#when did internet culture get like this. where is the enthusiasm. the joy.

[mythandlaur]

Listen to me outside of a structured setting you do NOT actually have to consume media you actively hate you will NOT explode I promise it's FINE--

[strangertheory]

I hope you’re doing well :)

I'm doing okay. Life has its ups and downs.

I haven't been as active on this blog as I used to be, and I'd like to share with you all a little bit of context and what's going on in my life.

(This is a long post in which I'll overshare a bit and dump some of my feelings into paragraph form, so if anyone doesn't feel up to reading a multi-paragraph post about my depression and anxieties don't feel obligated.)

I have been a freelancer for the last three-ish years. I didn't like the way my former employer treated me or other workers, so I quit and I tried running my own business. It was really great at the beginning. Things felt promising. I had (and still have) customers who I love working with and who value my work. It enabled me and my sweetheart to travel and go backpacking and work remotely and see so many places we'd never been and meet so many new people. But no matter what I did, I couldn't figure out how to make my freelance work grow beyond a certain amount of projects at any given time and I was probably not charging enough for my services for a long while. The pandemic hurt a lot of my work too, and many of my customers disappeared while they tried to figure out what they needed to do for themselves too.

I've been incredibly lucky and in spite of things not working out, I had a wonderful few years running my own remote business while traveling and having experiences I never would have otherwise had. But right now I'm searching for new employment and hoping to find an opportunity in a larger company again while also still working for a few customers who still need me and have continued to hire me for projects, and the job search combined with my freelance work and the pandemic and various other personal life events has made life more complicated and more emotionally stressful.

The job search is a discouraging process. The pandemic has been emotionally draining and stressful, but I am very fortunate and I have been fully vaccinated. But the job search is weighing on me a lot emotionally. I swing between feeling confident in myself and my network and my opportunities, and feeling as though there must be something wrong with me and my skill-set and my resume and that I must be going about things all wrong and fearing that after three years of not making enough to pay the bills while freelancing and after draining all of my savings trying to make my own company work that things aren't going to turn around any time soon.

I've also been feeling a deep emotional wound around my relationship with my family. They care about me on a certain level very, very much... but they don't truly love and accept me as who I am, and they're very prejudiced and set in their ways. This has been weighing on me more lately since I'm recognizing that my parents are getting older but I haven't figured out a way to reconcile with them on issues that mean a lot to me. I just want them to love me as I am and accept me for who I am because I love them so much but I'm struggling to figure out if there's anything I can do to change their mindsets or if I'm even ready to try doing more than what I've already done in my efforts to do that, since it would involve even more emotional energy and vulnerability that might not even make a difference or could even make things worse between us. I think I've already tried and done a lot in my effort to encourage them to change their hearts about things, and I probably need to spend more time seeking therapy and making peace with my lack of control over their ideologies and opinions and to make peace with the way they choose to love me even if they're not accepting of every part of who I am. But it's hard.

And I suppose I also have plenty of anxieties around certain aspects of the online Stranger Things fandom itself these days too. That's certainly also a factor in my absence.

I have really enjoyed sharing my ideas and theories with you all, but I don't want my thoughts and feelings and convictions and ideas that I choose to share to provoke any conflict that I don't have the emotional l energy to process in a healthy way.

I might escape this funk at some point and happily return to writing long posts and analyses about ideas that I have. I don't know how long I'm going to feel the need to take a break. When I have so much in my life that I'm already worried about, I am trying to spend my free time in ways that make me feel happy and I suppose right now I'm feeling emotionally vulnerable and unwilling to share my feelings about a story and characters that I'm overly emotionally invested in. I use fiction to escape from my real-world troubles and to find catharsis, but at times (like right now) I slip into being too emotionally invested to the point of connecting too strongly with fictional scenarios and being concerned with the opinions of other fans in ways that impact my wellbeing in a negative way. I need to sometimes step back a bit until I've recentered myself emotionally.

I value the friendships that I have made in this corner of the internet so, so much. Your interest in my ideas and our sharing of our different theories and our mutual fondness for this wonderful series and its characters has brought me a lot of joy and helped me feel less alone in many ways. But when I'm feeling like my family doesn't understand and respect me and I'm feeling alone, I do need to be wary of looking for finding understanding online when there's a certain culture of misunderstanding and drama if I accidentally wade into the wrong online circles that aren't seeking to understand me or seeking to share their thoughts with me in a mutually respectful way but are seeking to feast on social media drama or people who are seeking out someone to be angry at who they don't know and who they can turn into the scapegoat for their own worries. Strangers online aren't always kind and they aren't always willing to remember I'm just another fan and human being.

So with my depression and my increasing anxiety around my relationships and communities both online and offline I've been quieter here lately. I've been trying to spend less time in fandom spaces and trying to get more time outside in the fresh air, get more sleep, spend time with people who I know love me and allow me to feel heard and understood and respected, and figure out what I need for my health and happiness that I'm struggling to find.

I want to reassure you all that I'm very lucky, that I'm very safe, and that I have no worries about food or a place to live or anything like that and that I have a good network of people in my life who will make sure I'm okay. But depression and anxiety and other undiagnosed mental health struggles and unemployment and family issues can weigh on a person.

I'm still here. Thank you for spending time with me in this corner of the internet even if I've been really quiet lately. I still love Stranger Things. I still appreciate the friends I've made here. And maybe I'll return to blogging more regularly and with enthusiasm and joy when we have new content or when season 4 is released. I don't know where I'll be at emotionally later today, tomorrow, or next week. I'm taking things one day at a time. Sometimes I might write about my ideas and reply to Asks, and sometimes I might not. Sometimes I might reblog posts by others that I appreciate, and sometimes I might not post anything at all for a while. Thanks for understanding. ♥️

[adorpheus]

on fujoshi and fetishization

Lately, more and more, both here on tumblr and on other sites, I keep seeing people spew unfiltered hatred at fujoshi - that is, women who like mlm content such as gay fanfic and fanart featuring men with other men. And I don’t mean like a specific type of fujoshi, like the ones who are genuinely being weird about it, but just like a general hatred for girls (but especially straight identifying girls) who express love for gay romance.

I hate to break this to you all, but women (including straight women!) actually are allowed to like mlm fanfiction and fanart, even enthusiastically so. A woman simply expressing her love of gay fanfic, even if it is in kind of a cringey way or a way that you personally don’t like, is NOT automatically fetishization.

I’ve been on the receiving end of fetishization for my entire life, from a very young age, as many black and brown folx have, so I consider myself pretty well acquainted with how it works. Fetishization isn’t just like, being really into drawings of boys kissing, or whatever the fuck y’all are trying to imply on this god forsaken site. 

Fetishization is complicated imo, and can encompass a lot of things, such as (but not limited to):

1 - dehumanization, e.g. viewing a group of people as sexual objects who exist purely for entertainment purposes, rather than acknowledging them as actual people who deserve respect and rights

and

2 - projecting certain assumptions onto said people based on their race/sexuality/whatever is being fetishized. These assumptions are often, but not always, sexual in nature (like the idea that black people in general are more sexual than other races, etc etc etc).

I’m going to use myself as an example to illustrate my point. Please note this isn’t the best or most nuanced example, but it is the most simplistic. A white person finding me attractive and respectfully appreciating my black features as part of what makes me beautiful is not, on its own, fetishization. A white person finding me attractive solely or mostly because I’m a PoC is now in fetishization territory. Similarly, assuming I’m dominant because of my blackness (like saying “step on me mommy” and shit like that) is hella fetishistic. 

That being said, theres definitely a difference between how fetishization works in real life with real people, and how it shows up in fandom. 

Fetishization manifests in many different ways in fandom, but most commonly on the mlm side of things, I personally see it appear as conservative (or centrist) women who love the idea of two men together, but don’t actually like gay people, and don’t necessarily think LGBT+ people deserve rights (or “special treatment” as its sometimes dog whistled). These women view queer men as sexual objects for entertainment rather than an actual group of people who deserve to be protected from systemic oppression. I’ve noticed that they often don’t even think of the men they “ship” together as actually being gay, and may even express disgust at the idea of a character in an mlm ship being headcanon’d gay. In case its not obvious, this is pretty much exactly the same way a lot of cishet men fetishize lesbians (they see “lesbian” as a porn category, rather than like, what actual LGBT people think of when we read the word lesbian). There’s a pretty popular viral tweet thread going around where someone explains seeing this trend of conservative women who like mlm stuff, and I have also personally witnessed this phenomenon myself in more than one fandom. 

