1/Turns out the person in the pic is the cousin-in-law of the Trudeau fam!👀

Aside from @MsAmyMacPherson's political opinion, she lays out damning facts on how political canvassing data + close connections (incl. 1 at a hospital) were used to lure kids.

https://t.co/bg4aJIWXzR

Ok, I'll hop on this Elizabeth Warren/Native American testing bandwagon (gently and non-politically).

I've been a @23andMe customer for a while, and have followed their ancestry updates closely.

All is more or less as expected....except for this bit about Native American.

The family is almost completely composed of Spanish peasants (from various regions) who emigrated, along with a massive wave in the late 19th-cent./early 20th-cent., to Cuba back when it was a booming economy (richer than Spain's) and worth emigrating to (Communism killed that).

Also, the native population of Cuba was annihilated early on---was the first place the Spanish colonized after all. Having a native background in Cuba would be like having the same in, say, Massachusetts, particularly if you're (say) mostly Irish. Just really, really unlikely.

(Note: the North African/Arab background is less mysterious. The Iberian peninsula was part of the Muslim world for centuries. It would be odd *not* to have some Arab/Middle Eastern background coming from Spain. Given the family is mostly from Northern Spain, it's small though.)

I have a Spanish passport, have been back to the ancestral villages in Spain, seen the church where my grandmother was baptized, my grandfather told me stories about growing up as the child of Spanish colonists in rural Cuba. The native bit just clashes with all the family lore.

So here is a secret: Not everything I write goes anywhere. I have at least 4 books completely written and edited that never went on submission. I have books that stalled out at 20k. I have docs on my computer with opening paragraphs I don't remember writing. But! 1/

Every now and then an idea sticks with me like that corner of tortilla chip that just won't go down your throat. It happened with SPARROWHAWK, which began as 40k of a YA story, died, and was reborn as a comic, thanks to @christopher_j_r and @boomstudios. And now... 2/

It's happening with THE WILLOWS, a short story that you'll see in @UncannyMagazine next year. This Southern Gothic horror story began as an attempt to sell my next Romance to @AbZurdity after the Blud books in 2014 or so. And she didn't buy it. Guess why? 3/

Turns out, it wasn't a Romance! It was Southern Gothic Horror. Even the bones of it screamed strangeness, not sexiness. I loved the taste of the world, but I hadn't found the right story yet. Tried to write it 2 more times and failed. Until I finally understood what it was. 4/

So I took the 50 pages I'd written and cut half of them, twisting the story around from a gothy Romance inspired by the band the Civil Wars and turned it into a spooky descent into madness. And it looked back at me from the abyss as if to say, DUH. Sometimes... 5/

Ameda Temple
Ernakulam, Kerala 🚩
#keralatemples

Ameda Ksetram is located in the banks of Vembanad Lake. Temple is very unique and Powerful Sarpa Kavu.
Parashurama did Prathishta here. Vilakku which was lighted by Parasurama is still seen inside the temple.

The oil from this lamp is given to bhakthas for recovering from illness.

Sthala puranam says that, Once, when Parashurama was travelling through Kerala, he reached this place. As it was evening, he stepped into the Lake for Sandhya Vandanam
At that Sapthamathrukkal 👇

(Brahmini, maheshwari, kowmari, vaishnavi, varahi, indirani and chamundi) were travelling there on a tortoise through the water. The tortoise was unable to move, because the Water had made its way for Parashurama. The place where the tortoise became Still came to be known as 👇

Aama Ni Nidayam' ( Aama means tortoise) and later become ‘Ameda’. Parashurama came to know about the journey of Sapthamathrukkal. Thus, he did Prathishta for the Sapthamathrukkal here.
7 forms of Aadi Parashakthi are Sapthamathrukkal. Veerabhadra and Ganesha have Sannidhi here.

The main Garbhagriham in the temple is the Sapthamathrukkal. There are Sannidhi to Nagas, Nagayakshi and Vishnu too. Sarparadhana or snake worship is done here. Naga Panchami is famous here. Those who have Naga Dosham come here and get relieved of their Doshas.
🕉🙏🕉