#especially when the whole set up is such a clear metaphor for climate change as the consequence of industrialization!

[mosstrades]

im having an absolute unadulterated blast with the Ethersea prologue for many many reasons, it's beautiful and exceeds all my expectations.. but also. there's many moments here that genuinely make me go "oh god damn, these people are Americans." the Quiet Year system is a profoundly fascinating and revealing game - nothing tells you quite as much about how somebody sees the world than asking them to imagine a new one.

[johnheintz]

Winners and Losers in the Coronavirus Stimulus

I have a group chat I share with three friends. We are old friends with wildly different life paths. I’m a teacher, lawyer, writer in Chicago, and Jim in an entrepreneur in Chicago.  Steve is a hospital administrator in New York. Pete is a scientist in Vermont. 

Early in January, Pete heard the news of this new virus from a Wuhan, China, wet market. Pete researches disease and drugs for a living, and since he’s talking with friends, he occasionally lets himself be wrong for dramatic effect. 

Coronavirus was big. His posts were dramatic, and when the rest of us teased him, he pushed back, explaining how “we’re screwed.” Over the next month, Pete would be proven entirely correct. By mid-March no one on earth hadn’t heard of Covid-19 and its cause, the novel coronavirus. Even Congress was listening. 

Two disasters loomed. The millions likely to die would only be outweighed by the total failure of the global economy that could impoverish the world in a way never seen in modern times. No reasonable person disagreed with either disaster. 

For the first time in a decade, Democrats and Republicans in Congress started talking. The health crisis required instantaneous action mostly already within the statutory authority of the Executive branch. The economic crisis needed legislative action. People needed to stop moving around and spreading the virus, and it had to happen immediately. This meant no one who couldn’t work from home could work at all. No work meant no money. No money meant no food and no home. People with no money in the bank, which meant most Americans, needed money immediately or they would go to work and spread the virus because they would have no other choice. 

I need to defend Congress here. The President dithered, but the Majority and Minority leaders in the House and Senate moved quickly to act. 

Quick action reveals instincts. When you’re in a crisis, you respond using the reasoning capacities you’ve built up prior to the crisis. When in the crisis itself, you react. Congress reacted, and the subsequent bill tells us a lot about the default positions of the Democratic and Republican parties. 

What is the Act?

It’s called the CARES Act, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. You’ve already heard it’s $2 trillion. The government is spending money, so that’s why it’s being called a “stimulus.” There are good reasons not to call it a stimulus, since governments take stimulus actions to encourage economic growth. This bill is doing the opposite. It’s encouraging people to stop economic activity, or at least to stop economic activity that is not essential. The goal of the bill? ”Freezing the economy in amber“ or ”putting the economy into an induced coma” are two metaphors explaining the goal of the stimulus, but for those of us who live in a partisan world, a world where government is either spending or not spending money, this is massive government spending that can comfortably be called a stimulus.   

Who are the winners?

There are three big winners in the bill. Individuals get 30% of the stimulus. Big corporations get 25%. And small business, state and local governments and public services share the remaining 45%. Democrats insisted on the direct payments and the unemployment increases, and Republicans insisted on saving big businesses, especially the airlines. 

The remaining 45% breaks down with 19% for small businesses, 17% for state and local governments and 9% for public services, mostly hospitals.  

It’s already clear the next bill will help states and local governments. Lobbying is happening at a furious, socially distant pace, but state and local governments cannot run deficits like the federal government. That is, states and localities cannot simply print money, like the The feds will have to provide them support or the downstream effects will create an economic tsunami as great as the coming federal one.   

It may seem like Congress acted quickly, but plenty of horse trading went into the preparation of this bill. Only the cruelest free marketeers can stand up and say government should stay out of this crisis. Those people exist, and they seem to want a certain number of dead bodies before they act. Luckily, enough Americans understand the gravity of the crisis and drown out partisan drum beating in the name of saving our loved ones’ lives. 

Who are the losers?

The worst losers are people on fixed incomes and future debt payers, like today’s college and younger kids. No matter what the feds call it, the US is taking on debt. Since Donald Trump arrived in office, the debt went up $3 trillion bringing the pre-coronavirus stimulus to $23.5 trillion or $70,000 for every person living in the US. Now that debt will be $25.5 trillion. Future generations have to pay. 

A quick side note, this stimulus is a necessary and good kind of debt. As Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff has said, "The whole point of not relying on debt excessively in normal times is precisely to be able to use debt massively and without hesitation in situations like this." Borrowing costs money, but saving lives at this scale is worth it. 

The primary losers, then, are future generations. But that’s a generic reality for government debt. The primary losers that could have been named in this bill but weren’t are more interesting. 

Small businesses are definitely losers. Unlike the checks written to individuals, small businesses has strings attached to most of the money in the stimulus. Small businesses are asking right now whether they are able to keep everyone on their payroll, which is the stated purpose of the stimulus loans. The primary question is whether, if they are already heavily leveraged, they will be able to take on this additional debt. The stimulus provides that any small business that keeps paying its workers will receive forgivable loans, but small businesses aren’t sure how or if that will really work. Small businesses face this uncertainty despite the desire of Congress to pass a decisive bill that would remove uncertainty in the economy. Why? 

At least a sectional of the Democratic Party does not like business. They are still reeling from the Great Recession when, according to the left, bailouts should have gone to individual homeowners and not big banks. Democrats make little distinction between big business and small business. Terms like “profiteers” and “capitalists” don’t allow for subtle distinctions like separating Boeing from your corner mom and pop coffeeshop. Blue Chip Republicans don’t care about small companies much either. They want to ensure companies already running and already providing big products and big services to big quantities of people keep running. That’s why the second biggest winner of the stimulus are large corporations. 

Small business is a blend of Democrat and Republican, so when the crisis arrived and wish lists were created, small business took a back seat to the Democrats’ individual payments and the Republicans’ corporate payments. 

Losers in the stimulus are the environment, education, youth, poor, infrastructure and essential workers. 

Carbon offsets and clean energy incentives like solar, wind and nuclear never made it into the bill. The impact of climate change like mass migrations, regional armed conflicts, ecosystems failed and lives lost will make this pandemic’s worst death toll estimates of 2-5% of those infected truly seem like the seasonal flu. 

