#intelligencehavingfun

[wormwoodandhoney]

podcast: of slippers & spindles

for @droo216 & @intelligencehavingfun, inspired by @yourockthebeatofmyheart

for my favorite podcast, from my heart.

[sighnomoretour]

So Tumblr did that thing where it didn't tell me I had messages. Thanks, Tumblr. My podcast is called Shakesbeer and can be found wherever podcasts are found. I recommended Sigh No More at the end of our ... Coriolanus analysis episode, I think? And I've been recommending it to so many people to read. Really, really well done.

oh my gosh!!! thank you so much! i just listened to it and i blushed the whole time! you guys do such a wonderful job talking about shakespeare as well- people who are interested should check out shakesbeer!

[unacaritafeliz]

I spent the last two days rereading AoLW because I was feeling nostalgic and I missed our children and now all I want to do is write how they're all handling the virus except that imagining headcanons made me sad, and this isn't going to cheer you up at all, but hey here I am.

Okay 1. You talking to me always cheers me up so jot that down, 2. Maybe I should use my iso time to reread that (especially since I... uh... never read the revised version), and 3. It was established in 2016 that AOLW takes place in an alternate timeline to ours so I am choosing to believe that there is no coronavirus in that timeline. The kids are gonna have a picnic today and it WILL BE FUN (also is Andie old enough for Eddie yet?)

[kyrieanne]

intelligencehavingfun replied to your post “ltcommanderkathrynjaneway replied to your post: ...”

My mom (retired UMC pastor) thinks we're headed for a schism. Because I genuinely think the North American UMC would vote to change the BoD, but (to my understanding), it's the South American and African UMC regions that are really strongly opposed. But something's gotta give. It just has to. It feels like we're on a precipice, and I just want the UMC to be on the right side of this, finally. We've been on the wrong side and debating it for so long.

I think it’s going to be a cluserf*ck either way. One thing I failed to say in my original post was that I don’t think a clusterf*ck is a bad thing. It’s going to be painful and messy, but like you I just want the debating to stop and the choices made. 

I’d say broadly speaking the America/Europe faction is more theologically progressive than the Africa/South America faction, but for both sides their points of view around human sexuality are never in a vacuum. This news article from 2015 does a good job of highlighting the thorny layers. African bishops put forth a statement - urging the church to not allow the ordination of and marriage between LGBTQ persons - and in that same statement tried to draw attention to the massive refugee crisis happening on their continent. They said: 

“As a church, we are called to be in solidarity with people who suffer as a result of unjust political systems, wars, famine, poverty, natural disasters, diseases, illiteracy, etc. We believe that we can be united around these issues rather than allow ourselves to be ripped apart by issues of sexual orientation.”

The fact is that the denomination is US-centric. General Conference always takes place in the US so members from around world have to travel to us. It’s always in English (with translators). While the current conferences in Africa and the Philippines were founded in the 1920′s & 30′s - there is the very real history going back centuries of the marriage between Christianity and colonization. Also, while the largest jurisdiction is in the Southeastern US (my jurisdiction) the second largest and fastest growing one is in Africa. 

So do we decide to split based on these historical and cultural differences? Do we agree to disagree because what binds us together is stronger than what we are divided by? I think some things are worth schism over. I want our denomination to be on the what I think is right and just side of this. I want to be in control and I have to realize that in most parts of this whole thing - I am not. 

But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t draw one last point. ;) 

What is the cost of schism? 

The Catholic church has held onto their unity with bare-knuckled tenacity. It’s more of a Protestant (and therefore younger) impulse to sub-divide and sub-divide. 

There’s a book that’s next on my reading list - The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Life-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart by Bill Bishop - which Brene Brown references a lot in her book Braving the Wilderness. So I haven’t read it myself, but her summary is that Bishop argues there is a real loss and even danger to like-minded clustering. However, what is most surprising - they both say - is that clustering with like-minded people - in our neighborhoods, social media feeds, etc. - correlates with a growing phenomenon of loneliness among Americans. You’d think if your world is mostly people who think like you do you’d never feel lonely. 

I’m trying to resist drawing neat answers because right now I think it is important for me - personally - to see what happens in the next month. It will be a clusterf*ck, but it is one we need to walk into. Like you I so desperately hope we remove the restrictive language from the BoD, champion the ordination of LGTBQ persons who feel called by God to be ministers, and marry all couples who want to stand before God and a faith community to say I do. I WANT IT TO HAPPEN. I also desperately want to see the church resist both a) a hollow unity in name only and b) division to the point that we’re in a crowded room and feel utterly alone. I know I want too much, but I feel like its important for me to trust that somewhere in this painful, painful process God is making and remaking something good. 

[anonsally]

intelligencehavingfun replied to your post: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

The Gen question and the Kitty question are answered in the book. The Gen question might be in book 2, though, I can’t remember, and the movie takes elements from both books 1 and 2, which I thought was a smart choice. I enjoyed the first book immensely, but have now stalled out twice on book 2 around the halfway point because so much of it should have, I feel, been included in book 1. But definitely worth a read.

Oh, this is useful information. Thank you! 

[droo216]

This is a rather odd question, but which increment of the modern fairy tale series (Laura's, the modern magic world one) was your favourite, and why?

Oh! I’m guessing you mean The Lost Princess of Merope?? (Which I freaking adore?!) I have two favorites! The first is Chapter Five, when we need Evangeline, because she’s my favorite character, she’s so fun and bubbly. The second is Chapter Seven, because I LOVE that way of hiding clues. My friend Cassie (@intelligencehavingfun) to write me stories for my birthday every year and one of them had “HAPPY BIRTHDAY DREW” (or something close to that) as a secret message by using the first letter of every paragraph and I just adore that, PLUS I thought the twist of where the titular Lost Princess was genius and I did not see it coming!

[shipping-goggles]

intelligencehavingfun replied to your post “belleinabookshop: What I love about Belle’s beard comment and the...”

That's exactly what it is. Dan Stevens as Dan Stevens, playfully growling and snapping his teeth in a seductive manner.

[SWEATING INTENSIFIES]

I should probably be more ashamed of my priorities here but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[sighnomoretour]

It is hard to pick something that is my favorite thing that you are doing with Sigh No More, because all of it is so beautifully thought out, but I think the removal of the Watch and the character Dogberry is my favorite. You've created a version where they're not necessary, and I'm glad because I just find the Watch scenes so tiresome in the play. Love Rico having the courage to stand up and tell the truth here instead.

i usually find it tiring too which is definitely why i cut it, although the dogberry in the most recent Much Ado starring Danielle Brooks was WONDERFUL and honestly so funny. also “dogberry” just seemed like a good band name lol.