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alteritymonster · 4 years

Text

Lucas meets... Dr. Martin Brenner

I’ve left it too late today to do this idea any justice. It’s a throw-a-dart-at-the-wall kind of idea honestly, but I’ll try to explain how it looks in my mind as a vignette that might be interesting if I or someone did write it.

I’m always interested in possible unnoticed coincidences in real life. I especially love the idea that I, and someone who is important in my life now, might have met each other without realizing it some long time before. Like when my new best friend and I were both born in the same, other part of the country, and both happen to have moved to where we live now. What if our eyes met once before, at Disneyland, when we were both five years old? What if we’ve each got an old photo that we’ve never noticed happens to have the other in it too, but way off in the background, waving to someone outside one side of the frame?

Anyway. Lucas never interacts with Dr. Brenner on-screen as far as I can remember. If he personally spots him specifically, when the Hawkins Lab people are chasing the Party in s1, it happens too quickly for Brenner to register for him individually, probably. No concrete reason then to think it’s impossible they had one of those anonymous unnoticed collisions out in the world. I have a mental image of pre-s1 Lucas inside a gas station, or at the grocery store, waiting to buy some candy or something, and standing in line next to Dr. Brenner.

Lucas knows there’s something off about this guy. He’s wearing a suit at the gas station / grocery store for one thing, but more than that, he seems to look through everything around him, as if seeing some other world instead, or as if waiting for the actual world to reshape around him to his own designs. They interact in some way, some totally ordinary “excuse me” or “nice weather” exchange, but Lucas is unnerved by it. He’s not putting it to himself in words like this exactly, but he can tell that -- even more than with adults normally -- he is just totally beneath the man’s notice.

Because Brenner is “The Man.” As a character he represents the amoral menace of Big Science, as pop culture of the 1960s onward reflected it, dealing with the realities of COINTELPRO and MKULTRA -- Cold War projects by the US government to, respectively, control the political restiveness of domestic and foreign populations; and to gain any possible advantage over the USSR by understanding and controlling mysterious phenomena (UFOs, ESP, mind control with psychedelic drugs) to develop new dominant technologies. When I type it out like that it sounds like very out-there X-Files stuff, but really, the things Brenner does to El in s1 have precedents in actual things the government tried to do in the real world. The difference being that in the real world none of the MKULTRA stuff ever worked -- but for a while they really were grasping for any weird new shit they could think of to “beat the commies,” and they had unlimited budgets to try ridiculous things, with hilarious (awful) consequences for some people.

I think Lucas among the major ST characters is in a unique position to pick up on the unsettling distance that Brenner the Cold War spook boffin has from the real world, and what that can hauntingly suggest. (Hopper does also pick up on this stuff -- we know from s1 that he’s at least read up on MKULTRA, and he might be alienated enough from his Vietnam experience specifically to have an open mind about what to normal people in the 80s sounds even wackier than it still does today. Yet he is still able to interact on decent terms later with Owens, who, though I think he means well, is sort of the kinder-gentler version of Brenner, as far as what his work for the government basically is.) It’s more than hinted that Lucas admires characters like Rambo, and the way he talks about what the Party is up to (especially when they’re up to supernatural-related stuff) often sounds kind of studiedly brisk and martial; he takes seriously his role as the Party’s ranger, oriented to a mission like a specialized soldier. I’m struck by how, in MADMAX, we see Ted Wheeler salute a government goon (the schmuck), and also see the US flag on Lucas’s bedroom wall (while he talks to Dustin about working “like a man”). Same patriotic idea, different kind and degree of seriousness of understanding of it.

In a show that tried harder (or at all?) to center Lucas as a character, there is amazing setup for his personal disillusionment with the ways that, as a kid, he’s understood the adult world. COINTELPRO existed to control independent political movements, bringing techniques used in dominating colonized (non-white) countries back home to be turned to discrediting and even killing African-American anti-war/racism/poverty activists in the US like the Black Panthers. By the 80s, COINTELPRO itself might have been officially over, but the US government was using profits from cocaine trafficking (disproportionately harming poor black communities in the US) to finance gun-running to anti-revolutionary movements in Iran and Central America. If the connections between the threat of the Upside Down to his friends and even his sister, and the real, deep reasons that threat came into their lives to begin with -- intersecting with US colonialism and anti-black/white-supremacist political repression -- were ever made more truly clear in Lucas’s mind? He’s in for a hell of an awakening.

Stranger Things definitely isn’t that show. And again, I feel weird talking about this because it does sound totally bananapants. But -- maybe a little extra as I rewatch ST in 2020, thinking about the social realities of when and where the Party are growing up, and Lucas‘s standpoint in that world in particular -- I can just see that other possible story and insight, glancing off toward its audience just outside our camera’s frame.

#lucasappreciationweek #stranger things #it basically is the upside down outside my window tonight #alteritymonster

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bienready2122 · 4 years

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My First Trip to Africa: Sierra Leone, Freetown - Kono

AFRICA

I usually desired to go to Africa. Like maximum Afro-Americans, I grew up in an surroundings idolizing the whole lot, Africa. Once I were given there, I recognise I Knew not anything about Africa. My maternal grandmother made it clear that everything Africa is high-quality. Granny did not, but, spend time disparaging the accomplishments of other cultures Loose Diamonds Growing up in Nicaragua's Latino and black cultures. And for me, there may be no differentiating between these two ethnicities. Latinos are blacks, and black are Latinos. But this is not so for every body who reveals favor with one organization.