Education got money in the stimulus, but it’s not what you think. States run education, not the feds, and federal involvement in education is, compared to the big money spent by states and local governments, miniscule. Schools that are keeping staff won’t be doing it for long. Tax revenues will be small as the effects of shelter-in-place kick in. Schools will be the hardest hit since in most states schools are the largest recipient of state and local revenue that will disappear. Schools will likely hold onto all their workers, even if they know they’ll have to borrow to pay them. States and local governments assume federal help is coming, and Speaker Pelosi has already said the next legislation will help state and local governments, which is code for schools and other less expensive essential services like police and fire. But it’s notable that education didn’t make it into the first stimulus bill. It signals, however slightly, that neither the Dems nor the Republicans care to prop up the existing school system exactly the way it exists today. 

Youth are a big loser in the stimulus. College kids dependent on their parents will not get a check, which should draw the attention of college kids who are going to join the workforce in what’s shaping out to be another Great Recession. Bigger is the future bill youth will have to pay for the excesses of this generation. 

Are you under 30? If so, consider that you will live in a world your parents and grandparents created that benefitted them enormously but that you will never enjoy. China will be the world’s biggest economy soon, and just as the US set the rules when it was the biggest economy, you can be sure China will set the rules when it’s number one. You will be working in a smaller economy and paying bills your parents ran up today based on poor planning. 

Another loser in the stimulus is the poor. Cataloging the ways the stimulus fails the poor require too much space, so let’s focus on the big, obvious ways. First, poverty means people are less likely to file taxes, which means they won’t get a check. Second, poverty means jobs are more precarious, low wage workers were the first to be let go, and they will be the first to run through the additional unemployment benefits in the stimulus, if they can get through to their state’s unemployment agency before they are evicted, have the internet turned off at home or don’t have time to file because they are homeschooling their children since the schools are closed. If the poor have jobs, they will likely need to go and have fewer protections to avoid catching the virus. Mobile phone location data is already coming out showing poor neighborhoods are staying-at-home far less than wealthier areas. But most of all, the stimulus targets the economy as a whole. The American economy as a whole never did much for the poor. They still don’t have quality health care or any health care. They still have worse schools. They still have worse food. This stimulus improves nothing for the poor. 

Buzz in Washington is that another $2 trillion bill for infrastructure is being negotiated. If the feds want to inject a big stimulus in the economy, it should have passed that infrastructure bill in the first bill. We have all heard the list of infrastructure needs, but each is essential. First, the US needs national broadband. Second, the US needs a web of connected transportation options, from transit and air to railways, roads, and waterways, as a means to reduce congestion, protect the environment, and stimulate economic development. Third, the US needs a massive workforce development program to transform workers for the digital economy. Fourth, the US needs to up its funding of Pre-K-12 and higher education to ensure every child is ready for the new economy. Fifth, the US needs a far better public safety program including offering federal leadership for technical assistance that helps all levels of government develop evidence-based community policing programs that build trust, improve community relations and reduce racial tensions and crime rates. 

Essential workers were losers in this stimulus bill, too. The stimulus provides big money for Covid-19 responses that should include making sure essential workers are well protected and well paid. Other countries like the UK and Germany have provided additional benefits to essential workers, identifying them by name and marshaling national resources to ensure they have protective gear and abundant equipment. The stimulus echoes the current US response. It’s vague and indirect. Chicago where I live keeps sending emergency  notifications to all cell phones even while almost every health care worker I know on the front line is telling me they want to quit. Spain is the worst example of endangered essential workers. Garbage bags, old shirts and duct tape do not provide the kind of protection they need, and the US isn’t doing much better. 

Why should we care?

Crises come suddenly, and they reveal core priorities and levels of preparedness. How prepared the US was for this crisis will be readily apparent in the next 6-12 months. What core priorities the US holds is already apparent. We should care about the apparent core priorities of our elected leaders because, if they don’t match our priorities, they need to be held accountable at election time. 

That Republicans support big business and the Democrats support individual workers is no surprise. This is the first crisis felt by all Americans with such far reaching effects. Being optimistic, let’s say a vaccine is developed quickly and life returns quickly to close to its pre-pandemic rhythm. No one will ever forget that when a crisis hit, government was called on to solve it. No matter whether you have a righty Republican’s healthy mistrust of government or a lefty Democrat’s exuberant trust of government, responding to catastrophes is what governments need to be prepared to do. To the extent we are not prepared, it’s time to make a mental note for the future.  

We need to care about the winners and losers of the first stimulus for two major reasons. First, the first time a big bill is passed, it sets the cap on what will be passed in future legislation. The stimulus was the bigest gun Congress could fire in defense of the US. Future legislation could go bigger, but if the infection rate doesn’t decline, and if a vaccine isn’t discovered quickly, the gun wasn’t big enough. Once the infection rate declines a bit, we can expect more politics, more friction, slower decision-making and less powerful effects from the next rounds of legislation.  

Second, when in crisis and you have to negotiate, you resort to your biggest wants. We need to work to ensure the environment, education, youth, poor, infrastructure and essential workers are front of mind, as we continue responding to this crisis and for the next one.  

 The macroeconomic effects of this global shock will almost certainly be felt for decades. China’s claim of a V-shaped recovery seems overblown for China, so the odds of that happening in the US are slim. A big drop is rarely followed by an equally big increase. Make a gun with your left hand. A gun-shaped recovery seems more optimistically realistic. The thumb is the drop, and the pointer finger is the recovery. In other words,  return to normalcy will likely come slowly as winners build their strength and losers lose even more. 

Pete my friend’s worst fear seems right now to be untrue. It’s still early days understanding this virus, but if it mutates, come back annually in winter or never leaves and keeps mutating, the harm to lives and economies will return annually as well. The Spanish Flu came back a second time and killed more people in the second wave than the first. Right now, rumblings from scientists are that this virus isn’t mutating. If it’s not, that means that once there is a vaccine, it will stop the virus completely and allow us to rebuild our economies before they impoverish too many people. 

The question we should be asking ourselves in the moments we can see beyond the immediate crisis is this. Are we happy with the winners and losers Congress chose to create with the largest economic stimulus bill in the history of the world? 

John Heintz is based in Chicago.

[4n0th3rm3]

Who has control over a story? Or: presidency as a metaphor for authorship

So… I have read the meat part of the Homestuck epilogues and I have to say, I am impressed. I have to admit that I was initially wary of the experience because the first opinions I’ve read on tumblr have been controversial, to say the least. But before I talk about the epilogue itself, I have to make some things clear. I haven’t read Homestuck in my formative teenage years. I started reading it when I was 18, so I had a lot more distance to the main characters and their experiences than I would have had if I was younger. This was also an age when my English could have been considered „good“ enough to even understand what was going on since it’s not my mother tongue. Additionally, I was just starting my degree in literary studies, so the interest in narrative structure has always been on the forefront of my reading experience, so that’s what I’ll focus on in my analysis. And hoo boy does Homestuck deliver in that regard.

