#February Calendar 2020 Black And White | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

polss · 2 years

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DNC crumbles under Biden pressure to end Alabaster Filter; Predictably does it in most egregious, wrong headed fashion.

I am going to deal with issues of race here. I am 50% white and 50% black, so I am going to right up against that third rail.

On December 2nd, the DNC presented a plan in response to Joe Biden’s letter calling for the end of the DNC’s Alabaster Filter --- starting the election in abnormally white states of Iowa and New Hampshire to erode the perceived viability of minority candidates.

Good Concept, horrific execution

At face value, their changes seem slightly arbitrary and tied to fanciful thought .... AND based on home cooking to thwart any primary challenges to the Democrat currently in power... Basically, what you would tend to expect from Democrats embedded in power.

The DNC rules panel proposal calls for the 2024 presidential calendar to open with South Carolina’s primary on February 3 (SC awarded 54 delegates in 2020), Nevada (36 delegates) and New Hampshire’s (34 delegates) contests on February 6, Georgia’s primary (105 delegates) on February 13 and Michigan’s (125 delegates) on February 27.

Nevada had been third in order and South Carolina fourth. Georgia and Michigan were later in the process.

Early voting status gives some states a feeling of pride and ownership of the choice of candidate and really energizes voters within the state.

Clearly this is a massive rebuke of Iowa who had previously gone first and engaged in a caucus system in which a small minority of residents practiced arcane nonsense to generate a “winner”. Not Democracy at all.

Iowa has also been firmly voting GOP for quite a while now. The DNC finally acknowledged there was no sense in rewarding that and letting them arbitrarily award a fairly toothy stack of 41 delegates to the “whitest” candidate in the field, lol!

One can also see the hand of the DNC trying to reward Georgia voters and make Georgia a consistently more blue state as well as trying to pull Michigan back from it’s recent flirtation with the GOP.

Michigan, Georgia, and South Carolina all have very large African American Democratic voting populations.

Will this even occur?

It seems apparent that some of these changes may not be possible due to legal challenges and/or Republican pushback.

Primary dates are set at the state level. South Carolina allows separate GOP and DEM primaries on whatever date they chose. Nevada passed a law in 2021 dumping their caucus for a primary and setting their date for February 6th, 2024, so that should be fine...Georgia’s Secretary of state is republican and he is charged with having the same date for both GOP and DEM primaries.

Both New Hampshire and Iowa have state laws that specify their order. While it is abundantly clear that neither state legislature should have EVER had the power to dictate it’s sequence to the national party, it is there on the books. New Hampshire’s clearly states they should be the first Primary on the schedule, suggesting they may move up.

There is no information on how the Democrats will address pushback.

Or if they see the problems their changes to prop up Biden 2024 inadvertently creates.

FROM “ALABASTER FILTER” TO “BLACK FILTER”

One could argue that the DNC has overcorrected and now they may be creating a Black Filter (#DNCBLACKFILTER) where the odds are stacked in favor of black candidates (or grandfathered in white candidates like Bill Clinton and Joe Biden) over other white, minority, or Hispanic candidates --- just as much as the previous system was stacked for white candidates.

More DNC home cooking...

Why is this relevant to look at?

Polling on election day 2022 showed that Democratic voters tended to be in favor of Joe Biden being primary challenged or not running in 2024. And this is not new.

August 2022

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3618861-56-percent-of-democrats-say-biden-shouldnt-run-for-reelection-in-2024-poll/

September 2022

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/23/politics/joe-biden-poll-reelection-2024/index.html

December 2022

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/09/majority-of-americans-dont-want-biden-or-trump-to-run-again-in-2024-cnbc-survey-shows.html

https://nypost.com/2022/12/14/just-30-of-voters-say-biden-should-run-for-reelection-poll/

The nut of all these polls is that for quite some time now the majority of Democratic voters (~56-58%) and Independent voters (66%) have thought Biden should not run again. Even with a historically abnormally good midterm for the Democrats, that sentiment has not changed.

There is a heck of a lot of smoke that regardless of how the call for changes with the DNC schedule was packaged for release to the public, this has a lot more to do with guaranteeing a Biden nomination than about addressing inherent racism built into the system.

If you look at how these contests stack up, it seems like this is designed to quickly steamroll any 2024 challengers ahead of Super Tuesday.

Black Democrats are generally more favorable of Biden than other Dems and voters. Biden would be the prohibitive favorite to win Michigan, Georgia, and South Carolina by wide margins. New Hampshire is a regular blue state and as Biden is the president, he is likely to run away with that one too. Only Nevada would really be at risk to a challenger. Biden could easily have 300 delegates+ (like over 80% of the available delegates) entering Super Tuesday.

This looks a lot more like a power grab and a rubber stamp than a correction of a long standing problem.

And there is more.

THE WARNOCK PROBLEM

The trouble is an unelectable black candidate (not a viable black candidate) would probably be in a similar position.

I am not talking about a Barack Obama. I mean a black candidate with real baggage who some black voters have deluded themselves thinking is a real presidential candidate that a non-black voter will support.

Raphael Warnock, lets say.

I’ve heard his name laughably mentioned as a Presidential candidate because people look at how much money he has raised and that alone. That is crack addled thinking.

Warnock HAPPENS to be in a state that is roughly 49/49 with 2 percent voting libertarian that requires a 50% majority to win so both of his elections have had runoffs. Both of his elections have turned out to be “control of the senate” elections that had people from all over the country donating money to him because of what his vote represents, not who he is. THAT is what has allowed him to pull in huge money.

I say laughably, because this is a guy who with a TON of money could only beat a poorly spoken black pro-life Republican who was publically outed for paying for an abortion and trying to push the same woman into a second abortion, running for a white, racist, republican pro life constituency Georgia, by 1%.

He’s that BAD of a candidate.

This is a GLARING problem with the system as proposed.

Warnock would win Michigan, Georgia, and South Carolina because there are more black Dems in those states than white Dems and black Dems will generally support a known black candidate.

He isn’t going to win Nevada or New Hampshire, but count the delegates....he is going to enter Super Tuesday as the presumptive candidate with probably at least a 100 delegate lead on the next candidate...and will get curb stomped in the general election because he is wildly unacceptable to white and moderate voters..

YOU NEED MORE THAN NEVADA TO KEEP THE DNC ON THE RIGHT PATH

Look, Nevada is nicely mixed with a variety of racial groups, but that hardly seems to cut it as far as opening the doors of Democratic power to all races. One can only scratch their head and wonder why a state or territory with a majority Hispanic population was not placed early to also give Democrats a chance to excite Hispanic voters and not push the results in a specific racial direction?

The idea should be that you give little markets and minority populations a chance to filter your pool of candidates.

Is South Carolina going to pronounce a black candidate worthy of carrying the Democratic banner as they did in 2008 with Obama or are they going to say, “No, these black candidates suck” and vote for a white candidate like Joe Biden as they did in 2020.

That is what your early states should do. That should be their role in this process. To perform the role South Carolina performed for the country in the last election. “Who was the best candidate for primarily black South Carolina? Was it a black candidate or would they go with a white candidate or candidate of another race with ties to the community?” Clearly NONE of the field of black candidates polled well enough in South Carolina to hang on. SC effectively both offered a pathway for a black candidate to become a front runner while also vetting whether there was a black candidate in the race who was viable.

You have states that are similarly filled with hispanic or asian voters who can provide a similar vetting process for your candidates or a similar launchpad.

The goal should be to use these primaries to build a more healthy coalition between voters of all races.

The DNC should allow merit based minority candidates to have a springboard into being a frontrunner. They should give an Asian candidate like Andrew Yang a chance to make a bid for widespread approval from all races in later states by potentially running a strong race in a couple states with Asians in it like Nevada early on in the process.... if those voters feel he is a strong candidate.

It should allow an AOC to campaign in a couple early states with a lot of Hispanic voters and be judged by them to see if she is deemed a candidate who could potentially carry a ticket.

And by the same token a state like New Hampshire should be able to make the case “this is the best candidate for white democratic voters” regardless of that candidate’s race.

(But I do agree screw GOP state Iowa with their caucus participants choosing “the least toxic” Dem. Everything should be about who you support, not who you can tolerate.)

THE SYSTEM, WHATEVER IT ENDS UP BEING, IS GOING TO BE LIKE A TRAIN ON RAILS DOWN A SPECIFIC PATH

The trouble is the path has historically been about choosing a white candidate prior to Super Tuesday.

It should be geared to allow a skilled politician of any race to stay in the race and build a national reputation for Super Tuesday. Super Tuesday should then narrow the field to two or three candidates.

I think the changes need to acknowledge a large chunk of voters tend to vote with candidates they can identify with (and often are racially similar to the voter) and that the whole system, if we are honest, is designed to narrow the field to maybe 5 candidates still being “technically” alive on Super Tuesday but with 1-2 way ahead and only those leading candidates having the money to advertise on Super Tuesday.

5-6 states shouldn’t decide what 2 candidates the rest of the country gets.

The pre-Super Tuesday primaries should be about building 3-5 brands that prove to be versatile and last into real Super Tuesday contenders. Super Tuesday will then cut the number to two or three that will play out over the course of the year in the rest of the races as the DNC would prefer to see happen.

It makes sense for the Dems to make the system designed to elevate their brands (making their candidates move valuable known brands in future races) rather than to tear them down.

SO WHAT CONTESTS SHOULD BE AHEAD OF SUPER TUESDAY?

Well, let’s start with Puerto Rico. It is right sized... Why is Puerto Rico with its 51 delegates not in the mix? Large Hispanic Population.... a group the Democratic party struggles to attract....Like with Georgia and Michigan, there is a strong reason for the Dems to push that primary up the list.

Likewise Hawaii with it’s large Asian population would make a lot of sense very, very early in the process partnered with Nevada. There are simply not a lot of states with large Asian populations that are small enough that they don’t overwhelm the system (looking at you California!). Hawaii only generates 24 delegates. You could bundle them with other Island contests.

One can argue that as it is, pushing Georgia and Michigan, a combined 230 delegates after a few small states is no different from throwing California with it’s staggering 415 delegates in before super Tuesday...and California has better attributes with for that role with strong black, white, Hispanic, and Asian Democratic populations....if you wanted to see a minority candidate emerge based on merit prior to super Tuesday, that would seem to be a better solution than adding Georgia and Michigan.

(But I think it makes a lot of sense to keep the big states back at Super Tuesday or later.)

My point is if you are going to push large delegate count Michigan and Georgia forward, you need to have more early primaries watering down their influence.

OK, You want to hear specifics...?

My two cents... If I were part of the rules board, I would totally go along with dumping Iowa as they aren’t ever going to vote Dem in the general election and Caucuses in general are a blight on Democracy.

But...If I were on the rules board, I would feverishly argue for the following as my pre-super Tuesday schedule.

Feb 3 South Carolina (54 delegates )

Feb 6 Nevada, New Hampshire (if it doesn’t move up to the 3rd, which may frankly be optimal) , & Vermont (36+24+16)

Feb 13 Hawaii, American Samoa, Democrats abroad, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the US virgin Islands (24 + 6 + 13 + 7 +5 +7)

Feb 17 Puerto Rico (51) District of Columbia (20)

Feb 20 Virginia (99) Colorado (67)

Feb 24 Michigan (125) New Mexico (34)

Feb 27 Georgia (105) Washington (89)

Why so many races in rapid progression? Well because in the proposed setup there are no races between Georgia on the 13th and Michigan on the 27th.

I don’t want Georgia’s results --- which are going to be either a white male or a black winner to stay on the public’s minds for two weeks... any more than I want Hawaii’s which are probably going to be Asian candidate or a female.

When the latest results sit for that long, they drive the narrative much, much more than they should. An election done in this manner should be a marathon, not 95% of the voting populace being discouraged by the actions a single state took.

I don’t want early states unfairly pushing the narrative more than they should. I don’t want an early state to have a staggering amount of influence over a state that votes after Super Tuesday.

Every state has a certain racial mix. History has proven every state is going to be sympathetic to a candidate of their race. Think of it as a willingness to hear a pitch. If the pitch speaks to them, they probably earn those voters. If the candidate seems non-Presidential, the voters move on to other races. This mix gives pathways to White, Black, Asian, Female, and Independent leaning candidates.

I also do a lot of “balancing” so Georgia and Michigan are not rubber stamps for an unworthy black candidate to unfairly capture the race. (Again, I am not talking about a skilled black candidate like President Obama who could speak compellingly to all races, I am talking about the Reverend Warnocks of the party who are not going to win a national campaign.)

I think it makes sense to structure the race so candidates CAN chose to focus on one state instead of another. I know that might rankle some, but really isn’t that a better scenario than forcing candidates who might have a legit shot at winning the nomination (cough Joe Biden) into wasting money campaigning fruitlessly in a state like Iowa and then letting the results be the status quo for up to two weeks, playing head games with voters in future states?

Give a pathway so skilled politicians can work their way into Super Tuesday conversations by showing they know how to utilize their resources. Don’t blow the wheels off their campaign by making them spend a ton of time in a state where the voters are not receptive to their message.

I also chose states that diminish the power the DNC elite have to shrink the candidate pool. Washington for example is on my list. California was too big, but Washington is just the right size as the second biggest state on the Pacific coast.

The Pacific Coast should absolutely be involved in the “vetting” round, just as the East Coast is with New Hampshire now. Washington is very indy minded as evidenced by their strong support for Bernie even when Joe Biden had all the momentum in 2022.

Let’s play it out

Let’s say Joe Biden gets sick and decides not to run in 2024. The Dems look at Kamala Harris and quickly realize she is still the same candidate who turned an 18% share of the democratic race and all the money you could want into a 3% share in less than a month. For who she is today, she is unelectable. Kind of the Dan Quayle of Democratic VPs.

A host of potentially electable and equally unelectable candidates enter the race. Mayor Pete, Reverend Warnock, Tulsi Gabbard, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Beto O’Rourke, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Kloubachar, and one of the interchangeable Castro Brothers of Texas.

Under the current setup, Warnock probably wins decisively in SC, MI, and GA. Warren and Kloubachar pretty much split the vote in New Hampshire. Polis probably wins Nevada over a very split field.

Warnock might capture 200 of the 284 delegates in those three states and be absolutely shut out in the rest of the states, but your next leading candidate might be Warren with maybe 50 delegates....

That is a recipe for an unenthused Democratic electorate and a shit sandwich on election day.