In Africa, these differences will amplify. Creating a surreal global in which an elite minority will deal with other with indifferent. Sometimes stereotype can give an explanation for things If it became smooth as black and white. However, things are seldom black or white.

STEREOTYPES

The ordinary stereotype cannot give an explanation for Africa's ethnic differences; maximum folk's look darkish to me, however they are differences; differences that move lower back for centuries. The Sierra Leoneans asked me regularly, "are you Nigerian," "American" or "Hausa," those generally got here up. Chief Morsay defined Biko and me as "white." He advised us that we're foreigners much like humans with white pores and skin. His index finger became rubbing the top of his hand for emphasis. When Afro-Americans do that in a verbal exchange, we realize that it is an obstacle corresponding to "Whites Only." "You're not Africans," he said. In Africa, it matters in which you return from, or from what side of the river; in the case of the Congo's Bushong and the Lele ethnic group; what facet of the river makes a distinction socially politically and financially.

But none of that changed into on my thoughts. I become excited to visit Africa. Relating to my grandmother's Afrocentric beliefs; I wanted to see for myself the grandeur of the continent that released civilization and the whole thing that makes us lovely: The melanin, the curves, rhythm, the food. A list of defense mechanism, my vanity used to combat the consistent inflow of American racist propaganda, wherein everything is ready shade, and black is the colour that faints all colors.

RACISM

Consequently, racism is the lens via which maximum Afro-Americans view the sector. It's now not a distorting lens; for the most element, the lens is accurate; although restricting. Focusing best on the one view. In a world wherein people find myriad of methods to segregate each other, racism makes this division feasible.

It is clear that the Belgians of King Leopold II acted inside the most racist, inhuman manner toward the human beings of the Congo. But in the end Mobutu Sese Seko of the Ngbandi ethnic group arrested Patrice Lumumba of the Tetela ethnic organization. I don't assume that ethnicity become the motive for Mobutu Sese Seko transgression in the direction of Lumumba. Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré, both are from the Mossi ethnic organization of Burkina Faso. But similar to King Leopold II, greed become the motive for Mobutu's treachery closer to Patrice Lumumba and the destruction of endless Congolese lives. Compaoré did the same in Burkina Faso securing privileges for a ruling minority; keeping power at the expense of Thomas Sankara and the human beings of Burkina Faso. Using corruption, expropriation even foreign help to maintain energy. With no nation to answer to, those guys were no exclusive than King Leopold II within the inhumane remedy in their countrymen.

In Sierra Leone, the (RUF) will enforce the equal, reducing off limbs and advert systematic rape and murder; dispersing lots and enslaving the population to extract diamonds for their private wealth.

POVERTY

But poverty is a relative aspect. Having grown up inside the Caribbean and Latin America. I changed into familiar with 0.33 world truth. But none of this organized me for Africa.

THE TRIP

The quantity on conversations is going up the nearer you get to the African departure lounge. Things are direct. Laughter reinforced; the sucking of the tooth is loud, the smiles massive.

The aircraft landed in Lungi International airport to a amazing chorus of cheers and applauses. Like a Hollywood emancipation scene, Africans are glad and grateful to be domestic. You can sense their excitement. I too become excited, to greet the African air. Stepping out of the plane, I observed the humidity acquainted. What was one of a kind, changed into to investigate a crowd and seeing one colour of black humans. I attempted no longer to look surprised; I fake I've been here before. The Africans looked at me like if I've been right here before too.

The tarmac and runway are large, like any airports. But at Lungi you do not see the buses, vehicles or the walking tunnel shielding you from inclement weather. Everything is open and huge as the sky. I didn't see industrial airplanes or business aircraft; just empty tarmac with a much some distance away blue-green woodland horizon with out a homes in sight.

Walking into the slight immigration building became a surprise, no crowds! I thought this abnormal for an global airport. Somehow, I notion they is probably connecting flights to the opposite part of Africa. Only the individuals who may be boarding at the equal plane in course to Liberia. Right away as you enter the constructing, you see a few vintage fashion cubicles with modern-day fingerprint popularity machines. Immigration officers were clean and short. They ask for passport and yellow vaccination card. Welcome to Sierra Leone!

The people of Sierra Leone are friendly; they may be generous with their comfort zone. They greet you, touch you gently with a not unusual custom.

Waiting for our luggage, I was attracted to 2 large, very awesome, status wooden sculptures. Two motion figures carved from a unmarried tree trunk. No one paid these any mind. They stroll through them like nuisance African souvenir. I constantly appreciated the eye to detail of African artwork; there is a attention for the viewer, the wearer, and handling of artifacts. This association of welcoming artistically with dance, texture, food and colours was for me African arts functionality.

Although very incredible, I did no longer understand on the time; the ones timber sculptures will represent the culmination of my African artistic influence.

Leaving the airport, we see a sign with our names. Our host Chernor, we call him Cherry, set up to have Lamin greet us and set up the bus tickets to be able to take us to the seaside and the ferry to Freetown. Lamin works for a agency that assists vacationers to Sierra Leonne. Having someone at the floor that speaks, Krio became calming. Krio is a higher bargaining language; changing money is competitive, some notes have choices. So there may be room for saving if you can bargain in Krio.

Outside, they are younger guys selling bus tickets along side Sim Cards. They're aggressive, but now not pushy. There's plenty of cash in sight constantly replacing fingers. We watch for the air circumstance mini buses to fill with passengers. The ferry is not some distance away, about a mile. But it takes approximately ten mins drive to get there. The street is wrong; I notion that this being the manner to the airport it might be in higher care, but no. It became simply the begging of the many examples of neglect and corruption that the people of Sierra Leone live with everyday.

