OTHERKIN

My first experience with Otherkin was through my best friend. In 2015 she told me a story that involved a secret part of her life and within the story, she revealed that she was a wolf in a human’s body. At first, I thought she meant that she goes out with her friends (tribe) and they roleplay as animals, but after talking to her about it, it occurred to me that she was revealing a serious fact about her identity.

So what are Otherkin? According to Otherkin.com, the definition is wide and has been argued over for a while. The definition they give is, “Otherkin are people who don’t identify as wholly human on some level. But what that means, and what level or part of self it refers to varies from person to person. This does not mean they do not recognize that they are human, but that there is something else, something other about themselves. If otherkin don’t think of themselves as wholly human, what’s the “other” part? Much like the definition of otherkin this can be explained broadly but is harder to define in clear detail. Essentially the “other” part of otherkin is exactly that, other than human. Some of the more prevalent kinds of otherkin include things such as animals, fae, angels, and dragons, but the community includes far more than that, as the identity is anything other” (Who and What Are Otherkin?).

Otherkin.net has a lot of articles about the topics which are helpful for anyone interested in the community. In their frequently asked questions, they also mentioned the changing definition of Otherkin  “what are otherkin?  I’m sorry to say that you’re probably not going to find a straight answer on this one.  That’s not because people don’t want to give you one, but because no one has ever been able to get the members of the otherkin community to agree on a single definition.  Oh, many have been proposed over the years but they always seem to leave someone out or else include members of other groups” (Dreamsinger).

So Otherkin identify as anything that isn’t fully human. Online communities are so important for Otherkin because it gives them a sense that they are not alone and can share their personal experiences. Otherkin.net said that if you have a feeling you may identify as Otherkin to do some basic soul searching and exploring to see how you resonate. When you find the right kin which you will then identify with, you won’t feel “other” or “alien” any longer. They describe the experience of being an Otherkin as very spiritual.

Seeing that an Otherkin is someone who identifies as anything not human there is as one would guess many different kinds of kin. Some of them include humanoids such as gnomes, nymphs, vampires, brownies, fomorii, and satyrs. Others are part of the aerials, those being pixies and fairies. Animals are known as Animalkin and some unsorted identities are goblins and phoenix (Brinn). This site also has a link so people are able to add their own identity to the list.

Many kin have a long and interesting history coming from various European folktales and legends. It was actually really cool to read up on the history or different kin, but I had to keep reminding myself that while some of these identities are found in fantasy literature and film, Otherkins and their identity is not fantasy but a real way to make sense of how they feel in the world.

It was hard to take my best friend seriously when she first began telling me about her wolf-pack. She is not the kind of person to be overly interested in fantasy games or role-playing so it came as a surprise and also seemed as if this was just one of her interests. I assume one of the reasons that it is so hard for people to define Otherkin is because it’s always changing and more kin are being added to the list of kin that is formally recognized. It makes me wonder how life would feel if I walked around feeling as if I was not completely human, and that there was a part of me that was very other and cannot be identified easily. If I felt this way, supremely alien, find an Otherkin community would probably feel like a life-saving moment of acceptance.

 

WORKS CITED

“Who and What Are Otherkin?” Otherkin.com, 13 Oct. 2018, otherkin.com/who-and-what-are-otherkin/.

Dreamsinger, Jarandhel. “Jarandhel Dreamsinger.” Otherkin.net, 24 July 2018, www.otherkin.net/2016/09/a-revised-otherkin-faq/.

“Brinn.” AnOtherWiki, anotherwiki.org/wiki/Brinn.

The LAST passion blog.

Wow! So this is the last passion blog, huh? This semester was a fun passion blog because I got to build a superiority complex by reviewing things. Just kidding, sorta. So what piece of entertainment should I review for this week, the last week to make an impression on my classmates and wrap up the school year?

I think it’s going to be the TLC show 90 Day Fiance, which I have been watching a lot lately.

