#daniel mcwhorter

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: John McWhorter

Published: Dec 12, 2024

Since Monday, when a jury found Daniel Penny not guilty in the death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway, the conversation has threatened to go off the rails.

Penny was the man who stepped up when Neely caused a commotion on the F train, shouting at passengers, “I’m fed up. I don’t mind going to jail and getting life in prison. I’m ready to die.” Penny put him in a chokehold and held him for about six minutes. Neely died from compression to his neck, according to the medical examiner.

It should have been a story about the horror of a mentally ill person abandoned by the city and left to fend for himself in subway tunnels or on street corners, or about how scary it can be for those around him to navigate the wreckage, or about how one 24-year-old Marine veteran tried to protect a group of strangers, taking action that ended in unintended tragedy.

But Penny is white and Neely, 30, was Black. So instead it became a story of race — and all the more so after the jury’s verdict — a variation of Daniel Pantaleo going free after choking Eric Garner in 2014. But that’s not what happened here, and I wish those describing Penny or his acquittal as racist might consider things from another vantage point.

Chivona Newsome, a founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York and a recent congressional candidate, said, “They will not find a white man guilty of killing a Black man in modern-day America.” Her brother and fellow founder, Hawk Newsome, declared that “the K.K.K., the Klansmen, the evil in America, got another victory,” and after the verdict made a call to “Black vigilantes.” Supporters of Black Lives Matter and the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network were at the courthouse for Penny’s trial every day, chanting, among other things, “If we don’t get no justice, they don’t get no peace.” The NAACP declared that “the acquittal of Daniel Penny in the death of Jordan Neely has effectively given license to vigilante justice to be waged on the Black community without consequence.” Tim Wise, a senior fellow at the African-American Policy Forum and a prominent speaker on antiracism, called Penny a “racist, classist, ableist murderer.”

The claim that Penny acted out of racism implies that if he had seen a white man scaring subway passengers in that way, he either would not have restrained the man at all or would have done so for a shorter time.

I am unaware of how we could know such a thing. Some will think of the white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd as he begged for his life. The common assumption was that Floyd’s race informed Chauvin’s behavior. How then should we think of the case of Tony Timpa, a white man who died four years earlier under very similar circumstances in Dallas?

To claim Penny was acquitted because he is white implies also that if he were Black, he would have been convicted and imprisoned.

I am unaware of how we could know this, either. Any lawyer defending a Black Marine veteran in this instance would be sure to invoke his service to his country and to his fellow passengers, and to warn jurors against making him another statistic in the annals of judicial bias. Given the circumstances and the setting, it seems likely to me that they would take that responsibility seriously.

This is one of those subjects that leads readers to tell me they like my newsletters “but….” When I raise these ideas, in conversation or print, I am often told that I’m missing the centrality of racism in the American experience, or that Penny’s racism is too obvious to require discussion or proof. I wish those who believe that would consider that reality is more complex than just “America hates Black people.”

For a long time, that was clearly true. Even 40 years ago, the evidence was still there. But it’s easier to pretend change never happens than to recognize that it unfolds slowly. The Pew Research Center reported in 2017 that about one in four recently married Black American men had a spouse from another race or ethnicity, as did more than one in 10 recently married Black women. The same report said that in 1990, 63 percent of non-Black Americans said they would be opposed to a close relative marrying a Black person; that figure has since dropped to only 14 percent. Hip-hop, the Blackest music in America, is now a staple at some of the whitest weddings, as I have often observed.

American English grows Blacker by the decade — and how you speak casually is who and what you are. A Black man was president for not one but two terms. While time has blunted the post-2020 hegemony of D.E.I. and racial reckoning, anyone who doubts academia and the arts, especially, are now more antiracist than anything imaginable in 2019 is not an academic or an artist.

America does not hate Black people.

If Daniel Penny had been Black, there would have been no one outside the courthouse protesting vigilante justice. Those now invoking the K.K.K. would have considered the genuine terror of being enclosed in a subway car with someone who is visibly unstable — a situation of which I have written as a father who rides the F train often. They would have readily perceived that a man can kill by accident while trying to do good.

Penny’s blond all-American looks seem to have invited a kind of punitive typecasting, and a very narrow view of what happened on that train: A white man killed a Black man. This reductive perspective discourages the empathic spirit that celebrated by the civil rights leaders who created our America.

*

In the spirit of seeing people unfamiliar to us in a human light, Jenny Lyn Bader’s new play, “Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library,” portrays the historian and philosopher Hannah Arendt finding an intellectual and spiritual connection with the German Gestapo guard who arrests her for allegedly illegal research. It is a 90-minute lesson on perceiving humanity and even dignity in all people under even the toughest of conditions.

--

By: Rafael A. Mangual

Published: Dec 9, 2024

New Yorkers concerned about public safety are breathing a sigh of relief today, after a Manhattan jury acquitted Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 death of Jordan Neely. Aside from small groups of far-left agitators calling for Penny’s head, many observers seemed skeptical from the get-go of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s effort to imprison Penny for physically restraining Neely, who burst into a New York City subway car in the midst of a psychotic episode and began threatening and menacing riders.

The public skepticism was well founded: prosecutors should never have brought this case in the first place.

Neely was a repeat criminal offender. He had racked up some 42 prior arrests, including for assaults on women on the subway. He had a documented history of serious mental illness, worsened by repeated drug use. This isn’t to say, of course, that he deserved to die. It is to say that Neely fit the definition of a ticking time bomb. Instead of being put in jail or compelled to enter an inpatient psychiatric-care facility, he was permitted to roam the streets. This was a choice, which means that the situation in which Penny and his fellow commuters found themselves in May 2023 was the byproduct of the government’s failure—one of many such failures (lest we forget about Ramon Rivera’s alleged stabbing spree just last month).

Forcing commuters to deal with the fallout from unwise policy choices is bad enough. But for the government then to prosecute someone for a good-faith effort to navigate the dangerous situation created by those choices is a step too far for many New Yorkers.

The Penny prosecution is even harder to swallow given the evidence suggesting that perception of Neely as a threat was reasonable; that the decision to restrain him in response was also reasonable; that, whatever one makes of his specific method of restraint, Penny was not trying to kill Neely (he released him as soon as he became aware that Neely had lost consciousness and could no longer fight); and that Penny’s lack of criminal history, military service, and cooperation with authorities undermine any suggestion that the public would benefit from his incarceration.

Adding to the sense of unfairness here is the reasonable belief that Penny’s prosecution was politically motivated—the byproduct of a calculation made in response to the racialized protests following Neely’s death. (It’s worth noting, too, that Bragg rode into the DA’s office on a magic carpet of promises to be more lenient toward the kind of repeat offenders New Yorkers are sick of dealing with.)

Why would Bragg, who so strongly believes in restricting the use of prosecutions to cases with “real” public safety implications, put so much effort into trying to convict a college student and Marine Corps veteran with no criminal history for a death he obviously didn’t mean to cause, which occurred in an attempt to protect his fellow New Yorkers from Neely? Is there a better answer to this question than, because it was the most politically beneficial move for a DA who didn’t want to risk losing his “progressive” base in his reelection bid? The Penny case certainly isn’t Bragg’s first politically motivated prosecution with no obvious public-safety upside.

Making matters worse, the prosecutor who litigated the case against Penny once touted her decision to go easy on a robber who accidentally killed an elderly man by striking him during a holdup at a Manhattan ATM. Rather than pursue a felony murder charge, the prosecutor charged the man with manslaughter—the same offense Penny was charged with. Does anyone believe that Daniel Penny merited comparison with a thief who would slug a man in his eighties for a few bucks? Could Bragg not see the difference? A better question: Should New Yorkers reelect a DA who can’t?

--

==

As with Ma'Khia Bryant, it's not about whether he "deserved to die." It's the fact that he made himself dangerous and forfeited the right to safety in the process. People are allowed to protect themselves and other people from threats. Nobody is required to accept themselves as a target of violence to satisfy "racial justice."

BTW, not only did Neely have a pulse when the police were on-site, but the police declined to administer first aid.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14030841/daniel-penny-jordan-neely-chokehold-trial-nyc-subway.html

Among witnesses on the first day of evidence was an NYPD Sergeant who testified that none of his team performed mouth-to-mouth on Neely because he was a 'drug user'. 

'He seemed to be a drug user.. he was an apparent drug user. He was very dirty. I didn’t want them to get… hepatitis.

'If he did wake up he would have been vomiting. I didn’t want my officers to do that. 

'He was filthy. He looked like a homeless individual. You have to protect your officer,

'I wouldn’t want my officer to get sick if the person throws up,' he said. 

[concerthopperblog]

Wage War, 10 Years of Wage War

At the House of Blues Orlando, the first night of a sold-out doubleheader, I patiently waited for the first act to come on stage as the floor filled to capacity and the energy was crackling with electricity.

I assumed that the energy was coming from the fans of Wage War since they were the headlining act, but I was wrong. It was because Gideon was taking the stage. Donned in cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and a two-piece denim outfit, Daniel McWhorter, the lead singer came out and they came out swinging. I’m not sure what I expected from the band, but it wasn’t that. Gideon’s music reminds me of classic beat-down hardcore punk, which is a force to be reckoned with. It was intense, fast-paced, and to be completely honest, perfect. I was an instant fan and haven’t stopped listening to them since! Their intense vocals backed with heavy riffs, have been fueling my morning workouts and routines ever since.

Coming off the heels of Gideon was Zero 9:36. While the vibes were completely different than Gideons, the music was just as good.

Zero 9:36 was a good way to blend rap, industrial, and rock into one 3 piece act. I had never heard of them before, but the crowd did. There were quite a lot of people dancing and singing along to the songs.

ERRA, a name we all knew and were ready for. Swinging for the fences and never missing, their energy was unmatched. Their guitarist and clean vocalist was probably the most exciting to watch, because he was up, down, left, right, upside down, and all over the place. It was pretty awesome to see. With plenty of clean vocals and screaming to go around, ERRA is a band you should check out if you haven’t heard them before. They have about 15 years of metalcore under their belt, so they know how to work the stage and pump up the volume. ERRA has always been a favorite band of mine, and you need to check them out!

