So the original idea of All the Things Under Heaven and Earth was never truly hammered out. I just started writing, opened up a Facebook page, then a Patreon (go join it!) and just sorta trucked along, reviewing and meditating on things. I didn’t really know exactly what I was doing or why I was doing it, although to others it seemed obvious enough. Good for them!
Afghanistan happened, and I got through the short-term fallout. But such things always have long-term consequences, both subtle and obscure. The immediate long-term was I dropped Burning Wheel, which I had been doing quite happily multiple times a week. The emotional energy I had used to such great effect dried up almost instantly. After two years I have begun to get my feet back under me, but it has been extremely difficult.
What, specifically, you may ask? The sudden realization that nobody, left or right, was ready to take the obvious path to saving Afghanistan: permanently colonizing it.
“Whoa, Nathan, imperialism is bad!”
If you’re reading this on the internet you need to shut up. Now. The microchips necessary to read this post around the world require a globalism only made possible by the might of the United States Navy. That’s it. No, don’t hide behind “I don’t approve!” By reading this post you gave money to the thing you profess to despise. Money speaks volumes louder than words. And your money approved.
The fact is that the US, despite profiting quite nicely from this arrangement of hiding its military power behind economic supremacy, refused to use its power responsibly and thus doomed many to death and slavery.
This realization totally changed my relationship with the world, and thus with this blog. I shut down the Facebook group and Patreon. How do you relate to a country that won’t take responsibility for its actions? How do you take said country’s rapidly deteriorating popular culture on the terms of a Catholic or Orthodox Christian who wishes to hang onto faith?
No, I don’t mean the proto-virtue signal all conservative Christians mean when they say “the Faith”. I mean the actual faith: that live coal that burns in your chest, allowing you to tank crap that would drive others insane, that maddening ray of light that persists even when you wish it wouldn’t. I mean the light that its absence thereof reduces doctrine to totalitarianism or worse, wokeism.
And with that question what I have always done with this blog jumped into stark relief: how does a Christian geek maintain both, when both are so important to him? All the things are Christ’s, so you can be both, with a real live faith.
This blog is, and always has been, one example of a journey one Christian nerd, trying to figure out how to keep that flame going. It is a bit raw, esoteric, and ugly. But it is mine.
And this is what you can expect from it, from here on out:
- RPG play reports. Apparently I do a good job at these. They take some work, but they are satisfying to write.
- Board game reviews and musings. These will range from "Do I think it's worth your time to buy?" to esoteric and weird ramblings on how those mechanics make me feel.
- Sorta political posts on maneuvering through the culture war without actually becoming a conservative or a progressive. Like it says on the tin. Will be now be labled "How to Not Sell Out"
- Christian living, specifically on sacramental and helpful stuff like dealing with family members. We'll be calling these The Lens.
-Comic reviews. As the Big Two continue to collapse and the shills continue to scream about it, I'm going to be reviewing comics from indie sources and maybe cover a mainstream comic or two that epitomizes why the sales ain't going well.
And really anything else I"m wanting to write. It is a blog literally called "All the Things Under Heaven and Earth", after all! I may someday actually do those Taco Bell reviews I keep thinking about doing. God I love Taco Bell.
Anyways, that's what we can expect going forward! Let's do it! Thanks for being here, whoever reads!
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