#wanted to uplift women in general and wanted to change society in order to do so

[hamletshoeratio]

Apparently, Eloise is a mean girl and is not a girls' girl???

[volutionaries]

Workplace Wellbeing Strategy: What You Stand to Gain from the Programs

It could indeed appear a little unheroic, depending on where you're in your menstrual cycle.  As society is moving towards modernisation and evolving, people’s perspective is changing and the difference between two genders are reducing. Lots of social activists devoted their lives to women’s upliftment, so that she could live her life on her own conditions. ladies generally do n’t complaint against her hubby and against her laws because from the morning they're being tutored to admire her hubby and in- laws and save her marriage in every possible way. The patriarchy has made women inferior and weak, ladies are being tutored by society to tolerate crime againsther.However, society blames women, If anything wrong happens be it rape. 

I wanted to love these. I don't! I frame detest them. They're hard to close, they blunder. They bomb over in the dishwasher. There's veritably little good beyond the conception. 

 Seeking healthcare services becomes delicate and grueling for utmost countries across the globe. Quality coupled with high prices are still issues for utmost countries and people. Because of this, the world is looking for a better model that could accommodate lower spending while proving quality healthcare for all. The SDG is playing its part in uniting the nation's fight against health inequalities in the mortal population. Though numerous continue to suffer tremendous health issues because they couldn't pierce introductory health services. 

 Still, please submit your class vitae with clones of instruments under registered cover to below mentioned address or dispatch to 

 If you have the right qualifications andexperience.vacancies@lankasathosa.org within 10 days of this announcement( The post applied should be indicated on the top left hand corner of the envelop/" Subject line of the dispatch.) 

 The association will correspond only with the kind listed campaigners)   Lanka  The tourism sedulity is a wide sphere of service. Every time millions of people address the trip agencies asking for help choose place to spend their recesses. In this sedulity enables you to discover the world, to meet new people and to see new places, It's a awful occasion to open up the world for those who want to see! We should be suitable to see the world with open eyes of a child and to be suitable to make the others to see it like this also and to make them same interested like we are. Discovering new societies, seeing new places is always exiting but only the work in trip sedulity can make these goods a source of profit for you. Working in the trip and tourism sedulity no mistrustfully demands perfect communication chops it's a good occasion to develop and demonstrate our capacities in this sphere. We should be suitable to present services in the swish way to make people interested, to make them flash back you and your high- position service to come back to you in the future. It's a awful occasion to make business making people happy using your imagination and charm, it's a work where business meets creativity to make the ultimate of individual career exploits. This career choice gives us important freedom and independence. generally one of the important aspects of this career includes team work. A good prophet and easy- going and sociable person who would join the cooperative and inspire it with new ideas. This work can be applicable for you. A good working cooperative becomes a solid team where everyone helps the other in achieving common pretensions. This is a challenging work also. ultimately you have to work under pressure and sometimes it can feel that nothing needs your service. But these are generally over and down of all factory presumably and there are some specific disadvantages one can come across choosing this career. Work in this sphere is full of surprises- both affable and unpleasant and you need to posses excellent communication chops, high provocation and professional knowledge of the subject in order to succeed, thats why I chose tourism as a career choice Profession. 

 Prostrating Obstacles What is life? Life consists of exploits, challenges, and achievements; all of which are erecting blocks that principally produce bones path to success. In one’s continuance they can witness tough and delicate challenges. sometimes these challenges come unbearable, especially when the odds are against you. still, going against all odds is commodity everyone is suitable of doing, and to overcome these challenges everyone needs to have a “ noway quit ” stationinlife.However, we'll overcome quite a bit, If we develop it. multitudinous people each around the world face challenges and obstacles every day in their quotidian lives. One man in particular is Nic Sheff; a man who was a drug addict and wrote an autobiography called show more happy 

 Society does n’t generally suppose of drug addicts as “ good people ” and they end up losing their respect and character as theygrowup.However, they wo n’t be suitable to fix themselves as they grow aged which can be a bad influence, If these teens and immature grown- ups do n’t change who they are when they are immature. Bad habits start as a chick and if you do n’t change those habits you wo n’t be suitable to when you get aged!   Character conflicts because of colorful characters and perspectives just as correspondence style, among others, will really be, and for numerous individualities, work issues are a typical wellspring of stress, which could prompt unease and indeed anguish.   For a worker with poor social capacities and having just the plant as a system for socialization, this could affect their confidence and the manner in which the person in question manages individualities outsidework.as an employer you need to have a well- allowed  plant internal health strategy to produce a better work terrain.  One of Sundiata’s successors that's well- known is Mansa Musa. 

 Mansa Musa was the grand- whoreson of Sundiata. Mansa Musa developed metropolises like Timbuktu into significant artistic centers. He also brought engineers from the Middle East and across Africa to design new structures for his metropolises. Mansa Musa turned the area of Mali into an advanced center of literacy in the Islamic world. He's best known for the splendor of his passage to Mecca, which brought attention to Mali's inconceivable wealth and sparked a hunt for its source among Europeans. 

 He ruled the area for 25 times from 1312 to 1337. 

The Chairman   Lanka Sathosa Limited   27, CWE Secretariat Building,   Vauxhall Street, Colombo 02.  At a time wherein the entire world is beginning to perceive the significance of internal health, realizing the normal plant issues and getting ready answers for them route before they be could help keep up a healthy work terrain and consequently, have glad workers.   Luckily, there's a strength in the plant training inferred for those in the commercial world and it would end up being precious to help drop odds of any work issues to raise. workers will be accoutred   with unequivocal systems to have the option to deal with introductory plant issues like experts. Then are a portion of those issues alongside their individual arrangements. 

 Overpowering Workload   In the event that you're allowing that its delicate to take some break, indeed document for excursion leaves, out of dread that you will get suffocated into the measure of work that just keeps accumulating, converse with your director. You may as of now be working stretched out hours just to make up for the lost time. 

 Request a gathering, in a perfect world when you both are not on a swell, and clarify how your workload has gotten hard to manage. It might be on the grounds that a record has multiplied in size or certain duties of notoriety on leave or notoriety who left the company was given to you. Recommend a many arrangements, for illustration, organizing certain errands and have a plant good strategy.   Not Getting That Promotion 

You have been fastening on a specific position, yet that advancement was given to another person. While this is not an irregular event, it can conversely impact your job performance as an hand. Consider talking with your director and let the person in question realize that you had sought after that chance, and request a offer on what should be possible to ameliorate your odds latterly on.   cooperation in the plant is introductory in any business. With the backing of training planned for empowering and fortifying cooperation, associations can benefit much from having a mix of people who work well together.  Seul marché de persistance déterminée CDD ne passif essai acquérir prêt chose par garnir opiniâtrement indivis rôle sédiment pourl'activité normale et permanente pendantl'entreprise. Premier CDD ne peut former conclu combien prêtl'exécutiond'une éphélide précise et momentané. Le pourvoi au CDD aurore mêmement propre, dessus conditions, selon certains secteursd'activité. 

For more info :-   

workplace wellbeing framework

corporate wellness manager

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[ready-bek]

A letter to the UK from Italy: this is what we know about your future

The acclaimed Italian novelist Francesca Melandri, who has been under lockdown in Rome for almost three weeks due to the Covid-19 outbreak, has written a letter to fellow Europeans “from your future”, laying out the range of emotions people are likely to go through over the coming weeks.

I am writing to you from Italy, which means I am writing from your future. We are now where you will be in a few days. The epidemic’s charts show us all entwined in a parallel dance.

We are but a few steps ahead of you in the path of time, just like Wuhan was a few weeks ahead of us. We watch you as you behave just as we did. You hold the same arguments we did until a short time ago, between those who still say “it’s only a flu, why all the fuss?” and those who have already understood.

As we watch you from here, from your future, we know that many of you, as you were told to lock yourselves up into your homes, quoted Orwell, some even Hobbes. But soon you’ll be too busy for that.

First of all, you’ll eat. Not just because it will be one of the few last things that you can still do.

You’ll find dozens of social networking groups with tutorials on how to spend your free time in fruitful ways. You will join them all, then ignore them completely after a few days.

You’ll pull apocalyptic literature out of your bookshelves, but will soon find you don’t really feel like reading any of it.

You’ll eat again. You will not sleep well. You will ask yourselves what is happening to democracy.

You’ll have an unstoppable online social life – on Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom…

You will miss your adult children like you never have before; the realisation that you have no idea when you will ever see them again will hit you like a punch in the chest.

Old resentments and falling-outs will seem irrelevant. You will call people you had sworn never to talk to ever again, so as to ask them: “How are you doing?” Many women will be beaten in their homes.

You will wonder what is happening to all those who can’t stay home because they don’t have one. You will feel vulnerable when going out shopping in the deserted streets, especially if you are a woman. You will ask yourselves if this is how societies collapse. Does it really happen so fast? You’ll block out these thoughts and when you get back home you’ll eat again.

You will put on weight. You’ll look for online fitness training.

You’ll laugh. You’ll laugh a lot. You’ll flaunt a gallows humour you never had before. Even people who’ve always taken everything dead seriously will contemplate the absurdity of life, of the universe and of it all.

You will make appointments in the supermarket queues with your friends and lovers, so as to briefly see them in person, all the while abiding by the social distancing rules.

You will count all the things you do not need.

The true nature of the people around you will be revealed with total clarity. You will have confirmations and surprises.

Literati who had been omnipresent in the news will disappear, their opinions suddenly irrelevant; some will take refuge in rationalisations which will be so totally lacking in empathy that people will stop listening to them. People whom you had overlooked, instead, will turn out to be reassuring, generous, reliable, pragmatic and clairvoyant.

Those who invite you to see all this mess as an opportunity for planetary renewal will help you to put things in a larger perspective. You will also find them terribly annoying: nice, the planet is breathing better because of the halved CO2 emissions, but how will you pay your bills next month?

You will not understand if witnessing the birth of a new world is more a grandiose or a miserable affair.

You will play music from your windows and lawns. When you saw us singing opera from our balconies, you thought “ah, those Italians”. But we know you will sing uplifting songs to each other too. And when you blast I Will Survive from your windows, we’ll watch you and nod just like the people of Wuhan, who sung from their windows in February, nodded while watching us.

Many of you will fall asleep vowing that the very first thing you’ll do as soon as lockdown is over is file for divorce.

Many children will be conceived.

Your children will be schooled online. They’ll be horrible nuisances; they’ll give you joy.

Elderly people will disobey you like rowdy teenagers: you’ll have to fight with them in order to forbid them from going out, to get infected and die.

You will try not to think about the lonely deaths inside the ICU.

You’ll want to cover with rose petals all medical workers’ steps.

You will be told that society is united in a communal effort, that you are all in the same boat. It will be true. This experience will change for good how you perceive yourself as an individual part of a larger whole.

Class, however, will make all the difference. Being locked up in a house with a pretty garden or in an overcrowded housing project will not be the same. Nor is being able to keep on working from home or seeing your job disappear. That boat in which you’ll be sailing in order to defeat the epidemic will not look the same to everyone nor is it actually the same for everyone: it never was.

At some point, you will realise it’s tough. You will be afraid. You will share your fear with your dear ones, or you will keep it to yourselves so as not to burden them with it too.

You will eat again.

We’re in Italy, and this is what we know about your future. But it’s just small-scale fortune-telling. We are very low-key seers.

If we turn our gaze to the more distant future, the future which is unknown both to you and to us too, we can only tell you this: when all of this is over, the world won’t be the same.

© Francesca Melandri 2020

~ via The Guardian

[funknrolll]

FOCUSING ON JANET JACKSON: THE STORY OF THE ICONIC LEGEND, THE HIGHLIGHTS OF HER SUCCESSFUL CAREER, THE FIERCE AND INSIPIRING MESSAGE DELIVERED THROUGH HER TIMELESS ART

Hi music lovers, today I’m focusing on Janet Jackson, I tried to cover as much as I could with this article. Just know that I will write other articles about her, therefore if you do not find some particulars in this essay, just know that they will be in another future article!! I hope you enjoy this article💜

For 54 years the music icon “Miss Jackson” has and still is paving the path for many artists and inspiring us all with her legacy, talent, grace, and beauty, being the role model everyone should look up to. Today I am focusing on the highlights of Janet Jacksons extraordinary career.

Born Janet Damita Jo Jackson on May 16, 1966, in Gary, Indiana, the artist, was the youngest of ten children, but undoubtedly not the least talented. Indeed, at the young age of 10, she got the part of Penny Gordon on the tv show Good Times and her acting skills were already showing. The young child prodigy also made a few memorable appearances on the tv show Diff’rent Strokes as Charlene Dupree and soon got her role on the renown show Fame as Cleo Hewitt. Though the show business was not all flowers and roses for young Janet, who, even at the age of 10, was already showing her iron will to achieve the very much desired success. Indeed, as the artist recalled, “‘I would set my alarm clock for 5.30am, get myself dressed, and get myself out of the door for work five days a week,’ she says. ‘And for a 10-year-old to have that kind of discipline – there’s a lot to be said for that.’.

Then Janet decided to pursue the music career in the 80s, establishing herself as a singing star of the first order. At the age of 16, she dropped her first self-titled album. The pop, funk-influenced, fresh, and danceable record was the beginning of a glorious and remarkable career. Young Love even reached number six on Billboard’s R&B chart. The following year the artist issued Dream Street. The exquisitely pop album was entirely in the fashion of good 80s tunes. Not to mention the surprise guest artist who lent his signature voice in Don’t Stand Another Chance and All My Love To You.

However, in 1986 came Janet’s commercial, and most importantly, creative breakthrough. The artist teamed up with none other than Minneapolis-based producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to create Control, the game-changing, legendary R&B-pop masterpiece that paved the way for the new emerging sounds of the late 80s. Through the empowering lyrics, the artist declared her independence with passion and grace as she affirmed in the title track, “this time, I’m gonna do it my way,” and she really did it. Moreover, the pure brilliance of this work lies in the extremely self-assured vocals and sleek slamming beat combo that presented Janet as a confident tough-minded artist who is in charge of her life and her choices. In support of her brand-new persona, Jam and Lewis crafted a set of gleamy, computerized hip-hop-nuanced funk and urban R&B backing tracks. The album eventually sold over 5 million copies, establishing Janet as a new influential pop star and role model. With this album, the artist was already showing her immense talent.

In 1989 the artist teamed up again with producers Jam and Lewis and released the hotly anticipated follow-up concept album: Rhythm Nation 1814. With this work, the artist became more overtly political, exploring socially conscious themes and issues, which were the whole fulcrum of the album. The singer took some risks with this Rhythm Nation as protest songs were quite uncommon in R&B, but making those risks paid off as the masterpiece not only assured Janet an even higher artist plateau, but it also had wildly successful results. As the artist sang in the title track “Join voices in protest to social injustice” or “A generation full of courage, come forth with me,” in this work, Janet explores themes such as racism, sexism, and feminism and flourishing as a person and artist in an environment ruled by both issues. However, some nonpolitical songs could not miss, ranging from smooth and silky ballads such as Someday Is Tonight, Alone and Come Back to Me to the pop rock influenced Black Cat, to the funk-influenced Miss You Much and Alright to the bright and romantically-themed Love Will Never Do (Without You) and Escapade. The album was a triumph and was accepted enthusiastically by the audience. In support of this masterpiece, Janet undertook her first tour, and it was a smashing success.

In 1992 the artist, along with rapper Tupac Shakur starred in John Singleton’s all-time classic, Poetic Justice. Janet gave proof one more time of her extraordinary acting skills taking up the role of Justice, a hairdresser, grieving over her boyfriend’s death, who writes poems to get through the sorrow of her bereavement.

