Post by Benjamin Callum Vance on Dec 14, 2017 5:01:23 GMTBenjamin vance To be human is to love 
[PTabbedContent] [PTab=PERSONALITY] Even when it gets too much
[/PTab={background-color:#f0f0f0;width:530px;height:290px;padding:10px;padding-top:0px;margin-top:-6px;}] [PTab=BIOGRAPHY] I'm not ready to give up Most progressive minister Published by Safeguard Magazine 1. What’s your philosophy in life? “Leave the world a better place than I entered it. I’ve seen enough intolerance and war to wish that on anyone else or to let it keep happening. Not to be too sappy, but we need to do better. We can do better. We have the capacity to change. We have done so much already. We have taken necessary strides. It’s unfortunate that the seed of corruption went deep. That the steps we’ve taken are only the beginning. There’s still much left to do.” 2. What’s the one thing you would like to change about yourself? “Hmm. Nothing? I’m sure there are things about me other people would change, but I’m happy with who I am. Maybe my handwriting, but that’d be to make my family and my staff happy. I believe that individuals should be at ease with themselves. It was why better mental health was an issue near and dear to me - as well as acceptance.” 3. Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert? “Both. And neither. But probably introvert. I prefer to stay at work and eat sweets than go out and eat sweets; be with my family or my projects, mostly in my workshop. Or I like to be in my office and ignore what’s going on around me. That doesn’t mean I won’t go out and socialize. I just don’t like to.” 4. Which parent are you closer to and why? “I was closest to my mum, rest her soul. She would just let me go on and on and on about whatever I would like, even if she had no knowledge on the subject. There were times when she straight up changed what she was saying in the middle of her sentence. I had no idea who I got that from, but there you go. She knew a lot of things, too. Liked to do her own research. Even when others would tell me to shut up, I would fail. She was encouraging. Always wanted her kids to be independent. I like to think, wherever she is, that she’s proud of us.” 5. What was the best phase in your life? “That’s...actually difficult. I don’t know? I want to say that it was my wedding. I wanted something private, but Michael knows a lot of people. It was...more fun than I’d expected. Maybe it was my sister’s wedding. She was beautiful. Maybe when we adopted our son; such a precious bean. It was When the wars ended or maybe the peace between? My Hogwarts days. Honestly, I think my life has had too many positive moments to state any one was the best. I’ll admit it’s a good problem to have. I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, either. I’ve survived two Wizarding wars. For all I know, the best time of my life is yet to come.” 6. What was the worst phase in your life? “I was a peculiar child. Always running my mouth with facts no one else really wanted to hear. It was hard to make friends. Mostly, I just trailed after my sisters and bothered them. Then, I met Sawyer and we became friends. She was killed when I was 16. Outside of my family, she was the first person to accept me as I am. Even before Michael. I’m not convinced that I wasn’t in love with her, but I’ll never know. I mourned her for years. I was depressed and angry and too emotional to process; I made a lot of decisions and burned a lot of bridges. I’ve lost a lot of people to Riddle, but Sawyer started it all for me. Before she passed, i was in this safe bubble. Just like that, it was ripped out from under me.” 7. Is what you’re doing now what you always wanted to do growing up? “Merlin, no. I never thought I’d want to be in a position of power. I’m here now, and I still don’t want it. I wanted to be a musician or something like that. A free spirit that never had to worry about much of anything. Free to do my own independent projects. I liked people, but I didn’t like people. I never thought I’d have a family of my own. Or, I wanted to develop safety measures for people to be protected and I didn’t quite manage that, either. But, there was just too much unhappiness in the world and not enough people doing something about it. I did something about it. I’ve been really lucky about it.” 8. Are you more into looks or brains? “I’m into my husband. Michael is the love of my life. We knew each other in childhood - I went to the neighborhood school to learn what we could. I was never had a bunch of accidental magic as a child. Muggle neighborhood kids used to make fun of me. Michael was best friends with another lad and I stayed mostly with my twin. It took years for either of us to realize that we were perfect together. Not until our twenties. Lucky for me he had both looks and brains, but most importantly my marriage.” 9. Would you ever take back someone who cheated? “I want to say no, but I would do anything for Michael. I’m also comfortable enough in our relationship to know that he would do no such thing and that you are prying.” 