all-time favorite ship is actually Naruto/Sasuke, because I made a LOT of friends in Naruto fandom and it actually hugely influenced the end of my teenage years and beginning of my adult life and so, SO much of my writing. So like, if nothing else it wins on influentialness.

15) what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Let ‘Em Come. @rainnecassidy and I wrote that AU a long-ass time ago now and I never did my half of the sequel fic because I got too distracted with another longfic I was working on at the time and then took a real long fandom break. I always felt kind of bad about it because people seemed to bother her for said sequel more than they bothered ME for it, since her fic was the last posted part. Unfortunately I just don’t have the spoons or the MCU-focus for the research and effort it’d take anymore. Also, like . . . it’d probably be pretty long, so unless I was REAL obsessive about it it’d take a good long while.

Basically I think its time has just passed at this point, alas.

16) what are your writing strengths?

Sex, action, snark, and weird fusion fics. Also making people love things they usually hate, that’s one I get told a lot.

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

Fitting physical descriptions of . . . literally ANYTHING into the story. Just, anything. Physical descriptions are hard.

18) what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I try not to do it, personally, because I know soooooo very little about other languages. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle in a little bit of it, but usually I feel like it’s better to avoid it, personally.

19) what was the first fandom you wrote for?

I literally could not even tell you. The first fandom I REMEMBER writing proper “fic” for was . . . Ranma ½, I think. I thiiiiink. But that was a long-ass time ago and I never even posted it anywhere because those were the days when I despised typing things up beyond all measure, hah. And before that I remember writing Animorphs . . . comics? Storyboards? Something like that. Kind of a cross between the two.

20) what’s your favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I do not know! There’s really just too many, tbh. Some top options are you found me when no one else was looking, best friends means you get what you deserve, clay kids, Avamorphs, handmaiden!Anakin, oh don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me, and . . . and I could go on for a dang MINUTE, honestly, haha, I’m just gonna stop myself here before I get too carried away.

I tag whoever happens to be reading this that wants to be tagged; have fun with it!

#meme #a/b/o #some not sfw links in here #fair warning #long post

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draggingthedregs · 4 years

Text

as i said earlier, it is an ungodly length but i hope you can enjoy my late night, book-drunk opinions anyway!

***

guess who just finished “ruin and rising”?

i’m seriously not okay. someone send help. i got lots of thoughts, none of which you are obligated to read but this seems like the best place to share.

oh and spoilers, duh.

for starters. woah.

i can’t say it was what i expected but i had known that what my heart really wanted was kinda far out of reach. the ending felt real and feasible, complete with love and loss.

in terms of “ruin and rising” alone, i think it was possibly the strongest of the three books. the pacing was good, nothing felt like it dragged on too long or went too fast for its own good. i think that was really important as well, considering the fact that there was always something going on. literally,, always. no one ever got a damn break.

mal’s “death” hurt me more then i had expected. which honestly leads back to one of my main gripes with this story. the love square (which i elaborate on later in this post, just hold on a bit). i’m not going to lie. i hated mal. through the middle of “siege and storm” up to page 168 of “ruin and rising” (and even then it was a long road from hate to crying over him). he was an ass, i think we can all admit that. for awhile there, i even jumped on the “fuck mal” train and had no plans to stop at any station anytime soon. for the longest time, the relationship with alina felt so fragile and forced, like the only reason it existed was because leigh had written it into existence. though, as i read on, i saw why it was so strained and saw the eventual resolution, which i will admit i was happy with. mal and alina, however annoying and troupe filled their personalities were, did develop as characters. and their relationship made some semblance of sense in the grand scheme of things. does that mean i forgive the “on-again-off-again”, “cold-shoulder”, “we-cant-be-together-in-this-lifetime” bullshit? no. does that mean i suddenly love mal? also, no. does that mean i ship them? ugh slightly. does that mean in a magical dream world where i got to chose what happened, they’d still end up together? impossible to say. BUT i can say, that they deserved each other. and i am happy that they got their peace together like they both always wanted (no matter how out of place it felt at any point), especially considering the fact that she literally had to kill him.

my dear dear darkling... i knew what fate awaited you and yet, when the time came... it hurt just the same.

okay,, that was a bit dramatic. but come on. leigh wrote a damn good villain with aleksander morozova. i meAN, thE lAYERS. he was a horrible person and yet, so many of us still love him. he killed for fun, manipulated no matter the cost, preyed upon the weak because he could, literally blinded his own mother and still! i can’t help but love him. there was so much human woven into his darkness. the moments of simple longing, of exhaustion, of loneliness. in all honesty, if there had been a way to humanize him, to erase or explain away his atrocities and have him just be aleksander again, i feel like i would do it. but, in the context of the story i do understand why it wasn’t possible. redemption for the darkling was off the table, no matter how much humanity still remained. but that’s what makes him such a good character. you want him to be different because you can see the good and all the potential for things to change, for them to rule ravka side by side, but at the same time, he’s the same man who is still actively creating more shadow demon creatures to eat whoever he wishes. you can’t resist him and that’s why he’s so wonderful, yet horrifying at the exact same time. (though don’t worry i am still a trash can and the darklina ship is still superior in the love square. again, i promise i will get there).

i feel like i have to talk about how much i loved the “secondary characters” (i struggle to call them that because they actually run this shit). i will say, at first, i hated zoya. i am not a big fan of the “mean girl” troupe or the “i’m-prettier-than-you-and-i-know-it” thing but... she really grew on me. i looked forward to zoyas comments and constant bitchiness, as did the characters in the books. and when she left the note and the blue kefta with alina in the epilogue,, oh god my heart. and the ragtag crew of grisha making up the remainder of the second army were amazing. their banter and dialogue were some of my favorite scenes to read in “ruin and rising” and i want books just filled with them and only them. david and genya deserve the damn world, adrik was so great, nadia and tamar are so precious, and i will miss harshaw’s weird ass more then you’ll ever know. don’t even get me started on misha and oncat. they are the true stars of this series, you cannot convince me otherwise. god i love them all so much, what a brilliant cast of characters. except the apparat. fuck the stupid ass apparat.

i know what you’re thinking. “you forgot nikolai.” no. i promise you, i most certainly did not. i just love him so much he gets his own chunk.

i mean, how could he not? he’s one of those rare, genuinely perfect characters that are impossible to not love. and i don’t mean perfect because he has no flaws or he’s written unnaturally, i mean perfect because of all of his flaws. he is arrogant and calculating, brash and unapologetic in his ways, but he’s also kind and caring, witty and charming and way too clever for his own good. i rooted for him more then i have ever rooted for someone in my entire life. he made everything ten times better. you can always count on his ass to pop up in a flying ship with a shiny pair of boots, a witty remark, a new plan, and too many ideas.

now, the important business... the ominous love square.

i think the words i used were “one of my main gripes with the story” which is true, but i think leads to a bigger issue with some of the characterization in the story. the “love square” was a term i thought of in relation to the many overlapping and confusing ships that center around alina (obviously being mal, the darkling, and nikolai). all of the ships were so entertwined and written over top of one another that there was no other way for me to describe it and the square seemed like a nice enough analogy. it just felt like way too much on everybody’s plates.

i love nikolai and alinas friendship. i mean, LOVED it. because i loved it so much, i found the little nods to a ship odd and unnecessary. their story line was very focused on the fact that ravka would need a king and queen, hence the scene where he gives her the emerald and all but proposes right then and there. however, that scene would have made scene and carried the same weight had there not been the splashes of romance both before and after. now, i understand why people ship them. and honestly, if under different circumstances, i probably could’ve and would’ve shipped them myself. they would have had one of the best marriages in a society where you didn’t get to marry for love. but it just made everything more complicated. people would’ve speculated on a ship had there been no kisses or pining, soley based on the possibility of a marriage and because of their close friendship so, why was the canon addition of it necessary? i just couldn’t get behind it when i loved their platonic relationship so much and when there were two stronger and more developed ships, waging war in the background.

now, my final bone to be picked... let’s be real for a second, alina in “shadow and bone” sucked. she was annoying and had no personality beyond being a sad, lonely, orphan in the darklings sparkly new grisha world. though i will say, in the later two books, i grew to like her. her character development did its job and i actually think she grew to be a pretty good protagonist. she did her best with the cards she was dealt and i think she did really well. however, her inability to pick a boy constantly bothered me. after being in love with her best friend for literal years, she is really ready to be be the first lady of the second army. and yes. sure you could justify it. she wasn’t getting letters in return, she’d been away for months, she was adapting to her new life, the darkling made her feel seen and wanted which is all a very new feeling to her. but then she goes right back to mal after he makes a confession that he didn’t realize he loved or needed her until she was gone for months (this was one of my biggest problems with mal. my problem only grew when he spent the entirety of “siege and storm” being a dick. but like i said,, we have reconcilied. we are fine now). there were times throughout the series where i genuinely didn’t understand why they were together, why i liked them together, or why i even wanted them to end the series together. alina even asks mal at the end of “ruin and rising” if there entire relationship was based solely on the fact that mal was the last amplifier and the fact that she even had to ask really says something. was their entire romance because of the amplifier? was it because of the “we-are-just-meant-to-be-together” thing? or was there actual chemistry? i really couldn’t tell sometimes. and the darklina ship was even more twisty and winding. he went from telling her deep dark secrets because he wanted to hear the girl he loved say his name to literally threatening everyone she loves because he wants her weak and all to himself. like,, whAt? (again,, layers) and don’t even get me started on the darkling and alina apparition interactions. those were a wild fucking ride. i felt like i was getting manipulated along with the both of them in those. but maybe that was the point of the darkling and alinas relationship. it was supposed to be so horrible yet so electric that you couldn’t pull away. but i doubt the same was meant to be said for mal and alina.

now i feel like i may be coming off in the wrong way. i loved more about this series then i didn’t. but me gushing about every fine detail and conversation that made my heart melt wouldn’t make for the most interesting read, if it was even coherent. all in all, i think it’s safe to say the grisha trilogy is great. does that mean it doesn’t have flaws? of course not. does that mean the flaws outweigh the good and the actual point of the story? absolutely not. my small complaints about a few things really do not take always from the fact that i love this series. i would love anything written by leigh bardugo, especially in the grishaverse.

if you’ve made it this far, that’s commitment. thank you brave soldier. don’t take anything i’ve said with anything more than a grain of salt. seriously. if this is your favorite series, don’t let my lil complaints ruin your day. because really, the good outweighs the bad here tenfold. i’m just a girl with a lot of opinions and a platform to share them at four am... it’s a dangerous game.

but, goodbye grisha trilogy. you have served me well and i will return to reread you soon. but for now i will do a lot of writing (i already have so many fic ideas brewing) and read all the fan fiction and tumblr posts i’ve been avoiding for fear of spoilers.

