#prayer circle for twitter artists and creators

[ionomycin]

The wizard and the dark knight

[merryfortune]

Beloved by Bronze

Written for 100ships Challenge on Dreamwidth 

Prompt #07 Bronze

Ship: Hilda/Marianne

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Word Count: 2,784

Rating: T

Warnings: No Warnings Apply

Tags:  Alternate Universe - Pygmalion & Galatea, Fairy Tales, Fluff, Minor or Implied Gaslighting (Hilda to Ignatz)

   Bronze was Hilda’s least favourite material to work with.

   It had so many steps to be used. It wasn’t just a mere assembly of smaller pieces, like with the clay beads she usually made to make jewellery, it was a lot more work than merely rubbing something down until it was tiny and firing it in a kiln. Or even just loosening fine steel to make intricate chain links so encoil into bracelets. It was so much more effort. Especially when the expectation was to create something huge, not just what Hilda usually made in her pursuit of jewellery.

    Bronze meant moulds and castings and sandblasting and fiddling around with wax which rarely smelt of honey. But it was all worth it in the end, Hilda had to admit, if only to get to the part of working with it that Hilda did like. That was the act of polishing.

   She enjoyed polishing across all her craft hobbies - and even some that didn’t involve craft. There was something about beautifying things, making them shine to their truest potential, that resonated with Hilda to the bottom of her soul. It was the only kind of hard work and effort that she liked to pour into things, rubbing them down with a rag, going as hard in with the elbow grease as possible. It worked up a sweat but the result even blew Hilda away and she was the artist.

   This particular project was no different in the regard that Hilda liked polishing it but it was exceptional in how she felt when she finished.

   She had been commissioned by the city to create a new statue to install close to the plaza. When she had first heard that, Hilda assumed that the city council representatives had meant for her to create bits and pieces to go towards a new statue, accessories for it, but no. They wanted her to make the whole statue and she had been ready to whip out a crate of marble but no, it had to be bronze since the fountain it was meant to adorn was slightly saline and marble had a weakness to salt. Hilda had tried to worm herself out of this commission but the time they gave her was generous and as was the offer that it could be a statue of whatever she pleased was enough to mute her.

   The only real condition was that she had to be finished by the time of the next Festival of the Goddess next year sans one day so there was time for the installation to go up. Hilda nodded and even though she had been initially reluctant, she did get to work almost immediately as her early process did require a few days of sloth for her to think.

   But if it was for the Goddess, Hilda did come upon an idea that she liked and thought would be well received by the cityship. Thus, Hilda toiled for months and months to create her statue. She drew up plans and concepts and once they solidified, she began to tinker with the wax moulds, dicing up her idea into more manageable pieces and soon enough, time began to fly for Hilda. She was nothing if not passionate about beauty and she was endeavouring to create the most beautiful woman to stand romantic watch over the plaza and fountain she was intended for. Someone who could take the breath away from any man, woman, or child and Hilda was certain she had succeeded.

   The famed jewellery maker of the city was now about to become a famed artist who would be remembered for eons by everyone, not just the select few who had bought her wares and retained them for future generations. Her name would be carved at the pedestal the statue was to be erected upon and that did excite Hilda somewhat. She had never considered herself fame hungry but it was a temptation none could resist. Especially when Hilda knew to be rightfully proud of her work.

   “You're done…” Hilda murmured to herself, starstruck, as she removed her cloth from the statue’s face.

   It was late in the afternoon, with an orange sunset filtering into the clutter and clamour of Hilda’s work studio and the light complemented the statue’s complexion immaculately. She - not it, but she - looked sublime. She looked better than Hilda could ever have imagined and she could hardly believe that this statue was the product of Hilda’s efforts and toiling. Now, she just needed a name and from thin air, Hilda managed to pluck one.

   “Marianne…” Hilda murmured. “Your name will be Marianne, my beloved.”

   Hilda took a step back from her creation and smiled softly. She, the statue, her dear Marianne stood with a delicate pose and small, gentle hands. Her lips slightly parted, perfect for a surprise kiss, and her eyes were wide, doe-like. Every hair upon her head looked realistic and came together with a braid at the back like a clothed crown of old. Her clothes were modest but elegant: frugal but timeless. Hilda felt the pace of her heartbeat quicken the more and more she admired her statue, poring over it, ensuring she was nothing less than perfection and finding no flaw even though her eyes were weary from the last of the polishing.

   There was no doubt this bronze statue could stand and stand for centuries at the plaza, she was sturdy and firm but Hilda’s swiftly beating heart wrenched. She swallowed. And she realised something. She didn’t want to give up this statue to the very city council who had paid for the materials and more for it. The very city council whose representatives would be here tomorrow to collect her from Hilda and she felt this streak of stubbornness flare.

   Hilda stepped closer to Marianne once more and Hilda had no doubt that were anyone to see her creation, they would feel the same. An attraction that was deep and enamouring. And so, anyone would do the same.

   Hilda put her hands atop of Marianne’s, cupping them slightly. The bronze was stiff, unhuman but Hilda minded not. She sighed before she kissed Marianne’s mouth. Her lips, too, were stiff but Hilda kissed passionately against her bronze lover regardless, savouring the fleeting warmth from being polished. She dearly recalled the hours that she had been put into Marianne and no wonder they had came so easily to Hilda, it was because they were expended in the name of love, not money or fame or anything else like that.

