So my mom has been a conservative Christian all her life and is currently balls deep in the Trump fandom.
And I think I can change that.
My reasoning for why I think she can become a socialist:
She used some extremely liberal parenting styles on me and my brother, like gentle parenting before it got popular
I once got her to agree to the phrase “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.”
She thinks Hasan is hot (who doesn’t?)
She’s incredibly empathetic
There’s quite a few people in conservative Christianity and the Republican Party that she loathes
So yesterday we talked a bit about the idea of conservative Christian capitalism and the dangers it causes. It led me to showing her this video from Genetically Modified Skeptic, which was what prompted the conversation in the first place.
The three levels it talks about are
Using God as a marketing tool rather than doing anything actually Christian
Prosperity gospel/Worship music
Christian Imperialism
And we had some good takeaways from the video.
She recognizes that some people just use God and Jesus as a gimmick to sell their product
She hates Trump’s spiritual advisor Paula Cain-White
She no longer wants to try to get her church to use modern worship music
The record companies built on churches are evading taxes
Churches should sometimes be taxed
The Christian music industry is entirely motivated by money and is predatory
Reagan supported a genocide in Guatemala
A genocide against the Mayas even happened in Guatemala
Israel has far more influence over our politics than she realized
The Nigerian “Christian genocide” issue goes far deeper than she realized
We had a really deep conversation about Nigeria afterwards because that’s an issue she’s incredibly passionate about, and we both learned far more about it, having no idea what was happening with Boko Haram.
This was some phenomenal progress, most I’ve made today date. Now trying to figure out the next move.
If JK Rowling really wanted to take back her transphobia, and I mean if she genuinely were to have a complete change of heart, she would donate 10x whatever she donated to TERF nonprofits to ones fighting for trans rights and would dedicate the rest of her life/social influence to fighting transphobia and lobbying British Parliament to restoring and introducing new trans rights. But I doubt she’ll do this.
In the past eighteen months, there have been very few instances of regret at cutting my best friend of seven years off. Most of the regret comes in the form of things that are easily replaceable with less shitty people. Some of it comes in the form of self-loathing which my therapist and real best friend are quick to rectify. "You've improved so much since cutting her off." "Please don't tell me you're thinking about texting her, she's a bitch and not in a fun way."
The only time I have truly wished that we still spoke is right fucking now because WHY DID LESTAT MAKE OUT WITH HIS OWN FUCKING MOTHER THE WOMAN WHOM YOU SO ECSTATICALLY HYPED UP FOR ME
if somebody would have warned me that she becomes a boy mom I would have approached this season a little differently
Watching Bridgerton and desperately wanting to yell at Francesca “A PINNACLE IS A CRESCENDO” bc she’s autistic and I don’t think she’s going to be able to understand it any other way
Fantasy romance vs. romantic fantasy vs. romantasy
(according to me a mere English lit major)
Fantasy romance
The main genre is romance, the fantasy element is secondary. The plot revolves around something mainly seen in romance novels such as fake dating, forced proximity, etc. but it probably wouldn’t be too hard to take the fantasy elements out. The main reason you pick up the book is for the romance. It’s regular rivals to lovers but they happen to be witches. It’s the one bed trope but they’re vampires and it’s a coffin instead.
Examples:
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Reason: While the characters would have a harder time meeting without the fantasy element (or mating, for that matter), it’s still possible. The main plot is the romance. Everything else comes secondary.
A Lesson in Thorns by Sierra Simone
Reason: the fantasy is barely present in this first book, but even in the main series, we mainly read to learn more about Proserpina, Auden, and Saint’s relationships. Why they fight, why they hate, why they love each other in their own fucked up way (cough cough Auden). If Thornchapel weren’t magical, everything would stay the same.
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Reason: the first good chunk of the book is romance. This isn’t the best example, but people don’t read Twilight for the inner vampire politics. They read it for the will-they/won’t-they of Bella and Edward’s relationship.
Romantic fantasy
These are fantasy books with a rather nice romantic subplot, but it’s very much a subplot. It’s not doing any of the heavy lifting. It may motivate a character’s actions, but the plot doesn’t hinge on the romance. The plot more revolves around whatever large fantasy issue is happening, usually world-changing. But there’s a lil bit of romance sprinkled in as a treat.
