#2023 west coast women's show

[virtchandmoir]

leah_holiove: I had a great weekend of Emceeing The West Coast Women’s Show! I emceed for baking sweetheart Anna Olson and interviewed Olympic Ice Dancing Gold Metalist Tessa. I also emceeing The Fireman from the Hall of Flame Calendar Fashion Show among other shows as well!

[fatehbaz]

In the summer of 2020, [...] Black Lives Matter protesters tore a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston from its plinth in the centre of Bristol and rolled it into the harbour. [...] [C]ritics [...] argued that this type of direct action was “erasing history”. Britain’s prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson, claimed that to remove statues of figures like Colston from the public square was “to lie about our history”. Sir Trevor Phillips complained that Britain’s public history was being “erased entirely” [...]. Yet rather than lead us into an era of collective forgetting, the tearing down of Colston’s statue transported his name – and deeds – into the public consciousness.

This week, the renewed attention towards Colston bore fruit when the Guardian revealed that a historian, Brooke Newman, had unearthed a document showing that in 1689, Colston transferred £1,000 of shares in the Royal African Company (RAC) to none other than King William III. The exposure of the extent to which the monarch was financially intertwined with the slave trading company of which Colston was a director does not teach us less about history, it teaches us more.

---

The activities of colonial companies like the RAC, which enjoyed a monopoly over the English trade in slaves from the west African coast, are often presented as distinct from the internal history of the British Isles.

Yes, there may have been the odd massacre performed in the service of British imperialism, but these were the actions of rogue merchants in distant tropical lands, operating far from the watchful eye of Westminster and the living embodiment of British sovereignty, the monarch. This makes it easy to delete the actions of the RAC from the national record: the 84,500 men, women and children who, during Colston’s time with the company, were taken by its ships from their homes in west Africa to suffer a life of slavery in the New World.

A quarter of them would not even survive the journey, so horrific were the conditions aboard Colston’s ships.

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Yet this separation between internal royal histories and external colonial histories has always been a [hidden] spot in our understanding of the past. Companies like the RAC needed to be granted a royal charter just to exist: they couldn’t be just registered and incorporated like companies today.

And furthermore, as the Guardian’s research has illustrated, there was often a cosy personal connection between the ruling kings and queens of this island and its slave-trading and colonial companies. This extended from James II acting as a governor of the Royal African Company to George II being a shareholder of the South Sea Company, which held the contract to supply enslaved Africans to the Spanish colonies in South America. [...]

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The new revelations arrive at a difficult time for the monarchy, with the coronation of a new king seeking to shore up the disruption caused by the passing of the long-reigning Elizabeth II. [...] Leading politicians in Australia and Jamaica, countries where the British monarchy traditionally enjoyed a great deal of public support, are now campaigning to follow in the footsteps of Barbados, [...] a step towards the Caribbean island “leaving our colonial past behind”. The rising unpopularity of the British monarchy in the once-reliable British West Indies was made evident by the protests that greeted [...] William and Kate, during their tour of the region last year. [...] The relationship between the British royal family and the former colonies isn’t just a question of symbolism or constitutional law. It is an entry point into a deep and bloody history [...]. It is a history that the lid has only just started to be lifted on.

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Text by: Kojo Koram. “Those who tore down Colston’s statue helped lead us to the truth about slavery and the monarchy.” The Guardian. 7 April 2023. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[blowflyfag]

SPARK OF SOMETHING SPECIAL 

THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN JOSHI PROMOTION

As Japanese women’s promotions continue to gain influence worldwide, joshi-inspired companies have begun popping up around the U.S. In this feature story, PWI helps explain the growing phenomenon

TEXT BY KAREN PETERSON

PHOTOS BY JORDAN WILLIAMS

[Maya Yukihi, a two-time former champion of the Ice Ribbon promotion, twists the limbs of COLOR’s leader SAKI. This meeting in Orlando marked the very first singles bout between the two.]

OVER EIGHT YEARS of working the Japanese independent circuit contemporaneously, Maya Yukihi and SAKI have crossed paths numerous times. With showcase matches at Pro Wrestling NOAH and All Japan Pro Wrestling, competing in Stardom’s 2023 Triangle Derby, and working at multiple women’s promotions in Japan, they’d never faced off in a one-on-one bout. However, that changed on October 14, at the Englewood Neighborhood Center in Orlando, Florida, where these world-renowned freelance wrestlers finally locked horns in a main-event singles match for the inaugural SPARK Joshi Atlantic championship. “We’ve wrestled plenty of times, but always in tag and three-person matches,” Yukihi said enthusiastically. “I didn’t expect this to happen in the united states!”

The North American scene, in particular, has seen a significant uptick in Japanese wrestlers exploring the international wrestling landscape with fly-ins for single commitments, while others gain notoriety by making frequent visits to various North American and European promotions. Showcase tournaments such as the Mae Young Classic and the success of Japanese stars in WWE and All Elite Wrestling have served as the gateway for many to begin exploring their options outside the big companies.

American independent promotions–GCW, Deadlock Pro, West Coast Pro, and Prestige Wrestling, to name a few–have showcased Japanese talent, further contributing to the interest and continued success of the Japanese women’s wrestling scene. Even legends including Chigusa Nagayo, Bull Nakano, and Manami Toyota have all worked with international promotions to help make joshi more accessible across the board.

[“If wrestling in Japan isn’t a goal, I would question your intentions as a wrestler.” Thus says Australia native KZT, seen here making good use of her jiu-jitsu skills against Kelsey Raegan.]

The diversity in the North American independent scene isn’t just minted to athletes from Japan, as many wrestlers have relocated to the United States to hone their craft or work in backstage capacities. While she competes for WOW Superheros as Exodus, works behind the scenes t a major American promotion, and frequents East Coast outfits including GCW and frequents East Coast outfits including GCW, and DPW, KZT is an Australia-born wrestler based in Orlando with a full plate and an even bigger bucket list. “Wrestling in Japan is an absolute goal of mine. If wrestling in Japan isn’t a goal, I would question your intentions as a wrestler,” KZT mused, looking back at a recent work trip to the country. 

When asked for her thoughts on being an Australian working in an American-based Japanese-inspired promotion in SPARK, she smiled. “It pretty much goes in line with who I am as a person,” explained KZT, who showed off her jiu-jitsu skills against Flordia mainstay Kelsey Raegan. “People always assume some things about me, but as soon as I open my mouth, they notice my Australian accent, and they find out things like I’m a black belt. I’ve never been one to fit in.”

For many wrestlers, making the journey to Japan–even for one single match–remains a bucket list item, as trying to find a foothold within the competitive market can be rather challenging. Founded in 2023, SPARK Joshi Puroresu of America is one of the latest showcase promotions to further expand opportunities for Women’s wrestling–and specifically, for wrestling on an international level.

The existence of Japanese-inspired wrestling promotions, such as Kitsune Women’s Wrestling and SPARK Joshi Puroresu of America, has inspired excitement among fans and wrestlers alike. These leagues provide another avenue for fans to experience Japanese wrestling without the international airfare; offer Japanese competitors chances to experience the international fan response while wrestling deserve opponents from around the world; and serve as a potential proving ground for talent interested in achieving the elusive dream of wrestling in Japan.

“When [SPARK] contacted me, I [realized] that this is something that I can bring my British skills to, plus what I learned in Japan. Said Xia Brookside, just prior to her title bout with SPARK Joshi Pacific champion Ram Kaichow. “And with all the talented women here, we can show an American audience what women wrestlers are made of.”

Brookside, a former member of the NXT U.K. roster, made her Japanese debut with Stardom at 18 years old. Now 25, the daughter of retired British grappler Robbie Brookside has completed five tours in Japan. Her most recent excursion was for the Triangle Derby in January 2023, when she completed as part of Mina Shirakawa’s unit, Club Venus.

[Maika Ozaki applies a camel clutch to Amber Nova during their encounter at RISING HEAT East.]

For Japanese natives performing outside of their home country, one of the biggest eye-openers tends to be the energy of the international crowd–especially how vocal fans are with their opinions and expressions. Typically, Japanese audiences don’t break into song, rounds of chanting, or candidly express their opinions. However, the overall positive energy is definitely not lost in translation. “Because we’re in America, I was curious what the atmosphere would be like,” confessed Miu Wantanaabe, a popular member of the TJPW roster who has only wrestled internationally a handful of times. “The fans know and love Japanese wrestling, so it made me so happy.” In her victory over IMPACT’s KiLynn King, Wantanabe put her strength and power to the test, refusing to let the language barrier impede her performance. 

One of the clear advantages of SPARK and similar promotions is the shared enthusiasm to pay homage to Japanese wrestling traditions, but to present them in a way that is more accessible to the non-Japanese speaking market. SPARK showrunner Chibi (C.B.) joins with inaugural SPARK Atlantic champion SAKI (founder of freelance group COLOR’S) to open and close each show with a self-produced, Japanese pop-inspired theme song called “ZA SUPAAKU” (“THE SPARK”).”I was able to come to the United States for the first time with the advent of SPARK Joshi,” SAKI told PWI, after defeating Maya Ykihi in the main event of RISING HEAT EAST in Orlando. “So, I want to do my best to help take the company to new highs.”

[Xia Brookside struggles to break free of Ram Kaichow’s grip during an unsuccessful bid for the SPARK Joshi Pacific title.]

[SAKI, as the newly crowned SPARK Joshi Atlantic champion, closed out RISING HEAT EAST on a high note.

MODERN MYTH PHOTOGRAPHY]

With the various women’s promotions in Japan opening their doors to more international wrestlers, promotions such as SPARK offer opportunities for American prospects to build rapport with potential future colleagues, while also gaining a career understanding of what they should expect when they touch down in Japan (should they choose to pursue that). “It’s a dream come true,” said Texas native Jessie Elaban. “I wanted to bring everything that I learned in Japan to the States.”

