#susan ayers

[3garcons]

Kaleidescape at Troy Music Hall

various artists Oct 2023

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

By Susan B. Glasser

“Guilty.” Donald Trump had avoided the word for so long that it was understandable to think he might never face it. When he was finally hit with a criminal conviction, soon after 5 p.m. on a sunny late-May afternoon, he had to sit and listen inside a New York courtroom as the label he so dreaded was directed at him again and again—thirty-four guilties, one for each of the thirty-four felony counts against him. Too bad the television cameras weren’t able to record this historic moment. We the people will be left to imagine what it looked like when the only former American President to go on trial became the only ex-President to bear the title of “convicted felon.”

Trump himself seemed a bit stunned—deflated, even. Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, he offered a lacklustre rant, a sort of mashup of his greatest hits: “This was a rigged, disgraceful trial”; “I’m a very innocent man.” Soon, he was complaining about “millions and millions of people pouring into our country right now, from prisons and from mental institutions.” Was his standard-issue inflammatory anti-immigration diatribe related to his falsifying of business records in a 2016 hush-money payoff to the adult-film star Stormy Daniels? Trump didn’t care. “We have a country that’s in big trouble,” he said, before returning to the matter at hand. “This is long from over.” Then he turned his back and left.

What Trump lacked in truly incandescent rage, however, was soon supplied, in excess, by his followers—a backlash that unfolded as a carefully choreographed and truly unprecedented assault on the legitimacy of the American legal system. It struck me as no less threatening for having obviously been planned largely in advance. “Kangaroo court. Banana republic,” one social-media post from the Trump White House veteran Nick Ayers read—a pithy summation of much of the maga response. Senator Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, called the verdict “the most egregious miscarriage of justice in our nation’s history,” proving both that he does not know our nation’s history and that hyperbole in defense of their leader is considered the most forgivable of G.O.P. sins.

Rewriting history—and, at times, even outright inverting it—is one of the signatures of Trumpism, as it is of so many authoritarian political movements. In Washington on Thursday morning, hours before the verdict, Senator Marco Rubio posted on social media an old newsreel video of revolutionary justice being meted out in front of thousands of spectators at a sports palace in Fidel Castro’s Cuba. “The public spectacle of political show trials has come to America,” he wrote. A day earlier, in another social-media post, he had compared Trump’s hush-money case to “the kind of sham trial used against political opponents of the regime in the old Soviet Union.”

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, surely knows better: Trump will not be summarily executed, as so many hundreds of thousands were in the Soviet purges. He won’t even have to wear an orange uniform if he does, in fact, end up serving time—inmates in New York are actually banned from doing so. After the verdict came out, on Thursday evening, Rubio complained again about “a political show trial.” Like Trump himself and many of his followers, and with no apologies to Woody Allen, he blamed Joe Biden for the whole travesty of a mockery of a sham.

Few Republicans dared to dissent from this instant new orthodoxy. Their lockstep statements made one long for the old bipartisan clichés about the sanctity of the courts and the wisdom of a jury made up of one’s peers. Indeed, when one prominent Republican, the former Maryland governor Larry Hogan, who is now running for Senate, ventured to offer the formerly standard comforting mush about respecting the verdict and reaffirming the rule of law that “made this nation great,” the reaction from other Republicans was swift and stunning. “I don’t respect this verdict,” the Utah Senator Mike Lee posted, in response to Hogan’s tweet. “Nor should anyone.” Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s top campaign advisers, was so offended by Hogan’s defense of the American justice system that he appeared to publicly threaten his Senate bid. “You just ended your campaign,” LaCivita wrote to Hogan on X.

The blunt language set off all my post-2020 alarm bells—the Party that calls on its followers not to respect the courts is one that has already shown it can next order them to the streets. If this is how they are talking now, what will they do if the presiding judge in the trial, Juan Merchan, orders Trump imprisoned? The sentencing is currently set to take place on July 11th, just four days before the opening of the Republican National Convention. Is it fanciful, alarmist, or shrill to envision angry Trumpists storming the Manhattan courthouse? No, of course not. They have already shown what they’re capable of.

I found one of the statements reacting to the verdict especially chilling. It came from House Speaker Mike Johnson. There was nothing particularly notable about what Johnson said—he used the same buzzwords about “the weaponization of our justice system” and the “absurd verdict” that so many of his Republican colleagues did. The difference was that Johnson, unlike many of the empty suits who bluster around Washington, has already taken actions to rewrite history to suit Trump’s version of events—a project that will be crucial in determining whether Trump can overcome the stigma of a criminal conviction to win back the Presidency in November.

Just last week, in fact, Johnson’s House Republican majority went so far as to literally decree the fact of Trump’s trial off-limits. The episode, which did not get much attention at the time, is worth recounting in a bit of detail, because it hardly seems believable. And because it may be a preview of things to come.

The fight began a week ago Wednesday, when Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts representative who, for years, has been the decidedly unflashy top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, began debate on a procedural motion by criticizing the do-nothing 118th Congress, which is on track to be the least productive in recent memory. The session has been, McGovern concluded, “a stunning indictment of their ability to get anything done.” The matter would have ended there had McGovern not had a few more things to say on the topic of indictments—and, more specifically, Trump’s four pending ones. Perhaps, McGovern theorized, House Republicans were offering lame measures to debate on the floor “to distract from the fact that their candidate for President has been indicted more times than he’s been elected,” or that “the leader of their party is on trial for covering up hush-money payments to a porn star for political gain.”

This language earned him an admonition from the Republican congressman presiding, who told McGovern to “refrain from engaging in personalities towards presumed nominees for the office of the President.” Incredulous, McGovern pointed out the hypocrisy of reprimanding him for stating the simple fact of the charges against Trump, while Republicans regularly take to the House floor to inveigh against the “sham” legal proceedings. Eventually, he picked up a well-thumbed copy of Jefferson’s “Manual,” the original parliamentary bible for the U.S. Congress, drawn from centuries of British tradition. He noted its prohibition on speaking “irreverently or seditiously against the King,” and added, “Is that what this is about?”