   The kiss was wonderful and Hilda was hesitant to pull away. Unfortunately, she had to breathe whereas Marianne had no such need to. Bronzed and in eternity as she was; the notion, Hilda mulled over as she pulled away, was bittersweet as that meant her lover could not fully feel at all.

   Something like regret clouded Hilda’s emotions. She was tired. Hungry. Had been working long hours as joyful as they had been, polishing the imperfections from Marianne and ensuring her beauty. She needed to get some sleep so Hilda left her studio with rue in her footsteps.

   She ate a sweet pastry by herself in her room, thinking about Marianne. The Festival to the Goddess was the day after tomorrow. On one hand, Hilda wanted to bask and praise, she wanted Marianne seen by all and appreciated for her beauty. On the other, the creation could only truly and purely be loved by the creator and Hilda did not want to relinquish Marianne to the masses who may see her as spectacle or novelty for a handful of times before just becoming part of the scenery of the city, nothing particularly special or extraordinary. The thought of that happening distressed Hilda so she offered a prayer.

   Hilda was not typically the type to pray, let alone as earnestly as she did in her room, over food and by her bed. She pleaded with the Mother Goddess for her love unto Marianne. For it to be made as precious as the very metals that Marianne was made of. She drifted off into a dreamless sleep, still with her hands clasped in prayer over her breast.

   In the morning, Hilda woke up and felt well rested. She almost felt as though the day before, completing Marianne and kissing her on that romantic, artistic impulse, had been a dream but Hilda knew her sleep to be empty of such imaginations. She took her plate from last night to her room, clandestine proof that yesterday had happened, and returned into the kitchen. Through the window of it, she glimpsed her studio.

   She wondered when Ignatz or whatever his name was and his posse of similarly downtrodden and mousy public servants would come. They usually arrived after lunch but they were so pesky with how bright eyed and bushy-tailed they could be. Completely unlike Hilda who had, she realised by the clockface on her kitchen wall quite idly, had slept to mid-morning once more. She sighed. It could even be sooner but ultimately, these were all rationalisations for her own whim to visit Marianne in her studio.

   She was still there, funnily enough. Still a statue; still as a statue. Hilda smiled as she circled Marianne. It hadn’t just been an illusion, her hard work had truly paid off and the gratification was immensely satisfying. Marianne was as perfect as a person could be. Or as perfect as a person could make.

   “Good morning, my love.” Hilda greeted her, stood in front of her, playful and even flirting. “I thought about you all night and yet… I slept so brilliantly.”

   Marianne smiled. She smiled the same smile that Hilda had sculpted onto her.

   “I hope you thought about me all night.” Hilda murmured and she invited herself to a kiss on that cue.

   Hilda kissed Marianne and she could swear that she could hear the saints singing at that but, more likely than not, it was just the sweet twittering of birds outside. Hilda sighed into the kiss and Marianne kissed back. Her lips were soft and supple. Hilda gasped and pulled back.

   “Marianne?” she exclaimed, eyes wide.

   Marianne’s head shifted and her expression, it turned bashful, “Yes, Hilda?” she asked. “Is, um, something the matter? D-Did I displease you, somehow.”

   “Displease me?” hilda echoed back and her hands flung out in joy. “Oh, Marianne, you could never.”

   Hilda kissed Marianne again. Wild and excited and giggly. She caressed Marianne’s cheeks as she kissed her and everything about her was soft and warm and human. She was hardly bronze at all. Marianne kissed her creator back: glad to be alive, even gladder still to be loved.

   “Oh, Marianne,” Hilda murmured, “how did this happen?”

   “We were blessed by the Goddess.” Marianne replied quietly and she touched back at Hilda’s face.

   She admired everything about Hilda, as though she were the work of art, not Marianne. Hilda didn’t mind at all. She marvelled at how Marianne touched her, explored her body and the sensation of touch at all. Marianne was ecstatic with this newfound freedom of her human body now freed of bronze.

   The newness of it all made them both giddy but somehow, they managed to retreat from the studio. There were so many more pleasures than just kissing and touching that Hilda wanted to show Marianne and she was eager to learn so they broke their first fast together, having an early lunch of sandwiches and pikelets, whatever either of them wanted and if Marianne could, she would want it all.

   Their feast and merrymaking, however, was eventually interrupted. Just as Hilda thought they would, in the early afternoon, the city council representatives came and it was the teeny-tiny, bespectacled one who led the horde. He smiled sheepishly at Hilda’s front door and she let him in, smiling mischievously to herself as she thought he would be all too easy to dupe.

   “It;s good to see you again, Miss Goneril,” he said as he politely shuffled through her kitchen, having visited numerous times before, he was aware of its attachment to Hilda’s art studio, “it’s been far too long since we’ve last seen each other.”

   “I’d say.” Hilda snickered as she opened up the door to the studio for him.

   Ignatz vibrated as he adjusted his glasses, “The day of the Festival is tomorrow and we’ve got all the preparations to unveil your sculpture tomorrow, we’re very excited.”

