#julchen writes

In my whole adult life, I never before had my own menorah. I had an unfortunately dull Jewish upbringing and decided I was atheist before I even graduated high school. I went to college, found me a pretty boy with Norwegian cheekbones, and asked him to marry me. When our kids were little we belonged to a UU congregation. The festive December lights in our home have always been on a tree. After last year’s election, I felt compelled to lean into my Judaism since the Christofascists were openly gearing up, and Judaism is resistance and endurance. I so enjoyed seeing all of last year's menorahs on Tumblr that I went looking for one of my own, and found a gorgeous contemporary oceanic design from a glass artist. Later in the year, my 76-year-old aunt gave me her Bubbe’s traditional menorah. After so many years of having no menorahs, I suddenly had two. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’ve tried many ways to maintain or regain abilities my MS is eroding. There have been triumphs, annoyances, and disasters. I’ve tried to stay determined through it all. 2024 and 2025 have been my hardest years yet, marked by precipitous losses of function just when I think I’m making great progress. It’s a disappointment every time, but this past July’s setback was devastating. The trigger for the loss was never identified, but at the time, it felt like, “Oops, too much hope; we can’t have that!” It broke me. For several months, I could do little more than sit in a chair all day and wonder if this would finally be the crash I couldn’t climb out of. But the menorahs were there on a shelf I could see from my chair, and I resolved to make it to Chanukah to light them. And here I am. My daughter lit the menorahs each night because I didn’t trust my hands, but I sang the blessings for the first time in more than 30 years. Some days are better than others, and my ability varies even from hour to hour within a day, but I’m stronger than I was this summer. I’m still fighting. As we say with the Shehecheyanu, I am grateful for having been given life, sustained, and brought to the present moment. I’m so glad to be here with all of you. Thank you for being here to share the light. Happy Chanukah, my friends. 🌹

The man himself, in his work apron, with the oldest of his ten grandchildren.

Juche, the North Korean ideology?? No no no, definitely not! 😬 Julchen is a diminutive of Julia, like Juliet. A German-speaking friend nicknamed me Juliet in college a thousand years ago. Both parts of my URL — "Julchen" and "In Red" — are homage to dear friends who long encouraged my creativity and cheered me on. When I first stumbled into Drarry fandom in my 40s (ten years ago this Spring!), I was in a sad and stuck place in my life. When I finally stopped lurking and made a presence on AO3, I chose a name to remind myself of the creative person I once was and hoped to be again. @lqtraintracks was the first to call me Jules and it stuck. Since joining AO3, I've not only returned to creative writing but unexpectedly became known as an artist, so the magic worked! 🌹 But no, no Juche here!

Thank you so much for the question and the kind words, Nonnie! 🌹

A 100-word Hermione/Luna drabble for the customary Smutsgiving challenge. ---------------------- There could be no sleeping until the part-Veela/part-werewolf newlyweds on the other side of the wall exhausted themselves. Consequently, no matter where each night’s whispered conversation with Luna began, it always inevitably turned toward sex. “But it’s fascinating, though,” Luna insisted, “there are infinite variables. People are covered in nerve endings! It’s amazing!” “Is it?” Hermione smiled. “Of course! Consider the possibilities. The throat, the wrists, the inner thighs, the lower spine. Everyone has different erogenous zones.” Luna’s lips quirked. “Where are yours?” Hermione blushed. “I…don’t know.” Luna’s eyes flashed with a scientist’s delight. “Would you like to find out?”

On AO3

A 100-word Hermione/Luna drabble for this Thanksgiving challenge. ---------------------- “Show me.” Luna stepped back, eyes intent. Hermione pulled off her pajama shirt, brashly flexing her shoulders more than strictly necessary. Once bare, though, she felt shy. To keep from crossing her arms, she clasped her hands behind her back. “Oh, lovely,” Luna murmured. Hermione shivered under Luna’s focus. “What do you see?” “I see questions and answers. I see skin full of nerve endings.” Luna held her hands near Hermione’s breasts and mimed a gentle plucking caress to see Hermione’s nipples harden. “I see a mind full of fantasies. I want to touch them all.” Hermione glowed. “Keep talking.” ---------------------- “To come to attention” on AO3.

Jules Tries...making blackout poetry! Friends, this was far harder than I expected it to be, and I’m still not much thrilled with the result. I spent most of the week banging my head against large books of poetry, looking for a good candidate. The large vintage book of Romantic and Victorian poetry was insurmountably depressing, and even Shakespeare didn’t offer many better options. In the end I chose a poem nearly at random, just to have something in hand by deadline. If you want to try making blackout poetry, I’d advise you to choose a poem that has plenty of ordinary parts of speech to work with: pronouns and articles and such. Without many of them, I struggled to find fragments that would hang together coherently, but I did my best. 😮‍💨👍 What is this series?