Elaban, who formerly competed for NXT under the name Jessi Kamea, also joined Mina Shirakawa’s Club Venus stable during a 2023 Stardom stint. In a conversation after the show, she seemed grateful for the dynamic new platform in SPARK. “I am having to make adjustments between Japanese and American styles,” admitted Elaban. “But I feel like I'm able to be more fluid with the new me.”

In addition to helping talent grow and prosper, proliferation of American international leagues is an obvious benefit for fans of exciting, athletic, and hard-hitting wrestling. Promotions such as SPARK and Kitsune–and Sukeban, which filmed a colorful TV pilot this past September in New York City–have captured the imaginations of those who stream joshi shows and covet chances to see their favorite ring performers mix it up in person.

With the global presence of joshi continuing to mount, the future is bright for women’s wrestling. And, with the ever-increasing interest in Japanese wrestling, forbidden doors are getting kicked open around the world.

[SPARK Joshi offered Florida wrestling enthusiasts appearances by Tokyo Joshi Pro standouts Miu Wantananbe (left, victorious over KiLynn King) and Miyu Yamashita (inset, landing a hard strike to Jessie Elaban.)

MODERN MYTH PHOTOGRAPHY]

[grandmaster-anne]

Court Circular | 22nd February 2023

Buckingham Palace

The King this morning visited the Felix Project, Unit 12 and 14 Thomas Road Industrial Estate, Thomas Road, London E14, and was received by Colonel Jane Davis (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London), the Founders of the Felix Project (Mr Justin Byam Shaw and Mrs Jane Byam Shaw) and the Mayor of London (the Rt Hon Sadiq Khan). His Majesty, escorted by Ms Charlotte Hill (Chief Executive), toured the depot and kitchen and met members of the warehouse team, volunteers and representatives from the Project’s community partners, before unveiling a community freezer and joining a Reception for supporters. The Earl of Dalhousie was received by The King this afternoon, delivered up his Wand of Office and took leave upon relinquishing his appointment as Lord Steward. The Earl of Rosslyn was received by The King, kissed hands upon his appointment as Lord Steward and received from His Majesty his Wand of Office. The President of the German Bundestag (Ms Bärbel Bas) was received by The King. The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP (Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury) had an audience of His Majesty via telephone. The Queen Consort, Patron, BookTrust, this afternoon received Mr Joseph Coelho (Children’s Laureate).

Kensington Palace

The Earl of Wessex this morning visited George Town Yacht Club, 612B North Sound Road, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and departed by boat to visit the Coast Guard Base. The Earl of Wessex, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation, and The Countess of Wessex, Global Ambassador, this afternoon attended a Reception at Government House, Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman, for young people who have achieved the Gold Standard in the Award. The Countess of Wessex, Global Ambassador, 100 Women in Finance, this morning attended a Reception at Government House. Her Royal Highness later attended the Annual Agricultural Show at West Bay, Grand Cayman. The Earl and Countess of Wessex later departed from Owen Roberts International Airport, Grand Cayman, for Turks and Caicos Islands and were received upon arrival in Grand Turk by the Governor of Turks and Caicos Islands (His Excellency Mr Nigel Dakin). Their Royal Highnesses this evening attended a Reception at the Governor’s Residence, Grand Turk.

St James’s Palace

The Princess Royal, Patron, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK), this morning attended the London Region Annual Student Conference, Queen Anne Court, Old Royal Naval College, University of Greenwich, Park Row, London SE10, and was received by Mr. Matthew Burrow (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London). Her Royal Highness, Chancellor, University of London, this afternoon visited the Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care at King’s College London, Bessemer Road, London SE5, to mark its Tenth Anniversary, and was received by Mr. Christopher Wellbelove (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London). The Princess Royal, Commandant-in-Chief (Youth), St. John Ambulance, this evening attended the Youth Award Ceremony at the Old Palace, Hatfield House, Hatfield, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire (Mr. Robert Voss).

Kensington Palace

The Duke of Gloucester, Patron, British Society of Soil Science, this afternoon received Dr Jacqueline Hannam (President), Professor Paul Hallett (President Elect) and Mrs. Sarah Garry (Executive Officer).

St James’s Palace

Princess Alexandra, Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, this afternoon presented medals to members of The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own) at St. James’s Palace.

[fullregalia]

and i took that personally.

I actually was going to use this headline for 2022, but (Taylor’s Version) seemed a better fit at the time, and looking back on ’23, well, I really did take this year personally. 

One charge I am not beating is that I quote The Tempest every time I write about the ups and downs of aging: “Nothing ... doth fade, / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange.” However I’ve yet to find something that captures how bizarre life is better than the phrase “rich and strange.” This year was certainly no different. If you couldn’t tell from the abstruse posts about feeling insecure online, I definitely Went Through It (or at least lower case went through it, lest I be too overly dramatic here) with a strange friendship with a semi-notable person this year. It burned bright and fast and like all other normies who come into the orbit of people with a modicum of notoriety, even if you can hang, it hurts to get dropped for a shiny new thing. The best thing for me to do was to step away from Twitter in August and never look back. Sometimes I miss knowing what stupid thing is going on online (#GagCity) however, if I ever get around to finishing my novel, it’s great fodder for plot. (“How do you serve cunt in a roman à clef way?”)

Besides that personal drama, which wasn’t too bad (frankly, I just got caught up in a one-sided friend crush that took up a majority of Qs 2 and 3), the year was filled with so many interesting things: The movies are back, baby! Country music’s revival won me over. I went to Germany, Switzerland, England, Ireland, and I met a special needs Alpaca named Waffles in Litchfield, CT. Succession ended (RIP Kendall I could fix u), and The Bear’s Copenhagen episode made me cry. I read 30 books, and not all of them were garbage (though some of them truly were). I discovered a brown butter buttermilk cake recipe that I can't quit. It felt like live events were properly in the mix again too; I was able to convince more people to go to Cyclones games with me, but I’m still hitting up Lincoln Center solo (don't men know this is a big date flex??). And how could I not brag about seeing my favorite artist, Ed Ruscha, in the flesh at the opening night of his retrospective at MoMA. But I’ll get into all of that and more below. 

Since this annual recap is not a tradition I’m willing to step away from and never look back (yet), here are my highlights of 2023: 

Books

Thanks to my SAD in the winter, I plowed through the bigger novels in Q1 (e.g., Confederacy of Dunces, I Have Some Questions For You, Birnam Wood). Though the best books I read this year were slimmer like Big Swiss, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, and Trespasses. I believe someone tried to trendcast this, but I think short books have been a thing since ... checks notes ... people started reading? I am still trying to figure out if I cared about The Guest, but I suppose a sense of low-lying dread and hating the narrator meant it worked. I tried to add more urban history into the hold list (NYC, LA, and Palo Alto), but couldn’t get through the latter two before year-end so that’s going on next year’s reading challenge. Seeing as I do LA every January anyway, I’ll save the California books for the West Coast.

I’m a little disappointed that there weren’t many novels I couldn’t put down this year. But I really did focus on contemporary fiction and I think next year I should spend more time on both nonfiction and “canonical” works that I still haven’t gotten around to yet. That is, it may be time to start reading like my dad.

Music

If Spotify is to be believed (it is), I was in.my.feelings. this year (I was). My erstwhile friend crush was a huge Country head, and I am grateful that brief friendship brought more Country--both classic and contemporary--into my life. (I have joked that women will inhale an entire discography/filmography/oeuvre in a weekend for a crush, but honestly show me the lie.) I’ve always been into Americana and bluegrass, but it was good to dig deeper into true country. At the pottery studio I would start with Johnny Cash and just let the algo take it from there for the next 3 - 4 hours. Beyond the musicians I was already listening to a lot (John Prine, Willie Nelson) I listened to more Townes Van Zandt, Nikki Lane, Jess Williamson, and Tyler Childers. 

But of course my top artists were the same as every year: Coltrane, Paul Simon, Prokofiev, Steely Dan. Dean Wareham came up huge for me because I think I played “The Last Word” maybe 400 times this year. You get to the 2:53 mark with the sun shining on Memorial Day Weekend? That’s heaven on earth.

Music was my sanity this year more than it usually is. I had my sad playlist (Jeff Buckley, The Smiths, SZA) for the myriad breakup walks; my Drake playlist for running; my jazz playlist for cooking; and my work party afterparty playlist was even dowloaded by the bar for future use because I spent HOURS figuring out the best arrangement of Beyoncé into Fleetwoord into Dua and they got it. 

I also spent a lot of time behind the wheel with the windows down listening to prog rock, too. Told you I was going through it.

Movies

As the year progressed, my already incoherent listening habits became very movie-forward. That is, I started putting on more movie soundtracks to work to (Nebraska hive we stay riding!! Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross run me over with a truck!!!) and I basically only ended up listening to podcasts about movies (Big Pic, Blank Check, Rewatchables). But the synergy between music and movies was strong this year, as evidenced by the thrilling re-issue of Stop Making Sense and the Eras/Renaissance films. (As always, I implore you to listen to Wesley Morris about everything, forever.)  

After leaving Twitter, Letterboxed became my primary Social Network (lol). Thankfully it’s helping me keep track of what I watched this year. I did a lot of back-list catching up: I watched all the Miyazaki Studio Ghibli films in time to catch The Boy and the Heron the week after I got to The Wind Rises. In no particular order, my favorites: American Fiction, Oppenheimer, No Hard Feelings, Fallen Leaves, Past Lives, Maestro (but that’s because of Lydia Tàr), and because I quite sensibly spent most of this year catching up on Tom Cruise’s entire filmography, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, pt. I. This man will do anything to save cinema! I love it!!!!