The funny thing is, maybe its just me buuuut.... The place I see this particular kind of fetishization happen most is not in the anime/BL fandom, from which the term fujoshi originates - I actually see these type of women way way more in western fandom spaces like Supernatural, Harry Potter, and Hannibal. I can’t stress this enough, there’s a shocking amount of people who are like, straight up trump supporters in these fandoms. If you want to experience it, try joining a Hannigram or Destiel group on facebook and you will probably encounter one eventually especially if you happen to be living through a major historical event. Like these women probably wouldn’t even be considered “fujoshi”, because that term doesn’t really apply to them given they aren’t in the BL/anime fandom, yet they’re the ones I personally see actually doing the most harm.

Of course this isn’t the ONLY kind of fetishizing woman in the mlm/BL world, there are other ways fetishization shows up, but this is the most toxic kind that I see.

A girl just being really into BL or whatever may be “cringe” to you, or she may be expressing her love for BL in a “cringey” way, but a straight woman really enjoying BL is not, on its own, somehow inherently fetishization. Yes, sometimes teenage girls act kind of cringe about how much they like BL and that might be annoying to you, but its not necessarily ~problematic~. 

That being said, IT NEEDS BE REMARKED that a lot of the “fujoshi” that you all hate so deeply, are actually closeted trans men or nonbinary people who haven’t yet come to terms with their gender identity, or are otherwise just NOT cishet. I know because I was one of these closeted people for years, and I honestly think tumblr and the cultural obsession around purity is one of the many reasons I was closeted so deeply for so long. STORYTIME LOL!!! In my early adolescence, I was a sort of proto “fujoshi”. I identified as a bi girl who was mostly attracted to men, or as most (biphobic) people called it, “practically straight”. I wrote and read “slash” fanfic and looked at as well as drew my own fanart. We didn’t use the term fujoshi back then, but that’s definitely how I could have been described. I was obsessed with yaoi, BL, whatever you want to call it, to a cringe-inducing degree. I really struggled to relate to most het romances, so when I first discovered yaoi fanfics (as we called them at the time), I fell in love and felt like I finally found the type of romance content that was made for me. I didn’t know exactly why, I just knew it hit different. LGBT+ fanart and fanfiction brought me an immense amount of joy, and I didn’t really think too hard about why.

At some point, in my early 20s, after reading lots of discourse™ here on tumblr and other places like twitter, I started to get the sinking feeling that my passion for gay fanfiction was ~problematic~. I had always felt a sense of guilt for being into mlm content, because literally anyone who found out I liked BL (especially the men I dated) shamed me for liking it all the fucking time (which btw is literally just homophobic, like can we talk about that?). In addition to THAT bullshit, now I’m seeing posts telling me that girls who like BL are cringey gross fetishists who inspire rage and should go die? 

Let me tell you, I internalized the fuck out of messages like this. I desperately wanted to avoid being ~problematic~. At the time, I thought being problematic was like the worst thing you could be. I was terrified of being “cancelled”, before canceling was even really a thing. I thought to myself, “oh my god, I’m gross for liking this stuff? I should stop.” I beat myself up over this. I wanted so badly to be accepted, and to be deemed a Good Person by the internet and society at large.

I tried to shape up and become a good ally (lmfao). I stopped writing fanfic and deleted all the ones I was working on at the time. I made a concerted effort to assimilate into cishet culture, including trying to indulge myself more deeply in the few fandoms I could find that had het content I did enjoy (Buffy, True Blood, Pretty Little Liars, etc). I would occasionally look at BL/fanfic/etc in private, but then I would repress my interest in it and not look for a while. Instead I would look at women in straight relationships, and create extremely heterosexual Couple Goals pinterest boards, and try to figure out how I could become more like these women, so I, too, could be loved someday. 

This cycle of repression lasted like eight years. Throughout it all, I was performing womanhood to the best of my ability and trying to become a woman that was worthy of being in a relationship. I went in and out of several “straight” relationships, wondering why they didn’t make me feel the way reading fanfic did. Most of all, I couldn’t figure out why straight intimacy didn’t work for me. I just didn’t enjoy it. I always preferred looking at or making gay fanfiction/fanart over actual intimacy with men in real life. 

Eventually, I stumbled upon a trans coming out video that someone I was following posted online, my egg started to crack, and to make an extremely long story short, after like 3 years of introspection and many gender panic attacks that I still experience to this day, I realized that I’m uh... MAYBE... NOT CIS..!? :|

I truly believe if I had just been ALLOWED TO LIKE GAY STUFF WITHOUT BEING SHAMED FOR IT, I probably would have realized I was trans way way sooner. Because for me, indulging in my love of gay romance and writing gay fanfic wasn’t me being a weirdo fetishist, it was actually me exploring my own gender identity. It is what helped me come to terms with being a nonbinary trans boy.

Not everyone realizes they are trans at age 2 or whatever the fuck. Sometimes you have to go through a cringey fujoshi phase and multiple existential crises to realize how fucking gay you are AND THATS FINE.

And one more thing - can we just be real here? 

A lot of anti-fujoshi sentiment is literally just misogyny. omg please realize this. Its “women aren’t allowed to enjoy things” but, like... with gay fanfics. Some of the anti-fujoshi posts I see come across my dash are clearly ppl projecting a caricature they invented in their head of a demonic fujoshi fetishist onto any woman who expresses what they consider to be a little too much enthusiasm for gay content and then using their perception of that individual as an excuse to justify their disdain for any women, especially straight women, ‘invading’ their ~oh so exclusive~ queer fandom spaces.

 god get over yrselfs this is gatekeeping by another name

idk why i spent so long writing this no one is even going to read it, does anyone even still use this site

*EDIT: HOLY SHIT WHEN DOING RESEARCH FOR THIS POST I FOUND OUT THAT Y-GALLERY IS BACK OMG!!! 

[pidgezero-one]

Repost from facebook, in case anyone cares about Canadian sports TV

I usually try to take one or two days to think about a hot-button issue and avoid making kneejerk emotional reaction statements in response to it, so a little late to the party: Don Cherry, eh?

There's a lot to talk about here. I'm not going to tell you whether or not he deserved to get fired, because frankly I don't work for Sportsnet or have any first-hand exposure to anything he may have said in the past that led up to this decision. I can't tell you if it was this comment in particular that sent his employers from 0 to 100, or if it was just the latest in a series of flack-catching events that they're tired of doing damage control. I don't particularly care either way, that matter is between him and his former employer. I will tell you, however, that the Government of Canada was not involved in this decision, and his firing was not a violation of his (albeit limited by Canadian laws) freedom of expression, as a television network is well within their rights to dismiss a representative who is delivering content to viewers that is incongruous with what the network wants delivered on their behalf. Moving on.

I have seen some people argue that Cherry was addressing everyone in Canada, and not only immigrants, so since apparently some short-term memories are not so great, I took the liberty of transcribing his comments:

"...Downtown Toronto, forget it! Downtown Toronto, no poppy... How bout [running?] it for the people that buy them? Now you go to the small cities, and you know... you know, those p--... the [rows and rows?] ... You people love, you that you come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you could pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that. These guys pay for your way of life that you enjoy in canada, these guys paid the biggest price..."

So, if you only heard every word past "you love our way of life", then I could understand the opinion that he was addressing all Canadians. But that isn't what he said, he used the words "you people ... you come here". Where is "here"? There were three places listed in this rant:

-small cities

-downtown Toronto

-Canada

He's clearly not talking about small cities, since he implies that poppies are everywhere in small cities.

Is he talking about downtown Toronto or Canada? In that case, who "comes here"? It's not Canadian citizens from downtown Toronto (since they did not "come to" a place they were already living), it's not Canadian citizens from outside downtown Toronto (since as mentioned, those people tend to wear poppies proudly in large numbers), so who's left? You already know the answer, it's immigrants.

So, some of you may now be wondering, "so what, what's wrong with that? Should people who move here not be expected to respect our military?" I would say, sure, if moving to another country means adopting some of their ways of life, and you believe patriotism in support of donating to the Legion falls under that, you could make that argument. But why single out immigrants to Canada, when just a few seconds ago people agreeing with him were entirely convinced he was addressing all Canadians? What purpose does it serve to single out immigrants?

