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plungermusic · 3 years

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Sapristi! The Road To Liberty’s a load of Balzacs ...

Mark Harrison’s latest release is a bit of a magnum opus, casting a jeweller’s glass over the human condition in two parts comprising twenty one tracks in all: from victims to the venal, the desperate to the defiant, the quotidian to the exceptional, from the personal to the political (and the personal as political) … it’s a condensed Comédie Humaine with better tunes.

Part 1 sees a thread of celebration of old school working class virtues in Same Roads’ message that the everyday routine (epitomised by the hypnotic 2-chord setting) isn’t necessarily such a terrible thing, and Wheels Going Round’s revivalist cakewalk tale of an ordinary heads down do-the-right-thing life. Toolmaker’s Blues threnody to dying trades shows an unaccustomed angry edge to Mark’s vocal, and the airy folk vibe of the vox-and-guitar-only Better Day conveys the most overtly political lines in a quietly strong and determined hope for a brighter, more equitable, future. Perhaps countering those latter tracks are the polite protest of Tribulation Time (acknowledging not everyone wants to hear you banging on about your troubles when they have their own) and the life-isn’t-fair-and-you-can’t-legislate-for-that homily Everybody Knows.

Temple block and bouncy bass backing lend a slightly comic Laurel & Hardy dancing in the street vibe to I’m Damned (described by Mark as “a jolly tune with a less than jolly message, which is characteristic of what I do”) and that description fits Club Of Lost Souls too, an upbeat backporch shuffle with only the bittersweet ‘blue’ notes hinting at its subject of loss. The one instrumental, Last Bus Home, inspired by the babble of optimism and booze (not necessarily in that order) of youthful journeys in Coventry is a wholly joyous mix of intricately picked 12-string, washboard and rackety cymbal for an urban Camberwick Green anthem.

Stepping a little outside the usual Harrison sonic envelope, Skip’s Song deploys a supple Hendrixy hook and catch-you-off-guard timing in an examination of how others imagine your life to be (often wildly romanticised) and Passing Through (the brief, unconnected, vignettes seen while making your way on the road… or through your life) has equally quirky rhythm to highlight the fragmented images, the feel of dreamlike detachment heightened by wine-glass harmonics.

Part 2 leans more to the abstract: the bottle-party-dance-with-a-moral of Go Nice is inspired by Reverend Gary Davis’s ‘be kind’ mantra; Restless Mind points out the benefits and pitfalls of being an independent thinker over a louche slide-led NOLA slink, and the jug-band Shortnin’ Bread-lope of Hard Life takes a wry look at exactly how hard some hard lives (that everyone protests they have) really are. A similarly critical take on the traditional up-before-the-beak song All Rise uses rolling saloon piano and a nice multi-voice call of the title in its examination of how we all excuse our misdemeanours to ‘the judge’ (whoever he may be and however justified our protestations of innocence). The equally traditional prison song Doin’ Time maybe proves the inadequacy of those pleas, propelled by rock-hammer percussion with added grunts of work gang exertion.

Low Life Avenue’s salutary warning of where ‘going for it’ might lead still encourages following your dream, to a suitably positive four-to-the-floor drum and bass backbeat, before fully unleashing his inner rock’n’roller (yes, including a rarely heard Mark-on-electric-guitar moment) in the urgent Chuck Berryish Don’t Let The Crazy Out The Bag (Too Soon), a fairly self-explanatory admonition to control those self destructive impulses that ruin relationships… The most out-of-left-field track of Part 2 is Curl Your Toes: its philosophical examination of life’s humiliations and dilemmas and how you choose to react to them, is lent an almost hallucinatory sheen by a mesmeric vox-and-guitar unison melody, relaxed rhythm and bowed bass culminating in an almost baroque filigree of guitar and strings.

The album closes out back in more familiar Harrison territory, with Foxchase (if you feel life is a fox chase remember the fox does get away some times!) a Dustbowl two-step with muscular bass and rimshot-and-templeblock backing, although the closing gospel-sermon-flavoured By The Side Of The Road (a self-avowed “upbeat message of self doubt”) features another smoky TYAesque riff rendered on both electric and resonator, and slightly spacey tribal toms.

Like all Mark’s albums you do miss the laconic wit of his from-the-stage interactions, but the studio setting has been utilised to the full: sympathetic production and multi-tracking gives a lush, full sound but still every word and note is clear; despite restricted by circumstances to the three band members - Mark, Ben Welburn drums/percussion, and Charles Benfield bass (who also produced) - their additional contributions more than compensate for the lack of any ‘guests’ and as ever the playing is crisp and precise throughout.

As Plunger have said before, Mark is a rare artist that can make you smile, think, and dance simultaneously… good old Honoré de Balzac could only manage two of those at best.

The Road To Liberty is released on 30th June (physical album: digital releases Pt 1 30th June, Pt 2 30th September) and is available to preorder here: http://www.markharrisonrootsmusic.com/rtl-album.php

#mark harrison #the road to liberty

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theatresweetheart · 5 years

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Heavy Silence

Fandoms: Sanders Sides, G/t

Summary: Virgil refuses to speak. Logan and Roman are frustrated, and Patton tries for what seems like the hundredth time.

Warnings: Mentioned non-explicit abuse, fear, selective mutism, character being treated like an animal.

Pairings: Platonic Moxiety, Background Platonic LAMP/CALM

Word Count: 4427 words.

Taglist: @isle-of-gold

~—~—~—~—~—~

“Oh for heaven’s sake, we’ve been arguing about this for ages,” an exasperated voice sounded from the living room, although the tone was hushed, as if trying to keep someone from hearing the conversation. “We can’t help him unless he tells us what’s wrong.”

“The kid’s just a bit shy is all—”

“It’s been two weeks Patton and he’s said nothing to us. Two weeks,” Roman countered back, taking Logan’s side on this, “if anything, it’s just pure stubbornness driving him now.”

He was being ganged up on; all of this was because of how the little human they had rescued from the shelter still refused to say anything.

Patton could swear that there was a deeper meaning behind his resolute silence, but it was obvious that Roman and Logan were frustrated by it. Each to their own, he knew. Each had tried, to no avail, to get the little one to speak. Hadn’t even gotten a name out of him. The shelter had been rough, the people had been somewhat hostile and the name they had given him hadn’t suited the kid.

So…they didn’t exactly call him anything.

But there had to be a reason. Everyone had a motive for something, especially if it came to withholding information.

He shuffled back and forth on his feet uncomfortably. “Let me try again,” that earnest look fluttered across his features, “just don’t decide anything too hastily, okay? Maybe—maybe time was all he needed, right? Maybe now he’d be more willing to speak up.”

Silence held between the two other men, before Roman sighed. “Alright. It is safer to say that Pat may have a better chance.”

Logan adjusted his glasses. “That said though, you have tried to speak with him more than the rest of us, Patton, and he still refuses to say anything at all. Not a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ If anything, the silence just gets heavier.”

“I know, I know,” Patton’s eyes flickered between the both of them, but he was staying stern on this. “Just let me try again, alright? Persistence will usually help.”

“Have at it.”

The dismissive tone that he got was a bit disheartening, but it wouldn’t stop his attempt from making at least some ground with the human.

He watched quietly as Logan took his leave, the sound of his bedroom door closing resounded through the halls. It was only a few minutes later before Roman retired to his room, only to reappear minutes later with a bag slung over his shoulder and his car keys in hand. Patton was quickly reminded that the roommate had rehearsal that night.

Which, with Logan in his room and Roman out of the house, would be optimal time to try and make some leverage with the boy.

When the quiet of the living room held and it didn’t seem to be lessening either, save for the consistent ticking of the clock. He knew that he would have to initiate the conversation as the little one wouldn’t even look in his direction half the time.

It took no time to reach his bedroom. When they had first planned this entire thing out, agreeing that getting a human out of the awful living conditions they were in, the box would stay in his bedroom.

And when he opened the door, that’s where he was.

The blankets and pillows and such to help make it feel a bit more comfortable. The sound of a movie playing quietly caught his attention and he saw the iPod—that had been given to the boy as means of entertainment when they weren’t around, or when he wanted alone time (which was all of the time mostly)—pushed up against the side of the box and the boy laying on his stomach in front of it, his arms propped up to support his head.

The sight made his heart ache. The kid was a gentle soul, if a bit too shy for his own good.

There had been some improvement, however, from the first day they had brought him back—where he hadn’t even left the box, no matter how much they assured him he was safe—to now, where he seemed to feel safe enough to watch a movie or a video or whatever it was in full view.

Though, when he stepped fully into the bedroom, the shoulders tensed almost instantly and he watched as the kid reached forwards and paused it without even looking in his direction.

Wide, frightened brown eyes turned to face his own and instantly Patton felt the need to say something.

He stayed where he was though after shutting the door and leaning comfortably against it. “No, no, it’s okay, kiddo,” he promised quietly, offering a small smile in encouragement. “I’m not here to bother you. I just wanted to talk for a little bit.” There was then a grimace that followed that and he felt his heart sink.

So, it would be one-way then.

That was okay. It wasn’t like he was unused to it.

He was also in no position to really force the kid to say something if he didn’t want to. It wouldn’t be fair and, in all honesty, would most likely do more harm than good.

So, he came a bit further into the room and took a seat a few paces away from the box. He tried not to let the fact that he flinched away from him affect him too much, as it only seemed to hurt more. The constant reassurances didn’t seem to really help the boy’s trust, which was understandable, but it was saddening.

The lady at the shelter, Lillian, had sort of given them the lowdown of what had happened in the previous home. Why the boy was so quick to snap, or to instantly shy away from the attention. Why he would flinch when they made normal movements or even turn away when they paid him too much attention.

She had explained that the last person who had him was a bit “rough.” The woman had refused to go any deeper than that—said that the person they had taken the kid from refused to give answers and the human himself had sworn himself into silence—and if he wanted those answers, he had to ask the kid himself.

After he actually got him talking.

There were a few things that he wanted to know before anything else. The kid’s name, his preferences, things that freaked him out and that they could work on together. Things to make this home feel a bit more comfortable for him.

Patton was used to sitting in the silence with the little one, knowing that his presence probably intimidated him to not speak, but he wanted to understand why that was. He wanted to know what had happened to him, what terrified him into silence, so that they could avoid the same things. The last thing he wanted to do was unintentionally intimidate him further.

“Watching something interesting?” He decided to break the silence that way, watching as the boy shifted a bit more, sitting cross-legged, but hiding in that dark hoodie, as if trying to hide in plain sight.

The boy shrugged in response, looking uneasy. From where Patton was sitting, he couldn’t tell if it was a show he had found on the internet that was made by the kid’s kind, or the movies that had come with the rest of the race from the previous place.

It did make him uncomfortable, knowing that humans were just as brilliant as they were, but had been forced down to believe they were nothing more than entertainment.

It was absolutely sick.

He hummed in response, showing that he was listening. He bit his lower lip, a slight pause in the question he wanted to ask. After a brief debate with himself, Patton realized that if he really wanted answers, he needed to actually hear the voice of the boy. Shaking his head and nods could only do so much for ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions. Conversations were difficult when it was just one-sided all the time.