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fencesandfrogs · 3 years

Text

an abridged history/explanation of warrior cats if you didn’t read them as a kid and have questions (a primer)

welcome. i’m going to keep things to the point, this is not a plot summary, just, well, its a pandemic and people are seeking items of childhood comfort and its come to my attention that a lot of people didn’t read these books as kids and then they come up in conversation and they act shocked so! i felt compelled to write this.

[2.5k words, 10min read. section headers, no pictures. not a ton of helpful formatting. i don’t want to say don’t read this because obviously i wrote it and think it’s worth reading, but i’ll be honest, this is a lot.]

section one: about me

i was an avid reader as a child, most of which fits solidly into “stories for another time,” and some of which would necessitate me adding tags onto this post that are, well, not necessary. so i will skip over that backstory but for those aware of lexile scores, i had one that was too high for literally any book that was appropriate to give me. so reading in school was torture and reading for fun was excellent.

now because i was a first-ish grader and my mom was trying to keep the fifth harry potter out of my hands, she looked desperately for something else to pass to me. her friend, who had a daughter a year or two older than me, was into these cat books, and my mom was like “here honey you like cats” without thinking too much about it.

which is good, because as i’ll get into, it was a really good fit for me. but like a dozen books later she asked me about the plot and well. i think at that moment she realized that it might have been better to just let me read harry potter.

but yeah i continued to read them long past the recommended reading ages and still as a Young Adult will return to them for nostalgia, and also as i will get into, some really good books. (see a list of books for “morbidly curious but i don’t want to spend 56 to 168 hours reading this”)

i’m not fully caught up on the series but this is not a plot summary so that should not impact my ability to discuss this

section two: content warnings

these books (not this post) includes the following:

discussion of castration (1.1 series 1, book 1, i’m not including this on every item/discussion because this is a complicated series but i want to demo how up front some of this is)

teenage romance/sex/pregnancy (1.1ish-1.3 or 4, continues throughout the series quite a lot, comes up again in 3.4/5, 4.4-5, and a bit in 5)

death from childbirth (1.can’t remember which book, many others)

unwanted pregnancy (se super edition, or a longer one off novel, discussed in 4&5)

sex/implied, discussed, and very very very heavily hinted but never directly said/shown (1.1-3ish, se, other)

murder (constantly, 1.1, 1.4, literally every book, 3.5, i’m just listing the ones i remember off the top of my head that were particularly graphic)

disability/illness, esp. the debilitating and/or deadly nature of it (1.3-5ish, 3.1, but all of 3, 3.4ish)

dementia (1.3-5, i’ve heard in some of the later series?)

abuse (7/8 this is reported i haven’t read these books but based on what i know it’s def there)

child abandonment (1.4-5, 3.4/5, it’s also all over the place but i think those are the only major character incidents of it)

treason (1.3-5, all over the place)

the horror/tragedy of war (background, but pretty constant)

disagreeing with an integral religion/tradition (3, based on the series title, 8, and generally scattered)

the corrupting influence of power (1.4/5, possibly 7/8, others)

racism (1, 3-5, possibly others)

sexism (se, background)

patriarchal societies (se, seems to be somewhat softened based on what i’ve heard but i’m not entirely sure about this)

and more! but it starts to get stranger and this is enough to prove my point

basically everything that could go wrong does

oh yeah! child abuse also child abuse that’s a very major theme in the first series as well as during other points. and elder abuse in the first series.

okay i’ve made my point.

section three: the appeal

look. so. i think we’re kind of pastel-ify children’s literature based on movies. see, parents have to watch children’s movies with their kids, so they can’t be gritty and intense because a lot of parents will say “not for my nine year old! they can’t deal with treason!” and that seems to be bleeding into children’s literature.

but warriors is not that. it’s intense, it borders on “too gruesome for children,” and it’s from a time where kids books got to be serious and heavy and dark because they were about animals. which was great because i couldn’t find books at my reading level that weren’t too thematically difficult, so i got to read something below my reading level, but thematically too hard, so it kind of balanced out.

and then well. so. the series grows with the audience, but the books don’t grow in terms of like difficulty so new readers start deep into it and it’s a complicated thing, the fandom history is complex, but.

the appeal is that parents don’t usually read the books their kids read and so they see a book about cats and assume it’s fluff, and kids who are starved of complex content get to read hamlet-for-kids.

section four: worldbuilding/lore

oh yeah also there’s some really deep lore to explore. so there’s two bits of appeal.

i’m not doing a full world/plot summary, but i’ll explain some common elements here.

thunder/shadow/wind/riverclan: harry potter houses for cats (gryffindor, slytherin, hufflepuff, ravenclaw, except this doesn’t work for the last two but that’s fine because no one cares about them despite riverclan being pretty important in most of the books)

-kit/-paw/-star: naming conventions. everyone has a two part name. (we’ll use cinder as an example because i like the two cinders we know, even tho neither of them get to be cinderstar.) babies are -kit (cinderkit), then when they’re apprentices, which is like being a student, you know, elementary through high school, you’re paw, so cinderpaw. then you get an Official Name from ur clan leader (cinderheart). if you become clan leader, you get to be -star (cinderstar). i know i haven’t explained clan leaders bear with me. this is kind of important because i have the names burned into my memory so i cannot simply always call firestar firestar if he was firepaw at the time of the events i’m describing. it won’t be ambiguous, cinderheart/cinderpelt are a special case. if this is tricky for you it’s fine just only read the first part of the name.

clan (leader, deputy, medicine cat, elder): roles with in the clan. leaders literally have nine lives. deputies are next in line and chosen by the leader. leaders usually go through several deputies, because deputies don’t have nine lives. medicine cats are doctors. they also have an apprentice. those are all one per clan. elders are just retired cats. they’re not a special category per say, but i wanted to mention them.

warrior: adult.

warrior code: laws.

star clan: dead cats. this ties into the religion which is pretty important to the books but for the most part if you understand that dead cats get to give guidance and send their approval, you have the gist of it.

section five: so um, what the fuck

so we start with a cat named rusty who runs into the woods to join thunderclan and then his name is firepaw and we all forget that he’s named rusty except for like that one time it comes up again. bluestar is a great leader with some corrupt deputies but fireheart eventually takes care of it and becomes clan leader which is a big deal.

then a bunch of other shit happens and suddenly ashfur is possessing brackenstar and being (more) abusive to squirrelflight (who is on the outs with brackenstar anyway for lying about their kits jayfeather, hollyleaf, and lionheart because they’re actually the children of firestar’s other daughter leafpool who had them with crowfeather after she fell in love with him but he’s from windclan and she’s a medicine cat so that’s double illegal and apparently hollyleaf is alive even though she yeeted herself into a pit and died because she killed ashfur when he threatened to reveal this but couldn’t live with being the product of an illegal meeting and then it was all pointless because leafpool stopped being a medicine cat out of guilt anyway and jayfeather is just an ornery bitch about everything but especially all of this)

i’m not explaining any of that.

section six: i repeat: so um, what the fuck

so the thing about these books is they’re soap operas and dramas about cats and that means they get just as strange and chaotic as anything else in the genre. i think a lot of people like me, who read them as children, regard the series we knew as a child (usually either the first three or the first five, plus super editions) as something good and warm and comforting (despite being dark and gruesome) because they made us feel good.

they were also a breeding ground for young fandom because of all the the drama that exists and the nature of the books providing that.

section seven: super editions

the simple answer to what a super edition is has already been given (it’s a novel length one-off about a single character, and its usually either a side character - bluestar, crowfeather - or a event/perspective we don’t get to see - firestar, skyclan, greystripe - and they’re generally more mature)

my favorite super edition is bluestar’s prophecy. i read it at like 16, slinking into the children’s library with a stack of other ya fiction and a “children’s book” which dealt with unwanted pregnancy, grief, forbidden love, and more. still not sure why that’s in the children’s section.

section eight: about the drama

so there’s been a lot of fandom drama about these books. i can’t tell you about the nuances, because i am an old fan, so i watched but didn’t partake. the highlights reel that i can recall goes as follows (please note i will refer to characters by name without explanation. it’s fine. the point of this section is to convey the pettiness of this drama):

tigerstar: did he do anything wrong? (the answer is holy shit yes, this isn’t discourse, it’s okay to like a villain)

scourge: did he do anything wrong, also what color is his collar? (also yes, doesn’t matter)

was the new prophecy (2)/omen of the stars (3)/etc good? (yes, eh, no, yes, no comment, no comment)

should jaypaw or hollypaw be medicine cat apprentice (neither of them, but jaypaw’s employment opportunities are limited because he’s blind, so its gotta b him)

uhh a massive tangle around this parentage drama between squirrelflight, leafpool, brackenfur, and crowfeather, which i used as the crux of humor for how batshit the plots can get, so i’m not even going to pretend i can make it funny, but just know that it’s batshit and the correct opinion is as follows: no one is right, but squirrelflight has done the least wrong, brackenfur is an asshole to her where it’s unwarrented, and hollyleaf is an idiot

and the current drama centers around brackenstar and ashfur and is tied directly to the point above, which is why i’ve kind of given up trying to make jokes about this because this is the culmination of like 35 novels.

section nine: i feel like i need to have some conclusive point to justify writing all of this

but i don’t have one, because this was really an excuse to ramble about an old passion for like half an hour. i mean i guess i can say, like, i think younger fans are sort of embroiled in this drama they don’t really have context for, because i’m not kidding, the current drama centers around the grandchildren of our original cast.

it’s kind of hard to know why, say, mistystar matters if you don’t know that she’s the child of bluefur and oakheart and if you don’t remember the drama that surrounded that when bluestar was dying and tigerstar and leopardstar were ruling a combined shadow/riverclan.