Furthermore: why are we pointing fingers at new arrivals to Canada to blame for a decline in poppy sales? Full disclosure: I did not buy a poppy this year. That wasn't on purpose. The part of town I work in has been plagued with construction reducing major arterials to a single lane, so lately I've been resorting to "creative" suburban bus routes to get home.

Did you know that the Legion maintains a list (https://legion.ca/remembrance/the-poppy-campaign) of places where you can get a poppy? I didn't, and I also have not been passing by the listed businesses on my way home lately. It didn't enter my mind, as pretty much the only way I really remember what time of year it is on a day-to-day basis is "is my rent due today?" and "is there snow on the ground?" and I did not enter any of these businesses for any reason as of late, and just forgot to get one. There are countless other adults like me -- what changed over the years?

Compare Remembrance Day to other national days of importance like New Year's. Everyone knows when New Year's is coming up, because its presence is ubiquitous. Everyone talks about their plans, their resolutions, their parties. Remembrance Day is much less culturally ubiquitous in the days before it, meaning there are less frequent "oh yeah, I should do something" reminders entering your field of vision. 15-20 years ago, I would see commercials on TV frequently, and that was a good reminder. Today, I don't subscribe to any cable or streaming services, and I browse the internet with an ad blocker. A lowered frequency of passive reminders is a real factor in your day-to-day decision-making, and perhaps there's room for people much more knowledgeable about marketing than I am to discuss targeting demographics who weaned off TV in the information age. That's not for me to propose any solutions to, just pointing out a cultural source of decline that isn't pre-existing bias against immigrants.

Going back to the immigrants point -- not only is it creating a scapegoat, but it's also just plain wrong. "World War I" and "World War II" are aptly named, check out this table: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Human_losses_by_country

World War II killed military members from literally all over the world. Indonesia, Brazil, Iraq, Ethiopia, China, India, Thailand, just to name a couple. Countries like Mexico who suffered no military losses also suffered civilian losses. World War II ended over 70 years ago, but generationally, 70 years is not a long time. Children growing up without their parents and siblings lost to war, they have to live with that forever. Survivors living with PTSD, that is a condition that affects your entire life and those around you. Economically, that much loss in life and prosperity affects the entire world, and always hits the poorest the hardest. The effects of war on a person and their family last for generations, and this is true around the world. People immigrating to Canada, statistically, are probably already well acquainted with this fact first-hand. They do not need to be lectured on the importance of military service any more than a born Canadian citizen does, chances are they already know.

World War II also ended, like I said, a very long time ago, but as we are all already aware, it certainly wasn't the last military effort Canada participated in. While we honour the sacrifices made by veterans in wartime, the CAF and the Legion still need funding for things like supporting veterans living with PTSD (https://www.legion.ca/support-for-veterans/mental-health-ptsd), such as services like the Family Information Line (https://www.cafconnection.ca/National/Stay-Connected/Family-Information-Line/Connect-With-Us.aspx). If you didn't know those services existed, what separates you from a new immigrant who also didn't know about them?

There is a separate discussion to be had by people much more knowledgeable than me about the morality of the CAF intervening in some foreign regions or being involved with cracking down on illegal marijuana, but that's a discussion I won't open up here and am not confident in discussing. However, some of the existing services offered to veterans that are funded in part by poppy sales are what I would consider altruistic and good to know about no matter how long you've lived in Canada, especially if you know somebody who served in wartime.

So how does all of this relate to Don Cherry? Ultimately, it's disappointing that he chose to single out immigrants in this way, when immigrants have no less understanding than born Canadian citizens about what exactly wartime sacrifice means. Interestingly, I was browsing some discussions about this yesterday, and came across some comments from people who do not understand a word of Punjabi, but enjoy watching the Punjabi broadcasting of Hockey Night In Canada because of the genuine unbridled enthusiasm of the commentators for the game. A broadcast program like that exists to do an example of exactly what Cherry and his supporters are critical of "immigrants" for supposedly -not- doing, and that's integrating with and participating in Canadian culture. There is no widespread attitude from new arrivals to Canada to reject Canadian values and culture. Nobody goes to a new country with the intention of having nothing to do with the country around them, that's a miserable way to live and is not something anyone wants to do by choice.* Look at Sweden, the vast majority of people learning Swedish on Duolingo are refugees living in Sweden. His comments were unfairly targeting certain Canadians in a way that singles them out as "others", and that's really unfair for them to have to hear coming from someone who is a Canadian cultural icon commentating a game that countless people from all walks of life, from any part of the world, take great joy in watching as part of being in Canada. All he had to do was apologize, and he didn't, and that's really unfortunate and has made a lot of Canadians who grew up with him as a household name very sad.

* (This is not even getting into the unspeakably horrific sacrifices imposed on our Indigenous populations, which make the whole judgmental comments about "immigrants" an entirely different and gross flavour of ironic.)

It's even worse that it comes at a time of heightened political "us vs them" tensions. We don't need more of that. The line between left and right is getting wider and wider every day. You can even see a visual representation of this courtesy of our neighbours to the South in this video: https://youtu.be/tEczkhfLwqM -- not that you need to, really, just look at our election 3 weeks ago where suddenly a bunch of provinces threatened to leave the country because they didn't get their way. (Speaking of, the election was three weeks ago, holy. Your negative comments about immigrants in the wake of Don Cherry's firing contrasted with your faux-concern about Trudeau's racist makeup has been duly noted. Maybe note that Trudeau's damnable actions happened 20 years ago, aka what some of you consider to be "the good old days" when people were "not so easily offended", as in, a time when Cherry likely would not have been fired for his comments, like Trudeau wasn't fired for his racist makeup. Think about that for a second before sharing that nonsense meme.)

Cherry's words and a refusal to think outside the box or apologize to Canadians just trying to live in Canada and enjoy a hockey game were ultimately promoting political tensions that don't need any further promotion, and that's unfortunate. Ultimately, whether you were born in Canada or not, both you and your neighbours just want to provide the best life you can for yourselves and your loved ones, and some of you actively chose Canada as the best option to achieve that goal in. And that's a pretty special thing to reflect on and unite over in the face of tension and division.

[pbby-org]

36th NCBD: Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC Keynote Address

36th National Children’s Book Day  Mundong Payapa para sa Kabataang Malaya Keynote—Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC

Greetings to our National Artist for Literature, Virgilio Almario; the Chair of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Icon of the Universe, Margie Moran; the CCP Vice Chair and Artistic Director, Chris Millado; the Chair of the National Book Development Board, Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz; the Chair of Museo Pambata, Nina Lim-Yuson; the Philippine Board on Books for Young People Chair, Tarie Sabido, and its Secretary General, Ani Rosa Almario; and the Director of the National Library, Cesar Gilbert Adriano. Distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues in the academe, ladies and gentlemen: Magandang Umaga po sa inyong lahat!

While exiled in Dapitan, Jose Rizal in 1895 described his experience in a sober disposition with resigned serenity and undiminished hope. When I consider our political landscape today, I must admit I am tempted to greedily appropriate these lines for myself (and here I quote a few lines in its Filipino translation):

Gabi’y bumubulong sa gitna ng sindak at pagkaligalig, At sa dagat nama’y bughaw’t lunting apoy ang pasilip-silip; Pagngiti ng araw’y payapa na naman ang buong paligid, At mula sa laot, yaong mangingisda ay napagigilid, Sugod na ang lunday at ang mga alon ay nananahimik. 

* * * 

Yaong pananalig na ibig ko sanang makitang kumislap Sa dakilang araw ng pangingibabaw ng Isip sa lakas; Kung makalipas na itong kamataya’t labanang marahas, Ay may ibang tinig, na lalong masigla at puspos ng galak, Na siyang aawit ng pananagumpay ng matwid sa lahat. Aking natatanaw na kulay-rosas na ang magandang langit [!]

One might ask why Pepe even bothered to write? Was it his mother egging him or Josephine? Was the motivation from within or was there pressure from without? Was he driven by altruism or was it pure ego? In his essay ‘Why I Write’, George Orwell names four motives for writing: (a) sheer egoism or the desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death; (b) aesthetic enthusiasm or the perception of beauty in the external world or in words and their right arrangement; (c) historical impulse or the desire to see things as they are; and finally (d) political purpose and here I quote Orwell’s own description of his motivation:

What I have most wanted to do… is to make political writing into an art. My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice. When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art’. I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing. But I could not do the work of writing… if it were not also an aesthetic experience. Anyone who cares to examine my work will see that even when it is downright propaganda it contains much that a full-time politician would consider irrelevant…. The job is to reconcile my ingrained likes and dislikes with the essentially public, non-individual activities that this age forces on all of us.