10. When do you think a person is ready for marriage? “I don’t think that anyone is ever really ready for marriage. I’m not a big fan of institutions in general. I’m all about tearing down power structures. Probably why we kept our individual names. They were important to us. We’re already bonded, anyway. Just perhaps not ceremonially.” 11. What kind of parent are you? “Probably the kind that every kid wishes they had until they have me. Because I don’t believe in rules. Only guidelines - which, actually, is a thing that many Ravenclaws have in common despite the beliefs that other people have. Rules are awful and laws are only slightly better. Necessary and blah, blah, blah. I like to think I’m the kind of parent that convinces their son not to be cruel and to have compassion for people. ” 12. Who is that one person you can talk to about just anything? “Honestly, my sister. There is an acknowledged bond between twins that nothing else can quite measure up to. I know her and she knows me; we’ve always been there for each other, even when we’re not. I came out into this world a full nine minutes before she did, but you couldn’t tell if you spoke to us. I would ask too many questions and lived for any and every philosophical discussion. Em just kinda puts up with it and listens to me, sometimes even helps me when I go off on a tangent.” 13. Who was your first love? “I’m not entirely sure. For me, love doesn’t come so easily like most people expect. It’s no sudden thing - no meeting eyes from across the room and knowing exactly that that person’s my soulmate. All of my crushes and past relationships started off as friendships. So it might have been a girl named Echo. It might have been Michael. If we’re not doing romantic love and are instead doing love in general, than I suppose it could have been Emmeline or maybe my mum. ” 14. What’s an ideal weekend for you? “Let me answer that this way - muggles are quite curious individuals. They don’t stand for injustice. At least, most of them don’t. They go out. I’ve been to countless of marches - for women, for race, for love. You know, magical beings could stand to learn from them. Comparatively, we’re severely lacking. An ideal weekend of mine would be speaking with like-minded individuals about improving our world for the better. To take what we don’t know and what we know and to implement it.” 15. Do you judge a book by its cover? “I believe that everyone judges at first glance. You can’t help it. We have been conditioned to thinking a certain way about everything. All the books. All the people. Everything. But, it’s not the first opinion that matters. It’s the second opinion - the thought that you have immediately after to correct that thought. I do judge, but I also make the effort to hide it.” 16. Are you confrontational? “I am and I am not. I am not confrontational by nature - I never have been. I was the kind of kid who got beat up because I really couldn’t put forth the effort to defend myself. But, I am a damn good duelist. Ask an Avery. I don’t bother to defend myself because there is no point. People get bored and they move on. That’s why I laugh at any op ed of me that’s negative - the only opinions of me that matter are that of the people and of my family. That is when I get confrontational - which is mostly defensive.” 17. Of all the deaths you've witnessed, whose has stayed with you? “I’m not sure. There’s Sawyer. I was in the Great Hall when I heard about it. People started whispering about it and staring at me, but no one would tell me. The Daily Prophet reported it. It was all over and they didn’t shy away from any of the gruesome details. No one thought to pull me from class and tell me, even knowing that we were best friends. Or, maybe, it was my sister, Penelope. I didn’t want to join the any one group on the ‘light’ side against Riddle. I thought that being a little faction was ridiculous - that we all had a better chance if we united as a group against Riddle. By giving everyone an equal standing, it would have eliminated a good bulk of his second army. Reducing any alienation of the purebloods would have saved them a lot of face. Made it to where they didn't want to fight. But, I digress. She joined one in my stead, to not leave Emmy alone. She went off on a mission that would have been perfect for me, but someone compromised her place. She didn’t make it. I was in two wars. All of the deaths stay with me.” 18. Do you believe in second chances? “For some individuals, yes. I believe that most individuals deserve a second chance. That perhaps their primary actions weren’t of their doing. That they are genuinely sorry for what they’ve done. For others, no. I suppose that it depends on the crime. I believe that everyone should be held accountable for their actions. That there is something that can be done to atone for crimes.” Just a life story Benjamin Callum Vance was the middle child in a family of five. With the exception of his father, he was the only boy. He had sister a full year and a half older than him - Penelope. He was older than his twin sister, Emmeline, by nine minutes. As a child, he loved to hold it over her. To tell her that she would understand when she was as old as he was. Benjamin (Ben to most, Benji