#was this not always clear? and even Martin has said repeatedly with no prompt that he always thought Kreese loved Cobra kai the most but

[zappedbyzabka]

Kreese definitely was abusive to all the Cobras and left a mark on them back then but Johnny was always a focus for him from the very start.

[madrasbook]

New Zealanders, Famous for Being Laid Back, Get on Top of Covid-19

Are New Zealanders as laid back as they are famous for? Thus went a query on Quora. Yes, in a nice way, said one software engineer who lived in New Zealand. Yes, agreed a New Zealand author too, but with a caveat – “Until you push us into a corner or do something we view as unfair or unjust. Then watch out. We are a warrior nation at heart. And we won’t back down from something that feels wrong to us.” One Indian software engineer disagreed and said ‘laid back’ should be substituted with ‘pragmatism’. The positive identity of New Zealanders is tied to Kiwi ingenuity as they often can come up with unconventional solutions to problems.

As an Indian, I only know the famous Kiwi cricketers as they were called until the term ‘Kiwi’ sort of came to be identified with a racist slant. Now they are Black Caps. Who can forget the famous and charismatic Richard Hadlee, one of the four great all-rounders of his time (Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and Imran Khan being the other three)? Then there was Martin Crowe, who stole our hearts with his beautiful cover drives, and also in the way he fought cancer and finally was consumed by it one day. Kane Williamson, the cool captain of the present New Zealand cricket team, stood like a rock when handed out what looked like an unfair defeat in the World Cup final in 2019. He said, “The players are shattered at the moment.”

New Zealand PM the Knight in the Country’s Shining Armour

But the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern didn’t let the nation get shattered when it needed her the most.

For a country of 4.91 million people today, with more than one-fourth of them overseas-born, Prime Minister Ardern’s response to the rampaging pandemic – that threatened the Britons to almost the brink and exposed the many deficiencies in their response – ensured that it was contained in a stellar way in this isolated nation, which in 1907 became self-governing Dominion of New Zealand under the British Crown. In 1983, the country technically severed the imperial connection through the new letter patent ‘Realm of New Zealand’, repealing the Imperial Letter Patent of 1917, and cut off the remaining link by removing the residual power of British Parliament to legislate for New Zealand by bringing in the Constitutional Act 1986. Always shadowed by its more famous trans-Tasman rival, Australia, New Zealand today has shown to the world what a determined leadership in a crisis can do. The kind and firm Prime Minister, who faced more crises in her short term at the helm, has proved much more capable of handling them superbly. The world stood up and took note of this centre-left Labour leader, who stitched up a delicate coalition to win the 2017 polls, when terrorists struck in a mosque in Christchurch in March 2019, as she led the nation in providing an empathetic leadership. Close on its heels came the Whaakari/White Island volcano eruption in December 2019 and Prime Minister Ardern again led the nation with determination.

Britain’s Feet of Clay and New Zealand’s Grip over the Situation

The Sunday Times from London made a scathing expose of the British government’s ‘laid back’ response to the coronavirus infections that was initially brushed off as non-threatening. The Times report alleged that the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson – who later was to get infected with the coronavirus necessitating his admission into the ICU of St. Thomas’ Hospital and who eventually recovered from Covid-19 – was taking it easy and holidaying, mired in personal problems of his life, at a crucial time period in late February when tough decisions such as a lockdown should have been made. Poor modelling and a belief in herd immunity, repeatedly parroted by the establishment as enough to take of the disease in itself, resulted in British government’s initial intrepid response. When the British PM finally woke up to strike a lockdown in late March, things were under water. The death toll in UK (in hospitals as of April 19, 2020) has crossed 15,000 and infections well over 100,000.

While you could also take a sympathetic view that the British government, which sent as much as 270,000 pieces of support equipment to China on its request, did not foresee a worst situation as it eventually panned out, staying under the Covid-19 curve and then fighting it out. The situation seems overwhelming as the NHS is trying to procure enough PPEs and put in the required number of ICU beds. The good news is that people staying in hospitals from the Covid-19 disease is showing signs of tapering off. But the British government had to fight hard to bring the situation under its control, which seems to have not happened completely yet.

What makes New Zealand a role-model in its fight against coronavirus infections is the foresight with which the Prime Minister responded to the developing situation. Although, like many nations, New Zealand stopped incoming flights and people into the country late February, Prime Minister Ardern clamped a nationwide lockdown from March 25, 2020, a day after the British PM announced it from March 24, alarmed by the situation in Italy and Spain and modelling studies, which suggested 80,000 infections and 14,000 deaths if the situation goes unchecked in New Zealand. At that time, New Zealand had 102 cases of coronavirus infections and not a single death. The message to New Zealanders was “Act as if you have Covid-19. This will save lives.” The emphasis was on what was called a bubble – a smaller area where you could move around for biking and walking, say just your neighbourhood, with social distancing.

A Clear Elimination Strategy and Ashley Bloomfield a National Hero

As on April 19, 2020, only nine people have died from Covid-19 and 1431 infected with the coronavirus in New Zealand. Recoveries are at an impressive 912 cases. For a country of nearly 5 million people, there are only 519 active cases. New Zealand’s policy of ‘elimination’, rather than containment pursued by the United States and other Western nations, “is working,” reported the Washington Post in its report on April 7. A simple stat on this would make the situation clear: the number of new infections was lower than the number of recovered cases.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/new-zealand-isnt-just-flattening-the-curve-its-squashing-it/2020/04/07/6cab3a4a-7822-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html

In New Zealand’s fight against the pandemic. at the forefront is the nation’s Director General of Health, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, whose press conferences – at times addressed alongside Prime Minister Ardern – have become a huge hit among New Zealanders for the precise way in which he delivers data. It even prompted New Zealanders to make him New Zealander of the Year 2021 for his “competent, calm and factual” updates. But he is humble enough to say, “I am lucky to be part of a fantastic team.”

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/dr-ashley-bloomfield-responds-humbly-news-petition-him-new-zealander-year

On April 6, Tess Nicole called Ashley Bloomfield “the country’s unassuming rock star.”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/new-zealand-covid-19-coronavirus-ashley-bloomfield.html

Typical New Zealander Coming to the Fore

“New Zealand is a low-context country,” said Rosie, host of the YouTube channel, NotEvenFrench, in one of her YouTube videos. Rosie is a New Zealander who lives in Paris with her French partner. She says New Zealanders are open, warm and friendly and believe in clear and straightforward communication. And they are casual in their dress sense too, she emphasised, preferring flip-flops and even walking barefoot. “New Zealand is a beautiful country,” she points out and there cannot be two views on that. Bountiful nature is spread across New Zealand, uninhibited in some parts, with only the cities and urban areas a bit dense with populace.

Prime Minister Ardern uses the characteristic New Zealander trait of open and clear communication. She takes pains to explain, repeat and emphasise. She is active on Facebook and goes Facebook live to delve into questions posed by the people of her country. When announcing the lockdown on March 23, she clearly explained the rules of the lockdown. And when the imminent end of the lockdown is slated for April 22, a month after it was clamped, the New Zealand PM has started explaining the rules for relaxation from level 4 (complete lockdown) to level 3 (lockdown with some relaxations but strict on social distancing). She gets to the bottom of it, clearly explaining the implications of various scenarios, including what it would mean to scale down to level 3 and what precautions that the country has to take to adhere to those. She also cautions that a revert to level 4 might happen if there are flagrant violations.

New Zealand’s Future

The New Zealand government has also understood the pain of its countrymen during the lockdown and Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced a series of concessions including a six-month holiday on principal and tax on mortgages. The Government also plans to implement a business finance guarantee for small and medium businesses to protect jobs and support the economy in the unprecedented times.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-newzealand-banks/new-zealand-announces-mortgage-holiday-business-finance-support-to-cushion-virus-impact-idUSKBN21B0CA

But as everywhere, economic slump is a worrying outcome of the lockdown. And how economy will fare during the lockdown and after the lockdown is lifted is a challenge that the New Zealand government is confronted with. New Zealand is slated to go to polls in September 2020, and if Jacinda Ardern would pull it off again also remains to be seen.

Cricket-crazy Indians little realise that rugby is a religion in New Zealand. And the country won the Rugby World Cup in 2015. There was a YouTube video released then: The Greatest haka ever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw

Well, for now, it could be the greatest haka seeing the way Jacinda Ardern and Dr. Ashley Bloomfield are leading the Covid-19 campaign for the All Blacks.

[seashellrosekitty]

First Love (Part Four) | Isaac Lahey

POV: Female Reader

Author’s Note: I’m totally grateful for all the feedback I’ve been getting for the first three parts. Hope y’all would love thisss! 💗

I went through rollercoasters writing this fic and that is why it has a Part Four. For NEW READERS out there, please read the previous chapters. :) Thanks!

Chapters: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Do you know that thing people say that it’s easier to move on from someone when you don’t see them or hear from them? I think it’s bullshit. When Isaac was gone, my thoughts paced between moving on from him and waiting for him. There wasn’t a day that I didn’t think of him. I tried watching Spy Game but I didn’t enjoy it or even finish it knowing he wasn’t with me. He was a Robert Redford fan. He’s classy like that. 

I could hardly ever enjoy the things I normally did. So I thought I needed something to keep me busy. Getting a job at the animal clinic turned out to be fitting to me because Deaton needed a spare hand when Scott wasn’t around, and I love animals. Having Scott around made me learn why Isaac decided to move to his pack instead of staying with Derek’s.

Scott and I grew closer as friends that he even let me hangout with Stiles, Kira, and Malia. I was always insecure about the girls in their pack. They were all skilled, supernatural, and stuff like that. But they never let me feel like I was anyone less of a person just because I’m human. Stiles always reassured me that while the rest of the pack had some supernatural abilities, we, on the other hand, relied on our knowledge. 

It didn’t take long before they pushed me to admit my feelings for Isaac. I guess it was written all over my face that I loved him and missed him real bad. I’d told them it was pretty hard to tell if he’d ever come back. He took Allison’s death pretty hard. I guess I couldn’t blame him for that. I told them the whole story - my longtime feelings for him, confession, the time he said goodbye, and how I still don’t know if Isaac would ever fall for me. That’s when Stiles hatched a plan for when Isaac would come back.  

When we heard that Isaac was finally coming home, we went through Stiles’ plan to make Isaac jealous and hopefully fall for me. At this point, I couldn’t even say if he could be jealous. Isaac never saw me with another guy other than him. Stiles said Scott would be perfect because Isaac always respected him, being Scott’s omega and all.

“We need to find him a tough match. Someone that’d threaten him enough and also,” Stiles explained as he pointed his finger up in the air to make a point. “Motivate him enough to make a fucking move.”

“You’re saying this as if he actually likes me.” I regret saying this. I blatantly displayed my insecurity. Scott and Stiles shared a glance at one another.

“Y/N, listen,” Scott began. “I know he never said anything. But he’s protected you the way I did with Allison. If he’s not in love with you yet, then we’ll make him. Right, Stiles?” The plan just got more ridiculous than it originally sounded. Stiles dumbfoundedly nodded his head repeatedly, agreeing to Scott like a real wingman.

“That’s why we’re gonna make him jealous! If a guy is threatened by another guy, he’ll make a move!” Stiles stated irritatedly.

“OK, but how would that happen if he knew that Scott and I are together?? That’ll never work,” I rejected. I’ve been with these guys for a year, planning how to save lives, but not making one fall for me.

“Y/N, trust me. You’re talking to a guy with the 10-year plan to make Lydia Martin fall in love with him. She’s dated others, I have as well,” then pointed one finger upward and mouthed, “Actually just one,” then spoke in his normal voice again, “but now we’re both single, so that 10-year plan remains in action.” I took a sharp breath. His argument was fucking valid. “It’ll work.”

The day that Isaac finally met with me, I was so fucking thrilled. Scott had told me that Isaac was in school, but urged me to stay away and to stick to the plan: make Isaac jealous. Scott and Stiles had even managed to include Lydia and Malia in this plan. And I quote Stiles, “If everybody ‘knows’ you and Scott are dating, then chances are he’s going to believe it. And he’ll get jealous and regret it for not going for you before. It’s a fool-proof plan.”

I badly wanted to just stray from the plan and confess again, even if it meant I was gonna embarrass myself again. Scott made sure I acted surprised when I saw Isaac. It’s not like any ‘acting’ was needed. I missed the bastard.

A week later, Isaac would hangout with us or go with the pack when they had a mission. One afternoon, though, Scott told him to watch over me while they pretended to go save Hayden and Liam from captivity as an excuse. Isaac was uneasy when he learned more about the Dread Doctors. It was pretty easy for Scott to convince him to be on the task. Scott picked me up in the morning so I didn’t have to drive my car and so that Isaac and I would take a walk like usual. I missed it a lot. I missed the way afternoons felt when I walked home with him.

“Just like old times, huh?” He mused and drew a small smile on the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah. Been a while, Lahey,” I remarked. For the first time since the night I confessed, we walked together feeling the awkwardness in the air. We didn’t exactly have a peaceful parting when he left. I let him go but I made it clear to him that I wasn’t okay with it. I missed him too much that being mad at him for leaving seemed time-consuming and pointless. Him being here with me was all that mattered. That’s how soft I go with Isaac. All the hurt I’ve forgiven, just to see him stand close to me like this. Our hands almost touching.

“I have a few movies we could watch at home. I saved them for when you got back,” I said to him with a smile. He smiled too, chuckling, and almost stopping but he kept walking. He brushed his fingers through his hair.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“What?”

“I know how much you love spy movies. I don’t want you missing out on those just because I was gone,” He said, probably feeling guilty again. It’s you whom I missed, you idiot.

“But it’s never been the same without you, Lahey,” I took the time to look at his eyes and mean what I said. “Besides, I’ve been binge-watching TV shows to make up for the movies I missed.” 

“How about I make it up to you?” He shrugged, looking all adorable. Oh god, where is this going? I asked him how only with an expression on my face. “I’ll do anything you ask. Anything.” The second ‘anything’ felt like he meant more than binge-watching with me. I couldn’t help but smile to myself, and I felt him steal glances from me. He felt so different around me now.