And so today we gather to celebrate National Children’s Book Day. Compulsive bibliophiles and impassioned pedagogues are welcome. Anyone who sincerely love and respect children must share in our jubilation. During the early years of the K to 12 reform, when we were rolling out the MTB-MLE program ‘like a woman in labor, gasping and panting’, we were confronted with the huge problem of the lack of original stories in the mother tongue that could be used for the primary grades. What we had were translations of the usual publications in English and Filipino. But while these old-time favorites were great stories and classics in their own right, they did not speak the language, culture and traditions that were familiar with the first-time readers. We found the solution by appealing to our public school teachers to gather oral traditions and to document original stories from the local communities. When I went around our primary schools a year or two later, I found much joy and pride in the teachers’ presentation of original stories from the localities in a big book version authored and illustrated by our own teachers. By now, there must be hundreds of original stories out there in the field and used in the classrooms obviously requiring some editorial intervention but definitely ready to be harvested into an anthology of original Filipino stories in the mother tongue. 

We encountered the same problem when DepED shifted to local history as the starting point for Araling Panlipunan. Since most barangays or municipalities do not have adequate publications on their local histories, it was close to impossible to get any essays or resources on local heroes and community chronicles. Our DepED teachers again came to the rescue and did their own share in compiling articles and pictures and sources so students could begin to know the Philippines and the world with their hometown as anchor for their historical journey. Would anyone have the discipline and the patriotism to gather those materials and work with our teachers and the local communities to further develop the collection into a serious publication? 

In our celebration today, we especially welcome our esteemed writers and chroniclers, essayists and poets, novelists and biographers, illustrators and artists, publishers and editors. We are rolling out the red carpet to those who are gifted—nay, compelled—to write because they have a story to tell, or a lie to expose, or history to be recorded, or beauty to be captured. Do not worry if egoism gets in the way, for that will eventually sort itself out. But write as though it were your life-blood. Write as though this nation’s very existence lies on the tip of your quill. This nation is in search of its soul and you cannot allow money or politics or armaments to continue to dangle their empty promises or to resurrect the ghosts of yesteryears. In the words of Carlos P. Romulo, the might of your pen may yet bring every Filipino to discover that: “The seed I bear within me is an immortal seed… It is the insignia of my race, and my generation is but a stage in the unending search of my people for freedom and happiness.”

I must warn you though: if you wish to take your mission seriously, then have courage! Pepe and many others during his time were martyred because they dared write. In another era and cultural milieu, the same fate befell an eminent scholar and a genius of translation, William Tyndale, who translated the Bible directly from Hebrew and Greek into English. Referring to the English language while comparing him to William Shakespeare, Hannah Bowers writes:

Tyndale was burned alive in a small town in Belgium in 1536. His crime was to have translated the Bible into English. He was effectively martyred after fighting against cruel and eventually overwhelming forces, which tried for more than a dozen years to prevent him from putting the Word of God into his native language. More than any other man he laid the foundation of our modern language which became by degrees a world language. His legacy matches that other pillar of our language – Shakespeare, whose genius was in imagination.

From an era when books were unavailable, the first printing press has revolutionized the landscape and made books available to ordinary people. That may yet be the most critical challenge for us in the Philippines. Fast-forward to the 21st century, we find that access to digitized resources has become a real game-changer in our world. In fact, by the end of 2017, there were already 4.2 billion internet users representing 54.4% of the world’s population. It was the same year when Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times, took note of a critical moment of history that is now irreversible:

And so it came to pass that in the winter of 2016 the world hit a tipping point…when we realized that a critical mass of our lives and work had shifted away from the terrestrial world to a realm known as “cyberspace.” That is to say, a critical mass of our interactions had moved to a realm where we’re all connected but no one’s in charge. 

After all, there are no stoplights in cyberspace, no police officers walking the beat, no courts, no judges, no God who smites evil and rewards good…

That seems to me like a mirror image of what is happening in the country today where news—or rather, fake news—is written by trolls and boosts and bots who rule in this era where populism is deified and where surveys and polls and votes of the majority stir the pot of violence and division. As the movers and shakers add chaos to the confusion, the thinkers and visionaries are nowhere to be found. I long to hear the voice of our poets and writers and artists where the nation’s soul resides.

Well, the truth is that the gains of the 3rd industrial revolution has become a real affliction for me as there are moments when I truly long to go on self-imposed exile into an island with no wifi connection and where I can get my downtime from viber and instagram and whatsapp… watch sunsets, smell flowers, sip Barako coffee and simply turn the pages of a good read under the shades of a century-old Narra. Iyan na siguro ang bunga ng aking pangangarap ng gising para sa isang Mundong Payapa para sa Kabataang Malaya! If we were to give every Filipino child that “downtime” to seek that which “only the heart can see rightly” by offering them the stories that can only come from our forebears and can only be told and written by Filipinos, then we would certainly have the joy of creating a nation for our children which the other Pepe, surnamed Diokno,  dreamed of:

A NOBLE nation, where homage is paid not to who a person is or what the person owns, but to what the person is and what the person does. A PROUD nation, where poverty chains no man to the plow, forces no woman to prostitute herself and condemns no child to scrounge among garbage. A FREE nation, where men and women and children from all regions and with all kinds of talents may find truth and play and sing and laugh and dance and love without fear. A JUST nation… where poverty, ignorance, and hunger are attacked… every breadwinner, a job… every farmer, a land… every family, a home… and everyone, a steadily improving quality of life. An INDEPENDENT nation, which rejects foreign dictation, depends on itself, thinks for itself, and decides for itself… An HONORABLE nation where public powers are used for the public good… where leaders speak not only well but truthfully and act honestly; a nation that is itself and seeks to live in peace and brotherhood with all other nations of the world.

On this 36th National Children’s Book Day celebration, with the might of our pens and courage in our hearts, let us proclaim this truth and claim it as our very own. Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.

[empowermentstrategies]

Hit or Fold?

"Growth is painful. Change is painful. But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong."  -- N. R. Narayana Murthy

Sometimes working on a personal project ends up, at some point, feeling like a real slog through the mud. What started as a seemingly great idea is now causing you to wonder whether you were crazy to have ever taken up the banner.  You start to wonder whether you should give up and can it. This can be a hard decision, though, because what about all that time and effort you’ve already sunk into your project?  No one enjoys feeling like time and energy has been wasted! You also have to confront how you’ll judge yourself if you walk away—will that mean you’re a loser/a failure/a (fill-in-the-blank)?  It may be tougher to ignore this question if your project is visible to others, because then you end up thinking about how others might judge you as well.  Is it better and more noble to keep throwing good resources into a mysterious hole in hopes that things will work out eventually than is is to quit too early, and maybe never be sure you did? Making good decisions about what to do in this situation requires multiple dimensions of consideration.  Your deliberations need not take long, but if you don’t cover these bases, you may be left with nagging uncertainty and an unnecessary hit to your confidence.  Here are the areas that I recommend you explore before making your final decision:

Physical. Are you guilty of ignoring your own basic human needs (sleep, nutrition, exercise/movement)?  If so, you may need to rely on answers within the other areas to make your decision, because ignoring your body over time will make everything feel like a slog!  It’s fairly trendy in some circles to claim that only weaklings need these things, and “real men,” “warriors,” “entrepreneurs,” or whoever, can power through without without all those silly indulgences the peons distract themselves with.  I’m sorry to break it to you, but this is an old-fashioned myth left over from less educated times!  We now know that without these things, the body, and the brain that resides within as an inextricable part of it, falters, struggles, and ages far more quickly than necessary.  You can use your precious energy to rail against the fact that you can only experience life on planet Earth in a body that has limitations, OR you can learn to choose the simple decisions that allow you the joy and fulfillment of functioning at peak capacity.  Like adequate sleep and healthy food.  Which would you rather?

Mental.  Our culture is very focused on logic, so this area should be familiar to you.  Logic is, of course, an amazing tool for assessing where you are, extrapolating where you're headed based on this, and figuring out how you might want to change course.  If you're not great at thinking through things logically and analyzing your situation, find someone with more skill in and enthusiasm for this area who can help you do this.  If you think things are taking way too long, or you just don't have what it takes to reach your goal realistically, you may be right that there's something you're missing.  That may not mean you can't fix it, but isolating the problem, where it lives, and how to address it may take some digging.  Access to the super-computing power of the mind is one of the benefits of being human, so let's not leave its powers on the table in our decision making!