   “Yeah… about that…” Hilda murmured.

   Ignatz glanced, confused, at Hilda but his confusion only thickened as he glanced around her rustic workspace. Everything was in a clutter but there was a pattern to it, he noticed, it was clean enough without being minimal. Things had places, purposes, but what he could not find was the thing that should be most obvious of all.

   “Miss Goneril…” he began, concerned, turning his head to Hilda who toyed with a strand of her hair in seemingly absent thought but her pink eyes were vivid with a scheme, he could tell. “Where is the statue we commissioned? It should be finished, should it not?”

   “Yeah, I got bored and gave up.” Hilda shrugged. “Spent all your money and stuff, it was much more fun than working with that stupid bronze, ugh, it was so hard to use.”

   “Miss Goneril!” Ignatz exclaimed at the top his lungs whilst Hilda giggled devilishly to herself. “There will be repercussions for this, I can promise you that! Hearings, fines, returns. You will never get work again in this city for such a gross misuse of our resources and trust.”

   “Whatever you say, glasses.” Hilda shrugged.

   The door to the studio jangled and Ignatz could have jumped out of his skin. He watched with a slack jaw as the most beautiful young woman walked into the studio. She was slender and pure with hair of blue to rival that of the morning sky and eyes of a winter grey. Her demure presence would be enough to capture the attention of anyone, not just Ignatz. However, it was the bronze jewellery that she bedecked herself with that most caught Ignatz’s curiosity as such accessories were most certainly would have been made by Hilda.

   “Is everything alright, Hilda?” asked Marianne. “I thought I heard a commotion.”

   “It's alright, Ignatz was just scolding me for wasting governmental money but its no skin off my back.” Hildra shrugged.

   Marianne gave Hilda a solemn glare, it seemed she thought that was a bad idea as well. At least the pause in conversation gave Ignatz time to recover from seeing such a striking woman in a place - and time - like this.

   “Hello, ma’am, I don’t believe we’ve met before…” Ignatz said and he had the strangest inkling that he had seen her face somewhere before, stranger still, not in a person but perhaps in a drawing or in something else similarly arcane.

   “Ignatz, you rude little man,” Hilda scolded him now, hands on her hips, “this is my partner, we’ve been courting for about a year now.”

   “O-oh, my apologies.” Ignatz said and he decided now would be a good time to go before he further stuffed his foot in his mouth. He straightened up his coat and glared, rather ineffectually, at Hilda. “We will be sending you a very strongly worded letter quite soon, Miss Goneril,” he softened, “but I wish you the best between yourself and your beau.”

   Hilda smiled and she reached out for Marianne. Their hands entangled lovingly in one another with Hilda snuggling into the side of Marianne’s slender frame.

   “Thank you, Ignatz.” Hilda said. “For the well wishes, not the letter.”

   “Good day to you both.” Ignatz said firmly and with that, he left.

   However, Marianne still called out to him, “Have a lovely day, may the Goddess be with you.”

   Hilda chuckled to herself and she kissed Marianne’s knuckles. Marianne smiled and she felt her heart flutter. What a lovely yet peculiar sensation in her chest, she was eager for more of it. To know life beyond that of her origins as a cast of bronze.

   “I love you.” Marianna whispered.

   “I love you too.” Hilda replied to her.

   Hilda was still holding Marianne’s hands and she had marvellous hands as an artisan, Marianne thought. They were hands firmer than those of a statue;s but it further assured Marianne that she was in the company of a very capable woman to love and be loved by. Truly, by the Goddess, a mere statue could not be more blessed to have an artist as her lover and creator, Marianne found herself thinking as she kissed a grateful kiss onto Hilda’s loving mouth.

[930club]

GET FAMILIAR: Weeks of June 10 and June 17, 2019

COMING SOON: The Raconteurs

Release Title: Help Us Stranger (LP)

Release Date: Friday, June 21, 2019

What To Expect: There are very few people in the world who can play a guitar like The Raconteurs’ frontman Jack White. From his solo work to his years rocking out with The White Stripes, White has been a pioneering force in the space for decades now, and he has long been revered for his innovative tendencies. Add in a group of uber-talented bandmates in Brendan Benson (vocals, guitar), Jack Lawrence (bass, guitar), and Patrick Keeler (drums), and you get the rock ‘n’ roll superpower that is The Raconteurs. Formed in Detroit in 2005, the group came together “out of a song that Jack and Brendan wrote together in an unidentified attic: ‘Steady, As She Goes’” (MTV, 2006). The song quickly became a hit and propelled the group to the upper echelons of fame, but their increased success led to creative blocks and a hiatus that started in 2010. They spent the following years creating together when their schedules and psyches allowed for it as well as playing sporadically at festivals and one-off gigs.

After years of speculation on whether or not we’d ever get another Raconteurs album, the band finally released a new track in mid-May with the distorted and twangy “Help Me Stranger.” It features some vintage White guitar licks and an equally classic Raconteurs hook, with White singing:

“Help me, stranger Help me get it off my mind Get me back on my feet Brother, can you spare the time?”

