#the latter — how are we sustaining our new findings and technology?

[crqstalite]

also also, people are aware of ryder’s age right? like at some point once everyones Not Dying they gotta start asking questions and stop revering them, esp once they have other pathfinders aboard the nexus. ryder has been operating as some sort of space jesus loosely controlled by addison and tann — people are gonna realize their inexperience eventually. yk, once it comes to electing their leaders and political problems rather than outright survival from the kett are in the spotlight.

[earaercircular]

We come to work in order to find solutions

Simon Kronenberg (42), CEO of Holcim Central Europe West, talks about transparent milestones on the way to net zero, new technologies for capturing and storing CO2 and the fact that concrete - the most commonly used building material - has an impressive recycling rate.

The global building materials group Holcim[1] is perceived by the public as not very environmentally friendly. You have been working for the company for 16 years – how has it changed for the better during this time?

Simon Kronenberg: As a manufacturing industry, our industry is energy and resource intensive, especially the production of cement. Thie latter in turn is the binding agent for producing concrete. We have therefore invested heavily in sustainability since the 1990s. In recent years, we have achieved a lot, particularly in decarbonization and promoting the circular economy, and as a driving force in the domestic market, we have made a significant contribution to solving social challenges such as resource scarcity or climate change. Sustainability is now an integral part of our business.

Can you back this up with facts and figures?

SK: Let's take the CO2 reduction per ton of cement as an example: here we have saved over 35% to date and are still at 520 kilos of CO2 net. Our goal in Switzerland by 2030 is to save 380 kilos of CO2, another 25%. In addition, we are constantly developing new materials that are CO2-reduced, reusable and 100% recyclable. For example: “carbon pre-stressed concrete”, concrete elements with prestressed carbon reinforcement. Depending on the construction, the high-performance, extremely thin concrete slabs enable significant material savings and reduce the CO2 footprint by up to 75%. With products such as Airium[2], a mineral insulation material, we also contribute to the sustainability of the use of buildings.

What about recycling?

SK: The building materials industry offers huge potential for recycling waste – and we are doing our part. To give you an idea of ​​the magnitude: we recycle around 4 million tons of various types of waste every year, such as excavation, concrete and mixed demolition, and industrial waste.

What role does concrete play in this?

SK: Concrete is the most important building material of our time, it enables our modern infrastructure. If you consider that we use more than 60 million tons of building material in Switzerland every year - almost 40 million tons of which are concrete - this material must be recycled in the interests of sustainability. We Swiss are considered the world champions of PET recycling; this value is 82%. However, the recycling rate for concrete is already 85%. And by ensuring high quality, especially with the preparation of the dismantled concrete and its later use, concrete can be recycled almost infinitely.

Holcim Switzerland published an environmental report last year and set clear interim goals for 2030 - which ones?

SK: We are aware of our social responsibility and know that time is of the essence. Last year we published our environmental goals and discussed them intensively with our partners. The publication consists of eight domains of action with clearly defined milestones, for example in the areas of decarbonization, circular economy, sustainable logistics, renewable energy or “carbon capture, utilisation and storage”, or CCUS in short[3]. This is how we reduce CO2 from the quarry to the construction site or by recycling building materials. The greatest potential for CO2 reduction lies in reducing the clinker share in the cement. But it is also a fact that, in addition to conventional technologies, we need to develop and implement innovative approaches such as CCUS in order to get to net zero.

On the capture, use and storage of CO2: Where does Holcim Switzerland stand regarding CCUS?

SK: We are developing around ten pilot projects in different phases, and at group level there are over fifty. By 2030, we want to capture around 20,000 tons of CO2 per year in our cement plants in this country. The goal is to either transform this CO2 into a product or store it in a storage facility. The prerequisites for the successful implementation of such projects are, in particular, the legal framework, the required domestic storage capacity, access to foreign storage facilities and the acceptance of the population.

Can you give concrete examples of how CO2 can be integrated into a product?

SK: There are already various CO2 applications, for example as carbon dioxide in mineral water or for the chemical industry. As far as concrete is concerned, we now have a system with which we can fumigate 100,000 tons of demolished concrete with CO2 and thus store around 10 kilos of CO2 per cubic meter of concrete. This product is called ECOPact RECARB.[4]

Keyword: resource-saving products: what are the innovations ECOPact and Susteno developed by Holcim Switzerland?

SK: ECOPact is our sustainable and resource-efficient concrete product family. Susteno[5] is the world's first cement that consists of 20% recycled material. We are very pleased with how the sales volumes of these products are developing. This shows that the demand is there. We have set ourselves the goal of having converted around 50% of our portfolio to these resource-saving products by 2030.

How essential is digitalisation for achieving your sustainability goals?

SK: Of central importance, in three main aspects: on the customer side or in construction, it is important that we go as paperless as possible and use new technologies such as 3D printing or prefabrication. The second big topic is logistics, in order to plan and deliver more sustainably. The last important point is the digitalization of our production – both in terms of automation and innovation. Our cement plant in Untersiggenthal[6] is a pilot for the group-wide “Plant of Tomorrow” project, which aims to make cement production more efficient and sustainable. As part of this project, for example, we use fully autonomous, electric tippers, so-called e-dumpers, in the quarry or special drones for maintenance work at high altitudes.

Despite all the measures, the cement and concrete industry remains resource-intensive. Why can their net zero vision still be achieved?

SK: We are confident about our successes to date and our comprehensive innovation projects, particularly to reduce CO2 and promote the circular economy. We also see increasing demand for sustainable building solutions and resource-saving products. As already explained, in order to achieve our goals we also need CCUS technologies, which we are working hard to implement. Switzerland currently has to handle around 36 million tons of CO2 annually. For this we need new approaches such as capturing, using or storing CO2.

What is the level of social awareness when it comes to the topic of sustainable building?

SK: We are on the right track. In order to create further awareness in society, we promote public discussions about sustainable building solutions. We also strengthen collaboration and knowledge transfer between different actors: from research institutes to architects to developers. At the same time, we seek dialogue with startups.

The vision of Holcim Switzerland is: “By 2050 we will produce climate-neutral and fully recyclable building materials.” Can you reach net zero faster?

SK: That is our ambition. Not only are we on schedule, we are often one step ahead. In Switzerland we are in the fortunate position of having extremely competent and motivated employees who are passionate about making our vision a reality. We come to work in order to find solutions. But we can't do it alone. Net zero is possible if all of us have a common vision, and collaborate with all partners across the region and use industrial synergies.

Source

Norman Bandi, “Wir kommen zur Arbeit, um Lösungen zu finden», in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 3-09-2023; https://www.nzz.ch/themen-dossiers/zukunft-bauen/wir-kommen-zur-arbeit-um-loesungen-zu-finden-ld.1754051

[1] Holcim (Schweiz) AG, based in Zurich, is one of Switzerland's leading providers of innovative and sustainable construction solutions in the areas of building construction, civil engineering and infrastructure. The company produces concrete, gravel and cement at 55 locations across Switzerland and recycles demolition materials into resource-saving products. Sustainability is at the centre of business activities. Holcim Switzerland is a subsidiary of the globally active Holcim Ltd and employs around 1,200 people in 3 cement plants, 16 gravel plants, 36 concrete plants and several recycling centres.

[2] Airium® is a versatile mineral insulating foam that offers a solution to make buildings sustainable and energy-efficient in use. Today, it is available in 9 countries worldwide for both new build and renovation projects to ensure an ideal thermal comfort, be it for cold temperatures or heat waves. With Airium®, we are accelerating the uptake of insulation in both developed and emerging economies. It can be used in a simple way for many applications: from sub-screed floor insulation to the filling of concrete blocks to roof terraces, attics or lightweight void filling. It is composed mostly of air (up to 95%), water, a cementitious base binder and several additives in small proportions. It is then mixed in a special machine to create the insulating foam at the exact density required. https://www.airium.com/about

[3] CCUS involves the capture of CO2, generally from large point sources like power generation or industrial facilities that use either fossil fuels or biomass as fuel. If not being used on-site, the captured CO2 is compressed and transported by pipeline, ship, rail or truck to be used in a range of applications, or injected into deep geological formations such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers. https://www.iea.org/energy-system/carbon-capture-utilisation-and-storage

[4] ECOPact+ and ECOPact RECARB are concretes based on Holcim Susteno 4, an ecologically mature, high-quality cement. Using the latest technologies, a solution was developed to reuse the fine fraction of the processed mixed granules as part of the new cement. This innovative development conserves natural resources, saves landfill space and reduces CO2 emissions by partially replacing cement clinker. https://www.holcimpartner.ch/de/produkte/beton/ecopactplus

[5] Susteno is the world’s first resource-saving cement with 20 percent recycled construction and demolition materials (CDM) inside. Susteno is made possible by processing and upcycling materials from demolition projects, resulting in a cement that closes the loop on CDM to build new from the old and preserve nature. The quality requirements of the recycled aggregates for the production of Susteno are very high, including strict acceptance criteria regarding the size and humility of the granulates, as well as chemical and mineral requirements and components that need to be excluded. The strict quality management includes testing of the cement and concrete beyond the standard, ensuring an efficient and high-quality cement that can be used in all building construction applications. https://www.holcim.com/what-we-do/our-building-solutions/cement/susteno

[6] Untersiggenthal is a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, located in the Limmat Valley (German: Limmattal).

[weheartchrisevans]

BOSTON — So you're Tim Scott, the Republican senator from South Carolina who opposes Roe v. Wade and wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and you get a call from Chris Evans, a Hollywood star and lifelong Democrat who has been blasting President Trump for years. He wants to meet. And film it. And share it on his online platform. Can anybody say "Borat?" “I was very skeptical,” admits Scott. “You can think of the worst-case scenario.”But then Scott heard from other senators. They vouched for Evans, most famous for playing Captain America in a series of films that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. The actor also got on the phone with Scott’s staff to make a personal appeal.

It worked. Sometime in 2018, Scott met on camera with Evans in the nation’s capital, and their discussion, which ranged from prison reform to student loans, is one of more than 200 interviews with elected officials published on “A Starting Point,” an online platform the actor helped launch in July. Not long after, Evans appeared on Scott’s Instagram Live. They have plans to do more together.

“While he is a liberal, he was looking to have a real dialogue on important issues,” says Scott. “For me, it’s about wanting to have a conversation with an audience that may not be accustomed to hearing from conservatives and Republicans.”

Evans, actor-director Mark Kassen and entrepreneur Joe Kiani launched “A Starting Point” as a response to what they see as a deeply polarized political climate. They wanted to offer a place for information about issues without a partisan spin. To do that, they knew they needed both parties to participate.

Evans, 39, sat on the patio outside his Boston-area home on a recent afternoon talking about the platform. He wore a black T-shirt and jeans and spent some of the interview chasing around his brown rescue dog. Nearly 100 million people didn’t vote in the 2016 general election, Evans says. That’s more than 40 percent of those who were eligible.He believes the root of this disinterest is the nastiness on both sides of the aisle. Many potential voters simply turn off the news, never mind talking about actual policy.“A Starting Point” is meant to offer a digital home for people to hear from elected officials without having the conversation framed by Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow.

“The idea is . . . ‘Listen, you’re in office. I can’t deny the impact you have,’ ” says Evans. “ ‘You can vote on things that affect my life.’ Let this be a landscape of competing ideas, and I’ll sit down with you and I’ll talk with you.”

Or, as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has appeared on the site, puts it, “Sometimes, boring is okay. You’re being presented two sides. Everything doesn’t have to be sensational. Sometimes, it can just be good facts.” Evans wasn’t always active in politics. At Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, he focused on theater, not student government. And he moved away from home his senior year, working at a casting agency in New York as he pushed for acting gigs. His uncle, Michael E. Capuano, served as a congressman in Massachusetts for 20 years, but other than volunteering on some of his campaign, Evans wasn’t particularly political.

In recent years, he’s read political philosopher Hannah Arendt and feminist Rebecca Solnit’s “The Mother of All Questions” — ex-girlfriend Jenny Slate gave him the latter — and been increasingly upset by Trump’s policies and behavior. He’s come to believe that he can state his own views without creating a conflict with “A Starting Point.” When he and Scott spoke on Instagram, the president wasn’t mentioned. In contrast, recently Evans and other members of the Avengers cast took part in a virtual fundraiser with Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris.

“I don’t want to all of a sudden become a blank slate,” says Evans. “But my biggest issue right now is just getting people to vote. If I start saying, ‘vote Biden; f Trump,’ my base will like that. But they were already voting for Biden.”

(In September, Evans accidentally posted an image of presumably his penis online and, after deleting it, tweeted: “Now the I have your attention . . . Vote Nov. 3rd!!!”)

Evans began to contemplate the idea that became “A Starting Point” in 2017. He heard something reported on the news — he can’t remember exactly what — and decided to search out information on the Internet. Instead of finding concrete answers, Evans fell down the rabbit hole of opinions and conflicting claims. He began talking about this with Kassen, a friend since he directed Evans in 2011’s “Puncture.” What if they got the information directly from elected officials and presented it without a spin? Kassen, in turn, introduced Evans to Kiani, who had made his fortune through a medical technology company he founded and, of the three, was the most politically involved.

Kiani has donated to dozens of Democratic candidates across the country and earlier this year contributed $750,000 to Unite the Country, a super PAC meant to support Joe Biden. But he appreciated the idea of focusing on something larger than a single race or party initiative. He, Kassen and Evans would fund “A Starting Point,” which has about 18 people on staff.

“There’s no longer ABC, NBC and CBS,” Kiani says. “There’s Fox News and MSNBC. What that means is that we are no longer being censored. We’re self-censoring ourselves. And people go to their own echo chamber and they don’t get any wiser. If you allow both parties to speak, for the same amount of time, without goading them to go on into hyperbole, when people look at both sides’ point of view of both topics, we think most of the time they’ll come to a reasonable conclusion.”

“What people do too often is they get in their silos and they only watch and listen and read what they agree with,” says John Kasich, the former Ohio governor and onetime Republican presidential candidate. “If you go to Chris’s website, you can’t bury yourself in your silo. You get to see the other point of view.” As much as some like to blame Trump for all the conflicts in Washington, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) says he’s watched the tone shifting for decades. He appreciated sitting down with Evans and making regular submissions to “Daily Points,” a place on the platform for commentary no longer than two minutes. During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Coons recorded a comment on Judge Amy Coney Barrett and the Affordable Care Act.“ ‘A Starting Point’ needs to be a sustained resource,” Coons says. “Chris often talks about it being ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ for adults.”

It’s not by chance that Evans has personally conducted all of the 200-plus interviews on “A Starting Point” during trips to D.C. Celebrities often try to mobilize the public, whether it’s Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus hosting the Democratic National Convention or Jon Voight recording video clips to praise Trump. But in this case, Evans is using his status in a different way, to entice even the most hesitant Republican to sit down for an even-toned chat. And he’s willing to pose with anyone, even if it means explaining himself on “The Daily Show” after Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas posted a selfie with Evans. (Two attempts to interview Trump brought no response.) Murkowski remembers when Evans came to Capitol Hill for the first time in 2018. She admits she didn’t actually know who he was — she hadn’t yet seen any Marvel movies. She was in the minority.“We meet interesting and important people but, man, when Captain America was in the Senate, it was all the buzz,” she says. “And people were like, ‘Did you get your picture taken?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I sat down and did the interview.’ ‘You did an interview? How did you get an interview with him?’ ”What impressed Murkowski wasn’t his star power. It was the way Evans conducted the interview.“It was relaxing,” she says. “You didn’t feel like you were in front of a reporter who was just waiting for you to say something you would get caught on later. It was a dialogue . . . and we need more dialogue and less gotcha.”