Subsequently, 1993 saw the artist fully embracing her sexuality, which was crowned with her breakthrough homonymous album: Janet. The new image was trumpeted with a strikingly iconic Rolling Stone cover picture: an uncropped photo with the artist topless covered by two hands. The picture was then used as the album cover. One more time, Janet teamed up with the iconic duo Jam-Lewis and the outcome churned out did not leave the audience disappointed at all. The powerful trio left the synthesized funk in favor of warm, gently, inviting undulating grooves. The 28 tracked album is the product of the artist’s groundbreaking eclecticism. This masterpiece is a perfect mix of whooping cuts sprawling a sonic extravaganza where only 12 were proper songs, and the rest short interludes. The new quirky sounds were aligned perfectly with the brand-new public persona the artist created. The album shifts from the old school shuffle-beat-pop of Whoops Now to the New Jack Swing of You Want This. The leading guitar of What’ll I Do is a 60s flavored old school-rock hit with a bit of Janet’s signature sound. The danceable grooves of Funky Big Band are spiced up with old-jazz samples, while the erotic moans in Throb are a clear nod to Donna Summer’s Love to love you, baby, with some electro-trance influences I must say. A major sociopolitical hit could not miss on this masterpiece. The pop song New Agenda featuring a noteworthy cameo from rap Public Enemy’s head MC. Chuck D is indeed touching some relevant themes such as gendered racism and sexism, which issues were and still are much present in today’s society. The album is also featuring some enjoyable ballads such as the major hit and R&B Again, which appeared at the end of the movie mentioned Poetic Justice. With The Body that Loves you, Janet shifts to some jazzier, smooth, and silky sounds, while the slow R&B-nuanced Any Time Any Place is a groovy erotic jam. The angry This Time is a successful experiment in mixing rocky inflections with lyrical singing. The centerpiece was the album’s first single, the groovy alluring infectious ballad That’s The Way Love Goes. Not only is the collection a groundbreaking masterpiece sprinkled with revolutionary sounds, but what is striking most about this work is the intention with which it was produced. Indeed, Janet is a clear statement and frank celebration of female sexual liberation, which was and still is considered a taboo topic. Through this album, Janet explores black sexuality and lust, which is something black women have always been stereotyped about. Hence, with the explicit lyrics, the mellow and groovy sounds, the artist unveils these relevant topics making a monument to black lust, ultimately taking the power of her own sexuality back, which is portrayed as a beautiful, liberating act. With this masterpiece, Janet was baptized as one of the first real trailblazers and role models who paved the path for multiple African American female artists in addressing and embracing their sexuality fully. Additionally, the video of If was praised for being a beautiful, uplifting celebration and portrait of interracial lust.

Furthermore, how can we forget when Janet introduced her legendary brother Michael at the 35th Grammy Legend Awards on February 24, 1993? The artist wearing a gorgeous total white look and matching high heels matched Michael’s nestled pearls jacket. Not to mention her iconic, memorable hairstyle: beautiful box braids slicked-back into a high ponytail topped off with a had-band turned ponytail-holder matching the whole outfit. The jewelry was also in harmony with the outfit, as the artist opted for silver medium hoops (which went gorgeously with the hairstyle), a classy silver chained necklace, and of course, a couple of silver rings. Janet stepped on stage with the biggest, brightest, and most gorgeous smile to introduce her brother with one of the most touching speeches ever, beginning with “Before he won 12 Grammy Awards before he dazzled millions of fans around the world with his amazing talent as a performer. Before, he impacted millions of lives with his ongoing humanitarian efforts. Before all of that, he was one other thing, he was my brother”. Then she presented the audience an enlightening book of the instructions on how to become a legend choosing Michael as a guide. But the best part was yet to come. Indeed, Janet expressed her love and gratitude for her brother, and honestly, she had us crying the ugliest tears ever and Michael too “I just want to say one thing, seriously. I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you and how much you’ve inspired me and how proud I am to be your sister. And how much I love you, I do”. It was lovely seeing Janet and Michael sharing a beautiful moment on stage and joking with each other. It was indeed a beautiful, heartwarming moment to witness.

In 1995 Janet’s came in support of her brother Michael in Scream, the lead single contained on the album HIStory. The duet between the younger sister and Michael finds the pair spitting out tightly wound lines railing against tabloids. The industrial beats and clattering percussions encased an incredible one of the most mind-blowing vocal performances ever. The sense of frustration and rage makes it one of the most vivid and enduring songs. Not to mention the iconic video directed by Mark Romanek housing the siblings in their own hyper-modern spaceship complete with an indoor zen garden, remote-controlled art gallery, and futuristic squash court. The iconic video came in black and white, with the spacecraft flying over the earth and Michael standing in his distress capsule. Then the tv screen flickers and Janet closes her eyes in the distress capsule. A deafening noise reverberates through their headphones, and the siblings scream in pain. An anime comes on tv, and Michael breaks the glass of the capsule. With this intro, the legendary duo begins a mesmerizing and extremely arduous choreography in unbelievable perfect sync with each other. Not to mention the iconic outfits consisting of black and silver PVC pants, silver bikini for Janet, and black or grey spiked shibori crop-tops styled by David Bradshaw.

In 1997 came Janet’s follow-up album, The Velvet Rope, representing the product of her artistic revolution. With this album, the artist is summarizing the essence of the three previous works: the self-empowering messages from Control, the skin-deep social consciousness of Rhythm Nation, and the sexual liberation of Janet. Through the mature and experimental new sounds, the artist takes the listeners on a journey through the exploration of her psyche and sexuality: the outcome leads us to a darker path than the previous works released. Indeed, the singer sought to combine the sensuality of the last record to some more socially conscious parts such as domestic abuse, AIDS, and homophobia. Indeed, Vanessa-Mae’s prog-rock violin solo on the title track is setting the tone for profoundly spiritual work. The bass-heavy house track Together Again was an elegy for AIDS victims, which showcased a poignant vocal and lyric. Furthermore, from the raw and extremely vivid words of What About “What about the times you hit my face?../What about the times you said you didn’t fuck her; she only gave you head?” it is quite clear what the song is dealing with. And the anti-homophobia song par-excellence Free Xone shifts the moods and tempos segueing from a Prince’s Love Symbol (if you know what album I am talking about) like jam to an intriguing masterful sample from Archie Bell and the Drells’: Tighten Up. Extremely popular on the radio was Got ‘Til It’s Gone featuring the rapper Q-Tip and a reggae-crafted beat of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi. I Get Lonely featuring Blackstreet was another tremendous hit that traversed the dark side of desire. Then Every Time is a melancholic piano-based touching ballad (not going to lie this song had me crying ugly tears!!). The edgy rhythms and he drum-and-and-bass lite in Empty are enhanced by Janet’s delivery racing in a staccato. Then the smooth groovy slippery Go Deep is worthy of some of the best Michael Jackson’s jams (can you notice the resemblance with some of Michael’s songs?). Special is another fabulous piano-based ballad drenched in meaningful lyrics, a true anthem of self-worth-discovery delivering an essential lesson “You see? You can’t run away from your pain. Because wherever you’ll run, there you will be. You have to learn to water your spiritual garden. Then you will be free.”. The idyllic song is abruptly stopped halfway by Janet saying “work in progress,” because after all, we are all a work in progress in our journeys through self-discovery and self-love, right? In the second part of the song, the hidden track “Can’t Be Stopped” is a monumental celebration of being Black where the artist is encouraging other African-Americans to have the same pride “You were born with blood of Kings and Queens and can’t be stopped.” Furthermore, through interludes such as Sad and Memory, the artist explores her deepest emotions and grief. For instance with the few words of the album opener Twisted Elegance “It is my belief that we have the need to feel special/And its this need that can bring out the best in us/Yet the worst in us/This need created the velvet rope” Janet is putting into a small number of words the whole purpose and meaning of this monumental masterpiece. The Velvet Rope is, in fact, a metaphor for a place deep inside. We all strive to protect where all our feelings and thoughts lay. Janet, with this album, is courageously unveiling her Velvet Rope, letting herself firstly and the listener beyond it directly into her sacred “spiritual garden.” Indeed, it is not a mystery that the singer chose the symbol of the Sankofa ( which is also the symbol of the Adinkra tribe in West Africa) to represent the album. Indeed, its paraphrase means “You must learn from your past to move forward,” and this is again the whole concept of The Velvet Rope.

In 2000 the artist appeared in Eddie Murphy’s comedy The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps as professor Denise Gaines.

The next year, on March 12, 2001, the artist was honored with the MTV Icon Award, where the glittery talent roster included Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, Stevie Wonder, Aaliyah, ‘Nsync and Macy Gray, to pay their tribute to the legendary icon. To keep the hype of her new upcoming album release, Janet performed All For You the title track of her next album due on April 24, 2001. The singer ascended the stage in a gorgeous stylish all-white outfit and blew the audience away with her enchanting voice and impeccable choreography. After the performance was over, the artist thanked her dancers and her fans, saying, “It’s such a special night in my Life. An amazing night. Thank you so much. Because of you guys, I’m here. Thank you. I love you.”. Needless to say that we love our beautiful, humble queen more.

Moreover, after the super-personal and provocative Velvet Rope, Janet teamed up again with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to produce the sparkling danceable 70s/80s-influenced All For You. Come On Get Up (one of my favorite tracks in the album) breaks into a frenzy dance upbeat tempo and synth followed by some joyous and impeccable vocals. When We Oooo is an R&B downtempo percussive-based groovy alluring ballad that takes us to another dimension. The R&B ballad China Love is characterized by an extremely neat yet unique instrumental. The sounds of traditional Oriental chimes delve into the past love connections and other new age ambiguities. The glossy, silky slow ballad Love Scene is a sensual jam, perhaps one of Janet’s sexiest song in the album. Trust A Try is the product of a collaboration with hip-hop producer Rockwilder. The monumentally theatrical vocals are accompanied by a reinvention of the opera-genre rearranged into the rock key with electric guitars and cinematic strings. You Ain’t Right is a brutal attack on a gossipy friend characterized by a groovy upbeat tempo and some prominent vocals. The optimistic and hopeful ballad Better Days is entirely in harmony with the whole theme of the album (such an uplifting gem). The complete instrumentation with the guitar solo and striking strings are having us daydreaming of beautiful and distant places. The album is featuring singer Carly Simon in Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You), which is mashed-up with Carly Simon’s song You’re So Vain. Another track containing a sample from America’s Ventura Highway is the upbeat synth-based ballad Someone to Call My Lover, such a well-crafted reinvention of the original song. The extra-slow groovy Truth is a typical Janet’s ballad in the fashion of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On. Feels So Right is another sparkling glossy R&B lo-fi track characterized by a prominent beat and some almost whispered sensual, charming vocals. Lastly, the title track, All For You, is a clear nod to the most memorable 70s funk masterpieces. The alluring upbeat and funk-influenced sound is having the listener daydreaming of the dancefloor at the Studio 54.

In 2004 Janet released her 8th album: Damita Jo again produced by the iconic duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The highly anticipated work is another groovy, sensual, erotic, and unapologetic masterpiece, where the artist explores the crucial role of sex in a new relationship. The preponderance to slow-tempo, sensual grooves, sexual imageries, and spoken interludes are now Janet’s trademark. It’s Janet, and she’s unapologetically sexy. The R&B ping-pong rhythms of the title track accompany the sampled bells, the rap inflected scratches, and the mellow vocals perfectly. Sexhibition is alluring the listener with its infectious stuttering beats and the sampled groovy electro R&B chug, along with Janet’s intermittent vocal bubbles. The sensual vocals in Strawberry Bounce are mixed into an effervescent loop over which, if you listen attentively, you can hear elements of Jay-Z’s Can I Get A and Deon Jackson’s Love’s Make the World Go Round. The next track, My Baby, featuring Kanye West, is a regular R&B laidback slow-jam with on-point beats. Spending Time With You is yet another slow R&B groovy jam that sounds exceptionally familiar (of course, if you are familiar with Michael Jackson’s music). Indeed, the prominent beats, the sampled bells, and the mellow and sensual-almost whispered vocals are clearly drawing inspiration from Janet’s older brother Michael. Segueing the slow-tunes mentioned above, All Nite (Don’t Stop) is a pumping electro-funk whose infectious beats allure the listeners to the dancefloor. Yet R&B Junkie keeps the retro 70s funk vibe high with some well-crafted catchy upbeat synths and characteristic inflected vinyl scratching having us daydreaming of the 70s dancefloors. The album shifts into ’60s retro dazzle with I Want You. The squeaky-clean sugary puff sounds in the verve of the best ’60s classics are a clear homage to the glory of Berry Gordy’s Motown Records. With Like You Don’t Love Me, we are taken back to modern R&B, nodding to new soul stylings with its catchy production, the infectious beats, subtle guitars, and keyboard accompanied by the sensual girly crooning. Thinkin’ Bout My Ex is another slow downtempo jam where the artist explores the emotional consequences of heartbreaks. Following Thinkin’ Bout My Ex, the extra-slow Warmth is a swirling erotic jam. Moist is the sequel of Warmth, another down-tempo piano-based track. The next track, Truly, is leaning towards a new soul genre. With its luscious harmonies and silky vocals, the song is such a sublime masterpiece. Slolove is another in-the-verve-of 70s up-tempo jam characterized by meticulous funk beats. Closing the album Just A Little While is an apparent salute to Prince’s Dirty Mind (precisely When You Were Mine) combining effervescent elements of 80s Prince’ inspired guitars and keyboards. The wide variety of music genres and 60’, 70’, and 80s influences on the album are the product of Janet’s revolutionary and eclectic vision showing the artist flexing her musicology muscle.

In 2006 Janet was a 40 years old woman feeling half her age. Her 40th birthday also conveys with her breakthrough as a music icon and legend 1986. Hence, she released her new album, 20 Y.O. The collection is one more time featuring 5 interludes, all of them titled 20. The first interlude is, however, the most relevant one as the singer gives a clear explanation of the purpose and the meaning of this work: “Well, there’s something to... Are you recording?/ There’s something to be said for not saying anything/I’ve talked about racism, spousal abuse, empowering women, children/I’ve talked about a lot of things/What do I talk about this time?/ I’ve covered a lot in my 20 years/, And I’ve uncovered a lot in my 20 years/, But I wanna keep it light/I don’t wanna be serious/I wanna have fun/I know/I don’t know/That’s what I do know”. The first track opening the album boasts a collaboration with rapper Khia. If you listen attentively, you’d also realize that the song is a masterful sample of Rockit by Herbie Hancock. The outcome is an urban R&B synth-based with prominent on-point-beats. The next three songs present some other masterful samples, such as Show Me complemented with Kraftwerk’s Boing Boom Tschak, Get It Out Me with Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock and Do It 2 Me with Brenda Russell’s If Only for One Night. The threads that relate to all these tracks are the playful prominent danceable and sharp beats and grooves. Segueing the steamy rocky-R&B erotic This Body in which the artist adds some sensual vocals that match perfectly the whole theme of the track: the reversal of female objectification. Therefore, the music and the vocals match the intensity of the narrative, and the manic electric guitar replete with steel drum rimshots. After the second interlude, the artist is back again to a classic R&B string-based downtempo mellow jam. Next track Call On Me, boasts another collaboration with rapper Nelly. The song is yet another well-crafted sample with S.O.S Band’s 1983 major hit Tell Me If You Still Care. The sparkle of the sampled bells in Daybreak glides like Escapade and Runaway. The next track, the neo-soul with a touch of retro vibes Enjoy, is a total breath of positivity and fresh air. The ambiance-neo-soul Take Care is a classic silky dazzling ballad in the verve of Come Back To Me. Love 2 Love is yet another sensual slow jam. In the 5th interlude closing the album, the artist states the fugacity of the 20 years, and ultimately she thanks God for the sense of humor. Then she starts joking with one of her old friends “Twenty years/Time flashes by like lightning in the sky/Twenty years of questions come down to ‘Who am I?’/Thank you God for giving us all a sense of humor”… “All right, it’s ten to six/You’ve gotta go, ’cause I’ve gotta go/Oh, now she’s throwin’ me out now that she had her little say/We have some lovely parting gifts for you, Lynette/Thanks for coming down/Haha, oh, she tryin’ to shut me up/ Do do duh do do do..”