Now look at it with a bigger runway to Super Tuesday.

Feb 3 - SC - Warnock wins SC (39), Warren second (15).

Feb 6 - NH - Warren builds off SC and wins NH Strongly (18), Kloubachar (6).

VT- Warren wins more independent minded VT by a lesser margin, but the voters largely opt out of the field selecting instead the two candidates who are not there to award delegates.... Gabbard and O’Rourke. Warren (8), Gabbard (5), O’Rourke (3)

NV - Tulsi Gabbard, having run previously, knew she wasn’t going to win SC or NH, so she doubled down on NV ignoring the other two and with promising Hawaii looming, wins the state handily over Beto who had the same strategy. Mayor Pete and Governor Polis who competed in New Hampshire as well would find they split the vote. Gabbard (24), Beto (9), Polis (2) Mayor Pete (1)

Feb 10 - HI & Islands - Gabbard wins Hawaii and most of the island vote handily. Warren also plays off momentum to finish second. Polis again shows. Gabbard (32) Warren (15), Polis (2)

DA - Warren takes the “democrats abroad” vote with Gabbard in second. Warren (8) Gabbard (5).

(I know... This is not the kind of results you would expect because we are used to a candidate like Gabbard being denied media time and being actively taken down by the DNC as their followings are largely indy and GOP voters instead of allowed to rise based on her merit. Either a Gabbard or an Andrew Yang could pull off these results in this structure where they are not being ostracized by the DNC for rudely expanding the party.)

Tally: At this point its Gabbard 66, Warren 64, Warnock 39, Beto 12, Kloubachar 6, Polis 4, Mayor Pete 1.

Narrative: It has been 10 days since Warnock has won anything and Gabbard and Warren are looking presidential. A good African American candidate would have added to their SC win, but Warnock would not be able to and it would end up eating away at his support in future states. Warnock is politically smart enough to realize he has little primary support in states with no black population so he would likely be campaigning in the next market with a sizeable black population ---- DC.)

Feb 13 - With options with different characteristics, candidates would chose the more likely profitable race.

Puerto Rico - After his strong showing in Nevada, Beto would go all in after Puerto Rico. His rival, random Castro brother, would go all in as well, likely trying to run a negative campaign against Beto. The timeframe would not allow that strategy to succeed. Puerto Ricans would gravitate to the Spanish speaking, optimistic O'Rourke. The comely Gabbard would ride in on her momentum and impress the residents with her charm, beauty, and presidential stature. (You can dislike me acknowledging it, but those characteristics do sway a large chunk of male voters.) Those voters that Castro turned off Beto would largely go to Gabbard. Beto 42, Gabbard 7, Castro 2

DC - The much more dynamic Warren would descend on DC on a wave of momentum and erase much of Warnock’s softening support. Her deeper local ties would carry the day. Polis would capture a token bit of the gay vote. Warren 10, Warnock 7, Polis 3

Tally: Warren 74, Gabbard 73, Beto 54, Warnock 46, Polis 7, Kloubachar 6, Castro 2, Mayor Pete 1.

Narrative: At this point, Governor Polis has proved himself to be “a better Mayor Pete”. The money is drying up for Kloubachar, Castro, and Mayor Pete. They all drop out. Beto has proven that he can win a race and can capture the Hispanic voter. Gabbard and Warren are surging, Warnock is floundering, and Beto...is interesting.

Feb 17 - With a choice between two distinct regions, the front runners again chose to narrow focus and chose one state.

Virginia - Fresh off her win in DC, Warren slides her operation into neighboring Virginia. She continues to eat into Warnock’s support, but she is surprised to see a candidate eating into her support --- O’Rourke pulling double duty with a fresh influx of money carrying his message of optimism exclusively in TV ads in the DC market. He wins a little more than he should just over sexism. (Again, something that happens.) Polis finishes fourth. Warren 48, Warnock 25, O’Rourke 18, Polis 6, Gabbard 2

Colorado governor Polis wins his state, but the margin over the red hot candidates Gabbard and O’Rourke makes it a pyric victory. Gabbard knows she doesn’t have a lot of allies in DC so she goes hard after Colorado. O’Rourke need to prove he can win white votes so he also goes hard after Colorado. Polis 21, Gabbard 18, O’Rourke 15, Warnock 6, Warren 6

Tally: Warren 128, Gabbard 93, Beto 87, Warnock 77, Polis 34,

Narrative: It is becoming increasingly clear that Warnock has nothing beyond the black vote and he is rapidly losing that. Polis likely drops out knowing that he is already too far behind to pull the money for a valid Super Tuesday push.

February 24th - Tulsi realizes she can’t spend another cycle conceding the bigger prize to Warren. She pushes her chips all on Michigan. Her longstanding reputation among Fox News watchers serves her well in the state. She is able to paint Warren as “out of touch” and “overly liberal” and Warnock as “ineffective” and she captures a big victory capturing the majority of both white and black voters in the state. In a testy showdown between the front runners, Warnock is lost in the crowd and O’Rourke’s optimistic media push pays some dividends. Gabbard (55), Warren (35), Warnock (20), O’Rourke (15).

O’Rourke alone choses to personally campaign in New Mexico with Polis running out of money. As an EL Paso based candidate, he is a very familar brand in southern New Mexico and along the Texas border. He wins big selling the message that he care about “the forgotten Americans”. O’Rourke (27), Warren (4), Gabbard (3)

Tally: Warren 167, Gabbard 151, Beto 130, Warnock 97

Narrative: Warnock is dead in the water. He seems to be angling for a VP spot, but doesn’t seem to merit it over the other three. Most think it is a two candidate race, but Beto is widely viewed by campaign analysts as “clearly finding his feet”.

February 27: Georgia. On his home turf Warnock is finally able to scrape out a win, but it becomes very obvious that Warnock is less popular than the DNC brand in general and all four candidates prove capable of charming a southern voter. O’Rourke is once more the beneficiary of anti-female voting. Warnock 42, O’Rourke 25, Warren 20, Gabbard 19.

Washington. Indy minded Washington responds to Gabbard’s vision of a radically different, less militant America and Beto’s vision of a warmer country. Warren still does OK, but generally only with the older crowd. Warnock choses to only campaign in Georgia. Gabbard 35, Beto 30, Warren 22, Warnock 2

Tally: Warren 209, Gabbard 205, Beto 185, Warnock 141

Narrative: No one is running away with this race. Every potential DEM voter is engaged. No one feels swindled. Debates will continue and be very compelling long past Super Tuesday. It seems fairly likely one of the two women (the white insider or the Asian outsider) will win and they will have a choice between a candidate with the support of the rest of the female voting block, one with black support, or one with Hispanic and male support.

And that is just one way it could work out. If you have candidates that appeal widely beyond their racial origins like President Obama, one or two fewer candidates may be in the running on Super Tuesday.

Doesn’t that seem like a much healthier position for the DNC every election cycle than letting the Warnocks of the planet simply inherit the earth because they happen to be black?

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sam-spills-alot · 5 years

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#leap year #leap day #february 29 #february #2020 #black and white #text #month #year #day #29 #calendar #simple #leap

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tipsycad147 · 3 years

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Chinese New Year

By shirleytwofeathers

According to historical documents, on the day when Shun, who was one of ancient China’s mythological emperors, came to the throne more than 4000 years ago, he led his ministers to worship heaven and earth. From then on, that day was regarded as the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar. This is the basic origin of Chinese New Year.

The new year is by far the most important festival of the Chinese lunar calendar. A long time ago, the emperor determined the start of the New Year. Today, celebrations are based on Emperor Han Wu Di’s almanac. It uses the first day of the first month of the Lunar Year as the start of Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year always occurs in January or February on the second new moon after the winter solstice, though on occasion it has been the third new moon.

The holiday is a time of renewal, with debts cleared, new clothes bought, shops and homes decorated, and families gathered for a reunion dinner. Enjoying extravagant foods with family and friends is arguably the cornerstone of the occasion, along with receiving the ubiquitous red envelopes full of cash (called lai see in Cantonese, or hongbao in Mandarin).

Chinese New Year is marked by fireworks, traditional lion dances, gift giving, and special foods. This is one of the most important holidays. It is observed all over the world. Similar celebrations occur in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival. The “Spring Festival” in modern Mainland China, is China’s most important traditional festival, this public holiday starts on the Chinese New Year, and lasts for 7 days.

About The Chinese Calendar

The Chinese Calendar is a based on the cycles of the moon. The start of the New Year begins anywhere from late January to mid-February. A complete lunar cycle takes 60 years. It is composed of five cycles that are 12 years each. Each 12-year segment is named after an animal.

According to legend, Buddha called all the animals to him before he departed from earth. Only twelve came and as a reward to them, he named the years after them in the order they arrive (the order is listed below). It is believed the animal ruling of the year you are born effects your personality and “it is the animal that hides in your heart”.

The Chinese calendar uses the stem-branch system. The branches are the 12 years. There are ten stems that are used in the counting system. The stems are metal, water, wood, fire and soil; each having a yin and a yang side. There are a lot more intricacies in the system, but you should also know that the elements correlate to colors. Metal=white or golden, water=black, wood=green, fire=red, and soil=brown.

When you put all of this together you end up with the following:

2007 is the Year of the Red Pig

2008 is the Year of the Brown Rat

2009 is the Year of the Brown Ox

2010 is the Year of the White or Golden Tiger

2011 is the Year of the White or Golden Rabbit

2012 is the Year of the Black Dragon

2013 is the Year of the Black Snake

2014 is the Year of the Green Horse

2015 is the Year of the Green Sheep

2016 is the Year of the Red Monkey

2017 is the Year of the Red Rooster

2018 is the Year of the Brown Dog

2019 is the Year of the Brown Pig

2020 is the Year of the White Rat

Which Chinese zodiac animal are you?

According to the Asian astrology, your year of birth – and the animal this represents – determines a lot about your personality traits. Find the year you were born, and you can figure out which animal in the Chinese Zodiac is yours. The animal changes at the beginning of the Chinese New Year, and traditionally these animals were used to date the years.

Remember, Chinese New Year is a movable celebration, dictated by the lunar cycle, which can fall anytime between January 21 and February 20. So, if you were born during that time, you may need to do some research to figure out which animal applies to you.

Rat: 2008, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960, 1948

Ox: 2009, 1997, 1985, 1973, 1961, 1949

Tiger: 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950

Rabbit: 2011, 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963, 1951

Dragon: 2012, 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964, 1952

Snake: 2013, 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965, 1953

Horse: 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954

Goat: 2015, 2003, 1991, 1979, 1967, 1955

Monkey: 2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968, 1956

Rooster: 2017, 2005, 1993, 1981, 1969, 1957

Dog: 2018, 2006, 1994, 1982, 1970, 1958

Pig: 2019, 2007, 1995, 1983, 1971, 1959

Traditions

Traditions observed during the New Year stem from legends and practices from ancient times. Legend tells of a village, thousands of years ago, that was ravaged by Nian, an evil monster, one winter’s night. The following year the monster returned and again ravaged the village. Before it could happen a third time, the villagers devised a plan to scare the monster away.

The colour red protects against evil. Red banners were hung everywhere. Firecrackers were set off, and people banged on drums and gongs creating loud noises to scare the beast away. The plan worked. The celebration lasted several days during which people visited with each other, exchanged gifts, danced, and ate tasty food. Today, celebrations last two weeks.

The red posters with poetic verses on it were initially a type of amulet, but now it simply means good fortune and joy. Various Chinese New Year symbols express different meanings. For example, an image of a fish symbolizes “having more than one needs every year”. A firecracker symbolizes “good luck in the coming year”. The festival lanterns symbolize “pursuing the bright and the beautiful.”

Preparing for the New Year

Spring cleaning is started about a month prior to the new year and must be completed before the celebrations begin. All the negativity and bad luck from the previous year must be swept out of the house.

Many people clean their homes to welcome the Spring Festival. They put up the red posters with poetic verses on it to their doors, Chinese New Year pictures on their walls, and decorate their homes with red lanterns. It is also a time to reunite with relatives so many people visit their families at this time of the year.

People also get haircuts and purchase new clothing. It symbolizes a fresh start. Flowers and decorations are purchased. Decorations include a New year picture (Chinese colored woodblock print), Chinese knots, and paper-cuttings, and couplets.

Flowers have special meanings and the flower market stocks up on:

Plum blossom for luck

Kumquats for prosperity

Narcissus for prosperity

Sunflowers to have a good year

Eggplant to heal sickness

Chom mon planta for tranquility

Offerings are made to the Kitchen God about a week before the New Year.

On The Eve of The Spring Festival

The Annual Reunion Dinner, Nian Ye Fan, is held on the eve of the festival. This is an important part of the celebration. Families come together and eat together. The food is symbolic. Many dishes have ingredients that sound the same as good tidings. In northern China, dumplings are served at midnight, they symbolize wealth.

In the evening of the Spring Festival Eve, many people set off fireworks and firecrackers, hoping to cast away any bad luck and bring forth good luck. Children often receive “luck” money. Many people wear new clothes and send Chinese New Year greetings to each other. Various activities such as beating drums and striking gongs, as well as dragon and lion dances, are all part of the Spring Festival festivities.

The dragon dance is a highlight in the celebrations. A team of dances mimic the movements of the dragon river spirit. Dragons bring good luck.

Lions are considered good omens. The lion dance repels demons. Each lion has two dancers, one to maneuver the head, the other to guide the back. Business owners offer the lions a head of lettuce and oranges or tangerines. The offerings hope to insure a successful year in business. Lettuce translates into “growing wealth” and tangerines and oranges sound like “gold” and “wealth” in Chinese. The lions eat the oranges, then spew them up and out into the hordes of people who eagerly tried to catch the them. After eating the lettuce, they spit out it out in a thousand pieces.

During the New Year

Red packets called Lai See Hong Bao (or Hongbao) with money tucked inside are given out as a symbol of good luck. The amount is an even number as odd numbers are regarded as unlucky.

Bright red lanterns are hung.

Brooms and cleaning material are put away. No cleaning takes place during the holiday so no good luck is swept out of the home.

During the New Year celebrations people do not fight and avoid being mean to each other, as this would bring a bad, unlucky year.

Bright colors and red are worn.

Everyone celebrates their birthday this day and they turn one year older.

Traditional red oval shaped lanterns are hung.

The end of the New Year is celebrated with the Lantern Festival.

