what :I

It's blizzarding outside - the perfect day to stay in with my needlework. Skeletor agrees.

But since I’ve gotten too disabled to fight anymore, I… find myself coming back to that maiden in a tower. It’s that funny thing, where subverting femininity is powerful for the people who have always been forced into it… but for the people who have always been excluded, the powerful thing can be embracing it.

As I’m disabled, as I say to groups of friends, “I can’t walk that far,” as I’m in too much pain to keep partying, I find myself worrying: I’m boring, too quiet, too stationary, irrelevant. The message sent to the disabled is: You’re out of the narrative, you’re secondary, you’re a burden.

The remarkable thing about the maiden in her tower is not her immobility; it’s common for disabled people to be abandoned, set adrift, waiting at bus stops or watching out the windows, forgotten in institutions or stranded in our houses. The remarkable thing is that she’s like a beacon, turning her tower into a lighthouse; people want to come to her, she’s important, she inspires through her appearance and words and craftwork.  In medieval romances she gives gifts, write letters, sends messengers, and summons lovers; she plays chess, commissions ballads, composes music, commands knights. She is her household’s moral centre in a castle under siege. She is a castle unto herself, and the integrity of her body matters.

I left after a couple months, I stayed just long enough to see that they explicitly believe women are inferior to men, and of course, that homosexuality is a sin on par with murder.

The whole missionary door to door thing is NOT how Jehovah's Witnesses recruit. That is how they convince their members that the world is out to get them. One of the first things they teach is that Jesus requires you to try to convert non Christians to the faith. (They say non Christian but mean non JW.)

Then they say, "look how people treat us, just for the crime of wanting to save their soul"

They have long time church members tutor the incoming members to smooth the process over. They're trained to smooth away any doubts you may have about the church.

CC: Here's why you should not try to scare Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses that come knocking on your door.

It might be funny in the moment to say "Oh, sorry, I can't go to church on Sundays. That's when I sacrifice aborted fetuses to Beelzebub."

But it can be damaging in the long run to anyone that is thinking about escaping their cult.

People who are in cults are told that the outside world is evil, and while they might not like the conditions of the cult that they're in, they're guaranteed that the outside world is ten times worse.

And you trying to scare them away can reinforce those beliefs.

What's recommended by cult experts (and cult escapees) is that you take the time and listen to them if you have the time.

Then you can politely deny, and say "Sorry, I'm not interested," or "Sorry, I'm (this other religion)."

I like to give snacks or bottled water to anyone.

If it's Jehovah's Witness kids, I like to ask if they watch Caleb and Sophia, which is a popular Jehovah's Witnesses cartoon.

He was really interested, and I told him that if he ever wanted to stop by a Meeting, he’d be welcomed, but not pressured, just wanting to see what’s going on is fine and encouraged. At that point, the other one came and dragged him away - literally dragged. 

sun and her clouds

the way they chose to be pictured in this loving moment, so they could remain together for eternity! she used to be holding what we assume was a tiny pomegranate (a symbol for eternity), and she was pouring perfume in his hand… i….the tenderness. but also the way their bodies connect, almost being inextricably tied to one another; the playfulness of their expressions, the intelligence of their eyes, the expressiveness of their gestures (italian legends lol), and the sweet domesticity of their position, which was typical for dinners with friends - husbands and wives remained under the same blanket and conversed w their guests over dinner…….. 

Etruscan art, especially funerary art, is made of couples.  The Boston Museum of Fine Art holds the burial tomb of the Tetnies families, and both the husband and wife and then their son and his wife?  The tenderness on both pieces is absolutely remarkable.

But nothing, and I truly mean nothing, prepares one for seeing il Sarcofago degli Sposi in person.  You can see them down the corridor in Villa Gulia, and the closer to get, the more inviting they are.  Warmth radiates off of them, off of every angle of this piece, and there is a fluidity and life present that the photographs capture, but seeing them in person only amplifies.

Etruscan art has such liveliness and joy in it, and nothing captures it better than these two.