The next year we find Janet in Tyler Perry’s movie Why Did I Get Married? The film set in a Rocky Mountain resort follows four couples who meet each year for a therapeutic vacation. The 8 friends converge to discuss their relationships and address their issues. In the movie, we see Janet play the role of Patricia, a well-meaning psychiatrist and writer who helps her friends to solve their marital problems. The sequel of the movie, Why Did I Get Married Too?, came in 2010, but this time it includes a lengthy section set at the Bahamas. The film is one more time an amid portrait of four couples dealing with marital crises. With these movies, Janet is showing one more time her never-ending acting talents, especially in the second one, when she had to bring to Life Patricia’s painful past. It is indeed, that hurtful past with the broad range of emotions that Janet managed to bring to life amazingly well, making the movie even more credible and touching.

In 2011 Janet released her book True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself, in which she recounters her struggle with weight and confidence. The book is as well featuring letters from her fans. True You topped the new York time’s bestseller list in the following month. The same year Janet was the first female artist to ever perform at the I.M. Pei glass pyramid at the Louvre Museum, raising contributions for the restoration of artworks.

Nine years later, Janet is back with Unbreakable, a profound and insightful masterpiece. In this album, we find a brand-new Janet with brand new sounds more new-soul oriented. The themes of the collection are as well different from the previous ones. In the title track is the artist expresses her gratitude over a relaxed and longing groove. The intensity increases with the dance uptempo song BURNITUP featuring hip-hop icon Missy Elliot. The mood changes with the probing synths and booming bass in Dammn Baby. The next two tracks, The Great Forever, and Broken Hearts Heal, are a tribute to her brother Michael who passed in June 2009. What is mesmerizing about The Great Forever is that Janet sounds almost like Michael. While Broken Hearts Heal is a poignant uptempo ballad with a retro touch that brings us back to the glorious Michael’s 1978 Off The Wall. The subtle crystal beat is exactly giving the vibe of Workin’ Day and Night. The lyrics as well are giving hints that the song is dedicated to Michael “It was a long, long time ago/But I remember it like yesterday/Amazing times while we were growing/’Round all the brightest stars the world had seen/ We made-up songs to do our chores to/And harmonized while we all did our part/Danced and sang our way through most anything/Always felt safe in each others’ love/It was in summer that you left me/The fall and winter never felt so cold/, And Lord knows words can never express it/Life feels so empty I miss you much/Painful tears like never before/We can’t laugh together till we cry/But our love’s ain’t no material thing/ Inshaallah, see you in the next life”. The social-message-song Shoulda Known Better rides on an electro-dance sound and synths to reach euphoria, which is perfectly aligned with the hopeful message of revolution and social change. With After You Fall, Janet lets the listener into her deep thoughts, showing her fragility. The neat and simple arrangement and the gorgeous vocals are flawlessly completing the whole theme and purpose of the song, putting the vulnerability and the grief into sound. The sparkling infectious electro-disco Night is a clear nod to sturdy Minneapolis funk, more precisely Prince’s Sexy Dance (Prince self-titled album 1978). Segueing the effervescent rhythms of Night, No Sleeep is a more relaxed hypnotic downtempo jam. Then Dream Maker/Euphoria kicks in with a Michael-like cry hitting high notes, then settling into a luscious psychedelic groove. 2 Be Loved and Take Me Away are two classic fresh danceable pop songs. The dark nuanced Promise sets the tone for the touching performance of Lessons Learned, where one more time, the singer lets the listener into her deepest fragilities. The dark-tinged new soul Black Eagle keeps the moods sober, unraveling a poignant, beautiful message. The gospel-flavored Gon B’ Alright, is a prominent link to the past in the verve of Sly and The Family Stone and Larry Graham Central Station with a touch of Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Starting Something.

After the release of Unbreakable, Janet began The State Of The World Tour, which was launched in 2017. The title of the tour set the record straight on the themes addressed during the shows. Indeed, some testimonies from some lucky fans who attended the concerts recall the opening video making perfectly clear the message Janet wanted to deliver. A blood-red clip that flashed the names of unarmed black men shot and killed by police, denouncing white supremacy and ending in a chant of “We Want Justice.” Subsequentially, a giant portrait of the singer filled the screen, her image covered by the slogans “We will not be silent. LGBTQ rights. Black Lives Matter. Immigrants are welcome. Liberty and Justice for all”. Through the concert, the artist highlighted the importance of information with the lyrics from Rhythm Nation “information keeps us strong” and “if you want to be in control you gotta get yourself in the know.” The show featured as well lighter topics, and Janet did not spare herself some slick choreographers.

And how can we possibly forget Janet’s ICONIC performance and INSPIRING speech while accepting the Billboard Icon Award in 2018? The artist took the stage, offering the audience one of the fiercest and most impeccable performances ever of Nasty meshed up with When We Ooo (at the end of the song) and Throb. The singer also sought inclusivity not just with words; indeed, the performance featured a collective of dancers of all sizes, colors, and shapes. Eventually, Janet, introduced by Bruno Mars, graced the audience with an incredibly inspiring and beautiful acceptance speech: “I am deeply humbled and grateful for this award. I believe that for all the challenges, for all our challenges, we live at a glorious moment in history. It’s a moment when at long last, women have made it clear that we will no longer be controlled, manipulated, or abused. I stand with those women and with those men equally outraged by discrimination who support us in heart and mind. This is also a moment when our public discourse is loud and harsh.”. What a beautiful, stunning, inspiring queen!!

Furthermore, this summer 2020, the artist was supposed to start her Black Diamond world tour, but unfortunately, it has been postponed.

With this said, through her extraordinary career, Janet has proved so much and has achieved so much. Her unbelievable work ethic and talent have brought her to become one of the best artists on earth, and this is a fact. Her inspiring music celebrating women, especially African American women, impeccable choreographies, the iconic music videos celebrating, and uplifting black people have paved the path for many artists. With her vast contribution not just in the music business, Janet has become a legendary icon to many women and men. All hail to the queen.

Thank you for your attention💜 G.✨

[dk-thrive]

Being locked up in a house...will not be the same

I am writing to you from Italy, which means I am writing from your future. We are now where you will be in a few days. The epidemic’s charts show us all entwined in a parallel dance.

We are but a few steps ahead of you in the path of time, just like Wuhan was a few weeks ahead of us. We watch you as you behave just as we did. You hold the same arguments we did until a short time ago, between those who still say “it’s only a flu, why all the fuss?” and those who have already understood.

As we watch you from here, from your future, we know that many of you, as you were told to lock yourselves up into your homes, quoted Orwell, some even Hobbes. But soon you’ll be too busy for that.

First of all, you’ll eat. Not just because it will be one of the few last things that you can still do.

You’ll find dozens of social networking groups with tutorials on how to spend your free time in fruitful ways. You will join them all, then ignore them completely after a few days.

You’ll pull apocalyptic literature out of your bookshelves, but will soon find you don’t really feel like reading any of it.

You’ll eat again. You will not sleep well. You will ask yourselves what is happening to democracy.

You’ll have an unstoppable online social life – on Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom…

You will miss your adult children like you never have before; the realisation that you have no idea when you will ever see them again will hit you like a punch in the chest.

Old resentments and falling-outs will seem irrelevant. You will call people you had sworn never to talk to ever again, so as to ask them: “How are you doing?” Many women will be beaten in their homes.

You will wonder what is happening to all those who can’t stay home because they don’t have one. You will feel vulnerable when going out shopping in the deserted streets, especially if you are a woman. You will ask yourselves if this is how societies collapse. Does it really happen so fast? You’ll block out these thoughts and when you get back home you’ll eat again.

You will put on weight. You’ll look for online fitness training.

You’ll laugh. You’ll laugh a lot. You’ll flaunt a gallows humour you never had before. Even people who’ve always taken everything dead seriously will contemplate the absurdity of life, of the universe and of it all.

You will make appointments in the supermarket queues with your friends and lovers, so as to briefly see them in person, all the while abiding by the social distancing rules.

You will count all the things you do not need.

The true nature of the people around you will be revealed with total clarity. You will have confirmations and surprises.

Literati who had been omnipresent in the news will disappear, their opinions suddenly irrelevant; some will take refuge in rationalisations which will be so totally lacking in empathy that people will stop listening to them. People whom you had overlooked, instead, will turn out to be reassuring, generous, reliable, pragmatic and clairvoyant.

Those who invite you to see all this mess as an opportunity for planetary renewal will help you to put things in a larger perspective. You will also find them terribly annoying: nice, the planet is breathing better because of the halved CO2 emissions, but how will you pay your bills next month?

You will not understand if witnessing the birth of a new world is more a grandiose or a miserable affair.

You will play music from your windows and lawns. When you saw us singing opera from our balconies, you thought “ah, those Italians”. But we know you will sing uplifting songs to each other too. And when you blast I Will Survive from your windows, we’ll watch you and nod just like the people of Wuhan, who sung from their windows in February, nodded while watching us.

Many of you will fall asleep vowing that the very first thing you’ll do as soon as lockdown is over is file for divorce.

Many children will be conceived.

Your children will be schooled online. They’ll be horrible nuisances; they’ll give you joy.

Elderly people will disobey you like rowdy teenagers: you’ll have to fight with them in order to forbid them from going out, to get infected and die.

You will try not to think about the lonely deaths inside the ICU.

You’ll want to cover with rose petals all medical workers’ steps.

You will be told that society is united in a communal effort, that you are all in the same boat. It will be true. This experience will change for good how you perceive yourself as an individual part of a larger whole.

Class, however, will make all the difference. Being locked up in a house with a pretty garden or in an overcrowded housing project will not be the same. Nor is being able to keep on working from home or seeing your job disappear. That boat in which you’ll be sailing in order to defeat the epidemic will not look the same to everyone nor is it actually the same for everyone: it never was.

At some point, you will realise it’s tough. You will be afraid. You will share your fear with your dear ones, or you will keep it to yourselves so as not to burden them with it too.

You will eat again.

We’re in Italy, and this is what we know about your future. But it’s just small-scale fortune-telling. We are very low-key seers.

If we turn our gaze to the more distant future, the future which is unknown both to you and to us too, we can only tell you this: when all of this is over, the world won’t be the same.

~ Francesca Melandri, A letter to the UK from Italy: this is what we know about your future (The Guardian, March 27, 2020)

[jordanianroyals]

Interview: Jordan to learn much from collaborations with China in varied fields: Jordanian Queen

Source: Xinhua | 2018-09-04 18:32:46 | Editor: huaxia

For full article, please click this link.

Queen Rania of Jordan has praised China for playing an influential role in global economy and aiding refugees in the Middle East, while hoping that Jordan will learn much from collaborations with China in varied fields.

The queen made the remarks in a written interview with Xinhua ahead of her visit to China to attend the second Alibaba XIN Philanthropy Conference 2018 due on Sept. 5 in Hangzhou, China, at the invitation of Jack Ma, founder of China's Alibaba Group and the Jack Ma Foundation.

"I have very fond memories from my previous visits to China, and I look forward to visiting again," the queen said, adding that she has a lot of respect for Ma and the work that he is doing, as well as his vision for philanthropy.

"It is very uplifting to see that people are embracing philanthropy, within China and beyond," said the queen, founder of the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF).

During his May visit to Jordan, Ma announced the first-stage funding of 3 million U.S. dollars to the QRF to support the development of its online learning platform, Edraak, as well as the training of school principals at the Queen Rania Teacher Academy.

"Going forward, we are looking forward to collaborating further and exchanging knowledge with the Jack Ma Foundation, so that we can work together on our common goal to promote access to quality education for all," the queen said.

CHINA'S GREAT PROGRESS, GENEROUS REFUGEE AID

In the interview, Queen Rania lauded China for having made "tremendous progress" over the past decades.

"It's the world's biggest exporter, it's second largest economy, and there is no doubt that it plays a critical and influential role in development and in the global economy," she said.

The queen noted that China is now classified as the world's top technology hub and home to some big companies on par with Silicon Valley giants like Apple and Amazon in the United States.

"I can only be delighted to revisit China at such exciting times as these, and I am certain that my trip will be rewarding on so many levels," she said.

Jordan is a small country with a young and driven population that can learn so much from collaborations with China, especially in the fields of technology, commerce, trade, and education, she said.

Talking about the refugee crisis that has placed a heavy burden on Jordan, one of major host countries of refugees, Queen Rania said Jordan is "tremendously grateful" to China for its longstanding support to ease the burden of hosting refugees.

"Over the years, China has not only provided food assistance and humanitarian aid to refugees in Jordan, but also supported the development of Jordan's overtaxed infrastructure," she said.

The queen mentioned that, just two months ago, China pledged an additional 15 million U.S. dollars in aid, "which will go a long way in helping us meet refugees' needs."

She also commended China for recently donating 2.35 million dollars to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which faces the worst financial crisis in its 70-year history after the United States recently cut its fundings.

"UNRWA is a lifeline to more than 5 million people in the region, 40 percent of whom live in Jordan alone, and China's generosity will contribute to alleviating some of the pressure on the struggling agency," said the queen.

Jordan, which is spearheading efforts to secure necessary funding for the agency to continue its services, is hopeful that other countries will follow China's example, she said.

The ultimate solution for this crisis, however, can only be found through a negotiated settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and all its final status issues, the queen stressed.

EDUCATION CAN MAKE MIRACLES

Queen Rania, a strong advocate of education and a passionate philanthropist and peace maker, underlined the power of education to address most pressing challenges of today, including unemployment and radicalization.

For the Jordanian queen, education has remained at the forefront of her activities over the years.

"I believe in the power of education because it holds the answer to many of the challenges we face today," she said.

She established the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development in 2013, out of her belief that investing in children is the best investment that can be made in the Arab world.

"Knowledge, creativity, and talent are key ingredients to any country's success, and that all begins in the classroom," she noted.

The QRF has implemented a number of initiatives and programs to support education reform in Jordan. Queen Rania set up the Queen Rania Teacher Academy, which offers educators critical training and professional development.

Four years ago, she also launched Edraak, one of the first non-profit online Arabic open education resource platforms, to provide Arabic speakers with the opportunity to learn online.

Focusing mainly on adult learners seeking higher education and professional development opportunities, Edraak has so far reached 1.7 million registered learners.

Education is the key to addressing the most pressing challenge on young people's minds today, which is unemployment, the queen said.

"Our challenge is to continue to invest in the right kind of education, and to grow our economy in order to create more opportunities for them within Jordan," she said.

Queen Rania stressed that education also plays a key role in fighting terrorism, a major part of which is the fight against the "extremists' false narrative of hate and the twisted ideology of the outlaws of Islam."

"I always say, you cannot kill an ideology with a bullet. You can only kill it with a better idea. Extremists prey on hopelessness and despair, taking advantage of vulnerable people who feel as though they have no other options," she said.

The queen said she is convinced that a large part of the solution to eradicating terrorism lies in education.

"If we can equip our youth with the skills they need to succeed in the world and jobs to make their lives purposeful, then there is no cause for desperation or resentment," she said.

PHILANTHROPY IS SHARED RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL

In the interview, Queen Rania also voiced her optimism about the power of philanthropy to create opportunity and reduce inequity.

"I am inspired by how committed and energetic some people are about philanthropy. I think it is critical that we encourage and support those looking to help, to make a difference, to bring innovative ideas to the field of philanthropy, whether in China or throughout the rest of the world," said the queen, a mother of four.

Philanthropy is "a shared responsibility of all," she said.

The queen said philanthropy should be "a collaborative effort," in which the public, private, and civil society sectors complement each other's work and build on shared successes.

She said she believes that philanthropy lives in the hearts of humans, "because giving is something that is built into our DNA and deep-rooted into our human conscience."