Top Ten Taboos for The Chinese New Year

The Spring Festival is a time of celebration. It’s to welcome the new year with a smile and let the fortune and happiness continue on. At the same time, the Spring Festival involves somber ceremonies to wish for a good harvest. Strict rules and restrictions go without saying.

To help you with that, here are the top 10 taboos during the Chinese New Year. Follow these and fortune will smile on you.

1. Do not say negative words

All words with negative connotations are forbidden! These include: death, sick, empty, pain, ghost, poor, break, kill and more. The reason behind this should be obvious. You wouldn’t want to jinx yourself or bring those misfortunes onto you and your loved ones.

2. Do not break ceramics or glass

Breaking things will break your connection to prosperity and fortune. If a plate or bowl is dropped, immediately wrap it with red paper while murmuring auspicious phrases. Some would say 岁岁平安 (suì suì píng ān). This asks for peace and security every year. 岁 (suì) is also a homophone of 碎, which means “broken” or “shattered.” After the New Year, throw the wrapped up shards into a lake or river.

3. Do not clean or sweep

Before the Spring Festival, there is a day of cleaning. That is to sweep away the bad luck. But during the actual celebration, it becomes a taboo. Cleaning or throwing out garbage may sweep away good luck instead.

If you must, make sure to start at the outer edge of a room and sweep inwards. Bag up any garbage and throw it away after the 5th day. Similarly, you shouldn’t take a shower on Chinese New Year’s Day.

4. Do not use scissors, knives or other sharp objects

There are 2 reasons behind this rule. Scissors and needles shouldn’t be used. In olden times, this was to give women a well-deserved break.

Sharp objects in general will cut your stream of wealth and success. This is why 99% of hair salons are closed during the holidays. Hair cutting is taboo and forbidden until Lunar February 2, when all festivities are over.

5. Do not visit the wife’s family

Traditionally, multiple generations live together. The bride moves into the groom’s home after marriage. And, of course, she will celebrate Chinese New Year with her in-laws.

Returning to her parents on New Year’s Day means that there are marriage problems and may also bring bad luck to the entire family. The couple should visit the wife’s family on the 2nd day. They’d bring their children, as well as a modest gift (because it’s the thought that counts).

6. Do not demand debt repayment

This custom is a show of understanding. It allows everyone a chance to celebrate without worry. If you knock on someone’s door, demanding repayment, you’ll bring bad luck to both parties. However, it’s fair game after the 5th day. Borrowing money is also taboo. You could end up having to borrow the entire year.

7. Avoid fighting and crying

Unless there is a special circumstance, try not to cry. But if a child cries, do not reprimand them. All issues should be solved peacefully. In the past, neighbors would come over to play peacemaker for any arguments that occurred. This is all to ensure a smooth path in the new year.

8. Avoid taking medicine

Try not to take medicine during the Spring Festival to avoid being sick the entire year. Of course, if you are chronically ill or contract a sudden serious disease, immediate health should still come first. Related taboos include the following ~ Don’t visit the doctor, Don’t perform/undergo surgery, Don’t get shots

9. Do not give New Year blessings to someone still in bed

You are supposed to give New Year blessings (拜年—bài nián). But let the recipient get up from bed first. Otherwise, they’ll be bed-ridden for the entire year. You also shouldn’t tell someone to wake up. You don’t want them to be rushed around and bossed around for the year. Take advantage of this and sleep in!

10. Chinese gift-giving taboos

It was mentioned above that you should bring gifts when paying visits. It’s the thought that counts, but some gifts are forbidden.

Clocks are the worst gifts. The word for clock is a homophone (sounds like) “the funeral ritual”. Also, clocks and watches are items that show that time is running out.

Items associated with funerals – handkerchiefs, towels, chrysanthemums, items colored white and black.

Sharp objects that symbolize cutting a tie (i.e. scissors and knives).

Items that symbolize that you want to walk away from a relationship (examples: shoes and sandals)

Mirrors

Homonyms for unpleasant topics (examples:green hats because “wear a green hat” sounds like “cuckold”, “handkerchief” sounds like “goodbye”, “pear” sounds like “separate”, and “umbrella” sounds like “disperse”).

Some regions have their own local taboos too. For example, in Mandarin, “apple” (苹果) is pronounced píng guǒ. But in Shanghainese, it is bing1 gu, which sounds like “passed away from sickness.”

These don’t just apply to the Spring Festival, so keep it in the back of your mind!

For the Spring Festival, these rules may seem excessive. Especially when you add in the cultural norms, customs and manners. But like a parent would say, they are all for your own good. Formed over thousands of years, these taboos embody the beliefs, wishes and worries of the Chinese people.

Foods For The New Year

Dishes may vary slightly according to regional and family customs. Dumplings (gau ji) are more commonly served in the north of China, while Hong Kong families often go for a dim sum meal.

Food symbolism goes back centuries in China, and is taken very seriously on special occasions such as Lunar New Year. All food items have their symbolic meanings which, for Hongkongers, are often derived from their Cantonese homonyms. For instance, the Cantonese word for lettuce – sang choi – sounds very similar to the phrase which means “growing wealth”. Of course, nothing considered “unlucky” is allowed near the dining table.

By carefully choosing the menu in this way, families will supposedly be able to increase their luck and manifest their wishes for the coming year, whether those be earning more money or having more children.

Red meat is not served and one is careful not to serve or eat from a chipped or cracked plate. Fish is eaten to ensure long life and good fortune. Red dates bring the hope for prosperity, melon seeds for proliferation, and lotus seeds means the family will prosper through time. Oranges and tangerines symbolize wealth and good fortune. Nian gao, the New Year’s Cake is always served. It is believed that the higher the cake rises the better the year will be. When company stops by a “prosperity tray” is served. The tray has eight sides (another symbol of prosperity) and is filled with goodies like red dates, melon seeds, cookies, and New Year Cakes.

Here the origins of some traditional Chinese festival foods and their often quirky symbolic meanings.

Lettuce for the lion dance

No traditional Lunar New Year celebration is complete without the famous lion dance, which is thought to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits. Performers wearing the traditional lion costume normally dance through the streets to the sound of gongs and drums. When the lion briefly stops at houses and businesses along the way, it will “eat” lettuce that is hung up outside the doors, since the humble vegetable symbolizes “growing fortune”. Inside the head of the lettuce will often be a red envelope, further emphasizing its significance.

Dried oysters and ‘hair vegetable’ stir-fry

This unusual but lucky dish is named ho see fat choy in Cantonese, which sounds a lot like the words meaning “flourishing business”. For an extra dose of luck, ho see (oyster) on its own sounds similar to the Cantonese for “good things” or “good business”, while fat choy (hair vegetable) sounds similar to “prosperity”, as in the traditional Lunar New Year greeting kung hei fat choi. What’s more, the expensive “hair vegetable”, which looks like strands of black hair, is actually a type of fungus. But that doesn’t put off Cantonese restaurants from serving the auspicious dish at Lunar New Year.

Egg noodles, or yi mein

This classic dish of stir-fried egg noodles is often served at formal dinners during Lunar New Year and other festivals, as it symbolises longevity. The chef must not cut the noodle strands to preserve their length. For this reason, yi mein is often eaten at birthday celebrations too – kind of like the Chinese equivalent of a candle-lit birthday cake.

Glutinous rice cake, or neen go

The Cantonese term for this traditional sticky treat sounds the same as the literal words “year high”, which symbolize the promise of a better year to come. Families may eat this for several reasons: wanting to have a higher income, higher social status or even more children. Rice cake can be cooked in a variety of ways, and can be sweet or savory. Historical records date the yearly custom to at least 1,000 years ago, in the days of the Liao dynasty (AD907-1125). If there’s one thing that is unmissable from every family’s Lunar New Year feast in all parts of China and Hong Kong, it must be this dish.

‘Basin food’, or poon choi

Originating from the walled villages of the New Territories, this traditional celebratory dish soon spread throughout Hong Kong and later China. Legend has it that the early settlers in the New Territories would pool together their most prized ingredients – meat and seafood – in a big wooden washbasin and cook them to be served to the whole village. The communal dish required huge efforts of co-ordination and manpower to cook, so it quickly became associated with celebrations and religious rituals. Each village had its own secret poon choi recipe consisting of various ingredients layered in a particular order in the pot, but the dish is now found in most Cantonese restaurants on special occasions.

Lotus root soup, or leen gnau tong

The fleshy, tuber-like roots of the lotus flower have been a staple of Chinese cooking for millennia, and traditionally symbolise “abundance”, since the Cantonese term sounds like “having [money] year after year”. The ingredient is also prized for its supposed “cooling” effect on the body, according to traditional Chinese medicine. Lotus root soup, or alternatively stir-fried lotus root, is commonly eaten at Lunar New Year for these reasons.

Dim sum

Another Cantonese food tradition that is now common in the West is dim sum. The phrase literally means “a light touch of the heart” or “a little bit of heart”. This reflects the care and attention put into each bite-sized dish that is shared between the table, such as har gau (shrimp dumplings), various types of filled buns, and cheung fun (rice noodle rolls). Like a Chinese take on brunch, dim sum is often served at lengthy afternoon yum cha sessions in tea houses. But Hongkongers often go for an even more lavish version of this meal around Lunar New Year.

Auspicious Greetings

The Chinese New Year is often accompanied by loud, enthusiastic greetings, often referred to as auspicious words or phrases. New Year couplets printed in gold letters on bright red paper is another way of expressing auspicious new year wishes. The most common auspicious greetings and sayings consist of four characters, such as the following:

金玉滿堂 Jīnyùmǎntáng – “May your wealth [gold and jade] come to fill a hall”

大展鴻圖 Dàzhǎnhóngtú – “May you realize your ambitions”

迎春接福 Yíngchúnjiēfú – “Greet the New Year and encounter happiness”

萬事如意 Wànshìrúyì – “May all your wishes be fulfilled”

吉慶有餘 Jíqìngyǒuyú – “May your happiness be without limit”

竹報平安 Zhúbàopíng’ān – “May you hear [in a letter] that all is well”

一本萬利 Yīběnwànlì – “May a small investment bring ten-thousandfold profits”

福壽雙全 Fúshòushuāngquán – “May your happiness and longevity be complete”

招財進寶 Zhāocáijìnbǎo – “When wealth is acquired, precious objects follow”

These greetings or phrases may also be used just before children receive their red packets, when gifts are exchanged, when visiting temples, or even when tossing the shredded ingredients of yusheng particularly popular in Malaysia and Singapore. Children and their parents can also pray in the temple, in hopes of getting good blessings for the new year to come.

Sources:

Web Holidays

Chinese New Year

Wikipedia

https://shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/pagancalendar/category/january-holidays/

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tsushimanoonryo · 4 years

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Get to know the mun!

I meant to post this yesterday, but I accidentally took a 3 hour nap after my appointment.

name/nickname: Kimi

gender: cis-Female

star sign: In the western zodiac, I’m Aquarius. Growing up, those little placemats at Chinese restaurants said my eastern zodiac animal was Dragon. However, if you look at the dates of the lunar calendar, I missed out by a few days. I’m a Fire Rabbit!

birthday: February 13th (THIS SATURDAY, HOMIES)

favourite bands: The Phenomenauts, Awich, Coeur de Pirate, They Might Be Giants, The Black Keys, Zombina and the Skeletones, Blondie, The Clash, The Go! Team, Reel Big Fish, The Aquabats, She and Him, Shonen Knife, The White Stripes

Song stuck in my head: "Out of my Head” by: Fastball

last movie: My husband and I recently rewatched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

last show: New Girl

when I created this blog: Summer 2020, shortly before I actually beat Ghost of Tsushima, lol. I couldn’t wait to play my samurai son.

last thing I googled: "yakuza Arai” because he was mentioned in a fic I was reading and I couldn’t remember who he was.

why did I choose this url: It has actually gone through 2 changes. When I started this blog, it was tsushima-no-goryo because goryo was a type of vengeful Japanese ghost that is specifically from the aristocratic class (which Jin, as nephew of the jito, very much is). However, I changed it shortly after because goryo are mostly martyrs and Jin isn’t that. Onryo are the scary, angry ghosts everyone is mostly familiar with (think Sadako from Ringu or Kayako from Ju-on), and I liked the idea of Jin being scary because by the time he goes full ghost mode, he scares the shit out of the Mongols. So I changed it to tsushima-no-onryo to reflect that. And then, like... I think it was last week? I took the dashes out to make it easier for me to track my tag. So I’m settled on tsushimanoonryo and I don’t plan on changing it any time soon.

average hours of sleep: About 7-8. I am a big baby and I need my rest.

lucky number(s): I like even numbers and fives (which somehow count as an even number in my OCD/Tourette’s brain). (Yes, I’ve officially been diagnosed, I’m not just throwing those terms around for funsies).

instruments: I taught myself how to play ukulele and guitar a little. I’m not great at them because I’ll play really intensely for like 2 months at a time, then not touch it for a year. I can also pick out a few songs on piano, but I can’t read sheet music.

what i’m wearing: Black ballet flats, maroon pants, a black undershirt, a grey and black plaid top, a silver watch, silver earrings, my glasses, and a facemask that looks like a 1990s arcade floor.

dream trip: Japan, Japan, Japan!!!!

favourite food: yes

favourite song: Currently it’s “Bad Bad” by: Awich, but I like a lot of music and my favorite song can change depending on my mood.

top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in: I don’t really like Lord of the Rings that much, but I do want to be a hobbit. So if I could just live in a hobbit hole and not do anything all day, I’d pick that for my number one. I don’t care about elves and orcs and shit. I just want my second breakfast. The second universe I’d like to live in is the Mass Effect universe. I want to meet my true love, Garrus Vakarian and divorce my husband so we can be together. The third one? Uhh....I don’t know. Most of the universes in my fandoms kinda fucking suck and I would not want to live in them. Would it be cheating to pick the weird, fictionalized version of Japan in the Yakuza games? I mean, it’s mostly like ours, but there’s a bunch of weird side story bullshit going on that would be pretty funny to be involved in.

tagged by: @shieldsfilemistress

tagging: @odatodeath, @akechijubeimitsuhide, @savageorchids, @hxrbingxr, literally anyone else who wants to do this who hasn’t already done it.

