#Kenwood Academy

[mylifeinthechi]

After a fight during the football game between Kenwood Academy and Morgan Park, players will be suspended.

After a fight during the football game between Kenwood Academy and Morgan Park, players will be suspended.

After a post-game brawl, 18-20 players were kicked out. Over the weekend, two of the best high school football teams in Chicago got into a fight. Chicago Public Schools and the Illinois High School Association are trying to settle the dispute.After the final whistle blew on Saturday in their game at Lane Stadium, 2601 W. Addison St., a number of Morgan Park High School and Kenwood Academy…

[lboogie1906]

LisaRaye McCoy (September 23, 1967) known as LisaRaye, is an actress, model, businesswoman, and fashion designer. She is known for portraying Diana “Diamond” Armstrong in The Players Club, Neesee James in All of Us, Keisha Greene in Single Ladies, and Donna Duncan in The Family Business. She was married to Michael Misick, the first Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands; during that time she served as First Lady of Turks and Caicos.

Her sister is Da Brat. Growing up on the south side of Chicago, she attended St. James College Prep, Kenwood Academy, and later Thornridge High School. She attended Eastern Illinois University before pursuing an acting career.

She made her acting debut as the lead in Reasons. She appeared in The Wood, Rhapsody, All About You, and Go for Broke. She began her career as a model for fashion. She did shows in churches and high schools in her native Chicago. She has appeared in dozens of music videos. She launched two fashion lines: Luxe & Romance, a lingerie line that was introduced during New York’s Fashion Week, and Xraye, a jeans line for women. She launched her jean collection “The LisaRaye Collection” in partnership with PZI Jeans, and a hairline, “LisaRaye Glamour.” She was the Ambassador/Grand Marshal for the 70th Magic City Classic parade and football game in Birmingham, Alabama. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[higherlearningtvshow]

MEET THE FOUNDERS

Teens Designing & Selling Streetwear

Some high schoolers say they started their brands for the profits. Others are jumping into streetwear in pursuit of a creative outlet. A large cardboard box covered in Chinese customs labels sits in the attic of Jack Lee’s parent’s home in the Roscoe Village neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side. The lanky teenager slices into the box and produces a pair of black basketball shorts adorned with white bolts of lightning. He smiles as he traces the mesh material with his fingers.

Lee is the founder of the streetwear brand Snker Method. He is one of many high schoolers in Chicago — most of them boys — who have started their own clothing companies in recent years, selling everything from hoodies to ski masks. The teens operate out of homes in all corners of the city and its suburbs, mostly selling to their high school peers, but also shipping clothes to young people as far away as New Jersey or California. Lee’s goal is to make a million dollars in sales and eventually get hired at Nike. “I want to make a mark on the world.”

Keyon Hackle & Jacob Hunter, Designers & Classmates at "Kenwood Academy" (Photo: Manuel Martinez)

Lee, the budding businessman, sketches his designs before he sends them to his manufacturers in China. Shipping costs are a nightmare, but Lee says it’s still cheaper than manufacturing on American soil. He puts the lightning bolt shorts up on his website for $60, then immediately marks them down to $35 — a sales trick he says he doesn’t like to tell people about. Over on the South Side, designer Jamari Jackson is selling his t-shirts for $15.

Jackson has set up a pop-up shop outside Kenwood Academy High School where he is a senior. Kanye West’s Good Morning blares from a small speaker as seniors mill around the folding table Jackson set up, signing each other’s new t-shirts in rainbow-colored markers. Once class lets out, customers flood Jackson’s pop-up. One kid calls his mom to ask permission to buy one of the shirts — a white tee with the words “See No Evil” written in faded black letters on the front. Two clothing designers who also go to Kenwood show up to check out the competition.

Three Models Pose in Hoodies & Lightning Bolt Shorts Designed by Jack Lee (Photo: Allison Peevy)

Keyon Hackle and Jacob Hunter, who runs a brand named CLRVNT, did a recent pop-up of their brand, where they gave out a bunch of free clothes to students. Several months ago, the teens also gave out a bunch of free samples to their teachers, who wore their CLRVNT swag to school.“We’re only in our first year and we’ve already generated about a quarter million in sales,” Hackle says. “So I can see us on that path to making millions of dollars.” Aside from Hackle and Hunter, Jackson can name at least five other streetwear brand owners who go to Kenwood. They have a little bit of a rivalry going on.

“At the end of the day, it is a market, so there’s always naturally going to be that competition,” Jackson says. “But we kind of work around each other.” While this friendly rivalry drives Jackson, brand owner Tevence Smith over on the West Side says he’s in the streetwear market to create art. Smith runs a brand named Oswalt. His earliest designs were heavy with lightning bolts and clouds, inspired by the Greek God Zeus. But Smith says his clothes also tell the story of the Black community in Austin, the West Side neighborhood he calls home.

Student Designers at "Kenwood Academy High School" Sign Each Other’s Shirts (Photo: Manuel Martinez)

“Clothes mean a lot to us,” Smith says. “Whether it’s the way you tie your shoes, whether it’s the way you wear your pants. Clothes [are] a way to express yourself, a way to be free.”Free from the problems plaguing his people, he says, like gun violence and racism. The teen looks up to Virgil Abloh, a designer from Rockford, Illinois, who made a name for himself by melding streetwear with luxury fashion as the artistic director of menswear for Louis Vuitton.

“A lot of the clothes he makes are beyond clothes,” Smith says. “It’s art pieces. And that’s how I like to look at my clothes as well.”Abloh passed away in 2021. But Smith sometimes looks up videos of his fashion shows on YouTube for inspiration. He dreams of one day hosting his runway in Paris like Abloh did. “To know someone from a small town like Rockford can make it gives me hope,” Smith says. “It helps me keep pushing forward.” - Content Curated By Anna Savchenko

[tsmom1219]

Seven Unit 4 buildings awarded Energy Star certification

Read the full story from the Champaign Unit 4 School District. Seven Unit 4 School Buildings were awarded ENERGY STAR Certification. The schools include: Carrie Busey, Kenwood, and Robeson Elementary Schools, Garden Hills Academy, Edison and Jefferson Middle Schools and Franklin STEAM Academy.