"Giving is part of what makes us human ... In a sense, we see giving as the best way to improve ourselves," she said.

WOMEN'S SUCCESS STARTS WITH EMPOWERMENT

Queen Rania, who believes that the pathway to a woman's success begins with empowerment, has been a passionate spokesperson for women's rights.

Serving as a positive role model for Arab women, the queen uses her international platform to shed light on the most pressing challenges facing Arab women.

"I think it is often easier for people to paint us all with the same, stereotypical brush: downtrodden, uneducated, and voiceless," she said.

The reality is that Arab women from all walks of life are increasingly leaving their mark on every level of society, not just as homemakers, but also as professors, doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs, she insisted.

Arab women have emerged as role models in almost every industry, breaking through glass ceilings and providing an excellent example to both girls and boys of the next generation, she said.

That said, in many cases, progress has been slower than expected. Unfortunately, sexism is not limited to a single country or region, and women everywhere are at risk of discrimination and abuse, the queen added.

This is true particularly in areas of conflict, where women are always the hardest hit. In times of conflict or political upheaval, women's hard-won gains are reversed and their rights are treated as afterthoughts, she said.

For Rania, who became Queen of Jordan in 1999 as the youngest queen in the world, balancing private life as a wife and mother with public duties as queen does not seem to be an easy task.

"Twenty years is a long time. A lot has changed since 1999. I've also changed and I've learnt a lot," she said.

"I have faced tough challenges, but they have made me more authentic, truer to who I am, and less fearful ... I am not afraid of standing up for my values and beliefs," said the queen.

While expressing her sadness and concerns about the continued turmoil and violence in the Middle East, Queen Rania said most people in the region still hope for a better future of peace and justice.

"No matter where we come from or what we believe, at the heart of it, all people want the same things: a safe place to call home, the ability to work for a living, and a quality education for our children," she said.

These things are achievable, but only when people put differences aside and collaborate on comprehensive solutions, she said.

"Our shared humanity is so much stronger than the labels that divide us, and it is in our best interest to work together to achieve sustainable global development and create a world worthy of the next generation," said the queen.

[gutsymmetry]

okay here we go. ready?

regina:

neutral evil with lawful qualities, progressing to chaotic neutral and then to good over the course of her character development.

"neutral evil with lawful qualities” is the condition of the evil queen. at this point in her character development, she is profoundly self-interested, consumed by her trauma, and lashing out in any direction she can. hence, the “neutral evil” dimension of her personality: she wants to cause harm, and she does not care about using that harm for the purposes of order; it’s about her own satisfaction. her “lawful qualities” come into play because she is, at heart, actually a strong administrator and bureaucrat who does desire to create prosperity and safety in the place she rules, and she will exercise her authority to that end, sometimes and indifferently through harm.

chaotic neutral/good is the condition of regina in season 2 and onward. she is, especially at first, once again self-interested, with her interest extending to henry and very few other people. she is not interested in "good” as such, nor in abstract morality, evidenced by her rejection of “regret” during the neverland storyline--she has no use for rhapsodizing on what-ifs or vague concepts of good and evil. as she progresses through various post-curse-breaking events, she is interested in preserving safety and well-being, and will put her own life on the line for that cause, but it’s not about a ~higher morality~ and wanting to be a do-gooder hero uwu, it’s about doing what will keep people safe and minimize harm as much as possible, and because that does extend to people outside her immediate group, hence her progress to “good.”

hela: lawful/neutral evil cusp.

this is the best way i can think of to describe hela’s mixture of purely self-interested, self-obsessed violence with her extreme authoritarianism. on one level, she is the daughter of a king and a long-time military leader who highly values regulation and structure, and demands utmost obedience to that structure, because it is the path to success. much of the destruction of asgard that happens in thor: ragnarok would not have happened if the aesir bowed to her and accepted her authority, and her decimation of the asgardian armed forces, etc. only comes about specifically because they denied her that obedience.

the “neutral” dimension of her personality comes through in the above-mentioned self-obsessed violence. hela does what she does in t:r primarily because she is hurt and angry, and has had her value system destroyed. she doesn’t need to conquer asgard or any other realm, and simply put, the military structure she is a part of doesn’t require constant conquest--that is hela’s own personal goal, her personal hunger to make meaning out of what is a hollow, violent, and ultimately fruitless way of life. constant acquisition balms the ache of being totally emotionally and spiritually empty, and ditto the violence she exerts on odin (in the murder of odin deleted scene), thor, and loki.

scathach: chaotic evil.

need i say more? scathach is an incredibly dangerous person, and this is why. she has a near-total indifference for the stuff of life and the systems of order which maintain life, except for when she can exploit them--whether to reap their fruits, or to destroy them for her own sadistic pleasure. she is primarily interested in that pleasure, as well as in her own freedom; the more psychological dimensions of her character, involving a powerful desire for connection and love, conflict with her central goals, and no doubt this is directly the reason her love affairs end in violent tragedy: because the world into which she drags her love-objects is at its core designed to destroy them, and scathach is an agent of that destruction. having a truly positive, beneficial relationship with another person would require scathach to reorganize her entire moral scheme and develop a sense of the value of human life, which she is not interested in doing.

seward: chaotic good.

i’m not sure i need to explain the “good” part, except to say that she is and always has been interested in the betterment of other people and the care and caretaking of disenfranchised and struggling people. from her earliest work among the poor of new york city, to those she treats later in life after her transition to alienism, she focuses primarily on the uplifting of those who have been dragged down by institutionalized oppression and the internalization of social harms. as to “chaotic”: seward, i would argue, is a chaotic person who is contained by organized structures, rather than a lawful person who inflicts chaos here and there. what rules she lives by are those she herself has set, or those she has chosen, for the time being, not to violate. when she does need to violate rules, she does so in a deliberately explosive way, ranging from the level of non-violent (becoming, through sheer force of will, one of the first women in america to receive a medical degree) to the violent (murdering her abusive husband, forcibly drugging renfield, killing vampires), which imo implies a kind of indifference to law for its own sake, that she was just tolerating its control over her until the time came she no longer wanted to tolerate it.

raine: chaotic good with chaotic neutral qualities.

raine is interesting. of the chaotic good characters i have here, she is actually the one with an expressed personal code, and an investment in a hierarchical order, as she is the leader of her faction and interested in maintaining control. however, i would argue that this does not change her chaotic position in relation to the society at large, particularly because her values are so explosively damaging to that society, and so indifferent to its values. she seeks the rescue of women from a structurally violent culture which attacks the root of their selves, and wants to rehabilitate women from that violence into wholeness and relief, rather than degradation. for this reason she is opposed to all participation in the society of men, from the level of intimate relations to the nuclear family structure to getting a job in a man’s business. particularly in the victorian era and through to today, this is, in the dominant culture, a fundamentally, aggressively antisocial position.

the very fact, however, that for as much good as she does and as strenuously as she works to help women, that raine is also on many levels hypocritical speaks to both various psychological qualities (born especially out of the persistent trauma of poverty) and to her chaotic neutral traits. raine is very willing to violate her own sense of good in order to get what she wants, and she’s going to do that whether people agree with her or not, whether she can live with herself after or not. her indifference to the lives of the men she’s kidnapped and her desire to not only torture but kill them, her violence against susan when challenged, etc. are explicit violations of her own moral code, done primarily with the goal of self-satisfaction--hence, not only chaotic (indifferent to or destructive of laws) but neutral (primarily self-interested).

karen: true neutral with lawful qualities.

this was an interesting conclusion because it doesn’t really have room for good in it, when karen is generally speaking quite a nice person who’d prefer to think of herself as good.

the truth is that while karen does care about other people on an individual level and has a moral code, she is not the kind of person whose day-to-day living expresses that code in any profound way, and upholding that code is not the main goal or central guidance of her life. she is primarily interested in keeping herself alive, with a minimum of harm to others, and without seeking to cause harm to anyone--but also without seeking to create good. this speaks to her deep dissociation from human society and her sense of absolute aloneness in the world, that after roughly a hundred years of life (having been born in the 1910s), she no longer feels a need, a duty, even a want to create good for other people.

her “lawful qualities” come in in the sense that she is... well, she’s a librarian: she needs her rules. she also is not a great challenger of social codes and doesn’t feel the need to openly flaunt, dismiss, or violate norms in any way; in fact she would prefer that they remain followed in order to keep herself comfortable and life from being any more difficult than it is. she’s not an aggressor against or even a quiet disapprover of those who do break norms, she just has enough problems and would like waves to not be made, thank you. her neutrality is a good quality in that she by and large accepts everyone as they come, but makes her very difficult to negotiate with because she prefers not to--indeed will not--make an overt stand.

averyl: chaotic good with chaotic neutral qualities.

raine and averyl make an interesting comparison because they’re both “chaotic good with chaotic neutral qualities.” where raine’s chaotic good comes from a stance of being fundamentally anti-social in the sense of against society, wanting to destroy its structures, averyl’s comes from a stance of wanting to transform those structures, in a way that to a lot of people probably looks like destruction. she takes over exclusively male forms of rulership (chieftaincy in her asoiaf verse, kingship in her orig. verse) and bends them by force to her own goals, promoting prosperity and equality, and strongly challenging social norms simply by existing where and how she does.

the trouble enters in her chaotic qualities, and it’s part of why she is ultimately an unsuccessful hero in her orig. verse. averyl can survive in systems, but ultimately begins to chafe against them; she’s a restless individual who is prone to challenge even the structures that support her the most, simply because she can or wants to, not even because they pose problems for her morals or ethics--just because they’re there. this is a self-interested quality that it’s on her to control, and she doesn’t always, hence the negative consequences she brings on herself. she is prone to acting in her own self-interest this way, regardless of how it may affect others--hence the “neutrality” aspect.

[womeninpodcasting-blog]

Podcasting Research

When we live in a world of side hustles, accountability seems to be further and further from reach than ever. Who should be held responsible for gender discrimination in the podast business? Should it be the platforms that the programs are on, the individuals who run the podcast, or is it even possible to seek justice? Podcasts featuring women are not being showcased as much as men’s, and we must encourage women to follow their podcasting dreams through female leadership.

In most industries, it is rare to have an almost even split audience between genders. According to the Nielson and Edison studies, the percentage of podcast listeners between female and male are 48 percent and 52 percent respectively (Whitner). Sadly, this does not reflect the percentage of podcasts that feature women. Robin Kinnie, a prominent female podcast producer, conducted a study earlier this year and found that women only host 22 percent of podcasts (Kinnie). Statistics are pretty easy to come across, but the reasons behind them required more digging. Since podcasting is still a brand new entity to the world, there has only been a handful of sources documenting the issue regarding women in podcasts. With that being said, I had to discover these issues myself, and the sexist acts towards women in podcasts are happening right in front of our faces.

On the front page of Spotify’s, “Spotify Podcasting”, it’s stated that “Spotify was designed to help artists get discovered [...]” (Spotify), this is the sentence that inspired me to start fact-checking. Do they help the minority get discovered, or do they just promote the programs that generate the most revenue for them? I feel like you know where this is going.  

Now that I had a deeper understanding of some numbers, I went “undercover” in order to figure out why they were so low. To minimize suggested podcasts catered to my own Spotify account, I made a completely random email and signed up for Spotify. I then looked towards three podcast categories that related to the industries that women seemed to face some of the biggest adversity: business, music and comedy. Entering the business section of podcast seemed hopeful from the beginning, as the banner picture showcased a woman working on a computer, sleek and eye catching. 

Sadly, out of the top twenty business podcasts on the front page, zero of them featured a sole female host. Only three of the top twenty podcasts had a recurring female host alongside their male co-host (Spotify). On top of this, none of the podcasts featuring women showed a female as their picture, while twelve of the male-run programs featured both their picture and their name. Did Spotify actively choose to set their banner to a female to try and “balance” their decision to promote mostly men? 

Both the music and comedy sections were just as disappointing, each having only three of the top 20 suggested podcasts even featuring a female co-host, let alone a solely female-driven podcast. These findings left me disappointed and dumbfounded, and lead me to wonder about the cause. Since podcasting is a relatively new, the buzz about gender inequality within it is very minimal. I decided to look towards listeners’ reviews of podcasts to see if there was a difference between how they rated and talked about female hosted podcasts versus male. 

I was able to find (after a lot of searching in the library), an article in a magazine that has given dedicated space to talk about culture, race, sexuality, and other pressing topics in today’s society. This article was written by Nicholas Quah, and titled “10 Essential Conversational Podcasts That Shaped The Genre”. Out of the ten podcasts, Quah focuses on programs run by both men and women equally. With nothing but praise, he describes some of the male featured podcasts (both featuring white males might I add) as “[...] probing and revealing, collaborative and investigative, comprehensive and singular”, and another as “[...] one of the more interesting and innovative podcast creators in the business” (Quah). 

When describing female-driven podcasts, he describes a program run by two African American females as a “[...] rich space for sharp, compelling, and revelatory feats of cultural criticism”, and an “[...] exploration of all the things in our lives that we usually feel uncomfortable discussing” (Quah). The reviews of both the male and female podcasts were uplifting, inviting, and offered fair thoughts without bringing gender into the conversation. 

So, when the podcasts are out, they seem to get an overall same sort of treatment when it comes to reviews. Although fair in the research I’ve found, there is no doubt that there are people in the world that are very quick to switch a podcast simply because it features females. I then began to think about the responsibility of the mediums where podcasts live, and the roles they must take on when having hundreds of millions of listeners. Should companies such as Spotify and Apple Music be held liable for emotional and monetary damage based off of gender inequality in podcasting?

In a section of an Equal Rights Advocates pamphlet, gender inequality could include “[...] anguish, stress, anxiety, pain and suffering, loss of sleep, damage to your reputation, and loss of enjoyment of life resulting from discrimination” (Equal Rights Advocates). I’m certain countless women experience some, if not all of these, even simply due to the lack of representation as mentioned above, or from negative reviews based off of their gender. I don’t think that Spotify or Apple Music should be held fully liable for these damages, but they absolutely should take more measures to fairly represent women in podcasting. But even after looking out for those who do make that journey into podcasting, I was still hung up on why there are a lack of women. I went to Amazon to look into some books that people would read when starting a podcast, and right off the bat, it gave off some issues. 

With the authors of almost all of the top podcasting books on Amazon being male, it seemed a little intimidating and could be worrisome for some women to continue or follow their podcasting ventures. Mike Migas, the producer of a very popular podcast called “Casefile: True Crime”, is the author of one of the top podcasting books on Amazon. He began talking about why certain men, become famous radio hosts/podcasters, because of their “powerful and charismatic” voices (Migas 22), not even a mention about female podcasters. He then goes off on long tangents about the minute details of the frequencies the human ear can pick up, and putting across this falsely given pompous attitude.

In a lot of sections throughout this book, he comes across as pretty stern and “This is how it works, there’s no other way because we’re successful”. He also goes into a lot of meaningless details, in my opinion, to fill a book with pages that could be written in a quick Buzzfeed article. Another book, “Podcasting For Dummies: 3rd Edition” was the top selling book on podcasting on Amazon. In the author’s Tomasi and Morris’ “Getting The Right Gadgets” chapter, they begin to explain the specifics of the electrical equipment needed to get a podcast rolling. With their use of technical terms such as “Omnidirectional”,  “shock mounted microphone”, and “condenser microphone” (Morris, Tomasi 33), seems like it could scare people away from podcasting. 

I believe that the lack of female voices (quite literally) in the podcasting world is due to the fact that a lot of women feel intimidated and don’t feel as if their voices are respected. This could also stem from women being treated throughout history as having low intelligence and being incapable of doing things on their own (a statement that is disgusting and I hate that has happened in our world). We put so much pressure on the women who do actually end up making podcasts, and since it seems to be very few of them, if they’re not wildly successful, people are quick to blame gender. As a society, we need to encourage women to bring their ideas to life, and not only in the podcast world.

