#but its a conversation that i think is more than overdue. its an... institution? that has its hand in everything. and thats-

[mbat]

yknow, its easy to look at the owl houses shortening and be like 'oh they had to have done that cause its gay' and thats a really easy answer to give that can feel right because things arent as shiny and perfect as people pretend, not to mention disneys own actions and views about queer people

but sitting here rewatching the show now, i think its more the theme of the show, the way that it references and alludes to religion, specifically cults and even christianity, and the way that it criticizes these things and stuff like that. its no surprise to me that that would be the actual reason, and no one in charge exactly wants to say 'we cancelled this because it criticized religion' because like, duh

obviously i dont agree with it for several reasons, its no secret that i criticize religion a lot, even when i maybe should rather keep my mouth shut. not to mention the way that the show moreso is criticizing cults, and that it is NEVER a bad thing that kids know more than ever to question what theyre told, especially by people who claim power, or to be the ONLY ones who can do something special like how belos does with 'hearing the titan'

and really... i think thats why it happened, or that thats at least one of the reasons. ive never been satisfied with the vague answer of 'it just didnt fit our brand' because like... thats fucking stupid. that doesnt mean anything! i would not be surprised if the people who made the choice to shorten it were people who felt somehow attacked by the very messages and themes of the show, even though that would be so ironic imo.

i will forever wish this show got to have the full length it more than deserved. i still wish we could somehow get the extra content that there was meant to be in another form, like comics! but its not as simple as that, sadly.

[entity9silvergen]

I recently asked reddit for some LGBT history from countries other than the US. Here’s what I got:

Germany

The Weimar Republic was surprisingly accepting of "alternative lifestyles."

During the Weimar Republic, Germany had a pretty active LGBTQ scene, with some major films and songs being produced, despite it still being illegal at the time. However, there was also a push to decriminalize homosexual behavior which sadly wasn't passed as the Nazis came to power.

This was based of two factors: after WW1 the authoritarian culture of Prussia sorta received a long overdue pushback. People were kinda sick of it, especially since these losers led them into a seemingly pointless war to begin with. Second: A LOT of men died in WW1 - and the army did not exactly prefer LGBT people. So with a lot of regular folks dead, the percentages of the total populace was sorta shifted. This also pushed the women's rights movements at the time for a similar reason.

Magnus Hirschfeld was helping trans people transition, crossdressers get crossdressing 'licenses', and generally advocating for and helping the LGBT community in the early 1900s in Germany. Nazis ended up raiding and burning down his research institute.

Hirschfeld was a gay polyamorous man. He was one of the first advocates for trans and gay rights but his work was destroyed by the Nazis.

The institute he headed even did the first modern gender affirming surgeries. The institute was destroyed and many people who were there (including the first known person to undergo complete MtF surgery) were killed by the nazis and the place was little more than bombed out ruins at the end of the war.

More information on the institute

Pre Nazi interwar Germany (Weimar Republic)  was pretty open when it came to not only sexuality, but also gender identity. The Nazis put a stop to that & tried to destroy any & all research into either, but, for a brief moment, it was there.

Russia

Pretty sure all Russian LGBT history was erased before we even had a written language, but Russia almost got gay marriage legalized in the first soviet constitution (didn’t happen bc Stalin)

The early soviet period (pre-Stalin) is sometimes called “the first sexual revolution” as opposed to America’s “sexual Revolution” of the 60’s. Broad women’s suffrage, female employment and education, parental leave, advancement of GSM rights & decriminalization of abortion. This unfortunately did not stand the test of time & reactionary sentiment.

Additional Source

UK/ Britain/ England 

The lead singer of Judas Priest is gay. The commenter’s father thought it was kinda funny because it didn’t match with his biker aesthetic, but the commenter doesn’t think he considered how much leather he wears on a daily basis

Hell bent for Leather was a track off Killing Machine. It was written by lead guitarist Glenn Tipton (who is straight), but it's fun to find alternative meanings in Priest songs. A second commenter likes to pretend a lot of the lyrics Halford sings are gayer than they actually are.

A couple people mentioned how uncomfortable it was seeing Ru Paul interact with British drag queens because he barely knows anything about British culture.

Ru Paul got angry that a British drag queen hasn’t seen the Golden Girls because “it’s gay culture” and then not five minutes later someone had to explain to him who Alan Turing was.

Alan Turing, who was an incredibly noteworthy figure (He made the Enigma codebreaker machine, which broke the code that was used by Nazis during the war and basically sped up the war by a significant margin. He also set the foundations for artificial intelligence, one achievement he was named for: the Turing Test), was homosexual and prosecuted multiple times because of it

Shakespeare was probably bisexual (some of his sonnets had homoerotic subtext/were sent to a younger man). Plus, Hamlet is gay as fuck. 

Sonnet 46 was very gay. Here’s a link!

King James 1st was corrupt and used his position to promote his gay lover to higher positions than he should've gotten. 

The 13 year old king James 6th of Scotland and 1st of England fell in love with a 37 year old catholic Franco Scottish man. The king gave the older man so much free shit that other lords started getting salty and his lover ended up converting to Presbyterianism out of loyalty to his young lover. He also fell in love with a man who ''was noted for his handsome appearance as well as his limited intelligence.'' 

Clearly James was into himbos, and women too.

He had a secret tunnel connecting his bedroom to George Villiers’s bedroom.

His relationship with Villiers was basically common knowledge and a source of much amusement and mockery. He also once said that his relationship with Villiers was equivalent to the relationship that Christ had with John the Baptist

Much more recently, there's obviously JKR and the banning of puberty blockers and Margaret Thatcher opposing LGBTQ+ rights by passing a law meaning you couldn't 'promote homosexuality'. 

Prince Philip was a racist twat (and probably a huge homophobe knowing him).

Gay marriage only became legal in 2014.

The Wolfenden Report was published in 1957, and it recommended the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults. It was a huge topic of public debate, and ultimately led to the Sexual Offences act of 1967, which legalized sexual acts between consenting men aged 21 or over in England and Wales (sexual acts between women were never explicitly criminalized). Scotland decriminalized sex between men in 1980, and Northern Ireland in 1982. 

For a totally batshit real-life bit of gay history, check out the show A Very English Scandal. It's about a politician, Jeremy Thorpe, who put a hit out on his former lover who was threatening to go public with the fact they had had a relationship. 

Austria

Gay marriage was legalized in Austria about 3 years ago. The worst thing is that it'd have staid illegal if the Supreme Court wouldn't have jumped in and declare it to be unconstitutional.

Austria did have something called "partnership" which was where gay couples could officially register with the state as couples but not receive any of the benefits of married het people

They still have super backwards Transphobic laws requiring for example "real life experience" to get even diagnosed. Basically you're forced to be and live as feminine/masc as possible and a doctor them judges if you're femme or masc enough. It's torture

Australia had widespread, over 60% approval of gay marriage for well over a decade before the government legalized it. The governments were actually going against the people for a very long time by denying it.

Taiwan/ Hong Kong/ Mainland China

When Taiwan recently legalized gay marriage, their official statement was something along the lines that they were casting off Western-imposed values and returning to their own traditional values and the entire western lgbt community ridiculed them in a "if that's what you need to tell yourself" sort of way but it's actually the truth. 

Prior to western colonization, the Imperial Chinese attitude toward sexuality was not dissimilar to Greco-Roman attitudes in that a man must marry a woman to beget legitimate heirs but whatever else he does on the side is his own business. It wasn't until Victorian colonizers came along and imposed homophobic attitudes on China that China started treating gays like abominations. In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China, as indeed most of the world, homophobia is a western value imposed by colonizers.

Bonus history: there is an actual saying in Arabic that was in widespread use across the Middle East and North Africa for thousands of years from classical antiquity until European colonization. The saying goes "Women are for babies, [young men] are for fun."

The commenter specifies that this means “college-aged twinks,” not children

Another commenter speculates about when homophobia arose in China and how. They also add that in Rome, bottoms were stigmatized. 

There’s a story of Emperor Ai of the Han dynasty & him cutting off his sleeve for his boyfriend

There is also a god worshipped in Taiwan, the Rabbit God Tu'er Shen, whose domain is managing love and sex between same-sex attracted people. He is meant to be the incarnation of a soldier from the 17th century, who fell in love with an imperial inspector and spied on him bathing, and was tortured and killed by that official because he was offended by the spying. A villager from the soldier's hometown dreamed that Tu'er Shen appeared to him and said that because his crime had been love, he had been appointed to manage the affairs of gay people. The villagers erected a secret temple to the soldier, and people have been praying to him ever since.

South Africa

South Africa became the first nation in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. It was also first country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2006. What really set them back for so long was apartheid.

There is some speculation that that Shaka Zulu was gay since he never took any wives

South Africa's post Apartheid constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1996.

South Africa was also the 5th country in the world and only country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2005.

Even before that the Constitutional Court ruled that sexual orientation was not relevant when deciding child custody in 2002.

Transgender folks have been allowed to change their sex in the population registry since 2003.

Conversion therapy is not illegal yet and public opinion still needs some work.

Spain

In Spain gay marriage was legalized in 2005, now they are considered one of de gay-friendliest countries in the world. The commenter is a lesbian and has never been closeted or directly experienced discrimination for being a lesbian.

In July 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to explicitly legalize gay marriage, after a thirty-year struggle following the fall of Franco's dictatorship, during which most activism was carried clandestinely (as it was illegal).

From 2007 onwards, Spanish [binary] trans people can legally correct the name and sex fields of their IDs and currently, there's a push for a law that would allow for legal recognition of non-binary Spaniards.

Despite the dictatorship in the 60s, there were cinemas that specialized in gay meet ups. Trans women also had ways to get passports so they could go to the US for surgery.

Ireland

In Northern Ireland, same sex marriage only became legal in 2020 and the leader of the most popular party is homophobic transphobic racist and sexist af. In fact, the majority of the party are but some of the quotes from the biggest party leader are depressing.

Same-sex marriage was only legalized in Ireland in 2015. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993. 

When Ireland legalized same sex marriage by popular vote in 2015, it was still something you got horribly bullied for in schools if you were out. Queer people got an apology from the Taoiseach in 2018, for the suffering and discrimination we faced from the State prior to the legalization of homosexuality.

In the case of trans rights, in 2015 the Gender Recognition Act was signed into law. It allows legal gender changes without the requirement of medical intervention or assessment by the state as long as you are over the age of 18. 

Ireland has fines and jail time for anyone found guilty of attempting conversation therapy. 

Ireland has seen a lot of progress in LGBT rights in the last 6 years but even up to the 2000s, citizens left their family members and friends to rot for being LGBT+. It still happens all over the country, especially in circles that are still fanatically Catholic. As the Catholic Church has lost the iron grip on the country, people have become more accepting of the LGBT+.

India

The Kamasutra(ancient text on sexuality etc.) has an entire chapter dedicated to homosexuality

The Arthashastra, a 2nd century BCE Indian treatise on statecraft, mentions a wide variety of sexual practices which, whether performed with a man or a woman, were sought to be punished with the lowest grade of fine. While homosexual intercourse was not sanctioned, it was treated as a very minor offence, and several kinds of heterosexual intercourse were punished more severely.

Sex between non-virgin women incurred a small fine, while homosexual intercourse between men could be made up for merely with a bath with one's clothes on, and a penance of "eating the five products of the cow and keeping a one-night fast"

Milk, curd (cheese), ghi (clarified butter), urine, and dung are the five products of a cow

The commenter adds that this is not a terrible punishment.

The Mughal Empire mandated a common set of punishments for homosexuality, which could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim

On 6 September 2018 the Supreme Court of India invalidated part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code making homosexuality legal in India

Prior to the British colonization of India homosexuality was not all that looked down upon when compared to what happened when the British took over and instituted anti gay laws.