#ooc #munday #belated munday #meme #memes

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whumpfigure · 4 years

Note

For the ask game: 3, 5, 13 and 33 if you want to? :)

3. When is your birthday?

February 24th, 2002. But this it will be February 23rd because of 2020 being a leap year. We use a different calendar system in Iran, and my birthday in that system is Esfand 5th, which will be February 23rd this year, but February 24th the other years. Sorry if this was confusing, haha. I suppose just saying it was February 24th was enough.

5. What is your favorite color?

I'd say lighter shades of blue, but I barely own anything that of that color so I'm not sure if it's qualified, haha.

13. What talents do you have?

I'm the definition of "jack of all traits but master of none", lmao. I'd say I'm good at studying, but not the best. I can draw, but not professionally. I can write, but it's not a talent. I can skate, and I'm somewhat flexible, but still these are not great either.

So I guess my talent is doing so many things in basic levels, haha.

33. What do you typically have for breakfast?

A very typical Iranian breakfast! Black tea and sugar, bread, white cheese(usually feta), sometimes butter, veryyy rarely jam and honey. But when I'm feeling lazy I just opt for a bowl of cereals.

#thanks for the ask!

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fivestarstudying · 5 years

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An introduction / Frequently asked questions / @fivestarstudy_

Hi! I am Edith, 19 years old, turning 20 this February (2020).

I was born and raised in Transylvania, Romania, and some might say I’m a vampire. I lack all the qualities of one, besides the color of my skin, but I am sure I would be a good one with enough practice :D

Ethnicity: Hungarian, nationality: Romanian.

I am currently enrolling into the 2nd sem of the 1st year at UBB, Cluj Napoca, where I study Cultural Anthropology. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_anthropology). I live in a dorm, with 3 other girls, and they are the best roommates I could get. I often travel home on the weekends, or whenever I don’t have classes, so you see me on the train a lot.

In the summertime you see me post about my orange desk, at home, with all the fairy lights and illustrations, and when it is uni time, you’ll see me post about this grey desk, from the common study room of my dormitory. I loved drawing since I was a kid, and a way for me to satisfy the creative side of my brain, is to draw on my pictures. I find soo much joy in it!! I sometimes create printables as well, but I need to learn more.

Okay, enough of me, now into the most asked questions. PLS READ THIS before asking. If you still have questions pop into my dm’s <3

🌷 EDITING / DIGITAL STUFF

1. What apps do you use to edit your pictures?

Lightroom – light adjusting, color correction, etc. (FREE)

Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adobe-lightroom-photo-editor/id878783582 Autodesk Sketchbook – doodles. (FREE)

Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autodesk-sketchbook/id883738213 I have an IG TV video where I show my process.

Link: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B1HJR4XB94E/

2. Do you use a pencil or do I need a pencil to draw on pictures?

Nope. I only use my fingers *khm*. The secret is to zoom in a lot. I MEAN A LOT LOT.

3. What app do you use to create your printables?

Adobe Photoshop & Adobe InDesign

4. What do you take your photos with?

An iPhone SE.

5. What kind of laptop do you have?

It is an ASUS Vivo Book S14.

Intel Core i5, 8th generation, 8gb RAM, and it is light as a feather. (~1,2kg)

🌷 APPS and such

1. What is your screensaver? How can I get it?

It is a Chrome Extension, called Momentum Dash. (FREE)

Link: https://momentumdash.com/

2. Where is that black and white calendar wallpaper from?

Link: fivestarstudying.tumblr.com

3. How can I add you on Forest?

Email: [email protected]

🌷 RANDOM

1. Do you have a YT channel? Are you planning on creating one?

I have one, but I don’t post anything on it. There are many reasons, a few being: I can’t edit videos properly, I don’t have what to film with. Also, I don’t think video creating, in general, is my style, so much likely I won’t have videos on Youtube. A few here in there on IG TV, but that's it for now. But we’ll see what the future holds ;)

2. Do you have an Etsy shop/Patreon etc.?

Nope, and I am not planning on creating one soon. If I ever decide to create one, I want to make sure that I deliver quality products/content, and I don’t have the time right now for that, nor the skillset. It is flattering that you guys would like to support me on other platforms as well, but right now it would be too much pressure, even though I would love to create, because I’ve been drawing my whole life, and grew up loving art. But I also believe that everything has its time and we have to be patient with ourselves. <3

In the meantime, if you want to, you can show your support by interacting with my content on Instagram, using hashtag #fivestarstudy, and using my printables.

🌷 STUDYING / MOTIVATION

1. How do you motivate yourself to get up and study/do your work/be productive?

Well, not sure. It is different every time.

But I noticed that there is a pattern.

I know that I have to do so many things. I get stressed, that I don’t have enough time to do it, so I think I might as well don’t start. I realize that that’s no way to approach things. I sit down and plan my day in my Bullet Journal. I plan out how I will spend every hour. I put on a 1-hour tree on Forest and start doing the work. I rest. Repeat until I’m done. I also reward myself with chocolate, a youtube video, a shower, a nap.

It is this simple, and there is no magic behind it.

2. How do you plan?

I have an A5 sized Bullet Journal, where I plan out my month in advance with a 2-page calendar, then I create daily logs, leaving enough space for every day to plan. I write down important dates such as paper due dates, exam dates, when will a package arrive, dates, etc. and I plan my days around them.

#faq

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oha--asa · 5 years

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February 7, 2020

Cancer › Boa coat › Grey

Pisces › Ganache › Beige

Scorpio › Etiquette brush › Brown

Virgo › Letter › Purple

Taurus › Running › Pink

Capricorn › Takoyaki › Gold

Aries › Daikon radish › Green

Leo › Concert › Black

Aquarius › Interior goods › Orange

Libra › Bay area › Navy

Gemini › Sports towel › Silver

Sagittarius › Calendar › White

#oha asa #oha asa horoscopes #oha--asa #lucky item #lucky color #kuroko no basuke #kurobasu #kuroko no basket #cancer

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lovehaswonangelnumbers · 4 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/planet-alert-july-2020/

Planet Alert July 2020

By Mahala’s Astrology

In my last article I talked about the July 4th eclipse. We are starting to move into that energy now which is a lunar full moon eclipse on July 4th at 9:29 PM PDT. This is on Saturday night and the sun will be on 13 degrees Cancer, which is right over Washington D.C. The moon will be on 13 degrees Capricorn which is over China. This is going to be a powerful full moon and with the sun over Washington D. C. I am sure there will be more chaos caused by our leaders. Mars will be in Aries on this eclipse so please keep your cool. Mars is considered the war planet and rules anger. A week after this full moon Mars will be squaring this eclipse degree and may trigger more strong energy. In other words, the energy from the end of June until July 14 will be a very intense time period.

This eclipse is on 13 degrees. The number 13 is the number of the Goddess and the Mayan Calendar is based on the number 13. In the Mayan calendar the time bandits from Jupiter and Saturn stole time and changed the number 13 to the number 12 so they could shut out the Goddess. They even ignored the 13th sign of the zodiac which is Ophiuchus/Asclepius which is the sign of Spider Grandmother who spun her web and controlled the other signs of the zodiac until her power was taken away. She is taking back her power now because there was a tremendous explosion in the Ophiuchus constellation on February 27, 2020. Here is a link to that explosion. Ophiuchus Supercluster explosion.

On this upcoming full moon Jupiter will be on 23 degrees Capricorn and Pluto will be on 24 degrees Capricorn and they are both in a square to Eris (the goddess of chaos). Pluto rules plagues, viruses, and bacterial infections. This 24th degree of Capricorn means a woman entering a Convent. No wonder we have been shut in for such a long period of time because of the virus. People are starting to get restless and that is one of the reasons they have been demonstrating. Jupiter will be retrograding away from Pluto in mid-July so maybe the virus will slow down until November when Jupiter again conjuncts Pluto. Then around the Winter Solstice Jupiter will be conjunct Saturn in the sign of Aquarius. This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

The north node was in Cancer for a year and a half and in May the node moved into Gemini, which is a fast-acting sign and the demonstrations started. The north node is now on 28 degrees Gemini and the south node is in Sagittarius which is the sign of freedom. Now the north node is on the degree that means a release from unbearable pressures, freeing one for new tasks. We are at a turning point. The July 4th eclipse will be the last eclipse in Cancer for a long time. Cancer rules the home, family, and sickness. Gemini and Sagittarius rule freedom, which is an entirely different energy.

I think we will see much action from this July 4th lunar eclipse because Mars is in Aries on 4 degrees. This degree means the progressive polarization released by a sense of identification with a greater whole. Mars will be in Aries until January 6. 2021. Wow! Here in Seattle we have a new little city called CHAZ in the middle of our city. There is talk of this being taken down this weekend at the time of the full moon. Please send light to the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone or CHAZ. We do not need any more violence in our city. Thank you!

Wobble of VenusVenus, the Goddess planet, finished her 8 year cycle on June 3 and now she is in a new 8 year cycle. It takes Venus 8 years to create a 5 pointed star in the heavens which forms a beautiful design.

The tribulation talked about in the Bible started on December 26, 2004 with a large Tsunami in SE Asia that killed thousands of people. The tribulation started then because the dwarf planet Eris was announced on January 5, 2005 and she is the planet of chaos. We entered the era of chaos at that time and it continues until today. There was another large Tsunami in Japan in 2010 which was very destructive and there have been many large earthquakes, hurricanes, storms, flooding and fires all over the world. The chaos continues and the chaos has built up to the breaking point where there will be change before too long because out of chaos comes a new creation.

We are now in the Great Tribulation that is talked about in the Bible. We entered this time period on May 24, 2020 when the demonstrations started because of the death of George Floyd. Now we have a combination of the virus and the demonstrations all over the world. With Mars in Aries and the south node in Sagittarius, there will definitely be people standing up and demanding their freedom. This will include black people, white people, Chinese people and everyone else in the world. We are also in the time period of “Two people will be in a field, one will be taken and one will be left.” This separation is going on right now with the virus and by people choosing which time-line they want to be on. We are at the Time of the End.

The last 3½ plus years has been very chaotic because we elected a president who was born with his Saturn on 23 degrees Cancer in an exact square to Eris on 23 degrees Aries. He is the King of Chaos. We needed someone to create this great chaos because out of chaos comes a new creation. Because he is President of the USA, he seems to affect the whole world. Jer(usa)lem has the word (USA) in it. When the Bible talks about Jerusalem and the prophecies it is usually referring to the United States.

The line-up of planets in Capricorn in January indicated it was time for governments to change. Pluto is the planet that destroys things or takes them down. Pluto also rules viruses and bacteria infections. Pluto is in Capricorn which rules governments. Pluto has been in a square aspect to Eris for a while now and that has caused the virus and the transformation of our government. Pluto is now conjunct Jupiter which is a very large planet. This energy has caused the virus to go out of control so we are all wearing masks to keep from getting the virus. Jupiter will move into Aquarius in December so the virus will probably be gone by then.

I had a dream 10 years ago that first we were sleeping and when we woke up everything had changed and there was no government and we were setting up communities of light. This will probably happen on a higher frequency earth. Maybe we will just wake up on a new earth one day or maybe we will be transported by ships. We have gone through much dark energy in the past few months and now it is time to come into the light. The next and last prophecy is the return of the ships of light and the movement to the new earth. I am almost positive this will happen before the end of this year. I can hardly wait.

***** Mahala *****

******

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fashioneditswebsite · 6 months

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Dries Van Noten’s most memorable looks, as the Belgian fashion designer steps down

Many famous people, such as Florence Pugh, Cate Blanchett, and Margot Robbie, have worn Dries Van Noten's designs. After 38 years, Belgian designer Dries Van Noten is stepping down as creative director of his namesake fashion brand. "In the early '80s, as a young guy in Antwerp, my dream was to have a voice in fashion. Van Noten fulfilled his dream with the help of many supportive people. He now wants to focus on other things. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dries Van Noten (@driesvannoten) He will step down at the end of June. His last collection will be menswear in spring/summer 2025, in Paris in June. His studio team will create the women's collection. They have been working closely together for years. I have complete confidence that they will do a great job." This doesn't mark the end of the Dries Van Noten fashion brand The House that Van Noten treasures so much will soon announce a new creative director, and he has stated that he will continue to stay involved in it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dries Van Noten (@driesvannoten) Van Noten completed a fashion design course at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium in 1981. After opening his flagship store in Antwerp in 1989, he became a member of 'The Antwerp Six,' a group of Belgian creatives revolutionizing the fashion industry. The group included Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Marina Yee. Five years later, he debuted his first collection. In 1991, he debuted at Paris Fashion Week with a menswear collection. Two years later, he launched womenswear and became a regular on the schedule. Fashion firm Puig acquired a majority share in the brand in 2018. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dries Van Noten (@driesvannoten) Over the years, Van Noten has built up a reputation as a quietly experimental fashion designer. He blends the old with the new. He plays around with silhouette. This is mainly seen in the ballooning, oversized shapes of coats and sleeves. The design was showcased at his recent Paris Fashion Week show in February. Florals are a recurring theme in his clothes, and Van Noten says the flowers often inspire him in his garden. While Van Noten's work isn't a red carpet mainstay like some of the other major brands on the Paris Fashion Week calendar, celebrities make an impact when they choose to wear his designs. Florence Pugh was nominated for a BAFTA for her role as Amy March in Little Women back in 2020, and she brought a welcome splash of color to the red carpet in her pink and black Van Noten creation. A fuchsia dress-meets-cape was worn over a black mini dress, with the voluminous sleeves and bow detailing giving a subtle nod to Amy March's fashion. Pink and black were central to Van Noten's work in 2020, as Margot Robbie also wore that color combination to the London premiere of Birds Of Prey the same year. She paired her full black skirt with a feathered bralette, tapping into the trend for underwear as outerwear, and donned hot pink opera gloves. Cate Blanchett chose to wear Dries Van Noten to the Oscars in 2008 when she was pregnant with her third child, Ignatius. The midnight blue gown had an empire line for her bump and gold accents. Additionally, the sequinned flowers on the skirt were particularly eye-catching. Kirsten Dunst wore a floral Van Noten gown to the Baby2Baby Gala in Nov 2023. Noomi Rapace wore a navy and white floral print dress with statement red gloves at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022. The dress, created by Van Noten, featured dramatic oversized sleeves. Read the full article

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ingek73 · 4 years

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The British Royal Family, The Media and ‘SussExit’ – Part 1

By Zanye Linda August 9, 2020 4 Comments

The British Royal Family, The Media and 'SussExit' – Part 1

Prince Harry’s engagement to Meghan Markle was heralded by the British establishment, led by the UK media, as a sign of a modern Royal Family; an institution that symbolizes white power and privilege. By accepting her grandson’s marriage to an independent woman of mixed heritage, the Queen had demonstrated willingness to lead and present a Royal Family that was reflecting of today’s Britain. UK mainstream and social media was awash with stories of a progressive Royal Family and Meghan was proclaimed as one to modernize the Monarchy. They even went as far as claiming her engagement as a symbol of hope for Black women much to the skepticism of black women commentators. Fast-forward to today, Meghan Markle and her husband, Prince Harry stepped down as senior royals and moved their family to California to start a new life. But how did we go from modernizing an archaic institution to Harry and Meghan leaving the Royal Plantation?