The lights dimmed. Cryptic words were spoken on the screen, and an occasional Manic flashed across it. When Wage War took the stage, everyone cheered, and immediately they went into “Relapse”. Briton, the lead singer, has more energy than coffee does because he never stops moving or acting out lines from every song.

I had always heard of Wage War and knew a few songs, but I can say I’m a huge fan now. There’s always those bands that you hear about, and they’re great bands, but when you see them live, you know they’re even better than that. Wage War is one of those bands. Their live presence is quite amazing.

[j0hnlindley6]

Champions/Gideon.

[the-forest-library]

September 2022 Reads

Swordheart - T. Kingfisher

Ten Thousand Stitches - Olivia Atwater

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance - For Meadows

Kismet - Lauren Blakely

The Sweetest Connection - Denise Williams

Do You Take This Man - Denise Williams

How to Love Your Neighbor - Sophie Sullivan

Lucy on the Wild Side - Kerry Rea

The Holiday Trap - Roan Parrish

The Most Likely Club - Elyssa Friesland

Nothing More to Tell - Karen M. McManus

How to Survive Your Murder - Danielle Valentine

Vengeful - V.E. Schwab

All of Us Villains - Amanda Foody

Babel - R.F. Kuang

Carrie Soto is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Just by Looking at Him - Ryan O’Connell

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken

Striking Distance - Sarah Rees Brennan

Fence Vol 1 - C.S. Pacat

Fence Vol 2 - C.S. Pacat

Fence Vol 3 - C.S. Pacat

Hark! A Vagrant - Kate Beaton

Step Aside, Pops - Kate Beaton

Sweaterweather - Sara Varon

Spinning - Tillie Walden

Lore Olympus - Rachel Smythe

If You Find a Unicorn, It is Not Yours to Keep - DJ Corchin

Coven - Jennifer Dugan

Unretouchable - Sofia Szamosi

American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang

Fun Home - Alison Bechdel

And Now I Spill the Family Secrets - Margaret Kimball

How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You - Matthew Inman

When Life Gives You Pears - Jeannie Gaffigan

Nine Nasty Words - John McWhorter

Resilient - Rick Hanson

Ask Me About My Uterus - Abby Norman

That Sounds So Good - Carla Lalli Music

Unbelievably Vegan - Charity Morgan

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts:

Lots of really decent reads this month, but the standout is once again Olivia Atwater. I think I enjoyed Ten Thousand Stitches even more than Half a Soul. Just delightful. 

I also read a bunch of graphic novels while I was recovering from surgery and finally got around to reading some that have been on my TBR forever. 

Goodreads Goal: 311/350

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads |

2022 Reads

[drkreviews]

Album Selection of 2020 | August

Kenshi Yonezu - Stray Sheep (05.08.2020) [★★★★★] *REVIEW*

In the vastity of Japanese pop scene, Kenshi Yonezu is a incredible exception, thanks to a fascinating commistion between music and arts. With his fifth album, he confirmed to deserve his growing popularity, bringing up a nice genre variety on the plate, going from upbeat themes to more melancholic and nostalgical ones, helped by his compelling singing style. Thanks to this recent work, Kenshi’s music will definitely see a bigger audience, for a which exceeds the imposed limits of pop music.

ARTIST REVIEW

REVIEWS: Diorama (16.05.2012), Yankee (23.04.2014), Peace Sign (analysis)

TRACKLIST

Campanella

Flamingo

Kanden (Electroshock)

Placebo (ft. Yojiro Noda)

Paprika

Uma to shika (Horse and deer)

Yasashii hito (Kind person)

Lemon

Machigai sagashi (Look for a mistake)

Himawari (Sunflower)

Mayoeru hitsuji (Stray sheep)

Décolleté

Teenage Riot

Umi no yuurei (Spirits of the sea)

Canary

Mary’s Blood - Re>Animator (26.08.2020) [★★★★★]

Already appeared with: Revenant (2018) ,Confessions (2019)

Like many other metal bands in Japan, even Mary’s Blood decided to take a turn from their musical path, releasing a cover album which quite reflects their own skills. The band chose to bring famous anime themes into a new life, filling them with energetic notes, strong rhythms and charismatic vocals, where the tones change according to the song’s style. These four girls could definitely make an anime opening of their own and this album is a strong confirmation of this.

TRACKLIST

Pegasus Fantasy (Make-up cover)

Kouga ninpouchou (Ninja scroll of Kouga) (Onmyo-za cover)

Magia (Kalafina cover)

Syuukyoku Battler -Kouryoutaru shinsekai- (Final song battler -Desolate new world-)

Unravel (Tk from Ling Tosite Sigure cover)

Forever Love (X Japan cover)

Zankoku na tenshi no teeze (Cruel angel’s thesis) (Yoko Takahashi cover)

Invoke (TM Revolution cover)

Driver’s High (L'Arc~en~Ciel cover)

Exterminate (Nana Mizuki cover)

We Are! (Hiroshi Kitadani cover)

Nothing’s Carved in Stone - Futures (26.08.2020) [★★★★]

Already appeared with: Maze (2015), Existence (2016)

Nothing’s Carved in Stone has built a solid image in their eleven years of career, bringing on a paced and refreshing rock sound. For their latest work the band decided to cover some of their most famous themes, in an album made of two discs, where their sound is the result of their maturity, including catchy themes and great rhythmic touches. This band has grown so much since their debut and there’s a lot of interest of what the future has in store for them.

REVIEWS: Parallel Lives (06.05.2009)

TRACKLIST

DISC 1

New Horizon

Isolation

Spirit Inspiration

November 15th

Red Light

Rendaman

Hakutyuu (Day)

Out of Control

Like a Shooting Star

Kirameki no hana (Shining flower)

DISC 2

Dream in the Dark

Youth City

In Future

Brotherhood

Midnight Train

Around the Clock

Milestone

Pride

Tsubame Crimson (Swallow crimson)

Blue Shadow

Crystal Lake - The Voyages (05.08.2020) [★★★★]

Staying on the subject of self-cover albums, the metal band Crystal Lake has repurposed some of their old songs, precisely the ones made with Kentaro Nishimura as singer, this time empowered and modernized by Ryo’s harsher tone, along with a more refined sound and an improved technique. Despite being a brand-new release, Crystal Lake managed to make it fresh and addicting, and we can’t wait to hear more of their music.

TRACKLIST

Fabricated Refuge

Twisted Fate

Open Water (ft. Daniel McWhorter and Takashi Uesugi)

The Passage (ft. Kentaro Nishimura)

The Burden

Freewill

Innocence

Daylight (ft. Go Nakaharada)

Voyages

Into the Great Beyond (ft. Kentaro Nishimura)

Arlequin - The laughing man (19.08.2020) [★★★★]

Already appeared with: Utopia (2016)

After four years made of a bunch of singles and a mini-album in the middle, the visual kei band Arlequin delivers a full album, disproving whoever thought that their sound had become boring. The album is made of distinct songs, ranging from energetic ones, which see a reinforcement of the rhythmical component which characterized them since their debut, to passionate ones, mixing cheerful and aggressive notes without any effort. If you think that visual kei has nothing to offer, maybe Arlequin’s latest work will surprise you.

REVIEWS: Near Equal (12.11.2014), Dilemma (25.02.2015), Utopia (08.06.2016), Puzzle (analysis), Exist (15.03.2018)

TRACKLIST

In the Mirror

Veludo

Ikasama (Trickery)

Sora ni ochiru (Falling into the sky)

Kasabuta (Scab)

Todome wo sashite (Stop it)

Fireworks

Himawari (Sunflower)

Kimi to no Aida ni (Between you)

The laughing man

-HONORABLE MENTIONS-

Seventeen Years Old and Berlin Wall - Abstract (05.08.2020)

The first mention of the month is for the not-so-known shoegaze band Seventeen Years Old and Berlin Wall, active since 2015 and become quite notable thanks to the indie music platform BandCamp. Their latest EP sees a really enigmatic sound, with shaded notes, electronic vibes and a cohesive rhythm, creating an unique atmosphere, driven by an awesome vocal work by the singers Yusei Tsuruta and Eriko Takano. Literally made for shoegaze lovers and not only.

TRACKLIST

Rakuen wanai (There’s no paradise)

Paraglide

Machi no tobira (Doors of the town)

Touketsu-chi (Frozen land)

Darekaga ita umi (Someone by the sea)

Tounen (Ten years)

Tatsuya Kitani - Demagog (26.08.2020)

Tatsuya Kitani might not be a familiar name for you, but maybe you know the Vocaloid band Sajou no hana, whose he is the bassist. Between a single and the other, he has found time to shape up a solo project of his own and releasing also some album. The latest one offers a catchy pop-rock sound, well driven by his good vocals, along with electronic, dance beats and funky vibes. Tatsuya Kitani may be another name which can rise within the Japanese pop scene and this album is definitely worth checking.

TRACKLIST

Hide and Seek

Panopticon

Dead Weight

Humanlike

Bad Dream

Demagog

Lotuses

Spoilman - Body (05.08.2020)

The final mention is for a pretty indie rock band, Spoilman, active since 2019 but came out only last year with an album. Their sound is quite adrenalinic, with roots into noise and punk rock, empowered by quite heavy vocals, energetic riffs and bass lashes, making each track more pumping of the previous. Spoilman can definitely shake the ground of Japanese rock and they deserve more recognition.

TRACKLIST

Amaryllis

Declaration

Ghost

Inner Haze

Sunday

Drunken Man

Cloudy Eyes

Monotonous

Comfortable

Life is REM

Body

Pail and Ladder

Rampage

Woodcutter

Utonagan

TO BE CONTINUED...

[gbhbl]

Album Review - Cold by Gideon (Equal Vision Records)

Album Review – Cold by Gideon (Equal Vision Records)

Christian metal band, Gideon, have released their 4th full length album called Cold. Cold was released on the 12 of May through Equal Vision Records. Gideon hail from Alabama and have been around since 2008. They have slowly been making a name for themselves with their third album, Calloused, hitting 5th spot on the billboard for Christian albums.