“Starting Points” offers two-minute answers by elected officials in eight topic areas, including education, the environment and the economy. This is where the interviews Evans conducted can be found. “Daily Points” has featured a steady flow of Republicans and Democrats. A third area, “Counterpoints,” hosts short debates between officials on particular subjects. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, debated mail-in voting with Dusty Johnson, the Republican congressman from South Dakota.

“Most Americans can’t name more than five members of the United States House,” says Johnson. “ ‘A Starting Point’ allows thoughtful members to talk to a broader audience than we would normally have.”

The platform’s social media team pushes out potentially newsworthy clips, whether it’s Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) discussing his meeting with Barrett just before he tested positive for the coronavirus, or Angus King, the independent senator from Maine, criticizing Trump for his comments on a potential peaceful transfer of power after November’s election. Kassen notes that the King clip was viewed more than 175,000 times on “A Starting Point’s” Twitter account, compared with the 10,000 who caught in on CNN’s social media platform.

“Because it’s short-form media, we’re engineered to be social,” says Kassen. “As a result, when something catches hold, it’s passed around our audience pretty well.”

The key is to use modern tools to push out content that’s tonally different from what you might find on modern cable news. Or on social media. Which is what Evans hopes leads to more engagement. He’s particularly proud that more than 10,000 people have registered to vote through “A Starting Point” since it went online.

“If the downstream impact or the byproduct of this site is some sort of unity between the parties, great,” says Evans. “But if nobody’s still voting, it doesn’t work. We need people involved.”

[hedgehog-moss]

Bonsoir! Can you suggest some books on ecofeminism, that you've read or have on your to-read list?

I would suggest:

Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development, Vandana Shiva

Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed Our World, Andrea Barnet

Practising Feminist Political Ecologies: Moving Beyond the “Green Economy”, ed. Wendy Harcourt & Ingrid Nelson

Françoise d’Eaubonne et l’écoféminisme, Caroline Goldblum (I believe Françoise d’Eaubonne coined the term “ecofeminism” in her essay Le féminisme ou la mort—one chapter of Carolyn Merchant’s Ecology provides a translation of some of d’Eaubonne’s thoughts)

Small Town, Big Oil: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the Richest Man in the World—And Won, David W. Moore

Ecofeminism, Maria Mies

Women and the Environment: Crisis and Development in the Third World, ed. Sally Sontheimer

Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women Are Worth, Marilyn Waring (the chapter on war and the high economic value men have ascribed to death is particularly good)

Earth follies : coming to feminist terms with the global environmental crisis, Joni Seager

Women Who Dig: Farming, Feminism and the Fight to Feed the World, Trina Moyles

(The bolded links redirect to OpenLibrary for the books that are available there)

On my to-read list:

Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice: Women Write Political Ecology, Ariel Salleh

Unbowed, Wangari Maathai (I reblogged this article about her the other day, which made me want to check out the memoir she wrote)

Feminism and Ecology, Mary Mellor

Beyond Mothering Earth: Ecological Citizenship and the Politics of Care, Sherilyn McGregor (I’m interested in her critical discussion of how women caring about the environment is often described in maternal, rather than political, terms)

The Subsistence Perspective: Beyond the Globalised Economy, Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen & Maria Mies

I would also recommend Naomi Klein’s books; although she writes about political ecology rather than ecofeminism, at least she doesn’t forget about women in her books the way male environmentalists often do. Some of the male-authored books on the environment that gave me food for thought lately include Arran Stibbe’s Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By, Paul Kingsnorth’s Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist, David Owen’s The Conundrum, and Ozzie Zehner’s Green Illusions, and only the latter took notice of the fact that women’s subjugation is relevant in climate change discussions—his book contains a chapter on women’s rights and he is the only one who points out that one essential factor to create a ‘green’ and sustainable society is giving women and girls power to make decisions—over their own bodies, as well as in social, economic and political spheres. 

I also appreciate that his book revolves around the idea that there is too much of a focus in today’s environmentalism on producing new technology and more (but ‘clean’) energy (wind, solar, biofuels, carbon-sequestrating gadgets…)— when, instead of attempting to create the kind of technology that will get our society-as-it-is through the climate crisis, we ought to create the kind of society that has a better chance of adapting to & mitigating it. In other words, realistic and efficient climate activism should focus on women’s rights, antimilitarism, improving democratic institutions and health care, combating consumerism and wealth disparities—things that often don’t register as climate activism, although they have a better chance of improving environmental issues and helping us face related crises than a fixation on potential scientific or technological miracles. I have found in my reading that it is surprisingly rare to find this holistic approach to environmentalism outside of ecofeminist writings.

[cvid19]

COVID 19 PANDEMIC

COVID-19 Effects on the Philippines

    According to Pharmaceutical Technology Philippine is one of the high-risk countries from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. The first case of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, now COVID-19) in the Philippines was confirmed on 30 January 2020, in a 38-year old woman who arrived from Wuhan. Two days later, the Philippines recorded the first death outside China on 01 February 2020.

    The Philippines government declared a health emergency on 09 March, following a spike in new confirmed cases and local transmission. The COVID-19 Code Alert system was revised upwards to Red Sublevel 2 on 12 March.

    The Philippines government announced the entire country will be placed under a state of calamity for a period of six months. The declaration will enable national and local governments to quickly access relief funds to curb the spread of the disease.

    They started announcing local lock-downs (home quarantine) following the increase in global coronavirus cases. The entire Luzon island is locked-down affecting more than 50 million people. The lock-down prohibits people from going outside their homes except for getting basic necessities.

    Quarantining (lock-down) will be imposed in the Philippines barangays, municipalities/cities and provinces if at least two COVID-19 coronavirus cases are recorded in two different households in the respective locations.

https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/features/coronavirus-affected-countries-philippines-measures-impact-tourism-economy/

Economy

    Covid-19 make a lot of difference on the economy of the country. Philippines witnessed a slower economic growth in the first half of 2019, compared to 2018. The country saw a sustained economic growth of 6.3% between 2010 and 2018, while the growth slowed down to 5.5% in H2 2019. The World Bank estimates Philippines to witness full-year 2019 economic growth of 5.8%.

    The Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) noted that the coronavirus outbreak could have a major impact on Philippine economy over the next few months.

    Ruben Carlo Asuncion, chief economist for Union Bank of the Philippines, noted that the coronavirus outbreak could cost the Philippine economy $600m or 0.8% of economic growth if it lasts for six months, as quoted by CNN Philippines.

    A series of unforeseen events caused an abrupt halt to the Philippines' strong growth momentum in early 2020. The Philippine economy carried its strong growth momentum from the second half of 2019 into early 2020 thanks to positive consumer confidence, robust macroeconomic fundamentals, and an improvement in the external sector. However, the eruption of Taal Volcano in early January, the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the region, and the rise of COVID-19 infection cases in the Philippines in March, forced the economy to a near halt in the latter part of March due to severe disruptions in manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and hospitality, construction, and trade. The economy contracted by 0.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, the first contraction in over two decades, and was a sharp reversal from the 5.7 percent growth over the same period in 2019. Leading indicators that track economic activity in real time suggest that the contraction would be even more severe in the second quarter as most regions of the country entered an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in mid-March.

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33879

Tourism

      PWC Philippines indicated that given the travel restrictions and closure of businesses, 88% of the respondents expect losses of over 50% of their 2020 revenues. Sixty-three percent of the respondents also say that they expect their businesses to normalize within six months to over a year. Such findings are worrying because the tourism industry contributed 12.7% of the country’s GDP in 2019, and provided 5.71 million jobs in the same year.

    Tourism industry is a major contributor, accounting for 12.7% of the Philippine economy in 2018, according to data from the Philippines Statistics Authority. More than seven million foreign tourists visited the country during the first ten months of 2019.

    Globally, the World Travel and Tourism council estimated that it could take up to ten months for the industry to recover.

    Nine months since the virus was first detected in China, there is still no sign that the spread is slowing down. The road to recovery can take longer than initially anticipated. Fitch forecasts that tourist arrivals and tourism receipts will not go back to pre-COVID levels even five years hence.

    The tourism industry, however, is expected to witness a major impact as the country closed its borders with China and other countries due to the coronavirus infection, Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez noted. Dominguez added that the exact economic impact of the outbreak is too early to be estimated but remained optimistic that the country can sustain its economic growth.

https://www.pwc.com/ph/en/publications/tourism-pwc-philippines/tourism-covid-19.html

Business

   Drawing on a survey of more than 5,800 small businesses, this paper provides insight into the economic impact of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) on small businesses. The results shed light on both the financial fragility of many small businesses, and the significant impact COVID-19 had on these businesses in the weeks after the COVID-19–related disruptions began. The results also provide evidence on businesses’ expectations about the longer-term impact of COVID-19, as well as their perceptions of relief programs offered by the government.

    Firms in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region have been hit hard by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, with dramatic and widespread falls in sales and employment. Firm sales in some EAP countries were 38 to 58 percent lower in April or May 2020, compared to the same month in the previous year. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been particularly affected.

    The pandemic will have a lasting impact on productivity growth as firm indebtedness and increased uncertainty inhibit investment, and firm closures and unemployment lead to a loss of valuable intangible assets. Support for firms is needed but must be based as far as possible on objective criteria, related not only to past performance or current pain but to the potential for firms, including new firms, to thrive in the future. To avoid unduly prolonging assistance, governments should build exit strategies into the design of support measures and commit to phasing support out by linking it to observable macroeconomic indicators of recovery.

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/30/17656

Lesson that We’ve learn during this Pandemic

"Not only does self-care have positive outcomes for you, but it also sets an example to younger generations as something to establish and maintain for your entire life."

CREDITS TO AARP ORG

    -This pandemic thought us to become stronger or having a courage in time of crisis. We must always be on a positive side that we will strive and cope this challenges that we are facing  because as the years will pass by this pandemic will be a reminder or a lesson that we must thought the next generation that no matter what happens as long as you will not give up and fight for everything that will come up you can reach your goal and strive. This also thought as about caring for others and working as one because once achievement will be more greater if there are people that help you to do great things just like our front liners we must learn how to cooperate by following the protocols that they give because if its not for them we will have more harder times that we even face before and we wont know what are we going to do.

 Ø  As a reminder if your experiencing the signs and effects of COVID-19 do not think of it that much just think on a positive way to feel better again. Positive mind could be a great help to cope anything that bother you even if it’s a deadly virus. We all know that we are all facing in the same situation but I believe that we can do it, we can wipe out this virus in this world for ones. Just follow the protocols that we are given and I know that we will all be better and we can do all the things that we’ve missed when the time comes.

[inscapeblog]

Design in context: Sustainability and sustainable design Darrel Bitema

Introduction

Sustainability as a concept entered the academic lexicon around the 1980s, and from that time on has gone to evolve substantially (Portney, 2015). Sustainability may broadly refer to economic development activity that accomplishes the needs of today without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Portney, 2015). At its core, sustainability as a concept refers mostly to the preservation of the Earth’s biophysical environment with particular respect to the depletion and use of natural resources (Portney, 2015). This essay will explore multiple definitions behind sustainability, its characteristics, foundations, and importance. This essay will also make special references to sustainable design and its impact and applications in the world.

Defining Sustainability

Sustainability while often argued to have roots in conservation, it is not the same as environmental conservation (Portney, 2015). It refers more to finding a sort of steady-state so the Earth or at least a fragment of it can support the human population and economic growth without eventually threatening the health of humans, animals, and vegetation (Portney, 2015). The basic premise of sustainability is that Earth’s resources cannot be used, depleted, or damaged indefinitely; not only will these obviously resources run out at some point, but their exploitation largely undermines the ability of life to persist and thrive (Portney, 2015).

Perhaps the biggest difference between traditional ideas of environmental protection and sustainability is that the former tends to focus on environmental remediation and preventing very certain environmental threats while the latter tends to be far more proactive and holistic, focusing on dynamic processes over the long term (Portney, 2015). Multiple concepts and definitions of sustainability have been used to portray the many different expressions of environmental priorities, with each emphasizing a specific set of results that should be sustained. These concepts consist of ecological capacity, resource/environment, critiquing of technology, biosphere, Ecodevelopment, and no growth-slow growth (Portney, 2015). When elaborated upon ecological capacity hopes to promote the maximum and optimum ability of the Earth to support human life and systems, resource management promotes economic growth only to the extent that it does not deplete natural resources, critiquing and rejecting technology involves the rejection of the notion that science and technology will protect save and protect the world, mentions of the biosphere refers to concerns regarding the human population’s impact on the Earth’s natural resources, Ecodevelopment helps adapt businesses and economic development activities towards the realities of environmental limits and finally no growth-slow growth speaks of the limits of the Earth’s ability to support the health and wellbeing of the ever-growing human population (Portney, 2015).

Sustainability, however, does not equal responsibility. A very good example may refer to corporate social responsibility as it does not require any trade-offs (Bansal & DesJardine, 2014). Ethics, norms, and morality often permeate or pervade corporate social responsibility (Bansal & DesJardine, 2014). There is no such moral imperative that dictates what a firm should do or not do to support sustainability. No specific system is judged as right or wrong, nor are individuals ever assumed to be morally responsible to society. A sustainability lens can also be as likely applied to understanding the operations of the Mafia as to the Catholic Church (Bansal & DesJardine, 2014). While sustainability scholars can comment on excess greenhouse gas emissions creating change in climate systems, they do not have the adequate tools to judge whether the new climate regimes are relatively good or bad (Bansal & DesJardine, 2014).

Sustainability and responsibility often come face to face with the result not often being good. A prime example could refer to mining companies that create shared value when they build local schools and hospitals, a healthy, educated local workforce helps generate the profits, which are eventually redistributed back into the community (Bansal & DesJardine, 2014). However, these responsible actions may not always be sustainable, especially if the surrounding environment is degraded and traditional lifestyles are disrupted (Bansal & DesJardine, 2014). This can happen even if the local community participates in the initial decision-making.

The significance of sustainability in identifying and solving a design problem

Sustainability when relating to design can be expanded upon in terms of sustainable design. While meaning many things to many people, it can be viewed as the process of planning, contemplating, or creating in ways that maintain resources and preserve the environment for future generations (DeKay, 2011). Preservation of resources merely to minimize resource use is insufficient for sustainability. The maintenance of resources requires critical thinking in cycles and considering both resources and the outputs/pollution and their ability to be absorbed into environmental sinks such as the atmosphere or rivers (DeKay, 2011). This brings us directly to consider natural ecosystem processes, which is one perspective critical to the preservation of the environment (DeKay, 2011).