The Hijra (literally means third gender) were seen as normal and have been accepted since long before Christ, as evidenced by the Karma Sutra. The British took videos of them to take back to demonstrate how the Desi were “barbaric”.

Bonsia

In Bosnia, there was a one pride parade that ended with religious extremists ruining it and the police not doing anything. It was supposed to be 5 maybe 3 days long but ended in like 1 or 2.

The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe mapped out the entire night sky with only his eyes. It laid the foundations of many later scientists, such as Isaac Newton. He was a very rich nobleman, so much so that he owned 1% of Denmark's money. He had a pet dwarf that apparently could see the future, which sounds pretty gay. He was also part of the Elefant Ordning, which consisted of rich and strong Danish men.

Philippines 

Despite many attempts to legalize same-sex marriage, the Philippines still didn't budge. Being gay in itself is legal, but same-sex marriage still isn't.

Philippines ,the most Catholic Country in Southeast Asia, has held the largest Pride Parade in Southeast Asia.

Serbia

Serbia didn't have history from about 16th century to 1800's when the 1st revolt happened and failed till 1813's... Then yet another in 1830's for semi independence from Turks, and full in 1836

During the last lingering Ottoman rule over autonomous Serbia, Serbia was one of the very first few countries to have legal mostly everything... it then got removed with like 3 constitution changes and then it didn't move forward for a looong time

Switzerland

Would you have thought that small, conservative Switzerland was a center of the international gay community during the mid-20th century? The magazine "Der Kreis"- the circle - was the only queer magazine in the world that kept publishing during WWII. It was edited in Zurich and distributed internationally, which often meant illegal smuggling, even into nazi Germany. The magazine's annual ball was attended by hundreds of gay men from all over Europe each year. The whole thing was kept strictly secret from the public, though it was known and tolerated by the police.

The Kreis club disbanded in 1967, as repressions grew heavier after a number of murders in the scene had caught the public's attention. By then, other European and American groups took its place, publishing their own magazines.

They made a movie about it.

More info about Der Kreis

As of today, Switzerland doesn't allow gay marriage. A country-wide referendum will be held this fall on gay marriage.

The commenter speculates that gay marriage will be legalized.

A few people expressed surprise that Switerland is socially conservative and several people explained that women’s right to vote was only place in the 70s.

There’s a movie about it

Turkey

A Muslim Persian (born in modern day Turkey) philosopher/mysticist named Mewlana who is known for his sayings on acceptance and love for one another was gay! He had exchanged letters with his instructor Shams and wrote homoerotic poems to him! In Turkey this is ignored by many due to the country's stance on homosexuality

More information

Norway

The commenter’s hometown and the neighboring town arranged their first pride parade/event in 2017, which is a big deal for a small place and one of the local priests went livid and went straight to the newspaper and social media to condemn it. A local rapper wrote a short and to the point article in the newspaper calling him out for all kinds of things which was a great read. Then to top it off, the priest arranged for a "Jesus Parade" in protest to be held the day before the pride parade. Only like five people walked in it, not including the priest of course because he happened to be on vacation in Spain that week. The pride parade itself was a success though! It's become an annual event. Covid has put some breaks on it though, but they're making a documentary this year about the pride celebrations.

Hungary

Hungary has no same sex marriage or transition rights

Police are unkind to protestors

During “commie times,” being queer was illegal so queer people went to the gulag

Belgium

Same sex marriage was legalized in Belgium in 2003 (right after the NL who were the first in the world). The commenter says that same-sex marriage has always felt possible and she is confused about other countries’ actions.

Poland

Polish president on public assembly: 'LGBT is not people, this is ideology'.

Denmark

WHO took their sweet time declassifying being transgender as a mental illness, so Denmark got sick of waiting and became the first country to stop classifying it as an illness.

Australia

In Australia same-sex marriage wasn't legal until 2017.

Portugal

Portugal is know for having one of the most (if not THE most) peaceful revolutions in history back in the 60's, with only 4 deaths total.

Canada

Operation Soap.

Mexico

To learn more, watch Dance of the 41 on Netflix.

Netherlands

NL was one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage in 2001

Sweden

In Sweden they used to classify Homosexuality as a disease during the 20th century so in protest people would call in too gay to work.

New Zealand

When same sex marriage was legalized, the parliament broke into song.

The song

Other

Homosexuality is illegal in 73 countries, some by death or life in prison.

Only one country in Asia has legalized same-sex marriage: Taiwan

FNAF is older than same-sex marriage in the US

Condor Operation

I think this is some important stuff so please reblog so more people can see! And, if you would like to add to or correct anything here, feel free to do so!

[blackboxoffice]

Banning African films like Rafiki and Inxeba doesn’t diminish their influence

by Gibson Ncube, Associate Professor at the University of Zimbabwe

Social media and internet forums function as an important space of contestation for issues relating to queer identities. This is evident in reactions to two fairly recent queer-themed African films, one from South Africa – Inxeba/The Wound – and the other from Kenya – Rafiki.

The films were met with diverse responses, from government bannings and cultural backlash to enthusiastic viewers and international awards. On social media and internet forums, reactions differ from those of state institutions.

These various responses should be understood against the background that in many African countries, with the exception of South Africa in this case, queer sexualities are criminalised and deemed ‘unAfrican’. Many argue that homophobia itself is unAfrican and a relic of colonial laws and mores.

In my research, I have explored the fact that African queer lives are complex and don’t tell a single story. By viewing these films as popular social texts it became clear that government censorship has been unable to stop support for them or the kinds of discussions they generate, especially online.

Films as popular social texts

In Africa, films have become popular social texts. They are readily accessible and easily distributed, thanks to the internet and hand-held screen devices as well as the large-scale sale of pirated DVDs. The informality of circulation, coupled with the affordability of pirated films, has ensured that film has overtaken literary or text-based genres in influence in many parts of Africa.

Films like Inxeba (2017) and Rafiki (2018) can function as popular social texts in that they can ask questions about social issues – in this case queer lived experiences on the continent. Popular social texts appeal to large audiences. It is against such sociocultural and political backgrounds that the reception of the films Inxeba and Rafiki should be understood.

Inxeba was directed by John Trengove and was released in 2017. It tells the story of how queer sexuality is negotiated within the cultural space of ulwaluko, the Xhosa people’s rites of initiation into manhood. Two young minders engage in a gay relationship and a love triangle develops.

Rafiki was directed by Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu. It centres on two young women who fall in love in Nairobi after meeting because their fathers are contesting the same election.

Inxeba presents picturesque images of the natural world. Rafiki offers a kaleidoscopic depiction of urban spaces. These vibrant and picturesque depictions contrast with the gloomy lived experiences of the protagonists.

State bannings

On its release, the South African Film and Publication Board banned Inxeba. The reason given, through a series of tweets, was “the perceived cultural insensibility and distortion of the Xhosa circumcision tradition (and) strong language in the film”.

Rafiki met a similar fate when it was released. The Kenya Film Classification Board said in a statement banning the film that its ending was “not remorseful enough, (making) it seem as if LBGT people can be accepted in Kenya”. The films were perceived as socially incorrect.

The reactions of these state boards highlight a reproduction of nationalist ideas that queer sexuality threatens African values. In thinking of these homophobic institutional reactions, it is important not to dismiss Africa as homophobic and primitive especially in relation to the West. In his book Kenyan, Christian, Queer, theology scholar Adriaan van Klinken explains that by considering Africa as backward and conservative there is a failure to reflect on the complex sociopolitical realities on the continent.

The upshot is that the legal measures of banning the films affected their circulation – both low budget films with seemingly limited distribution channels.

Viewers and festivals

Although Inxeba and Rafiki were banned in their home countries, they have received critical acclaim and numerous awards at film festivals the world over. In the case of Inxeba, there were vociferous threats and demonstrations, mainly by Xhosa-speaking men, who felt the film divulged the secrets of a sacrosanct ceremony.

The comments posted on social media platforms also make it possible to examine the reactions of viewers to the films. I illustrated this by focusing on the reactions expressed on Inxeba’s Facebook page. here’s a sample:

Reaction 1: “This is a disgrace to our culture…”

Reaction 2: “I didn’t like the story shame, I didn’t see the relevance. Sorry for being a party pooper.”

Reaction 3: “Thank you Lord … you have shown that you love us all regardless of what people are painting others to be, as if they do not belong or are just nothing.”

Using its YouTube page, Tuko TV Kenya interviewed Kenyans about Rafiki. Here is a sample of the diversity of views canvassed:

Reaction 1: “I think we are over exposing our children and our community … As a country, we are not ready for this.”

Reaction 2: “It’s a movie trying to include everybody into the society and bringing inclusion and diversity.”

Reaction 3: “I feel like the argument that it is influencing or promoting homosexuality to me feels ridiculous because that is not something that can be promoted.”

These reactions show that audiences are more complex than governments admit. Moreover, the reactions – and many others like them – prove that the films are popular social texts which operate to shape queer life and responses to it.

The screening of the two films (both were ‘unbanned’ on appeal – Rafiki for a brief period) has been important in initiating overdue conversations. Both films gesture towards the need for open discussion of queer sexualities and genders in Africa. They demand viewers to rethink not what it means to be queer in Africa, but what it means to be human.

Asking questions

Inxeba and Rafiki are invaluable additions to the growing corpus of African films courageously depicting queer lived experiences. Although initially banned, their reception by viewers in and outside Africa has shown that they can start conversations on diverse social issues relating to non-normative African gender and sexual identities.

Through evoking emotions of discomfort, the films compel audiences to question their own views and biases on gender and sexual identities. The films thus have the capacity to subvert homophobic tendencies embodied in state responses.

[notchainedtotrauma]

We all need something to keep going. Here is my modest contribution.

I don’t want to make somebody else. I want to make myself.

 from Sula by Toni Morrison

Nydia Blas, from The Girls Who Spun Gold

Build cultural institutions out of dirt. In the hands of Wiccan, Hoodoo and Voodoo witches, dirt from various places can be an ingredient for spells and powerful magic because it is a conductor of sacred energy. Create medecines from dirt. Build healing institutions out of dirt. 

from A Dirty South Manifesto: Sexual Resistance and Imagination in the New South by L.H Stallings

Renée Stout, Spirit Detector

This practice of regard for one another is so important, so critical because Black women are treated with such little regard, such little regard in the world. We — the surplus life, the nobody, the thing who falls out of the scheme of representation, the void, the tool — expect to be rough-handled. What we think and imagine has been dismissed and ignored. What we want has been belittled and mocked. So when our lives aren’t handled brutally or indifferently, but treated with care, you feel the force of that.

 Saidiya Hartman in conversation with Rizvana Bradley

Carrie Mae Weems, from The Kitchen Table series

We believe that the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression. In the case of Black women this is a particularly repugnant, dangerous, threatening, and therefore revolutionary concept because it is obvious from looking at all the political movements that have preceded us that anyone is more worthy of liberation than ourselves. We reject pedestals, queenhood, and walking ten paces behind.

from The Combahee River Collective Statement

Lorna Simpson, Untitled (a lie is not a shelter)

What does it mean to kind of…to try to experiment with living…uhm…in the context of a world that is in so many ways uninhabitable ? 

  Saidiya Hartman

Mickalene Thomas, Din Facing Forward

The most anti-capitalist protest is to care for another and to care for yourself. To take on the historically feminized and therefore invisible practice of nursing, nurturing, caring. To take seriously each other’s vulnerability and fragility and precarity, and to support it, honor it, empower it. To protect each other, to enact and practice community. A radical kinship, an interdependent sociality, a politics of care.