It’s not nearly as heavy of a song as we’re used to from the group, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t rock as hard as any of the band’s previous offerings. It’s a bluesy track that features a multitude of backing instruments and expands on the group’s already uniquely experimental sound. They’re primed to make a statement with their next album. Check out Help Us Stranger when it comes out on Friday, June 21st.

Also make sure to catch The Raconteurs at The Anthem on Saturday, August 17th - this is one show you don’t want to miss, so grab your tickets ASAP!

WEBSITE ● FACEBOOK ● MUSIC

LOCAL LEGENDS: GoldLink

Release Title: Diaspora (LP)

Release Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2019

What To Expect: GoldLink has long been the DMV’s most mysterious and elusive artist, famously starting out his career as an anonymous entity before revealing his true identity after the release of his debut album, The God Complex. The remarkably versatile rapper has always been an enigma, but despite his overly-reserved public persona, the Maryland-native has never had an issue making music that resonates with the masses. His sound takes inspiration from an eclectic set of sources, and he makes music that makes you want to get up and MOVE. To fully understand the phenomena that is GoldLink, one should look no further than at the resounding success of his last full-length project, 2017’s At What Cost?, and it’s record-breaking lead single, “Crew.” The project has sold hundreds of thousands of copies to date and “Crew” is sitting at over 174 million streams and counting on Spotify alone - numbers that are hard to fathom considering his relative obscurity on the national scene prior to the release of the record.

Despite GoldLink dropping a steady stream of one-off singles and features since the debut of At What Cost?, his fans have been impatiently waiting on a new project for over two years now. Their prayers were answered when Link unleashed the Afrobeat-influenced “Zulu Screams” onto the world one unsuspecting Tuesday in early May. NPR called the song “a low-key, welcome return for the rapper's nimble flow, setting his sights outside of his hometown's go-go music,” and the song’s futuristic vibes are perfectly encapsulated in its Meji Alabi-directed visuals. The video makes for quite the viewing experience, introducing us to an apocalyptic world in which a holographic GoldLink can be seen gliding through a strobe-heavy warehouse party full of high-energy dance circles and some seemingly more nefarious activities. The song and its accompanying video have an entirely different feel from anything Link has put out to this point, and it serves as an exciting next step toward stardom for the otherworldly artist. Check out the rest of the young spitter’s upcoming album, Diaspora, when it hits shelves this Wednesday and catch GoldLink opening for Tyler, The Creator at Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 21st.

WEBSITE ● TWITTER ● FACEBOOK ● MUSIC

WILD CARD: Jean Deaux

Release Title: Empathy (EP)

Release Date: Friday, June 14, 2019

What To Expect: To put it simply, Jean Deaux is a soulful R&B savant. Whether she’s taking down a bass-heavy beat like on the Kari Faux assisted “Work 4 Me,” or laying down siren-esque harmonies on a sultry bassline like on her biggest hit yet in “Wikipedia,” Deaux does so with a confidence that can only be achieved by someone who is entirely sure of where they want to take their sound. The Chicago songstress is a true triple threat and is “known for her mastery of multiple genres and creative mediums—whether she's rapping, delivering dreamy vocals or producing her own visuals” (Forbes, 2019). 

Her first project, the Krash EP, dropped last year and was met with much critical acclaim. It’s full of animated production and thought-provoking lyrics, and it helped Deaux gain a strong following of dedicated fans. Her growing celebrity was certainly aided by the fact that she’s collaborated with high-caliber artists such as Saba and Smino, but these hip-hop heavyweights would never have given her the time of day in the first place if they didn’t recognize her massive talent and untapped potential. She’s on her way to the top and she’s doing it her way. Give Empathy a listen this Friday and see what Miss Deaux has in store.

WEBSITE ● TWITTER ● FACEBOOK ● MUSIC

- Matt Singer

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/technology/entertainment/broadway-stars-react-to-their-tony-nominations/

Broadway Stars React to Their Tony Nominations

When the Tony Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning, Heidi Schreck was in bed with her husband refreshing Twitter. Ali Stroker was with her husband as well, on the couch watching the broadcast on TV. Jeremy Pope was dancing with his mother. Then their days changed with the news that they were up for some of the top honors in Broadway theater. Here are edited excerpts from interviews with them and other nominees after they found out.

[‘Hadestown’ leads with 14 nominations.]

Ali Stroker

In Daniel Fish’s revival of “Oklahoma!,” a revelatory production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that received eight nominations, Ali Stroker plays Ado Annie with a smile and an insatiable appetite for life and love (or at least lust). She joyously darts and dances across the stage, and belts into a microphone as if she were at a karaoke bar. Even in the gloom of this staging, her exuberance is infectious — enough, it appears, to lasso a nod for best featured actress in a musical. She may well be the first actor who uses a wheelchair to ever be up for a Tony. JOSHUA BARONE

How are you feeling right now?

Amazing. I can feel my younger self so thrilled, and I feel so proud of this show and my work. And to be nominated with Mary Testa, who is such a mentor! Any questions I have, they go to Mary. She’s one of those Broadway legends; it’s just so special to work with her and be her friend.

How did you arrive at your Ado Annie?