[whatisonthemoon]

Not exactly a fixer-upper: Unification Seminary in Barrytown up for sale (2018)

Got a spare $20 million on hand? Ready to finally fork over for those 260 acres with nine buildings, gorgeously overlooking the Hudson River and distant Catskill Mountains? For a cool $16,750,000, down from the original asking price of $17,995,000, you can have the former Massena estate in Barrytown, originally owned by the illustrious Livingston family, later bought by John D. Rockefeller so he could build a monastery for the Christian Brothers there, and still later sold to the Unification Church, then led by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, so he could start a Theological Seminary for his huge enterprise in the 1970s. That’s who is selling it now.

And an extra $2 million could go a long way towards making it into whatever one wanted.

“We have to find someone wealthy. We’re thinking in terms of museums, wellness centers, schools,” said Victoria Fischer of the property, being one of two brokers at Marcus & Milchap in Westchester County handling its sale since late Spring. “The place is in great shape; they’re still using the building.”

Fisher spoke about other large properties in the general neighborhood. Edgewater is a storied estate overlooking the Hudson that’s regained its old glory in recent years, after being owned for a spell by a much-younger Gore Vidal. Rokeby, also known as La Bergerie, is the former Astor estate a little to the south, run by the Aldrich family for years as a shared creative bastion where, among other things, New York City’s annual Halloween parade through Greenwich Village gets plotted out each summer and fall. Sylvania, smaller than the rest, remains in a storied family whose name shall go unmentioned; George and Susan Quasha maintain their long-running Station Hill compound for publishing and other artistic endeavors in what could be construed as “downtown” Barrytown (a crossroads of buildings, as it were).

“I’m not one to look behind I know that times must change/ But over there in Barrytown they do things very strange,” sang Steely Dan in their song “Barrytown,” off their 1974 album Pretzel Logic.

“The Banks are lined with elegant villas — thought it was the consummation of Earthly Bliss to live in one of those palaces, on such a Noble River, under such a Government,” wrote a young poet named Davidson in the early 19th century, who later grew Edgewater into a grand mansion while some of the old money was running from the area once a railroad was put in right up the banks of the Hudson, breaking their fabled views (and quiet).

When asked about the Unification Seminary’s largest neighbor, Bard College in nearby Annandale-on-Hudson — which recently bought the historic Montgomery Place estate just to the north of what was once Massena, to be used for events and environmental studies programs, among other things — Fisher said her company has reached out to the college. She added that they said they “were not interested at this point.”

What the realtors have been getting to date, she added, were “nibbles and bites, basically from people who want to make sure they have the money to do what they want.”

She mentioned the recent sale of a large convent, formerly the Kenwood Academy and Doane Stuart School in Albany, that sold to developers looking to create condominiums (Doane Stuart moved to a new location within the past decade). What she didn’t mention was that sale ended up one third under its original asking price.

In Barrytown, meanwhile, the Unification Church property includes a 120,000 square foot main building, shaped like an “H” with an updated “upper” half and older, mid-century-style dorms on the lower half. Ancillary buildings add up to another 150,000 square feet. There’s a chapel, library, dining halls, kitchens. There are offices, classrooms, guest rooms, an infirmary, a two-story gym, a 400-seat auditorium, and a 100-seat lecture hall.

“The Unification people feel as if they’re cutting off their left arm, selling the seminary,” Fisher added. They want to keep it but already have a lot of expensive real estate in midtown Manhattan.”

The Unification Church was founded by Rev. Moon in South Korea in the 1950s, following the Korean Conflict. It began spreading in the United States throughout the 1960s, after which Moon moved stateside in 1971. The Barrytown property was bought in 1974, and eventually the church and Rev. Moon bought numerous other properties, including the old New Yorker Hotel on 34th Street in Manhattan. They founded the conservative Washington Times, started matching couples and marrying couples from his followers in mass ceremonies at Madison Square Garden and other arena venues, and Dr. Moon was jailed for tax evasion for several years. He died in 2012.

Back in 1994, when the 25th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival took place in Saugerties, a number of key acts staying on the east side of the Hudson, including Bob Dylan, were flown by helicopter to the Winston Farm concert grounds from a landing area at the seminary.

Related

It’s official - UTS has been sold

Psychosis and Mental Illness at Barrytown - Moon and Salonen should be held responsible

The Barrytown Property is being sold off for $15 million

[recentlyheardcom]

The Chicago Bears hosted the 1st girls flag football championship in Illinois. Officials want to make the game an IHSA-sanctioned sport by 2024.

The Chicago Bears hosted the 1st girls flag football championship in Illinois. Officials want to make the game an IHSA-sanctioned sport by 2024.

Kenwood Academy High School senior Kennedy Scott started tossing around the football with her twin brother in 2021 when he was getting ready to play tackle football for Urban Prep Academy. “I trained with him and then all of a sudden, my school had a flag football program. So I joined,” she said. Last Saturday Scott did her part as wide receiver for Kenwood’s girls’ flag football team, at a state…

[boricuacherry-blog]

[onebeardedgolfer]

Blind Shots Podcast Season 3 Episode 17 - Hal Phillips on global golf design, American soccer revolution, and global political economy.

Buckle up, folks, this one is a trip. Mandarin Media's Hal Phillips (@mandarinhal) talks global golf course design, American soccer revolution, Chinese political economy, and much more. No, seriously. A true blind shot conversation.

Buckle up, folks, because we’re going around the world today with Hal Phillips, the principal behind Mandarin Media, his golf course-centric PR and media firm.  In his quarter-century of work in the marketing agency space with architects, private clubs, and developers, he has had a front row seat the trends and events that have shaped golf course design for the last three decades. Yet, as…

[womentowatchnowblog]

Mocha Mocha 

Mocha is Chicago born & raised. Her love for dance blossomed when she started her own dance troupe in college titled Legacy Dance Team. In doing so, she mastered her skills in contemporary, hip-hop, burlesque and afro-dancehall styles. Returning home, she had the amazing chance to dance on the mainstage with Nigerian artists D'Banj and PSquare.

In July of 2017 Mocha joined the Chicago burlesque scene. She performed with various companies such as The Kiss Kiss Cabaret, Vaudeville at Bordel, and Jeezy's Juke Joint. Today, she continues to perform burlesque at venues all over the Chicago area.