This show follows couples as through the K1 visa process which means that they have 90 days to marry after their future spouses come to the US. How these couples have met each other varies. Some people meet their future spouses online and are common on the show because meeting for the first time and then having 90 days to marry has a lot more potential for drama than couples who have known each other or lived together overseas and then their fiances moved to their country. The show does follow a few of these couples, the ones who meet each other in a conventional way and have a solid build of relationship and understand each other’s culture, but with those situations, TLC usually has to create a lot of fake drama to keep them on the show.

There is a huge following for this show, and almost every couple has a Reddit thread about them so that makes it fun to see what other people think about the weird situations they get into if you don’t have any friends who watch the show with you. A lot of the drama is clearly set up by the production but besides that, there really is no shortage of genuinely interesting couples. My favorites are the traditional midwestern families who are introduced to people plucked from all over the world as they move in with them and their adult offspring before the wedding. The clash of cultures is very fascinating! It’s also really interesting to see which couples stay together after the show ends, and a lot of them do even after a super rocky start.

So yes, a lot of the drama is fake and obviously so, but there also seems to be a huge surplus of people who find their spouses overseas via dating sites or Facebook and a lot of the challenges they face meeting their spouses are real. My favorite section of the series is called Before The 90 Days, and it follows Americans traveling overseas to meet their fiances before their fiances come to the US to live with them.

Battle with Religious Identity in France

A few months ago I was surprised to learn that France bans its citizens from wearing religious symbols in public schools. In high school, I commonly saw people wearing polytheistic and monotheistic religious symbols as necklaces or on clothing, and it’s hard to imagine a law that would ban this from occurring.
Then I thought, well wait a second, what about hijab? What is the reason for France’s ban on these? How is this impacting religious identity? I heard this France information from a girl I met who is a French major, and I still have so many questions, so I decided this would be a good topic for my civic issue blog.
In 2004 (looks like I’m late to this civic issue) France banned religious symbols from being worn in public schools. This includes Muslim headscarves, Jewish Caps, Sikh Turbans, and large Christian crosses (Europe). The reason for this ban is to maintain the separation from state and religion in France. This law does not cross over into private schools or other general public areas. While France has a high interest in maintaining their separation of church and state, this law brings freedom of religious identity into question for school-aged individuals and public school teachers. It may also cause religious segregation if parents take their children out of public schools and enroll them in private schools that allow them to wear their religious symbols.
The restriction on religious symbolism was further implemented when France passed a “Burqa Ban.”  In 2010, a law went into effect in France banning people from wearing “any article of clothing intended to conceal the face” in public. (Deutsche). France was the first country in Europe to ban the public wearing of a full-face veil (European Court Upholds French Full Veil Ban). Exceptions of this full face coving ban exclude motorcycle helmets, face masks for health reasons, and face-coverings for sporting or professional activities. While this ban impacts many Muslim women who wear face coverings, the law was written without any reference is Islam. Citizens who violate this law can be subjected to fines.
So what does this mean for religious identity in France? Full-face coverings are an important part of modesty for some Muslim women across the globe. To clear up any confusion people may have, the three basic types of dress for Muslim women are hijab, niqab, and burqa. A hijab covers the hair and neck of an individual, a niqab is like a hijab except it also covers the face but leaves the eyes unconcealed, and a burqa covers the entire face and the eyes (Islamic Pamphlets). Within the French laws, hijab can be worn in public places besides public schools, but niqab and burqas cannot because they conceal the face.
France’s ban on face coverings is considered a human rights violation by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (Picheta).
If France bans face-covering as a way to unify its citizens, it ironically could have the opposite effect of discouraging women who prefer to cover their faces for modesty from leaving their homes. French president at the time Nicolas Sarkozy said that the practice of Muslim women covering their faces isolates women and promotes inequality between sexes (Beardsley).
I have always been attracted to French culture for their open and accepting views on sexuality, especially female sexuality, but banning people from practicing their religion the way they choose does seem like a human rights violation to me. Many people say that this ban has caused the furthering of an anti-Islamic climate in France and across Europe as other European countries like have also adopted a ban on face-coverings. This topic of identity also makes me realize a part of my own identity, my identity as an American. I may not be particularly religious, but freedom of religion is protected by the constitution.
Works Cited

“Europe | French Scarf Ban Comes into Force.” BBC News, BBC, 2 Sept. 2004, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3619988.stm.