“Look,” he started off gently, a reassuring look in his eyes to give a silent promise that everything was fine, “I know you don’t want to talk to me and I respect that. I’m not going to force you to, but this is getting harder by the day, kiddo.” The boy’s shoulders dropped from their tense position, a sad look flitted across his face. “And I really, really want to respect your boundaries because I know how important boundaries are, but we really need to know how you feel. How we can help you feel more at home.”

He took a breath, just watching the emotions seemingly flutter across the smaller features, the warring expressions were showing much more of an inner battle than maybe he felt comfortable showing, or speaking for that matter.

There was a reason why the kid wouldn’t talk to them. There had to be. No one just stayed silent on their own freewill. Everyone had to speak at one point or another, unless they physically couldn’t. So, it left Patton wondering about the backstory that Lillian had left out when she explained everything at the shelter.

Another moment of quiet passed. “I know talking is hard,” he needed to show that he really did understand. “And I know that being with three strangers can be frightening and that’s okay, but we really just want to help. I know Logan and Roman can be a bit much sometimes, but you don’t even have to talk to them if you don’t want to.” And that was true. “It’s perfectly okay to be scared, but, at the very least, can I have your name?”

Patton knew that names could be a very personal topic to talk about, especially for humans. A lot of the time, they would be wiped of their usual name and given a new one that suited them ‘better.’ If anything, it just made him uncomfortable. They had personalities and names and to have that taken away seemed…impersonal.

There was nothing wrong with being quiet, there were also plenty of times where peace and quiet was the best thing for the household. Sometimes it could be so alive and full of movement, that a little silence never hurt anyone. That taking time to be with just yourself could be helpful, especially if one was overwhelmed by the world.

At most times, Patton would be happy to leave the little human to his own devices—he did want him to have as much independence as possible without getting hurt—but right now, he needed a little bit of proof that he could speak at all.

If the kid was mute, that would open a whole new set of doors that none of them had thought would be the reason to why the constant silence.

Though, when he met the smaller brown eyes again, he noticed something deeper behind them. Something that showed a true flourish of understanding, almost as if this was the first time that it was sinking in that he was in a safe place. That his opinions would be valued and respected.

The human bit into his lower lip, looking hesitant, when Patton nodded lightly, trying to be as encouraging as possible without looking too excited by the fact he might actually get to hear some real words.

A frown was set on the smaller features, before he dipped his head down, looking away from him. “I-I thought—”

Patton’s heart stammered in his chest. He could speak and he was speaking. To him.

His voice softened a bit more. “You thought what?”

The smaller hands seemed to be digging into his hoodie, trying to find a way to form the words without retreating and staying silent. There was that inner battle, showing how much he wanted to do one thing, but the other half of him saying that it wasn’t the best idea.

The human took a breath, trying to steady himself. “I just thought you wanted me to stay quiet…”

That sentence stunned him, honestly. Why on earth would they want him to stay silent? Almost as if the little one could hear the unasked question, he continued, if a bit more hesitantly.

At first, he opened his mouth, looking as if he was ready to open up about the story, before he shut his mouth again. He hesitated again, looking nervous and scared for a moment.

It drove a sharp wedge into Patton’s chest, such delicate features so painted with terror over opening up.

“The, uh, the last person I was with. He, um, wasn’t really all that, you know, forgiving,” his nails seemed to be digging further into his arm, looking reluctant to share this information. “He didn’t really like it when I spoke my mind. I-I just stopped talking altogether and that’s when the hurt stopped.” That’s when the abuse wasn’t as bad. The ‘hurt’ never truly stopped. “I just … I thought you would want that too …”

Patton was almost at a loss of what to say to that. The last person he had been with hadn’t been forgiving?

He had been aware that the little one had been abused, but not to the point where he had been afraid to talk for fear of being hurt. No one should have to deal with that sort of trauma. At least not alone.

Lillian had said that his past ‘owner’ had been rough and cruel, but she hadn’t elaborated into the physical side of it. She had said that the human was shy of touch and would lash out if one tried to do so. She had said that consent was a big thing with this one and that was fair.

The short glances he was being given was slowly allowing him to piece the puzzle of the kid’s past together.

Humans had minds of their own and, while a lot of people nowadays didn’t think they did, were allowed to speak their opinions. It was certainly like that in this house. There were times where they spoke over him, not intending to really cut off any of his silent looks. It would happen from time to time, where the human sometimes went unnoticed when Logan and Roman got into an argument and Patton tried to distract the two of them to settle them down.

There was a deep sympathy that filled his chest, almost weighing him down. The silence he was getting now, it was obvious that the kid was waiting for something.

Something painful.

Patton clasped his hands in front of him, savvy to how the boy flinched slightly from the innocent motion. “Of course not,” he breathed after a moment, the tiny shoulders were tensed and frightened. “We wouldn’t…ah, geez. I had no idea.”

The kid shrugged in response, making it his mission to keep his eyes down. Looking anywhere but Patton. It was heartbreaking.

The little details like that didn’t go unnoticed and Patton had been picking up, slowly but surely, on the boy’s behaviours. Whether how he was when the others raised their voices, or if he was asked too many questions, or when there was too much attention on him and he would rather shy away and hide in his jacket—which was admittedly maybe a bit big for him—than face them down.

There had been a few nights where he was still laying awake in his bed, at awful hours of the night—it was a big thing for him, making sure the others had gone to bed and then doing the same himself—and he had heard the smallest of sounds coming from the box pushed into the corner of the room.

There had been one night in particular when he had heard, what he had thought was, the smallest shout possible. Panting had then followed after it and then the sound of muffled sobs. It was so obvious that the little one had woken with a nightmare. The new surroundings had probably frightened him more as well, even though he was anything but trapped.

One of the other workers at the shelter had explained that keeping the human in the box without a way out would be the best way to prevent him from hurting himself or attempting to escape. Patton had ignored those instructions almost as soon as they had gotten home and had cut a small doorway, or something of the like, into the side of the box and allowing an in and out for when he wanted to leave the box without needing assistance. Plus, feelings of claustrophobia would be heightened in a place where one couldn’t escape. The last thing he would want was to have the human experience a panic attack because he felt unsafe in his own bed.

With a gentle sigh, Patton lowered himself down a bit further so he was laying on his stomach, his head propped up in his hands. The human had flinched again, but he didn’t acknowledge it.

“I just want you to know that, even if things get a bit…loud around here, no one means you any harm,” Patton told him quietly, an earnest look shining through dark brown eyes. “I know the house can be a bit crazy sometimes and that’s probably frightening—” A small, nervous half-laugh, half-breathing out uncomfortably from the human was heard, “—and I understand that. It’s a normal response to being around strangers.”

When he felt he had been watching him for a bit too long, Patton let his eyes roam over the interior of the box. It didn’t really look incredibly homey, even after offering the boy one of his older shirts to sleep in. He made a mental note to possibly get rid of the box altogether and find a more suitable place for the little one.

Though, when he looked back onto the small form, the brown eyes were wide and focused on his own. The surprised look on the human’s features made him feel so horribly guilty.

“We’re— we’re not going to punish you for speaking your mind,” he continued after a moment and those tiny brown eyes almost seemed to get wider, more emotional. “Your opinion means just as much as mine does, or Logan’s does, or Roman’s. I want to know what you like and don’t like. I want to know about what makes you uncomfortable or scared, so we can work around that. I want to know about you, kiddo.”

A moment passed and it took a moment before the human hiccuped, a small intake of a quick breath and he choked on what sounded like a sob.

The sound instantly made Patton’s fatherly instincts kick in and the first thing he wanted to do was reach out and try and comfort him, except in this situation, that wouldn’t really work out in his favour. “Awe, bud, that’s not what—”

“T-thank you,” the human breathed instead. His voice was a bit muffled from how he was hiding his face behind his sleeves, but Patton could hear it nonetheless. “I don’t—this isn’t … I’ve never-”

A softer look fluttered over his features and he shuffled a bit closer, not enough to loom, but enough to be as close as he dared. “You don’t have to thank me,” he promised him quietly, offering a gentle grin in response to the teary look he got. “Your words have just as much meaning as mine do. You’ve got a good head on those shoulders, I know you do. You’ve made it this far, haven’t you?” The sad expression turned almost confused, so Patton elaborated. “You’re talking to me. I think it’s absolutely incredible that you’re saying anything at all to me. That’s strength right there.”

It was quiet for a little while after that and the boy seemed to try and clean himself up, using the sleeves of his jacket to dab at the wetness under his eyes, or just scrubbing completely to clear his face of any sadness at all.

Letting out emotions in this sort of way was healthy though, so saying otherwise would be wrong. It might seem like it hurts more, having a fit or being so openly vulnerable, but in the end, having someone actually willing to listen to you and sticking around was the best way to deal with untapped emotions. Or the ones that people liked to tuck away and keep them hidden under lock and key, never to see the light of day until they reach their breaking point.

It’s a painful process, Patton had felt it himself. In fact, he was still in healing from coming clean about how he actually felt and was still working through some problems of his own.

While he hadn’t exactly come in here expecting the human to talk to him, nevertheless open up about his past, there was still something crucial that he was missing. Without a name, it just made everything that much more difficult. They wouldn’t know what to address him by, or what he found uncomfortable or offensive.

The name at the shelter had been rubbish, in all honesty. It hadn’t suited him at all. Almost as if it were a throwaway at that point, but the fact that they still remained unknown to his true name was a bit startling.

While Patton had no trouble using nicknames, it didn’t always feel right to be addressing him like that when talking about a more serious topic. It was almost like it would take away from the topic or the seriousness of it.

A faint noise, almost sounding like someone was taking a breath, drew Patton from his thoughts. He could see the inner battle on the features again, almost clear as day.

What was—

“—Virgil.”

The sudden admittance actually startled him so badly he blinked, confused for a moment. “W-what?”

The human turned away from him, head bowed and eyes squeezed shut. He was waiting in preparation again. “It’s my name…I just, um, thought-” The boy cut himself off almost instantly before biting into his lower lip. “I-I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have…I just assumed. It’s stupid, I know, I–”

“Wait, wait,” this time Patton cut him off, but his tone remained soft, but the way that Virgil seemed to be so self-deprecating was upsetting. “What are you apologizing for?” After he had voiced the question, the smaller shoulders bunched again and it hit him. He was worried his name would be changed to something else and that admitting his real name would only lead to more hurt. Understanding flooded forwards almost instantly. “Awe, bud, there’s nothing to be sorry about, I promise. I asked for your name.”

He kept his head tilted downwards, but there seemed to be a small realization that followed. “You’re— you’re not going to change it?”

“Heavens no,” was the answer. “That’s your name. It wouldn’t be fair to change it. Heck, I think your name suits you really well, too.”

It took a moment, but Virgil’s attention shifted once more and he allowed himself to meet his eyes. There was emotion swimming behind them, he knew that. They were sitting in the quiet again before, but this time it was far from uncomfortable.

The thought that the boy—Virgil—was so ready to give up his name, to relent and give up the fight, it didn’t sit well with him. There had been so much damage done to him that he carried that over with him into his new home. The idea that someone could be so cruel to creatures that were relatively helpless when it came to caring for themselves in this world was sickening.