The beach is massive and clean; I observe this due to the fact anywhere else seems to be litter with particles. I see some modest rapidly built shanties. I turned into searching out colorful fishing boats but did no longer see any. They're small kids, playing with torn and grimy western garments. They paid us no mind. At this time the little wharf turned into full of the passenger from the plane, awaiting the ferry; bags and those below a wooden hut, with an armed guard. We waited for several hours. It could be sundown earlier than they called our numbered tickets, the small ferry made numerous journeys transporting us appropriately to Freetown.

The boat experience takes less than an hour to cross the sea estuary arriving in Freetown at night time. The view changed into darkish with no figuring out capabilities to look. Inside, our host Cherry and his driving force Mohamed are there waiting. They picked us out of the crowd immediately earlier than all and sundry offers to assist. Lamin had despatched images. Cherry made positive that Mohamed gets our bags. Cherry greeted us with a big smile, sparkling eyes, on a shiny round friendly face. He immediately requested us approximately the flight and are we hungry. He said he has cook meals home, "it is probably too spicy for us," he said. So if we adore, we are able to exit to get a few food. We opt for the spicy food; it changed into very overdue for our jetlag bodies to exit. The streets in Freetown, in the dark, are jammed packed with companies promoting the entirety. None of it appears attractive to me. Freetown just does not appearance smooth. And that is a marvel. A Big surprise!

We left the wharf on a two-lane paved avenue lit with occasional road lamps. Mohamed is targeted on his task at the same time as Cherry does the talking. I'm satisfied he's. The street continues getting crowded the closer you get to metropolis. They're plenty of small children out promoting stuff, anything. I see lots of bake correct and fruits. Everything looks lease. Things experience abnormal, anachronistic, a chunk out of area, like if I've traveled again in time. The humans do not appear involved approximately the traffic. The street is abuzz with African tune. And the human beings are just shifting with reason in what looks like a chaotic order.

GODRICH

We travel on paved roads all the way as much as College Road in Godrich. Then we turn right. And Mohamed slows to a move slowly; the road now unpaved becomes a sequence of hills and gullies slowly leading as much as the next turns, like the bus trip from Lungi to the seaside. There may be extra moments like this. Mohamed is making an attempt now not to have the lowest of the automobile drag on a hill, patiently he turns. Like if he has accomplished this lots of time.

CHERNOR'S HOME

The vehicle got here to a forestall at a huge metal door, approximately 10 toes excessive. Surrounded by fencing simply as excessive with damaged bottles cemented at the top. We're three turns off the principle street, a number of the homes have this barrier. A lot do not; a few houses are just boxes of corrugated scraps metal wood and cardboard prepare. There is a sense that Freetown turned into now not continually like this. These dwellings bare the scars and the stays of political corruption and a vicious, inhumane civil war.

At Cherries domestic, he introduces us to his uncle Mohamed, his sister Mimona and his "House Boys." Cherry has "House Boys" and a "House Girl." At first, I thought he was speaking about his children, however no, that's what they call the servants or assist. Although they're more than servants, they should be encouraged via a member of the family. They call you "Sa" like yessa. Like I said, It looks like you are lower back in time.

Mimona positioned a huge bowl of "krain krain," on the desk. Cassava leaf pounded and shredded with hot peppers introduced to the pot of fish and boiled Jazmine rice at the aspect. It become hot; they'd an awesome chortle looking our faces get bright. Although very highly spiced, it was delicious. The rice become useful calming the krain krain's warmness. We wanted something to drink. Small luggage clutter Sierra Leone. This night time whilst consuming warm Krain Krain we have introduced these ubiquitous waterbags. According to the water venture "Infections and parasites, most discovered in contaminated water, cause the biggest purpose of demise in Sierra Leone."

After a very lengthy journey, the mellow dance of Mosquito Smoke Coils, I turned into feeling worn-out. I wished a bath. Reacquainting myself with those norms of the Caribbean and Latin America: The open bathe and bloodless water. Making positive not to drink the water from the pipes during my bathe. I went to sleep in Africa.

The next day I noticed plenty of youngsters a few in uniform. The schools are out early for the babies. Education in Sierra Leone is legally required. But a shortage of colleges and teachers has made implementation impossible the spinoff of corrupt institutions plaguing this kingdom. I saw a collection of three taking walks on the street with a basket on their heads. They appearance 5 or six, too small to be walking in a busy city through themselves.

BIKE TAXI

I noticed a person on the again of a motorbike balancing a door. They're, constantly guys, riding a bit reckless swishing in and out of visitors on bikes with unstrapped helmets. Some bring greater than two passengers; I've seen 4 and five inclusive of infants. They're plenty of motorcycles; people use them as taxis. Taxis have routes like buses. The DDR had a extraordinary concept for the young combatants to grew to become of their AK forty seven for Honda trail motorcycle taxi. Although a lot of their raped victims, and amputees, might not think so. Freetown is a brave region dealing with a tough peace.