(i really hope that’s intelligible i tried to lay the groundwork for it. basically, there’s a biracial kid in a very segregated society who becomes the leader of one of the clans. which is obviously drama, especially considering that that clan was part of a weird supremacy movement a while back.)

& you know? i really hope one of the new series gets to be like, a soft reboot. just. end the current drama and pick up again with the latest generation. a) we’re starting to run out of names, and b) i think that it’s kind of tipped over the edge of sane.

the series also used to be very low fantasy. the cat societies are reasonably close to feral cat colonies (the biggest detail is that toms don’t all have their own territory, but there’s honestly in-universe discussion of this and it’s basically a culture thing), and while star clan/religion is a real and legitimate thing, there’s also a discussion of its abuse and most of the early books don’t really use star clan/related ideas as a physical force so much as a plot device, barring, like, when a new leader gets their nine lives.

honestly, i’ll always adore these books for serving the role they did, and a lot of the series is fantastically well written. but the fandom surrounding it can be, uh, not great because 9-14 year olds don’t really have good brains to understand this.

also, i’m very sad that i can’t find the flash game that was for the great prophecy. it was not very fun, but i enjoyed playing it, so if anyone knows the url so i can search the internet archive for it, please let me know.

section ten: i’m morbidly curious but there are 56 hours of books to read, assuming a very fast reading pace, so is there something i can start with to experience this without dedicating 4 days to it?

yes, there is.

it’s called bluestar’s prophecy. it’s standalone, and i should have given you enough of a background on the lore that you don’t need to know anything else. i’ve already given away the twist in series 1 that it would spoil, so you’re all good on that front.

if you want more, or want the original experience, the first series is self contained and quite good. i’ve given the broad outlines of the plot, but trust me, there’s a lot of surprises and all sorts of things i skipped over because while i like it, it’s not exactly fandom primer material

i also enjoy firestar’s quest and skyclan’s destiny for super editions, but you’ll need to read the first series to understand FQ and FQ to understand SD, so it’s not exactly a starting point. also, SD especially deals with a very different set of themes as the other books.

also, if you were to, say, search “readwarriorcats” (no spaces) on duckduckgo, and then click on one of the first links, you know, not the official site, the one hosted on one of those free website things, you know, not wix, not wordpress, the other one, you would only find lists of the books with hyperlinks.

#warrior cats #fandom #txt #mine #1st #February #2021 #February 1st 2021 #essay #personal #long #q

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questionsonislam · 4 years

Note

How was the body language and speaking style of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)?

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the last prophet of Allah along with being a human. He had a mission: to convey the religion of Islam to people and to explain it. The skill of the Messenger of Allah, who is the best model in every field, related to communication with people is definitely important.

It is necessary to study thoroughly the personality of the Prophet (pbuh), who influenced tens of thousands of people in a very short period of time and made them obey him related to his cause, which he started to spread alone under the circumstances of fifteen centuries ago, in terms of his communication skills and use of body language.

That the Prophet used the body language, which is a very effective message in communication, as a messenger has become more importance for us today.

His walking style

According to the information given by the resources, the Prophet did not drag his feet as he walked; he would lift his foot firmly when he took a step. He would not swing as he walked; he would lean forward slightly as if walking on rough land. He would not stand upright by puffing his chest while walking. He would not walk very fast as if running but he would cover long distances in a short time as a grace of Allah.

His sitting style

The information that reached us about how the Prophet (pbuh) sat is found in the texts of hadiths as follows:

Sitting in the form of qurfasa: This style of sitting is as follows: his bottom on the ground, his arms round his legs and his knees drawn up. It can also be called supported sitting. There are narrations in the resources that the Prophet sat like this from time to time.

Sitting cross-legged: According to a narration by Abu Dawud, "After leading the morning prayer, the Prophet (pbuh) would sit cross-legged until the sun rose fully."

Crouching: It is seen that this sitting style, which is called “ihtifaz” or “i’qa” was used while eating.

Sitting by letting his legs hang down: There are narrations in hadith texts stating that the Prophet (pbuh) sat on the edge of a well and let his legs hang down.

Kneeling down: Unlike the other styles, there is no separate heading called kneeling down in the narrations in the resources that mention the sitting styles of the Prophet. However, it is possible to find between the lines in the hadith texts mentioning the reasons why the hadiths were uttered and in tabaqat books (biographies). Kneeling down is the usual sitting style of the Prophet. Therefore, if a Companion had said, "I saw the Prophet kneeling down" it would have meant mentioning what is known, which would not be interesting at all.

The other sitting styles that the Companions saw and mentioned are the styles that they sometimes or rarely saw the Messenger of Allah sitting. The Prophet sat in all of the sitting styles listed above in various stages of his life on various occasions; thus, he did not make only one style advisable for his ummah, who wanted to resemble him in all aspects.

The things he leaned on

The Prophet said,

"Three things are nor rejected: cushion, nice scent and milk." (Tabarani, Makarimul-Akhlaq, h. no 152)

When the Messenger of Allah had a religious talk and sat in the same place for a long time, he would place a cushion under his arms and lean on it.

We also know that the Prophet sat on a mattress that was a bit higher than the ground and that was made of date-palm leaves.

There is also information stating that the Prophet sat on a chair with iron or wooden legs.

The Prophet did not oppose to sitting on the things that he was offered if they were customary things and unless they were luxurious. As a matter of fact, when he went somewhere as a guest, he sat on a carpet, cushion made of felt, etc.; he sometimes sat on the wooden floor or ground by avoiding to sit on the cushion that he was offered.

Speaking style

One of the most distinguished characteristics of the Prophet (pbuh) was his beautiful and perfect speech. The Prophet said,

"I was sent with the characteristic of expressing many things with few words." (Bukhari, VIII, 76, 168; an-Nihaya, I, 295)

The environment in which he was brought up played an important role in his fluent speech.

The prophet spoke distinctly, clearly and in a way that everyone could understand. The listeners could count his words one by one. When it was necessary, he would repeat the important sentences three times during his speech.

The Prophet, who acted like a preacher, a mufti, a judge, a teacher, an instructor, a head of a family, a diplomat, a commander, a conqueror, as well as a man of community with a large circle of friends on various occasions, had relationships with all parts of the community whether they were friends or enemies, Muslim or non-Muslim, rich or poor, young or old male or female.

When the Prophet talked, he always acted like a humble brother, a compassionate teacher and a merciful father toward his Companions; and when he wanted to teach them some of the rules of etiquette (good manners), he addressed them with a soft style. He used different speaking styles when he addressed them: a playful style, a heartfelt style, gratifying, promising and encouraging styles, allegorical, metaphorical, stimulating and thought-provoking styles.

The tone and style of the Prophet (pbuh) when he addressed a congregation is also different. Words derived from "khutba" are used in the resources for such speeches. Only “the Farewell Sermon” is very long; the other speeches in the resources are not so long.

When he addressed people, his eyes would become red and his tone of voice would rise. When he made a speech, he would hold a stick (staff) called "mikhsara", which he used to lean on and to point to something.

The Prophet (pbuh) did not like unnecessary extreme deeds, excessive deeds that could harm Islam and the acts that would harm basic principles. When he was informed about such incidences, he would feel sad and angry; he would take a firm stand and try to prevent such incidents by warning people harshly.

The Prophet had an attitude that never changed: He never spoke in an offending, despising, insulting and excessive style, which is not regarded nice even among ordinary people.

His gestures

When the gestures of the Prophet are examined, it will be seen that he used his hands and fingers more.

a. His hands: The Messenger of Allah used his gestures actively and attracted the attention of his listeners in his addresses especially related to education and training. As a matter of fact, he used his staff, which he generally had with him, to make gestures that would make his speech interesting. Once, when he was on the pulpit, he hit the pulpit with his staff and said,

"This is Tayba (Madinah). Listen carefully! I told you that Dajjal (Anti-Christ) would not be able to enter Makkah and Madinah."

The Prophet transformed abstract concepts into concrete forms to enable the listeners to imagine the issue. When he told them that he would be the first person to enter Paradise, he showed how he would knock on the door of Paradise by using gestures. Anas b. Malik, who witnessed it, said,

"When the Prophet said, 'I will be the first person to knock on the door of Paradise', he acted as if he was holding the doorknocker of a door; I can still imagine it."

When the Prophet told his Companions about qadar (destiny), he held his beard. The scholars who explain hadiths say this act indicated surrendering because holding one’s beard meant surrendering among Arabs of that time.

The Prophet used his hands perfectly while teaching. As a matter of fact, Abdullah b. Masud, who was among the notables of the Companions in terms of knowledge, said that the Prophet held his hand when he taught him at-Tahiyyatu. It is stated in another narration that he held his hair, instead of his hand.

The Prophet sometimes pointed to things that he regarded important. For instance, when a person from Ansar said to him, "O Messenger of Allah! I hear some words from you but I cannot memorize them", the Messenger of Allah said to him, "Get help from your right hand." When he said so, he acted as if he was writing.