Winter 2017

Within a week of the engagement announcement, Meghan and her fiancé undertook their first engagement where the world got a glimpse of this modern woman as a working royal. Huge crowds turned out to see them on that cold December day in Nottingham. As is customary with Royal women, her clothes were analyzed, the handbag she carried became a fast seller, and a lot of commentary was made about the couple’s Public Display of Affection(PDA). Later that month, Meghan attended Christmas festivities with the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family – a first for a future Princess. A lot was made of how the family welcomed her. It was during this period of festivities, when most of the Queen’s extended family would meet Meghan for the first time, that one of them arrived at Christmas lunch wearing a racist brooch(blackamoor).

Shortly after the annual Christmas spectacle at Sandringham, from whence the media peddled the idea of the ‘fab four”, Meghan would resume her pre-wedding tour of the UK alongside Harry. In January 2018 Meghan and Harry were scheduled to undertake engagements in Wales on the same day that William also had engagements elsewhere. The media commented on the calendar clash, but this was put down to poor planning by palace courtiers. However, they did note that this was bound to be a problem going forward. The Daily Mail quoted a “palace source” as saying “mark my words, William will be furious”.

As the final month of winter was rolling in, William and Kate undertook a tour of the Scandinavian countries. Back in London, Harry and Meghan were due to attend the Endeavour awards. This was the second clash of events in less than a month, and a scheduling problem for the Royal Rota– the press team dedicated to covering the Royal Family. In the final days of the Cambridges’ tour, Rebecca English, a Royal Correspondent for the Daily Mail informed her Twitter followers that, she would be leaving the Scandinavian tour early to cover Harry and Meghan at the Endeavour Awards, along with many other British reporters. The day after the awards, as William and Kate were concluding their tour, front pages of the papers were devoted to coverage of Meghan and Harry and as the Daily Beast noted, “It has been astonishing to witness in recent weeks just how completely the public appetite for information about William, Kate and their family has collapsed and the hunger for coverage of Meghan and Harry has grown commensurately”.

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The Daily Beast article down played the potential of a problem, stating that the lack of media and public interest in William and Kate, was as a result of their own poor attitude towards the press over the years, and that, this was characteristic of the royal family, with Harry arguably the worst of them all. Besides, Harry and Meghan were still new, and the expectation was for the current interest to wane over time.

At the end of February 2018, we finally got to see the “Fab Four” sharing a stage at the inaugural Royal Foundation forum where each one of them discussed their current and future charitable endeavors. Once again, we would see Meghan dominate media coverage, with headlines such as “Meghan Markle Shines at First Annual Foundation Forum”, along with praise for her ability to address difficult issues, as she referenced Time’s Up and Me Too, both topical issues at that time. Although some commentators saw this as Meghan being political, which the royal family supposedly avoid, others saw her bravery to push forward with female empowerment issues, a cause close to her heart.

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Spring 2018

While Harry and Meghan continued with their pre-wedding tour of the UK and a host of other royal engagements, staff changes were taking place within Kensington Palace. A gentleman by the name of Simon Case, a key player in Brexit negotiations then working under David Davis’ Brexit department, was appointed as William’s private secretary in March 2018. The following month, the UK hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting. Harry and Meghan attended various CHOGM events. This was expected given that during their engagement interview, they mentioned that the Commonwealth would be an area of focus for them. It was also during this period that Harry’s appointment as the Commonwealth Youth Ambassador was announced. A position we would later on find out, William wanted for himself.

In the meantime, the wedding preparations were progressing – the palace providing the occasional planning updates and the royal reporters and commentators filling in the gaps with their characteristic speculation. Meghan Markle’s paternal family, (her half-sister and brother) who had been vocal around the engagement, had for the most part been out of the news. Then almost two weeks before the wedding, the Markle quarters started getting noisy. On May 3rd 2018, Thomas Markle Jr published a letter in Instyle Magazine that he had supposedly sent to Harry, telling him not to marry his sister. It naturally became a tabloid feast. While he had managed to avoid engaging or speaking with the press up till now, all of a sudden there were paparazzi pictures of Thomas Markle Sr appearing in the same tabloids.

On 13 May 2018, 6 days before the wedding, the Daily Mail revealed Thomas Markle Sr as a “Royal Scammer”, who had staged the photos with the paparazzi and sold them for £100,000. What followed was a series of revelations about Thomas Markle Sr. via TMZ and the UK press. Even Thomas’ ex-daughter in law and her two sons who had not seen Meghan since she was a child were now involved with the UK media; they were flown to the UK as wedding day commentators, courtesy of ITV.

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The coverage at this point had reached fever pitch. There was wild speculation about whether or not the wedding would take place, given that Thomas Markle Sr. informed TMZ that, he had suffered a heart attack and would not be in attendance. In a sombre statement released via the palace two days before the wedding, Meghan informed the world that “sadly her father would not be attending the wedding” and went on to plead with the media to allow him the privacy he needed to recover. And as they say ‘the show must go on”. Harry and Meghan were wedded in a beautiful ceremony that celebrated them as a couple and was watched by billions across the globe.

Summer 2018

With the drama surrounding the Royal Wedding now in the past, the beginning of the summer would bring a number of firsts for the newly wed couple. Meghan had her first joint engagement with the Queen, which saw the new Duchess travelling overnight with Her Majesty aboard the Royal train. The UK media was only too eager to point out how this was a unique privilege, since other senior and non-senior royals including HRH the Duchess of Cambridge had never ridden the royal train. Afterwards, Harry and Meghan had a joint engagement with the Queen first at the Queen’s Young Leader’s Awards and then at Royal Ascot. Each public appearance made by Meghan was accompanied by a story and commentary on Meghan supposedly violating one protocol or another.

During the summer, Thomas Markle gave his first paid interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain hosted by Piers Morgan, who from their engagement announcement, had been vocal in his praise for Meghan Markle. The interview was billed as an opportunity for Thomas Markle to provide an explanation for missing out on his daughter’s wedding. It was also an opportunity for Piers and his co-host to interrogate Thomas on unrelated issues such as his opinion on what Harry’s views of Trump and Brexit were, for the simple purpose of stirring up controversy.

In as much as the interview attracted a lot of media attention it did not divert the attention of the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the following month, July 2018 saw them undertake their first Royal visit to Ireland. So far Meghan has aced all her appearances but this one was different because, such visits are undertaken on behalf of the UK government, and so she was going as a representative of her new country. It should therefore come as no surprise that they were accompanied by an unprecedented number of journalists, photographers and cameramen. The Irish came out in large numbers to see the royal couple at each stop of the visit, continuing what had become characteristic of the couple’s public engagements. Suffice it to say the visit was a success.

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The month of August is a slow royal news one, as the royal family enjoy their summer break. However, ‘twas not to be, as Thomas Markle decided(or did he?) that it was the opportune time to clear his name and dispel some mistruths that had been written about him. To do that, he penned an Op-Ed in the Mail on Sunday. He would later claim that he was being ignored by his daughter, in a story written by Caroline Graham- a Mail on Sunday Journalist based close to him in Mexico. This is the same Caroline Graham who has been revealed by Bylines Investigates, to be Thomas Markle’s babysitter, paying him a visit every weekend at his Mexico residence. Not to be left out, Samantha Markle travelled to the UK to “try and make amends with her sister”. She appeared on yet another ITV show – The Jeremy Vine show and was strangely photographed delivering a letter to security guards at Kensington Palace.

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Autumn 2018

In September 2018 Meghan launched her first solo project as a Royal; Together, a cookbook she developed with survivors of the Grenfell fire, to raise funds towards keeping the Hubb Community Kitchen open 7 days a week. Around the same time, there were rumblings from the Royal Rota regarding access to the Duchess of Sussex. Their grievance was that, they had not been given exclusive access to the cookbook prior to the promotion video being released on social media – never mind that the Royal Rota was invited to the official launch a week or so later. Maybe the protest was because news of the launch traveled farther and wider compared to what would have been the reach of the Royal Rota, perhaps a sign of the changing media landscape. The book topped Amazon’s bestseller even before it was released bumping JK Rowling off the number one spot.

Weirdly though, after the media had gone to great lengths to point out that the royal family works hard to avoid a clash of events, Rebecca English chose the weekend before the cookbook launch to announce a new project by the Duchess of Cambridge. This would be her first major project after 8 years of marriage. Details of the project were lacking and the launch date was yet to be determined, bringing into question the apparent urgency/timing of the announcement. Preemptive strike maybe?

Nonetheless, the Duchess through this project demonstrated a working style and a level of success that was rare within the royal family. Meanwhile Harry and Meghan were preparing to embark on their first major royal tour. A 16-day tour, comprising over 70 engagements across 4 countries – including Australia and New Zealand whose head of state is the Queen. The tour started on a high note with an announcement that the Sussexes were expecting their first child in the spring of 2019. While the world and the media entourage in Sydney were celebrating the news, back in the UK, royal commentators were stirring up controversy regarding the pregnancy announcement.

On the Saturday before the tour, Harry and Meghan attended Princess Eugenie’s wedding. According to the palace statement key family members had been informed, and had a chance to congratulate the couple in person at the wedding. In an article for the telegraph, Camilla Tominey advances a narrative that we had witnessed over the summer by claiming another ‘protocol violation’ in a story titled “Harry and Meghan may have breached etiquette by announcing baby news at Eugenie’s wedding, says expert” allegedly to the displeasure of some members of the royal family. This was of course a complete misrepresentation of the statement from Kensington Palace, but that did not matter and the mainstream media were only too happy to amplify this narrative.

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Murmurings aside, the tour kicked off on a high note with droves of people turning up at every stop. According to Forbes “Crowds the size that have not appeared for Queen Elizabeth on any of her trips to Australia (which date back as far as the 1950s)”, came out for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Amidst the success of this landmark tour and glowing coverage for the British royal family, the Sunday Times reported that plans were underway to split Kensington Palace and create a separate household for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Once again we see the palace put out a speculative article while Harry and Meghan are undertaking a highly important tour, making the purpose and the timing of the article questionable at best. Also, it did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm surrounding the tour, which had so far been a success and was commanding unprecedented positive global coverage for both the couple and the Royal Family.

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Once the tour concluded, on cue, the tone in media coverage for this couple changed. For one, the main focus of the coverage was Meghan. Secondly, it was persistently negative and thirdly it was driven by the royal rota. A key fixture in this media whirlpool was Robert Jobson, who had just published a Prince Charles biography “revealing” that Meghan threw a tantrum over a tiara. In the middle of November, Meghan visited the women at the Hubb Community Kitchen. This was a couple of months after the cookbook launch, and Camilla Tominey suddenly remembered that the mosque where the Hubb Community Kitchen is located had “links to terrorists”. The leader of a white supremacist group who advanced that theory, would later thank Camilla Tominey on Twitter for putting their mosque-terrorist story in the paper.

Jack Royston, then at the SUN and currently at Newsweek, wrote that “Meghan made Kate cry”. Why, he couldn’t say, but he was certain it happened. Rebecca English also weighed, in referring to Meghan as an ‘interloper who does not belong’. It was open season with article after article attacking Meghan specifically, calling her all kind of names; difficult, demanding, social climber, over sexual and a lot more. All steeped in racism, sexism and all kinds of bigotry. Every day bore a new story about Meghan, and every story trashing Meghan was an opportunity to uplift Kate.

The Telegraph, for no apparent reason, did a fawning feature on Carole Middleton, praising her as a hard working hurricane. The same paper had earlier described the Duchess of Sussex as “Hurricane Meghan”, a destructive force that was raining havoc on the Kensington Palace staff with her difficult and demanding ways. Curious, isn’t it? Amidst this onslaught of negative coverage, Emily Andrews via a palace source reports that, Harry and Meghan would leave Kensington Palace and move to the Windsor estate, getting ahead of the official palace statement. This became another opportunity to attack Meghan- the narrative being that she was instigating the move, and questioning why the couple would choose to move away from William and Kate at Kensington Palace.

In just one year, how did Meghan go from being the one to bring the Monarchy into the twenty first century to being cast as this villain? To recap events so far:

The media inform us that ‘William will be furious’ because of the shift in attention, which we have witnessed each time Harry and Meghan have a public engagement.

Meghan has delivered her first project, an international best-selling cookbook without the exclusive marketing and spin of the Royal Rota.

The attention Harry and Meghan are getting locally and internationally is nothing the Royal Family or the media has seen since Diana.

Was the spare and his wife outshining the heir? Also what is the connection between ITV and the Markle family? Why does this mainstream channel consistently give them platform? And what about the Royal Rota – they exist to sell the Monarchy to the public while also subjecting them to the appropriate scrutiny. Did they not think the negative coverage surrounding Meghan would have a negative impact on the Monarchy? Where was the Royal Family in all this? When Diana and Sophie were faced with negative media coverage, the Queen and the palace asked the editors to ease up on them. Even Kate was given a grace period to settle into her role as a Royal. Why were they not offering Meghan the same protections?

#meghanpedia #meghan markle #prince harry #prince william #kate middleton #royals #duke of sussex #duke of cambridge #duchess of sussex #duchess of cambridge #queen elizabeth ii #duke and duchess of cambridge #duke and duchess of sussex #carole middleton #royal rota #british royal family

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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Latinos, Sanders's secret weapon in Nevada, could make him unstoppable on Super Tuesday

https://news.yahoo.com/latinos-sanderss-secret-weapon-in-nevada-could-make-him-unstoppable-on-super-tuesday-015922411.html

BERNIE SANDERS SECRET WEAPON, LATINOS, COULD MAKE HIM UNSTOPPABLE GOING INTO SUPER TUESDAY

By Hunter Walker and Andrew Romano | Published February 22, 2020 | Yahoo News | Posted February 23, 2020 |

LAS VEGAS — Bernie Sanders’s Nevada caucus campaign ended with a convincing win Saturday afternoon, thanks in large measure to a 37-percentage-point victory among Latino caucus-goers. But the seeds of that victory were sown five years ago when a staffer on Sanders’s first presidential bid had trouble reading a Spanish website.

