Batya, also known as The Toon | born mid-1970s | she/her pronouns | Jewish Orthodox | New Yorker | filker | fanfic writer | foodie | cranky old fandom dowager countess (sort of like being a bitter old fandom queen only less so)
(I’ve been reading this series aloud to spouse on weekends, and just recently passed that particular sequence. I may have paused there in the reading to mention “Oh, Diane Duane has been posting recipes from the Middle Kingdoms, I wonder if she’ll do the chicken stuffed with garlic soon …”)
@dduane! I am delighted to get the chance to tell you that after being intimidated by the under-the-skin stuffing technique for far too long, I have finally tried making this recipe. (With slight variations, including an element introduced from a different recipe: I scattered some halved cherry tomatoes and artichoke hearts in the pan around the stuffed chicken and sprinkled them with a layer of breadcrumbs, seasoned with the same herbs that went into the stuffing.)
It came out absolutely delicious and I will definitely be making it again. Thank you!
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So, this post made me wheeze-cackle for several minutes, which meant I had to share it around. And one of the responses I got on the discord server where I shared it was: honestly I can't decide if Grace is the right kind of nerd to have been on tumblr.
And after a few seconds of trying to decide that myself, there came another response in the conversation: I think at least he was definitely the kind of teacher that his students loved to show internet crap to.
And I had a glorious vision.
Ryland Grace is on tumblr. He's been on tumblr since the days when you could edit other people's posts. And he has been meticulously careful to make sure none of his students ever suspect it for a second -- which means he never posts anything about his work, or talks in class about anything that's crossed his dash unless he can find a plausible source somewhere else. But yes, of course, every so often his students want to share a meme or a video or a funny post with him ("wait till after class"), and he's very appreciative and never gives away if he's seen it before.
In one of his last video messages to Earth, Grace says a heartfelt and genuinely moving goodbye to his students. He ends with "Best of luck, kids. And always remember ..."
(Nobody ever suspected he had that kind of wicked grin in him.)
I don’t know what tumblr is doing but I updated the app and now it’s showing me comments you and other blogs I follow made on posts. I can’t find anything in settings about this but it’s a little weird.
I don't know why you would send me this anonymously if you follow me? That's a very weird thing to happen though. Anybody else encounter this before?
I still think it’s funny how the Exagoge a Hellenistic Jewish play about the Exodus story written in the Ptolemaic period had to include a line where God tells Moses “it is impossible for a mortal to see my face, but it is possible to hear my words”bc Greek attendees would’ve been really confused about getting to the exciting scene where a god appears and would’ve been expecting Yahweh’s actor to be lowered from the ceiling astride a chariot and would’ve been scratching their head wondering if there was technical issues with the crane or something bc like where’s the god i was expecting a cool exciting entrance of a god they clearly got the burning bush effect to work like maybe that did happen during the opening run and they had to quickly insert that line
How is this the first I have heard of the Exagoge in my slightly-over-half-century of life. HOW.
From the Wikipedia article on the play's author, Ezekiel the Tragedian:
Exagōgē is a five-act drama written in iambic trimeter, retelling of the biblical story of The Exodus from Egypt. Moses is the main character of the play, and parts of the biblical story have been altered to suit the narrative's needs. These changes probably point to Ezekiel's intention to stage the play, since certain scenes that are impossible to stage were converted into monologue. This drama is unique in blending the biblical story with the Hellenistic tragic drama; Erich S. Gruen writes that "the choice itself of that tale suggests an appeal to pride in national history and tradition produced in a quintessentially Hellenic mode."
... So you're telling me this was Alexandria's Prince of Egypt? That's what you're telling me?
I can't remember the last time I went so quickly from complete ignorance of a thing to a passionate need to experience it.
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midsummer: if the feudal strictness of your home kingdom can’t give you what you want, try going on an adventure guided by magical supernatural beings
macbeth: but not like that
hamlet: if you’re in a duplicitous violent world, your king and your peers and your girlfriend may lie to you, so only follow the advice of your steadfast best friend
othello: but not like that
as you like it: if you undergo a misfortune that causes you to hate your life in your city, give yourself a makeover and run away to the woods
timon of athens: but not like that
two gents: if you’re in love in italy, you can quickly and easily communicate important information via the verona postal service
hang on i'm gonna cry a little thinking abt how g-d promised avraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and now among millions of descendants there are thousands who literally carry his name, go up to the torah as b'nei avraham v'sarah. that's our mom and dad!
wanna cry a little more? think about how Avraham and Sarah both had trouble believing they could have a child at their advanced age, and then think about how many many centuries later they are still having children who carry their name.
this was submitted as a one sentence horror story, but it feels like it could be an old jewish joke, like the one about the two rabbis proving g-d doesn't exist or the saying 'people plan, g-d laughs'
Even more, it sounds like the beginning -- the set-up -- of the joke. Can’t you hear Carl Reiner opening a bit with this line, or Shalom Aleichem using it to kick off a story?
Well I'm not quite an old Jewish man just yet, but let me give it a shot...
Losing confidence in Himself, G-d became an atheist. He decided to go down to Earth, to walk among humans and see how they found meaning.
He wandered the world until he came to a town, where he happened upon a pastor. "Come to our church this Sunday!" said the pastor. But G-d shook his head. "I don't believe in G-d anymore," he told the pastor sullenly. "And besides, I really shouldn't be working weekends." . . .