When McGovern then had the temerity to enumerate all Trump’s various criminal cases, a Republican congresswoman from Indiana jumped in, demanding that McGovern’s words be “taken down”—that is, struck from the official record. And sure enough, when the ruling came back, the archaic prohibition on trashing the kings of yore was indeed cited, and McGovern’s words were officially deleted on the grounds that he had accused Trump of “illegal activities”—as if McGovern were somehow just slinging charges on his own rather than referring to actual cases in courts of law. Trump is no sovereign, regal or otherwise—not yet, anyway. But, in the House overseen by his party, unpleasant events concerning him can officially be written out of history with the bang of a gavel.

Now that Trump has become the first former President in American history to be convicted of a crime, will the MAGA Congress ban that information, too? What happens when McGovern, or one of his Democratic colleagues, goes to the floor to read out Thursday’s stunning news, all thirty-four counts of it? The jury’s word may have been “guilty,” but it is far from the last one we’ll hear.

[trillscienceofficer]

Dark Passions Susan Wright Book 1 - January 2001 (232pp) Book 2 - January 2001 (200pp) Before Kira and Bashir stumbled upon the mirror universe, there was plenty of intrigue going on. Agent Annika Hansen of the Obsidian Order has been ordered to to eliminate the new Overseer of the Alliance, Kira. Even assassins don't appear immune to her considerable wiles, however. Familiar characters play evil and manipulative to the hilt. When Kira obtains an Iconian transportal device, no one is safe from her wrath. Susan [Wright] said, “I'm fascinated with parallel universes. ‘Mirror, Mirror’ was my favorite TOS episode, and I enjoyed the DS9 mirror universe episodes. So when my editor at Pocket Books, John Ordover, said he wanted me to write a ‘bad girls’ of Trek, I was up for it. I created the story for one book, and afterwards it was expanded to two books. I made Seven of Nine and Intendent [sic] Kira the two main characters, and put them into a relationship. I thought it was great that Paramount allowed the interaction. I loved writing characters that were familiar yet fundamentally different. For example, Seven was trained as a Cardassian assassin since there is no Borg in the mirror universe.”

From “Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion” by Jeff Ayers (2006)

[nevenkebla]

Estaremos juntos

Guionista: J. Michael Straczynski Dibujante: Mike McKone Publicación original: Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) #529 (2005)

— Reed Richards: Las agencias espaciales del mundo llevan años lanzando sondas y señales al espacio, buscando respuesta de otra civilización. El proceso exige que alguien reciba la señal, la descifre y responda adecuadamente, o no habrá comunicación. La forma en que los rayos cósmicos nos afectaron reflejando nuestra personalidad implica dirección, lo cual implica inteligencia. Lo cual me hace creer que los rayos cósmicos fueron un intento de comunicarse, una señal no reconocida hasta ahora. Si tengo razón, debemos responder, y deprisa, porque puede que tengamos invitados, y porque esa combinación exacta de rayos cósmicos se ha vuelto a detectar. — Johnny Storm: ¿Y cómo respondemos? — Reed Richards: Volviendo arriba. Demostrando que reconocemos la combinación de rayos cósmicos y que nos presentamos los cuatro para demostrar que reconocemos que nos afectó un hecho inteligente. — Ben Grimm: ¿Y luego? — Reed Richards: Yo… no lo sé, Ben. No sé qué pasará. Quizá nada, quizá todo. Creo que esto representa una señal, pero no tengo datos para saber qué significa. — Susan Storm: Reed y yo hemos hablado antes de llamaros. Evidentemente, volver entraña riesgos. Sabemos cómo nos han afectado los rayos cósmicos. Esta vez puede que no tengan efecto o que tengan efectos más profundos que antes. Incluso podrían ser mortales. No lo sabemos. — Reed Richards: Sue y yo nos apuntamos, pero no decidimos por vosotros debido a los riesgos. Si estáis de acuerdo, iremos. Si no, no irá nadie, porque debemos ir los cuatro. — Ben Grimm: Habrías ahorrado tiempo contándonoslo dentro de ese cohetito tuyo. Venga ya, somos nosotros. Pase lo que pase, estaremos juntos. Como ayer… como mañana.

[mariacallous]

Not to diminish the capacity of the British for public disorder, but there is something darkly comic about watching, split-screen style, the contrast between the UK and US in the run-up to their general elections. While in the US, the former president and frontrunner becomes a convicted felon who shares videos referring to the possibility of establishing a “unified reich”, the UK’s prime minister enjoys a drink in a cafe by the river as a boatload of Lib Dems, holding placards and waving vaguely sardonically, gently bobs down the river behind him.

In the US, the threat of political violence becomes ever more present, with a movie imagining civil war in the republic topping the box office and Trump facing further charges of election interference. In Britain, a news alert at the top of the week announces: “Drink thrown at Nigel Farage during campaign visit to Clacton.” (It was a banana milkshake, and of course it was Clacton. Where else could it have been?) Britain has experienced sustained political violence more recently than the US, as British people love to point out to Irish Americans fondly valorising ye olde IRA. But held up against what’s happening in in the US, and for all the Tory party’s awfulness of the past 14 years, Rishi Sunak’s appeal to the British electorate on Tuesday night made him look about as threatening as a Beatrix Potter villain.

This is not how things are in the US, where a week on from Trump’s historic felony conviction, the fallout couldn’t be worse. Any sense of triumph experienced last week at the reading out of 34 guilty counts against Trump was curtailed, instantly and viscerally, by the verdict’s implications. This was not the same moment of giddy jubilance as when Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E Jean Carroll (twice) and ordered to pay her $83.3m.