to some, and Benny to others) had been a fanciful child with his head up in the clouds. He was smart; with meaningful conversations and abstract discussions with his father so long as the subject interested him. His first word was “mummy”, said as he reached up to be picked up. His second word was “why?” He wasn’t the most comforting of siblings - he walked away whenever he was confronted and stared whenever someone would pull his sister’s hair. He’d ask them why they didn’t fight back - fight for themselves - instead of coming back to him since he definitely wasn’t going to do anything about it. Benjamin had always relied on his twin to protect him, initially from neighborhood bullies and then from those that would do him at Hogwarts. Both Adelaide and Sterling Vance had been Ravenclaws. Adelaide was a muggleborn; an artistic type with a penchant for music. Sterling was a little more grounded and realistic. He had wanted his children to attend the local ‘school’ for child witches and wizards, but agreed to his wife’s desire for them to learn at their own pace. Although, what happened was a blend of the two. Ben preferred the latter, picking up his books and teaching himself. He took to reading through his parent’s books to answer his questions. When he was ten, Penelope Vance headed to Hogwarts. She was sorted into Ravenclaw. His first bout of accidental magic came as a result of her teasing. Beforehand, despite all his intelligence, the Vance boy had no predisposition towards magic. He had been teased before - generally for turning in short essays at school and writing notes in the margins of his teacher’s assignments correcting them and suggesting materials that would be more interesting. Irritating comments from his classmates and strangers he could handle - that had always been. But, it was cutting when it came from family. Surrounded by a world of magic, he was terrified that he would be without magic. That his sisters would go on to Hogwarts and leave him behind. That wasn’t to say that he was scared of being a squib - there were other subjects he could still learn. He had a guitar - one that belonged to his mother, but constantly at his hand. He played it to get the teasing out of his head, but snapped the strings in frustrations. Angrier, he threw it onto the ground and aimed to pick a fight with his remaining siblings. Perhaps to beg his mum to fix his mistake, but he hadn’t needed to. The guitar never broke. It bounced off the ground like a ball. The snapped string repaired itself, lining up. He picked it up without another thought. It was grossly out of tune, but his favorite instrument hadn’t broken. Going to Hogwarts was one of the best things that had ever happened to him. He arrived at the castle and stayed closer to his twin and his local friends. The two were among the last to be sorted. Of all the things he expected, it wasn’t to be separated from his twin. His name was called first and the hat wasted no time in naming Ravenclaw his home. He promptly sat down next to Michael Fawcett and another local boy. But just like the house of eagle claimed him, the lion’s claimed his twin. Emmeline, Ben knew, had always been more valiant than he. Over the course of his education, Hogwarts did very little to change him. He attended his classes and made an effort to try to turn in his homework, but failed more often than not. He was always more inclined to spend his time on other habits. Was always more inclined to trail after his friends. He befriended Sawyer sometime in his first year. In the three months of his time at school, he made an enemy of an Avery. For as great as a duelist as he would become, he knew only the basics in that first year. She saved him. They became fast friends after that. As he grew older, he was as common a sight in the Gryffindor tower - specifically, the girls dorm, although he would never tell how he had managed to get there - as he was in the Ravenclaw tower. He dropped classes, but could be found sitting in on exams, testing himself. He sooner finished his own projects than attend class regularly. In his fifth year, he was sat down and asked to explain what he would have wanted to do career wise. He laughed and explained that he wanted to be an entertainer. Or, perhaps, he wanted to create ruins or spells to enable people to protect themselves. He had interest in becoming the magical-equivalent of a lobbyist, reminding the world that the Ministry had a lot of flaws that needed to be corrected. He maintained that the people needed to be taken care of. That, with the looming war, he wasn’t much of a fighter and preferred to take care of himself and those closest to him. Then, someone went after his best friend. She died and a piece of him died along with her. He skipped his classes, avoided his friends - spent all the time he could with Moaning Myrtle because she, at least, would have the decency not to ask him how he was. Just like that, he would not stand for it any longer. He hated the Ministry and everything it was capable of. He hated the Gryffindors Sawyer hung out with for not knowing that she was acting out of character. She hated the Board