#hotel financing in Europe

[bfpnola]

Hey. It's @reaux07. If you remember my last angry history rant on Paul Robeson, I'm back for Part 2. This time? King Leopold II and his relationship to the Congo. I just finished writing a 5-page, single-spaced essay on this for class, so I'll do my best to summarize in bullet points this time rather than chunky paragraphs. This will still be long though, as a warning, but it's a necessary read. Please let me get through this, because y'all know this hurts to write.

Trigger warnings for... just about everything typically associated with mass colonization (e.g. rape, murder, torture, etc.). Tiktok below as a brief introduction first:

King Leopold II of Belgium, due to his personal unpopularity and lack of love from his parents, had low self-esteem. As his father had already made 50 attempts to colonize foreign lands to no avail, Leopold felt the only way to uplift both himself and his country was to take take control of his own colony.

He checked Sarawak, the New Hebrides, the Fiji Islands, and the Philippines. Nothing. But what was left? The Congo.

How did he learn of the Congo? Leopold hired Henry Morton Stanley, a famous Welsh explorer of the time, to cross Africa from east to west, walking and canoeing 7,000 miles.

Upon the Congo's discovery, Leopold turned his palace into a luxury hotel for the delegates of a new conference to discuss Africa's colonization, supervising every detail. He successfully lied to the major powers of Europe, making claims of charitable and philanthropic aims, and that there would be free trade amongst the African colonies. (And yes, he did give every single attendee a painting of his face... Because he could.)

Meanwhile, back in the Congo, Stanley (the explorer I just mentioned) used bribes and trickery to provide official treaties with the various chiefs of the land in case Leopold ever needed legal proof of land ownership. (Ex of said trickery: One report noted that a village assumed "the white man controlled the sun.")

In 1891 and 1892, Leopold released decrees stating that both vacant land and produce of the forests exclusively belonged to Belgium and that natives could only harvest for the state.

Enforcing Leopold’s rule were 16,000 Africans equipped with modern Belgian-made automatic rifles.

Outing Attempt #1: One African American man, George Washington Williams, during his trip compiled a report to be sent to the American secretary of state. In this letter, Williams remembers bets being taken on who could shoot the native people in the head first, among other instances of vile treatment. While the document never made it back to Williams’ home country, it was eventually found in Europe where he later died.

By this point, the Congo was actually ruining Leopold’s finances and he was growing desperate. But to his surprise, he happened to pick the one spot where rubber grew in abundance, just as the demand for cars and bicycles rose internationally, John Dunlop, a Scottish veteran, having just invented the first pneumatic tire.

Because of this, rubber-prominent areas were the targets of mass exploitation and punishment if daily and weekly rubber quotas were not met.

Missionaries began to write not just to one another, but back home in disgust of these aforementioned “punishments,” one man’s writings put in missionary magazines and national newspapers in Europe. These punishments included rape, tying people up to trees, cutting off men's heads and genitals to be displayed along the fences of Congolese villages, cutting women’s breasts off, and most notably...

Attempt #2: The world, if only momentarily, saw BASKETS after BASKETS of right hands that had been cut off as proof that each of the cartridges given to the Africans had been fired and killed one of their own people. These hands were then smoked for preservation and brought back to their officers.

What did Leopold do once this information came out alongside photos of child mutilation? Acknowledge the abuses and moved on almost immediately.

In Europe, the rubber was processed in a city called Antwerp, ironically named after a mythological giant who also cut off hands. To this day, the connection between such a name and Belgian history has not been made by the general public as countless documents by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are kept secret to maintain an image of untouched royalty.

One commissioner in charge of a district in Congo, Leon Fievez, produced one ton of rubber a day, boasting of 1,000 people killed, 162 villages destroyed, burning gardens and plantations so people would starve, and having “only” used 3,000 cartridges. He was nicknamed the “Devil of the Equator” and rightly so.

Attempt #3: One day, a man named Charles Stokes, a British trader working for the Germans, entered the picture. Stokes was arrested for trading in state territory, despite those former claims of free trade, and sentenced to death. Leopold was forced to pay compensation to both Britain and Germany for his death, both countries now increasingly aware of the Congo’s dark reality.

To cover it up, Leopold made claims of the Congo opening up to new companies. Let's be real: His men were on the boards of all these new companies and he took 50% of the profits.

In particular were these "concession companies" where the "hostage system" was set up. Agencies, with official hostage licenses authorizing such, would take the wives of rubber collectors for up to 15 days until the quota was met.

On the 15th day, the men of the Congo either got their wives back or faced further punishment, often death. For the agents, the 15th day meant it was time to calculate commissions, and for the king? It was proof that this new hostage system worked.

These abusive concession companies lasted over 10 years until formal competition arose in South America and Asia.

Attempt #4: Then came Edmund Dene Morel, a half-French, self-taught shipping clerk turned investigative journalist who wrote in The Speaker of the abuses faced by the Congolese, backed up by evidence, not just speculations.

Due to Morel’s growing specialization in West African affairs, he was able to not only send out 15,000 brochures and 3,700 letters in six months after his move to Wales, but start his own newspaper, West African Mail.

By 1903, Roger Casement, an ally to Morel’s cause, spent two months traveling the upper Congo, recording African testimonies. He, too, realized that missionaries were key witnesses and went to visit Joseph Clark (a missionary of 20 years) for 17 days.

Through these reports, which grew to 50 pages in length, Casement and Morel were able to solidify Belgium as perpetuating the worst colonial system Africa had ever known. Punishments included Africans performing public incest for the colonists' entertainment, decapitation, women being stabbed with wooden spikes up their vaginas, and one woman tied up to a tree and slashed straight in half from her left shoulder through her abdomen and out the other side.

The West African Mail even reported on a part of Congo no one knew existed, private property within private property called the “Crown Domain” on the other side of Lake Tumba, which gained 231 million euros alone, all sent directly to King Leopold II. Crown Domain was 10x 5)3 size of Belgium.

Founded by Morel, Liverpool became the headquarters of a coalition called the Congo Reform Association. He also published a book called Red Rubber (1906). I think you’ll find the cover particularly striking! Check out the hand in the bottom right corner being weighed against King Leopold II on the left.

Leopold obviously not having this, commissioned a number of books and monthly magazines to clear up the mess. This didn't work. Obviously.

He even tried to send his own international commission to control what the Congolese said in 1904, to no avail. This was due to a missionary named John Harris who had taken the accounts of various people in the area and sent them back to Morel.

In one particularly heartbreaking moment, a chief brought to Leopold’s judges 110 twigs for each of the entire villages, not just people, killed by the Belgian state, naming every last one.

By the time they returned to Europe, the governor-general committed suicide and, upon being asked, Harris suggested Leopold should be sent to the gallows by the relatively new International Court of Justice.

The commission's report vindicated Casement and Morel. Leopold had tricked no one. EVERYONE in Belgium was calling him out.

Leopold ordered all of the Congo State Records to be burned.

In 1908, the Congo became a Belgian colony, not longer Leopold’s personal property. The state still made claims of "civilizing" the Africans after Leopold's death though, utilizing the leftover mineral exploitation industry with no guilt.

At least during his funeral, which he was denied of having privately, the entire city booed his body <3 well deserved. By this point, he had become Europe’s most hated man of the time.

And in case you were wondering, Casement and Morel were both accused to pro-German sympathies during WWI and executed.

I would like to add more detail but I think I’ve hit a character limit. Just know that Congo’s population was cut in HALF, in some places as much as 60-90%. Villages after villages were burned, as shown through so many soldiers’ and missionaries’ journals. This was a genocide of over 10 MILLION PEOPLE y’all. Hearing this story was truly SICKENING, but here’s the BBC 4 documentary we watched for class for more: Congo: White King, Red Rubber, and Black Death.

What truly gets me is just how OTHER colonizers were calling this man out after finding out the full truth… For me, that feels like extra proof of how truly messed up this was if THEY were disturbed too.

And what feels truly insidious was how Leopold made sure to institutionalize all of his wrongdoings and was so… obviously knowing about every wrongdoing, I mean writing in letters to make sure no one else found out. Please…

Linking my angry history rant on Paul Robeson from last semester here.

Happy Black History Month.

[homomenhommes]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … April 7

529 Constantinople  : Emperor Justinian I re-wrote Roman Law, making it distinctly Christian and stating that all same-sex acts are contrary to nature and punishable by death.

1786 – On this date William Rufus King, the U.S. Representative from North Carolina, Senator from Alabama, and the thirteenth Vice President of the United States was born (d.1853). Historians have argued about the extremely close relationship that King had with President James Buchanan.

King was close friends with James Buchanan, and the two shared a house in Washington, D.C. for fifteen years prior to Buchanan's presidency. Buchanan and King's close relationship prompted Andrew Jackson to refer to King as "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy", while Aaron V. Brown spoke of the two as "Buchanan and his wife". Further, some of the contemporary press also speculated about Buchanan and King's relationship.

Buchanan and King's nieces destroyed their uncles' correspondence, leaving some questions as to what relationship the two men had, but surviving letters illustrate the affection of a special friendship, and Buchanan wrote of his communion with his housemate. Buchanan wrote in 1844, after King left for France,

"I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."

While the circumstances surrounding Buchanan and King have led authors such as Paul Boller to speculate that Buchanan was "America's first homosexual president", there is no direct evidence that he and King had a sexual relationship

Wood Self-portrait

1901 – John Christopher Wood (d.1930), often called Kit Wood, was an English painter born in Knowsley, near Liverpool.

Christopher Wood was born son of Doctor Lucius Wood. He briefly flirted with medicine and architecture at Liverpool University before pursuing an artistic career.At Liverpool University, Wood met Augustus John, who encouraged him to be a painter. The French collector Alphonse Kahn invited him to Paris in 1920. From 1921 he trained as a painter at the Academie Julian in Paris, where he met Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Georges Auric and Diaghilev. He travelled around Europe and north Africa between 1922 and 1924. He also collaborated with and became the lover of painter Francis Rose.

In 1926 Wood created designs for Romeo and Juliet for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, although they were never used. The same year he became a member of both the London Group and the Seven and Five Society plus meeting and befriending Ben Nicholson and Winifred Nicholson.

Wood was bisexual. In the early summer of 1921, Wood met Antonio de Gandarillas, a Chilean diplomat. Gandarillas, a married homosexual fourteen years older than Wood, lived a glamorous life partly financed by gambling. Their relationship lasted through Wood's life, surviving his affair with Jeanne Bourgoint. In 1927 his plans to elope and marry heiress Meraud Guinness were frustrated by her parents whereupon he required emotional support from Winifred Nicholson. Wood also had a liaison with a Russian émigrée, Frosca Munster, whom he met in 1928.

By 1930, addicted to opium and painting frenetically in preparation for his Wertheim exhibition in London, he suffered paranoia and began carrying a revolver. On August 21 he travelled to meet his mother and sister for lunch at 'The County Hotel' in Salisbury and to show them a selection of his latest paintings. After saying goodbye he jumped under a train at Salisbury railway station, although in deference to his mother's wishes it was reported as an accident.

1907 – Violette Leduc, French author, born (d.1972); Leduc was born in Arras, Pas de Calais, France, the illegitimate daughter of a servant girl, Berthe. In Valenciennes, the young Violette spent most of her childhood suffering from poor self-esteem, exacerbated by her mother's hostility and overprotectiveness. She developed tender friendships with her grandmother Fideline and her maternal aunt Laure. Her formal education, begun in 1913, was interrupted by World War I. After the war, she went to a boarding school, the Collège de Douai, where she experienced Lesbian affairs with a classmate and a music instructor who was fired over the incident.