But that was the civil courts. In Judge Merchan’s court last Thursday, Trump became a convicted felon – a turn of events that, no matter how keenly we might have sought and anticipated it, seemed at the moment of reckoning to be a truly shocking and frightening development. We talk about Trump as a figure who, over the past eight years, has expanded the Overton window to a degree no one imagined possible. Last week, it stretched to accommodate the prospect of a man found guilty of a hush-money plot to influence a previous election possibly winning the next one.

And accommodate is the word. For anyone clinging to the delusion that a criminal conviction would, finally, trigger a grain of conscience in Republican high command, the disappointment was swift and unsettling. For a moment, oddly, only Trump himself seemed deflated. Whether as a result of age (he turns 78 next week), his recent weight loss or the stress finally catching up with him, after the verdict he looked hollow-faced, like an empty espadrille peeping out from a fringe of rush matting. It hardly mattered. If Trump was quiet, his proxies in the form of Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins and a slew of other Republican leaders leapt, shamefully, to his defence.

Susan B Glasser in the New Yorker handily collated the worst of these, from a tweet by Nick Ayers, the former Trump White House staffer, who wrote “Kangaroo court. Banana republic”, to the Republican senator for Kansas, Roger Marshall, calling the verdict “the most egregious miscarriage of justice in our nation’s history”. Marco Rubio, making up in hyperbole for what he lacks, as Trump himself has pointed out, in stature, claimed that “the public spectacle of political show trials has come to America”. And there it was: criminality sanctioned and embraced at the highest levels of government, with the implicit invitation to act accordingly to all who follow him.

And let’s not forget Nikki Haley. When she was running against Trump during the primaries, Haley threw some of the toughest criticism of any Republican his way. Well, that was then. The day after Trump’s defence team rested their case, up popped the former governor of South Carolina to confirm that, come November, she would be voting for a man she once called “diminished” and “unhinged”. In response to which, I find myself regressing to childishness. How could you?! Are you out of your mind? When all of this ends in Trump seizing an illegal third term and passing legislation to enable the deployment of US troops on domestic soil, what will you put in your press release? Or, at that point, will you be too busy angling for secretary of defense?

We know where undermining public faith in a country’s justice system can lead. And we know that Trump will do anything to secure his own victory. Now we know something else, too. When the guilty verdict rang out 34 times last week, my heart sank and an odd thought – in keeping with all the other absurdities thrown up by Trump – came to mind. Better that he had been found not guilty than convicted and the quiet part said out loud: that there is no line. That no one on his own side will do anything to stop him.

[lillianeshaw24]

References

Ayers, Susan, Daniel B. Wright, and Alexandra Thornton. 2018. “Development of a measure of postpartum PTSD: The city birth trauma scale.” Frontiers in Psychiatry 9. Retrieved July 24, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00409).

Benyamini, Yael, Maya L. Molcho, Uzi Dan, Miri Gozlan, and Heidi Preis. 2017. “Women’s attitudes towards the medicalization of childbirth and their associations with planned and actual modes of birth.” Women and Birth: Journal of the Australian College of Midwives 30(5). Retrieved August 6, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2017.03.007).

Campero, Lourdes, Cecilia García, Carmen Díaz, Olivia Ortiz, Sofía Reynoso, and Ana Langer. 1998. “'Alone, I wouldn't have known what to do': A qualitative study on social support during labor and delivery in Mexico.” Social Science & Medicine 47(3). Retrieved August 1, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00077-X).

Cohen Shabot, Sara. 2021. “‘You are Not Qualified—Leave it to us’: Obstetric Violence as Testimonial Injustice.” Human Studies 44(4). Retrieved July 19, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-021-09596-1).

Diaz-Tello, Farah J. D. 2016. “Invisible wounds: obstetric violence in the United States.” Reproductive Health Matters24(47). Retrieved July 13, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.04.004).

Jardim, Danúbia M. B. and Celina M. Modena. 2018. “Obstetric violence in the daily routine of care and its characteristics.” Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem 26. Retrieved July 9, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.2450.3069).

Logan, Rachel G., Monica R. McLemore, Zoe Julian, Kathrin Stoll, Nisha Malhotra, and Saraswathi Vedam. 2022. “Coercion and non‐consent during birth and newborn care in the United States.” Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) 49(4). Retrieved July 13, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12641).

Lokugamage, A. U. and S. D. C. Pathberiya. 2017. “Human rights in childbirth, narratives and restorative justice: a review.” Reproductive Health 14(1). Retrieved August 5, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-016-0264-3). 

Martinez-Vázquez, Sergio, Julián Rodríguez-Almagro, Antonio Hernández-Martínez, and Juan Miguel Martínez-Galiano. 2021. “Factors associated with postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (Ptsd) following obstetric violence: A cross-sectional study.” Journal of Personalized Medicine 11(5). Retrieved July 24, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm11050338).

Plummer, Marilyn and Lynne E. Young. 2010. “Grounded Theory and Feminist Inquiry: Revitalizing Links to the Past.” Western Journal of Nursing Research 32(3). Retrieved September 28, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945909351298). 

Sadler, Michelle, Mário J. Santos, Dolores Ruiz-Berdún, Gonzalo L. Rojas, Elena Skoko, Patricia Gillen, and Jette A. Clausen. 2016. “Moving beyond disrespect and abuse: addressing the structural dimensions of obstetric violence.” Reproductive Health Matters 24(47). Retrieved August 5, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.04.002). 

