Wednesday, September 16, 2015; Meme
Sep. 16th, 2015 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshorty30 Days of Me Meme
Day 4: Your view on religion
This might become an essay, just a warning. I'm Jewish but for me my religion is social/cultural, it is not about God. I'm an atheist when it comes to the belief in God or the afterlife but that doesn't prevent me from identifying as Jewish. The questions about the existence of God or meaning of life were never interesting to me.
I grew up in the Soviet Union where atheism was official. Religion was underground and there was still superstition and some religiosity but it was not front and center or part of the identity of most people at the time. Except for Judaism, which was thought of as nationality and discriminated against. I knew nothing about Judaism as a child other than that a line in my father's passport and the passport of my grandparents said Jewish and that was somehow negative. I knew about antisemitism pretty early and encountered it.
An aside - My maternal grandfather escaped from Minsk Ghetto during WWII and changed his name to a Russian one. So my mother's passport said 'Russian' since she was born in Russia and moved to Minsk, Belarus when she was 3. My maternal grandfather was from Minsk but ended up in Russia after the war. And my maternal grandmother was evacuated from Belarus during the war and ended up in Saratov, Russia where she met my grandfather. She grew up in an orphanage and doesn't know her nationality. She believed there was just one God no matter what religion you practice. I used to say I was 3/4 Jewish but I stopped that by the time I was 18. I firmly identify as Jewish. My father's last name - whole name really - is very Jewish and when my parents married my mother kept the Russian last name that her father made up or took from somewhere because of antisemitism. When I was born my parents decided to give me my mother's last name, which I still have, for the same reason (although if they knew we were going to end up in America, having my father's last name would have been easier). I think I didn't change my last name upon marriage partly because it has all this cultural history about it.
When I was a child I only had a few encounters with Judaism (other than reading Bible stories as literature). My family did have mazza for Passover, which we usually celebrated on Easter Sunday with a kulich too. So I guess we had a seder without the rituals or prayers. My grandmother once went to Hanukkah festival. And every May 9 (Victory Day in WWII in Russia) my family and I went to Yama - the sight of the Minsk Ghetto liquidation, which now has a memorial. That was the only place I saw rabbis and heard Hebrew and prayers.
When I moved to US in 1993, I was a Jewish refugee and we went to events at the Jewish community centers where we were taught about holidays. I also went to a Jewish Day Camp that summer. So I started learning some. My senior year of high school was the first time I decided to fast on Yom Kippur. (Two years earlier I had my first date on Yom Kippur and we had pizza. It was day off school.) When I went to college I went to Yom Kippur services, fasted on Yom Kippur, started lighting Hanukkah candles, and started keeping Passover. My first real Seder with all the rituals was in 2000 in London during my study abroad where a quarter of us in the program were Jewish. I worked in Jewish summer camp in the summer of 1999 when I was 19 and learned more. I observed all the holidays since then, although the evening of Yom Kippur is still the only time I go to services if I can manage.
For me Judaism is the connection to my ancestors and cultural traditions and I find that important. Since 2005 I organized a Seder with a few friends and over the years it evolved into a very nice tradition. I lead it and organize it to this day. When I was in grad school I was also a grader for a Jewish history class which allowed me to catch up. Because I studied medieval English and European history, I probably know more about Christianity so I wanted to learn more about Judaism. If I had to pick a religion I would have picked Judaism anyway because it does not just allow asking questions but mandates it and the religion is about leading a good life in the present, not about afterlife, which I agree with.
Bear grew up in a very Catholic household; his parents are very religious. For them religion is a primary identity and it is really hard for them to understand how it is not for other people (like me). To them Jewishness is my number one identity marker where being Russian and an immigrant and a nerd probably ranks just a bit higher. Although, it has definitely became more important, perhaps in response to the very religious culture of the United States. Bear is agnostic now. We actually agree on general values pretty well despite such different childhoods in terms of religion (he was an altar boy and went to Catholic school until college). We both agreed long ago to raise our kids in an inclusive household and let them choose whatever religion they want when they are older. I don't think religion should be imposed on children. It should be a choice. I don't have a problem with any religion or religious people but I can't abide fundamentalism in any religion. Any fundamentalist is pretty creepy.
I knew this would end up an essay.
30 Days of Fandom Meme
4 – Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?
Not really. I tend to write Remus and his POV more than anyone else but I'm not sure if he qualifies as a muse.
TV
I wanted to try some new (for me) shows yesterday evening just to see if there was anything new I could watch. So I just looked at what was on Netflix. I heard some good things about "100" so I tried that. I lasted 15 minutes, maybe 10. It probably gets better but the dialogue was pretty terrible, I couldn't buy the premise and I was not really interested in watching the show about teenagers who were all very CW. I was just bored and the overacting and character types made me roll my eyes a lot. I tried "The Fosters" next and I did like the Pilot and I can see why people really like the show but again I'm not sure I can watch it since I'm really not interested in teenage drama. (Even for my favorite shows like Buffy or Glee, I always like the seasons where the characters are out of high school more.). I want the Fall TV season to start already. But Supernatural and Grimm are coming back only in October.