He continued wandering, and as night fell, he realized he had no money for a hotel. Walking down the darkening sidewalk, he passed many shivering folk, some young and thin, others old and worn and grizzle-bearded, looking not unlike himself. Just as the rain began to fall, he happened upon a priest. The priest looked him up and down, and said, "You look cold, my son. We're hosting a men's shelter at the church tonight; you can sleep there, and come to Mass tomorrow." This time G-d agreed. He slept well and was warm, and in the morning sat for Mass. They blessed him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but he felt beside himself and decided to leave.
By this time G-d was quite hungry. He stopped by a deli, but still had no money, so all he could do was watch the fresh steaming bagels be made. On a bench outside the deli, a man was eating a bagel with lox. As he finished eating, G-d noticed there were still some scraps of food on the waxpaper. Unable to help himself, he asked if he could have the scraps, before the man threw it away. "Please sir, I'm so hungry. I'd just like that crumb of bagel there, and that little shred of lox. I think I could make a bisl of fish last quite a while." The man shook his head. "I cannot in good conscience give you my trash," he said, "But come inside, I'll get you your own bagel. I'd offer to get you coffee—but that's trash too."
So the man bought G-d some breakfast and sat with him on the bench. "Thank you so much," said G-d. "How can I ever repay you?" But the man just shrugged and said, "I'm a rabbi. Buying bagels I don't get to eat is part of the job description."
G-d thanked the rabbi again, and ate in silence. "Rabbi, can I ask you a question? I feel I haven't been on this Earth too long, but already I've seen much misery. How do you do it? How do you still believe in G-d?"
The rabbi pondered this. "I believe in joyful things. I believe in kindness, and people choosing to help each other. And isn't that a kind of godliness?" (G-d suspected there was a bit more to godliness than that, but he let it slide.) The rabbi continued: "I've prayed to G-d every day for the last 30 years, and I will every day til I die. And if He answers my prayers, all the better! But tell me, my new friend, what's your name?" G-d hesitated and said, "It's a little hard to pronounce..." The rabbi chuckled and said, "No matter. Say, it won't be anything like Shabbos dinner, but my wife is baking a delightful fig pie today, and I'd like to have you over for dinner to enjoy it." G-d nodded. "I do like figs..."
That evening, G-d sat for dinner with the rabbi, the rabbi's wife, and their four children. The meal was delicious, the rabbi's family was incredibly welcoming. Their conversation was friendly but never prying, and the children laughed and played with each other. Several times, the youngest child tugged on G-d's sleeve for his attention before her father motioned for her to go play with her siblings. G-d began to see what the rabbi had meant about the joyfulness of life.
At the end of the night, G-d stood up to leave, and felt renewed. The rabbi said, "My friend, don't leave us so soon!" And G-d replied, "I will always be with you, for I am the Lord Your G-d." And they understood it to be true.
He had done this sort of thing a few times before and generally knew how it went. As expected, the rabbi and his family fell to their knees, weeping with joy and awe. He did not expect the youngest child to walk right up and tug G-d's sleeve again. He smiled graciously down at her, and she looked up with the wonderful bright eyes of a child who understands nothing but the urge to play. In a high voice, she said, "Knock knock!" G-d couldn't help but laugh. "Who's there?" He replied cheerfully.
Suddenly from across the room, the rabbi swore loudly and rudely. Dismayed, G-d asked, "What troubles you?" He saw the rabbi was trembling, half in rage and half in embarrassment. "I'm sorry Lord! Thank you for this, thank you so much for gracing us with your light, Baruch Atah and so on, it's just..." The rabbi swore again. "Thirty years of daily prayer, Lord, and a KNOCK-KNOCK JOKE is what you'll answer?"
hey captain-acab, this is the highest compliment i can bestow: it would not have surprised me had i found that story in a book of traditional fables in the shul library
Look, someone has to be the first to make up any traditional Jewish story, why not @captain-acab? If we all keep telling it, then in a generation or two it'll be traditional.
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Sometimes do really wish when I'm telling someone "you are demonstrably wrong about this, here's the proof" I could also just add "now also update your FUCKING priors about your own ability to find out the truth from these kinds of 'tells'!" But normal people don't talk about updating priors. Is there even actually a concise way to invoke that concept that doesn't require Weird Vocabulary
approximately, like, "look at the set of baseline assumptions you are operating under, acknowledge that they have failed you here, and alter them to better mesh with this new information"
so in the case in the OP the baseline assumptions would be "I can reliably find out the truth in [specific situation] using a particular set of 'tells,'" and the update would probably be something like "I should downgrade my assessment of how good I currently am at gauging the truth in these kinds of situations, because either the set of "tells" I've been relying on is not as accurate/useful as I've been treating it, or my ability to use them effectively is worse than I previously believed."
Thank you! That's pretty close to what I'd guessed, the clarification is appreciated.
I think probably most people would get that if you were to say something like "check your assumptions" in place of "update your priors". (Whether they would actually take your advice on that is, sadly, much less certain.)
Sometimes do really wish when I'm telling someone "you are demonstrably wrong about this, here's the proof" I could also just add "now also update your FUCKING priors about your own ability to find out the truth from these kinds of 'tells'!" But normal people don't talk about updating priors. Is there even actually a concise way to invoke that concept that doesn't require Weird Vocabulary
Sometimes I see a mutual (usually @animatedamerican ) liking a post I reblogged WEEKS ago and I vaguely wonder if they're going through my tags or if they're being VERY specific about what posts they like as the bingeread my blog
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One way to get tasks done in the day is to make yourself a Chekhov's List. Put all of the things you have to do on a list, and now that they've been revealed they'll need to be completed by the afternoon (third act) and when you've completed something you can Chekov that task from the list