Deutsche Welle. “French ‘Burqa Ban’ Violates Human Rights, Rules UN Committee: DW: 23.10.2018.” DW.COM, www.dw.com/en/french-burqa-ban-violates-human-rights-rules-un-committee/a-46007469.

“European Court Upholds French Full Veil Ban.” BBC News, BBC, 1 July 2014, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28106900.

Islamic Pamphlets, islamicpamphlets.com/the-burqa-niqab-uncovering-the-facts.

Picheta, Rob. “France’s Niqab Ban Violates Human Rights, UN Committee Says.” CNN, Cable News Network, 23 Oct. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/10/23/europe/france-niqab-ban-un-intl/index.html.

Beardsley, Eleanor. “France’s Burqa Ban Adds To Anti-Muslim Climate.” NPR, NPR, 11 Apr. 2011, www.npr.org/2011/04/11/135305409/frances-burqa-ban-adds-to-anti-muslim-climate.

Ozark

So my introduction to Ozark actually started with the show Catfish, specifically telling my roommate, “you pick what we watch today since I made you watch Catfish last time.” They chose the Netflix drama series Ozark. 

So Ozark isn’t my kind of show; I prefer shows like Catfish or 90-day Fiance (which is pretty much Catfish with a language barrier) but I decided to hang out and see what it was about.

This show is a crime drama that addresses one family’s struggles as they are forced to move from their life in Chicago to the Ozarks to launder money for the Mexican drug cartel. The protagonist, Marty Byrde, is played by actor Jasen Bateman, and his character gets involved with the cartel for an unknown number of years which helps fund his day time career as a financial advisor. If only he could have advised himself to not get himself into organized crime, he wouldn’t have gotten his entire family in the position of potential murder. Yes, Marty’s business partners had allegedly been stealing from their boss, a ruthless drug lord, and Marty offers to pay back all the money they stole after having it laundered in a remote lake town in the Ozarks. Apparently, their boss is so dangerous, even the witness protection program can’t save them, so this stressful situation is the only way to keep his family alive.

Now don’t feel too bad for the protagonist, he’s super annoying. I really hope somewhere along the three seasons his character arc humbles him to the point he’s tolerable, but I don’t foresee this happening. Marty’s smug character drove me crazy the entire first season; you can totally tell he thinks he’s just the baddest dad on the block since he’s so educated in organized crime. I classify this show as a type of coming of age story for middle-aged men. Do you know the type? It’s the guy whose bored in his work and feels like his life lacks adventure and is in a sexless marriage and his kids are brats because he spent so much time working for their “perfect life” and not enough into quality character-building time with them and then one day he snaps and suddenly it’s no more Mr. Nice-Dad and he reverts back to his old self back when they were a teenager and got their first punk album and started sticking it to the man. Only in these storylines, they actually are The Man (male, adult, authority figure) so they start sticking it to everyone else. They put on their sunglasses, take wheely suitcases of cash to the bank like they’re Tony Montana trapped in a suburban dad’s body, and ride off into their newfound adventure.

The movie American Beauty follows this plot and is incredibly well done and impactful. Ozark follows this plot but it’s filled with Marty’s fake woke inner dialogue. In the first episode, Marty hallucinates that he picked up a hooker, and even she in his illusion spews off the same brand of fake woke dialogue. We get it, Marty, you may look like a normal business guy, but you’re actually a genius crime boss with a secret heart of gold.