It was Memorial Day weekend 2015, about a month after the Vermont senator launched his long-shot challenge to Hillary Clinton. Sanders was short on resources; his staff was a skeleton crew, with no one who could translate Spanish. So the campaign summoned Chuck Rocha, the founder and president of Solidarity Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in reaching Latinos and blacks that was launched by Rocha in 2010. He charged Sanders triple his usual rate to work on the holiday.

“I remember sending him an invoice for $824, which was a big invoice for me,” Rocha told Yahoo News in an extensive interview five days before the Nevada caucus. “Little did I know that that $800 invoice would turn into millions and millions of dollars of work for Bernie Sanders.”

In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted two Sanders events, claiming the candidate wasn’t paying enough attention to racial issues. Jeff Weaver, the 2016 campaign manager, hired Solidarity Strategies to ensure that the senator’s work was, as Rocha put it, “reflective of the larger diverse communities.” Soon Rocha was consulting on minority hiring, outreach and advertising for Sanders. By the end of the race he was in charge of all of the campaign’s print communications.

Now Rocha, a 51-year-old self-described “Mexican redneck” who campaigns wearing a cowboy hat and driving a rented pickup truck, has become a leader of Sanders’s 2020 operation. While he remains in charge of his firm, Rocha officially joined the campaign last year as a senior adviser with a broad purview that includes general strategy, hiring staff and overseeing print ads and merchandise. Rocha also crafts the campaign’s Spanish-language ads on television, radio and the internet. If anyone is responsible for the huge Latino outreach effort that has helped propel Sanders to the front of the Democratic pack, it’s Rocha.

The innovative program is a dramatic contrast to 2016, when Clinton had highly specialized minority outreach operations and Sanders struggled to woo voters of color.

“This time around the Sanders campaign really has invested, and you see them everywhere,” says an operative who worked on Latino outreach for the Clinton campaign in 2016 and then worked with a 2020 candidate who left the race. “They are the ones who have consistently shown up at community events, in radio ads and newspapers. It’s very different from what they did in 2016. You have to understand the community first and then build your program around it — and I think they've done that."

That strategy could help make Sanders the nominee. The last time the senator competed in the Nevada caucuses, in 2016, he lost to Clinton by 8 percentage points. The defeat blunted Sanders’s momentum after his near-victory in Iowa and his New Hampshire landslide, and it put Clinton on a trajectory to win the nomination.

Yet there was an upside for Sanders that day: The Nevada entrance poll showed him beating the former secretary of state by 8 points among Latinos. The exact percentages were later disputed — the sample size was tiny, and precinct-level data suggested that Clinton did better than the poll indicated — but the larger implication was clear. In a race against America’s best-known Democrat, Sanders could hold his own in the Latino community.

The revelation took the senator’s own team by surprise.

“We didn't learn ’til the campaign was almost over how popular we were with Latinos,” Rocha said. “We had an idea, you know; 19-to-22-year-old Latinos thought Bernie was cool in ’16. But we didn’t realize that we could win their votes the way that we did, and we didn’t have enough time to take advantage of actually building the infrastructure to capture those votes.”

The lessons of 2016 gave Rocha an advantage heading into 2020 — and it was an edge that paid off Saturday, when entrance polls showed Sanders topping his nearest rival, Joe Biden, 53 percent to 16 percent among Nevada’s Latino caucus-goers. The same statistical caveats from 2016 still apply today. But this wasn’t an isolated incident. In Iowa, the entrance poll showed Sanders winning 43 percent of nonwhite voters; the next closest candidate was Pete Buttigieg with 15 percent. In New Hampshire, Sanders was nearly as dominant, winning nonwhite voters by 18 points and Latino voters by 22, according to the exit poll. Across the board, national surveys also show Sanders with anywhere from 30 percent to nearly 50 percent of the Latino vote.

To date, the Democratic Party has awarded only 2.5 percent of its 3,989 pledged delegates, so Sanders’s growing strength with Latinos hasn’t made much of a dent in the delegate math. But that’s about to change on Super Tuesday (March 3), when nearly 40 percent of the remaining pledged delegates will be doled out.

The good news for Sanders is that Super Tuesday’s two biggest prizes are California (415 pledged delegates) and Texas (228 pledged delegates) — states that also boast the largest Latino primary electorates in America (31 percent and 32 percent, respectively).

The calendar, in other words, is about to heavily favor the candidate who’s leading among Latinos. Mathematically, it could even make that candidate unstoppable.

The Sanders campaign has been preparing for this moment since last summer. On Saturday, the candidate skipped the usual in-state victory party in Nevada and traveled instead to Texas for a series of rallies. Two polls released this month show the senator leading in the Lone Star State for the first time. The day before the caucus, Sanders opted to leave Nevada to campaign in California, where the latest surveys show him ahead of the competition by more than 10 points overall and by more than 20 points among Latinos. Along with Texas and California, Rocha noted that Florida and Arizona primaries are both coming up, are heavily Latino, and are “loaded with delegates.”

“The math is right,” he said.

If Sanders wins both California and Texas, he will likely amass an insurmountable lead in the delegate count — and Rocha’s innovative Latino outreach effort will be a big reason why. Rocha believes campaigns have long botched their Latino outreach efforts by relying on largely white teams, insufficient investment and messages that aren’t “culturally competent.” He has sought to mount a push for Sanders that is historically diverse, large and involves a tailored advertising blitz.

“People say Latinos don’t vote. It’s because motherf***ers don’t ask them to vote,” said Rocha.

With his East Texas drawl and colorful sayings, Rocha is a natural raconteur who veers between swagger and self-deprecation. He’s clearly fond of telling his personal story. It begins in the town of Tyler, where he was born to two teenagers: a Mexican immigrant father and a white mother. After Rocha’s dad left five years later, he grew up eating “government cheese” in a mobile home on the grounds of his mother’s parents’ farm.

When Rocha was 18 years old, he had a child of his own. The experience led him to reconnect with his own father, who got him a job at the local tire factory. The gig ended up being Rocha’s entrée into union organizing — and ultimately, politics.

“Nobody in my family was involved in politics at any level,” Rocha said. “Nobody in my family had ever really graduated from high school, much less college. I was not a rabid activist in any way. I just wanted to get off my regular job to do union work, if I could, so I could drink more beer.”

Rocha became an officer with the local chapter of the rubber workers union, which merged with the United Steelworkers of America in 1995. Through the union hall, Rocha also began working on Democratic campaigns. In 1998 the national union summoned Rocha to Pittsburgh to serve as political director at the age of 30.

A decade later, Rocha left the union to start his firm. His career survived a potentially fatal setback in 2013 when he pleaded guilty to one felony count of embezzling from the union during his tenure as political director. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and fined $2,000 after paying about $12,000 in restitution. Rocha describes the case as a partisan prosecution but also admits he “totally messed up” his expense reports, and he’s well aware the issue could have made him a liability for a presidential candidate.

“I am a convicted felon,” Rocha said. “And when you work in politics, that's not cool.”

Rocha claimed he tried to work for Clinton’s 2016 campaign before Sanders entered the field but wasn’t hired because his conviction came up during vetting. He nearly choked up while recounting the early meeting where he told Sanders and Weaver about his background. According to Rocha, they were both adamant that he shouldn’t spend his life paying for a past mistake.

“I’m not politically afraid of this story at all,” Weaver said in 2016 after Politico highlighted Rocha’s conviction, adding that he wanted the world to see that Sanders believed in giving a former felon a chance. “Please, I’m asking you to print.”

Staff diversity has, in turn, become the cornerstone of Rocha’s Latino outreach efforts for Sanders. He said the campaign has “Latinos in senior management in every department of the headquarters and in every state” — including 76 Latino staffers in Nevada alone, where Sanders also opened 11 offices and spent more than $3 million on Spanish-language advertising. Despite the encouraging signs from 2016, not everyone on Sanders’s campaign thought that a substantial investment in the Latino electorate — which typically turns out at a rate of less than 50 percent — would pay off. But Sanders himself was a believer, according to Rocha.

“It's something he talks to me about every time he sees me,” Rocha said of Sanders. “‘How is it going? What are we doing?’ He wants to know because he’s such an organizer. … He wants new people to vote, and he knows that there’s a treasure trove in the Latino community.”

Rocha’s ads for Sanders aren’t straightforward translations of his English messages; they are written specifically for Latinos and focus on the aspects of Sanders’s platform that most resonate with that audience, including raising the minimum wage, eliminating student debt, reinstating the DACA program, breaking up ICE and the Border Patrol and placing a moratorium on deportations to allow for an audit of past immigration policies.

The pitch is also heavy on Sanders’s own immigration story, which has been much more central to his 2020 campaign than it was in 2016; in fact, the first Spanish-language ad that Rocha ran in each medium focused on Sanders’s father coming to the United States from Europe “broke” and unable to speak English.

“Guess what? That's my grandfather’s story,” Rocha said. “That’s Latinos … somebody in our family. It’s their story.”

But while the overarching messages may be similar, the Sanders camp also adjusts its ads for different audiences within the Latino community. Ads targeted at Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans have slightly different scripts; print and radio ads designed to reach older Latinos have a different emphasis than digital commercials. And some ads aimed at Latinos aren’t in Spanish at all. In Iowa, where the population skews toward more recent immigrants, the campaign largely spoke Spanish; on Spotify, where they’re aiming for young Latinos, many ads are entirely in English.

Because Rocha’s own Spanish is “horrible,” he mainly relies on a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant named Luis Alcauter to design and write them. (Sanders speaks the language haltingly; Rocha told The Hill that he discourages his Anglo clients from using Spanish on the trail “because it normally does not go well.”) Rocha describes Alcauter as his “right-hand man.” He may also be the brash Rocha’s polar opposite: a soft-spoken Mormon who came to California’s Central Valley from Mexico as a teenager.

“It’s an incredible opportunity and a lot of responsibility to make sure that I represent my community and I talk to them and they’re able to understand,” Alcauter told Yahoo News.

Alcauter and the other Latinos on Sanders’s team aren’t just helping with campaigning. They’ve also influenced policy and helped craft Sanders’s immigration platform.

“We care about the issue, and it affects our lives,” said Alcauter. “So we wanted to make sure that we gather together, we put our minds together and we work on something that we're going to be proud of.”

It’s a clear example of one of Rocha’s core beliefs — that minority outreach work should be fully integrated into larger operations.

“We do all of this without a Latino department,” Rocha explained. “I was sick and tired of Latinos being window dressings for campaigns ... of seeing Latino outreach programs that were siloed off, underfunded, understaffed and never listened to.”

According to Belén Sisa, another undocumented staffer, this integration is emblematic of Sanders’s approach to politics.

“It shows what a Bernie Sanders presidency will be,” Sisa told Yahoo News. “It will be the people who were in the frontlines fighting for these things for years who are going to be putting together the solutions.”

Besides advertising, the Sanders campaign is reaching out to Latino voters personally. Bilingual staffers and volunteers are deployed to voters’ homes and have mailed out handwritten notes. Rocha has used databases to identify phone numbers that likely belong to Latinos to receive bilingual texts.

Over the past eight months, Sanders’s Nevada campaign hosted a slew of community events while also dispatching its massive volunteer army to knock on doors around the state. The day before the caucuses, the Sanders campaign announced that it had visited 500,000 homes in the state.

Jose Mariscal-Cruz, a 23-year-old Mexican-American from Reno, told Yahoo News that he made at least 2,000 of those visits. He took a year off from college to work as a field organizer for the Sanders campaign in Las Vegas. On Monday, Yahoo News followed Mariscal-Cruz as he campaigned among the colorfully painted bungalows in the heavily Latino neighborhood of East Las Vegas. He was accompanied by José La Luz, a prominent Puerto Rican labor activist from New York who served as a surrogate for Sanders in Nevada ahead of the caucus. The pair visited about 40 homes to deliver their fluent, finely tuned message to potential voters.

At two of the homes, Spanish-speaking elderly residents indicated that they were from Guanajuato in Mexico. Mariscal-Cruz rattled off his own family ties to the region, and La Luz piped in with a few lines from a ballad about the area by the famed Mexican singer Pedro Infante. The song brought a smile from a woman named Maria who said she and her husband had already voted for Sanders.

“We have a lot of faith,” Maria said.

“With faith, we can move mountains, God willing,” La Luz replied. “We know that the vote of our people is the vote that will be the difference.”

The Sanders campaign has already set up similar ground operations in California and beyond. During a debate watch party Wednesday at Sanders’s East Los Angeles field office, L.A. County Area Director Daniel Andalon and L.A. County Area Field Director Lewis Myers stepped outside to discuss how the operation in America’s most Latino metropolis has expanded over the last eight months.

“I get goosebumps just thinking about it,” said Andalon, a longtime operative who managed Hilda Solis’s winning 2014 campaign for county supervisor. “In the summer it was just us. We were meeting at McDonald’s and Denny’s and working out of our homes, much to our wives’ chagrin.”

According to Andalon, “Sanders has not spared any expense here.” That means opening four offices in L.A. County alone — including East Los Angeles, where the population is more than 96 percent Latino.

“We’ve knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors and made millions of phone calls out of this office,” Myers explained. “Last weekend we knocked on 62,000 doors. The weekend before that was 58,000 doors.”

As a result, Andalon said, “we’ve been able to broaden Bernie’s base to include “a lot more brown faces.”

Both Andalon and Myers said they haven’t seen their rivals competing for Latino votes in the area, with less than two weeks until the vote.

“There is no one who is running a program this robust,” Andalon said.

For Sanders, the hope is that California as a whole is a similar story to Nevada. The campaign is the largest in the field, with 105 staffers and 22 offices statewide — “most of them,” according to California State Director Rafael Návar, “in heavily Latino communities,” with “more in the [blue-collar] Central Valley than any other region.” Sanders’s own travel to the state has followed a similar pattern. According to a tally compiled by the Sacramento Bee, Sanders has held far more public events (37) in the state than any other candidate.

“Bernie came to Coachella for an office opening — a place no presidential candidate has come to since JFK,” Návar told Yahoo News. “That’s just not a place you have a presence usually. We’re in every congressional district and we’re playing for every delegate in the state. We’re not just focused on the urban hubs.”