When I first got to working on this production, it was so different from anything I had worked on before. When we first started rehearsing, we were just sitting, reading the script and hearing the words. I obviously grew up knowing “Oklahoma!” and doing it in college. But getting to look at Ado Annie in this new light, in a more modern take of a show — she’s so often judged, and I’ve worked hard not to judge her. Just listen to her anthem: She’s so hungry for life.

What message do you think your nomination sends?

It’s such a physical role, and my physical world is so specific to me. It’s so cool to share that with an audience every night. Being onstage, you’re given permission for people to really look at you and see how you move, how you express yourself. In so many ways, it’s empowering. It makes me feel really powerful to choose to put myself out there, to be the storyteller.

This show exists for people to see things different. And to be able to do this role — and to be an actress in a wheelchair — it feels like I have arrived.

[See the full list of nominees.]

Jeremy Pope

The tireless Jeremy Pope has had a virtually unfathomable debut season on Broadway. He starred in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “Choir Boy” and, with no break and even some overlap in rehearsals, jumped immediately into the musical “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.” And, as an emerging actor in his mid-20s, he has managed to receive Tony nominations for both shows: a nod for best leading actor in a play, and for best featured actor in a musical. JOSHUA BARONE

Where were you when you found out?

My mom came to town, and we were like, We’re just going to have breakfast and do our own thing. She’s been wanting to learn the Beyoncé “Before I Let Go” challenge, so I began helping her with that as we were watching the countdown for the nominations. We were out of breath, and of course best actor is the first category. I cried, and we FaceTimed my dad. I have two group texts going on — with my “Choir Boy” family and “Ain’t Too Proud.” Everyone’s going crazy.

But what did your mother do?

She was shocked and crying with me! I think as a mother you have to do this thing where you have to be O.K. with whatever happens. And she led me in prayer. But I felt this release for her as well.

The playwrights you worked with on these shows — Tarell Alvin McCraney and Dominique Morisseau — were also nominated. How does it feel to see these typically Off Broadway writers getting Tony recognition?

They’re like big bro and big sis to me, because they’re such giants. It’s always been about the work, but it is their Broadway debuts as well. And people are seeing them for the giants that they are. I feel like we’ve already won. Let it be a marker that we can tell these stories and dream the unimaginable.

Do you think this also signals something for black artists and audiences?

People are embracing these shows with love. And it’s a narrative they don’t always see, even if they don’t know why. Nothing is watered down about them: We are black, and we are unapologetically black. Hopefully the moneymakers see that these stories matter, how important they are. Take us for all that we are.

[What our critics think of the nominations.]

Caitlin Kinnunen

Caitlin Kinnunen is nominated for her work in “The Prom.” She plays Emma, a gay teenager confronting homophobia in her hometown with the unwelcome assistance of some attention-seeking New York actors. This is her first Tony nomination, in a category that includes Broadway titans like Beth Leavel, one of her co-stars, and Kelli O’Hara. ELIZABETH A. HARRIS

Where were you when you found out?

I’m at a hotel in Times Square. I decided to treat myself to a little staycation, because I just wanted to be in my own space and be able to process my feelings without roommates.

What did you do by yourself when you found out?

I sobbed! I really was not expecting it, at all. And I feel like people say that all the time, but I really was not expecting it! So I was just shocked and started sobbing, and then called my mom.

You’re a young woman, you’ve probably changed a lot since you were first cast.

Truly, my life has changed drastically in the last four and a half years. I feel like I’ve learned so much from this show and having this show be a part of my life for so long. Playing Emma has taught me so much about myself and about my own strength and my courage and my passions in general.

You’re in a category with some serious Broadway heavyweights. How does that feel?

It’s crazy! It’s full-circle and so cool because I’m nominated alongside Beth, and to be able to do the show with her every night is just incredible, and the fact that we’re both here and we’re both a part of this is special. And then also Kelli O’Hara, I played her daughter in the “Bridges of Madison County.” Now to be nominated alongside her, it’s like, wait, what? What is happening!

Emma is a lesbian character. Is there anything that strikes you about her in this moment?

She is unapologetically herself. She’s not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, and I think that’s really important in this world. I think her using her voice is incredible, and I feel like we all need to do that. We all need to use our voice for good and speak up for those who can’t use their voices. And I love that I get to portray that.

[The snubs and surprises of this year’s nominations.]

Heidi Schreck

With “What the Constitution Means to Me,” Heidi Schreck is making her Broadway debut — as both a playwright and an actress. She has been nominated for a Tony on both fronts, as the star and creator of this play that cleverly blends intimate history and civic engagement. JOSHUA BARONE

So here you are.

I will be frank: I’m in shock. It’s my Broadway debut, and this started downtown. It’s not the trajectory I expected.

This is personal, in a way. How does it feel to have found recognition with a work that’s so much about you?

I’m actually very moved that what began as such a personal kind of grappling with my own family history and the history of this country has evolved to reach so many people. And they have shared their own stories and their own feelings. I’ve found tremendous community.

How has your family responded to the show?

Most of them have come to see it. My mom has seen it several times. It’s been terrific for our relationship — in terms of candor, talking about things that happened in our family history with more openness.

Is this how you expected to make your Broadway debut?

