New Botkin Blog Post

[clarinetpower]

The photo of dinner prep got me worried. I hope she didn't lose a finger while chopping and reading about women's roles in Islam. Yikes.

[slickcat79]

Oh and this

Confuses me. What sort of experience do they have with boys outside of their own family?

Also, even in the real world, why would either of them be having relationships with "boys"? They are pushing 30. I can't decide if it's the usual infantilization of women, or if AS&E are just desperately clinging to youth out of the hope that daddy will arrange a courtship for them.

[Guest Anonymous]

What a kerfuffle they made over a silly little boy going on his holidays.....

I travelled to Egypt on my own a few years ago and sent a few days exploring Cairo alone, before meeting up with a group to tour the rest of the country. It was a bit scary at times, as a lone female traveller, but it was also beautiful, intriguing, and unmissable - I'd certainly recommend it over learning a few skills in HTML and Photoshop!

My experience was that the mosques open to non-muslim visitors are mostly very crowded, with lots of English-speaking visitors being hustled through as quickly as possible, in order to generate as much income as possible. They were generally crowded and noisy and no one would really have paid any attention to a silly little boy spouting about Jesus.

For me, the real secrets of Egypt were to be found while wandering the back streets. I had a fabulous private tour of a small mosque, by a wonderful caretaker, who let me spend as long as I liked exploring and taking photographs, for a small fee. But yeah, I didn't spout any disrespectful crap about other religions, so we got on with each other OK.

As for Karnak - the place is huge and crawling with tourists, again, that little runt of a lad could proclaim and denounce what he liked and I doubt anyone would care or even notice.

The most offence he would likely cause would be if he adopted his sister's approach to 'hands on' exploration of any exhibits - the one thing that gives all Western travellers a bad name are uneducated, ignorant tourists who put their greasy fingers over relics that have been preserved for thousands of years, at great cost. He'd also make a laughing stock of himself trying to document the tombs built 'under' the Pyramids.....

And yeah, there are some wide open spaces beyond the Pyramids, and you can go horse-riding, quad-biking and tear up the desert in any way you wish to pay for, but the immediate area around the pyramids is heavily regulated, there are charges to go into the area just to walk around the exterior of the pyramids, and further charges to enter the Great Pyramid. You can get up close on foot, but you certainly can't ride wild horses around them. Maybe he got his story muddled and forgot that what he had at Giza was a little camel ride and an ice-cream with the rest of the kiddy visitors.....

[Deleted12]

Adventurous Femininity

Which activity is more feminine: embroidering a pin cushion or digging up ancient artifacts in a foreign land? The answer may surprise you. In this practical message from Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Botkin, femininity is examined in terms of how a young woman can fulfill her unique calling within her family - not by defining which adventures and activities girls “can†or “can’t†enjoy. The exhortation to young women is clear: do not pursue a brand of femininity that is so obsessed with its own girliness that you cannot get your hands dirty with real service for Christ.

http://bluebehemoth.com/album/60778/

[deborahlynn1979]

Re: the picture of the Botkinette almost TOUCHING the Egyptian stone at a museum. Was I the only one just horrified by this picture? Dear GOD, I hope she wasn't touching something. What utter disrespect to the piece.

[Marian the Librarian]

Adventurous Femininity

Which activity is more feminine: embroidering a pin cushion or digging up ancient artifacts in a foreign land? The answer may surprise you. In this practical message from Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Botkin, femininity is examined in terms of how a young woman can fulfill her unique calling within her family - not by defining which adventures and activities girls “can†or “can’t†enjoy. The exhortation to young women is clear: do not pursue a brand of femininity that is so obsessed with its own girliness that you cannot get your hands dirty with real service for Christ.

http://bluebehemoth.com/album/60778/

Oh, for the love of Pete - they weren't there digging up the artifacts and having the "boots-on-the-ground" experience, were they? They were back home, "manning" Mission Control and the "snazzy project website."

And isn't it interesting that Dougie and his cohorts at VF/Blue Behemoth still haven't figured out the correct spelling of Anna So F ia's name?

[Guest Anonymous]

Re: the picture of the Botkinette almost TOUCHING the Egyptian stone at a museum. Was I the only one just horrified by this picture? Dear GOD, I hope she wasn't touching something. What utter disrespect to the piece.

Nope - me too!

The most offence he would likely cause would be if he adopted his sister's approach to 'hands on' exploration of any exhibits - the one thing that gives all Western travellers a bad name are uneducated, ignorant tourists who put their greasy fingers over relics that have been preserved for thousands of years, at great cost.

[Mommy22alyns]

Re: the picture of the Botkinette almost TOUCHING the Egyptian stone at a museum. Was I the only one just horrified by this picture? Dear GOD, I hope she wasn't touching something. What utter disrespect to the piece.

This concerned me too.

[FuManchu]

Re: the picture of the Botkinette almost TOUCHING the Egyptian stone at a museum. Was I the only one just horrified by this picture? Dear GOD, I hope she wasn't touching something. What utter disrespect to the piece.

The shadow of her fingers on the artefact make the whole thing much more creepy than it would otherwise be.