[bookishnerdlove]

TV 114

Capítulo 114 “Estuviste inconsciente exactamente cinco días”. “Vaya… fue un largo desmayo”. Al día siguiente, Selia estaba completamente curada, tal como dijo el médico. Ayer, sus piernas estaban débiles, pero todo lo demás estaba bien. Fue gracias a Susan que su cuerpo estaba bien después de estar inconsciente durante cinco días. Durante todo ese tiempo, Susan le echaba sopa en la boca a Seria…

[ulkaralakbarova]

A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Steve Lopez: Robert Downey Jr. Nathaniel Ayers: Jamie Foxx Mary Weston: Catherine Keener Graham Claydon: Tom Hollander David Carter: Nelsan Ellis Adam Crane: Michael Bunin Jennifer Ayers: LisaGay Hamilton Leslie Bloom: Rachael Harris Curt Reynolds: Stephen Root Flo Ayers: Lorraine Toussaint Cheery Lab Tech: Jena Malone Troubled Woman: Octavia Spencer Young Nathaniel: Justin Martin Bernie Carpenter: Kokayi Ampah Paul Jr.: Patrick Tatten Marisa: Susane Lee Mayor Villaigosa: Marcos De Silvas Harry Barnoff: Ilia Volok Julliard Conductor: Mike Nowak Angry Homeless Man: David Jean Thomas Uncle Tommy: Lemon Andersen Homeless Transvestite: Kevin Michael Key Barely Dressed Woman: Moya Brady LAMP Homeless Guy: Orlando Ashley Leon: Artel Great Shouting Woman: J.J. Boone LAMP Advocate: Annie McKnight Homeless Lady: Bernadette Speakes Leeann: Anna Levin Steve: Steve Foster Teresa: Vivian George KK: Kevin Cohen Courtney: Courtney Andre Detroit: Teri Hughes Linda: Linda Harris Bam Bam: Albert Olson Melissa: Melissa Black Mama Grouch: Valarie Hudspeth Darryl: Darryl Black St. Kiana: Kiana Parker Hazard: Hazard Banner Russell: Russell Brown Jackie: Jacqueline Sue West Ashley: Joyre Manuel Singing Woman: Lorinda Hawkins Annette: Annette Valley Patrick: Patrick Kelly Quiana: Quiana Farrow Globe Lobby Guard: Tony Genaro Atheist: Charlie Weirauch Cop with Tents: Wayne Lopez EMT #1: Joe Hernandez-Kolski Winston Street Cop: Noel Gugliemi EMT #2: Paul Cruz Homeless Man: Wil Garret EMT #3: Halbert Hernandez Construction Worker: Alejandro Patiño Homeless Woman #1: Karole Selmon Neil: Rob Nagle Cello Donor: Patricia Place Enraged Homeless Man: Ralph Cole Jr. Reception Nurse: Gladys Khan ER Nurse: Palma Lawrence Reed Laid-off Employee: Isabel Hubmann Homeless Woman #2: Bonita Jefferson Winston Street Prostitute: Eshana O’Neal Young Jennifer Ayers: Myia Hubbard Miss Little John: Iyanna Newborn Beauty Shop Girl: Bronwyn Hardy News Editor: Troy Blendell Jennifer’s Son: Nick Nervies Editor: Paul Norwood Sign Spinner (uncredited): Wally Lozano Film Crew: Screenplay: Susannah Grant Unit Production Manager: Patricia Whitcher Casting: Francine Maisler Art Direction: Greg Berry Producer: Gary Foster Author: Steve Lopez Director: Joe Wright Editor: Paul Tothill Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran Production Design: Sarah Greenwood Makeup Department Head: Ve Neill Producer: Russ Krasnoff Still Photographer: François Duhamel Production Coordinator: Robert Mazaraki Hair Department Head: Gloria Pasqua Casny Music Editor: Dominick Certo Director of Photography: Seamus McGarvey Set Decoration: Julie Smith Script Supervisor: Kerry Lyn McKissick Original Music Composer: Dario Marianelli Post Production Coordinator: Adam Cole Stunts: Shirley Smrz Stunts: C.C. Taylor Stunts: Hannah Kozak Hairstylist: Lisa Marie Rosenberg Stunts: Allan Graf Stunts: Jim Wilkey Stunts: Aaron Toney Stunts: Gregg Smrz Stunts: Todd Schneider Stunts: George Marshall Ruge Stunts: Chad Randall Stunts: Robert Nagle Stunt Coordinator: Scotty Richards Stunt Driver: Ed McDermott II Stunts: Marilyn Miller Stunts: Sean Graham Stunts: Jalil Jay Lynch Stunts: Kevin L. Jackson Stunts: Kofi Elam Stunts: John T. Cypert Stunts: Greg Wayne Elam Stunts: Chino Binamo Stunt Driver: Michael Caradonna Stunt Driver: Norman Epperson Stunts: Daniel W. Barringer Stunts: Greg Fitzpatrick Stunt Coordinator: Mickey Giacomazzi Stunts: Peter Weireter Stunts: Hollis Hill Stunts: Keith Woulard Stunts: Angela Meryl Stunts: Danny Wynands Stunts: Kortney Manns Stunts: Michael Maddigan Stunts: Kofi Yiadom Stunt Driver: Allan Padelford Stunts: Thomas DuPont Stunts: Jason Cekanski Stunt Driver: Scott Alan Berk Movie Reviews:

[daydreamerdrew]

Comics read this past week:

Marvel Comics:

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandoes (1963) #20-21

These issues were published across May 1965 to June 1956, according to the Marvel Wiki. Both were written by Stan Lee and penciled by Dick Ayers. Issue #20 was inked by Frank Giacoia and issue #21 was inked by Carl Hubbell.

Fantastic Four (1961) #21

This issue was published in September 1963, according to the Marvel Wiki. It was written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by George Bell.

I thought I’d finally read this before picking Nick’s stories as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Strange Tales (1951) back up- this was the first appearance of Nick Fury in the main modern continuity, not in stories taking place back during WWII. This single preceding appearance presented Nick as a C.I.A. agent and Colonel before he was recruited to be the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Strange Tales (1951) #135, published in May 1965.

The story was about the Fantastic Four fighting the Hate-Monger, who for a time had the team under the influence of his Hatred Ray. I was surprised to learn Nick had this history with a story about combating racism.