In 2016, Sanders hoped to make a last stand against Clinton in California’s June primary, but he lost by more than a dozen points in part because she trounced him in the state’s top Latino areas. Sanders’s team also wasn’t sophisticated enough to focus its efforts on the less-populated, less-contested inland areas where they could claim a disproportionate number of delegates, some of which are awarded by congressional district. Ultimately, Sanders carried just eight of California’s 53 districts, allowing Clinton to widen her delegate lead and clinch the nomination. But Návar insisted that “having that experience means we have a lot stronger strategy than in the past.

“In 2016, we weren’t here until a month before the election. This time we’ve been very strategic about where we’ve homed in and are building up our base,” he said.

And Sanders’s campaign isn’t just courting Latinos in states like California and Nevada. Latinos make up just about 6 percent of the population in Iowa, which was the first state to vote in caucuses on Feb. 3. Still, Rocha mounted a Latino outreach effort there. According to a report from the UCLA Latino Politics and Policy Initiative, Sanders won a majority of the vote at Iowa’s high-density Latino caucus locations. That edge helped Sanders win more votes than anyone else in the crucial first state.

Rocha said the results in Iowa helped soothe skeptics of the campaign and gave him “some job security” by demonstrating that the campaign had not “spent all this money for nothing.” Rocha and his team plan to continue targeting smaller Latino populations in other key states, such as Wisconsin.

For Rocha and the other Latinos on his team — particularly the undocumented immigrants — the effort is deeply meaningful. Over lunch at a Mexican café in East Las Vegas, Sisa said the experience was beyond her “wildest dreams” — an opportunity to make the case that “immigrants deserve better, regardless of being documented or not.”

“I think no one [else] has been bold enough to say, ‘You may be undocumented, but you deserve health care,’” Sisa said. “‘You may be undocumented, but you deserve tuition-free college’ — because we all deserve those things.”

With his decisions to limit legal migration, end the DACA program and separate undocumented immigrants from their children, President Trump loomed large over the conversation.

So, it turns out, did his plane. In keeping with his strategy to shadow the Democratic primary by holding rallies in each early voting state, Trump visited Las Vegas during caucus week. As Alcauter left the café, he pointed to the sky.

“Look,” he said. “It’s Air Force One.”

As an undocumented immigrant, Alcauter said he believes Trump “from day one has been fighting against me.” But if the campaign is successful, Alcauter could go from feeling targeted by the president to being on his staff and taking flight with Sanders on Air Force One.

“I definitely dream about it,” Alcauter said. “That’s the reason we’re doing the work we’re doing.”

_____

#super tuesday #bernie sanders #bernie sander for president #bernie 2020 #2020 presidential election #2020 candidates #2020 election #politics and government #political science #us politics #politics #justice democrats #democratic party #democrats #u.s. presidential elections #u.s. news #election security #latino #minorities

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toxinwing · 5 years

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The wind howls through a snow blanketed cave entrance on a cold February day. Something stirs within, having sensed a change in the air. The creature lumbers out of the cave. And that creature is...

Nick! With bedhead! And, hey-oh, it’s winter testing time! F1 is coming back!

Yes, after waiting years...years? No, wait... *checks calendar* Three months! After waiting nearly three months! We’re finally nearing the start of the 2020 F1 season! And that means I should probably break my lurking habit and start posting a bit more frequently...

So, with winter testing, there’s quite a bit to talk about. Like, how teams have progressed over winter break, first impressions, technical stuff...y’know, stuff I’m not really qualified to talk about. :P

In which case I’ll talk about the car liveries! ‘Cause I might not be good at judging which car is fastest, but I do have opinions on which cars look nicer!

Mercedes: Yep, it’s a Mercedes.

Ferrari: Yep, it’s a Ferrari.

Red Bull: Yep, it’s a Red Bull.

McLaren: Oh thank goodness! Something new looking! Sorta. There’s a bit less orange and a bit more black. Looks pretty sleek, gotta admit. But, then again, I have my biases. :P

Renault: It’s black and it’s yellow. The current testing livery looks more black than yellow, though. So that’s...something!

Racing Point: And the pink car is still pink. Maybe a bit more pink than last year? Can’t tell. Reminds me of Pepto Bismol.

Alfa Romeo: Still digging that metallic-y red. Still looks nice. I like.

Haas: Looks like they’ve gone for more white this year. Or did they add the white last year? Not sure. :P The colors and livery in general makes me think of the toy cars I played with as a kid. In a good way, though!

AlphaTauri: A newcomer? Nope, Toro Rosso just decided to change things up! Including getting a new coat of paint. White and dark blue. It’s eye catching, certainly, though it does remind me of toothpaste for some reason...

Williams: Actually, nevermind. This livery reminds me of toothpaste. Though, to be honest, Every Williams car I’ve been around to see (since 2015) has looked a bit toothpaste-esque. Not bad, just...a bit out there!

Well, we’ve got a rather diverse looking field. Don’t think I’ll have any issues telling the cars apart. Which is good, ‘cause I’ll be spending all my time trying not to accidentally call Toro Rosso by it’s ol- ...Oh, gosh dang it.

#Nick talks F1 #Formula 1 2020 season #Aw yeah Nick's back in business #I have come out of lurking #And am...as ready as I can be for a new F1 season!#(We're never ready let's be honest)

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neighbours-kid · 5 years

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Oh, 2019, What A Year You Were.

It is now a bit before 6pm on January 01, 2020. I just finished unpacking after coming home from my short holiday escape to Berlin for New Year’s with my best friend and frequent travel buddy. My feet are tired, my back hurts, and I’m sitting in bed now, thinking back on this last year and, it’s kind of hard for me to decide if it was a good year or less so.

My 2019 was not as eventful as my 2018. There was no large adventure to speak of like going to New York City for six months, or having to adjust back to life in Switzerland after that. 2019 was just…..uni. The same old trudge of going to class and thinking about texts that should be read (but wouldn’t be), the same old treading water without direction, stuck in one place, unsure what comes next. Or, at least, that’s what it feels like looking back on it.

When I did this looking back the last time, 2018 was not quite over yet. It was still December, I had a few more days of uni to go, all the Christmases and other celebrations still before me. At that point, I had no idea that I would meet a couple of people at the Christmas Party of our English Department and that these people would be largely responsible for tipping the scale of 2019 into ‘good’.

But I did. I did meet these lovely people I get to call something akin to family today. It’s only been a year, and I can’t quite believe it. Found family has always been my favourite trope in storytelling, and this little group of weirdos is exactly that. And to quote my favourite little alien creature, this is my family. I found it, all on my own. It’s little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.

These people are not perfect, they’re not flawless, they’re not angels. But they have more humanity between them than I’ve seen in a long fucking while. We’re all broken people, none of us is any better than the next, but we have heart. And I love them all so fucking much. They have all coloured in parts of my year in their own colours and I could not be happier about it. They’re a bunch of fucking weirdo nerds, but they’re my bunch of fucking weirdo nerds.

* * *

This year was, while largely uneventful, also very special in its own way. You know, after talking to my doc to get a date for a transgender consultation, my plan was basically to wait until I got it all lined up nicely, got my first shot of testosterone and then be like "hello world, this is happening, and if you have anything against it, whoops, too late.” Well, it didn’t quite work out like that. If you’ve been keeping up with this blog or my life in general, you know that my anxious ass decided to have a nervous break in the middle of January and come out to literally everyone then and there. And you know what? It’s good.

I’m not where I want to be, not at all. After January, I had expectations for 2019, I had hopes and dreams, wishes and plans. Unfortunately, that lead to a series of events that is tipping the scale of this year into ‘bad’. I wrote about this extensively before, but the process of starting testosterone is a long and tedious one and I am still not where I want to be, even after this entire year, but I currently see a shiny dot on the horizon that looks very promising in that department, and if everything goes as it should, it won’t be long now until I can start with the hormone treatment.

2019 started me down a road of self-discovery that is more open and public than it was before, and I am glad for it. But I don’t want to linger on that part of my year for too long. Let us look back for a while, relive some moments here and there.

On the train home from the airport today, I thought about what I did exactly one year ago. After everyone who had been at my place for New Year’s had left around lunch time on January 01, 2019, I had sat down in front of my TV and started a very movie and tv show heavy year. Over the course of this entire year, I noted down every movie and tv show episode, every short film and comedy special, everything that I watched. It…..added up quite a bit, to be completely honest. Let’s see….

For reference, I had holidays during January and half of February, as well as June all through August and half of September, and then again from the 21st of December onward. My marathon didn’t quite subside during university, but at least I didn’t binge quite so much.

In total, I watched 178 movies, 10 short films, and 685 episodes of 34 tv shows. That is 300h12 in movies, 1h38 in short films, and roughly 519h47 in tv show episodes. (Yes, I did just spend way too much time looking up all the run times…) That is a rough total of 821h37 for this year. That’s like….a bit over a month of time spent watching stuff. 1/12 of my year spent in front of a screen. Not entirely sure how I feel about this number.

I know that for some this might sound a bit excessive, but to be honest? There is so much more I want to watch and if I could do completely as I please, these numbers would look a lot different.

Here is, with the exact intention of being a big mess of a block, all the movies I watched in 2019. I highlighted a few that stood out to me especially. Not just because I liked them very much, or because they were particularly excellent, just because….they made me feel something different, I guess. The oldest movie I watched was Grease (1978) and the newest would be the comedy special John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch from this year. I started my year with Night at the Museum (2006) and ended it with season five of Leverage.

Grease (1978), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), Die Hard (1988), Batman (1989), Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Othello (1995), Mission Impossible (1996), Mary Reilly (1996), Wilde (1997), Animated Epics: Beowulf (1998), Mission Impossible II (2000), Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Fast and the Furious (2001), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Heartlands (2002), xXx (2002), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Underworld (2003), Bright Young Things (2003), Timeline (2003), The Deal (2003), Ocean’s Twelve (2004), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Laws of Attraction (2004), Dirty Filthy Love (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (2005), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Underworld: Evolution (2006), Mission Impossible III (2006), Inside Man (2006), Night at the Museum (2006), The Da Vinci Code (2006), The Queen (2006), Die Hard 4.0: Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Music Within (2007), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Ocean’s Thirteen (2007), Zodiac (2007), Iron Man (2008), Twilight (2008), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Twilight: New Moon (2009), The Damned United (2009), Fast & Furious (2009), Sherlock Holmes (2009), The Holiday (2009), Angels & Demons (2009), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), Inception (2010), The Bounty Hunter (2010), Twilight: Eclipse (2010), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Tron: Legacy (2010), Megamind (2010), Valentine’s Day (2010), The Expendables (2010), Red (2010), Eat Pray Love (2010), Iron Man 2 (2010), Beautiful Boy (2010), Fast Five (2011), Fright Night (2011, twice), Resistance (2011), Few Options, All Bad (2011), Jesus Henry Christ (2011), Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011), Mission Impossible IV: Ghost Protocol (2011), Pitch Perfect (2012), Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012), White House Down (2013), Admission (2013), I Give It A Year (2013), Escape Plan (2013), The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box (2013), Furious 6 (2013), A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), Red 2 (2013), Begin Again (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), Kill the Messenger (2014), The Monuments Men (2014), Midnight in Paris (2014), Paddington (2014), The Imitation Game (2014), Maleficent (2014), Chelsea Peretti: One Of The Greats (2014), John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid (2015, twice), Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015), Far From the Madding Crowd (2015), 7 Days in Hell (2015), Furious Seven (2015), Assassin’s Creed (2016), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping (2016), Ali Wong: Baby Cobra (2016), Nocturnal Animals (2016), She Loves Me (2016), Passengers (2016), Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2016), xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017), Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy Valentine’s Day Special (2017), Brad’s Status (2017), Home Again (2017), Murder On The Orient Express (2017), Christmas Inheritance (2017), Paddington 2 (2017), You, Me & Him (2017), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Trevor Noah: Afraid of the Dark (2017), Dave Chappelle: The Age of Spin (2017), Dave Chappelle: Deep in the Heart of Texas (2017), Patton Oswalt: Annihilation (2017), Jack Whitehall: At Large (2017), Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King (2017), Katherine Ryan: In Trouble (2017), Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018), Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018), The Fate of the Furious (2018), Love, Simon (2018), Ocean’s 8 (2018, twice), Bad Samaritan (2018), John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous (2018, twice), Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018), Daniel Sloss: Dark (2018), Daniel Sloss: Jigsaw (2018), Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia (2018), Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife (2018), James Acaster: Recognise (2018), James Acaster: Represent (2018), James Acaster: Reset (2018), James Acaster: Recap (2018), Apostle (2018), The Holiday Calendar (2018), The Princess Switch (2018), The Christmas Chronicles (2018), Captain Marvel (2019, twice), Shazam! (2019, twice), Avengers: Endgame (2019, twice), Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019), The Hustle (2019), Rocketman (2019), X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019), Men in Black: International (2019), Tolkien (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Isn’t It Romantic (2019), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), Jenny Slate: Stage Fright (2019), Wanda Sykes: Not Normal (2019), Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room (2019), Simon Amstell: Set Free (2019), Adam Devine: Best Time of Our Lives (2019), Let It Snow (2019), Last Christmas (2019), Klaus (2019), Always Be My Maybe (2019), The Knight Before Christmas (2019), The Good Liar (2019), Hustlers (2019), Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker (2019), Murder Mystery (2019), John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch (2019)

TV shows are going to make up a block a bit less intimidating, but here goes. Again, highlighted what stood out to me especially.

The Gifted, Friends, NCIS, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Money Heist, Riverdale, The Punisher, Broadchurch, Elite, Doctor Who, Dramarama, Agents of SHIELD, Pokémon Indio League, Good Omens, The Chef Show, Jessica Jones, Halt and Catch Fire, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Simpsons, 30 Rock, The Good Fight, Sean’s Show, Gallowglass, Animals., The Spoils of Babylon, Pobol Y Cwm, Masters of Sex, Prodigal Son, Criminal UK, The Politician, Leverage, His Dark Materials, Zona Rosa, Derry Girls

Some old favourites in there. Some new ones too. I won’t list the shorts because I don’t particularly care for them. I watched them solely for binging-through-someone’s-filmography reasons.

So yeah, as you can see, a very strong year when it comes to the visual medium. I just really love movies and tv shows so much. I love this kind of storytelling, this particular form of it. There’s so much artistry there, so many talented people. I still very much would love to work in the movie world at some point. Inspires me greatly. Always has.