Examples:
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
Reason: The main plot revolves around Silas and the school, figuring out the mystery. Daphne’s existence is primarily to affirm Silas’s and to rescue him during one moment. They have my favorite romance in any book ever, but it truly is a subplot.
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
Reason: While I love Elspeth and Ravyn, their romance doesn’t do much for the plot until the second book. Everything, for the most part, continues as it should, without the romance. If you wrote out the romance, not much would change.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Reason: While a big selling point for this book is its unique love triangle, the plot doesn’t change much if the main three were friends instead of lovers. The plot doesn’t hinge on them being lovers until the second book, or until the very end of this one, depending how you look at it. They do have an absolutely stellar throuple, though.
Romantasy
To qualify as a romantasy novel, a book must balance the fantasy and romance plots with near equal precision and entwine them so that they become inseparable. If you get rid of the romance, then the third act crumbles entirely. Or if you remove the fantasy then the romance dies. This is a lot trickier to do which is why a lot of romantasy books feel similar to each other or feel like they have cheap quality.
Examples:
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Reason: Without the magical war, there’s no reason for Violet and Xaden to be enemies. They wouldn’t have fallen for each other without magic in varying capacities. But also the actions they take are completely dependent on their love for/obsession with one another, sometimes to the narrative’s detriment.
Peter Darling by Austin Chant
Reason: Peter and James would never have met without Neverland, but they never could have escaped Neverland without each other. Their romance affects the fate of the island, literally. Peter’s heartbreak freezes the surrounding ocean and keeps James trapped on Neverland, and it’s their love for each other that melts the ice and allows them to go home with each other.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Reason: Wei Ying and Lan Zhan would never have met without cultivation. They hunt demons together, fight in wars, learn magic, it’s all fantasy. And Wei Ying coming back to life through necromancy is what allows their relationship to come to fruition. Without the demonic cultivation, Lan Zhan never would have been able to be with Wei Ying. But without their romance, a lot of the plot wouldn’t exist. Lan Zhan stays by Wei Ying’s side no matter what, and his choices because of that change the outcome of both plots. But additionally, most people go to it for a mix of the fantasy plot and the romance. Xianxia does as xianxia do.
But also everything is up to interpretation! I’m sure someone’s going to disagree with a sorting I have on here, but I think this sorting helps identify more of what readers look for. If you need a strong fantasy plot and someone recommends you a fantasy romance book with cartoon protagonists on the cover, it’s not quite up your alley. Me personally, I’m someone who craves the duality of romantasy, so getting recommended the other two can let me down. This is all just to help understand your preferences.
Honestly, Tvyek is pretty miraculous. It’s permeable to water vapor but not to water, it’s nearly impossible to tear, but can be easily cut. It’s cheap and made entirely without binding chemicals. In addition to being used for wristbands, it’s used to wrap construction sites to keep out water during construction, for tear-resistant envelopes at Fed-Ex, coveralls for mechanics, and my wallet, actually.
Fun tip, though it looks like paper, Tyvek is plastic, and cannot be recycled with paper.
It’s also used in baby books called Indestructibles, and it means they can get put in the dishwasher or laundry in case some bodily fluids end up on it.
Also those wristbands are easy to remove. You grab the inside tab where there’s a little extra wristband and pull up.
the thing about growing up with siblings in an abusive household is that ultimately you're each other's jail wardens and whipping boys and that does things to you no matter how much you sincerely love each other and understand why it happened the way it did and wish you could have been big and strong enough to save both of you
it's just inevitably going to be difficult to reconcile the love you feel for the other half of a bear trap clamped around both your legs. is the thing.
I think if the MCU wants to gain its footing back, it should go back to basics: X-Men. Put their effort into making a really good X-Men movie or a few. Get new actors. Get the characters that we never got to see like Gambit and Morph, and give us better renditions of characters done wrong the first time like Storm and Rogue. THEN reincorporate the multiverse shit bit by bit. Make us excited to have it back. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and right now they’re doing whatever the opposite of that is.
