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Dome City Blog 5 - Churches, mosques, synagogues & temples
We are coming to the end of the Easter Weekend as I write this. Therefore, it seems appropriate for me to comment on churches, mosques, synagogues and temples within the Dome City.
I believe that on balance religion is a power for good. As a practicing Christian I see the merit in having a set of beliefs and guides for living that encourage me to love my neighbour, to be honest and to be trustworthy.
If a Dome City is going to be a success it will need to be the sort of place people want to live. Having good neighbours is one of the factors that I would list as important to making a place somewhere that I want to live. Religion can play a role in this is 2 ways. The first is as a guide for peaceful living and the second is the way that religion brings people together for religious observations, celebrations and works.
Therefore, I would suggest that space be set aside for churches in the Dome City. In my mind, the obvious place for a Dome City in the UK would be near London. In Britian as a whole according to the Office of National Statistics, based on the 2011 census data, 59.3% stated that they are Christian, 25.1% of the population state that they have no religion, 7.2% did not respond to the question, 4.8% stated they are Muslim, 1.5% stated they were Hindu, 0.8% were Sikh, 0.5% were Jewish, 0.4% were Buddhist and 0.4% were other religions. If this were an accurate reflection of the people who chose to live in the Dome City it is clear to me that around 75% of the population would have a religious affiliation. Of course not all of them would be regular participants in their religious community but a reasonable number would be.
The data for the above paragraph was taken from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_290510.pdf
In the spirit of interfaith pluralism I would suggest that the churches, mosques, synagogues and temples be placed close to each other, probably on the same level of the Dome City.
In Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser it talks about a suburb of Houston called Woodlands. One of the things that intrigued me about this suburb is how the developer, George Phydias Mitchell, recognised the importance of religion for promoting social capital. The paragraph that captures this best for me has been extracted and is shown below:
One of the most interesting, and almost urban, aspects of The Woodlands’ management is its focus on social capital. The Woodlands works precisely because it is not a collection of isolated individuals; its social infrastructure has been designed to foster interpersonal connections. In 1975, Mitchell hired a Wharton-trained Lutheran minister to run The Woodlands Religious Community Incorporated, now called Interfaith, which was meant to “plan the religious community and all the human services in this new town.” The minister bought a motor scooter and followed moving vans , meeting new residents as they arrived. Interfaith made sure that The Woodlands provided appropriate space for social, particularly religious, activities. Because nothing sours an area like religiously motivated hatred, Interfaith makes sure that religious messages are kept positive. In the aftermath of the 9/ 11 attacks, Interfaith managed to get rabbis to pray for Palestinians and Islamic leaders to pray for Jews.
Glaeser, Edward (2011-03-18). Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier (pp. 181-182). Macmillan Publishers UK. Kindle Edition.
Aside - Those interested in energy matters like I am will recognise the name "George Phydias Mitchell", this is the man credited with developing the techniques to extract natural gas from tight shales using hydraulic fracturing (fracking). - end aside
I would hope that a UK Dome City would encourage the same sort of thing taking into account the differences between American and British religious views and practices.
Joe Heffernan 6-April-2015
Some of my playlists ;)
funky songs- for when you feel like dancing with your friends after quarantine :)
melancholy - for lying on your bed and staring at the candlelight, with night slowly creeping its way into the sky
classical - classical music for your sad self
vivid - when you want to feel like you’re in a coming-of-age movie that’s slightly indie and slightly pop
surrealism- when you feel like you’re in an empty, nostalgic hotel sitting by the drained pool and wondering where you’re going next
suburban gothic - for when you want to drive to the desolate towns as an escape but take yourself into a dark underworld, attempting to unravel the knots of your past life.
d/l academia - a mix of dark and light academia songs for when you want to feel like someone from a Donna Tartt novel yet more lighthearted and whimsical.
songs I could listen to on repeat/my favorites- a mix of nostalgic songs from childhood and current songs
abstract- my take on Possibly in Michigan with a slight twist; more indie, rock
lofi- lofi songs
june bug- my take on cottagecore aesthetic; when you feel like you want to run away to the country and sit by the meadows
Gothic- songs that fit Victorian Era Gothic aesthetic; blood red curtains, splitting moonlight, ivory ballrooms, distant shadows
Vintage- old songs I really like
HIDDEN PICTURES by JASON REKULAK (REVIEW)
quickly: a recovering addict gets a new job babysitting a haunted five-year-old. (a young woman trying to live a sober life / a child with a questionable existence / homes that come with guest houses and hidden gardens / disturbed suburbian parents / physical and spiritual battles with sobriety / weird and quirky superstitious neighbors / wickedly beautiful artwork from the spiritual realm / gardeners who make you want to break rules)
not too shabby. not too complex either, honestly. the tone sits firmly in the mystery genre, for me. the ghosts in this story don’t scare or thrill me, but they don’t bore me either. stephen king is quoted on the back cover as saying “the language is straightforward”, and that is absolutely correct. not much poetry or soul to the writing, but it was a full story! it was compelling enough to pull me to the end, but not my favorite ending. it has the kind of ending that you find in most “B” level thrillers (which is no shade, i love b-movies). the ending is a resolution, but it doesn’t take my breath away.