* * *

2019 was not just a year of sitting glued to a TV screen, not at all. I’ve been some places too, got to do and experience some cool stuff.

In April I was able to take a few days off and go to Lugano with my dear friend and relax for a little while. We also met up with one of the lovely people I’ve met through twitter, which was great fun and we’ve spent a fantastic day together (eating food I still catch myself thinking about at least twice a week).

In June I went to Pride in Zurich with my friends, which was also a wonderful experience all together.

In July I was able to go to Cologne for half a week for CCXP, where I got to see some great panels and meet some great people. And, most importantly and also the reason why I went, I got to meet Zachary Levi again, take a picture together, have a wonderful conversation while he signed something for me, and experience an incredibly inspiring panel where I got to ask him a question that he took the time and patience to extensively answer. I treasure these moments, just as I treasure all our previous meetings and the friends and experiences that have come with it. Seeing him again after two years was definitely the highlight of the year, and it’s a strong weight of the good part in the scale that is 2019. He’s always a highlight, the dude. I can’t wait until I get to see that face again.

Also in July, I joined a few friends for a weekend at a medieval festival in Germany, which was also a very interesting and good experience.

And now at the end of the year, I spent a few days in Berlin, visiting museums and bookshops and generally touristing about with my dearest friend, celebrated New Year’s with her in the only way we know how: with good wine, food, warmth, and a tv show we both love and hold dear.

I also shouldn’t forget the two parties I attended of our university’s English Department, and the Halloween party a friend organised, and the birthdays I attended over the year, as well as the Christmas I spent with my friends at my place.

All these things, all these little bits add up and add up and ultimately I want to think that 2019 was a good year. I am so glad this year is over, but looking back I find so many good things that have happened, so many wonderful experiences, and I wonder, why? Why am I so happy it is over? Why am I so desperate to move forward, to turn the page, to start a new chapter, a new book?

I don’t know. I really don’t know.

* * *

For this new year, for 2020, I have a few wishes. I’m not really one to make resolutions, because I know exactly I won’t hold myself to it, but I have some things I’d like to do, like to try.

2019 was my year of movies and shows. I won’t stop watching things, I’ll never stop watching things. But for this year, I want to put my focus elsewhere. This year, I’d like to try and read all the books that have amassed themselves in my possession, that I haven’t actually read yet. It’s doable, I don’t own enormous amounts of books yet. I want to try that. I want to try to read more, to find that passion and attention span again that I had as a kid. I might try to blog a bit about it, just so I have something to hold me accountable. We’ll see. But I just really want to read more. Carry a book everywhere I go.

I know that 2020 is bringing me another step closer to becoming my truest self. I have my next appointment with the hormone specialist early in February, and if I am not entirely mistaken (or something is drastically changed) I will be able to start taking hormones then and there. Starting testosterone is going to be exciting and interesting, and I am very much looking forward to it. What I want for myself this year, is to take it easy. Be kind to myself in this journey. Let myself be gentle. I always have so many expectations for myself, and I really just want to try and…let myself be, let myself just live and experience things as they come. No expectations.

This first half year of 2020 is also the time I will be writing my Bachelor thesis and, hopefully, by summer I’ll have my degree. It’ll be a tough but I hope also rewarding time for me. Having to shift the way I write papers (quick, barely researched and sourced, not even remotely re-read, always started mere hours before the deadline) to something more useful for a thesis, something fitting for a thesis, is going to be challenging. Keeping my head in the right space, keeping the focus and doing the work, it’s all going to be hard for me. But I have faith that I will find a way to reign in my scatterbrain and flick the hyper-focus switch into something that will be sustainable for the time I have to write my thesis in.

Speaking of my thesis, there is something I have not mentioned yet, that strongly informed my experience of 2019. Good Omens is the book I’ll be writing my thesis about (specifically a queer theological reading of it) and Good Omens was the story that has shaped my year. I re-read the book at the beginning of term and once the mini-series came out at the end of May, I did not really think about anything else since. This book and this show are so incredibly important to me, and it is, after a long while of nothing even remotely getting there, the first thing that has captured my attention so strongly, that it has outlasted my one-month hyper-focus ability and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. And that I am so incredibly grateful for. I wasn’t sure if I could still do it. Have an interest, have passion for something, for longer than a month. So many things I tried and loved and done, and after a single month, I dropped them like a hot potato and never touched them again. But Good Omens came and took me by my hand and lead me into the promised land. Especially since the show came out, I feel like a changed person. I have talked about it to no end, and I could go on forever now too, but I’ll just say this for now: This story of an angel and a demon crossing the divide that is their differences, coming together in love for the world, for humanity, and each other, this story means everything to me, and it has given me so much. Nothing is ever going to change that. That is irrevocable. And I know that 2020 won’t change that fact. I have faith that this passion will continue on and will inspire more positive change in me. It’s already started bringing me back to writing and drawing, so I know that it will lead me somewhere.

There is so much more I could say here, now, about 2019, about 2020. About my plans and my wishes, my dreams and the things I ought to do. But I think, I’ll leave it at that, for now. I tried this monthly blogging last year for the first time, and I think I’ll try to continue doing it. So, you can expect to read more of my thoughts on all kinds of things.

For now, however, let me say this: 2020 can be anything you want it to be. 2020 is yours to shape, yours to create in, yours to manage, yours to use. I want my 2020 to be gentle, to be taken one step at a time, to be experienced to the fullest, to be lived and felt and actively experienced. Sure, bad things can happen, bad things can always happen. But it’s your decision what happens next.

In 2020, I want to start loving more unapologetically. Do good, recklessly. Be kind, always. Not just to others, but to myself.

…

I have faith in us, you know? Humans. There’s so much hope there, still. 2020 might just as well show it.

…

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope it’ll be a good one for you.

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dansnaturepictures · 5 years

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My 10 Wildlife/Photography 2019 highlight blogs: Opening blog about another brilliant year of birds for me

People who have known me for a while may recall that in 2016, 2017 and 2018 I had sensational birding years by my standards and with what I achieved with the bank of species seen, fast starts to year lists and year list totals with each of these years overtaking everything else and being my highest ever year list they got better and better and 2018 seemed an impossible act to follow. Here I examine how well I did follow it, and tomorrow the post at around the same time is solely about experiences with some of my 28 favourite birds that I saw this year.

My 2019 followed 2018 perfectly, I have seen 195 species currently making it my second highest year list ever. Many of the species I have seen have been phenomenal again. The start definitely was what I will call fast again in that I saw a lot of birds in January, it was my second highest amount seen on New Year’s Day after 2016 where two woodpeckers Great Spotted and Green, two thrushes Redwing and Fieldfare and Siskin starred across a few locations. In the early days it was behind where 2017 and 2016 had been on those dates with how many birds I had seen, then all of a sudden when I had a week off it was the highest a year list of mine had ever been on on given dates. In mid-January when a year before my Scotland trip had happened in 2018 and all those year ticks 2018 was the highest on the given dates, but 2019 stayed closely behind it as the second highest my year list had been on on these dates which I was thrilled with. This continued in February and in March it even overtook where 2018 had been on certain dates. The same happened in April as I reached the milestone 150 birds a day earlier than I had in 2018, and it was neck in neck between the two going into May. In June and into July it even overtook what I had seen on 2018 on the dates, it fell behind again over the summer but pulled back level and began to overtake what my 2018 had been on on certain dates again in September and these two year lists were way ahead of every other year for me on those dates going into October too. Of course last year in this post I remarked how I was on amounts of birds seen in 2018 that I only reached two months later in 2017 and other years. So I just thought it was going to be more normal this year and I would notice how far 2018 was ahead. I have appreciated my high numbers of birds seen last year but also been right there with it on the dates this year which I am thrilled with. In November and into December now it has stayed neck in neck again but actually for a good while now I have been in a position where I have seen seen more birds on these days than I had a year ago. No matter what, to even stay as close to the exceptional year that was 2018 for me as it did with more modest places visited really and species ranges available was something I was so proud of.

The week off in January I had from work spent birdwatching was crucial to my start and whole year. It took me on my first of four trips away of the year so I was lucky with that, two nights in Gloucestershire so I could visit WWT Slimbridge on my birthday. On that magical day reserve specialities Bewick’s Swan (shown there in the 1st picture in this photoset), Common Crane, White-fronted and Barnacle Geese were star birds seen, alongside Peregrine Falcon, Water Rail (shown in the 2nd picture in this photoset that I took that day), Golden Plover and Ruff. When back from that week off I remember saying one morning at work I could tell you the highlight birds from that week but I would be here until lunch time. But so many amazing birds seen in home areas and on the way to our trip away that week included; Waxwing (as shown that day in the 3rd picture in this photoset at Totton the first major quality bird I saw this year and one of the biggest highlights in 2019), Jack Snipe, Red Kite, Bearded Tit, Marsh Harrier, Ring-necked Duck, Cattle Egret, Purple Sandpiper, Greenshank, Common Gull, Shag, Black-necked Grebe, Gannet, Guillemot, Fulmar, Great White Egret, Yellow-browed Warbler, Yellow-legged Gull and Goldeneye.

The theme of seeing top birds continued throughout the year, some of my other greatest birds I saw in 2019 included; Spotted Redshank, Eider Duck, Goosander, Barn Owl, Sanderling, Crossbill, Hawfinch, Bar-tailed Godwit, Scaup, Mediterranean Gull, Corn Bunting (shown in the 4th picture in this photoset at Martin Down in May), Red-legged Partridge, Lesser Yellowlegs, Bittern (shown at Blashford Lakes in the 5th picture I took in this photoset), Lesser Redpoll, Brambling, Hooded Crow, Little Owl, Spoonbill, Little Ringed Plover, Redstart, Glossy Ibis, Razorbill, Yellowhammer, Little Tern (shown at Lymington in the 6th picture I took in this photoset), Common Sandpiper, Sand Martin, Dartford Warbler, Cuckoo, Sandwich Tern, Hobby, Sedge Warbler, Red-necked Phalarope, Lesser Whitethroat, Woodlark, Kittiwake, Puffin, Roseate Tern, Dipper, Spotted Flycatcher, Wood Sandpiper, Osprey, Black Tern, Whimbrel, Whinchat, Chough, Manx Shearwater, Common Scoter, Yellow Wagtail, Long-billed Dowitcher, Ring-necked Parakeet , Ring Ouzel, Garganey, Black Redstart, Long-tailed Duck, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Snow Bunting and three Short-eared Owls flying gloriously around us one of my standout moments this year on one of my standout birding days of 2019 with so much else seen at Portland Bill and isle that day. Twelve of the birds I saw this year I saw for only the second time in my life or it was only the second individual I’d seen of the species which really stood out as a unique point in my birding this year.

A big bird at Blashford Lakes in late April was the Bonaparte’s Gull and I was lucky enough to get a very distant view of it but watch it for quite a while. This was a fantastic species to see and made me so happy. It ended a longer wait compared to recent years as it was my first new bird of 2019. This took my life list to a bit of a milestone as it was bird 260 in my life.

My next life tick came in Northumberland in June with the Arctic Terns I saw on Coquet and Farne Islands, which l talk about more in my sixth of these posts about that holiday. During this week away we also dropped in on Druridge Pools and saw the very rare duck the Baikal Teal that was there my first ever, another beauty.

In July I saw a bird I hadn’t seen flying about in the wild before when I saw one of the White Storks on a day at Knepp. I got a beautiful view of this species and saw where they had attempted to nest so it felt very rewarding to see at this rewilding project at exciting times for these birds going forward now. Our timing was perfect in September when we had our holiday to Cornwall the first week and two of the first few Brown Boobies in the UK ever seen had turned up! On the second day of the holiday we went to Kynance Cove where one had been reported and saw it sitting on a rock. An honour to see this it was a mega and a Champions League standard bird for sure I was over the moon to see it. I talk about this more in my penultimate post of this thread on Christmas Eve about the Cornwall holiday.

The only way to follow the Brown Booby would be with another mega and that we did later in the month by seeing the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler that dropped into Farlington Marshes. It was a really beautiful bird to see and one that was so distinctive. I was lucky to get some really good views of it that day as it flew in and out of thick vegetation. This top bird sighting came at such a good point in my year that weekend too with so much else happening to make it one of my most memorable two days.

My next new bird came on 21st October as we finally managed to catch up with a Wryneck after so many times trying to see one. This was at Hill Head where we had a really good search for apparently two that had showed up. We and some other birdwatchers got some joy when we looked around the chalet area and were thrilled to spot one in someone’s garden. We enjoyed a glorious good few minutes with this beautiful and sensational species watching it fly west, giving some fantastic views in trees and on the ground. I took the 7th picture in this photoset of it. It was such a feel good twitch and really one of my main standout moments in my 2019 birdwatching a year that has been amazing for me. This was the fourth woodpecker species I’ve ever seen, my 266th bird in my life and a very important milestone 190th bird of 2019 for me which took it level with my 2017 as my joint second highest ever year list that day. I did go onto see more than 190 bird species this year of course.

Other bird pictures I took in 2019 I have included in this photoset are; Moorhen and chick along the river Itchen in June one of my favourite spring pictures this year, Pied Wagtail during winter’s Big Garden Birdwatch for the RSPB a standout moment I had a really good year for seeing a variety of garden birds generally and other wildlife around the garden and house like a Hedgehog, butterflies and moths and Avocet at Brownsea Island, Dorset in October. Going back to the garden birdwatch and I very much enjoyed doing a similar event yesterday Birdaware Solent’s Great Solent Birdwatch doing it at Weston Shore as I said in my post last night. These were just two of a whole host of citizen science surveys for various organisations I was proud to take part in this year for all wildlife. On another avian photography note in November I found out some of my bird photos from this year (Lesser Redpoll at Blashford Lakes, another Waxwing, Totton one and Blackbird out the back) I’d entered into the Blissful Birder calendar competition earlier in the year had made their ‘Birds of England’ calendar 2020. I was very proud of this. It was a real honour to see some of my pictures alongside some superb work which displays how proud we should be of English birds. It was fitting this happening as one of my earliest birdwatching memories was buying an RSPB calendar which led me to join their Wildlife Explorers with a link to it on the back a big early staging post in my interest after I had got the famous (for me) sticker book of birds which started my interest. So 10 years into me being into photography started by birds to get my own pictures on a commercial calendar felt amazing.

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