“How about never leaving me again?” I asked, and I knew I shouldn’t have because it could jeopardize my fake relationship with Scott and the whole plan to make him jealous. He stopped walking and faced me. The atmosphere was golden as the sun started setting. He looked so handsome in the way he fixed his hair and he looked at me the way I never saw him look before. He held my hands and his felt cold and a little sweaty.

“I never wanna leave you again,” He promised. His eyes looked at mine intently. “It was a mistake for me to leave you. Now you’re here, and you’re with Scott now and the others in his pack. You’re much closer to danger than before I left you. It’s my fault. I put you in this position.” His expression became apologetic.

“What are you talking about?”

He shrugged. “Maybe…if I never told you about me being a werewolf, then you wouldn’t have known about all the supernatural stuff going on around here. And Scott wouldn’t have let you join his pack and involve you. It’s too dangerous.” He looked around us and prompted me to keep walking so we could get to Scott’s house already. Nightfall would’ve caught up with us if we stayed on the road arguing.

When we got to Scott’s house, I opened the door for Isaac so he could get through the mountain ash. Scott’s mom was on graveyard duty and left some food Isaac and Scott could cook. In this case, for me and Isaac. I cooked us dinner and he helped me prepare.

“How long have you been dating Scott?” Stiles kept saying Isaac would ask, and he wasn’t wrong. I got that covered.

“Oh…for six months now. I guess it kinda happened all in good timing. Know what I mean?” I practiced this with Scott and Stiles lots of times. He said I needed to know how to lie without being detected. Kind of like my favorite spies on TV. I loved the feeling of being on a mission.

“No. What do you mean?”

“Well, after Kira left to be with the Skinwalkers, things started to lay low, the same time I got the job at the animal clinic. She and Scott had to break up because Kira’s journey with the Skinwalkers was something indefinite. Nobody knows when she’d return. Scott and I grew close as friends…and eventually, he asked me out,” I said, looking at Isaac leaning on the kitchen table as he listened to me. His eyes drifted far, probably imagining how things happened.

“He shouldn’t have,” He murmured.

“Why not?” He looked upset when I asked.

“It’s not safe for you, Y/N!” He bellowed all of a sudden. It scared me a little bit. He never raised his voice on me before. “I-I’m sorry.” He pursed his lips as he realized his impulsive yell. He seemed uneasy, trying to keep his fury hidden in his semi-sharp breaths. “I didn’t mean to yell at you.” I just looked at him and then turned around to get back to my cooking. I didn’t know what to say. I could feel his eyes still trained on me.

This tension between us was new to me. He never got mad at me before. At least not this intensely. I was always the one getting mad at him, cursing him, and shoving him. I was always the one getting hurt by his actions. And now I think I was returning him the favor. Guilt started building up in my heart. This was beyond our plan to make him jealous. I failed to grasp how serious Isaac was about keeping me safe. For all I know, our plan wasn’t working at all. He’s never gonna be jealous of Scott. He’ll never fall in love with me. This plan sucks, I thought. I started feeling sad, almost forgetting that Isaac was right behind me.

“Y/N? Are you okay?” He asked, standing up and walking towards me. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I don’t know what got into me.” His voice was low and sounded genuine. He ran his hand on my shoulder down to my arm. I knew he didn’t mean to yell. But he didn’t know why my heart was sinking. Before I knew it, tears started falling across my cheeks. He gently turned me to face him and held my face softly. “I’ll never do it again. I promise. It just scares the hell out of me knowing you put yourself on the line.”

“What’s the difference, anyway? I’m your best friend. What makes that different from me being with Scott?” I felt silly asking this, but as far as I was concerned, the plan was still in motion. 

His jaws started clenching as he removed his hands from my face and turned around. “You don’t understand…” He murmured, his voice firm, his back still facing me.

“Then help me understand,” I said, wiping my tears and then turned off the stove before I could set Scott’s house on fire because I was arguing with Isaac.

“I can’t lose you, too!” He sneered, but his voice lowered when he said ‘you’, realizing he was yelling again. He finally faced me again. “I know Scott’s a great guy. He does everything he could to save everyone. But I just think that he doesn’t believe that that doesn’t happen all the time, Y/N.”

“And you do,” I remarked. I knew I shouldn’t have said this. I was pressing all the wrong buttons.

“Yeah. I do.” His tone was firm. It was Allison all over again. My brows furrowed at that. I felt like I was back in junior year again, helplessly in love, and deliberately rejected again.

“Why are you back here anyway??” I retorted. “You left me when knew you could’ve stayed. It’s not like you leaving actually did anything to protect me or make me happy, Isaac! I never know what the fuck is going on with you.” He kept his silence and that encouraged me to keep going, but I trailed a little farther back into the past.

“You never even told me when you started falling for Allison. And I felt so stupid believing that I had a fucking chance with you even when I saw in your eyes how smitten you were with her. Do you know how much it hurt me to see you get hurt when Allison died??” Tears started forming in my eyes again. I shook my head. “No. You don’t.” He looked down, defeated at my words.

“You’re right. I don’t,” he admitted. “I came back because I wanted to see you again. You’re the reason I came home, Y/N.” I wanted him to say it again because I couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing. “But I can’t help but freak out knowing how involved you are in the supernatural. For god’s sakes, Y/N, we’re at Scott’s house hiding out right now!” He yelled again but trailed off. “...When you could be at your house, having a safe, normal night, just like you used to.” It took me a while to respond. He’s made his point.

“You’re being silly, Lahey,” was all I could say, then I walked towards the window, completely neglecting the uncooked food I started. “Why are you being so difficult about this?” I asked, facing him now, my face bearing a tired expression.

“Because I regret everything,” He said flatly, but I sensed he meant so much more.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I regret it! All of it!” He finally snapped. “I regret not telling you how beautiful you are when I first met you! I regret telling you about becoming a werewolf when I really wanted to say was that I was in love with you! I was in love with you since 9th grade, Y/N.” He said, his voice finally lowering. 

“I regret leaving you for as long as I did, but I wouldn’t have realized how much I was still in love with you if I didn’t pull myself away from you.” Sadness took over his face. “When Allison died, I couldn’t bear the feeling of losing you too. You’re family. You’re the last one I have.” His voice broke. He slouched his shoulders as he looked down, hiding his damp eyes from me.

“Lahey…” I whispered as I walked slowly towards him, spreading my arms for him to reach, and then without saying anything, he held them and pulled me in for a tight embrace.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” he cried. He stroked my hair and I dug my face in his chest and squeezed his back, lingering in his embrace. It lasted longer than I’d hoped. “I love you, Y/N. You may have Scott now, but you still have me. You’ll always have me.” He broke the hug and held me in my shoulders. “I promise.”

I smiled at him and tightened my embrace. “You’re the best, Lahey.” I couldn’t keep my smiles. I hid it in his chest, but I think he could still see it because he never stopped looking at me.

“No, you are,” he argued in the sweetest tone I’ve ever heard. I couldn’t contain my happiness at this turn of events that I immediately grabbed my phone to call Stiles. It startled him since it was kind of random for me to do it at that moment.

“Stiles! Our plan worked!” I said excitedly on the phone. Isaac furrowed his eyebrows incredulously as he listened to my conversation. “He confessed,” I said smiling mischievously as I looked at Isaac.

“YES! See?? I told you it’d work! Always believe in the man with the 10-year plan!”

“What’s going on? What plan??” Isaac asked suspiciously. I put my phone on speaker so he could hear Stiles.

“You got Punk’d, Lahey! We got you, scarf-boy!” Stiles said and his laugh over the phone reverberated in the kitchen. Isaac just rolled his eyes as he shook his head on Stiles.

“OK, see you later, Stiles!” I said and immediately hung up. I smiled at Isaac menacingly as I watched him still keeping a confused expression. He uttered my name, asking for an explanation. “OK, this one’s on me. Scott and I are just friends. Stiles planned this whole thing to make you jealous. So you’d make a move,” I said, smiling, and biting the tip of my thumbnail. “I guess what I’m trying to say is...I love you, you idiot.” He shook his head and looked at me incredulously.

“You sly girl…” he remarked, smirking at me and bringing me back close to him. He held my neck and kept my face close to his. I’ve never been this close to his face before. He looked at me with so much desire that it almost overwhelmed me. “I should start telling you what I always wanted to say. No more secrets. Starting with how much I thought about you in France. I missed this pretty face.” He kissed my cheeks and then my lips for the very first time. We both let out a soft moan, but his seemed louder. “Been wanting to do that since I was 15.”

“You’re the first girl that I ever loved, Y/N...and still do. That’ll never change for me. That smile? It makes my knees weak when I see you smile like that. When you put your hair down like this? It drove me crazy seeing you wear that for Scott. And that stupid sandwich guy!” He spread his arm out. “You can tell him I’m your best bud...but I’ll tell him you’re...you’re my best girl,” he kissed me slowly this time. “Oh and that thumb-biting thing? That turns me on…” he trailed off as he kissed me on the lips, gently sucking on my lower lip. “Big time,” he added, then kissed me again. His lips were soft and moved softly against mine. Am I dreaming?

Our kisses felt overdue. It was the first time he held me too low on the waist, his hand almost reaching my ass. Isaac never touched me inappropriately. The places he held were always between my shoulders or my face, but even that was pretty rare. He held my hands too. He loved holding my hands. I just remembered, he never protested when I clung to him in his chest. But now...we held each other so differently this time. Our touches were firm, gentle, and electric.

Our tongues started dancing inside our mouths. It was a little awkward, but it got better every second. While still kissing me, he walked me towards the kitchen counter and lifted me to sit there so I won’t have to keep raising my head, and he won’t have to keep leaning in to kiss me.

When I involuntarily bumped my pelvis onto his, our kiss was interrupted by the quick sensation it brought us. Catching our breaths, we kept our gazes locked on each other. I could smell his breath, making me want more of his kisses. I noticed him have a hard on and he looked at it when he saw me notice it.

“That’s your fault, you know,” He declared in a low voice, touching my locks of hair hanging below my cheeks. “You have no idea how much I missed you…and just how much I wanna take you right now,” He said as he eyed on my body. “But first, I’d like to take you out on a proper date.” It made me smile hearing that from him. 

“Okay, Lahey,” I said sweetly and kissed him again. “I’ll go out with you.”

I attended to the cooking I left a while ago and made us dinner. We caught up like our usual selves over dinner, except that we couldn’t keep our hands apart. We slept in his room pretty late. We stayed in bed for hours, just talking, reminiscing about our friendship. He kept me in his arms all night, my head laying on his shoulder, our hands remained intertwined; as if there was no tomorrow.

Bonus Chapter

@bojabee @jurrasicpork @chiamilia @thejourneyofabrokenheart @sav625 @mylittlenarnia

[thisdaynews]

High debt profile: Stop borrowing, tackle mass killings, #RevolutionNow tells Buhari.

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/high-debt-profile-stop-borrowing-tackle-mass-killings-revolutionnow-tells-buhari/

High debt profile: Stop borrowing, tackle mass killings, #RevolutionNow tells Buhari.

Members of the #RevolutionNow movement demanding good governance   in the country on Wednesday protested in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos, Ondo, Osun and Ogun states.

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The leaders of the movement, who said the protest was held to mark the first anniversary of the group, stated that security agencies  arrested no fewer than 91 protesters.

However, the country’s mounting debt profile featured in the anniversary as two of the movement’s conveners, in separate  interviews with The PUNCH on Wednesday evening, said the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), must halt further borrowings in order not to mortgage Nigeria’s future.

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The group also advised the President to stop killings in the North-West and the North-East.

Recall that a co-convener of the group, Omoyele  Sowore, was arrested in August 2019 for planning the #RevolutionNow protest.

The Federal Government accused him of attempting to overthrow the regime of Buhari and subsequently detained him for over 100 days.

He was released on December 24, 2019 on a  condition that he should  not join mass gatherings or protests.

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But despite Sowore’s absence, members  of the movement protested in Lagos, Abuja, Abeokuta and Osogbo.

In the FCT, the group staged a protest at the Unity Fountain, Maitama, Abuja, on Wednesday morning, carrying banners with various inscriptions such as, ‘Yes to living wage;’ ‘Free Lance Corporal Martin now;’ ‘N2.2 billion per kilometre for fence is unacceptable,’ and others.

But the rally was disrupted by security agents,  who assaulted the activists and arrested them.

Those arrested were taken to the Eagle Square for arraignment before a mobile court, but they were released after the presiding Magistrate Idayat Akanni failed to show up.

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But speaking on the demands of the coalition in an interview with The PUNCH, a co-convener,  Deji Adeyanju, said the campaigners were concerned by the mounting Chinese loans.

He stated, “We are absolutely concerned by the Chinese loans and the revelations from the National Assembly that the sovereignty of our country is being ceded to China. It is most regrettable and sad.  In fact, we are perplexed.

“Every sane Nigerian should be concerned and bothered about this development and we are telling the President to immediately halt further borrowings.”

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Adeyanju argued that it might be difficult for the nation to repay the loans which he said might be looted by the political class, citing  the revelations on the alleged  multi-billion naira looting at the Niger Delta Development Commission.

Adeyanju noted, “The more loans we take, the more our currency is weakened and the harder it would be for us to service the loans because the debt management office is complaining that we can barely service the interest rates.

“And what are the loans being used for? In a situation where the loans were being taken so they could be looted in the NDDC or used to renovate a 27kms perimeter fence of the University of Maiduguri at a cost of N64bn makes no economic sense.”

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“There is no way you look at it and you would not be bothered. We should be looking inward instead of going on a borrowing spree. We must collectively call on the President to stop borrowing as it would further destroy the economy. The mindless looting that is being superintended by the current President needs to stop.”

He said no fewer than 60 members of the group were arrested in Abuja.

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“Our demands are very simple: they should end insecurity in Katsina, Sokoto, Southern Kaduna and in the North-East; the killing of our troops and the rising death figures must be stopped,” Adeyanju insisted.

