Miscellany

[raven]

I have tried not to post this. In vain have I struggled. It will not do. The couple next door have the LOUDEST SEX EVER, OH MY GOD.



...thank you, I feel a lot better for getting that off my chest. Truthfully, I don't mind; the guy who lives across from me is a nice chap and I'm glad he has a lovely girlfriend, and she's apparently visiting from somewhere far away, so who can blame them, really. I'm just kind of glad she's not here all the time. Nice chap as he is, I don't need that particular conversation in my life.

(Oh, god, I don't think they know I'm here. Maybe I should go and make coffee really loudly. Or hoover my room.)

I blame the snow. I wish I could've stayed in bed all day, too! But, no, alas, for some reason I decided the thing to do was to be productive on, oh, no sleep at all, and as there weren't any buses (and I don't dare cycle - I keep watching people cycle over black ice with no helmets, and wondering just how charmed their lives are), I walked the three miles out to the careers service and then back again. It was a productive meeting, but everything is icy and gritless and cold, and it's amazing how much worse everything is on no sleep. It's fairy-tale pretty at the moment, falling very softly on the landscape, but, argh, I need to get over that landscape and go to classes occasionally.

In news entirely unrelated to this, I am currently agonising over whether or not to sign up for purimgifts. On the one hand, it sounds like fun, and just the sort of thing I need right now: yuletide got me to do a little writing at the end of last year, and in these trying times of excessive work, ficathons and gift exchanges are about the only way to get me to write anything. And it's hardly very onerous, in any case - three ficlets, none of which can be over a thousand words (and can be as short as three hundred) - and three graphics, which would give me the excuse to spend a happy evening on campus playing in Photoshop.

But. The theme is to write about women, or characters who are Jewish, or characters who have been persecuted by evil viziers. I have to admit, I don't think I know any fandoms with evil viziers. I could write about three women, but that doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the thing, somehow, and I'm wary of writing in other people's religious and cultural traditions. I mean, I am not Jewish. (I don't think this is a surprise to anyone.) I could research Judaism very thoroughly, but it's a gift exchange and I might still manage to get fail all over someone's holiday gift. Which would be bad, especially when it was supposed to be a present.

(Ditto eid_fic, even though I probably know more about Islam than Judaism. And there doesn't seem to be a Hindu equivalent. Is there a Hindu equivalent, all-knowing internets?)

Ack, I don't know. I really wish I could go back to bed and watch a lot of Deep Space Nine, but a) I don't actually have my DS9 DVDs and b) WORK, oh god. Theoretically I have an exam tomorrow. Snow makes all sorts of things theoretical.

Comments

[subservient-son.livejournal.com]

As a man of the Jewsish persuasion, I personally object to fic which injects Jewish characters into settings where it doesn't fit. E.g. I started reading a Star Trek story starring Captain Davod Gold, and he was fasting for Yom Kippur - it just felt wrong, all humans in Star Trek are agnostic humanists and that the way I like it! :P

Seriously, though, you could always write West Wing fic with Josh and Toby, plus CJ/Ainsley/Mandy/Dr. Bartlet/Joey Lucas/other female characters of win.

Also, I will happilly beta as well (though my knowledge is quite embarassingly low).

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

But you are an agnostic humanist and you fast for Yom Kippur? :P

[subservient-son.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm an agnostic JEWISH Humanist, whereas I got the impression this character was a believer. I don't really object to cultural Judaism in the 24th Century, it's just with the canon deliberately avoiding characters being explicitly Christian/Hindu/Muslim/Shintoist/Buddhist/Sikh/Zoroastrain/Rastafarian/Taoist/Confucian/Bahá'í/Jain/anything else from Earth, it just seems to be missing the point to have a Jewish character.

But then again, if I was making a new series, I'd have a Muslim character in an oh-so-subtle commentary on the present.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Though, actually - and I think this ties in with stuff on slasheuse's post - it only just occured to me that one reason I love ST and much space opera is that it is so secular. It's close to my only fandom that doesn't have interruptions every year for the characters to celebrate Christmas, Easter, etc, and it seems appropriative for me to say I feel more welcome because of that because I do make secularised observances around the big British-Christian festivals, but I think it's neat that they aren't really relevant there.