First of all we have to ask: in what situation are the epilogues written? Homestuck is „officially over“, the fans are more or less satisfied, the „canon“ is supposed to be finished and can now be looked at in its entirety. This is not only important for the creators of fanworks, but also for Hussie himself. In a lot of ways, when a work is canonically finished, the author has distanced themselves from the story and the writing process. So how to write epilogues, when you have given up control over the narrative? It’s at this point that Hussie decides to make the problem explicit in the work itself: he changes the medium. What has been a narrative element in Homestuck before now becomes once again necessary for understanding the story. By changing the webcomic format to an Ao3 fanfiction format he shows the reader that these are indeed „tales of dubious authenticity“.

Now, finding the tone for the continuation of a finished work can be difficult (and we have to keep in mind that Homestuck has been over for three years). When we take a look at the Harry Potter series, where lots of fans were disappointed by a seemingly overly saccharine epilogue, we see how much can go wrong in the fans’ opinion. Actually, Harry Potter is also a good example of the consequences it has for a work of art and its fanbase when the author tries to uphold their control over the narrative after the work is finished — it can be disastrous (case in point: jkrowlings borderline surreal twitter presence). The expectations readers have are repeatedly mirrored in the epilogue itself:

And all of us are definitely the „devoted fans“ who show up to any new content, even if it’s bad. But is it bad? Whether there is too much meat (brutality, tragedy) or too much candy in it, both will be unsatisfactory. This is a thing that Rose, in the process of becoming a aware of the whole canon herself, comments on:

Even before the epilogues, Homestuck has always had lots of both, it varied in tone and regularly switched between tragedy and comedy, most often depicting tragedy through the lens of comedy. That was one go the things that made it unique. The way that Karkat reacts to the fact that Jade didn’t know that Obama was a real person shows how important the framing of events can be:

How comedy and tragedy are received respectively is very subjective to the reading experience. The reactions of the characters to canon and post-canon events mirror different fan behavior. Take for example Calliope, who seems to obsess over overly saccharine fantasies, mixed with gore and pornographic content:

The way it is framed here, it seems to sum up the fanfiction side of the Homestuck fandom pretty well. It frankly reminded me of the times when a lot of the fandom was pretty obsessed with the dark and horny parts of Homestuck - and unapologetically so. I mean, remember the 4chan „raids“ on Tumblr? That’s what they had to say about the Homestuck tag:

Now, please keep in mind that I haven’t read the candy part yet, so if Calliopes behavior is directly referring to it, it partly goes over my head at this moment. That the different perspectives and reading experiences can clash with each other and even canonical events itself is shown in John's own discomfort at the reunion with his friends:

It reflects on the way that the whole of Homestuck has been perceived by the readers not only while it was running but also after it has ended. Looking at a story after it’s been finished and at the sum of all its parts leads to some problems - for the author and the creators of fan works alike. From a distance and after three years, everyone is „stuck somewhere in the harrowing nexus between canon, post-canon, non-canon, outside canon, and fanon.“ Or as Rose puts it:

Rose realizes at this point that, much as we, the reader, the characters (especially Rose and Dirk) have also become readers of their own, their whole story. This forces them, much as us, to confront every aspect of every character that has been written in the Homestuck canon, what Dirk then calls the Ultimate Self. How do you for example characterize a person like Dirk when you know how different aspects of his personality play out in different scenarios? I mean, Bro is very much a character that exists in the Homestuck canon and — shitty as he is — shares Dirk’s genetic information. Dirk on the other hand is a person who has always tried to overcome the negative aspects of his personality that are realized in other versions of him. The convergence of personalities that happens when the characters become readers of canon themselves is in Dirk’s case as much a tragedy as it is for us, who have also seen the positive potential of his character. ultimate!Dirk then goes — in the manner of an overly sarcastic megalomaniac — from reader to narrator:

So it’s not surprising that looking at the whole of canon itself, different characters show different reading behaviors. This is as much true for Dirk as it is for every single reader, especially every creator of fan works. We take the elements that are given to us and try to create something from it. In one way or the other, by interpreting a story, everyone tries to take hold of the narrative. This is especially true for a story like Homestuck, where the interaction with fans and fan culture have been a central element of storytelling and has lead to the inclusion of multiple contributors to the work itself.

In ultimate!Dirk’s case, it is made very explicit how his particular perspective influences the narrative structure. The lines between reader and author blur even further than before:

But not only ultimate!Dirk and muse!Calliope, who tries to take the narrative away from him, have conflicting views and agencies, other characters also start framing actions and people in a certain way. It’s no coincidence that Hussie decided to make an election the setting for the epilogues. In meat, Jane runs for presidency and is then rivaled by Karkat, who decides to take a stand against her „xenophobic“ views. While Karkat says:

It quickly becomes clear, that a lot of what we think about Jane in the meat epilogue is framed on the one hand by ultimate!Dirk’s manipulative narrative that influences the behavior and events, and on the other hand by Dave and Karkat’s political campaign. (Both of whom don’t leave their house very often and have probably not spoken to Jane in a long time.)

We think that Jane is xenophobic because ultimate!Dirk and Karkat tell us she is. Not to say that Jane doesn’t have some problematic views, but she seems to be far from a fascist dictator.

It mostly shows how politics is very much about presenting a certain narrative to your potential voters. And whoever controls the political narrative has a hegemonial perspective on cultural narratives as well. This is an idea that has probably been best presented in the texts of the philosopher Walter Benjamin. In his essay „On the concept of history“ he remarks on the way a ruling class presents history and historical events as a legitimization of their power, and ultimately concludes that historical methodology is also a question of politics and questioning narratives that are presented to us. In 1940, when the essay was written, it was the conflict between fascism and socialism that influenced Benjamin’s work, but today his ideas are just as relevant.

By presenting the election and conflicting narratives (ultimate!Dirk vs. muse!Calliope, Jane vs. Karkat and Dave) side by side, Hussie builds a bridge between those two. It is not only that the text is a metaphor for the current political climate, it is a metaphor for the way that current behavior in general is shaped by controlling narratives. We live in a time when fake news and callout culture are two sides of the same coin: especially in America, these two intersect more and more, in political campaigns and online. Not to say that this kind of discourse isn’t developing in Europe as well, it’s just that the American one seems to be central for the discourse and views that shape sites like tumblr. On Earth C, in the „post canon victory state“, we can see these methods of political strategy developing from the very beginning.