To understand how sustainability in design or, more specifically, sustainable design helps solve design problems, a brief overview of the major perspectives behind sustainable design should be discussed. These consist of behaviours, systems, experiences, and cultures. Behaviours help reduce our levels of resource consumption (to sustainable rates), creating more internal loops in our building economy and reducing our waste products and pollutants to zero for non-renewables and an absorbable rate for renewables (DeKay, 2011). Thus less is more and more becomes more in regards to less consumption and more recycling (DeKay, 2011). When referring to systems, the environment is seen as a living system (DeKay, 2011). Sustainability is concerned with keeping the living systems of the planet locally, regionally, and globally, in good health for future generations (DeKay, 2011). Sustainable Design asks us to think, contemplate, plan, and make patterns with our intelligence in ways that will fit human settlements to their ecological contexts (DeKay, 2011). Patterns can’t be measured in the same way as a more straight forward unit of measurements such as kilowatts and gallons. This requires high and new levels of creativity and consciousness, with the good news being, next to many professionals, designers are actually good at the pattern (DeKay, 2011).

The experience perspective requires us to reach far further into the capacities of being a human and to consider the physical world (the exterior) of the built and natural environment but also to consider the artistic skill behind the design and its relation to ecological aesthetics (DeKay, 2011). Cultures ask us to design our built environment as operating within the context of natural systems; at the same time, it transcends these whole systems view to embrace the cultural context of the building community and the cultures at large (DeKay, 2011). Language, stories, customs, and meanings are all around us all the time and they are constantly evolving (DeKay, 2011). To further discuss the relationship between sustainable design nature and culture, we have to understand that design requires a complex state of mind and the development of many lines of skill and thought by the designer (DeKay, 2011). We are also interested in our collective values and understanding. This helps us take action today for future generations, which is an ethical perspective only available in the context of a community, where all ethics begin (DeKay, 2011). This allows one to enter “the realm of culture” (DeKay, 2011). This realm is specifically portrayed in the relationships of human to nature. It requires us to examine how what we create has something to say or mean, which can also carry a purpose (DeKay, 2011).

These four perspectives help us understand how sustainable design performs, is an ecosystem, creates beauty and human feeling, and also conveys cultural meanings (DeKay, 2011). Performance refers to technological sustainability, which ensures applied principles of empirically-based knowledge are used to reduce resource use and pollution (DeKay, 2011). This is a design committed to “less is more” concept. The ecosystem section refers to expanding the design to include ecological patterns as design is an ecological is a literal or figurative participant of the ecosystem (DeKay, 2011). Using fewer resources or even having fewer sick days for workers does not contribute to a healthy ecosystem. Finally conveying cultural meanings helps to expand and include rich human experiences (DeKay, 2011). This is because one of design’s roles is to reveal and express sustainable technology, so people have the direct and indirect experience of the cycles and forces of nature with which design interacts (DeKay, 2011). Sustainable design can also expand to include meaning-making stories as it can embody specific myths, stories and beliefs about how society and nature are related (DeKay, 2011). When Sustainable Design manifests, reflects, and expresses ecological processes, it gives people the opportunity to become more aware of living processes and our relationships to them (DeKay, 2011).

Examples of successful application of sustainability/sustainable design in spatial design

In current years there has been an unprecedented, exponential growth in distinct academic programs especially related to the environmental dimension of sustainability in higher education, especially in this last decade (Henderson, 2012). Environmental, sustainability studies, and graduate programs are in every major scientific, engineering, and social science discipline, as well as in design, planning, business, law, public health, behavioral sciences, ethics, and even religion, are abundant and continue to grow (Henderson, 2012). Progress on campuses modeling sustainability has grown at an even faster rate. Higher education has finally embraced programs necessary for energy and water conservation, renewable energy, waste reduction and recycling, green buildings and purchasing, alternative transportation, and growing organic foods, and sustainable purchasing, which saves both the environment and money (Henderson, 2012).

Sustainability with specific reference to spatial design has given birth to what can be referred to as “green building professionals” (Henderson, 2012). All building professionals such as architects, engineers, etc., can be considered green building professionals in that they incorporate sustainability in their designs and enhance their knowledge with green ideals and techniques (Henderson, 2012). Sustainability and green building consultants take their jobs further by completely centering their expertise on integrating the environmental friendly with companies and buildings. One tool that helps overlap specialists with green building is “BIM,” or building information modelling. This global tool holds all of the pertinent data in one place, which can be used in tandem with other tools such as energy modelling (Henderson, 2012).

BIM can be referred to as a digital representation of the literal (physical) and functional characteristics of a facility; thus, it serves as a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions from the beginning, during its life cycle and inception onward (Henderson, 2012). If BIM is implemented properly, nearly every piece of information an owner needs to know about a facility throughout its life cycle can be made available digitally. One key aspect of BIM is that it allows for energy modelling to be easier and faster, providing the chance for multiple iterations of a project and the ability to make minor tweaks in the architecture that will eventually result in significant energy savings (Henderson, 2012).

                                       Figure 1

The Randselva Bridge, which has often been described as the world’s longest bridge without drawings, is an example of BIM at its finest (“The world’s longest bridge built without drawings a reality”, 2020). To put into context of how impressive this is, the bridge was nominated for the Teklas structure award in the infrastructure category and has already won the awards for Best BIM Project and Best Infrastructure Project (“The world’s longest bridge built without drawings a reality”, 2020).

                               Figure 2

Another prime example of sustainability and or sustainable design’s applications in design, specifically spatial design, is “LEED,” or more specifically, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a green-building rating system created by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) (“What is LEED? | U.S. Green Building Council”, n.d.). Available for virtually all types of buildings and building phases, including new construction, interior fit-outs, operations and maintenance, and core and shell (“What is LEED? | U.S. Green Building Council”, n.d.). LEED provides a framework for healthy, efficient, and cost-saving green buildings. LEED certification is thus a globally recognised tool (“What is LEED? | U.S. Green Building Council”, n.d.).

In today’s current market, LEED has developed to become a household word (Parr & Zaretsky, 2010). More projects have been registered and continue to be registered, while LEED ratings increasingly find their way into marketing brochures distributed by developers, building owners, architects, and contractors (Parr & Zaretsky, 2010). Accredited professionals proudly add “LEED” to their titles, and, most significantly, numerous federal agencies and state and local governments now require some form of LEED certification. Green architecture is no longer a fringe phenomenon (Parr & Zaretsky, 2010).

LEED provides numerous environmental benefits, as compared to typical building construction, LEED-certified buildings use lower percentages of material with high levels of toxicity, use less water and energy, and have a lesser overall impact on the physical landscape (Parr & Zaretsky, 2010). Another prominent benefit of building rating systems is increased commitment by owners and clients once a project is registered in a building rating system (Parr & Zaretsky, 2010). The greatest impact of green building rating systems is the increase in dialogue about sustainability, sustainable design, and green building (Parr & Zaretsky, 2010). With clients pushing designers and builders to become more educated on these issues and students are demanding much more sophisticated discussion within institutions of higher education, the result of the increase in green building, there are much more resources available both online as well as on the ground than ever before (Parr & Zaretsky, 2010).

Conclusion

In this essay, based on the evidence presented, the importance of sustainability and sustainable design was successfully argued and discussed. Special reference was specially made to its effects on architecture and green-building while also providing visual examples.

[chiseler]

The Crowd Doesn’t Just Roar, It Thinks: Warner Bros.’ All-Talking Revolution

“Iconic” is a gassy word for a masterwork of unquestioned approval. But it also describes compositions that actually resemble icons in their form and function, “stiff” by inviolate standards embodied in, say, Howard Hawks characters moving fluidly in and out of the frame. Whenever I watch William A. Wellman’s 1933 talkie Wild Boys of the Road, these standards—themselves rigid and unhelpful to understanding—fall away. An entire canonical order based on naturalism withers. 

To summon reality vivid enough for the 1930s—during which 250,000 minors left home in hopeless pursuit of the job that wasn’t—Wellman inserts whispering quietude between explosions, cesuras that seem to last aeons. The film’s gestating silences dominate the rather intrusive New Deal evangelism imposed by executive order from the studio. Amid Warner Bros.’ ballyhooing of a freshly-minted American president, they were unconsciously embracing the wrecking-ball approach to a failed capitalist system. That is, when talkies dream, FDR don’t rate. However, Marxist revolution finds its American icon in Wild Boys’ sixteen-year-old actor Frankie Darro, whose cap becomes a rude little halo, a diminutive lad goaded into class war by a chance encounter with a homeless man. 

“You got an army, ain’t ya?” In the split second before Darro’s “Tommy” realizes the import of these words, the Great Depression flashes before his eyes, and ours. No conspicuous montage—just a fixed image of pain. Until suddenly a collective lurch transmutes job-seeking kids into a polity that knows the enemy’s various guises: railroad detectives, police, galled citizens nosing out scapegoats. Wellman’s crowd scenes are, in effect, tableaux congealing into lucent versions of the real thing. The miracle he performs is a painterly one: he abstracts and pares down in order to create realism.  

Wellman has a way of organizing people into palpable units, expressing one big emotional truth, then detonating all that potential energy. In his assured directorial hands, Wild Boys of the Road sustains powerful rhythmic flux. And yet, other abstractions, the kind life throws at us willy-nilly, only make sense if we trust our instinctive hunches (David Lynch says typically brilliant, and typically cryptic, things on this subject). 

I’m thinking of iconography that invites associations beyond familiar theories, which, in one way or another, try to give movies syntax and rely too heavily on literary ideas like “authorship.” Nobody can corner the market on semantic icons and run up the price. My favorite hot second in Wild Boys of the Road is when young Sidney Miller spits “Chazzer!” (“Pig!”) at a cop. Even the industrial majesty of Warner Bros. will never monopolize chutzpah. The studio does, however, vaunt its own version of socialism, whether consciously or not, in concrete cinematic terms: here, the crowd becomes dramaturgy, a conscious and ethical mass pushing itself into the foreground of working-class poetics. The crowd doesn’t just roar, it thinks. Miller’s volcanic cri de coeur erupts from the collective understanding that capitalism’s gendarmes are out to get us.

Wellman’s Heroes for Sale, hitting screens the same year as Wild Boys, 1933, further advances an endless catalogue of meaning for which no words yet exist. We’re left (fumblingly and woefully after the fact) to describe a rupture. Has the studio system gone stark raving bananas?! Once again, the film’s ostensible agenda is to promote Roosevelt’s economic plan; and, once again, a radical alternative rears its head.

Wellman’s aesthetic constitutes a Dramaturgy of the Crowd. His compositions couldn’t be simpler. I’m reminded of the “grape cluster” method used by anonymous Medieval artists, in which the heads of individual figures seem to emerge from a single shared body, a highly simplified and spiritual mode of constructing space that Arnold Hauser attributes to less bourgeoise societies. 

If the mythos of FDR, the man who transformed capitalism, is just that, a story we Americans tell ourselves, then Heroes for Sale represents another kind of storytelling: one firmly rooted to the soiled experience of the period. Amid portrayals of a nation on the skids—thuggish cops, corrupt bankers, and bone-weary war vets (slogging through more rain and mud than they’d ever encountered on the battlefield)—one rather pointed reference to America’s New Deal drags itself from out of the grime. “It’s just common horse sense,” claims a small voice. Will national leadership ever find another spokesman as convincing as the great Richard Barthelmess, that half-whispered deadpan amplified by a fledgling technology, the Vitaphone? After enduring shrapnel to the spine, dependency on morphine, plus a prison stretch, his character Tom Holmes channels the country’s pain; and his catalog of personal miseries—including the sudden death of his young wife—qualifies him as the voice of wisdom when he explains, “It takes more than one sock in the jaw to lick 120 million people.” How did Barthelmess—owner of the flattest murmur in Talking Pictures, a far distance from the gilded oratory of Franklin Roosevelt, manage to sell this shiny chunk of New Deal propaganda? 

How did he take the film’s almost-crass reduction of America’s economic cataclysm, that metaphorical sock on the jaw, and make it sound reasonable? Barthelmess was 37 when he made Heroes for Sale; an aging juvenile who less than a decade earlier had been one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office titans. But no matter how smoothly he seemed to have survived the transition, his would always be a screen presence more redolent of the just-passed Silent-era than the strange new world of synchronized sound. And yet, through a delivery rich with nuance for generous listeners and a glum piquancy for everyone else, deeply informed by an awareness of his own fading stardom, his slightly unsettling air of a man jousting with ghosts lends tremendous force to the New Deal line. It echoes and resolves itself in the viewer’s consciousness precisely because it is so eerily plainspoken, as if by some half-grinning somnambulist ordering a ham on rye. Through it we are in the presence of a living compound myth, a crisp monotone that brims with vacillating waves of hope and despair.

Tom is “The Dirty Thirties.” A symbolic figure looming bigger than government promises, towering over Capitalism itself, he’s reduced to just another soldier-cum-hobo by the film’s final reel, having relinquished a small fortune to feed thousands before inevitably going “on the bum.” If he emits wretchedness and self-abnegation, it’s because Tom was originally intended to be an overt stand-in for Jesus Christ—a not-so-gentle savior who attends I.W.W. meetings and participates in the Bonus March, even hurling a riotous brick at the police. These strident scenes, along with “heretical” references to the Nazarene, were ultimately dropped; and yet the explosive political messages remain.

More than anything, these key works in the filmography of William A. Wellman present their viewers with competing visions of freedom; a choice, if you will. One can best be described as a fanciful, yet highly addictive dream of personal comfort — the American Century's corrupted fantasy of escape from toil, tranquility, and a material luxury handed down from the then-dying principalities of Western Europe — on gaudy, if still wondrous, display within the vast corpus of Hollywood's Great Depression wish-list movies. The other is rarely acknowledged, let alone essayed, in American Cinema. There are, as always, reasons for this. It is elusive and ever-inspiring; too primal to be called revolutionary. It is a vision of existential freedom made flesh; being unmoored without being alienated; the idea of personal liberation, not as license to indulge, but as a passport to enter the unending, collective struggle to remake human society into a society fit for human beings. 

In one of the boldest examples of this period in American film, the latter vision would manifest itself as a morality play populated by kings and queens of the Commonweal— a creature of the Tammany wilderness, an anarchist nurse, and a gaggle of feral street punks (Dead End Kids before there was a 'Dead End'). Released on June 24, 1933, Archie L. Mayo's The Mayor of Hell stood, not as a standard entry in Warner Bros.’ Social Consciousness ledger, but as an untamed rejoinder to cratering national grief.

by Daniel Riccuito

Special thanks to R.J. Lambert

[angiewang19]

contemplating about careers

At the start of spring semester, I decided to not do 3-2, and I switched to a new academic advisor, my first semester math professor. During my first meeting with Prof. Aksoy, she asked, “What do you want to do after you graduate?” 

I was stunned that she dared to ask this weighty question to a college freshman. I came from a high school that espoused “Do what you love in the moment!” and “You don’t need to plan for or think about the future; everything will fall in place when it needs to!” Most of my classmates had no idea what they wanted to do in college (let alone life), and most seniors went to college as undecided majors. 

However, when I’d get home from high school every day, my parents relentlessly pushed me to make decisions as soon as I was ready. Planning for the future would give me luxuries -- more time, more opportunities, and therefore, possibly more money, happiness, and clout. While I was quick to fall back on, “almost all of my classmates have no idea what they want to do!” they knew, as first-generation immigrants, that being undecided was a privilege. To put off any form of planning is an acknowledgement that you can afford to buy time, opportunities, happiness, and clout. It is an acknowledgement that you have options that you can tap into whenever it’s convenient for you. 

All of this went through my head as I tried to provide a coherent answer to Prof. Aksoy: “I’m thinking about going into consulting or finance. I think it might be nice to work in the industry for a few years to understand the purpose of my education, and then I’ll go to grad school. But... I don’t really know.” 