I was particularly charmed by a moment when Johnny and Reed were no longer under the influence of the ray and were luring Ben Grimm into a trap so that they could cure him too. Despite having no qualms about fighting Johnny himself earlier, Ben changed his tune when he saw that Reed had Johnny in a chokehold and heard Johnny crying out, “Help me, Ben! He’s tryin’ to kill me! Help!” Ben charged and yelled, “You skinny creep! I’ll teach ya to pick on a kid!”

the Human Torch story in Strange Tales (1951) #114

This issue was published in August 1963, according to the Marvel Wiki. The issue credits it as written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers. The Grand Comics Database also lists Jack Kirby as an uncredited co-plotter.

I also thought I’d knock this of the list of stories I should probably read- this issue was a test for bringing back Captain America, who would later first actually reappear in The Avengers (1963) #4, published in January 1964, and that hadn’t been published since 1954. The story has Johnny Storm fight a villain pretending to be Captain America and ended on the note of asking readers if they wanted to see the character return for real. I’ll note that The Avengers (1963) #4 presented Steve has having been frozen in ice since 1945, and that I believe later comics will establish that the Golden Age appearances of the character after that point in time were actually successors to the name. This story is vague about how long it’s been since Captain America has been seen.

At the beginning of the issue, Johnny says, “I used to read his adventures when I was a kid!” Susan Richards refers to Cap as an “old comics magazine hero.” And another kid exclaims, “He’s alive! He’s really alive!” seemingly referring to both that Cap’s not fictional and that he’s going to be “at the antique auto show in town” that day. Going to see him, Johnny thinks, “Where has Captain America been all these years? Why does he decide to show up now?”

After the imposter Cap’s public appearance, Johnny’s girlfriend Doris says, “He’s my idea of a real man! Handsome… modest… strong! *sigh* I wonder who he really is?”

Even the villain exalts Cap’s virtues. The imposter Cap says, of his crimes, “This is a far cry from the noble, heroic Captain America exploits of years ago… But this little deed will be far more profitable than any others ever were! It’s a shame to tarnish the glorious Captain America legend… the legend of heroism and self-sacrifice… But legends don’t pay off!”

And at the end of the issue, after ‘Captain America’ has been revealed to actually be the Acrobat and sent to jail, Johnny goes through his “prized collection of old comic magazines.” Despite that his girlfriend had been wondering who Cap really was earlier in the story, Johnny says, “Boy! I sure dug this guy the most! I remember how he used to secretly change from Army private Steve Rogers to the great C.A.! *sigh* Wonder what ever did become of him? Is he still alive? Will he ever return? I’d sure like to know!” When Steve is actually really brought back to publication later on his secret identity will be a secret to the public, not having been revealed through his comic books.

DC Comics:

Martian Manhunter: American Secrets (1992) #1-3

These issues were published across August 1992 to January 1993, according to the Grand Comics Database. All were written by Gerard Jones, drawn by Eduardo Barreto, and colored by Steve Oliff. Each issue was 46 pages.

This was a strong, dense story. I’m not going to try to summarize it. I’ll just note some parts that stood out to me.

In issue #1 while watching a game show on TV, and after having been offered a connection with a prostitute, John thinks, “This is what the cold brings. Companions on order. Companions that come alive with the snap of a knob. Companions. Contests. So they can cheer for the meaningless victories of strangers. Manufactured families. Staged communications. It’s a cold world for a stranger. […] When on Earth, do as the Earthlings do. But why do they give this so much power?” Later, upon seeing Playboy-style magazines at a newsstand, he asks, “Who buys all these magazines? What are they looking for? Like these. Who buys these?” He’s told, “Guys. Normal guys.” And John asks, “Is it warm there… in the magazines?”

In issue #1 John is investigating a murder, but not by normal procedure. He follows around things that are seemingly minute and unconnected. He’s trying to both make sense of the case and humanity; what sticks out to him are not what would stand out to a human. Of this, he thinks, “What trail am I following? A word here and a hunch there, seeking the undefinable, not Earth methods. Mars methods? I don’t remember enough to know.” But because this is a bizarre, unnatural case, this process keeps him on the right trail.

And in issue #2 a stand-in for Bill Gaines gives a little girl a copy of All-Star Comics (1940) #5 and says, “Here, kid. You need this.” She says, “But I don’t read comic books! They’re not educational!” He tells her, winking, “That’s what you think.” Notably this story takes place in 1959. Both the real world 1954 Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings about comic books, which Bill did terrible at and which lead to the Comics Code Authority, and the fictional shut-down of the Justice Society of America by the House Un-American Activities Committee are brought up in the story.

Superman: House of Brainiac Special (2024) #1

This 38-page one-shot was published in April 2024. It contained a story about Brainiac’s history with the Czarnians, which was written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Edwin Galmon; a story about Bibbo and Perry White’s mayoral campaign, which was written by Mark Russell, drawn by Steve Pugh, and colored by Jordie Bellaire; and a story about Amanda Waller, which was written by Joshua Williamson, drawn by Fico Ossio, and colored by Rex Lokus.

I liked the background of Brainiac being confused by a father’s desperate attempts to save his doomed children and realizing from there that there’s something he doesn’t understand, a gap in his knowledge. But I think his history with Lena would be a part of how these feelings of wanting a family developed for him, so it will be a weak point of the portrayal of what’s meant to be a significant part of his characterization for this event if that time period is never flashbacked to and depicted.

I also liked the ultimate conclusion that was come to in the Bibbo story- “A neighborhood’s a lot like a person. Always changin’. Because it’s growing. We change because we’re alive.”- and I wonder if that specific sentiment will be relevant to where this Brainiac story goes.

Fawcett Comics:

the Captain Marvel stories in The Marvel Family (1945) 16

This issue was published in October 1947, according to the issue cover date. It contained 2 stories with Captain Marvel, one 8 pages and one 9 pages.

[laescuelainvisible]

¿Que pasaría si borráramos la historia de les fotógrafes mujeres y disidencias?

Perderíamos un mundo amplio, donde se puede mirar tanto los grandes temas como también mirar hacia adentro, del hogar, de los afectos, de une misme, de la performance que es vivir en sociedad y perderíamos, además, la parte de la fotografía más lúdica, expresiva y que no tiene miedo a no tomarse tan en serio a si misma.