Because, once we are all ill and confined to the bed, sharing our stories of therapies and comforts, forming support groups, bearing witness to each other’s tales of trauma, prioritizing the care and love of our sick, pained, expensive, sensitive, fantastic bodies, and there is no one left to go to work, perhaps then, finally, capitalism will screech to its much-needed, long-overdue, and motherfucking glorious halt.

 from Sick Woman Theory by Johanna Hedva

LaToya Ruby Frazier, from The Notion of Family

We will not die.Blk music. Blk rage. Blk city of the soul in a very cold town.

 from After Avery R. Young by Jericho Brown

LaToya Ruby Frazier, from The Notion Of Family

[jordanianroyals]

8 March 2021: Queen Rania raised the alarm on growing global inequality caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the crisis has exposed and exacerbated long-standing disparities within society.

Speaking live via video call to the virtual John F. Kennedy (JFK) Jr. Forum hosted by the Harvard University Institute of Politics, Queen Rania warned that, “for the first time in 20 years, extreme poverty is back on the rise,” with so many people reeling under parallel pandemics of hunger, violence, and increasing illiteracy.

Her Majesty described this as “a vicious, destructive cycle,” explaining that inequality fuels the global spread of COVID-19, and in turn, the ensuing health, economic, and education crises fuel further inequality. (Source: Petra)

Addressing Harvard students and faculty in a conversation conducted by Harvard University Professor Melani Cammett, the Queen identified surging inequality as a “defining feature of our world,” crossing geographies as well as income, gender, and racial divides.

Noting that low-income countries are less able to devote resources toward pandemic mitigation and recovery, Her Majesty pointed out that “poorer countries simply lack the liquidity to dedicate to stimulus packages that are much needed to resuscitate their economies.”

The Queen explained that the pandemic has “unveiled a tale of two realities,” drawing a comparison between those who could easily work from home and those who could not afford to self-isolate because “staying at home meant they would die of hunger.”

Her Majesty also stressed the pandemic’s impact on women in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, stating that they were already at a considerable disadvantage prior to the pandemic.

“They only account for 20% of the labor force, although they do five times as much unpaid care and domestic work,” the Queen said, adding that lockdowns and school and daycare closures have only deepened this gender divide.

“That is really difficult for moms and their families, but we also need to remember that it’s terrible for our economies,” she warned. “According to the World Bank, if we could bring women’s lifetime earnings in the MENA region to equal those of men, then we could add around 3 trillion dollars’ worth of wealth to our region. That’s 3 trillion-worth of lost opportunities.”

Queen Rania suggested that the adoption of flexible work-related practices in the wake of COVID could foster increased workplace inclusivity, for women as well as “people who are traditionally shut out from the workplace because of their circumstances,” such as those with disabilities, single parents, or refugees.

Arguing that the pandemic’s economic fallout has increased the predicament of the global refugee community, the Queen warned that in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, the COVID crisis has pushed more than 1 million Syrian refugees further into poverty.

Her Majesty added that the pandemic has even disproportionately affected refugees living in high-income nations, who are at greater risk of unemployment, and pointed that there are those who would use the pandemic as a “political tool” against refugees to stoke panic by attempting to draw a link between refugees and the spread of COVID-19 for political gain.

“What a lot of these politicians and some of the people who vote for them miss is that, in many instances, refugees and immigrants give back to society,” adding that refugees with backgrounds in medicine have contributed to combatting the pandemic in Jordan, France, Peru, and elsewhere.

Referring to the key role played by immigrants in vaccine development, Her Majesty said, “the two co-founders of Moderna and their chief critical scientists are originally immigrants, and so is the chief executive of Pfizer.”

The Queen underlined that these examples “vouch for the power of diversity,” and reminded her audience that “more often than not, refugees and immigrants benefit, not burden economies” as international studies classify them as net job creators, not job takers.

During the Forum, Her Majesty also discussed deep-rooted inequalities in education access and reflected on the pandemic’s toll on the state of regional education.

She explained that in the Middle East, one in five children were already out of school prior to the pandemic, and disruptions to education have put an entire generation at further risk, with 40 percent of schoolchildren in the MENA being cut off from remote schooling in 2020, according to UNICEF.

The Queen emphasized that the COVID crisis should compel the international community to prioritize equal access to quality education, underscoring that this need is even more pronounced in the Middle East because of its unique demographics.

“We have a youth bulge: close to 70% of our population is under the age of thirty. To reap that demographic dividend, we really must make these urgent investments in quality education,” she said, calling for expanding on the hybridization of education by investing in in-person and remote learning methodologies and ensuring educators are prepared to deliver on those effectively.

Despite shining a spotlight on pervasive inequality, Her Majesty said the crisis has also afforded us an “opportunity to reimagine a new future” and the “impetus to make the changes that are so long overdue.”

Queen Rania also highlighted the role COVID-19 has played in changing attitudes surrounding climate change, and credited the pandemic with increasing people’s awareness of their environmental impact, with lockdowns around the world temporarily contributing to cleaner air and lower pollution rates.

Noting that accountability for the climate crisis has long been shirked by humanity as a whole, Her Majesty expressed optimism that the world is finally taking action. “I think now there is a sustainability revolution underway that is led mostly by young people but that is being heard by everyone.”

The Harvard University Institute of Politics John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum regularly hosts heads of state, leaders in politics, government, business, labor, and the media. The institute’s mission is to unite and engage Harvard students with academics, politicians, activists, and policy makers to inspire them to consider a career in politics. Her Majesty was previously a guest speaker at Harvard University in May 2007.

[swanlake1998]

(cw: blackface, racism, orientalism)

dance magazine article - article author: dana nichols

“On Instagram this week, Misty Copeland reposted a picture of two Russian ballerinas covered head to toe in black, exposing the Bolshoi's practice of using black face in the classical ballet La Bayadère.

The post has already received over 60,000 likes and 2,000 comments, starting a long overdue conversation.

Comments have been pouring in from every angle imaginable: from history lessons on blackface, to people outside of the ballet world expressing disbelief that this happens in 2019, to castigations of Copeland for exposing these young girls to the line of fire for what is ultimately the Bolshoi's costuming choice, to the accusations that the girls—no matter their cultural competence—should have known better.

I am a black dancer, and in 2003, when I was 11 years old, I was dressed up in blackface to perform in the Mariinsky Ballet's production of La Bayadère.

I fell in love with ballet at an early age. I remember watching my cousin's ballet class transfixed by the effortlessness of a grand allegro combination.

This was my first exposure: seeing the art form capture and elevate the beauty of my cousin's black body.

I spent the next 12 years studying classical Russian ballet at the Yuri Grigoriev School of Ballet in Los Angeles.

Because our teacher refused to speak English, I grew accustomed to having a feel for what was being said, but at the same time, no idea. I really learned ballet, abstracted from the context of American history and culture.

All importance was placed on movement quality and the technique. The wall that separated ballet from the real world in my mind began to crumble when I was selected to be a child extra in the Mariinsky's performance of La Bayadère.

When ballet companies tour, they can't bring minors with them, so they find young dancers locally to fill roles in their ballets. When the Mariinsky came to Los Angeles, they tapped our studio to participate.

As students secluded in the world of Russian ballet, the chance to dance in La Bayadère was a dream came true.

We would be feet away from superstars like Diana Vishneva, watching from backstage as they danced under the stage lights and amidst the most intricate sets and costumes our hearts could imagine!

Somewhere deep in the Hollywood complex of the Kodak Theatre, we learned an angular dance in second position.

We hopped around with flexed feet, waived our arms and periodically folded into kowtows. In hindsight, it's obvious that we were performing caricatures of the "Orient." I don't even think it occurred to me that La Bayadère was set in South Asia because everyone was white—until dress rehearsal. Our preparations were overseen by women designated to coordinate the child extras and interpret for us.

Our parents were not allowed backstage. They fitted us in dark unitards with hoods to cover everything except our faces. Later, the makeup artist instructed us on how to apply our makeup. She handed each of us a palette of dark brown grease paint, pausing to do a double take after she handed me mine. It wasn't until I received all of the pieces of my costume—a mahogany colored bodysuit, dark brown face paint and bright red lipstick—that I discovered I was to wear blackface.

I must have been the only dark-skinned person to have been in a Mariinsky production. The women in charge weren't sure what to do with me. I saw the white dancers around me covering themselves in the brown paint and distinctly remember being at a loss for words because it was so bizarre. It was especially the red lipstick traced around the mouth that disturbed me. I remember looking down at the paints and trying to figure out what they had to do with me. All I could manage to say was, "Do I need this?"

I became that thing in the room that no one had ever had to confront.Our chaperones exchanged glances and finally responded with an uncomfortable "Yes." One woman laughed nervously as she indicated that I still had to wear the makeup because my brown skin was many shades lighter than the color of the bodysuit and the paint selected to cover our skin.

Of course, it was quickly forgotten in a production of this magnitude involving hundreds of people. During dress rehearsal, I found out that we were not the only characters that had been darkened. Many had on light brown paint on their arms and faces. The experience was jarring, but I compartmentalized it a way even later that night as I scrubbed my face raw trying to get the paint off.

Only years later did it dawn on me that I had played a primitive Indian caricature. I don't think any of us really understood. Even as a black girl who grew up in a segregated Los Angeles, with some cultural awareness, I didn't do much better than the girls in Copeland's post. I had even seen the movie Bamboozled, but my real racial awakening and then subsequent outrage, began much later, around age 15 after reading Assata. Until then, I lived in ignorance, accepting the discomforts in exchange for access to the art form I loved.

Around the age of 17, by the time my dance peers were beginning to commit to conservatory programs and full-time pre-professional tracks in ballet, I was fully immersed in issues of diversity and social justice. Ballet had my heart, but by then I knew that the magic couldn't cover up its ugly contortions of body, beauty and culture.

I watched as dancers of all kinds were silenced and diminished. In my 20s I found refuge in the world of black modern dance, a place where many fallen ballerinas can be found.

I understand Copeland's frustrations. This ballet, and many others, are set in mythical ballet worlds, where people of color are dehumanized into caricatures for white enjoyment, to be seen, made to dance, but not heard.

It could not be more ridiculous to have a young black girl (or anyone) wear blackface to depict dark South Asians, as they were imagined by nineteenth-century French, Russian and Georgian choreographers.

Yet the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky still use blackface in their productions today.

Even without the black and brown face in La Bayadère, the setting, the characters, their Indian "inspired" garb and much of the music and movement are prime examples of orientalism.

So many classic works of art, literature and performance are tainted by the attitudes of the era in which they were born—dance is particularly evocative as it is real-time reenactment.

So do we kiss the off-color ballets goodbye—including America's favorite, The Nutcracker? Or do we just modernize them, as many have already begun to do?

Truth be told, La Bayadère is one of my favorite ballets. The Shades act embodies the spirit of ballet.

In my opinion, the best part of ballet is its otherworldly qualities—the interpretations of spirits and reveries, the manifestations of creatures, swans, etc.

The more theatrical village and party scenes that are full of colorful caricatures serve as a contrast to make the ethereal that much more powerful, but they don't need to be offensive to accomplish that.

Nor does ballet need to exclude people of color in order to achieve the ethereal. In 2019, there is no need for a perfectly uniform lily-white corps de ballet.

We need new mythical worlds, new characters and stories—made of the imaginations of different kinds of people. Ballet is the same as any other field with institutional racism.

We can express outrage at the players: those two Russian girls, the makeup artists, the costume designer, or even me and any other complicit party.

But as Copeland's original caption guided us to do, we must be critical of the whole system, too. Petipa had a good run. Thank goodness Copeland is using her platform to begin the dismantling process.””