Gideon is fronted by singer Daniel…

[oselatra]

2019 Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars Nominees

Listed by their hometowns. Here are the students nominated to be Academic All-Stars. They are listed by their hometowns as indicated by mailing addresses. ALMA EMILY FOWLER Mulberry High School BAY JACOB HARLEY OSTER Bay High School BEARDEN CASSIDY CLEMENS Bearden High School GARRETT MCWHORTER Bearden High School BEEBE TAYLOR DWAYNE BOYCE Beebe High School JOLEY MARIE MITCHELL Rose Bud High School MARIANNA KERSEY RICHEY Beebe High School BEE BRANCH ANDREA DE TOUR Arkansas Virtual Academy High School BENTON JULIANNA DEMI SORVILLO Bauxite High School KAYLA M. TREASITTI Glen Rose High School BENTONVILLE KENDRA RISENER Haas Hall Academy ANGEL SOTERO Bentonville West High School JESSICA YIN Bentonville West High School BERRYVILLE ALEX RUBEN MALDONADO-LOPEZ Berryville High School AMBER NICOLE VEACH Berryville High School BISMARCK LAUREN ELIZABETH CORLEY Bismarck High School BLACK ROCK PAIGE LEANN PENN Hillcrest High School BLYTHEVILLE CHANDLER SPROUSE Gosnell High School SHAKIAH WILLIAMS Blytheville High School BONNERDALE HANNAH DIGGS Centerpoint High School BOONEVILLE JUSTIN RONGEY Magazine High School BRINKLEY KEVON MALOID DILLWORTH Brinkley High School EMILY ANN TAYLOR Brinkley High School BRUNO LANE BOGLE Valley Springs High School BRYANT SYDNEY ELAINE BOWMAN Bryant High School HARRISON BENNETT DOWNS Bryant High School CABOT ZHENG HUI ZHANG Cabot High School CAVE CITY KENDALL TOWNSLEY Cave City High School CENTER RIDGE SOPHIA FRANCESCA ISELY Nemo Vista High School CLARKSVILLE BRADLEY SCOTT BUCK Johnson County Westside High School CLINTON JACOB ALLEN BURROUGHS South Side High School CONWAY MARY KATHERINE FREYALDENHOVEN Conway High School KENDON CRAIG MOLINE Conway High School CORNING CAROLINE GOODMAN Corning High School CROSSETT DAILEY MARIE CHAVIS Crossett High School BRYCE RICHARD MOON Crossett High School DAMASCUS CLAIRE ELIZABETH DREWRY South Side High School DES ARC LINDSEY NICOLE REIDHAR Des Arc High School DEWITT RACHEL DANIELS DeWitt High School ZONTRAY KENDALL DeWitt High School DONALDSON DYLAN JASHUN CLAYTON Bismarck High School DOVER Ethan Seth Owen Jacobs Dover High School EUREKA SPRINGS KAYDEN ECKMAN Eureka Springs High School EVANSVILLE JESSICA ANN GOLDMAN Lincoln High School FARMINGTON NICHOLAS JAMES ERICKSON Farmington High School REAGAN SIERRA WHITE Farmington High School FAYETTEVILLE CHLOE AUGUST BOWEN Springdale High School SOPHIE FERNANDO Haas Hall Academy JEREMIA LO Fayetteville High School HAMAAD MEHAL Haas Hall Academy SPENCER LEE WALKER Fayetteville High School FISHER ANNA CHAPLAIN Harrisburg College and Career Prep FORT SMITH JOHN TYLER FREENY Southside High School MADISON ISABELLA RENEE MARSH Southside High School GOSNELL KAYLEE JO MILLER Gosnell High School GREENBRIER MADELYN RENEE JAMESON Greenbrier High School CALEB WADE TAPLEY Greenbrier High School GREENWOOD JULIA KATHLEEN BRIXEY Greenwood High School TYLER LAWRENCE MERREIGHN Greenwood High School GREERS FERRY FAITH MARIE BIRMINGHAM West Side High School HAMBURG NIGEL LEWIS Hamburg High School BRENDA FAITH O'FALLON Hamburg High School HARRISON GRACE ESTELLE BRANDT Harrison High School BLAKE JOHN WILLIAM WHITMER Harrison High School HAZEN ROSS TIMOTHY HARPER Hazen High School HICKORY PLAINS JEREMIAH DESHONE WILLIAMS Des Arc High School HIGDEN NATHANIEL WYATT SMITH West Side High School HORATIO GRACE ELIZABETH HARRIS Horatio High School HOT SPRINGS RHETT BARRETT Cutter Morning Star High School FAITH ELIZABETH CARNIE Lake Hamilton High School JORDAN C. ERICKSON Lake Hamilton High School EMMA KIRSTEN FERGUSON Lakeside High School THOMAS IAN HOLLIS Lakeside High School ANTHONY ALEXANDER REITER Hot Springs High School MICAH TRAVIS Mountain Pine High School HUTTIG NASTAJAE ALIYAH ALDERSON Strong High School JACKSONVILLE BASIA YVONNE BROWN Jacksonville High School GERALD ANTONIO DONOHUE Jacksonville High School JONESBORO OPHIE COPELIN Nettleton High School JETT JACKSON Harrisburg College and Career Prep ISABELLE FLORENCE JONES The Academies at Jonesboro High School JOSHUA MILNES Nettleton High School ANNA ELISE OPPENHEIM Bay High School NIKKOLETTE AMANDA PERKINS Brookland High School SEAN A. ROADES Valley View High School KALLEN SMITH Brookland High School TRACY N. TANNER Valley View High School LEACHVILLE HALLIE ELIZABETH BROWN Buffalo Island Central High School KYLE BRADLEY THRASHER Buffalo Island Central High School LITTLE ROCK MOHAMMED ABUELEM Pulaski Academy MILLER CLARK BACON eStem High School NATHAN THOMAS BARBER The Academies at Jonesboro High School CAROLINE BLANSCET Little Rock Christian Academy ANA ABARCA CHAVEZ Hall High School REBECCA SUSAN DIXON Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School SARAH J. DOUGLASS Joe T. Robinson High School SULLIVAN WALTER FITZ Catholic High School for Boys CELIA KRETH Episcopal Collegiate School FELIPE MORALES OSORIO Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School CLAUDIA CATHERINE SMITH eStem High School ETHAN STRAUSS Episcopal Collegiate School LUKE WEINER Little Rock Christian Academy MICHELLE XU Little Rock Central High School RAMY YOUSEF Little Rock Central High School MCCRORY CHRISTIAN LITTLE McCrory High School MABELVALE HALEY AMBER STANTON LISA Academy West High School MAGAZINE EMILY STATON Magazine High School MAMMOTH SPRING DEVON CRAY Mammoth Spring High School MARION WESLEY JAMES BARRETT Marion High School MORGAN BRADFORD WHITED Marion High School MAUMELLE GARRETT MICHAEL BAKANOVIC Maumelle High School CHAD BOYD Maumelle Charter High School GENRIETTA CHURBANOVA Pulaski Academy LINCOLN MOSES Maumelle Charter High School VICTORIA ORTEGA Maumelle High School MAYFLOWER HAYDYN HUDNALL Mayflower High School MULBERRY JARRET CHAMBERS Mulberry High School NEWPORT NOAH BLAKE RABY Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts NORTH LITTLE ROCK SOPHIA LYNN CHIER Mount St. Mary Academy CHASE CHRISTIAN MOHR-MCELROY North Little Rock Center of Excellence Charter KATHERINE RAMIREZ North Little Rock High School CARRE'LLA SADLER North Little Rock High School IOAN BROWN SANDERS North Little Rock High School OZARK AUTUMN PAIGE FLAHERTY Johnson County Westside High School PARAGOULD EMMA FARMER Marmaduke High School MICHALA ANN MCPHINK Paragould High School JACKSON CHANDLER PARKER Paragould High School MADISON SHEA ROBINSON Greene County Tech High School PARON JOHN MATTHEW HOWARD Joe T. Robinson High School PEA RIDGE HALLEY LASTER Pea Ridge High School ALEC ANDREW MEREDITH Pea Ridge High School PINE BLUFF MORGAN EDWARDS Watson Chapel High School A'DARIUS LEE Watson Chapel High School PINEVILLE KENLEE KAY KILLIAN Calico Rock High School PLUMERVILLE GARRETT R. HENDRIX Morrilton High School POWHATAN CREEDEN JAMES RICHEY Hillcrest High School RAVENDEN SPRINGS EMILY CHEYENNE LUFFMAN Sloan-Hendrix High School REYNO CHANDLER CONYERS Corning High School RISON JUSTIN JACOBS Rison High School MACY RATLIFF Rison High School ROGERS ALISHA AJAY CHATLANI Rogers High School MORGAN DIBASILIO Rogers Heritage High School SIDRA NADEEM Rogers New Technology High School NATHAN POWELL SKINNER Rogers High School ADAM RYSZARD SIWIEC Rogers Heritage High School ROSE BUD CARSON DAVID LUCENA Rose Bud High School ROYAL ANASTACIA GLASCO Mountain Pine High School RUSSELLVILLE KAYLEE FREEMAN Hector High School SEARCY JACKSON TANNER BENIGHT Searcy High School LAUREN ELIZABETH BROWN Searcy High School SHERIDAN LAINEY FAITH HILL Sheridan High School LOGAN JAMES INGRAM Sheridan High School SHERWOOD TIMOTHY NATHANIEL ESPEJO Sylvan Hills High School CHASE MARIE SWINTON Sylvan Hills High School SILOAM SPRINGS CHRISTINE NICOLE HONN Siloam Springs High School OLIVER MONROE REID Siloam Springs High School SMACKOVER ROBERT THOMAS DIXON Smackover High School KAYLEIGH AMANDA YEAGER Smackover High School SPRINGDALE EDUARDO AGUILAR Springdale High School SPRINGFIELD CAROLYN HOPE HOPKINS Morrilton High School STUTTGART MARY SALLAH JIA Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts TRUMANN ZACHARY DAVID BURCHFIELD Trumann High School WALNUT RIDGE DEVIN FOSTER SMITH Greene County Tech High School WARD JESSICA DAWN VAUGHN Cabot High School WHITE HALL JUSTIN ROBERT DADY White Hall High School WINSLOW JOSEPH ANDREW TAYLOR Lincoln High School WYNNE KYRA LIANE DOBSON Wynne High School JACKSON CHARLES GEORGE Wynne High School 2019 Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars Nominees

[bthenoise]

Q&A: Gideon’s Tyler Riley Gives The Lowdown On The Band’s Forthcoming Album With An Exclusive In-Studio Look

All photos by: Alex Bemis

Doing anything for almost ten years can certainly feel like an eternity. After days, months and years of repeating the same cycle over and over again, many people can feel burned out or in need of change. For noisemakers Gideon, after countless hours spent on the road supporting four full-length records, the Alabama outfit was definitely in need of something new. 