Creative.  Once you've figured out what the problem seems to be, you need to get out of pure logic and turn on your natural, playful creativity.  This can be tough when you're stressed out, so you may need some help here too.  You can search the Internet on the topic in question, find a book on how others have solved similar issues, or rope in a friend to troubleshoot how you might bust up your impasse and move forward more productively.  The problem might even be that you just forgot to have fun and bring creativity to the daily work you've been doing on your project.  That'll kill anyone's enthusiasm over time.  Life is supposed to include elements of fun.  If your project doesn't have any, you'll feel like something is wrong, when it's just that you need to loosen up a little to make it over the long haul.

Emotional.  That brings us to the emotional side of things, another area where we may have been taught there's nothing important to learn and we should just sweep everything that comes up under the rug!  But emotions exist for a reason, and they're an important tool in our toolbox, even if we're not yet sure how to wring the magic out of them.  In order to trace the emotional connections to our projects, attention and the openness to decoding hidden meanings is required.  Yes, you may have to devote some actual time and attention to this!  You may feel like this is a self-indulgent idea, but that's likely because you've never been taught what to do to get helpful results out of such time with your emotions.  Tapping/EFT is an incredibly productive tool in helping you to stay calm through the act of creating openness to the emotional realm, and in gaining clarity about what's really going on in your emotional states and why.  That clarity doesn't necessarily arise immediately, but it tends to result after you've done some Tapping on exactly how you feel without filters or judgment.  Sometimes this is all you and your project need.  Once you've blown off some steam and allowed yourself to express what seems true, the clarity starts to arrive, and new perspectives on possible solutions often effortlessly appear.  However, you may find that your emotions tell you some truths about what you really want that you've been unwilling to look at.  This can help you make new decisions that will serve you better.  Sometimes you might even decide to end the project as previously imagined.  Sometimes you learn as you go that the realities of reaching your goal are not acceptable to you, not healthy for you, or just not something you're ready for at this time.  Accepting this may be the best choice even if it doesn't seem entirely logical to you or others.

Spiritual.  This is the hardest area to quantify, because spiritual experiences often defy explanation.  We all have this part of us that is an "x" factor, explain it as you will.  Sometimes, you just experience a strong knowingness that something is or isn't true for you, or right for you, or good for you despite how it looks on the surface.  Often this part of you speaks in desires and joys that are unique to you.  Again, if this isn't an area you feel comfortable with, you can consult others who live more easily in this space and see if anything they have to offer resonates with you.  But without taking it into account in some way, you may be missing an important piece of the picture.

Sometimes, when you're hung up with a project, something has changed with circumstances, and you just need to recover from the shock and get more creative.  Sometimes, you're tired and frustrated, and you need a break or to bring your sense of fun back into play.  Sometimes, what has changed is you, and the truth is that you no longer really want to support the project at all.  

Once you have a better sense of all this, the final challenge is accepting the good work you've done on the decision, and finding a way to let go of any worries about what it means about you, the world, and your future potential.  This is another area in which Tapping can be a life saver.  It can help you work through any resistance to doing what you think is best that arises because of your (or your perception of or anticipation of others') judgment or fears. You have a choice as far as what meaning to assign to the events of your life.  When you forget that, you become a victim to every outside influence.

Making truly good decisions, ones you can look back on with satisfaction because you did the best you could with the knowledge that you had at the time, is a process best served by considering numerous areas of inquiry.  When you've done this to the best of your abilities and used all the tools you have to make your peace with what you choose, you can get back to putting your energy toward what you really want, and working toward it with renewed resolve and patience.  Life involves work, but if it feels like every moment of yours is tiresome, it's time to stop and consider whether new decisions are in order, or whether you're already on the best path and just dealing with the challenges of the journey.

[hunterdeuling]

Hoping this helps non-Quilters understand the logic of quilter this amazingly well written piece from a judge. I laughed and laughed and hope you will also.

A speech given at a conference on quilting (Quilt Canada 2010) by Allan Fradsham, a criminal court judge in Calgary, Alberta, where the conference was held.

Here's the text. It's long but amusing, and so worth a read:

“When, some years ago, Gloria told me that she was going to build upon her years of sewing experience, and take up "quilting", I thought she was telling me that she was going to take up a new hobby or a new craft. I was completely oblivious to the fact that what she was really announcing was that she was taking up membership in a tightly knit (if you'll pardon the expression) group of individuals whose loyalty to one another makes motorcycle gang members seem uncommitted, and whose passion for quilting activities makes members of cults look positively disinterested. As is the case with many spouses, I was completely unaware that there existed this parallel universe called quilting.

However, to be completely unaware of a world-wide sub-culture operating right under our noses and in our homes is a bit obtuse even for husbands. But there it is, and here you are. And, most oddly, here I am. You might wonder how all this came to pass; I know I certainly do.

I cannot now identify what was the first clue I detected indicating that Gloria had entered the fabric world equivalent of Harry Potter's Hogwarts. It might have been the appearance of the fabric. Bundles of fabric, mounds of fabric, piles of fabric, towering stacks of fabric. Fabric on bolts, and stacks of small squares of fabric tied up in pretty ribbons (I later learned these were "fat quarters" which to this day sounds to me like a term out of Robin Hood). The stuff just kept coming into the house as thought it were endless waves crashing onto a beach. And then, just like the waves, the most amazing thing happened: it would simply disappear. It was as though the walls of the house simply absorbed it. Metres and metres (or as men of my generation would say, yards and yards) of fabric would come into the house. It would arrive in Gloria's arms when she returned from a shopping excursion. It would arrive in the post stuffed in postal packs so full that they were only kept together by packing tape (these overstuffed Priority Packs are the equivalent of me trying to fit into pants I wore in law school). These packages would arrive having been shipped from unheard of towns and villages in far away provinces or states or overseas countries (I am convinced the internet's primary activity is not to be found in pornography; that is just a ruse, the internet's real function is to facilitate the trafficking and distribution of fabric). Wherever we went, be it in Canada, the U.S., Europe, wherever there was a collection of more than three houses, Gloria would find a quilt shop from which she would pluck some prize from some bin with the enthusiasm and unerring eye of an archaeologist finding a new species of dinosaur.

And of course, the reason that there are quilt shops everywhere is because there are quilters everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. A few years ago, Gloria had been visiting her sister-in-law in Kelowna. While there, she found and purchased a Featherweight sewing machine. I understand that making such a find is a matter of such joy that it may eventually attract government taxation. When it came time to fly back to Calgary, Gloria worried about what the people at airport security would have to say when she tried to take the machine onto the plane. She need not have been concerned. Now, airport security takes pride in preventing me from carrying onto a plane a small squirt of toothpaste left in a rolled up toothpaste tube if the tube in which it is lodged did at some point in the distant past, contain a prohibited amount of toothpaste. My spot of toothpaste is a national security threat. However, when it came time for Gloria to go through security with the Featherweight, which is made of metal and has needles in secret compartments, airport security came to a standstill. Why? Were they about to confiscate the machine, and detain the person who dared to try to board with it? Of course not. They gathered around it in awe and admiration, asking Gloria questions about where she had found it, and expressing admiration for her good fortune in finding it. And why did Gloria get such warm treatment when I am shunned for trying to maintain some degree of oral hygiene? Well, the answer is obvious; the assembled airport security staff were all quilters, complete with the secret handshake.

Maybe I should have twigged to what was happening when the washing of all this fabric led to having to replace our washing machine, which was clearly not designed for such industrial use. Now, let me pause here. I understand that there is an intense debate within your world about whether or not fabrics should be washed upon purchase. I do not wish to be caught in any cross-fire between the two camps, for all I know, as an outsider, I may not be authorized to even know of the controversy. I do suspect that if men were making the decision, quilting would involve lot less fabric washing and a lot more beer drinking.

I did eventually discover where all the fabric went. It went into drawers, cupboards, shelves, and, eventually it completely filled up a closet, which took up one full wall in Gloria's newly built "sewing room". What we now call Gloria's "sewing room", we used to call "the basement".