[ https://www.pointemagazine.com/i-am-a-black-dancer-and-was-dressed-up-in-black-face-to-perform-in-la-bayadere-2641583903.html - article date: december 12, 2019 ]

[half-bakedboy]

Alec telling Jace he’s moving to Alicante

When We Grow Up

Read on AO3

Alec was doing everything he could to distract himself from the impending conversation with Jace. He knew that his parabatai could most likely feel his nervousness through their bond, so he tried his hardest to keep busy with the mountains of paperwork that stacked up on his desk. It was only a few days ago that he was asked to take over the Inquisitor position that had not been filled since Imogen’s death. Sitting at his desk at the Institute, Alec tried to calm his beating heart as he signed the last piece of paper to solidify his acceptance of the position. As he dotted the I in Lightwood, the door swung open revealing a slightly disheveled Jace.

“Buddy, I could feel your anxiety all day. What’s up?” Jace said softly, no hint of annoyance that Alec was expecting. He plopped himself in the chair across from Alec’s desk, leaning his elbows on his knees as he stared at his parabatai.

“Magnus and I have some news…” Alec started slowly, unsure of how to approach this scenario. No matter how many times he practiced the words in his head, nothing sounded right. Jace grinned, leaning back in his chair.

“Magnus is pregnant?” Jace questioned, trying his hardest to ease Alec’s nerves. Alec forced a chuckle from his lips before he stood up and leaned a hip against the side of the desk so he was a bit closer to Jace. He cleared his throat, looking nervously at the paperwork spread across his desk. Jace stood in front of Alec, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Alec, is something the matter? You and Magnus are still good, right?”

“Magnus and I are great. We’ve actually both gotten an opportunity that we… Well, we think we need to go for,” Alec started as Jace took his hand off his parabatai’s shoulder, sinking back down onto the chair behind him.

“What kind of opportunity?” Jace asked skeptically, trying to sneak a look at the papers Alec was working on. Alec placed himself in front, blocking his view.

“Consul Penhallow has asked me to take over as Inquisitor…” Jace’s eyes widened immediately, a smile beaming from his lips. He grabbed Alec by the shoulders pulling him into a tight hug as he felt Alec’s anxiety decrease.

“Inquisitor Lightwood-Bane? Alec, this is your dream!” Jace reminded him, his face growing serious as quickly as the smile overtook. “But, what about Magnus? Warlocks aren’t allowed in Alicante…” Alec couldn’t stop a small smile from spreading across his lips.

“They are now. Jia and I founded a new position that is long overdue. Magnus Lightwood-Bane is the new High Warlock of Alicante and downworlders will now be welcome.” A smile found its way to Jace’s face once more and he shook his head in disbelief. He always knew that Alec would do great things, but this was more than either of them could have hoped for.

“Is this why you’ve been nervous all day? You were nervous to tell me the biggest news you’ve ever received? What, did you think I wouldn’t be happy for you?” Jace asked, raising his eyebrows at his parabatai. Alec sighed, running a hand through his hair before taking a seat in the chair next to Jace.

“I just… with Clary being gone, I didn’t want you to think I’d abandon you, too,” he said softly, reaching a hand out to grasp Jace’s shoulder. “Magnus and I, we won’t go anywhere if you need us to stay,” he said sternly. Jace met Alec’s eyes, noting the seriousness in them. He shook his head once more, reaching a hand up to pull Alec’s from his shoulder. He grasped his forearm with his hand causing Alec to mimic the action.

“You’ve always been there when I’ve needed you. As Inquisitor, you’ll be there for every shadowhunter and downworlder in the world. That’s where you’re needed right now. You’re my parabatai, Alec, and no distance will ever change that.” Jace gripped his arm tighter before pulling Alec flush against him. Alec sighed in relief, a smile on his lips as he held onto his parabatai with a solid grip.

All the credit to @schmicosmalec for beta reading my tired drafts

[steakandvodka]

“Alexander, would you stop fidgeting? You’re making me more nervous than I already am.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Alec mumbled, dropping his cufflinks and focusing instead on placing the silverware in the correct order on the table. The meal was laid out beautifully, and thankfully he hadn’t managed to burn their food, so they were about as ready as they were ever going to be.

But apparently they weren’t ready enough for Magnus, who continued to pace through the loft, making sure everything was properly cleaned and in its rightful place. Alec watched with growing concern as Magnus rearranged a group of throw pillows on chair in the corner several times before stepping back with a frustrated groan.

“You know, if I have to stay calm, I think you should have to, too,” Alec said.

“You have reason to be calm Alec, it’s your mother we’re talking about,” Magnus said, the use of his boyfriend’s nickname giving away just how anxious he really was. Alec took a few steps forward to grip his arms as Magnus continued to scan the living room.  

“Hey, look at me,” Alec said, locking eyes with Magnus. “It’s gonna be fine. My mother is not the same person she was a few months ago. She’s really trying to be better. And I think she’s truly warmed up to you ever since you tried to save Max.”

It was true. Maryse was trying to be better. Once she started spending more time in the Institute and less time in Idris, Alec and the rest of his siblings noticed a huge change in their mother’s demeanor. Not only was she less severe with them, but she actively took time out of her day to spend with quality time them as their parent, not as their supervisor. And while Maryse had never been verbal about her approval of Alec and Magnus’ relationship, Alec could sense that her attitude had shifted. She was the one to suggest this dinner, after all.

Magnus’ shoulders slowly relaxed at Alec’s words and soft smile. He quirked his lips and lifted his hands to adjust Alec’s collar.

“Thank you for trying to comfort me,” Magnus said. “But I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Alec barely had time to roll his eyes at his comment before there was a knock at the door, making both of them freeze. With a pointed look at Magnus, the two men walked over to the front of the loft to answer it. 

Alec opened the door to see Maryse beaming at both of them, bottle of wine in hand. “Hey mom,” he said, leaning down to hug her once she stepped inside. Maryse returned the hug firmly, rubbing her son’s back with her free hand.

“I really appreciate this honey,” she said, pulling away to give Alec a warm look.

Magnus watched the exchange with a polite, but still sincere grin. Though being around Maryse made him tense, he was happy to see how much she had mended her relationship with her children. He knew how much it meant to Alec, and if Magnus had to endure an uncomfortable meal with the woman because of it, Magnus would gladly grin and bear it.

Magnus held his breath as Maryse shifted away from Alec and moved toward him. But instead of the cold greeting he was expecting, Maryse threw her arms around Magnus the same way she had for Alec. His polite expression morphed into one of shock over Maryse’s shoulder.

Heart pounding in his ribcage, Magnus struggled to get his brain to work and figure out something to do with his arms, which were pinned to his sides with the force of Maryse’s hug. With the limited mobility he had, Magnus lifted his arms to gently grip Maryse’s waist in a somewhat stiff return of her embrace.

“Magnus, thank you so much for being so generous to volunteer your home for tonight,” Maryse said into his ear.

Magnus was too amazed to come up with a reply right away. The hug lasted a few more seconds before Maryse pulled back, and Magnus glanced at Alec for some hint on how to move forward, only to find the shadowhunter looking just as stunned as he was.

“I-it’s my pleasure Maryse,” Magnus said, trying to get his bearings. “I’m looking forward to our conversation.”

If it was possible, Maryse’s smile widened. “As am I. I’m afraid this is long overdue.”

[newyorkprelawland-blog]

College Athlete To College Millionaire Athlete

By Nibras Islam, Binghamton University Class of 2022

September 12, 2021

The commissioner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) earns between $4-5 million, while the commissioners of the top conferences make about $2-3 million. Some college athletic directors make over $1 million annually, while Division I football program coaches can make as much as $11 million, with their assistants earning about $2.5 million annually. Division I programs also earn more revenue from regular-season games due to the viewers attracted. Some television contracts, such as March Madness, are worth as much as $1.1 billion. The NCAA players, the stars and lifeblood of the industry, earn nothing. In fact, they are prohibited from profiting off their hard work and talents. 

The issue of athletes finally being allowed to profit off their name, image, and likeness comes after a long and heated battle that the NCAA had long tried to avoid. Under the clause that college athletes were to be preserved as “amateurs” and NCAA did not intend to compensate as such. Athletes would be subjected to high penalties for accepting any form of gifts or presents, and these punishments ranged anywhere from fines and indefinite suspensions, to losing eligibility altogether. The NCAA president Mark Emmert has long upheld that there should not be blurred lines between professional and collegiate sports, and that college sports would die if athletes were paid. They argue that compensation would draw away from the competitive nature, and the high ratings from consumers reflect a genuine love of collegiate sports games, not originating from financial motives. While this new era of name, image, and likeness certainly has yet to fully unfurl, it certainly comes as a welcome to many.

The case comes subsequent to another NCAA court defeat in June, NCAA vs. Alston which concerns the jurisdiction of the NCAA in restricting and limiting education-related benefits granted to student-athletes. The case was against the NCAA standing rule that capped the amount of scholarship funding schools could offer to student athletes. The former group of athletes that sued had done so on the grounds that the limitation violated antitrust laws designed to promote competition. The 9-0 decision was rendered by the Supreme court in favor of the group, with Justice Neil Gorsuch delivering the majority opinion stating: 

"To the extent the NCAA means to propose a sort of judicially ordained immunity from the terms of the Sherman Act for its restraints of trade- that we should overlook its restrictions because they happen to fall at the intersection of higher education, sports, and money- we cannot agree."

Justice Brett Kavanagh also delivered a concurring opinion, stating impactful words such as “The NCAA is not above the law,” and that the decision "marks an important and overdue course correction" and poses "serious questions" about the NCAA's existing compensation rule. He further tore into the corporation by delivering what would seem to indicate that the Supreme Court would align with those arguing in favor of compensation with athletes. He states:

“But the student athletes who generate the revenues, many of whom are African American and from lower-income backgrounds, end up with little or nothing. Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different."

The result of the decision meant that schools would now be allowed to entice student-athletes to their schools with incentives that they could not have before, such as scholarships, internships, foreign study programs, computers, and other benefits. By the time of the decision, about twelve states had already passed legislation that student athletes should be allowed to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness to enact shortly, and congress was on the verge of deliberating on the matter as well. While the issue of education related benefits was separate from the issue of compensation of the athletes, the 9-0 defeat in the Supreme Court and imminent further pending legal battles surely seemed to be a proactive measure and had some part in the NCAA deciding to allow for athletes to be compensated. 

Nonetheless, the reversal rendered on behalf of the NCAA board of governors is relatively new, and cause for conflicting discourse over what is deemed permitted in this uncharted territory of college sports.  There are existing laws in different states, but they generally seem to vary, such as the “Fair Pay to Play” Act in California, or the Student-Athlete Equity act in North Carolina. The general guidelines seem to dissuade getting sponsored by bar-like settings that promote gambling, tobacco, alcohol, adult entertainment, or anything that would be deemed questionable by a school’s morals and desire for association. University of Louisville banned its athletes from signing with Barstool Sports, which reportedly already has 150, 000 athletes signed. Other guidelines include not being directly compensated for athletic performance and understanding of the athlete to be fully aware of what is expected in return for compensation, which could be grounds for trouble. Some school officials even fear for the athlete’s personal safety, such as Professor and CEO of the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University-Tempe, Kenneth L. Shropshire, who states that students should investigate their university athletics department resources, seeking active conversations with their university compliance officer, state guidelines, and even attorneys, accountants, and personal advisers. At Nebraska, the school has taken steps as far as launching an educational support program to combat the pitfalls of navigating the athlete marketplace. Due to the predatory nature of agencies and companies trying to exploit many athletes in the professional world, many are fearful that susceptible and unwary college students may also fall victim. 