Enter No Love/No One. Bursting out of the gates, the band’s new bruising two-track EP immediately slaps you in the face with brutal riffage and rugged vocals from frontman Daniel McWhorter. Coupled with a ruthless ending track titled “2 Deep,” it’s clear Gideon isn’t the same band from 2011′s Costs.  

With a newfound writing approach of telling it like it is and not caring about anyone else’s opinion but their own, the seasoned four-piece, thanks in part to new bass player Caleb Derusha, have banded together for what should be very a productive and revamped 2019.

Working on the long-awaited full-length follow up to 2017′s Cold, guitarist Tyler Riley admits things will be different this time around saying, “Cold was the last time that we will ever probably do this, but we were still kind of being careful about what we were writing about or what kind of risks we were writing. So along with us deciding that we didn't care what anyone thought about what we were writing lyrically, we also decided to do the same thing musically.”

With No Love/No One hitting harder than some might have expected, Riley reveals “it's a nice little taste” of what’s to come. “There are way more elements that aren’t included in the EP,” he says. “It's only two songs so you can only cram so much in. But everything that's in those two songs is on this album and even crazier. And then there’s more to it as well.”

Now if the idea of a heavier no-fucks-given Gideon doesn’t excite you for their forthcoming album -- which is nearly completed, by the way -- maybe the remainder of our interview with Riley will. To check out what the soft-spoken guitarist had to say about writing and recording Gideon’s new record, be sure to look below. Afterward, for more from the band, head here.    

Where are you guys in the writing and recording process as of right now?

Tyler Riley: So we've got most of the record done. We got a couple songs that we need to touch up some vocals on and aside from that it's a pretty complete project right now. I think we have one more song that we have to finish some lyrics for and we're tracking those pretty soon and then it’ll be completely wrapped.

How long has this process been so far?

We had like four weeks recording and then we had a little bit of a break here in between when we finished drums because we did drums last and now just to finish out lyrics basically. We’re trying to make it as good as possible and all the other [songs] are so strong we've even scrapped a couple songs lyrically, trying to make sure that everything's the best it can be. We spent like a week doing pre-production at one location. A nice friend was able to lend us their lake house for a week. So we went out there and finished up the songs as much as we could. And then we had two weeks in one studio and then a week in another studio to do drums. So that was kind of the process there.

When you guys are writing, generally, what kind of headspace do you need to get into?

Well, for this record, we have our new bass player Caleb who has a heavy hand in this new record. And a lot of the process was him just locking himself in his room. He works less than everybody else in the band. So while we're working, he would just be slaving away and sending us clips and stuff. And we’d send him notes and he was just doing the large majority of the footwork. So besides the first week in the studio where we were finishing writing together, it was mostly him doing that. And it's interesting because he's a dude that just started playing with us a little over a year ago, but he knows everything about the band. Like, he has been with us since day one. Not even like, as a friend, but more so as a fan and sometimes his [previous] band was playing with us. Like back in the early, early days. He knows everything about us, everything about our old bands. Like it's crazy that we didn't really link up until we did. But yeah, he's had a huge hand in this process.

So was it refreshing to have someone else taking on that responsibility versus how you guys did your previous record?

Yeah, I mean, basically, this dude’s a little bit younger and almost, you know, hasn't been beaten down by the career that we've had. Which [our career] has been great, but it's been a long time. It's been 10 years of going straight now, you know? So for him to come in and really be super appreciative of the situation -- because this will have been, I guess, the best [career] opportunity he’s had so far -- you know, that has been an inspiration in itself [and] just his attitude toward everything. We've developed like a newish direction because of his enthusiasm. I think it kind of in a way has been pretty good for us to get in touch with what we are as a band.

So aside from the addition of Caleb, what do you think is the biggest difference between Cold and this record you guys are working on now?

I'd say the biggest difference [was that] Cold was the last time that we will ever probably do this: But we were still kind of being careful about what we were writing about or what kind of risks we were writing or how hard we were going into our, like, hobby level talents. Because there are certain things that you do when you're at home that you're probably even better at than what you play on the road when you're playing in the same band this long, you know? And some of those things you don't get to utilize. So along with us deciding that we didn't care what anyone thought about what we were writing lyrically, because that's a big theme in this album, we also decided to do the same thing musically. Once we started, we were like, “Man, this really works not holding yourself back and just writing what you think is sick and what you know is going to be sick.” So I'd say that's the biggest difference. It’s just we, kind of, in a way have taken off our shackles a little bit and we're just kind of going wild with it.

Are some of the things you're referring to lyrically related to your previous Christian affiliation as a band?

Yeah, I'd say for fans that have paid attention super hard, it's kind of old news if you've actually kept up with everything and the process of how far the lyrics came from Costs to Cold even. In Cold, I don't think that we really specifically mentioned anything spiritual at all. But that's just part of our process. We were teenagers, literally teenagers, when we started playing this band coming from the Bible Belt, a place where you don't have a choice what you're going to do. The only way that any of our parents at the time would have let us travel across the country as 17-year-olds was if we could be like, “But we're doing it for this, all that stuff you taught us.” They're like “Okay sure, all right, go ahead.”

It's not that it was fake. We really believed everything that we were doing at the time, but being on the road, you know, I just learned so much about myself and all of us did by doing that for so long. So yeah, naturally as we got older, things just kind of morphed into, you know, we didn't want to shock everybody. We didn't know what we thought. So we weren't just going to denounce everything the second that we had a doubt. But yeah, so now we're to a point where we're feeling like, “You know what man? When we're on the road we act like ourselves. When we're hanging out with our fans at a show, we act like ourselves. So why don't we just act like ourselves on the album?”

Has that been pretty freeing for all of you guys that now you can take a deep breath and just really show off your own personalities in a way?

Yeah, definitely. And you know, I feel like it's just going to get easier and easier from here on out. This [album] is really breaking the seal with it. I mean, I guess we broke the seal with our last single/singles that we put out. A little EP, No Love/No One. I guess that was a bit of a transition. But yeah, this is going to be the first time it's full on just whatever we feel like doing with no regard.

Yeah, that's exciting. And referring to the EP,  do you think that's a pretty good example of what's to come from you guys moving forward musically?

I'd say so. I say it's a nice little taste. There are way more elements that aren’t included in the EP just out of, you know, it's only two songs so you can only cram so much in. But everything that's in those two songs is on this album and even crazier. And then there's more to it as well.

So what’s interesting, just looking into your guys' various stuff online, on Wikipedia for the EP it says Gideon is “marking a heavier change in their sound.” That’s interesting considering you guys are already pretty heavy as it is, how can Gideon be “heavier”?

Yeah, I agree with that. I think that when you play your songs live a lot -- in like 2017, we played almost 150 shows that year, like a little over 146 or something like that -- you know, you just kind of learn what works and what doesn't work, what's fun, what’s not fun. And when we wrote that EP it was like, we're going to do everything that’s badass. Everything that is sick when we play live, I just wanted it to be like that, you know? So we just kind of channeled what we do [live] and in a way. I feel like a lot of people that have seen us would say this, but even when we play the old songs now, we've kind of honed in on this, what makes it sound so heavy when we're playing it live. We've been getting tighter and tighter. We try to anyway, we make a conscious effort to make that happen. That's what we wanted for these songs, we wanted it to sound like it's going to sound as aggressive as it sounds when we play. To me, when we play old songs, it's more aggressive live than it was on the album. So I guess hearing it come to fruition on that EP probably seemed a little bit like, “Damn this is even heavier.” But really that's just how we've been trying to do for a while.

In the time since Cold came out, have you been paying attention to the heavy scene at all and how it's been developing? If so, were those outside influences things that you brought to this record? Or did you guys try and push that aside to just focus on you guys directly?

Well, we all try to [pay attention to the scene], especially myself. I try to keep as connected to what's going on in heavy music and underground heavy music. I try to keep as much in touch as possible. And it's almost like, the heavy music and the heavy music scene just kind of formed around what we wish that we could have been playing before. So it felt more like, “Man, now we can really do ourselves because it’s coming back into style basically.” You know, breakdowns are not faux pas anymore. Metalcore is not a cuss word anymore. It used to be like a metalcore band is, you know, shunned. Basically, an emo or a scene band would be metalcore, you know? So yeah, it's like, metalcore is cool again in a sense and it just made it better for us because we've been metalcore the whole time.

Where do you think that judgmental side from hardcore kids comes from vs metalcore?

Man, I think it's just like when you discover something and it's personal to you, sometimes you feel like you're the only one that ever realized it, you know? Especially as I get older, and I'm starting to see these waves of certain genres becoming popular again and I'm sitting over here like, “Man yeah, when I was 16, I had a swoopy haircut and I loved that shit too. And now it's cool again? That’s cool.” I don't know but I think that kids just don't realize that they think the thing that's in front of them is going to be what they love forever and sometimes they close their minds too. They’re just so blown away by hardcore the first time that they really experience it because it's such an inclusive genre, you know that they're like, “I never want to let this go and this is the best thing that's ever happened to me.” Which, I totally understand how you could get to that point, but I just think that everyone comes to the realization eventually that like, “Hey man, hardcore is awesome but it's not everything in the world.”

That's a pretty good way to put it in. The idea that people will discover it and then want to protect it at all costs. But let’s talk more about your time in the studio. Looking through Instagram, you posted that you were doing some 12 hour days. What is it like in the studio with you guys? What’s the vibe usually?