My last sentence was my only genuine thought in this jumble of words -- I really had no idea. 

She gave me a slightly disappointed look: “You need to do some soul searching. Look at your parents -- are they happy? Would you be happy doing what they do every day? You need to do something that makes you feel fulfilled.” 

Before our conversation, fulfilled was a word I never gave a second thought to. Through our conversation, I realized I wanted to go into those fields because it seemed like everyone at CMC was/is fighting to get these opportunities. I think about the Goldman Sachs information session, where they didn’t talk about what exactly they did (maybe their day-to-day is actually mundane or they just assume that everyone already knows?), but they spent a great deal of effort talking about what it’s like to live in New York City as a first-year analyst and the fact that “everyone at Goldman is just so smart.” The fact that jobs and internships in these fields are so highly sought after at CMC made these roles seem glamorous in my eyes. More importantly, I saw them as prestigious destinations, and chasing prestige is addicting. 

I found a question about consulting/finance on Quora: 

Q: Why do so many students in the Ivy League and other elite universities go into investment banking and management consulting? 

A (from a student at Wharton): A slightly majority of my classmates (and myself included) go into finance and consulting. This speaks to how we’re all insecure and value the safety of a high paying and prestigious job.

Most people (especially “students in the Ivy League and other elite universities”) aren’t idiots, so I’m sure there are decent reasons to go into either of these fields. But I realized that wanting to go into consulting/finance because “everyone else is doing it” or “it pays well” are not good enough reasons for me. Over the past few months, I realized that consulting is not a great fit for me (thank you CCG), but I still haven’t closed the door on finance. However, I don’t feel strongly about a possible career in finance (in a positive or negative light), since I haven’t done my homework on what exactly the people do. In my opinion, understanding the responsibilities of the day-to-day and the consequences of my actions at work are the first steps to figuring out whether this career will feel good in the long run. 

“Feeling good in the long run” is a nebulous phrase. In the process of trying to find more concrete understanding, I thought about the distinction between fulfillment and meaningfulness, words that are often used synonymously. I believe there’s a difference -- fulfillment is when an individual feels personally satisfied, while doing something meaningful has consequences beyond the individual doing the action (think: meaningful = full of meaning). 

They’re connected, as often doing something meaningful gives you a sense of fulfillment -- volunteering for a cause you believe in, Bryan Stevenson’s work at Equal Justice Initiative, Jon Favreau writing speeches for Obama. As Favreau mentions in his commencement address, the day-to-day grind of a fulfilling job might not be pretty, but the work can still make you feel empowered and inspired. 

To make my point about the distinction between the two words, I believe there are jobs that are meaningful but not necessarily fulfilling -- maybe serving our country via the military. According to Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security advisor, Obama remarked that the audiences he spoke to at military bases were always diverse coalitions, but as you climb higher up the chain of command, it became all white men. So while serving your country is meaningful work, I can imagine feeling cynical and disheartened if you were trying to work your way up, and you were anyone but a white male. Finally, there are jobs which I believe are fulfilling but not necessarily meaningful. Unfortunately, the first ones that come to mind are consulting and investment banking, which aren’t typically considered the most “moral” professions. For many people in the field, it’s immensely satisfying to close a deal or engage in the daily grind of solving client’s problems and being well-compensated for those efforts. But I’d argue that managing rich people’s money or consulting for Coca-Cola is self-serving and actually perpetuates inequality -- you help the rich get richer in the former and in the latter, you’re complicit in a Rust Belt child’s set of teeth completely rotting before they reach adulthood because soda is cheaper than water or other healthier alternatives. 

This is my perspective based on a limited (sheltered + privileged) worldview. It’s important to look at any opportunity from the question of fulfillment and meaningfulness, but why you make choices, especially professional choices, is more nuanced than that. Favreau says he’s been better off looking for opportunities which enable him to do something, not to be something. As immigrants, my parents tucked away many of their genuine interests in order to make a living in the very expensive Bay Area. For them, the search for meaningfulness and/or fulfillment was put on the back burner, which serves as a reminder that evaluating for meaningfulness/fulfillment/happiness is a luxury. Michelle Obama’s parents told her to make money first, and then do what makes her happy. Worded differently, money buys you any kind of freedom you’d like (hence economists say that the best gift is always cash), which buys you a sense of fulfillment or meaningfulness or whatever combination of the two you’d like. 

As a starry-eyed, ambitious, and naive college student like me, I’ve kept Andrew Lee's advice in mind: “Money isn't the most important thing, but money goes where value is being created - for me, this was a really hard pill to swallow coming out of college, but you'll notice people at the top of their field tend to be able to move to other fields and have come from other fields. Why? Well, it turns out a lot of them started in places where they were surrounded by the best resources - sometimes that is money, sometimes that is people, sometimes, that is technology (or some other resource that helps you shape reality). Early in your career, people tell you to pursue your passion, but it's really the intersection of passion, economic engine, and what the market will bear. As a result, people who go to money first, find it then easier to go out of it than the other way around. It's not that you won't learn anything elsewhere, but you learn with more resources, and it turns out most people go to where resources are.”

So... I feel like this post has taken a windy path, where I ramble a ton. Scrolling up, I notice that I start with my conversation with my academic advisor, and I go to the differences between meaningfulness and fulfillment. Ultimately, I make a pit stop to the role that money plays in all of our choices (the elephant in the room, in my humble opinion). Our individual core values shape our choices and outcomes, and we can condition ourselves to feel certain ways, for better or for worse. As of right now, I think working in academia or education checks my boxes, but others won’t agree (and ha! I don’t know if I have what it takes to go into academia). Andrew Lee argues that “right now the private sector is pretty damn good at being able to achieve some powerful social ends,” and as a venture capitalist, he can fund underrepresented founders and amplify their voices in society. You have people who are marketing sustainable products (hi Lauren), and you have people like my parents who work tirelessly every day so that we can have a better life in America. There’s not one way to get there -- wherever you believe "there” is. 

[thelexlucifer]

How to prepare for Climate Change.

Climate change is a complex phenomenon and can only be modeled. The complexity of such models usually correlate with the complexity of the phenomena to be modeled. In the current debate, the future of the planet is modeled by the amount of a single gas (carbon-dioxide, CO2). The model therefore is likely to fail, predictions based on it are likely to be inadequate. Instead of a well-thought approach, we get propaganda iconed by a girl who suffers from a mental illness. One major ingredient to develop momentum is that pupils can take free from school to run after Greta. Among Greta’s followers you also find folks from the radical left, prepared to use violence, such as the black block. The campaign is funded by her parents, which work in the field of media ... with strong ties to folks that is likely to profit from “green technologies”. Hence, technology reducing the emission of carbon-dioxide - which can include nuclear power plants and other technologies that exploit the planet / population in some way, while simply be low on CO2.

Bogus science and metal illness leveraged by manipulative media are currently dominating the public discourse.

Further winners are left-wing parties, that have the reduction of CO2 on their agendas. Effects become already visible in elections within EU member states. You will notice that they also use synergies to other items on their agendas, especially equality. They already criticize that climate change hits people along the strata in different ways. And they already demand to take from the wealthy ones and redistribute to the poor. New taxes are already on the way - sometimes even demanded by misled people. Please read my blogpost about Satanic capital to learn about the backgrounds for that leftist strategy.

Taken together, climate change is another great example why it is important to ask who is gaining from an initiative (”qui bono?”). If you are not part of the answer, you should be aware and beware.

Self proetction

But now let’s talk about protective action. You need to protect your mind, your wealth, your body and your beloved ones. In that very order, as each component must stay safe in order to be able to protect the following ones. 

To protect your mind you need to seek for proper information. With regard to science, you should rely on papers that provide a comprehensive view on climate change. Hence, models that not solely consider CO2 but also the status of the earth’s magnetic field and activity of the sun. Innovations and solutions should be sustainable. Nuclear energy is not and electrical cars are neither (Please refer to my posting “Electrical cars - the good guy badge for the 21st century” for details). I personally believe that hydrogen will play an important role and just recently German energy providers discussed a network for delivering hydrogen. But there might be other sustainable solutions out there. Quality media should consider report accordingly. From quality media I demand that they are aware of those aspects and not just tune-in into a media campaign. For the latter, Facebook would be enough. By relying on solid information an avoiding to draw attention to poor information, you can preserve your mind, while others run after a girl suffering from a mental-illness. The herd simply serves as Greta’s co-addicts.

You need to protect your wealth. In our modern, specialized society you need money for every good and service that you need. Especially for the following protection shields you will need to make investments and pay for intelligence and travelling. Wealth protection can only be granted by a sophisticated plan, taking into account international tax regimes. In this matter you want to consult proven experts. Wealth-protection also is about securing your income, bearing in mind that you may have to relocate. This can be accomplished in two ways: One way is to do business that you can do from anywhere, typically by working online (”Digital Nomade”). That includes eCommerce, Blogging, Coding etc. The 2nd way is to develop and maintain skills that are demanded everywhere in the world. Data Science is a current field that faces growing demand at least in the develop world and that has chances to keep-up that demand even during climate shifts (as data has to be analyzed in order to get to reliable forecasts).

Your body, or to be more precisely your health, needs protection, too. Depending on where you stay, the growing heat might demand more from your body. Maintaining a health lifestyle is therefore important. You should maintain high hygiene standards, including immunisation. In troical areas (and some areas might become that) you need to protect against mosquitos, as they can transfer diseases that you can not immunize against (for instance Dengue fever). An important pillar in protecting against mosquitos is a room that is dense, so that no mosquitos can intrude. In tropical areas that usually implicates proper a/c, so that you can sleep during night without opening a window. Where to stay (in order to escape negative impact), needs intelligence, which you need to buy from serious sources. Relocating there means additional costs. And starting a life in a new area needs upfront investment. Therefore, it is essential to protect your wealth and your income streams, as outlined in the paragraph above.

Maintaining healthy and sovereign is a prerequsitie for taking care of those whom you love. You need to lead them even through tough times that might be ahead.

All in all I dare say that Satanism is the philosophy of choice, especially today. Understanding the human creature, seeing the 3rd side and indulge life apart from the herd, is a beneficial strategy. Also or not to say especially in times of climate change.

[earaercircular]

What is ikigai and how can it transform your leadership and business for good?

Ikigai: a reason for being.

When it comes to leadership styles, the corporate pendulum has swung back and forth at lightning speed over the past decade – partly driven by the transformative influence of technology. In the past, the authority-based leadership model prevailed, with senior executives commanding the loyalty of their employees, staying in office for lengthy periods, and often devoting limited time to the issues that mattered most to them. These days, this old leadership style has been superseded by a new, values-based model, where the focus is on building followership and belonging by listening – rather than just talking – applying learnings, and sharing.

Authenticity is a non-negotiable attribute for today’s leaders

Today’s employees – especially those at the younger end of the spectrum – have far higher expectations of their leaders: not only do they demand authenticity and accountability, but they believe that respect must be earned, rather than automatically accorded. Above all, they can smell a fake a mile off – and they’re not afraid to call out their leaders on the slightest hint of inauthenticity.

Our own research backs up the scale of this shift in expectations. We analysed CEO departures from 200 companies over two five-year periods from 2011 to 2016, and from 2016 to 2021. The total amount of transitions remained relatively stable at 150 and 155, respectively, but the number of involuntary departures triggered by causes other than financial factors increased five-fold during the latter period. This suggests that CEOs are becoming increasingly vulnerable to being removed from office for issues such as turning a blind eye to toxic corporate culture or failing to address socially irresponsible behaviour among their employees.

Ikigai can help leaders define and deliver their true purpose as an organisation

Leaders are under increasing pressure to identify compelling ways to activate their corporate purpose and achieve the outcomes they want. In recent months, we’ve spoken a lot about “picking a pivot in purpose”. Rooted in Japanese culture, ikigai is a very similar concept, first emerging during Japan’s Heian period (794—1185). It has no direct equivalent in the Western world – at least not one that can be neatly captured in a single word. Derived from iki – meaning “alive” or “life” – and gai – meaning “benefit” or “worth”, ikigai was conceived as a way to help individuals achieve fulfilment by finding their purpose and reason for being in life. But leaders too can apply its principles on a much larger scale to benefit the organisations they run, by identifying the sweet spot at which their passions and talents converge with the things that the world needs and is prepared to pay for.

So, what can ikigai teach us about the way we run our organisations? Many companies are now homing on the idea of purpose, striving to define and communicate the reason for their existence. But fewer have translated that purpose into tangible action: this “purpose gap” is the disconnect between what organisations say, and how stakeholders believe they act.

Putting an ancient philosophy into practice today

For today’s leaders, deploying ikigai to maximum effect is about more than just keeping their job; it’s about doing their job. To achieve this, leaders need to empower and engage with people right across their companies, from the middle of the organisation – which stands to lose the most from change – right down to individual employees, ensuring they feel seen, supported, and inspired.

And this approach doesn’t stop at employees: it extends to the product level too. For example, leaders who can reconfigure their global supply chains for greater circularity and sustainability around areas like climate-positive products and pricing will be well positioned to capitalise on the elasticity of sustainability, where people are prepared to stump up a premium for climate-positive products, foster deeper loyalty from stakeholders, including investors.

Ikigai is about doing what we love doing – doing it well – and focusing only on those things that we have the power to control. In our fragmented modern world, ikigai offers us a compelling way to break down the walls we’ve built to separate our personal values and the values that make our organisations tick, a way to find their purpose and translate it into meaningful action in a way that our stakeholders can see, feel, and understand.

People power: the most renewable energy source there is

Crucially, ikigai gives organisations the opportunity to take a step back, reflect, and reassess their true purpose, rather than pursuing progress at any price. Companies are living, growing organisms – and that purpose evolves as they develop. In order to thrive, they need balance and moderation – not the polarization, nativism, tribalism, and nationalism that divide our society today.

Leaders that can help their organisations to achieve this balance will be perfectly placed to tap into the sense of purpose and joy that give them their reason for being in the first place. And once they can successfully harness the energy of their people – the most renewable source of energy in the world – they stand to reap the enduring benefits that come from the power to keep them engaged, motivated, and above all, happy.

To resume

Ikigai is a Japanese word which roughly translates as "a reason for being".

In a world dominated by the pursuit of progress this ancient concept can help leaders take a more values-focused approach.

Organisations that embrace ikigai can foster employee loyalty and investor confidence.