The name, image, and likeness era already has had profound effects, and not just for athlete’s personal banking accounts. For eons, the NCAA has held a monopoly in college sports, and even the universities had the leverage of advertising and marketing, attracting future talent in perpetuity. With these reversals, the power balance shifts and athletes can utilize their hard work that has led them to that point, as well as gain something monetarily to show for their grueling student-athlete schedules. They would be able to monetize their social media posts, engage in sponsorship ads, and profit from merchandise, memorabilia, and autographs. Even lesser talented athletes may be able to leverage their social media presence to attract further recognition from big brands that recognize the value and importance of personal branding. By utilizing their social media platforms to attract engagement, they possess marketability and net worth value, always a crucial factor when trying to make one’s institution more lucrative. UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi, who went viral for one of her floor routines, could have had a small fortune. Athletes such as Zion Williamson, with his viral high school and college basketball mixtapes, could have developed their brand much earlier than they had already set out to do in their assured claim to fame. One’s personal brand and likeness is arguably the most priceless item one possesses. That is the utmost essence of our personal intellectual property; the fiber of who we individually are as a human-being. 

It is crucial that we help protect athletes, given how much they sacrifice their bodies for entertainment and monetary value as with any other nationally broadcasted sports, let alone home to two of the top money-making series in college football and basketball. Given how many athletes pursue athletics to combat socioeconomic difficulties, it is absurd to think that a multi-billion-dollar industry, $8.8 billion in television deals generating in over $1.1 billion in revenue to be exact, somehow has the audacity to ensure regulations that its athletes are prohibited from something as simple as obtaining a new laptop to engage in their educational curriculum, resources which they may have not had previously. Over 19 states have enacted or are in the process of passing in the coming years, laws regarding NIL. Furthermore, there is a pending lawsuit of NCAA vs. House, in which U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken denied the NCAA and its Power 5 Conferences motion to dismiss the suit regarding four players who had been denied pay for appearing in television broadcasts. These may be the first in a string of many defeats for the National Collegiate Athletic Association and exposing the corporations’ violations of antitrust principles and regulations. 

This new era also stems into further issues, such as the gender wage imbalance in sports or international student-athlete eligibility, or whether high school NIL eligibility will become a subsequent prominent issue, such as in the case of Texas high school senior Quinn Ewers forgoing his senior year of high school due to Texas’s high school NIL ban. Not to mention, the ever-changing progression of intellectual property technology and regulation that comes with it, such as whether athletes will be able to utilize their school’s intellectual property unequivocally in their financial ventures, or regarding cryptocurrency and whether athletes will be able to profit off non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Nonetheless, the era of name image and likeness is revolutionary in a plethora of remarkable ways, and unprecedented in the existence of collegiate sports.  

______________________________________________________________

Nibras Islam is currently an undergraduate senior studying Philosophy, Politics, and Law at Binghamton University with a minor in economics. He hopes to seek admission into law school for the Fall 2022 class. He is a part of the mock trial team and is a Licensed Real Estate Agent at a student-housing oriented brokerage. His hobbies and passions include fashion, music, basketball, and football. 

______________________________________________________________

https://sites.law.berkeley.edu/thenetwork/2021/04/06/the-future-of-the-ncaas-business-model-is-in-jeopardy/

https://www.boston.com/sports/college-sports/2021/07/01/ncaa-paying-athletes-rules/

https://optimumsportsconsulting.substack.com/p/nil-newsletter-10-thursday-august?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy

https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2021/house-v-ncaa-legal-primer-1234632887/

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-512_gfbh.pdf

https://www.collegeandprosportslaw.com/uncategorized/the-hits-keep-coming-ncaa-loses-another-name-image-and-likeness-court-decision/

https://collegerowcoach.org/name-image-and-likeness/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelrueda/2021/02/11/why-college-athletes-must-prepare-for-the-name-image-and-likeness-era/?sh=46a2ad6e2634

https://unafraidshow.com/ncaa-pay-college-athletes-name-image-likeness/

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/name-image-likeness-what-college-athletes-should-know-about-ncaa-rules

[agassizcontextlibrary]

Update on Neighborhood Name Change Process: Survey Results

Following the March 18th deadline to respond to the survey about the neighborhood name, Agassiz Baldwin Community (ABC) and Cambridge Community Development (CDD) staff pulled and analyzed results that Phoebe Sinclair, Community Liaison and facilitator for ANC, presented at the April 13th meeting.

In her presentation, Ms. Sinclair included the language of both the January 2020 ANC vote and the February 2020 City Council policy order regarding the community process to arrive at a new neighborhood name.

She then shared an updated list of tensions that arose during the process. The new additions included the challenges of coordination, education, outreach, and timing during a pandemic, and the concern about neutrality of the community center team, and what is meant when concerns are raised about bias. 

After providing some context about the process and a brief overview of its overall timeline, Ms. Sinclair shared the following results from the survey:

Of the 447 total respondents, 88.4% said they are in favor of changing the name, 7.2% said they are not, and 4.5% said they are unsure.

385 offered a preference for a new name, and of those, three options received more than 10% of the vote: Maria L. Baldwin, Baldwin Neighborhood, Maria Baldwin Neighborhood

The next section of results broke down the numbers based on demographics:

Of those living in the neighborhood, 81.82% want to rename. Of those living outside the neighborhood, 97.03% want to rename.

Of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)-identifying people, 95.37% want to rename

Of white-identifying people, 90.72% want to rename

69.8% of respondents identified as a woman or a girl, 4.21% of respondents identified as genderqueer or nonbinary, 25.5% of respondents identified as a man or a boy

12% of respondents identified as under 18, 33.5% as 18-24 years old, 11.5% as 25-34, 7.6% as 35-44, 9.56% as 45-54, 9.31% as 55-64, and 16.42% as 65+

80.12% of Agassiz neighborhood resident respondents age 25 and older indicated they would like to change the neighborhood name.

If you look at just 55 and older (still just neighborhood residents), that figure is 74.12%.

Following the results, Ms. Sinclair also shared some common themes she observed from the open-ended “comments” section of the survey:

Interest in a shorter name

Concern about “erasing history”

Pride and respect for Maria L. Baldwin

Concern about naming the neighborhood for a person (versus a geographic name). 

Concern about over-identifying with the Baldwin School and a contrasting desire to keep the school and neighborhood names connected 

Lots of strong feelings (and one book recommendation)

Appreciation for the conversation and effort, and also consternation 

After her presentation, Ms. Sinclair first invited the working group consisting of ABC and CDD staff, and neighborhood residents Maya Counter and Kate Frank, to share their experiences and thoughts about the process.

“I am concerned about the desire to honor Louis Agassiz’s scientific legacy because his legacy is rooted in racism and white supremacy,” Ms. Counter shared.

“If the neighborhood had no name, and we had to select a name, we would never select the name of someone who had a racist history,” Ms. Frank said.

“This was a really interesting and difficult process to be part of,” Daniel Wolf, Neighborhood Planner from CDD, said. “We all felt the tension, pulled between the desire to clearly surface to the broader community what is at stake, the issue raised with Agassiz’s legacy, and not wanting to put our thumb on the scale.” 

He shared that the team spent a lot of time creating a process to be as inclusive as possible as well as finalizing the language on the flyer and survey, and that while the process, language or framing weren’t perfect, the final product came from a considerable amount of time and intention. 

Maria LaPage, ABC Executive Director, shared that she was in awe of Ms. Counter, who she said was “bold and brave enough to step up” to suggest changing the neighborhood name back in January of 2020 when she was a student at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School.

“Thank you, Maya, for standing up and sticking with us,” she said.

After the team took turns sharing their thoughts, Ms. Sinclair opened the conversation to questions and comments from ANC. To allow enough time for everyone to take a turn speaking, each person was given two minutes for their response. 

Tom Delbanco asked about the percentage of voters who did not reside in the neighborhood, and how the number of flyers distributed compared to the response rate. 

“I am very pleased about how many young people responded,” he added. He also said that he wished the names had been ordered alphabetically, instead of chronologically, as he thought having Baldwin at the top of the list could be perceived as a bias. 

He also shared that he was surprised about the number of respondents who did not live in the neighborhood. 

“I think it’s wrong to say that 450 people or so want to change the name and not differentiate among them.”

Mr. Wolf shared that CDD flyered between 97-100% of the neighborhood population. He estimated that one person out of every 12-15 households responded to the survey, an estimation he arrived at based on there being 3,500 total households in the neighborhood and, on average, 2-4 people per household.

“We didn’t get 80% of the residents to speak up, but we got a greater portion of the populous that speaks up in any kind of process,” he said.

“What we saw we felt was a pretty good response rate,” Ms. Sinclair added.

“I thought the flyer was going to be the survey,” Richard Goldstein said. “The flyer was clearly one point of view and nothing else, and I was just disappointed.”

“The reason why the flyer looked the way it did is because we couldn’t do a paper survey, so there was the flyer and the digital survey,” Ms. Sinclair responded. “The flyer itself was written based on the context of the January 2020 meeting.” 

“I agree with what Richard said, both about admiring Maya and seeing flaws in the process,” Fred Meyer said. “The whole survey did seem to be biased. It didn’t list on the flyer the various name choices for people to choose from.” 

Mr. Meyer also voiced a concern about survey respondents not being registered voters in the neighborhood.

“Being able to legally vote here was never part of the discussion,” Ms. Sinclair said. “The stakeholders of the neighborhood are all these different groups, like institutions and students in the Baldwin School, and it was never intended to be limited.”  

“One of the first people we heard about when our daughter went to the Agassiz School was Maria L. Baldwin,” said Susan Keane. “Our daughter participated in a play about Maria Baldwin, and I just felt that this neighborhood was fortunate enough to have Ms. Baldwin.”

“I just think we are so fortunate to have a remarkable person to name our neighborhood for,” she added.

“How were we able to survey those who didn’t live in the neighborhood?” Skip Schiel asked.

“It wasn’t the initial intention to go outside the neighborhood,” Ms. Sinclair said. “We didn’t ask people necessarily, but people who knew about it, who come through Agassiz for various reasons, took the survey. There was potential for a broader reach because of Harvard, Lesley, and other institutions who are here.” 

“I don’t think we need to talk about things that were wonderful about Agassiz,” Jill Delbanco said. “Nobody is denying that he had positive contributions, but the fact that he had negative contributions.” 

“I want to thank you and your team for being inclusive of everyone in the neighborhood, and including people who work here,” said Jennie Wood, an employee of the Academy of Arts and Sciences on Irving Street.

Following comments from ANC, Ms. Sinclair said that the next step in the process would be to present the survey results, and possibly a recommendation for a new name, to the City Council. She invited Ms. Counter to speak on that first, since she originally brought this conversation to ANC. 

“I hope we can get this to the City Council soon, because this is long overdue,” Ms. Counter said. 

Mr. Delbanco suggested using the language from the slide deck that Ms. Sinclair created to present the results, while making it clear that it’s not an official recommendation. 

“It should be said with warmth and thoughtfulness about being inclusive, which I think is totally appropriate,” Ms. Delbanco said. 

Mr. Wolf shared that his department is planning to submit its own letter to the City Council about the process from their perspective, focusing on the data and a summary of the process. 

“I would think that we would like to submit that communication in parallel with the communication from ANC so that it lands on the City Council’s agenda at the same time, so if they choose to discuss it, they’ll have both points of communication.” 

Ms. Sinclair noted that there was no intention for consensus, but rather to “hear the voices, get people to respond, and connect to this issue and figure out where people’s energy lies.” 

“We don’t need 100 percent consensus to describe how the issue arose with us, what we did with it, and the tensions I described early on,” she added. “I think all of those pieces can be contained.”

She also added that she could put what was described in a letter to City Council, and it will not act as a vote but will “contain the complexity of the discussion and the reason it began.”

“If there’s going to be some sort of coordination between our report or Daniel’s report, we should present them at the same time, and we should see when the City Council has availability on their agenda,” Ms. Frank said. 

Mr. Goldstein shared that he thought it was important to note that 447 respondents replied out of 5,000 or so total residents. 