Well, recording a record is just so much work. I feel like the only way you can really get through it -- like you're saying, we were doing those 12 hour days. I think the only way you can do it is really just put your head down and do it, just go to work. Just like writing aside, producing aside, everything having to do with being creative aside, it's like the recording is just a huge undertaking. Just the amount of music that you're putting down takes so much time. So the studio was mostly us just working 12 hours. Seriously, four weeks straight, not a single day off. 12 hours a day, me and Caleb were at the studio every single day. Four weeks straight, not working, just doing that. So it was like we had no choice but to just try and enjoy it. Have fun. Come up with the sickest shit we could, make sure that we're playing our parts exactly as hard and as sick as we can. But yeah the vibe, it can get stressful, just like -- every record is stressful. When you start getting down to that last week, it's like “Man, are we going to finish everything?” And like I said, we still have a couple of things to do on vocals. So it was a bit of a stressful process, but I feel like it has to be like that. You know? If it was too easy the album would probably not be as interesting [laughs]. And maybe I'm just telling myself that because of how stressful it gets so I feel better, but I'm pretty sure that's right [laughs].

You mentioned just how hard you work for weeks at a time with no days off. When bands put out records, a lot of fans immediately listen to it and judge it right away without ever really considering the amount of time, effort and money that was put into making that record. That said, what do you think is one thing you would want to tell fans about what studio life is actually like?

Yeah, I mean, I feel like everyone should be aware of the fact that in the music industry, it's all deadlines. It's like, you only have a certain amount of time to create something out of nowhere. You know, how can you put a time limit on something like that? So the fact that we can all come together -- especially as like, dudes in their 20s who have tattoos and are just like by society standards are kind of low-life dudes -- the fact that we can get together and make all this happen, they just need to know that there's so much that goes into it. Months and months of preparation and it comes down to the wire, and it's a lot of pressure. We pour our hearts out as musicians, you know, this is our only way to cope with life. Not our only way, but this is our best way. That's why we do this kind of thing. And when you go to the studio and spend weeks and weeks pouring your heart into something, I think it deserves, and I try to do this, I think it deserves an unbiased look. You know, try to put yourself in their shoes and figure out what's going through a musician's head when they record their record because it’s a lot of work and a lot of risk. And you really put yourself out there when you do something like this.

Yeah, that's a really good way to put it. Unfortunately, with streaming, most people are able to just skim records without fully digesting it and understanding what it represents.  

Yeah. You can listen to it one time and never listen to it again. That's just kind of part of being in a band. It doesn't bother me super hard. But there are times where I’ll read the comments and be like, “Man did you listen, did you like really listen to it? Were you having a bad day that first time you listened to it?” I mean, there are going to be people who hate this record. There are people who hate every record. There's always someone. Not everyone's going to like it but I just ask that people give new music, in general, a chance and try to put yourself in their heads. You know, that's the beauty of music. Just try to figure out where they're coming from. Sometimes you realize, “Oh damn, they are in the same exact headspace that I am” if you pay attention.

So with most Gideon records, you guys have usually guest features. Will there be any this time around?  

Yeah, potentially. I think today they might be tracking one of them. And I'm not sure if it will be more than one, but yeah, we've always been a fan of that kind of thing. But we've gone back and forth on this record of just wanting people involved who are closer to us and kind of get the vision of who understands Gideon and who knows Gideon as people. So we're hesitant to just like throw it out there and try to get some big names or like you know, whatever. We got Jamey Jasta on the last record and that was a dream come true. At this point, I'm not sure if we're really shooting for anything like that but whatever ends up on the record will be on the record as long as it's special and fits it. So we have at least one, and maybe more, if we have time.

Lastly, what is there about this record you want people to know that we haven’t covered already?

Well, expect the unexpected. That's all I can say, really. This is going to be a wild record. I just hope everyone's ready for it because we're pumped. I think it's the first time that we've really put together an overall vibe throughout the entire record that has been this cohesive, for sure. This is like an album, album. Listen to it from start to finish when you get it and feel it.

[hcolleen]

So, over on Dreamwidth, one of my friends was musing on the question from Quora of ‘What should I read?’ and gave a list of 7 books. I responded with...a few more than 7.  Below, I’ll post my picks and then my reasoning (copypasta’d from my actual comments on his post).  I’d be interested in others, too (when is a TBR list too long? lol).

How to Invent Everything by Ryan North Timeline of World History edited by Matt Baker and John Andrews We Have No Idea by Daniel Whiteson and Jorge Cham The Poisoner's Handbook *OR* The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson The Big Picture by Sean Carroll The Dawn of Everything by David Wengrow and David Graeber I think that's a good start for a top 7, though there are a few others I want to add: The Body by Bill Bryson A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived by Adam Rutherford The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter Get Well Soon by Jennifer Wright *OR* The Plague Cycle by Charles Kenny Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty When the Air Hits Your Brain by Frank T Vertosick Jr. Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik Trekonomics by Manu Saadia Beyond Biocentrism by Robert Lanza The De-Textbook by Cracked.com Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes by Cory O'Brien with Sarah E Melville I think that'll give a person a well-rounded basic education.

...

Part of it is, of those you've listed, I've only actually read Gilgamesh, which is a great story. I've heard of all of them, but haven't read them. I also think that it's important that a person be at least acquainted with science, history, philosophy (The Big Picture is nearly the only philosophy oriented book I've read and it deals with nihilism in the face of what we know of physics currently...well, Beyond Biocentrism, too, but that's also again, reorienting man's place in the universe). The Dawn of Everything I'll admit to being only partially through, but what I've gotten to is that prior to cities, it seems people fluctuated between government styles depending on what the environment and season needed. Deborah Blum's books I have listed show how people had to force the gov't to listen to them despite the lure of big money and Trekonomics is how things could develop, if we keep pushing away from rewarding those who hoard money. We Have No Idea encourages curiosity. How to Invent Everything and Stuff Matters are a good primer for how things work and demystifying the everyday world. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and When the Air Hits Your Brain are for exploring uncomfortable subjects of death and the brain being a traitor to the body. Bill Bryson's books are adult answers to the questions children ask and too many grow out of asking. The Story of Human Language is a fascinating look at how people communicate with each other and how the languages of the word are related. The De-Textbook goes over some of the lies that are taught in American schools and hopefully also inspires curiosity to know more that might have been taught too simply or incorrectly (I don't know if there are similar books in other languages as I'm kinda American... :) ). Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes is a fun look at mythology, including some modern mythology (a bit of an overlap with the De-Textbook). I think people are far more interesting when they at least have a basic knowledge of a lot of things... I think it helps develop a sense of empathy and curiosity, which seems to be borne out by the at least anecdote that people who receive a liberal arts education tend to be more compassionate and left-leaning and have a more developed sense of empathy.

[roxburysunflowerproject]

‘Don't lose the land. Don't forget the history.’

Roxbury Sunflower Project’s Co-caretakers for 2021 are The United Neighbors of Lower Roxbury Community Garden represented by Lolita Parker Jr. and London Parker-McWhorter. A little history: The United Neighbors of Lower Roxbury Community Garden (UNLRCG) facing Melnea Cass Boulevard, continues the legacy of community ancestors who had the foresight to save the land at 90 Windsor Street from the Interstate 95 highway project and reclaim it as a community garden in the 1970's.

We dedicate this season to  Mrs. Gretchen Jackson, Mr. C. Vincent Haynes, Mr. Jimmy Guilford, and Mr. M.  Daniel Richardson who all expressed this idea concerning the garden: ‘Don't lose the land. Don't forget the history.’

📷  Photography: United Neighbors of Lower Roxbury Community Garden,  Lolita Parker, Jr., 2018-2020

Roxbury Sunflower Project’s Co-caretakers are integral to this years goals of distributing 20,000 sunflower seeds and planting fields of sunflower around the neighborhood as a representation of our community’s strength and beauty. Our upcoming installation on the lawn of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston embraces and acknowledges the native land we call home in Massachusetts. Together we will plant between 2000 and 3000 sunflowers at the entrance to the museum that will emerge, grow and blossom over the spring summer and fall seasons. Our themes of radiance, resilience, deep roots, planting seeds, beauty, transformation and following the light are crucial to our collective growth and healing for 2021 and beyond. 

[11peachbunny11]

Books To Read

Alphabetized by title

A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy translated and compiled by Wing-Tsit Chan

Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion by Paul Bloom

Basic Writings of Friedrich Nietzsche translated by Walter Kaufman, commentary by Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, and Gilles Deleuze

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

The City of Brass by S.A Chakraborty

Confessions by Saint Augustine (translated by Sarah Ruden)

The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

First We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson

The Gentleman and the Thief by Sarah M. Eden

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

The Gracekeepers by Kristy Logan

How Rory Thorne Destroys the Multiverse by K. Eason

Jade City by Fonda Lee

The Language Hoax: Why the World Looks the Same in Any Language by John McWhorter

The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee

Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, From Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams

The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel

Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

Social Intelligence: The Revolutionary New Science of Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

The Untold Tale by J.M Frey

The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

Works of Love by Soren Kierkegaard, translated by Howard and Edna Hong

[harrisnovick]

Crystal Lake - Lost In Forever (feat. Daniel McWhorter from Gideon) 

motionscoundrel posted this to r/Metalcore at 2020-10-06 19:54:42 UTC

[all-my-books]

2017 Reading

262 books read. 60% of new reads Non-fiction, authors from 55 unique countries, 35% of authors read from countries other than USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. Asterisks denote re-reads, bolds are favorites. January: The Deeds of the Disturber – Elizabeth Peters The Wiregrass – Pam Webber Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi It Didn't Start With You – Mark Wolynn Facing the Lion – Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton Before We Visit the Goddess – Chitra Divakaruni Colored People – Henry Louis Gates Jr. My Khyber Marriage – Morag Murray Abdullah Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines – Margery Sharp Farewell to the East End – Jennifer Worth Fire and Air – Erik Vlaminck My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me – Jennifer Teege Catherine the Great – Robert K Massie My Mother's Sabbath Days – Chaim Grade Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me – Harvey Pekar, JT Waldman The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend – Katarina Bivald Stammered Songbook – Erwin Mortier Savushun – Simin Daneshvar The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran Beyond the Walls – Nazim Hikmet The Dressmaker of Khair Khana – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon A Day No Pigs Would Die – Robert Newton Peck *

February: Bone Black – bell hooks Special Exits – Joyce Farmer Reading Like a Writer – Francine Prose Bright Dead Things – Ada Limon Middlemarch – George Eliot Confessions of an English Opium Eater – Thomas de Quincey Medusa's Gaze – Marina Belozerskaya Child of the Prophecy – Juliet Marillier * The File on H – Ismail Kadare The Motorcycle Diaries – Ernesto Che Guevara Passing – Nella Larsen Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers The Spiral Staircase – Karen Armstrong Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi Defiance – Nechama Tec