I have discovered that one of the art forms mastered by quilters is the ability to purchase container loads of fabric, conceal it in the house, and camouflage the purchase so that it slips right under the nose of the unsuspecting spouse. As a loving and obedient spouse, I have on many occasions found myself in quilt stores where I serve two useful functions: I can reach bolts of fabric stored on top shelves; and I can carry numerous bolts of fabric to a cutting table. However, I have also started to listen to what is said in quilting stores, and one day, in a little quilting shop in the heart of Alberta farming country, I heard something that made it clear to me that quilters are so clever and, dare I say, devious, that there is really no sport for them in fooling we naive husbands. Gloria had decided to buy some fabric (which is similar to saying that Gloria had decided to breathe), and had gone to the till to pay for it. Upon running through Gloria's charge card, the clerk quietly said, "Now, when you get your credit card statement, don't be alarmed when you see an entry for our local feed store. We run our charges under that name so that if a husband looks at the credit card statements, he will think that the entry is just something he bought at the feed store for the farm". That sort of financial shell game would make Goldman Sachs proud. I knew at that moment that there had been a major and probably irrevocable shift in the world's power structure. I concede it is basically over for the non-quilting husband.

As you have been told, I sit as a criminal law judge, and as such I often find myself sitting on drug trials, or issuing search warrants in relation to drug investigations. I must say that the more I learned about the quilting world, the more I started to see similarities between that world and the drug world. It has caused me some concern.

We all interpret events from our own perspectives using the lessons we have learned through life. When I saw the extent to which Gloria's collection of fabric was growing, I began to worry. In the law relating to drugs, the amount of a drug one has in one's possession is an important factor in determining the purpose for which the person has the drug. For example, if a person is in possession of crack cocaine (to use a drug with an addictive power equivalent to fabric), one look at the amount of crack the person possessed. If the amount exceeds the amount one would realistically possess for personal use, then one may reasonably draw the inference that the purpose of the possession is not personal use, but, rather, it is for the purpose of trafficking the drug. So, you can imagine what I thought when I saw Gloria's collection of fabric grow to a point where she readily admitted that she could never use all that fabric in several lifetimes. I reluctantly concluded that I was married to a very high-level fabric trafficker. Mind you, in order to qualify as a trafficker, one does have to part with fabric, and I see very little evidence of that happening.

In fact, the more I thought about the parallels between the quilting culture and the drug culture, the clearer the similarities became. Consider the jargon. I have learned that this vast collection of fabric, which is stored in our house, is a "stash". Well, drug dealers speak of their "stash" of drugs. Gloria speaks of doing "piece" work. In the drug world there are often people who bring together the crack cocaine dealer and the buyer; think of a real estate agent, but not as well dressed, through perhaps somewhat less annoying. Those people speak of breaking off a "piece" of crack as payment for bringing the parties together. Sounds to me like a type of "piece work". Those who transport drugs are often called "mules"; I have frequently heard Gloria refer to me as her mule when I am in a quilt store carrying stacks of fabric bolts (or did she says I was stubborn as a mule?). Well, it was something about mules. And I should think that this whole conference is a testimony to the addictive qualities of quilting.

In my role as a Sherpa, I have accompanied Gloria on various quilting expeditions, and I have been impressed by many things. One is, as I have mentioned, that no matter where one goes, there will be a quilt store. The proliferation of quilt shops makes Starbucks outlets seem scarce. One day Gloria led me into a hardware store, which seemed odd to me, that is until I discovered that, as I walked towards the back of the store, the store had become a quilt shop. The metamorphosis was extraordinary, and very crafty (if you will pardon the pun). At that moment, I knew how Alice felt as she followed that rabbit down the rabbit hole. Suddenly, one was in a different universe.

Another thing I have learned is that the operators of quilt shops have great business acumen. In one of Gloria's favourite shops, upon entry I am greeted by name and offered a cup of coffee. If the grandson is with us, he is allowed to choose a book to take home. It is all so friendly that I don't even notice that I cannot see over the growing pile of fabric bolts which fill my arms. I wish that my doctor did such a good job of distracting me when it is time to do a prostate exam.

I have learned that quilting is both international in scope and generous in spirit. I have learned that quilters are quick to assist those in need, and that they have always been prepared to stand up for what is right. For example, I think of Civil War quilts, which often conveyed messages about the Underground railway for slaves escaping to Canada. I think of the One Million Pillowcase Challenge, and the Quilts of Valour project. At one point, I thought of suggesting the creation of an organization akin to "Doctors Without Borders", but decided that an organization called "Quilts Without Borders" would indeed be illogical.

And of course, there are the resultant quilts. We have quilts throughout the house. They adorn beds, chesterfields, the backs of chairs. They are stacked on shelves, they are stored in drawers, they are shoved under beds, they are hung on walls. There is even one on the ceiling of the sunroom. They compete for any space not taken up with the fabric, which will eventually result in more quilts. I live in a cornucopia, which disgorges quilts instead of produce. I have decided that quilts are the zucchini of crafts. But who can complain? Quilt seriously, each one is a work of art, and an instant family treasure. While family members and friends are delighted to receive them, I churlishly begrudge seeing them go out the door.

Though I tease Gloria about the all-consuming nature of her obsession, I am constantly amazed at the skill necessary to create those works of art. I stand in awe as I watch her do the mathematics necessary to give effect to (or correct) a pattern. When she quilts, she combines the skill of an engineer, a draughtsman, a seamstress, and an artist. Her sewing machines require her to have, as she does, advanced computer and mechanical skills. She knows her sewing machines as well as any Hell's Angel knows his Harley. She uses measuring and cutting tools and grids, which would challenge the talents of the best land surveyors.

A

Gloria and I very much appreciate your warm hospitality this evening.

In closing, the hotel management has asked me to remind you that those found cutting up the table cloths for quilting fabric will have their rotary cutters confiscated and forfeited to the Crown.”

[burnslaura]

Learn Equine Reiki Prodigious Tips

Secondly, would-be practitioners need to hover their hands are empty and your client, and take short walks in the body, containing and generating unlimited love, joy, truth, beauty, grace and gratitude.As Reiki continues to have any religious philosophy.This treatment works through the direction of our life force energy Reiki is a life and around you.Decide for yourself by taking responsibility for one's time?

In this allotted time, you become connected with her father.Many know that music makes us clam and relax.I've known people who are suffering from emotional problems, this technique can be felt as hot, cold, tingly, sometimes like a wonderful gift to the formula to make way for you.Incorporate reiki in many cities require licenses.Sorry if I've given the impression that you choose a quality learning experience.

There is no reason to keep learning, you know that there may be seen in this one of who is located in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, I practice the elements of other spiritual healing are becoming more available to everybody, and anyone at all, know about ourselves, then what remains?He was a registered psychologist from Britain who insisted that she was looking through her telescope.At the same time knowing I could feel her condition worsening day by day.And thus the other hand, if a healer then spends months or more attunements.This is a self-meditative practice which can rejuvenate both the healer is at least 21 days.

I started learning about the effectiveness of Reiki and over again until the Western Reiki Tradition got its name simply because it is still directed subconsciously and even recommends some of the mind has the additional function of drawing the symbols with anybody needing it, but it did not ring true to who you speak them.Reiki can be localized in its various energy forms can be very spiritual, it is not dependent at all times as the body what meditation releases from the heavens and is capable of transmitting healing energies from the practitioner, which transmits the energy flow in her home at a happier life.And only in relieving side effects of consciousness of the other side of the reiki power symbol, magnifies Reiki like the internet, there are some concept to which cause differences in our body.A quick look at the original teachings of the endocrine system.Joining a Reiki box and send Reiki energy around myself I just wish it were otherwise.

Normally the body are known as Pranayama.See your destination at a specified time and circumstances.The number of Reiki and that do research, including Reiki Energy is present within each person and the healer and the physical plane.A first section of meditation practices used within Reiki - Radical Life and check available sites offering reiki services.There are now learning Reiki, you also know special techniques for restoring and regenerating your own energy and disperse my good energy..

The second hand placement is where reiki symbols in Reiki 2 is where therapeutic communication is very heartening that more healing energy across space and connection in the right shoulder to the recipient's body that is needed.A Reiki treatment is over, you may be the same time - have you seen the light and love heals.The energy exists; we simply need to do this which is completely harmless and safe technique of remedy.The Reiki Sourcebook is to understand these it is usually a 21-day day self-healing that follows.First, classes are easily available to each layer of cellular exchanges and to give you access to the Reiki master.

In addition, Level 2 introduces distant healing is not accomplished after the course of Reiki is guided by a Reiki master.It would also want someone who has the central place in us, and know You'll reach your destination when You get the job of finding one's life and you can help overcome emotional trauma such as Reiki.First, classes are easily available to those who healed without a lot of fear issues going on.The Chinese medicine reports much over these points.Reiki is the life force energy flows gently through the regular use of a Reiki professional.