HARMATTAN WINDS

That Night the darkish room commenced to transport. The curtains flow like a ghost coming into the room with a moaning sound that got louder. The wind began to heighten, roaring and moving the curtains vigorously. It turned into the yearly dry Harmattan winds of the Sahara, making their seasonal trips over West Africa. I changed into looking forward to them due to the fact that I examine approximately it in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's ebook "Half of a Yellow Sun." I puzzled how all those corrugated shanties have been bearing. The winds had been as excessive as a category one typhoon; I become settling for a protracted night time of wind and noise. But it completed as quick as it began. The next morning, I got as much as what will be the familiar electricity outage. Outside, on the porch, the view reminded me of my childhood in Bluefields, Nicaragua' Caribbean coast, with huge lush, blue-inexperienced mango timber. That shades the blue sky enjoyable the solar's warmth just like the sunset after a protracted day. I was amazed. Nothing regarded out of area from the Harmattan winds. Trees have been status, and branches did now not litter the floor.

ELECTRICITY WATER and POLITICS

With the power and water constantly going out. We use rainwater from tanks. Everyone drinks water from the plastic sachet, on the market everywhere. Gas generators serenade the neighborhood along with the odor of cooking smoke.

Our conversations with Cherry and uncle Mohamed targeted at the politics of Sierra Leone and the devastating civil struggle. They say that the majority from the united states of america are within the city seeking out work. Many women now in Freetown saw a different, extra emancipated life-style, where unwilling to move returned to the united states of america. "Country existence is hard," say Cherry.

Corruption, the decade-lengthy warfare are a number of the motives for the crumble. The financial rules that make the importation of foodstuffs less expensive devastated the local farming and younger guys who could be farming are seeking out diamonds and trapped in a vicious circle, making import products essential and poverty inevitable.

SYRIANS

Most the huge grocery shops in Freetown seems to be very own by Syrians or Lebanese searching people (my stereotyping). In one of the grocery shop. In every Isle, a Syrian man or woman became searching watchful down the Isle. And some other Syrian character sitting vigilantly behind the cashier, a young black lady. During the struggle, the Syrians were a goal of elimination.

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misspaigej · 5 years

Text

My First Trip to Africa: Sierra Leone, Freetown - Kono

AFRICA

I constantly desired to go to Africa. Like most Afro-Americans, I grew up in an surroundings idolizing the whole lot, Africa. Once I got there, I comprehend I Knew nothing approximately Africa. My maternal grandmother made it clear that everything Africa is excellent. Granny did not, however, spend time disparaging the accomplishments of different cultures.

Growing up in Nicaragua's Latino and black cultures. And for me, there is no differentiating among these two ethnicities. Latinos are blacks, and black are Latinos. But this is not so for each person who finds choose with one group.

In Africa, these differences will amplify. Creating a surreal world in which an elite minority will treat different with detached. Sometimes stereotype can give an explanation for things If it turned into easy as black and white. However, things are seldom black or white.

STEREOTYPES

The standard stereotype can not explain Africa's ethnic variations; maximum people's look darkish to me, however they are variations; differences that go again for centuries. The Sierra Leoneans requested me regularly, "are you Nigerian," "American" or "Hausa," those usually got here up. Chief Morsay described Biko and me as "white." He told us that we're foreigners much like human beings with white skin. His index finger became rubbing the pinnacle of his hand for emphasis. When Afro-Americans do this in a conversation, we recognise that it's an impediment similar to "Whites Only." "You're not Africans," he stated. In Africa, it topics where you come from, or from what aspect of the river; within the case of the Congo's Bushong and the Lele ethnic group; what aspect of the river makes a distinction socially politically and financially.

But none of that changed into on my mind. I became excited to visit Africa. Relating to my grandmother's Afrocentric ideals; I wanted to look for myself the grandeur of the continent that launched civilization and the entirety that makes us stunning: The melanin, the curves, rhythm, the meals Loose Diamonds. A list of defense mechanism, my vanity used to combat the regular influx of American racist propaganda, where the whole lot is ready colour, and black is the colour that faints all hues.

RACISM

Consequently, racism is the lens thru which most Afro-Americans view the sector. It's not a distorting lens; for the most component, the lens is accurate; despite the fact that limiting. Focusing most effective on the only view. In a international where people find myriad of ways to segregate each other, racism makes this division feasible.

It is obvious that the Belgians of King Leopold II acted inside the maximum racist, inhuman way in the direction of the humans of the Congo. But in the long run Mobutu Sese Seko of the Ngbandi ethnic group arrested Patrice Lumumba of the Tetela ethnic group. I do not think that ethnicity become the cause for Mobutu Sese Seko transgression in the direction of Lumumba. Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré, each are from the Mossi ethnic organization of Burkina Faso. But similar to King Leopold II, greed become the cause for Mobutu's treachery in the direction of Patrice Lumumba and the destruction of infinite Congolese lives. Compaoré did the same in Burkina Faso securing privileges for a ruling minority; keeping strength on the rate of Thomas Sankara and the humans of Burkina Faso. Using corruption, expropriation even overseas assistance to preserve electricity. With no country to answer to, these guys have been no one of a kind than King Leopold II inside the inhumane remedy in their countrymen.

In Sierra Leone, the (RUF) will put in force the equal, cutting off limbs and ad systematic rape and homicide; dispersing lots and enslaving the population to extract diamonds for his or her non-public wealth.

POVERTY

But poverty is a relative factor. Having grown up in the Caribbean and Latin America. I changed into conversant in 1/3 world fact. But none of this organized me for Africa.

THE TRIP

The extent on conversations goes up the nearer you get to the African departure living room. Things are direct. Laughter reinforced; the sucking of the teeth is loud, the grins big.

The plane landed in Lungi International airport to a remarkable chorus of cheers and applauses. Like a Hollywood emancipation scene, Africans are satisfied and thankful to be domestic. You can experience their excitement. I too turned into excited, to greet the African air. Stepping out of the aircraft, I located the humidity familiar. What turned into different, was to check out a crowd and seeing one coloration of black humans. I attempted now not to appearance surprised; I pretend I've been here before. The Africans looked at me like if I've been here earlier than too.

