so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god
okay so i just got my dream job??? a week after applying to it?? and now i’m thinking….maybe this is the good luck post
Hi friends! I graduated yesterday with a 3.8! I hope all my nervous college students out there work hard and achieve their dreams!
sometimes self care is just telling yourself that you can always try again tomorrow
the thing folks living in Christian dominant cultures gotta realize is that even if you’re not Christian, your basic understanding of religion and spirituality and morality is still being filtered through a Christian lens. your very concept of what religion is and does is filtered through that lens.
This is what I call cultural Christianity, for those who are still confused
“But everyone celebrates christmas.” No. No we don’t.
“Religion is based on complete blind submission and not asking any questions ever”
No. That’s Christianity.
“Religion is totally focused on the afterlife and getting into heaven and avoiding hell”
Nope. Christianity again.
“Religion is about pushing your beliefs on others and trying to get them to convert”
Still Christianity.
Actually that’s even more specific - that’s Calvinism, which predominates in America. America isn’t just culturally Christian,it’s culturally Calvinist, which very specifically focuses on submission, the fear of damnation, and conversion. It’s also not just any old Calvinism, but a very rigidly puritanical variety thanks to our roots.
There are other culturally Christian countries, which are of other denominations and therefore have a slightly different bent. England is culturally Anglican, Germany is culturally Lutheran, Italy and Spain are culturally Catholic, Russia is culturally Orthodox, etc. However, even the cultural Catholicism of Italy is different from, say, the cultural Catholicism of Ireland.
So even here, we need to be careful not to filter other cultures’ Christianities through what is a very Americanized (via @queertilly) Christianity, and vice versa with other countries. Speaking as an American, even our concept of what Christianity is has been Americanised.
^^^ that
Question: what if you’re Jewish in America and don’t see religion through any of the lenses you’ve mentioned? Are there other false beliefs one can get through the dominant culture here?
Oh, definitely. I can’t think of any off the top of my head, though
Picture a wedding. Any wedding even in a fantasy context. Let me guess, you’re picturing a woman in a veil and a white gown, some guy in robes officiating, and it’s probably taking place in a church-like building, right? Christian culture is pervasive like that.
I once gave a lecture about “rituals”, and I asked the people who were attending how a marriage looks like in their culture. An adult woman answered “the bride always wears a white dress”. So I asked her which culture she was talking about. She kept insisting that that was the case in every culture, “even with atheists like me”, and that it wasn’t culturally Christian. Luckily there were several Muslims in the group that told her that that’s often not the case at Muslim weddings.
Other examples of “things we internalize” -I’m going to stick with religious ones:
There’s a lot of stuff like this. In many cases, it’s about “what is the first mental image that comes to mind.”
On the wedding dress thing, the bride wearing white is historically recent (19th century) and very western.
Traditionally in China, for example, brides wear red; it’s lucky. If a Chinese bride wears white, you know she and her family have been strongly influenced by western culture (and it’s kinda sad).
I’m Jewish culturally, ethnically, etc. I was raised in a Jewish family and I went to the synagogue at least once a week as a kid (I would always try to persuade my mom to take me to friday night Shabbat services in addition to sunday school). It wasn’t until I was 10 that I found out Judaism has no concept of hell. That’s how pervasive Christianity is here. (On the other hand, when I first found out Christians went to sunday school too I was very confused because I knew Christians celebrate their sabbath on sundays. I thought they should be against having school - even just religious classes - on sundays. It wasn’t until later that I realized just how different the Christian concept of a “day of rest” seems to be.) About the Chinese weddings thing - isn’t white a mourning color in China? I thought wearing white was for funerals there.
All of these things kind of bother me when it comes to representation in media and fiction too. I’m what you would describe as culturally Jewish but not practicing, because the practice of religion is very tied to very specific people I don’t like in my life. But you barely ever see people like me. The “lives their life without thinking about religion and only goes to family gathering for big holidays without being considered religious” is such a christian thing? If you’re Jewish you don’t get to see that. It’s either “yeah that character is Jewish and we shall ignore their culture” or “this character is Jewish and VERY much practicing”. You don’t get to just be. I’d say some of my day to day is influenced by my upbringing and my morals are strongly tied to my grandparents, and they’re very much not christian. I just want explicitly Jewish characters that don’t go on and on about god in ways that put me on edge and remind me of deeply unpleasant people from my past
It’s worth thinking about how Christian ideology shaped economics in America, such as the idea that things like feeding the poor are things you are supposed to do for penance as a conscious act of charitable goodness, rather than a social safety net your government is supposed to pay for with tax dollars. The idea that penance is “suffering for God” and that suffering is therefore inherently character building, rather than harmful.
If you haven’t already done it…. Go hit that reblog button. Do what you have to, just do that too.
Like seriously. Just find one and reblog it real quick. I post a couple yesterday and put into the universe that I actually wanted it
Let it work for y’all too
i, and i can’t emphasize this enough, would literally die for merlin
Merlin, you, my friend are an amazingly wonderful fluffster
This is nothing but the truth.
I love how the camera moves during his explanation
I love that western media is like “how do I explain what’s happening in the scene with as little exposition as possible” and anime is like “how do I make sure what’s going on in the scene doesn’t distract from the exposition, knowing as I do that exposition is the very foundation of entertainment.”
Chiune Sugihara. This man saved 6000 Jews. He was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews, Sugihara risked his life to start issuing unlawful travel visas to Jews. He hand-wrote them 18 hrs a day. The day his consulate closed and he had to evacuate, witnesses claim he was STILL writing visas and throwing from the train as he pulled away. He saved 6000 lives. The world didn’t know what he’d done until Israel honored him in 1985, the year before he died.