The following incident reported by the Companion Abdullah b. Amr related to the Prophet’s pointing to something by his hand is a nice example. Abdullah narrates:

I wrote anything I heard from the Messenger of Allah. Some Qurayshis wanted to prevent me from doing it. They said,

"The Messenger of Allah is a human being. He speaks when he is angry and when he is happy. How can you write down anything he says?"

I told the Messenger of Allah about it. He showed his mouth and said,

"Write! I swear by Allah in whose hand my soul is that nothing but truth comes out of this."

Once, the Messenger of Allah was leading the night prayer to the congregation. However, he performed two rak'ahs instead of four rak'ahs and saluted. Then, he stood and leaned on something like a wooden mattress in the mosque. He looked as if he was angry. He put his right hand on his left hand and clasped his fingers together; he placed the back part of his left hand on his right cheek. The people who left the mosque after the prayer was over asked one another, "Was the prayer shortened?" Hz. Abu Bakr and Hz. Umar were among them. However, they avoided talking.

Somebody among the Companions called “Dhulyadayn” due to his long hands went to the Prophet and said, "O Messenger of Allah! Did you forget or was prayer shortened?" The Messenger of Allah said, "Neither did I forget nor was prayer shortened." He said to the people around, "Is what Dhulyadayn says true?" They said, "Yes." He got up completed his prayer and performed sajdah as-sahw (prostration of forgetfulness). Although the Prophet did not say that he was sad and worried, it was understood from his acts, that is, from his body language that he was sad.

b. Fingers: It is known that after delivering his sermon in Arafat to about one hundred thousand people, he asked them, "Have I conveyed it to you?" and that he pointed to the people with his index finger and said, "O Allah! Be witness!"

When he gave advice to Muadh b. Jabal, he held his tongue with his hand and said, "Control this." The Messenger of Allah could have said to Muadh b. Jabal, "Control your tongue" but he used the visual method, which is more effective.

According to what is reported from Abdullah b. Abi Awfa, during a journey, the Prophet said to the person who was serving him, "Give me something to drink, I will break fasting." The man said, "O Messenger of Allah It is still bright. Is it appropriate to break fasting now?" The Prophet asked something to drink again. The man said the same thing. When the Prophet asked something to drink for the third time, the man brought some drink. The Messenger of Allah broke his fasting and pointed to the east with his hand as if drawing a line and said, "Look! When it gets dark in this direction like that, one can break his fasting."

When the Prophet (pbuh) mentioned watching the crescent for Ramadan fasting and the number of the days in lunar months as twenty-nine and thirty, he said, "We are an illiterate community; we do not know how to write and how to calculate. The number of days in a lunar month is like this and that." He showed his both hands with his fingers three times, meaning thirty and by hiding the thumb in the last showing of his hands for the second time, meaning twenty-nine.

When he talked about believers’ helping one another and the relationship and sincerity among them, he said,

"Believers are like a building. They support one another and stand upright."

He clasped his fingers when he said it. With this act, he explained the importance of unity with a perfect style.

His facial gestures

The Messenger of Allah, who was the best man in terms of good manners, was a very gentle and kind person. His vast feelings of compassion and mercy reflected his inner feelings at once; his thoughts were visible on his face.

a. His facial expression: The speech of the Messenger of Allah attained a different value with his facial gestures. His addressees could see the signs of the words that the Messenger of Allah would utter on his face. In the course of time, people started to guess how he would speak before he started to speak. When the Prophet got angry, the blood vessel in the middle of his forehead would swell and his eyes would become red. The Companions understood that the Prophet was angry when they saw him like that. Once, he saw somebody he did not know next to Hz. Aisha and expressed his anger with his facial expression. Hz. Aisha told him that he was her foster brother.

On the other hand, when Ka'b b. Malik narrated the acceptance of his repentance, he said that the Messenger of Allah had welcomed him with a face bright with joy and addressed him as follows:

"Be happy and rejoice for the best day ever since your mother gave birth to you."

b. His gestures of eyebrows and eyes: The Prophet never made signs with his eyebrows and eyes to revile others; he did not allow others to make signs with their eyebrows and eyes either.

Abdullah b. Sa'd b. Abis-Sarh, who had been condemned to death after the conquest of Makkah, entered into the presence of the Prophet, asked for forgiveness and held his hand to pay allegiance to him. The Messenger of Allah did not accept his allegiance but when Abdullah asked for the third time, he accepted it unwillingly. Then, the Prophet said to his Companions,

"Why did you not kill him though you saw my attitude?" The Companions said,

"O Messenger of Allah! If you had made a gesture with your eye, we would have killed him." Thereupon, the Prophet (pbuh) said,

"Treason does not fit the eyes of prophets."

His posture

When the phrase "the body language of the Prophet" is used, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely his posture. Even the silence of the Prophet is meaningful in terms of the religion; the image he forms with his posture is his real and most affective aspect; it also became manifest as his ethics.

His ethics represents the living Quran. Thus, his posture shows us the type of man the Quran envisages.

a. His clothing: The Prophet wore clothes with various colors and patterns. However, we know that he preferred white clothes to the others. He wore the same clothes as the other people in the community wore; he made sure that the clothes he wore were clean and were not torn. He wore wool, linen and cotton clothes, but he did not wear clothes made of silk. The Prophet always smelled nice and cared for his hair and beard.

b. Personal Distance: The prophet was very close to his wives, children and grandchildren; he adjusted his stance according to the degree of relation. That he kissed his daughter Fatima on the forehead, sat on her bed and that he embraced and kissed his grandsons Hasan and Husayn shows his use of physical contact and private relationship with his close relatives.

When he talked to someone, he would look at his face and if he held the hand of the person he was talking to, he would not let hold of his hand unless he withdrew his hand; he would not turn his face away unless his addressee turned his face away. If someone whispered something in the ear of the Messenger of Allah, he would not move his head away unless the man moved his head away.

The Prophet advised the Muslims to smile to each other and he himself always smiled. The Messenger of Allah listened calmly even to his enemies who wronged him, and began to speak when it was his turn to speak.

Once, he was talking to Utba b. Rabia. He said, "O Abul-Walid! Speak! I am listening to you." When Utba finished his speech and stopped, he asked, "O Abul-Walid! Have you finished speaking?" When he said, "Yes", the Prophet started to speak by saying, "Then, listen to me now!"

When the Prophet walked, he would not walk like lazy people; he would walk with firm steps. Those who walked after him could hardly catch up with him. He would walk by bending slightly toward the front; when he was called from behind, he would turn with his whole body; he would not turn his neck only.

It was seen that the Messenger of Allah, who did not speak when it was not necessary, sometimes kept silent for a long time. It is stated that his silence was due to his attribute of lenience, his willingness to make people avoid what they were doing, his consent or contemplation.

c. Body Contact: The Prophet used body contact very well when it was necessary. It is known that he embraced, sometimes kissed and hugged the people whom he loved when they came from distant places and his close relatives. As a matter of fact, when Jafar b. Abi Talib returned to Madinah from Abyssinia, the Prophet (pbuh) had just returned from the conquest of Khaybar. When Jafar entered into the presence of the Prophet after thirteen years, the Prophet embraced Jafar and kissed him between his two eyes; then, he said,

"I do not know for what I became happier, the conquest of Khaybar or the return of Jafar."

As it is also mentioned in the Quran, when the Prophet accepted the “allegiance” of the Muslims, he put his hands on their hands and accepted their allegiance.

The Messenger of Allah strengthened his sincerity by establishing body contact with people.

On the other hand, it is seen that the Prophet acted in a way that children could understand or like in order to communicate with them. He sometimes put them on his camel and gave them a ride; he sometimes gave them advice and caressed their hair; he also joked around with them. Once, he was making wudu and sprayed the water in his mouth on the face of the child next to him. This close contact of the Prophet and his natural acts attracted the attention of children and made it easy for them to love him.

His laughing style

According to what is unanimously written in the resources, the Messenger of Allah had a naturally smiling and cheerful face. He always smiled. Even when he was sad, he would not display his sadness; he did not depress the people around him. When he met the people he loved, he would smile so much that his face would be very bright.

Along with his natural smile, the Prophet sometimes laughed. There are many incidents in which the Prophet (pbuh) laughed in hadith resources. Hz. Aisha narrates how the Prophet (pbuh) laughed as follows:

"I have never seen the Messenger of Allah laugh so much as to show his epiglottis and in a way to lose himself. His laughing was in the form of smiling." (Bukhari, al-Jami'us-Sahih, VII, 94-95; al-Adabul-Mufrad, p. 97, no: 251)

When the Companions of the Prophet mentioned how the Prophet laughed on various occasions, they said, "...He laughed in a way to show his molar teeth." In this style of laughing, the teeth are seen but no sound is heard. That is the laughing style of the Prophet.

His jokes

Anas b. Malik narrates:

"The Messenger of Allah was the person who made jokes the most with children." (Tabarani, al-Mujamus-Saghir, II, 39; Ibnul Athir, an-Nihaya, III, 466)

"The Prophet was the person who made jokes the most with his wives." (Ibnul Athir, an-Nihaya, III, 466; Ghazali, Ihya, III, 129)

The Prophet usually made jokes with children, his wives, the poor and those who expected love and care from the people around them. When he said,

"Do not argue with your friend; do not make jokes with him; when you make a promise to your fried, keep it,"

the people around him said,

"O Messenger of Allah! You also make jokes." He said,

"Yes, I also make jokes but I tell the truth even when I make a joke." (Bukhari, al-Adabul-Mufrad, s.102, no: 265; Tirmidhi, Sunan IV, 357, no: 1990)

Anas b. Malik narrates:

"The Prophet (pbuh) addressed me as 'the one with two ears'." (an-Nihaya, I, 34)

Tirmidhi’s teacher Mahmud b. Ghaylan said his teacher Abu Usama explained this as follows: "That is, the Prophet made a joke with Anas."