The tarmac and runway are big, like any airports. But at Lungi you don't see the buses, vehicles or the on foot tunnel protecting you from inclement weather. Everything is open and huge as the sky. I did not see industrial airplanes or business aircraft; simply empty tarmac with a much far away blue-green woodland horizon with out a homes in sight.

Walking into the slight immigration constructing become a marvel, no crowds! I notion this unusual for an worldwide airport. Somehow, I notion they might be connecting flights to the other part of Africa. Only the folks that could be boarding at the identical aircraft in course to Liberia. Right away as you enter the constructing, you notice a few old style booths with modern fingerprint popularity machines. Immigration officers had been smooth and short. They ask for passport and yellow vaccination card. Welcome to Sierra Leone!

The people of Sierra Leone are friendly; they may be beneficiant with their consolation quarter. They greet you, touch you lightly with a common custom.

Waiting for our luggage, I became attracted to 2 large, very wonderful, status wooden sculptures. Two action figures carved from a unmarried tree trunk. No one paid those any thoughts. They stroll via them like nuisance African memento. I constantly preferred the eye to detail of African artwork; there's a consideration for the viewer, the wearer, and dealing with of artifacts. This affiliation of welcoming artistically with dance, texture, food and shades became for me African arts functionality.

Although very outstanding, I did no longer understand at the time; the ones wooden sculptures will constitute the fruits of my African artistic affect.

Leaving the airport, we see a signal with our names. Our host Chernor, we call him Cherry, set up to have Lamin greet us and arrange the bus tickets so that it will take us to the seashore and the ferry to Freetown. Lamin works for a organisation that assists travelers to Sierra Leonne. Having someone at the floor that speaks, Krio become calming. Krio is a higher bargaining language; exchanging money is aggressive, some notes have preferences. So there may be room for saving if you can good buy in Krio.

Outside, they are younger guys promoting bus tickets along side Sim Cards. They're aggressive, but now not pushy. There's plenty of coins in sight constantly changing arms. We look ahead to the air circumstance mini buses to fill with passengers. The ferry isn't far away, approximately a mile. But it takes about ten minutes power to get there. The street is incorrect; I idea that this being the manner to the airport it is probably in higher care, however no. It become just the begging of the many examples of forget and corruption that the people of Sierra Leone live with each day.

The seaside is huge and smooth; I note this due to the fact anywhere else seems to be litter with debris. I see some modest swiftly constructed shanties. I changed into looking for colorful fishing boats but did no longer see any. They're small children, gambling with torn and dirty western clothes. They paid us no thoughts. At this time the little wharf was full of the passenger from the plane, awaiting the ferry; bags and people below a timber hut, with an armed protect. We waited for several hours. It could be sunset before they referred to as our numbered tickets, the small ferry made several journeys transporting us appropriately to Freetown.

The boat trip takes less than an hour to pass the ocean estuary arriving in Freetown at night time. The view turned into dark with out a identifying capabilities to look. Inside, our host Cherry and his driver Mohamed are there waiting. They picked us out of the group right away before absolutely everyone offers to assist. Lamin had despatched images. Cherry made certain that Mohamed receives our bags. Cherry greeted us with a big smile, glowing eyes, on a vibrant spherical friendly face. He right now asked us approximately the flight and are we hungry. He said he has cook dinner meals home, "it is probably too highly spiced for us," he stated. So if we adore, we will go out to get some meals. We opt for the spicy food; it became very late for our jetlag bodies to go out. The streets in Freetown, at nighttime, are jammed full of vendors selling everything. None of it looks appealing to me. Freetown just does not appearance easy. And this is a wonder. A Big marvel!

We left the wharf on a two-lane paved road lit with occasional street lamps. Mohamed is focused on his challenge even as Cherry does the speaking. I'm satisfied he is. The road maintains getting crowded the closer you get to town. They're lots of small children out selling stuff, anything. I see plenty of bake excellent and fruits. Everything seems lease. Things experience extraordinary, anachronistic, a chunk out of area, like if I've traveled lower back in time. The people don't appear concerned approximately the traffic. The avenue is abuzz with African track. And the human beings are simply moving with purpose in what looks like a chaotic order.

GODRICH

We tour on paved roads all the manner up to College Road in Godrich. Then we turn proper. And Mohamed slows to a move slowly; the street now unpaved becomes a series of hills and gullies slowly main up to the subsequent turns, like the bus ride from Lungi to the seashore. There will be extra moments like this. Mohamed is trying not to have the lowest of the car drag on a hill, patiently he turns. Like if he has executed this lots of time.

CHERNOR'S HOME

The vehicle got here to a prevent at a big metallic door, about 10 ft high. Surrounded by means of fencing simply as high with damaged bottles cemented at the pinnacle. We're three turns off the main avenue, some of the houses have this barrier. A lot do not; a few houses are simply packing containers of corrugated scraps steel wooden and cardboard prepare. There is a feel that Freetown turned into now not always like this. These dwellings bare the scars and the remains of political corruption and a vicious, inhumane civil battle.

At Cherries domestic, he introduces us to his uncle Mohamed, his sister Mimona and his "House Boys." Cherry has "House Boys" and a "House Girl." At first, I concept he turned into speaking approximately his kids, however no, that's what they call the servants or assist. Although they may be extra than servants, they need to be endorsed by way of a member of the family. They call you "Sa" like yessa. Like I said, It appears like you're lower back in time.