[rhipowered.livejournal.com]

Agreed--it really irritates me to read Trek fic where human religious belief is portrayed as anything more than cultural remnants, because Roddenberry made that pretty explicit, unlike so many other things. (It irritates me when there's blatant sexism and homophobia in a culture that's supposed to be over it. I'm looking at you, JJ, much as I enjoyed reboot.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you, dear, that's kind. And you know, I have this weird feeling that there is a character in Star Trek who follows a religion, but I cannot think who or what it is. Aaargh. Possibly I have imagined it?

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Of the humans - Chakotay? (Admittedly it is awful fail made up generokee religion)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Possibly! But... argh, I'm still not sure. I might well be doing something ridiculous like conflating Janeway with Dana Scully, or something. *ponders*

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I don't remember anything with Janeway, but may have forgotten something. I had a vague impression of Joseph Sisko as a bit religious, but that might be the relatively traditional Southern thing rather than anything I actually remember. Also, I am currently watching In Purgatory's Shadow and noticed Sisko saying "God help us", but that may just be because the subject was on my mind :)

[fyrdrakken]

Major Kira is pretty devout IIRC, and a lot of the Bajorans we see in general, but that's made-up religion (and hence kind of underlines the secularity of Trek in general since the humans are kind of ishy about dealing with the Bajorans on spiritual terms, the more so since their Prophets were explained away canonically as aliens).

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Well, there's the things Nimoy took from Judaism and fed into Spock. In Generations we see that Picard considers Christmas a holiday you celebrate with family and a decorated tree (though the religious aspects aren't mentioned). Worf's adoptive parents and potentially meant to be keyed as Jewish, though that's debatable.

I do feel like there was something too, more specific, of an Earth human religion (beyond the magical Native American thing TNG tried) but I'm blanking.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Yes, I thought about Worf's parents! (Haven't seen Generations.) But I'm pretty sure they're not what's lurking at the back of my head... *scratches it*

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Oh man. I realize a lot of other Trekkies don't love it (but if we needed to know how often my opinion disagrees with other Trekkies, we only need look at Reboot) but I have much love for Generations and highly recommend hunting it down. But it could just be that I have a HUGE weak spot for Picard and Kirk not only together and pontificating on what it means to be the captain of the Enterprise (also, Data rocks! As does Worf! And Guinan backstory)

[vampire-kitten.livejournal.com]

Picard considers Christmas a holiday you celebrate with family and a decorated tree

I took that to be part of the weird victorian setting that was going on - all the rest of his family are dressed in period costume, and excessive Christmas is a very Victorian thing to do. I'd taken it as part of his obsession with old cultures rather than secular remnents of religion.

[rhipowered.livejournal.com]

Are you talking just in old Trek? It comes into play in the newer series--it's a goodly portion of the plot of Deep Space Nine, because of the issue of Sisko being the Emissary and the utter lack of separation of church and state on Bajor.

And then there's IDIC, which is sorta like Buddhism?

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Noooo, all Treks, but somehow not an in-universe religion, a major world religion currently practiced. Possibly I'm conflating IDIC and Hinduism/Buddhism? But I'm not sure....

[rhipowered.livejournal.com]

Memory Alpha seems to say not so much in terms of humans (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Human_religion), at least. Dunno, but it's bugging me too, like I feel I should know.

[fyrdrakken]

I'm trying to remember about Keiko and O'Brien's wedding, now -- been years and years since I saw that episode, but there's a vague impression at the back of my mind there may have been some Buddhist or Shinto trappings involved.

But, yeah. I just can't think of any characters who were seen involved in any religion that wasn't made-up.

[subservient-son.livejournal.com]

A human character, Chakotay's Genrokeeism?, or are you joking about Kira/Work/various Vulcans (logic is basically a religion).

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

:P No! I actually like how Trek does its in-universe religions very much. But... yeah, a human character.

[anotherusedpage.livejournal.com]

The Bajorans have religion of some description, no?