𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 Made Me Do It 😈
Bushwick’s 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 Rising & The Satantic Panic

I don’t know how it is possible after years and years of blogging that I don’t have more 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 puns on here! In fact the only one I could find was a two-sentence post that was referencing The White Stripes album… in 2007. So now, a post totally dedicated to worshipping 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓. Starting with 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 Rising, the all-vegan meat and sweet shop in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 Rising is the union of 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓‘s Helper & Pisces Rising. And so they have amazing housemade vegan deli meats and exceptional pastry and sweet treats. I so love an eatery like this… one that raises the bar on my beloved vegan food. The care is distinguishable in each bite… and it’s the care that matters.

Colorful sandwich cross-sections taste as vibrant and flavorful as they look. Isn’t that nice when something (one?) is just as pretty on the inside as the outside?

One of those every bite demands a picture sandwich–Oh, the Triple Threat is their pepperoni, salami, and mortadella, with cheese, lettuce, roasted red pepper, onion, pepperoncini, mayo, and vinaigrette on a ciabatta hero.

I let the lovely counter gal make the choices for me–two sweet and a savory. For savory, their Thanksgiving Crag. This thing was an unbelievable meal encased in my most favorite vehicle… bread.

All housemade (How I love that word!) stuffed with scalloped sweet potatoes, gravy, chestnut mushroom turkey, cranberry, and topped with fried onions in a seasoned boule. Lordy lord! If I wasn’t so asleep at the wheel/confined to my apartment, I’d make a themed post of all the Thanksgiving sammies popping up at vegan eateries… “Next year.”

Let’s look inside…

Onward to sweet… This cake was on special: a chocolate chip pumpkin cake. A cake after my own heart. They do no wrong, these 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓ists.

Finally a peanut butter filled chocolate cookie. Down to the little details, 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 Rising is on top of its game. I would love to see more cake options as, oddly, it’s more difficult than I want it to be to get a slice of cake, like really good cake. I wind up having to make it myself.

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When I got home from Bushwick, 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 was on the mind. I wanted to listen to Mötley Crüe backwards gazing at Vince Neil’s prettiness like I did when I was a child… (Too Young To Fall In Love? That was perplexing to me. Because I was only 9 and yet, I was in love with Vince. 😂 Also, what is happening here?)

The music I listened to when other little girls were listening to New Kids On the Block had a huge impact on my development… a deliberate and far-reaching rejection of conformity gave birth to countless values I still uphold. The little girl who snuck downstairs to the television room (Yes, there was only one in a special room.) at midnight to lay on the rug and watch Headbangers Ball… she’s me still. The conscious effort required to express non-conformity took heart–especially in the face of so much “normalcy.” (Now all it takes is you clicking on a keyboard. What you don’t know… you don’t know. A tragic condition.) But it’s an effort well-rewarded. Like any muscle, the heart grows when it’s used, exerted… and atrophies when other parts take over… fingers, brain. Most hearts are out of practice, shaking foolishly when exerted—like when a guy tries to stretch his hamstrings.

With 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 and metal on the mind I watched Lords of Chaos, a horror film that chronologizes the birth of Norway’s black metal scene in the 90’s. And I was refreshingly impressed. Rory Culkin has made great creative choices in his acting and I really enjoyed his performance in this one. Sure, there are some pretty yucky parts… but the “juxtaposition” of Rory’s boyishness, a heart we see revealing itself with mostly subtlety throughout the film carried me most of the way. A barely discernible flinch in the face of evil-doing does so much more than pages of dialogue could. In this way, Culkin does a great job. There ought to be a specific Oscar category for Eye Acting–I would nominate him for it. (Best Eye Acting ever… Michael Corleone. Watch the Godfather I & II again and pay attention to his eyes.)

Afterwards, Hulu went right in Hail Satan?, likely feeling my 𝕾𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓 vibes. Again, I was enthralled! The documentary, which follows the work of the modern-day Satanic Temple, exposes the absurdity within our country’s religious constructs… how our nation, founded with the intent of religious freedom and pluralism, has ultimately failed in this capacity. What starts as a seemingly satirical look at modern-day satanists, the documentary understands your preconceived notions, takes you within a journey that ultimately provokes serious thoughts about freedom, hypocrisy, religious priviledge, and mass media.

The followers of the Satanic Temple took on the mission of pointing out the lack of separation of church and state in our government and the ridiculousness of religious fundamentalists with very entertaining results. As I grew up listening to metal within the now-coined Satanic Panic, I found the social criticisms within the documentary very necessary as our country continues to reckon with the layered horrors inflicted upon “the different”–both historically and in modern times. Now: think of how much death worldwide in the history of time can be attributed to ‘My godhead is better than yours’. It is well-worth examining deeply… critically. The contemporary Satanic Church does so.

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝒜𝒹𝒶𝓂 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐸𝓋𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝐸𝓋𝑒’𝓈 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝓈𝒾𝓃. 𝐸𝓋𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒸𝓊𝓇𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓃𝒶𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝓌𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓋𝒾𝓁 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝓈𝓃𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝓊𝒾𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝑒𝓃𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉. 𝒲𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝓁𝒾𝒷𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝒾𝒻 𝓌𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝑜𝓉𝒶𝓁 𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒹𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒. 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓊𝓁𝓉𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒹𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝓁𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎. 𝑅𝑒𝒻𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝒶𝓁𝓋𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓁𝓎 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝒸𝓀𝓈 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓎𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓃 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹.

𝕵𝖊𝖝 𝕭𝖑𝖆𝖈𝖐𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖊, 𝕾𝖆𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖙

Now an adult looking back, I can see how the Satanic Panic–a time of mass hysteria/culture war brought about by sociological factors including the fear-mongering of the Cold War, among other things–ushered in the mindset of intolerance and religious supremacy that intertwined dangerously with the modern (skewed) view of patriotism. Organized religion is the ultimate tool of control, another weaponized idea in which to hand to the populace.

And we fight each other… against what is not “normal,” what does not conform, what does not blindly accept its own suppression. We fight rather than unite our voice for the good of all… because, well, that is just not profitable.

Again it’s profit and the underlying power structures embedded in our society: 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖑 𝕰𝖛𝖎𝖑.

Hail Satan. Well, just for effect.

Though their Seven Fundamental Tenets sound pretty good to me.