u/natethough

Context on me: Raised in a “religious” family that never went to church. Went a little as a kid with friends but stopped as I got older. Now that I’m an adult craving close community I am church-curious again.

Recently my best friends (who I have known for 20 years and have never been religious; one was raised by a pair of stoner hippies), who have been baptized and attending church for some time now, invited me to go camping with their church friends for a few days. I agreed and was excited.

Well it was the morning of the second day that the homophobic comments started. Someone mentioned that someone (not present) was gay. Another guy went on a discussion about how gay people shouldn’t make their sexual preferences their whole identity and gave an anecdote about how there was a ‘gay Doctor’ who was a drug addict, but eventually found Christ and studied the Bible and learned that being gay really is against God, so he stopped and is now “saved.” 

I live with my long term partner but did not reveal this to anyone (except my best friends who already knew of course). So after hearing this I was ready to pack up and leave. I instead just removed myself from the situation for a bit. But as a gay person driven away from the church by homophobia, this does not bode well, especially coming from my peers. And it is making me question the values my friends who I’ve known for 20 years have taken on in the last ~4-5 they found religion, if they now tolerate people saying stuff like that *knowing I’m around.*

Any advice in what to do here? What to say? I have not studied the Bible so I feel ill-equipped to argue there. And due to past trauma I still have a huge fear of physical aggression/abuse when it comes to these topics. I already feel like a talk with my friends is overdue, but anymore advice would be appreciated. My only real plan is to subtly recommend everyone at camp read William Morris.

Thank you all in advance!

In case anyone was wondering how R*publican administration is going... turns out, running the state like a failing LLC is not a good thing for the people who live here.

I lost my job at the end of last year so I applied for SNAP. Got it, no problem. I am a taxpaying citizen and I've been working full-time for over a decade, sometimes multiple jobs at once.

Come April I was being asked to submit an interim report, so I did. Like a week later, on 4/14 I got a letter from Ohio JFS telling me my Interim Report was received. Then, another week passes, an on 4/21 they mail me a letter saying the Interim Report was NOT received and to send it again or my benefits will stop. I go to the online portal, check, and find I cannot send it again. It was sent. I find the letter verifying I sent it. I draft my own letter and attach theirs to it and send it to them.

Come today I get a letter saying my benefits will stop because I didn't get my Interim Report sent in. Of course this is complete and utter bullshit and I have evidence it is bullshit, so I call.

I wait on hold for almost 2 hours.

I get told by a person in the call center that I did send everything in, it's just that the case has not been processed. THE CASE HAS NOT BEEN PROCESSED. My benefits have not been canceled due to my own wrongdoing, but because the government employees have yet to do their job and verify anything at all. I’m sure it’s because they are not adequately paid or staffed. I am supposed to get a call by mid-next week to correct this.

I truly feel bad for anyone who needs assistance navigating these systems, because just getting on the phone alone was frustrating. And lord knows they would not have corrected their own mistake without recipient intervention.

So... we're just at a point now where we accept that state services are shit? We pay all our money for the military & weapons & bombs & healthcare for Israeli citizens who are required to fight in the IDF or go to jail, but our OWN FUCKING CITIZENS get denied benefits they pay and qualify for?

But what more could we expect from our corrupt ass state administration?

where is a field I can go scream in.

So I have a few kinda specific questions that there may or may not be answers to.

I am doing research for a paranormal historical fiction novel set in Rome around 1017AD. I understand this is a time of spotty knowledge and record keeping. Mostly I am looking for a legible and clearly labeled map of Rome in the early middle ages. I’d like to be able to see the Leonine city, the Tiber, Campus Martius, and roads like the Via Cassia/Clodia, the Via Cornelia, and the Via Triumphia all labeled (though I understand some of the roads may not have been in use by then). Does that even exist? — I can find lots of maps from Augustine Rome to early medieval, but lots are at different scales, some have roads missing, and on some even the Tiber or the vatican/Leonine city is gone.

(I’m not necessarily asking anyone to make a map, but if anyone wants to… I may or may not be willing to commission one depending on the cost if that’s something someone does? I’m horribly ignorant in this regard)

Other than that, if anyone has any recommendations for resources on the average life of a commoner in the city of Rome about that time would also be great. I have a book on the social history of ancient Rome, I’ve read A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (which seems to cut off on stories about murder around 900AD), but anything else would be greatly appreciated.

edit: one book I found is Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150 by Chris Wickham.