In 1926, Leduc moved to Paris and enrolled in the Lycée Racine. That same year, she failed her baccalaureate exam and began working as a telephone operator and secretary at Plon publishers.

In 1932 she met Maurice Sachs and Simone de Beauvoir, who encouraged her to write. Her first novel L'Asphyxie (In the Prison of Her Skin) was published by Albert Camus for Éditions Gallimard and earned her praise from Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Cocteau and Jean Genet.

In 1955, Leduc was forced to remove part of her novel Ravages because of sexually explicit passages describing lesbianism. The censored part was eventually published as a separate novella, Thérèse and Isabelle in 1966. Another novel, Le Taxi caused controversy because of its depiction of incest between a brother and sister.

Leduc's best-known book, the memoir La Bâtarde, was published in 1964. It quickly became a bestseller. She went on to write eight more books, including La Folie en tête (Mad in Pursuit), the second part of her literary autobiography.

In 1968 Radley Metzger made a film of Leduc's novel Thérèse and Isabelle. The film was a commercial feature about adolescent lesbian love, starring Essy Persson and Anna Gael.

Leduc developed breast cancer and died aged 65 after two operations.

Young Harry Hay - Activist

1912 – Harry Hay, the founder of the Mattachine Society and the Radical Faeries, was born on this date (d.2002).

Although Harry Hay claimed 'never to have even heard' of the earlier Gay liberation struggle in Germany - by the people around Adolf Brand, Magnus Hirschfeld and Leontine Sagan - he is known to have talked about it with European emigres in America including Mattachine co-founder Rudi Gernreich. (However, Gernreich arrived in America at age 14, and Hay had already written his Gay manifesto when they met).

Hay, along with Roger Barlow and LeRoy Robbins directed a short film Even As You and I (1937) featuring Hay, Barlow, and filmmaker Hy Hirsh. A married man (beard/wife Anita Platky) and a member of the Communist Party USA, Hay composed the first manifesto of the American Gay rights movement in 1948, writing:

"We, the Androgynes of the world, have formed this responsible corporate body to demonstrate by our efforts that our physiological and psychological handicaps need be no deterrent in integrating ten percent of the world's population towards the constructive social progress of mankind."

Hay soon dispensed with the apologetic language and ideas. Though it may seem very dated today, the group was very radical compared to the rest of society at the time. It and Hay were among the first to advance the argument that Gay people represented a "cultural minority" as well as being just individuals, and even called for public marches of homosexuals, predicting later Gay pride parades.

Hay's concept of the "cultural minority" came directly from his Marxist studies, and the rhetoric he and his colleague Charles Rowland employed often reflected the militancy of Communist tradition. As the Mattachine Society grew with chapters around the country, the organization saw the Communist ties of its founders, including Hay, as a threat during that McCarthy-ite witch-hunt era, and expelled them from leadership. The organization took a more cautious tack so that by the time of the Stonewall riots the Mattachine Society came to be seen by many as stodgy and assimilationist.

The Communist Party did not allow Gays to be members, claiming that homosexuality was a 'deviation'; perhaps more important was the fear that a member's (usually secret) homosexuality would leave them open to blackmail and was a security risk in an era of red-baiting. Concerned to save the party difficulties, as he put more energy into the Mattachine Society, Hay himself had approached the CP's leaders and recommended his own expulsion. However, after much soul-searching, the CP, clearly reeling at the loss of a respected member and theoretician of 18 years standing, refused to expel Hay, instead dropping him as a 'security risk' but ostentatiously announcing him to be a 'Lifelong Friend of the People'.

Hay in later years

Hay later became an outspoken critic of Gay assimilationism and went on to help found both Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and the Gay men's group the Radical Faeries, as well as being active in the Native American movements.

Hay once explained,

"We pulled an ugly green frog skin of heterosexual conformity over us, and that's how we got through school with a full set of teeth. We know how to live through their eyes. We can always play their games, but are we denying ourselves by doing this? If you're going to carry the skin of conformity over you, you are going to suppress the beautiful prince or princess within you."

Harry Hay and the Radical Faeries

In 1963, at age 51, he met an inventor named John Burnside, who became his life partner. They lived first in Los Angeles, and later in a Pueblo Indian reserve in New Mexico. After returning to Los Angeles to help organize the first Radical Faerie gathering, the couple moved to San Francisco, where Hay died of lung cancer at age 90. Hay was the subject of the 2002 documentary by Eric Slade, "Hope along the Wind: The Life of Harry Hay" (2002).

1912 – Academy Award nominated songwriter Jack Lawrence was born on this date (d.2009). He wrote about his being Gay in his 2004 autobiography, They All Sang My Songs. He was a gay man during a time when it was astronomically difficult to be one.

In addition to fun stories about divas ranging from Tallulah Bankhead to Cher, his book They All Sang My Songs covered his discreet queer life (he was closeted until sometime in his thirties), during which he attended gay "rent parties" in Harlem, and cruised Central Park for sex.

In 1945, met the love of his life, Walter Myden, who remained with Lawrence until he died 30 years later. Then Lawrence and Richard Debnam—who actually became Richard Lawrence when Jack adopted him in 1979—shared their love, with Richard more like the son he never had, Jack explained. "I think I would've been a good parent," the songwriter said, adding that not having children may have been his one regret. His songs, though, will live on longer than any child would have.

You probably know his songs through recordings like the Ink Spots' "If I Didn't Care", Rosemary Clooney's "Tenderly" and Frank Sinatra's "All Or Nothing At All" which was Sinatra's first solo hit.

Hearing his music now one can hear the sentiment of one who had to shield his life, or fight for its full acceptance, especially in "All Or Nothing At All" which has been recorded by Sinatra, Jimmy Scott, John Coltrane, Chet Baker and Diana Krall, to name just a few of its interpreters. Reading those lyrics it's easy to take it as an anthem of living and loving openly.

Lawrence died on March 16, 2009 at age 96 after a fall in his home in Redding, Connecticut. He was survived by Richard Debnam-Lawrence.

1915 – Gay diva and Jazz legend Billie Holiday was born today (d.1959). Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.

Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child," "Don't Explain," "Fine and Mellow," and "Lady Sings the Blues." She also became famous for singing "Easy Living," "Good Morning Heartache," and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording.

Billie lived it up with a vengeance, and had a huge appetite for drink, drugs, men and women. She had an affair with actor and director Orson Welles, and also had a number of lesbian affairs - including one with Tallulah Bankhead. According to one of the later and better biographies she would call herself 'William' when she was sexually interested in a particular women.

STRANGE FRUIT Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant South, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh, And the sudden smell of burning flesh! Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop.

As Billie Holiday later told the story, a single gesture by a patron at New York's Café Society, in Greenwich Village, changed the history of American music in early 1939, the night when she first sang "Strange Fruit." Café Society was New York's only truly integrated nightclub outside Harlem, a place catering to progressive types with open minds. But Holiday was to recall that even there she was afraid to sing this new song, and regretted it, at least momentarily, when she first did. "There wasn't even a patter of applause when I finished," she later said. "Then a lone person began to clap nervously. Then suddenly everyone was clapping."

The applause grew louder and less tentative as "Strange Fruit" became a nightly ritual for Holiday, then one of her signature songs, at least where it could be safely performed. And audiences have continued to applaud this disturbing ballad, unique in Holiday's oeuvre and in the American popular- song repertoire, as it has left its mark on generations of writers, musicians, and listeners, both black and white. The late jazz writer Leonard Feather once called "Strange Fruit" "the first significant protest in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism." Jazz musicians still speak of it with a mixture of awe and fear - "When Holiday recorded it, it was more than revolutionary," said the drummer Max Roach – and perform it almost gingerly. "It's like rubbing people's noses in their own shit," said Mal Waldron, the pianist who accompanied Holiday in her final years. A few years back a British music publication, Q Magazine, named "Strange Fruit" one of 10 songs that actually changed the world.

1919 – Theophilus Brown (d.2012) was an American artist. He became prominent as a member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement.

A descendant of early-American intellectuals, Brown was born in Moline, Illinois. His great-grandfather was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Brown's father was an inventor and chief designer, at the John Deere Company in Moline, Illinois.

While attending Yale University in the late-1930s, Brown met composer Paul Hindemith and poet May Sarton, with whom he would share lifetime friendships.

After graduating in 1941, Brown was drafted in World War II. Following his discharge, he began to study painting, moving between New York City and Paris, meeting an impressive range of artists that included Pablo Picasso, Braque, Giacometti, Balthus, and de Kooning, among others. Brown, who studied piano at Yale, was also close to a number of composers, including John Cage, Francis Poulenc, Samuel Barber, and Igor Stravinsky.

In 1952 Brown enrolled in the graduate studio program at the University of California, Berkeley, joining a group of artists—including Richard Diebenkorn David Park, Elmer Bischoff, James Weeks, and Nathan Oliveira —that would later be known as the Bay Area Figurative Movement. While attending Berkeley, Brown also met and fell in love with his long-time partner and fellow-painter, Paul Wonner.

In the early 1960s, Brown and Wonner moved to Santa Monica, where they developed a close friendship with fellow gay couple, novelist Christopher Isherwood, and portrait artist Don Bachardy. Over the years, Brown and Wonner also fostered friendships with playwright William Inge, composer and conductor Andre Previn, actress Eva Marie Saint and her husband, director Jeffery Hayden, and New Zealand novelist Janet Frame.

Figurative 1964

In his later years, Brown still managed to paint daily. Theophilus Brown resided in San Francisco, California at the time of his death. Four months before his death, Brown gave an interview in which he fact-checked his Wikipedia entry. He found the entry accurate, on the whole, but termed his classification as an abstract expressionist "horseshit." He died in San Francisco, aged 92.

1966 – The first Gay Community Center in the United States opens. It is located in San Francisco, led by The Society for Individual Rights.

1991 – Travis Flores is an American activist, philanthropist, motivational speaker, actor and children's book author. He has been featured in works such as Chicken Soup for the Soul, Readers Digest: Selections, Charlie's Cancer Rescue and The Lemonade Stand. Flores has cystic fibrosis and has spoken very openly about it, having served as a spokesperson for various cystic fibrosis related fundraisers. He is best known for his charitable work with both the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and has donated a majority of his book's proceeds to the two organizations. To date, he has helped to raise over half a million dollars for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Flores also established his own organization in 2005, which provides laptops to chronically ill youth in hospitals.

When Flores was twelve years old, he began work with illustrator Michelle Ciappa to prepare his children's book, "The Spider Who Never Gave Up", for publishing. In 2004, after the book was published when Flores was thirteen, he began a motivational speaking and book tour. In the same year, June 18 was proclaimed by Mayor Michael Mullen as "Travis Flores Day" in Marietta, Ohio; a city near his hometown of Newport, Ohio. A year later, Flores partnered with Disney to print an edition of his book for a Make-A-Wish Foundation event, in which two million dollars was donated to the charity. The media attention and success of the event enabled Flores to extend his tour another two years.

Flores started college when he was sixteen years old and received his bachelor's degree in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College by the age of twenty. In 2010, during his work as an undergraduate student, he had the opportunity to work with Susan Batson on the Broadway workshops of the Tennessee Williams play, In Masks Outrageous and Austere. In 2012, the play opened at Culture Project theater in New York City, but Flores was no longer affiliated with the project. While working in New York City, he attended New York University and graduated in Spring of 2013 with a master's degree in Fundraising.