Aside from burlesque, Mocha is the Assistant HipHop dance Coach at Kenwood Academy and Lead Dancer of exotik funk band, “Tamarie T & Elektra Kumpany”. Continuing to perfect her craft, Mocha has created a business titled Body Confidence for Queens. A company which celebrates the progression of women and helps them gain confidence both physically & mentally through dance.  Mocha’s classes help to address the inner thoughts & actions that prevent us from being our true self. In doing so, we will find power, unity, courage, confidence, sense of self, & healthier perspectives of our overall being.

Mocha created BCQ so that women can have a safe & positive space to be themselves, and rise above patriarchy. BCQ is the place where women come to find their power, rid themselves of fear and self-doubt, attain self assurance, learn to love themselves, and form healthy relationships.

The mission of Body Confidence for Queens is to create a strong society of women who are mentally & physically content with themselves. These women will then pass all learned info down to their pupils; our society of Princesses, aka “The Queens of Tomorrow”. Mocha’s mission is to create a growing cycle of Queens who are overall confident in every way, shape or form. 

With Body Confidence for Queens, Mocha continues to excel her career by helping others through dance & movement.

Please Follow and Support Mocha Mocha Below!

IG: @MochaMocha2

IG: @bodyconfidenceforqueens 

FB: Mocha Mocha

FB Group: Body Confidence for Queens

[96thdayofrage]

Lewis rose to prominence in 2012, when she led the first teachers strike in Chicago in 25 years — a walkout many say inspired a wave of teacher activism and the beginning of the Red for Ed, the national movement in which teachers went on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.

The 2012 Chicago Teachers Strike showed teachers they could take on the powerful and win.

Lewis served as president of the Chicago Teachers Union from 2010 to 2018, when she resigned due to health issues. She was diagnosed with brain cancer several years ago. She was 67 years old. Her death was announced by her former spokeswoman and confirmed by sources close to the CTU.

Lewis was born on July 26, 1953. A proud daughter of Chicago Public School teachers, she went to Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park on the South Side. She left her junior year to go to Mount Holyoke College and then transferred to Dartmouth College. She said she was the only African American woman in Dartmouth’s graduating class of 1974.

Before becoming president of the teachers union, she was a chemistry teacher in Chicago Public Schools for more than 20 years.

Lewis is remembered as being passionate and outspoken, but also highly intelligent, wildly funny and warm, and someone who always recalled details about people’s lives and asked about them.

“She had a boisterous love of life and she made people feel seen,” said Jackson Potter, a friend and one of the founders of Lewis’ union caucus, called CORE. “Though she was childless, she felt like all the babies in the world were her children.”

He said Lewis’ ability to make people laugh helped her be a good leader. It allowed her to bridge divides and gave people a way to relate to her.

Potter said Lewis’ humor and warmth also allowed her to get away with espousing what were considered radical ideas at the time.

She attacked the rich and the powerful, who she saw as trying to insert themselves into public education through charter schools and other corporate-inspired education reforms. At a rally in Union Park in October 2012, Lewis held up a blank sheet of paper. She said it listed the qualifications of the people making education policy.

“What’s on it?” she asked. “Nothing, nothing, nothing.” The crowd that packed the park then started chanting, “nothing, nothing, nothing.”

She went on to make the argument that teachers want to be collaborative, but once competition is introduced, it takes away the desire to work together for the common good of children. She also saw the introduction of market approaches into public education as devaluing the work of teachers and siphoning money away from regular public schools, a process she said hurt children.

“I don’t care what they say, ‘We will not harm our children’” she said. “You are asking us to do harm to children. I don’t think people understand that.”

Lewis also moved the union away from bread and butter issues, like pay and benefits, to broader issues of social justice. Under her tenure, the union put forth a manifesto called The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve that laid bare the wide distance between what CPS said it should provide students and what it does.

The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve called for teachers to be treated as professionals, for fully staffed schools with nurses and social workers and for lower class sizes.

“We needed someone to swing” Lewis’ message resonated because she was willing to stand up for teachers at a time when teachers were under attack and somewhat downtrodden. She unapologetically labeled people as villains and enemies if she thought they disrespected public school teachers and public education.

Chief among them was former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Early on in her tenure as union president, she emerged from a meeting with Emanuel and revealed he had sworn at her. This came after she called the longer school day he was pushing a “babysitting” initiative.

“He jumped out of his chair and said, F-you Lewis,” she recalled. “And I jumped out of my chair and said, who the F do you think you are talking to? I don’t work for you.”

Lewis said she went on to use “infinitely more colorful South Side language,” as did the mayor.

Nora Flanagan, who taught with Lewis at Lane Tech High School on the North Side, said she thinks teachers were inspired by that moment.

“That was when Karen made it clear that this was going to be a fight and we all were like, ‘Okay, let’s do this,’ and we took off our earrings and had someone hold our shoes and got ready for a big fight with a new, very powerful mayor,” Flanagan said. “We needed someone to swing, to make it obvious this might get ugly, but she was ready and we should be ready too.”

Lewis was known for throwing verbal bombs. She called Emanuel the “murder mayor” when the union was on the front lines in the fight against the historic closing of 50 schools in 2013.

“Look at the murder rate in this city. He’s murdering schools. He’s murdering jobs. He’s murdering housing. I don’t know what else to call him. He’s the murder mayor,” she said during the school closing fight.

And she once told a group of community and business leaders that then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, who for years held up the passage of a state budget until his agenda was approved, was a new “ISIS recruit … because the things he’s doing look like acts of terror on poor and working-class people,” she said.

Potter said it took courage for Lewis to speak that way and it was a risk. He said even some members of the union would tell him that “Karen was too much.” He saw that as a euphemism for her being “too black.”

Potter said, though she didn’t like it, she would often have Potter or one of the other white officers go to member meetings in the white strongholds on the far Northwest and Southwest sides.

“In some ways, Karen was a consummate diplomat because she could span all these different environments, but in other ways she was the most smash-mouthed person I have ever known because she would not be afraid to say it like it was,” he said.

James Franczek, the chief labor attorney for the school district, said Lewis used rhetoric that people were not used to and that made some uncomfortable.

“My first impression was, ‘Wow, this woman is sort of off the rails,’” he said. “Karen has many positive traits but subtlety is not one of them.”

While Franczek said he disagreed with Lewis on most issues, he said he wound up liking her personally. In the years after the arduous 2012 negotiations, he would have dinner or coffee with her and they would talk about some of the things she loved — opera, classical music and what books she was reading.

“She disagrees with you on almost everything, but she does it with a sense of humor that makes those disagreements enjoyable,” Franczek said.