Surely, before everything had happened, humans had taken care of themselves. Created societies, laws, built what they believed to be sky-scrapers. He had heard that they had even sent someone to the moon. They were certainly brilliant.

After everything had changed for them, well, his own kind had forced them down and they didn’t put up a fight. There had been, for a little while, but of course, they hadn’t won it and humans were downgraded. Not that everyone thought it was the right thing, but it had been a couple years by now and they were seen more as pets and companions then anything else. Sometimes pests by other people. It was truly disheartening.

Then there was this little one, sitting in the box looking more than ready to give up everything, including his personal name, just to keep from being hurt further.

How people could do it, Patton would never know.

Well, he had pretty much gotten the answers he had come in here for, so really, he didn’t need to be here any longer than need be. With that in mind, he pushed himself up onto his knees.

After a heartbeat of hesitance, Virgil finally spoke up to him. “Do you— wanna watch with me?”

The request was quiet and feeble, but it surprised him nonetheless.

“You want me to?”

Virgil shrugged in answer, looking like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it in the long run.

Grinning, Patton adjusted his glasses. “If you’ll have me.”

The smile he got in return to that made warmth fill his chest. It was the first time he had actually seen Virgil smile since he got here, and it was heartwarming.

It took no time at all, but Patton had grabbed a couple pillows from his bed and brought them over to the box, a blanket was tugged from the bed as well. With a quiet request from the human—and the explanation that it would be easier for the both of them to watch—the iPod had been moved to sit outside the box, laid up against the side to keep it propped up.

The two got a bit more comfortable like that. It took Virgil a moment to remember he was safe, even with having Patton right at his back and he had sunk slightly into the pillow, creating a small crease. He tucked himself into his own blanket and his hoodie in turn.

He looked back to Patton, almost as if asking for permission to start the video again, when he got a gentle nod in reassurance. He had reached forwards and pressed the play button, nearly the size of his hand he noted, before sitting back and curling into the warmth the blanket and jacket offered him.

Maybe, just maybe, not everyone in this Godforsaken world was all that bad.

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sunstonespells · 5 years

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☕️ Specialty Coffee 101 ☕️

Ever walk into a cool hipstery cafe and not understand their menu? Here's some tips: Evolution of the Coffee Industry As science develops, quality control has increased down the line from growing to processing to roasting to brewing. New tools have been introduced over the years that allows us to optimize the flavors of each seed! Third-Wave Coffee vs. First and Second Wave First Wave coffee is what brought coffee into peoples' homes. It was mass produced, pre-roasted, pre-ground, and ready to consume. Second Wave coffee introduced different roast styles. It also introduced different preparations such as the french press, espresso, etc. This wave produced many of the big coffee chains we know today like Starbucks. For these mass produced coffees, the only way to get a uniform flavor from the bulk of beans is to roast them dark, eliminating the nuances of flavor and leaving a burnt, bitter taste. Third Wave coffee focuses on the coffee "from crop to cup" and relies on knowledge of the farming and growing conditions to extract the best flavors from each seed. (By the way: coffee is a seed, not a bean.) Origin stories became an important part of the way we buy and consume coffee, as coffee has more than twice the number of tasting notes as there are in wine and dozens of ways to brew. Because of this extra attention to the flavors of each coffee, it is sort of offensive to dump cream and sugar into your coffee without at least tasting it first. A Standard Menu A standard cafe menu will be broken down into batch brewed coffee (made with a drip maker, usually with size options although many shops have a "regular" or "large" with no medium as standard sizes are 12 oz for a regular drink), and an espresso + milk menu. Some shops will offer a manual brew, slow bar or pourover menu. THIS IS TIME CONSUMING AND SHOULD NOT BE ORDERED WHEN A SHOP IS BUSY AND LOW STAFFED as they take 5 minutes to prepare and need to be watched the entire time. The Espresso + Milk menu is what most people think of when they think of a cafe drink. Here's a quick breakdown of common beverages and what they consist of: Espresso: a double-shot of espresso (35-40 g.) Americano: a double-shot of espresso with hot water. (10-12 oz.) Macchiato: a double-shot of espresso with a dab of milk foam on top. (3 oz.) Note: The Starbucks version of this drink is NOT what you will find on a traditional cafe menu and is more similar to an iced latte. Cortado: a double-shot of espresso with an equal ratio of micro-foamed steamed milk. (5-7 oz.) Cappuccino: a double-shot of espresso with micro-foamed steamed milk. (8-10 oz.) Note: Dry, airy foam is a second-wave concept stemming from Italian espresso preparation and is no longer an industry standard, as micro-foam provides a better drink experience. Please do not demand a dry cappuccino from a specialty cafe. Cafe Latte: a double-shot of espresso with a lot of micro-foamed steamed milk. (12 oz.) Note: If a cafe offers a large sized latte, they may automatically prepare it with 4 shots of espresso. This is because... it tastes better. Otherwise you're getting a ton of hot milk with a very small amount of coffee. Mocha: a double-shot of espresso with chocolate and micro-foamed steamed milk. (12 oz.) Note: If you order a hot chocolate with a shot of espresso added, this is likely what you mean. Tea/Chai Latte: tea concentrate with micro-foamed steamed milk. Note: "Chai" translates to tea and does not always refer to a latte, which suggests steamed milk. Please clarify your order or you might just get a cup of spiced tea! Like the texture and natural sweetness of steamed milk but don't want the concentration of espresso? Order a Cafe Au Lait (French for "coffee with milk") and get regular coffee with steamed milk. This is a great option for people who like a lot of milk in their coffee! Choosing Coffee Beans The things I recommend people new to coffee look for when choosing their beans are the roast and the process. Once you have a better understanding of how roast and processing affect coffee, you can start to narrow it down to variables like elevation levels and country of origin. I personally tend to enjoy a lot of natural processed, light to medium roasted African coffees, with my favorite coffees stemming from Ethiopia and Kenya. Light Roasts are typically very high-quality coffees. The better the quality of the coffee, the less roasters are inclined to burn the natural flavors away through the roasting process. Little time is spend on development. Light roasts will have a lighter body to them. Medium Roasts are likely ideal for a casual coffee drinker. A bit more time is spent in the “development” part of the roasting process to help coax out some flavors that might not be highlighted in a light roast for certain coffees. Dark Roasts are the enemy of specialty coffee. A dark roast is a burnt coffee. In previous waves of coffee, roasts like “French” or “Italian” were introduced, with Italian being the darkest that a coffee can be roasted before it essentially crumbles to ash. When you dark roast a coffee, you lose a great deal of mass and this has led some people in the coffee community to believe there’s a significant loss in caffeine content when a coffee is roasted dark. In truth, caffeine levels remain fairly stable during the roasting process, but don’t believe that a fuller-bodied, bitter cup of coffee is more caffeinated just because the flavor is stronger! These coffees tend to be familiar to folks who have been coffee drinkers for a long time, and are popular with people who believe coffee needs a ton of milk to taste good. Natural (Dry) Process means the coffee bean (which is the seed or pit of a fruit) is sun-dried with the cherry still on the bean while it dries out. This causes the coffee to absorb a lot of those naturally nuanced fruity flavors, which translate into interesting complex flavors in the cup. They tend to be heavier bodied with strong flavor. Washed (Wet) Process is exactly what it sounds like: the fruit is washed off of the bean before it's dried. These coffees tend to have more clarity, they showcase more of the natural flavors in the seed itself and tend to have more floral notes and pronounced acidity. In the cup, they tend to have a lighter tea-like body. Honey (Dry Pulped) Process is a newer style of processing where the fruit is taken off of the seed but not washed before drying. This leaves some of the natural fruit flavors with the coffee, but not as much as a fully dried process. This translates to natural sweetness and a creamier body than a natural process and less acidity than a washed process when brewed. When in doubt, talk to your barista! Baristas are trained, typically by the roasters their cafe partners with if they don't roast their own beans, so they should be knowledgable about their products! We love helping people find the right coffee for them -- for me, it's the second-best part of my job (next to actually preparing a drink!) The barista industry was created by Espresso machine manufacturers who needed trained professionals to know how to operate their equipment and their job is truly to be the step between the roasters and the consusmers. We are here to educate! When the consumer culture around coffee grows, it helps our entire industry to improve. * I'm planning on making my next post about sourcing and why "Certified Fair Trade" and small-batch roasteries are not always indicators that a company's coffee is sourced ethically or sustainably!

#coffee #specialty coffee #coffee industry #coffee processing #coffee roasting #barista life #coffee 101 #coffee culture #third wave coffee #i once told a customer about third wave and they kept calling it new age #like uhhh i'm into that too but it's not what i said #coffee witch #long post #reference

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baesketballers · 6 years

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Gaby my love welcome back!! How about some Kasamatsu? I know, I know, big surprise right? ;)

@ourneverendingpossibilities Two birds in one stone! I’m not sure if this kind of story suits him, but I was so inspired… Enjoy!

Reader’s gender is supposed to be unspecified, but let me know if I slipped. Also very little dialogue? I hope it’s not boring.

Also contains adult-ish themes, but none too NSFW. Semi-NSFW, maybe.

This piece is long! Placed a Keep Reading so as to not flood your screen.

One: a business arrangement is not love.

The wedding reception was fast. The two of you showed convincing displays of affection, sharing a few kisses on the lips and holding hands when necessary. To the naked eye of the public, you and Kasamatsu Yukio looked just like two people in love. To a select few, however, the wedding was merely an act.

“That was kind of exhausting,” you sigh, tipping the champagne glass to allow you to chug all of it in. Kasamatsu doesn’t bat an eyelash, helping himself to the liquor.

“Yeah.”

Although the two of you are not in love, you are not enemies either. Dressed in matching robes (complimentary, from the hotel staff in celebration of your tying the knot), you and your husband across one another on the balcony overlooking a spectacular view of the city. Not exactly the way you imagined your wedding night to go—drinking with your spouse until the edge of sobriety, that is—and to be fair, probably not how he imagined it to go as well.

You’re doing this for duty. He’s doing this for the same reason, but mainly for his father. That much you know.

You decide to cut the silence first.

“Now that we’re stuck together,” you say, the sound mixed with your sigh of fatigue, “might as well make the most of it.” The proclamation catches your now-husband’s attention, because those metal blue eyes look at yours almost glaringly. You smile, averting your gaze from his in favor of the view.

“What I’m saying is that we could at least be friends. Think of me as your roommate.” You continue, and the nostalgic visions in your head of university days cause you to break out into a grin and a small laugh. Perhaps it’s your mind’s own way to protect itself from the truth that you just got into a business marriage.

He scoffs, presumably amused at your antics. Your optimism is infectious. Kasamatsu suddenly doesn’t really mind the arrangement, not when his assigned partner is trying to exploit the most fun out of it.

He proposes a toast to the roommate agreement, and the two of you continue to drink the night away.

Two: you don’t fall in love with your roommate.