Day 4: Your view on religion
This might become an essay, just a warning. I'm Jewish but for me my religion is social/cultural, it is not about God. I'm an atheist when it comes to the belief in God or the afterlife but that doesn't prevent me from identifying as Jewish. The questions about the existence of God or meaning of life were never interesting to me.
I grew up in the Soviet Union where atheism was official. Religion was underground and there was still superstition and some religiosity but it was not front and center or part of the identity of most people at the time. Except for Judaism, which was thought of as nationality and discriminated against. I knew nothing about Judaism as a child other than that a line in my father's passport and the passport of my grandparents said Jewish and that was somehow negative. I knew about antisemitism pretty early and encountered it.
An aside - My maternal grandfather escaped from Minsk Ghetto during WWII and changed his name to a Russian one. So my mother's passport said 'Russian' since she was born in Russia and moved to Minsk, Belarus when she was 3. My maternal grandfather was from Minsk but ended up in Russia after the war. And my maternal grandmother was evacuated from Belarus during the war and ended up in Saratov, Russia where she met my grandfather. She grew up in an orphanage and doesn't know her nationality. She believed there was just one God no matter what religion you practice. I used to say I was 3/4 Jewish but I stopped that by the time I was 18. I firmly identify as Jewish. My father's last name - whole name really - is very Jewish and when my parents married my mother kept the Russian last name that her father made up or took from somewhere because of antisemitism. When I was born my parents decided to give me my mother's last name, which I still have, for the same reason (although if they knew we were going to end up in America, having my father's last name would have been easier). I think I didn't change my last name upon marriage partly because it has all this cultural history about it.
When I was a child I only had a few encounters with Judaism (other than reading Bible stories as literature). My family did have mazza for Passover, which we usually celebrated on Easter Sunday with a kulich too. So I guess we had a seder without the rituals or prayers. My grandmother once went to Hanukkah festival. And every May 9 (Victory Day in WWII in Russia) my family and I went to Yama - the sight of the Minsk Ghetto liquidation, which now has a memorial. That was the only place I saw rabbis and heard Hebrew and prayers.
When I moved to US in 1993, I was a Jewish refugee and we went to events at the Jewish community centers where we were taught about holidays. I also went to a Jewish Day Camp that summer. So I started learning some. My senior year of high school was the first time I decided to fast on Yom Kippur. (Two years earlier I had my first date on Yom Kippur and we had pizza. It was day off school.) When I went to college I went to Yom Kippur services, fasted on Yom Kippur, started lighting Hanukkah candles, and started keeping Passover. My first real Seder with all the rituals was in 2000 in London during my study abroad where a quarter of us in the program were Jewish. I worked in Jewish summer camp in the summer of 1999 when I was 19 and learned more. I observed all the holidays since then, although the evening of Yom Kippur is still the only time I go to services if I can manage.
For me Judaism is the connection to my ancestors and cultural traditions and I find that important. Since 2005 I organized a Seder with a few friends and over the years it evolved into a very nice tradition. I lead it and organize it to this day. When I was in grad school I was also a grader for a Jewish history class which allowed me to catch up. Because I studied medieval English and European history, I probably know more about Christianity so I wanted to learn more about Judaism. If I had to pick a religion I would have picked Judaism anyway because it does not just allow asking questions but mandates it and the religion is about leading a good life in the present, not about afterlife, which I agree with.
Bear grew up in a very Catholic household; his parents are very religious. For them religion is a primary identity and it is really hard for them to understand how it is not for other people (like me). To them Jewishness is my number one identity marker where being Russian and an immigrant and a nerd probably ranks just a bit higher. Although, it has definitely became more important, perhaps in response to the very religious culture of the United States. Bear is agnostic now. We actually agree on general values pretty well despite such different childhoods in terms of religion (he was an altar boy and went to Catholic school until college). We both agreed long ago to raise our kids in an inclusive household and let them choose whatever religion they want when they are older. I don't think religion should be imposed on children. It should be a choice. I don't have a problem with any religion or religious people but I can't abide fundamentalism in any religion. Any fundamentalist is pretty creepy.
I knew this would end up an essay.
30 Days of Fandom Meme
4 – Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?
Not really. I tend to write Remus and his POV more than anyone else but I'm not sure if he qualifies as a muse.
TV
I wanted to try some new (for me) shows yesterday evening just to see if there was anything new I could watch. So I just looked at what was on Netflix. I heard some good things about "100" so I tried that. I lasted 15 minutes, maybe 10. It probably gets better but the dialogue was pretty terrible, I couldn't buy the premise and I was not really interested in watching the show about teenagers who were all very CW. I was just bored and the overacting and character types made me roll my eyes a lot. I tried "The Fosters" next and I did like the Pilot and I can see why people really like the show but again I'm not sure I can watch it since I'm really not interested in teenage drama. (Even for my favorite shows like Buffy or Glee, I always like the seasons where the characters are out of high school more.). I want the Fall TV season to start already. But Supernatural and Grimm are coming back only in October.