One Faith, Many Paths: Haydon Cornett

For my latest interview, I chose one of the members of my Autistic Christians group, Aisling Cornett!

1. When were you diagnosed as autistic?  I was diagnosed when I was twelve years old. My mom had read up on it and came to the conclusion that it was likely, so she took me to a psychiatrist. Psychiatry was a special interest of mine, so I was eager and fascinated.
2. What was your childhood like? My childhood was “Christian”–sheltered, American, Southern, and emotionally isolated. No one understood me properly, including myself, so I spent most of my time retreating into books. I was ridiculed and excluded by other children, and my family mistakenly thought I was disrespectful , rude, and intentionally difficult. Nevertheless, my family meant well and introduced me to some wonderful books, movies, music, and food.
3. How did you become a Christian? You told me you were a convert. I was raised in the conservative, fundamentalist church of Christ–an obscure niche of a group that was very focused on intellectualism and a literal interpretation of sola scriptura in about every way possible. They essentially had no spiritual experience whatsoever, and were quite legalistic. It was all about knowing bible trivia. I never felt close to God. I certainly didn’t know Him. Prayer was just a ritual you did so things would go well for you. I’m a very emotional person, and I was very unfulfilled, so in Middle School I turned to Wicca. I was a closet pagan and could see and commune with “faeries” and “nature spirits”, and I would cast spells to make things go my way. I was happy, but I also had undiagnosed anxiety that manifested itself in a crippling terror of Hell. This fear got stronger and stronger and was fed by things I found on the Internet about “end times philosophy and the “great tribulation”. I was terrified that I would go to Hell if I didn’t go back to some form of Christianity. I became a Charismatic and had a radicalizing, life-changing experience of the love of God as truly present and real. I tried to evangelize everyone I met at high school. After I graduated, I was looking for a church to go to other than my parents’, and I found a house church and an Orthodox parish. I kept coming back and visiting, and now I’ve discovered the truth of Holy Orthodoxy and have become a catechumen.
4. Who is your favorite biblical figure besides Jesus? Probably St. Stephen. His love for the Lord and others is so inspiring.
5. Do you have a favorite biblical passage? Honestly, I haven’t read enough Scripture to have a favorite passage yet. I don’t know if I’d ever be able to pick anyway.

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Couch Potato: Duck Tales Reboot Recap

Last year, I blogged about the pilot episode of the Duck Tales reboot. Now that season 1 is over, I thought I’d talk about my thoughts so far.

First of all, I really like what they’ve done with the nephews and Webby. Huey, Dewey, and Louie each have their own individual actors. This is important because the writers want us to think of them as individual characters rather than a trio. (In fact, no one is doing voices for more than one character this time around.) Huey is the leader and the planner, the smartest of the three. Dewey is the bravest and most heroic. Louie is a bit on the selfish side and greedy. This is not the first time this has been done (it was also done on Quack Pack, but I feel that wasn’t as successful.), but I think it really works here. Webby has also been changed. I want people to understand something. I never hated Webby like some fans apparently did. (I didn’t even know she was hated) I just thought she was bland. She moved the story along. Maybe bland was a better word for how I felt about her. But now, she’s been changed to an energetic girl who seems to enjoy danger a bit too much. I like this new change, and it makes her much more engaging than the original.

David Tennant is doing great work as Uncle Scrooge. He doesn’t seem all that different from the original portrayal, and that’s good. If it worked before, don’t change it.

Donald Duck is much more a part of the show than he was in the original. I love this idea! I hated that he spent so much time with the Navy in the original Duck Tales. I like him being this overprotective substitute father, as it’s a more favorable portrayal than he usually has with the nephews. They seem to have more respect for him this time, which I like.