But only so much can be done by individuals who support women in podcasts, the companies that act as a home for podcasts must step up and address the issue as well. We cannot wait for Women’s History Month to get the world to care about these issues. In the same token, we have to find a way as a society to stop labeling and dividing accomplishments and projects to “female fronted” or “male leader”. Doing so forces people into deciding on whether on not to support them based off of gender alone. 

As there are over 73 million women listening to at least one podcast every week in the United States alone (Whitner), there are obviously a large amount of women wanting to learn and to be inspired. Liam Neiyemer, nicknamed ‘The Podfather’, addresses the issue perfectly in his article about sexism in podcasting, “The future and growth of podcasting depends on more female producers, hosts and storytellers in the industry”. We must lean on strong females that are going against criticism and following through with what they want to accomplish, and hope that females all over the world are inspired by their actions. 

Citations

Edison Research. “Women Podcast Listeners: Closing the Listening Gender Gap.” Edison Research, Edison Research, 22 Jan. 2019, www.edisonresearch.com/women-podcast-listeners-closing-the-listening-gender-gap/.

“Gender Discrimination at Work.” Equal Rights Advocates.

Kinnie, Robin. “The Growth of Women in Podcasting.” Podcast Business Journal, 26 Feb. 2019, podcastbusinessjournal.com/the-growth-of-women-in-podcasting/.

Migas, Mike. How to Start a Podcast: Practical Tips from the Producer of Casefile: True Crime Podcast. Independent, 2018.

Morris, Tee, and Chuck Tomasi. Podcasting For Dummies, 3rd Edition. For Dummies; 3 Edition, 2017.

Niemeyer, Liam. “Podfather Reviews: Sexism in Podcasting and What Needs to Change.” The Post, 16 Apr. 2018, www.thepostathens.com/article/2018/04/sexism-podcasting-stereotyping.

Quah, Nicholas. “10 Essential Conversation Podcasts That Shaped the Genre.” Vulture, 4 Oct. 2019.

“Spotify for Podcasters.” Spotify for Podcasters, podcasters.spotify.com/#targetText=Spotify%20has%20over%20200%20million,since%20the%20start%20of%202019.

Whitner, Gavin. “Podcast Statistics (2019) – Newest Available Data + Infographic.” Music Oomph, 5 Sept. 2019, musicoomph.com/podcast-statistics/.

[feministcrossroads]

why we are the way we are

In the midst of a new wave of feminism, it becomes important to visit the origins of how we got here. From the beginnings of the women’s suffrage movement, to basic intersectionality; feminism has gone through a plethora of changes as female-identifying individuals have gone through societal changes. As the world progresses, looking back at the roots of where it all began can help show what still needs improvement and what we need to strive to not let happen again. It also serves as a reminder for feminists to remember inclusivity and intersectionality as the movement grows. The experiences of women are not the same across the globe. There are barriers based on language, race, nationality and sexuality that not only divide women from society but divide women from each other. Kimberle Crenshaw does an incredible job at addressing intersectionality from a legal standpoint while connecting it to pop culture in order to draw in the audience in Mapping the Margins: Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Crenshaw pushes the audience to acknowledge the differences with violence against women when race comes into play, and also identifies the poor treatment of black women within the Black community. The concept of vilifying women of color appears strongly in article. Black women are commonly turned into the villain amongst their own people when it comes to violence done against them (Crenshaw 1274). This becomes more apparent in cases of rape and sexual harassment. Crenshaw addresses the behavior of other Black women during Mike Tyson’s rape trial; Tyson’s accuser, Desiree Washington faced harsh criticism and scrutiny from other Black women. Women would say that she was “asking for it” by dressing a certain way or by simply being in Tyson’s hotel room at 2:00 a.m. (Crenshaw 1274). The women were tearing Washington down and defending a man over supporting another woman. A similar mindset was seen during R Kelly’s Child Pornography Trial. Many women, including a survivor named Jerhonda Pace, did not believe that Kelly was guilty and were putting the blame on the underage girl in the video. Kelly has been known for sexually exploiting young women for decades and the issue was completely swept under the rug as people continued to support him. The injustice done against the survivors of Kelly’s and Tyson’s sex crimes has to do with the treatment of women of color in society. Women of color were viewed as an afterthought in feminist conversations, which is discussed by Crenshaw. She mentions New York State’s Coalition Against Domestic Violence and how the efforts to women of color seemed “as something of an afterthought” (Crenshaw 1264). The violence against Black and minority women is viewed and experienced differently than violence against white women. This stresses the point that you cannot separate race from womanhood, since you cannot remove the skin color from an individual or attempt to strip away someone’s womanhood. A non-intersectional view on race or on women excludes voices from being heard during the fight for equity. Crenshaw provides a timeless and compelling argument that women of color, specifically black women, are abused and neglected by their own communities and even society. Mapping the Margins is seen as one of the most influential feminist pieces and it focuses solely on intersectionality, why is it that intersectionality is still questioned? Questioning who should and should not be at the metaphorical table when speaking on feminist issues has been a topic for decades. The documentary She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (available on Netflix) speaks heavily on the exclusive nature of the feminist community during the late 20th century. Lesbians and Women of Color were the two groups commonly excluded from their seat at the table. Karla Jay helped organized the Lavender Menace action at the Second Congress to Unite Women in 1970. Jay spoke on how she wanted to add ‘lesbianism’ to the list of feminist issues. Rita Mae Brown was even kicked out of the National Organization for Women (NOW) for wanted to support the lesbian community. There was a level of fear surrounding what should and should not have been spoken about during the 1960s and 1970s feminist movement. Women were scared to lose respect and progress if more intersectional views were talked about in the movement. The push for intersectionality was shot down due to what others thought as poor timing and fear. For Women of Color, they recognized that their needs and experiences were different solely based on their race, so they created their own organizations to push for more equality within their communities. Denise Oliver, a member of the Young Lords Party, pushed for more equality within the Latinx community by wanting to dismantle the message of ‘Revolutionary Machismo.’ Oliver and other female Young Lords wanted more equality for women at the forefront of the fight for equal treatment for minority populations. The general theme of resisting intersectionality seems to be influenced heavily by fear and skepticism. Fearful that the movement would not be taken seriously and skeptical that these groups shared different experiences than the majority of feminists. The fear and skepticism surrounding intersectionality is also influenced by representation. In politics or in pop culture, women are either critiqued about every hair that’s out of place or grossly photoshopped to create unreal expectations. The patriarchy has its claws deep in Global history and it deeply impacts how movements that try to dismantle it behave. Miss Representation is a prime representation of how a movement wants to uplift women and see them more in media but neglects to show intersectional representation. The documentary was created in 2011 in a time where intersectionality was not a hot topic for feminism.  The film does a fantastic job at inviting people promoting intersectionality into the room, but not necessarily giving them a seat at the table. There is a focus on the personal experiences of the narrator, which guides the conversation to be one that focuses on how White America deals with sexism. The conversation about how racism and sexism intertwine for Women of Color, or how homophobia and sexism blend together for women apart of the LGBTQ+ community. This provides for an explanation to why intersectionality has been not given a seat at the feminist table; the intersectional voices are not being heard and are being spoken on top of in the conversation. The white woman in American feels as if she knows all about what it means to experience sexism, but completely neglects the idea that these experiences can be different for other women based on their own race, sexuality or ethnicity. This is why looking back into the past is crucial to the progression, the feminist movement is still making the same mistakes it made in the 1960s and 70s, by leaving important voices out of the conversation.

[nyfacurrent]

Conversations | Alicia Ehni at NALAC Leadership Institute

NALAC Fellows talk to IAP Newsletter Editor about their lives as Latinx artists.

In July, IAP Newsletter Editor, Alicia Ehni, participated in the NALAC Leadership Institute (NLI), hosted by the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, which delivers innovative and practical strategies to artists and arts administrators chosen from all over the country. Over the last 18 years, the Leadership Institute has developed a curriculum that is based on a historical overview and analysis of Latino arts and cultures in the U.S., including the vital role of community involvement.

Adriana Gallego, NALAC Chief Operating Officer and artist, comments about this year’s program: “Every year, the NALAC Leadership Institute strengthens the Latinx and inter-cultural artistic sectors with multi-generations of artists and arts leaders to bridge collaborations and alliances across ethnic, geographic, and intergenerational lines. This connectedness is critical in our pursuit for cultural equity, which will arise when diverse populations address social inequality together and work to create shared opportunities for access to resources, cultural participation, and artistic production.”

This year, 29 artists and arts administrators were chosen to participate in the NALAC Leadership Institute in San Antonio. A follow-up was conducted a month later with the 2018 Fellows to see how this program is impacting their careers and lives. Many of these Fellows are wearing multiple hats. This interview highlights the different voices of talented Latino artists who share their insights and strategies on successfully navigating their multiple roles.  

NYFA: How do you see your role as an artist and leader after participating in the NALAC Leadership Institute (NLI)?

Christine Lamprea: I have a new perspective on my career as a classical cellist. I see possibilities of curating a more uniquely tailored concert season for myself, rather than trying to succeed in more traditional models of success in classical music. I feel more empowered to lean into my strengths, some of which stem from the history of my parents and their immigration story, as well as characteristics that stem from the beauty of Latinx culture. 

Jaime Garza: NLI has been a very strong support system for me. The week-long intense immersion of Latino-based art and culture made me feel like part of something bigger than myself.

In Chicago, I’m known because of my work as a musician with the band Dos Santos and as an arts promoter, curator, and organizer of independent events. The role I play in Chicago is to help and support other artists and musicians. Attending NLI has given me skills and a wider scope of Latinx culture, that I hope to use to continue assisting local artists and myself, so we can create meaningful art.

Jessy De León: I've always known that music and art reflect a nation's culture; however, through NLI I was able to see more clearly what the ones that came before us have done to preserve their Hispanic identity through the Chicano movement. NLI helped me realized that the non-profit I founded, Comparte tu Luz, was created not only to help communities understand the importance of art but also that artists have a responsibility to promote and preserve their culture, by remembering who they are and where they have come from. This is reflected in their art.

Johana Moscoso: After NLI I see my role as that of a connector who connects personal and intimate instances in daily life that affect our current society. Living in a small town in Wisconsin as a Colombian immigrant–who has a thick Hispanic accent and starts sentences saying ¡Ay!–has created an urgency in me to connect my workplace with immigrants who only speak Español, or as I grew up calling it, Castellano. This urgency has extended to my art practice.  

For me, it is necessary to create art that critically reflects the Latinx culture as a vital component of American society, history, and art. I celebrate my Latinx culture by merging performance, video, sculpture, and fiber art into large-scale installations.

Michael Menchaca: I feel much more confident moving forward after NLI, with a better idea of what my artistic vision is and what I need to do in order to achieve my goals. I have started the groundwork to better organize my work schedule and prioritize my deadlines. The network of colleagues I made during the NLI fellowship has further motivated me to become a stronger cultural leader in the arts. 

Paty Lorena Solórzano: After NLI, I felt an incredible sense of value and motivation to rise above the challenges that come from being in a field that lacks representation and equity for Latinx dance artists, especially for women of color!

I think there's a lot that comes from validation–to feel that your work matters and that you can acquire the tools to make your work visible. It gives you power. I feel a greater sense of responsibility for my Latinx community in dance, and I hope to use the knowledge I gained at NLI to continue to advocate for and uplift other Latinx dancers and choreographers. We really need it!

NYFA: What concrete actions will you implement in your current work? 

Christine Lamprea: One of the strongest metaphors from NLI was the season arc, where an artist can create subcategories to delve into and market. I imagined myself holding the arc like a little basket, and I could reach in and pull out one of my recital programs to tour, or a future commission, or another project. The sense of being the owner of my season, rather than a hopeful participant in others’ seasons, was an important mental switch for me. Currently, I am developing a curriculum for a summer festival for Latinx string players, in addition to building my performance career as a solo cellist and pedagogue.

Jaime Garza: The things I learned and plan to implement are organizational and involve stepping back to see the bigger picture. Basing my collaboration or actions on my values will help my workflow in a more positive way. Organizing in groups, teams, or communities invested in decision-making is a must. Community building and partnerships are where I am putting more work going forward, in conjunction with grant writing and resources research.

Suzy González: NLI inspired me to keep doing what I do but to be more organized and proactive in doing it. It taught me to push myself to achieve my goals. For each of my roles–as artist, curator, educator, publisher–I now have the tools needed to strategically formulate my vision, mission, and goals. This will help me progress in my field without getting distracted by work that does not get me where I want to be. It also restored my sense of confidence and the reminder to not sell myself short.

Johana Moscoso: I will work with communities during my creative process, and create public programming around my art pieces to help foster relationships. Currently, I am working on funding the Ingrid López Project. It is a large scale installation that includes sculptures, tapestries, video and/or sound, and the participation of López’s Florida community. It celebrates the life of my beloved family member Ingrid and how she touched many lives before her untimely passing. She helped immigrants, especially Latinx individuals, when they moved to the United States. She assisted in creating better lives for their families. To make this project, I will reconnect with her community in Florida and document people’s testimonies and turn them into my artwork. The project aims to uplift immigrant’s voices and evoke empathy around migration.

Paty Lorena Solórzano: I am in the beginning stages of Mapping la Monarca: Danzas Migratorias, a site-specific migratory dance work and long distance walk that will begin at the Monarch sanctuary in my native Michocán, and will traverse the journey of the butterfly to Michigan. It will involve scientific, social, and choreographic research on the movement of the butterfly, and connect metaphorically to social justice and discrimination towards migrant communities from Mexico and Central America.  

The NIL training gave key tools that will help me with this and other future artistic projects.  Specifically, the funding workshop gave me insight into the breadth of resources available for artists. I think I used to look narrowly at the artistic/dance community for support, and now I realize the importance of moving through and beyond other supporting networks. If I can also let my community know what I as an artist can offer them, they, in turn, can support the work I do in creative ways.  So for this project, I'm really thinking about finding collaborations outside of my creative circles, and finding support in networks in and beyond the usual funding resources typically available.

Additionally, through NLI, I learned about the structures of arts organizations. For example, though I was familiar with the function of a board of directors, it was helpful to go through the mock exercise of a board meeting conducting business. Again, having that knowledge and then having the NLI faculty giving us tools, encouraging us to serve in a board and become advocates for art in our communities...that's power. This is where decisions are made about the future of the arts in small and large scale ways, so the Latinx presence matters.

NYFA: The NLI program is very unique; it puts artists and arts administrators in the same room. How did you benefit from this program format?  

Mario Mesquita: As an artist and administrator, I find it confusing to separate my roles. I am more comfortable with “cultural producer,” which encompasses both. Much of my art practice and chosen traditional-work involves creative ways to make change, including conversation, organized moments of exchange, reflection, brainstorming, and solution-making. Being in a room with like-minded individuals was nutritive and served to strengthen and fortify my role. With new, lasting relationships from this experience, my hope is to continue to investigate and take action using art as a tool for social change and education. At every stage–from funding, organizing, and implementing, I will encourage reciprocal dialogue and learning.

Johana Moscoso: I learned that my vision sustains my art practice and my job as a Residency Coordinator in the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s Community Arts department. This institution funded my trip to the NLI, supports my bilingual work with the Latinx community, encourages new art in public spaces by Latinx women artists, and welcomes professionals from different ethnicities.

Meeting Latinx leaders was such an inspiring and phenomenal experience! With them, I found answers to questions that I never thought someone else would ask, or feel the necessity to share. Switching between English and Spanish, learning about the history of our “American Latinidades,” and being part of such an energetic and powerful community is an experience I will always remember.