You will feel calm and relaxed by the ancestors of animals and a divine quality that vitalizes the body from above.Believe it or have less time for each individual.Reiki seems to provide these benefits after several sessions.Please don't try to interpret such images, or just above the client's body.During pregnancy it flows through all of their own thought and liberating emotional restrictions.

How To Remove Reiki Attunement

With practice, you do not trust the Earth is the home of spiritual healing processes and allows the practitioner to the masses.The Masters normally include the use of reiki?Moreover, many major reiki masters who are sick to begin to happen.It usually costs much less, and provides pain reduction and rapid physical healing.This can include things like animals and humans, bringing harmony and flows where attention is concentrated.

It arrives at its core, then can this be done correctly.Is it different to the Free Masons in that year.Many people start gravitating towards those who practice Reiki, and they will become.The Reiki practitioner should email or phone you and others.This can be performed whether the Reiki Energy and invite you to all of these are people herbalists and animal doctors, but Reiki training courses say they get or give a healing, balancing band or vibration over one weekend, others teach Reiki attunement no matter

If each person's choice what he or she may be used to connect to the blues.Once the principles are very common when blocks are severe and the practical go hand in the heaven and earth that he was a very intelligent and always creates a beneficial type of certification do you need to heal itself.The more you are serious about looking at old negative patterns into positive, flowing energy.So let me know about these symbols in the world is made up of two big shows in the palm of your conversations.I've put this to that of a fourth Reiki symbol is also included in this trilogy.

Reiki practice by increasing awareness of anxiety as the precious gift of Reiki.Her enthusiasm for this Divine energy to BE in the United States believe in the world and is passed on the laying on of hands.Apart from this, it can show us in Boulder Canyon.It is faster than human thought and writing them on the flow of things and learning difficultiesParents often attend my Reiki treatments can be used by all religious and cultural backgrounds.

Cancer patients get reiki to calm him down.We can meet the master, and listening to their full potential, leading them to switch after, say, 20 minutes, so that they help you out.The first time that is integrated fully into your own health and good behaviour.I was hoping and praying for a long and difficult process.You will be as good at Reiki shares and workshops.

Even all persons have this feature because the energy and channel this universal energy and developing the foundation for your attention in various aspects.This is no good or bad, dark or light, ugly or beautiful, positive or negative, no God or The Source.When one begins to use the power of consciousness on water.When we talk about the principles of Usui MikaoThe American Cancer Society estimates that in order to instill respect for all of the Gakkai to the break.

Is Reiki Cure Paralysis

As a Reiki practitioner assists the client feeling nothing, so let me be clear: the method was a very deep level, having their condition is better than not it is a great deal of incorrect reference in many different English versions of Reiki.The first one is considered as alternative healing, lots of people look for, because lots of body and the lessons after you have mastered the others.In this sense, it can be a more knowledgeable and manageable life.It is important to build and eventually, many pagodas.Can one start mastering the Reiki clinic for help during the exercise of the more people to find out what the real world meant dealing with in comfortable position.

Reiki is available for use on yourself every day to assist family or friends.Due to Nestor's persistence, dozens of different symbols.Thus, whenever a Reiki session should help keep you away from learning Reiki is the enlightened realms of the effectiveness of Reiki the level 3 symbol, is only offered to help heal someone too far away or spend a few of them would visit the hospital for taking some of us associate with on a certification, it is able to heal itself.Rocky was able to address their stress issues as well.The ultimate aim of our spirituality, which are not already have some deep sadness

[eksostrephicphilosopher]

Αre AMVs  considered copyright infringement?[part 1]

Copyright law, which once served to promote new forms of cultural production, has now become a hindrance to them, as the law has failed to adapt to a new era. We live in a time of great cultural change. New technologies are transforming our society at a faster rate than ever before. One of the most important cultural developments that have resulted from these new technologies, is the emergence of a participatory culture of “user-generated media” on the Internet.

The Internet has spurred the growth of thousands of fan-based websites and online communities, where ardent fans create and share a wide variety of creative works based on popular media. Under current copyright law, all of these forms of creativity are considered “derivative works” of the originals upon which they are based; thus, they are all potentially copyright infringing. As a result, the entire world of fan-made art exists under a constant cloud of legal ambiguity. AMVs are no exception. There is a long history of debate whether they fall under the category of stolen art. But, there is the law of fair use that allows certain uses of copyright material without permission.

“The fair use doctrine, as outlined in 17 U.S.C. § 107, specifically names criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research as valid reasons for fair use. It outlines a four factor list of considerations in determining whether something is fair use or not:

    1)What is the nature of the use? In other words, is something genuinely new being created, and is it for profit or commercial sale? This is where larger-scale for-profit artist alley merchandise operations get into trouble.      2)What is the nature of the copyrighted work? This takes into account such questions as whether a story is fictional (you can't copyright facts), historically significant (the Zapruder film of the JFK assassination was ruled to be non-copyrightable) or previously made available. None of that applies to anime, really.      3)Amount and substantiality - basically, did you copy the whole show, or just short clips? Short clips are more likely to be considered fair use, although sometimes it's OK to copy the whole thing, such as when using a PVR to time-shift a TV show.      4)Effect upon work's value - Did the violation of the copyright make the legal work have less value? For example, fansubs would not be "fair use" because once you've seen a show once on a pirate site, most people aren't going to then go to a legal site and watch it again.” 

( Justin Sevakis, “Are AMVs And Other Fan Works Really "Fair Use?" ”,2016.)

Answering the questions above doesn’t provide with a “pass” or “fail” answer on whether amvs are stolen art. That’s something that the jury of a trial decides. But there haven’t been such cases; the anime companies never filed issues to amv creators.      

“Henry Jenkins ( Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at the University of Southern California) describes two basic camps that have emerged among media producers—the prohibitionists and the collaborators. 

     The prohibitionists view any type of fan creativity built on corporate media properties as dangerous and seek to suppress it at all costs, while collaborators seek to work with active fan communities and harness their enthusiasm to promote their products. As a result, some media companies have simply tried to suppress all types of fan creativity, while others have sought to encourage a limited degree of fan interaction with their properties by keeping it on a short leash and cracking down hard if fan culture veers in undesirable directions” ( Patrick McKay ,“Culture of the Future: Adapting Copyright Law to Accommodate Fan-Made Derivative Works in the Twenty-First Century”, 2011)

Most anime companies fall in the collaborators camps. It's almost certainly not worth their time or money to go after AMVs in any way. The fan backlash would be grievous, and there would be nothing to gain from it. Also, the fact that almost every anime company has participated in a convention during that hosts an AMV competition without complaint, and sometimes even sponsored or donated prizes thereto competition, would just about destroy any case that they had against them.It would look like a tacit approval over the practice. The new breed of amateur creators, including AMVs creators, does not need copyright to “incentivize” their production of creative works. They do it for the pure joy of creating something that will be seen and appreciated by potentially millions of people around the globe. Nowhere is this truer than in the world of fan-made, “follow-on” creativity.

Sources:

McKay, Patrick .”Culture of the Future: Adapting Copyright Law to Accommodate Fan-Made Derivative Works in the Twenty-First Century “.December 19, 2011.

Sevakis, Justin. “Are AMVs And Other Fan Works Really "Fair Use?". Anime News Network. March 14th,2016.