The main foil of the protagonist is his wife, Wendy. Ah, I hate Wendy’s character. I told my dad, who loves this show, that the only acceptable reason to write Wendy’s character this way is to set her up for a wild character arc. He confirms this is the case since he has seen every episode and I am only on season 1. So why do I hate Wendy’s character? She is an educated housewife who is written as this huge emotional idiot which perfectly contrasts Marty with his super smug super important, super in-depth, organized crime operation. So what is Wendy doing while her husband is deep in the Ozarks working all day and night trying to figure out how to launder 8 million dollars so none of them are killed? She becomes obsessed with finding organic pistachio icecream for several episodes. At one point she becomes so upset by the lack of organic pistachio ice cream in their area that she finally has a major Karen moment and screams at the grocery clerk.

I know what you’re thinking; so you love shows like Catfish but you’re this judgemental about this show which is actually not that bad? Yes, I am because Catfish has the self-awareness of how ridiculous and vapid it is. Ozark, to me, just misses the mark for what it’s striving to embody. So, did I enjoy any part of this show? Well, it is very suspenseful and I am looking forward to finishing it and seeing where the characters go. Will Marty be humbled? Will he and Wendy get back together or will he date the cute business owner? I am guessing as there are 3 seasons that the drug cartel never successfully murders Marty, so how does that end? Do the two smart country kids ever get out and go to college with the money they make from working for Marty?

“Blackfishing” – Bizarre Trend of Cultural Appropriation

Cultural Appropriation is defined as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture” (Cultural Appropriation).

I believe everyone reading my post has come across a discussion of cultural appropriation in their lives, but have you ever heard of the term blackfishing? Urban Dictionary defines blackfishing as an action “commonly perpetrated by females of European descent (white) which involves artificial tanning (spray tanning and tanning booths) and using makeup to manipulate facial features in order to appear to have some type of Black African ancestry. The general point of blackfishing is for a female of European descent to appear of African, Arab, or Hispanic ancestry.”

One of the most famous cases of blackfishing in American culture is that of Rachel Dolezal, she has since changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo, who identifies as African American despite being Caucasian (Pérez-peña). Dolezal has written a memoir, In Full Color, which “describes the path that led her from being a child of white evangelical parents to an NAACP chapter president and respected educator and activist who identifies as Black” (Dolezal, Storms).

Dolezal identifies as transracial – “a woman who is the product of two white parents but identifies mentally, emotionally, physically and culturally as black” (Millner). Her identity has understandably raised a lot of concerns and criticisms.

The damaging effect Dolezal’s claim of her identity has on African American communities is described in this article, “It is being followed in the store and told what you can and can’t afford by a salesperson whose weekly salary is what you just spent on a casual lunch; it is sitting on the curb outside your apartment building with your hands behind your head, waiting for the police officer to decide if he’s going to let you go or put you in the back of his squad car. Blackness is all up in the bones — in the sinew. And it is the ultimate in white privilege, really, for a white woman to see that diamond, all shiny and hard and unbreakable, and pluck it for her own, like it’s a gift from Tiffany’s, with seemingly zero regard for the pressure, the heat, the pain it went through — that we went through — to earn that shine” (Millner).

Cases of blackfishing have appeared on Instagram in recent years, such as with Swedish Instagram model Emma Hallberg. Unlike Dolezal, Hallberg does not claim to be transracial (Chen). An alarming thing I see with this trend is in the form of two major celebrities, Kylie Jenner and Ariana Grande.

Jenner and Grande have both been called out online for cultural appropriation and manipulating their appearances to mimic those of different ethnic origins. Jenner received this response on twitter to a photo she posted on March 5th saying, “When will your family be done cosplaying Black Women?” Grande faced criticism in an article on thetempest.co that states, “Whilst continuing to look at the broader spectrum around race and race discussion it is intriguing to acknowledge Grande’s skin color on her Vogue cover.  It shows her in her white, pale skin. Publications like Vogue have a history of lightening the complexions of darker-skinned people. Ariana’s cover showed her without her fake tan. As a white woman, she wants to be seen as white on an acclaimed publication, but she’s brown or black everywhere else. The argument about the fact a prestigious magazine like Vogue doesn’t show her fake tan, implies that she is, in fact, using blackface” (Hussain).