Speaking to The PUNCH, another  co-convener, Baba Aye, said, “We are not okay with the debt profile of Nigeria. When you talk of an economy that works for the masses and not a few, issues of debt profile and the Gross Domestic Product to debt profile apply to it.

“The issue of loans is bad because it is the working class that always bears the cost of repayment. We really don’t need most of these loans if certain economic measures are put in place. For instance, tax evasion is still a big issue in this country.

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In a separate statement signed by Aye and Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, the coalition said the #RevolutionNow protests would continue until the objectives are achieved.

It added, “Our demands remain: an economy that works for the masses; no to an economy which throws 90 million people into poverty, while just five people own N11tn; an effective and democratic end to insecurity, poverty, discrimination, repression by government and manipulation of ethnic differences by the rich elite are the roots of perpetual insecurity.”

Addressing the protesters earlier at the Unity Fountain, a lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, said there was a need for a leadership change, noting that Nigerians must take their destiny in their own hands.

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He said, “Our demand today is there is a need for us to have a revolution.There is a need for us to have a change of leadership, leaders who have a clear focus, who have the passion and the welfare and interest of the people. This cannot be achieved by the charlatans in authority.

“There is a need for us to allow people who are determined, who have the interest of people to take over the leadership. That is why we are saying no to the APC (All Progressives Congress) and the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), no to all these rascals in political authority.”

But the #RevolutionNow protesters arrested by the joint security personnel at the Unity Fountain, Maitama, for allegedly violating the COVID-19 health protocols.

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While the activists assembled at the fountain, the Joint Task Force on Enforcement of COVID-19 Restrictions swooped on them, forced them to lie on the ground and subsequently whisked them away.

The team comprising soldiers, policemen, Air Force, Federal Road Safety Corps and Security and Civil Defence Corps officers took the protesters to a mobile court sitting at the Eagle Square where they were to be arraigned for COVID-19 restrictions order violation.

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However, Magistrate Idayat Akanni, who was to preside over the case had several other cases in another court and did not sit, prompting the security operatives to release the protesters.

An official of the FCT Ministerial Task Team on  COVID-19, Ikharo Attah urged the protesters to comply with the health protocols for the good of all.

He said that the protesters violated the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19  guidelines on  physical distancing, noting that most of them did not wear face masks.

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But the General Secretary of United Action for Democracy and leading member of the #TakeItBack movement,  Kunle Ajayi, complained that they were arrested for demanding a better country.

In Lagos,  a journalist and activist, Agba Jalingo, and 18 other protesters were arrested by men of the Lagos State Police Command during the protest in  Ikeja.

Jalingo’s driver, Clement Laruba, confirmed the development when one of our correspondents called Jalingo’s number to get further updates on the protest.

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Laruba stated, “He left his phone with me and went to protest in Ikeja. He has been arrested by the police. I am his driver, he was with those protesting during the #RevolutionNow protest. I am currently on my way to the Area F Police Division in Ikeja.

“The protest started around 9am but I stayed where the car was parked while he left for the protest. But he later called me with someone’s number to inform me that he had been arrested.”

The PUNCH gathered that protesters, under the aegis of the #RevolutionNow movement, stormed the under-bridge area of Ikeja early on Wednesday  to protest  the deplorable state of the country.

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During the protest,  which lasted for four hours  youths, old men and women, carried placards and chanted solidarity songs as they repeatedly went around the roundabout located under the bridge.

As they were protesting,  men of the state police command, who were said to have laid a siege to the Allen Roundabout, suddenly advanced towards the direction of the protesters and released teargas canisters to disperse them.

An eyewitness, who identified himself simply as Rasaq,  said some of the protesters ran into the Computer Village while the policemen gave them a hot chase.

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Notably among the personalities involved in the protest around Ikeja-Along was Agba Jalingo.

In a viral footage, Jalingo, while leading some of the protesters along the axis, was heard saying, “No matter how they arrest us, no matter how they chase us, we will not be afraid of their Black Marias, we will not be afraid of their rifles and teargas.”

Jalingo, who spoke to one of  our correspondents at the Area F Police Division, Ikeja said they were protesting against  bad governance when the police arrested 19 of them.

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The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, did not take his call.

Responding to a text message from one of our correspondents on the alleged police attack, Elkana promised to get back after getting “briefs across the state.”

However, one of the arrested protesters, who identified himself simply as Samson, said, “everyone of us have been released. Agba Jalingo has also been released and was taken away in a vehicle. We were told we are not guilty and we’re later released.”

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In Osogbo, the Osun State capital, seven members of the #RevolutionNow group were arrested  during the protest.

The protesters were arrested in front of Correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Osun State Council, while preparing to address newsmen.

The protesters were led to the  chapel by Olawale Bakare, who was tried alongside Sowore, for engaging in a protest organised by the group in 2019.

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Bakare had met Richard Akintade, the Chairman of the Correspondents’ chapel around 10am, and informed him of plans to address his members.

Akintade told our correspondent that because the chapel was having a meeting, he told Bakare to bring his address and wait for the meeting to end.

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While waiting for the newsmen to end their meeting, policemen arrived the scene and engaged the protesters wearing orange colour caps and carrying placards, in conversation.

One of the protesters, Oluwadunsin Olowolafe, who was  addressing members of the group and people around, said the leadership of the country had not met expectations of Nigerians.

Although some policemen were present at the scene, armed men of the Department of State Services later arrived and arrested Olowolafe and six others.

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A member of #RevolutionNow movement, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said seven members were arrested.

He gave the names of those arrested alongside Olowolafe as Bakare, Erupre Gift, Abiodun Sanusi, Oguntola and one Martin.

Olawale Bakare, the Coordinator, #RevolutionNow movement Osun State, in a statement dated August 5, 2020, made available to newsmen in Osogbo by a member of the group, lamented the collapse of critical sectors of the country.

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Seven arrested protesters may be detained for another 14 days following a detention order obtained by the DSS that arrested them.

Counsel for the protesters, Mr. Alfred Adegoke, told The PUNCH that seven of them were being held by the DSS.

Adegoke said he was however informed that despite the detention order, application for a bail could still be entertained.

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Adegoke said, “The DSS got an ex parte order to detain them (the protesters) for 14 days pending conclusion of investigation. A lawyer I sent there earlier brought back that report. The lawyer spoke with the director and they said he should talk to the legal officer.”

Security agency arrests five RevolutionNow protesters  in Abeokuta

The DSS on Wednesday arrested about five protesters  in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

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The five protesters were r arrested at Kuto, while awaiting calls from their leaders on how to stage the protest.

A human rights activist , Festus Ogun, confirmed this to one of our correspondents in Abeokuta.

In  Ondo State, some youths at Ore in the Odigbo Local Government Area   participated in the protest.

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The protesters, singing various solidarity songs, were also calling for the people of the state to rise up and fight for their rights.

In a reaction, the state police command’s Public Relations Officer,  Mr Tee-Leo Ikoro, said there was no confrontation between the police and the protesters

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

17th March >> Fr, Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on

Matthew 13:24-32 for The Solemnity of Saint Patrick, Bishop, Missionary

     and on 

Matthew 18:21-35 for Tuesday, Third Week of Lent.

Solemnity of Saint Patrick, Bishop, Missionary

Gospel (Europe)

Matthew 13:24-32

Let them both grow till the harvest

Jesus put another parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” “Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”’

He put another parable before them: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’

Reflections (5)

(i) Solemnity of Saint Patrick

Coming up to the feast of Saint Patrick, I always find myself re-reading the two documents that have come down to us from him, his Confession and his letter to the soldiers of Coroticus. His Confession in particular is a very personal document. He says he writes it because he wants people ‘to know what kind of man I am so that they may perceive the aspiration of my life’. He says that he is writing this Confession in his ‘old age’. Not long before he wrote his Confession, the people in Britain who had been sponsoring his mission in Ireland had made serious accusations against him, which proved to be false. They were taking away his good name. This crisis brought on a personal crisis of faith which nearly destroyed him. His Confession was a response to this very hurtful attack on himself and his mission. He needed to show that the way he was being portrayed was not the kind of man he actually was. He says that because of the accusation made against him, he felt shame and disgrace and ‘the impulse was overpowering to fall way not only here and now but forever’. In that dark moment, he turned to the Lord on whom he had always relied and the Lord did not let him down. He says, ‘the Lord graciously spared his exile and wanderer for his own name’s sake and helped me greatly when I was being walked on in this way’. Patrick had a strong sense of the Lord speaking personally to him through images, dreams, visions. He mentions how the night after this accusation by his seniors in Britain, he had a vision of the night. He saw before his face a writing that dishonoured him, and simultaneously, he says, ‘I heard God’s voice saying to me: “We have seen with disapproval the face of the chosen one deprived of his good name”’. In the Confessions, there is a strong note of thanksgiving to God i for standing by him during this difficult time, ‘I give thanks to my God tirelessly who kept me faithful in the day of trial’.

As he looks back on his life journey, he tells us that he is the freeborn son of a Roman nobleman, a town Councillor, who was also a deacon of the church. He had a privileged upbringing, but he acknowledges that in his younger years, his faith was at best dormant, ‘we had turned away from God’. Then at the age of sixteen he tells us that everything changed. As he puts it, ‘I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people’. Without warning, he lost everything, his family and friends, his community, his freedom of movement, his schooling. In his utter misery as a slave, he found himself becoming aware of God’s presence. He had a spiritual awakening. He speaks of ‘the great benefits and grace that the Lord saw fit to confer on me in the land of my captivity’. Even though this was a traumatic time of suffering and loneliness, he repeatedly speaks of the ‘wonderful gifts’ that the Lord gave him, which he identifies as ‘the great and beneficial gift of knowing and loving God’. He says, ‘the Lord indeed gave much to me, his little servant, more than as a young man I ever hoped for or even considered’. Among the gifts the Lord gave him at this time, he says, was the gift of prayer, ‘the spirit was stirred up so that in the course of a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night. This I did even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountain’. As the years of captivity passed, his prayer grew in intensity. He learned to listen carefully to the promptings of the Spirit within, giving him the guidance he needed to make important decisions. For example, he learned to discern when the time of his captivity was coming to an end and that his ship was ready. He eventually escaped his captivity and made his way home to his family in Britain. When he arrived home, he tells us that his relatives ‘welcomed me as a son and earnestly begged me that I should never leave them, especially in view of all the hardships I had endured’.

Yet, such was his openness to God’s presence and his attentiveness to the Spirit’s promptings he became convinced that he was being called back to Ireland to proclaim the faith which was now central to his life. One night he had a vision of a man called Victor who appeared to have come from Ireland with an unlimited number of letters. As he read one of them, he heard the voice, ‘We ask you, holy boy, come and walk once more among us’. Probably against his family’s wishes, he went abroad to study for the priesthood, most likely to Gaul, in preparation for his mission to the Irish. It is clear from his Confession that his subsequent mission in Ireland bore rich fruit. He wasn’t the first missionary to bring the gospel to Ireland. Earlier in the fifth century, the Bishop Palladius had founded communities of faith. However, he brought the gospel to parts of the island that had never heard it, ‘in places’, he says, ‘beyond which nobody lives’. The impact of his mission was hugely significant. He speaks in his Confession of the many thousands whom he baptized in the Lord. He expresses his indebtedness to God who ‘gave me so much grace that through me people should be born again in God and afterwards confirmed, and that clergy should be ordained for them everywhere’.

We share the faith that Patrick preached on our island fifteen centuries ago. We might be tempted to think that our faith is weak at times. We may be aware of what Jesus’ parable in the gospel reading calls ‘darnel’ in our own personal lives and in the life of the church as a whole. Yet, Patrick’s story reminds us that the Lord never abandons us or his church. No matter where we are in our faith journey, the Lord can break through to us in a wonderfully new way at any time in our lives, if we give him the space to do so. Sometimes, as Patrick’s life shows us, it is often in times of great adversity that the space is created in our lives for the Lord to work powerfully within us and through us. We could all make our own Patrick’s prayer wish towards the end of his Confession, ‘I ask God for perseverance, to grant that I remain a faithful witness to him for his own sake until my passing from this life’.

And/Or

(ii) Solemnity of Saint Patrick

 Today on the feast of St. Patrick, we celebrate the beginnings of the Christian story on this island. We remember Patrick as the one who lit a flame that has remained lighting for nearly sixteen hundred years. Like Paul and Barnabas in today’s second reading, he was a light to the nations, to this nation. When children are baptized, as the baptismal candle is lit from the Easter candle, the celebrant says to their parents and godparents, ‘This light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. These children of yours have been enlightened by Christ… May they keep the flame of faith alive in their hearts’. Today we give thanks that the flame of faith Patrick first lit has been kept alive among us.

 Two of Patrick’s own writings have been preserved for us. They are his Confessions and a letter he wrote to the soldiers of a chieftain by the name of Coroticus. Through these writings the voice of Patrick continues to be heard among us. It is above all from his Confessions that we get the fascinating story of his life.

 He was born a citizen of Roman Britain. His father was a town councillor, part of the Roman administration in southern Britain, who owned a country residence with male and female servants. Patrick came from a Christian family. He tells us that his father was a priest and that his grandfather was a deacon. Yet, as a youth, Patrick’s faith was lukewarm.  Looking back on his youth many years later, he writes in his Confessions: ‘We had turned away from God; we did not keep his commandments’. We can imagine that this must have been a disappointment to his parents.

 Then at the tender age of sixteen, his rather comfortable world came crashing down around him. Writing in his Confessions, he says: ‘I was taken captive as a youth, a mere child… I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people… this is where I now am, among strangers’. At a vulnerable and impressionable age, he was wrenched from the family that loved him, taken from his home, his friends, his culture, and thrown into a foreign land as a slave. An experience like that could destroy a young man. Yet, Patrick tells us that in this harsh exile, he had a powerful experience of God’s presence. When everything had been taken from him, he found God, or, rather, God found him. He writes in his Confessions about ‘the great benefits that the Lord saw fit to confer on me in my captivity’. He uses a powerful image to describe his spiritual reawakening: ‘Before I was humbled, I was like a stone lying in the deep mud. Then he who is mighty came and in his mercy he not only pulled me out but lifted me up and placed me at the very top of the wall’. In the wilderness of exile, his faith came alive.