“I just want to reiterate that we got an excellent response,” Mr. Wolf said. “People are busy, and we put a random flyer on their doorstep. They have every reason to ignore it, and getting that many responses from a limited pool of people is an achievement. The numbers within those responses are very overwhelming in a single direction, and I don’t want the magnitude of those numbers to be off-scale or get lost.”

To conclude the conversation, Ms. Sinclair said that, while she doesn’t have specific next steps in mind beyond preparing a letter for the City Council, she is aware that neighborhood residents may want to continue talking or learning about this in some way.

“We can start thinking about what a next step connected to this effort might look like,” she said.

[perfectirishgifts]

Fed Can Be NASA Of Money, Diem Can Be Space-X

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/fed-can-be-nasa-of-money-diem-can-be-space-x/

Fed Can Be NASA Of Money, Diem Can Be Space-X

Locking the stablecoin door after the source has bolted

You’ll remember Libra, the global currency proposed by Facebook a while ago? It met with some pretty negative reactions from central banks, regulators and many other stakeholders. Visa Inc. V , MasterCard MA and PayPal PYPL dropped out of the initial group of Libra Network members and things went a bit quiet. Then the Libra Association produced a revised version of their Libra White Paper, adding “stablecoins” in national currencies to the original plan for a single Libra currency based on a basket of currencies.

That white paper contains an interesting offer from the consortium to the world’s central banks. It says that the consortium hopes that “as central banks develop central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), these CBDCs could be directly integrated with the Libra network, removing the need for Libra Networks to manage the associated Reserves”. Well, the Libra Association has rebranded as the Diem Association and plans to launch its first USD dollar “stablecoin” early in 2021 so it’s time to consider that offer.

There’s no need to waste resources of your own on CBDC, Libra was telling them. If a couple of billion people around the world are going to store their digital currency in Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp wallets, then why build an alternative? Use us. You set the policies on inclusion and so on, we’ll do the heavy lifting. You can be the NASA of money and we’ll be the Space-X.

A member of the European Central Bank (ECB) board, Fabio Panetta, referred to the issue of such stablecoins at a recent Bundesbank-convened event about the future of payments noting that if the risks of such coins were to be minimised by insisting on a reserve in central bank money, that something like a Facebook would be “tantamount to outsourcing the provision of central bank money”. But why is that such a bad idea? As my good friend Simon Lelieveldt (an expert on electronic money) pointed out to, we tend to assume that the EBC would be the issuer of a CBDC but nowhere is that written into their mandate: it is a political decision, a point we will return to below.

Stablecoins are coming. Whether provided by Diem or others, the cat is out of the bag, the genie is out of the bottle, the horse has bolted. Now the question for the world’s central banks is not whether there should be digital currencies or not but what is the best way to deliver them. In which context, outsourcing is a viable option. Recall the Mondex experiment of the 1990s: it was the Bank of England that controlled the issuing of the digital currency, but the Mondex system itself and the Mondex cards issued to consumers were provided by commercial banks.

It looks as if the outsourcing is about to begin again, but not with banks. With the Diem Association’s plans to launch a USD “stablecoin” (I will insist on calling it the Facebuck) shortly – contingent on obtaining a variety of licences and permissions – it is time to speculate about what the impact of such a stablecoin might be.

Personally, I can see the attraction of using such a stablecoin. The ability for me to send money to a cousin in Australia by sending a few Facebucks directly from my Facebook Novi wallet to her Instagram Novi wallet would be useful and convenient. The ability for me to buy shareware from a Swedish software developer and pay instantly by transferring Facebucks by WhatsApp would stimulate trade and the economy. Joking aside, with a good user interface, a good customer experience and a good API to satisfy regulators, Novi and Diem together could indeed provide a viable global alternative to SWIFT.

Dollars and Dominance

Perhaps more importantly, though, US dollar stablecoins — whether provided by central banks themselves as in China, by banks or mobile operators, or by other organisations such as the Diem Assocation — would also reinforce the global dominance of the US dollar ahead of digital competitors (including everyone’s favourite unstablecoin, Bitcoin) in the post-pandemic world where online transactions are the new normal.

The German Minister of Finance calls Diem “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”. If you look at it though, what Diem propose to do is basically that same as is already allowed under European electronic money regulation. Provided that Diem segregate the customer deposits and hold them in the form of bank deposits and other appropriate asset classes, then issuing a digital dollar (or euro or or pound) is no big deal. What the Minister and others are presumably concerned about is the loss of monetary sovereignty if European citizens opt to shift their cash holdings from euros to dollars whether intermediated by Diem, Circle or anyone else.

If you want to understand some of the bigger picture around currencies, competition and what the eminent historian and Hoover Institution senior fellow Niall Ferguson refers to as “Cold War 2”, then you should take the time to listen to this conversation between Ferguson and CoinDesk’s Michael Casey. As the author of one of the best books on the history of finance, The Ascent of Money, Ferguson has a very wide and well-informed perspective on the issues and I have quoted him more than once in my book on the topic.

In this conversation, Ferguson observes that one of the lessons of history is that with globalisation comes a tendency for a particular currency to become the dominant currency, the Prime Currency, for transactions for trade. In the 19th century it was the British Pound, in the 20th century it became the US Dollar, and in the 21st century it will be… well, who knows but as globalisation moves into a period of obvious crisis it is being talked about as it wasn’t before. Ruchir Sharma, Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s chief global strategist, recently wrote that only five currencies had been top dog in post-medieval times: those of Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France and our United Kingdom. Those reigns lasted 94 years on average, by which measure the dollar is overdue for overthrow.

Public or Private? Local or Global?

Many people think that the only thing keeping it in place is the lack of a successor. Ferguson points toward China as the place where the new world may be forged, saying that “if I’m right and that trend continues and they become more dominant in not just domestic consumer payments in China but increasingly in payments around the world” then we may start to see a shift in the “tectonic plates of the international monetary system” and I couldn’t agree more.

Ferguson also refers to former Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s call for a synthetic hegemonic currency (SHC), which he rates as more plausible than Diem as the future of the international financial system. It would be a victory for John Maynard Keynes from beyond the grave. Keynes, as you will recall, was in favour of an SHC (the “bancor”) from the very beginning of the current international monetary regime and (correctly) reasoned at the time of Bretton Woods that the lack of such an international reserve currency would deliver control to the United States (at the expense of the United Kingdom).

In Ed Conway’s excellent book on Bretton Woods “The Summit” (New York Times review) he talks about how the dollar becoming top dog gave America what the recently-deceased former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing called the “exorbitant privilege” of borrowing in its own currency. But finance is not the only reason why the coming currency Cold War is of vital importance to the US (and to the West as whole) and control over currency is important.

Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing attends a so-called “German-French Young Leaders … [] Conference” in Berlin on May 11, 2017. (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP) (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Currency competition is about politics, because the use of the dollar to settle global transactions gives the US unparalleled lever of “soft power”. As Ferguson puts it, “I think we probably mostly underestimate how extraordinarily effective this lever has been, it’s actually been a much more effective weapon of US foreign policy than the boots on the ground of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps”. Hence an e$ (whether a NASA Digital Dollar or a Space-X Facebuck) should be an important policy discussion in the United States right now and a priority for the incoming administration just as an e€ should be for Europe and an e£ should be in post-Brexit Britain.

Ferguson finishes the conversation with Casey by quoting the ending of Hillaire Belloc’s famous poem “Jim” to ask listeners this: you may not like a financial system in which the US is the dominant player, but imagine an international monetary and financial system in which China is the dominant player. What happens when transactions around the globe are potentially under the control of the Communist Party of China?

Whatever your politics, it is worth thinking about. Will a future US administration with a global perspective accept the compromise of an SHC as a means to retain some control or can they launch a digital dollar into global orbit first?

From Social Media in Perfectirishgifts

[sciencespies]

Is Venus a living hell? Conversation with astrobiologist David Grinspoon

https://sciencespies.com/space/is-venus-a-living-hell-conversation-with-astrobiologist-david-grinspoon/

Is Venus a living hell? Conversation with astrobiologist David Grinspoon

Astrobiologist David Grinspoon is a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and an expert on surface-atmospheric interactions on terrestrial planets, such as Venus. Credit: Courtesy of David Grinspoon

Over the years, space missions to hellish Venus have been few and far between. But the idea of intensely studying that nearby cloud-veiled globe has just received a renewed lease on life, quite literally.

A global team of researchers using ground-based observatories announced Sept. 14 the detection of phosphine gas wafting about in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, this gas is only made in significant quantities industrially — or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments. The detection has given rise to the thought of extraterrestrial “aerial” life on hostile Venus.

This promising find begs the question: Now what?

SpaceNews contributor Leonard David discussed this issue with astrobiologist David Grinspoon, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and an expert on surface-atmospheric interactions on terrestrial planets, such as Venus.

This new finding has seemingly catapulted Venus into a headline-grabbing topic. Why so and what does it mean for new missions?

A news cycle and the cycles of planetary missions follow fundamentally different time scales. This is known. It’s important to realize that, before this discovery, there was already renewed momentum for Venus and for good reasons. Possible biology in the clouds was already one of those reasons being considered.

There are many other reasons in terms of just trying to understand the history of a nearby Earthlike planet and the relevance for exoplanets. That momentum is deeper and longer-lived than just this discovery … which is a good thing because this discovery could go away.

You mean like the saga of ALH84001, the Mars meteorite that was claimed in 1996 to contain fossils of ancient Martian life?

That’s a pretty good analogy because that was a very useful mistake, although we don’t know for sure that it was a mistake. It catalyzed the whole Astrobiology Institute and got everyone to focus on the early Mars environment. So if this is a similar story then it is good news as it shines a spotlight on the Venus environment. So if it turns out to be ALH84001 for Venus, I’d be totally happy with that.

 Could this Venus life assertion be an embarrassing mistake?

I don’t think it’s going to be like that. It is possible that it is not phosphine because that’s a very hard observation to make. But the researchers involved are top-notch and they did it carefully. So I think it’s a very serious, credible claim. But there has to be follow-up. That follow-up could prove it to be there … and could prove it’s not there.

Again, I don’t want the whole case for Venus exploration to hinge on this discovery, but it does add momentum, whether or not this observation stands up.

Isn’t NASA considering a possible Venus mission within its Discovery-class program?

NASA does have two proposed Discovery missions for Venus under review, the VERITAS and DAVINCI+. Both are really good missions and in full disclosure, I’m on the DAVINCI+ proposal. Both fill in huge gaps in our understanding of terrestrial planets and Venus. NASA could select both of them as they are very complementary to one another. Then we’d have a little bit of a Venus program and that’s long overdue.

But what can be done near-term regarding next steps?

There are three obvious categories of next step. One is follow-up observations to make sure the new Venus finding is real. ESA’s BepiColombo spacecraft [en route to Mercury] is going to make close passes of Venus.

For the second category, laboratory experiments can be done that haven’t been done. They can show what phosphine does in a Venus-like environment and what the biological possibilities are. Earth-based laboratory work can be done to deepen our education and our response to this new find.

A third category is to go to Venus and see what’s happening in situ. NASA is already in progress on this. But in the meantime, there are private groups that are stepping in … a kind of fill in the gap measure. They’d be smaller, more-focused missions done with a very different philosophy.

Artist’s concept of the proposed NASA Discovery-class VERITAS spacecraft outfitted with radar to produce high-resolution maps of Venus’ surface and geologic features. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

I gather one of those is Rocket Lab using its Electron booster with Photon spacecraft to explore Venus, a flight they say can happen in 2023.

It’s so cool that private individuals and companies are willing to put resources into this. It is a totally different category than the other new space, private activities going on. It’s a kind of pure philanthropy. There’s no profit-driven business model to send missions to look for life on Venus. This is investing in a scientific expedition that supports a high-risk, high payoff activity that, potentially, produces a hugely important, transformative scientific discovery.