Conclusion

The feelings of the Prophet sometimes appeared as tears and sometimes as a blood vessel that swelled on his forehead. When he pointed to something, he would point to it with his whole hand. When he said that it was necessary to control one’s tongue, he showed his tongue by holding it with his hand; when he said the place of taqwa was in the heart, he pointed to his left chest with his hand. When he was surprised at something, he would turn his hand upwards toward the sky. As he spoke, he would put his palms together and hit his right hand on the inner part of his left thumb.

He did not act factitiously; he did not try to show off either; whatever he thought and felt was reflected on his face. When he got angry, he would turn his face away. When he was happy, he would lower his eyes. His laughing was usually in the form of smiling. When he laughed, his teeth looked like hailstones.

He was perfect in all aspects

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quoteoftheweekblog · 4 years

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QUOTATIONS - VIKRAM SETH’S ‘A SUITABLE BOY’ (FIRST PUBLISHED 1993)

First sentence:

‘ “You too will marry a boy I choose,” said Mrs Rupa Mehra firmly to her younger daughter.’ (Seth, 1994, p.3).

On reading:

‘She loved reading, and people knew better than to talk to her when she had a book in her hands.’ (Seth, 1994, p.32).

‘She had read; and, despite that, she had thought.’ (Seth, 1994, p.345).

‘ ... Sandeep Lahiri sat down in the station master’s office and pulled “Howards End” out of his bag.’ (Seth, 1994, p.675).

‘ “I’ve been reading one or two Hardys again.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1249).

‘ “But I too hate long books: the better, the worse. If they’re bad, they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes. But if they’re good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies out of friends. I still bear the scars of ‘Middlemarch’.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, pp.1370-1).

‘ “ ... Proust makes me weep, weep, weep with boredom. Weep ... Weep, weep, weep ... I weep when I read Proust, and I read very little of him.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1371).

‘ “I came in to buy a Wodehouse, but I’ve bought myself a Jane Austen instead.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1406).

‘ “You have too good a brain to waste on English literature.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1416).

On ‘a suitable boy’:

‘ “Now the time has come to get Lata well settled, and I must look all out for a suitable boy.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.47).

“ “I want you to find her a boy at once. A suitable boy. She is getting involved with unsuitable boys, and I cannot have that.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.594).

‘She was dreaming - of a kiss - but it was of Kabir she was dreaming, the one who was absent, the one who above all others she should not meet, the most unsuitable boy of them all.’ (Seth, 1994, p.1240).

On learning:

‘Whenever she opened a scientific book and saw whole paragraphs of incomprehensible words and symbols, she felt a sense of wonder at the great territories of learning that lay beyond her - the sum of so many noble and purposive attempts to make objective sense of the world.’ (Seth, 1994, p.49).

‘ “It’s unusual for someone to be interested in both poetry and mathematics.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.52).

‘ “He says that the fresh air ‘opens up his assumptions’ ... Once, when he came down from the hills he said that like Zarathustra he had gained enough mathematical insight on the mountainside in six weeks to last a lifetime.” ‘ (seth, 1994, p.178).

‘ “Studying is a good discipline ... It needs application ... it does not matter what you study. As long as you study hard, it improves the mind.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.473).

‘ ... “we are all learning, no matter how aged ... “ ... ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.789).

On life:

‘ “Don’t add chillies to boiled potatoes.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.52).

‘I’m not a mouse or a tigress, she thought, I’m a hedgehog.’ (Seth, 1994, p.156).

‘ “God save us from people who mean well.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.279).

‘ “How do you fuck in a sari?” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.435).

‘ “For me, you will always be my baby.”

“Even at sixty?” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.479).

‘Being a bit of a layabout, he lay about a bit.’ (Seth, 1994, p.722).

‘ “The secret of life is to accept. Accept happiness, accept sorrow; accept success, accept failure; accept fame, accept disgrace; accept doubt, even, accept the impression of certainty.” ‘ (Seth, 1994. p.812).

‘ “Cricket has a lot to answer for.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1056).

‘When all else fails, thought Lata, there is always soup.’ (Seth, 1994, p.1253).

On James Joyce:

‘ “There is the unreadable ‘Ulysses’. There is the worse than unreadable ‘Finnegan’s Wake’. This kind of writing is unhealthy for our students. It encourages them, as it were, in sloppy and ungrammatical writing.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, pp.56-7).

On religion:

‘All over India, all over the world, as the sun or the shadow of darkness moves from east to west, the call to prayer moves with it, and people kneel down in a wave of prayer to God.’ (Seth, 1994, p.127).

On exams:

‘ “You’ll have forgotten all about it in five years.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.150).

‘ “ ... there are more important things in the world than exams.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.151).

On P.G. Wodehouse:

‘ “Read a P.G. Wodehouse or two ... “ ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.167).

‘She went to Pran’s bookshelf and picked up the first P.G. Wodehouse she saw: “Pigs Have Wings”. ’ (Seth, 1994, pp.168-9).

‘She had finished “Pigs Have Wings” and had gone on to “Galahad at Blandings” ... she would have to distract herself with as much P.G. Wodehouse as possible.’ (Seth, 1994, p.186).

‘But she couldn’t concentrate even on Wodehouse.’ (Seth, 1994, p.187).

‘ ... lost in Wodehouse ... ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.195).

‘ ... the ubiquitous Wodehouse ... ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1021).

On education:

‘Sunil Patwardhan had believed as a student that to get one true mathematical insight a fortnight was enough by way of work; for the rest of the time he paid no attention to his studies, and did excellently. Now that he was teaching students he found it hard to impose an academic discipline on them that he himself had no faith in.’ (Seth, 1994, p.224).

‘ “ ... there are three kinds of teachers: those who are forgotten: those who are remembered and hated, and the third, the lucky ones ... those who are remembered and ... forgiven.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.902).

On dyslexia:

‘Considering his almost perfect memory for objects, it was odd that he had emerged from his English B.A. Honours course with a third, and had messed up his Poetry paper with innumerable misquotations.’ (Seth, 1994, p.224).

On politics:

‘The police force before Partition was very largely composed of Muslims as a result of the sound imperialist policy of divide and rule: it helped the British that the predominantly Hindu Cogress-wallahs should be beaten up by predominantly Muslim policeman.’ (Seth, 1994, p.253).

‘ “Politics is like the coal trade. How can you blame people if their hands and faces become a little black?” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.349).

‘ “Politicians, you know, prefer to appoint mediocrities to important posts not merely because they themselves will look better in comparison or because they are afraid of competition, but also because, you see, a person appointed on merit feels that it is owed to him, while a mediocity is only too conscious that it is not.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.901).

On Jane Austen:

‘ “You should go up to your room ... and settle down on a sofa with Jane Austen.” ...

“Jane Austen is the only woman in his life.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.415).

‘ “What’ll you read on the way?”

“ ‘Emma’.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.604).

‘ “Don’t leave your book behind ... ‘Mansfield Park’? I haven’t read that one. Tell me if it’s any good.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1407).

On Economics:

‘ “ ... economics is a pointless subject. He would have done far better to study mathematics.” ‘ (Seth, 1994. p.423).

‘ ... “economics is the worst possible qualification for running anything. It’s the mosty useless, impratical subject in the worls.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.454).

‘ “There isn’t a single decent human being I know who is an economist.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.501).

On being a writer:

‘ “He’s just a writer. He knows nothing at all about literature.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.426).

‘ “What’s wrong with writing poems and novels?” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.444).

‘ “ ... I think that the more people write, the less they think.” ‘ (Seth. 1994, p.446).

‘ “ ... I wrote it out in a single draft ... Once I counted sixteen desperate triplets building upwards to fever pitch. Can you imagine: sixteen. It drove me crazy. And then I polished it over the next few days. I didn’t really want to loof at it, and kept making excuses. I always do. I hate writing, you know.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1209).

‘ “ ... I often like my work when it’s done - it’s just the doing that is so tedious. With a short poem there’s the inspiration of course. But with this novel I have to whip myself to my desk ... “ ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1209).

‘ “Why, then, is it rumoured that your forthcoming novel ... is to be so long? More than a thousand pages! “...

“Oh, I don’t know how it grew to be so long ... I’m very undisciplined.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1370).

On books:

‘ “One feels so bewildered among all these millons of books,” said Lata, astonished that several hundreds of yards of a city could actually be given over to nothing but books - books on the pavement, books on makeshift bookshelves out in the street, books in the library and in Presidency College, first-, second-, third- and tenth-hand books, everything from technical monographs on electroplating to the latest Agatha Christie.‘ (Seth, 1994, p.524).

On marriage:

‘She would not change; he would not change; he knew that she would not change; she knew that he would not change; and each knew that the other knew this,’ (Seth, 1994, p.818).

‘ “You too will marry a girl I choose,” ...“A suitable girl, that is what I want for you ... A suitable girl, and no exceptions.” ‘ (Seth, 1994, p.1467).

REFERENCE

Seth, V. (1994 [1993] ) ‘A suitable boy’. London: Phoenix.

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scrambledgegs · 4 years

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Lives vs Livelihood Tradeoff?

#SOanoNA?

Just a few Mondays ago on July 27, 2020, President Duterte delivered his 5th SONA, and to no one’s surprise, it was composed of nothing but his usual angry tirades, off-tangent, incomprehensible ramblings and violent threats. His SONA has confirmed again – that apart from lockdowns, he still has no clear, feasible battleplan to counter this crippling pandemic.

Much can tirelessly be said about his SONA, but one statement that I found satirically amusing was when he admonished the telco industry to strengthen their connectivity so that he jokingly, would be able to call Jesus in Bethlehem. I found myself actually wondering humorously, would Jesus even take his call?