This becomes especially clear as Vriska comments on Hussie’s behavior (as in: Homestuck-character Hussie): „not to mention your flawless defeat of an obstructionist, hectoring, orange man, who for reasons you cannot begin to comprehend seemed to be obsessed with you.“ While the whole world sees itself confronted with the weird views of a megalomaniac orange man (Trump), so does the readership of Homestuck: Hussie and Dirk’s text are both orange and are a constant obstacle for the fans who try to take hold of the narrative, to make their perspective the right one.

Actually, ultimate!Dirk’s perspective is skewed by numerous biases, mostly concerning women and gender issues. Jade is repeatedly called „bitch“ in a derogatory way and Kanayas behavior is framed as being „hysterical“. Roxy’s transition goes straight over his head, he can’t read her intentions because he is blind to gender issues that don’t fit his limited understanding of the concept of gender. He reminds me of a member of the alt-right, shutting women out of conversations and disregarding their opinions. This quote especially:

This sounds like it’s ripped straight from an alt-righter defending his free speech while at the same time trying to shoehorn his dubious political intentions in. In contrast to that, muse!Calliopes way of telling the story seems to be fairly neutral.

So it’s no surprise that the people he tried to shut out before (women and trans people) are realizing that his narrative behavior is trying to manipulate them and they take action. Especially Terezi seems to be immune to his narrative manipulation:

The moment that they break the hold ultimate!Dirk has over the narrative, they are beginning to feel like the old „canon“ characters.

Up to this point, we had to look at genuine character moments through the lens of an unreliable narrator. Homestuck has always been a parody that got unintentionally serious, so I think we have to look at the epilogues the same way: genuine character moments under the layers of parody, commentary on fan behavior and politics.

Ultimate!Dirk ultimately fails to create a cohesive narrative, one that favors only one perspective. This is reflective of the way Homestuck has been written and perceived these last ten years. He has to fail, because the author has lost control and interpretative hegemony over Homestuck canon — no one has it.

That is why it’s so important that the voice of the epilogues is not only Hussie’s voice, but was written in part by Cephied_Variable and ctset. While Hussie was responsible for writing the dialogue, the surrounding prose is entirely in the hands of fans. It’s a decentralized narrative that refuses to acknowledge one perspective, one reception as the right one.

And much like the kids in the juju, we are now stuck in a place outside of canon, after Homestuck ended. And it just happens that everyone is starved for new content: We all wish we had brought something to read. Be it the epilogues or fanfiction, we are all stuck in a place that no longer really affects the narrative:

And look at me, how I desperately try to take hold of the narrative in this long ass meta post. This is what Homestuck means to me and this is my perspective, my narrative.

[thelastpodcast]

Graduation Speech Transcript

[This was the working draft so there are some changes and additions I made on the fly.]

Let me start by saying what a total mindblowing honor it was to have been selected by my classmates to speak on their behalf. I already told them this once in private so they would know I really meant it and wasn’t just saying it to endear myself to the alumni, but it bears repeating. To endear myself to the alumni.

Class of 2019: It’s no exaggeration to say that I consider all of you to be superior human beings to me—you know, in terms of your career accomplishments, charitable activities… personalities. I was legitimately intimidated when I read your bios in our little binder. Especially since mine was just me drinking an iced latte and making jokes about my dog or whatever. You all lived up to the hype and the multi-hyphenates, that is for certain—and that’s why I felt so shocked, but also so validated and accepted, to be chosen.

And I don’t know if I even mentioned my dog once, this whole program, did I? Her name is Shoshanna and she’s uh, half puggle half demon, and the less said about her the better.

We’re not here to talk about my dog, luckily. We’re here to look back on our experience these past six months, and to look ahead to where we’re going now.

It all started at the Brown Center, for our opening retreat—and listen, folks. I thought I knew a thing or two about team training activities? I do a lot of that for work a little, you know, I’ve been around the block a bit, I’ve got some game.  Or, I thought I did. It turns out I have absolutely no game, because Bill from the Brown Center knocked me out with all of his Jedi Mind Tricks. Remember that activity where you had to keep a familiar person between yourself and someone who was unfamiliar? Alumni, did you do this one? If you’ve never done this, I want you to try it out the next time you are 5 hours into the process of slowly meeting 40 new people. Outside of Leadership Seacoast I’m not sure when else that might happen, maybe like a hostage situation at a grocery store? Something to keep in mind!

So, what you do is, you stand in a big circle and you look across and you find someone who is familiar and someone who is not.  You don’t say it out loud – nobody knows who picks who. Like all the best games, most of this one happens in your mind.

Fred was my familiar guy—we’d been on this Puzzle Team together so we were already bros for life. (Fred hand signal.) That’s me and Fred’s secret hand shake. And Bridget was, at the time, a person I was unfamiliar with. Luckily, Bridget, that would change! But anyway, once you’ve picked your two people across the way, you start moving out from the circle. And as each PERSON  tries to physically keep his or her familiar between their self and the unfamiliar, everybody scatters crazily around the room—it’s total chaos. Then Bill, this master of his craft, Bill! He flips the script. He says, you gotta keep the unfamiliar person between you and the familiar guy. So, guess what happens when you do that? All of the people who have scattered around the room suddenly clump together, like we were magnetized. As a physical exercise, it was stunning. As a metaphor, it’s even better. When we shield ourselves with familiar people and places, the community is disparate, chaotic, disorganized. When we reach out, to someone new, when we step out of our comfort zone, the community very quickly becomes more unified, close-knit—maybe a little too close for people who need their personal space, but undoubtedly stronger.

Feeling warmed and inspired by this, we met Peter Francese, who told us all about how we are going to die.

OK, ok, not how we are going to die—it wasn’t that bad. He just wanted to warn us about the state’s swiftly aging population, and how these trends would, you know, collapse the economy, annihilate property values and give rise to blood-harvesting robots…in the next five to ten years. So we’ve got that to look forward to!

Now, Demographic doomsaying aside– in his talk Peter highlighted something that turned out to be very important for virtually every session that followed – which is I guess what we can politely call the “structural shortcomings” of our dear granite state. I mean mostly that there’s no money, but also… you know how our stubborn independence creates an unwieldy number of local fiefdoms and gerontocracies instead of something more streamlined or cost effective or efficient or whatever? I Also mean that.