On March 3, 2015, Flores successfully received a double-lung transplant at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Following the operation, he continued his work in entertainment, and later underwent a second double-lung transplant October 3, 2017 at the same medical facility.

In May 2019, Flores came out as gay on the CW series MyLastDays, making him the first person to ever come out on the network. Flores currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his male partner. He continues to pursue his philanthropic outreaches, acting, and writing.

[elainespavlding]

was that [ SARAH GUSTAFSSON ] spotted in the lobby of the infamous arconia hotel? must just be, [ ELAINE SPAULDING ] the [ TWENTY-SIX  ] year old [ CURATORIAL ASSISTANT ]. whenever i hear [ CARRY ME OUT BY MITSKI ] it reminds me of them. [ SHE/HER ] are known for being [ CONTROLLING ] and [ UPTIGHT ] but they make up for that by being [ MODEST ] and [ RELIABLE ]. they have been living at the arconia for [ EIGHT YEARS ON AND OFF ].

full name — elaine freja spaulding nickname(s) — don't even try it age — twenty-six date of birth — september 19th place of birth — new canaan, ct religion — lutheran sexuality — heterosexual education level — elaine's recently completed a master of philosophy in art history at st. andrew's (she also double-majored in art & archaeology and museum studies at princeton university for her bachelors)

residence — the arconia <3 previously: her family's estate in new canaan, and then the family's city residence in gramercy park

family — rupert spaulding (father) and fadela spaulding (mother) and then three older brothers named tristan, ralph, and hugo. finances — quite comfortable, i must say $$$$$$$$$

overview.

elaine’s family absolutely reeks of Old Money™ from all sides. rupert spaulding’s family’s wealth can be tied back to the railroads and westward expansion before eventually delving into various investments and financial services (plus there's relation to the famous wallenberg family through his mother).

her father is the acting ceo of an investment firm in new york city that her great-grandfather founded and rupert keeps a separate apartment in the city away from the family to live in during the work week because sometimes to make a marriage work you gotta put space between the two of you.

her mother fadela is from london but her wealth extends to the beginnings of bmce bank and the bank of africa. fadela is a socialite, philanthropist, and all-around nitpicker with a thousand and one life regrets.

elaine has three older brothers with the youngest of the bunch being five years older than her. elaine was something of a “miracle baby” to her parents. all her life, fadela wanted a little daughter but after three rough pregnancies, she wound up with all sons, so when their little accident happened well after they decided to have no more children, she was absolutely thrilled to find out it was a girl.

elaine was pampered and given everything a little debutante-to-be ought to have, but that lavishness came with a price. elaine was the Miracle Baby, the daughter her parents longed for, and the last thing she wanted to do was mess up the image they had for her. she had to be perfect.

that need, of course, isn't healthy! surprise! elaine experienced an adolescence marked by extreme emotional outbursts and debilitating compulsions. by the end of high school it all came to a head, but that's.... [redacted] information

once she reached adulthood, elaine has had the privilege to focus on nothing but the thing she's passionate about: art (her specialty is european art and the art of the italian renaissance). she's traveled europe and she completed her masters. now, she's back in new york to start her job as a curatorial assistant at the frick collection. her plan is to spend a couple years there before she starts working toward her phd in art history.

since the age of 18, and after The Incident and a series of disagreements with her mother, elaine's parents started to pay for a suite at the arconia for her to stay in when the need arose. whenever she's in the city, that's usually where she is.

personality traits.

positive: sophisticated, conscientious, astute, strong-willed, meticulous, practical, romantic

negative: judgmental, high-strung, standoffish, queen of too high standards, nitpicky, pedantic

misc headcanons.

elaine has taken ballet and piano lessons since she was 4 years old. she has little old russian lady trauma skjdfnskjd.

when not at work, elaine is likely at theaters such as the metrograph, the walter reade, the angelika film center, etc. so when you insult cinephiles who watch black and white european movies told from the point of view of a dog, you're insulting HER 💔

her favorite place at the arconia is the daily grind coffee bar. caffeine addiction vibes.

elaine really, really hates physical touch. it is something that has been destructive to her relationships and how she generally interacts with people.

PINTEREST | PLAYLIST

[businessprincess]

I am back, and I am better.

Wow, what a ride 2023 was. We achieved our goals and came out smarter and stronger.

The last post I created was 02/21/2023, when I started my 40-day social media detox. I took it a bit too serious, because I restrained myself from using social media way longer than those 6 weeks - simply because it was one of the most refreshing experiences I have made so far - but also because my year early on was quite turbulent and I needed the time to fully focus on myself. That being said, I would like to take the opportunity and reflect on my highs and lows of 2023 as well as set my New Year's goals straight for 2024. This is going to be a personal post - view my New Years Goals as something that might inspire you to pursue certain areas in your life as well. <3

My lows.

My grandfather died. I loved him dearly, and he was my last grand parent to be alive.

My boyfriend and I had a one month "no talk" break that was initiated by him; he came back and we are on good terms again. However, I've been since then seriously questioning our relationship, and things haven't been the same, at least for me.

I've met some great people this year, but also some that turned out to be false friends.

Despite my social media detox, I have found myself quite a lot on YouTube again lately. It is distracting me from important tasks and my goals and always leaves me unmotivated and mentally drained.

Since moving abroad for my Master's, I feel like I am losing connections to my old friends. This, combined with the fact that I have moved around a lot in the past three years, makes me miss deep relationships and deep conversations.

My highs.

I achieved my goal and enrolled in my dream Master's, a highly selective program with connections to very prestigious companies.

I secured a VC internship, just as I had planned.

I achieved excellent grades at uni and outperformed myself - in all subjects (except for one unfortunately, which was, however, a disaster for everyone).

I had the privilege to travel Europe and stay in the finest hotels.

My relationship with my body and mind have never been better. Ironically, it was specifically during the one month break with my boyfriend that I have taken self-care very seriously and my self-confidence has reached an all-time high during this time.

My social media detox. For most of 2023, I haven't been on Instagram anymore, allowing me to fully focus on my life and goals. And it paid off. The mental clarity I've gained is insane.

My goals for 2024.

Finance.

To keep track of my finances, set a budget, avoid making unnecessary purchases and increase my income.

To take my investments more seriously and start investing my money - otherwise it will just lose value. I have done it in the past, but I have not pursued it as thoroughly as I want it to be pursued.

To be more smart with my money. One of my worst financial habits was to defer certain purchases to the last minute (e.g. booking flights), in the end spending more money than actually necessary. Rich people don't get rich by wasting money. You get rich by keeping it and investing it wisely - into yourself and your future.

Beauty

To take care of my outer appearance every day and invest in good skin scare that will benefit me in the future as well.

To take care of my nails - I've never been to a nail salon before as I keep my nails rather short, without polish. My goal is to keep nice looking, natural nails throughout the year, done by a nailtech.

To elevate my style and get rid of old clothes that no longer serve me. Donate or sell them. Never underestimate the power of good looks - for every aspect in your life. Love, worklife, personal life. Like it or not - pretty privilege exists.

(Mental) Health

To keep my self-compassion and self-confidence high and put myself first, as I should; but to never become vain and self-absorbed.

To care for my body and regularly work out. My goal is to become phsyically stonger and increase flexibility; a lean body is great, but the goal is to continue becoming the fittest and healthiest version of myself. Everything else follows.

To reduce my phone usage, specifically social media, to 2h / day maximum. Your body is your temple, your mind the director of your life. Make sure to care for it - your future self will thank you.

Academics & Career

To keep full focus on my studies, attend lectures, pre- and post prepare lectures and stay on top of my assignments. My goal is to keep my GPA high and always strive to outperform myself.

To secure a summer internship that will help boost my career.

To be more bold and network with people more - in the end, everything is about good connections. Never underestimate your abilities. You are smart and strong - you wouldn't be where you are right now, had you not worked hard in the past. Your place in the world is deserved. You are an independent woman - ain't no man telling us what to do.

Personal Growth

To declutter. To get rid of old things that no longer serve me and create fresh space for good things to enter.

To become more confident on social media and post more frequently. It doesn't matter what others think of us - why would we care? Besides, I live an exciting life - sharing my moments might inspire other to aim high as well.

To start my own small business. To just start. I have so many ideas, yet have never started one of them. Progress over perfection. Fail fast, learn and move on. 2024 is the year we finally start our business.

To connect more. Yes, I am incredibly busy but nobody should wait for my response for TWO MONTHS. Reply faster, dare to reach out more. Leverage your connections.

To allow myself for conscious time-off. During stressful periods, I tend to focus on work and uni only. This is not productive. There needs to be time for sports, meeting friends and self-care. 2024 is the year we prioritize having free-time as well - it is incredibly important for a healthy brain and increased productivity. 2023 was amazing for my personal growth, and 2024 will be even more so. Let's do this.

I have created a very detailed Notion page with all my goals for 2024, broken down into why I want to achieve them, when I will have achieved them and what steps need to be undertaken to achieve them. What you see above is just a part of it - it is important that you make your goals SMART as well (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound) in order to hold yourself accountable and have a clear vision of where you are going.

I highly recommend you do the same - visualizing and writing down your goals are such powerful and important steps to achieve your goals.

Much love to you all. May 2024 be your year!

BusinessPrincess

[nathancable]

So...here's the deal.

Myself and the husband are loving Ice Nine Kills of late (HORROR, GUITARS, TATTOOS, YAY!!!!)

Bought tickets to see them in London in March; bought flights , booked (and paid for) a hotel. (London is an hour's flight away, and we've been enough times that there's nothing new. But, it's a treat. An EXPENSIVE AS FUCK treat; by our own choice, we'd allowed for over €1000 to give decent flights and three nights hotel...before food, drinks or any other shows or social.)

Just fucking yesterday, we get an e-mail from Ticketmaster telling us that the gig has been rescheduled to June and our tickets had automatically been transferred.

No apology. No contact us if you can't make this date.

Nothing.

Now, this shit is Ticketmaster; fuck them aggressively, REALLY fucking aggressively. Giving us about 6 weeks notice (when shit is fucking paid for) is fucking cunty.

Now...the reason why the gig (and a bunch of UK and Europe gigs) are rescheduled?

Cos they're supporting/touring with Metallica and playing much the same places in June, making better sense (and finance) for them to just tour the once.

That's great, and all; really happy for them to have such an experience.

But...

The start of the original tour was to be February.

Pissed as I am, at least our shit isn't within the next fucking 2-3 weeks, and we've been able to cancel our plans and lose a bit of money where needed. We're adults with full-time jobs.

But how many fucking kids have used money they can't afford to book these gigs, or or these flights? And maybe they were the cheap flights that you can't reschedule?

This is my unimpressed vent.

Lads...fuck yiz. I still love yiz, but get off your fucking asses and make a fucking decent fucking apology.

And then, fucking come to Dublin. I will gladly go and buy yiz drinks. But I will call the peeps who let this happen cunts to their fucking face and I will expect you (and them) to stand and listen while I do.

[squideo]

The Magic Behind Disney’s The Little Duck Advert

In this series, Squideo has examined the best ways to turn advertising content into gold. Now that we’ve broken down the eight key ingredients, it’s time to dive deep into some examples of stellar advertising. This week, the advert in question was picked by Squideo’s Creative Director Hannah Bales.

When asked why this particular advert had become her favourite of all time, Hannah said: “I feel that all Disney Park ads are really impactful and meaningful. When I was growing up I remember the advert were the kid loses a balloon and chases it all over the park until he finds Mickey Mouse holding it. The duckling one is the same, it really gives me goosebumps. It’s just so cute!”