So why did I chose this topic for my blog this week? Did I come here to shoot down Kylie Jenner and Ariana Grande? No, but they need to start taking responsibility for their influence. I don’t think that my one blog post can make too much of a difference, but I think talking about it is still very important. Jenner and Grande have massive social media platforms and have a large following of adolescents who may be influenced to think that this behavior is acceptable and not damaging to large populations of people who have fought through oppression for centuries.

If they see nothing wrong with presenting themselves on social media with appearances that continue to raise concerns with people of color, what is going on here?  What value system do they follow?

 

WORKS CITED

“CULTURAL APPROPRIATION: Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” CULTURAL APPROPRIATION | Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary, dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/cultural-appropriation.

Pérez-peña, Richard. “Black or White? Woman’s Story Stirs Up a Furor.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 June 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/us/rachel-dolezal-naacp-president-accused-of-lying-about-her-race.html?searchResultPosition=65.

Dolezal, Rachel, and Storms Reback. “In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White Worl.” Amazon, BenBella Books, Inc., 2017, www.amazon.com/Full-Color-Finding-Place-Black/dp/194464816X.

Millner, Denene. “Why Rachel Dolezal Can Never Be Black.” NPR, NPR, 3 Mar. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/03/03/518184030/why-rachel-dolezal-can-never-be-black.

Chen, Tanya. “A White Teen Is Denying She Is ‘Posing’ As A Black Woman On Instagram After Followers Said They Felt Duped.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 4 Jan. 2020, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/white-instagram-teen-emma-hallberg-accused-of-performing-as.

Hussain, Sara. “Ariana Grande’s Excessive Use of Fake Tan Is ‘Blackfishing,’ and That’s a Real Problem.” The Tempest, 22 Dec. 2019, thetempest.co/2019/03/07/entertainment/ariana-grande-fake-tan-blackfishing/.

Something Fresh

Hey! So I got the ok to add other media items to my passion blog because the podcasts reviews were leaving me really uninspired – also I no longer walk around campus, so I no longer need hours of podcasts to fuel my week and fill my headphones.

Today I am going to be talking about one of my favorite books of all time, Looking For Alaska. I recommend this book for those of us who want to fill their time at home with a very beautiful and captivating story, but I realize this book may just be right under the age range of my classmates. I first read this book years ago when I was a teenager, and I think it is most suited for readers who are around the age of the protagonist – 16 – but John Green is an absolutely brilliant author and this is his greatest work in my opinion so I would still recommend it to everyone. Oh yeah, and I found the pdf online pretty easily.

So what do I love about this story? Well, I recently decided to reread it and write about it here so it must be a lot. This story is very sad, but it’s sad in a different kind of way. My passion blog last semester was about grunge music, and I wrote that a huge part of the pain expressed in grunge isn’t from the bad things that happen to you, but it’s a process of grieving the beautiful times in our lives we have lost because time is always changing. Looking For Alaska captures the exact kind of heart-wrenching melancholy; it explores the idea of growth and love in adolescence and the transformation of the beautiful moments of our life into memories.

The story follows Miles Halter as he moves from Florida to Alabama to attend a boarding school known for its wild pranks and antics. Miles, an intelligent introvert, is introduced to a girl named Alaska through his roommate. The three of them form a close friendship as they maneuver through the social politics of their school, the odd collection of teachers, and the southern heat. Miles falls in love with Alaska almost instantly as she challenges him to explore who he really is, and what he really wants out of the world. While Alaska is funny, wild, and beautiful, she is also deeply troubled. As Miles begins to understand who Alaska is under the layers, he sees the multi-dimensional aspect of human existence.

I recommend this book because it’s hilarious and it’s hauntingly impactful. John Green writes some incredible characters in this book that are hard to forget. I also recently saw a Hulu add that this is a series. I’m totally going to have to watch it after I reread it and do a comparison for a blog.