 He goes on to tell us in his Confessions that six years after first coming to Ireland as a slave, at the age of twenty two, he managed to escape from his captivity and to make his way back to Roman Britain. What a home coming that must have been for his parents, who probably thought they would never see him again. They considered him dead, and here he was alive, lost, and now he was found. Patrick states that ‘they earnestly begged me that I should never leave them’. Some years later, Patrick tells us, he had a vision of a man coming from Ireland with a large number of letters. In his vision, Patrick took one of these letters in his hands, and as he began to read it he heard a crowd shout with one voice: ‘We ask you, boy, come and walk once more among us’.

 That vision touched him deeply. He did not come back to Ireland immediately. He first pursued higher studies in preparation for the priesthood, probably in Roman Gaul. After several years he made the journey back to the land of his captivity, initially as a priest. Having established himself as a missionary, he was appointed bishop. He writes in his Confessions: ‘I came to the Irish heathen to preach the good news’. He goes on to write: ‘I am very much in dept to God who gave me so much grace that through me many people should be born again in God and afterwards confirmed’. It is extraordinary that Patrick was prepared to endure voluntary exile to bring the gospel to a people among whom he had experienced captivity. He brought the precious gift of the Christian faith to those who had taken away his freedom many years earlier. I am reminded of a line in one of Paul’s letters: ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’. It could only have been Patrick’s relationship with the Lord that enabled him to overcome evil with good, as the Lord himself had done.

 Patrick’s story can still speak to us over the centuries. The darkest moment in his life proved to be life-giving both for himself and for the people in the land of his captivity. We have all know our own dark moments. At times we can feel that we are in a kind of exile ourselves, cut off from the supports that we had come to value so much. In ways we might never suspect at the time, such experiences can turn out to be life-giving for ourselves and others. God can be preparing us in those dark times to be labourers in his harvest, like the seventy two in today’s gospel reading. Patrick’s feast day invites us to trust that God can turn even our darkest experiences to good and can bring unexpected new life out of our losses.

And/Or

(iii) Solemnity of Saint Patrick

 About four years ago I climbed Croagh Patrick for the first time in the company of my sister and brother-in-law. They both live in Southern California. Patrick, who is from the United States, was determined to climb Croagh Patrick. He was recovering from cancer at the time, and, in spite of a very bad back, he wanted to make this climb in thanksgiving for having come through his surgery and treatment so well, and, also, as a form of prayer of petition for God’s ongoing help. We managed to get to the top, just about.

 The Croagh Patrick climb is one expression of the cult of St. Patrick that has continued down to our time. We venerate Patrick today because he spent himself in proclaiming the gospel on this island, bringing Christ to huge numbers of people. He says in his Confessions, ‘I am very much in debt to God who gave me so much grace that through me many people should be born again in God and afterwards confirmed, and that clergy should be ordained for them everywhere’. In amazement at what God had done through him, he asks, ‘How then does it happen in Ireland that a people who in their ignorance of God always worshipped only idols and unclean things up to now, have lately become a people of the Lord and are called children of God?’

 On his feast day we give thanks for Patrick’s response to God’s call to preach the gospel in the land of his former captivity. His first journey to Ireland was not of his own choosing. He was brought here as a slave at the age of 16, having been cruelly separated from his family and his homeland. This must have been a hugely traumatic experience for a young adolescent. He says in his confessions: ‘I was taken captive… before I knew what to seek or what to avoid’. Yet, out of this difficult experience came great good. Although Patrick had been baptized a Christian in his youth, he had developed no relationship with Christ. The faith into which he had been baptized had made no impact on his life. It was only in his captivity that Christ became real for him. In the land of his exile he had a religious awakening. He tells us: ‘When I came to Ireland… I used to pray many times during the day. More and more the love of God and reverence for him came to me. My faith increased… As I now realize, the spirit was burning within me’. That spiritual awakening had enormous consequences, not only for himself but for the people of the land where he was held captive.

 The Lord somehow got through to Patrick during the rigours of captivity in a way he had not got through to Patrick during his reasonably privileged upbringing at home. Patrick uses a striking image to express this transformation in his life: ‘Before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in the deep mud. Then he who is mighty came and in his mercy he not only pulled me out but lifted me up and placed me at the very top of the wall’.

 Patrick’s own story brings home to us that the Lord can work powerfully in dark and troubling times. In the course of our lives we can be brought places that we would rather not go. We might be separated from someone or some place that has been very significant for us. We find ourselves isolated and adrift, in unfamiliar and threatening territory, unsure of our future and with regrets about the past. Patrick’s story reminds us that when we find ourselves in such wilderness places, the Lord does not abandon us. Rather when we seem to be losing so much, he can grace us all the more. Patrick says in his confessions: ‘I cannot be silent… about the great benefits and graces that the Lord saw fit to confer on me in the land of my captivity’. When we are brought low, for whatever reason, the Lord will be as generous with us as he was with Patrick. If we remain open to the Lord in such times, as Patrick did, the Lord will not only grace us but he will also grace many others through us.

 Patrick’s experience teaches us to be alert to the signs of God’s presence even in difficult times. Patrick’s story reminds us that the Lord continues to work powerfully in what appears to be unpromising situations. In this morning’s gospel reading the prospects for a great catch of fish seemed very slim to Peter and his companions. After all, they had worked hard all night and had caught nothing. Yet, Jesus saw great prospects where Peter and the others saw little of promise. When Peter and the others set out in response to the word of Jesus they saw for themselves what Jesus could see all along. The Lord is always creatively at work even in the most unpromising of situations. However, if his work is to bear fruit, he needs us to set out in faith and hope in response to his word, as Peter and his companions did in this morning’s gospel reading, as Patrick did when he left his home for a second time to come to the island of his former captivity. We pray this morning for something of Patrick’s courageous and expectant faith.

And/Or

(iv) Solemnity of Saint Patrick

 We venerate Patrick on this his feast day because he spent himself in proclaiming the gospel on this island, bringing Christ to huge numbers of people. He says of himself in his Confessions, ‘The love of Christ gave me to these people to serve them humbly and sincerely for my entire lifetime’. In amazement at what God had done through him, he asks, ‘How then does it happen in Ireland that a people who in their ignorance of God always worshipped only idols and unclean things up to now, have lately become a people of the Lord and are called children of God?’ He was amazed at how much God had done through him, all the more so because he was very aware of his failings and weaknesses. At the beginning of his Confessions he says, ‘although I am imperfect in many ways I want my brothers and sisters and my relatives to know what kind of man I am so that they may understand the aspiration of my life’. Later on in his Confessions he says, ‘I realize that I did not altogether lead a life as perfect as other believers’. Patrick knew that he was a mixture of wheat and weed, like the field in the parable of today’s gospel reading. In that parable the owner of the field does not despise the field because darnel was to be found among the wheat. He was happy to allow both to grow together knowing that they would be separated at harvest time. When the Lord looks upon us, he looks beyond our failings to the good that is within us. Patrick did not allow his awareness of his imperfections to hold him back from doing what he knew God was calling him to do. There is a lesson there for us all, especially in these days when we have become more aware of the church’s imperfections and failings.

 On his feast day we give thanks for Patrick’s response to God’s call to preach the gospel in the land of his former captivity. He was brought here as a slave at the age of 16, having been cruelly separated from his family and his homeland. This must have been a hugely traumatic experience for a young adolescent. Yet, out of this difficult experience came great good. Although Patrick had been baptized a Christian in his youth, he had developed no relationship with Christ. The faith into which he had been baptized had made no impact on his life. It was only in his captivity that Christ became real for him. He tells us: ‘When I came to Ireland… I used to pray many times during the day... My faith increased… the spirit was burning within me’. Patrick uses a striking image to express this transformation in his life: ‘Before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in the deep mud. Then he who is mighty came and in his mercy he not only pulled me out but lifted me up and placed me at the very top of the wall’. That spiritual awakening had enormous consequences, not only for himself but for the people of the land where he was held captive.

 In the course of our lives we can find ourselves in unfamiliar and threatening territory, unsure of our future and with regrets about the past. Patrick’s story reminds us that when we find ourselves in such wilderness places, the Lord is with us. Our brokenness can provide the openings for the Lord to enter our lives. Patrick says in his confessions: ‘I cannot be silent… about the great benefits and graces that the Lord saw fit to confer on me in the land of my captivity’. When we are brought low, for whatever reason, the Lord will be as generous with us as he was with Patrick, and if we seek the Lord in such times, as Patrick did, the Lord will not only grace us but he will grace many others through us.

 After six years Patrick said that he was given the opportunity to escape from his captivity. He was directed to a boat some distance from where he was minding sheep. The captain reluctantly took him on board. Three days sailing was followed by twenty eight days journeying through deserted country. At the end of that journey Patrick describes a very dark spiritual experience that he had, ‘when I was asleep Satan tempted me with a violence which I will remember as long as I am in this body. There fell on me as it were a great rock and I could not stir a limb’. However, he goes on to say that when he cried out in prayer he saw the sun rising in the sky and ‘the brilliance of that sun fell suddenly on me and lifted my depression at once’. Reflecting on that experience, he declares, ‘I believe that I was sustained by Christ my Lord and that his Spirit was even then calling out on my behalf’. Patrick was a great missionary but he also struggled with the darker experiences of life. Yet, he knew the Lord’s presence in his darkness of spirit as much as in the success of his mission. Patrick’s experience teaches us to be alert to the signs of God’s presence in difficult times as well as in good times, in those times when we are more aware of the darnel in our lives than of the wheat.

And/Or

(v) Solemnity of Saint Patrick

Today on the feast of St. Patrick, we remember Patrick as the one who lit a flame that has remained lighting for nearly sixteen hundred years. He was one of the first to preach the gospel in our land; he broke new ground. The Lord could have said of Patrick’s mission what he says in today’s first reading, ‘See, I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it?’

 Two of Patrick’s own writings have been preserved for us. It is above all from his Confession that we get the fascinating story of his life. He was probably born a citizen of Roman Britain and came from a Christian family. Yet, as a youth, his faith was lukewarm.  He writes in his Confessions: ‘We had turned away from God; we did not keep his commandments’. At the tender age of sixteen, his rather comfortable world came crashing down around him. Writing in his Confessions, he says: ‘I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people’. Patrick became an emigrant, against his wishes. Many of our young people today find themselves in a similar situation. We probably all know family and friends who have recently emigrated without it being their first choice. Patrick’s forced emigration was of a rougher kind. He was wrenched from the family that loved him by captives, and thrown into a foreign land as a slave. An experience like that could destroy a young man. Yet, Patrick tells us that in this harsh exile, he had a powerful experience of God’s presence. He writes in his Confessions about ‘the great benefits that the Lord saw fit to confer on me in my captivity’. In the wilderness of exile, when everything was taken from him, his faith started to fan into a living flame. In this moment of spiritual re-awaking he could easily have made his own the words of Paul in today’s second reading, ‘I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him... All I want is to know Christ’. Whenever we experience some devastating loss, the suffering can be bitter indeed; we find ourselves at the foot of the cross. Yet, like Patrick, we can also find, perhaps to our surprise, that the risen Lord comes to us in that dark place and touches us deeply.

 Patrick goes on to tell us in his Confessions that six years after first coming to Ireland as a slave, at the age of twenty two, he escaped from his captivity and made his way home. What a home coming that must have been for his parents. Patrick states that ‘they earnestly begged me that I should never leave them’. Yet, some years later, he had a vision of a man coming from Ireland with a large number of letters and in that vision he heard a crowd shout with one voice: ‘We ask you, boy, come and walk once more among us’. There and then he decided to answer the call. He first pursued studies for the priesthood, probably in Roman Gaul. After several years he made the journey back to the land of his captivity, initially as a priest. Having established himself as a missionary, he was appointed bishop. He writes in his Confessions: ‘I came to the Irish heathen to preach the good news’. This time Patrick voluntarily went into exile to bring the gospel to the very people who had formerly held him captive. He brought the precious gift of the Christian faith to those who had taken away his freedom many years earlier.

 At the heart of the gospel that Patrick preached was the message of the Lord’s love of us in all our frailty and weakness. That is the message of this morning’s gospel reading. The religious leaders brought a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus for his judgement. They thought of themselves as good religious people in contrast to the sinful woman. Jesus’ comment, ‘If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her’, showed them that they were just as much sinners as she was. The reality is that we are all sinners; we just sin in different ways. The good news of Jesus is that God loves us unconditionally in spite of our sin. To receive that love and allow ourselves to be transformed by it, we simply need the humility to acknowledge our sin and to come before the Lord in our poverty. This was the humility Paul shows in our second reading, ‘Not that I have become perfect yet... but I am still running’. This humility characterized the life of Patrick too and as is clear from the opening words of his Confession, ‘I am Patrick, a sinner, the most unlearned of men, utterly worthless in the eyes of many’. He knew his past was far from perfect. Yet, he came to understand that the Lord is more interested in our present and our future than in our past. That was the message of Jesus to the woman in the gospel reading. It is his message to all of us.

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Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 18:21-35

To be forgiven, you must forgive

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.

‘And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 18:21-35

Unless each of you forgives your brother and sister, the Father will not forgive you.

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

Reflections (8)

(i) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

In the parable that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading, the servant who owed the king a huge amount of money pleaded, ‘Give me time and I will pay you’. Another servant who owed this first servant a relatively small some of money pleaded with him in the same words, ‘Give me time and I will pay you’. Both of them asked for time to pay a debt that they owed. Neither of the two servants was given the time that they asked for. The king simply cancelled the huge debt of the first servant, with the result that the servant did not need time to repay his debt. The first servant had the second servant thrown into prison, with the result that he was deprived of the time that he needed to repay the debt. In this parable, Jesus appears to be drawing a sharp contrast between how God relates to us and how we often relate to each other. When both servants asked for time, they were thinking in terms of work. They needed time to work off what they owed. However, the king gave the servant what he was looking for before he had time to work for it. The parable suggests that God does not ask us to work for the mercy that we need. The forgiveness that God extends to us when we sin is not a response to our efforts. Jesus reveals a God who gives generously to those who have nothing to offer. Having graced us in this extraordinarily generous way, God expects us to grace others in similar ways.