March: Yes, Chef – Marcus Samuelsson Discontent and its Civilizations – Mohsin Hamid The Gulag Archipelago Vol. 1 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Patience and Sarah – Isabel Miller Dying Light in Corduba – Lindsey Davis * Five Days at Memorial – Sheri Fink A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman * The Shia Revival – Vali Nasr Girt – David Hunt Half Magic – Edward Eager * Dreams of Joy – Lisa See * Too Pretty to Live – Dennis Brooks West with the Night – Beryl Markham Little Fuzzy – H. Beam Piper *

April: Defying Hitler – Sebastian Haffner Monsters in Appalachia – Sheryl Monks Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho The Man Without a Face – Masha Gessen Peace is Every Step – Thich Nhat Hanh Flory – Flory van Beek Why Soccer Matters – Pele The Zhivago Affair – Peter Finn, Petra Couvee The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake – Breece Pancake The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson Chasing Utopia – Nikki Giovanni The Invisible Bridge – Julie Orringer * Young Adults – Daniel Pinkwater Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel – John Stubbs Black Gun, Silver Star – Art T. Burton The Arab of the Future 2 – Riad Sattouf Hole in the Heart – Henny Beaumont MASH – Richard Hooker Forgotten Ally – Rana Mitter Zorro – Isabel Allende Flying Couch – Amy Kurzweil

May: The Bite of the Mango – Mariatu Kamara Mystic and Rider – Sharon Shinn * Freedom is a Constant Struggle – Angela Davis Capture – David A. Kessler Poor Cow – Nell Dunn My Father's Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett * Elmer and the Dragon – Ruth Stiles Gannett * The Dragons of Blueland – Ruth Stiles Gannett * Hetty Feather – Jacqueline Wilson In the Shadow of the Banyan – Vaddey Ratner The Last Camel Died at Noon – Elizabeth Peters Cannibalism – Bill Schutt The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry The Food of a Younger Land – Mark Kurlansky Behold the Dreamers – Imbolo Mbue Words on the Move – John McWhorter John Ransom's Diary: Andersonville – John Ransom Such a Lovely Little War – Marcelino Truong Child of All Nations – Irmgard Keun One Child – Mei Fong Country of Red Azaleas – Domnica Radulescu Between Two Worlds – Zainab Salbi Malinche – Julia Esquivel A Lucky Child – Thomas Buergenthal The Drackenberg Adventure – Lloyd Alexander Say You're One of Them – Uwem Akpan William Wells Brown – Ezra Greenspan

June: Partners In Crime – Agatha Christie The Chinese in America – Iris Chang The Great Escape – Kati Marton As Texas Goes... – Gail Collins Pavilion of Women – Pearl S. Buck Classic Chinese Stories – Lu Xun The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West The Slave Across the Street – Theresa Flores Miss Bianca in the Orient – Margery Sharp Boy Erased – Garrard Conley How to Be a Dictator – Mikal Hem A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini Tears of the Desert – Halima Bashir The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs The First Salute – Barbara Tuchman Come as You Are – Emily Nagoski The Want-Ad Killer – Ann Rule The Gulag Archipelago Vol 2 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

July: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz – L. Frank Baum * The Blazing World – Margaret Cavendish Madonna in a Fur Coat – Sabahattin Ali Duende – tracy k. smith The ACB With Honora Lee – Kate de Goldi Mountains of the Pharaohs – Zahi Hawass Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy Chronicle of a Last Summer – Yasmine el Rashidi Killers of the Flower Moon – David Grann Mister Monday – Garth Nix * Leaving Yuba City – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Silk Roads – Peter Frankopan The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams A Corner of White – Jaclyn Moriarty * Circling the Sun – Paula McLain Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken Believe Me – Eddie Izzard The Cracks in the Kingdom – Jaclyn Moriarty * Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe – Fannie Flagg * One Hundred and One Days – Asne Seierstad Grim Tuesday – Garth Nix * The Vanishing Velasquez – Laura Cumming Four Against the Arctic – David Roberts The Marriage Bureau – Penrose Halson The Jesuit and the Skull – Amir D Aczel Drowned Wednesday – Garth Nix * Roots, Radicals, and Rockers – Billy Bragg A Tangle of Gold – Jaclyn Moriarty * Lydia, Queen of Palestine – Uri Orlev *

August: Sir Thursday – Garth Nix * The Hoboken Chicken Emergency – Daniel Pinkwater * Lady Friday – Garth Nix * Freddy and the Perilous Adventure – Walter R. Brooks * Venice – Jan Morris China's Long March – Jean Fritz Trials of the Earth – Mary Mann Hamilton The Bully Pulpit – Doris Kearns Goodwin Final Exit – Derek Humphry The Book of Emma Reyes – Emma Reyes Freddy the Politician – Walter R. Brooks * Dragonflight – Anne McCaffrey * What the Witch Left – Ruth Chew All Passion Spent – Vita Sackville-West The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde The Curse of the Blue Figurine – John Bellairs * When They Severed Earth From Sky – Elizabeth Wayland Barber Superior Saturday – Garth Nix * The Boston Girl – Anita Diamant The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt – John Bellairs * Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? - Frans de Waal The Philadelphia Adventure – Lloyd Alexander * Lord Sunday – Garth Nix * The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull – John Bellairs * Five Little Pigs – Agatha Christie * Love in Vain – JM Dupont, Mezzo A Little History of the World – EH Gombrich Last Things – Marissa Moss Imagine Wanting Only This – Kristen Radtke Dinosaur Empire – Abby Howard The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents – Terry Pratchett *

September: First Bite by Bee Wilson The Xanadu Adventure by Lloyd Alexander Orientalism – Edward Said The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan – Carl Barks The Island on Bird Street – Uri Orlev * The Indifferent Stars Above – Daniel James Brown Beneath the Lion's Gaze – Maaza Mengiste The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde * The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi The Drunken Botanist – Amy Stewart The Turtle of Oman – Naomi Shahib Nye The Alleluia Files – Sharon Shinn * Gut Feelings – Gerd Gigerenzer The Secret of Hondorica – Carl Barks Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight – Alexandra Fuller The Abominable Mr. Seabrook – Joe Ollmann Black Flags – Joby Warrick

October: Fear – Thich Nhat Hanh Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 – Naoki Higashida To the Bright Edge of the World – Eowyn Ivey Why? - Mario Livio Just One Damned Thing After Another – Jodi Taylor The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman Blindness – Jose Saramago The Book Thieves – Anders Rydell Reality is not What it Seems – Carlo Rovelli Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell * The Witch Family – Eleanor Estes * Sister Mine – Nalo Hopkinson La Vagabonde – Colette Becoming Nicole – Amy Ellis Nutt

November: The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing The Children's Book – A.S. Byatt The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin Under the Udala Trees – Chinelo Okparanta Who Killed These Girls? – Beverly Lowry Running for my Life – Lopez Lmong Radium Girls – Kate Moore News of the World – Paulette Jiles The Red Pony – John Steinbeck The Edible History of Humanity – Tom Standage A Woman in Arabia – Gertrude Bell and Georgina Howell Founding Gardeners – Andrea Wulf Anatomy of a Disapperance – Hisham Matar The Book of Night Women – Marlon James Ground Zero – Kevin J. Anderson * Acorna – Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball * A Girl Named Zippy – Haven Kimmel * The Age of the Vikings – Anders Winroth The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction – Helen Graham A General History of the Pyrates – Captain Charles Johnson (suspected Nathaniel Mist) Clouds of Witness – Dorothy L. Sayers * The Lonely City – Olivia Laing No Time for Tears – Judy Heath

December: The Unwomanly Face of War – Svetlana Alexievich Gay-Neck - Dhan Gopal Mukerji The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane – Lisa See Get Well Soon – Jennifer Wright The Testament of Mary – Colm Toibin The Roman Way – Edith Hamilton Understood Betsy – Dorothy Canfield Fisher * The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Vicente Blasco Ibanez Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – Robert C. O'Brien SPQR – Mary Beard Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfeild * Hogfather – Terry Pratchett * The Sorrow of War – Bao Ninh Drowned Hopes – Donald E. Westlake * Selected Essays – Michel de Montaigne Vietnam – Stanley Karnow The Snake, The Crocodile, and the Dog – Elizabeth Peters Guests of the Sheik – Elizabetha Warnok Fernea Stone Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg Wicked Plants – Amy Stewart Life in a Medieval City – Joseph and Frances Gies Under the Sea Wind – Rachel Carson The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia – Mary and Brian Talbot Brat Farrar – Josephine Tey * The Treasure of the Ten Avatars – Don Rosa Escape From Forbidden Valley – Don Rosa Nightwood – Djuna Barnes Here Comes the Sun – Nicole Dennis-Benn Over My Dead Body – Rex Stout *

[didanawisgi]

A Letter on Justice and Open Debate

July 7, 2020

The below letter will be appearing in the Letters section of the magazine’s October issue. We welcome responses at letters@harpers.org

“Our cultural institutions are facing a moment of trial. Powerful protests for racial and social justice are leading to overdue demands for police reform, along with wider calls for greater equality and inclusion across our society, not least in higher education, journalism, philanthropy, and the arts. But this needed reckoning has also intensified a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity. As we applaud the first development, we also raise our voices against the second. The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful ally in Donald Trump, who represents a real threat to democracy. But resistance must not be allowed to harden into its own brand of dogma or coercion—which right-wing demagogues are already exploiting. The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides.

The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted. While we have come to expect this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture: an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty. We uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter-speech from all quarters. But it is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought. More troubling still, institutional leaders, in a spirit of panicked damage control, are delivering hasty and disproportionate punishments instead of considered reforms. Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity; journalists are barred from writing on certain topics; professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class; a researcher is fired for circulating a peer-reviewed academic study; and the heads of organizations are ousted for what are sometimes just clumsy mistakes. Whatever the arguments around each particular incident, the result has been to steadily narrow the boundaries of what can be said without the threat of reprisal. We are already paying the price in greater risk aversion among writers, artists, and journalists who fear for their livelihoods if they depart from the consensus, or even lack sufficient zeal in agreement.