Franczek called Lewis a “force of nature” and someone who is so “unique he doesn’t think there will ever be another leader like her.”

Her intelligence and wit earned the respect of even her staunchest adversaries. When she retired, Mayor Emanuel sent her matzah ball soup, a traditional Jewish food. Emanuel called her a friend and said he respected her advocacy for the children of Chicago.

“A fearless truth teller” Current Chicago Teacher Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey, like Potter, was part of the group of young, upstart high school teachers who founded the CORE union caucus to take on the union leadership they ultimately replaced. They criticized former leaders for letting the school district increase privatization without a fight and for being unwilling to take on the broader social justice issues in public education.

Sharkey said he relished watching Lewis become “like a folk icon in the city.”

“Her ability to speak to the mass media and working-class people in the city really caught hold of the imagination of people broadly in Chicago,” he said. “It was amazing to see unfold.”

But he said it would be wrong to make Lewis out to be a cuddly figure who was friends with Emanuel. As with many black leaders, he said the tendency is to try to remove their sharp edge.

“This is the person who called Rahm Emanuel the murder mayor and was willing to take on the powerful and the establishment,” Sharkey said. “She has been a voice for black workers, she has been a voice for the underdog.”

Sharkey said Lewis was a “fearless truth teller” who was a “lightning rod of criticism.”

“She bore it with incredible grace and a tremendous amount of patience and really helped to give people confidence to create a movement,” he said.

Stacy Davis Gates, the current union vice president, said on the day the Chicago Board of Education voted to close 50 schools, Lewis declared she was going to shift the political landscape of the city. Lewis was gearing up to run for mayor against Emanuel when she was diagnosed with brain cancer.

While Lewis didn’t get to challenge Emanuel, her vision played out, said Davis Gates. For one, Emanuel is no longer mayor, having decided not to run for a third term in 2019.

And in 2019, Sharkey and Davis Gates led the teachers out on an 11-day strike, demanding many of the supports and resources called for in that 2012 document, The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve.

The contract they negotiated includes commitments for hundreds more nurses and social workers, as well as class size caps, for the first time.

Davis Gates said it was Lewis that gave union leaders and teachers in Chicago the conviction to take on the fight.

“You see all of the threads and the fruits of her labor manifesting in a way where you don’t have just the one, you have the mightier, you have the more stable, you have a chorus of voices shaking their hand and demanding the justice she embodied as the leader of this union,” she said.

Sharkey also gave Lewis a powerful nod on the eve of the October 2019 strike. As he stood before throngs of members in their red shirts, Sharkey declared, “This is the house that Karen built.”

[mylifeinthechi]

After a fight during the football game between Kenwood Academy and Morgan Park, players will be suspended.

After a fight during the football game between Kenwood Academy and Morgan Park, players will be suspended.

[lboogie1906]

Dr. Kerrie Lamont Holley (September 7, 1954) is a software architect, author, researcher, consultant, and inventor. He joined Industry Solutions and Google Cloud. He was with UnitedHealth Group / Optum, their first Technical Fellow, where he focused on ideating healthcare assets and solutions using IoT, AI, graph database, and more. His main focus centered on advancing AI in healthcare with an emphasis on deep learning and natural language processing. He is a retired IBM Fellow. He served as vice president and CTO at Cisco responsible for their analytics and automation platform. He is known internationally for his innovative work in architecture and software engineering centered on the adoption of scalable services, next-era computing, service-oriented architecture, and APIs.

He was raised by his maternal grandmother on Chicago's south side. He became a student at the Sue Duncan Children's Center where he was tutored in math and science. As he excelled in the program, he became a tutor at the center. After graduating from Kenwood Academy, he went on to receive his BA in Mathematics from DePaul University, followed by a JD from DePaul University College of Law. He was conferred a Doctor of Humane Letters from DePaul University, College of Communication / College of Computing and Digital Media. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[blackkudos]

Chaka Khan

Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan, is an American singer and songwriter. Her career has spanned nearly five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Khan received public attention for her vocals and image. Known as the "Queen of Funk", Khan was the first R&B artist to have a crossover hit featuring a rapper, with "I Feel for You" in 1984. Khan has won ten Grammy Awards and has sold an estimated 70 million records worldwide.

In the course of her solo career, Khan has achieved three gold singles, three gold albums and one platinum album with I Feel for You. With Rufus, she achieved four gold singles, four gold albums, and two platinum albums. She has collaborated with Ry Cooder, Robert Palmer, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Guru, Chicago, De la Soul, Mary J. Blige, among others. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 65th most successful dance artist of all time. She was ranked at number 17 in VH1's original list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. She has been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; she was first nominated as member of Rufus in 2011.

Early life

Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on March 23, 1953 into an artistic, bohemian household in Chicago, Illinois. The eldest of five children born to Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman, she has described her father as a beatnik and her mother as "able to do anything." She was raised in the Hyde Park area, "an island in the middle of the madness" of Chicago's rough South Side housing projects. Her sister Yvonne later became a successful musician in her own right under the name Taka Boom. Her only brother, Mark, who formed the funk group Aurra, also became a successful musician. She has two other sisters, Zaheva Stevens and Tammy McCrary.

Khan was raised as a Catholic. She attended the elementary school of Saint Thomas the Apostle Church in Hyde Park. She attributed her love of music to her grandmother, who introduced her to jazz as a child. Khan became a fan of rhythm and blues music as a preteen and at eleven formed a girl group, the Crystalettes, which included her sister Taka. In the late 1960s, Khan attended several civil rights rallies with her father's second wife, Connie, a strong supporter of the movement and joined the Black Panther Party after befriending a fellow member, activist and Chicago native Fred Hampton in 1967. Though many think that she was given the name Chaka while in the Panthers, she has made it clear that her name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi Karifi was given to her at age 13 by a Yoruba Baba. In 1969, she left the Panthers and dropped out of high school, having attended Calumet High School and Kenwood High School (now Kenwood Academy). She began to perform in small groups around the Chicago area, first performing with Cash McCall's group Lyfe, which included her then-boyfriend Hassan Khan. Chaka and Hassan married in 1970.