Perhaps Digong wants to make an attempt at a lifeline call because where he knows he is eventually headed, I doubt there is reception down there, nor is there any broadcasted television shows, by his own special request.

On the 5th Month of Lockdown

Less than a week after Duterte’s SONA, on August 1, 2020, the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), through a signed letter, expressed their clamor for a revert to ECQ for the whole “Mega Manila for a period of two weeks, from August 1 to 15,” the same measures that were imposed beginning March 17, 2020 which was extended to May 15, 2020.

Well-intentioned as these pleas were, and indeed, a validated cry for help, due to hospital over-congestion and the government’s weak response; I could not agree with the recommendation of another blanket ECQ, for we’ve already witnessed how the national government has made a mess of things. We all know what improvements happened during the first ECQ – absolutely nothing. I am no expert, but it seems that a better scenario would be for Manila to stay at the most, a GCQ environment and isolate specific at-risk areas.

Let me start by first saying that do not get me wrong; I have the utmost respect and gratitude towards our doctors and members of the medical field. Enough cannot be said about what our medical frontliners have been doing for the country – the bouts of hardships they undergo everyday – physical and emotional battles that we as members of the non-medical sector would never truly understand. They are indeed heroes, and they are dealing with the ugliness of this pandemic on a whole other level. It would also be hypocritical for me to say that truly I understand what they are going through because I am not a medical frontliner, or even any kind of frontliner.

However, as much as I stand with our medical frontliners, I also stand for an optimal mix of health/medical and economic initiatives, led by fact-based, scientific approaches to combat our relentless problems. Of course, we all know this is easier said than done.

In the words of another Filipino physician, “Whatever type of lockdown we impose – ECQ, MECQ, GCQ – we will not beat the pandemic without a comprehensive, scientific and systematic policy” (Alliance of Health Workers, National President, Taken from ANC, August 3, 2020).

NO to ECQ, but a resounding YES to a better Health response by the National Government

I agree that COVID-19 began as first and foremost a health problem and should have been dealt with as such, but now on our 5th month of community quarantine and entering a recession, the problem has snowballed into a socio-economic and political fiasco. In my Facebook feed, I read a post by the honorable Congressman Toff de Venecia who, in the context of the Lower House proposing a comprehensive Php1.3 Trillion stimulus package, stated that:

“Cong. Stella Quimbo, one of our fiercest lady legislators and a top economist in the country, has estimated that the Philippine economy will be losing 12 billion pesos a day for every day that we're on a two-week lockdown. That's a cumulative amount of 168 billion lost to our economy.”

The post was referring to the country’s current state, as the government has reimplemented stricter lockdown measures: MECQ from the previous GCQ, beginning August 4, 2020.

Yet, imagine, what will be further lost if an actual ECQ is imposed? These frightening numbers represent industries, companies, SMEs, employees, daily wage earners, sole breadwinners, etc directly and indirectly connected to businesses and counterparties that will not be allowed to operate during ECQ. Whatever was salvaged by easing restrictions, will be killed off or reduced to morsels by a second ECQ. Tip of the iceberg scenarios are: Life-savings of smaller-time entrepreneurs (who make up more than 90% of the country) will be wiped out, and they will have no means of financing, as banks and microlenders are understandably practicing austere and conservative lending measures right now. With continuous rock-bottom revenues, mass layoffs will increase and companies could default on their existing loans, and as a result, smaller banks may shutdown. Many could literally die before COVID-19 even finds its way to them, and as we know, ECQ does not allow for family members or loved ones to be present at their burial.

To impose ECQ at this point in time with NO other moving parts or ongoing strategies in place to supplement it, is a futile attempt. It is a jab in the dark, band-aid and short-term solution at the cost of staggering resources and lives. We will have both rising COVID-19 cases and a dead economy.

Furthermore, strict lockdowns, such as ECQ, are convenient tools that the administration utilizes to divert attention away from the real problems and boost their own agendas, through authoritarian and militaristic approaches.

In an article from The Economist (July 11th-17th 2020), entitled “Four months and counting, A ferocious lockdown lingers on, despite uncertain benefits,” the author writes: “On July 3rd [Duterte] signed into law a sweeping anti-terrorism bill which, among other things, allows suspects to be detained without a judge’s approval for up to 14 days. How this will help the Philippines through its current trauma is anyone’s guess” (The Economist, July 2020).

“WE are in a losing battle against COVID-19, and we need to come up with a consolidated plan”

These were the words written in the PCP’s letter. To supplement their ECQ recommendation, they have proposed seven (7) points in the letter. Below is the copy of the letter:

Multi-dimensional Problems

Nobody in the right mind would disagree that there is a case for this letter; these are reasonable points that truly warrant immediate and swift action, but I also wonder if the physician writers of this letter consulted with experts or consultants from the economic sector and related fields? It is not my intention to pit industries against each other. In fact, how I wish these points would be granted. Yet these lofty recommendations sound more idealistic than feasible, and may possibly further handicap the health sector.

I DO agree that this letter identifies specific gaps and presents a guiding framework on what needs to be prioritized pronto. I however have comments pertaining to numbers 4, 6 and 7:

#4. On Transportation safety

But how about Public Transportation?

In the event of another ECQ, one concerning aspect is that all modes of public transportation are to be firmly suspended. Again, how will commuting medical frontliners, not to mention employees of “essential services” get to work? In a Manila Times article written last April 4, 2010, which was during ECQ, business columnist Robert Siy wrote:

“Frontline workers are suffering from the shortage of public transport services. My estimate is that 2/3 of these workers are seriously affected — they are either unable to get to work or experience serious difficulty in reaching their destinations (e.g. having to walk over an hour each way). In supermarkets and groceries, lines at checkout lanes are long because many cashiers have not made it to work. Those who do are already weary by the time they get to their posts then they have to carry the load of those unable to get to work. A similar story is playing out in hospitals and clinics” (Siy, April 4, 2020).

It must be highlighted that government departments such as DOTr and the AFP during ECQ made some commendable initiatives too like by chartering over 100 vehicles to transport medical frontliners to and from work. However, this number, including other factors such as, the way our roads are built, limited bus routes and strategic drop-off/pick-up points, “are reaching only a small fraction of those in need.”

“As of March 24, when there were 72 buses fielded on 14 routes, only 1,113 workers were served. On March 27, the DoTr and other agencies fielded 106 buses on 18 routes; these buses collectively carried only 1,402 health workers that day — an average of just 13 passengers per bus for the entire day” (Siy, April 4, 2020).

Since no tricycles or jeepneys will be allowed to operate during ECQ, this leaves medical frontliners still having to walk great distances to get to and from drop-off/pick-up points, and of course feeling exhausted and fatigued by the time they get to work and thus, further increasing their likelihood of getting sick.

This type of free shuttling service is also not economically sustainable, unless the private sector gets more heavily involved. For them to be able to stay involved, is that they need revenues – which they will not be able to achieve with ECQ.

#6: On Public compliance with self-protection

But how about the revival of the economy, Mental Health and well…Hope?

I somewhat agree with the PCP’s statement that “The progressive lifting of quarantine has sent a public message that the pandemic is getting better. It is not.”

However, I’d also like to think that there are many well-informed Filipinos who know that the number of COVID-19 cases have escalated (now more than 119,000), and perhaps it was not the intention of (at least some officials) to convey this message of false hope. The rationale behind easing community quarantine restrictions was to slowly resuscitate the dying economy.

Under GCQ for instance, I recognize that while some are able to practice “voluntary ECQ” or strict social-distancing and stay-at-home measures because they can afford to, many more cannot afford this luxury. I can see why a direct and definitive ECQ proclamation seems like the only way to really enforce these critical daily practices. However, like earlier mentioned, at destructive socio-economic costs.

Moreover, let us not forget that the Philippines holds the record for having the longest lockdown in the world, but we as a sociable and gregarious culture, also have the strong need to be with other people. Naturally, nobody can really withstand being alone and forever cooped up, and indeed, a social facet of a prolonged lockdown are detrimental effects on mental health. Mental health problems are very real and present, and should not be taken lightly. All of us have been directly affected in one way or the other, and we all by now have felt the pangs of hopelessness and anxiety creeping up from time to time. Some days are better or worse than others.

#7 On Social Amelioration

But what are to become of the deemed “non-essential” industries and the services sector?

The PCP letter also sought to “ask your good offices to reconsider the pronouncement of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regarding the approval to reopen businesses such as gyms, fitness centers, tutorial services, review centers, internet cafes, pet grooming services, drive-in cinemas previously closed.

Again, I am of mixed feelings about this statement. The Philippines can be described as a consumption-driven economy, and as such, it only follows that the Services sector makes up 56.2% of the Philippines’s GDP, well at least as of FY 2018. Prior COVID-19, services consistently posted an average growth of 6%-7%, leading the pack among the other economic sectors

Indeed, “Healthy people to reinvigorate the economy” are of course needed to win this battle, but the country also needs the wheels of business and commerce to keep going on, in order to keep healthy people healthy and pump monetary fuel into the economy.

Recalibration

In no disrespect, perhaps the medical industry can recalibrate their efforts to collectively clamor for such above (7) points, together with a meeting of minds from the economic sector and related fields, but remove ECQ from the equation. It is a hard reality that the loss of lives and livelihood is tragically inevitable, but it does not have to boil down to a stark “lives vs livelihood” tradeoff.

Our health sector have their countrymen’s support, and only a tyrant would dismiss this alarming distress call.

And indeed, after above PCP letter was made public, President Duterte was again all over the news lambasting our health workers and goading them to indeed start a revolution, even if none of that was remotely articulated in the letter. However, now that I think about it, perhaps his pre-emptive taunts for one may be what needs to be done, at least in our own way for now.

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theliterateape · 5 years

Text

An Essay about James Joyce’s Leopold Bloom for Bloomsday

By Elizabeth Harper

In honor of Bloomsday on June 16, I’ve dug out the paper I wrote in high school about Leopold Bloom, the main character in James Joyce’s Ulysses.