This stifling atmosphere will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time. The restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society, invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation. The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other. As writers we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk taking, and even mistakes. We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences. If we won’t defend the very thing on which our work depends, we shouldn’t expect the public or the state to defend it for us.”

Elliot Ackerman Saladin Ambar, Rutgers University Martin Amis Anne Applebaum Marie Arana, author Margaret Atwood John Banville Mia Bay, historian Louis Begley, writer Roger Berkowitz, Bard College Paul Berman, writer Sheri Berman, Barnard College Reginald Dwayne Betts, poet Neil Blair, agent David W. Blight, Yale University Jennifer Finney Boylan, author David Bromwich David Brooks, columnist Ian Buruma, Bard College Lea Carpenter Noam Chomsky, MIT (emeritus) Nicholas A. Christakis, Yale University Roger Cohen, writer Ambassador Frances D. Cook, ret. Drucilla Cornell, Founder, uBuntu Project Kamel Daoud Meghan Daum, writer Gerald Early, Washington University-St. Louis Jeffrey Eugenides, writer Dexter Filkins Federico Finchelstein, The New School Caitlin Flanagan Richard T. Ford, Stanford Law School Kmele Foster David Frum, journalist Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University Atul Gawande, Harvard University Todd Gitlin, Columbia University Kim Ghattas Malcolm Gladwell Michelle Goldberg, columnist Rebecca Goldstein, writer Anthony Grafton, Princeton University David Greenberg, Rutgers University Linda Greenhouse Rinne B. Groff, playwright Sarah Haider, activist Jonathan Haidt, NYU-Stern Roya Hakakian, writer Shadi Hamid, Brookings Institution Jeet Heer, The Nation Katie Herzog, podcast host Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College Adam Hochschild, author Arlie Russell Hochschild, author Eva Hoffman, writer Coleman Hughes, writer/Manhattan Institute Hussein Ibish, Arab Gulf States Institute Michael Ignatieff Zaid Jilani, journalist Bill T. Jones, New York Live Arts Wendy Kaminer, writer Matthew Karp, Princeton University Garry Kasparov, Renew Democracy Initiative Daniel Kehlmann, writer Randall Kennedy Khaled Khalifa, writer Parag Khanna, author Laura Kipnis, Northwestern University Frances Kissling, Center for Health, Ethics, Social Policy Enrique Krauze, historian Anthony Kronman, Yale University Joy Ladin, Yeshiva University Nicholas Lemann, Columbia University Mark Lilla, Columbia University Susie Linfield, New York University Damon Linker, writer Dahlia Lithwick, Slate Steven Lukes, New York University John R. MacArthur, publisher, writer

Susan Madrak, writer

Phoebe Maltz Bovy, writer

Greil Marcus Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Kati Marton, author Debra Mashek, scholar Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago John McWhorter, Columbia University Uday Mehta, City University of New York Andrew Moravcsik, Princeton University Yascha Mounk, Persuasion Samuel Moyn, Yale University Meera Nanda, writer and teacher Cary Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Olivia Nuzzi, New York Magazine Mark Oppenheimer, Yale University Dael Orlandersmith, writer/performer George Packer Nell Irvin Painter, Princeton University (emerita) Greg Pardlo, Rutgers University – Camden Orlando Patterson, Harvard University Steven Pinker, Harvard University Letty Cottin Pogrebin Katha Pollitt, writer Claire Bond Potter, The New School Taufiq Rahim Zia Haider Rahman, writer Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, University of Wisconsin Jonathan Rauch, Brookings Institution/The Atlantic Neil Roberts, political theorist Melvin Rogers, Brown University Kat Rosenfield, writer Loretta J. Ross, Smith College J.K. Rowling Salman Rushdie, New York University Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment Daryl Michael Scott, Howard University Diana Senechal, teacher and writer Jennifer Senior, columnist Judith Shulevitz, writer Jesse Singal, journalist Anne-Marie Slaughter Andrew Solomon, writer Deborah Solomon, critic and biographer Allison Stanger, Middlebury College Paul Starr, American Prospect/Princeton University Wendell Steavenson, writer Gloria Steinem, writer and activist Nadine Strossen, New York Law School Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., Harvard Law School Kian Tajbakhsh, Columbia University Zephyr Teachout, Fordham University Cynthia Tucker, University of South Alabama Adaner Usmani, Harvard University Chloe Valdary Helen Vendler, Harvard University Judy B. Walzer Michael Walzer Eric K. Washington, historian Caroline Weber, historian Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers Bari Weiss Sean Wilentz, Princeton University Garry Wills Thomas Chatterton Williams, writer Robert F. Worth, journalist and author Molly Worthen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Matthew Yglesias Emily Yoffe, journalist Cathy Young, journalist Fareed Zakaria

[vermiculated]

books 2017 so far

wow, tuv want to talk about why you haven’t kept a monthly book list? (because I am scared of my phone and also writing.) no. 

Reiffen's Choice - SC Butler

Flex- Ferrett Steinmetz

The Good Funeral - Thomas Long and Thomas Lynch

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley

The Portable Veblen - Elizabeth McKenzie

The Invaders - Karolina Waclawiak

Funny Boy - Shyam Selvadurai

Adaptation - Malinda Lo

The Dream of Enlightenment - Anthony Gottlieb

Central Station - Lavie Tidhar

Why Did I Ever - Mary Robison (vg)

Binti - Nnedi Okorafor (vg) 

The Book of Tea - Kazuko Okakura

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

Unmentionable - Therese O'Neill

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage - Sydney Padua

IQ - Joe Ide

The Little Virtues - Natalia Ginzburg trans Dick Davis

The Hanging Tree - Ben Aaronovitch

Death's Door - Sandra Gilbert

Holy Anorexia - Rudolph Bell 

Hild - Nicola Griffith (vg)

Sum - David Eagleman

Secondhand Time - Svetlana Alexievich trans Bela Shayevich

Everything is Teeth - Evie Wyld and Joe Sumner

Water Dogs - Lewis Robinson (vg)

Selection Day - Aravind Adiga 

The Wicked Boy - Kate Summerscale

Nicotine - Gregor Hens trans Jen Calleja

Margaret the First - Danielle Dutton

Audition -  Ryu Murakami trans Ralph McCarthy

A Horse Walks into a Bar - David Grossman trans Jessica Cohen

Zakhor - Yosef Yerushalmi

Citizen - Claudia Rankine

Blitzed - Norman Ohler trans Shaun Whiteside

Exorcising Hitler - Frederick Taylor

Being A Beast - Charles Foster

The Open Fields - CS and CS Orwin 

Universal Harvester - John Darnielle

The Mistletoe Murder - PD James

The Radius of Us - Marie Marquardt

Something in Between - Melissa de la Cruz

The Apex Book of World SF 2- Lavie Tidhar ed

Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee

Of Fire and Stars - Audrey Coulthurst

Traitor to the Throne - Alwyn Hamilton

Cinnamon and Gunpowder - Eli Brown

Pain - Javier Moscoso trans Sarah Thomas and Paul House 

Suicide in Victorian and Edwardian England - Olive Anderson

The Regional Office is Under Attack - Manuel Gonzalez

The Vanquished - Robert Gerwarth

There is No Good Card For This - Kelsey Crowe

Death, Religion and the Family in England - Ralph Houlbrooke

His Bloody Project - Graham McRae

Violence in Early Modern Europe - Julius R Ruff

Snowblind - Ragnar Jonasson trans Quentin Bates

Today Will Be Different - Maria Semple

Martin Luther - Lyndal Roper

The Young Richelieu - Elizabeth Marvick

History Is All You Left Me - Adam Silvera

Inheritance - Malinda Lo

Reality Is Not What It Seems - Carlo Rovelli trans Simon Cornell and Erica Segre

Long Hidden - Rose Fox and Daniel Jose Older

Sarah Canary - Karen Joy Fowler

Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein

Monstress - Marjorie Liu 

This Close to Happy - Daphne Merkin 

The Gin Closet - Leslie Jamison

Bilgewater - Jane Gardam (vg)

Colonial Spirits - Steven Grasse

Fragrant Harbor - John Lanchester

A Cup of Rage - Raduan Nassar trans Stefan Tobler

A Very Long Engagement - Sebastien Japrisot trans Linda Coverdale

A Long Finish - Michael Dibdin

Uncle Silas - Sheridan Le Fanu

Powers of Darkness - Bram Stoker trans Valdimar Asmundsson trans Hans Cornell de Roos

Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders

Huntress - Malinda Lo

The Night Battles - Carlo Ginzburg trans Anne and John Tedeschi

Season of Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih trans Denys Johnson-Davies

Life's Work - Willie Parker

The Mothers - Brit Bennett

We Are Okay - Nina LaCour

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland - Diana Wynne Jones

Time Travel - James Gleick

Questions of Travel - William Morris, ed Lavinia Greenlaw

Words on the Move - John McWhorter

Stories of Your Life - Ted Chiang

Teeth - Mary Otto

Teeth - Hannah Moskowitz

We The Animals - Justin Torres

Chronotherapeutics for Affective Disorders - Anna Wirz-Justice et al

Great Granny Webster - Caroline Blackwood

English, August - Upmanyu Chatterjee

The Abyss Surrounds Us - Emily Skrutskie 

Days Without End - Sebastian Barry

The Girl Before - JP Delaney

The Loving Husband - Christobel Kent

Half-Bad - Sally Green

Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton

Mr. Bridge - Evan Carroll

Mrs. Bridge - Evan Carroll

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams

The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu trans Ken Liu

The Undoing Project - Michael Lewis 

Rest - Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Plucked - Rebecca Herzing

The Outsiders - SE Hinton

Crooked Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo

Mind Your Manors - Lucy Lethbridge

Blood in the Water - Heather Ann Thompson

Blood Rain - Michael Dibdin

The Dry - Jane Harper

History of Wolves - Emily Fridlund

See Under: Love - David Grossman trans Betsy Rosenberg

Spaceman of Bohemia - Jaroslav Kalfar

Sarong Party Girls - Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

The Rituals of Dinner - Margaret Visser

The Water Babies - Charles Kingsley

God's Perfect Child - Caroline Fraser

The Secret History of Wonder Woman - Jill Lepore

Otherbound - Connie Duyvis

Chronotherapy - Michael Terman and Ian McMahan

Emotionally Weird - Kate Atkinson (vg)