Live free or die! Maybe both.

Because from the opening retreat onward, at each program day, we were brought face to face with the open space between people in need and available services. Each time we saw problems over here with apparent solutions over there but no funding or obvious state mechanism to connect them.

Nowhere was that more clear than on Health and Human Services day. The scope and seriousness of the addiction epidemic in New Hampshire can’t be overstated. And we learned to call it an addiction epidemic and not an opioid epidemic. Because it is not new and it is far from over.

And yet, I found myself so inspired to meet the people working against it. Capable, confident, dedicated individuals from all walks of life. And importantly, there were so many of them—so many people, so many organizations, voluntarily filling in that gap between the problem and the solution.

Next up was Economic Development day, and almost every member of the class of 2019 that I’ve talked to about this day felt intimidated by the subject. Economic Development. Was there going to be math? I mean, everyone in this class is a right-brained, touchy-feely type. Even those of us who work at banks. Even Josh! Yes, even Josh is, deep down. You’re the man, Josh. You’re the football coach I wish I had.

Anyway, Economic Development. It wasn’t so bad, was it?

We all left that day excited about our community, very well caffeinated, and wondering which place we should move to: Somersworth, or into a Macy’s? Let me explain that: Eric Chinburg told us that big box stores are the mill buildings of the future. Since obviously malls are no longer a place people shop, we might as well put some apartments in there, right? That might sound crazy to you, but buy her a drink and Sarah Wrightsman will tell you why it’s not. I love the idea, if only for the rich joke potential. Did you hear about Kir’s new apartment, oh yeah, he finally left that dusty little studio and he’s upgraded to a beautiful spacious Anne Taylor Loft. Oh, the natural light!

Oh, and did you all hear about the developer who wanted to put 5 affordable units in his new building? Due to cost overruns, he’s down to just one Payless.

If you can think of a good one please let me know after the speech, I’m trying to write a standup set for the next Workforce Housing Coalition meeting.

So, I connect with science more than I thought I did – I learned that at Environment Day. I’ve never thought of myself as a science guy, nor did my chemistry teacher in high school, but I guess I am. I really connected with what people like Cameron Wake had to say. Which is why I no longer sleep at night!

And by the way, if you have to learn about catastrophic climate change, it’s best to be somewhere as beautiful as Odiorne. I mean, worst case scenario, everything looks like Odoirne, right? Sorry.

But anyway, being a person who connects with science now, and with a couple of program days behind me, I started to put the all these pieces together, and started to see better the gaps between the need and the resources, between the economic development and the education, between the government and the environment, I started to think of the state of New Hampshire itself as a kind of organism. I first thought of this metaphor at one of the Margaritas meetings, by the way, and I think it’s pretty solid. Shoutout to Margaritas, by the way, the unofficial program sponsor of Leadership Seacoast 2019.

The state of New Hampshire is like a plant that grows too close to the ground to get any sun. The sunlight, in this metaphor, is tax revenue. The stem of the plant is too weak to stand up on its own—it would have needed to add, you know, like an income tax or something in order to produce more chlorophyll. I swear to god this metaphor tracks, just bear with me here.

We’re a plant, and we grow too close to the ground. But instead of shriveling up and dying, over time, we have evolved this vast, far flung network of little leaves that push their way out into the sun and keep the plant alive despite its shortcomings.

Every person we met at every single program day, is one of those leaves. Out there, on their own, pushing toward the light, finding a gap and filling it.

I’m talking about the incredible and dedicated people we met from groups like Hope on Haven Hill and  Seacoast Family Promise

As well as people like Terry Robinson, who came to Portsmouth by way of Louisiana, on the strength of his fashion career, and is now working with the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and is still somehow only 19 years old? What? He identified a gap in the education of Seacoast kids of color, a gap that was invisible to most of us. He’s filling it now.

And what about Anna Brown and Jacquelyn Benson, the dynamic duo from Citizens Count. They are like a walking West Wing episode and I could listen them explain the nuances of the New Hampshire legislative system all day. It might take all day to understand it, but that’s why they’re working so hard.

Emmett Soldati talked to us about the need for gathering spaces in the community. In Somerworth, he saw a gap, and he filled it in himself by opening Teatotaller, which is a really special place Where once there was problem, now there’s Kirsten Gillibrand watching a Teen Drag Show. That’s pretty good. That’s a lot of light for one leaf.

That’s also how a lot of us felt about Justin Roy, the principal of Spaulding High School: a lot of light for one leaf. From where does he find the energy? Oliver, let’s talk to Revision about hooking that guy up to the grid. On Education Day, he very appropriately gave us a lot to think about. How we felt about the education we got, however long ago. How much the system might need to change going forward. How much it would take it change it, and whether or not we had the stomach for that. Education reform is a grand and consequential experiment, and the laboratory is right there in Rochester.

Speaking of experiments—Justice Day certainly was that.

Down at Strafford County Correctional, we’re very lucky to have an administration in place that recognizes addiction for what it is: a medical issue, and we heard from some people working very hard to turn their lives around. But they’re funding these programs with extra money they’re getting from ICE to house undocumented immigrants. The jail superintendent, Chris Brackett told us: he doesn’t know where these people came from, what they did, if anything, and where they’re going next. This is a tough thing to contemplate. But we can’t look the other way. So don’t.

The most remarkable part of justice day happened at the end, and it came from within the group itself. John and Kerry, and Christine and Tim and Josh, members of our own class who have come at criminal justice reform in their own ways, in their own fields, led a spirited but respectful discussion about everything we’d just seen. I learned too much that day to even try to relate here, but more than anything, I just felt grateful for your perspectives—for all of your perspectives, across every program day and every small group and every chance encounter in the wild, may there be many more.

And I’m grateful to Lori, for carving out a big block of time on justice day to let something like that unfold. Can we just get a round of applause for Lori Waltz Gagnon, people? She was incredible. I’ll be honest, We’re kind of an unwieldy group, a little rowdy. We get cranky when we don’t have snacks. And she managed us with aplomb and also with some little chimes that she would ring to get us to shut up. Speaking of which!

Some of us were thinking—the chimes are great and all, very final savasana, but maybe you’d like some variety for the class of 2020? So --- Jay Dennett made this bag by the way – check it out. Blue Dolphin, everybody.

What we’re going to do here, is I want you all to talk amongst yourselves for a second, and then I will try to bring you back to focus with an item from the bag, OK? I will give you a topic. How would YOU have changed the Game Of Thrones finale?