 And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

The question that Peter put to Jesus in this morning’s gospel reading suggested that there was a limit to forgiveness. ‘How often must I forgive? As often as seven times?’ When Jesus replied, ‘Not seven, but seventy seven times’, he was suggesting that there was no limit to forgiveness. Peter’s round figure of seven seemed very reasonable. However, it was not reasonable to Jesus. He pushed Peter beyond where Peter was inclined to stop. The exchange between Peter and Jesus reminds us just how demanding the message of Jesus in the gospels is. In a sense, Jesus calls on us to be God-like, in the matter of forgiveness as in other matters. Jesus implies that God’s readiness to forgive those who ask his forgiveness is limitless and our readiness to forgive should also be limitless. Our reading this morning is taken from Matthew’s gospel, and earlier in that gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had called on his disciples to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. In reality, he calls on us to be as merciful as God is merciful, as forgiving as God is forgiving. We certainly need the help of the Holy Spirit, of God’s Spirit, if we are to respond to that call, if we are to be God-like as Jesus was.

 And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

Peter has a very significant profile in Matthew’s gospel. It is only in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus addresses him as the rock on which he will build his church. It is only in this gospel that we find Peter asking the question that he asks in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’  In the Scriptures, seven is a symbol of fullness and completion. To forgive someone seven times would seem to be as far as one could possibly go. However, in reply to Peter’s question Jesus states that we should forgive seventy seven times. In other words, there is to be no limit to our willingness to forgive. However, Jesus was aware that the human tendency was to put a limit on forgiveness; the parable he went on to speak bears that out. In that story, even someone who had been generously forgiven a huge debt could not find it in his heart to forgive another to a much lesser extent. Jesus was aware of how forgiving God was. In the gospel reading he is calling on Peter and on all of us to be God-like in our readiness to forgive. This is one aspect of what Jesus meant when he said earlier in Matthew’s gospel, ‘Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’.

 And/Or

(iv) Tuesday, Third week of Lent

When Peter asked Jesus the question, ‘How many times must I forgive my brother or sister if he wrongs me?’ and then suggests an answer to his own question, ‘as often as seven times?’ Peter’s answer would have sounded very reasonable to most people. Seven was considered the perfect number; to forgive seven times was perfect forgiveness. However, Jesus goes further that Peter’s suggested answer, ‘seventy seven times’. In other words, forgiveness must be limitless. The parable he goes on to speak explains why this must be so. The first servant owed the king ten thousand talents, which was an astronomical sum at the time. In cancelling the debt the king shows extraordinary generosity; mercy certainly triumphs over justice. The parable is reminding us that God’s readiness to forgive is limitless. There is nothing calculating about God’s mercy. It goes beyond what is normally found in the world of human experience. All that is required to release such mercy is to ask for it. When the first servant was approached by a fellow servant who owed him a very small sum, this first servant who had been so greatly graced acted without mercy towards his fellow servant. The parable is suggesting that when people are in debt to us, it is nothing compared to how much we are in debt to God, and if God is endless in his mercy towards us, we must be limitless in our mercy towards others. Such a willingness and ability to forgive those who have wronged us won’t always come easy to us. It will often be a lifetime’s work. It is our growing awareness of how great God’s mercy is towards us that will free us to show mercy to others eventually.

 And/Or

(v) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

You often hear the saying, ‘time is money’. That understanding of time seems to be present in this morning’s gospel reading. When the servant who owed the king a staggering amount of money discovered that he and all his family and possessions were to be sold into slavery to pay the debt, he asked the king for time to pay the debt, ‘Give me time and I will pay the whole sum’. The king agreed to his servant’s request. When the servant subsequently met a fellow servant who owed him a very small amount of money, his fellow servant made the same request of him that he had made of the king, ‘Give me time and I will pay you’. However the servant was not prepared to grant his fellow servant the precious gift of time, the time he needed to pay off the debt. Time can symbolize money but it can symbolize so much else as well. It can also symbolize forgiveness. Giving time to someone can be saying, ‘I withhold judgement for now’. One of the greatest gifts we can give to another is the gift of time. One of the messages of this morning’s parable may be that the Lord is much more generous with the gift of time that we are. The Lord gives us time to put things right, to return to him with all our heart, to give him the place in our lives that he deserves. As one of the letters of the New Testament puts it, ‘with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years’. The parable calls on us to give this gift of time to others with the same generosity that the Lord gives this gift to us.

 And/Or

(vi) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

Today’s first reading from the Book of Daniel is one of the great acts of sorrow for sin in the Jewish Scriptures. It is a communal act of sorrow. Although prayed by an individual, it is prayed on behalf of all the people. ‘Now we are despised throughout the world today because of our sins’. That confession of sin is followed by a firm promise to take a new path, ‘Now we put our whole heart into following you, into fearing you and seeking your face once more’. The prayer expresses confidence in God’s mercy, ‘Treat us gently, as you yourself are gentle and very merciful’. The people can make this prayer for mercy, in the confidence that the God of mercy will hear it. Although it is a Jewish prayer, it could be prayed by any Christian, as is the case with so many Jewish prayers. This prayer is reflected in the request of the servant in the gospel reading who threw himself at his master’s feet, imploring him, ‘Give me time and I will pay the whole sum’. He owed a very large sum of money to his master and needed time to pay it off. The master in the parable gave him more than he asked for. He simply cancelled the vast debt so that the time asked for was superfluous. There is an image here of God whose response to our prayer for mercy is always more generous than we could imagine. Having been graced so abundantly, the servant refused to grant a much smaller grace to a fellow servant who also asked for time to pay off a much smaller debt. As a result, the first servant lost the forgiveness he had been granted. Jesus is reminding us in this parable, that we are to give as we have received. The abundant mercy we have received from God obliges us to pass some of it on to others. That is why Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us’.

 And/Or

(vii) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

The first reading today is one of the great prayers for forgiveness in the Jewish Scriptures. The prayer reflects the experience of exile, after the overthrow of the king and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. ‘We have at this time no leader, no prophet, no prince, no holocaust, no sacrifice, no oblation, no incense, no place where we can offer you the first fruits’. The Temple, where people traditionally looked for and received God’s forgiveness is gone. Yet, the person praying is not despondent. They may not be able to offer sacrifices in the Temple, but they can offer another, more significant sacrifice, which doesn’t require a Temple, namely, ‘the contrite soul, the humbled spirit’ This sacrifice of a contrite soul and humble spirit gives the person praying confidence that God’s forgiveness will be forthcoming, ‘those who put their trust in you will not be disappointed’. The mood of this prayer is very close to the message of Jesus. He came to reassure people, as God’s Son, that those who put their trust in God’s mercy, those who look to God for forgiveness with a contrite spirit and heart, will receive God’s mercy in abundance. God does not withhold his mercy from those who seek it. That message finds expression in story form in the parable Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading. The servant who owed an unpayable debt to his master has that debt cancelled because the servant pleaded with the master with a contrite soul and heart. If the first part of the parable has that consoling message, the second part has a more challenging message. We are to give to others, as we have received from God. We are to forgive others, when forgiveness is asked of us, just as God forgives us when we ask to be forgiven.

 And/Or

(viii) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

It has been said that everyone is in favour of forgiveness until they have someone to forgive. It is easy to talk about the value of forgiveness but not so easy to give expression to that value in our lives when the need arises. It is only when we see forgiveness in action that we realize what a powerful reality it is. I was very struck by an expression of forgiveness in recent weeks. In the aftermath of the killings in Christchurch, a Muslim man in a wheelchair was in one of the Mosques at the time of the shooting. His wife was killed trying to protect him. The following day, he was asked by a member of the media what he would say to the mass murderer, if he were to meet him. He said, ‘I will tell him that inside him he has great potential to be a generous person, to be a kind person, to be a person who would save people, save humanity, rather than destroy them’. He went on to say, ‘I hope and I pray for him he would be a great civilian one day. I don’t have any grudge’. Such willingness to forgive in the face of evil leaves us all feeling very humbled. Here was a man who had so much to forgive and he freely forgave. In such moments, we catch a glimpse of God’s forgiveness. In the parable Jesus told, the master had much to forgive his servant but he forgave him freely. This same servant, having been forgiven so generously, subsequently had very little to forgive someone else but refused to do so. The parable suggests that God’s willingness to forgive generously is not in doubt. What can be in doubt is our willingness to pass on the forgiveness we have received to those who sin against us.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  revmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[mst3kproject]

Voodoo Woman

This movie was directed by Edward L. Cahn, who brought us The She Creature.  Its stars include Marla English, who was Andrea in The She Creature; Tom Conway, who was Mr. Chapple in The She Creature; and Lance Fuller, who was Dr. Ted Ericson in... you guessed it, The She Creature.  The monster suit is the She Creature with a different mask, although this time they have the good sense not to ever linger on a shot of it.  And the plot, about a weirdo turning women into monsters for no reason that is ever explained, is also from The She Creature.  It's like everybody involved in the earlier movie said, “well, that sucked – can we have a do-over?” and then they made Voodoo Woman.

Is it any better?  Uh... I honestly don't know how to answer that. It is definitely five thousand percent more racist.

The mad Dr. Gerhart has teamed up with voodoo priest Chaka to turn a young woman named Zuranda into a telepathically-controlled murderous monster.  The transformation works, but as soon as Gerhart orders the monster to kill, the spell breaks and she changes back.  Chaka declares that the problem is Zuranda herself just doesn't have a murderous disposition – Gerhart will have to find a subject with a little more innate bloodlust.  His wife Susan is much too meek for his purposes, but it just so happens that there's a party of thieves in this neck of the jungle, and their leader Marilyn is particularly merciless.  Perfect!

One thing that does make Voodoo Woman suck less than its sister movie is that this time, the cast actually looks interested. Lance Fuller and Marla English mumbled their way through The She Creature without emotion, looking and sounding as if they neither knew nor cared what was going on.  They're not entirely to blame for this, since the script gave them nothing much to work with: their characters were dull and passive and the story made no sense.  In Voodoo Woman they're playing villains, and seem to be having fun with these more proactive characters.

The non-She-Creature actors aren't bad, either.  I'm absolutely astonished how well Otis Greene does with his cringeworthy lines as Bobo (yes, Bobo) the manservant.  Martin Wilkins is unenthusiastic but serviceable as Chaka the voodoo priest... the 'unenthusiastic' part is probably because he spent most of his career playing voodoo priests and characters with names like 'Zimba' (in Panther Girl of the Congo) and 'Gamboso' (in Bomba and the Jungle Girl - is there a pattern here?).  I can't really say anything about Jean Davis as Zuranda because she has basically nothing to do, but Mary Ellen Kaye as Susan Gerhardt is pretty decent.  In fact, she has a certain amount of chemistry with both Conway and Greene, although none at all with her Designated Love Interest, Ted.  Ted himself is played rather blandly by an actor we’ve seen before in Swamp Diamonds.  He calls himself 'Touch Connors', which is the gay-porn-iest screen name I have ever seen outside of actual gay porn.

All the actors get a little help from the fact that the plot is not quite so baffling as it was in the She Creature.  Dr. Gerhardt's desire to create a murderous female monster doesn't make any more sense than Dr. Carlo Lombardi's, but for some reason the how part works better.  Lombardi's weird hypnosis thing is highly contrived in order to shove the 'reincarnation' thing in with it, and mostly just makes everybody's eyes cross as we try to figure it out. Voodoo Woman basically tells us, “a wizard and a mad scientist did it!”, and the audience just accepts that.

Of course, my willingness to accept it probably has a lot to do with my ignorance of actual voodoo and the fact that media like this has taught me to think of it as sorcery.  I have grave doubts whether this movie has any more to do with voodoo than The She Creature did with hypnosis.  Even much more recent film-makers (hello, Disney) seem to consider the word 'voodoo' a license to make shit up – as long as you have a few skulls lying around and stick some pins in a doll, it counts as voodoo.  Movies frequently take a similar 'it's all in the accessories' approach to Native American spirituality or Asian medicine, with the assumption that the (white) audience will believe those funny foreign people are capable of anything.

So let's talk about race in this movie.  Oh, boy.

The She Creature's ethnic stereotypes were limited to making fun of Swedish people.  In Voodoo Woman we get an entire African Village Set full of caricatures too broad even for The Leech Woman (although they have the sense not to emphasize the fakeness with stock footage of Actual Africa).  It's not that the movie is unsympathetic towards these characters.  Even when they're doing pretty sketchy stuff, they're still presented as victims of the violence Dr. Gerhardt has introduced into their world.  It's that even when kindly disposed towards them, the film can only see the as types, not as human beings.

Zuranda (played by a white actress in a lot of body paint) is nothing but the Helpless Native Maiden.  She never speaks, although she screams a lot, and she meets an ignominious end when one of Marilyn's followers rapes and strangles her.  Bobo the servant (Bobo. For fuck's sake) is a Man Friday, obedient and sexless and probably supposed to be much younger than Greene, who was thirty-three when he played the role.  Chaka the Witch Doctor comes closest to having a character arc – he seems occasionally conflicted about what he and Gerhardt are doing and what the gods (not to mention the villagers) are going to think about it, but persists because of his own greed.

I want to doubt that this movie actually set out to say anything about racial friction in colonial Africa, but the conflicts it shows us do follow a clear pattern.  The white characters live in constant fear of black violence.  Dr. Gerhardt is aware that his relationship with Chaka is the only thing keeping the villagers from killing him or driving him away.  Susan is terrified of her husband but does not try to run away because she is even more frightened of Gando, the tribesman he has hired to guard the house.  Marilyn's hired guide, Ted, repeatedly warns against going into certain areas or interrupting ceremonies, because the punishment is death.

Despite all this, though, it is always, always the white characters who strike first.  Ted has to stop the others from attacking the man who's been following them through the jungle, because to do so would be to provoke retaliation.  Left alone, all the man does is watch, but their fear of him leads to them thinking they must strike first.  When the treasure hunters are eventually attacked and captured, it is because the villagers want justice for the murder of Zuranda, which was even less 'provoked' than an attack on the following man would have been.