Source

Alex Liu, What is ikigai and how can it transform your leadership and business for good, in: World Economic Forum, Davos Agenda, 17-01-2022, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/ikigai-how-it-can-transform-leadership-and-business-for-good?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social_scheduler&utm_term=Davos+Agenda+2022&utm_content=03/01/2023+11:00

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

A Critique, Not a Program: For a Non-Primitivist Anti-Civilization Critique

So the anarchist individualist as I mean it has nothing to wait for [...] I already considered myself an anarchist and could not wait for the collective revolution to rebel myself or for communism to obtain my freedom. — Renzo Novatore

I conceive of anarchism from the side of destruction. This is what its aristocratic logic consists of. Destruction! here is the real beauty of anarchism. I want to destroy all the things that enslave me, enervate me, and repress my desires, I want to leave them all behind me as corpses. Remorse, scruples, conscience are things that my iconoclastic spirit destroyed [...] Yes, iconoclastic negation is most practical. — Armando Diluvi First of all, there is nothing inherently primitivist about a critique of civilization, particularly if that critique is anarchist and revolutionary. Such critiques have existed nearly as long as a self-aware anarchist movement has existed — and not always even connected to a critique of technology or progress (Dejacque felt that certain technological developments would allow human beings to more easily get beyond civilization; on the other hand, Enrico Arrigoni, alias Frank Brand, saw civilization and industrial technology as blocks hindering real human progress). The real question, in my opinion, is whether primitivism is any help at all to an anarchist and revolutionary critique of civilization. The word primitivism can mean two rather different things. First of all, it can simply mean making use of what we know about “primitive” societies[1] to critique civilization. This form of primitivism appears relatively harmless. But is it? Leaving aside the obvious criticism of the dependence on those experts called anthropologists for information about “primitive” societies, there is another problem here. The actual societies that we call “primitive” were and, where they still exist, are living relationships between real, living, breathing human beings, individuals developing their interactions with the world around them. The capacity to conceive of them as a model for comparison already involves a reification of these lived relationships, transforming them into an abstract thing — the “primitive” — an idealized image of “primitiveness”. Thus, the use of this method of critiquing civilization dehumanizes and deindividualizes the real people who live or have lived these relationships. In addition, this sort of critique offers us no real tool for figuring out how to battle against civilization here and now. At most, the reified, abstract conception of the “primitive” becomes a model, a program for a possible future society.This brings me to the second meaning of primitivism — the idea that “primitive” societies offer a model for future society. The adherents to this form of primitivism can themselves rightly be called primitivists, because, however much they may deny it, they are promoting a program and an ideology. In this form, I actually consider primitivism to be in conflict with anarchic thought and practice. The reason can be found in the Novatore quote above. Simply replace “communism” with “primitivism” and “collective revolution” with “industrial collapse” and everything should be pretty clear. As I see it, one of the most important differences between marxism and anarchism is that the latter is not essentially an eschatological vision of a future for which we wait, but a way of confronting the world here and now. Thus, revolution for the anarchist is also not something historical processes guarantees for the future, but something for us to live and create here and now. Primitivism is no more livable now than the marxist’s communism. It too is a program for the future, and one that depends on contingencies that are beyond our control to bring about. Thus, it has no more to do with anarchist practice than Marx’s eschatology.I have already pointed out how the very concept of the “primitive” reifies the real lives and relationships of those given this label. This manifests among primitivists who seek to practice their ideology now in the way this practice ends up being defined. In a way far too reminiscent of marxism, “primitive” life gets reduced to economic necessity, to a set of skills — making fire with a bow drill, hunting with an atlatl, learning wild edible and medicinal plants, making a bow, making simple shelters, etc., etc. — to be learned in order to survive. This might then be spiced up a bit with some concept of nature spirituality learned from a book or borrowed from new age bullshit perhaps referring to a return to a “natural oneness”. But the latter is not considered necessary. The totality of the life of the people labeled “primitive” is ignored, because it is largely unknown and completely inaccessible to those who were born and raised in the industrial capitalist civilization that now dominates the world — and that includes all of us who have been involved in the development of an anarchist critique of civilization. But even if we only consider mere survival skills, the fact is that even in the United States and Canada, where real, fairly extensive (though quite damaged) wilderness exists, very few people could sustain themselves in this way. So those who learn these skills with the idea of actually living as “primitives” in their own lifetime are not thinking of the destruction of civilization (except possibly as an inevitable future circumstance for which they believe they will be prepared), but of escape from it. I won’t begrudge them this, but it has nothing to do with anarchy or a critique of civilization. On a practical level, it is much more like a more advanced form of “playing Indian” as most of us here in the US did as children, and, in reality, it is taken about that seriously. Nearly all of the people I know who have taken up the development of “primitive” skills in the name of “anarcho-primitivism” show how ready they are for such a life by the amount of time they spend on computers setting up websites, taking part in internet discussion boards, building blogs, etc., etc. Frequently, they come across to me as hyper-civilized kids playing role games in the woods, rather than as anarchists in the process of decivilizing.An anarchist and revolutionary critique of civilization does not begin from any comparison to other societies or to any future ideal. It begins from my confrontation, from your confrontation, with the immediate reality of civilization in our lives here and now. It is the recognition that the totality of social relationships that we call civilization can only exist by stealing our lives from us and breaking them down into bits that the ruling order can use in its own reproduction. This is not a process accomplished once and for all in the distant past, but one that goes on perpetually in each moment. This is where the anarchist way of conceiving life comes in. In each moment, we need to try to determine how to grasp back the totality of our own life to use against the totality of civilization. Thus, as Armando Diluvi said, our anarchism is essentially destructive. As such it needs no models or programs including those of primitivism. As an old, dead, bearded classicist of anarchism said “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge”. And one that can be put into practice immediately. (Another dead anti-authoritarian revolutionary of a generation or two later called passionate destruction “a way to grasp joy immediately”).Having said this, I am not against playfully imagining possible decivilized worlds. But for such imaginings to be truly playful and to have experimental potential, they cannot be models worked out from abstracted conceptions of either past or future societies. In fact, in my opinion, it is best to leave the concept of “society” itself behind, and rather think in terms of perpetually changing, interweaving relationships between unique, desiring individuals. That said, we can only play and experiment now, where our desire for the apparently “impossible” meets the reality that surrounds us. If civilization were to be dismantled in our lifetime, we would not confront a world of lush forests and plains and healthy deserts teeming with an abundance of wildlife. We would instead confront a world full of the detritus of civilization — abandoned buildings, tools, scrap, etc., etc.[2] Imaginations that are not chained either to realism or to a primitivist moral ideology could find many ways to use, explore and play with all of this — the possibilities are nearly infinite. More significantly, this is an immediate possibility, and one that can be explicitly connected with a destructive attack against civilization. And this immediacy is utterly essential, because I am living now, you are living now, not several hundred years from now, when an enforced program aimed toward a primitivist ideal might be able to create a world in which this ideal could be realized globally — if primitivists have their revolution now and enforce their program. Fortunately, no primitivist seems willing to aim for such authoritarian revolutionary measures, preferring to rely on some sort of quasi-mystical transformation to bring about their dream (perhaps like the vision of the Native American ghost dance religion, where the landscape built by the European invaders was supposed to be peeled away leaving a pristine, wild landscape full of abundant life).For this reason, it might be a bit unfair to call the primitivist vision a program (though, since I have no use for bourgeois values, I don’t give a shit about being unfair...). Perhaps it is more like a longing. When I bring up some of these questions with primitivists I know, they often say that the primitivist vision reflects their “desires”. Well, I have a different concept of desire than they do. “Desires” based on abstract and reified images — in this case the image of the “primitive” — are those ghosts of desire[3] that drive commodity consumption. This manifests explicitly among some primitivists, not just in the consumption of books by the various theorists of primitivism, but in the money and/or labor-time spent to purchase so-called “primitive” skills at schools that specialize in this.[4] But this ghost of desire, this longing for an image that has no connection to reality, is not true desire, because the object of true desire is not an abstract image upon which one becomes focused — an image that one can purchase. It is discovered through activity and relationship within the world here and now. Desire, as I conceive it, is in fact the drive to act, to relate, to create. In this sense, its object only comes to exist in the fulfillment of desire, in its realization. This again points to the necessity of immediacy. And it is only in this sense that desire becomes the enemy of the civilization in which we live, the civilization whose existence is based on the attempt to reify all relationships and activities, to transform them into things that stand above us and define us, to identify, institutionalize and commodify them. Thus, desire, as a drive rather than a longing, acts immediately to attack all that prevents it from forcefully moving. It discovers its objects in the world around it, not as abstract thing, but as active relationships. This is why it has to attack the institutionalized relationships that freeze activity into routine, protocol, custom and habit — into things to be done to order. Consider this in terms of what such activities as squatting, expropriation, using one’s work-time for oneself, graffiti, etc., etc. could mean, and how they relate to more explicitly destructive activity.Ultimately, if we imagine dismantling civilization, actively and consciously destroying it, not in order to institute a program or realize a specific vision, but in order to open and endlessly expand the possibilities for realizing ourselves and exploring our capacities and desires, then we can begin to do it as the way we live here and now against the existing order. If, instead of hoping for a paradise, we grasp life, joy and wonder now, we will be living a truly anarchic critique of civilization that has nothing to do with any image of the “primitive”, but rather with our immediate need to no longer be domesticated, with our need to be unique, not tamed, controlled, defined identities. Then, we will find ways to grasp all that we can make our own and to destroy all that seeks to conquer us.

[jordanianroyals]

Harper’s Bazaar Arabia March 2019: Queen Rania of Jordan on 20 Years of Intelligence, Integrity and Intuition (x)

By Louise Nichol | Photographer - Alexi Lubomirski

Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan is determined to forge a bright future across the Arab world

"I'm not ready to give up on humanity,” says Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, the steel in Her Majesty’s voice belying her softly smiling eyes. It’s a position that must have been sorely tested over the 20 years that her husband King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein has ruled Jordan, the Arab nation that shares its borders with Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel and Palestine, placing it at the heart of some of the most harrowing global conflicts of recent times. Yet amid five ongoing conflicts and two of the world’s biggest humanitarian disasters – in Syria and Yemen – Jordan remains a beacon for resilience and optimism in the Arab world; its Queen, a globally-revered symbol of modern Arabia.

Sitting in her office in the capital Amman, photographs of her four children beaming out from amid the whispered hush of the chic Middle Eastern-inspired surrounds, 48-year-old Queen Rania gestures as if to the beige environs of the city, musing, “It isn’t really about the magnitude of the crises we face, but what we choose to learn from them, and how we use those lessons to become better leaders, citizens and human beings.” Since the onset of the Syrian crisis in 2011, Jordan has taken in 1.3 million vulnerable people, bringing its current population to around 10 million, according to UN estimates. The strain on the resource-poor nation’s infrastructure has been immense, with schools forced to operate double shifts to accommodate around 150,000 Syrian students. “We couldn’t turn away innocent people fleeing war, death and despair,” Queen Rania states simply, “I think the choice Jordan, its leadership and its people made when Syrians started fleeing across the border will go down in history as an example of moral leadership and moral courage.”

Her Majesty’s role is as far away from the storybook ideal as one could imagine, despite her fairy tale princess exterior. It is Queen Rania’s integrity, intelligence and intuition that arm her to battle the giants that history has placed at her door. “If I were to be queen in a different time, I do not expect that it would be any different,” she says pragmatically, “The world will always bear witness to catastrophic events, some naturally occurring, others man-made. Giving up or even slowing down is not an option, neither for me, nor for His Majesty.”

Born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents, Rania Al Yassin was working in Amman when she met the then prince Abdullah at a dinner party in 1992. They married the following year but it was not until 1999, when Rania was 28, that the line of ascension was changed by King Hussein on his deathbed and her husband ascended the throne. Over the latter half of his reign, His Majesty King Abdullah has steered the country through the fallout of the global economic crisis in 2008, the Arab Spring in 2011, the rise of Islamic extremist factions across the region and the ongoing civil war in Syria.

Jordan’s open-arm position towards its neighbours pushes back against the tide of global populism that erects walls at borders and sees countries turn in on themselves, ostensibly out of fear of what lies beyond. “Fear is a powerful emotion, and, in today’s uncertain world, it has become a potent political force,” Her Majesty explains. “People are worried about the economy, social and technological disruptions, violence and terror attacks… They’re worried about their future, and the future of their families.” In times of seismic change, she explains, it is natural to seek comfort in the familiar as people can feel left behind, which creates “room for others to capitalise on their unease, and to sow divisions and hatred.”

It is all too easy to sense the tremors of isolationism that threaten to rip humanity apart as would-be leaders espouse a rhetoric of division masquerading as patriotism. “After all, one of the simplest ways to win people over is to validate their anxiety by giving them someone else to blame, like globalisation, foreigners or refugees,” Queen Rania explains, “that’s certainly easier than finding real and lasting solutions!” Yet find lasting solutions to humanity’s woes we must, she asserts. “Our world is too interconnected for any nation or group to succeed on its own. Turning inwards and trying to keep the world out is no longer a viable option. Climate change, economic downturns, the global refugee crisis… These challenges transcend borders. So instead of indulging prejudices or playing the blame game, we need to come together to seek sustainable solutions to the issues plaguing our world.”

As a Muslim, Queen Rania is acutely attuned to the divisions propagated by religious separatists. “There are over 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, yet many people continue to confound this diverse group of people with a small minority who commit heinous crimes in the name of Islam,” she says. “Our religion preaches compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and embracing people of other faiths; it condemns hatred, prejudice and bigotry.” To those who would spread dissonance, she counsels, “There can be no true understanding or trust in a world divided by walls – and not only those walls built of concrete and stone…But the walls we erect in our minds.” She urges Muslims to “speak up and reclaim our religion’s true values and principles which – not too long ago – built a thriving and diverse intellectual civilisation.” Only by Muslims and non-Muslims addressing their growing intolerance and fear of the other can they move past their divisions, she says, adding with innate optimism, “I would like to believe that extremism falsely committed in the name of Islam has reached the apex, and that if we as Muslims continue to reject the extremists’ mangling of our faith, they will eventually lose their sway on the ground.” “There can be no true understanding or trust in a world divided by walls"

In an era of fake news, Queen Rania warns that our human instinct to judge those different to ourselves has been amplified by social networks, leading to the global spread of false stereotypes and divisive discourse.“The danger here is substantial,” she says, “but is even more so when this online debate starts gaining ground offline; when negativity on Facebook or Twitter becomes fodder for negativity on the streets, schools or in conversations with friends and even strangers.” Her measured response is not to blame or ban social media itself but to reassess the way we use it. “The repercussions of misusing social media have already permeated our daily lives, and now we are a little in over our heads,” she cautions. “Our best bet is not to dial down our use of these platforms, but to become more discerning about what we are exposed to online. If destructive discourse is being brandished around us, we need to question whether it can be validated and think before we share in the conversation.”

At its most base level, social media can be an easy tool for bullying, and as an outspoken woman in the Arab world, Queen Rania is wide open to negativity and criticism, which she handles with grace and insight. “Listening to criticism is part of my job,” she smiles. “It’s important to respect all different viewpoints, and sometimes it’s the people who disagree with you who are able to point out something you may have overlooked. But criticism is constructive only when it is based on fact. Sadly, in today’s media landscape, false information can become irrefutable fact in a matter of hours.” She admits that when she first stepped into the role of royalty she was reluctant to speak out or take risks for fear of opening herself up to scrutiny or attracting censure. “With time and experience, I’ve become more comfortable in my own skin. There is nothing more important than being authentic, saying and doing what we believe in, and owning our narrative. If we don’t, others will fill in the gaps on our behalf,” she says. “I’ve learnt that the path to progress is long, hard, and often thankless – if you let fear of criticism paralyse you, you’ll never make it out the door. The difficult choices – the ones we most fear – are often those that need to be made.That fear is there to let us know that they are worth it.”

One of the most politically candid first ladies in the Middle East – if not the world – Queen Rania muses, “I never really made a conscious decision to be outspoken, I feel it’s something that I have to do because any voice raised against injustice erodes the power of that injustice.” She urges us all to follow suit. “I think it’s the most important thing in the world to be authentic, to live according to your beliefs and to speak your truth. Particularly at this time because the public discourse is dominated by hatred and intolerance and anger and fear, and so we need to provide a counter-narrative to that, particularly for people in public positions.”