That was great! OK, let’s try again. More controversial topic this time: does a hot dog count as a sandwich? Go.

We’ve got some good ones. I really like the maracas—because it’s like, Ooooh, are we going to learn about PFOA contamination… or are we going to do some salsa dancing?! Speaking of Salsa Dancing, Erika Mantz, where are you? We took some lessons together after Arts & Culture Day. Erica stepped up and collected donations from the class of 2019 to fund a scholarship for someone next year.

What do we do now? My dog, we covered that. New Hampshire is a plant that grows too close to the ground. Covered that. Webster’s Dictionary Defines Leadership as… we don’t need that. Secret hand gesture for Fred, we did that. Webster’s Dictionary defines Seacoast as… we don’t need that. Ah, OK, here we are, What do we do now?

I think for a minute there, maybe about halfway through the program, this became the sort of overwhelming question on everybody’s minds. What do we do after all this? Everything we are learning, everything we are seeing, all the need, all of the problems. Climate Change! Local Government! Single-Use Plastics! Homelessness! Oh my god! Where do we start?

And then it became less of a worry, because we were already starting. Everywhere, across the group, it was happening.

Elaine Way went back to work after Health & Human Services Day in January and pretty much immediately directed a $2400 donation to Seacoast Family Promise. See, we both work for LTC Partners, and she had that money from our company’s annual holiday basket raffle—Elaine’s department always makes the best basket. They win every year! It’s a little annoying.

Karene immediately went out and signed up to be a cuddler at Hope on Haven Hill.

Fred went to one of Sarah’s workshops and learned all the cool affordable housing lingo, like NIMBY and CAVE and BANANA. (Explain Banana.)

Kelly’s starting a New Hampshire Volunteer Chapter for Wells Fargo--

Whitney joined the board for Marsha’s Hospice Help Foundation--

The list goes on.

And our class facebook paged has been lighting up on a daily basis with volunteer opportunities and events. What I’m saying is – I don’t need to tell you where to start. We’ve already started. It’s already happening.

But keep starting, please. Keep in touch, keep an eye on what others are doing, and keep an eye out for the kind of gaps you can fill, or that you think one of us might be able to fill instead. Think about the space that other people in the class are already occupying, have been occupying for years, and keep thinking about how you could help them.  And tell other people about what they’re doing, and what you’re doing! Don’t be shy about it.

I mentioned earlier the validation and acceptance I felt when you all picked me to be your speaker – acceptance in particular, acceptance by teams, is something I’ve had in short supply for most of my life. I was never a star athlete and I think I finished school RIGHT BEFORE phys ed teachers got the memo that having kids pick their own teams was cruel and unusual punishment. I’ve told plenty of you that at the opening retreat I really resisted getting involved in some of the activities because of their resemblance to … shudder… team sports.

Well, listen, class of 2019 – I am so happy to be on your team. I am so excited to see what we’re doing already, and what we’ll do next. And if you ever get stuck – look to your left, look to your right. And the people on the ends, I guess like, look backward or forward? You get what I am saying. Look to each other. Keep helping each other help others. Grow the team. Fill in the gaps.

There will be no shortage of opportunities to help in a state like this, with an alumni network like this, with a team like this.

Thank you, Lori Waltz Gagnon, thank you all for listening – thank you to my wife and my mom and my boss for all coming—and most of all, thank you, class of 2019.

[dipulb3]

2021 Audi RS6 Avant review: Swiss Army Wagon

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/2021-audi-rs6-avant-review-swiss-army-wagon-2/

2021 Audi RS6 Avant review: Swiss Army Wagon

That’s one mean soccer-match machine.

Andrew Krok/Roadshow

Having a friend who owns a station wagon is like having a friend who’s a vegan or who owns a rescue dog: You’re never going to hear the end of it. The era of crossovers has given these low-slug longroofs new life among a small but vocal subset of automotive fans who want you to wake up and realize that not everybody needs a sun-blotting SUV. The 2021 Audi RS6 Avant is treated like a demigod in this circle, and for good reason: It combines ample storage and enough torque to affect plate tectonics in a package that makes for one of the most compelling daily drivers for sale today.

Like

Killer looks

Balls-out performance

Storage galore

Don’t Like

Big wheels = stiff-ish ride

Requires money to purchase

There’s no mistaking the RS6 Avant for anything else. The body is low and long, really hammering home that battleship metaphor thanks to the no-cost Nardo Grey paint color and the $6,350(!) Carbon Optic package that replaces all hints of exterior chrome trim with carbon fiber. This pack also adds 22-inch alloy wheels that fill the wheel wells amply. Combine that with some impressively fat rear fenders and you’ve got a wagon that out-sinisters even its closest rival, the Mercedes-AMG E63 S. I’m not a fan of the protruding rear diffuser, but that gripe extends beyond the wagon to its hatchback sibling, the RS7, as well.

Where there’s bark, there’s… more bark. Slipping down into the RS6 Avant’s standard sport seats, I push the start button on the center console and half the neighborhood is smacked in the face with a bass-heavy roar of a cold start, thanks in part to my tester’s $1,000 sport exhaust upgrade. Even though the body looks glued to terra firma, there’s just enough ride height here to escape a scrape from my steep driveway as the exhaust announces my departure with enthusiasm, despite the twin-turbocharged V8 never spinning over 2,500 rpm. Whether the pipes stay in their standard mode or are opened up a tad in more aggressive profiles, there’s never a lack of noise emanating from under the cargo area. It’s great.

The RS6 Avant’s standard multimode air suspension is impressive in its ability to change the car’s character. At its most compliant, the RS6 should keep the whole family comfortable, and I wager that the stock 21-inch wheels do an even better job here — the 22s and their 285/30-profile Pirelli P-Zero summer tires make for a ride that’s on the stiff side, although not punishingly so. Throw the car into Dynamic mode, though, and the solidity increases, all but eliminating body roll and giving the RS6 a surprising amount of agility for a car this size. 

Turbocharged V6s might get a lot of attention nowadays, but the V8 ain’t done yet. Packing 591 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque in the RS6 Avant, this eight-pot produces forward motion like an EDM concert in the forest provides good vibes. Let the eight-speed automatic transmission quickly kick its way down to the appropriate gear (best done on its own, even though shift paddles are standard) and the car will dart toward the horizon, bouncing its perennially thunderous exhaust note off every flat surface in earshot. There isn’t much in the way of overrun between shifts or while decelerating, but that’s fine, you can’t win ’em all.