Mimona placed a big bowl of "krain krain," at the desk. Cassava leaf pounded and shredded with warm peppers introduced to the pot of fish and boiled Jazmine rice at the side. It become hot; they had a great snicker looking our faces get shiny. Although very highly spiced, it turned into scrumptious. The rice become helpful calming the krain krain's warmth. We needed something to drink. Small luggage muddle Sierra Leone. This night time while eating hot Krain Krain we have brought these ubiquitous waterbags. According to the water task "Infections and parasites, maximum located in contaminated water, cause the largest motive of dying in Sierra Leone."

After a completely long adventure, the mellow dance of Mosquito Smoke Coils, I changed into feeling tired. I wished a bathtub. Reacquainting myself with these norms of the Caribbean and Latin America: The open shower and cold water. Making certain now not to drink the water from the pipes all through my bathe. I went to sleep in Africa.

The next day I noticed lots of children a few in uniform. The faculties are out early for the infants. Education in Sierra Leone is legally required. But a scarcity of faculties and instructors has made implementation impossible the by-product of corrupt institutions plaguing this kingdom. I saw a collection of three taking walks on the street with a basket on their heads. They appearance five or six, too small to be on foot in a hectic metropolis by themselves.

0 notes

newcatwords · 3 years

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notes on "islands of the mind" by john gillis (ch. 7)

Ch. 7: "Worlds of Loss: Islands in the Nineteenth Century" 121: "It is difficult to imagine losing a mountain or a continent, but islands are forever going astray." "Today, despite the fact that the world is now mapped in the minutest detail, searches for "unknown" islands continue." 122: "Our obsession with getting on, with moving ahead, prompts us to draw up the bridges to our past. The measure of an "advanced" society is the degree to which it has left the past behind; modern maturity is equally dependent on the metaphor of growth, leaving behind a series of extinguished earlier selves. Yet precisely because the modern collective and individual sense of self is so reliant on distancing the past, both have become wholly dependent on tangible evidences of what has been lost to validate themselves. Never before has so much been memorialized, reconstructed, and preserved." "The story modern Western civilization has told itself about progress requires that it distance itself from the past in order to reassure itself of its forward movement. As Fritzsche puts it: "While nostalgia takes the past as its mournful subject, it holds it at arm's length. Nostalgia constitutes what it cannot possess and defines itself by its inability to approach its subject, a paradox that is the essence of nostalgia's melancholy." (quote from "Spectors of History: On Nostalgia, Exile, and modernity" by Peter Fritzsche, in American Historical Review, Dec. 2001) 123: "The modern sense of the passing of time depends on a series of bounded, discrete locations--home, school, workplace, retirement communities, cemeteries--which keep each age and era separate from another. In effect, the modern sense of self depends on the spatialization of the past, islanding it by keeping it neatly bounded and distant. Not all spaces are amenable to this function. Open, contiguous spaces do not readily maintain the aura of historicity. Urban life offers few refuges for the past. The period styles of suburbs offer only the illusion of tradition, propelling our quest for the bygone ever farther afield. Remote places seem so much better suited to the preservation of the past, and none better than islands, which have become, often despite themselves, a prime repository of pastness." "Community, something that modernity had torn apart, seems to have survived only on islands." "Once again islands were becoming symbols of something that had little to do with their own realities." "Indeed, over the course of the nineteenth century, the pace of change on most islands was as great, if not greater, than that in many parts of the mainlands. But this did not prevent them from being viewed as anachronisms, mired in the past, appearing as was the fate of the Hebrides, "as if in a rear-view mirror."" (reference here to The Western Isles Today by Judith Ennow, 1980) "Modern nostalgia is the product of the profound sense of historical rupture that came with the revolutions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. At this critical moment, the past became a foreign country, all the more precious because it seemed so remote and inaccessible." 124: "Islands became important sites for the appreciation of the quaint and the primitive. If islands no longer provided a vision of the future, they were nevertheless ideal venues for time travel to bygone eras. They came to be associated with the infancy of mankind and with childhood itself. Reconfigured as places of origin, islands were no longer treated as gateways to the future but as access to a mythic past. Once the favored destination of male adventurers who left women and children at home, islands became the resort of families, identified with domestic pursuits and with home itself. What had once provided space for masculinist dreams of escape now nurtured fantasies of return to the womb." 125: "Mainlanders were intent on finding on islands peoples who were untouched by the rapid changes that they themselves were experiencing. Yet islands were anything but exempt from modernity's ceaseless creative/destructive

forces, arising first from commercial expansion and later from the industrial revolution." 126: "As genteel mainlanders came to be more frequent visitors to islands, the result was not a diminution but a magnification of differences between them and islanders. Even as physical isolation was being overcome, the illusion of insularity was being cultivated for the benefit of the newly developed tourist industry." 131: "Islands had come to be seen by mainlanders as living museums where what had been sacrificed to modernity elsewhere miraculously survived in a purer, more authentic form."

133: regarding the Hebrides: "Islanders had come to live in a time warp not of their own making. They saw themselves through the eyes of outsiders who were bent on preserving crofting as tradition no matter how recent its origins. In many instances it was the visitors who stood in the way of sensible changes, conserving outmoded ways that the islanders themselves would rather have turned their backs on."