I did not listen to any new podcasts

OK, so I did not listen to any new podcasts over spring break and our first week of online classes. Over spring break I decided instead to some new episodes of old podcasts I had already reviewed for this blog. I think it will be interesting to talk about the podcasts I have revisited because my opinion has changed significantly on one of them.

Let’s start with VIEWS. This was the first podcast I reviewed which is hosted by YouTubers David Dobrick and Jason Nash. I really liked this podcast when I first listened to it, but I must have a bias because I do follow David and Jason on YouTube vaguely, so I know their humor. The episodes I listened to over Spring break introduced David’s younger sister Esther as the guest of the podcast. It was interested listening to Esther’s experience having a famous older brother. David is an extremely popular YouTuber and most of his fans are between 12 ad 18 years old, so it makes sense that his sister in high school undergoes a unique experience being related to a celerity. Esther says that people in her high school use her for connections when David and his friends come back to Chicago to host events, even thought these girls are mean to her normally.

The podcast which I have changed my opinion on is Why Won’t You Date Me? I listened to around 8 episodes of this podcast for my last review, and I did not enjoy any of them, but I really loved an episode I listened to over Spring break. The hilarious installment of the podcast is called Seeking Single Men At Target and features fellow comedian Janelle James. Maybe I liked this one so much because Janelle James’ had this incredible and relaxed energy that Nicole Byer, the host, played off of well. I didn’t enjoy Nicole’s humor in her past podcasts because it was so over the top sexual and loud or the sake of being loud, but this podcast was different. I laughed so many times while they talked about how the best way to meet men is in Target at night because you can see people’s real personalities show through, unlike on dating sights. At Target you can see what kind of food they like, if they buy cleaning supplies, and other intimate details about their preferences. I loved this episode so much I listened to it three time, and I plan of following Why Won’t You Date Me? in the future.

Armchair Expert

The podcast of this week is Armchair Expert. I found this podcast as it was a popular one under the comedy section. At first, my assumption was that this podcast would explore various topics people may not know much about with a humorous twist, sort of like random facts you may not know. I guess it is similar, but really the main focus of the podcast is about interviewing actors.

The host of the podcast is actor Dax Sheppard and he interviews actors and asks them about their lives, their goals, their relationships, and their experience navigating Hollywood. Dax is married to actress Kristen Bell, so his  life, and this podcast are very much in the Hollywood bubble. I was surprised when listening to this podcast how much I didn’t actually know about the Hollywood scene. I mean, I had my assumptions but they were pretty mild in comparison to the reality of navigating the Hollywood politics.

Again, I had my general knowledge that actors didn’t just roll out of bed and think “today I’ll be a Hollywood actor!” I knew there had to be training and education and auditions, but I had no idea how many actors started community theatre in childhood, were highly active in their high school’s drama club, were accepted into prestigious theatre and acting college programs, went to LA to do tons of auditions while competing with all of the other graduates who had gone to the same programs they have, and in some instances their theatre professors for roles, and then eventually managed though small parts before breaking out in a lead role, only to face aggression from the older generation of actors who aren’t happy about being replaced with a younger face. Sure, that wasn’t Ashton Kutcher’s story, which I learned from his interview, but it was the story of many of the actors who learned about during their recap of their lives.

Kutcher’s story is pretty interesting. He dropped out of college to become a male model, calling his father from a pay phone in NYC to tell him the news. From his brief modeling career he moved to LA to start acting, and in his first week was offered three roles on TV, the one he chose was of course That 70’s Show. Kutcher said in his interview after recapping the events that he must have had a horse shoe inside him that first week, because that kind of luck for aspiring actors is uncommon. It also brings into perspective with how competitive Hollywood is how talented the people who rise to the top actually are.

I listened to an interview on the podcast with immensely talented actor Will Arnett and it was quite enjoyable. Will Arnett is one of my favorite actors, and I was happy to hear his insights about life. He explains that in some environments, the example was areas around Detroit and Toronto, people are outstanding negative, and their negativity acts as a bonding experience. So, if I’m in a foul mood and I’m complaining about this guy who ripped me off, and that guy who ripped me off, and the gas station guy who ripped me off, and my dad whose a dick, this can act as a bonding experience with other people because we all experience anger and depression in our lives. Unfortunately, this kind of bonding doesn’t happen as often in those type of communities over good feelings and events, and this can keep people stuck in a very negative mind state for the majority of their lives.