Why can’t we have a movie about him?
He was often called “Sempo”, an alternative reading of the characters of his first name, as that was easier for Westerners to pronounce.
His wife, Yukiko, was also a part of this; she is often credited with suggesting the plan. The Sugihara family was held in a Soviet POW camp for 18 months until the end of the war; within a year of returning home, Sugihara was asked to resign - officially due to downsizing, but most likely because the government disagreed with his actions.
He didn’t simply grant visas - he granted visas against direct orders, after attempting three times to receive permission from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and being turned down each time. He did not “misread” orders; he was in direct violation of them, with the encouragement and support of his wife.
He was honoured as Righteous Among the Nations in 1985, a year before he died in Kamakura; he and his descendants have also been granted permanent Israeli citizenship. He was also posthumously awarded the Life Saving Cross of Lithuania (1993); Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1996); and the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2007). Though not canonized, some Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize him as a saint.
Sugihara was born in Gifu on the first day of 1900, January 1. He achieved top marks in his schooling; his father wanted him to become a physician, but Sugihara wished to pursue learning English. He deliberately failed the exam by writing only his name and then entered Waseda, where he majored in English. He joined the Foreign Ministry after graduation and worked in the Manchurian Foreign Office in Harbin (where he learned Russian and German; he also converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church during this time). He resigned his post in protest over how the Japanese government treated the local Chinese citizens. He eventually married Yukiko Kikuchi, who would suggest and encourage his acts in Lithuania; they had four sons together. Chiune Sugihara passed away July 31, 1986, at the age of 86. Until her own passing in 2008, Yukiko continued as an ambassador of his legacy.
It is estimated that the Sugiharas saved between 6,000-10,000 Lithuanian and Polish Jewish people.
It’s a tragedy that the Sugiharas aren’t household names. They are among the greatest heroes of WWII. Is it because they were from an Axis Power? Is it because they aren’t European? I don’t know. But I’ve decided to always reblog them when they come across my dash. If I had the money, I would finance a movie about them.
He told an interviewer:
You want to know about my motivation, don’t you? Well. It is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.
People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people’s lives….The spirit of humanity, philanthropy…neighborly friendship…with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation—and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage.
He died in nearly complete obscurity in Japan. His neighbors were shocked when people from all over, including Israeli diplomatic personnel, showed up at quiet little Mr. Sugihara’s funeral.
I will forever reblog this, I wish more people would know about them!
I liked this before when it had way less information. Thank you, history-sharers.
Tucked away in a corner in L.A.’s Little Tokyo is a life-sized statue of Chiune, seated on a bench and smiling gently as he holds out a visa.
The stone next to him bears a quote from the Talmud; “He who saves one life, saves the entire world.”
I had no idea it existed until a few weeks ago, but it’s since become one of my favorite pieces of public art.
Chiune Sugihara. Original antifa.
PBS made a documentary about Chiune Sugihara in 2005. If you’re interested in him, it’s definitely worth checking out. (The PBS link above even has some interactive information to go along with the film.) Ask your local library if they have a copy/can order you one from another library. You won’t be disappointed!
i am going to find this and take him a present
always reblog mr sugihara
“Moonchild is for those who like the night more; for those who are unable to breathe in the daylight”
— [RM VLIVE 181101]
Oops, I started a ridiculous challenge.
This is why it’s ridiculous, fyi:
Listen… my entire personal life is fucked… but I have written over 2000 words without using the letter ‘i’ even once… does that count for anything…
This is… I mean. Incredible. But terrifying.
You’ve written over 2000 words with no ‘it’. No ‘ing’. Oh God, no ‘ing’.
You’re a force to be reckoned with.
No ‘it’, no ‘is’, no ‘-ing’, no ‘in’, no ‘I’. I’m on 2,700 words now, and I’m… not sure how I’ve managed to do this. Dialogue is proving the biggest challenge, unsurprisingly. Why did I do this to myself?
So this is going to be like 15-20k when it’s done… um
If I finish this, I will probably count it amongst my greatest achievements.
Op you’re the most powerful person on writeblr right now
That’s good to hear because I’ve lost all semblance of control with respect to every other facet of my life, but
I’m maybe a third of the way through now?? So that’s good???? And now I’m going to have a very relaxing bath??????
I probably have about another 14,000 words to go and honestly, when I hit 10k (the expected halfway point), I’m going to treat myself to writing 100 words of something else that has the dang letter ‘i’ in it
Nearly wept when I realised I couldn’t use the word ‘frantic’ earlier, but
7.5k is my next milestone, and it actually might happen tomorrow, which is unnerving. How should I celebrate??
Getting really bad impostor syndrome today and feeling 95% sure that I will never amount to a thing and will probably never finish this story, and so in response to that dumb brain thought I did this
Suck it, subconscious.
You are a force of nature and I am both impressed and terrified.
Please publish this somewhere when you a e done so we can read it holy shit
I absolutely will!! In other news I hit 10k today and that’s without a thesaurus and oh golly, my poor think-box
This author is a sleeping God among mortals
The Earth fears their awakening into their full powers
Full powers yet to be confirmed, but after a short hiatus, I have returned
When I get to 12k, I might do a very elaborate jig
I really hope the title of your story is “Team.”
Alas, as good a pun as that is, it would not really suit a story about Eurydice escaping her failing marriage to Orpheus by fleeing to the Underworld and becoming a powerful undead entity, but the name of it will be a sort of pun. Ish.