Disnetasia 1992

Disney hardly needs an introduction but let’s look into the history of Disneyland Paris. When The Little Duck was released in 2018, the amusement park had just celebrated its 25th anniversary. The European version of Disneyland had its ups and downs since it opened in 1992, with speculation in the early 2000s that it would go bankrupt. By 2022, its 30th anniversary, Disneyland Paris was the most-visited theme park in Europe – yet it has still faced financial uncertainty. In 2014, the Walt Disney Company had to issue a €1 billion bailout as the park faced mounting debts. The park needs at least 15 million visitors every year to make it sustainable, yet in some years it fell short of this goal and in others it barely scraped by.

Part of the park’s initial failure was its uncertain branding. Was it an American theme park in Europe? Would it emulate European or French culture? Before it opened, a notable theatre director, Ariane Mnouchkine, warned that EuroDisney would be akin to a “cultural Chernobyl” and the official opening was marred by protests. In the first nine weeks, almost 10 percent of staff quit. In its first year, the park recorded a $300 million loss and a $920 million loss in 1993. It didn’t turn a profit, small as it was, until 1995. To some, the park seemed doomed.

The Wise Little Disney

From this rocky start, the situation slowly improved for Disneyland Paris but its branding remained an issue. Within the first seventeen years of operation, the park changed its name five times; originally it was called the Euro Disney Resort.

Every expectation the Walt Disney Company had for the park was proved wrong, from the demand for hotel rooms, European cuisine and alcohol, to the duration of guests’ stay at the park. The name was another example of this. For American customers, Euro sounded exotic but in Europe the word was associated with currency and business.

Attendance increased after changing the park’s name and altering some aspects of the experience, but its finances remained shaky. It wasn’t until 2019, that Disneyland Paris recorded its first annual profit in eleven years. Incidentally, the year before, it ran a new advert promoting the park.

Produced by BETC, The Little Duck notably launched a new slogan for the park: Where Magic Gets Real. Described as a short film rather than an advert its accompanying press release stated:

"This film represents an evolution of the brand's communication, moving towards the sort of universal storytelling that the Disney brand embodies. The epic saga, blending together love, humour and courage, is aimed at all of those—big and small—who grew up with a Disney idol whom they still wish to meet one day. Because at Disneyland Paris, magic is for real." 

Duck, Duck, Disney, Goosebumps

The Little Duck received over 4.1 million views on YouTube and was broadcast across Europe in 2018. The following year was the first that Disneyland Paris turned a profit in eleven years. 2018 was also the first year Disneyland Paris exceeded 15 million visitors in several years, although this boom was inspired by 25th Anniversary celebrations.

The impact of The Little Duck cannot be understated, however, and greatly contributed to the park’s present branding. But why did The Little Duck become such a big hit?

Natural Nostalgia

The advert’s main character bears striking resemblance to The Ugly Duckling, which Disney had adapted as a short, animated film in 1939 for its Silly Symphonies series (The Ugly Duckling was the last in the series). The duckling in The Little Duck is white, unlike the typical pale yellow of a real duckling – just like the character in The Ugly Duckling. Even for audiences unfamiliar with the Disney adaptation, the fairy-tale is well known in European culture as it was originally created by Hans Christian Anderson.

Included in the video is the character mascot of Donald Duck from the park, which visitors to any Walt Disney theme park will be familiar with hugging, as well as several pages from Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. The magazine ran from 1940 and had a significant readership as one of the best-selling comic books of all time.

Nostalgia might seem like an odd trait to factor into a theme park advert, since the primary demographic targeted is children. However, when you consider the age of their parents these nostalgic tributes are a perfect way to tap into their childhood memories and encourage a trip to the place that made them: a Disney theme park.

Colourful Character

Mickey Mouse, as the principal Disney character, usually takes the lead in Disney adverts. The Little Duck, however, keeps the spotlight on another classic Disney character: Donald Duck. By breaking away from the expectation that Mickey Mouse will appear in the advert, The Little Duck became more memorable.

It also creates a distinction between the Mickey Mouse adverts that promote the American Disney theme parks, and this advert for Disneyland Paris. One of the park’s biggest issues in its early branding was how the European version differed from its American counterparts. The park replicated many successful aspects of Disneyland California and Disneyworld Florida, but failed to carve out a European image for itself. Common practices in America, like prohibiting the sale of alcohol within the park, proved unpopular in Europe. The food options were primarily American, which meant non-European visitors couldn’t sample different cuisine styles.

The brand needed to put a border between itself and American Disney; ideas could be exchanged but they should have a separate identity. Something The Little Duck accomplished when it chose Donald Duck over Mickey Mouse.

Enduring Emotion

Like Donald Duck, the duckling in the advert is anthropomorphised to create an emotional connection between the character and audience. While the duckling doesn’t talk (barring the odd quack and chirp) or wear clothes like Donald Duck, music and expressions are used to convey its hope, its sadness and its joy. The lack of a talking character or narration, of course, also makes it easier for the advert to be shown across multiple European countries; the continent was the focus for this marketing campaign despite the popularity of the park amongst North American and Asian tourists.

Before the advert was released, the character was promoted on Disneyland Paris’ Twitter account through a series of missing-style posters. That got people keeping an eye out for their adorable main character even before it graced TV screens.

Content Worth Gold

What do you think? What made The Little Duck so successful? Watch the full advert below and let us know in the comments.

Get in touch with the Squideo team today to find out how we can improve your advertising strategy with video production, motion graphics, social media management and much more!

[hotelraymond3]

Hotel in Truskavets

I am anna. I live in Truskavets, Ukraine. I have been working at the Raymond Hotel https://raymond-hotel.com/ for 6 years as a hotel room reservation manager. I'm interested in talking and learning about various topics. I am especially interested in topics like hospitality, health and fitness, relationships, finance, family, and travel. Please add me on skype: anna.fox. i will be waiting for you!

You say that you live in Truskavets, which is a picturesque resort town famous for its mineral water. Usually, tourists from Poland or Europe come to you because of the Naftusya mineral water. My dear reader, this should be quite a good collection for you. You can now go to the last page, as you did not find the answer to your question. Hope you have enjoyed the read :) A: Here it comes: The first 10 numbers of the day. We have: 10, 14, 18, 21, 22, 26, 29, 31, 35, 41, 45, 46 so there are 4 days missing.

The missing numbers are: 6, 23, 27, 45, 47 (the day number). The first two are: There is an English translation of this: "To those of you who know Latin, this verse translates as 'When the wolf's teeth are seen, the flocks will be safe'." The next two translate: "The most interesting man in the world" and "The most important thing in the world". 

[hxbrkrj]

Hex breaker

Jealousy and envy from others can affect your life do you have any obstacles or difficulties with relationships health finance

Negative energy from others even if

unintentional can build although there is a possibility that somebody is sending you something intentionally as well as you might notice that you feel drained after being in large crowds or travel or transport

Contact me I can help you to cleanse these energies and protect against the evil eye

Based in Europe if you’re traveling I can come to your hotel although I do distance sessions contact me for information

[stormxpadme]

​Whumptober 2022 No. 5 - Running Out of Air

2002

"'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here' ... Yeah, no, forget it, I'm not going in there."

Marie took a few demonstrative steps from the tunnel Remy had chosen as an entry point for this little forbidden night trip to the famous city catacombs. Not even waist-high, dusty, the ground covered in dust and bones and other things she did not want to take a closer look at … Especially not after reading that charming warning inscribed in blood red letters onto the moldy stone tiles.

  Her overly adventurous boyfriend of course had no qualms of that kind. Switching on his headlight, he cowered down in front of the entrance, eyeing the not exactly appealing obstacles on the way to some allegedly far more interesting sights than the guided tours with excited anticipation. "Perfect. There's still some left since I was here last. We can take a couple of them home. Those sell for a fortune online. You ready, chère?" When Marie wordlessly pointed at the worrisome markings again, he threw his head back with a laugh and reached out his hand to her. "Come on. That's just some Halloween jump scare to keep grave robbers away."

  "And look how well it works," Marie commented dryly when Remy actually filled the huge backpack he'd brought with a couple of those skulls and other bones. "I'm not going. These are actual human remains, I'm not touching that. Besides, it's dark in there." She rolled her eyes dramatically when Remy straightened up again and turned on the strong lamp she was wearing on her own helmet personally. "Very cute. What if we get lost?"

  "Remy's got a map." Remy hooked the two of his fingers covered by his gloves around hers and pulled her downwards with him this time, gently enough to let go immediately if she should feel like putting up some real resistance instead of trying to only gather her courage for this whole madness still. It had sounded cool in the beginning, sure, something just as exciting as everything her partner had shown her in these beautiful weeks all across the most beautiful spots of Africa and Europe. But the lines between adrenaline and a couple of broken bones in Remy's case more often than not were alarmingly thin.

  Marie didn't give shit that what they doing here was illegal – half of what they were doing for a living in Westchester only worked because the X-Men saw certain laws more as guidelines. Wondering if certain security regulations regarding almost 200 miles of not exactly stable underground tunnels maybe existed for good reason was what put that restless flutter in her stomach. Not feeling like they were really well prepared for this trip didn't help. "You don't."

  "In here, oui." Her lover tapped his forehead with a free fingertip, still unimpressed. "Remy was in there a thousand times when he lived here. Well, 20 times, at least."

  "There could be animals in there." There were, definitely, and Marie wasn't usually squeamish about them. If she didn't happen to wade through hundreds of their nests, that was, without even being able to make out what it was, scurrying all over her skin.

  "They're more afraid of you than you are. And if we get ourselves really dirty tonight? Perfect excuse for a spa day tomorrow."

  "Ugh, fine." Somehow, that guy always knew how to tempt her. Resting for a couple of hours for a change instead of exploring nonstop, in that luxurious, exceptionally mutant-friendly little hotel right outside the city that Marie wasn't exactly sure how Remy had found or could finance but honestly couldn't care less … That sounded like a perfect idea to start saying goodbye to these wonderful weeks far from all duties, depression, and issues at home. Apart from a twinge of homesickness … Well, none of their teammates had said anything in their e-mails or occasional brief calls but Scott didn't exactly need to, to remind one of certain duties the others at Mutant High were quite alone with right now. No matter how much Remy and Marie had needed this time off after the shit show that had been the last two years, it was time to start adulting again. Maybe enjoying one or two more adventures before that wasn't the worst of ideas. It wasn't even that bad once they'd started crawling. The ground was surprisingly solid if you stayed on your knees and lower arms and kept your head up. Their lamps were strong enough to not run into any unpleasant surprises, and though Marie would of course never admit it out loud because that guy had enough of an ego already … Staring at her boyfriend's ass in tight jeans from up close for a couple of minutes or so wasn't exactly a punishment.

  The creepy shit started when they reached the almost entirely dark chamber behind that tunnel where what Remy had called the under-underground life was taking place. The walls were full of occult sprayed symbols wherever they shone their lights. In some corners, there were dozens of syringes happily rotting away. And from some room miles away Marie could swear she could hear an eerily off-key choir singing in Latin.

  "Charming. I'll give it an extra star on our travel blog for creativity. Can we go back now?"

  "Oh, but chère, we haven't even started yet." Remy enthusiastically waved her over to where he'd kicked a couple of rocks away from an even narrower-looking tunnel, steeply declining by the looks of it, meaning it was leading even deeper into the ground. "It's not far, promise," he assured at Marie's doubtful grimace. "This is where the good stuff starts. Dozens of unexplored passages. If we're lucky, we'll find something really valuable. It's safe, chère. Those walls are all stable."