Speaking of cool things actors are saying and doing, I learned that Ashton Kutcher is huge into philanthropy and is part of an organization which creates software to catch child predators. This organization has also created software that connects pedophiles anonymously with metal health services online if they want to seek help. Its always nice to hear about people who dedicate their lives to figuring out a complicated problem in society.

This was a pretty cool podcast, thought I probably wouldn’t chose it again after this week because I am not into to the Hollywood scene. I was happy to find that there is a fairly active reddit community dedicated to discussing this podcast and I spend about 2 hours reading what the community has to say on various episodes. This was also where I had a confusion over the podcast’s cohost, Monica, cleared up. In the first episode I listened to, Dax Sheppard commented that his co-host was going on vacation with her mom, Dax’s wife. Monica does not talk much in the podcast, but she has a very young sounding voice so I assumed she was Dax’s daughter. I thought well she can’t be that much older than 12, since Kristen Bell isn’t that old, I never heard of someone having their daughter as their cohost but that is kinda cool. Well I found out on reddit that Monica is actually in her early 30’s and that for some reason she calls Dax and Kristen Dad and Mom. This interesting dynamic is one discussed at length on reddit.

 

Unsolicited Advice

This weeks podcast features two fierce ladies named Ashley and Taryne who offer different insights on lifestyle topics. Some topics include: how to be confident, finding a carreer you enjoy, what do guys really think, being un-dateable, fake friends, going to the gym, scary stories, and worst dates. The main focus of their podcast is giving, opposite to the name, solicited advice to their listeners.

I found this podcast because it was trending on Spotify and I liked that the icon was two ladies in matching suits having fun. From the photo I had a feeling I would be within their target demographic of a young adult whose trying to be professional, but who is still silly and not ready to dive 100% into adulthood. Part of my lack of attraction to my second reviewed podcast, Chatty Broads, was that while I was within the broads age range, they were very much consumed in married and mom life. Ashley and Taryne are around the same age, late 20’s early 30’s, but very much still single, dating, and without children. Not that there is anything wrong with either of these life paths, but I can certainly relate to Ashley and Taryne more when it comes to exploring love and relationships in this stage of life than I can with a podcast about pregnancy symptoms.

Another thing I really like about this podcast is their voices, especially Taryne, who has vocal fry. Usually considered a derogatory speech pattern, I like the sound of vocal fry in podcasts hosts. This seems like a small detail, but it is an important one since they do run a podcast. I found the episodes to be easy to listen to, easy to follow, and uplifting. A large part of each episode goes, obviously, to answering submitted questions and giving the advice to the person who submitted them. I did not like these portions of the podcasts. I know, I am so picky, but this a podcast review blog after all.

So why didn’t I like the advice portion? Well, a lot of the questions had obvious answers. One women wrote in saying she is happily married but misses traveling as a single adult, and what should she do. Why would someone write in for advice? Isn’t the obvious answer to this question open lines of communication with your husband so he knows you would like to travel more, either with him, or alone? Sometimes I think  fans of the Podcast just like to write in and talk about their lives, because a lot of questions fell into this category. Some of their answer segments I did like, such as when they gave the advice of building self confidence by slowly replacing your negative self talk with positive self talk as a constant discipline. I felt that this was an empowering outlook.

For the most part, I did like this podcast. It was not too crazy but not too dull, a great lifestyle podcast if you want to hear something not too opinionated or intense, but still like to have friendly voices and some humor to keep you company when going about your daily life.

