Month: October 2020

Supernatural Lists: Monsters

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Fifteen or so monsters we’ve met and other entities:

  1. Demons
  2. Djinn
  3. Ghost (also Vengeful Spirit)
  4. Ghoul
  5. Hellhounds
  6. Leviathan
  7. Phoenix
  8. Rugaroo
  9. Shapeshifter (aka Shifter)
  10. Skinwalker
  11. Vampire
  12. Vetala
  13. Wendigo
  14. Werewolf
  15. Witch
  • People (see The Benders [1.15])
  • Clowns (see Sam, Everybody Loves a Clown [2.2])
  • Jefferson Starships (aka Starships) (see Mommy Dearest [6.19])
  • Khan Worm (see And Then There Were None [6.16])
  • Faeries
  • Leprechaun
  • Zombie (but not really – see Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid [5.15])
  • Trickster (again, not really, but spoilers) (see Tall Tales [2.15])

Biblical:

  • G-d
  • Lucifer
  • Michael
  • Raphael
  • Gabriel
  • Lilith
  • Eve
  • Ezekiel
  • Gadreel

Who am I forgetting?!

Election Connection: One Week. Seven Days. We’ve Got Work To Do.

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I’ve already voted. I made my plan and followed through. I voted on Saturday. In a typical year, that would mean I’m done for the next twelve months. But this is not a typical year.

Even though I’ve cast my vote for Joe Biden, my work (and yours) is not finished until the end of Election Day.

At that point, others may take up the baton, but hopefully the landslide and mandate will express crystal clearly the will of the American people.

As I was working on what this post was going to be eight days before Election Day, and even as I was writing my notes late last night, things happened that need to be brought to light for prospective voters.

The first is the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court. This was an illegitimate process to confirm a justice whose beliefs are so far opposite of the American people that that alone should disqualify her. Her lack of litigation experience is a second disqualification. Confirming her eight days before the end of an election after sixty million people have already voted is a despicable act by the Senate GOP and especially the evil*, hypocritical Majority Leader McConnell.

Clicking this photo will take you directly to Vote Save America’s Voting Plan. Twitter. (c)2020

The second big item was a Supreme Court ruling that while ballots in Wisconsin can be postmarked by Election Day, they cannot be counted after Election Day. What this means in the real world is that if you mail your ballot in, it may not be counted. Again, McConnell (evil hypocrite) and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy have consistently kept Congress from including voter security monies for the post office and have sabotaged key sorting equipment nationwide. Because of this partisan hackery, please, either vote early  or on Election Day in person or hand deliver your absentee ballot to an official ballot box, to your board of elections, or at the polls on Election Day.

To be sure your vote is counted, have a plan. The following are resources to help you from now through Election Day.

Remember – speak to your family and friends about voting. Be prepared to answer any questions. Direct them to the Biden website to read up on his policy proposals and priorities.

Make sure they’re voting.

Offer to drive people to the polls.

Volunteer – it’s not too late to help (see the links below).

*see his debate with Amy McGrath in Kentucky laughing about not bringing covid relief to the floor for a vote.

Clicking this photo will take you to volunteer opportunities at the Vote Save America website.


Other links:

Vote Save America – Donate to relieve this country of Mitch McConnell’s “leadership”

Vote Save America – Have a Plan to Vote

Vote Save America – Volunteer

I Will Vote

When We All Vote

Follow Marc Elias on Twitter.

What do you do if there is voter intimidation at your poll? Call 1-866-687-8683 (1-866-OUR VOTE)

What do you do if armed “militias” are at your polling place? Georgetown Law has information for all fifty states.

Clicking the photo will take you to We The Action where, if you’re a lawyer, you can sign up to volunteer to protect our vote.

Halloween or Hallowon’t

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Halloween during a pandemic. Well, at least everyone’s already wearing masks, right? My kids are in high school, so it’s less of an issue for us. They’re planning on going to friends’ houses and celebrating with a party instead of traditional trick or treating. They’ve already been hanging out with these friends since summer, so it’s equally safe as doing homework together.

On my neighborhood Facebook group, there have been some questions about neighborhood plans as well as some suggestions. One neighbor wants to do treat bags on a table at the end of the driveway, and limit trick or treating to certain hours – from five until eight. I thought that seemed reasonable.

Another thought was of a scavenger hunt with houses providing clues to their kids to find candy. The parents would do all the work and the neighbors who participated would volunteer so the kids weren’t randomly going to people’s houses who had no idea what was going on. I thought this was a great idea.

We usually have a bucket of toys and comic books in addition to candy, so the kids can choose which treat they prefer. They toys are the kind you get from McDonald’s Happy Meals or similar small items. Some are packaged, but some are gently used. We’ve decided to suspend this practice until next year (hopefully). I know our items are safe, but why put the parents in the position of having to say no to a toy if they have (legitimate) concerns.

I also thought that instead of having the kids reach into our candy bowl and choose their preference, we would have more of the same candies and hand it out ourselves. Two candies per child. We can wear gloves and put it right into their basket or bag.