The Lawyer Movie Draft match up of Blank Check and Big Pic was one of my favorite podcast episodes of the year. I definitely re-watched The Firm and The Pelican Brief after it. Luv u too, Michael Clayton.

Odds & Ends

My two goals this year were to leave NYC once a month and see a concert/show once a month. I was close to 100% on both, which was nice. If you go to Dublin, be sure to check out Bar 1661. I had an amazing lunch at this Italian place in Bern, Switzerland. If you are in London, I demand you go to Fortitude Bakehouse. As always, the BEC on a croissant at Arethusa is a religious experience. And Zapp’s chips + oysters + wine + this view in Maine = I can die happy. 

I saw three live podcast tapings--my second time seeing both Odd Lots and Who? Weekly and my first time seeing How Long Gone (I’m not proud of it, but I love those two bros and John Early was a great guest). Relatedly, Kate Berlant's one woman show lived up to the hype and Just For Us made me laugh enough I told my folks to see it. I finally saw ABT do Romeo & Juliet at the Met, and there were too many classical concerts to count (highlights being: the Made in Berlin string quartet at Lydia Tàr's Berlin Philharmonic, the Emerson String Quartet performing Shostakovich No. 12, and Chamber Music Society presenting the full Brandenburg Concertos).

On the TV front, for what I lost in Succession this year, I look forward to getting back in Industry next year. My "Smooth Brain Award" for best background streaming goes to And Just Like That and Suits for being too dumb to function. A friend has promised to watch The Curse with me, but that has yet to materialize. At some point I'm going to have to get Apple TV back so I can finally watch the new season of Slow Horses, the first two seasons of which I binged in about a week in February.

Since I’m not actively tweeting, I’m going to put my in/out list here. I was actually on the money with some of my predictions from last year (all light yellow everything and bankruptcy is chic again) however none of you fools got on the “friends holding hands in an 1800s novel way” and I didn’t see enough old bay fries at the bar to make me happy. Let’s see if I can improve my trend casting odds for 2024:

IN: robin’s egg blue, Acting Like You've Been There, cassis and soda, Harvey Wallbangers, Meg Ryan's curly hair in When Harry Met Sally, pretending you know how to sail, whistleblowing, marbled paper, voice notes.

OUT: hard seltzer, oversize blazers, Substack, the pop punk revival, calling things “transcendent,” renter’s insurance, engagement announcements on social media (just get married), Reykjavik, Threads.

I’m probably wrong on all fronts! This take on my predictions is likely also my mantra for 2024. Happy New Year, and to the two to three people who read this whole thing, may it bring you peace and prosperity. Praying the world becomes a little easier to be alive in next year, though I’m not sure that’s how things work these days. If I don’t abandon this effort entirely next year, I’ll be sure to recount what rich and strange experiences came about...

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

February 19, 2023

Heather Cox Richardson

Today in the Washington Post, Nick Anderson showed how the Advanced Placement course on African American studies changed between February 2022, when its prototype first appeared, and February 2023, when the official version was released. One word, in particular, had vanished: the word “systemic.” In February 2022, “systemic” appeared before “marginalization; in April 2022, “systemic” came before “discrimination, oppression, inequality, disempowerment and racism.”

By February 2023, that word was gone. While the College Board, which produces the AP courses, says it did not change the course in response to its rejection by Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who said it contributed to a “political agenda,” its spokespeople have acknowledged that they were aware of how the right wing would react to that word.

The far right opposes the idea that the United States has ever practiced systemic racism. Shortly before former president Trump left office, his hand-picked President’s Advisory 1776 Commission produced its report to stand against the 1619 Project that rooted the United States in the year enslaved Africans first set foot in the English colonies on the Chesapeake, and went on to claim that systemic racism had shaped the eventual American nation.

Trump’s 1776 commission rejected the conclusions of the 1619 Project’s authors and instead declared that “the American people have ever pursued freedom and justice.” While “the American story has its share of missteps, errors, contradictions, and wrongs,” it asserted, “[t]hese wrongs have always met resistance from the clear principles of the nation, and therefore our history is far more one of self-sacrifice, courage, and nobility.”

Since Trump left office, far-right activists have passed laws prohibiting teachers from talking about patterns of racism and have worked to remove from classrooms and school libraries books whose subjects must overcome systemic discrimination.

Today is the anniversary of the day in 1942, during World War II, that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 enabling military authorities to designate military areas from which “any or all persons may be excluded.” That order also permitted the secretary of war to provide transportation, food, and shelter “to accomplish the purpose of this order.”

Four days later, a Japanese submarine off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, shelled the Ellwood Oil Field, and the Office of Naval Intelligence warned that the Japanese would attack California in the next ten hours. On February 25 a meteorological balloon near Los Angeles set off a panic, and troops fired 1,400 rounds of antiaircraft ammunition at supposed Japanese attackers.

On March 2, 1942, General John DeWitt put Executive Order 9066 into effect. He signed Public Proclamation No. 1, dividing the country into military zones and, “as a matter of military necessity,” excluding from certain of those zones “[a]ny Japanese, German, or Italian alien, or any person of Japanese Ancestry.” Under DeWitt’s orders, about 125,000 children, women, and men of Japanese ancestry were forced out of their homes and held in camps around the country. Two thirds of those incarcerated were U.S. citizens.

DeWitt’s order did not come from nowhere. After almost a century of shaping laws to discriminate against Asian newcomers, West Coast inhabitants and lawmakers were primed to see their Japanese and Japanese-American neighbors as dangerous.

Those laws reached back to the arrival of Chinese miners to California in 1849, and reached forward into the twentieth century. Indeed, on another February 19—that of 1923—the Supreme Court decided the case of United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind. It said that Thind, an Indian Sikh man who identified himself as Indo-European, could not become a U.S. citizen. Thind claimed the right to United States citizenship under the terms of the Naturalization Act of 1906, which had put the federal government instead of states in charge of who got to be a citizen and had very specific requirements for citizenship that he believed he had met.

But, the court said, Thind was not a “white person” under U.S. law, and only “free white persons” could become citizens.

What were they talking about? In the Thind decision, the Supreme Court reached back to the case of Japan-born Takao Ozawa, decided a year before, in 1922. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that Ozawa could not become a citizen under the 1906 Naturalization Act because that law had not overridden the 1790 naturalization law limiting citizenship to “free white persons.” The court decided that “white person” meant “persons of the Caucasian Race.” “A Japanese, born in Japan, being clearly not a Caucasian, cannot be made a citizen of the United States,” it said.

As the 1922 case indicated, Asian Americans could not rely on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, to permit them to become citizens, because a law from 1790 knocked a hole in that amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment provided that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” But as soon as that amendment went into effect, the new states and territories of the West reached back to the 1790 naturalization law to exclude Asian immigrants from citizenship based on the argument that they were not “free, white persons.”

That 1790 restriction, based in early lawmakers’ determination to guarantee that enslaved Africans could not claim citizenship, enabled lawmakers after the Civil War to exclude Asian immigrants from citizenship.

From that exclusion grew laws discriminating against Chinese immigrants, including the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act that prohibited Chinese workers from migrating to the United States. Then, when Chinese immigration slowed and Japanese immigration took its place, the U.S. backed the so-called Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907 under which Japanese officials promised to stop emigration to the United States. The United States, in turn, promised not to restrict the rights of Japanese already in the United States, although laws prohibiting “aliens” from owning land meant Japanese settlers either lost their land or had to put it in the names of their American-born children, who were citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment.

In 1942, the assumption that Japanese Americans were dangerous and anti-American was rooted back in the earliest years of the country, in the 1790 naturalization law designed to make sure that Africans could not become United States citizens.

After the 1923 Thind decision, the United States stripped the citizenship of about 50 South Asian Americans who had already become American citizens. One of them was Vaishno Das Bagai, an immigrant from what is now Pakistan who came from wealth and who settled in San Francisco in 1915 with his wife and three sons to start a business. Less than three weeks after arriving in the United States, Bagai began the process of naturalization. He became a citizen in 1920.

The Thind decision took that citizenship away from Bagai, making him fall under California’s alien land laws saying he could not own land. He lost his home and his business. In 1928, explicitly telling the San Francisco Examiner that he was taking his life in protest of racial discrimination, Bagai died by suicide. His widow, Kala Bagai, became a community activist.

World War II changed U.S. calculations of who could be a citizen as global alliances shifted and all Americans turned out to save democracy. From Japanese-American internment camps, young men joined the army to fight for the nation. In 1943, the War Department authorized the formation of Japanese-American combat units. One of those units, the 442d Regimental Combat Team, became the most decorated unit for its size in U.S. military history. Their motto was “Go for Broke.”

Congress overturned Chinese exclusion laws in 1943 and, in 1946, made natives of India eligible for U.S. citizenship. Japanese immigrants gained the right to become U.S. citizens in 1952.

“[S]elf-sacrifice, courage and nobility” definitely enabled people like Thind, Vaishno Das Bagai and Kala Bagai, and the soldiers of the 442d Regimental Combat Team to assert “the clear principles of the nation.” But it’s hard to see how a teacher can explain “missteps, errors, contradictions, and wrongs” from 1942 that were rooted in a law from 1790 without using the word “systemic.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[wrestlingisfake]

ROH Fake Rankings, 12/2/2023

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Eddie Kingston (ROH men's world champion, STRONG men's champion)

Dalton Castle

El Hijo del Vikingo (AAA mega champion)

Komander (AAA cruiserweight champion)

Ethan Page

Lee Johnson

Gravity

Trent Beretta

Metalik

Willie Mack

Men's singles division - heels

Wheeler Yuta (ROH pure champion)

Brian Cage (ROH trios champion)

Kyle Fletcher

Tony Nese

Josh Woods

Evil Uno

Nick Comoroto

Unranked: Fred Rosser, Gringo Loco, Jack Cartwheel, Slim J, SK Bishop

After Tony Khan launched AEW in 2019, ROH went through a bit of a dark age until Khan acquired the promotion in 2022. Few names from that era remain on the roster--Castle, Yuta, and Woods are the most prominent on the weekly TV series right now.