It’s clear that the RS6 Avant would be best utilized on a German autobahn, pushing the speedometer needle into the region of silly numbers while returning a sufficiently smooth ride. On tight, curvy forest roads, this wagon almost feels like too much car. It’s almost as wide as a single lane. It wants to accelerate until it runs out of gas. It’s this kind of hard-to-wrangle attitude that gives this RS-badged vehicle some of the character that feels lacking in the automaker’s other performance models, which feel so thoroughly sanitized that you wonder if those cars weren’t built by robots, for robots.

Don’t act surprised when I say the RS6 Avant is one thirsty wagon, with the EPA estimating just 15 miles per gallon city and 22 mpg highway — the same as the less capacious RS7. While the V8 can deactivate half its cylinders under light loads, which can push instantaneous mileage to the 30-mpg mark, I find my highway economy only slightly higher than what the feds can muster, with my city economy falling closer to about 12 mpg.

Audi‘s interiors are pretty corporate, so if you’re familiar with one of the newer ones, odds are you’ve got a good lay of the land for the whole lineup. My tester sports $500 carbon fiber inlays with a matte finish and actual texture, which is a nice departure from the ultra-glossy SEMA crap. A $2,500 Executive Package puts soft Nappa leather just about everywhere, from the dashboard topper to the center console trim. The whole shebang coalesces nicely, feeling quite expensive while still maintaining a racy appearance. There’s ample lateral support in the front and rear seats, and the red deviated stitching adds some extra character.

Put that matte carbon fiber on everything, Audi, and never look back. High-gloss finishes are… not exactly en vogue.

Andrew Krok/Roadshow

Both rows offer up tons of space and visibility, and the cargo area’s 30 cubic feet of storage space trumps the RS7‘s 24.6 cubes while nearly tying the two-row Q8 SUV. See? You can have your cake and eat it while simultaneously transporting several other cakes with room to spare.

Audi loves itself some screens, and thankfully, those screens are easy to love. The company’s MMI infotainment system lives inside the 10.1-inch touchscreen on the dashboard, and while it might take some time to get used to the effort required to click each tile, the tech is responsive and easy on the eyes. A 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot is included, as are Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Two USB-C ports hang out under the center console armrest, in addition to a wireless device charger that uses the wagon’s own antenna to boost a phone’s signal. Just below the main screen is an 8.6-inch display that covers climate control and seat settings — again, finger presses require some weight, but the haptic feedback feels nice with every push.

The gauge cluster is a screen, too. Audi’s Virtual Cockpit puts just about every usable piece of information in front of my face, and I can change parts of the screen to display even more, whether it’s a Google Earth-style map or the current power and torque outputs from the engine, with some RS-specific designs for the tachometer. The Executive Package also includes a head-up display, in case I want to save my eyes from moving two extra inches to see what gear I’m in. Virtual Cockpit is adjusted using steering wheel switches, so distraction is kept to a minimum.

Once you get used to Audi’s interface, it’s pretty easy to change things with minimal distraction.

Andrew Krok/Roadshow

Some performance cars don’t even offer safety systems, but the RS6 Avant is rife with ’em. Standard save-your-butt tech includes automatic emergency braking and regular cruise control, but the $2,250 Driver Assistance Package beefs things up with adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, lane-keeping assist and rear cross-traffic warnings. The driver assists are mighty smooth, but it’s hard to willingly give up control of such a fun car, even in the tedium of a daily highway commute.

Unsurprisingly, the 2021 Audi RS6 Avant is an expensive proposition, starting at $110,045 including destination, with my tester’s numerous options pushing the window sticker north to about $123,000. The only real bummer with its configurability is the inability to pair the smaller 21-inch wheels with any of the black-exterior-trim packages, which would remove some of the ride’s inherent stiffness while maintaining its more aggressive countenance. I’d probably spec an RS6 Avant exactly like it is here, though.

The RS6 Avant has a single competitor in the US: The Mercedes-AMG E63 S Wagon, which costs a little more and produces a little more power while returning quicker acceleration figures (3.0 seconds to 60 mph versus the Audi’s 3.5) and offering a few extra cubes of cargo capacity. That said, the Merc’s aesthetics are far more subdued inside and out, so it’s mostly a manner of personal taste, especially at this price stratum. If you really dislike wagons for some reason, there’s always the RS7, too.

Fast wagons are few and far between, and the RS6 Avant is usually relegated to forbidden fruit status in the US, so consider this one a special treat. With performance chops to spare and a properly luxurious interior that can hold more than you’d expect, there’s a good reason why people fawn over the RS6.  If you aren’t quite ready to embrace the crossover life, this middle-grounder presents a hard opportunity to pass up.

[vileart]

Fisk Dramaturgy: Ross MacKay @ manipulate

UK Premiere Manipulate Festival 2017

FISK  

by Tortoise in a Nutshell, in co-production with Teater Katapult in association with Macrobert Arts Centre.  

A new devised piece of theatre by award-winning Tortoise in a Nutshell, Fisk (fish), delves into how we manage struggles with our own mental health, with the support of others.  The theatre company, renowned for their innovative puppetry and visual theatre – perform the show in both Danish and English.  

The show welcomes us into the world of Man (Alex Bird), who, in the moment in which he cannot help falling under – meets Fisk (Arran Howie) coming from the depths. In a new highly physical and visual piece – the company draw on their own experiences living with depression and anxiety to create a portrait of how it’s possible to pull through – and how those around us become vital in balancing our brains.  

This new poetic and visual exploration of masculinity, mental health and cups of tea at kitchen tables has been created working in collaboration with Teater Katapult, Aarhus Denmark. This collaboration has allowed Ross, Arran and Alex to stretch their wings and push the scale of their work, working with a diverse creative team. The script was devised with Danish playwright Anne Sophie Oxenvad.

The latest production from Edinburgh based theatre company, Fisk marks a huge step up for the company developing their practice and returning to venues across Scotland taking on bigger spaces. They are proud to be working with Manipulate Festival to premiere the piece in Scotland.  

I always feel kind of guilty when I ask this one, because it's like the relentless merry-go-round of the critical preview. So, I am going to try and get around it... it doesn't really matter what 'visual' or 'physical' theatre actually means, but it does offer a label that sets certain work apart from other work, and operates as a suggestion for marketing purposes: but do you think there is any kind of quality that sets 'visual' theatre apart from 'scripted' theatre that enables a particular kind of theatricality? Good way to tackle that question. The idea of visual versus scripted means that the semiotics of  spoken words doesn't take precedence and can exist on an equal or lower footing than other aspects of the show. 