  "You owe me a huge breakfast tomorrow." Shuddering, Marie followed her lover into that new pit too. It should probably worry her that this wasn't by far the weirdest or most dangerous thing she'd ever got up to since she'd mutated, and before even turning 20.

  They were almost through that second tunnel when it happened. One moment, they were busy digging their way through more remains and puffing away spider webs from their faces, coughing every now and then because the usually fairly breathable air in these tunnels seemed to weigh heavier on their lungs the deeper they went … In the next second, their ears were ringing from a huge bang and some bright light somewhere in their backs, the heat of flames following their path almost close enough to touch, followed by the ground shaking and crumbling around them.

  Remy, fortunately, had made it to the other end of the tunnel already and reacted with the lifelong trained instincts of a pickpocket, wrapping his arms around Marie's shoulders when she screamed out, freezing in confusion and shock for a moment, to pull her out of the passage with one harsh movement before the tunnel could collapse on her.

  "What the fuck?" She could hear her own voice a nuance too shrill and too loud in spite of the ringing in her ears when she'd caught her breath and scrambled to get up from where she'd come to lay so nice and soft on a certain muscular chest, which at least had spared her some bruises … But given they'd only just barely escaped death and their way back to the surface had just been blocked completely with a solid mixture of concrete and rock, that was only a small consolation. "What was that? Are they doing blastings down here? I thought you said the authorities don't know this area!"

  "They don't." Remy sat up with gritted teeth, his deeply tanned skin suddenly looking a whole lot paler in the headlight which probably wasn't just thanks to a thick layer of ash and dust, his hand rubbing over his side where he'd fallen onto some pointy piece of rock. "And they don't just blast something for fun down here. The city's underground is unstable enough. Whoever that was, that was private business."

  "But why?" Unfortunately, Marie had a feeling she already knew the answer and didn't like it one bit. Quickly searching the room they'd ended up in and finding that every single passage and tunnel leading away from it and towards a possible other exit had been blocked with massive barricades as well, wiped out the last doubts. That explained why the air down here was so bad … and would only get worse now with the last vent closed.

  "I think we pissed off a couple of people, chère." More than just a touch of bad conscience about persuading her to come here was marking Remy's suddenly very sharp, unusually somber expression. His red and black eyes kept on darting over the closed exits, his hands agitated fists by his sides.

  "Then we should give them a matching answer." Her own jaw working in irritation, Marie nodded down on the chest pocket of Remy's shirt where she always knew one of his deck of cards to be on him. With the help of her lover's kinetic powers, it shouldn't be much of an issue, to get back to the surface. And then they'd cut these assholes for good that they'd try to track down as a little side job for their boss on their holiday in the last few days.

  It had been only a vague trail; Scott hadn't even been sure they weren't chasing cold leads here in this city of romance and beauty of all places. It had rather been a suggestion to keep their eyes open for possible hideouts of these fanatic bastards who had taken one of their closest friends from them last year. Apparently, the boss man had once more proven good instincts.

  A sense of danger a little too accurate, maybe, as Remy's hesitative shake of his head made Marie realize. "Remy can't just start making holes in here, chère. I don't know what they did to the other tunnels and rooms, what's behind those barricades. And I don't like the look of that." He nodded upwards to the low ceiling that showed indeed a frighteningly deep crack or two. "Those weren't here when I saw this last. They're probably from that blast just now. I'd hate to add even more vibration to that blindly. One wrong explosion, and …" And. He didn't need to finish. The way he even started to forget to talk about himself in the third person occasionally and even more, the way his hand clenched around his thigh for a moment, the spot right below his loins where flesh met technology, said enough. Neither of them had made particularly good experiences with falling rocks.

  Marie closed her eyes for a moment and leaned back against one of the walls with crossed arms, trying her best not to let that slowly rising choke of panic in her throat take over. They'd been in worse dumpsters. They'd think of something. "Well, we won't have much time to sit around and make out if that's what you're suggesting."

  The shallow joke at least put half a grin back on her lover's beautiful broad lips. "It won't be long. Someone will come to find us."

  That sounded almost a little too certain for the fact that they hadn't even told anyone at home what they were up to, out of the not unjustified fear that Scott would personally have flown the Blackbird here immediately, arm temporarily out of commission or not, to drag them back to Westchester before they got any more stupid ideas. "No one's looking." Marie's confusion only grew when she turned her gaze towards her lover again, still busy rubbing the growing shivers of both the coldness down here and growing unease from her arms. She was pretty sure that was a blush on his high cheekbones. "What?"

  "This is the off-limits catacombs, chère. You never go off limits without backup." Remy grinned sheepishly, ducking his head when he told her in brief words about some old friend of his in the city he'd given their entry location and their estimated time of return to. Interesting. Apparently, living under the leadership of a walking rulebook and with a sharp-clawed male governess on their team, reminding Remy every now and then what would happen if he didn't look out for Marie properly, had started to take effect.

  Marie called herself stupid for her mistrust and annoyance earlier and gave her lover a grateful hug for his foresightedness. "What do you think, when will she come?"

  "Not entirely sure," he admitted, still remarkably contrite, burying his hand in her hair to pull her close to his shoulder when he felt her shake. "When she finds the barriers, she'll have to come back with a crew and tools. Midday tomorrow, probably, until they get to us."

  Marie wrapped her arms around his strong waist only tighter, clenching her teeth against the new wave of worry that tried to take hold of her. Not exactly fear yet; she'd faced far too many more dire situations for that since being part of that plenty fucked up team of freaks in Westchester. But the brief moment of hope had already turned into that uncomfortable tremor in her body again. ."We'll run out of air, Remy."

  "Down here, that doesn't happen that fast." It didn't sound entirely convinced, but he did his best to smile for her, gloved fingertips softly caressing her face, brushing back the dirtied strands of white that had slipped from her braid. "If we do get too much trouble breathing though, then I'll try the cards. Promise."

  With a reluctant growl, Marie sat down on the floor. That would hide at least that her knees were still a little unsteady. "Alright then. Still, no making out though. Pretty sure none of us had Formicophilia on their kink list."

  Remy didn't sit down, and he didn't even laugh at the stupid innuendo out of politeness. It looked untypically tense, the way he buried his hands in the pockets of his trench coat, biting his lip, then spitting out with a grimace because they'd both swallowed quite a bit of dust. "Look, I … I shouldn't have brought you …"

  "If you don't want me to ruin your other leg, you don't finish that sentence." Marie pinched the bridge of her nose with an exasperated sigh. One thing that these damn last two years really had robbed her of was her patience with needless feelings of guilt. "Because if you suddenly think I'm not old enough to make my own choices, they're not entirely wrong about you robbing the cradle with me, you know."

  "Just saying, sometimes you'd be making better ones without me." He joined her with an unnerved sigh only aimed at himself, for now without touching her because he knew that angry glistening in her eyes well enough after all these months.

  "Like what? Drinking, drugs, webcam porn? Because that's what I would get up to sooner or later if I didn't have you to give my life joy."

  This time, the blush was deeper and not that awkward anymore. "I'll make it up to you anyway."

  "One more day at Disneyland before we go home. Your bill." Remy's relieved smile, in spite of his not exactly exaggerated love for repeat performances, automatically had Marie smile back and reach for his hand, something she sometimes still actively needed to remind herself of, even with the necessary caution. She wanted him to feel, not only hear, that there was nothing he should be blaming himself for and that it hadn't just been an offhand remark but a solid plan – of course, they would get out of here. They hadn't made it back from fucking space just to choke on some bone particles now. For a while, they didn't talk much, because air was a precious resource to conserve right now. Only when they both were getting a little too tired for comfort from that growing dizziness in their limbs and heads, Marie forced herself to get up again, shake her arms and legs, and crack her neck a little to not allow such dangerous weakness. They still had time, she thought, though not as much as they'd hoped maybe … But if they'd slipped and actually gave in to exhaustion now, Remy's friend and her gang would only find two very messy bodies to retrieve tomorrow. And Marie wasn't even wearing a nice set of underwear for the mortician. "That girl … Was she your client?" she finally asked just to say something because Remy was still too quiet and still for her taste, and maybe also because she really was curious.

  Her lover's past had never been of any concern to her, neither his former jobs nor whom he'd done some aspects of them with, how and how often. But there was something in the way Remy had pronounced that woman's name earlier … A very soft, very gentle kind of tone without any mirth that he usually reserved for Marie’s own pet name. After a suspicious look into her eyes to make sure there was no threatening thunder on the horizon, Remy allowed that short but very amicable smile back on his lips. "No. I was hers." Oh. That made sense. He'd been young in that brief period when he'd lived here, but not too young not to be curious, and if Marie remembered the rare information bits about the not PG-rated part of Remy's street business right, that had been quite some time before he'd started that very special kind of information and power trade of his own. Marie couldn't help but wonder, from that slightly detached, wistful look in her lover's eyes, if that occasion with that woman he was obviously recalling there in his mind had been one of these sobering experiences that had later helped him take such a practical, no-nonsense approach to this job himself.

  "She meant more to you, didn't she?"

  "We were both living in the street at that time. Anyone you protect with your life and vice versa means something more to you." Remy had fumbled out his card deck at some point in the last few minutes and tapped two Queen of Hearts together in an unnervingly uneven rhythm, small pink sparks echoing through the heavier growing air.

  Marie sat back down in front of him this time, crossing her arms on his knees and resting her chin on it, feeling the tiny little vibrations in his left thigh from restlessly working artificial muscles without surprise. "I don't like it when you lie to me, LeBeau. Especially when there's no reason to."

  "I wish I wouldn't have bought her when we first met, that's all. I didn't know at the time but she wasn't in voluntarily." Remy gratefully nuzzled against Marie's hand when she softly rested it against his cheek, her sleeve tugged forward to protect him from the hurtful effects of her skin.

  "If she didn't tell you, it's not your fault."

  "You don't go home with people who don't really want to. It's the most important code in this line of work." A kind of aggression sounded through his bright voice now not only aimed at himself, that Marie didn't hear for the first time when it came to that subject. That Remy didn't regret how he'd made the kind of living he had wanted to have back then didn't mean he ignored how many in his former business weren't given that choice in the first place. Or how difficult it was, trying to change something about those conditions.

  As much as Marie understood how bad he must be feeling for unwillingly becoming one of those people actively supporting these kinds of schemes, there was something very important he was overlooking. "You're one of probably a thousand clients who actually care that deeply about consent, Remy. Does that not count for anything?"

  "I guess …" He let out a deep sigh and breathed one of these quick kisses to one of her bare fingertips that were harmless for him, thanking her for something that had always been just as natural for her as it was for him, talking about this part of his past with people he knew he could trust. "I just wish I would ever have apologized."

  "You know, for some things, it's never too late." Scooting close to her partner again, Marie gladly snuggled under his muscular arm around her shoulder and asked him to show her one of his tricks that she never remembered how to do. She only got around to messing it up two times before Remy suddenly dropped the rest of the cards and Marie let out quite an undignified shriek because on the floor right in front of them, a bright, huge disc of light appeared.

  Through it, the shapes of two young women emerged, one of which Marie at least knew from a couple of pictures in the X-Men network, not to mention from the similarities of that girl with the thick blonde bangs with a certain former Russian housemate of hers. "Yana? How …?"

  "Principal Summers called Piotr. When he told me, I phased here immediately." The teenager eyed them both from head to toe, apparently quite amused by their less than proper appearance, while the brunette by her side stayed silent, only regarding Remy with a small headshake and a roll of her big dark eyes that admittedly, he deserved today.