Dr. Gerhardt seems to have far more reason to be afraid of the villagers, but again, it's his own fault.  He knows very well that he has profaned their sacred spaces and destroyed homes and families with his monsters.  He accuses the natives of human sacrifice, but the way he talks about the ritual makes it clear that the sacrifice is itself a form of justice as well as a religious rite – the usual victim is 'some tribesman who has fallen out of favour'.  It is no surprise, and does indeed feel like justice, when the community chooses Dr. Gerhardt himself as this year's sacrifice.

Even when there is black-on-black violence in this film, it is always prompted by the white characters.  The monsterized Zuranda attacks a home, but does so under Dr. Gerhardt's control.  Bobo (his fucking name is Bobo.  I cannot get over that) offers to deliver a letter for Susan and is murdered by Gando, but is this again at Dr. Gerhardt's orders.  The presence of this domineering white man drives people to violent acts they would not have committed on their own.  He is defeated only when he encounters somebody more violent than himself, in the form of Marilyn.

Again, I don't think this was intentional.  I really doubt the film-makers sat down and thought about using this story to present the idea that the fear of inter-racial violence is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The weirdest part is that the commentary on race relations isn't even the only subtext you can tease out of Voodoo Woman. There's points at which the movie also seems to be talking about abusive relationships!  Dr. Gerhart treats his wife the same way he treats his monsters.  He tells Marilyn, as she is about to become the creature, “as long as you live, I will be your master.  You have no life other than that I give you.”  This is very much analagous to how he treats Susan, keeping her locked up and threatening to have her killed if she disobeys him.  Viewed in this light, it seems very significant indeed that the monsters are female, and that Gerhardt uses them to indulge his own desire to kill – it's an even more thoroughly twisted version of look what you made me do.

Come to think of it... although both Zuranda and Marilyn have dark hair, the monsters are blonde.  In light of the undercurrent of racial tension, this, too, is interesting.

Another set of ideas about sexual violence seem to be manifest in Marilyn.  As in The She-Creature, we have a sexually aggressive woman as a villain (Edmund L. Cahn had either an issue or a kink – I can't decide which), but the interesting part is that Marilyn's way of expressing this is stereotypically male.  She gets obvious sexual pleasure from watching men fight, like a man might from seeing women wrestle.  She persists in trying to seduce Ted after he's made it clear he's not interested, and seems to consider her multiple lovers a source of power rather than a source of shame.  These things make her threatening to the male viewer in a similar way to how a strange man in a dark parking garage might seem threatening to a woman.  I could write a damn thesis on that alone.

In the end, I don't know what to do with Voodoo Woman.  It's either a tacky racist movie, or a tacky racist movie that tackles some very weighty social issues.  Fortunately for us fans of MST3K fodder, it's also an amusing tacky racist movie.  The embarrassed extras, unconvincing 'jungle' sets, stupid monsters, and a gratuitous musical number (oh yes) make it fun to riff with friends.

And then there's Bobo.  They named a character Bobo and we're supposed to take that seriously.  Good god.

[curegbm]

Ajit Pai IS MAKING LOTS OF ENEMIES ON THE ROAD TO 5G

In moving to free up Wi-Fi and bolster superfast service, Pai has alienated some industries, congressional committees and Trump Cabinet leaders.

Photo caption: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai takes a drink from a mug during the commission vote on net neutrality in 2017. | AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

John Hendel, Politico, Jul 8, 2020

FCC chief Ajit Pai is angering a lot of powerful people as his chairmanship hits its fourth and potentially final year.

The Pentagon, the Commerce Department and the Department of Transportation. Electric utilities, airlines and the auto industry. Public safety officials and weather forecasters. Top lawmakers of both parties, including an ally of President Donald Trump’s who controls the FCC’s purse strings on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

And most of that is because of actions Pai has taken this year.

Every FCC chair makes decisions that draw criticism, from judging proposed mergers by broadcasters and cellphone companies to setting rules for net neutrality and robocalls. But the barbs coming Pai’s way have multiplied in recent months as he leads the commission in divvying up billions of dollars’ worth of wireless spectrum for a new generation of Wi-Fi and 5G wireless service — moves that are leaving a lengthening trail of winners and losers and putting Pai's decision-making and career experts under the microscope.

The clear winners include Comcast, Facebook, AT&T and other Silicon Valley and telecom titans that say Pai’s policies will help the U.S. vie with China for technological supremacy. To his allies, Pai is heroic for taking on parochial interests keeping America from making the objectively best uses of its digital resources.

To his foes, however, he’s going rogue in ways that waste taxpayer money and could endanger public safety.

Some of them are expressing their criticisms of Pai in deeply personal terms.

“I wouldn’t take him with me to buy a car because he’d pay full sticker price and then try to give the salesman a bonus,” Senate appropriator John Kennedy (R-La.) said earlier this year, criticizing Pai’s plan to offer satellite operators billions of dollars to give up their airwaves for 5G. After Pai approved another 5G plan over the Pentagon’s objections, Senate Armed Services Chair Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) hinted that “when people try to push bad policy through in the middle of a crisis, without much coordination with seemingly anyone else, it makes me wonder about their motives."

Critics blame a tunnel-vision regulatory culture that they say Pai has leaned into as agency chief.

The FCC embodies “very much a regulatory capture mindset” and “arrogance,” said Joy Ditto, who recently led the Utilities Technology Council in an unsuccessful airwaves fight with the commission on behalf of electric utilities. She accused the agency of putting its faith in tech and telecom companies’ promises of improved internet connections, at the expense of safety concerns from other spectrum-dependent industries.

They literally believe in their heart that nothing that we said is true … that’s just very dangerous thinking,” said Ditto, now the CEO of the American Public Power Association, in an interview. “The impression was ‘We’re smarter than you, you don’t really know what you’re talking about because you don’t have our level of expertise.’”

Similar complaints have come from Trump’s Defense and Commerce departments — despite the praise Pai’s decisions have received from administration leaders like Attorney General William Barr and White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, upbraided Pai during a June 24 oversight hearing for siding against federal experts on battles over weather forecasting, aviation, transportation safety and national security. She stared down the agency chief as she rattled off her concerns, then laughed in seeming exasperation and told him that the FCC shouldn't be the "default agency" to decide contentious calls in a vacuum.

"It seems to be that the agency has narrowed its interest in the standard for public broadband policy," Cantwell lamented. "Today the FCC dismisses national priorities and defaults to the belief that the highest and best use of spectrum is always terrestrial broadband."

Senators continued to grill Pai over similar issues throughout the hearing, which stretched past three hours — prompting the sometimes heated agency chief to scoff over what he dubbed "absolute nonsense" from critics like the Pentagon.

'Driven by the engineering'

Pai dismisses much of the criticism, telling POLITICO during a June news conference that he and his agency have to make tough calls because of a lack of readily available airwaves. He emphasized the agency's mandate to free up the communications resources for the private sector — a process he said is motivated by objective, expert analysis and includes all necessary consultation with others.

"We’ve been driven by the engineering," Pai said. "Not the politics, not the press releases, but what are the facts?"

"That is what 5G leadership is, focusing on the facts and coming up with a solution that delivers better return on the value to the American people for the resource that belongs to the American people," added Pai, who has spent years pushing the goals of speeding ahead advanced wireless networks and rural broadband service.

It doesn't hurt, however, that Pai's effort has the strong backing of the president. At a White House speech in the spring of last year, Trump stood with Pai to his right, applauding the agency chief's "fantastic job" and making his 5G mandate clear.

"The race to 5G is a race America must win,” Trump said. “My administration is focused on freeing up as much wireless spectrum as needed.” Then he ribbed Pai about the possibility of pushing the effort even further: "I guess at some point we're going to be talking about number 6," Trump said. "You think that's true, Ajit?"

Pai, who became a commissioner in 2012, found himself embroiled in partisan tussling soon after Trump elevated him to chair in January 2017. Defying death threats and Democratic outcry, he repealed Obama-era policies such as the FCC’s old media ownership restrictions and net neutrality regulations — defending the latter decision by starring in a deliberately dorky video designed to go viral. If his policies drew attention, so did the “cartoonishly large” Reese’s coffee mug he drank from during the net neutrality vote.

But as the airwaves are squeezed by his latest policy moves, Pai is alienating sectors beyond the usual communications players. These more complicated spats don’t fall along traditional partisan lines, and sometimes put Pai at loggerheads with Trump allies like Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and top Hill Republicans.

Photo caption: President Donald Trump shakes Pai's before delivering remarks on 5G deployment in the United States in April 2019. | Tom Brenner/Getty Images

An April vote to open an entire band known as 6 GHz for Wi-Fi drew applause from cable giants like Comcast and Silicon Valley titans like Facebook. But electric utilities and public safety officials cried foul, saying it could disrupt their use of the same airwaves for critical infrastructure services.

That same month, Pai bucked the bulk of the Trump administration by approving a plan by the Virginia satellite company Ligado Networks to repurpose its existing airwaves for 5G service — a project that the Pentagon and DOT say could upend the nation’s GPS signals. He also overrode objections from the DOT and automotive interests in advancing a plan to allow Wi-Fi service in a slice of spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band that had been set aside for vehicle safety.

In the coming months, the FCC is expected to hold votes completing the transportation plans and addressing unresolved issues in the 6 GHz Wi-Fi debate.

Spectrum divides multiply

The groups on the losing ends of these fights complain that Pai and his agency are ignoring their valid concerns.

“All of the pleas of safety experts in transportation ... we have effectively been shut out of the discussion,” Shailen Bhatt, who represents automotive and transportation interests as CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society, told POLITICO. “I don’t understand why appropriate respect and consideration is not being given to the U.S. Department of Transportation.”

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) lamented that Pai took seven months to reply to one of her letters in which she voiced concerns about how his airwaves agenda might squeeze utilities and emergency responders. She suggested the delay was because Pai “failed to adequately cooperate or consult with these entities.”

Following the FCC's Ligado approval, the Pentagon also complained about feeling ignored.

“There was not a give and take, a back and forth that we typically go through,” DoD Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy told Senate Armed Services lawmakers during a May 6 hearing probing the FCC’s Ligado approval.

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, on behalf of the executive branch, has asked the FCC to redo its Ligado’s decision, suggesting that Pai's sign-off "represents an unexplained break from the healthy respect that NTIA and the executive branch have generally received from the Commission."

Pai has repeatedly sought to tamp down such fears and challenged some of these narratives. Regarding Ligado, he told Congress that the FCC had reached out to top Pentagon officials prior to announcing his proposed approval. In June, he received a briefing from Defense, Transportation and Commerce officials, which included classified information from defense officials.

In speeches and news conferences, Pai said he seriously vets critics’ objections, even when commission votes don’t concede to them.

His allies agree.

“We are asked to make the tough calls," Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said during a recent event.

Pai has won plenty of praise from traditional telecom analysts and observers, including some public interest groups that slammed his earlier deregulatory moves. They said the Pentagon, auto industry and utilities represent overly cautious hoarding of airwaves, and that Pai is brave to confront these turf wars. All five commissioners voted unanimously on most of these spats.

“The FCC is the expert agency that’s charged with making these decisions,” said Ligado CEO Doug Smith, who has suggested that the Pentagon’s campaign against his company’s 5G plans contradicts objective analysis from within the administration (a case receiving some validation from internal emails obtained by POLITICO). “They’re an independent body. They have to balance all the different competing interests.”

The advocacy group Public Knowledge, which receives some funding from Ligado and tech and telecom interests, argued that people should defer to the FCC’s engineering expertise, calling that "key to our success" in 5G. They led a letter rallying groups behind that idea.

A split administration

A widely acknowledged administration civil war over the airwaves, meanwhile, is making Pai’s job harder.

In the U.S., the FCC regulates commercial airwaves while the Commerce Department’s NTIA is supposed to oversee federally held wireless spectrum — and help mediate some of these fierce 5G fights. But the NTIA has lacked a Senate-confirmed leader for more than a year, and Cabinet agencies like the Pentagon and DOT have grown more outspoken about their spectrum grievances.

The dysfunction has caused some to argue the whole system may be busted and require creation of a brand-new government agency.

A Commerce Department advisory group is preparing a report contemplating such a possibility. “We generally reached agreement that the country’s current approach for managing the use of spectrum is no longer effectively serving the needs of the entire stakeholder community,” Jennifer Manner, a satellite executive preparing that report, told advisory group colleagues in April.

Even so, Pai should have clued in the executive branch and industry stakeholders when formulating the priorities in his 5G strategies, concluded a Government Accountability Office report issued at the end of June, questioning a lack of measure benchmarks driving Pai's agenda and a set of ambitions seemingly developed in a silo.

One challenge is disagreement over what data really counts. Ditto, the utility industry representative, once urged the commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to agree to hash out the differences between telecom and utility interests — but said that idea went nowhere. “The first time I went to kind of float that idea to some FCC staff, it was like I was suggesting killing their firstborn,” she said.

Still, the FCC has since shown some openness. O'Rielly wrote the DOE in June with Pai's blessing, proposing an interagency partnership on airwave efficiency.

But Ditto counts herself among those who say radical FCC overhaul may be the only solution.

“I don’t think it can continue in its same structure because we’re going to keep having these misguided proposals put out there that are going to put our country back,” she said. “I think ultimately you’d need legislative changes.”

Photo caption: Pai testifies during a hearing before Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in June. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Pai?

Pai’s own future, meanwhile, is an open question amid widespread expectation that he'll depart if Joe Biden wins the White House in November. Even if Trump wins reelection, many expect Pai will step aside before being forced to leave following his term's expiration in 2021.

Many former FCC leaders went on to represent industries that benefit from the commission’s decisions under Pai: Former Chair Kevin Martin is a top lobbyist for Facebook; former Chair Michael Powell heads cable industry trade group NCTA; Meredith Attwell Baker leads wireless trade group CTIA and Jonathan Adelstein heads the Wireless Infrastructure Association; former Commissioners Robert McDowell and Mignon Clyburn helped shepherd through T-Mobile's recent high-profile merger.