I know some doctors and experts have talked about avoiding family during the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are closer than we think they are. We haven’t decided our holiday plans, but I also think that Halloween is a different circumstance. I don’t mean it’s more important than our traditional family holidays, but in some ways it kind of is. It’s fun. It’s dressing up. It’s candy. And it can be done in a responsible and socially distant way. Kids can come to the door one or two at a time. The candy givers can wear masks and gloves. There’s no hugging, shaking hands, sitting around a table talking and eating.

To be honest, it really sounds a lot easier.

Maybe we can have a Halloween inspired Thanksgiving. Drive thru. Go to Grandma’s house and she’ll give everyone a Tupperware filled with a portioned out turkey dinner. Same with Christmas; just add presents to the drive thru lane.

I don’t know. I’m still working on that one. In the meantime, let’s enjoy Halloween as best as we can. Teach our kids that we need to make some changes this year to keep everyone safe, and we can do that and still have fun. I’m planning on dressing up as a postal carrier if I can find my parents’ old work shirts.

We’ll find out in one week.

What are your plans for Halloween? Do you have any suggestions for making it fun and safe for kids in this unusual year?

Supernatural Lists: Geography

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The Winchester Brothers travel back and forth across the country in Baby, their 1967 Chevy Impala. I never much paid attention to some of the place names until in one episode Dean mentioned that he was going to Buffalo, New York because his Dad’s old storage locker was broken into. He was in Queens, New York, and said he’d be there in two hours.

I stared at my screen.

I’ve lived in New York my whole life, including spending my elementary years in Queens, and I’ve been to Buffalo. It is not a two hour drive, I don’t care how fast you’re going.

It’s almost 400 miles! That’s six hours and fifteen minutes IF, and that’s a big if, you’re going the speed limit, don’t stop off in any small towns where the speed limit is lowered drastically, don’t need to get gas, and there is no traffic.

Oh, and four hundred miles in a 1967 Chevy? You will definitely need to get gas. At least twice!

Here is a list of fifteen places the Winchesters visited during the series. I’ve included the episode when they first went there. Some places like Kansas, South Dakota, and Fall River, Massachusetts they’ve been to multiple times over the years.

Note: The notation: 1.1 is Season 1, Episode 1.

  1. Lawrence, Kansas [Pilot, 1.1]
  2. Lebanon, Kansas [As Time Goes By, 8.12]
  3. Buffalo, New York [Bad Day at Black Rock, 3.3]
  4. Lily Dale, New York [The Mentalists, 7.7]
  5. Ankeny, Iowa [Hook Man, 1.7]
  6. Sioux Falls, South Dakota [Devil’s Trap, 1.22] *
  7. Las Vegas, Nevada [Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!, 7.8]
  8. Vancouver, BC, Canada [The French Mistake, 6.15]
  9. Grants Pass, Oregon [Mommy Dearest, 6.19]
  10. Hollywood, California [Hollywood Babylon, 2.18]
  11. Cicero, Indiana [The Kids Are Alright [3/2]
  12. Sturbridge, Massachusetts [Malleus Maleficarum, 3.9]
  13. Monument, Colorado [Jus in Bello, 3.12]
  14. Fall River, Massachusetts [Mamma Mia, 12.2] *
  15. Windom, Minnesota [Jump the Shark, 4.19] *

* A couple of fun things:

Sioux Falls, South Dakota is where Bobby Singer lives. It’s like a home base for the Winchesters. The sheriff is Jody Mills, who becomes a close friend of Bobby and the boys.

Fall River is also where the Lizzie Borden House and Museum is, and Sam and Dean go there in a later episode.

Windom is where Sam and Dean meet their up until then unknown half-brother, Adam Milligan.

Which was your favorite place that the Winchesters traveled to?

Election Connection: 2 Weeks: Voter Suppression and Russian Disinformation

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This link will take you to the story of Corey Brotherton’s father who was turned away for not being registered to vote. Except he was registered to vote.

Know your rights and know where to get the correct information in order to exercise your right to vote.

Corey went to I Will Vote and was able to show the poll workers that his father was indeed eligible to vote. His is one of many stories of voter suppression.

I’m sure you’ve seen the long lines during early voting, especially in minority neighborhoods. Please stay in line. Bring water, food, a chair.

Another resource to keep with you or on your phone is Georgetown Law’s information sheets – one for each state – on what to do if confronted with unauthorized militia groups at the polling places.

ACLU’s information is also good to keep in your phone.

This is the election protection hotline if you are having trouble voting: 1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683).

This week has been full of Russian disinformation and DNI Ratcliffe and Sen. Ron Johnson have been at the top of the list encouraging this sort of thing. I know it’s frustrating. I know it’s demoralizing. Try to ignore it. Pay attention to reliable news sources and ignore the Trump Administration’s sidetracking their voter suppression efforts with their screaming about the Biden family. Russia is very much at play in our election, as they were in 2016.

Ignore the polls. Make a plan to vote, and vote as early as you can.

14 days. (See the new countdown on my sidebar.) We can do this. Together.