I think I wrote it in Spring of 1985, and we used the classic Random House edition, not the Gabler.

I’ve done some minor editing, leaving out only a couple of sentences that seem to me either unclear or especially egregiously cringeworthy.

I wrote this in the days before computers. My mother and I would fight over the one typewriter in the house. If I made a mistake, I had to cross it out. For this particular paper, apparently we were out of Liquid Paper. There was no spellcheck. If you wanted to check the spelling of a word, you had to look it up in the dictionary.

I suppose nowadays, kids write their papers on their phones and/or they have their very own computers.

Bloom: The Emergence of Womanhood from a Coffin

"And if he was alive all the time? Whew! By Jingo, that would be awful! No, no: he is dead, of course. Of course he is dead…They ought to have some law to pierce the heart and make sure or an electric clock or a telephone in the coffin and some kind of a canvas airhole. Flag of distress. (p.111) "

Bloom’s fantasy about the man being buried alive, with no way to get out, mirrors his own plight. For Bloom is a live man, with the desire and capability to produce life, as shown by his sexual fantasies and observations, and ejaculations of sperm, respectively, but Bloom is unproductive because he is isolated and incapable of communicating his desires to others. Therefore he is trapped inside a metaphorical coffin. As the live man inside the coffin will eventually starve to death or suffocate, Bloom will eventually become (or fears that he will become) irrevocably impotent and forever unproductive, just as the man in the coffin will eventually be forever dead. Bloom’s only hope is to somehow synthesize or obtain the equipment equivalent to that which the man in the coffin lacked. To produce life (children), his main desire and duty, Bloom needs a woman for the purpose of utilizing her reproductive organs. Failing to communicate his need, he becomes more like a woman so that he, as a woman, will help himself, (such a transformation is obviously a remote possibility, and as we shall see, happens only in his dreams), or so that, like the ducks who respond to the duck hunter’s “quack, quack” whistle, women will be attracted to Bloom disguised as one of their own kind.

Bloom desires to enjoy love, as manifested by sexual reproduction, the merging of two to produce one. When remembering his earliest dealings with Molly, he dwells on the mutuality of submission as life-giving force.

"Softly, she gave me in my mouth the seedcake warm and chewed. Mawkish pulp her mouth had mumbled sweet and sour with spittle. Joy: I ate it: joy. Young life, her lips that gave me pouting… She kissed me. I was kissed. All yielding she tossed my hair. Kissed, she kissed me. (p.176) "

The seedcake is a metaphor for their son: matter passed from orifice to orifice, to change form, and reemerge as “Young Life.” And then Bloom thinks, “Me. and me now.” and subsequently his mind is on a wild dissertation on the assholes of goddesses, indicative of his currently infertile relationship with Molly.

"I was happier then *(before Rudy)*. Or was that I? OR am I now I?…something changed. Could never like it again after Rudy (p.168) "

Losing his son Rudy, which discourages the Blooms from sexually reproducing again, causes Bloom to lose his sense of identity and place. In a sense, Bloom becomes an anachronism, having the same remote, discordant relationship with the present as those who are buried. How is Bloom to escape this condition?

"If little Rudy had lived. See him grow up. Hear his voice in the house. Walking beside Molly in a Eton suit. My son. Me in his eyes. Strange feeling it would be. From me. Just a chance… She had that cream gown on with the rip she never stitched. Give us a touch, Poldy. god, I’m dying for it. How Life begins. (p.89) "

His only hope is to merge with Molly, (or perhaps another woman? Gerty? Martha? Mrs. Breen?) to produce another son. In this sense, Ulysses is a quest for home and family. Like the live man in the coffin banging in vain six feet underground, Bloom questions silently:

"No son. Rudy. Too late now. Or if not? If still? (p.285) "

Again and again we see Bloom unable to communicate his needs and/or desires and thus unable to realize his hopes. The first conversation in the book between Molly and Bloom attests to their acute communication problem:

"He said softly in the bare hall: -I am going round the corner. Be back in a minute. And when he had heard his voice say it he added: -You don’t want anything for breakfast? A sleepy soft grunt answered: -Mn. "

And Bloom must interpret:

"No. She did not want anything. (p.56) "

Wait. What is this? Molly does not want any breakfast? Does she even hear Bloom’s question? We find out later Molly does indeed want breakfast.

"Hurry on with that tea, she said. I’m parched…What a time you were, she said…She doubled a slice of bread into her mouth (p.62-63) "

Bloom certainly wanted to bring Molly breakfast, for he would not even have asked or bothered if he did not. Why all this confusion? Bloom speaks “softly in the bare hall,” isolated and lonely like in the coffin. Milly’s quickly scrawled letter makes him feel helpless in his isolation:

"Separation…Prevent Useless: can’t move. Useless to move now (p.66-67) "

His affection, and longing for his precious only child cannot be communicated to Milly, the one who could alleviate his loneliness by simply writing longer letters. It does seem at times, though, that everyone is crowded outside Bloom’s metaphorical coffin, knocking, but Bloom cannot respond. Martha, in her letter, begs Bloom to answer her many questions and reveal himself to her:

"Please write me a long letter and tell me more (p.78) "

When he is writing back to her, however, his thought processes are confused, and his letter seems to be drivel:

"know what I mean. No, change that ee. Accept my poor little pres enclos. Ask her no answ…Bye for today. Yes, yes will tell you. Want to. To keep it up. Call me that other. "

And then he asks himself “Folly am I writing” (p.279). Bloom has trouble communicating to just about everyone it seems. He struggles to explain his idea of the “House of Keyes.. Isle of Man… Innuendo of Home rule” (quest for home and family symbol) as an advertisement to a foreman in Aeolus:

"You see? Do you think that’s a good idea? The foreman moved his scratching hand to his lower ribs and scratched there quietly (p.120) "

—in confusion. Even among “the guys” in Cyclops, Bloom fails to make his point effectively. “Love, says Bloom” (p.333), and his attempt at wisdom and communication is met with sarcasm.

Bloom tries to become like a woman in two ways: either he tries to identify with them, imagine how they feel, or he acts in such a way to cause himself to be like, or treated like, a woman. He tries the former when thinking about Widow Dignam:

"Condole with her. Your terrible loss. I hope you’ll soon follow him…Her son was the substance. Something new to hope for not like the past she wanted back, waiting It never comes. One must go first: alone under the ground: and lie no more in her warm bed. (p.102) "

How appropriate! One might think that Bloom was thinking of himself rather than poor departed Dignam. He wants Molly to “follow him” and get him out of that coffin so that they can make babies. He imagines Mrs. Purefoy in labour, sharing her agony as if the child was his own:

"Sss. Dth, dth, dth! Three days imagine groaning on a bed with a vinegared handkerchief round her forehead, her belly swollen out! Phew! Dreadful simply! Child’s head too big: forceps. Doubled up inside her trying to butt its way out blindly, groping for the way out. Kill me that would. (p. 161) "

Bloom’s own fears of dying babies are reflected in the above mentioned gory details: the umbilical cord strangling the baby’s oversized head, the forceps piercing his little heart. But then Bloom thinks more optimistically of women preparing for the ritual of sexual reproduction. He believes he understands women completely:

"I’m all clean come and dirty me. And they like dressing one another for the sacrifice. Milly delighted with Molly’s new blouse. At first. Put them all on to take them all off. Molly (p.368) "

Bloom even empathizes with a prostitute. “O, well, she has to live like the rest.”

In Circe, Bloom actually becomes a prostitute. Here is Bloom’s “moment of truth”:

" BLOOM …Not man…Woman. BELLO …Henceforth you are unmanned and mine in earnest, a thing under the yoke. "

And from this point on Bloom learns what it is like to be a woman, a slave, a doll, a plaything. He is mutilated, degraded, condescended to. And that precious power of women to give life? That belongs to Bello also, for Bello auctions off Bloom’s breast milk. (p. 535-540)

Does Bloom get out of the coffin? Well women are not attracted to him because he seems like them, and he certainly cannot become a woman, and after his dream, he probably would not want to…

—

On Sunday, June 16, 2019, I will be performing at this Bloomsday event organized by playwright and James Joyce aficionado Jeff Helgeson.

#Leopold Bloom #James Joyce #Bloomsday #old paper #Ullysses

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johnhardinsawyer · 6 years

Text

Be Transformed

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

11 / 5 / 17

Isaiah 64:8

Romans 12:1-8

“Be Transformed”

(Metamorphosis of the Mind)

“I don’t care if people love me. . . [but] I would prefer that everyone agree with me.”[1] These words could have been said by any of the talking heads on television, or opinionated internet bloggers, or that one cousin or uncle who always sends you e-mails you don’t want. But it was the sometimes-funny-but-mostly-just-abrasive Bill Maher on a recent show who said that he would prefer everyone agree with him. He doesn’t care if they love him or not. I think that Mr. Maher may have well unwittingly coined the slogan of our age.

Remember, this feeling is not confined to one side or the other of the spectrum. I was at a restaurant recently and saw a sign that said:

In this place we always, salute our flag, support our troops, buy American, say “Merry Christmas,” say “One nation under God,” respect our law enforcement. If this offends you. . . there’s the door.[2]

Now, I don’t have a specific problem with anything on this list – supporting the troops, respecting law enforcement, and the like – but the spirit in which the sign was written is offensive to me. The “I don’t care about you if you disagree with me” attitude that so many people seem to espouse in the present age on all sides of every issue is a problem. Most of us would prefer that everyone agreed with us. Life would be simpler. People wouldn’t have to argue or fight about anything. Everything would be would be nice and good and peaceful, right? Alas, we are not God, and our world doesn’t work like that, even though we might wish it would.

