#jolybean

you have probably never heard of this theory before bcs i made it up in my brain (and then wrote a summative essay on it also)

eating the sacred cattle of the sun is cannibalism and odysseus’ men all die bcs they kinda. eat themselves. but the death of the men is doubled w the death of the suitors and also Both sets of deaths revolve around Eating Rituals Which Have Gone Wrong (the suitors eating odysseus’ stuff eats away at his identity as Owner Of Stuff on ithaca in a vaguely cannibalistic way says bakker in his very good book on Meat in the odyssey). the murder of the suitors is Also doubled w polyphemus eating odysseus’ men, loosely in that both episodes have a guy come home and get pissed at people for eating his stuff and then kill them, but also! both episodes compare the returning guy to a lion in a sexy metaphor, and in both metaphors it is Unclear where the hhhghghg lion stops and the uhhhh he’s covered in blood from Actually Eating People starts. also consider odyssey 22.21 (tr. wilson) “the bread and roasted meat were soiled with blood”...... nice. basically the subtext is there and ive just decided to take it as text bcs it makes the hashtag problematic (”was odysseus right to kill the suitors???”) ending of the odyssey Weirder And Sexier 

ok so first of all sorry this took me literally forever to answer it’s midterms and i wanted to actually sit down and write something coherent for this!

so paul gets a bad rap in progressive christian circles largely because of the verses in the epistles that are about what we think of today as gay relationships and women in the church. however, i think it’s much easier to use paul as a scapegoat for everything you don’t like about christianity rather than grappling with passages that upset you or don’t fit with your view of god. i have a high view of scripture and i think it is all inspired by god so when there’s something in it that doesn’t sit right with me or i think falls outside of the character of god i think it’s my duty to unpack what’s actually going on there. it takes more work to investigate these things and determine what we are actually supposed to take from scripture but it is important work that needs doing and is a much better pathway than just ‘throwing paul out” as many people are wont to do. 

so when we’re looking at things in paul’s writings that are at odds with our current values it’s important to remember both the original context and the limitations of the bible being written by a specific man in a specific time to a specific group of people. the prevalence of literalism in the public perception of christianity has really tainted everyone’s interactions with the bible, not just evangelicals, which i think is a tragedy. obviously when paul was writing correspondence with different congregations in the first century he had no idea that these specific letters that we still have would come to be held as vitally important to the christian faith. but the church has discerned that they are and for me that means that these are places that i can reliably come to to find god and religious truth. the meaning that we do find in them doesn’t have to be the most immediate and surface level interpretation. i would say that focusing on the specific minuscule commands given to these congregations, like women having to cover their heads, does them a disservice, because there is immense beauty that can be found in them outside of those examples which are not meant to be universal in the first place. no part of scripture is necessarily a universal truth that everyone has to follow to the end of times, but there are deeper spiritual truths within those scriptures that at the end of the day are more important than the specific social issues the ephesians were having that paul was responding to.

when we get past the idea that paul is some bigoted monster that has somehow corrupted the message of christ for the modern church we’re able to see that his writings contain some of the most affecting and distinct illustrations of the gospel and of christ himself. paul is the origin of much of the christian moral framework that we now use to dismiss him when we object to things like supposed homophobia in his writing. the epistles have so many instances of paul emphasizing the idea that all people are one in god, that no one is excluded from god, and that we must love one another as equals in the body of the church. they are full of ideas of unity and being freed from sin and death so we can live again in christ. some of my favorite parts are in first corinthians, where paul says “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters:not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” i think that this passage contains the essential message of christianity: god seeking out the weak and put down in order to do his work. it is among the foolish that we find god and it is where he works, and god is the source of our life and to whom we owe thanks. the themes you find across the epistles are all at the center of christian orthodoxy, and even if you’re unaware of it paul has most likely had a major influence on whatever parts of the christian tradition you find compelling and beautiful.

literally stopped listening to it because of him

>scrolls through episode list >sees his name show up again

finally getting to these, thank u so much for sending them! 

strength: what is your dream occupation?

*long sigh* if we’re talking about dreams, and about perfect worlds… at the moment it is still very emphatically being a professor of literature. at a teaching college moreso than a research one, someplace small where i end up having to cover more than just a specific super niche discipline. and a place where i actually interact with undergrads. that’s my current naive vision of a good future. 

the tower: favorite colors to wear?

white, blue, red, black. not all at the same time obviously 

the moon: have you ever written a love letter?

quite a few, but i don’t know if it counts if i’ve never sent one. is something still a love letter if it has no recipient? or is it just a journal entry in epistolary format?

i wish the library i work at Didn’t Talk To Cops :(

..... they literally shouldn’t though. I mean legally, y’all shouldn’t be. Are you in the US? Because library privacy has always been a big deal and became an Even Bigger Deal ever since the Patriot Act was passed and the American Library Association basically said Fuck That Shit.

Our policy at my library is share Zero information about another person with anyone, even police, unless they have a warrant, in which case we pass it along to the Director/the library’s legal council, and that is standard practice. We only keep borrowing data for a limited amount of time and then delete it, like this article from the Guardian describes. This protects patrons’ privacy even in the cases where a judge compels a library to turn over records.

This is the ALA page about dealing with law enforcement coming to your library. (it’s only relevant to libraries in the States, but it should be applicable in other countries? your millage may vary, though. sorry if this doesn’t apply)

A library should be a safe public resource, not a way for cops or government to identify suspects. Institutionally, your library is accountable to the law, but individually, no officer should be compelling you or your coworkers to divulge private information about visitors. (private info here means anything they’ve borrowed or requested, any help they’ve asked for finding books or using a computer or other library service, any conversation you’ve overheard them having, their name, whether they’ve been there that day, anything. It also means security camera footage, or someone’s phone number or address from their records. literally anything)

4. tell us about your ideal battle outfit.

OH BOY do I have detailed ideas about armor SO I would obviously wear like an undertunic or long sleeve shirt, then a chainmail tunic, with some light plate armor, probably just a breast plate and back plate, maybe some like scale type plates over my stomach and soft bits therein, then shoulder spaulders, with my right arm having plates extending down to protect most of it, and leather vambraces and gauntlets with metal re-enforcements.  I would probably carry a shield, or if not, then armor on both arms and an arming sword and a short sword. For my legs, I would have leather pants on and where the chainmail tunic does not cover I would have knee guards and I would probably be ok with just thick leather boots over thick pants for my calves, or some light metal re-enforcing, and then metal over the top of the foot bc feet are important.  IF I was trained enough I would wear a cloak, but if not I could do without I guess.  I would like to wear a corinthian style helmet bc they’re cool but depending on the fighting style of my enemies I might do somthing with smaller slits.   If I needed only cheaper and lighter armor then a leather cuirass with metal studs and plates reenforcing it.  and then spaulders and vambraces and leg protection.  

9. ancient scrolls or leather-bound books?

ancient scrolls bc the languages ive studied are scroll languages 

14. curtains of beads or lace?