★ ★ ★
more thoughts: SPOILERS!
Some personal context… after a reading sprint that began sometime in March, I spent the past few weeks with THE BOOKS OF JACOB. It is a tome of a book, 900+ pages, and the most time I’ve spent with a book in years. It was an interesting and detailed world to be in, but I couldn’t wait to get back to the thriller/mystery/horror genre, and HIDDEN PICTURES is my return. I read it in less than 24 hours.
The artwork really pulled me in, and wasn’t as gimmicky as it could have been.
The story opens up with Mallory reflecting on a paid health study she participated in which involved her being blindfolded in front of a group of men. She was instructed to raise her hand if she felt eyes on her, testing her ability to sense the male gaze. She was insanely accurate, telling the instructor that she felt a buzz in her mind whenever she sensed looks. The instructor offers to do more research with her, but Mallory trades her phone for Oxy and the lady is unable to reach her.
After this, we are immediately thrown into the present where Mallory is now sober and has been for 18 months. She is preparing to interview for a babysitting job with The Maxwells, youngish parents living in an affluent suburban enclave. After an awkward and stressful interview that involves her pulling out a piss test to prove her commitment to sobriety, she is hired. Caroline, the Mom, says they believe in giving people second chances, but you learn fast that you can’t believe anything they say.
Soon enough, five-year-old Teddy has formed a close bond with Mallory. The creepy pictures he draws always seem to show an entity hanging around him that no one else can see (but Mallory can sense). Teddy’s mom brushes the pictures off and tells Mallory not to encourage him. After the quirky next-door neighbor tells Mallory about the ghost stories surrounding the guest house where she lives, she eventually convinces herself that her guest house is haunted and the ghost is speaking through Teddy. Half right.
Of course, her pursuit of this tightens the underwear of The Maxwells, and so she begins to investigate under the radar. She enlists the help of The Maxwells’ gardener whom she’s told that she was a local student (and not a recovering person being given a second chance to get her life on track). Fast forwarding past the awkwardness of living with a married couple whose marriage is a thin facade of happiness, the “hauntings”, the creepy photos with the Samura-like girl in them, Mallory trying to confront the super rationalist parents about the supernatural realm, and Mallory trying to make contact to the ghost by ouija board… eventually the ghost jumps into Mallory’s body while she is napping and causes her to draw all over the walls of The Maxwell’s pristine white walls.
The rest is a loud and gory climax with a small scoop of falling action on the side. The parents fire Mallory because of the “artwork”, attributing it to some sort of mental break caused by recovery, and they give her 48 hours to get out. Alex, the gardener, is told about her true background as a recovering addict (but still wants to help her). She miraculously solves the mystery at the last minute and proceeds to do the dumbest thing that characters can do in a mystery/thriller… confront the bad guys with no backup, collateral, witness, or weaponry. The Maxwells reveal their devilry… they are kidnappers who stole a little girl and made her disguise herself as a boy. The child’s real mother, whom Caroline Maxwell killed, is who has been haunting little Teddy.
Caroline Maxwell plans to kill Mallory by drug overdose, but she’s saved by Ted Maxwell who secretly hates his kidnapping murderess wife (but has done nothing but enable her). A delusional Ted is killed by Caroline, in the midst of some pipe dream of him running away to some foreign land with Mallory. A chase ensues, with Mallory running into the woods with Teddy and hiding in a tree. Just as Caroline has hunted them down, the spirit of Teddy’s dead mother possesses her, getting Teddy to kill Caroline with an arrowhead conveniently found earlier in the story.
That’s how most elements of this story felt. Convenient. The end, while loud and gory, seemed staged. Like I could see the beginning from the end. All the little easter eggs stood out like they had billboards above them pointing out “CLUE HERE”, or “FORESHADOWING”. Yet, I still enjoyed it. Like I would an R.L. Fear Street book. Three stars, but a high three.
ADDENDUM: seeing from other reviewers how this author's work includes, deceptively, various ideologies used to other and vilify trans children and their parents (which makes me think back to that errant Harry Potter reference). Unfortunate and gross. Knowing makes the work even cheaper than it already was. Keeping my same rating, which was written and determined before I found out. I will definitely be more critical in the future.