Hey, everyone! Happy June to you all. I hope y’all are enjoying your summer so far!

For as long as I can remember, my mom has had me fill out a Q&A on my birthday (which was a couple days ago). This has always been an enjoyable tradition for me not only because it’s fun to do, but also because it’s fun to look back on and compare answers from different years. And this year, seeing as I have my own website now, I thought it would be fun to post the Q&A on here.

Also, since I don’t want to publish two posts so close together, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and go ahead and combine the Q&A with the Socratic circle post for June.

We’ll start with the Q&A!

What is/are…

Your favorite animal?

The African lion! You can thank The Lion King for that.

Your favorite color?

It’s unclear right now. Rose pink has been my favorite for years, but now hydrangea is vying for the top spot all of a sudden. Who knows how things will play out? =P

Your favorite food?

“Larry’s chicken,” a unique fried chicken recipe that’s very special to my family! We make it at least once every two months.

Your favorite drink?

Any form of matcha green tea. Hot, iced, frozen, sweet, unsweet—you name it, I’ll drink it! XD

Your favorite dessert?

You know, for some reason this is always a tough question for me. Like, nothing really ever comes to mind…? I’m generally more into salty stuff than sweet. But I’ll admit, I love me some Texas sheet cake. With extra walnuts. It’s dangerously good. OuO

Your favorite thing to cook/bake?

Anything involving pie dough! Working with the dough is so fun and therapeutic; it takes me back to my Play-doh days. XD I also love how versatile it is—it can be used for so many different dishes, both sweet and savory.

Your favorite restaurant?

There are a lot of factors that play into this decision for me: it isn’t just the food, and because of that, I can’t choose just one favorite restaurant. It would have to be Red Robin (for their fries/ranch combo, mainly), Carmelo’s Mexican Grill (for their barbacoa and the scenic drive), and Taste of Texas (for the atmosphere and their salad bar).

Your favorite hobby?

Writing! *finger guns*

Runners-up: Drawing, organizing (got a messy closet? I’m your gal 😉 )

Your favorite author?

Jane Austen. She’s an absolute legend. ⭐

Your favorite book?

Pride and Prejudice! Ever since 2018. I’ve become a bit of an unapologetic Regency nerd since then. ^_^

Your favorite movie?

The Lion King (1994). I don’t think that one’s changing anytime soon (although I’ll admit, the 2019 Little Women came pretty dang close last year 0_0).

Your favorite TV show?

The 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries. It’s such a classic, and it’s what I watch when I’m feeling nostalgic or need an emotional pick-me-up.

Your favorite male fictional character?

*winces* This is always hard… Probably still Mr. Darcy. I go in and out of phases of liking different characters, but I like Darcy pretty consistently. XD

Runners-up: Kylo Ren, the MCU’s Loki, Sydney Carton, Kenai, Steve Harrington

Your favorite female fictional character?

This is less hard. 😛 Jo March! I love her spirit, her strong opinions, and that she’s a writer, of course. Although I still think she should’ve married Laurie. *sigh*

Runners-up: Elizabeth Bennet, MCU’s Wanda Maximoff, Makini

Your favorite OC (original character)?

Lysander. Still. I love that dude. I just hope I can write him justice. ❤

Your favorite music artist?

B! T! S! *struggles to form each letter with my arms* *fails* *settles for the finger heart instead* Borahae!

Seriously, never in my entire life have I been as into a music artist as I am now with BTS. I love their music and just their whole aesthetic. *whispers* And to be honest, I thought I was a little old for boy bands. 😛

Your favorite song?

“Dear Me” by Nichole Nordeman, similar to Pride and Prejudice, is the song I always fall back on for pretty much any reason. I never get tired of listening to it—it’s so full of wisdom. Since I’m in a BTS phase right now, though, I’ve been listening to a lot of their music, and I must say that “Magic Shop,” “Lights,” and “We are Bulletproof: The Eternal” are quite good. ^_^

Your favorite art…artist?

I really love all of Thomas Cole’s work! The message of his art can be interpreted different ways, but I think we can all agree that everything he paints is just gorgeous. (#Aspirations!)

Runners-up: Michelangelo Caravaggio, Charles Willson Peale

Your favorite piece of art?

Thomas Cole’s The Oxbow. I want a gigantic print of it framed on my wall!

Your favorite vacation destination?

It’s a tie between England and Disney World. Both places are just so dearly special to me. I know, I’m so predictable. XD

Your favorite school subject?

Whaaat? I don’t do that school stuff anymore! XD Just kidding. Kind of. Anyway, it’d have to be literature—preferably British, but I’ll take what I can get. ^_^

Your favorite thing to wear?

Either a loose, comfortable sweater, a cute wide-brim hat, or the perfect pair of jeans (emphasis on perfect… I can’t stand uncomfortable jeans >_<).

Your most prized possessions?

Too many to accurately name. I love the things I am blessed to own (and if I don’t, I promptly get rid of them XD). But my Bible, my phone, my Austen books, and a certain stuffed lamb—who shall remain unnamed, for her privacy—are probably some of the most important to me (for differing reasons).

Your favorite thing about being 18?

I think it’s a tie between being able to vote, getting to sign up for a bunch of birthday rewards, and graduating. It was definitely something of a breakout year for me!

The funniest thing you can think of?