She was asked to replace Baby Huey of Baby Huey & the Babysitters after Huey's death in 1970. The group disbanded a year later. While performing in local bands in 1972, Khan was spotted by two members of a new group called Rufus and soon won her position in the group (replacing rock n roll singer Paulette McWilliams). The group caught the attention of musician Ike Turner who flew them out to Los Angeles to record at his studio Bolic Sound in Inglewood, California. Turner wanted Khan to become an Ikette; she declined stating she was "really happy with Rufus. But Ike's attention was certainly a boost."

Career

1973–1978: Early career with Rufus

In 1973, Rufus signed with ABC Records and released their eponymous debut album. Despite their fiery rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Maybe Your Baby" from Wonder's acclaimed Talking Book and the modest success of the Chaka-led ballad "Whoever's Thrilling You (Is Killing Me)", the album failed to gain attention. That changed when Wonder himself collaborated with the group on a song he had written for Khan. That song, "Tell Me Something Good", became the group's breakthrough hit, reaching number-three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974, later winning the group their first Grammy Award. The single's success and the subsequent follow-up, "You Got the Love", which peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100, helped their second parent album, Rags to Rufus, go platinum, selling over a million copies. From 1974 to 1979, Rufus released six platinum-selling albums including Rufusized, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, Ask Rufus, Street Player and Masterjam. Hits the group scored during this time included "Once You Get Started," "Sweet Thing," "Hollywood," "At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up)," and "Do You Love What You Feel."

The band gained a reputation as a live performing act, with Khan becoming the star attraction, thanks to her powerful vocals and stage attire—which sometimes included Native American garb and showing her midriff. Most of the band's material was written and produced by the band itself with few exceptions. Khan has also been noted for being an instrumentalist playing drums and bass; she also provided percussion during her tenure with Rufus. Most of her compositions were collaborations with guitarist Tony Maiden. Relations between Khan and the group, particularly between her and Andre Fischer, became stormy. Several members left with nearly every release. While Khan remained in the group, she signed a solo contract with Warner Bros. Records in 1978. While Khan was busy at work on solo material, Rufus released three albums without her participation including 1979's Numbers, 1980's Party 'Til You're Broke, and 1983's Seal in Red.

1978–1983: Early solo career and final years with Rufus

In 1978, Warner Bros. Records released Khan's solo debut album, which featured the crossover disco hit, "I'm Every Woman", written for her by singers-songwriters Ashford & Simpson. The success of the single helped the album go platinum, selling over a million copies. Khan also featured on Quincy Jones's hit, "Stuff Like That", also released in 1978, which also featured Ashford & Simpson as co-writers, along with Jones and several others. Ashford & Simpson performed with Khan on the song.

In 1979, Khan reunited with Rufus to collaborate on the Jones-produced Masterjam, which featured their hit "Do You Love What You Feel", which Khan sang with Tony Maiden. Despite her sometimes-acrimonious relationship with some of her bandmates, Khan and Maiden have maintained a friendship over the years. In 1979 she also dueted with Ry Cooder on his album Bop Till You Drop. In 1980, while Rufus released Party 'Til You're Broke, again without Khan, she released her second solo album, Naughty, which featured her on the cover with her six-year-old daughter Milini. The album yielded the disco hit "Clouds" and the R&B ballad "Papillon".

Also in 1980, Khan had a cameo appearance as a church choir soloist in The Blues Brothers starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Khan released two albums in 1981, the Rufus release, Camouflage and the solo album What Cha' Gonna Do for Me. The latter album went gold. The same year, Khan appeared on three tracks on Rick Wakeman's concept album 1984. In 1982, Khan issued two more solo albums, the jazz-oriented Echoes of an Era and a more funk/pop-oriented self-titled album Chaka Khan. The latter album's track, the jazz-inflected "Be Bop Medley", won Khan a Grammy and earned praise from jazz singer Betty Carter who loved Khan's vocal scatting in the song.

In 1983, following the release of Rufus's final studio album, Seal in Red, which did not feature Khan, the singer returned with Rufus on a live album, Stompin' at the Savoy - Live, which featured the studio single, "Ain't Nobody", which became the group's final charting success reaching number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B chart, while also reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom. Following this release, Rufus separated for good.

1984–1996: Solo success

In 1984, Khan released her sixth studio album, I Feel for You. The title track, the first single released, was originally written and recorded by Prince in 1979 and had also been recorded by The Pointer Sisters and Rebbie Jackson. Khan's version featured a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder and an introductory rap by Grandmaster Melle Mel. It became a million-selling smash in the U.S. and United Kingdom and helped to relaunch Khan's career. "I Feel for You" topped not only the U.S. R&B and dance charts, but achieved great success on the U.S. pop chart and reached No. 1 in the U.K. The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1984 and remained on that chart for 26 weeks, well into 1985. Additionally, it hit No. 1 on the Cash Box chart. It was listed as Billboard′s No. 5 song for 1985 and netted Prince the 1985 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. In addition to the song's successful radio airplay and sales, a music video of Khan with breakdancers in an inner-city setting enjoyed heavy rotation on television and helped to solidify Khan's notoriety in popular culture.

Other singles that helped the I Feel For You album go platinum included "This is My Night" and the ballad "Through the Fire", the latter of which was also successful on the adult contemporary chart. Khan was featured in Steve Winwood's 1986 number-one hit, "Higher Love". That same year, a duet was planned with Robert Palmer for the song "Addicted To Love". However, her manager declined to release the duet, citing the desire to not have too much product from her in the marketplace at one time. She was still credited for the vocal arrangements in the album's liner notes, and the song became an international hit. Khan followed up the success of the I Feel For You album with 1986's Destiny and 1988's CK. Khan found more success in the late 1980s with a remix album, Life Is a Dance: The Remix Project, which reached the top ten on the British albums chart. As a result, she performed regularly in the U.K., where she maintained a strong fan base.

In 1990, she was a featured performer on another major hit when she collaborated with Ray Charles and Quincy Jones on a new jack swing cover of The Brothers Johnson's "I'll Be Good to You", which was featured on Jones's Back on the Block. The song reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the R&B chart, later winning her and Ray Charles a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group. Khan returned with her first studio album in four years in 1992 with the release of The Woman I Am, which was a success due to the R&B songs "Love You All My Lifetime" and "You Can Make the Story Right".