Kasamatsu Yukio might seem like an incredibly practical, straightforward individual upon one’s first impression. Like a trained assassin, his mannerisms and course of action are geared towards the completion of a goal—definitely not the type to lay back and smell the flowers.

Yet you have seen him laugh openly like he’s nine again. Many times this months. From your spontaneous and deadly tickle fights to some lame joke you made, from late night comedies to just… simple conversations.

You’ve learned to understand him better in the period of three months of sharing a living space and a ring on each of your fingers.

You might have learned a little bit too much.

Because you catch yourself staring at his back while he flips the pancakes. Because your walls tumble down as he asks you how your day was. Because you feel your heart might burst when he ruffles your hair and whispers ‘good night’. Because he acts like he cares.

One morning you wake, the blue lights of dawn filtering in through the blinds, and he is a painting. Beautiful, undisturbed, eternal.

And you realize you are falling for him.

You exit the apartment early that day, before he wakes, making sure to leave behind a note on the fridge with some near-acceptable reason to get out of the house at 6 in the morning. You can’t bear to face him knowing that you just. might. love him.

Three: you don’t get jealous of your roommate.

His father’s health deteriorated. He isn’t doing well mentally. You are almost always left with the shell of Kasamatsu Yukio when he comes back home after a hospital visit. You fix him a warm drink always—fall may have just begun, but the cold air does not hold back.

But his heart, too, has grown cold.

2 a.m. and he’s gone from his side of the bed. You are only awake because of the annoying urge to go to the toilet. Worried, you call him once, twice, no response. Trying to stay up all night for him doesn’t work—you can’t help but fall asleep at 5 a.m., at least half an hour before he comes back home. You don’t see him until the next night because of work, but when you do…

“Where did you go last night?”

“Out.”

You resist the urge to roll your eyes, taking into consideration his fatigued mental state thanks to his father’s condition. “Seemed like it. Where?”

“It’s none of your business.”

Dinner that night is cold and silent, the click-clack of silverware against plates seems louder than they usually are, as if intimidating you by showing just how not-your-business his nightly outings are.

You’re in a business marriage, after all.

Soon, that one night out turns into two, and then three, and then five times in two weeks. You lie in bed restless for all those occasions, until you decide to earn the truth from somebody else’s confession—one of Kasamatsu’s aides, a man that just joined the company, oblivious towards the charade that is your marriage.

You don’t have to pretend much to be a worried wife. You’re already worried. The aide sees that, and does his best to dig around. He finally tells you, through text, that your husband has been hanging around one of his closest friends. They’ve been spotted at multiple nightclubs, each visit rousing huge numbers of people to crowd and gather there.

If you know one person in Kasamatsu’s circle that is all about the night life, it’s Kise Ryouta.

The blonde is also all about the women—or men, depending on his mood, so they say—and a bitter taste enters your mouth. You aren’t eating or chewing on anything.

Jealousy enters your system like bile. Kasamatsu, club-hopping, a woman or man (also depending on his mood, you think) hooked on each of his arm. He’d drink, brood, looking like a fine damaged hunk with the top two buttons of his shirt open. You’ve seen that sight before during the first days of his father’s diagnosis. Although it’s hard at first for you to concoct that image in your mind, thanks to Kasamatsu’s usual virtuous and morally strong behavior, you quickly attribute it to the stress he’s had a lot of recently.

An angel fallen. Not uncommon to hear people turn to sex when they want to escape from reality.

He probably doesn’t find you to his tastes.

Maybe he likes his girls and guys a little wilder, wearing revealing clothing and purring on his lap, calling him something kinky like daddy or master. Maybe he wants them to giggle next to him, playfully drawing circles on his chest and whispering provocative things in his ear. Maybe he prefers to have them at the back of a nightclub, scarcely hidden in the shadows while he claims them.

You remember him flipping pancakes.

Asking you how your day was, ruffling your hair and whispering ‘good night’. You remember him smiling, and you cry yourself to sleep.

Four: you’re bad at lying.

His father has almost fully recovered and it’s as if nothing has happened. He starts talking to you again like he didn’t disappear at least three or four times a week in late September. He’s suddenly your good friend again.

You, on the other hand, have a hard time pretending everything is okay. It’s hard enough to keep up the act in public, when the two of you are together, but you have to put that mask on even in your own home. You’re crumbling inside. Cold. You want to push him away, but that will lead him to question.

And you can’t bear to let your feelings slip. It’s clear that he doesn’t feel the same, judging by the midnight escapades, the way he shuts you out. You’re suffering alone.

“Are you okay?”

He’s asked that a billion times today, you duly note, and you try your best to give him that eye-smile you gave the people at your wedding. It’s a charmer. They always fall for it. The corner of your mouth twitches weakly, and inside, you know you’ve lost.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Doesn’t look like it,” he asks, clearly concerned. You take a glance at those metal blue eyes and immediately look away, pretending that your platter of toast and scrambled eggs is way more interesting.

“I’m fine,” you repeat, trying to sound final.

“____________, you’ve been acting really weird lately.”

How do you even respond to that? You sigh, feigning exhaustion but really, it’s frustration. Frustration towards your silly feelings that decide that it’s better for you to fall in love with him, your fake. husband. living together with you under the guise of a fake. marriage. It’s for fucking money.

“Work’s just stressing me out.”

“I know you better than you think,” he says, setting down his fork and knife. “If it’s work, you would’ve already ranted to me a thousand times about it already.”

“This one’s different,” you mutter, “I can’t really talk about it.”

“The hell does that mean? Our companies are close to a merger—you should talk about it.”

And then you look at him straight in the eye, breakfast forgotten. He looks at you, confused yet hypnotized. Your eyebrows crease just the slightest but enough for him to see from across the table, the tightness of your lips also visible. You’re sending him a message that you’re not even aware of. Your face tells him first. Your eyes tell him next.

Your lips tell him last.

“I can’t talk about it.”

A chord strikes in him, reverberating in the chambers of his soul, sounding like a whisper, but its echoes shout. He understands. You don’t see it yet.

Five: he’s bad at lying.

The next few days pass with him being so unusually close to you. The roles have reversed: in the fall, you were always beside him like a blanket, full of warmth and embracing him just in case he decides to wilt away. This time, in the wake of winter, you’re the one escaping him, and he’s watching, touching a piece of you to make sure you don’t. Your wrist, your shoulder, your cheek.

He witnesses moments where it’s as if he has thawed you out—your eyes are always quite telling—but in a second, the sign is gone, leaving him wondering if he merely conjured it.

And then one day he talks to you after dinner. You have a few strands of spaghetti on your plate, but he half-drags you to the couch, ignoring your excuses of being tired after work.

“There’s someone,” he says.

You swallow. So your imagination turned out to be true. The dinner sitting in your stomach threatens to make its way back out, but you brace yourself and continue. Feigning mild surprise, you reply, “I see.”

The voice barely sounds like you. Has that much life and energy escaped you?

“You know where I’ve been. September.”

“Yeah,” you answer, mouth dry. His eyes pierce through you, and you can’t find it in you to look away no matter how much you need to.

There’s a bitter smile on his lips, like an unspoken apology. “Kise has a way of roping me into doing things that I… don’t really want. But you know I was in a bad place. I wanted to forget the truth.”

“I understand,” you answer again, more robotic than genuine. Your mind is reeling yet still. This is happening. Who knows what’s going to happen to you. Maybe he’ll have the divorce papers ready by tomorrow. He’ll tell you you need to pack up.

You’re leaving him.

“Kise invites me to the places he frequents for drinks—or more. You know him. He insists that he knows some people that might help take my mind off of things.”

You’re silent. Does he really need to tell you all this? Couldn’t he just leave it at that and tell you to go? The couch and the floor it stands on suddenly doesn’t seem so stable. Kasamatsu looks down at his hands, clearly trying to get a bearing of himself, and you take the chance, praying your voice won’t come out shaky.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me,” you say. You can do this. The faster you get over this, the better. He doesn’t have to see you cry. “I’m okay with whatever you do from here on out, though I’m more concerned about your father. I can help you with the divorce lawyer—”

“—but you don’t understand, ____________, I’m married to that someone.”

A hand cups your cheek and your mind turns blank, like a film reel cut short. He looks down at your knees, swallowing, his other hand clenching and unclenching. He chastises himself for being reduced into a mess, but there’s no time to stop.

“You’re glowing. All the time, around the house, like a fireball. I thought I was going to live in a cold apartment for the rest of my life. After the wedding, you made me laugh for the first time in months. You roped me into tickle fights. You somehow made me want to make breakfast for you. You’re impossible to defy. Every night we sleep on the same bed, I have a growing urge to take you into my arms and hug you.” He chuckles, the refreshing sound breaking his stream of words. “And to think it started with me wondering how it feels to have you sleep against my chest.”

“Kasamatsu—”

He has a thumb on your lips, caressing so gently it makes you want to cry. Your eyes water, tears threatening to spill down your cheeks.

“Don’t call me that. Call me like we’re in public.”

“…Yukio.”

“Louder.”

“Yukio.”

“Tell me the things you tell people when we’re in public.”

“I’m happy with Yukio.”

“Tell me more.”

“I… love Yukio.”

He presses a kiss on your temple and you sob, cupping your mouth.

“Tell me more,” he repeats, softer this time.

“I love you, Yukio.”

His lips meet yours and you see stars behind your closed eyelids, the salt from your tears barely registering. Kasamatsu’s hand snakes to cup the back of your head, urging you gently to take more of him. You sigh, and he takes his chance. Warmth slips into your mouth and you moan at the taste of him, something you’ve only been able to long for, your fingers running up his sculpted chest. The two of you part for air, and even then, his lips still hover over yours, hot breath tingling your skin.

“I love you, too.”

#kasamatsu #kasamatsu yukio #kasamatsu x reader #knb #kuroko no basket #ourneverendingpossibilities #vball-baes-bball-babes #writing #sfw #semi-nsfw #reader insert #gender neutral #imagine #imagines #scenario #scenarios

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hollenka99 · 6 years

Text

The City of Angels

Summary: Jameson moves to California with his family. Things are starting fall into place and the family expands.

May 5, 1911

Dear Pearl,

Do you recall asking me if you could join us in New York? I reckon this would have been around the time I preparing to propose to Siobhan. Well, I'm afraid you won't be able to live in New York with us after all.

You are, however, more than welcome to join us in Los Angeles when we move there in the summer. Edison is driving many of us to leave New York so his schemes won't affect our businesses. I hear the landscape varies greatly in California, perfect for filming on location, and the weather is generally good throughout the year. Another advantage to moving to Los Angeles is that is much closer to Mexico. Should anyone come to cause us trouble, we can flee past the border. I won't say we'd be untouchable in Mexico but it's far easier to avoid patent claims when those patents are not applicable in the country.

We'll be moving to an area called Hollywood. It seems to be where a lot of independent filmmakers are flocking. That will mean competition but anything is better than Edison. I'm quite looking forward to arriving in a new place. That said, I am aware we will be living much farther from Saint John than before. Visiting all of you in Canada will prove trickier.

