Being a good person and contributing positvely to my community and society regarding art and literature, maybe having laws and schools named after me (though I wouldn’t want an excess of statues and paintings of me due to the whole “graven icons” verse of the Bible), and probably an ideology (regarding art, philosophy, politics, and video game design), among other things.
A school in my hometown, a state or federal law (that would prevent others like me from enduring what I have in my lifetime), or any kind of philosophy regarding ideology, politics, or specifically video games, since I have very unique takes on all of them.
March is Women’s History Month; today is International Women’s Day. Sorry, but the very idea of those things is sexist. Men don’t have their history month, and whites don’t have theirs like blacks, which is racist as well. Being of an “ostracized” group does not make one untouchable (as I’ll freely admit as an autistic), which is still a problem in America and the rest of the world, which falls in line with Paulo Freire’s warning that “oppressed” groups risk becoming oppressors themselves, as has often been the case throughout history (like various communist dictatorships, even Nazi Germany since the Nazis themselves were an oppressed political faction during the 1920s). I support the equality of everyone, not the favoritism or supremacism of specific groups, and from what I’ve seen, said groups are often full of hateful bigots themselves. If you educate a man, you educate an individual; if you do so with a woman, you’re just educating another person, nothing more.
Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Frank Herbert’s final Dune novel before his death follows the action of Heretics of Dune, chronicling the continued conflicts of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood against the Honored Matres, who are attempting to control the universe and destroy factions and worlds that oppose them. In his introduction, Herbert notes the novel’s setting, over ten millennia in the human future, when women rule the Known Universe. The story begins with Mother Superior Darwi Odrade celebrating the birth of a ghola-baby (in other words, a clone) from an axlotl tank of the recently deceased military genius Miles Teg. Meanwhile, Great Honored Matre Dama, nicknamed the “Spider Queen,” tortures Reverend Mother Sabanda.
Odrade enjoys seeing the cloned Miles at play, with the boy being trained in the military arts just like the original, as the Honored Matres plan to use a mysterious “weapon” to further their conquest of the universe. The Honored Matres destroy Lampadas, a center for Bene Gesserit education, with one of the survivors, Reverend Mother Lucilla, escaping with the shared minds of millions of Reverend Mothers from the past and finding sanctuary with an underground group of Jews. The Rabbi who leads them reveals a “wild” Reverend Mother named Rebecca, who has gained her Other Memory, a well of genetic memory, without formal Bene Gesserit training.
Duncan Idaho returns in ghola form like Teg, retaining memories from his previous incarnations due to being a Mentat. The time eventually comes for the assault upon the Honored Matres, with Teg becoming the Bashar of the military forces, and the tides constantly turn in each other’s favor. Throughout the story, the Bene Gesserit attempt to terraform the eponymous planet, Chapterhouse, to accommodate sandworms, given that the native homeworld of the creatures, Arrakis, had been decimated by the Matres. The story ends with a cliffhanger, which Herbert’s son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson would resolve with the final two chronological books in the Duniverse a score later.
In brief, Chapterhouse does have many positive aspects, such as Herbert’s trend (which his son would continue) of including various philosophical quotes at the beginning of each chapter, alongside the intricate outer space setting, discussion of ecology, and the presence of the Kindle X-Ray feature, which alleviates some confusion readers unversed in the franchise’s unique terminology and many characters may have. However, confusion frequently abounds regarding character ages (namely, the gholas), many lines and terminology are unclear, and it can be hard to keep track of who is talking in conversations given the infrequent mention of names and constant use of pronouns. Though not a bad book, this is one that readers will need to meticulously focus on while being incredibly familiar with the plots of its predecessors.
No, for several reasons. First, no one gets to choose their country of origin, so I think it’s foolish to be proud of nationality. Second, any country in the world, America included, their histories, and all their leaders and policies, past and present, are just as subject to criticism, judgment, and review as in any other nation on the face of the Earth. Third, I think pledging allegiance to any country or their symbols such as their flags are forms of idolatry, which goes against my faith.
However, the true definition of patriotism can be flexible. For instance, given that America was founded upon defiance and treason, there is the quote, largely attributed to Thomas Jefferson (though it hasn’t been confirmed), that “Dissent is the highest form of patrotism.” Malcolm X further had the warning “You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.” In general, I don’t believe in “my country, right or wrong,” but rather, “my country, only when genuinely right” (not ideologically speaking, of course).
In a world solely inhabited by anthropomorphic mammals, the country rabbit Judy Hopps accomplishes her dream of becoming the first lapine police officer in the titular urban metropolis but starts on parking duty. On her first day, the vulpine con artists Nick Wilde and Finnick hustle her, after which she abandons her post to pursue a small-time criminal, but the police chief reprimands her. As he does so, an otter wife interrupts and implores a search for her missing husband, one of fourteen lost predators in Zootopia. Judy receives forty-eight hours to solve the case, blackmailing Nick into assisting her in finding Mr. Otterton and solving the mystery of the other missing predators.
Ultimately, this is an enjoyable film, given its strictly nonhuman cast, with backstory interweaved into the narrative, along with a few good twists and commentary on the alleged black-and-white nature of specific beasts and an exemplification of Paulo Freire’s warning of oppressed populations possibly becoming oppressors themselves. However, a few unresolved plot points abound, like what the carnivores eat and the unexplored role of religion in Zootopia, since characters repeatedly mention God. Some scenes like that at the sloth-run Department of Mammal Vehicles also feel like padding. Regardless, I don’t regret rewatching this and will gladly watch Zootopia+ and the forthcoming theatrical sequel.
What skills or lessons have you learned recently?
A ton of philosophical lessons from various quotations on my Facebook feed, and skills in my coding bootcamp like typing programming code just from test specs.
St. Gallen's Scribblings 