One of the most pleasant surprises of joining the Jane Austen fandom has been discovering that I’m not alone in my obsessive totally healthy love for Colonel Brandon…particularly when he happens to be played by the incomparable Alan Rickman 🙂 I totally get why Darcy, Wentworth and Knightley get so much adoration, but as someone who always connected deeply with Sense and Sensibility’s themes and is way too similar to Marianne, it warms my weird little heart to see my beloved Colonel Brandon get some well-deserved praise as well.
I always loved Colonel Brandon, but it’s Alan Rickman’s performance that solidified this character as one of my favorite male characters of all time. I hope Alan Rickman is resting in peace and somehow knows how much joy his work has brought—and will continue to bring—to legions of current and future fans.
I love the American Girl series, but I cannot believe they passed up the opportunity to have 20-year-old Samantha Parkington meet 10-year-old Rebecca Rubin in New York City in 1914–HOW AMAZING WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN FOR FANS?
On that distant prairie, when the days were long, Tripping like a fairy, sweet her song, With the sunny blossoms, and the birds at play, Beautiful and bright as they.
My original two are ready for St. Lucia Day and Hanukkah.
It’s December 13th! And for all you American Girl fans out there, you know it’s time to don your Advent wreaths and bake sticky buns and wake everyone up by wishing them a very happy Saint Lucia Day!
For anyone who wants to see it, here’s Doug Jones’ victory speech :o)
I do know voter suppression is a big thing in these sort of states, which I find incongruous taking into account the US calls itself the greatest democracy in the world. It blows my mind because it’s legal election fraud, wtf???
But also there are lots of large demographic groups that seem to be with Moore and shouldn’t (WTF white women, how are you voting for a guy who thinks you shouldn’t vote, nevermind his many rape accusations) and that’s just fucked up. FUCKED UP. Also the whole Christianity aspect to this is super weird because I’m from a catholic country and religion, outside some of the big debates, is not mentioned in politics at all (still a major player in the abortion debate, but outside that the only other debate where the church flexes its muscle is poverty and how that shit doesn’t fly).
The Bible belt is weird. Basically, the GOP has made abortion this hugely debated issue of morality for the past 30 years…to the point where your faith in God is questioned if you support abortion or any kind of pro-choiceish position. In a lot of Alabamians minds, it’s a vote between murder and pedophilia, as weird and crazy as that sounds. I know tons of people who vote purely on a candidate’s stance on abortion–my high school pastor was one of them.
The GOP did a great job coopting the Evangelical church, is basically what I’m saying.
JUST HAVE BETTER FAMILY PLANNING AND EASY ACCESS TO CONTRACEPTION AND THE ABORTION ISSUE SUDDENLY DOESN’T SEEM THAT DIRE.
Also, if you’re pro-life, BE pro-life. Worry about the baby once it’s OUT of the womb too. Otherwise WTF???
The Evangelical church sounds terrifying. Here it’s more associated with… how do I put it? A cheap form of Christianity? Like… less valid, somehow? It might be wholly different in all aspects from American evangelism, I don’t know.
A cheap form of Christianity is probably a good way to describe it. But it’s sooo addicting. I don’t know how to express that properly, because it seems crazy once you’re outside it. But the self-validation, the instant community, the sweet, blessed assurance that you have ALL the answers…is powerful. In a weird way, I sometimes miss it.
Phoenix, you’re spot-on. I’m from Tennessee, and this is exactly what’s going on. The people here aren’t necessarily bad, but they’ve been so effectively brainwashed that they think anything remotely liberal is against God. If not for my Democrat mom, it would’ve taken me a lifetime to crawl out of that.
In my family, “liberal” was the very worst thing you could call someone. If my father accused your opinion of being “liberal”, we immediately shut up. I still have a weird hangup about the word “liberal”, though I’m trying to get past it…which makes it all the more amusing to me that in leftist circles “liberal” is suddenly being used as a slur.
This is what happens when political parties take control of religion. Religion makes a powerful political ally.
Ok, I don’t share this too much, but here’s a little fact about me: I’m an ordained United Methodist minister, and whenever I call my representatives/senators, I always make sure to drop that into the conversation. And you know who ends up doing a verbal “double-take”? The Republicans. I don’t know if that’s because they’re shocked to hear a *gasp* WOMAN tell them she’s ordained clergy, or the fact that *gasp* I’m a Christian who also happens to be pro-choice and pro-marriage equality.
As a “mainline Protestant”, I was exposed to a great many different theological thoughts, so “liberalism” was never seen as a “dirty word”. In fact, the church which I grew up in was very liberal in its politics and theology, and proudly so. So it was a bit of a shock to the system when I learned that there were people who called themselves “Christian” but who didn’t really seem to reflect Christ-like tendencies, i.e. not show love to one’s neighbor (let alone enemy).
But the point I make is that if you are religious, ESPECIALLY if you are Christian, TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES, because they need to be reminded that not everyone who shares a similar label thinks 100% the same way–and speaking specifically of my Republican representatives, they don’t know how exactly to argue with someone who thinks/votes Democrat, but can also quote the Bible and argue against their conservative points with sound biblical/theological teaching
Musings of a Yankee Countess 