Pai himself is a former Verizon lawyer, a stint that many of his critics are happy to invoke. But the traditional telecom players say they are thrilled to see Pai making these hard choices that have infuriated some lawmakers and industries throughout Washington.

“You’ve been a leader on making sure we get the spectrum we need,” Adelstein told Pai during a virtual conference in mid-May. “It’s always a challenge with different competing demands.”

Pai, in turn, told the wireless conference attendees: “The FCC’s gotten in place a lot of creative spectrum bands that you can use as you see fit.”

Pai has brushed off talk about his own future, although rumors about a possible political run long hounded the native Kansan. He likes to joke about replacing TV star Judge Judy.

National Association of Broadcasters chief Gordon Smith offered lighthearted acknowledgment of the political rumor-mongering during a May event.

“I think you should be going to the White House,” he told Pai. “I’d be happy to be your vice president."

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/08/ajit-pai-enemies-5g-351803

==

CBRS PAL auction poised to emerge a doozy, possibly raising $10B

Monica Alleven, Fierce Wireless, Jul 7, 2020

Even though the CBRS 3.5 GHz auction is part of a shared spectrum paradigm that some considered to be part of a grand experiment, it’s lining up to be a doozy, with 271 qualified applicants that could collectively bid anywhere from $4.4 billion to upwards of $10 billion based on analyst estimates.

The FCC released the list of qualified bidders on July 1, and it includes the usual suspects: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Comcast and Dish Network; Dish is bidding under the name Wetterhorn Wireless.

But there’s a long list of not-so-usual suspects in this auction. Raymond James analysts noted that it’s the largest number of bidders since Auction 5, the original PCS C Band auction, in the mid-1990s that attracted 255 bidders. The PCS auctions kicked off a Wild West of sorts in wireless, creating myriad licensees and service providers across the country until consolidation whittled the number down to the current handful of nationals and remaining regional service providers.

Because the CBRS auction, dubbed Auction 105, includes 22,631 licenses and they’re the size of counties, a lot more entities are eligible and interested in bidding than auctions in the intervening years. Utilities, rural service providers and universities are in the mix along with traditional bidders. 

In terms of supply, Auction 105 offers a total of 70 MHz of available spectrum compared to the C-band Auction 107, which will offer 280 MHz when that gets underway on December 8. 

Even though supply will be relatively low in the CBRS auction, demand could be quite high, given the 271 qualified bidders versus 23 to 70 bidders in the previous five auctions, noted Raymond James analyst Ric Prentiss.

RELATED: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Cox, Charter among CBRS bidders

In fact, the vast majority of bidders in Auction 105 are small and have applied for rural (75 bidders), small business (7 bidders) or very small business (129 bidders) bidding credits, according to Raymond James. The other 60 bidders include the aforementioned usual suspects, as well as 11 public energy companies.

Some familiar names on the qualified bidding list include Chevron, Bluegrass Consortium, Cincinnati Bell, Cox Communications, Deere & Company, Duke University and Health System, Frontier Communications, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inland Cellular, Midcontinent Communications, Puerto Rico Telephone Company, San Diego Electric Gas and Electric Company, Shenandoah Cable Television and Windstream Services.

The applicants that did not qualify include Corning, Dallas Independent School District, Mile High Networks, the University of Kentucky and Montana Internet Association, to name a few.

Some industry analysts have predicted the CBRS auction gross proceeds will amount to $4.4 billion at $0.20 per MHz-POP. But Raymond James' estimate is significantly higher.

“With such a diverse group of qualified bidders and limited supply, it is hard to gauge potential pricing, but we would expect gross proceeds for Auction 105 could be in the $8 - $10B range, with the C-band auction expected to produce dramatically higher bids,” Prentiss wrote.

CBRS spectrum is expected to greatly increase the number of private networks in the U.S. Expectations also are high for a healthy secondary market as PAL licensees seek to lease their spectrum to other entities.

Per the FCC’s rules, any frequencies designated for priority access that are not used by a PAL holder may be used by the General Authorized Access (GAA) users. Spectrum Access System (SAS) administrators like Federated Wireless expect a secondary market for PAL licenses will develop as PAL winners build out their networks and find areas where they have excess capacity.  

RELATED: Editor’s Corner—Early CBRS deployments: Indoors or out?

The CBRS band started out as the “Innovation Band,” which still lives up to its namesake to various degrees. It’s not exactly the same as it was when the FCC created it under Tom Wheeler’s chairmanship.

When the Trump administration took over and Ajit Pai was appointed chairman of the FCC, he assigned a sort of “do-over” for the band to fellow Republican Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, who set out to make it a more 5G-friendly band as the rest of the world went gangbusters on mid-band spectrum for 5G. In the U.S., the 3.5 GHz band is the nearest-term opportunity for operators to acquire new mid-band spectrum for 5G, the next closest opportunity being the C-band.

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/cbrs-pal-auction-poised-to-be-a-doozy-possibly-raising-10b

--

Related Posts:

An Exposé of the FCC: An Agency Captured by the Industries it Regulates

GAO 2012 Mobile Phone Report to the Congress

FCC: Why We Need Stronger Cell Phone Radiation Regulations--Key Testimony

"We Have No Reason to Believe 5G is Safe" (Scientific American)

Scientific American Created Confusion about 5G's Safety: Will They Clear It Up?

5G Wireless Technology: Is 5G Harmful to Our Health?

5G Wireless Technology: Millimeter Wave Health Effects

Scientists and Doctors Demand Moratorium on 5G

--

Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D., Director

Center for Family and Community Health

School of Public Health

University of California, Berkeley

Electromagnetic Radiation Safety

Website:          https://www.saferemr.com

Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/SaferEMR

Twitter:            @berkeleyprc

[reneeacaseyfl]

Fired for loving Tupac?: raceAhead

Being fired is a nightmare. Having your firing become a national news story, has got to be worse.

And yet, I can’t help but feel that 66-year-old Jerry Foxhoven, the now former director of Iowa’s Department of Human Services, won’t be trapped in a prison of seclusion for long.

Foxhoven, a man who presents as most white, middle-aged government bureaucrats tend to, is a known superfan of the rapper Tupac. As a result, his leadership habit was to pepper his emails with Tupac-inspired memes, lyrics, and pep talks. 

After two years in his post, Foxhoven was abruptly asked to resign in June.

His last great act before the Iowa governor informed him that “they were going in another direction,” was to send a mass email to some 4,300 agency employees to recognize Father’s Day, Tupac’s upcoming birthday, and his own work anniversary. 

The email included a picture of a smiling Tupac. “Pay no mind to those who talk behind your back,” he said, sharing a common Tupac meme. “It simply means that you are 2 steps ahead.” He also praised staffers, saying that it was “absolute honor to lead such a dedicated and committed group of people.”

“You are such a breath of fresh air, Jerry!” responded one staffer, according to NPR’s review of the emails:

“The hundreds of pages of emails reviewed by NPR show that by all accounts Foxhoven was widely admired by his staff and regularly took time to mentor subordinates. In one email he dispensed career advice, noting that he was inspired at the agency by the well-known Tupac song ‘Changes.’”

But at least one employee did complain, and Foxhoven fans worry that the hater triggered his abrupt dismissal. 

“As the governor has said, a lot of factors contributed to the resignation of Jerry Foxhoven and now Gov. Reynolds is looking forward to taking DHS in a new direction,” a spokesperson for Gov. Kim Reynolds said. 

Superfans are interesting people. As a boss, probably even more so.

Foxhoven regularly included Tupac in his communications. He played the rapper’s music on “Tupac Fridays” in the office, he assigned Tupac reading assignments for an ethics class he taught at Drake University. He even celebrated his own 65th birthday with Tupac themed baked goods including cookies decorated to say “Thug Life.”

Dude’s legit.

That said, it takes an unusual degree of privilege and position power to inflict your personal passion on everyone who reports to you.

Foxhoven himself is worried that he’d holla’d too much, telling NPR that he wonders if he had gotten his words of wisdom from Barry Manilow instead, things might not have gotten this krazy.

“I always try to assume the best of everybody, and I can’t imagine that [the governor] would base her decision on the Tupac incident,” he says. “If this is the reason, I’m really disappointed.”

But times goes on, and everybody grows.

Now, Foxhoven hopes that there are better dayz ahead and as a society we’ll start making changes.

“It’s important for us to break down those stereotypes: if you listen to rap music, you’re a criminal or dangerous. It’s not true at all,” he told NPR. He was particularly disturbed by a recent news story about a 17-year-old Arizona boy was stabbed for listening to rap music. 

Foxhoven hopes in the future that his story will help in “having open discussions about race and what we have in common, instead of what separates us.”

On Point

House Democrats call for increased security for Rep. Ilhan Omar after Trump rally House members are calling for renewed security for freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar after President Trump whipped the crowd into a frenzy at his re-election rally last night in North Carolina—allowing them to chant “Send her back!” repeatedly. “It’s crystal clear to me that her life is in imminent danger,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “He has threatened the safety of a member of Congress. That takes this to a whole different level.” Politico

After a week of protests in Puerto Rico, calls for the governor to resign For the fifth day in a row, Puerto Ricans are calling for Gov. Ricardo Rosselló to resign, following a leak of hundreds of pages of disturbing misogynistic and homophobic texts between Rosselló and his senior advisers. Singer Ricky Martin was among the high profile Puerto Ricans who marched to the governor’s mansion in San Juan; Lin-Manuel Miranda led a demonstration in New York calling on Rosselló to step down. News outlets are calling San Juan a “war zone.” Among the many disturbing messages, the governor’s chief financial officers joked about the piles of dead bodies after Hurricane Maria in 2017. The governor has apologized but refuses to leave. El Nuevo Dia has Spanish language coverage here, find compelling photos here. NPR

Death rates skyrocketed in communities awash with opioid pills A new database made public this week paints a stark picture of the opioid epidemic. In the seven years between 2006 and 2012 rural communities in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia were flooded with a disproportionate share of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills via manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies, an analysis by The Washington Post reveals. Thirteen of the affected counties had an opioid death rate more than eight times the national rate; seven of them were in West Virginia. Click through details about both the analysis and the damage that’s been done. Washington Post

The Ebola outbreak is now a global health emergency With 1,600 fatalities, it is now the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history,  playing out largely in a conflict zone in Democratic Republic of Congo. But now, a case has been confirmed in Goma, a city of two million people with a major international airport. The declaration was made by the World Health Organization, the fifth such declaration in history. While the risk of spread outside of DRC remains low, but officials are afraid that won’t last without immediate international intervention. “Now is the time for the international community to stand in solidarity with the people of DRC,” the director-general of WHO said during a press conference yesterday. CNN

On Background

Africa will be home to the next tech boom Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, with increasingly vibrant cities and a large population of tech-savvy people under 25. This, says Omoju Miller, the head of machine learning at software development platform Github, is a recipe for breakthrough innovation. “We are the at edge of another kind of technology frontier, and this time around, it is not happening in San Francisco, it is taking place in Africa,” she said at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference this week. The Lagos, Nigeria native recounted how she was able to access ridesharing and food delivery apps during a recent visit home, and how her rural relatives use mobile payments effortlessly. “This is going to radically change what the technology environment is going to look like.” Fortune

An advertising agency whose creative professionals have been or are currently incarcerated ConCreates was the brainchild of Vincent Bragg, who studied corporate and real estate law while he was incarcerated for five years on a drug sentence. He also co-founded a creative agency. ConCreates generates ideas via a crowdsourcing mechanism, putting out de facto RFPs into a network of 436 currently incarcerated and 319 formerly incarcerated people. “Our mission is to challenge the stigma of how society views people with a criminal history, as well as how people with a criminal history view themselves,” says Bragg. “If we’re able to show them they’re not just a bank robber, or not just a drug dealer, that they have creative potential, then we can show them an opportunity to take a new career path.” People are paid for every idea they put into the network, more as the idea develops. The network owns 10% of the company and shares in profits. Fast Company

Understanding white privilege Kevin Walker, President and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation, starts this heartfelt blog post with a prompt that was asked on a recent NWAF board retreat: “Share a reflection on a time that your identity—who you are—changed or informed a conversation in a way that was visible to you.” Walker, a white man, begins with a story he used to tell for laughs, a time when he was stopped, detained, and interrogated by the police near a peace garden, of all things. It was all a misunderstanding! He was even given a friendly feedback survey to rate the “detention” experience. Kind of kooky, right? He’s since learned that his colleagues of color are hassled like this all the time. “Because my identity, who I am, carries with it a lifetime of learned trust that the system will not attack me,” he writes. If he had been born into any other identity, that would not be true. Now, the story, “can be a way for me to own up to and talk about the white privilege that I’m enmeshed in every day.” Perfect for sharing. NWAF blog

Tamara El-Waylly helps produce raceAhead.

Quote

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces / Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races / We under, I wonder what it takes to make this / One better place, let’s erase the wasted / Take the evil out the people, they’ll be acting right / ‘Cause both Black and White are smoking crack tonight / And the only time we chill is when we kill each other /

—Tupac, from “Changes”

Credit: Source link

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Fired for loving Tupac?: raceAhead

Being fired is a nightmare. Having your firing become a national news story, has got to be worse.

And yet, I can’t help but feel that 66-year-old Jerry Foxhoven, the now former director of Iowa’s Department of Human Services, won’t be trapped in a prison of seclusion for long.

Foxhoven, a man who presents as most white, middle-aged government bureaucrats tend to, is a known superfan of the rapper Tupac. As a result, his leadership habit was to pepper his emails with Tupac-inspired memes, lyrics, and pep talks. 

After two years in his post, Foxhoven was abruptly asked to resign in June.

His last great act before the Iowa governor informed him that “they were going in another direction,” was to send a mass email to some 4,300 agency employees to recognize Father’s Day, Tupac’s upcoming birthday, and his own work anniversary. 