Then there’s Breakthrough Initiatives, the privately-funded space group bankrolled by philanthropist Yuri Milner. The group is funding a study inspired by the possible life on Venus detection and you’re part of the project leadership.

The study is meant to come up with a viable mission able to test the idea of life in the clouds of Venus, within the constraints of a relatively small, focused, privately-funded mission. We’re working with Rocket Lab to see what the best use of that opportunity would be. It is ambitious because it has never been done as a privately-funded enterprise before.

Any other details available about the Breakthrough Initiatives study?

Actually, we’re also examining small, medium and larger missions. We’re not locking into one possible plan. We are looking at a few different scenarios.

The Venus orbiter DAVINCI+ is a NASA Discovery candidate mission that would dispatch an instrumented probe into the Venusian atmosphere. Credit: NASA/GSFC

What kind of instruments could be flown to further study the promising Venus biosignature?

We’re at an early stage in saying what instruments we could include. We do have the opportunity to be a little more open to risk. The rules are a bit different. We can’t automatically just reject something because it’s not flight ready. We are open to innovative things that haven’t been done before.

Your study would be completed when?

The Breakthrough Initiatives report should be done in roughly six months.

You have been an advocate of cloud life at Venus since the 1990s. Are you heartened that others are now in pursuit of this viewpoint?

I have always been the guy at the conference in the Venus session giving that last talk about the possible life in the clouds. And people would roll their eyes. They kind of tolerated it because of my other work about the clouds, the surface and Venus’ atmosphere. The life idea I have been pushing was not really embraced. But recently it has been more embraced, not with the phosphine finding. It is because our models have been changing in the last few years.

It looks much more like Venus may have had a long habitable epoch on its surface, maybe billions of years of oceans. Then it should have had a biosphere. Therefore, you have to ask what happened to that biosphere when the surface went bad?

But I’m also wary of having life-friendly clouds as the only reason we’re interested in Venus. It needs to be broader than just the life question.

For instance, the exoplanet community is going to be finding a lot of planets in the Venus zone. They need ground-truth and want us to send missions to Venus. It will help them understand what is now a trickle, but will soon become a fire hose of information about terrestrial planets in the galaxy.

 Leonard David is author of Moon Rush: The New Space Race (National Geographic, 2019) and Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet (National Geographic, 2016). He has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades.

#Space

[homeimprovement57-blog]

15 Best Pinterest Boards of All Time About Ozark lawn care

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There are likewise two recipients of industrial landscape, and this is specifically so in the world of bars, bars, cafes, and dining establishments. These are the consumers and the ownership. The to business landscaping are pleasure centred, and are of course generally the self-same emotional reactions to the combined landscape aesthetics and' sense of location' which we discussed under residential landscaping, or what would be broadly described: spatial environment, ambience, and character, like one find's in certain dining establishments for example.

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One can even consider this duel relationship between owners and consumers as a symbiosis of a sort: each party provides something and each gets a mutual benefit The are economically centred Ad-hoc and amateur landscape is carried out much less frequently in the commercial sector, but if it is done then the same possibility for negative results as outlined in property landscape could still take place.

Not known Facts About 5 Benefits Of Better Landscaping - C&a Landscape

This category is quite diverse and there are some very particular benefits connected to particular public centers Again, this is all stemming with the same reason the human psychological reactions to the landscape visual and 'sense of place'. Check out the full conversation Some of these benefits mentioned above might at first appear strong or even unqualified, and so the link listed below examines the much deeper nature of landscape advantages and how they straight and indirectly influence human behaviour, human health and wellness etc Graham Slocombe LandARCHConcepts 2019 Like Loading ...

[homeimprovement55-blog]

8 Videos About Lake of the Ozarks landscaping That'll Make You Cry

The smart Trick of The Importance Of Landscaping - Behnke Nurseries ... That Nobody is Discussing

If you ask me, the more greenery around your home, the much better. Outside of the apparent increased enjoyment of your residential or commercial property that you'll experience when you have a new landscaping project done on your home, there are economic benefits too!Curb appeal & increased property value The Appraisal Institute approximates that a well-landscaped house can include roughly 6 to 13 percent of worth compared to a home with no landscaping.

Suppress appeal is real how a house looks from the road will impact whether someone wishes to buy it and how much they're prepared to pay. Energy bill savings According to a Cornell University research study, a well-planned landscape designed for energy performance can reduce heating and air conditioning expenses by 10 to 30 percent.

Eventually, I see landscaping as a way to increase the lifestyle. It's no surprise we here at Plants Creative get so fired up about it! We love that we get to bring nature to our customers and help shape it for their benefit. Has this post gotten you thrilled about a long-overdue landscaping Sunrise Beach MO landscaping job!.?.!? Or perhaps you 'd simply like a little help maintaining your property!.?.!? In either case, do not hesitate to connect with us. Let's chat about it!.

Lake of the Ozarks landscaping

Landscape is far too diverse to be able to deal with and illuminate its many advantages, and what triggers them in one category. For that reason, if we are to be precise about the advantages of landscape, we need to consider each category separately. There are 3 primary categories to consider, and within the business and city landscape various other sub categories We likewise need to think about the subject of value verses expense.

The Buzz on 11 Added Benefits Of Landscaping Your Lawn - Heritage ...

Yet some landscape advantages have a great, even 'invaluable' value, but it is also impossible to put a tough expense on that 'worth'! Read more. Below is a concise summary of the advantages in each of the 3 significant landscape categories before we dive into the much deeper implications that are intrinsic and common to each.

There may likewise be some advantages to amateur or ad-hoc property 'landscaping', but these do not, and can not compare to their professional and imaginative equivalent! This is since of the extensive training and depth of experience essential to design high quality landscapes. Some estate agents and residential or commercial property valuers have actually seen and commented that ad-hoc or amateur landscape design might even have unfavorable consequences, and this is because it is not carried out within the philosophical and scholastic framework that underpins the occupation Despite style or ethnic origin the advantages of property landscape style, are the exact same The total distinction with respect to the advantages of landscaping in association with expert landscape design versus un-designed 'landscaping' is! Let me elaborate on this, by efficiency I suggest the effectiveness of each specific landscape benefit is significantly improved when the landscape is expertly developed, rather than when it is just produced ad-hoc without professional style input.

There are likewise two recipients of business landscape, and this is specifically so in the world of bars, bars, coffee shops, and dining establishments. These are the consumers and the ownership. The to business landscaping are pleasure centred, and are obviously generally the self-same psychological responses to the combined landscape aesthetics and' local color' which we went over under domestic landscaping, or what would be broadly termed: spatial atmosphere, atmosphere, and character, like one discover's in certain dining establishments for example.

Ozark lawn and landscapes

One can even consider this duel relationship between owners and clients as a symbiosis of a sort: each celebration offers something and each gets a shared advantage The are financially centred Ad-hoc and amateur landscape is carried out much less frequently in the commercial sector, but if it is done then the same possibility for negative effects as described in domestic landscape could still happen.

The Ultimate Guide To The Benefits Of Landscape Gardening - Beautiful Gardens

This classification is quite diverse and there are some very particular advantages linked to specific public centers Again, this is all stemming with the very same reason the human psychological reactions to the landscape visual and 'local color'. Check out the full conversation A few of these advantages pointed out above may at first appear bold or even unqualified, therefore the link below analyzes the deeper nature of landscape benefits and how they directly and indirectly influence human behaviour, human health and well-being etc Graham Slocombe LandARCHConcepts 2019 Like Packing ...

[yeoldontknow]

It Was The Night: 2

Author’s Note: welcome to part 2! again, please note this is not meant to be historically accurate lmao i cant seem to stress this enough Pairing: Chanyeol x Reader (oc; female) Genre: drama; historical au; romance; suspense Rating (this chapter): PG Word Count: 1,722

II.

It has never escaped my attention that Monsieur Park had, from the time I was child, better perceptions of my future and interests than I have ever been able to decipher. From the moment he saw me, singing to God and to the mass, he seemed to know me, seemed to see inside my soul, or, perhaps, heard my soul, and divined my needs before I could voice them.

My arrival at the Opera seemed, for all intents and purposes, a very long overdue homecoming. At long last I had found men and women, boys and girls, whose knowledge and passions so greatly matched mine. Their continual and profound sense of humour, wit, and imagination provided me with the endless hours of the entertainment I had so been craving.

Within weeks I had made a home of my new chambers, secret imaginary friends replaced with boys as talented as I, and girls with pink, smirking lips, glimmers of possibility contained in the bat of an eye or the flick of a skirt. In the seamstress, I had found the mother figure I had been lacking; in the various stagehands, teachers and playmates, limitless in their knowledge and boundless in their energy, their playfulness.

My first night, the older girls in the room, wickedness and mischief dancing in their rises, pushed our six beds together. As we clambered onto our thin mattresses, they began to tell us, the three new choral members, the story of the Opera Ghost. We sat cross legged, our night dresses tucked beneath our knees to keep out the draft, with a slight forward lean to our spine as we clutched desperately to every word Clara, the eldest in our room, spoke.

Keeping her voice low, she told of music in the recital hall from a grand piano without its player, of footsteps in the rafters of the chapel, dark shadows lurking in mirrors. Always the same shape yet existing wholly without a true form, a paradox of malintent that left a chill wherever it passed.

I drank every detail, eyes wide with curiosity. I imagined a gruesome hanging in the chapel, a suicide in the throes of the black death, and, perhaps most surprising of all, I did not blush for my indiscretion. In truth, I was titillated by the drama of these thoughts, giggled to myself, excited by the thought of what Father Ezekiel would think of me now so soon after my departure. Had I already succumbed to a Godless city? Given over to the temptation of the scarlet warmth of bloodshed? Excessive, theatrical, melodramatic, and turning from the watchful eyes of angels?

‘How did he die?’ asked a young, quiet tongued girl named Jacqueline, with whom I had shared my carriage ride.

I was so pleased she had asked the question begging release from my lips. Yes, I mentally pleaded, tell me if it was bloody, if it was silent, if his guilt is spread throughout the mortar of the stones.

‘That’s the thing,’ Clara whispered, forcing all of us to lean centimetres closer. ‘He is very much alive!’

The moment she said “alive,” Elisabet, Clara’s partner in crime, shouted with a howl so terrible, all the girls screamed. Clara laughed in the candlelight, her jaw seeming to detach with the force of her cackle as her cheeks and eyes suddenly became sunken, hollow. Our cries and their laughter only subsided when Madame Catherine, the caretaker of the grounds, opened our chamber door and demanded we turn out our candles with a draconian glare.

I stayed awake that night beneath the itchy cotton of my bedding, until the birth of the sun in our picture window, imagining a man draped in shadows and living without light. Would his skin feel like wax? Did he move along the river of plumbing, with the tide of the Seine and amongst the bones of fallen stone masons? His hands dominated my mind, the fingers of a pianist with the bones of a skeleton, strong, cold, and lethal.

But as wild as all these thoughts may have been, as scandalous and fascinating they were, I decided just before dawn that his existence was impossible, a fabrication in the minds of girls hoping to exert their authority.

Such a thing could not be real, I told myself pragmatically. Surely such a famous institution would know of a man living within its walls, either to hide from Parisian police inspectors or the slow starvation of poverty. No, such a thing would not be tolerated.

I lived, rather joyously, for three years with this notion, and I watched, yearly, as Clara, and eventually Elisabet told the story of the infamous Opera Ghost. Such experiences had never once happened to me, nor to any of the members of staff I had bravely asked on a December night when the wind held a particular musical howl in its blusters.

‘Your stitches are becoming messy, child,’ scolded the seamstress as I mended a torn frock.