No. I’ve been writing plays for years and acting in plays for years. This is the first time I’ve decided to appear in something of my own. And I certainly didn’t expect that a play this personal would be something that has such commercial appeal.

What do you think it means that your play is viable on Broadway?

We are in a moment in our culture when people are ready to have these larger conversations about gender and race in a public forum. I don’t know that five years ago, people would have been as ready for this. But the #MeToo movement has brought all of these conversations into the open. And I’m building on the work of artists like Anna Deavere Smith and Holly Hughes.

Alex Brightman

Alex Brightman was nominated for playing the brazenly frenetic title character in “Beetlejuice.” This is his second Tony nomination, and his second for a show based on a movie. He was nominated for a 2016 Tony for “School of Rock.” ELIZABETH A. HARRIS

You’ve been nominated before. What’s the impact of a Tony nomination?

A Tony nomination is amazing and validating and wonderful, but it’s also one of those nice insurance policies that mean you might be able to have a job again. I just like working. Every little bit helps!

The other impact is that it’s great for our show. I want to continue doing this show in particular. I want to do it until the wheels fall off. The more nominations a show gets, the more things you can put on a building — people see it, and they go, “Hey, we should see that show.” And that’s really good business for me!

How do you avoid shredding your voice in this role?

It took about a year to find the actual voice that felt not painful, and not unsustainable. That took a year. And then it took over the course of three full years working with a vocal pathologist, an ear, nose and throat doctor and my vocal coach to make 100,000-percent sure that what I was doing not only felt healthy, but was medically healthy. They’ve scoped me. They’ve felt my throat as I was doing everything. And everything I’m doing is completely checked off.

Any advice for first-time nominees?

My advice would be to really live in the moment. It’s very easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of it all, but to just remember, holy crap, I’m here because of this thing I did for free for so many years, and now I’m doing this for real and for a paycheck. And it’s just nice to be excited for yourself. We don’t get a lot of time to do that because we’re so busy trying to please others. I think that first-timers should take a moment and really raise their fists in the air and just celebrate themselves.

[tashyrasvoice]

Introducing...the NEW YOU!

The amazing thing about starting over, is that you can do it at ANY time. Starting over is not limited to your New Year’s Resolution, the incoming of your favorite season. Starting over is not limited to Mondays, the first of the month, or when the “time is right”. 

When we embark on the journey of starting over, or ‘NEW’ it actually begins long before we make the announcement to the world, and even before we ourselves acknowledge that something has indeed changed.  

The word ‘NEW’ has two definitions, in short: 

1) something unheard of, unknown, never discovered or in existence

2) something that exists but now being discovered; something that always was, but new to the individual that made the discovery 

I want to liken our journey of ‘NEW’ to both definitions. There is something new in us that God wants to reveal that has yet to be discovered, and certainly yet to be seen.  And, there is something new in us God wants to awaken that currently lays dormant. The Bible says:  

Isaiah 43:19 - New Living Translation

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

So, listen Linda...listen! THIS NEW THING that God has already begun doing in you is beyond your wildest imagination.  Its miracles, signs, and wonders. Its rivers in dry places, pathways in the darkest of wildernesses.  What I LOVE about this scripture and God’s declaration is that He says, “For I...” and He says, “See, I...” - in other words while we are trying to make grand and monumental shifts in our lives, God has already declared that HE will do the ‘new’ and HE has already begun to do so.  Our job is to first, know, trust, and believe His word, and apply what we say we believe in our actions and lives. 

How?? Welp, glad you asked...

You recall earlier when I said ‘new’ happens before we even acknowledge that change is taking place? Well, when we get to the place of acknowledgement - which often feels uncomfortable, confusing, uncertain, doubtful...you know...all the feels that are opposite of what we think a ‘new’ thing should look and feel like - embrace it. Know that it has arrived, and embrace it.  Our physical bodies and external influences and surroundings will begin to speak to the shift that has arrived, and is incoming.  We may cry uncontrollably one moment, and laugh at the next.  What was satisfying to our ‘appetites’ may no longer suffice. What was a priority to us, is no longer important. But, one thing is for certain...there is something on the inside of you that won’t let you sleep; won’t allow you to carry on with things as usual.  There is something inside of you that is screaming to come out; to have the opportunity to live and move, to perform and work on your behalf.  The spirit in you, the gift in you that God was kind enough to deposit into you before you were conceived, has yet to see the light of day - and at the rate it was designed to. 

So, that very thing that needs to be tapped into...is your GIFT to the world.  The download from God is what will take your life to the next level, your career across borders, and your net worth into higher brackets.  The download from God (your GIFT) is what will cause you to feel and live in satisfaction, service, and sobriety once the day is done.  It is this download that I, myself, fought, denied, and created a life absent of,  for most of my adult life...until a few years ago. I have and am continuing to embrace the ‘NEW ME’...and my prayer is that you embrace the ‘NEW YOU’. The Bible says

Jeremiah 1:5 New Living Translation (NLT):

5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.   Before you were born I set you apart   and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”’. 