Khan also contributed to soundtracks and worked on a follow-up to The Woman I Am she titled Dare You to Love Me, which was eventually shelved. In 1995, she and rapper Guru had a hit with the duet "Watch What You Say", in the U.K. That same year, she provided a contemporary R&B cover of the classic standard, "My Funny Valentine", for the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. In 1996, following the release of her greatest-hits album, Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan, Vol. 1, Khan abruptly left Warner Bros. after stating the label had neglected her and failed to release Dare You to Love Me.

1998–2016

In 1998, Khan signed a contract with Prince's NPG Records label and issued Come 2 My House, followed by the single "Don't Talk 2 Strangers", a cover of a 1996 Prince song. She later went on a tour with Prince as a co-headlining act. In 2000, Khan departed NPG and she released her autobiography Chaka! Through The Fire in 2003. The following year she released her first jazz covers album in twenty-two years with 2004's ClassiKhan. She also covered "Little Wing" with Kenny Olson on the album Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Three years later, after signing with Burgundy Records, Khan released what many critics called a "comeback album" with Funk This, produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis & Big Jim Wright. The album featured the hit, "Angel", and the Mary J. Blige duet, "Disrespectful". The latter track went to number one on the U.S. dance singles chart, winning the singers a Grammy Award, while Funk This also won a Grammy for Best R&B Album. The album was also notable for Khan's covers of Dee Dee Warwick's "Foolish Fool" and Prince's "Sign o' the Times". In 2008, Khan participated in the Broadway adaptation of The Color Purple playing Ms. Sofia to Fantasia Barrino's Celie.

In December 2004, Chaka Khan was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music during the inauguration of its president, Roger H. Brown.

In a 2008 interview Khan said that she, unlike other artists, felt very optimistic about the current changes in the recording industry, including music downloading. "I'm glad things are shifting and artists – not labels – are having more control over their art. My previous big record company (Warner Bros.) has vaults of my recordings that haven't seen the light of day that people need to hear. This includes Robert Palmer's original recording of 'Addicted to Love' – which they took my vocals off of! We are working on getting it (and other tracks) all back now." In 2009, Khan hit the road with singers Anastacia and Lulu for Here Come the Girls.

In 2009, Chaka was guest singer with the song "Alive" on jazz drummer Billy Cobham's album Drum ' n voice 3. In 2010, she contributed to vocals for Beverley Knight's "Soul Survivor", collaborated with Clay Aiken on a song for the kids show Phineas and Ferb, and performed two songs with Japanese singer Ai on Ai's latest album The Last Ai. Khan continues to perform to packed audiences both in her native United States and overseas.

On May 19, 2011, Khan was given the 2,440th Hollywood Walk of Fame star plaque on a section of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Her family was present when the singer accepted the honor, as was Stevie Wonder, who had written her breakout hit "Tell Me Something Good". On September 27, 2011, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame committee announced that Khan and her former band Rufus were jointly nominated for induction to the hall. It was the collective's first nomination 13 years after they were first eligible. The group were nominated partly due to Khan's own storied reputation, including her own solo career in conjunction with her years with Rufus. Recently, Khan rerecorded her song, "Super Life", under the title "Super Life: Fear Kills, Love Heals" with Eric Benet, Kelly Price, and Luke James in tribute to Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was killed on February 26. A number of celebrities also joined in the recording including Loretta Devine, Terry Crews, Eva Pigford, and reporter Kevin Frazier.

On December 6, 2012, Chaka Khan made a controversial decision to perform at a benefit for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF originally invited Stevie Wonder, however after a successful lobbying campaign by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Wonder withdrew and was replaced by Khan who was able to raise $14 million for the IDF. This support contrasted with her earlier support for the Black Panther Party that publicly supported a Free Palestine.

On July 27, 2013, Khan was honored 40 years after signing her first recording contract with a ceremonial renaming of Blackstone Avenue between 50th and 51st street (where her former high school, Kenwood Academy, sits) as Chaka Khan Way and on July 28 the city declared the day Chaka Khan Day. She performed at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion on the 28th. In August 2014, Khan served as grand marshal at the 85th annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic in her hometown of Chicago.

On August 27, 2015, Khan was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 21 of Dancing with the Stars. She was paired with professional dancer Keo Motsepe. Khan and Motsepe were the first couple eliminated from the competition on September 21, 2015.In July 2016, she canceled concert performances and entered rehab.

2018-present:

Hello Happiness

In June 2018 she released a new single called "Like Sugar", a collaboration with Major Lazer member Switch. She later went on to promote the single on the Ellen show. "Like Sugar" is included on her 2019 album Hello Happiness. The album was released on February 15, 2019 and is her first album in twelve years.

Khan served as Grand Marshal in the 2019 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2019 in Pasadena, California.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Chaka Khan among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

In October 2019, Khan was an honoree at Variety's "Power of Women" luncheon for supporting Little Kids Rock. Other honorees were Mariah Carey, Jennifer Aniston, Brie Larson, Awkwafina, and Dana Walden.In November 2019, Khan collaborated with Ariana Grande on the song "Nobody" from the soundtrack Charlie's Angels.

In 2020, Khan competed in season 3 of The Masked Singer as Miss Monster. She was eliminated and unmasked in the third episode.

Khan was invited to sing the National Anthem at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game. Her rendition has been heavily criticized on Twitter, comparing it to Fergie's rendition in 2018.

Personal life

Khan has been married twice and is the mother of two, daughter Indira Milini and son Damien Holland. Her first marriage was to Hassan Khan, in 1970, when she was 17, which ended in divorce a short time later. Milini's birth was the result of a relationship between Khan and Rahsaan Morris. Khan married her second husband, Richard Holland, in 1976. The marriage reportedly caused a rift between Khan and several members of Rufus, in particular, Andre Fischer. Holland wanted her to tone down her sexy stage image, but she refused. He filed for divorce in 1980, citing "irreconcilable differences." Khan dated a Chicago-area schoolteacher in the mid-1980s in the middle of her solo stardom. Following their separation, Khan moved to Europe, first settling in London, later buying a residence in Germany. She lived in Germany for a while "in a little village in the Rhine Valley" and also in Mannheim.

Khan is vegan, saying she adopted the diet to lose weight and combat high blood pressure and Type-2 diabetes. In the past, Khan struggled with drug abuse and alcoholism. Her drug use, which at times included cocaine and heroin, ended in the early 1990s. Khan had an on-and-off struggle with alcoholism until 2005, declaring herself sober. In 2006, her son Damien Holland was accused of murder after 17-year-old Christopher Bailey was shot to death. Khan testified on her son's behalf. Holland claimed the shooting was an accident. He was acquitted in the criminal trial and found liable in the civil suit. Though she sang at both the 2000 Democratic and Republican conventions, Khan says that she is more of a "Democratic-minded person".