Argh, this is a classic instance of all the answers leaving my head as soon as the question is asked. >_< A good fallback here is my all-time favorite meme, which unfortunately I don’t have saved, but this is what it says: “‘My babies!’ I scream at a group of men who are actually older than me.” It just…yeah. It pretty much sums me up. XD

Also, my ever-growing collection of out-of-context quotes is always a good place to find some laughs. ^_^

Your favorite memories from the past year?

More come to mind the more I think on it, but here’s what I got after about five minutes:

• Rediscovering the Little Women franchise
• Swimming in and canoeing on the lake in Illinois
• Having breakfast at the Disney restaurant in Orlando
• Relaxing at the Hill Country Resort in San Antonio
• Watching WandaVision with my family
• Exploring Fredericksburg and Luckenbach and watching Bluey at the hotel
• The feeling of finally being done with high school and the anticipation I feel for the future

Your goals for your 20th year?

• Spend more time growing closer to God & trusting in Him
• Finish Foxhunt, take a breather, then start outlining the second draft
• Get an article published somewhere
• Get a poem published somewhere
• Successfully complete my first year of college
• Get my driver’s license (hopefully within a couple more months)

That’ll do it for me! ^_^

Now, on to the Socratic Circle.

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Before we dive into the question for June, let’s address May’s Socratic circle, which posed the question, Can the ethical ever be suspended for the sake of a higher power? I am thrilled to say that there were two awesome responses to this question!

The first response came from my friend Hazel. This is what she had to say on the topic:

I think that this question is a matter of how far someone will go to gain approval. If you’re the type of person whose self-image relies on what other people think of you, then yes, you very well might do something unethical to stay close to a higher power.

Then of course there’s the question of why a higher power is asking you to do something unethical. Are they testing your loyalty? Is there a conflict going on? Do they not want to clearly get their hands dirty (like they need a scapegoat if someone finds out what happened)? Is there literally no reason at all?

Another thing is that a ‘higher power’ doesn’t have to be a person. It could be an idea that someone decides to place above everything else. It kind of creates a chain reaction, where the person in charge doesn’t want to be blamed, so they hand the dirty work to the next person, but they also don’t want to be blamed, so it keeps getting handed down. That basically creates a contingency, so if the leader gets accused, they could blame it on someone else.

I think whether or not a person would doing something unethical for a higher power depends on the amount of pressure to conform and what the threat is if you don’t.

The best examples I can think of for stuff like this is Star Wars, but no, I will not go into details because I get annoying really fast.

I have no idea where this was going, but here, have some free, mid-morning, I’m-supposed-to-be-paying-attention-to-math-class thoughts!

The second response came from another friend of mine, J. S. Clingman @ My Little Hole in the Ground. Here are his thoughts:

This question can be interpreted however you like. I’m going to interpret it as asking whether an ethical or moral framework a person lives by can be “suspended” when it is contradicted by a higher-up’s dictates. 

Not to make things complicated, but I think it depends. I think there are instances in which one might be obligated to forego a lesser moral obligation in order to fulfill a greater one. Choosing the lesser of two evils, in other words.

This is going to be a weird example, but please bear with me. You are trapped in an evil supervillain’s volcano, and he’s locked up a friend of yours in a giant cage dangling precariously over bubbly, hot magma. He says he will release your friend if you commit suicide. The supervillain, in this instance, is “a higher power”. If you believe in the Bible, you would probably consider suicide wrong on account of the implications of several verses (Exodus 20:13, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Deuteronomy 30:19). But in this instance, I think it would be okay—even noble—to commit suicide to save your friend’s life. “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13).

Great thoughts, you guys! I’m impressed with y’all’s discernment and wisdom in addressing this question, and I love how you both took a slightly different approach in doing so. I can tell that you both drew from your own interests, schooling, etc. to compose your answers, and I think that’s so cool. Thanks so much for participating!

Now, let’s keep our brains at full steam ahead, shall we? The question for this month comes from a sermon my pastor was giving in Sunday school a few weeks ago. In my opinion this issue is slightly easier to wrestle with than May’s question, but I still think it’s a good one to chew on.

Is grace truly the opposite of justice? Which trait is the more important for us to embody?

(Okay, technically that was two questions. Oh, well. XD)

If you’re interested in expressing your views on this issue, please feel free to comment about it, write a post, short story, or poem, make a piece of art, or literally anything else; and I will collect any entries and feature them in the next Socratic circle post. Just be sure you keep in mind the following:

• Define your terms! If there’s one thing my homeschool curriculum has taught me, it’s the importance of this practice.
• Keep your submission PG, please. I will not feature anything that contains vulgar content of any kind.
• Be sure to comment below and let me know about your submission(s) by June 30 if you wish for it to be featured. (There is a chance, of course, that I’ll simply happen upon your submission—I follow many of the people who follow me—but I can’t guarantee it.)
• Please feel free to tag others to participate in our circle! The more the merrier!
• And of course, you’re welcome to post, comment, etc. on a previous month’s (i.e. May’s) Socratic circle issue as well—just know that it won’t get featured in the next post.

And, just like last time and as always, if there aren’t any responses to this question, that’s totally fine. The point of these posts is to get people (including me) thinking. Certain issues may not require outward expression for some, and that’s okay. ^_^

I can’t wait to see how this month’s Socratic circle unfolds!

Whew! I do apologize for the length of this post, everyone. I didn’t mean to draw things out quite that much, but I guess that’s what happens when you combine posts. XD

Anyway, that’s it for me. If you stuck around to the end, thank you, and I hope y’all enjoyed! I’ll see y’all soon! ^_^