  "Excuse-moi, boss man did what?" Remy was already feeling high-spirited enough again to be extremely hurt in his pride about certain people not trusting him a lot.

  Illyana shrugged. "He had an eye on your coms. When the signals were gone, Piotr sent me to where they were on the radar last. Which is where we met. Your old mole buddy here had a pretty good idea where exactly to find you." She nodded at the young woman next to her. "So, what do you guys say? Wanna get out of here? Or were you just waiting for the right moment to propose, LeBeau?"

  "Not funny." That very interesting color was back on Remy's cheeks that had Marie make a mental note about checking his pockets for any suspicious boxes from jewelers tomorrow, just to be on the safe side, because sometimes, her insane Cajun came up with what was really the weirdest ideas. "Thanks, though. I owe you guys." Once Illyana had phased them all back out to the surface through another disk, into a quiet side alley, Remy hugged the two young women enthusiastically whereupon he definitely lingered a moment too long at the taller, petite shape of his old friend, keeping her close with his hand firmly placed on her shoulder before she could possibly flee back into the shadows as quickly as she had appeared. "Remy likes to pay his dues swiftly. You two like Disneyland?"

  It turned out, they all did.

*******************************************************************************

@whumptober | @whumptober-archive

[homomenhommes]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … February 10

Bill Tilden with a protégé

1893 – The American tennis player legend Bill Tilden was born on this date (d.1953). Born William Tatem Tilden II (often called "Big Bill"), he was an American tennis player who was the World No. 1 player for 7 years, the last time when he was 38 years old. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a wealthy family, he was a "Junior" at birth but changed his name to "II" when he was in his mid-20s.

Tilden was born into a wealthy Philadelphia family. He lost his semi-invalid mother when he was 15 and was sent a few houses away to live with a maiden aunt. The subsequent loss at 19 of his father and older brother marked him deeply. After several months of deep depression, and with encouragement from his aunt, tennis became his primary means of recovery.

According to his biographer Frank Deford, because of his early family losses Tilden spent all of his adult life attempting to create a father-son relationship with a long succession of ballboys and youthful tennis protégés, of whom Vinnie Richards was the most noted. In spite of his world-wide travels, Tilden lived at his aunt's house until 1941 when he was 48 years old. He had no sexual relationships with women at all and apparently very few sexual encounters with members of his own sex until he was well into his 40s and becoming increasingly effeminate in his mannerisms, particularly in the more liberal atmosphere of 1930s Europe.

Although Tilden almost never drank, he smoked heavily and disdained what today would be considered a healthy life style for an athlete; for most of his life his diet consisted of 3 enormous meals a day of steak and potatoes, with, perhaps, the occasional lamb chop.

Tilden was a champion player, one of the most influential persons in the history of tennis. He was also perhaps the most paradoxical figure in the history of any sport: a Gay man who almost single-handedly changed the image of tennis from that of a "sissy" country-club sport played only by rich white people in long white pants or ankle-length skirts to that of a major sport played by robust, world-class athletes. In the United States' sports-mad decade of the Roaring 20's Tilden was one of the five dominant figures of the "Golden Virgins of Sport", along with Babe Ruth, Howie Morenz, Red Grange, Bobby Jones, and Jack Dempsey. His subsequent arrests and convictions on charges of solicitation cast a shadow over his illustrious career.

Although Tilden had been born to wealth, and earned large sums of money, he spent it lavishly, keeping a suite at the Algonquin Hotel. Much of his income went towards financing Broadway shows that he wrote, produced, and starred in. The last part of his life was spent quietly and away from his family, occasionally participating in celebrity tennis matches. He died in Los Angeles, California. He was preparing to leave for the United States Professional Championship tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, when he fell dead of a stroke. Tilden was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1959.

1913 – On this date Charles Henri Ford was born (d.2002). Ford was an American novelist, poet, filmmaker, photographer, and collage artist best known for his brilliant editorship of the Surrealist magazine View in New York City in the 1940s, and as the partner of the artist Pavel Tchelitchew.

Born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, he dropped out of high school and by age 16 he had started his first magazine, Blues (subtitled "A Bisexual Bimonthly"). Not long after, he became part of Gertrude Stein's salon in Paris, where he met Natalie Barney, Man Ray, Kay Boyle, Janet Flanner, Peggy Guggenheim, Djuna Barnes and others of the American expatriate community in Montparnasse and Saint-Germain-des-Près. He went to Morocco in 1932 at the suggestion of Paul Bowles, and there he typed Djuna Barnes' just-completed novel, Nightwood (1936), for her.

With Parker Tyler, who would later become a highly respected film critic, he co-authored The Young and Evil (1933), an energetically experimental novel. The novel portrays a collection of young genderqueer artists as they write poems, have sex, move in and out of cheap rented rooms, and duck into the neighborhood's many speakeasies. The characters' gender and sexual identities are presented candidly; it was this candor which was reportedly the reason for its rejection by several American and British publishers. It was finally picked up by Obelisk Press in Paris.

Ford returned to New York City in 1934 and brought Pavel Tchelitchew (Ford's life partner until the latter's death in 1957) with him. Ford's circle at the time included Carl Van Vechten, Glenway Wescott, George Platt Lynes, Lincoln Kirstein, Orson Welles, George Balanchine, and E. E. Cummings.

In 1957, Tchelitchew died in Rome. Charles Henri Ford died, aged 89, in 2002.

1950 – A Pennsylvania court convicts a man of sodomy as an accessory before the fact for driving two teenagers to a friends house and watching them have sex.

1959 – John Berry iwas the United States Ambassador to Australia from 2013 to 2016. He previously was director of the United States Office of Personnel Management.

Berry was born in Montgomery County, Maryland. He completed degrees at the University of Maryland, College Park and Syracuse University and worked in local government and as a legislative aide in state government from 1982 to 1985. From 1985 to 1994, he worked as legislative director for U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer. He held posts in the U.S. Treasury Department, the Smithsonian Institution, and the U.S. Department of the Interior until 2000, and worked as director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Zoological Park until 2009, when he was nominated by President Barack Obama as director of the United States Office of Personnel Management. Berry took office after being confirmed by the United States Senate in April 2009.

In June 2013, President Obama nominated Berry to replace Jeff Bleich as US ambassador to Australia, the first openly gay U.S. ambassador to a G-20 nation. He was confirmed by unanimous consent of the US Senate in August 2013.

Australian media coverage of Berry's appointment was overwhelmingly positive with a video he posted to the US Embassy website being described as the "friendliest introduction video in diplomatic history" while Berry himself was described as "modest", with an "impressive record". Federal News Radio, in the US, reported that, "more than 200 people had posted responses" to the video, "most of which were warm and cordial".

On August 10, 2013, he married Curtis Yee, his partner for 17 years in Washington.

1974 – Ivri Lider is an Israeli pop star and part of the duo TYP, also known as The Young Professionals. He served as a judge on the first season of The X Factor Israel.

In October 2005 Lider received the "Male Singer of the Year" award from all the major national and local radio stations. He composed most of the soundtrack for the movie The Bubble, and sings the song "Loving That Man of Mine".

In 2008 Lider launched a new Hebrew album and announced an upcoming English album. The music video for his English-language song "Jesse" has received a lot of airtime on LOGO TV, and Out magazine recognized him as a member of the "Out 100" for 2007.

Lider is openly gay. In January 2002, Lider spoke openly about his sexual orientation in a cover-story interview to the daily newspaper Ma'ariv, which attracted a lot of attention. He later said, "On a personal level, I felt complete and happy with my life and who I am, and I didn't see any reason to not talk about it … Maybe I can influence people and help younger people that struggle – help them to be able to change their views, and stuff like that." Lider refused to be drawn into the debate about the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade. He did, however, accept a booking to play at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras' "Fair Day" in Camperdown, Australia on Sunday, 21 February 2010.

Lider is known for the soundracks of the movies

Yossi & Jagger (2002) – original score and theme song "Bo" (Let's)

Walk on Water (2004) – original score and theme song "Cinderella Rockafella" duet with Rita

The Bubble (2006) – original score, theme song "The Man I Love", "Birthday Cake", and ending credits song "Song to a Siren"

1976 – Andy Lipincott, a character in the comic Doonesbury becomes the first character in a major U.S. strip to come out

1984 – Brent Everett, born Dustin Germaine, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, is a Canadian gay pornographic actor and director. Since 2003, he has appeared in over 40 pornographic films for a variety of studios in the United States.

In his early work Brent was classified by studios as a twink; however, more recently he has become too muscular to comfortably fit in this term.

Everett has performed bareback (unprotected sex) in films for various studios (including his debut in Barebacking Across America for Tipo Sesso when he was 18 years old), but most of these were with his boyfriend at that time, Chase McKenzie, with whom he started his career in porn. (He also has participated in unprotected anal intercourse with other performers on occasion.) McKenzie had appeared in many films that prominently feature Everett as a cover model. In most appearances, Everett is a top in his videos but occasionally bottoms.

To further extend his career in porn, Everett opened his own subscription website in late 2004, offering video streams, image downloads, live web cam shows, and an online shop where he sells his used underwear. Live web cam shows are available for playback at a later date. In addition, he set up his own distribution company under the name of Triple X Studios for which he stars in and directs movies.

In September 2008, Everett made public his plans to marry fellow gay porn star Steve Pena in a ceremony to take place in San Diego, California, in October. The two were wed in a private ceremony on October 3, 2008.

In November 2017, Steve Pena announced via his Instagram that he and Brent would be separating. The two were known to be in an open relationship throughout their marriage.

1990 – Trevante Rhodes is an American actor. He won several accolades and achieved recognition in 2016 for his performance as Chiron in the Academy Award-winning film Moonlight. In his youth, he was an accomplished track and field sprinter, winning a gold medal at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in 2009.

Rhodes was born in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. His family moved to Little Elm, Texas when he was ten. At Little Elm High School, Rhodes played running back in an option offense with Cole Beasley at quarterback. Over his high school career, Rhodes earned four letters in both football and track and field, where he competed as a sprinter specializing in the 100 and 200 meter dash. As a junior, Rhodes finished second behind Whitney Prevost over both distances at the 2007 UIL Track and Field Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium. While his senior year was cut short by an ACL injury on the football field, he still earned an athletic scholarship in track and field to the University of Texas at Austin. He studied kinesiology.

Rhodes competed for the Texas Longhorns as a sprinter from 2008 to 2012. At the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Rhodes helped the U.S. squad to a gold medal in the 4×100 metres relay.

Rhodes rose to fame for his much praised performance in the 2016 film Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins, where he played the lead role of the adult Chiron. While talking about the movie in an interview with Out, Rhodes said: "Being a black person in America right now is shit, being a homosexual in America right now is shit, and being a black homosexual is the bottom for certain people. That's why I'm so excited for people to see Moonlight. I don't feel like there's a solution for our problems, but this movie might change people. That's why you do it — because you feel like you're doing something that matters. This is someone's story." The film has won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture – Drama and the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

2009 – On this date the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a suit in federal court on behalf of Yulee High School students Hannah Page , a freshman, and Jacob Brock, a junior. The lawsuit claims violations of the First Amendment and the Federal Equal Access Act. The act requires schools to grant access and recognition to a Gay-Straight Alliance and other groups if the school allows any extracurricular group to meet on campus, said ACLU attorney Robert F. Rosenwald. The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to allow the club to meet at Yulee High while the case makes it way to trial.

Page said the group just wants to meet like others do. "We just want the club so that straight and Gay kids can get together to talk about harassment and discrimination against Gay kids in an open environment. The school is discriminating against us and that's exactly the kind of thing we want to prevent," she said.