Ayer el equipo de photobook club madrid llevó a cabo una visita a la exposición “what they saw: historical photobooks by woman 1843-1999" en la cual se recorrió la muestra y luego tuvimos la oportunidad de ver varios títulos.

La muestra gira en torno a una publicación realizada por 10x10 photobook que reúne 250 libros seleccionados y que en la biblioteca se exponen 60 de ellos. Según la web de la biblioteca “Esta muestra busca incluir autorías que han sido marginadas en la historia del fotolibro, así como aquello a lo que miraron y que, a menudo, también ha sido borrado o silenciado: las mujeres, las comunidades queer, las personas racializadas y artistas que no son de Estados Unidos ni de países europeos.”

Hay que tener en cuenta que es una exposición de corte clásico/archivístico donde vamos a ver una selección de libros desde 1843 a 1999 y que las cosas han cambiado bastante desde esa época a la actualidad desde lo social, político en materia de derechos y visibilidad de comunidades lgbtq+, rol de la mujer en la vida y también aspectos técnicos en torno a equipo y temáticas tratadas. Muchos de los libros que se pudieron consultar eran de fotografías en byn, sobre todo de retrato. Libros como el de Hiromix (que de los expuestos en la expo me parecía el más “actual” y con una estética más desenfadada) no se encontraba disponible para consultarlo sino que era parte de la mesa con vitrinas.

Es muy raro ir a exposiciones de libros donde no se pueden ver por dentro, que, por cuestiones de conservación, se encuentran dentro de una vitrina. Me genera un sentimiento de extrema confusión ya que, si me genera interés, QUIERO VERLO! QUIERO SABER MÁS! Hay algunas exposiciones que ponen como alternativa el visionado mediante una pantalla, que no es lo mismo pero al menos nos puede quitar la curiosidad 😌

También es importante decir que los libros expuestos son parte de la colección de la biblioteca y que están accesibles a todes y que este material es un gran documento histórico y está bueno que podamos tener acceso de forma gratuita.

Pueden visitar la muestra hasta el 7 de junio de 2024 en la Biblioteca del Museo Reina Sofía.

En las imágenes comparto algunos fragmentos de libros que me gustaron y/o llamaron la atención.

Grapevine - Susan Lipper - retrato de una comunidad

Marcia Reskicks - Revisions

Texto del libro “La casa en la tierra” con fotografías de Mariana Yampolsky

Die Boxer - Martine Barrats

Mitopoemas Yãnomam - traslado de cosmogonía de la tribu Yãnomam de Brazil con dibujos y relatos de la tribu y algunas fotografías de Claudia Andujar

Gisele Freund - libro de retratos

Le petit Chaperon Rouge - Sarah Moon

Juchitán de las mujeres - Graciela Iturbide

Ligia B.

[cafebeisbolero]

Soler firma con los Gigantes por tres temporadas.

El OF/DH cubano Jorge Soler, acordó este lunes (ayer) un contrato por tres años y 42 millones de dólares con los Gigantes de San Francisco. Así lo informó la periodista del San Francisco Chronicle, Susan Slusser. El club aún no ha confirmado. Giants, Jorge Soler agree to 3-year deal, per MLB Network Insider @JonHeyman. pic.twitter.com/oLzGgi9tvV— MLB (@MLB) February 13, 2024 Soler había…

[lillianeshaw]

References

Ayers, Susan, Daniel B. Wright, and Alexandra Thornton. 2018. “Development of a measure of postpartum PTSD: The city birth trauma scale.” Frontiers in Psychiatry 9. Retrieved July 24, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00409).

Benyamini, Yael, Maya L. Molcho, Uzi Dan, Miri Gozlan, and Heidi Preis. 2017. “Women’s attitudes towards the medicalization of childbirth and their associations with planned and actual modes of birth.” Women and Birth: Journal of the Australian College of Midwives 30(5). Retrieved August 6, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2017.03.007).

Campero, Lourdes, Cecilia García, Carmen Díaz, Olivia Ortiz, Sofía Reynoso, and Ana Langer. 1998. “'Alone, I wouldn't have known what to do': A qualitative study on social support during labor and delivery in Mexico.” Social Science & Medicine 47(3). Retrieved August 1, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00077-X).

Cohen Shabot, Sara. 2021. “‘You are Not Qualified—Leave it to us’: Obstetric Violence as Testimonial Injustice.” Human Studies 44(4). Retrieved July 19, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-021-09596-1).

Diaz-Tello, Farah J. D. 2016. “Invisible wounds: obstetric violence in the United States.” Reproductive Health Matters 24(47). Retrieved July 13, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.04.004).

Jardim, Danúbia M. B. and Celina M. Modena. 2018. “Obstetric violence in the daily routine of care and its characteristics.” Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem 26. Retrieved July 9, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.2450.3069).

Logan, Rachel G., Monica R. McLemore, Zoe Julian, Kathrin Stoll, Nisha Malhotra, and Saraswathi Vedam. 2022. “Coercion and non‐consent during birth and newborn care in the United States.” Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) 49(4). Retrieved July 13, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12641).

Lokugamage, A. U. and S. D. C. Pathberiya. 2017. “Human rights in childbirth, narratives and restorative justice: a review.” Reproductive Health 14(1). Retrieved August 5, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-016-0264-3). 

Martinez-Vázquez, Sergio, Julián Rodríguez-Almagro, Antonio Hernández-Martínez, and Juan Miguel Martínez-Galiano. 2021. “Factors associated with postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (Ptsd) following obstetric violence: A cross-sectional study.” Journal of Personalized Medicine 11(5). Retrieved July 24, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm11050338).

Sadler, Michelle, Mário J. Santos, Dolores Ruiz-Berdún, Gonzalo L. Rojas, Elena Skoko, Patricia Gillen, and Jette A. Clausen. 2016. “Moving beyond disrespect and abuse: addressing the structural dimensions of obstetric violence.” Reproductive Health Matters 24(47). Retrieved August 5, 2023 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.04.002).