Khan was featured in a 2013 episode of Celebrity Ghost Stories where she told the story of a shadow man who followed her on tour for years, until she met a guardian angel who admonished her to change her life or die.

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

To date, Khan has won ten Grammy Awards, including two as a member of Rufus. She has received 22 Grammy Award nominations, including three as a member of Rufus.

Soul Train Awards

1998 Lena Horne Award (Career Achievement) (Recipient)

2009 Legends Award (Career Achievement) (Recipient)

United Negro College Fund Award

2011 UNCF: Award of Excellence (Recipient)

American Music Award nominations

To date, she has had four American Music Award nominations.

1985 Favorite Female Artist – Soul/Rhythm & Blues (Nominee only. Award recipient was Tina Turner)

1982 Favorite Female Artist – Soul/Rhythm & Blues (Nominee only. Award recipient was Stephanie Mills)

1981 Favorite Female Artist – Soul/Rhythm & Blues (Nominee only. Award recipient was Diana Ross)

SoulMusic Hall of Fame at SoulMusic.com

Inducted: Female Artist (December 2012)

UK Music Video Awards

2018 Best Color Grading in a Video: Like Sugar (won)

2018 Best Editing: Like Sugar (won)

Discography

Solo

Chaka (1978)

Naughty (1980)

What Cha' Gonna Do for Me (1981)

Chaka Khan (1982)

Echoes of an Era (1982)

I Feel for You (1984)

Destiny (1986)

ck (1988)

The Woman I Am (1992)

Come 2 My House (1998)

ClassiKhan (2004)

Funk This (2007)

Hello Happiness (2019)

With Rufus

Rufus (1973)

Rags to Rufus (1974)

Rufusized (1974)

Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (1975)

Ask Rufus (1977)

Street Player (1978)

Masterjam (1979)

Camouflage (1981)

Stompin' at the Savoy – Live (1983)

As guest

All My Friends Are Here, So Blue - Arif Mardin feat. Chaka Khan & David Sanborn

[fallenandthefaithless]

All of the books!!!

So here it is, another years round up. My goal was to read 35 books this year and here they all are:

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Simon Versus the Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan Sabrina by Nick Drnaso City of Bones by Cassandra Clare The Tempest by William Shakespeare The Princess Bride by William Goldman Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare City of Glass by Cassandra Clare The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare The Mortal Instruments Graphic Novel Volume 1 by Cassandra Clare and Cassandra Jean The Mortal Instruments Graphic Novel Volume 2 by Cassandra Clare and Cassandra Jean City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Compound a Felony: A Queer Affair of Sherlock Holmes by Elinor Gray Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare Carry On by Rainbow Rowell Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare Exploring JRR Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ by Corey Olsen Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding Down River by John Hart The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare The Mortal Instruments Graphic Novel Volume 3 by Cassandra Clare and Cassandra Jean The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzie Lee Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

And there we have it. 42 books in total! Not a bad effort on top of a thesis. Here’s to 45 in 2020. 

And yes, I did have a favourite series this year - pretty obvious which one, huh :)

[wander-yet-wonder]

‘Portrait of a Young Man’

Historical Transtalia fic Characters: Aph England, Aph America

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18884995

Pairings: None Rating: All Audiences Warnings: Historical transphobia Summary:  The portrait of the nation gets taken to adorn the halls of the royal palace. The way one is portrayed however begs questions of identity and self image to become pressed to the surface for all to scrutinize. Minerva, can't stomach her portrait and would rather be portrayed as 'Arthur'. What is the empire built on? What should it be represented as? Setting: 1780's post americam revolution but during the colonial era.

The Grecian helmet sat heavy on Minerva's head and she shivered. The almost see-through peplos she'd been put in didn't provide her any shelter from the wind that seemed to have little to no regard for the walls of the royal academy, better equipped at evoking the classical past than at keeping out the cold. She was almost grateful for the dead lion draped at her feet meant to be a live one in the portrait that was currently being taken of her because if she shuffled her feet underneath it at least she could feel a bit warmer.

After what seemed like an eternity she was allowed to move. And immediately wrapped a shawl around her shoulders to inspect the work done. It was even worse than she feared. Doe eyed she stared over the sea and the deplorable wretch had drawn her with the peplos slipping of her shoulders to expose her breasts. Tell-tale storm clouds passed over her face. The painter winced because she was known to be tempestuous. "What is that." She pointed to the exposed bosom. It didn't sound like a question. "I emphasized you as a nurturing mother, kind and gentle to all her colonies." "This is wrong." "Pardon?" "This is wrong! This!? This is not your country!" She's shouting in a most unbecoming way.

The poor painter protests: "but I worked for hours- this is some of my best-" "I don't care if you're sir Joshua Reynolds himself! We're having a do-over. AND YOU DO AS I COMMAND!" He nods afraid his painting might end up smashed over his head if he pressed on. "Everyone get out I need to think" The man gathers his canvas and painting and scurries out, gesturing at his assistents and fellow societymen to follow, leaving his nation breathing loudly through flared nostrils with balled fists alone in the room.

The next day a small company is gathered at Kenwood house in Hampstead where Britain is currently resident. There’s excited murmuring in the crowd, gossip spreads fast and the spat over the painting is being readily discussed. No one really knows what is to be expected now. When the nation joins their guests in the drawing room however scandalized gasps are elicited from the crowd. They all had expected something but none of them had expected this. “Please, company, join me in the garden where I’ll have my portrait taken.” The murmurs are being uttered unceasingly and everyone is too stupefied to be truly angry or disobey the firm orders Britain administers. In the garden their favourite horse is prepared for them and Britain mounts it and steadies the animal with a loving touch. Finally, the nation turns towards the still murmuring crowd. A stern but calm smile plays on their lips as they speak: “You act like this is an unfamiliar sight. Surely you’ve seen a man in uniform before.” The sumptuous red uniform is of the highest rank and adorned with the silver star, Britain’s long hair is all but hidden under a tricorn hat and here on their horse they command respect and obedience. “This is how the empire was built, so this is how it should be portrayed.” No one in the crowd reacts. “I said that this is how it should be portrayed!” Hurried the painter realizes that this is his cue and sets up the easel. Everyone watches breathless at the portrait being taken and let their tea grow cold and their sandwiched remain untouched.