I squeezed my eyes shut, then, tried furiously to ease their dryness and bring forth the sound of blood rushing into my ears. These things, I hoped, would distract mind from the sound of the wind.

‘Apologies, Madame,’ I said, attempting hastily to re-thread my needle. ‘It’s just...the wind…’

All further words died on my tongue before I could voice them, suddenly feeling terribly foolish for these worries, but still, in my childish mind, the possibility of an opera ghost felt terribly real, if only for this brief moment.

The seamstress scoffed, drumming her fingers on the mess of my table. ‘Fear not the wind,’ she stated, though there was some compassion in her tone. ‘It will bring you no harm.’

Still, though, these platitudes did not appease me. For it was not the wind that bothered me, it was the humming within, the pattern and its wistful qualities that brought a chill to my spine. My fingers fumbled with my needle for several moments, caught between the desire to speak and the desire to align myself with the adults around me, wanting to sound mature and ladylike in my beliefs. In the end, my fear won over, wanting confirmation or, perhaps, affirmation, that my suspicions were correct.

‘But the opera ghost, Madam. Does he not live in the wind? In the walls?’

Even as I said the words, I regretted them, wanted to slip beneath the stones of the floor because even such a statement sounded implausible, foolish in its sentiments. And, for this, I was reprimanded.

The seamstress laughed, although the sound was hollow, pressing a hand at the bodice of her corset to ease her breath before she spoke. ‘Ignorant child,’ she said as her laughter calmed, ‘that is simply a story. A story that has been told even when I was a girl in this opera. Don’t believe such tales. Head down and focus your energies on your stitches.’

These words silenced the conversation, made my back curl over as I diligently returned to my work. A sense of pride settled into my bones, glad for the assurance that this was impossible, unlikely, and that I, of course, had been correct in my suspicions. My stitches, then, became straighter, more taught, and no longer did the wind carry a hymn.

Like this, I lived in jovial contentment until the eve of my seventeenth birthday, when I was the last to bed as it was my turn to assist the maids in costume redressing for Les Abencérages. Under the cover of twilight and with one crooked candle as my guide, I made my way to the basins for my nightly wash. The halls had grown dark, shadowed high with the contrast of dark stones and the flicker of firelight. Alone, my footsteps fell in hurried patterns, carrying my body on the balls of my feet so as not to disturb the silence.

Sometimes, as I turned sharp corners, I felt myself being followed, heard scratches in the walls that felt animalistic or in human. As I walked, I reminded myself the building was old, that the foundation of the architecture had settled into the ground like bones. I imagined the building growing, a great maw behind the walls opening to shift around the stones, the structure of the opera house constantly expanding as though it were alive.

In the bath salon, I grimaced as I set my candle on the stand by the mirror to undress, the thought of bathing in the left over, cold water infinitely less than ideal. There was no rush in my motions, choosing instead to delay the chill of the dull water over my skin for as long as possible. My mind raced with music and lessons from the day, fingers still store from my grip on the needle, joints aching. Distracted, perhaps, is the best way to describe my mind, eyes sore and tired, and I think that is why I felt the truth of this evening was muddled in the mire of exhaustion. To this day, I sometimes wonder if I saw it at all, if the vision had been a truth, even though I have every confirmation that it was.

For as the light flickered, I noticed a shadow in the corner of the mirror. It appeared first out of the corner of my eye until I offered it my full focus, my full attention. I waited in stillness for the vision to fade and, when it did not, I became entranced.

I did not yell, I did not gasp. Instead I remained, still, trembling fingers poised on the drawstring of my bloomers as I studied it. It held the shape of a man, tall, and slim, distracted and paying no attention to me. I could only see the outline of his profile as he spoke, quite vigorously, with an unseen conversation partner. Finally, with a flick of his hand, he turned to face me and, in the dim light and the grit of the mirror, I could only just see full lips and a strong jaw before he slipped away through a corridor that did not exist behind me.

I left the bath salon, then, choosing instead to wash the following evening.

[bigyack-com]

Art Rises in the Saudi Desert, Shadowed by Politics

AL ULA, Saudi Arabia — The Coachella art crowd had arrived in the Saudi desert, and chic caftans in head-turning colors outnumbered abayas on the sand. At a buffet ornamented with cantaloupes carved in the shape of flowers, waiters tended a fresh-squeezed juice station and rows of dainty canapés. Across the gold-and-russet sandstone canyon, the brawny rock formations sprouted contemporary art: an iridescent spaceshiplike sculpture, a glinting metal tunnel, a scattering of brightly painted spheres.These were the fruits of Desert X AlUla, a partnership between Desert X, a California-based art biennial that had staged two previous exhibitions in the Coachella Valley, and the Saudi government, which had coaxed Desert X to mount a show in its own western desert at the country’s expense.Controversy ensued, as it tends to when Saudi Arabia — whose government has hacked the iPhone of one of the world’s richest men, tortured dissidents, dismembered a critical journalist and helped ignite a humanitarian disaster in Yemen — overlaps with Western institutions. Three of Desert X’s board members, including the prominent artist Ed Ruscha, resigned in protest. The Los Angeles Times’s art critic, Christopher Knight, scathed the “morally corrupt” collaboration as “merely putting lipstick on a pig.”For the Saudis, the benefits were clear. Until recently, many Saudis avoided the rock-hewn pre-Islamic tombs at Al Ula out of a pious superstition that they were haunted, and non-Muslim tourists who wanted to visit the country almost never found a way in. Now, in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s drive to open Saudi society and expand its economy beyond oil, Al Ula is to be reincarnated as the kingdom’s star cultural and heritage attraction. Officials hope its miles of breathtaking desert and Petra-esque ancient tombs will draw 2 million tourists by 2035.There will be a resort designed by Jean Nouvel. There will be a nature reserve and an effort to repopulate such species as the Arabian leopard. There will be a permanent arts district, with Desert X, through March 7, as its first hurrah.“Culture,” Amr AlMadani, the Riyadh-based executive overseeing Al Ula’s development, said at a welcome dinner the night before the show’s opening, “has nothing to do with politics.”The crowd applauded. But he had turned on its head the reasoning Western business titans and others cite when it comes to Saudi Arabia: that getting involved may nudge the kingdom toward a more modern, freer society. Cultural and economic dialogue could act as a kind of “can opener,” as one Desert X artist, Jakob Fenger, of the Danish collective Superflex, put it.“Culture and politics, they’re all part of the same thing,” he said. “If you believe that art can change things, you have to do it. Nothing will happen unless you do something.”Of course, a similar argument attracted Westerners to China as it opened to foreign business decades ago, gambling that their influence would eventually liberalize the country from the outside in. But China’s tolerance for free speech and human rights has only shrunk, and its government is now locked in a deepening standoff with American business and political leaders.At the opening of Desert X, the talk was a heady cocktail of erasing boundaries, breaking down walls and bridging gaps.The show was “a vessel that transcends all boundaries, that transcends time,” said Raneem Farsi, one of the two female Saudi curators.But Manal AlDowayan, a Dubai artist whose installation “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” stood not far away, brushed off the high-flown press-conference chatter.“Throw all of it out,” she said. “They talked about building bridges. I don’t know about that. We’re just here making art.”Though the setting is new, the five Saudi artists in the exhibition have arguably already crossed boundaries and bridges; like many other Saudi artists, they have lived, studied or exhibited in Europe or the United States. (The rest of the nine artists in the show are Middle Eastern or based in the United States or Europe.) Still, Desert X leaders spoke proudly of the efforts they had made to include local residents, like holding art workshops for Saudi women or making entrance to the exhibition free.To Saudi Arabia, which covered the artists’ travel expenses, Desert X is as much a profit driver as a meeting of minds. Mr. AlMadani said the government hopes tourism will make up three-quarters of the Al Ula-area economy by 2030. More than 50,000 tourists came in 2019, he said, including visitors to a music festival featuring Andrea Bocelli, the Italian tenor, and Lang Lang, the Chinese pianist.Though analysts have questioned whether foreign tourists will want to visit a country with an alcohol ban, customs that frown on gender mixing and a reputation for authoritarian repression, Mr. AlMadani believes they’ll come in droves. If anything, he said, there’s a danger of overcrowding, which would threaten the area’s archaeological jewels and natural beauty.Early adopters are already here, ready to visit uncrowded sites nobody back home has ever Instagrammed.“I feel like it’s a preview,” said Tomoya Tsuruta, a Japanese tourist at one of Al Ula’s ancient ruins who decided to visit Saudi Arabia after it introduced electronic tourist visas for citizens of 49 countries last year. “I feel privileged to visit before other people come.”In small, dusty Al Ula, a town of 45,000 where the economy revolves around government jobs and small fruit farms, development means unexpected prosperity.The government commission overseeing the area’s development has given scholarships to 500 local residents to study abroad and sent dozens of local guides and hospitality staff to train in Europe and the United States, all to prepare for the tourists.One guide hired to give tours of a ravine with thousands of ancient Nabatean rock carvings, Hamed Alimam, said his father, sister and uncle all had jobs with the commission. A friend had trained at a culinary school in France, at government expense, before returning to work as a cook at a new restaurant. People who had left for jobs elsewhere were returning.“All the other towns are jealous of us,” Mr. Alimam said. Still, he was unsure that tourists and jobs would come in the huge numbers the government had projected.“As Hamed, me, I don’t know,” he joked. “But as Hamed, with the royal commission? Yes, I think so!”Beyond Saudi Arabia’s offer to host and pay, a rarity in contemporary art, the benefits of collaborating are gauzier for Desert X. (The organization did not disclose the amount.) Susan Davis, its founder and chair, cast the exhibition as a chance for Westerners to learn about Saudi society beyond the headlines and the stereotypes, and for Saudis to gain exposure to the Western art world.“Engaging people to people, being able to start that dialogue, was something we were brave enough to take on, and I do think brave is the word,” she said.Though Ms. Davis said art and politics are “two totally different areas,” she acknowledged that politics hung over the decision to work with Saudi Arabia.“I don’t know that it will” have an impact, she said, “but that’s our hope. We’re not thinking about changing politics now. Having the conversation, I think that’s a first step.”Asked about criticism that she was helping whitewash Saudi Arabia’s stained reputation, Ms. Davis protested, “We’re a tiny organization. We ain’t the Metropolitan Museum.” She said she was prepared to close Desert X if the controversy proved too great.But she was already convinced that the Saudi foray had been a success. Most moving to her, she said, was a sculpture of a royal-blue woman sitting on a massive rock, surveying puddles of blue scattered across the sand: Lita Albuquerque’s “Najma (She Placed One Thousand Suns on the Transparent Overlays of Space).”According to Desert X, it was the first sculpture of a woman on public display in modern Saudi Arabia, where Islamic tradition discourages figurative representation.Ms. Albuquerque, an American artist who has featured the Najma character in previous works, said she had agreed to clad the sculpted woman in an abaya after a Saudi official expressed reservations about the woman’s form-fitting outfit.Though some might call it government interference, she said she saw it as a matter of cultural sensitivity — no different, Ms. Davis added, than rejecting proposals to mount artworks in sacred indigenous areas around Coachella.It was the chance to work with local female weavers that persuaded Sherin Guirguis to participate despite her doubts, she said. Ms. Guirguis, an Egyptian-American artist based in Los Angeles, held weaving workshops and contemporary art lectures for women in Al Ula. Her work there and elsewhere aims to restore overdue recognition to the traditional handicrafts of Arab women, and she argued that going to meet young Saudi artists was at least a starting point to open her mind and theirs.Maybe it would lead to something; maybe not.“From a Western perspective, it’s very easy to look at the politics of a place and the government of a place, and to make those decisions to reject them, and the people who get affected are the people we claim to want to help,” she said. “Will the work that I’ve done there make the world’s smallest dent and help move things forward? I hope so.” Read the full article