I recently watched some friends of mine get into it on Facebook – arguing about something or other. Everyone was way-too-serious and over-the-top, and in the end, no one convinced anyone else to change their minds. They just talked past each other and it seemed like the attitude on both sides of the argument was, “Why should I change my mind if I know I’m right?” It is attitudes like this that can destroy friendships and marriages, and split whole churches and whole countries right down the middle. But this seems to be the way of the world right now.

This is not new.

I don’t know if Martin Luther was planning to start an actual fight or just encourage a healthy debate 500 years ago when he posted his list of things he thought the church was doing wrong, but his social media post on the Wittenburg church door changed the course of history. Sides were chosen. Nobody backed down. The church was shattered into a thousand pieces. People were even killed.

One biographer wrote that Luther’s list “differed from the ordinary propositions for debate because they were forged in anger.”[3] And they made other people angry, too. Yes, people back in those days had plenty to be angry about and so do people these days. Ideas, beliefs, and opinions all have power over our emotions but this power is not always for the good. It is okay to be passionate about what you think, feel, and believe, but it is way too easy for our passion to misinform and transform our minds, and hearts, and spirits in ugly ways. Alas, this is the way of the world. If only there was another way. . .

The Apostle Paul, in today’s reading from his letter to the Romans, wants to remind us that there is another way. He encourages us to not be conformed to this age[4] and the ways people normally think and operate, but to be transformed by a rebirth[5] of our mind, our intellect, our understanding.[6] (Romans 12:1-2) There is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace, but because God is so gracious to us, we are called to live a certain way. Paul invites us to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit is always working on us, working within us, working through us, sometimes working despite us – to make us more holy – drawing us closer and closer to God. The “churchy” word that is sometimes used to describe this work by the Holy Spirit is “sanctification.”

If this is the life that we truly desire – a life that is not conformed to this world, a life that is holy and lived in and with God – then Paul invites us to radically reorient ourselves so that we might live this life fully. According to Paul, we live life fully, when we to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. This means that we take every aspect of our lives, everything we do, everything we are, and we “place it before God as an offering.”[7] We offer ourselves to God because God comes first in our lives. But we can’t do this unless we mean it and it doesn’t just happen by flipping some spiritual switch. It takes time to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, who changes our minds – who causes our whole understanding of life to undergo a metamorphosis, a radical transformation. Instead of preferring that everyone else agree with us, our minds and hearts and spirits are changed in such a way that we – from the center of who we are – prefer to agree with God. This is not the way of the world in which we live, but it is the way of the world that God is making. . .

When Karl Barth wrote about this passage, he translated it in this way: “I beseech you – not to fashion yourselves according to the present form of this world, but according to its coming transformation.”[8] In other words: “God is doing something big – transforming the world, making things on earth as they are in heaven. We might not see it, but there are signs that it is happening. So, live for the great world that God is making – the kingdom that is breaking forth – instead of whatever small age, or world you find yourself living for.”

We cannot do this on our own. We need help. And admitting we need help is a good place to start. As Paul writes, our transformation starts with humility – to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. (Romans 12:3) This was first and foremost on the mind of Jesus, who emptied himself, humbled himself, and became obedient to God – all for the sake of God’s love for us.

Is it possible for us to transform our own minds so that we can be like Jesus? No. We are sinful people and always choose to not do what God wants us to do. As Karl Barth wrote:

There is no human action which is in itself fashioned according to the transformation of this world [we are sinful people]; but there are actions which seem so transparent that the light of the coming Day is almost visible in them.” [9]

God changes us from the inside, out, and God can be seen and is at work through us, through our thoughts and actions.

This is a process that takes our whole lives. We can fight the process, forget about the process, decide to not embrace the process time and time again, but God never goes away and God’s work is never done. Martin Luther said that the life of a Christian is a life that is on the way toward God. The Christian life is not meant to stand still, but instead,

to move from that which is good to that which is better. . . It does not help a tree to have green leaves and flowers if it does not bear fruit. . . No one is so good that [they] could not become better. . .[10]

God makes us better, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and if there is anything at all that aids this transformation, it is when we remember who we are – that we are not God – and whose we are – that we belong to God. This is “repentance” – turning toward God – undergoing a metamorphosis, being changed by grace for grace. God is the potter. We are the clay, being shaped into the image of Christ, by the grace of God.

One of the places we find this grace is here – at this Table – where the bread and the juice are not transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus, but where we are transformed by God’s grace to be God’s people in the world – strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

You know, you and I might not think the same way on a lot of things, but we are all people in need of God’s grace. And God’s grace, as Barth says, “is sufficient to destroy [our] noxious [self-] assurance and to give us the status of new [people] in Christ.”[11] Transformed by grace for grace.

You and I might not agree on everything, but I do care that God loves you.

God loves you.

May this be an idea - no, a reality - that will, in the end, transform us all.

Sisters and brothers, be transformed.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

-----------

[1] Paraphrased from Bill Maher, Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO, October 27, 2017). 2 minutes, 17 seconds. Warning: Explicit Language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA-0FP3JcJs&t=140s.

[2] https://www.ramsonsimports.com/product.jhtm?id=13545&cid=391.

[3] Roland Bainton, Here I Stand – A Life of Martin Luther (New York: Abington-Cokesbury Press, 1950) 80.

[4] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979) 27.

[5] Bauer, 55.

[6] Bauer, 544.

[7] Eugene Peterson, The Message – Numbered Edition (Colorado Springs: NAV Press, 2002), 1557.

[8] Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968) 433.

[9] Barth, 434. [Brackets are my own interpretation.]

[10] Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1976) 167-168.

[11] Barth, 437 – paraphrased, JHS.

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dailyofficereadings · 6 years

Text

Daily Office Readings October 10, 2018

Psalm 119:145-176

145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord. I will keep your statutes. 146 I cry to you; save me, that I may observe your decrees. 147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my hope in your words. 148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night, that I may meditate on your promise. 149 In your steadfast love hear my voice; O Lord, in your justice preserve my life. 150 Those who persecute me with evil purpose draw near; they are far from your law. 151 Yet you are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are true. 152 Long ago I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever.

153 Look on my misery and rescue me, for I do not forget your law. 154 Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise. 155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes. 156 Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your justice. 157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, yet I do not swerve from your decrees. 158 I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands. 159 Consider how I love your precepts; preserve my life according to your steadfast love. 160 The sum of your word is truth; and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.

161 Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words. 162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. 163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law. 164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous ordinances. 165 Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. 166 I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and I fulfill your commandments. 167 My soul keeps your decrees; I love them exceedingly. 168 I keep your precepts and decrees, for all my ways are before you.

169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word. 170 Let my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise. 171 My lips will pour forth praise, because you teach me your statutes. 172 My tongue will sing of your promise, for all your commandments are right. 173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. 174 I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. 175 Let me live that I may praise you, and let your ordinances help me. 176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm 128-130

Psalm 128

The Happy Home of the Faithful

A Song of Ascents.

1 Happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. 2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. 4 Thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

5 The Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. 6 May you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 129

Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies

A Song of Ascents.

1 “Often have they attacked me from my youth” —let Israel now say— 2 “often have they attacked me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. 3 The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long.” 4 The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked. 5 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward. 6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops that withers before it grows up, 7 with which reapers do not fill their hands or binders of sheaves their arms, 8 while those who pass by do not say, “The blessing of the Lord be upon you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Psalm 130

Waiting for Divine Redemption

A Song of Ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

Micah 2

Social Evils Denounced

2 Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds[a] on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power. 2 They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance. 3 Therefore thus says the Lord: Now, I am devising against this family an evil from which you cannot remove your necks; and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time. 4 On that day they shall take up a taunt song against you, and wail with bitter lamentation, and say, “We are utterly ruined; the Lord[b] alters the inheritance of my people; how he removes it from me! Among our captors[c] he parcels out our fields.” 5 Therefore you will have no one to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach— “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.” 7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Is the Lord’s patience exhausted? Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to one who walks uprightly? 8 But you rise up against my people[d] as an enemy; you strip the robe from the peaceful,[e] from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war. 9 The women of my people you drive out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my glory forever. 10 Arise and go; for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction.[f] 11 If someone were to go about uttering empty falsehoods, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” such a one would be the preacher for this people!

A Promise for the Remnant of Israel

12 I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the survivors of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture; it will resound with people. 13 The one who breaks out will go up before them; they will break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass on before them, the Lord at their head.

Footnotes:

Micah 2:1 Cn: Heb work evil

Micah 2:4 Heb he

Micah 2:4 Cn: Heb the rebellious

Micah 2:8 Cn: Heb But yesterday my people rose

Micah 2:8 Cn: Heb from before a garment

Micah 2:10 Meaning of Heb uncertain

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

Acts 23:23-35

Paul Sent to Felix the Governor

23 Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen. 24 Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Felix the governor.” 25 He wrote a letter to this effect:

26 “Claudius Lysias to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, but when I had learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with the guard and rescued him. 28 Since I wanted to know the charge for which they accused him, I had him brought to their council. 29 I found that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but was charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.[a]”

31 So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him during the night to Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the horsemen go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. 33 When they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. 34 On reading the letter, he asked what province he belonged to, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s headquarters.[b]

Footnotes:

Acts 23:30 Other ancient authorities add Farewell

Acts 23:35 Gk praetorium

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

Luke 7:18-35

Messengers from John the Baptist

18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples 19 and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’” 21 Jesus[a] had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers[b] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. 23 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus[c] began to speak to the crowds about John:[d] “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? Someone[e] dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God,[f] because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. 30 But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)

31 “To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’

33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; 34 the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Footnotes:

Luke 7:21 Gk He

Luke 7:22 The terms leper and leprosy can refer to several diseases

Luke 7:24 Gk he

Luke 7:24 Gk him

Luke 7:25 Or Why then did you go out? To see someone

Luke 7:29 Or praised God

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

#October 10 #2018

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