We're two weeks away from ROH's next pay-per-view, Final Battle, and the men's side only has one match announced--a six-way for the television title, which Samoa Joe abandoned. Joe is putting his focus on chasing the AEW men's world champion MJF, who has been one of the ROH tag team champions for three months and has yet to appear on an ROH show. As for the six-way, only Castle and Komander have been confirmed as participants thus far.

I assume there won't be a men's world title match on the PPV, since Kingston is busy with AEW's Continental Classic tournament. Similarly the pure title has seen more action in AEW than ROH. Brian Cage and the trios title are effectively on ice until his tag partners return from New Japan's World Tag League.

I have no doubt Final Battle will end up being a good show. But with ROH in the state it's in, the quality of the show will largely depend on how many big names from AEW (or perhaps New Japan) will come in for exactly one night, tear the house down, and then not stick around. That approach isn't going to convince people to pay $10/month for the weekly TV.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

Darius Martin & Action Andretti

Dralistico & Preston Vance

Iron Savages - Boulder & Bronson

Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo

Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal

The Outrunners - Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd

Colt Cabana & Brandon Cutler

The Boys - Brandon Tate & Brent Tate

The Bollywood Boyz - Gurv Shira & Harv Shira

Men's tag team division - heels

Gates of Agony - Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona (ROH trios champions)

The Righteous - Vincent Marseglia & Bobby Dutch

The Butcher & The Blade

Shane Taylor Promotions - Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty

The Workhorsemen - Anthony Henry & JD Drake

Cole Karter & Griff Garrison

Spanish Announce Project - Serpentico & Angelico

The Wingmen - Ryan Nemeth & Peter Avalon

The West Coast Wrecking Crew - Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs

Unranked: Jacoby Watts & Sebastian Wolfe, Trevor Outlaw & GPA

On paper this looks like a stacked tag team division. However, most of the teams listed are booked like jobbers when they appear on AEW teleivison, and get booked 50/50 in ROH matches. I think the Iron Savages, the Infantry (Dean/Bravo and Trish Adora), and the Outrunners have a ton of potential, but I can't fool myself into thinking they're being pushed right now. Andretti/Martin and the Righteous are presented like big deals, but their win-loss records don't reflect that--hell, the Righteous couldn't even beat MJF two-on-one.

The main exception is Kaun and Liona, who are booked like monsters. But there's no sense of that leading to them challenging for the ROH tag title. The main idea is that they're part of a monster trio with Brian Cage. But after a year at the top of the trios division, they've destroyed every possible trio combination on this roster, and it feels like only an AEW superteam could topple them.

Women's division - babyfaces

Willow Nightingale

Billie Starkz

Leyla Hirsch

Rachael Ellering

Kiera Hogan

Trish Adora

Women's division - heels

Athena (ROH women's world champion)

Marina Shafir

Nyla Rose

Mercedes Martinez

Diamante

Emi Sakura

Robyn Renegade

Charlette Renegade

Unranked: Amira, Brooke Havok, Heather Reckless, Heidi Howitzer, Johnnie Robbie, Kel, Ronda Rousey, Zoey Lynn

The biggest storyline in ROH lately has been Athena training Starkz to be her "minion," and feuding with Shafir, until Starkz flipped out on both Shafir and Athena, and challenged Athena for the title at Final Battle. At this point I'm not sure which of the three are supposed to end up being babyfaces or heels, but the story's still in progress.

They're also doing a thing with Hirsch trying to decide whether Ellering or Maria Kanellis truly has her back. So good for ROH for actually having multiple women's storylines, although I wish the second one wasn't the same passive-agressive "are you really my friend?" stuff we see all the time in women's wrestling.

The Renegades have gotten involved with both of these storylines, in tag matches against Athena/Starkz and Ellering/Hirsch. That's a good idea to keep things interesting. Unfortunately the Renegades have the same problem the Bella Twins had in WWE--their whole deal is being a cohesive duo, but the promotion doesn't have a women's tag team title for them to dominate.

OK, this next part is where I list wrestlers who are on the roster but haven't had a match in over a month. Thing is, ROH doesn't really have an official roster. So this is just a selection of wrestlers who are either on AEW's official roster or free agents that seem to be ROH regulars.

No televised ROH matches in 30 days: Allysin Kay, Blake Christian (GCW world champion), Kip Sabian, Lady Frost, Marti Belle, QT Marshall, Rocky Romero (CMLL historic welterweight champion), Scorpio Sky, Skye Blue

No televised ROH matches in 60 days: Angelina Love, AR Fox, Claudio Castagnoli, Chuck Taylor, Jimmy Jacobs, Leila Grey, Nick Wayne, Silas Young

Last televised ROH match between June 1 and August 31: Alex Reynolds, Big Bill (AEW tag team champion), Cheeseburger, Daniel Garcia, Eli Isom, Jacked Jameson, John Silver, Leon Ruffin, Madison Rayne, Mark Briscoe, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Miranda Alize, Penta El Zero Miedo, Rey Fenix, Rhett Titus, Samoa Joe, Stokely Hathaway, Stu Grayson, Tracy Williams

Looking at all these names, you can see talent that will probably be back before long, and others who have clearly moved on. I really doubt Castagnoli and Samoa Joe will be back. The Kingdom (Taven and Bennett) feel integral to 2020s ROH, but their AEW act with Roderick Strong is so hot right now that it'd be silly to move them back here. In other cases (for example, Isom, Cheeseburger, Williams, Titus) I never know if they're just on a hiatus or if Tony Khan has just decided to stop booking them altogether.

I would guess about half of these names will return to ROH now and then over the next six months. But "will return" could mean "will appear weekly leading to a PPV match" or just "will do one match and then nothing for another six months."

Inactive

Bandido (left wrist - triangular fibrocartilage complex tear)

Katsuyori Shibata (leave of absence)

There's no way to know if either of these guys will be ROH regulars when they return, but they were when we last saw them. By the same token, Dante Martin (who was injured on an ROH show months ago and has just made his return) could be headed back here or maybe he won't.

Conspicuous by their absence on this list are the ROH tag team champions, since Adam Cole hasn't wrestled under the ROH brand since 2017, and MJF never has. I thought it was possible they'd at least show up for Final Battle, but there's no timetable for Cole's return from an ankle injury. MJF could show up to defend the tag belts solo, or with a substitute partner. But considering he's working through a torn labrum, and trying to make it to the December 30 show, Final Battle is probably a low priority for his schedule.

[iwanthermidnightz]

Lana Del Rey practices “automatic singing.” Using the improvisational songwriting technique, she lets her voice carry over accompaniments, not commandeering where her words or melodies take her, accepting all ideas she has in the moment and editing them later. Lately, her voice has led her home, back to memories of her childhood in Lake Placid, N.Y., and to ruminations on relationships with her family and the divergent paths they’ve taken.

That subject underpins her upcoming ninth album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (out March 24). Del Rey, 37, says she hesitantly began to unpack this subject matter with her previous album, Blue Banisters — but now, she’s ready to dig deeper. “At first I was so uncomfortable,” she says of the more personal material. “Then, by the grace of God, I just felt completely unburdened.”

As a singer-songwriter, this year’s Visionary honoree has embodied that word for over a decade. Her 2012 major-label debut, Born To Die, made her a star and defined music’s Tumblr era, as a young Del Rey toyed with both the romantic and the darker sides of the American dream. Her “world building,” as she calls it now, for her early work created a collage of beautiful and disparate images, pairing hip-hop aesthetics with references to the Kennedy family, Elvis Presley with John Wayne, and old Hollywood glamour with biker gang grit.

Since then, Del Rey has pushed musical boundaries — seamlessly peppering an album with features from Stevie Nicks to Playboi Carti (2017’s Lust for Life), reworking a Sublime cover into a contemporary Billboard Hot 100 hit (2019’s “Doin’ Time”), for instance — while achieving both critical acclaim and commercial success. She has earned six Grammy nominations and holds the record for most No. 1s on Billboard’s Alternative Albums chart. And somehow, each week, it seems a new song from her vast catalog gains traction on TikTok. (“West Coast” and “How To Disappear” are two recent breakouts.) Younger artists often cite her as an inspiration — including Billie Eilish, whom Del Rey now calls “my girl. It makes me feel comforted that music is going in such a good direction.”

I think it might look like that! It’s funny because I keep telling people, “I haven’t worked in three years,” but really I just haven’t done shows in three years. As soon as I start getting ready for a show, that’s when it feels like work.

How has your process changed since Born To Die came out?

Eleven years ago I wanted it to be so good. Now, I just sing exactly what I’m thinking. I’m thinking a little less big and bombastic. Maybe at some point I can have fun creating a world again, but right now, I would say there’s no world building. This music is about thought processing. It’s very, very wordy. I’m definitely living from the neck up.

[the-firebird69]

BURNING MAN 2023 (BEFORE THE RAIN)

Would you like this kind of thing we do like this kind of thing is not true this is a place of depression and evil and gross stuff and they scam and scheme and hurt each other and we hate them cuz they get away with it in front of everyone and they're kind of perverts and evil and the girls that have come out and a little showing on TV but if you have gear you can see it in the background they're killing people and eating them and they're morons lots of them they do it out in the opening lots of times I just walk around saying it's nothing but later at night they want to tax against them and it's usually about that. it's different races.