136: regarding Inishbofen: "Islanders preferred canned food to fresh, ignoring the harvest of berries and shellfish that so delighted the tourists. For the people of Inishbofen "the industriousness of years past is now a symbol of poverty, humiliation." They told Tall that they would not eat mussels because it reminded them of famine times when shellfish was all that was to be had on the island." (reference here to The Island of the White Cow: Memories of an Irish Island by Deborah Tall, 1986)

138: "By the middle of the nineteenth century, Britain had lost nearly all the original wild places that the first generations of romantics had so glored in. ... Lacking wild lands, the British chose this moment to make the sea their wilderness. It was then that Englishmen began to return to the sea, not as an occupation, but as avocation. It became for them their last frontier, the place where, in small sailing boats, they would test themselves against the elements, proving their manhood to themselves and to the women waiting on shore. "England's only untamed wilderness, where men might still be small and alone in the vastness of Creation, was the sea," writes Raban. "To go to sea was to escape from the city and the machine." (reference here to two books by Jonathan Raban: Coasting (1986) and The Oxford Book of the Sea (1992))

138-139: "Though the sea offered the ultimate escape from stifling civilization, the great adventure for Victorian men seeking to prove their masculinity in an increasingly effeminized domesticated world, the island was a retreat where they could preserve something of their innocence in an otherwise cruel and unforgiving world. There were still plenty of Crusoes, men who viewed islands as their own private kingdoms and a projection of their own inflated egos, but there were also males like Pastor Wyss, the author of Swiss Family Robinson, for whom the island was the setting for family romance, where the instinct for adventure gave way to that yearning for security and comfort that was also a feature of the Victorian era. On land, time moved relentlessly forward, but on the island it moved backward to a more innocent age, toward the beginnings of the human species or to the childhood of the individual. As the fantasy of returning to the innocence of childhood became more powerful among middle-class men in the nineteenth century, the appeal of Crusoe's island gave way to that of Swiss Family Robinson and finally to that of Peter Pan. Ad as islands grew less valuable politically and economically, their reputation for happy domesticity grew proportionally. Islands became ever more associated with the kind of virtuous life that was becoming harder to come by on the mainlands. Occupying a place between the overcivilized land and the wildness of sea, islands were increasingly attractive to a Western middle class yearning for personal freedom but not at the expense of moral respectability. Islands came to be seen as the preeminent "happy Prelapsarian Place." (reference here to The Echafed Flood, or, The Romantic Iconograpjy of the Sea by W.H. Auden, 1950)

139: "By the twentieth century, islands ceased to be thought of as destinations and became places of return, fixed points where an increasingly mobile mainland urban population eager for seasonal respite could savor a sense of stability and continuity."

139-140: "Already in the nineteenth century, people on the mainland were experiencing the erasure of place produced by increased mobility and speed of communication. The resulting sense of rootlessness triggered the uniquely modern quest for place in a placeless world, for home in the vast, featureless landscapes of urban industrial society. The search was not just for residence but for that elusive sense of being at home in the world, as much a mental as a physical endeavor, more likely to be achieved at a distance in the absense of that which was called home. In a world of temporal and spatial movement, where for many there was no long a place to return to, home became a state of mind, "something to be taken along wherever one decamps."" (reference here to the Introduction to Migrants of Identity: Perceptions of Home in a World of Movement, eds. Nigel Rappaport and Andrew Dawson, 1998) (i would also add that the movement of populations & widespead dislocation is also related to and created by the needs of capital.)

140: ""Under conditions of modernity, place becomes increasingly phantasmagoric," writes Anthony Giddens. (reference here to The Consequences of Modernity by Anthony Giddens, 1990) Home became detached from residence, less a physical location than a mental construct, a think of dreams as well as memories, no less real even if it is rarely, sometimes never, actually inhabited."

"Over time the dream house and memory palace moved out, transferring ever farther afield to weekend and summer places. These became locations of "the lost origin and the future dream, both vanishing points where we imagine ourselves at peace, surrounded by comfort and harmony." (reference here to Sex and Real Estate: Why We Love Houses by Marjorie Garber, 2000) It provided easier to animate meaningful, habitable worlds at a distance, with the result that for those who can afford them, the dearest homeplaces are often those they visited only occasionally, sometimes never returned to, however frequently they are visited mentally. Island houses, rarely occupied year-round, were already becoming in the late nineteenth century the quintessential family places where generations, scattered throughout the mainlands, could share time and space, if only occasionally. In Amy Cross's view, the summer place is "not real estate, it is more a state of mind that can be packed and moved to any woods or seaside. And many of us travel through life with a memory of a perfect place waiting for our return." (reference here to The Summer House: A Tradition of Leisure by Amy Willard Cross, 1992)

141: "Modern maturity has been particularly demanding on men, requiring that they distance themselves from domestic, childish things, producing in them a yearning for childhood that has characterized middle-class male culture ever since. In the resulting quest for childhood lost, summer islands became the favored place for retrospection and recuperation. The isles allowed a brief sojourn in childishness that did not threaten the adulthood associated with mainland existence."

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Lessons to Learn From the Last Recession

While there’s still a great deal of debate surrounding the actual cause of the Great Recession of 2008, the United States and parts of Western Europe have pointed their fingers at the subprime mortgage crisis as a significant contributor. Regardless of the official cause, the economic downturn brutalized the real estate industry, banks, and other related branches of the global economy. Yet even as we’ve tried to recover and distance ourselves from the struggles we all faced 12 years ago, thanks to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we’re in similar situations now.

But can we learn from past mistakes to overcome our current and future challenges? Of course. We simply need to understand what happened in the past, note the similarities, and build a plan from there. Should be a piece of cake, right?