of Governors and Hogwarts for not better protecting its students. He had to do something about it. He did do something about it. He joined up with others - people not satisfied with the way either side was. He started working for a small publication company, owned by two prominent families. He published articles demanding change and cultivating a base. He graduated Hogwarts with nine OWLs under him. He stayed at the new publication, working as an editor of Safeguard, a magazine aimed at keeping up with the political ongoing. He first ran for the position of Minister of Magic during the 1980 election, losing against Millicent Bagnold at 19. His work immediately afterwards kept the Bagnold administration on its toes, criticizing their “lack of effort” in finding evidence during the Death Eater trials and the bias found towards those with riches and those without. He campaigned for fair trials between all Death Eaters and a fair punishment for those under the influence. His efforts were, however, undermined by his presumed radical stance and the backing of leniency by Albus Dumbledore. He ran again during the 1987 election, at 26. Though, again, he failed to win the seat. His works and those of colleagues and friends forced her retirement in 1990. From there, he thought best to serve the masses in his current position, keeping the Ministry and other large magical corporations accountable. He was a familiar face at all the events, always with a quill nearby. He turned down tenure at The Daily Prophet. At 33, he married his long-term partner, Michael Fawcett. The two had been in a domestic partnership before, but only chose to tie the knot in a long peacetime. The Vance-Fawcett (sometimes the Fawcett-Vance) was an extremely vocal advocate for the rights of all magical beings, a position reflected at Safeguard during his tenure as Lead Editor. He is famously credited for saying, “Okay...so a kid died and you assholes are trying to paint a 15 year old as psychotic instead of getting him help? For that matter, how was that binding? He should sue.” He believed Mr. Potter’s in 1994 and had no qualms about laying the blame on the Ministry and Dumbledore, particularly for holding an event which famously has individuals die. Benjamin was an easy target during the Second Wizarding War. His vocal nature made him a natural enemy to many, but it did not stop him from publishing. All of ArCia Publications went to ground. Ben and his husband both in hiding, although that did not stop him from being a thorn in Riddle’s side. He was not at the Battle of Hogwarts, but helped publish a memorial piece for those lost and campaigned to establish a fund to cover the cost of the funerals. He and his husband adopted a four year old son in 2007. In 2012, he ran successfully for the position of Minister of Magic following Kingsley Shacklebolt and picked off where he left off. He established the Sawyer Act and saw it pushed through Wizengamot. It established the right to Education and Health Care for magical beings without fear of discrimination and prejudice. He continued along the same ideals and was named “Most Progressive Minister” to ever hold the position to date. He and Shacklebolt worked together to hold Death Eaters and supporters accountable with fair trials, reliable witnesses, and hard facts. He served a full term of 7 years and retired from public office in 2019 to resume his position as Head of Safeguard Publications. He currently lives in with his husband, a well known barrister, in Birmingham. [/PTab={background-color:#f0f0f0;width:530px;height:290px;padding:10px;padding-top:0px;margin-top:-6px;}] [PTab=PLAYER] To be human is to love
[/PTab={background-color:#f0f0f0;width:530px;height:290px;padding:10px;padding-top:0px;margin-top:-6px;}] [/PTabbedContent={width:550px;background-color:transparent;height:300px;padding:0px;border:0px;margin-left:-3px;margin-top:-20px;text-align:justify;color:#332F28;font-size:10px;}] FIRTH, colin as Benjamin Callum Vance deltra of gangnam style [newclass=".PT_table .PT_tabs"]border: 0px;text-align:center;background-color: #f0f0f0;color:#333333;font:15px Oswald;text-transform:uppercase;-webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease; -moz-transition: all 0.2s ease; -o-transition: all 0.2s ease;[/newclass] [newclass=".PT_table .PT_tabs_hover"]border: 0px;text-align:center;background-color: #f0f0f0;color:#333333;font:15px Oswald;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass] [newclass=".PT_table .PT_tabs_selected"]border: 0px;text-align:center;background-color: #f0f0f0;color:#3f8c7f;font:15px Oswald;text-transform:uppercase;-webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease; -moz-transition: all 0.2s ease; -o-transition: all 0.2s ease;[/newclass] [newclass=".PT_table .PT_tabs_selected_hover"]border: 0px;text-align:center;background-color: #f0f0f0;color:#3f8c7f;font:15px Oswald;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass] [googlefont=Oswald]
last edited Dec 20, 2017 6:27:41 GMT by Benjamin Callum Vance
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Vance, Benjamin Callum
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