We have people they have to go there and they see it and you want to just nail them but you have to stay there and watch the stupid s*** and I ask you what you're doing and saying I'm looking at what they're doing why and then walk off but it's kind of gross and inviting people to get in trouble and sometimes you have to defend yourself and you end up wasting a bunch of them

Sometimes a whole crew I see in our son wipe out 500 people himself and of course you got a little bigger and he's in demon format he's not physically there and they died yelling we know who You are we can tell by how you move and you look at them and say come over here and say that and he killed them instantly and people would scream get them and they come at him with knives and he's got some gear on they can't tell and I guess they figured it out and they tried to shoot him a little so he jumps over and takes her guns and shoots them all it was really wild it took about 20 seconds and there are others that just left and to try and calling heavy on one guy so he catches up to him and they call it off and it says things nice hit huh then they start and he repeats it this is one of the ones that was like 4 years ago 5 years and it all like disappeared right now similar stuff is going on burning man is not for a while it's when it's too hot out actually and they're out there and it's roasting and they they're doing gross stuff and when it first started it wasn't that gross and people weren't dying and stuff to tell you the truth it's it was still debashery and disgusting and homosexual stuff and lesbian stuff and they we're doing it all over the place and you can't go there and they were not trying to get our son there they tried once he says and remembers it's just the topic and it came up and he said no I don't think so and they're talking about at work and he thinks that he brought the subject up anyways he wants to see what their answers would be and they didn't really fall for it that much they fell for a bunch of other stuff that other people were doing but boy what a gross place it is right now they're going down in tunnels and there's stuff in the tunnels and it's almost lead to a stash and a cash in a big one I don't know if they're fighting pretty hard a lot of fighting and it's like the west coast of Morocco where there's some strange anomalies and they think it's cold and they're moving out any other hand moves not the island

Thor Freya

It is true and I was going to announce it and I sort of did I only kind of told them but they don't really figure stuff out that quick right now this area burning Man is full and there are tons of armies going down to different tunnels and ripping the crap out of this particular stash and cash and it's Nevada and it's a big area and Utah's included kind of in a couple of the states it's gigantic and huge huge amounts of stuff and Trump took it and it's a war and it's getting bigger and bigger and top side in the middle is burning Man no it's a battle and it's odd and he kind of made it symbolic and so did I because my area is like a woman and Amazonia and we're at like an island and he's like field in the jungle and desert and is it and his stuck in it. Plus size women do similar stuff yeah so they get it and it's true and he is he has a character below if he's a mess he's a little bigger than mine

Hera

It's because the job requires it and the minute a little larger but the women are fast and I can attest to Jen was faster and had more stamina

Zues

Olympus

Hahaha who are you outside of potato sound that is showing him falling over in that hill in Buffalo is going up when you first got there and she's smiling looking back she saw him slow down come to a standstill and he said something she's walking away smiling and she knew what he meant send you a baby you ran away and that's awful and by the way I can't keep rolling the stupid Stone up and down this damn thing he's probably picked it on purpose and said she did

Thor Freya

[calacuspr]

Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – Sebastien Haller & Enhanced games february 2024

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

HIT - SEBASTIEN HALLER

The late, great Daily Mail sport columnist Ian Wooldridge once wrote: “There are days when sport reaches the sublime heights of unscripted theatre and draws from men and women performers resources of nerve and skill beyond human comprehension.”

The magic of sporting contest is that it can be so unpredictable that it is often said that no one would believe it if you made a movie about what you’ve just witnessed.

This month’s African Cup of Nations (AFCON) certainly fits that description, with striker Sebastien Haller front and centre in the drama.

Ivory Coast, the hosts, looked set to exit the competition after a disastrous group stage, when they lost twice, including a heaviest ever home – and Nations Cup finals – defeat when losing 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea.

Manager Jean-Louis Gasset was promptly sacked, but the team got a reprieve when Zambia failed to get the result they needed to finish above the hosts as a best third-placed side.

Haller had not featured in those first few matches due to an ankle injury, but his comeback is far more dramatic than a typical footballer’s injury.

A former France youth international, Haller made his name at Eintracht Frankfurt before joining Premier League side West Ham for a then club-record fee of £45million in July 2019.

He failed to replicate his Bundesliga form, scoring only 10 goals in a year and a half before moving to Ajax.

Haller twice helped the Dutch giants win the Eredivisie and became only the second player, after one Cristiano Ronaldo, to score in all six of his club’s group-stage Champions League games, and the fourth, with Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski, to reach double figures in the competition’s group phase.

This prompted Borussia Dortmund to sign him to replace Erling Haaland, where his impressive form was stopped in its track by a tragic turn of events.

In July 2022, just two weeks after signing, the forward complained of abdominal discomfort and during a consultation with a urologist, a testicular tumour was discovered.

Haller promptly underwent surgery to remove it and within the week, he had started receiving chemotherapy.

In a Canal+ documentary called ‘Fight’, Haller’s wife Priscilla described the news Haller had a tumour as a “nightmare.”

“When (he) told me on the phone, I didn’t believe it — it’s a joke,” she said. “Until he got upset because he takes the blow and on top of that has to convince me. I understood what it was to be really afraid. I was scared and had the fear of my life.”

Haller was determined to play football again as quickly as possible and had a personal trainer devising tailored exercise programmes for him in hospital.

When Haller attended the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris with Priscilla, the extent of his illness was clear for all to see, his hair loss as a result of chemotherapy a stark reminder of how gravely unwellhe had been.

Haller was voted the 13th best player in the world for his achievements with Ajax, and also went up on stage to present an award.

He was encouraged by his idol, former Ivory Coast captain and fellow striker Didier Drogba, to provide an update on his condition and said: “Everything is fine. I’m here because everything is going as well as it can. It’s important to be involved at such events to show that you’re strong.”

That turned out not to be the case.

A month after the Paris ceremony, he needed a second, more dangerous  procedure, to remove the residual findings from the tumour, which took over four hours.

When Haller was eventually given the all-clear, he flew with his team-mates to Dortmund’s winter training camp in Marbella, telling reporters that “(retiring) was never on my mind.”

On January 10 2023 Haller was greeted with applause from his team-mates, club staff, opposition players and supporters as he finally stepped onto the pitch for the first time in a Dortmund shirt for a friendly against Fortuna Dusseldorf.

“It’s been a dream to play with my team-mates, certainly more fun than doing runs through forests,” he said afterwards.

Two weeks later, he made his official debut for Dortmund, and first competitive appearance since recovering from cancer, coming off the bench in a 4-3 victory over Augsburg.

The words “F*CK CANCER” were inscribed on his boots.

It was fitting that on World Cancer Day, in early February 2023, Haller scored his first goal for Borussia Dortmund, heading into the net against Freiburg in front of 80,000 supporters at Signal Iduna Park and subsequently swamped by a horde of yellow-clad team-mates.

He pointed to that message on his boots as part of his celebration and he said afterwards: “To score today was a great message to everyone who is fighting today or will fight later.

“It gives some hope, some courage. The days after will always be better. You only want to score another goal, to have that feeling again. It’s the best feeling.

“You’re flying. You’re on a cloud. The whole stadium is on fire. Your team-mates, the staff, everyone is as one. It’s a big boost. There’s still a long way to go, but we will walk down that path.

"Of course, you realise it is something really serious that is happening, that a lot of things can change. It's important to tell it straight about cancer.

“But the urologist helped me not to be scared. He said I could heal well. I took all his words for granted.”

With Ivory Coast struggling and scoring just twice in the AFCON group stages, Haller’s recovery from his ankle injury took on added significance.

"After the big defeat against Equatorial Guinea, we had no choice," Haller said.

"We've come back from a long way. There were words, moments, which were not easy for the players, staff and everybody [but] which were necessary."

Haller’s teammate Seko Fofana said that Haller's struggles with health and fitness inspired squad unity, especially after their coach was sacked in the group stage.

"He was a benefit to others in the team, always giving something else to this group," Fofana mused. “[Consequently] we're now a unit, a collective, and we can be very happy about it.”

Losing against defending champions Senegal, Haller was thrown on late in normal time to help save the game, and his perfect through ball to Nicolas Pepe saw the former Arsenal winger fouled in the penalty area.

Franck Kessie equalised from the spot to take the game into extra time with Haller scoring in the penalty shootout, with the Ivorians knocking out the holders 5-4.

Still not fit enough to start games, Haller was brought on against Mali in the quarter-final with the team down to 10 men, hitting the bar before Oumar Diakite scored in the 122nd minute to see the hosts through 2-1.

In the semi-final against DR Congo, Haller scored the only goal with a volley into the ground, which bounced over goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi and into the net.

That gave Haller the chance to put his health problems behind him, and looking forward to the final, he said: “The last 18 months have been quite challenging for myself and the family. I just take everything step by step and I just try to enjoy the moment. I don't want to have any regrets.

“It’s a great moment to be here in front of you, talking about the final of AFCON in my own country. It will take a few months, or a few years, to really realise what happened (to me).”

Hollywood scriptwriters would have ensured Haller scored the winning goal in front of his home fans, a scenario which looked unlikely when William Troost-Ekong had put Nigeria ahead seven minutes before half-time.

Kessie equalised with just over an hour gone before Haller seized his moment, flicking the ball into the net from Simon Adingra's cross in front of 60,000 fans at Abidjan's Alassane Ouattara Stadium.

An emotional Haller broke down in tears after the final whistle, the reality of his achievement hitting home.

"We dreamed of this moment so many times," Haller said. "We hoped to get to this point and once again the match wasn't an easy one. The joyous scenes we see now, what's happening in the country, they deserve it too. I really hope it does a lot of people good."

Haller was congratulated by Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara after picking up his winners' medal, perhaps in recognition of the impact his return had on Ivory Coast's Éléphants. 

Understandably, Haller was front and centre of the team's trophy parade through the centre of Abidjan the following day, the victory a show of unity coming only 13 years since the end of Ivory Coast’s second civil war.

But victory was about more than just lifting the AFCON trophy for the first time since 2015.