 

Life as a Mormon

This week’s identity blog is about a life as a Mormon.  I wanted to research what life as a Mormon was like because of my ignorance of the culture, and my general interest in religious identity. I am apparently not the only one who doesn’t know too much about Mormonism. According to a survey, “six-in-ten Mormons (62%) say the American people as a whole are uninformed about Mormonism” (Mormons in America).  Going into this research, the only things I knew about Mormonism is that there is a large population in Utah, and that it’s part of the Christian faith. So, that being said, let’s dive right into it with some basic facts about the religion.

The Mormon religion was officially founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith after the publishing of The Book Of Mormon (Mormons). Along with the Bible, Mormons also study and follow another book called The Book Of Mormon. According to comeuntochrist.org, a website dedicated to the Mormon faith, Founder Joseph Smith was instructed by an angel in 1823 to translate anchient records of the word of God, this would become The Book Of Mormon, and is an important text for all modern day Mormons (The Book Of Mormon). Alright that’s all good and great, but what does it mean to be a Mormon in every day life?

Besides reading The Book Of Mormon, which seems to be a daily discipline, and attending Church services weekly,  I went onto the “healthy living” section of comeuntochrist.org to see what a healthy lifestyle entails. Here I saw instructions to eat fruits and vegitables, don’t drink alcohol, eat meat in moderation, don’t smoke or use tobacco products, exercise regularly, don’t drink coffee or tea (wow, life without coffee?), eat grains, don’t use illegal drugs or abuse medications, get lots of sleep, and fast once a month. Well, so far that all seems like a reasonable lifestyle, minus abstaining from coffee, which I don’t think I could do. So, are the prophets outlined in the Book Of Mormon fitness and health gurus too? 

On the same site, an article titled What is Our Community Church Like, mentions a practice called Family Home Evening. This is one night a week which is reserved for spending time with family while learning the gospel, eating treats (I assume grain-based), and having fun. Ok, this is all great, but this website seems a little vague and pretty boring. I’m not sure if any lifestyle strictly dedicated to a monotheistic faith would be exciting to my hedonistic millennial brain, but I know there’s gotta be more out there.

A Mormon blogger has created a list of things Mormons can’t do which includes: no same-sex relations, no foul language, no dating until you’re 16, no gambling, no sex before marriage, no dishonesty, donate 10% of your income to charity and the building of the Kingdom of God ( I assume this means a Mormon church), dedicate Sunday to the Lord, no abortion, no coffee or tobacco, and no of viewing pornography (Harmer). The author also includes a list of Mormon myths which include: Mormons can’t use birth control, Mormons can’t wear makeup, Mormons can’t dance, Mormons can’t use technology, and, Mormons can’t consume caffeine (apparently, its just coffee and tea because they are considered a strong drink, not all caffeinated beverages). To further break the myth that Mormons practice polygamy, mormonrules.com states “Polygamists who call themselves Mormons are not members of the LDS Church and anyone who is a member and begins to practice is excommunicated. This is not a time set aside for such practices (Mormon Polygamy Today).”

I know a lot more about Mormonism now than when I started, and found parts of this research interesting, thought to be honest it was a lot less interesting than I thought it was going to be. Mormonism always seemed like a big mysterious movement to me, but as far as it’s outlined on their web resources, it seems like a typical strict section of Christianity. You pray, you abstain from that which negatively effects your mind and body, your community and Church is at the most importance of your life, you live a life of modesty and God. So what do you guys think?

 

 

WORKS CITED

“Mormons in America – Certain in Their Beliefs, Uncertain of Their Place in Society.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 31 Dec. 2019, www.pewforum.org/2012/01/12/mormons-in-america-executive-summary/.

“Mormons.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 20 Dec. 2017, www.history.com/topics/religion/mormons.

“The Book of Mormon.” ComeUntoChrist.org, www.comeuntochrist.org/beliefs/book-of-mormon.

Harmer, Jim. “A Complete List of Things Mormons Can’t Do.” Purpose in Christ, 1 May 2019, purposeinchrist.com/a-complete-list-of-things-mormons-cant-do/.

“Mormon Polygamy Today.” Mormon Rules, mormonrules.com/list/do-mormons-practice-polygamy-today.