[trillscienceofficer]

The Best and the Brightest (Star Trek: The Next Generation) Susan Wright February 1998 (277pp) The story of six cadets attending Starfleet Academy and their trials and tribulations during their four-year term. Set during the time period just after the events of Wolf 359, the characters include a newly joined Trill; a human who finds herself hopelessly in love with the Trill; a cat-like alien raised by humans, and a Bajoran Vedek who wishes to distance himself from his native planet. This novel was groundbreaking, not only in terms of having brand new characters. Susan [Wright] said, “I always wanted to create a gay relationship in a Trek novel because I felt that the promise of a future without discrimination and bigotry had not been fulfilled. So when John Ordover asked me to create a whole new cast of characters who were attending Starfleet Academy, I wanted to include gay characters. The Best and the Brightest was the first Star Trek novel with main characters who were gay. Paramount agreed to my story proposal, but they insisted that the word “gay” should not be included. They said that in the Trek universe sexual orientation was not even noticed. I've always wanted to bring these characters back in a DS9 novel, because Moll Enor and Jayme Miranda were posted there at the end of The Best and the Brightest. It was fun because at times I used all six of the characters like Forest [sic] Gump, placing them in key Trek moments such as the crash of the Enterprise-D.”

From “Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion” by Jeff Ayers (2006)

[namenerdery]

Babies with interesting names born in Vermont between 2008-2019 [A & B]

Ability Sophia James Acadia Sage Justin Ilyxander Acadian Theodore Acious Braze Adagio Amadeus Adamantium Joaquin Addeysen Nichole Adoryauna Adhilayde Aelfwin Peregrine Aeverie Sophie Affinity Leanna Lee Aiddian Don Arnold Alarie Mycroft Aleutian Saint Peter Alexandrite Susan Allegragh Grace Alpine Ander Alric Valerian Altynore Rose Alucard Night Amaze Kilian Anduin Michael Anystashia Ayer Apollonia Victory Apple Harper Arhaea Ardel Ariadne Skylark Arkadian Hunter Arrowlee Ember Artemis Orange Aubraella Mae Auroriana Marie Avirex Quishawn Aylivia Michael Aymellia Blanch Chrystine Ayston William James Azaelyiah Grace Azkadelia Kymberlie

Bam-Bam Jay Barkley Wheeler Bane Howard Banner Michael Basil Strix Beariston Kees Belladonna Sophia Bellahmi Rayne Bellatrix Violet Haze Beowulf Farr Birch Wilder Bishop Pendragon Bjork Saersha Bjorn Free Blaek Francis Bleu Bailey Boadway Wilder Boss Wayne Bowdoin William Brasstin Ellis Braven Robert Breckenridge Brody Breezie-Lynn Simone Brencen William Brewster Jack Brieghton Jonaah Brittyn-Rayne Izzabella-Rose Brokston James Bromlei Allan Brysynn Dylan-Michael Buck Wilde

[grantgoddard]

Just my imagination running away … to Australia : 1972 : Eric Hall, Strode’s School

A schoolboy babysitting two infant-school-age girls at night? Quick, call the police! Notify child protection services! … But wait! This was the 1970’s. That boy was fourteen-year-old me. Back then, few would have jumped to the (mistaken) conclusion that anything untoward was happening. How naïve we seemed to be!

My mother had few close friends and I fail to recall how she had come to know Cathy Bingham, who had recently moved into a new-build house at the far end of Byron Avenue, less than a kilometre away within our suburban housing development. Seeking a means to supplement my meagre pocket money, my mother had suggested to Cathy I could babysit her two young daughters if she and her husband wished to go out for an evening. I could only help out on Friday or Saturday as my school set two homework subjects each weekday and required my efforts to be submitted the following weekday. The resultant babysitting arrangement worked well and I was grateful for Cathy’s generous compensation which funded my purchase of more reggae and soul records.

Cathy was a genuinely lovely person who had moved to Camberley from Peru where her husband had apparently been posted by his employer. Prior to the birth of her daughters, she had had a job driving new cars from their Detroit production line down the Pan-American Highway for delivery to dealerships in Lima. I considered this a ‘dream job’ since my father had already stimulated my interest in American cars and I longed for the day I would be able to drive long distances myself.

One babysitting evening, once the girls had been put to bed upstairs, I spent the remainder of my time sat on the sofa in front of the television. I watched a recent British movie named ‘Walkabout’ about a father who suddenly abandons his two children in the middle of the Australian outback. The scenery was spectacular and the story fascinating of the children’s chance meeting with an Aboriginal boy who demonstrates his traditions to them and saves their lives. It made a huge impression as my first television experience of Australia beyond the formulaic ‘Skippy’ series.

I had already leafed through many large-format photo books of faraway lands, including Australia, whilst sat at a desk in the first-floor reference section of the local public library. I had been impressed by the mud-brick high-rise buildings in Yemen, the desert libraries of Timbuktu and the Ayers Rock sandstone monolith. Along the same Dewey Decimal shelf, I had recently discovered the first ‘Lonely Planet’ guide as a Roneo-ed set of booklets hand stapled together. All these readings had stimulated my desire to travel abroad, since most of our family holidays to date had been taken within Britain.

Australia was also on my mind after a recent chance meeting with a young Australian girl who was working in the bookshop on Station Road in Egham. I had made an earlier visit to the shop in 1970 to order a book (that changed my life) documenting American black music, ‘The Sound of The City’, which I had seen mentioned in its author Charlie Gillett’s weekly column in ‘Record Mirror’ magazine. My second visit was to exchange several ‘book tokens’ that had been awarded me as ‘School Prizes’. On that occasion, shop assistant Jan Somerville spent considerable time helping me choose paperbacks that might interest me, including ‘Exodus’, ‘Dune’ and ‘Topaz’. Her advice was particularly useful as I had no idea what to buy, my parents having almost no adult books at home.