The offer is there, Pearl. You can move to California with us or stay in Saint John with the rest of our family. Personally, I would love to embark on this new chapter of our lives with you near. I always feel a little lonelier whenever I have to return to New York after seeing you. Don't tell Cliff that, of course. He is good company but it was always the three of us. Our endeavours are unlikely to realise their true potential if you are not involved.

I hope to hear back from you soon, Jameson

May 23, 1911 Dear Jem,

Do you even have to ask me? If Los Angeles is as appealing as you said, I am enthusiastic about living there too. California has a coast, doesn't it? Is Los Angeles anywhere near the water? I am so used to the Bay of Fundy that I struggle to imagine myself living somewhere landlocked.

Nevertheless, tell me when exactly you plan to leave. I will do my best to get all my documents ready before then or shortly after. What role exactly do you plan for me to fill? You write the scripts and Cliff directs but I don't see any specific position available for me. Should I just be an actress? I will leave the financial aspects of the business to you. You were always the best at mathematics compared to the rest of us.

Excited to join you soon, Pearl

June 7, 1911 Dear Pearl,

Although I was completely expecting you to accept, it is nevertheless wonderful to have you confirm it. As for your role, actress is the default position available. You could also be responsible for anything costume related. I know you are good with a needle and neither myself nor Clifford are experts in fashion. I understand it is a little cliché to expect a woman to assume the role of fashion advisor. However, those are your areas of personal expertise and I don't believe you should ignore what you are good at. In time, you might become confident enough to take more advanced roles. Who knows, perhaps you will direct a feature film or two in the future. You do enjoy making your presence known.

Elizabeth is not going to come with us. Understandably, she is unwilling to move to the other side of the country when she has friends and a life in New York. She is likely to keep the children in Manhattan with her. It is a shame. I was thoroughly enjoying being an uncle to Clara. Their second child is less than a month away from being born so I won't get to know them either. Please don't tell Mother. You know how she feels about their union. I suspect she will become unbearable if she were to find out.

We are planning to begin our train journey across the country on July 12th. I don't know if that will give you enough time to be able to travel to California by then or not. Come whenever you can.

Give the others our love for us, Jameson

September 8, 1911 Dear Jameson,

I can't believe Cliff is distancing himself from the Church. Your father and I raised you all to be devout Catholics. I am almost insulted he has abandoned everything he was brought up to believe. Could you not have dissuaded him?

He turns his back on God, leaves his wife to raise their children alone and never gives a thought as to how that makes us look. People will begin talking. They will look towards me and say I did not perform my duty as a mother properly. I am not proud to say I knew his split was coming.

I hope you and Siobhan are doing well, Your mother

September 20, 1911 Dear Mother,

I have told you time and time again, I am not responsible for Clifford's actions. If he renounces his Christianity, there is not much I can do. Elizabeth understandably refused to leave her life in New York at short notice. He would have been indifferent about his children being bastards if he did not know you would personally deliver damnation to him. This has been coming for years.

Was it mostly lust? Possibly. Was his heart fully dedicated to being a husband? Doubtfully. Are both of us upset that we may never see Clara and Daniel again? Of course.

This is not my issue. I am tired of acting as an informant for you on matters concerning Cliff. I am surprised you aren't interested in making me spy on Pearl as well. Please, for the sake of my sanity, discuss all this with your son. He is unlikely to listen but at least I can remain uninvolved.

If you are at all interested in how I am doing, I am enjoying the novelty of a new city. I am motivated to begin work and find success with the rest of the independent filmmakers. Siobhan and I are doing fine.

Yours, Jameson

December 12, 1911 Dear all,

The Jolly Gentleman has been born. It's taken me a while to gain the courage to introduce him to the world. The hat was a birthday present from Siobhan a few years ago. His 'theme song', if you will, was composed by Siobhan herself. If he is what I am remembered for after death, I will not mind. We are a family company and my creation has been further moulded by family. Pearl suggested a blue waistcoat as opposed to the black one I owned. I suppose blue does suit me better. Pearl claims it is because of my eyes. I will have to trust her.

We are yet to see how the short does financially. I am hoping for a decent profit but that is out of my hands now. Above all, I want the public to enjoy the character so I may use him again. He is a fun man to bring to life.

Yours, Jameson

February 13, 1912 Dear all,

Siobhan and I are delighted to announce we are expecting our first child. They should arrive at the beginning of August. Needless to say, we are excited by the news ourselves.

We have equally been apprehensive about bringing children into the world. There is a chance they may inherit the condition that runs in Siobhan's family. It's called Huntington's Chorea. You might have heard of it. Siobhan's mother died of complications connected to the disease when she was 12. There is a possibility that Siobhan will develop symptoms in 10-20 years. The same goes for her brother.

The two of us were worried our children would have a similar upbringing to Siobhan's and be forced to watch her health decline drastically over many years. Not only that, they would live with the chance of suffering the same fate in adulthood. Becoming parents is laden with risks and arguably selfish. I have chosen to subject myself to the reality of her potential illness. This child will not have that choice.

Of course, this could all be pessimistic speculation. There is still the possibility that neither Siobhan nor her brother have inherited the disease. Therefore, any children we have will be spared.

We are planning to approach this with cautious optimism. After all, this is our first child. Despite everything to be anxious about, I am overjoyed.

Yours, Jameson

February 16, 1912 Dear Harvey,

I suspect this letter will arrive the same time as the one I sent to Mother. If it doesn't, I am happy to announce Siobhan is three months pregnant.

I was hoping you had some wisdom to impart. I know I could ask Cliff in person but, it is best not to. Besides, your third is due in the coming weeks. You are more knowledgeable on the subject than him anyway. If you wish to leave me to figure it out, I understand. You had no prior help so it is only fair I do not either.

Any advice you are willing to give will still be appreciated.

Yours, Jameson

March 4, 1912 Dear Jameson,

Make sure your child doesn't die, that is generally the rule of parenthood. I don't have any particular advice for you. It will come to you in time. Simply do your best. That is what everyone else does.

You'll be a good father, Jameson. There is nothing for you to worry about. Only bring him or her to Saint John once they are born.

Congratulations, Harvey.

April 24, 1912 Dear Mother,

How damaging is a mother's stress on her unborn child? A friend of Siobhan's has been missing for the past two weeks. She is fearing the worst in regards to her friend's safety. I feel being such a constant state of dread is unhealthy, especially in her condition.

This is because that ship sank. Her friend married some nouveau riche entrepreneur and suddenly they're buying first class tickets for an ocean liner. I'd blame the British for incompetency but unfortunately, I hear it was built in Belfast. Essentially, RMS Titanic sunk over a week ago and RMS Carpathia delivered the survivors to New York 6 days ago. We haven't heard of news concerning her friend yet. At the time of writing, she, her husband and children are presumed dead. The water was cold and no human can survive in the ocean for this long without a boat or food.

Siobhan is in denial and insists her friend is out there or that the news she is fine simply hasn't reached us yet. The emotional strain must be affecting the baby negatively. I am unsure how to proceed, other than attempt to prove her I am supportive.

Yours, Jameson

Anthony Isaac Jackson Male August 7, 1912 Los Angeles Siobhan O'Hara Jameson Jackson

August 9, 1912 Dear Mother,

Anthony was born on Wednesday. I was out filming when Pearl began dragging me away. Regrettably, we arrived too late. By the time we reached the house, Siobhan was already holding him. I've been apologizing profusely after unintentionally breaking my promise to her. She won't have it.

On a more positive note, Anthony is healthy and Siobhan is recovering well too. As I'm writing, he is sleeping on the other side of the room. I can't help but wonder what life he will have. If I do succeed in my career, he is likely to grow up in comfort. He won't be like me, believing he is destined for the dockyard or a factory. He won't have to live in a cramped house, go hungry or worry about when the next illness is coming. He can have a better childhood than I did.

This is nothing against you, please don't think that. I had a happy upbringing. You gave me all you could and it was more than enough for me. I am simply saying I can give him more. We'll be able to afford medical bills without stressing about debt. I always did feel guilty for getting sick so often. I don't want Anthony to desperately rely on education to raise his position.

All that is to come in the future. So long as he is happy, I will be too.

Yours, Jameson

March 19, 1913 Dear all,

Greetings from Ireland! I have finally set foot in the ancestral homeland. We are staying with Siobhan's father while in Limerick. I don't think I've met Michael before as he was unable to attend our wedding. They both seem like good men, even if they are partial to a smoke. Michael is the opposite to us. He refuses to marry or become a father. I don't blame him for choosing to live cautiously. I do find it a shame he needs to subject himself to loneliness. Both him and his father were ecstatic to meet Anthony. You will too one day, whenever we can arrange a trip.

We celebrated St Patrick's Day quite enthusiastically. I spent the entirety of yesterday recovering. They all outdrank me. Your Canadian blood has spoiled me. Perhaps, once he is older, Anthony's Irish heritage will restore an iron liver to the Jackson line.

I hope to travel north to County Offaly while we are still here. The farm is probably owned by another family by now. I still would like to see for myself where we came from. Anthony is too young to understand me but I will tell him stories passed down from his great-grandmother. I'll omit some of the more inappropriate ones, don't worry.

Wishing Father could have seen this, Jameson

March 23, 1913 Dear all,

We've visited the farm. I was right, it is privately owned by another family. They may be distant cousins who inherited it. I didn't come close enough to the place to even see the inhabitants or ask. Even so, it wasn't quite how I imagined it would look. Over 60 years has certainly passed since the starvation. The fields don't show any obvious traces of yielding nothing edible the last time Granny was here.

It was late afternoon when we were there. We are staying for the night in a geometrically challenged village. They have a circle in the road, a roundabout as the Europeans call it. However, these villagers refer to their roundabout as The Square. I am almost inspired to include this in a script.

We will be returning to Limerick and thereafter Los Angeles tomorrow. It has been good to be in Ireland, not only to let Siobhan spend time with her family, but to explore my roots. Anthony should visit at least once after he reaches adulthood.

Goodbye for now, Jameson

August 17, 1913 Dear Mother,

Anthony is picking up ASL fairly quickly now. It fascinates me quickly a child learns the things we take for granted. He is standing on his feet and able to tell us about his basic needs. I've heard the signing may slow down when he begins speaking. I don't mind that. After all, he will be a bilingual child. I feel it is more important he is able to communicate with both of us in the long term than when exactly he is able.

I've included a photograph I took of Anthony to celebrate his birthday. I know how disappointed you were when I said we couldn't come for Christmas last year. However, the five of us plan to be there in October for Thanksgiving.

Yours, Jameson

September 19, 1913 Dear boys and Pearl,

The Imperial Theatre is opening today. We will finally be able to watch your creations. I am looking forward to seeing moving pictures in general. The three of you should release something soon so I can see my children be credited.

Jameson, Anthony looks very sweet in that photograph you sent. I'm glad he is doing well. I would be delighted to have all of you there for Thanksgiving. You don't know how excited I am to finally meet your son.

Wishing you well, Your mother

November 29, 1913 Dear Mother,

With Clifford at Keystone to help our prospects, Pearl and I are missing his help. We won't betray Sennett's trust. I don't think he included a clause into the contract to prevent Cliff from working for Jackson Trinity. It is still better not to risk him being called a double agent or the like.