[jerrylewis-thekid]

From today and for a week, the 33rd edition of the Telethon Marathon will be held in Italy on all Rai networks (the Italian state television network).

This is the site of "Telethon Italia Foundation" https://www.telethon.it/

This is the related Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Telethon.Italia

I copy an article dating back to 2004 which talks about Jerry in Italy:

Jerry Lewis and Susanna Agnelli under the sign of Telethon Private conversation this morning on the occasion of the great actor's visit to Rome, who will shoot some commercials in the United States in favor of the Telethon Foundation.

He with his usual verve, dressed in a tracksuit, she is very elegant and friendly: Jerry Lewis, father of the most famous television marathon in the world, and Susanna Agnelli, promoter of the Italian Telethon, met today in Rome as a sign of their common commitment for Telethon. A meeting between characters with many affinities and with the same goal which, at different times, has seen them take the field themselves to contribute to the fight against genetic diseases, starting initially from muscular dystrophy to arrive, as in the case of our country, to those rarer and unknown to the public until a few years ago. The private conversation, held at the Grand Hotel St. Regis in the capital, was also an opportunity for Mrs. Agnelli and Jerry Lewis to discuss the long history of Telethon, its successes with both the public and scientific results, the prospects for further growth and on the differences that characterize the television marathon invented by the great American actor in the various countries. In Europe, after France, the Italian Telethon is the second most efficient in raising funds and is highly appreciated by the international scientific community for the quality and quantity of the discoveries obtained with its funding for research on genetic diseases of hereditary origin.

Jerry Lewis reiterated his appreciation for the important results, well known to him, obtained by the Telethon Foundation in its 14 years of life. As confirmation of his trust, the popular American comedian declared that he wanted to record some commercials in his television studios in favor of the 2004 Italian Telethon. Mrs. Agnelli thanked him and stated: "I limited myself to emulating a model of great efficiency, adapting it to the Italian spirit". Jerry Lewis wanted to conclude by defining the Italians "The most lovable people in Europe". The Telethon (Television Marathon) was born in the United States in 1966, on the initiative of Jerry Lewis, with the aim of raising funds to start research on musical dystrophy, a rather widespread disease with causes that were almost unknown at the time. The success of the broadcast, both in financial terms and in terms of audience, then prompted the French Association against Dystrophies (AFM) to repeat the experience in France starting in 1987 and with equal success. In 1990 the AFM granted the availability of the Telethon brand for Italy to a Promoting Committee, chaired by Susanna Agnelli, born under the aegis of the Italian Union for the Fight against Muscular Dystrophy (UILDM).

The first solidarity marathon of Italian television, conducted on the RAI networks, also met with great public approval. In February 1991, the first call for tenders was issued to finance research projects on muscular dystrophies. Since 1992, the Telethon Promoting Committee, with a change to its statute, has opened the doors to research on all genetic diseases of hereditary origin. The Telethon Foundation was born in 1995, as an entity dedicated exclusively to the management of Telethon's research initiatives, to which as much as 80% of the funds raised are destined. Four Telethon research institutes have been created: the TIGEM, Institute which deals with genetics and medicine, the HSR-TIGET which operates in the field of gene therapy, the Tecnothon, a laboratory for the creation of prototypes of aids for the disabled, and the Istituto Telethon Dulbecco, born to offer job opportunities, also favoring their return from abroad, to young researchers of excellence. Since 6 May 1998, in compliance with law 460/97 on the tax regime of non-profit organizations (non-profit organizations of social utility), the Telethon Promoting Committee has changed its statute, changing the company name to "Comitato Telethon Fondazione Onlus". Since 1999, the Telethon Foundation ONLUS Committee has been awarded the High Patronage of the President of the Republic. @jerrylevitch @starryyide @prolen @pleiades974 @kingdc2017

@jerrylewischildstar @mytr3asurebox @potc4life @lovejl12 @make-a-little-mischief @una-mente-en-paz-con-todo @lillybetts

[naturalrights-retard]

The transition to remote and hybrid work will drive U.S. office vacancies 55 percent above pre-COVID levels and leave 1.1 billion square feet of office space unused by 2030, according to a new study by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

About 330 million square feet will fall vacant because of the new work pattern. Another 740 million will sit empty because the buildings are aging, lack key amenities, or need “significant upgrades” to refurbish or repurpose them, the study said.

Pledge your support

About 25 percent of U.S. office space has become “undesirable,” while another 60 percent risks obsolescence without major investment, the firm warned.

Rising interest rates are making it much harder, and in many cases impossible, to finance upgrades that would make older buildings competitive with new ones as tenants seek the most alluring spaces at the cheapest rates.

Share

“Obsolescence is the word of the day right now,” Cushman president Andrew McDonald said in comments quoted by the Financial Times, adding that the U.S. office real estate market has reached “an inflection point.”

Only a third of office leases due to expire between 2020 and 2030 have run out. That means landlords likely will see a steady wave of tenants cutting back their space or leaving for more attractive buildings or better lease terms.

“The trend is downward, but the magnitude of the shift is still in flux,” Cushman’s chief economist Kevin Thorpe said in comments quoted by the FT.The sun rises over downtown Los Angeles.

One measure of the magnitude: “Friday [in the office] is dead forever” and “Monday is touch and go,” Steven Roth, president of the Vornado Realty Trust, said in an earnings call earlier this month.

Vornado’s plan to build several new office towers around Penn Station in Manhattan is now “almost impossible” to finance, Roth admitted.

While the U.S. is the chief victim of the office building bust so far, it is also underway in Asia and Europe, Cushman’s report noted.

TRENDPOST: We have long detailed the implosion of the office real estate industry in a series of reports, including:

● “Commercial Real Estate in a Tailspin” (20 Oct 2020)

● “Deloitte Abandons More London Office Space” (26 Apr 2022)

● “GM Softens Back-to-the-Office Requirement After Worker Backlash”(4 Oct 2022)

● “Business Office Bust Begins to Bite” (20 Dec 2022)

● “New York City’s Workforce Sharply Shrinking” (24 Jan 2023)

● “Office Occupancy Half of What It Used to Be” (7 Feb 2023)

TREND FORECAST: As we forecast in our Top Trend for 2023 (3 Jan 2023) this next phase in the office building bust, the office property crisis is accelerating as landlords face stiffer competition to get and keep tenants, wrangle with local governments to try to minimize their tax assessments, and see their margins shrink—many to the point of disappearing.

And for many with adjustable rate mortgages, the higher interest rates rise, the more they have to pay on their loans.

To survive, many landlords will let go of older buildings needing maintenance or repairs, either offering them at fire-sale prices or handing the keys back to lenders.

Property owners will consolidate, those having deep pockets or access to cash buying up others for cheap.

As property values are reassessed downward, cities will confront hard decisions about which workers and services to cut. 

And as for converting offices into residential apartments and/or condominiums, as we have noted in previous issues of The Trends Journal, thousands of office buildings, especially older ones, across the U.S., are not eligible for that kind of salvation for reasons we explained in “Plan to Turn New York’s Vacant Hotels To Housing Not Working” (5 Apr 2022) and “Wall Street, Dead Street. Office Buildings Going Condo” (28 Jun 2022).

OFFICE TOWER OWNER DEFAULTS ON $1.7 BILLION IN MORTGAGES

Columbia Property Trust, a division of private equity giant Pacific Investment Management, has defaulted on $1.7 billion worth of mortgages on seven office towers in Boston, Jersey City, New York, and San Francisco.

The mortgages carried adjustable interest rates, causing monthly payments to skyrocket through 2022 as the U.S. Federal Reserve steadily raised its benchmark interest rate.

The seven buildings were appraised at $2.27 billion in 2021. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs made the original mortgage loans, totaling about $1.9 billion.

“We, like most office owners, are addressing the unique and unprecedented challenges currently facing our asset class and customer base,” Columbia spokesperson Justina Lombardo told Bloomberg. 

“We have engaged with our lenders on a restructuring…we look forward to a collaborative process yielding thoughtful solutions that reflect current market conditions,” she added.

Older office buildings that need to be refurbished to compete with newer digs with more amenities are in particular trouble, as current high interest rates make those investments impractical, as we reported in “Study: One Billion Square Feet of Office Space Will Be Empty by 2030” in this issue.

The value of those older, troubled properties has fallen an average of 20 percent since March 2020, real estate research firm Green Street noted.

TREND FORECAST: These defaults are another step along the office real estate industry’s downward path, following Brookfield Corp.’s default on $755 million worth of loans, which we detailed in “Top Private Equity Firm Defaults on Two Office Tower Loans” (21 Feb 2023).

As we wrote then, these defaults are harbingers of the mounting crisis facing landlords that we explained in our Top Trend 2023 (3 Jan 2023) forecast of this next phase in the office building bust: owners of older buildings needing maintenance and repairs will increasingly dump their properties for rock-bottom prices or simply default.

Owners lucky enough to hold newer, more desirable properties still will have to compete for tenants by offering free months’ rent, free redecoration, and other perks.

The office real estate business will recede to become a niche in real estate investing, not the cornerstone it has been for the last century.

CORNER BAKERY RESTAURANT CHAIN GOES BUST

The Corner Bakery, a chain of casual dining spots with 140 locations across 20 U.S. states, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week after a lender threatened to foreclose.

The 31-year-old company blamed the office building bust, one of our Top Trends for 2023, for its failure. Its restaurants derived much of their revenue from commuters stopping in for breakfast and lunch, it said.

Sales crashed during the COVID War and never recovered after the work-from-home trend became permanent.

The chain also has been beset by higher wages to recruit and keep workers, rising costs for foods, and landlords who ran out of patience after COVID-era federal relief funds dried up, company founder Jignesh Pandya said in comments cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Corner Bakery was negotiating with lenders to restructure a $20-million loan when the lenders sold the loan to SSCP Restaurant Investors LLC, which then halted negotiations and began foreclosure proceedings.

TRENDPOST: We are noting this company’s demise to mark yet another casualty of the office building bust and as a harbinger that the worst is yet to come.

The transition to remote and hybrid work will drive U.S. office vacancies 55 percent above pre-COVID levels and leave 1.1 billion square feet of office space unused by 2030, according to a new study by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

About 330 million square feet will fall vacant because of the new work pattern. Another 740 million will sit empty because the buildings are aging, lack key amenities, or need “significant upgrades” to refurbish or repurpose them, the study said.

Pledge your support

About 25 percent of U.S. office space has become “undesirable,” while another 60 percent risks obsolescence without major investment, the firm warned.

Rising interest rates are making it much harder, and in many cases impossible, to finance upgrades that would make older buildings competitive with new ones as tenants seek the most alluring spaces at the cheapest rates.

Share

“Obsolescence is the word of the day right now,” Cushman president Andrew McDonald said in comments quoted by the Financial Times, adding that the U.S. office real estate market has reached “an inflection point.”

Only a third of office leases due to expire between 2020 and 2030 have run out. That means landlords likely will see a steady wave of tenants cutting back their space or leaving for more attractive buildings or better lease terms.

“The trend is downward, but the magnitude of the shift is still in flux,” Cushman’s chief economist Kevin Thorpe said in comments quoted by the FT.The sun rises over downtown Los Angeles.

One measure of the magnitude: “Friday [in the office] is dead forever” and “Monday is touch and go,” Steven Roth, president of the Vornado Realty Trust, said in an earnings call earlier this month.

Vornado’s plan to build several new office towers around Penn Station in Manhattan is now “almost impossible” to finance, Roth admitted.