Thousands of Ivory Coast fans came to celebrate on the streets of Abidjan, adorning the team’s orange and white colours, a national holiday called to celebrate the championship success.

Haller’s dignified and determined fight against cancer, his impact on the team and the entire nation underlined how sporting prowess can have a positive impact on society.

It’s a reminder not only of the importance of sport, but how its impact transcends the field, bringing joy, hope and inspiration to millions.

MISS – ENHANCED GAMES

With the recent backing of PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel and other tech businessmen, it looks like the controversial Enhanced Games has the financial backing to take place in 2024.

The Enhanced Games is a proposed international athletic competition, not unlike the Olympic Games, but with one major difference: they explicitly do not test for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs). This is not to say that athletes are forced to dope, but rather than doping is perfectly permissible in the eyes of the organisers.

Their stated goal is to see how far humans can go, using a combination of chemical and technological doping; the former including anabolic steroids and hormone therapy, the latter technology like ’super trainers’ and swimsuits based on sharkskin.

The main philosophy of the Enhanced Games is that PED use should be seen as a ‘demonstration of science’ rather than as cheating.

Is this philosophy legitimate? It is true that no athlete succeeds on their own, and that every Olympic champion has a team of nutritionists, coaches and trainers, equipment designers, physiotherapists, friends, and family behind them. Why not add a pharmacist to the list?

The point could be made that high-altitude training could count as an unfair advantage, given that it is only available to athletes from countries that can either afford to fly them there, or who happen by chance to host training facilities in the mountains. It certainly gives athletes a clear and measurable edge over those that don’t have the option.

From a different perspective, a world-class swimmer like Michael Phelps has longer-than-average arms and a torso that is proportionally longer compared to his legs, as well as size 14 feet and a body that produces half the lactic acid of an average swimmer, but he is celebrated as a natural superhuman.

Meanwhile, women such as champion runner Caster Semenya, whose bodies produce higher than average testosterone levels, are punished and forced to take supplements to bring their hormone levels back down to average.

Clearly, there are grey areas when it comes to genetic and competitive advantages, so it could be argued that any and all enhancements should be allowed. That way, an athlete’s performance on the international stage would represent the combined scientific and sporting abilities of their nation to achieve victory as well as any genetic gifts they have.

Given the allegations of the Russian state-sponsored doping program that saw the state formally expelled from the Olympic Movement, forcing the nation’s athletes to compete as independents, this could be more endemic than we currently think.

The Enhanced Games also claim to have a vastly improved pay structure compared to the Olympic Games, including a stipend for all athletes that compete, as well as substantial prizes for the most successful – including up to and above $1m for gold medallists.

Olympic Games silver medallist James Magnussen has indicated he’d be more than happy to come out of retirement and take steroids if it meant a large payday.

He said: “They [Enhanced Games] have said they have a billion-dollar person backing them.

“If they put up a million dollars for the freestyle world record, I’ll come on board as the first athlete. I’ll juice to the gills and break it in six months.”

Three-time swimming gold medal winner Leisel Jones has argued that the Enhanced Games might actually benefit the Olympic Games.

“It might actually keep the clean sport, clean,” she said. “If this clears out people who genuinely want to [take PEDs] and are doing illegal things in sport, if that clears them out of clean sport, that would be wonderful.”

However, she has said that while she might be interested in commentating, she wouldn’t be interested in coming out of retirement to take part herself.

“I don’t want to participate in it myself, I’m not in a position to do that. The risks are too big for me I think for the side effects and whatnot.

“But I am happy to see other people do this. I would watch it for sure. I just want to know how fast they can go.”

There is some truth in the argument that traditional athletics has been afflicted by illicit drug use. Beyond Russia, a 2017 study carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suggested that as many of half of tested athletes had used PEDs in the last year.

Two parallel Games, one ‘natural’ and one ‘Enhanced’ could, properly enacted, result in fairer competition for all.

However, the Enhanced Games has understandably been strongly criticised by anti-doping agencies all over the world.

Travis Tygart, CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency, described the Enhanced Games as ”farcical… likely illegal in many states” and “a dangerous clown show, not real sport”

In a release, WADA further condemned the new Games, calling it “a dangerous and irresponsible concept.”

“WADA warns athletes and support personnel, who wish to participate in clean sport, that if they were to take part in the 'Enhanced Games', they would risk committing anti-doping rule violations under the World Anti-Doping Code,

"Athletes serve as role models and we believe this proposed event would send the wrong signal to young people around the world.”

Australian Olympic Committee chief Matt Carroll added that: “The Australian Olympic Committee believes the concept of a drug-enhanced games is dangerous.

“We know next to nothing about this organisation but sport needs to be clean and it needs to be safe for all athletes,

“The Olympic Movement is devoted to clean sport and athletic excellence, celebrating the best in humanity, excellence, friendship and respect.”

A spokesperson from UK Anti-Doping has described the Games as ”‘unsafe, dangerous to athletes’ health and wellbeing [and flying] in the face of fair play.  

"We believe competing is about respect, hard work and determination, not a dangerous game of endorsing drug use to enhance performance. We are committed to working with athletes to champion their rights, their health and their wellbeing.”

Even cyclist Joseph Papp, who was suspended in 2006 for PED use, has come out against the Enhanced Games.

“A doping free-for-all just invites the most ambitious person to be the most reckless person, and to take the most drugs possible without literally killing themselves.”

Athlete safety should be paramount in any sporting competition, and it is unclear how PEDs that are illegal in many countries would be regulated to ensure fair access for all competitors.

The condemnation that the Enhanced Games has received is also not limited to the world of sports: their messaging appears to be mimicking that of other, serious, political movements.

One of the Enhanced Games website slogans is: ‘My body, my choice,’ clearly attempting to echo the pro-choice slogans of pro-abortion activists.

Aron D’Souza, President of the Enhanced Games, said: “Fifty years ago, being a gay man was like being enhanced today. It’s stigmatised, it’s illegal in some sense and it’s done in a dark alley.”

In referencing a picture on the Enhanced Games website of an athlete holding up a flag bearing the event’s stylised “E+” logo, he added: “What changed for the LGBT community was pride — there was a flag to rally around and if you look at our website, it is intentional. What’s our first picture? A flag. Maybe this was our Stonewall moment.”

That is a bold claim even for a gay man like D’Souza to make, given the long and deeply oppressive experiences that LGBT+ communities have undergone throughout history.

There’s clearly a shock value aspect to the Enhanced Games’s communications strategy.

A further slogan of the Enhanced Games is ‘Science is real,’ echoing pro-vaccination arguments during the Covid Pandemic. These attempts to co-opt major worldwide political issues for the gain of the Enhanced Games organisers and investors is unlikely to improve the organisation’s credibility.

Whether or not they can attract sufficient athletes remains to be seen. At the time of writing, very few have publicly supported the new competition.

D’Souza claimed that 500 ‘sleeper’ athletes had privately agreed to take part, but so far none have spoken publicly, raising doubts about whether the Enhanced Games can go ahead.

With the very real safety concerns, the question remains: who will actually benefit from the Enhanced Games? It may certainly garner some initial attention, but what sponsors would want to be associated with such a controversial competition which would potentially undermine their own ethics and ethos?

D'Souza claims that he has no need for further investment, and that this is simply a project to see what humanity is capable of. But the financial incentives offered to attract athletes will need funding if the Enhanced Games are to ensure.

There is so much that the Enhanced Games have got wrong from a communications perspective.

Instead of demonstrating an understanding of the concerns and addressing them in a sensitive way, the approach has been one of aggressive belligerence.

Whether more athletes will sign up for the Enhanced Games in the fullness of time remains to be seen.

The risks to athlete safety alone will ensure continued widespread condemnation from the sports world and beyond.

[signalwatch]

Watched:  09/21/2023

Format:  TCM

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Douglas Sirk

Sometimes you just need a good cry.  This is the movie to make you do it whether you like it or not.

Way back in the mid-90's when I was going through film school, we, of course, had screenings of films.  The movies were curated and representative of a variety of eras, forms, genres, etc...  all tee'd up to illustrate whatever the instructors planned to discuss that week.  It's a weird way to do homework, but we saw some great stuff.  Also, I got to learn to sit with films that were never going to be my cup of tea, especially at age 19 or so.

One of the films shown was Imitation of Life, a 1959 melodrama spanning decades and following a young, widowed white woman, Lora (Lana Turner), who teams up with an African-American single mother, Annie (Juanita Moore), to jointly raise daughters of a similar age.  

It's actually a remake of a film I haven't seen from 1934, starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers.  And one day I'll watch that one, too.

During the same meet-cute where Annie and Lora meet, Steve (John Gavin) appears as a photographer, indirectly getting Lora her first gig and - as this is Lana Turner - deciding to woo her.  Lora welcomes Annie and her daughter into their humble apartment, and as Annie settles into triple role of housekeeper, best friend, co-mother, Lora's dreams of success on the stage suddenly take off. 

At the half-way point, the movie escalates quickly.  We have a time shift to the end of the girl's high  school careers.  Lora's daughter, Susie (Sandra Dee), is a perky, happy rich blonde girl attending a nearby boarding school.  Annie's daughter, Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner), has matured into a lovely but bitter girl.  Early signs of her wishing to "pass" as white have grown, and now she's hiding her mother and the fact she's Black from anyone she can.

To put a point on it, the title has meaning!  As Lora is focused on her career, she misses what's happening with her daughter, with Sarah Jane and - finally - Annie.  She's been able to outsource her mothering role to her friend, running from job to job, and having no real interest in what's happening with Sarah Jane other than a detached view of her friend being upset.  But Susie herself is living in a world of illusion - believing she's falling in love with Steve, who's essentially treating her like his daughter or pal.  