Everyone has left and the house had gone quiet. Arthur admires his portrait. He hasn’t changed out of his uniform and is alone in the room with the painting as the paint is drying still. He sits still and just stares. The uniform hides his already small chest perfectly. The hat hides his hair and there’s nothing that would insinuate he was not a man. He is not a mother.

“Are you my mother then? If you’re my mother why’re you not a sweet mum! Ollie down the street has a mum who kisses him and always gives him candy almonds.” Arthur sighs softly. That does tug at his heartstrings. Poor child. He takes little Alfred onto his knee. “Listen America, you’re a foundling. A child with only me for a parent. So, I asked myself- what does a child need to grow into a successful man? How do children who only have one parent prosper? Those who only have a doting mother never amount to anything. A man needs a father. A father who’s firm but who’ll guide you onto the right path, makes you work, makes something out of you. So, I wanted you to grow into a successful man, so that’s what I’ll have to be for you.” Alfred seems pensive but unhappy with the answer. “But you’re a woman, aren’t you?” Arthur pauses and grows rigid. “I suppose.” The child folds his arms. “I hate this. I wish I had a mom who gave me candy and kisses my cheeks but instead I have you who makes me learn French verbs.” Arthur feels hurt. Of course, he can’t be a father that Alfred would love. He’s not a mother, but not a father either. He slightly slaps Alfred’s wrist “I should’ve known that this is just about you not wanting to do your exercises!”

Arthur looks at his portrait and smiles. America never fully understood. He’d fought him in uniform. Chastising, but he could never make him behave. He was never father enough for Alfred. Alfred seemed to always have kept on wishing he would be his mother instead. The revolution had been a blow to his confidence, but when he looks at the portrait, he no longer feels that. He feels strong. A man, a ruler, an empire. Someone who commands respect. He still has the other territories overseas, he’s bigger than he’s ever been! On this man the sun never sets. For once he sees himself. Alfred should see this portrait, he'd understand if he'd see this. He wouldn't come back but he'd understand.

The next few days he goes around his house still dressed as a gentleman. He writes his letters with newfound vigour and finds that he’s for once actually listened to. The portrait is picked up, after all it was meant to adorn the palace and will there soon be unveiled. The night of the banquet where he’ll meet with king George IV and the portrait will be donated to the royal collection approaches. Arthur is met with the royal chamberlain who seems put of the moment he enters the house. After the first formalities regarding the banquet are exchanged it becomes apparent why. “Lady Britain, while I have no doubts about your sense of decorum I must still enquire. You don’t intend to keep up this masquerade at the banquet? It would be most improper to appear before the king with your legs for all to see.” Arthur doesn’t fight back too much. He’s very much aware of decorum and complies. “I’ll wear a smart skirt.” It doesn’t matter, the portrait will speak for him.

The banquet is one like Arthur has had many before. He wears something black and modest, not to look like he’s in too frivolous a lady’s skirt. Still he’s anticipating seeing his portrait, the way he truly is, being unveiled and adorning the palace halls. His heart is beating when people flood into the hall for the grand moment. The moment he sees the veiled canvas Arthur’s heart stops. Those are not the dimensions of his painting. Did they cut it to make it fit the hall better? He hopes in vain because a fear is wrapping its clammy hands around his heart. He stands motionless and the words of the speech are just a vague buzzing in his ears. When the curtain drops, he feels like a musket has been driven through his stomach. The doe eyed abomination, with the exposed breasts, meekly holding onto a shield and spear as though caressing them rather than fighting with them. The most alive thing in the painting seems to be the lion that was very much dead when being painted. The nobles exclaim perfectly appropriate adoring cries. Arthur says nothing, he’s afraid that if he opens his mouth, he’ll lose the roast lamb they are earlier. “Oh! Lady Minerva, you look absolutely lovely. Such a striking portrait.” He remembers decorum with a start and replies with polite gratitude. “Why see! I told my friend Lord Salisbury that underneath that sour demeanour you have the potential to be lovely. Truly Minerva, why don’t you grace us with that smile more often?” Arthur feels himself slip away, like his identity is being pried from his hands. When he smiles back, he’s no longer Arthur. Lady Minerva blushes and shows she has the potential to be lovely. She makes perfect company until the very end of the night.

When all the officials and nobles have left, she finds the steward, fuming absolutely fuming. She clutches his lapels and slams him against the wall. “Where is my portrait!?” She demands to know. “The thing you sent in? It was an affront. Be happy the painter was kind enough to provide us with this one as well so scandal could be avoided.” “Where is it!?” The steward gives her a look and she knows there and then that she’ll never see it again. With shaking hands, she lets him go and steps back. The steward seems a little surprised, he was convinced he’d be at the mercy of one of the Nation’s infamous outbursts. He hadn’t been expected to be let go without her digging her nails into his flesh like she’d done before. Yet here she stands silent and defeated. A demure and weary woman when she turns and leaves in silence. Minerva is silent all the way home. She’s been robbed of something so infinitely important. Not just the portrait. Being Arthur feels far away. Like he’s no longer hers to be. She lays onto her pillow and weeps.

Notes:

This piece was written out of a desire to write a transtalia fic that's not so damn anachronistic. I didn't want to paste the modern trans experience onto a historical period because often one can't do that. Associations with gender and different gender identities and categories have differed profusely trough the era. Writing the personification of a nation that's over 1000 years old as trans is really difficult. Their relationship with gender will have changed multiple times throughout their life as societies attitudes changed. Their age will also have influenced the posibilities for expressing gender identity and expression in general was far more limited. (without them placing themselves outside or on the margins of society by doing so). Arthur is a man, and has always felt more masculine. He can't live that life though and must live as Minerva.

if this had been a human in the 18th century it's more likely that he would've rebelled harder (especially given Arthur's hot headed and volatile personality!) and moved out to a little town house to live as a man. Arthur however, being the personification of England finds himself in the situation that his life is not his own. His position is highly symbolic and limits what he can do. It is in a way similar to kingship and the king being more than an individual human but also being this immortal and symbolic category. Unfortunately it'll take a while before Arthur is free enough to be himself.

This wasn't the fic I thought I'd be writing next but it basically wrote itself. I hope others felt the same need for it's existence.