Beyond those in the public sphere, Queen Rania encourages individuals to speak out, particularly women in the Arab world whose voices may have been hushed by cultural restraints. “For too long that voice has been quite muted,” she says.“When it comes to women from the Middle East you’ll find a lot of international experts ready to jump in and speak on their behalf, but you get narratives that are either inaccurate or just stereotypes. Women are usually painted with two broad brushstrokes, whether as dangerous extremists or oppressed victims; the nuance is lost in the narrative. Authentic voices from the Middle East are few and far between and it’s absolutely critical that women do speak for themselves because the stereotypes really don’t capture what women in the Middle East are all about.” Few would deny the yawning chasm between the perception of Arab women that proliferates in the West and the reality of the female experience across the Middle East.

“The women that I see and interact with are so strong, they are so determined, they are so ambitious, they are resilient. A lot of them are extremely well-educated. A lot of them are high achievers,” Queen Rania agrees, adding, “We can’t expect the rest of the world to recognise our successes and our achievements until we recognise them ourselves. We have to do a better job of celebrating Arab women, of highlighting their successes, of creating environments for them to thrive and express themselves and build on each other’s successes. Then we can start to reset global perceptions about Arab women.” Are observers in the West aware, for example, that in many Arab countries there are more females enrolled in universities than males? “In Jordan girls are much higher achievers academically than boys are, but the challenge is how do you transform those academic achievements into successful careers? All the time we see women bumping into glass ceilings and barriers in the work place. A lot of times it is because there is just a bias and a lot of times it’s because the working environment is not helpful or not conducive for women.” Such obstacles, however, can forge iron wills. “I think cultural and familial barriers really hold women back but I’m always inspired by how determined Arab women are. Because we are faced with all these challenges we try that much harder, so they’re very resourceful.”

One third of start-ups in the Arab world are headed by females, a higher percentage than in Silicon Valley. “That tells you a lot about how determined Arab women are to succeed in spite of their barriers. And how little of a victim mentality they have, contrary to what many in the western world think,” Queen Rania smiles. “So there’s a lot to be celebrated in the Arab world. But we need to amplify those successes. We need to talk about them. And we need to create linkages between these women because it’s like the reverse domino effect where one woman lifts another woman up and we all end up standing together. The greatest support that a woman can get is from another successful woman who lifts her up and tells her, ‘You can dream, you can succeed.’” We all have a role to play, she says, in encouraging, listening to and sharing a diversity of women’s voices from across the region, “so they can speak of their own story whether it’s the good, the bad, the triumphs or the trials. All of it. It’s part of the picture of who Arab women are and we’re so diverse; there isn’t one stereotype of an Arab woman. In different parts of the Arab world each woman is her own unique person. I would love to hear more voices coming up. Increasingly we’re seeing them but I think we still have a long way to go before we really leave a mark on the world stage.” "A meaningful life is a life where you have made things better for people around you"

As recent times have highlighted, it is not only in the Middle East that the female narrative is silenced, subdued or subjugated. “Women all over the world see the subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways that gender discrimination can hold us back,” Her Majesty says. For women in the Middle East, however, the stakes can seem so much higher. Surrounded by war and conflict, women face issues of displacement, barriers for movement, and the severe economic challenges that result. “And whenever those things happen, there is a disproportionate effect on women; they tend to bear the brunt of the fall-backs. We see women and their needs and their status fall down the priority list,” she explains. The battle for equal rights, for education, for gender parity is forgotten when a battle of bombs and bullets is raging outside. “If you look in a lot of the countries where there is conflict, people don’t talk about how the rights that women have worked so hard to acquire are now taken away from them,” she says.

For the daughters, sisters and mothers who are thrust into life-destroying circumstances – whether Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims forced to flee child murder and rape, or those touched by atrocities in neighbouring Syria – the effects of such butchery are unimaginable. Yet while the rest of us can switch the channel on the television or turn the page of a newspaper when faced with images too horrific to process, Her Majesty has witnessed first-hand the suffering inflicted on humanity across the Muslim world, encounters that must levy an enormous emotional toll. “Every day we’re bombarded with images of human suffering and injustice and that can turn you into a cynic,” she agrees, “but we need to remember that even in the worst of circumstances you still see incredible acts of humanity and sacrifice. Even in the darkest places – particularly in the darkest places.” By seeking out the compassion of mankind, Queen Rania refuses to let the darkness overwhelm her. “I’m not ready to give up on humanity. Against all the terrible things that we see, there’s incredible goodness in people,” she says, “and it would be good for all of us to focus on that, and also our faith, in prayer. I feel that at times of reflection you find a lot of the answers, and our religion teaches us to face these kinds of situations with patience and determination and acceptance. That’s a great source of comfort for me and it keeps my faith.”

Cocooned by the zen surroundings of the Al Husseiniya Palace compound, where elegant cypress trees line the drive and the air is softly scented, the ills of the world seem a million miles away. Bringing up four children – Crown Prince Hussein, 24, Princess Iman, 22, Princess Salma, 18, and Prince Hashem, 15 – the temptation to be protective must have been strong. “Like any mother, I want my children to be happy and fulfilled and challenged but also I really want them to be decent human beings,” Queen Rania says of her drive to instil compassion and empathy in her children. “As parents we’re always very protective over our kids and eager to take care of their needs but I think we need to teach them from a young age to balance their needs with other people’s needs. Whether it’s standing up to a bully or sharing a toy; those are qualities that you instil in your kids from a young age.”

The playing field is skewed, however, when you have the word Prince or Princess before your name. “I want them to be normal kids. Sometimes I feel like I’m swimming against the current because obviously they’re royals and people sometimes treat them that way, but I try to make sure that they have an identity outside of their title,” Queen Rania says. “I always tell them, ‘You carry your title, it doesn’t carry you’ and to think of it more as a responsibility and not a privilege.” Ultimately, she explains, honorifics are not character defining. Children’s true identity is derived not from a title but through values, morals and principles, and “making sure that they’re aware of their history and heritage and their faith.” These are the things, Queen Rania says, that create a sense of identity for a child. “Although we can’t shield our kids from all the things that life is going to throw at them, when you instil those things in your kids they become resilient. That’s what I want for my kids, to have that kind of resilience.”

Raising a future king must present its own set of challenges, ones that Queen Rania has experienced first-hand. “There’s plenty of personal sacrifice,” she says of life as a royal. “When you’re in the public eye you do get exposed to a lot of criticism, a lot of judgment. A lot of times my decisions are based on things that I can’t do rather than what I can, because there are certain restrictions or you just can’t go there because it’s not accepted, whether culturally or in any other context.” Queen Rania understands the gravity of duty. “When you are in the public eye your choices are not yours because you’re not living for yourself. But nothing that’s worthwhile is necessarily easy; you take the good and the bad, and I feel like it’s an honour and a privilege to be able to have a positive impact.”

Despite the human rights abuses she has witnessed around the world or the ongoing economic struggles of her fellow Jordanians, Queen Rania is motivated by the prospect of betterment for her country and those that surround it. “Ultimately what we all have in common is that we all want to have a meaningful life. People spend so much time trying to look for that meaning but I think it’s actually quite simple; a meaningful life is a life where you have made things better for people around you. And I think we all can do that whether you’re a public personality or a private citizen.” That’s not to say that she doesn’t allow herself some respite. “I’m more conscious now of making sure there’s a balance in my life. When I started out I didn’t understand fully the impact of emotional stress; how much that impacts your physical health, your energy, your outlook. Now I see when I am run down from too much work or too much stress that I suddenly become exhausted. So I make a much more conscious effort to create that balance. I make sure that the evenings are for my kids and for my family, watching TV. And also weekends, sometimes we’ll go to Aqaba or something like that.” With half of her children in Jordan and half studying abroad, she admits that it is hard to carve out family time. “I make sure that we somehow organise our schedules so that we’re together for a few weeks as a family over summer, and I must say that it is the most fulfilling time for me. That’s when I really fill up the tank. Just being with my kids, having that interaction every day, I love it. There’s nothing more important.”

Queen Rania was an employee of technology giant Apple when she met her future husband and today she embraces social media, where she describes herself as ‘A mum and wife with a really cool day job’ to 10.4 million Twitter followers, 16 million on Facebook, and 5.1 million on Instagram. But as her own children come of age in a newly digitised world, she is aware of the tightrope between empowerment and subversion that such connectivity brings. “When my kids started becoming old enough to be on social media and on the internet, as a mum my protective antennae shot up. But then I realised that snooping around is not going to be helpful because it will erode the trust between us and they will stop sharing things with me, so I’d rather we have an open dialogue and channels of trust that allows us to give and take,” she says. “At the end of the day it’s about moderation. It’s the same boring advice that you heard from your mum and your mum heard from her own mother: be moderate. I tell my kids to spend less of their lives on the phone and more of their lives being in the present, being in nature, picking up a book. It is hard because a lot of our lives are slowly migrating online but every now and then you just need to remind them that’s what is happening so they can be conscious of it and try to keep that balance.”

In addition to balancing time on- and off-line, the digital sphere can be a double-edged sword, Queen Rania explains. “The internet has unleashed a lot of potential for a lot of kids and sometimes when I look at YouTube channels or websites that are run by children they’re incredibly inspiring. But it is also a dangerous space where kids can be exposed to unsuitable content and negativity, to bullying, to content that makes them doubt themselves, or their self-image,” she says.“Increasingly, I try to guide my kids to look at the marvels of the internet and really steer them away from the dark corners.” The two-dimensional nature of platforms such as Instagram can be a battering ram in the face of wavering self-esteem, something that Queen Rania is also acutely aware of. “One thing that I’m very conscious of is that it’s become a very visual world and you really have to guard against your kids either becoming too superficial or unaccepting of who they are and becoming critical of themselves. Physically, emotionally; people start to think that other people’s lives are better than their own. I see that all the time, how people become incredibly insecure.” And it’s not only children who are susceptible, she warns. “Sometimes it really surprises me when I see people whose characters online are so different from their characters offline. And it makes me wonder, ‘Why do you feel you have to wear that mask? Why do you feel you have to project a certain image to the rest of the world? Why can’t you just be comfortable with who you are?’ Because ultimately your authentic self is what matters. And the closer you remain to the trueness of who you are, the happier you will be at the end of the day.” Despite what Snapchat filters would have us believe, “You don’t deceive anybody by trying to portray some kind of image on social media,” she counsels. “The number of likes that you get ultimately doesn’t matter. The validation that really matters comes from a sense of self-acceptance, achievement, doing something, developing your own skills.”

For these portraits taken for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia by photographer Alexi Lubomirski, Her Majesty was keen to stay true to her own sense of style, a style that is always secondary to substance. “I am very passionate about my work, and the clothes I wear don’t have any bearing on that. I am also very mindful that I have a duty to represent my country well. So, rather than follow the latest trends, I aim to dress in a way that reflects who I am,” she says. “I find that I’m most comfortable in modest wear – partly because of my position, but mostly because it feels right for me, as a woman.” Her Majesty just wishes that the emphasis would be on what she says, rather than what she wears. “Of course, one of the downsides of being a woman in the public eye is that there will always be comments about my outfits and appearance. Sometimes, there is a lot of exaggeration as well. I suppose it comes with the territory,” she says, “But at the end of the day, I hope it is my work that defines me, not my wardrobe.”

Chief among her work achievements is Her Majesty’s focus on education across the Arab world. Away from the images we see of starving children, displaced families and people in desperate need of medical aid, Queen Rania believes there is another less visible crisis unfolding in the Middle East, one that doesn’t make front page news. “Across the Arab world there are millions and millions of children who are receiving education that is inadequate, it’s outdated, it doesn’t prepare them for today’s job market, let alone tomorrow’s. So they really don’t stand a chance,” she says. “People don’t see it as a crisis. I see it as an emergency.” The slowly unfolding repercussions of failing to educate the region’s youth could decimate a generation. “What will become of them? Will they become vulnerable to extremist ideology, will they be a burden on society? What kind of impact will they have on our collective future?” She has seen first-hand how Jordan’s own education reform efforts have been strained by the pressure of accommodating Syrian refugee children in the country’s schools. “There isn’t anything more urgent for us in the Arab world than education because at the end of the day it’s about the individual being able to have the skills to participate in today’s economy, to feel competitive. There shouldn’t be a conflict between the sense of, ‘I’m an Arab, I’m a Muslim but I’m able to compete on the international stage’ and you can only achieve that through a quality education.” She urges a communal effort to revolutionise education across the Arab world. “If we put our hands together we can all muster up the resources that we need for our kids. Obviously some countries have more resources than others, but ultimately when it comes to the education of our kids we all have the same vested interest. If I’m in Jordan, it’s in my best interest that kids in Syria get a great education because if they don’t, that’s going to become a problem for me in the future.” While the challenge is huge, there is also great potential. Just imagine what strides a well-educated workforce could make. "The greatest support that a woman can get is from another successful woman who lifts her up and tells her, 'you can dream, you can succeed'"

“A large percentage of our population are young and therefore with the right interventions, what we see as a challenge could become an opportunity for very quick change,” she says. The digital world also makes it easier to reach students, train teachers and modernise learning. In 2014 Queen Rania launched Edraak as an Arabic online educational platform for adult learners, who were starving for engaging digital content in their native language. Since then, Edraak has reached more than 2.2 million registered users. Last September, the platform was expanded to schoolchildren too, with the Edraak K-12 platform, which will offer e-curricula in all major subjects to Arab children everywhere. “We’ve already rolled out mathematics, and there is much more to come. The platform will eventually include thousands of Arabic instructional videos, quizzes, and practice exercises covering everything our children learn in schools, all available free of charge to anyone with an internet connection,” Her Majesty says. The aim is to provide all Arab school-aged children with free access to quality education by 2020, whether they are in urban centres, refugee camps or conflict zones. “It is a tremendous undertaking, but it is one that our region cannot afford to put off,” she says. “A child denied an education is not a tragedy for just that child – it sets us all back. So we owe it to them, and to ourselves, to give them a fighting chance.”

By taking on as mammoth a responsibility as education reform in the Arab world, Queen Rania is setting herself a gargantuan task. “Sitting still is not who I am. You can ask my team, you can ask my mum,” she smiles. “The easy life is not something that I ever aspired to. And I think the easy way is never really the right way.” The education crisis can’t be solved overnight, and reform is fraught with resistance and cynicism, she says. “I could feel discouraged when those who are resisting the change have got the upper hand, but then there are days where I feel that we’ve really moved the dial, even if it’s for an inch. Where I see teachers who have just taken a course and are feeling empowered with their new skills and I see how their students are becoming inspired by this new atmosphere in the classroom.”

With the dreams and ambitions of a generation in her reach, Her Majesty Queen Rania's lasting influence over the Arab world has the potential to be prodigious. “I don’t believe in legacy; you’re not there to see your legacy,” she muses. “What I do believe is that you need to leave good deeds behind. Do whatever you can to positively impact other people’s lives.” We may not all be queens, but as Her Majesty says, the end game is the same for all. “Really we’re all here to leave a decent mark behind.”

Photography: Alexi Lubomirski Fashion director: Belen Antolin Hair: Alain Pichon Makeup: Valeria Ferreira Photography team: Diego Bendezu, Maximilian Hoell and Jeremy O’Donnell Producer: Neha Mishra

[letterboxd]

Emma Tammi Q&A.