Finding the Joy

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Several months ago, April to be precise, I was given a series of reflection questions related to the losses I’ve had since the March 17th lockdown. I may have mentioned this in my original post, In the Midst of Loss about that retreat session and over the course of the month following that first hour I would bring up the subject to myself and think about those losses, the reasons for them, as well as trying to name my feelings about them, and then question how to say goodbye to what’s been lost. It is obviously much harder to say goodbye to a loved one who has died during this pandemic; that loss is astronomically deeper and more upsetting than the loss of work or routine or our regular habits, although the loss of work is catastrophic in its own way and those of us struggling with mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and others will feel that some of our losses are also catastrophic. How do we accept the losses we are experiencing and move forward even in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, a pandemic that will continue to be with us for many more months to come, if not at least another year or more? What strategies can be adopted and adapted to move on; to create a new ordinary for our lives?

There were two additional, important and hard to answer questions broached during that session. The first was do we really want back what we’ve lost? All of it? Are there some things that we have lost that we kind of want to stay lost? The second was to ask ourselves what was good about this time.

While we’ve all had losses, we’ve also had gains. There were good things that were perhaps only seen in retrospect. How do we find joy in the confusion and chaos of today?

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Supernatural Lists: Catch-Phrases and Pithy Sayings

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This is the second of seven in a series of Supernatural list posts celebrating the conclusion of their record-breaking series run of fifteen seasons.

I’m sure our house isn’t very different from other families. We have our own idiosyncrasies and short hand for expressing ourselves. For me, my go-to for commentary is almost always one of three places: Seinfeld, Supernatural, and Hamilton. Even my kids, who have never seen Seinfeld, are familiar with several of the pop culture vernacular: yada, yada, yada, not that there’s anything wrong with that, Newman, TWIIIIIX. Low talkers, close talkers, anti-dentites, big salads, baby eating dingoes, as well as why we don’t lick envelopes.

Supernatural is one of those wonderful shows where the actors love to go to work. It’s evident, and after fifteen completed seasons, they often harken back to previous seasons and episodes and call out fanon, continuity, plot holes, and just plain call back fun. For fans who love the meta, and I am one of them, it is a laugh, a private moment between actor and fan, an inside joke; a fourth wall broken. My sister just binged and completed the series, and she’ll make a comment to me, and I’ll smile because I know something she doesn’t, mainly because I’m on tumblr and read many of the convention accounts, and participate with the Supernatural family and on social media.

Here are a few of those out-of-context quotes that might or might not make sense to you, but for the SPN family, trust me, they are hilarious. They are not in any particular order, and I’m sure I’ve left out a few, but come on, it’s been fifteen seasons. (Warning for some language.)

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GISH Recap

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GISH is The Greatest Scavenger Hunt started and organized (if you could use that word to describe it) by Supernatural actor, Misha Collins. It is in its tenth year, and this will be my eighth participating. This year was a little different due to the pandemic, and Collins, his GISHGnomes, and the players really stepped up to provide food and water to those in need while also giving us a well-deserved respite from home isolation.

There were three GISH hunts held this year (and one more still coming up for Halloween); two mini hunts, one in April and one in May and our regular week long hunt in August. The mini hunts were unusual in that they were about twenty-four hours long and they were meant to be done while on home quarantine.

They were a break from the daily pandemic news, and let us take a breath and do more than fret and worry about what was happening. They included a kids’ menu with items especially for our stuck at home kids to do, either with us or on their own.

The big hunt in August was similar to past hunts but most items were meant to be done at home or on social media. No in-person gatherings according to local laws. There were also several tributes to John Lewis who had recently died, inspirational items, and items that were civic minded like protesting, prison reform, and voting including our rights and registration drives.

The registration monies went to No Kid Hungry, which you can still donate to individually.

I can only give you my August totals. I was not great about keeping track of the mini-hunts for points. I contributed to a total of fifteen items, seven of which were individual, the other eight being team items for a total of 214 individual points and 480 team points totalling 694 points.

I have to be honest, but I enjoyed these hunts more than I’ve enjoyed some of the previous years. I like the civic mindedness, the social justice aspects, the caring for neighbors, random acts of kindness and compassion.

I would encourage people who are curious to join the Halloween H(a)unt. Each registration donates money to UNICEF providing clean water for a person in need for six months. Registration ends on October 23rd, and the H(a)unt will go live Oct. 30 – Nov. 1.

The captions on the following photos will explain the items. For the spring mini-hunt, I have them listed as April/May although they may have been done for either:

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Friday Food. October.

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Burgers and Pie. (c)2020

In celebration of the return of Supernatural’s final season, we had Dean’s favorites for dinner last Thursday. We picked up an apple pie (Dean’s favorite next to cherry), whipped cream, and burgers at our local Red Robin. We’re still deciding on the final episode’s feast.

In the photo: Red Robin sign, Fries, Diet Coke, Bacon Cheeseburger, Apple pie, Supernatural pins, apple pie and whipped cream, SpnFamILY t-shirt (with flannel, of course!)