This means that the mise-en-scene can dominate, or sometimes it's the music or sometimes it's the expression on a performers face.This means we doubt always rely on words to drive the narrative in sometimes we actively seek a more theatrical method of telling the story. Hopefully in exploring the piece in this way we do create imaginative staging. 

Leaping straight from that to something blunt and obvious: I got excited to see that you have a dramaturg. Does the dramaturg have a specific set of functions within your making process, and can these be observed within the performance? The Dramaturg was vital to us. In this particular story we were awash with metaphors and Kirstine role was teasing them out and interrogating the journey that they all go on.  For example: black boil like barnacles are important in the story and Kirstine was keen that this element had its own narrative e and fed into the greater story. As this story is itself a huge metaphor Kirstine was able to help us looking at when to peel back the layers of the show and show glimpses of the truth.  It's delicate and if we give to much or too little at any point we ruin the journey of the piece so Kirstine was vital there. Also importantly, the playwright was Danish and Kirstine is a great interpreter so she became a conduit to ensure we were all on the same page at many points of the process.  There's talk in the press release about this production marking out the company's career: how it does it relate to previous work? And has the collaboration changed anything in your process? It has. Each show we approach brings a slightly different process. We try to make each show unique in style and to make the form work with the content.  One of the biggest departures here was working with an incredible movement director, Darren Brownlie. We have never worked so expressively with our bodies. Usually the performance is left to the puppets but working with a movement director gave us a whole other layer of language to use. 

Shifting to the content: that seems to be a pretty heavy topic. What was the inspiration for it? We started out just with an image of a man on a boat and a fish. We didn't have any preconceptions of the theme. But as we continued to explore the piece we realised that time and again the imagery drew parallels to depression. Rather than run from that we decided to go for it.  And as we pushed we found more and more that this seemed to be the story. On top of this we all had experiences we could relate to whether it was our own depression or witnessing someone else go through it. It felt pertinent and the idea of a young couple going through this.  One person having to support as another suffered the illness was a story we were talking about a lot but felt we hadn't seen on stage. We felt we had something we could say here, something that would leave the audience with questions. Which is what we like to do. Do you think that theatre - and especially your approach - can be a good place to address issues about mental health? I am assuming you have not gone for an information packed, 'theatre in education' strategy, but maybe I am wrong again... No you are quite right. No facts and figures here. We worked really closely with an audience panel of mental health sufferers, carers and those who support in a professional capacity to ensure the show felt truthful and relevant but we wanted to steer clear of it being an issue based show.  The theme can support a much more emotional journey than that. Also with visual theatre and these big symbolic metaphors it allows space for the audience to project on to it. Mental Health can be experienced in so many different ways and each persons own experience can be very unique even if there is a universality, we wanted people to feel there is space within the visual world to see their own story. Hopefully we have got a little close to that.  You've been working with PAS for a while. What keeps you connecting with them, and do you think that your work might bear certain hallmarks that mark it as part of 'manipulate'? They keep asking us back. They have supported us so much through many of our project. We are even staging a new Work In Progress with them during Manipulate so the relationship goes beyond Fisk.  Manipulate was a huge inspiration for us. When I was a student, Simon Hart gave me a bursary to attend the first ever festival in Dundee. I attended the masterclasses and saw all the shows. It was incredible. I felt part of the community and even more importantly felt inspired to make work. All of s at Tortoise have manipulate marked in our calendars. We draw a lot of inspiration and talking points from the festival so we are delighted to feel our work sits alongside these great artists. 

Fisk opened at Teater Katapult, Aarhus, Denmark, in October 2016.  

Scottish Tour dates  

Macrobert Stirling 26 Jan  

Traverse Theatre Edinburgh 28 Jan  

Eden Court Inverness 1 Feb  

Lemon Tree Aberdeen 3 Feb  

Traverse Theatre Edinburgh 9 - 11 Feb  

Perth 14 Feb  

Eastgate Arts Centre 16 Feb   

Platform Glasgow 20 Feb  

The Company

Tortoise in a Nutshell have toured extensively over 250 performances across 78 cities in 7 countries around the globe – they have taken shows to Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Mexico and toured extensively across the UK.

The company have worked with Imaginate Festival, Cumbernauld Theatre, Manipulate Festival and performed year in year out at the world’s largest arts festival – the Festival Fringe - in their home town of Edinburgh.

2010 – The Last Miner – Idea’s Tap ‘Edinburgh Ideas Fund’ – Edinburgh Festival Fringe

2012 – Grit shortlisted for Arches Brick Award and Total Theatre Award for Emerging Artist or Company Edinburgh Festival Fringe - Bedlam Theatre  

2013 – Feral wins Fringe First, shortlisted Total Theatre Award for Physical / Visual Theatre Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Summerhall.

2014 – Feral returns to Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Underbelly – as part of Made in Scotland’s expo programme.  

2015 – The Lost Things – commissioned by Imaginate Festival. A bespoke piece of theatre for young audiences.  

Danish co-pro background

The relationship with Teater Katapult began when Artistic Director saw Feral in 2014 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of Made in Scotland. Invited to perform at the theatre as part of a Scandinavian tour, the companies began to work together. The EU collaboration has been an exciting way to consider other ways of working and draw on new perspectives when creating theatre.

Ross MacKay – Co-Artistic Director Tortoise in a Nutshell.

“For Tortoise in a Nutshell, art and theatre is about crossing borders and breaking down boundaries. Theatre allows you to put yourselves into someone else's world. It's important then that we can take theatre across cultures and communities. We can share different experiences and outlook on the world. Collaboration allows us to draw on different experiences, different styles of making work and different political climates. International co-productions allow us to create richer and deeper theatre and find the universal experiences even in the smallest of stories and individual of experiences.”

Creative Team

Director: Ross MacKay

Cast/Devisers: Alex Bird and Arran Howie  

Designer: Ana Ines Jabares-Pita

Composer: Jim Harbourne

Lighting Designer: Simon Wilkinson

Movement Director: Darren Brownlie

Production Manager: Andrew Gannon

Dramaturg: Kirstine Christensen

Writer:  Tortoise in a Nutshell and Anne Sophie Oxenvad

Producers: Dawn Taylor and Nick Wong

from the vileblog http://ift.tt/2jHHKul