This does, however, mean I need a new director. The men do not take myself or Pearl as seriously as they did Cliff. He hardly ruled with an iron fist yet he was far more of an authority here than us. I am easy to ignore and Pearl is a member of the fairer sex. It is incredibly aggravating to maintain order. The contract is for two years so we must survive until then.

We are determined to make this work.

Yours, Jameson

February 14, 1914 Dear Mother,

I know you have been annoyed by Cliff's romances (and their failings). You always seem to treat me as some informant. This time I will update you on his love life willingly. All I ask is that you don't let on that I have told you when he tells you about Loretta himself.

The two of them met on set. Hers was a minor character who never interacts with Cliff's. However, when the cameras were not on them, they talked at length. He is truly happy in her company. The age difference is morally grey. At 19, she is 9 years his junior. It is not illegal by any means but there are those who may be uncomfortable with it.

Unlike with Elizabeth, he doesn't seem to be speeding through milestones with Loretta. I think he understands love takes time and effort. If he were to marry her, it is years away. He should enjoy the present.

Yours, Jameson

March 1, 1914 Dear Jameson,

This is all very nice news but you know full well he cannot marry her. In terms of the law, yes they are not married. In the eyes of God, they are still united until death. It is mentioned in the ceremony as a reminded of how serious of a commitment marriage is. What do suggest he do, kill Elizabeth? Then what of their children? They need a mother.

Yours, Your mother

March 18, 1914 Dear Mother,

I feel you are jumping to conclusions. The whole reason he distanced himself from the Church was to improve his chances of being granted a second marriage. Even so, I never said he was planning to marry her. They have known each other for less than a year. They are progressing the relationship slowly.

Although, I may steal your idea for a feature. I'm not too well versed on murder mysteries but I could always give it a shot. I don't how I could credit you. I can hardly include "Idea inspired by Florence Jackson's motherly rants" in the credits.

Yours, Jameson

June 30, 1914 Dear Jameson,

Did you hear about the assassination? I'm not very knowledgeable on European affairs but I can tell this might become a political disaster. Austria-Hungary must have allies. I can't recall who is allied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire but I'm sure Germany is one of them.

I don't think this assassination will end typically. Normally, the public figure will get mourned en masse and would be replaced with the next leader. This is different. There has been plenty of tension in that area of the world, hasn't there? After all, that is why the archduke got shot in the first place. Those Serbians hate the Austro-Hungarians so furiously, they are prepared to stain their hands with blood. Who knows what the assassins were trying to achieve. Probably a little more than a message to those in power.

I feel there is going to be a war in Europe. Serbia will fight Austro-Hungary and Germany will find themselves caught up in the mess. You'll be hearing about it by the end of this year.

Yours, Harvey

#the life of jameson jackson #tlojj #jameson jackson #writersofjack #my writing #jacksepticeye #crosspost #originally posted on Quotev and AO3 on Dec 9th 2018

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michaelandy101-blog · 3 years

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Fulfill Untapped Buyer Calls for By Your Faceted Navigation

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/fulfill-untapped-customer-demands-through-your-faceted-navigation/

Fulfill Untapped Buyer Calls for By Your Faceted Navigation

The writer’s views are fully his or her personal (excluding the unlikely occasion of hypnosis) and should not at all times mirror the views of Moz.

Faceted navigation permits clients to slender down search outcomes primarily based on particular product attributes. They usually exist on Product Itemizing Pages (PLPs) and are a good way to assist customers intuitively uncover merchandise however managing this filtering system is a typical web optimization problem. Crawling and indexation have to be managed.

Nevertheless, if we glance past their inherent performance, sides can supply us appreciable potential. By centering your secondary navigation on long-tail key phrase alternatives, you’ll be capable to strategically make the most of shopper intent, safe further net conversions, and enhance income ranges.

Match shopper intent with long-tail search queries

Having a longtime model and a strong area backlink profile gained’t assure success. That is nice information for smaller manufacturers, as trade giants aren’t essentially going to win at this recreation.

If we search for “long sleeve wedding dresses”, we will see how David’s Bridal’s optimized aspect web page (Area Authority: 67/100, Web page Authority: 47 / 100) has obtained the highest rating place, whereas Nordstrom’s end result (Area Authority: 87/100, Web page Authority: 39/100) seems within the third place for this explicit question. We’ll check out what makes this web page so efficient later.

When how we will optimize faceted navigations, it’s necessary to acknowledge that product attributes convey shopper wants and aspirations. If, for instance, I’m searching for a marriage gown, then I could tailor my search by the colour, cloth, neckline form, and the sleeve size.

In line with the search demand curve, long-tail queries account for as much as 70% of all natural searches. They’re extremely focused queries that provide massive traffic-driving alternatives.

In the previous few years, we’ve seen a giant shift within the trade in the direction of capitalizing this intent with long-form content material. Weblog articles and magnificence guides have change into the go-to strategies for a lot of to seize these guests, as we will see from the examples taken from Marks & Spencers’ “Inspire Me” part:

Individuals usually search for inspiration once they’re procuring, and these pages present an efficient means so as to add extra inside hyperlinks to class and product pages. However counting on this strategy is one-dimensional, on condition that these deeper content material pages are likely to have decrease PageRank. An intensive quantity of effort and time will, subsequently, be required to realize the specified end result.

As compared, Product Itemizing Pages often goal broader search phrases, and faceted navigations usually exist as passive features. It is because they’re usually blocked from crawlers, making them devoid of any web optimization worth. Waterstones (a well known British bookstore) is one retailer that applies this rule for his or her on-page filters:

On this explicit instance, I’ve utilized a filter to solely present me books for five – eight yr olds, however the appended URL (https://www.waterstones.com/class/childrens-teenage/aspect/498) is blocked within the robots.txt file. That is going to stop such pages from being served within the SERPs regardless of them having the potential to satisfy particular buyer wants. This reveals that there could be a elementary disconnect in matching buyer intent to the pages we’re offering them within the natural outcomes.

From the diagram beneath, we will see how editorial content material usually focuses on the “awareness” and “interest” levels, while Product Itemizing Pages are typically extra according to the “consideration” and “purchase” phases:

Serving the proper content material to customers all through their shopping for journey is pivotal to success. For a lot of retailers, opponents are persevering with to prioritize broader, high-volume key phrases in saturated markets. They’re concentrating on the identical phrases to safe a proportion of the identical search site visitors. It is a very difficult prospect to face, and with out carving out a niche within the market, they gained’t essentially ship the outcomes they search to safe. Likewise, counting on informational guides to focus on long-tail key phrases implies that you’re lacking a big proportion of customers who’ve very particular shopping for necessities. Sure, they’re able to make a purchase order!

By shifting your focus to handle your buyer’s actual wants and expectations, you’ll be capable to ship a satisfying, frictionless expertise at each interplay and all through to that ultimate buy.

The answer

Step 1: Conduct long-tail key phrase analysis

Construct a extremely complete view of your potential clients by harnessing knowledge from quite a lot of sources, together with:

a) Key phrase analysis instruments like Moz, Google Keyword Planner, and Answer The Public.

b) The SERPs — get inspiration from the auto-suggest outcomes, Individuals Additionally Ask, and the associated search hyperlinks on the backside of the web page.

c) Competitor exercise — except for utilizing web optimization monitoring software program, you need to use a knowledge mining extension software like Scraper, which is able to extract faceted choices immediately from competitor Product Itemizing Pages. These instruments are sometimes free to obtain and will let you shortly switch product classes.

d) Your Google Search Console, Analytics, and PPC accounts to find out which key phrases and URLs are securing the very best variety of visits and net conversions. Inside search knowledge may offer you nice shopper insights.

e) Converse to your merchandising crew to grasp product calls for and achievement capabilities.

Step 2: Group into significant sub-topics

When you’ve collated all this info right into a spreadsheet, you’ll be capable to uncover long-tail, consideration-orientated key phrases. Whereas individually they might not boast enormous month-to-month search estimates, they’ll collectively spotlight the place buy intentions may be higher fulfilled.

To assist illustrate this level, we will take a look at a small subset of lingerie key phrases and the sides the searches signify:

From the desk above we will shortly see a sample rising with coloration and materials variations showing throughout the search phrases. We are able to then substantiate this info with session and income estimates with using a acknowledged CTR mannequin. This permits us to assist forecast the potential natural uplift and quantify the dimensions of the prize for quite a few completely different situations which are on supply from every new aspect mixture. This may occasionally embody estimations for securing place 10, 7, 5, three and 1 in Google.

One factor to notice right here is that it’s value excluding synonyms, as they may falsely inflate your calculations. An instance right here can be to exclude “storage drawers” (22.2k month-to-month searchers) when reviewing the efficiency for “chest of drawers” (201ok m/s). Together with each variants will trigger a false optimistic end result and can lead you to attract incorrect conclusions.

Step three: Dig deeper into broader phrases round affords, scores, and worth

These product filters are discovered within the “Sort” dropdown field and, from my expertise, these are set to “noindex” from the outset as they merely enable customers to re-order web page outcomes. Actually, content material administration techniques like Shopify and Shopware have this as a default.

This is smart since their goal is to permit guests to easily kind or slender web page content material somewhat than providing different outcomes and extra worth (which is obtainable by faceted navigation). As such, filter usually produce duplicate outcomes which shouldn’t be discoverable past the speedy second. However this hard-and-fast rule doesn’t at all times apply completely in the actual world. For this reason we have to take a look at our particular person industries and perceive what’s necessary to our distinctive set of shoppers.

If we take a look at the world of gifting, we regularly see individuals procuring with a specific funds in thoughts. Subsequently, phrases like “birthday gift under £20” (40 m/s) or “Secret Santa gift under £10” (2.9k m/s) are moderately widespread, and opening up related itemizing pages could possibly be helpful for buyers.

Step four: The technical steps

Side taxonomies are vastly complicated and the variety of attributes that may be strung collectively will increase with the dimensions of the area. We, subsequently, must rigorously handle the flood gates and mitigate towards any potential dangers together with crawl inefficiencies and hyperlink fairness dilution.

We are able to do that by:

1. Avoiding skinny/doorway pages by frequently re-assessing your product providing. For example, you might contemplate there to be little worth in creating a brand new listings web page should you’re promoting a really small vary of low worth level merchandise. On this case, you might resolve towards opening up a further Product Itemizing Web page whenever you promote as few as 10 eligible merchandise. Nevertheless, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, so it’s fairly doable that your standards could also be decrease for explicit product traces. Both means, these numbers will change over time. Take into account seasonal developments, when new collections are launched, and once they change into discontinued. Establishing a product retirement strategy to handle expired merchandise and classes at scale in parallel with this step can also be extremely beneficial.

2. Stop content material cannibalization by arranging chosen sides based on their worth and significance. “Size” is essential for some electrical items like TVs, laptops, and cameras, however is much less so for magnificence equipment or vacuum cleaners. It’s essential to additionally be sure web page content material is distinctive and displays the main target of your chosen aspect(s). Seek advice from step 5 for extra particulars.

three. Comply with the sequence through which adjectives and sides are usually chosen by your clients. This will differ relying on the place your viewers lives. So, while merchandise typically have 5 or extra distinguishable options, English vernacular determines that we use greater than 4 adjectives (e.g. measurement + coloration + materials + form) to explain one thing.

four. Management the controllables by coping with overlapping variations. This usually happens when multiples co-exist and every displays good search metrics. For example, it’s cheap for somebody to concurrently search for a number of coloration and/or cloth combos within the alternative ways beneath.