I was instantly smitten with Jan as she was the first interesting girl around my age (well, she must have been two years older) I had met and, to my lusty adolescent eyes, she resembled heartthrob Susan Dey from ‘The Partridge Family’. She explained that her family had temporarily moved to Britain and she had found a job for a year in Egham’s large, well-stocked independent bookshop. After that, during my school lunch-hour, I would pop into the shop and chat with her regularly. When she finally returned to Australia with her parents, she gave me a slip of paper with her address in Clontarf, New South Wales. I was sad to lose my first ‘schoolboy crush’ but we wrote to each other for a while and she sent me a small toy koala which I have kept since. I had hoped to visit her one day … but life intervened.

All this explains why, on the occasion that English Language homework required me to write an essay about a landscape I had never visited, I naturally chose Australia. My teacher, Eric Hall, was a young man (relative to the majority of ancients that taught us) who wore tweed suits and was eager to show off what he probably believed was his sardonic wit. However, I read his attitude as sarcasm, a quality I found less than endearing after having arrived at the school wholly ignorant of his subject. Many of my classmates had previously attended private ‘prep’ schools and already knew what a noun, adjective, verb and tense were. I had never heard these terms because my state junior school had been keen to develop our creative skills rather than grammatic pedantry. I faced a steep learning curve at Strode’s School.

When I started my third year, I had been disappointed to be told that Mister Hall would be our ‘form master’, with whom we were required to register our attendance twice a day. My already poor rapport with him deteriorated considerably when, without prior consultation, my father impulsively booked a package holiday at an Egham travel agency for me and him to visit Florida during school term to witness the launch of an Apollo space mission. As a result, my mother was angry that her husband had not discussed this indulgence beforehand and had apparently demonstrated no desire to be accompanied by her and my two siblings. Mister Hall was outraged to be informed of my impending absence as a fait accompli and insisted that my trip be cancelled, which my father refused. Subsequently, my relationship with not only Mister Hall but most of the school administration was soured. I was never to be awarded a further School Prize.

At the end of our English Language period, Mister Hall walked around our desks, handing back each of our essay books … except for mine. After returning to his seated position at the front of our classroom, he said:

“You can all go now. Except for Goddard, who I want to see afterwards.”

Now what I had I done wrong? He opened my workbook to the page of my latest essay and pointed at it disparagingly.

“Your essay about Australia was very descriptive and incredibly detailed. Have you ever visited Australia?”

“No,” I replied.

“Well, I just do not understand how you could have written about somewhere you have never experienced with so much detail about its landscape and features,” he commented sourly.

I had no idea what he was trying to imply. I had worked very hard to produce a good essay and now he was trying to say obliquely that my work was too good? How was I expected to explain that?

“I’m interested in Australia,” I said. “I have seen films and read books about it, which is the reason I chose to write my essay about it.”

“Well, I am afraid I do not believe that you wrote this essay,” said Mister Hall angrily. “I have come to the conclusion that you must have copied it from some book. That is the reason that I have had to give you a fail mark for this piece of work and, naturally, this will be reflected in your end-of-term report.”

I was horrified. How could Mister Hall be so cruel? I understood he had never liked me, but I had never contemplated he could be so nasty to a student who had worked as hard as they could to be successful in his subject. From then on, despite my regular ranking as one of the top five students within my year of sixty pupils, Mister Hall’s comments in my termly school reports were consistently negative. His and a few other teachers’ similar attitudes to me during my seven years at Strode’s coloured my entire secondary school experience. For the first time, I learnt what it meant to be despised by an adult in a position of authority. It was an incomprehensible change from my previous positive experiences at Cordwalles Primary School, where my incredible teachers had been generous to a fault with their mentoring of me and my classmates.

I had no choice but to soldier on at school under the tutelage of Mister Hall. I took the GCE ‘O level’ exam in English Language the following year and achieved an ‘A’ grade. Three years later, I passed the ‘Use of English’ exam required of entrants to Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Before those subsequent academic successes, my life was changed irrevocably later in 1972 when my father deserted our family to run off with a newly married teenage bride who lived a few doors away on our street. The brief trip to Florida was the final occasion I spent time with my father until the day he died. Not only did he unknowingly negatively impact my school life for the remaining four years, but he knowingly impacted my family’s lives forever. The evening that I had chanced to watch the father in ‘Walkabout’ maroon his children in the outback was paralleled only months later in my own life when my father walked away from his three children, condemning them to an unexpectedly different future.

Despite these personal setbacks, Cathy Bingham’s experience of driving through the American continent in the 1960’s continued to inspire my ambitions. In 1984, I hatched a plan to hitchhike from the United States down the Pan-American Highway to Nicaragua to visit my friend Tony Jenkins who was there providing news reports to ‘The Guardian’ and ‘BBC World Service’. I visited the London embassies of all the countries I would pass through and obtained the necessary visas. However, this plan was stymied by a six-month wait for the BBC to inform me whether my second-round interviews for separate producer jobs at ‘Radio One’ and ‘Radio Two’ had been successful. In the end, I was rejected for both. Angry that my travel plans had been thwarted by the excessive wait, I enquired why to BBC Personnel, only to be informed by its employee that in future I would need to prove to interviewers that “you are one of us”.

Evidently, I never was.

[diarioelcentinela]

La madrina del príncipe Guillermo renunció a la casa real implicada en un caso de racismo

La madrina del príncipe Guillermo renunció a la casa real implicada en un caso de racismo

Lady Susan Hussey tuvo que renunciar a la casa real por el escándalo. Foto: AFP La madrina del príncipe Guillermo de Reino Unido renunció este miércoles a la casa real tras preguntarle insistentemente sobre sus orígenes a una activista negra durante una recepción realizada ayer en el Palacio de Buckingham, en un nuevo caso de racismo que rodea a la Corona.Se trata de Lady Susan Hussey de 83 años,…