The Lord’s declaration and the call for Jeremiah preceded his birth.  The words ‘knew’, ‘formed’, ‘ordained’, and ‘sanctified’ are verbs used in the past tense - as in there was a familiarity and a knowledge of Jeremiah and the prophet he would become BEFORE he was conceived. BEFORE. As it is with us. 

Not matter your GIFT - artist, singer, engineer, prophet, pastor, public speaker, creator, etc. - it was given to you in eternity, and then manifested in creation at the appointed time.  For me, I operated in my talents.  The abilities that I had that didn’t require much prayer, faith, or supplication.  I could (and still can) do them in my sleep.  LITERALLY from my bed.  Those are talents...what doesn’t take much effort or a faith walk.  BUT NOW, when it comes to this thing called the GIFT of God and the GIFT FROM GOD, now that, Beloved, requires a LIFESTYLE of intentional and conscious faith, fasting and praying.  

Often times, our gifts are what we are great in (not good, but great), but not necessarily comfortable in.  Our gifts take us out of what’s feasible and doable under our own control and auspice, and require God to fulfill and carry out.  You see, its easy for me to be a 15 year corporate, media, and entertainment PR professional because I’m telling other people’s stories through media, events, and partnerships.  However, when the flashing light was turned to me and I began to feel the uncomfortable tug to share my story of grace and overcoming, it stung.  Literally.  Despite what my career path says, my fashion sense, and creativity, I am naturally a private person, who like Mary the Mother of Jesus ‘keeps things close to my bosom’ - and I don’t let them go. LOL. That is...until my bosom was full...overflowing with what I had acquired in time, education, money invested, and experience.  So much so...when operating in the old way, I became frustrated, fatigued, and heavy-laden.  This in conjunction with a three (3) year financial and personal hardship, led to my ‘YES’, unequivocally. 

So, Sis, Bro...allow the ‘NEW’ thing to take shape IN YOU so that it can manifest OUT of you.  The ‘NEW ‘ thing requires you to surrender the old ways, old thinking, old habits, and even old circles of friends.  Allow the old to come up, and come out of you so that the ‘NEW YOU’ can overflow. It is at THAT time are you ‘living your best life!’

RECAP: 

1) NEW has two definitions; we’re embracing both of them. 

2) NEW happens in eternity, before being manifested in time - which means before we even know and acknowledge that something is happening, its happening. 

3) Once you recognized the ‘NEW’, embrace it and allow the perfect work of Christ to complete what He started. (Philippians 1:6)

4) The ‘NEW’ feeling, while in transition, will feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and doubtful.  Seek God, and friends who can pray you through the days of discomfort. You don’t have to labor in this thing alone. 

5) Know the difference between your ‘talent’ and your ‘gift’. Literally know the difference. Look up the definitions of the two, and apply them to your study. 

6) PRAY. FAST. PRAY. AND FAST. 

7) Be open to what your ‘new’ season looks like.  It doesn’t have to begin at the first of the month, first of the year, first day of the week - NEW begins with YOU.

8) Once or as you’re going through the process of ‘new’, and as you are compelled, share you story with others. We overcome by our testimonies. 

XOXO - 

Tashyra

“Empowerment + Action = Outcomes” - Tashyra

 Click >> @Tashyrasvoice and follow me on Instagram and Twitter!

[deniscollins]

A Campus Argument Goes Viral. Now the College Is Under Siege.

Evergreen State College has a Day of Absence tradition in which black people leave the campus to show what the place would be like without them. This year, organizers suggested the reverse: that white people who wanted to participate would leave while nonwhites stayed, and both groups would attend workshops to, as the email announcement put it, “explore issues of race, equity, allyship, inclusion and privilege.” Does the revised plan of whites leaving campus: (1) make sense as “a forceful call to consciousness,” or (2) “is a show of force, and an act of oppression in and of itself.” Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

It started with a suggestion that white students and professors leave campus for a day, a twist on a tradition of black students voluntarily doing the same.

A professor objected, and his argument with a loud and profane group of protesters outside his classroom soon rocketed across the internet.

On Friday, more than three weeks later, Evergreen State College had to hold its commencement 30 miles from campus, at a rented baseball stadium where everyone had to pass through metal detectors.

In between, Evergreen, a small public college in Olympia along the Puget Sound, found itself on the front line of the national discontent over race, speech and political disagreement, becoming a magnet for extremes on the left and the right.

After the dispute gained national exposure — amplified by the professor’s appearance on Fox News, his op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, and right-leaning websites’ heaping derision on their newest college target — the professor, Bret Weinstein, said he had to stay away from campus for his own safety and move his family into hiding.

Student protesters briefly occupied the president’s office to press their complaints of racism on campus. In one encounter, the president, George Bridges, was recorded meekly complying with a demand not to use hand gestures when he spoke because they were threatening.

The campus has received threats of violence via social media and calls to the county sheriff and 911 that forced administrators to lock down the campus for three weekdays in a row. The college had another lockdown on Thursday, as dozens of professed free-speech defenders tangled with anarchists who were waiting for them at Red Square, the campus plaza named for its red-brick walkways.