When this case happens, we should always comply with the identical linguistic guidelines as above and select a most popular sequence. On this case, it might be coloration + materials + product kind.

Compared to the noindex tag prompt for on-page filters you must canonicalize pointless sides to their dad or mum web page (remembering that that is merely a touch and never a directive). It will allow you to regulate how crawlers cope with extremely comparable end result pages and can, subsequently, assist to stop your web site from being demoted within the SERPs. Dynamic search parameters ought to proceed to be outlined with a “noindex, nofollow” meta robots tag, disallowed within the robots.txt file, and configured by Google’s URL parameter software (inside your Search Console account) to inform crawlers the aim of your parameters and the way you want to them to be handled. It is a useful guide on parameter handling for Googlebots, however keep in mind that this final tip gained’t affect how Bing or Yahoo user-agents interpret these pages.

5. Open your sides in phases and domesticate it right into a test-and-learn course of. It will allow you to establish points rather a lot sooner and implement facet-wide options in a well timed method. With out having to unravel these further layers of complexity, issues reminiscent of crawl inefficiencies, PageRank dilution, or extreme indexation may be swiftly resolved.

To point out you what this might appear like, I’ve supplied a phasing plan that was created for one in all our e-commerce purchasers. Our analysis confirmed a big web optimization alternative for opening up a number of the sides and filters: potential +£263Kpcm for the “colour + type” aspect (UK):

What’s extra, after we prolonged our forecast to incorporate different aspect combos, we calculated a further income alternative of as much as +£207Ok/pcm (earlier than filtering out combos with no merchandise providing).

Step 5: Optimize your aspect URLs

Optimize your new aspect class URLs to determine relevancy on your chosen search phrases. The important thing on-page components to give attention to embody:

David’s Bridal is an effective instance of a retailer that has accomplished this nicely. Trying again on the ‘Long Sleeve Wedding Dress’ Product Itemizing Web page, we will see that they’ve curated distinctive content material and adopted elementary optimization ways on the touchdown web page in a means that feels useful to the person.

URL: davidsbridal.com/long-sleeve-wedding-dresses

Web page Title: Lengthy Sleeve Wedding ceremony Clothes & Robes | David’s Bridal

Meta Description: Do you dream of carrying a lengthy sleeve wedding ceremony gown in your massive day? Store David’s Bridal vast number of wedding ceremony robes with sleeves in lace & different designs!

6. Present accessibility and construct web page authority

When you’ve opened up your new aspect Product Itemizing Pages, you have to start cultivating hyperlink fairness in the direction of them. It will be certain that they don’t exist as orphan URLs with no PageRank:

Guarantee they’re referenced in your product XML sitemap.

You probably have one function per aspect URL, then add them to your faceted navigation throughout CLP and Product Itemizing Web page pages.

You probably have two or extra options per aspect URL, then create a “Popular Searches” or “Related Searches” possibility inside your CLPs.

Make the most of your mega menu to showcase your new class touchdown pages. This won’t solely will let you direct a big proportion of hyperlink fairness, however it’ll additionally safe the very best click-through charge amongst your guests.

Combine your editorial technique by creating partaking content material with in-copy hyperlinks. Take into consideration how you need to use descriptive long-tail anchor textual content in regards to the Product Itemizing Web page you wish to hyperlink to somewhat than counting on “click here” or “see more”.

Connect with them through href hyperlinks so that you’re not solely counting on hyperlinks from the principle navigation or content material hyperlinks. As that is tough to do at scale, it may be accomplished by modules reminiscent of “related categories”, “other subcategories”, “related products”, and many others.

Devise strategic outreach campaigns that may safe high quality, exterior backlinks to them.

Implementing this holistic and sturdy technique will assist you to to safe exponential progress out of your new business touchdown pages.

Conclusion

There may be an excessive amount of natural alternative that exists inside your faceted navigation should you start to leverage mid- and long-tail search phrases.

Search out the chance from prolonged key phrase analysis and competitor evaluation earlier than deciding which variants fulfill shopper calls for and ship optimum natural classes and onsite conversions. Configure a single faceted URL for every alternative and open them up for crawl and indexation. Guarantee PageRank is distributed to them (each internally and externally) and develop your touchdown web page content material according to high quality optimization practices. This strategy will assist you to to keep away from having crawl inefficiencies, over indexation, cannibalization, or having skinny doorway pages. In flip, your web site might be higher suited to draw highly-targeted customers and information them down the acquisition funnel.

Maximizing UX and decreasing reliance on different marketing channels implies that your faceted navigation can actually ship natural ROI. We’ve got seen this work for our purchasers.

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blackswanmedia · 3 years

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Kartra Review

The smart Trick of Kartra Review That Nobody is Talking About

Beginning an online service to offer courses or other educational items requires more than simply a site with your product listings. Have you already leveraged a strategy for marketing your products and incentivizing clients? And how much money will you need to put into it before you get money out of it? What about the logistics of payment plans and payment processors? The large weight of everything can be disabling, but you're not alone.

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kylefitzi · 3 years

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Us: A Peace Offering

A few years ago I started to coach and counsel graduate students. I enjoyed the idea of helping people in little ways throughout their day, got paid a decent amount to do it and haven’t found anything else worth exploring yet, so 33 months later, here we are.

Today I called a student to them know a section they enrolled in would be cancelled and after a fury of directionless expletives, the student proclaimed, “I’m going to murder somebody.”

I was 45 minutes into an email hell and still reeling from a 5-day semi-bender out in the desert, so it’s probably fair to say my productivity was sub-optimal.

Long before smartphones and social media made our public discourse something akin factory farming, I had an unofficial routine of reading the morning news to start my day. For some reason, I still do that, and this morning I, like many, was simply trying to reconcile the details of Daunte Wright’s death.

I’m honestly not one to stir the pot until I totally fucking am, so I’ll just mention, as an aside, that this student is white and often comes off needy, entitled and intense.

I have no idea what was going on with the student in the moment, but from the jump, the call was a bit off the rails. I think 31 years learning from my mom taught me that tone is dialed up into a borderline obnoxious pitch in any attempt to de-escalate someone or avoid conflict. As if the whistle is some non-fungible(?) bridge to mind the gap between the riled up and “easy bro.”

When the call concluded 4 minutes and 58 seconds later, the student actually said “have a great day.” Dissonance. On a whole new level. The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble. Sounds familiar!

Now, at times we’re all inclined to judge others and not necessarily hold ourselves to the same standard. To let assumptions about others run rampant in our minds and somehow expect the benefit of the doubt from every person in every situation always.

So I hung up, grabbed the pillow to my left, let out a few cathartic and downright savage screams to release the tension, and backflipped right back into the Gmail rabbit hole so terrible, in theory, that I’ve never taken 3 days off in a row in my 33 months in this gig.

A few hours later, I decided to listen to that call recording again. Was it really as bad as it seemed? Nope. Was the student’s language and tone pretty disrespectful? Yup. Could the student have been in a shitty place right when I called, and this was the last domino to fall before a blowup? Of course! Did the student’s attitude toward a relatively minor issue registration issue reflect our times perfectly? Well shit, there’s the nail!!

I don’t know if this student was affected by yet another senseless police MURDER of a beautiful, innocent black body. I don’t know because we, and I truly mean WE, don’t talk to each other anymore.

Now THAT’S a BINGO!!!

We talk at each other. We don’t ask questions. We repost tweets with the authority of Lincoln at Gettysburg. We don’t explore each others thoughts and feelings with genuine intrigue. We ravage each other’s ideologies in the name of tribalism. We crucify those who don’t share ours. We probably don’t even fully explore ours fully. We affiliate with and alienate and divide and destroy each other. We’re dominated by our fears, so much so that we neglect the adequate time it takes to be grateful for what little we can control. We pour gasoline on each fire we stumble across and then lie and tell others that if they don’t do the same, they’re terrible people. We sprint in the opposite direction of vulnerability because we expect to be cancelled if we dare share a truth, let alone the complexities of OUR truth. We hate, to be loved? We don’t ask ourselves who around us is in need of love. we kick and scream because we so desperately seek love and have completely forgotten that leaders fucking LEAD. We disregard the real truth - that each of us has the power to radiate love and light, inspire others to do the same, and in return receive a level of love and acceptance we probably would argue “doesn’t exist.” Our participation in these childish games of black and white appears to be our right of passage in the public eye. And our inability to see nuance in conversations rooted in exactly that continues to ruin us.

It seems to me that a quick peel of the onion reveals a lot about why we’re angry and confused and depressed and alone.

I always interpreted the legacy of the 50′s in America to be the monotony of and darkness in collectivism, when the dominant ideological center said there was nothing left to fight for. It was a drawn out Christian victory party, but realistically it was a referendum on the human condition. If all we have left to do is grow together, we’ll abandon the work it takes to commit to a vision and just find something to fight about.

Now I’m starting to wonder if this uncompromising power struggle for the “correct” ideology will leave the same legacy through much different history. We’ve moved the entire world online, and as such, we’ve moved our public discourse online. Our technology has created opportunity for expansive communication. But it’s also muted the warmth, love and truth in just about everyone’s physical being. What was a collective victory is now a collective cowardice.

Corruption has been exposed at every level. Everyone is selfish. Everyone is incompetent. Everyone will be cancelled. No one is safe. No one is accepted. No one gets a second chance. Everything is wrong. Nothing is right.

Sure. With us that might be true. But what about within you?

In the past year+ at home, it feels like I’ve consumed more information than any year prior, and I’ve never been more confident that I know so little.

But if I may, I’ll leave whoever made it down this far with this. If you really want the answers, you have to ask the right questions. And in my experience, that means you have to open up. Open your mind to consider all points of view. Open your heart to accept all the ways you’ve failed. And open your soul to know the fucking difference.

My failures only matter in a world of we. Your triumphs only matter in a world of we. So we need to start asking different questions to better understand the me in our chosen world of we. Our collective human spirit will never not be fragile and broken. But you, your spirit, well...it’s really all you’ve got.

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songbay · 4 years

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Lyric-to-Song Service at Songbay

HAVE YOUR LYRICS TURNED INTO FANTASTIC ORIGINAL SONGS

“Any style, any genre, any instrument- we bring your lyrics to life”

Here at Songbay, we believe that all lyricists should be able to have their lyrics turned into songs.

If you do not compose music, sing, or play an instrument, or think it would be too expensive to have your lyrics turned into complete songs, we have come up with an amazing offer for you.

Our lyric-to Song service starts from just £99!

Lyric-to-Song. Why do lyricists need this service?

We know that it can be frustrating when you do not have an outlet for the words you’ve created and love. In addition, it can be almost impossible to break into the music industry with lyrics alone since most publishers do not accept ‘lyric only’ submissions.