Sarah Jane's story is paired with Annie - who can't do anything to help her daughter and stay in her life.  The dialog may be a bit clunky by 2023 standards, but in 1959 as much as today, this is some rough stuff to watch in the best way.  

SPOILERS

Look, Annie is slowly dying over the last 45 minutes of the movie, and nobody fucking notices, even as she's lying in bed.  Lora is preoccupied with Steve, her career, etc..., Sarah Jane has run off to the West Coast to live as a white woman, and Susie is convinced she's marrying Steve - and when that doesn't work out, she's going to run away to Colorado.

Annie can't save these people from themselves, and she can't be there for them anymore.  

Anyway, she passes - and you think you're okay, until the funeral and there's Mahalia Jackson.  And I was utterly wrecked.

Back in my college days, by the end of the film, the snobby film kids were largely locked in, myself included.  I think I was more invested this time than even on a first viewing.

Melodrama gets some side-eye.  We think of it as "soap opera" or low-class.  There's surely some misogyny baked into this take as this film, and many others aimed at women, were busily passing the Bechdel test decades before it was dreamed up - and this doesn't deal much at all with masculine interests or pursuits.  But at the end of the day, melodrama can be more universally understood than big concept pictures and the accessibility of the emotional content - when done well - can carry over complicated ideas.  This is a movie about challenges the audience who showed up for a Lana Turner movie* may not have been aware they were getting.

The movie is matter-of-fact about the world to which Sarah Jane is reacting, and her desire to want something other than the race-based class system into which she was born is understandable, if utterly tragic..  But the love of a mother being so great that she has to let her daughter go is some moving stuff.  You hope that audiences of 1959 (or 2023) understood their part in the tragedy.  Only in death is Annie truly appreciated.

It's Sirk, so every frame is gorgeous, and I half want to re-watch immediately to determine some of what he did to drive the story with camera and lighting - with astounding use of technicolor in mostly domestic, not-exotic locations or sets.  This is his final Hollywood melodrama, and I've only seen this one and All That Heaven Allows.  I'm curious to check out more.    

*prior to making this movie, Turner had been caught up in a sensational news story as her mobster boyfriend was killed by her own daughter who was protecting Turner from physical abuse.  Prior to that, Turner was considered one of the sexiest women in film (see: The Postman Always Rings Twice), and arguably Turner was continuing her run of doing quite well in this department with this film.

[virtchandmoir]

senatorovaart: @wcwomensshow 3 days overview… #vancouverevents #artshow #showcasing #firefighters #tessavirtue #bcplace #yvrartist #mastercopy #williamadolphebouguereau #bouguereau #senatorovaart #elenasenatorovaart #artistsoninstagram #artcollector #artforsalebyartist

[cyberbenb]

Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber Flying To US West Coast From Miami In Missile Defense Relocation

Does the video and caption in a social media post accurately portray a B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber flying over Miami as part of the moving of "missile defense systems" to "locations on the U.S. west coast"? No, that's not true: The footage of the military aircraft flying over a Miami beach actually displays an air show tribute for a holiday event -- not an essential and strategic operation.

The claim appeared in a tweet posted on Twitter (archived here) on June 19, 2023, with the caption:

B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber Flying Over Miami

Reports from military sources that missile defense systems are being moved to locations on the U.S. West Coast. 👀

This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of writing:

(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Thur Jun 29 14:05:49 2023 UTC)

While the video seen in this post does display a B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber aircraft, it is not being flown to a location on the "U.S. west coast" in an attempt to move "missile defense systems."

The footage originated from a video published on YouTube on May 27, 2023, and titled "B2 Spirit Bomber at Miami South Beach Airshow 2023 Memorial Days." An edited video of the B-2 is seen in this tweet posted on the Twitter account of the Hyundai Air & Sea Show on May 28, 2023. The caption in the tweet reads:

✈️The @usairforce B-2's graceful maneuvers and cutting-edge design left us in awe of its sheer power and precision. It was a truly unforgettable sight that reminded us of the extraordinary capabilities of our military aircraft.🤩🔥 #USArmySaluteFest #HyundaiAirandSeaShow

In a June 28, 2023, email, a spokesperson for the Hyundai Air & Sea Show confirmed for Lead Stories that the video in the post was taken at the 2023 Hyundai Air & Sea Show and provided this quote from Mickey Markoff, the executive producer of the National Salute to America's Heroes event that includes the show:

The purpose of the Hyundai Air and Sea Show is to bring back the true spirit of Memorial Day and pay tribute to those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our freedom. Consisting of the Hyundai Air and Sea Show, Music Explosion, and U.S Army Salute Fest, it showcases the men and women of our Military, available career opportunities, and our nation's state-of-the-art military technology on display and demonstrating their capabilities.

This year the Hyundai Air and Sea Show had all three of our Air Force bombers in attendance. The B2 flew by, making 3 passes on Saturday, May 27th. Both the B1 and B52 were in attendance on both Saturday and Sunday.

Lead Stories reached out to the U.S. Air Force for a statement concerning this claim and will update this fact check if a response is received.

[xtruss]

The Milky Way appears to the naked eye above Lanyon Quoit, one of many Neolithic sites in Britain’s newest dark sky park. Photograph By Su Bayfield

See The Heavens The Way Ancient Britons Did At This Dark Sky Park

In Cornwall—Home to Hundreds of Neolithic and Bronze Age Structures—‘Archaeoastronomy��� Tours Explore the Link Between the Moon, the Stars, and Human History.

— By Richard Collett | March 14, 2023

In Britain’s newest dark sky park, the celestial tapestry above is deeply connected to an unsually rich archaeological landscape below.

Across Cornwall’s exposed peninsula of storm-ravaged cliffs and wind-blown moors, Neolithic people built stone structures guided by the constellations as long ago as 4000 B.C. In total, about 700 Neolithic and Bronze Age structures across 115 square miles in what is now West Penwith Dark Sky Park have helped shape the landscape of Britain’s southwest. Some structures point to the heavens, others are stacked over burial chambers or built in circles around ritual zones. All sit on a bed of granite veined with copper and tin.

This long-exposure photo shows star trails above Mên-an-Tol (Cornish for “the stone with a hole”) in Cornwall. Women would climb through the hole in the 3,500-year-old granite stone during fertility festivals, such as Imbolc, which marked the start of spring and the onset of new life in the Celtic calendar. Photograph By Duncan Scobie

“This is an ancient landscape with an ancient skyscape, and we can all connect with it in some way,” says astrophysicist Carolyn Kennett, who leads “archaeoastronomy” tours, an emerging interdisciplinary field that investigates the use of astronomy in ancient civilizations.

These “low-light” tours that begin at dusk explore the intertwined nature of the moon, stars, and human history. They’re a unique way to experience this sparsely populated wild coast, with its popular summertime beaches. Walking among ancient structures, travelers connect with local heritage while gazing at the sky above.

The Rise of Astro Tourism in Cornwall

Internationally recognized dark sky areas are nothing new in the United Kingdom. There are 14 total International Dark Sky Parks and International Dark Sky Reserves designated by the International Dark-Sky Association, from parts of Cairngorms National Park in Scotland to South Downs, the newest national park in England.

While West Penwith’s distinct coastal and moorland features have long been protected as part of the wider Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), West Penwithians pushed to preserve the night sky here as well.

“It’s not just about stargazing,” says Sue James, mayor of St. Just, a town in West Penwith, who led the area’s dark sky park committee. Indeed, West Penwith doesn’t even have an observatory. “The International Dark Sky Park is as much about archaeology, wildlife, creative arts, and photography as it is about astronomy.”

In the long term, preserving the night sky helps safeguard an ancient landscape in a modern economy. Any future developments in West Penwith must now limit light pollution.

And that’s just fine with resident Judith Summers, who values the ability to step out into her garden and take a photo of Jupiter on her mobile phone. “The night sky is part of our culture here,” she says. “We don’t want to lose it.”

Land of Giants and Daring Maidens

On a late February afternoon, Kennett leads her first tour of the season in Boskednan Moor, an area with a particularly high density of ancient sites, about five miles east of St. Just in the dark sky park.

By 3:45 p.m., the sun is already dipping low on the horizon. Participants walk a rock-strewn lane sunken into the earth by centuries of footfalls by farmers and livestock. It leads to an ancient granite boundary. In the field just beyond, the Bronze Age (2500-700 B.C.) standing stone, Mên Scryfa, marks the burial place of a king, nobleman, or warrior.

This composite image blends two photographs to depict what remains of St. Helen’s Oratory, in Chapel Field below Cape Cornwall. The ruins are said to date as far back as Roman times. The chapel and the promontory of Cape Cornwall make a dazzling backdrop for the Milky Way in the southwest. Photograph By Su Bayfield

“The stone with writing,” as it’s called in Cornish, points due north to align with Carn Galva, a rocky outcropping capping a hill, or tor. It was an important focal point some 6,000 years ago, says Kennett, and even today is steeped in local mythology.

In the 19th century, William Bottrell wrote in Traditions and Hearthside Stories in West Cornwall, that Carn Galva was inhabited by a friendly giant who protected local villagers from other giants. The tors and rock formations on the moor were the remnants of battles fought between mythological titans that shaped the landscape.

Tales of behemoth beings are commonplace in Celtic cultures like Cornwall’s. Kennett believes that many of these stories are in fact derived from celestial movements over landmarks such as Carn Galva, which could have been the focus of religious ceremonies or processions.

For example, she notes that a Christian version of a local folk story says Boskednan Stone Circle, better known as the Nine Maidens, are the petrified remains of local women who dared dance on the Sabbath. However, Kennett theorizes that this stone arrangement, as well as others on Boskednan Moor, were aligned with celestial movements thousands of years before Christianity arrived in Britain.

One possible explanation is that the circle is a lunar observation site. Viewed from the circle itself, the moon passes directly over Carn Galva at the end of the Metonic cycle, when it returns to its exact starting position every 19 years.