“I thought I’d be speaking from Red Square where graduation is traditionally held, and then as the alt-right backlash hit us, I wondered if we’d have graduation at all,” Anne Fischel, a documentary filmmaker and Evergreen professor, said in her commencement speech on Friday. “No one should see this graduation as a return to normalcy, to the way things were before. For one thing, the lives of some of our community members have been threatened, and they can’t be here today.”

Since the presidential election in November, colleges from Middlebury to Auburn to the University of California, Berkeley have become swept up in a running battle over free speech and politics.

But the conflict at Evergreen has been deeply distressing to many students and faculty members who see their college as a little utopia that has produced such creative alumni as Matt Groening, the creator of “The Simpsons,” and Macklemore, the hip-hop artist.

Students at Evergreen, founded in the progressive fervor of the 1960s, have no majors or grades and study in small groups, taking interdisciplinary classes where a marine biologist, for instance, might team up with a philosophy professor and a music professor.

“There is a tradition of trying to work things out,” said Ruth Hayes, a professor of animation. Referring to Professor Weinstein, she echoed the feelings of a number of her colleagues: “That he took this public I just feel like is a breach of trust.”

What also sets the Evergreen turmoil apart is that it began not with a controversy-courting guest speaker like Ann Coulter or Milo Yiannopoulos, but a Bernie Sanders-backing biology professor who has been a fixture at the college for 15 years.

The conflict stems from the college’s Day of Absence, a tradition in which black people leave the campus to show what the place would be like without them. This year, organizers suggested the reverse: that white people who wanted to participate would leave while nonwhites stayed, and both groups would attend workshops to, as the email announcement put it, “explore issues of race, equity, allyship, inclusion and privilege.”

In an email to his colleagues, Professor Weinstein, who is white, said that when black people decided to leave, it made sense as “a forceful call to consciousness.” But to ask white people to leave, he wrote, “is a show of force, and an act of oppression in and of itself.”

“I would encourage others to put phenotype aside and reject this new formulation,” he wrote.

What followed can be viewed by anyone with a smartphone: a protest outside his classroom in which students derided his “racist” opinions and called him “useless,” preceded by an expletive; his appearance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show; and scenes of students and professors arguing with other professors and their college president.

“Yes, they were rude,” the president, Mr. Bridges, said in an interview about the meeting in which he put down his hands. “What mattered was de-escalating the anger.”

And though students occupied his office for a couple of hours one afternoon, he said he never felt threatened.

“I was hired to be a change agent,” he said. His mission, he said, was to ask, “How do we address the equity gaps here?”

Professor Weinstein, who declined to be interviewed, has been lying low. But he is quite visible online, with a growing Twitter audience and a new blog offering his subscribers insights into “evolution, civilization and intolerance” for a nominal monthly fee.

On the other side, Naima Lowe, a media professor who has opposed him, and Rashida Love, the director of Evergreen’s First Peoples Multicultural Advising Services, who sent the email announcing the format of the Day of Absence, have also made themselves scarce, after being mercilessly ridiculed online. 

There is a bigger context to the dispute, faculty members say. Overall enrollment at Evergreen has been declining since 2009, while minority enrollment, which now stands around 29 percent, is rising.

Some faculty members have said the college has not been adequately serving minority students, and an “equity council” developed a plan to address those issues. Professor Weinstein was among those who objected to parts of the plan. He saw its call for an “equity justification/explanation” for each potential hire as code for racial preference.

Ms. Lowe, who is black, said that he was misinterpreting the proposal and that its goal was to hire people with the right skills and experience to relate to “marginalized communities,” regardless of their race. As for the Day of Absence, held in April, organizers have said that it was voluntary and that no one implied that all white people should leave.

But the time for academic word-parsing has passed; the final days of the term were marked by riot police officers, barricades and metal detectors.

Strange alliances have formed. On Thursday, a group calling itself Patriot Prayer, a right-leaning band of 60 or 70 people from off campus waving American flags and one showing Pepe the Frog, a symbol of the alt-right movement, was joined for a while by two students.

One of them, Tamara Lindner, said she had been a student of Mr. Weinstein’s wife, also a biology professor at Evergreen, and wanted to support his right to free speech.

The other, Colin Trobough, said he was distressed at the way Evergreen had been portrayed. “I love Evergreen,” he told the Patriots gathered in the traffic circle.

The group marched onto campus, where about 200 people awaited them: anarchists and “anti-fascists” looking like graphic-novel ninjas, with black scarves hiding their faces and hoods covering their hair, flanked by aging professors in rumpled rain slickers.

The Patriots’ leader, Joey Gibson, strolled into the crowd of ninjas, where he was sprayed with Silly String, hit in the head with a can of it and then attacked with what may have been pepper spray before state police officers in riot gear restored order.

The college spent $100,000 to rent the minor-league stadium in Tacoma for the commencement on Friday. “I’m very glad we’re all here together,” Mr. Bridges said in his address, acknowledging the “fierce and disturbing” events of recent weeks.

Ellis Paguirigan, a 1991 Evergreen graduate whose daughter, Melia, was graduating and planned to go into ocean conservation, said they were both disappointed in Professor Weinstein’s stance.

Melia had Professor Weinstein in her freshman year and liked his class, Mr. Paguirigan said. But, he added, “my daughter is a person of color — she kind of takes it personal.”