Bright Air Black - David Vann 

Out - Natuso Kirino trans Stephen Snyder

The Hero With A Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell

Dirty Snow - George Simenon trans Marc Romano and Louise Varese

Night Sky With Exit Wounds - Ocean Vuong

And Then You Die - Michael Dibdin 

Medusa - Michael Dibdin 

Saga - Brian Vaughn, Fiona Staples et al 

The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu trans Joel Martinsen

A Line Made By Walking - Sara Baume

My Life With Bob - Pamela Paul

Two Women of London - Emma Tennant

Stoner - John Williams

The Crest on the Silver - Geoffrey Grigson

Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan

Oranges - John McPhee

Shrinking Violets - Joe Moran 

The Invisibility Cloak - Ge Fei trans Caanan Morse

The Water Kingdom - Philip Ball

The Moviegoer - Walker Percy

The Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu

Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers, vol 1 - Arigon Starr, ed

The Happy Traveller - Jamie Kurtz

Century's End - Enki Bilal and Pierre Christin

Saga vol 2 - Brian Vaughn, Fiona Staples et al

The Little Drummer Girl - John Le Carre

The Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth

Back to Bologna - Michal Dibdin

End Games - Michael Dibdin 

What If? - Randall Munroe 

Taft 2012 - Jason Heller 

Saga vol 3 - Brian Vaughn, Fiona Staples et al

Gentlemen and Amazons - Cynthia Eller 

The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson

God's Philosophers - James Hannam

Ravished - Amanda Quick

Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson

The Weapon Wizards - Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot

Death's End - Cixin Liu trans Ken Liu

Chemistry - Weike Wang (vg)

[tasksweekly]

[TASK 045: FRECKLES]

There’s a masterlist below compiled of over 220+ faceclaims with freckles categorised by gender with their occupation and ethnicity denoted if there was a reliable source. If you want want an extra challenge use random.org to pick a random number! Of course everything listed below are just suggestions and you can pick whichever character or whichever project you desire.

Any questions can be sent here and all tutorials have been linked below the cut for ease of access! REMEMBER to tag your resources with #TASKSWEEKLY and we will reblog them onto the main! This task can be tagged with whatever you want but if you want us to see it please be sure that our tag is the first five tags!

THE TASK - scroll down for FC’s!

STEP 1: Decide on a FC you wish to create resources for! You can always do more than one but who are you starting with? There are links to masterlists you can use in order to find them and if you want help, just send us a message and we can pick one for you at random!

STEP 2: Pick what you want to create! You can obviously do more than one thing, but what do you want to start off with? Screencaps, RP icons, GIF packs, masterlists, PNG’s, fancasts, alternative FC’s - LITERALLY anything you desire!

STEP 3: Look back on tasks that we have created previously for tutorials on the thing you are creating unless you have whatever it is you are doing mastered - then of course feel free to just get on and do it. :)

STEP 4: Upload and tag with #TASKSWEEKLY! If you didn’t use your own screencaps/images make sure to credit where you got them from as we will not reblog packs which do not credit caps or original gifs from the original maker.

THINGS YOU CAN MAKE FOR THIS TASK -  examples are linked!

Stumped for ideas? Maybe make a masterlist or graphic of your favourite faceclaim with freckles. Plot ideas or screencaps from a music video preformed by a freckled artist. Masterlist of quotes and lyrics that can be used for starters, thread titles or tags.

Screencaps

RP icons [of all sizes]

Gif Pack [maybe gif icons if you wish]

PNG packs

Manips

Dash Icons

Character Aesthetics

PSD’s

XCF’s

Graphic Templates - can be chara header, promo, border or background PSD’s!

FC Masterlists - underused, with resources, without resources!

FC Help - could be related, family templates, alternatives.

Written Guides.

and whatever else you can think of / make!

MASTERLIST!

Note: If you’re using this masterlist for casting purposes please do further research before casting any of the following, it was difficult finding sources for most of these and don’t know if they’re ethnically or nationally Turkish. Many thanks.

We haven’t included those in THIS masterlist by @lazyresources so combined there are 220 facecalims!

Ladies:

Sissy Spacek (67) - actress and singer.

Dana Delany (61) - actress,, producer, presenter, and activist.

Sade (58) Nigerian (Yoruba), British - singer.

Mariska Hargitay (53) - actress.

Stacey Williams (49) - fashion model.

Alicia Coppola (49) - actress.

Jennifer Garner (45) - actress.

Julianne Nicholson (45) - actress.

Alyson Hannigan (43) - actress.

Neve Campbell (43) - actress.

Kate Moss (43) - model.

Amber Valletta (43) - model and actress.

Eva Longoria (42) Mexican (Spanish, Indigenous/Mayan, and African) - actress, producer, director, activist and businesswoman.

Kari Byron (42) - television host and artist.

Amy Smart (41) - actress and former fashion model.

Melissa Joan Hart (41) - actress, voice actress, director, producer, singer, fashion designer, and businesswoman.

Anna Friel (40) - actress.

Shakira (40) Lebanese / Colombian, including Italian/Sicilian, Spanish [Catalan, Castilian], possibly other - singer, songwriter, dancer, and record producer.

Jessica Chastain (40) - actress and film producer.

Annie Wersching (40) - actress.

Jennifer Hall (39) - actress.

Andrea Navedo (39) Puerto Rican - actress.

Jennifer Morrison (38) - actress, singer, producer, and director.

Angela Lindvall (38) - actress.

Michaela Maurerová (37) - actress.

Erin Cahill (37) - actress.

Vica Kerekes (36) - actress.

Gisele Bündchen (36) - model.

Bryce Dallas Howard (36) - actress, director, producer, and writer.

Meghan Markle (35) African-American / White -   actress, humanitarian, and activist.

Sienna Miller (35) - actress, model, and fashion designer.  

Diora Baird (34) - actress and former model.

Danielle Gamba (34) - model, dancer, and former NFL Cheerleader.

Natalie Britton (32) - actress.

Sarah Agor (32) - actress.

Anne Vyalitsyna (31) - model.

Michelle Trachtenberg (31) - actress.

Nicola Roberts (31) - recording artist, fashion designer, and songwriter.

Katrina Law (31) Taiwanese, German, Italian - actress.

Devin Kelley (31) - actress.

Caity Lotz (30) - actress, dancer, martial artist practitioner, singer, and model.

Katie Leclerc (30) - actress.

Kesha (30) - singer, songwriter, and rapper.

Virginia Petrucci (30) - actress.

Rose Leslie (30) 1/8th Mexican - actress.

Zoe Sloane (29) - actress.

Kristýna Kolocová (29) - beach volleyball player.

Blake Lively (29) - actress.

Karen Gillan (29) - actress and director.

Alia Shawkat (28) 50% Iraqi 25% Norwegian 12.5% Irish 12.5% Italian - actress.

Zoë Kravitz (28) 37.5% African-American 12.5% Afro-Bahamian 50% Ashkenazi Jewish - actress, singer, and model.

Gabriela Soukalová (27) - biathlete.

Adwoa Aboah (25) Ghanaian-British - model.

Binx Walton (21) Unknown Ethnicity - model.

Natalie Westling (20) - model.

Faye Reagan (?) - pornographic film actress.

Mia Sollis (?) - pornographic film actress.

JoJo (26) - singer, songwriter, and actress.

Meaghan Martin (25) - actress and singer.

Karle Warren (25) - actress.

Saoirse Ronan (23) - actress.

Laura Gwyneth Butler (born in 1997) - model.

Alexandra Porfirova (?) Unknown Ethnicity - model.

Jamillah McWhorter (?) Unknown Ethnicity - model.

Amit Freidman (?) - model.

Scarlett Fay (?) - pornographic film actress.

Adele Jacques (?) - actress.

Kim Blair (?) - actress.

Caroline Ford (?) - actress.

Ryann Shane (?) - actress.

Sarah Newswanger (?) - actress.

Juliet Oldfield (?) - actress.

Miyamoto Ayana (?) Japanese.

Males:

Damian Lewis (46) - actor.

David Tennant (46) - actor.

Jesse Williams (35) African-American, possibly Seminole Native American / White - actor, model, and activist.

Adam Wylie (33) - singer, musical performer, and voice actor.

Bob Morley (32) Filipino / White - actor.

Jay Hayden (30) - actor.

Higashide Masahiro (29) Japanese - actor and model.

Calum Worthy (26) - actor.

Diego Barrueco (26) - model.

Stephen Joffe (25) - actor.

Josh Hutcherson (24) - actor.

Adam Hicks (24) - actor, tapper, singer, and songwriter.

Adam Taylor Gordon (23) - actor.

Gabriel Basso (22) - actor.

Austin MacDonald (21) - actor.

Dylan Riley Snyder (20) - actor.

Zane Huett (20) - actor.

Dylan Minnette (20) - actor.

Jae Head (20) - actor.

Grayson Russell (19) - actor.

Justin Tinucci (18) - actor.

Elijah Nelson (18) - actor.

Tucker Albrizzi (17) - actor.

Shane Cambria (16) - actor.

George Hard (?) stated as biracial - model.

Johnny Harrington (?) - model.

Linus Wordemann (?) - model.

Kim Wonjung (?) Unknown Ethnicity - model.

Mat Lachance (?) - model.

Jester White (?) - model.

Devon Usher (?) - model.

Simonas Pham (?) Unknown Ethnicity - model.

Naleye Junior Dolmans (?) Unknown Ethnicity - model.

Jake Cassar (?) - model.

Tom Webb (?) - model.

Wynston Shannon (?) - model.

Calin Sitar (?) - model.

Victor Ross (?) Unknown Ethnicity - model.

Skyler James Sandak (?) - actor.

Bodhi Schulz (?) - actor.

Johannes Ibelherr (?) - model.

Peter Badenhop (?) - model.

Rodrigo Calazans (?) - model.

Adam Lee (?) - model.

Davi Vath (?) - model.

Florian Van Bael (?) - model.

Ismaelpeter Casillas Nelson (?) - actor.

Trans:

Buck Angel (44) film producer.

Taylor O'Keefe (?) - Youtuber.

Casil McArthur (?)

Use @ ur own discretion:

Eddie Redmayne

Emma Stone

Colton Haynes