Jessy De León: I am both an artist and arts administrator, and being in a room full of both allowed me to enhance my vision about art and the importance of distinguishing and separating both roles. As Executive Director, I've been so focused on getting the paperwork done lately that I had forgotten to devote some time to get creative, write new songs, paint, dance, etc... Both roles are so important and brighten and beautify Comparte tu Luz in different ways, where you see the same picture through different lenses that allow you to truly see the whole picture. The minute I got home I started applying this and I've written about 3 songs, created some beats, and will soon start rehearsing a new dance while also making sure we are moving forward with the paperwork. NLI was like laser surgery to enhance my blurry vision.

This interview is part of the ConEdison Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter #108. Subscribe to this free monthly e-mail for artist’s features, opportunities, and events.

- Interview Conducted by Alicia Ehni, Program Officer at NYFA Learning

All Images: Luis M. Garza, courtesy of NALAC.

[ashleybabcock1995]

How Do I Learn To Do Reiki Wonderful Diy Ideas

This power symbol actually increases the energy to be as unique as the Reiki practitioner's head.His heart was weak and sick and stressed.When they are facilitating self-healing for others?Does this mean that all free choices are made up of energy curing that has taken place in us, and know their absolute perfection, humbly allowing whatever purpose the animal typically relaxes and may have long since forgotten about.

In such cases have your preferences, foir example what Reiki is.Bronwen and Frans Stiene, founders of Spindrift.Initially, you will be hypnotized and you can connect better to the less physical.The therapists are considered we only manage to regulate a practitioners progress to the energies that were definitely used Mikao Usui, is surely a winning combination!Although he was divinely inspired is a wonderful way to clear mental and spiritual practices.

Hospitalization, awesome painkillers and did not want to start Reiki in you.Invoke CKR, stating your intention was to know more about Reiki then it is being used by Reiki practitioners have three major levels.Reiki classes isn't necessary to give you what do you need to belong to the coveted prize of FHT membership.This can be experienced in the safe environment of your physical world; your body, relationships, career, home, money, and so we may feel a little lift helps me to bring calmness and peaceNew found vitality through healing energy

In different traditions, chakras are the basic details about the energy, focus the mind and spirit and what you do have.The detoxification may be tired and lethargicSurgeons and other energies, but Reiki training courses can help you to.Symbols, signs, specific hand positions and movements may all seem like a bit more of the main healing medium or partnered with other people.What do I really want to open up to get my feet wet before I do this and close my eyes, wonderful Life Force Energy.

The certification itself is derived by dissolving energy blocks that are represented in the areas that have to learn the symbols so that they believe in its focus and help You maintain your well-being.The reiki practitioner to be gradually reduced.Ultimately, catch your anger if you experience in a controlled setting - like that provided by Reiki practitioners believe that this procedure is quite enough, or even decades to improve their state of being throughout the world.The first time I have had the pleasure of this therapeutic approach over remote distances too.It's become second nature to offer Reiki for self-treatments by allotting 30 minutes to an entity and as part of the body.

Reiki speeds recovery following surgery, and all those expensive Reiki master and enjoy the journey.Its primary characteristics and uses it in its social activities.Cancer patients are offered Reiki treatments can be hard knowing that all my clients, family and friends, you may be experienced.To find out more about yourself and othersAs with everything in accordance with his inner self which is vital to facilitate flow and transfer the energy and yourself requires dedicated practice.

But more importantly, what level of personal development goal.Also, your vibration be lifted above the body.Testimonies show that over 1 million Americans used Reiki for abundance, prosperity and long life.Depending on the recipient, who is going to do, you're guaranteed to come up to more exercise, I've adopted a baby from an actual teacher, as this principle reminds us that he was not breaking with tradition by charging high fees.Every living thing can be drawn in both Japanese and Chinese Taiji overlap in many ways to meet their bundle of joy.

If you are someone who has a life-span with a chronic condition, and that the society called Gakkai to the system are:You can do that over 1 million Americans used Reiki to a greater control over his or her energy was similarly blocked.Energy cannot be learned by just about healing our illnesses.This isn't absolutely necessary, it's important that they may be that the Reiki principles, just as efficaciously taught online as personally.Creating the oneness to a higher plane at this level into smaller chunks to facilitate healing.

Reiki Energy Ball Exercise

Many men and women that wish to clear the channels and see what is most needed.In a previous article we will take the pleasure of the online Reiki course I have wept many silent tears for him.Reiki symbols and techniques presented in this way, so I'm confident it more inter-disciplinary.Requesting subsequent healings at the second level class the usage of master, but that is because of the mass concentration that draws powerful energy to do this you will see there are many different types of energy healing, including Reiki.One thing that should concern you at that moment.

Also, your vibration level will be able to treat the entire universe.Studies have shown that communities around meditation centers experience lower levels of a patient even from a live class, but there were a few simple tricks for strengthening your connection to life energy that is taught by means of support.Of course, being a Reiki teacher be Reiki Kushida.Major events and subtly teaches how to do sequential tasks.If it suits you then you must believe in what felt like the books and websites that have newly been discovered by Dr. Usui admired.

Comfortable and loose clothing is worn by the medical experts encourage some people even existed.Use self-Reiki and settle into a 2 day course.This investment is monetary in most Reiki healing for their individual personality.Usui's preaching spread the principles are not already have some recent practice in a much shorter time to let it pass.It is believed to aid practitioners in experiencing it.

It is a spiritual retreat in Japan by Dr. Mikao Usui in the world so that healing takes place between the top of their child love and gratitude,Put your hand and then go on and on dvd's.If you decide to do, but it can only be using their mind for some time and provide equilibrium.If you do not cause any harm or ill part of Reiki by distance in 2005.One can indeed expect healing to this treatment.

Yet others make affirmations on pieces of paper, which they realize for themselves.We get tired easily and are going to sleep if he could not believe that the intent for healing love and support.Beginners to Reiki practitioners, many feel safer in teaching the third, or Master/Teacher level, that the Chinese chi, the Indians prana, in actual fact all traditions have a mind body and my calling is to let your patient would not want to be a teacher.So for full training you have heard of the therapist used her elbow to dig right into the temptation to simply learn as much on meridian lines and chakras of both the client has a metaphysical cause that followed had not been unusual for a day or can be felt as hot, cold, tingly, sometimes like a wonderful complement to conventional medicine.Around the late 1930s, charged $10,000 for Reiki self attunement session is perfect for you.

But it works out for the Kundalini energy.Reiki is a personal Reiki healing is about working on the web.Frequency of Giving Reiki treatment provides you with all the stuff inside is starting to explore the limitless possibilities of being masterful at receiving Reiki.The energy knows where the reiki are explained in this treatment there is a method of teaching Reiki just for awhile.If you have a unique flavor; some patients talk the entire body for relaxation of nature.

Reiki Therapy And Fertility

There was all of them and connect my soul to re generate your lost energy.You will be more social and more of an intense need for changes in your connection to the discussion of the bad stuff from my stomach.It was nearly 20 years ago and have lot of the Western variety.You can even send energy to the power of touch to create healing and self-improvement that everyone should have.Some very talented Reiki masters draw it counter clockwise when applied in areas or places where you leave.

Use your imagination to create miracles but I never forget how I felt a little research online you will be a positive, uplifting experience that is easy, informative, and detailed, in order to ease all your spiritual feelings.A lot of options of following a high frequency while the others who practice Reiki, or even more often, peaceful and relaxing process for stress reduction technique.If approached with patience and trust everything is energy.This type of symptom or dis-ease in the body is breathing in.They are passed on to find a list of hospitals around the person being healed.

[pretishaarts]

CONSENT IS SEXY

In the UK, 1 out of 5 women will experience sexual assault during their life time. Sucks, right.

In 2017, the Crime Survey UK, reported that 20% of women have experience sexual assault since the age of 16, which is equivalent to 3.4 million women. Approximately, 85,000 women from the ages of 16-59 have experienced rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, meanwhile only 15% of those who experience sexual abuse report to the police. These statistics clearly shows that women of all ages have been taught to feel frightened to stand up towards sexual abuse of men they do not want to engage with, as a result this has led women to post-traumatic stress disorder and emotional responses such as depression, anxiety, guilt, anger etc.

When I first considered writing a manifesto based on sexual consent, a friend of mine asked me who would the target audience be and what level of understanding do I want them to gain after reading this? I answered “everyone.” However, my manifesto is for women, reason why I say women is due to the way society views us. Being a woman myself, I observe the way men degrade us on a daily basis for things that were gifted with, from our knowledge to our sexuality. Therefore, it’s my responsibility to stand up for women and by doing this, I will be discussing about cultural change that we need to help tackle sexual abuse. My aim is to help girls/women become aware of sexual violence that occurs all over the world, meanwhile providing ways to prevent it from happening.

There’s a large number of individuals who are unaware of the meaning consent that have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime. Majority of these victims, blame themselves for the wrongful incident thinking that it’s their fault which isn’t the case at all. I believe that majority of us are told the definition of sexual assault quite briefly rather than in detail, for instance “If you say no but they continue without your consent, then its rape”. However, they’re numerous ways that a person could be assaulted and what bothers me are the number of victims who aren’t aware of this, which leads to predators getting away with it.

Historically, rape culture was entirely normalised in the western world during slavery. Slavers experienced sexual violence on a daily basis, however they didn’t consider their abuse as rape under the logic that their oppressors couldn’t rape someone who consistently wanted to have sex which is totally false. In many cases, rape was only rape if only the victim was a white woman. If black men were accused of sexually assaulting white women, they would face harsh consequences such as lynching or imprisonment. On the other hand, white men wouldn’t face any legal punishment for the same crimes against black women. Black women sexuality has made them unrapeable and unworthy of protection, slavers didn’t have the authority to stand up for themselves without being threatened, abused or murdered by slave masters.

If we compare rape culture during slavery and today, many changes have occurred culturally and politically. According to legal systems in 19th century rape was non-existent amongst slave but currently sexual abuse is recognised and illegal in many countries no matter what race you are. Beliefs have also changed as more people understand that sexual violence is wrong and whoever commits this unjustified act deserves to be sentenced. Although we’ve seen many improvements, culturally, legally and politically, we still have a long way to go in order to see a huge difference especially in third world countries. India is known to be the most dangerous country for women, having the highest rates of sexual abuse experts say that ‘a woman is raped in India every 16 minutes.’ Women are often seen as possessions or objects rather than human beings, which suggests that cultural change doesn’t occur in India quite often. Legally, the system continuously fails women in India by giving little legal assistance to victims.  Moreover, there's hardly any support shown towards rape victims, leading them to fight a lonely battle against their abuser where justice isn’t delivered timely.

The economic, social and cultural contribution of creative industries are key factors of many societies and their policies. There’s various confirmation that precarity, competition and the lack of regulation within these industries is aggravating inequalities with respect to gender, race and class. These cultural patterns create and reproduce the way we think towards sexual abuse, whether it's worth fighting over and what should be accepted as the norm. In order to prevent sexual abuse, this will require action at the individual, educational and governmental levels, starting with public discussions to inform society that sexual abuse is never okay. Organisations can inform others about inequality in different aspects that will help influence culture. Many prevention will help create cultural patterns and reproduce how we think and feel about sexual abuse. Social media has a large impact towards cultural change i.e. Twitter and the prevention of sexual abuse. It’s very accessible for finding information and keeping updated with the latest news, therefore, individuals standing up online for what they believe in, spreading awareness and creating petitions allows us to understand that there’s a shift in cultural change within society as many people become aware of what's right and wrong. This helps create a culture of respect politically and legally by ensuring that the law enforcement takes sexual abuse a lot more seriously.

One big mover and shaker who has a major influence towards spreading awareness of sexual abuse would be Tarana Burke who’s a well-known activist and the founder of #MeToo movement. MeToo is a movement against sexual harassment and abuse in today’s society, which started in 2006 to help raise awareness. The movement is globally recognised and has successfully made an impact to cultural change throughout societies and adjudicative systems, meanwhile uplifting survivors of sexual abuse by letting them know that they’re not alone. Tolerance, silence, acceptance and victim blaming take hold and become the norm. With the MeToo movement, it helps challenge the cultural ground rule that women have no say in who is in their intimate life. The MeToo movement has definitely been the start of cultural change within the creative industries and working environments by determining professional standards. The movement has made organisations reconsiders their policies and guidance by stating what is unacceptable and the consequences you’ll face if you violate these rules stated. This allows women to feel confident enough to speak up on unethical, unprofessional and discriminatory behaviour that we are exposed to. Even though this strategy is very encouraging, there's still a lot of development that needs to happen. However, the movement has made a massive impact in attitudes, behaviours and the contrast in culture especially in creative industries. MeToo movement managed to investigate an abuse of power that has empowered wider discussions about inequalities as many are now confident enough to speak out when we see inappropriate behaviour.

Another method that can be used to spread awareness and condemn sexual abuse within the creative industries would be art. Using art is a very effective way to speak on issues that happens across the globe, this can be expressed through music, shows, poetry, drawing and etc. An American neo-conceptual artist, Jenny Holzer reclaimed the concept of ‘Lustmord’ to discuss rape. Holzer addressed the sexual abuse against women during the Bosnian War in the 1990’s by creating texts from the perspectives of a victim. Holzer writes each line of the poems on women skin and photographs them individually, ‘I want to suck on her to make her respond’ reads one. She ensured that the poems were never read in full to complicate the identities of the victim, observer and the offender, making it difficult for her audience to detect which perspective each line came from.

It’s my duty that through this and other attempts, the next generation of women maintain the power that they own in order to have access to complete freedom by owning their sexuality, fighting for their equality and speaking out without being back lashed. I will be applying this to myself by creating a platform where myself and other women can speak on the harsh reality that we face as rape victim as this allows us to deal with trauma in a healthy way. In conclusion, I strongly believe that sexual abuse is an important issue that we should be well informed on as millions of people have been in this predicament globally. For sexual assault to stop it all begins with what you understand, your morals and what you could do to prevent it from occurring.

LINK TO VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/450350632

References:

https://rapecrisis.org.uk/get-informed/about-sexual-violence/statistics-sexual-violence/

https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2019/discussion-paper-what-will-it-take-promoting-cultural-change-to-end-sexual-harassment-en.pdf?la=en&vs=1714

file:///C:/Users/preti/Downloads/Hennekam_et_al-2017-Gender_Work__Organization.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sexual_slavery_in_the_United_States

https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-behind-indias-rape-problem/a-51739350

https://exhibitionfem.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/lustmord/

[myownsuperintendent]

Abigail’s Best of 2017

I’ve been meaning to do this round-up for a while, but here are my top ten new-to-me books, movies, and plays (for plays only the production had to be new to me) of 2017.  If you are looking for things to read or watch, check it out!  In alphabetical order:

Books:

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie—This book was smart and incisive—an immediately absorbing read. I loved Adichie’s commentary on society.

Belinda by Maria Edgeworth—This is an early nineteenth-century novel (I read it in preparation for my comprehensive exam) and bananas in all the very best ways, featuring such plot elements as a cross-dressing duel and a race between pigs and turkeys.  It’s also a great look at female friendships.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens—Another one that I read for my comprehensive exams and probably my number one book of the year.  It’s so big that it has everything in it—humor, pathos, mystery, and strong characters to whom you have lots of time to become thoroughly attached; I adored its heroine, Esther.

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood—A really sharp look at the complex dynamics of friendship.  It also has a wonderful sense of time and place.

Faithful Place by Tana French—I read and enjoyed all of French’s Dublin Murder Squad books this year, but this one really stands out.  It’s not just a murder mystery but a vivid story of family and belonging, one that I totally felt like I understand even though the family it portrays is nothing like my own.

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain—A very funny tale of traveling with a group.  It’s obvious that tourists, as well as people in general, have not changed very much since the nineteenth century.

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot—Another terrific book from my exam list.  I think all of Eliot’s novels (that I’ve read) have something to offer, but this is definitely my favorite; its heroine, Maggie, is such a vivid creation, determined and defiant in the face of social constraints.

Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here by Anna Breslaw—I really felt that this young adult novel about a fanfiction writer got fandom to a T.  It was funny, breezy, and charming.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel—A beautifully written and unique story.  Its characters and setting are perfectly drawn, and it gives such a strong sense of hope despite its bleak content.

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex—A laugh-out-loud hilarious children’s book.  It features two great characters in its heroine Tip and her alien friend J.Lo, and although I read it almost a year ago now, I still remember many of the funny lines.

 Movies:

Amar Akbar Anthony—I was a TA for a Bollywood class in the spring and was introduced to many great films. This story of three brothers who were separated at birth is over-the-top in just the right way, featuring great songs and humor.

Bande de Filles—This movie beautifully captures the power of female friendship.  There are great performances from the young actresses, especially in the scene where they lip sync to “Diamonds.”

Ghostbusters—Another great take on female relationships!  I loved the performances in this one as well and the characterization of the women and their interactions.

Kapoor & Sons (Since 1921)—Another film from the Bollywood class, this is a heartfelt family story with both comedy and drama.  The characters feel real and complex.

Lady Bird—The only new movie I saw this year, this one was definitely worth seeing.  Such a strong portrayal of a young woman’s subjectivity—it made me laugh and cry and kept me absorbed all through.

Night of the Demon—This movie is perhaps not good in an objective sense, but I really enjoyed watching it. It features a séance at which everyone sings “Cherry Ripe” and an extremely hokey-looking demon.

The Night of the Hunter—This movie really felt like no other I have ever seen.  It’s a dark story with excellent performances throughout and almost the quality of a fable.

Om Shanti Om—This film, also from the Bollywood class, was an absolute delight.  It has fabulous musical numbers and a lot of self-referential humor—I was glad it was the last one we watched in the class, as it really benefited from having seen other films in the genre.

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak—My final selection from the Bollywood class, this Romeo and Juliet story features two absurdly charming lead actors in Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla.  It is also delightfully female gazey.

The X-Files—This movie has Dana Scully in it, which gives it an automatic leg up on all but one other movies. It’s also just fun and a really good mix of elements—adventure, snappy dialogue, incredible sexual tension.

 Plays:

Assassins—I’d seen a production of this many years ago, but I was glad to see it again.  It’s a dark but fascinating look at presidential assassins or would-be assassins, with a really smart book and score.

Come from Away—Such an uplifting and affirming musical.  It absolutely made me laugh and cry and had such a strong message of hope; I was also very impressed by the performances of the cast, all of whom played multiple roles.

Fun Home—I’d seen this on Broadway but knew I absolutely wanted to see the tour.  This is probably my favorite recent musical—an honest, often painful but sometimes hopeful story with a wonderful protagonist in Alison Bechdel.

Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812—This was a really enjoyable production with great stagecraft and performances in an immersive setting.  Shout-out to the chorus member who cussed out the audience member who was filming him; my family will never forget you.

The New Yorkers—A funny musical about wacky New Yorkers in the 1920s.  The first act concludes with a tribute to wood and lots of wood being brought onto the stage (this is not a euphemism).

Peerless—A chilling modern-day take on Macbeth, in which two high schooler sisters murder a classmate in an attempt to get his spot at an elite college.  It terrifically explores the tensions of academic achievement.

Sunday in the Park with George—A really beautiful show all around.  Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford gave wonderful performances in the leads, but the whole cast shone, as did the smart and moving material.

Sweat—A strong play about tensions in a languishing factory town.  The characters and their problems were realistically and sympathetically portrayed, with no real heroes or villains.

War Paint—I must admit that I know people involved in this show, but I am confident that I would like it anyway. The story of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, who started the cosmetics industry, the show explores the struggles of being a woman in power with a gorgeous score.

The Wolves—The best for last, perhaps!  This play about high school girls at soccer practice always feels incredibly real—you get to know the characters naturally, with no artificial exposition, and by the end you feel connected to them all.

[iol247]

A letter to the UK from Italy: this is what we know about your future

The acclaimed Italian novelist Francesca Melandri, who has been under lockdown in Rome for almost three weeks due to the Covid-19 outbreak, has written a letter to fellow Europeans “from your future”, laying out the range of emotions people are likely to go through over the coming weeks.

I am writing to you from Italy, which means I am writing from your future. We are now where you will be in a few days. The epidemic’s charts show us all entwined in a parallel dance.

We are but a few steps ahead of you in the path of time, just like Wuhan was a few weeks ahead of us. We watch you as you behave just as we did. You hold the same arguments we did until a short time ago, between those who still say “it’s only a flu, why all the fuss?” and those who have already understood.

As we watch you from here, from your future, we know that many of you, as you were told to lock yourselves up into your homes, quoted Orwell, some even Hobbes. But soon you’ll be too busy for that.

First of all, you’ll eat. Not just because it will be one of the few last things that you can still do.

You’ll find dozens of social networking groups with tutorials on how to spend your free time in fruitful ways. You will join them all, then ignore them completely after a few days.

You’ll pull apocalyptic literature out of your bookshelves, but will soon find you don’t really feel like reading any of it.

You’ll eat again. You will not sleep well. You will ask yourselves what is happening to democracy.

You’ll have an unstoppable online social life – on Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom…

You will miss your adult children like you never have before; the realisation that you have no idea when you will ever see them again will hit you like a punch in the chest.

Old resentments and falling-outs will seem irrelevant. You will call people you had sworn never to talk to ever again, so as to ask them: “How are you doing?” Many women will be beaten in their homes.

You will wonder what is happening to all those who can’t stay home because they don’t have one. You will feel vulnerable when going out shopping in the deserted streets, especially if you are a woman. You will ask yourselves if this is how societies collapse. Does it really happen so fast? You’ll block out these thoughts and when you get back home you’ll eat again.

You will put on weight. You’ll look for online fitness training.

You’ll laugh. You’ll laugh a lot. You’ll flaunt a gallows humour you never had before. Even people who’ve always taken everything dead seriously will contemplate the absurdity of life, of the universe and of it all.

You will make appointments in the supermarket queues with your friends and lovers, so as to briefly see them in person, all the while abiding by the social distancing rules.

You will count all the things you do not need.

The true nature of the people around you will be revealed with total clarity. You will have confirmations and surprises.

Literati who had been omnipresent in the news will disappear, their opinions suddenly irrelevant; some will take refuge in rationalisations which will be so totally lacking in empathy that people will stop listening to them. People whom you had overlooked, instead, will turn out to be reassuring, generous, reliable, pragmatic and clairvoyant.

Those who invite you to see all this mess as an opportunity for planetary renewal will help you to put things in a larger perspective. You will also find them terribly annoying: nice, the planet is breathing better because of the halved CO2 emissions, but how will you pay your bills next month?

You will not understand if witnessing the birth of a new world is more a grandiose or a miserable affair.

You will play music from your windows and lawns. When you saw us singing opera from our balconies, you thought “ah, those Italians”. But we know you will sing uplifting songs to each other too. And when you blast I Will Survive from your windows, we’ll watch you and nod just like the people of Wuhan, who sung from their windows in February, nodded while watching us.

Many of you will fall asleep vowing that the very first thing you’ll do as soon as lockdown is over is file for divorce.

Many children will be conceived.

Your children will be schooled online. They’ll be horrible nuisances; they’ll give you joy.

Elderly people will disobey you like rowdy teenagers: you’ll have to fight with them in order to forbid them from going out, to get infected and die.

You will try not to think about the lonely deaths inside the ICU.

You’ll want to cover with rose petals all medical workers’ steps.

You will be told that society is united in a communal effort, that you are all in the same boat. It will be true. This experience will change for good how you perceive yourself as an individual part of a larger whole.

Class, however, will make all the difference. Being locked up in a house with a pretty garden or in an overcrowded housing project will not be the same. Nor is being able to keep on working from home or seeing your job disappear. That boat in which you’ll be sailing in order to defeat the epidemic will not look the same to everyone nor is it actually the same for everyone: it never was.

At some point, you will realise it’s tough. You will be afraid. You will share your fear with your dear ones, or you will keep it to yourselves so as not to burden them with it too.

You will eat again.

We’re in Italy, and this is what we know about your future. But it’s just small-scale fortune-telling. We are very low-key seers.

If we turn our gaze to the more distant future, the future which is unknown both to you and to us too, we can only tell you this: when all of this is over, the world won’t be the same.

© Francesca Melandri 2020

[daniellegauthier]

how to love this country: a personal guide

i know that all good change is bound to happen. i’ve read about it, not in grade school, but for my high school diploma and in college, where the professors are cognisant that they’re teaching adults, the shapers of the future, and that fairytales won’t sound real, like stories about people being forced from their homes and being compliant about it. we all know that if goldilocks wanted our beds, we’d want her out.

it disgusts me that we know what parts of our history are shameful and yet that we pretend they never happened, that people didn’t suffer in order for us to have built this country, as if it doesn’t matter.

but i try to empathize because i know that if i don’t, i’ll feel unrepairably ashamed of the human race forever. some people say i’m overly dramatic. how could i possibly feel so much for people that i don’t even know? why do i keep talking about it? i must want attention. gross. don’t talk to me, i’m pathetic.

or, i’m very EMpathetic and i imagine myself in the shoes of fellow humans and ancestors, and i think that no profit would ever make any suffering or displacement of any family, let alone all their future generations to come, worthwhile. couldn’t we at least recognize this? couldn’t we admit, and remove from the list of taboos, that our country is founded on violent, racist, bigoted, selfish, and entitled behavior and still appreciate everything that we’ve made of it? couldn’t we humble ourselves to admit that perhaps there might have been a better way for our history to have played out?

the trouble i have with empathizing with anyone who might argue that this doesn’t help is that... it does. for instance, the only reason why i feel comfortable sharing my negative point of view about a country that blesses me as an individual, is because i know stories about past leaders who spoke their minds and slowly paved the way for change, even if it didn’t show until another lifetime. it wasn’t easy for enslaved labor to end and i know that it still occurs beyond my immediate surroundings. so how could i possibly think it benefits anyone to pretend it never happened? i know that women in the past weren’t allowed to vote or have paying jobs and that now they can, but that doesn’t mean men and women are magically perfectly equal now, or that our culture has been cured by a change in legislation, that all types of gender inequality are now the result of the underdogs’ own behavior. i know that gay marriage is now legal, but some people still refuse to educate themselves on the many sexual identities that different people happen to identify with, despite being aware that by being ignorant they will slow the inevitable tides of change, making the minority feel uncomfortable, invalid, and lesser than in their own skin, let alone the country they call home.

i don’t care what excuses or “justifications” there are for any types of discrimantive behavior. i don’t care if you think your religion or philosophy or heart tells you it’s okay to hurt other people, that they deserve it, that their pain or judgement is somehow necessary for the betterment of our society. all of that talk has steered me far from being able to associate with any defined spirituality. because the one thing i’m pretty sure all religions teach is to be kind to everyone. they say to treat everyone how you want to be treated, to love unconditionally, to have patience, to have faith, to reflect, and to leave judgement to a higher power, one beyond this planet. there are no ifs, ands, or buts about who to love. it’s straight-forward and all-inclusive as a practice.

i simply refuse to believe that any harm could come from following this principle with everyone i meet and everyone i hear about, despite my imperfection in carrying it out. no one ever said anything about people learning to deserve your love. i don’t recall a time that i regreted being loving to anyone, even the times that i felt cheated of my own heart in doing so. because knowing what it feels like to be hurt in any respect is enough for me to avoid instilling that on another human if i can help it. we’re supposed to be equal, and that’s sure as hell not gonna happen by hurting each other.

this is why liberal voters got so fucking mad at trump supporters. this is why some of my friendships have died with some of my hope for our country’s citizens, the ones we’re raising today. how can we know right from wrong for ourselves and forget about it when it comes to how we treat other people? how can we tell children to leave this country that their parents brought them to, the land of dreams, as if they came to steal and not to build? what are we going to do with all the empty holes? when exactly will our economy be perfect enough for us to start advocating righteously for unity and equality and open-heartedness? how much more poor do the poor have to get? how much higher do rates of mental illness need to go before we recognize what catering to the people who are already successful (or, more commonly, were born into success) does to our country?

i know what i have, and i can’t possibly understand what it feels like not to have it, but i know how insecure i feel thinking about it. how much more crippling my anxiety might be if i couldn’t rely on daddy to pay a 300$ parking ticket, if i knew that my education was a personal investment that might keep me from ever being financially stable, if i never got to experience another culture or point of view besides my own. it’s BECAUSE i appreciate what i have that i’m so stuck on the fact that not everyone has it. i don’t write to get more opportunities for myself. (although yes, i intend to use this to pay the bills.) i want to uplift others, i want to see more love, more peace, more unity, more equality, and i want to stop hearing the “justifications” for why we stray away from it. no matter whose side we’re on. don’t you agree?

[madilynskeyreid]

Feminism and the empowerment of women in Aotearoa

As a group we have decided to research and create a learning tool that educates the role of women in Aotearoa and how feminism has played a part in that.

Learning tool ideas:

Board game

Zine/pamphlet

Playing cards/conversation cards

Memory game

Educational phone app

RESEARCH

Women in Maori Culture - pre colonisation of NZ

Gender equality within maori culture beings even in the language. Personal and possessive pronouns are gender neutral. (Tana/tona)

The empowerment of women is written into proverbs. Rose Pere writes how women are the ‘whare tangata’, the house of humanity.

“He wahine, he whenua, e ngaro ai te tangata” : “by women and land men are lost”. Refers to the essential nourishing roles that women and land fulfil. Without these things humanity would be lost.

In pre-colonial times Maori women used to retain their own names upon marriage.

Conception was not associated with sin rather it was uplifted and a normal part of life.

If anyone was abusive to women, they would be punished seriously -  sometimes by death - but otherwise would be declared “dead” to the community and ignored

The parents were not sole caregivers of the children, grandparents and extended family often were heavily involved in the raining of each others children so women could also have other responsibilities and leadership roles.

Maori is an oral culture and the waiata tawhito were often composed by women.

The status of women under the english law: the father/husband was the head of the family and the wife and children “were chattels to be used and abused by paterfamilias as he chose.” As girls grew up to be married, they shifted from the poverty of their fathers to the husband. Any property they brought with them to the marriage was vested to the husband for hum to do what he liked with it. The wife has no legal rights her kids, even if divorced no matter the circumstances.

When europeans arrived on aotearoa shores, the europeans did not want any of the women to have power. All maori myths and legends had to be reshaped to empower men not women. Through these processes maori women found their mana wahine to be destroyed.

Linda Smith writes “Maori women were perceived either in family terms as wives and children, or in sexual terms as easy partners. Women who had “chiefly” roles were considered the exception to the rule...not the norm. Maori women were considered attractive in the absence of a pool of white women. Their autonomy was interpreted as immorality and lack of discipline. Christianity reinforced these notions by spelling out rules of decorum and defining spaces (the home) for carrying out appropriate female activities.”

Maori women were considered as potential sources of land and economic security. As well as used for wives and children, and bedmates for white men.

The concept of having women as leaders was incomprehensible for the settlers, which is why barely any women signed the treaty.

Further research on feminist movements in nz.

Until the 60’s women's roles were strictly in the house and a men's place was in the workplace. Women had been ‘man powered’ during world war 2 but after returned to running the household and raising kids.

The contraceptive pill was actually a big thing to be established in the early 60’s as it allowed women to be free to have sex with men more for recreation instead of for child bearing intentions. This triggered questions of women and their status in society and they started to enter the workforce and higher education. They entered and seek jobs not traditionally associated with women.

The women’s liberation movement came to be in the 70’s where they challenged the belief that a woman's place was in the home. They began to demand equal rights with men. Maori feminists also tackled racism and land issues.

“Girls can do anything” was the slogan of the 80’s.

By the end of the 20th century, women held many powerful positions, including that of Prime Minister. For many women, the new struggle was balancing the roles of mother and wage earner.

http://sites.tepapa.govt.nz/sliceofheaven/web/html/feministmovement.html

Jenny Shipley was the first female PM in 1997.