“Lunar events happen first thing in the morning when the sun rises and the moon sets, so your shadow would be long if you were facing Carn Galva from Boskednan Stone Circle,” Kennett notes. “You would become a giant as you walked through barrows towards a tor that could be worshiped as a god, possibly.”

“But West Penwith is full of stories,” she continues. “You have to take them all with a pinch of salt.”

[wewerecore]

CORE presents The Co-Op 2023 - Update #03

This is the third and final update announcing the cards for nights three and four of the CORE Co-Op 2023 taking place on April 1st and April 2nd from the Pico Union Project in Los Angeles, California.

April 1st

UltraMantis Black's Tofu Scramble Madness

We’ve dined on Pancakes And Piledrivers. We’ve attended Big Gay Brunches. We’ve even sipped Rosé All Day. But nothing could prepare us for UltraMantis Black’s Tofu Scramble Madness! Six action packed scramble matches and six delicious tofu scramble options.

The opening contest will be a tag team scramble match and participants include: 2022 New Japan Super Junior Tag League participants and recent Impact Wrestling pairing of KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight (not to be confused with the IWF wrestling trainer of the same name). NWA Wrestling’s Miserably Faithful team of Gaagz The Gymp and Sal The Pal. A team that has made a name for themselves up and down the west coast, Eddie Pearl and Ricky Gibson also known as Midnight Heat. And finally, the break out tag team of early 2023 by way of 1983, The OutRunners of Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd.  

The second scramble match features six women looking to take the next step in their careers. Managed by the man of the hour, UltraMantis Black, his new discovery Giant Baba Yaga will be wrestling her second match of the weekend. Representing Gatoh Move is Mei Suruga, they’ve recently ventured to CMLL and AEW and Mei will be putting all she has learned to the test in this scramble. KiLynn King is one of the hottest free agents on the American women’s wrestling scene; she’ll look to build on her impressive resume here. A veteran of independent women’s wrestling that has found a home on the west coast and improved exponentially as a wrestler in recent years, Delilah Doom. The God of TJPW Raku brings her effervescent charm to this scramble match. The final participant and likely the betting favorite is Trish Adora, a wrestler that has repeatedly proved their mettle against most of the top names on the independent scene today.

Up next will be another tag team scramble. Kevin Blackwood and Alan Angels are a new pairing that have made a handful of impressive showings on the west coast and are looking for their biggest win yet. Bad Dude Tito and Che Cabrera have done it all on the California independent scene and would love to put their skills on display for an international audience. Prince Nana leads his Embassy pairing of Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona into the madness. Much as their forefathers terrorized the rings of New Japan and the coast of Florida, the Gaspar Brothers have taken no prisoners since appearing in CORE and look to continue their swashbuckling in Los Angeles.

The next scramble will be a special Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling showcase featuring four of the top tag teams in TJPW. First, former challengers for the TJPW Princess Tag Team titles looking to climb their way back into contention, Arisu Endo and Suzume better known as Daisy Monkey. The next team have dominated the preliminary tag team scene in TJPW and are looking for a win in this match to climb the ladder, the duo of Hikari Noa and Nao Kakuta also known as Free WiFi. The third team won the 2022 Max Heart Tag Team Tournament, Hakuchumu of Miu Watanabe and Rika Tatsumi. The final team and the runners up in the 2023 Max Heart Tag Team Tournament, Shoko Nakajima and Hyper Misao who team as Kyoraku Kyomei.

The semi-final match will be a special showcase of many of the wrestlers that helped popularize the Scramble Match format. Up first, from the heavens, it’s Jack Evans. Secondly, the world traveled veteran Matt Sydal. Third, the founder of Paparazzi Productions, Alex Shelley. Fourth will be the wild eyed Mark Briscoe. Perhaps no one in wrestling has more scramble match experience than our last two participants from their time representing Special K, participants five and six are Hydro and Slim J.

And the main event will be a dream tag team scramble match you’ll never see anywhere else but at The Co-Op. Representing the DDT office, two future aces and participants in the 2022 Trios Kingdom tournament, MAO and Yuki Ueno. This match will see the one night only reunion of foundational members of both the Burning and the Sternness factions in All Japan Pro-Wrestling and NOAH, Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. In the third corner will be the top faction in CORE, representing The Last Wave will be Josh Alexander and Mr. Takeshita. And finally, led to the ring by The Bunny, it will be The Butcher and The Blade.

UltraMantis Black's Tofu Scramble Madness 01. KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight vs. Miserably Faithful (Gaagz The Gymp and Sal The Pal) (with James Mitchell) vs. Midnight Heat (Eddie Pearl and Ricky Gibson) vs. The OutRunners (Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd) 02. Giant Baba Yaga vs. Mei Suruga vs. KiLynn King vs. Delilah Doom vs. Raku vs. Trish Adora 03. Kevin Blackwood and Alan Angels vs. Wolf Zaddies (Bad Dude Tito and Che Cabrera) vs. The Embassy (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) (with Prince Nana) vs. Gaspar Brothers (Bobby Gaspar and Bucky Gaspar) 04. Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo and Suzume) vs. Free WiFi (Hikari Noa and Nao Kakuta) vs. Hakuchumu (Miu Watanabe and Rika Tatsumi) vs. Kyoraku Kyomei (Shoko Nakajima and Hyper Misao) 05. Jack Evans vs. Matt Sydal vs. Alex Shelley vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Hydro vs. Slim J 06. The 37KAMIINA (MAO and Yuki Ueno) vs. Sternness (Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. The Last Wave (Josh Alexander and Mr. Takeshita) vs. The Butcher and The Blade (with The Bunny)

Terry Funk's WrestleFest 2023 - 75 Years Of Funk

On September 11th of 1997, Terry Funk celebrated 50 years of the Funk family in Amarillo with Terry Funk’s WrestleFest. Now on April 1st 2023, we celebrate 75 Years Of Funk with Terry Funk’s WrestleFest 2023.

Opening the card will be Athena, Raychell Rose, and Queen Aminata facing off against the truly unpredictable trio of the legendary Aja Kong teaming with the current TJPW Princess Tag Team Champions, the Wasteland War Party of Max The Impaler and Heidi Howitzer.

In Terry Funk’s final match in Japan, he was part of a victorious six man tag team with Japanese shoot style legend Masakatsu Funaki. Honoring this partnership as well as the technical wrestling style his brother Dory Funk, Jr. was so well known for, the second match will see Masakatsu Funaki squaring off with Timothy Thatcher.

Next up is tag team action as Texas native and graduate of the Funking Conservatory Westin Blake reunites with Impact Wrestling star Steve Maclin to take on Mance Warner and Manders.  

No mouthpieces allowed in this singles match between Davey Richards and Mark Briscoe.

In the semi-main event, Shane Douglas, Tommy Dreamer, and Rob Van Dam will team up to compete with “Rock Hard” Juice Robinson, Chris Bey, and Ace Austin. It will be Club ECW vs. The Bullet Club

And in the main event, under the supervision of special guest referee Mick Foley, it will be Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston.

Terry Funk's WrestleFest 2023 - 75 Years Of Funk 01. Athena, Raychell Rose, and Queen Aminata vs. Aja Kong, Max The Impaler, and Heidi Howitzer 02. Masakatsu Funaki vs. Timothy Thatcher 03. The Forgotten Sons (Westin Blake and Steve Maclin) vs. Mance Warner and Manders 04. Davey Richards vs. Mark Briscoe 05. Club ECW (Shane Douglas, Tommy Dreamer, and Rob Van Dam) vs. The Bullet Club (Juice Robinson, Chris Bey, and Ace Austin) 06. Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston (special guest referee Mick Foley)

April 2nd

TAKA Michinoku's These Days 2

One of the seminal events in the history of Japanese professional wrestling, in October 1996 the Michinoku Pro promotion presented a card that would popularly be known as “These Days.” In 2023, The Co-Op closes out the weekend with TAKA Michinoku’s These Days 2.

The opening match will feature a European Rounds match between British wrestling legend Johnny Kidd and one of the top young talents on the American wrestling scene, Titus Alexander. This match-up pays tribute to the contest between Johnny Saint and Naohiro Hoshikawa.

The second match will be a women’s tag team match featuring Tokyo Joshi Pro’s 21000000 tag team consisting of Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh taking on JTO’s GIRLS 2 TOP team of Tomoka Inaba and Yuu Yamagata.

Up next, JTO top prospects Ren Ayabe and Fire Katsumi will see how they measure up against the imposing United Empire tag team of Will Ospreay and Jeff Cobb.

In the semi-main event of the evening, the legendary Blue Panther will team with the nephews of the Dynamite Kid, Mark Billington and Thomas Billington to challenge the equally legendary Atlantis who teams with Great Sasuke and Tiger Mask IV. This match-up pays tribute to the Dynamite Kid’s final match when he teamed with Dos Caras and Kuniaki Kobayashi against Mil Mascaras, the original Tiger Mask, and The Great Sasuke.

And in the main event, TAKA Michinoku leads his Just 4 Guys faction with Taichi, DOUKI, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru against the team of Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler YUTA. It will be Just 4 Guys taking on The Blackpool Combat Club.

TAKA Michinoku's These Days 2 01. European Rounds: Johnny Kidd vs. Titus Alexander 02. 21000000 (Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh) vs. GIRLS 2 TOP (Tomoka Inaba and Yuu Yamagata) 03. Ren Ayabe and Fire Katsumi vs. United Empire (Will Ospreay and Jeff Cobb) 04. Blue Panther, Mark Billington, and Thomas Billington vs. Atlantis, Great Sasuke, and Tiger Mask IV 05. Just 4 Guys (TAKA Michinoku, Taichi, DOUKI, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler YUTA)

[basilwb]

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