“To be able to really see her for who she really is when she’s by herself is such a powerful thing since it turns out that she’s a real badass.”

Caitlin Gerard as Lizzy Macklin in Emma Tammi’s ‘The Wind’.

Of the many possible source materials for a feature film, never overlook the short. Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road, Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child, Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, Andrés Muschietti’s Mama, and Sean Ellis’s Cashback all began life as short films. And more: the Saw films. District 9. Dee Rees’ Pariah. Jennifer Kent’s Monster (which she expanded into The Babadook).

After a start in documentaries, director Emma Tammi makes her feature debut with The Wind, a lengthened version of a short film called The Winter, adapted by its writer Teresa Sutherland. The supernatural Western horror revolves around Lizzy Macklin (Caitlin Gerard, Insidious: The Last Key, The Social Network), a woman left alone in a lob cabin on the plains, who is fighting to not lose her mind.

Letterboxd contributor Jack Moulton chatted with Tammi about her narrative debut, the cultural references infused in this haunting feminist chiller, and Westerns in the #MeToo era.

Letterboxd: Let’s start with your take on the origins of this project and how you were brought on board to direct The Wind? Emma Tammi: The screenwriter Teresa Sutherland was a film student at Florida State University and she made a short film called The Winter, which was loosely based on the same themes as The Wind. Our producer Christopher Alender, who is also alumni of FSU, saw the short and encouraged her to expand it into a feature. So Teresa had written this script prior to me coming on board.

Chris and I worked together on another documentary project and he thought I might be a good fit to direct, so I read the script and I loved it. I then met Teresa and I think we shared the same visions for what the film could ultimately be. We did a couple of polished passes together and then we were shooting later that year. It all came together organically based on prior relationships and all of us believing in the story.

What did you connect to the most about the script? I loved that it was a Western and that it was focusing on a female character, which was not something that I felt like we’d seen much before. I also loved that Teresa was inspired by these actual accounts of women who were homesteading at that time, since I was fascinated with the American West as a teenager and had actually picked up some of the books that she used as original research.

I thought it was fun how Teresa was starting with something rooted in reality and taking it to a horror and supernatural place. But the thing that really I think hooked me after I read it was that I thought the protagonist Lizzy was so well developed, and I thought all the character arcs were really strong. I felt that the horror was coming from the dramatic strengths of the characters’ relationships and their own personal struggles. It felt like really strong ground.

‘The Wind’ director Emma Tammi.

You had more of a background in documentary filmmaking before this—what compelled you to make a start in fictional narratives? Do you feel being an ‘outsider’ to the genre aided your vision of the film? That’s an interesting question. I had been working in documentary films for many years and I feel that was great preparation for making a narrative film despite the differences. Both my parents were actors so I had grown up around theater and fiction filmmakers my whole life. So I think that it felt like something I had always wanted to eventually get to.

I’m so fascinated with our world that I think documentary is such an interesting lens to explore things that are happening. But to then be able to step into a fictional realm I think you can explore the human experience to an even greater extreme. Once we started shooting, the process of working with the actors was even more enriching and incredible than I ever could have anticipated.

What were your film influences for The Wind—especially the specific horrors and Westerns that inspired the look and the feel? I think that one of the things that [director of photography] Lyn Moncrief and I really wanted to do was pay homage to some of the frames from Westerns that have become such big cultural references in our lives. But we wanted to find ways that we could have a fresh take with that [and] subvert it to give a new perspective to the landscape, since we were telling this from a female unreliable narrator and I think that both of those things in Westerns are pretty hard to come by. So, in that sense, I liked how we basically turned the camera 90 degrees and held on the women as the men rode off to town. I was really inspired by The Searchers (1956), for example.

In terms of the horror I feel that there is a comparison to The Shining (1980) in the sense of how it’s a slow burn where the environment is coming in on our lead character. Pacing-wise, in building up the tension, I was really inspired by that. I thought Carrie (1976) was also a really interesting reference in terms of the horror. The first horror scene is simply Sissy Spacek getting her period in a girls locker room and it’s completely terrifying.

I thought so many of the things that women experience in this time were horrific and yet they were just coming out of the mundane day-to-day life events of trying to live and sustain in such an inhospitable land at that time. I love that The Wind was taking the horror cues from the everyday things that we all experience.

Caitlin Gerard’s performance is truly terrific. She anchors the film brilliantly as it jumps from its time periods. What drew you to her in the casting process and did she bring anything new to what had already been set in the script? During auditions I kept asking for more people because I really didn’t feel like we found our Lizzy yet. Caitlin was one of the last ones and was so balls-to-walls, showing such range in three different scenes. We just wouldn’t be able to fully enter this world without hanging our hat on a lead actress who didn’t have that level of grit. So that was incredible.

One of the most important things that she brought to the table was the fact that she had a German background, which we didn’t consider before in terms of Lizzy. I had initially been talking to Teresa about Lizzy’s background, thinking that it would make sense for her to be an immigrant, which was very common of that period. To implement that in the script would really add to the isolation that she might be feeling on the land, in this country, and also between her and Isaac [her husband, played by Ashley Zukerman].

We wrote that into the script days before shooting and then were continuing to work on it throughout the shoot. I thought that was such a nice brush stroke and dimension that Caitlin was able to add because she speaks German and it was fabulous.

What motivated the nonlinear structure of the film? Did you have to adjust anything in the edit to make a particular section work better from how it was laid out in the script? Teresa had already tapped into establishing the nonlinear structure of the film beforehand in a way that would reflect the mental fractured-ness of Lizzy’s headspace. I think it really helps us feel the unreliable narrator so strongly. But we did have to juggle some of the order in post so the edit is different from the order of the script, but I think we were able to find the essence of the script at the end of the day. Those were decisions based on logistics like the performances and the coverage, or the sound and special effects. You just need to recalibrate to keep the pacing in the edit.

Were there any notable challenges on set, such as dealing with the period setting or shooting in such a remote location? We really lucked out in the sense that we got a really strong and dedicated team. I think that everyone was so committed and so talented that we were pretty flexible when challenges would come up. The remoteness really added to the production because we were all able to immerse ourselves in that time period and in that world and not be as connected to the outside and technology.

I’m sure our producers would have a different story to tell because not being able to access your email onset is a nightmare. Basically none of our cellphones worked in these locations. Despite the problems, there were great benefits in shooting in the middle of nowhere.

Through the film, you use the realities of settler life for horror and tension, such as the wild animals, the lack of medical care and, obviously, the weather. How did you negotiate the balance between the realities and the supernatural, especially since you often leave questions unanswered with the latter? We really wanted to start in a way that let you experience the environment as it was, and then start to get in a place where you experience the environment through Lizzy’s point of view, letting it really rev up into something that was ultimately quite terrorizing. I think we were trying to push the natural elements into a more hyper-realized place so it was close to a supernatural place. It’s like playing a piece of music where it flows from the peaks and the valleys.

Can you describe the decision-making process around how you kept the ‘monster’ hidden as much as possible? It’s very effective, but also lends itself to questions on the specifics. How the haunting element would be both seen and heard was something we were talking about even in the script rewriting stages, and I think we wanted to really lean into all of this being an extension of the torment that Lizzy was feeling internally. So questioning whether or not there was actually a “boogeyman” out there was more interesting and more true to the character than actually seeing the “boogeyman”.

But the other element of it was that since this was set in the late 1800s I think we really wanted to show and hear hints of it that were coming from the natural world, so “the wind” and how that transformed was really the scary element of the sound design. In terms of the visuals, we were leaning into shadows and elements of fire and dust and things that were of that environment. I wanted to do something that felt practical even when it wasn’t.

I’d like to ask you how you feel the film operates as a period piece to reflect current times. I felt that the way Lizzy is constantly wielding her shotgun is an empowering and feminist subversion of the masculine individualist gunslinger from classic Westerns. Were you consciously revising frontier myth in that cinematic sense? I think we were consciously doing that but I don’t think it was the overt intention of the script, which is what I really liked about it. I felt that all of those things were coming out so naturally and they weren’t forced. What’s so interesting with Lizzy is that we spend so much time with her while she’s by herself, but she’s constantly trying to put on a brave face for her husband, or for her neighbors, and for the outside world, which I think we can all relate to.

And then to be able to see her for who she really is when she’s by herself is such a powerful thing since it turns out that she’s a real badass. She’s wielding the gun, she’s doing all that stuff that she needs to do out of necessity, but it’s also without any pretense and without having to be a certain thing to any certain person because she’s ultimately there being herself and trying to survive.

I feel it resonates in the #MeToo era in the way she’s threatened by powerful forces and then the man in her life doesn’t believe her. Yeah, I think it does and I love that about it. If we’d made it five years ago it still would have resonated. It’s also a very human experience that she’s going through and our current times are shedding light on it in different ways and that’s so cool. I think the horror genre is able to put a mirror up to ourselves in such a powerful way.

‘The Wind’ opens in US cinemas on limited release 5 April 2019.

[lynne3011571-blog]

Which Music Genres Are Fashionable Around The World

A genre of music that infuses components of blues, rockabilly, country, soul, jazz, people, and classical music. There comes a time in each forward-pondering musician's journey when it appears the probabilities of traditional instruments have been exhausted, every string already plucked, every chord already strummed. Computer systems and samplers are one contemporary answer to composer's block, however they don't present fairly the identical satisfaction as being able to hit, blow or caress a physical object to be able to create a satisfying noise. For some, the only resolution has been to invent their very own instrument. Secondly, the underside-up methodology is slightly theoretical on the subject of music genres. At one point or one other one will all the time rely on high-all the way down to verify the comprehensiveness: are all sorts of Jazz included? What number of genres in Techno are there? Mainly because literature that covers all popular music directly could be very, very scarce. Educational literature comes mostly within the form of specialization into one or a number of super-genres, thus favoring the highest-down methodology. The strictly calculated music of Nomeda Valančiūtė (b.1961) is, however, completely not technological in its nature - her compositions are all primarily based on some not simply defined artistic impulses that are later matured through methodical work with sound material after which given a precisely polished form. Valančiūtė's minimalist idiom is expounded to a point to the medieval isorhythmic strategies. A better look to the composer's works and their conceptual stimuli reveals a steadiness of inner opposites: open emotion - and its suppression via uncompromisingly inflexible buildings; a crystal readability - and the aware avoidance of 'magnificence' (the use of sharp dissonances, intentional 'out of tune' sound of prepared piano, and so forth); the stance of a 'pure music' adept - and the multidimensional picturesqueness of her music, its oddly theatrical expression, and a sure 'bittersweet' glamour.

Thank you for being a voice of reason in this mess. I think the article invoked quite a lot of emotion amongst ARMYs because identical to all stans, ARMYs care very deeply for the fellows. The assumptions persons are making about all of them being children are just that… assumptions. Many stans are adults and achieved adults at that. BTS music pushes for fulfillment and ARMY listens to that. Many are medical doctors, counselors, http://www.magicaudiotools.com have their graduate degrees, families and none of that should be negated because of the music they resolve to listen to. And you're proper, the fellows do write and produce their very own music. So, for the remark about it not having a soul, the creator couldn't have looked up any of the lyrics. In reality, I'd argue that it's almost a miracle how well non-mainstream artists can do within the music business. I am talking concerning the American music trade, anyway. That's the one one I can converse to. The sheer number of musicians on this nation that are incomes a residing on their music without compromising on their artistic values is staggering. They (and listeners who hunt down music beyond top forty radio) have by no means had it better. Sure, modern pop music artists streaming has lowered what the common professional musician can earn, nevertheless it has made it doable for so many more artists to pursue their profession, even if they are just barely incomes a living. It still beats staring at spreadsheets on a display. The American music-listening viewers supports so many small area of interest markets because the followers are there, prepared to go to exhibits and purchase records.

On a sure level, this also lends itself pretty simply to interpretation: music producers have realized over time what kinds of songs are almost definitely to be popular, and have directed their assets to making as lots of these kinds of songs as possible. Depending on your perspective, this both signifies that music goes downhill overall (unlikely) or just that radio is less attention-grabbing now than it used to be (extra probably). I certainly find it onerous to imagine a 20+ minute instrumental monstrosity like ‘Tubular Bells' being one of the one hundred hottest songs of the 12 months ever again. Whether that is a great thing or not is a matter of interpretation.The success of up to date songs might be defined in a variety of methods. For instance, Rossman 27 studied the radio airplay time as a correlate of songs' success; and Dertouzos 28 targeted on the economic facets of success. In an insightful paper 12 , the top chart performance was studied, and two measures of songs' success have been explored: (i) the utmost tune recognition was defined as its peak chart position, and (ii) as a measure of sustained reputation, the variety of weeks within the charts was used. Whereas correlations between various musical options and success have been identified by Askin & Mauskapf 12 , their analysis has been essentially limited by the fact that only the charted songs had been considered, whereas most songs had been disregarded of the calculations. In the current work, we think about both charting and non-charting songs (the latter is the great majority of songs). Further, we outline the success of a track simply as ‘making it' into the charts.Not solely did 80s pop music outline who we were, but the music held the anthems of our each day lives. We woke up to Manic Mondays" with the Bangles simply to seek out ourselves hangin tough" with the New Youngsters On The Block by the point Wednesday or Thursday rolled round. By the top of the week, it was Friday, I am in Love." When the weekend got here, Kylie had us doing the Locomotive" and Debbie Gibson taught us that youth was electric. The best way to revisit all the great pop music of the 80s is to re-watch the music videos of your favorite songs. In any case, MTV was a product of the early 80s - what higher method to enjoy the fashions, dance moves and musical stylings of the decade's music? We've a giant assortment of our favourite 80s music in our video section: watch 80s music videos right here.Only a suggestion to help broaden your research can be to include electronic dance music in the online study you could have happening. You do not have to choose any one track, but the principle style's, similar to Home, Trance, Drum and Bass, etc. can be adequate. There's a whole culture behind this category of music with many sub-genres and to exclude it would be excluding many people. Out of all of the genres you listed, Jazz is the only one I take heed to, not because of my social status, however as a result of it is less "industrial" than the rest. Please be at liberty to email me if you want to ask me more questions, as a result of I have been involved with digital dance music for over ten years (Dj'ing for 9 years) and I'm effectively versed with the music and tradition.The historical past of music in medication, psychiatry, and therapy in Vienna from c. 1820 to 1960 is discontinuous, however despite the gaps in its conceptual improvement, the concept music can have a helpful impact on the human soul and physique was all the time current in frequent culture. Up until the center of the 20 th century, there is no such thing as a identifiable linear historic development of music remedy in Vienna, but we are able to discover the primary clear attempts to integrate music into medication and psychiatry as far back as the early nineteenth century.

[berniesrevolution]

Last weekend, Americans weathered a “once in a lifetime” storm for the fourth time in 13 months. After a summer of unprecedented wildfires in the West, hurricane season has (once again) brought “unprecedented” devastation to communities on the East Coast. Faced with such ecological upheaval, our primeval ancestors would be scrambling to discern what they’d done to provoke nature’s wrath.

We modern humans are a bit less confused, but much more complacent. We don’t need to ask a shaman why monsters like Florence are paying us such frequent visits. We don’t need burn a witch to find out what’s bringing heat waves to the Arctic. Everyone who (earnestly) wishes to know why this is happening knows the three-word answer: manmade climate change.