The email included a picture of a smiling Tupac. “Pay no mind to those who talk behind your back,” he said, sharing a common Tupac meme. “It simply means that you are 2 steps ahead.” He also praised staffers, saying that it was “absolute honor to lead such a dedicated and committed group of people.”

“You are such a breath of fresh air, Jerry!” responded one staffer, according to NPR’s review of the emails:

“The hundreds of pages of emails reviewed by NPR show that by all accounts Foxhoven was widely admired by his staff and regularly took time to mentor subordinates. In one email he dispensed career advice, noting that he was inspired at the agency by the well-known Tupac song ‘Changes.’”

But at least one employee did complain, and Foxhoven fans worry that the hater triggered his abrupt dismissal. 

“As the governor has said, a lot of factors contributed to the resignation of Jerry Foxhoven and now Gov. Reynolds is looking forward to taking DHS in a new direction,” a spokesperson for Gov. Kim Reynolds said. 

Superfans are interesting people. As a boss, probably even more so.

Foxhoven regularly included Tupac in his communications. He played the rapper’s music on “Tupac Fridays” in the office, he assigned Tupac reading assignments for an ethics class he taught at Drake University. He even celebrated his own 65th birthday with Tupac themed baked goods including cookies decorated to say “Thug Life.”

Dude’s legit.

That said, it takes an unusual degree of privilege and position power to inflict your personal passion on everyone who reports to you.

Foxhoven himself is worried that he’d holla’d too much, telling NPR that he wonders if he had gotten his words of wisdom from Barry Manilow instead, things might not have gotten this krazy.

“I always try to assume the best of everybody, and I can’t imagine that [the governor] would base her decision on the Tupac incident,” he says. “If this is the reason, I’m really disappointed.”

But times goes on, and everybody grows.

Now, Foxhoven hopes that there are better dayz ahead and as a society we’ll start making changes.

“It’s important for us to break down those stereotypes: if you listen to rap music, you’re a criminal or dangerous. It’s not true at all,” he told NPR. He was particularly disturbed by a recent news story about a 17-year-old Arizona boy was stabbed for listening to rap music. 

Foxhoven hopes in the future that his story will help in “having open discussions about race and what we have in common, instead of what separates us.”

On Point

House Democrats call for increased security for Rep. Ilhan Omar after Trump rally House members are calling for renewed security for freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar after President Trump whipped the crowd into a frenzy at his re-election rally last night in North Carolina—allowing them to chant “Send her back!” repeatedly. “It’s crystal clear to me that her life is in imminent danger,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “He has threatened the safety of a member of Congress. That takes this to a whole different level.” Politico

After a week of protests in Puerto Rico, calls for the governor to resign For the fifth day in a row, Puerto Ricans are calling for Gov. Ricardo Rosselló to resign, following a leak of hundreds of pages of disturbing misogynistic and homophobic texts between Rosselló and his senior advisers. Singer Ricky Martin was among the high profile Puerto Ricans who marched to the governor’s mansion in San Juan; Lin-Manuel Miranda led a demonstration in New York calling on Rosselló to step down. News outlets are calling San Juan a “war zone.” Among the many disturbing messages, the governor’s chief financial officers joked about the piles of dead bodies after Hurricane Maria in 2017. The governor has apologized but refuses to leave. El Nuevo Dia has Spanish language coverage here, find compelling photos here. NPR

Death rates skyrocketed in communities awash with opioid pills A new database made public this week paints a stark picture of the opioid epidemic. In the seven years between 2006 and 2012 rural communities in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia were flooded with a disproportionate share of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills via manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies, an analysis by The Washington Post reveals. Thirteen of the affected counties had an opioid death rate more than eight times the national rate; seven of them were in West Virginia. Click through details about both the analysis and the damage that’s been done. Washington Post

The Ebola outbreak is now a global health emergency With 1,600 fatalities, it is now the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history,  playing out largely in a conflict zone in Democratic Republic of Congo. But now, a case has been confirmed in Goma, a city of two million people with a major international airport. The declaration was made by the World Health Organization, the fifth such declaration in history. While the risk of spread outside of DRC remains low, but officials are afraid that won’t last without immediate international intervention. “Now is the time for the international community to stand in solidarity with the people of DRC,” the director-general of WHO said during a press conference yesterday. CNN

On Background

Africa will be home to the next tech boom Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, with increasingly vibrant cities and a large population of tech-savvy people under 25. This, says Omoju Miller, the head of machine learning at software development platform Github, is a recipe for breakthrough innovation. “We are the at edge of another kind of technology frontier, and this time around, it is not happening in San Francisco, it is taking place in Africa,” she said at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference this week. The Lagos, Nigeria native recounted how she was able to access ridesharing and food delivery apps during a recent visit home, and how her rural relatives use mobile payments effortlessly. “This is going to radically change what the technology environment is going to look like.” Fortune

An advertising agency whose creative professionals have been or are currently incarcerated ConCreates was the brainchild of Vincent Bragg, who studied corporate and real estate law while he was incarcerated for five years on a drug sentence. He also co-founded a creative agency. ConCreates generates ideas via a crowdsourcing mechanism, putting out de facto RFPs into a network of 436 currently incarcerated and 319 formerly incarcerated people. “Our mission is to challenge the stigma of how society views people with a criminal history, as well as how people with a criminal history view themselves,” says Bragg. “If we’re able to show them they’re not just a bank robber, or not just a drug dealer, that they have creative potential, then we can show them an opportunity to take a new career path.” People are paid for every idea they put into the network, more as the idea develops. The network owns 10% of the company and shares in profits. Fast Company

Understanding white privilege Kevin Walker, President and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation, starts this heartfelt blog post with a prompt that was asked on a recent NWAF board retreat: “Share a reflection on a time that your identity—who you are—changed or informed a conversation in a way that was visible to you.” Walker, a white man, begins with a story he used to tell for laughs, a time when he was stopped, detained, and interrogated by the police near a peace garden, of all things. It was all a misunderstanding! He was even given a friendly feedback survey to rate the “detention” experience. Kind of kooky, right? He’s since learned that his colleagues of color are hassled like this all the time. “Because my identity, who I am, carries with it a lifetime of learned trust that the system will not attack me,” he writes. If he had been born into any other identity, that would not be true. Now, the story, “can be a way for me to own up to and talk about the white privilege that I’m enmeshed in every day.” Perfect for sharing. NWAF blog

Tamara El-Waylly helps produce raceAhead.

Quote

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces / Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races / We under, I wonder what it takes to make this / One better place, let’s erase the wasted / Take the evil out the people, they’ll be acting right / ‘Cause both Black and White are smoking crack tonight / And the only time we chill is when we kill each other /

—Tupac, from “Changes”

Credit: Source link

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Fired for loving Tupac?: raceAhead

Being fired is a nightmare. Having your firing become a national news story, has got to be worse.

And yet, I can’t help but feel that 66-year-old Jerry Foxhoven, the now former director of Iowa’s Department of Human Services, won’t be trapped in a prison of seclusion for long.

Foxhoven, a man who presents as most white, middle-aged government bureaucrats tend to, is a known superfan of the rapper Tupac. As a result, his leadership habit was to pepper his emails with Tupac-inspired memes, lyrics, and pep talks. 

After two years in his post, Foxhoven was abruptly asked to resign in June.

His last great act before the Iowa governor informed him that “they were going in another direction,” was to send a mass email to some 4,300 agency employees to recognize Father’s Day, Tupac’s upcoming birthday, and his own work anniversary. 

The email included a picture of a smiling Tupac. “Pay no mind to those who talk behind your back,” he said, sharing a common Tupac meme. “It simply means that you are 2 steps ahead.” He also praised staffers, saying that it was “absolute honor to lead such a dedicated and committed group of people.”

“You are such a breath of fresh air, Jerry!” responded one staffer, according to NPR’s review of the emails:

“The hundreds of pages of emails reviewed by NPR show that by all accounts Foxhoven was widely admired by his staff and regularly took time to mentor subordinates. In one email he dispensed career advice, noting that he was inspired at the agency by the well-known Tupac song ‘Changes.’”

But at least one employee did complain, and Foxhoven fans worry that the hater triggered his abrupt dismissal. 

“As the governor has said, a lot of factors contributed to the resignation of Jerry Foxhoven and now Gov. Reynolds is looking forward to taking DHS in a new direction,” a spokesperson for Gov. Kim Reynolds said. 

Superfans are interesting people. As a boss, probably even more so.

Foxhoven regularly included Tupac in his communications. He played the rapper’s music on “Tupac Fridays” in the office, he assigned Tupac reading assignments for an ethics class he taught at Drake University. He even celebrated his own 65th birthday with Tupac themed baked goods including cookies decorated to say “Thug Life.”

Dude’s legit.

That said, it takes an unusual degree of privilege and position power to inflict your personal passion on everyone who reports to you.

Foxhoven himself is worried that he’d holla’d too much, telling NPR that he wonders if he had gotten his words of wisdom from Barry Manilow instead, things might not have gotten this krazy.

“I always try to assume the best of everybody, and I can’t imagine that [the governor] would base her decision on the Tupac incident,” he says. “If this is the reason, I’m really disappointed.”

But times goes on, and everybody grows.

Now, Foxhoven hopes that there are better dayz ahead and as a society we’ll start making changes.

“It’s important for us to break down those stereotypes: if you listen to rap music, you’re a criminal or dangerous. It’s not true at all,” he told NPR. He was particularly disturbed by a recent news story about a 17-year-old Arizona boy was stabbed for listening to rap music. 

Foxhoven hopes in the future that his story will help in “having open discussions about race and what we have in common, instead of what separates us.”

On Point

House Democrats call for increased security for Rep. Ilhan Omar after Trump rally House members are calling for renewed security for freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar after President Trump whipped the crowd into a frenzy at his re-election rally last night in North Carolina—allowing them to chant “Send her back!” repeatedly. “It’s crystal clear to me that her life is in imminent danger,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “He has threatened the safety of a member of Congress. That takes this to a whole different level.” Politico

After a week of protests in Puerto Rico, calls for the governor to resign For the fifth day in a row, Puerto Ricans are calling for Gov. Ricardo Rosselló to resign, following a leak of hundreds of pages of disturbing misogynistic and homophobic texts between Rosselló and his senior advisers. Singer Ricky Martin was among the high profile Puerto Ricans who marched to the governor’s mansion in San Juan; Lin-Manuel Miranda led a demonstration in New York calling on Rosselló to step down. News outlets are calling San Juan a “war zone.” Among the many disturbing messages, the governor’s chief financial officers joked about the piles of dead bodies after Hurricane Maria in 2017. The governor has apologized but refuses to leave. El Nuevo Dia has Spanish language coverage here, find compelling photos here. NPR

Death rates skyrocketed in communities awash with opioid pills A new database made public this week paints a stark picture of the opioid epidemic. In the seven years between 2006 and 2012 rural communities in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia were flooded with a disproportionate share of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills via manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies, an analysis by The Washington Post reveals. Thirteen of the affected counties had an opioid death rate more than eight times the national rate; seven of them were in West Virginia. Click through details about both the analysis and the damage that’s been done. Washington Post

The Ebola outbreak is now a global health emergency With 1,600 fatalities, it is now the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history,  playing out largely in a conflict zone in Democratic Republic of Congo. But now, a case has been confirmed in Goma, a city of two million people with a major international airport. The declaration was made by the World Health Organization, the fifth such declaration in history. While the risk of spread outside of DRC remains low, but officials are afraid that won’t last without immediate international intervention. “Now is the time for the international community to stand in solidarity with the people of DRC,” the director-general of WHO said during a press conference yesterday. CNN

On Background

Africa will be home to the next tech boom Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, with increasingly vibrant cities and a large population of tech-savvy people under 25. This, says Omoju Miller, the head of machine learning at software development platform Github, is a recipe for breakthrough innovation. “We are the at edge of another kind of technology frontier, and this time around, it is not happening in San Francisco, it is taking place in Africa,” she said at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference this week. The Lagos, Nigeria native recounted how she was able to access ridesharing and food delivery apps during a recent visit home, and how her rural relatives use mobile payments effortlessly. “This is going to radically change what the technology environment is going to look like.” Fortune

An advertising agency whose creative professionals have been or are currently incarcerated ConCreates was the brainchild of Vincent Bragg, who studied corporate and real estate law while he was incarcerated for five years on a drug sentence. He also co-founded a creative agency. ConCreates generates ideas via a crowdsourcing mechanism, putting out de facto RFPs into a network of 436 currently incarcerated and 319 formerly incarcerated people. “Our mission is to challenge the stigma of how society views people with a criminal history, as well as how people with a criminal history view themselves,” says Bragg. “If we’re able to show them they’re not just a bank robber, or not just a drug dealer, that they have creative potential, then we can show them an opportunity to take a new career path.” People are paid for every idea they put into the network, more as the idea develops. The network owns 10% of the company and shares in profits. Fast Company

Understanding white privilege Kevin Walker, President and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation, starts this heartfelt blog post with a prompt that was asked on a recent NWAF board retreat: “Share a reflection on a time that your identity—who you are—changed or informed a conversation in a way that was visible to you.” Walker, a white man, begins with a story he used to tell for laughs, a time when he was stopped, detained, and interrogated by the police near a peace garden, of all things. It was all a misunderstanding! He was even given a friendly feedback survey to rate the “detention” experience. Kind of kooky, right? He’s since learned that his colleagues of color are hassled like this all the time. “Because my identity, who I am, carries with it a lifetime of learned trust that the system will not attack me,” he writes. If he had been born into any other identity, that would not be true. Now, the story, “can be a way for me to own up to and talk about the white privilege that I’m enmeshed in every day.” Perfect for sharing. NWAF blog

Tamara El-Waylly helps produce raceAhead.

Quote

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces / Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races / We under, I wonder what it takes to make this / One better place, let’s erase the wasted / Take the evil out the people, they’ll be acting right / ‘Cause both Black and White are smoking crack tonight / And the only time we chill is when we kill each other /

—Tupac, from “Changes”

Credit: Source link

The post Fired for loving Tupac?: raceAhead appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/fired-for-loving-tupac-raceahead/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fired-for-loving-tupac-raceahead