So how do you find and collaborate with trustworthy composers and musicians (with a proven track record) who are willing and able to turn your lyrics into completed songs? That’s where we come in – Our lyric-to-song service – does exactly this – and more! Show us your lyric and we’ll turn it into a professionally recorded original song, based entirely around your stylistic requirements.

Recent Songbayteam Songs!

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Lyric-to Song – Key Benefits

Quality – Your lyric will be turned into a completely original and professionally crafted song, created by our expert songwriters and session musicians

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Value – Our lyric-to-song prices are hugely discounted for Songbay members and affordable to all budgets.

Speed – No wasted time. On average, we offer a 7-14 day turnaround

Terms – You retain 100% control of your lyric

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Royalties – Receive royalty payments. Remember, unless a lyric is set to music, it cannot generate any music royalties

Lyric-to Song – Choices

We offer four versions, starting from just £99!

The Entry Demo version. Our team will analyze the lyric of your choice and create an original sympathetic and succinct audio demo from it consisting of 1 x verse and 1 x chorus, using our team of expert songwriters, vocalists, and musicians. It will consist of a lead vocal and one or two accompanying instruments. Price £99

The Melody and Chord version. As above, our team will then go on to turn your lyric into a fully arranged originally composed song in the style of your choice, with multiple verses, chorus, intro’s, bridges, etc. It will consist of a lead vocal and one or two accompanying instruments. Price £200

The Muti Instrumental version. As above, our team will then go on to turn your lyric into a fully arranged originally composed song in the style of your choice, with multiple verses, chorus, intro’s, bridges, etc. It will consist of a lead vocal, plus backing vocals, and at least 4 other instruments. Price £260

The Fully Produced version. As above, our team will then go on to turn your lyric into a fully arranged originally composed song in the style of your choice, with multiple verses, chorus, intro’s, bridges, etc. It will consist of a lead vocal, 2-10 multi-layered backing vocals, 8-25 other instruments, plus optimized song structuring/arrangement, mixing, and mastering. Price £500

Lyric-to Song – Methodology

Our approach is the same for all lyric-to-song versions, we first check the stylistic requirements and any melodic or harmonic ideas that you may already have. We can, of course, advise on all of this. We may suggest slight lyric changes to help with rhythmic flow, or even additional lyric content for contrasting bridge sections, intros, and outros, etc, or for linking one section to another. Once we have a clear directional overview, we make a start with the composing of melodic and harmonic ideas emanating from the lyric. We always work from the lyric, never the other way round, i.e., we never superimpose music onto the text. Our music evolves naturally from the lyric, giving all our songs musical synergy.

In terms of the time frame, we usually send a rough sketch to the user within 48 hours. Once the song is fully composed, we then record it with the required instrumentation/ session musicians. It is then mixed and professionally produced and delivered back to you in professional audio WAV, MP4 and MP3 formats.

Lyric-to Song – Our Experience

Collectively, our songwriting team are involved in all aspects of the music industry, including film composing, songwriting, lyric writing, music production, arranging, recording, mixing, mastering, session singing, and vocal coaching. We have written and recorded in session with artists such as Kasabian, Keane, Ellie Goulding, Ed Sheeran, Gary Barlow, INXS, Nick Cave & The BadSeeds, Patti Labelle, John Lee S-Club 7, Jamie Cullum, West One Music, Faye Tozer Steps, Amy Pearson, Gareth Gates and Dagny (to name a few). Members of our team have also been involved with prominent London West End musicals, including Les Miserables and Billy Elliot. In the Orchestral and Opera world, with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, RTE Ireland, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and Wessex Opera. Recent clients include The BBC, ITV, BBC Radio, Channel 5, BRMB, Endemol Shine, and Tiger Aspect. Corporate clients include Toyota, , Huawei, Cunard, DFDs Seaways, Konica

Lyric-to Song – Contractual Information

Our terms are very fair! Full terms and conditional can be seen here: Terms and Conditions >>

Lyric-to Song – Sign Up form

Our fee covers absolutely everything. To get started your lyrics turned into songs, please use the link below.

Client Request Form >>

Lyric-to-Song Service at Songbay was originally published on Songbay Music and Lyric Sales

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allwoodjacee95 · 4 years

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expatimes · 4 years

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'Cautiously optimistic': Palestinian factions unite on elections

Gaza City - Fatah and Hamas reached a deal on Palestinian elections at the Palestinian Consulate in Istanbul last week, raising hopes the factions can unite after years of animosity as Israel continues to threaten annexation while it normalises relations with Arab nations.

The proposal for parliamentary, presidential and national council elections is set to be discussed among all Palestinian factions in a leadership meeting this week, after which a presidential decree to officially announce election dates is expected.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas will hold a meeting on Saturday and he is expected to set three dates for Palestinian legislatures, presidential, and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) national council elections.

“The atmosphere domestically is now very accommodating to hold elections. It enjoys national consensus, including from Islamic parties, ”Wasel Abu Yousef, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee and leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, Al Jazeera.

“The consensus is to conduct elections on the basis of proportional representation and with a time frame of six months. “We start from parliamentary elections, then presidential, and national council elections.”

Senior Islamic Jihad leader Nafiz Azam said his movement sees the recent Hamas-Fatah meetings as a breakthrough.

“These are certainly positive steps that should be built upon,” he told Al Jazeera. "We should intensify our efforts to solve all the remaining issues of dispute between the two sides."

Senior Islamic Jihad leader Nafiz Azzam said his movement sees the recent Hamas-Fatah meetings as a breakthrough [Walid Mahmoud/Al Jazeera]

'Cautious optimism'

However, Azam explained the Islamic Jihad will only participate in the national council elections that are representative of the diaspora and not connected to peace accords with Israel.

The PA and its legislative council are both products of the Oslo accords between Israel and the PLO, and the Islamic Jihad does not recognize the Oslo agreement.

“Palestinians can only be optimistic towards elections as a pathway to ending the destructive phase to our cause that fragmentation and division produced,” Basim Naim, a senior Hamas leader and former minister of health, told Al Jazeera.

“However, this optimism is very cautious given the amount of obstacles we face on the path to holding elections.”

Naim added: "Palestinians had a bitter experience with 14 years of continuous efforts and meetings in many capitals of the world, where several agreements were reached but haven't been successfully implemented."

All interviewees pointed out, however, what is different this time is the unprecedented level of danger the Palestinian cause now faces, especially after the latest normalization agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.

Bassim Naim, a senior Hamas leader, said the optimism is a cautious one, given the number of obstacles in holding elections [Walid Mahmoud/Al Jazeera]

'No option'

According to the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, 2.2 million Palestinians have the right to vote.

“My optimism regarding the possibility of holding elections this time stems from the fact that Hamas and Fatah have no option this time but elections,” Majida al-Masri, senior leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told Al Jazeera.

"It's a compulsory passage to stand up to the negative developments we're facing regionally, internationally and on the ground."

Azam said the threat from Arab nations making agreements with Israel "necessitates a unified Palestinian action."

“It's clear that Arab states have let the Palestinians down, that the current US administration is the most biased towards Israel, and that Israel won't give the Palestinian authority anything. This has pushed Palestinian leaders to reconsider their internal affairs. ”

Abu Yousef explained the tripartite assault on the Palestinian national project - represented in the Trump administration's so-called Middle East plan, Israel's accelerated and escalated de facto annexation, and the Israeli-Arab normalization - has united Palestinians on the ground in the face of those challenges.

However, he added, what is needed next is “genuine institutional and geographic unity between all Palestinian territories that revives the central role of the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people”. This, Abu Yousef argued, can be achieved through elections.

Elections as a pathway to unity

“Elections are the least thing Palestinians should do and the most important and most urgent thing they should do to renew the leadership's legitimacy and reorganise our internal affairs to engage all Palestinian factions in leading the struggle,” Munib al-Masri, a former PA minister and prominent businessman, told Al Jazeera.

"Elections are the decisive factor on what would happen next, in terms of Palestinian vision and strategy, and in terms of allowing youth to play an important role in shaping their own future."

Majida said the elections could be a pathway to ending intra-Palestinian division and giving legitimacy to the Palestinian political leadership “in the face of the Israeli colonial project, the Trump deal and the normalisation”.

Naim said the elections revive the energy of the Palestinian people in the struggle for their rights.

However, he cautioned “some degree of unity and consensus on the general vision should precede those elections” to prevent further division.

International obstacles

While Palestinian leaders are cautiously optimistic about elections' potential, there is caution towards the likely obstacles that may derail the latest progress.

All interviewees saw Israel as the main impediment to successfully conducting fair-and-free votes.

“Last year, we agreed on carrying out elections, but Israel sabotaged these plans by preventing us from holding elections in East Jerusalem,” Abu Yousef explained.

Naim concurred saying: "All Palestinians agree that elections cannot be held without Jerusalem."

“Israel represents the main obstacle to elections, not just in East Jerusalem, but in all occupied territories. It can, for instance, prevent us from reaching Palestinian constituents in areas it considers under its sovereignty in the West Bank, ”Majida pointed out.

“Israel is always an obstruction to any measure that would end Palestinian division. It was even a main contributing factor to the division in the first place. ”

Naim warned Israel could cite security pretexts to block voting or arrest unfavrable candidates as they have done before.

“Israel won't be happy about any elections that reflect a positive image of Palestinians as strong believers in democracy and a peaceful transfer of power, as a people who pursue building a better future and take their fate in their own hands,” he said .

'Binding for all'

The second main challenge is to ensure a positive atmosphere around elections domestically and guarantee respect for the results.

“Division over the last 13 years has left entrenched impacts on society, the national fabric, institutions and values. This is certainly not easy to remove at once, ”Majida said.

"But supervision committees can help ensure that these issues won't become obstacles in the face of elections, for instance, by ensuring an end to all negative media campaigns against the other Palestinian camp."

Abu Yousef added: “This time we agreed that elections results would be binding for all parties and should be respected fully in order to avoid creating a crisis.”

However, both Naim and Azam argued political consensus is needed before the elections to ensure the aftermath does not replicate the 2006 vote, in which Hamas's win of the legislative council led to tensions with Fatah and the eventual intra-Palestinian division.

Majida said she sees an opportunity this time in elections because: “The proportional representation law that was agreed upon among all parties creates a pathway to a national consensus government because this law won't allow replicating previous experiences of allowing any party alone to take over the majority of the council.

'Pressure Israel'

To surmount all obstacles, the Palestinians will look to the international community to protect and support the elections.

“The international community should pressure Israel to ensure the success of elections and provide a protective umbrella for us that guarantees a healthy and undisrupted conduct of elections,” Majida added.

But Naim noted the international community could become an obstacle if it imposed conditions to recognize the results of elections.

“The international community contributed to Palestinian division to a dangerous extent. Had Europe and the US recognized the results of the 2006 elections and engaged with the government it produced, we wouldn't have seen the ensuing results, ”he said.

"The international community must officially declare that they support fair and free Palestinian elections, whether politically, technically or financially, and that they are prepared to respect the results of the elections and engage with the Palestinian leadership that elections would produce."

#world Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=11232&feed_id=8212

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