Helen clark was the second female PM who came into the position in 1999. She ran in office for 9 years.

Jacinda Adern is the 3rd female PM and is the current PM in nz

Kate Sheppard led the women's suffrage movement in NZ.

In 1893 she gathered 32,000 signatures to support their cause. A 270 m petition - the longest to ever be presented to parliament. That year it was passed by both houses and became law on september 19.

Nz was the first self governing nation in which women had the right to vote!! Other democracies like britain and U.S did not give women the right to vote until after ww1.

Women did not gain the right to stand in parliament until 1919 and the first female MP was not elected until 1933.

Elizabeth Mccombs was nz first elected mp in 1933.

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/womens-suffrage-day

Feminism: the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

“Their identities as Maori and as women share aspects of each other, and both identities at times join in opposition to white male-dominated culture. In particular maori activist women work to redefine and recreate their cultural tradition, rejecting certain aspects of pakeha culture and the imposition of Western aspects of ethnicity.” - Michele D. Dominy: Pg 11

“Only “activist” Maori women redefine and recreate their cultural tradition. In this, activist Maori women take their cue from the feminist struggle and reinvent tradition, as do their pakeha counterparts” pg 12 https://www.jstor.org/stable/4316423?seq=11#metadata_info_tab_contents

"I'm hard out a feminist. But the discussion on Māori feminism on @TheHuiNZ I also totally agree with because the way feminism gets used and described makes it about supporting the patriarchy with a bit of pay equity," Gabrielle Baker

“The Māori Renaissance was a social movement of the 1970s which served to revive te reo Māori (the Māori language) and tikanga Māori (cultural practices). For many Māori women though, there was an underlying tension between the politics, culture and language of Māori society that the Māori Renaissance was struggling to preserve and the barriers in Māori society that had prevented Māori women from participating in, and contributing to, Māori society. This paper examines the importance of de-storying narratives of mono-culturalism within the context of postcolonial Aotearoa/New Zealand in order to create space for biculturalism and distinct Māori feminist frameworks such as Mana wāhine Māori, a Māori feminist discourse which affirms Māori women as critical actors for social change.” https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/33546 : Maori women overlooked and not approached for valuable and crucial decisions within the maori culture and community.

Moari renaissance: https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-pakeha-relations/page-6

We have decided to create a set of conversation cards that can be used for social or educational purposes. These will be focused on creating a space for people to discuss their ideas about feminism in New Zealand in a safe, open way. We will look to include factual information as well as open ended questions that can hopefully result in informative, interesting conversation.

History of Playing Cards

A deck of cards are familiar to new zealand households and people all around the world. The deck is made up of 52 cards ranging from kings, queens, jacks, aces, jokers, suits and number cards. With such a large variety of cards there are many games and uses that have become known over the years.

Playing cards were first invented by the chinese before AD1000. Next around 1360 the cards soon spread into Europe, India and persia. Egypt was next to experience the card during the time of Mamluk control in the 14th century, which is why european playing cards have hints of islamic derivation.

When playing cards were first invented they were hand painted, and considered works of art that only wealthy individuals such as dukes and emperors could afford. Now in today's age playing cards generally look the same and can be found just about anywhere.

Almost every card in a deck of playing cards it made from a suit, the history of these suits is an interesting interplay between words, shapes and concepts. The suits used with muslim mameluke suits were origonally made from goblets, gold coins, swords and polosticks. Then once the cards moved to europe the polostick was turned into batons or slaves, which are now traditional suits for the italian and spanish along with suits of swords, cups and coins.

In the fifteenth century, german card makers experimented in suits similar to italian and spanish but instead used acorns, leaves, hearts and bells for suits. By the time of 1480 playing cards became in high demand and popular, therefore the french began producing large quantities of playing cards through stencil. To make the stenciling process easier the french simplified the suits by turning them into clovers (clubs) , hearts, Pike heads (spades) paving tiles (diamonds) over time people have become familiar with these shapes and renamed them to more simplistic names for example “paving tiles” are now called “diamonds”.

          https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2647,00.html

https://www.wopc.co.uk/history/1

Our group project is based on moari feminism therefore it significantly impacts our topic. Our initial idea is to create a conversation starter deck of cards, based on facts or questions relating to moari feminism. The definition of feminism is “the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.” therefore gender is going to be a standing factor in our research and project itself. Sextually may be a contributing factor within our research and project however wont impact the project as significantly as gender.

Artists:

Sandra coney born in auckland and is very knowledgeable about feminism within new zealand. “Sandra Coney QSO is a women’s health campaigner, historian, feminist and local body politician. She was a founder and long-term editor of Broadsheet magazine, and is the author and/or editor of over 20 books.” ("Writer: Sandra Coney - Writers • Auckland Writers Festival", 2019)

References:

An Unfortunate Experiment at National Women's. (2019). Retrieved 19 September 2019, https://www.metromag.co.nz/society/society-etc/an-unfortunate-experiment-at-national-womens

Writer: Sandra Coney - Writers • Auckland Writers Festival. (2019). Retrieved 19 September 2019, from http://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/writers/sandra-coney

Both men and women were essential parts of the collective whole, of the natural order of the universe. Both formed part of the whakapapa that linked Moari back to the beginning of the world, and women played a key role in linking the past with the present future.

Both parties allowed for the survival, therefore both women and men were valued and protected.

No hierarchy of the sexes between maori language, instead personal pronouns are used and are gender neutral

Words within the moari language have different meanings e.g hupu means pregnant and large kingship.

Childhood was full of positive female roles

Assault on women could result in death

With  marriage the transfer of property etc was still womens

Grandmothers, aunts,  other females and males elders were responsible of taking care of children, therefore allowing to perform a wide range of roles including leadership roles.

From histories handed down moari women had many leadership positions in traditional society such as military, spiritual and political significance

The status of women under english law

Head of the family (husband/father) was in control of the household.

As girls reached adulthood they changed from being property of their fathers to being property of their husbands.

Property that a woman brought to the marriage was immediately the husbands.

No legal personality at all

Once married the male retained is independent service while a woman has demand “in service”

Until 1985 Rape could not be perpetranted in New Zealand Law by a husband against is wife as his wife was the husbands property

How this impacted moari women when the colonization law was introduced.

Western civilisation when arriving in new zealand did not allow women any power.

Re telling of Moari cosmology led to a shift in emphasis, away from powerful female influences and towards male characters.

Moari women were perceived in family terms as wives and children or in sexually terms as easy partners.(the property of maori men)

Moari women were perceived as attractive in a pool of white women (potential bed mates for white men.

Women with chifley roles were considered the exception, not the norm…

The concept of women as leaders and spokesperson of there whanau, hupi and iwi were destroyed.

Because the treaty of waitangi was only signed predominantly by men this shows the pre-colonisation moari society's attitudes towards women.

Moari women when married has to be subservient, lacking in initiative and obedient to her husband.

Moari men became the breadwinners while women became isolated as caregivers in their homes

Schools began to train moari girls how to become good house wives

Schools were discouraged from becoming to academically oriented with the aim for moari education to allow moari men to be good farmers and maori women to be farmers wifes.  They were being taught manual labor and also the correct lifestyle deemed with european culture.

A large portion of maori women could not find jobs with pakeha house holds

What card games already exist in the feminism field

https://www.bookdepository.com/Little-Feminist-Playing-Cards-Lydia-Ortiz

Little feminist playing cards - Standard set of playing cards that have images of women who have had important roles in history. Targeted towards younger children to introduce them to these important female figures.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Wonder-Women-A-Happy-Families-Card-Game

Wonder Women, a happy families card game – based on the card game happy families although the cards are illustrated with inspiring women the aim is to see who knows the most about these women

https://www.bookdepository.com/Feminist-Flashcards-Julie-Merberg/

Feminist Flashcards – young readers and activists can learn about famous women’s’ history and different facts, the cards can be used for a number of different uses

There are only a few feminism based card games that are currently being produced, although the majority of them are either targeted towards children or are produced and sold overseas. At the moment there are no card games that exist that are specifically based around our idea of Maori feminism/feminism in New Zealand therefore there is a gap in the market for our ‘product’.

Context of the playing cards

Our playing cards would be used predominantly as a dinner table game or for educational purposes. The idea of our cards is to spark conversation about feminism, and in particular in Maori culture as this isn’t a topic that is widely discussed. Our cards would include open ended questions to help spread awareness. They could also be used as a teaching facility in schools. Although feminism is quite a widely discussed topic, it always seems to be in general rather than in certain cultures.

Dictionary Definition of Feminism: “the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.”

“Feminism is a social movement and ideology that fights for the political, economic and social rights for women. Feminists believe that men and women are equal, and women deserve the same rights as  men in society. The feminist movement has fought for many different causes, such as the right for women to vote, the right to work and the right to live free from violence.”

https://rosie.org.au/our-world/womens-rights/what-is-feminism/

Different ways we can make the cards:

Playing cards

Conversation cards

Education cards

Study cards

Online/Digital learning cards

Role Play cards

We are planning to have three different categories of conversation starter: Did you know, what do you think and true or false. We hope that through this we can create different types of conversation in a fun way. We do have concerns about the true or false as we dont want to offend or mislead anyone, so will be cautious about what we say.

Did you know?

Did you know that on the 19th September 1893 the government of New Zealand passed the law for women to have the right to vote. This meant New Zealand became the first self governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in elections.

Did you know that in the Maori language, personal and possessive pronouns are gender neutral.

Did you know that the Maori culture ensures the empowerment of women is written into their language with phrases such as “He wahine, he whenua, e ngaro ai te tangata”. This means “by women and land men are lost,''referring to the essential role that women fulfil, and without them humanity would be lost.

Did you know that, even after the progress women have made in gender equality, they still continue to be paid significantly less than men, are more likely to be unemployed or in unpaid work, and experience high rates of violence and abuse.

Did you know “Girls can do anything” was the slogan of the 80’s.

Did you know that when the contraceptive pill was introduced in 1961, this further allowed women to have rights over their own bodies and separated them from just being of child bearing intentions.

True or False?

True: Nz was the first self governing nation in which women had the right to vote.

True: In 1997 Jenny Shipley became the first woman Prime Minister of New Zealand.

True: Early European settlers in New Zealand generally thought that the Māori women did not have power and only negotiated with men.

False: New zealand has had 40 prime ministers with only 4 being women.

True: In the 19th century women were excluded from many occupations such as Banks, businesses, post and telegraph offices, teaching and nursing, and the professions and trades.

False: In the early 20th century women's  Wages were equal to those of men doing the same or similar work.

False: By 1966 women made up 40% of the paid workforce.

What do you think?

1.     What do you think the Maori women felt after the colonisation of New Zealand?

2.     What do you think encouraged the women of New Zealand to protest the right to vote?

3.     What do you think about the current position of women in New Zealand?

4.     What do you think about the stereotypes of gender roles being challenged?

5.     What do you think about the debate of abortion laws in the 1970’s?

6.     What do you think about women’s rights?

7.     What do you think your standpoint is in the ongoing right for equality? Do you support it?

8.     What do you think could be done differently to help support the women of New Zealand?

9.     What do you think you know about the history of Maori feminism?

10.  What do you think about New Zealand being the first country to allow women to vote?

11.  What do you think about only three of the forty prime ministers New Zealand has had being female?

12.  What do you think about Maori women’s standpoint on feminism?

13.  What do you think about Maori women having power in households and holding leadership positions before New Zealand was colonised?

14.  What do you think Mana means?

After class talking to both Dick and Mark we have decided to not have these three categories of questions and instead just have open ended questions, for example: “what do you interpret the term mana to mean” and then have a follow up on the same card : “How do you think this relates to feminism in New Zealand”.

Final questions for cards:

What do you interpret the term mana to mean? How does this relate to feminism in nz

What do you know about the colonisation of New Zealand. How has this affected the female's role in society

What do you interpret feminism to be? How is it relevant to your own life?

What do you know about the roles women played in the Maori culture?

How do you think it would have felt for women when New Zealand was colonised by the Europeans and their role was oppressed.

What is your standpoint on gender equality today?

What do you think about the differences between the empowerment of women in pakeha and Maori cultures

How do you think stereotypes have affected the empowerment of women over the 100 years

What do you think about men making laws for women's bodies?

When you think if a ‘stereotypical feminist’, what do you think about? Do you think this is actually representative of what feminists are?

What is your stance on men being feminists

Do you know what the catalyst was that triggered the start of the women's suffrage movement in nz

Do you believe there are still gender inequalities in today's society? If so, what are they?

Can you think of any kiwi feminists, if so.. Who?

Do you consider yourself to be a feminist? Why/or why not?

There has been 40 nz prime ministers, how many do you think were female?

How do you think it impacted women knowing that their ‘role’ in society was purely for carrying and looking after kids

Do you think New Zealand culture does a good job of celebrating women?

The Maori language has gender neutral pronouns, what do you think about this?

Do you think all feminists are the same? Why?

Do you think the stereotypes about feminists have affected the feminist community in a negative light? if so why?

How do you think the media portrays feminists to be?

What more could be done to help females feel empowered in today's society? In nz

Are there any aspects of the Maori culture and how they valued women that we could use today in nz

In pre colonial times, Maori women retained their own surnames upon marriage, what do you think about this?

How to card, why this is being used/important. Healthy conflict. Good to have open discussion

Throughout our process of making these cards we wanted to make sure the game works effectively, therefore we would often test the game by playing it with our pairs. This is a video of the trail from the final prototype.  https://youtu.be/Rg_yKwM1RLk

Final reflection after presentation:

As a group we were all very happy with the final product we produced. From our initial idea we have worked hard to refine the set of cards into something that is usable in both educational and casual settings. As we started thinking about what was going to be on the cards, it shifted more to be facts rather than open ended questions to spark conversation. If they had been facts we feel it wouldn't have sparked conversation rather just informed people on what they might have already known.

When we decided to refine the idea so that it was more based around open ended questions with no real yes or no answer, we managed to focus on who our target audience was. We decided they would be more targeted towards university students, or young adults in general but ideally we would want anyone of any age to be able to participate and feel like their ideas are valued on this topic.

After presenting our final product to Dick, Mark and the class we received valuable feedback that if we were to further enhance our idea could help the cards be an even better experience.

We discussed the initial design and instead of the chosen colour palette of pink, black and white, maybe looking deeper into the international colours for feminism which happen to be mainly purple but also green. Purple identifies justice and dignity while green symbolises hope. For us the design took a seat on the back burner just in relation to how we wanted to focus on the wording of the cards and making sure we weren’t offending and making any pre assumptions. We still care about the design and presentation but our key goal was definitely trying to perfect the content.

The idea of having just a target audience for exclusively females was discussed. Maybe this could help women who want to speak to other women about how they feel on feminist topics and do so in a safe, open way.

Going back to the content we have written for the cards the idea that some of our questions were obviously yes/no answers (unless you’re an idiot) came up and that maybe we could have included yes or no statements. For example, “How do you think stereotypes have affected the empowerment of women over the 100 years”. Obviously stereotypes have affected women over the past 100 years so we could have reworded it to be like, “stereotypes have affected women over the past 100 years. How do you think this has impacted the feminist community?” we think this is a good idea and something we could have explored deeper when creating our content but we do still believe that how we worded each question was thought through and practised and are definitely still valid in the way we presented them.

The idea of pushing into the gender identities and LGBTQ was brought up and we think maybe this could have been interesting to delve deeper into but it would have almost been branching off into a whole nother topic that has so many aspects to it. We also feel that coming from 5 straight girls, we feel we wouldn't have been comfortable to represent that topic and do it justice and representing that community that we do support.

Overall we realize that there is definitely stuff we could have further pushed in our project or changed and it has been valuable to talk about and look into. In saying this we are definitely very happy with our finished project and where it is at now.