The Recession: Then vs. Now

Unemployment

Global and statewide unemployment was a major issue in the last recession. However, as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, we’re facing very similar situations in this day and age. After the Great Recession, the Bureau of Labor Statistics tallied up the job loss numbers from across the United States, and it spat out a net total near 8.8 million, but 39.5 million unemployment claims (from December 2007 to June 2009). Of those lost jobs, 60% of them were jobs paying between $14 and $21 per hour.

In the throes of our current economic downturn, we saw more than 22 million people out of jobs and applying for unemployment in just a few weeks. 65% of the jobs lost in March were in the leisure and hospitality industries. With numbers like those, the St. Louis Fed estimates as many as 47 million jobs lost by the time this is all over.

Income

The previous economic and financial crisis hit the wallets of many an American in ways other than job loss. According to research, the US lost $650 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2008 and 2009 as a direct result of the Great Recession. Taking that into account, each household lost an approximate average of $5,800 in income.

In a recent and ongoing survey, 36% of participants claim they lost between 10–25% of their income as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Additionally, 10% claimed to have lost income amounts of 10% or lower, 18% lost between 25–50%, 19% lost greater than 50%, and 17% have reported complete loss of income.

As the pandemic continues, we’ll start seeing more of the true, individual costs of our current recession.

Real Estate

As mentioned earlier, a significant contributor to the Great Recession was the subprime mortgage crisis. A subprime mortgage is a mortgage for homebuyers who don’t have the best credit scores and often struggle with debt. In the early 2000s, interest rates for mortgages were in a sweet spot, and many people with not-so-great credit were jumping on the opportunity and getting approved. As a result, the real estate industry boomed, so it was sunshine and rainbows for a few years before the bubble burst.

When everything fell apart, it hit the ground hard. Final reports put the real estate impact at wealth losses of $3.4 trillion. When broken up across the population, that cost roughly $30,300 per US household.

Ouch.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic also reached the real estate industry. As reported by Forbes, realtors are letting us know they’re feeling the strain. While houses remain on the market without much issue, roughly half of the agents working to sell them note a decline in buyer interest. When we switch to commercial real estate, the economic strain continues.

47% of agents selling commercial property feel the virus has negatively affected the industry, with businesses slowing down and buyer interest dropping. Despite the low-interest rates available, more than half of the surveyed agents feel they are doing little to rekindle the drive to buy.

International Impacts

Despite the mostly local nature of the Great Recession, several other countries still felt the shockwaves. Through events like currency devaluation and the like, we’re able to track the global economic devastation caused by something that happened in our country. While it took a few more years to manifest, a significant number of foreign nations felt the consequences of the 2008 recession. Several European countries ended up defaulting on national debts, and the European Union had to offer “bailout” loans and other cash investments to help them out.

On the other hand, it’s really easy to see the profound impact of COVID-19 on the world. Not even counting the health impact of the virus, this pandemic is ravaging international industries like travel. Early on, American and foreign airlines cut back on both domestic and international flights as the demand plummeted and travel bans emerged. From there, we saw the closure of international tourist attractions and theme parks. The Florida-based Walt Disney World, which has only closed 7 times in its history, is currently closed until further notice.

There’s almost no way to tell the actual global economic cost of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—especially while it still rages—but it’s changing the world on a massive scale.

The Environment

Speaking of changing the world, some solid evidence indicates that the planet benefits a bit from our suffering.

During the Great Recession, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted a 3% decrease in human-made greenhouse gas emissions—the most significant drop at the time since the 1970s. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, both China and Italy have seen a 35% drop in their NO2 levels, and researchers at Columbia University say carbon monoxide levels from cars in New York are down by as much as 50%. They also claim a 5–10% drop in CO2. Aside from the nasty gasses we produce as we bustle about, our quarantine-induced absence allows the world to recover in other ways.

Recently, people around the world report sightings of animals venturing into civilization and reclaiming the lands they once called their own. Fish are once more visible in Venician canals, mountain goats are exploring Welsh cities, and deer are roaming the streets of Japan.

It’s probably safe to say the natural world is doing a little better while the rest of us keep hiding in our homes as we wait for the coronavirus pandemic to end.

What Can We Learn?

After looking at history and reading through these examples, we can assume our economic situation is likely going to get worse before it gets better. However, as we move forward, there are lessons to learn and preparations to make so you and your business can come out of this crisis intact and shore up against any downturns that may arise in the future.

Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

Not to be a downer, but it’s always a good idea to have a backup plan for when things go wrong. No matter how good things may appear to be, the Great Recession and the subprime mortgage crisis are great examples of what happens when we get too big for our britches. Take it slow, plan ahead, and make sure you’ve built up a safety net. Just because it’s sunny today doesn’t mean a storm’s not on its way.

Innovate and Reimagine

Many companies impacted by COVID-19 are reinventing themselves during the pandemic. Gyms and yoga studios are hosting online workout videos and classes, while more service-based businesses are doing some improvising of their own. Don’t be afraid to adapt. No matter how bleak the future may seem, you can always do something to overcome the challenge. Stay calm, clear your head, and go back to the drawing board. A solution may be nearer than you think.

Take Advantage of Government Aid

The government has several options available to help small businesses keep their doors open. Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), the Emergency Economic Injury Grant (EEIG), and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans are all great resources to ensure your employees stay paid and your business keeps its head above water. Now—more than ever—is the best time to turn to your friends at Lendio. Whether you’re looking for the most up-to-date information on our blog or trying to secure the funding you need during this economic downturn, we’re here to help.

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