While the U.S. is the chief victim of the office building bust so far, it is also underway in Asia and Europe, Cushman’s report noted.

TRENDPOST: We have long detailed the implosion of the office real estate industry in a series of reports, including:

● “Commercial Real Estate in a Tailspin” (20 Oct 2020)

● “Deloitte Abandons More London Office Space” (26 Apr 2022)

● “GM Softens Back-to-the-Office Requirement After Worker Backlash”(4 Oct 2022)

● “Business Office Bust Begins to Bite” (20 Dec 2022)

● “New York City’s Workforce Sharply Shrinking” (24 Jan 2023)

● “Office Occupancy Half of What It Used to Be” (7 Feb 2023)

TREND FORECAST: As we forecast in our Top Trend for 2023 (3 Jan 2023) this next phase in the office building bust, the office property crisis is accelerating as landlords face stiffer competition to get and keep tenants, wrangle with local governments to try to minimize their tax assessments, and see their margins shrink—many to the point of disappearing.

And for many with adjustable rate mortgages, the higher interest rates rise, the more they have to pay on their loans.

To survive, many landlords will let go of older buildings needing maintenance or repairs, either offering them at fire-sale prices or handing the keys back to lenders.

Property owners will consolidate, those having deep pockets or access to cash buying up others for cheap.

As property values are reassessed downward, cities will confront hard decisions about which workers and services to cut. 

And as for converting offices into residential apartments and/or condominiums, as we have noted in previous issues of The Trends Journal, thousands of office buildings, especially older ones, across the U.S., are not eligible for that kind of salvation for reasons we explained in “Plan to Turn New York’s Vacant Hotels To Housing Not Working” (5 Apr 2022) and “Wall Street, Dead Street. Office Buildings Going Condo” (28 Jun 2022).

OFFICE TOWER OWNER DEFAULTS ON $1.7 BILLION IN MORTGAGES

Columbia Property Trust, a division of private equity giant Pacific Investment Management, has defaulted on $1.7 billion worth of mortgages on seven office towers in Boston, Jersey City, New York, and San Francisco.

The mortgages carried adjustable interest rates, causing monthly payments to skyrocket through 2022 as the U.S. Federal Reserve steadily raised its benchmark interest rate.

The seven buildings were appraised at $2.27 billion in 2021. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs made the original mortgage loans, totaling about $1.9 billion.

“We, like most office owners, are addressing the unique and unprecedented challenges currently facing our asset class and customer base,” Columbia spokesperson Justina Lombardo told Bloomberg. 

“We have engaged with our lenders on a restructuring…we look forward to a collaborative process yielding thoughtful solutions that reflect current market conditions,” she added.

Older office buildings that need to be refurbished to compete with newer digs with more amenities are in particular trouble, as current high interest rates make those investments impractical, as we reported in “Study: One Billion Square Feet of Office Space Will Be Empty by 2030” in this issue.

The value of those older, troubled properties has fallen an average of 20 percent since March 2020, real estate research firm Green Street noted.

TREND FORECAST: These defaults are another step along the office real estate industry’s downward path, following Brookfield Corp.’s default on $755 million worth of loans, which we detailed in “Top Private Equity Firm Defaults on Two Office Tower Loans” (21 Feb 2023).

As we wrote then, these defaults are harbingers of the mounting crisis facing landlords that we explained in our Top Trend 2023 (3 Jan 2023) forecast of this next phase in the office building bust: owners of older buildings needing maintenance and repairs will increasingly dump their properties for rock-bottom prices or simply default.

Owners lucky enough to hold newer, more desirable properties still will have to compete for tenants by offering free months’ rent, free redecoration, and other perks.

The office real estate business will recede to become a niche in real estate investing, not the cornerstone it has been for the last century.

CORNER BAKERY RESTAURANT CHAIN GOES BUST

The Corner Bakery, a chain of casual dining spots with 140 locations across 20 U.S. states, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week after a lender threatened to foreclose.

The 31-year-old company blamed the office building bust, one of our Top Trends for 2023, for its failure. Its restaurants derived much of their revenue from commuters stopping in for breakfast and lunch, it said.

Sales crashed during the COVID War and never recovered after the work-from-home trend became permanent.

The chain also has been beset by higher wages to recruit and keep workers, rising costs for foods, and landlords who ran out of patience after COVID-era federal relief funds dried up, company founder Jignesh Pandya said in comments cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Corner Bakery was negotiating with lenders to restructure a $20-million loan when the lenders sold the loan to SSCP Restaurant Investors LLC, which then halted negotiations and began foreclosure proceedings.

TRENDPOST: We are noting this company’s demise to mark yet another casualty of the office building bust and as a harbinger that the worst is yet to come.

[christianlanden]

KSL and Luis Contreras acquire Sereno Hotels (IT)

Cheyne Capital (Cheyne) completed a cross-jurisdiction senior secured facility to a Joint Venture between KSL Capital Partners (KSL) and entrepreneur Luis Contreras. The loan, provided by funds managed and advised by Cheyne Capital, will be used to finance the acquisition of Sereno Hotels to support the expansion of the Sereno Hotels platform. Sereno Hotels develops, owns and operates the award-winning, ultra-luxury hotel Il Sereno on Lake Como, Italy, as well as its sister resort, Le Sereno, on the island of St Barthelemy, France.

Raphael Smadja, Head of France and Co-Head of Europe at Cheyne Real Estate stated: “We are pleased to expand our partnership with the KSL team and to support their strategy to develop high-end luxury leisure destinations, following our financing for Beaumier, the pan-European luxury boutique hotel group and another KSL portfolio company, successfully closing in 2022. Recent market performance confirms both the resilience and growth potential of the luxury hotel market in Europe and validates Cheyne’s investment thesis to finance well-funded hotels managed by a strong operator, located in prime leisure markets.” 

Antoine-Julien Richard, Loan Originator at Cheyne Real Estate, added: “This second pan-European facility, spanning France and Italy, using regulated lending vehicles, demonstrates Cheyne’s ability to provide flexible and innovative financing. We are delighted to complete our third loan in Italy, where we continue to identify compelling lending opportunities, particularly in the hospitality sector, and we look forward to continuing to increase our presence in the region.”  

Martin Edsinger, Partner at KSL, concludes: “We believe in the continued growing relevance of the seasonal leisure hospitality space in Europe. Both Sereno Hotels as well as Beaumier represent two best-in-class branded platforms that allow us to capitalize on accretive acquisitions and repositionings in the luxury and ultra-luxury space. Cheyne has been a great partner as a one-stop debt financing solution for our platforms to continue to capitalize on growth across Europe.”

KSL was advised by Hogan Lovells, Deloitte and Monassier as notaries in France.

Cheyne was advised by Allen & Overy Paris and Milan (Caroline Delavet and Fabio Gregoris) as legal counsels and Étude Lasaygues as notaries in France (Francois Gauthier, Alexandre Baikalov, Morgan Chaix, Laura Pompe).

Image source Pexels.

[lindaboggers]

KSL and Luis Contreras acquire Sereno Hotels (IT)

Cheyne Capital (Cheyne) completed a cross-jurisdiction senior secured facility to a Joint Venture between KSL Capital Partners (KSL) and entrepreneur Luis Contreras. The loan, provided by funds managed and advised by Cheyne Capital, will be used to finance the acquisition of Sereno Hotels to support the expansion of the Sereno Hotels platform. Sereno Hotels develops, owns and operates the award-winning, ultra-luxury hotel Il Sereno on Lake Como, Italy, as well as its sister resort, Le Sereno, on the island of St Barthelemy, France.

Raphael Smadja, Head of France and Co-Head of Europe at Cheyne Real Estate stated: “We are pleased to expand our partnership with the KSL team and to support their strategy to develop high-end luxury leisure destinations, following our financing for Beaumier, the pan-European luxury boutique hotel group and another KSL portfolio company, successfully closing in 2022. Recent market performance confirms both the resilience and growth potential of the luxury hotel market in Europe and validates Cheyne’s investment thesis to finance well-funded hotels managed by a strong operator, located in prime leisure markets.” 

Antoine-Julien Richard, Loan Originator at Cheyne Real Estate, added: “This second pan-European facility, spanning France and Italy, using regulated lending vehicles, demonstrates Cheyne’s ability to provide flexible and innovative financing. We are delighted to complete our third loan in Italy, where we continue to identify compelling lending opportunities, particularly in the hospitality sector, and we look forward to continuing to increase our presence in the region.”  

Martin Edsinger, Partner at KSL, concludes: “We believe in the continued growing relevance of the seasonal leisure hospitality space in Europe. Both Sereno Hotels as well as Beaumier represent two best-in-class branded platforms that allow us to capitalize on accretive acquisitions and repositionings in the luxury and ultra-luxury space. Cheyne has been a great partner as a one-stop debt financing solution for our platforms to continue to capitalize on growth across Europe.”

KSL was advised by Hogan Lovells, Deloitte and Monassier as notaries in France.

Cheyne was advised by Allen & Overy Paris and Milan (Caroline Delavet and Fabio Gregoris) as legal counsels and Étude Lasaygues as notaries in France (Francois Gauthier, Alexandre Baikalov, Morgan Chaix, Laura Pompe).

Image source Pexels.

[georgeschuylerfinance]

KSL and Luis Contreras acquire Sereno Hotels (IT)

Cheyne Capital (Cheyne) completed a cross-jurisdiction senior secured facility to a Joint Venture between KSL Capital Partners (KSL) and entrepreneur Luis Contreras. The loan, provided by funds managed and advised by Cheyne Capital, will be used to finance the acquisition of Sereno Hotels to support the expansion of the Sereno Hotels platform. Sereno Hotels develops, owns and operates the award-winning, ultra-luxury hotel Il Sereno on Lake Como, Italy, as well as its sister resort, Le Sereno, on the island of St Barthelemy, France.

Raphael Smadja, Head of France and Co-Head of Europe at Cheyne Real Estate stated: “We are pleased to expand our partnership with the KSL team and to support their strategy to develop high-end luxury leisure destinations, following our financing for Beaumier, the pan-European luxury boutique hotel group and another KSL portfolio company, successfully closing in 2022. Recent market performance confirms both the resilience and growth potential of the luxury hotel market in Europe and validates Cheyne’s investment thesis to finance well-funded hotels managed by a strong operator, located in prime leisure markets.” 

Antoine-Julien Richard, Loan Originator at Cheyne Real Estate, added: “This second pan-European facility, spanning France and Italy, using regulated lending vehicles, demonstrates Cheyne’s ability to provide flexible and innovative financing. We are delighted to complete our third loan in Italy, where we continue to identify compelling lending opportunities, particularly in the hospitality sector, and we look forward to continuing to increase our presence in the region.”  

Martin Edsinger, Partner at KSL, concludes: “We believe in the continued growing relevance of the seasonal leisure hospitality space in Europe. Both Sereno Hotels as well as Beaumier represent two best-in-class branded platforms that allow us to capitalize on accretive acquisitions and repositionings in the luxury and ultra-luxury space. Cheyne has been a great partner as a one-stop debt financing solution for our platforms to continue to capitalize on growth across Europe.”

KSL was advised by Hogan Lovells, Deloitte and Monassier as notaries in France.

Cheyne was advised by Allen & Overy Paris and Milan (Caroline Delavet and Fabio Gregoris) as legal counsels and Étude Lasaygues as notaries in France (Francois Gauthier, Alexandre Baikalov, Morgan Chaix, Laura Pompe).

Image source Pexels.