And we know what we have to do to fix it. We don’t lack the technological capability and industrial capacity to build a sustainable economy. If America’s finest minds could figure out how to split the atom in the 1940s — and put men on the moon by the end of ’60s — they can work out how to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of this century.

If technical expertise isn’t a barrier to radical action on climate, money certainly isn’t an issue. If our aim is to maximize Charles Koch’s prosperity during his last few years on Earth, then there might a tension between reducing carbon emissions and achieving our economic goals. But if we wish to maximize human prosperity during our children’s lifetimes, no such trade-off exists. The costs of inaction on climate change are exorbitant; the return on investment in sustainability, massive. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley estimate that every degree of Celsius warming will cost the global economy, on average, 1.2 percent of GDP. On the other hand, a recent report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate found that a global shift to sustainable development would net humanity an extra $26 trillion by 2030.

On its face, the choice confronting humanity shouldn’t be a difficult one: We can either mobilize against climate change as we once did for world wars, and, thereby, safeguard the long-term survival of human life on planet Earth while making our civilization immensely wealthier — or, we can sit back and watch cable news coverage of this month’s “1,000-year storm” until our coastal cities sink into the sea.

Alas, by all appearances, we Americans are opting for door No. 2. And if the world’s most powerful nation (and prolific per-capita carbon emitter) fails to take radical action on climate, the prospects of other countries doing so will be slim.

Last week, Vox’s climate columnist David Roberts offered a succinct explanation for our baffling decision: While we have the technology, policy tools, and economic incentives necessary for radical action, we lack “the political will.”

This assessment is almost certainly correct — but it also has the potential to mislead. In a (self-proclaimed) democracy like the United States, “political will” and “popular will” are often treated as synonymous. And in American political discourse, the idea of massively expanding the public sector to combat environmental threats is often treated as the eccentric fantasy of a far-left fringe. Thus, some might read “America lacks the political will to pursue an ambitious climate agenda” as “the American electorate does not support an ambitious climate agenda.” And that would be unfortunate — because the latter claim is just one of our reactionary elite’s many convenient untruths.

New research from Data for Progress (DFP) throws this point into sharp relief. To assess the political viability of a “Green New Deal” — which is to say, a program of massive public investment and government hiring aimed at reducing America’s carbon emissions as rapidly as possible — the progressive think tank conducted an analysis of existing public-opinion data, while commissioning a battery of original polls. In doing so, they found majoritarian support for a wide range of ambitious environmental policies, including a federal “green jobs” guarantee.

Examining survey data from the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, DFP found overwhelming public support for “strengthening enforcement of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, raising fuel efficiency standards, setting a renewable electricity mandate, and allowing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate carbon dioxide.”

(Continue Reading)

[nicoolios]

The Power of the Dystopia

What do nanotechnology, young adult dystopias, and zombies learning to love again have in common? As the old meme says, the answer may surprise you. By nanotechnology I mean Michael Grant’s BZRK trilogy, by young adult dystopias I will focus mostly on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and by zombies learning to love again I am referencing Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies. Each of these books will be discussed in great depth in how they relate to the common theme of power in the following collection of literary criticisms. Power surfaces in BZRK through the obsessive lengths the characters go to to maintain it with superior technology and firepower. The Hunger Games refrains from the subject of actively maintaining power, but its story accurately depicts a society where power is exploited to keep its poorer citizens in line. The zombies in Warm Bodies regain power in a world that exists to destroy them by relearning language. Again, each of those topics will be explained at the introduction’s conclusion in their individual essays, but I will add a bit more clarity later on in these opening remarks.

This issue, which puts power front and center in the spotlight, tackles problems pertinent to the world we live in today by using a wide variety of popular books to reach the widest reader base possible. All of them can be considered young adult fiction, but each series pushes the boundaries of the genre. The Hunger Games specifically doubles as political commentary, BZRK is hardcore science fiction written for the eyes of teenagers, and Warm Bodies is technically a zombie romance.

As previously stated, The Hunger Games is political commentary, which only gets all the sweeter the more the political scene in the United States and around the world goes south. The main character Katniss lives in District 12, the poorest of the twelve districts, and is forced to hunt illegally to keep her mother and sister fed. District 1, the wealthiest district home to people so rich they take medicine to force themselves to throw up at parties so they can continue eating the fanciest, most expensive food, holds the Hunger Games every year to keep all the other districts in line. All three books in the series have the same background: the rich exist to stay rich, and the rich have all the power, so when District 13 starts the rebellion it sends them into a panic. The entirety of Mockingjay, the third book of the trilogy, is about that very topic. Money plus power equals bad guy, especially in this series. In regards to the essay on The Hunger Games, not only is there a common theme of power in all three books and all four movies, there are also real-life connotations for both the people spending money on the series and the young adult genre in general. While the essay specifically talks about the genre and what political books do for readers of young adult fiction, The Hunger Games just so happens to be the most popular representation.  

BZRK also deals with money and power and rich people trying to control the universe, but this time it is set in contemporary New York, rather than the fictional Panem. In this universe nanotechnology, which was originally developed to cure cancer, is instead weaponized and is used by both the good and the bad guys. The bad guys, the Armstrong twins and their lackeys Nexus Humanus, want to use nanotech to brainwash the planet into their cult through “sustainable happiness.” The good guys, BZRK, want to protect free will by using their own nanotechnology, biots individually linked to one user, to manipulate others. The whole concept is built on shady deals and backwards justification on both ends of the stick. Both sides think they are in the right, think they are the ones with access to the most power, both already have access to the money and resources that will get them that power. The Armstrong twins spend the series doing everything they possibly can to become rulers of the world, while their second in command Bernofsky goes mad with power and wants to destroy the world with nanobots that feed on carbon. Most of BZRK New York’s plotlines are about playing catch up to Nexus Humanus and holding on to what little power they have. By the trilogy’s conclusion the proper balance that everyone was fighting over has been restored, eliminating the need for technology-based power.

A book about zombies learning to love again seems like a stretch. How could power possibly be involved? Half the main characters are dead. And judging by the movie, there is no possible way for the former dead to regain the power they lost upon getting into their current predicament by reteaching themselves how to speak and act human again. But there it is. The movie is a better illustration of it, but the novel still details R, an incredibly articulate zombie, struggling through a language barrier to communicate with his human captive turned friend turned girlfriend Julie. At the beginning the most R can get out are a few grunts to the zombie he deems his best friend, M. When Julie finds herself the survivor of a zombie attack but the only member of her group still alive and unable to make it back home, she ends up at the airport R lives in. The two of them form a relationship different from the usual zombie eats human, even though R ate Julie’s boyfriend during the attack where they met. Julie teaches R English, pop culture, and how to be human again. The zombies must fight to prove they can become what they once were again, first and foremost by Julie demonstrating R is physically able to love her. As they become living again they go through their own revolution.

These essay’s order in this collection is due to their subject matter and relativity to the real world. The Hunger Games takes place in a fictional country similar enough to our own to make accurate political commentary. BZRK takes place in real life New York, and its plot is one that might happen with how quickly nanotechnology is developing. Warm Bodies’ setting is never specified, but the aftermath of the apocalypse is clear, and for all we know it could be right next door to where we grew up. They move from the clearly fake to the it might just be real, from this could never happen to me to holy crap, this might be happening right now. Please see the meanings these novels preach, what lurks between the lines. Right now this kind of commentary is more important than ever. With people being censored and completely silenced right and left, these books are clearly about power and its consequences, both by exploiting it and by regaining it.

"If Peeta and I were both to die, or they thought we were....My fingers fumble with the pouch on my belt, freeing it. Peeta sees it and his hand clamps on my wrist. ‘No, I won't let you.’ ‘Trust me,’ I whisper. He holds my gaze for a long moment then lets go. I loosen the top of the pouch and pour a few spoonfuls of berries into his palm. Then I fill my own. ‘On the count of three?’ Peeta leans down and kisses me once, very gently. ‘The count of three,’ he says. We stand, our backs pressed together, our empty hands locked tight. ‘Hold them out. I want everyone to see,’ he says. I spread out my fingers, and the dark berries glisten in the sun. I give Peeta's hand one last squeeze as a signal, as a good-bye, and we begin counting. ‘One.’ Maybe I'm wrong. ‘Two.’ Maybe they don't care if we both die. ‘Three!’ It's too late to change my mind. I lift my hand to my mouth taking one last look at the world. The berries have just passed my lips when the trumpets begin to blare. The frantic voice of Claudius Templesmith shouts above them. ‘Stop! Stop! Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! I give you - the tributes of District 12!’” (The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins).

Young Adult dystopias have been an important part of American culture for so long it feels like they have always been there. As children we had The Hunger Games, which later spawned Divergent, The Maze Runner, Uglies, and countless others. In school we read 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, A Clockwork Orange, and the list goes on and on. Their movie and television show adaptations are everywhere. Everyone has a favorite example. So when Moretti's data suggests the genre bubble will burst in the coming years, it is kind of hard to believe. The genre is still going strong, and for good reason. Young Adult dystopias have something the classics neglect: diversity. Katniss Everdeen is a physically and mentally disabled woman of color surrounded by other females, people of color, people with disabilities, people from every walk of life. When The Hunger Games shot up the best sellers list Katniss inspired Tris Pryor in Divergent, Teresa in The Maze Runner, and Tally Youngblood in Uglies. The sheer volume of books and characters guarantees there is something for everyone. Everyone turned out to be mostly adult women and teenage girls. It is the reading power of the latter that presents my point: so long as we live in the world we do, with the current political climate active, and with a steady stream of strong female characters willing to stand up to oppressors, there will be a need for the genre. Multiple people see that need and write books based upon what they think needs to be said. This bubble, much like the superhero movie one, will stay untouched until the world proves it has no need for that kind of fiction anymore. Therefore, I think the genre is here to stay for years to come.

Seeing yourself in a character on the big screen or on the page is so incredibly important. Some little girl with hearing issues read about Katniss' ear trauma and saw herself; if for whatever reason she was unable to get it fixed, related to Katniss refusing surgery to restore her hearing. Or someone living under an oppressive government learning first that they should fight back and then it is okay to do so. Or that people bullying you for something outside your control deserve to be called out on their behavior. Or any number of things prevalent in what makes it big in the genre these days. The books that make it big pave the way for even greater diversity to truly reach the entire reader base. Those might carry on as something no one has ever heard of, but reach the right audience and lives can be changed. I feel like the genre will be around for quite a while. Not just because it is one of my favorites to both read and write for, but also because it is important. We are faced with the possibility of the complete destruction of life as we know it. Someone must recognize what is going on and do something about it. At this point they might as well be fictional, but that is the only way to get the ball rolling.  

“Tell me something, Noah. Which is more important: freedom or happiness?' What was this, a game? But Nijinsky wasn't smiling. 'You can't be happy unless you’re free,' Noah said" (BZRK, Michael Grant).  

Michael Grant's BZRK trilogy depends upon nanotechnology to further its plot, give motivation for characters and their development, provide multiple bad guys, and generally make BZRK what they are. One of the main character's father invented biots, part human machines smaller than the head of a needle, capable of acting on the controller's behalf within a body. The good guys, BZRK, use biots reluctantly to fight the bad guys, Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation. AFGC is a cover for the cult Nexus Humanus which wants to take away free will to guarantee eternal happiness. This war is mostly fought at the nano level. Even during "macro" fights, with guns and fists, the focus is always on protecting the nano. Emphases placed on the nano and neglecting the macro, which is only protected by BZRK's enforcer Caligula, exists because of only looking at the available technology and how to improve it. When the original tech, designed to cure cancer, fails and is proven archaic, BZRK only wants to move forward with more advanced biots. Benjamin argues for only looking to the future, for using tech to get and maintain power. The Armstrong twins (founders of AFGC) only maintain their power through superior firepower and lots of unethical manipulation. Under the guise of innocent gift shops across the globe they plot to control world leaders and, therefore, everyone on the planet. That is an extension of Benjamin's philosophy. AFGC has money and manpower, giving them the ability to accomplish their goals. BZRK only has the money, but its members are determined to prevent doomsday. Their conflict over who's in control spans three novels.

There is a connection here with how the world is going today. We even touched upon it in class. For the longest time everyone was obsessed with the technology of tomorrow made today. Classic standbys like books or physical music or playing outside fell by the wayside as electronics fell in the hands of the youth. Why use what cavemen did when you can use what Marty McFly did? For the longest time my younger sister and I were the only kids on our street playing outside. We made fun of our neighbors three doors down for having a pool and never going in it. My parents still can't drag me out of ours. At restaurants we read books, my sister drew and I wrote or, heaven forbid, actually talked to each other. Then, out of nowhere, that changed. The many, many little kids living in the cul-de-sac behind us were outside screaming at all hours of the day. One time we saw our neighbors in their pool. Tables around us when we went out to eat started implementing a no phones rule. The shift was real and, according to the Internet, commonplace. Retro was becoming hip again. We aren't the only people who feel that way, but we're the ones making it happen.  

"In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses” (Warm Bodies, Isaac Marion).  

Whoever controls language controls culture. Whoever controls the culture has all the power. Whoever has all the power writes all the rules, determines humanity's fate, and generally determines the ongoing nature of life. While a lot of stories tackle that concept, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion handles it without beating around the bush. It's about the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, sure, but it is told through the point of view of a very articulate zombie. The narrative hints rather heavily at the main character, R, being the only zombie outside of the Boneys capable of higher thought. It is only with the help of a human that he learns basic speech. The surviving humans are the only ones capable of speech, of making sure human culture does not die out. Them being able to talk makes them superior to zombies, even after zombies become human again at the novel's conclusion. The settlement the novel focuses on is run based on that fact. It is only poetic that the leader, Colonel Grigio, is the father of the woman R is in love with and the one who sparks the change from zombie to human. Colonel Grigio controls the whole narrative, both the book's and the city he runs. Zombies are to be shot on sight, anything dead must stay out of the walled city, and the language he uses to spread that information reflects how deeply rooted his control extends. On the other hand, R is the first zombie capable of replicating full human speech. By the end the other zombies learn speech as well. Them relearning speech perfectly coincides with them wrenching power from the Boneys in their twisted society and, a bit later, wrenching power from the humans when they rejoin the society they used to know. Language lets them write their own culture again, this time as rediscovered human beings.

I feel like not a lot of zombie books take advantage of exploring the concept of retaking a culture through language. It is a topic that is easily applicable to the genre. World War Z comes close, but that is the best example I can think of. What is happening right now with millennials and gen z is the closest real-life example. I tried tackling the concept in my own zombie novel Flowers Die specifically because I am unable to find anything quite like Warm Bodies or even World War Z on bookshelves. The main character comes back from the dead, but because she reanimated through the original radiation and not a classic bite, she is still fully mentally articulate and, later, verbally as well. As the apocalypse spreads zombies like her become increasingly rarer. She joins the military and fights to take back the culture she once knew by force. Her and her friends are superior by nature. Her husband, who eventually dies to prove the point, used to be a lawyer, defending traditional culture with evolving language. Later on, she meets a young woman trapped by isolation in the woods bound by her lack of language and loss of the culture that raised her. Reintroduction to what she used to know helps bring her back. This is all a work in progress, but as the old saying goes, if you want something specific you have to write it yourself.