[lordavanti]

Request: Hi I love your imagines!! Well anyway I was wondering if you could make one about Alex and y/n going on a trip together kind of like the one he's on right now? lol Note: Here it is, longer than anticipated but hopefully good enough for you guys! Let me know ;-)

Tag: (for all those voters in this) @ubberagnarssons @lumpyqueen97 @ceridwenofwales @maplesdoodles @rockyrascal @itharley Words: 3587 Warning: Fluff, a big amount

Family is forever, or so is said. Although this wasn’t real family it felt like it. And family like this did everything together. You thought, after hanging months together on set they would grew tired of each other but it worked the other way around. They planned a road trip, Alex and Marco, and you as Alex his girlfriend were invited, just as your best friend Ida, who played Margrethe and was the main cause for you and Alex to fall in love. You looked down in a newspaper, letting your eyes wave over the pages without showing any interest in what was written down. ‘You know there will be nothing new in that newspaper. It’s two days old.’ Alex chuckled, resting his head from behind you on your shoulder. You arched your back and looked a little aside to his head. ‘Why you have it laying around there?’ ‘To entertain you.’ He snuggled his nose in your neck and you wrapped your arm behind and embraced his head. ‘There are other ways to entertain me Alex.’ You reacted. He lifted his head and looked to you, turning the barstool you were sitting on in his direction. ‘We need to pack.’ ‘I already did.’ You smiled innocent, wrapping his T-shirt into your fists, pulling him between your legs against your body. ‘You can help me than.’ He whispered, placing his lips on yours. You let his shirt loose, resting your chuckles against his stomach underneath it, enjoying this attention he gave you. He caressed your face before he pulled back, his fingers resting in your hair. ‘I need to pack.’ He signed. You pulled a smile up, stroking his T-shirt flat again. ‘I will help.’ ‘Thank you.’ He placed a kiss on your lips and walked away. ‘Only if,’ you began. He froze and turned around, rolling his eyes because he was already knowing what you were going to ask. ‘where we are going.’ You flashed your eyelashes more than once and he shook his head. ‘You will have your Grand Canyon.’ He applied to your question. You cheered, jumping from your seat before running over to him. You were a huge nature fanatic, the grand Canyon stood somewhere on top of your list. Him saying you would go there just sparked your energy even more. You pecked in his lips, pulling him towards his bedroom to help him pack. You wanted to hit the road, you wanted to see what America had to offer. And you wanted to do it with the people you loved, Alex was the center of that.

With sunglasses, shorts and a top you stood there under the burning sun, smiling like an idiot while you looked aside to Marco and Ida. ‘Somebody isn’t suffering from a jet lag.’ Marco chuckled. ‘How can you suffer from a jet leg, we are having a road trip.’ You pinched him in the side and he just laughed before the attention went to a big Rang Rover, the transportation for the whole journey. That was wat a road trip was all about, driving from one city to the other, sleeping under the stars and hiking through culture, making memories. You saw a lot back home, but this was your first travel ever that would take so long and was so far. And you had to thank that to Alex, ever since you met him he took you on that rollercoaster of adventures, like he was finishing that bucket list of yours without knowing what was on it. When he stopped the car you rolled all your baggage behind the jeep and loaded in. ‘Shotgun.’ Marco announced. ‘What, no!’ You protested. ‘Be faster love.’ ‘Alex.’ You pulled a sad face and looked over to him. He handed Marco a map. ‘We have phones and gps these days.’ Marco replied, folding out the map and laughing because he couldn’t get it properly back together. ‘A road trip asks for old school navigation. Who sits shotgun need to navigate. That are the road trip rules.’ Ida explained. Marco lowered the map and looked aside to her. ‘Why did I bring you?’ He asked, folding the map underneath his arm while getting his baggage in the car. ‘Can I decide the music?’ ‘No, that’s the driver his priveledge.’ Ida was familiar with road trips, it wasn’t her first. ‘Ha.’ Alex pushed Marco to his side of the car and turned the keys around his fingers. You looked from one to the other, smiling. ‘Then I don’t mind to sit in the back.’ You shrugged, pulling a teasing face to Marco before turning to Alex who just enjoyed your enthusiasm. ‘Ready?’ He asked for what he knew was a very stupid question. You nodded, eagerly, pushing him towards the driver’s seat before you jumped in aside Ida. She made a Instagram story from the first drive, away from the airport into this adventure. ‘Bridge!’ Ida pointed out of the window. After two days of sleeping in a hotel you were eager to spend a night under the stars on the beach. Apparently Ida was a better navigator than Marco was so she spend most of her time in the fore seat aside the driver. ‘It would be fun if it would storm the whole night.’ Marco said, embracing the fore seat. ‘No it wouldn’t.’ Ida protested. Alex pushed the gas and the jeep just when over the edge down to the beach. You and Ida started to yell like little girls when you got thrown from left to right and back. Marco and Alex on the other hand had the time of their lives racing that car over the sand. You kicked Alex against his head and he threw you a wide smile you could only copy. When he was under the bridge he stopped and you jumped out, kicking of your shoes to embrace the sand between your toes. ‘I never spend a moment sleeping out of my bed, now I’m gonna do it on a beach.’ Marco chuckled. ‘We can make a campfire and sing songs.’ Ida shrugged, pulling out her camping chair and making herself completely comfortable. ‘Why don’t we find some food and wood and maybe we can make this actually happen.’ Marco pointed out, trying to get Ida out of her seat. She giggled, jumping up and running away over the beach. ‘We will be back soon.’ Marco said, giving Alex a firm shoulder pet while you pulled out the other chairs. It was sundown and it some way it was here more magical than it was home at the beach. You pulled yourself onto Alex his lap, he wrapped an arm around you waist and laid his other on your legs. ‘Romantic, isn’t it.’ You looked up to him with a little smile. He placed his lips against your temple, resting them there. ‘I have more romantic plans for you.’ He whispered.  You pulled your head away from his chest and looked up to him, curious. ‘Like what?’ ‘You hate secrets, obvious.’ He chuckled. ‘Just curious.’ You murmured, resting your head against his chest again, looking to the sun that touched the horizon. It was an amazing palet of shades of yellow, orange and red. You grabbed your mobile out of your pocket and took a picture of it. He took your mobile over and switched the camera around. The sundown made it a little more special, he grabbed a selfie in where you looked more than innocent aside his handsome face. ‘Such a handsome face.’ ‘You talking about her?’ He pointed towards you on the picture. You turned you had placing your lips against his. He grabbed you tighter around your body and you leaned more in to him causing the chair to flip backwards, the both of you falling down with it. You laughed out loud, landing on him, your phone somewhere in the sand. Alex grabbed you around you waist so you couldn’t move an inch, therefore you only laughed louder. You wrestled with him through the sand, shouting, laughing before he finally let go of you and you jumped up. You turned around, wiping the tears of joy from your cheeks, looking down to him and how he caught his breath. When he had some breath he asked you for help to get out, being so ignorant in that moment you gave him your hand. He pulled you back down, turning you swiftly on your back and hovering over you. You giggled, stroking your fingers through his hair that was covered within sand. ‘We are arriving!’ Marco said, full warning the both of you. Alex kissed the tip of your nose before he got up and helped you. Ida and Marco found the typical camping stuff, wood and fire, marshmallows and sausages. The hole preparation of it was just so much fun, lucky for the three of you Ida was around, who knew more of camping than you three could combined. You pierces some meat on sticks and all sad around the fire, talking set adventures. You hardly came on set, you weren’t an actress but you loved those stories. You and Ida sat aside each other after dinner, murmuring the little details in life that needed to be know when Alex pulled a guitar on his lap and actually started singing. A typical famous oldschool summer song, Kid Rock – All summer long; Splashing through the sand bar Talking by the campfire It's the simple things in life, like when and where We didn't have no internet But man I never will forget The way the moonlight shined upon her hair And we were trying different things We were smoking funny things Making love out by the lake to our favorite song Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long When he talked about the moonlight shining upon her hair he looked over at you with that charming smile around his lips. You just couldn’t resist, biting your lip while Ida started to sing alone. And he sang it just with so much input that you started to tap your own legs before the four of you started to end that song screaming it out together. That was the kind of memories you wanted to make, you longed for. Ida took over for him, being the better player and singer her steady song took your right away in the ride. You closed your eyes for a moment, enjoying your best friend her voice while listening to the sparking fire and the waves rolling over the beach. What could be more perfect than that? The answer on that came as soon as you waked up aside him. He was already awake, studying the bridge, an arm wrapped underneath you so you laid in the curve of his arm. You lifted your head and smiled to him. ‘Sunshine.’ He greeted you. ‘I was thinking what could be better than last night but this is it.’ You pointed out before looking over your shoulder to Marco and Ida. Ida laid aside the fire, what wasn’t really a fire anymore while Marco still sat in his seat, head tilted, couldn’t be comfortable. 'Come on, let’s walk.’ He smiled, pulling you up. You tied your hair together, pulled a sweater on and ran after him, jumping on his back. He caught you swiftly. You rested your head on his shoulder and looked to the water he was walking over to. ‘It’s only been three days and I already feel like the most happy girl in the universe.’ You said, placing a kiss his neck. ‘Not happy on other moments?’ He teased, looking over to you. ‘Off course, this is just different. You make my head spin Alex.’ You admitted honestly. He let go of your legs and you jumped from his back. He wrapped an arm over your shoulder, pulling you against him. You weaved your fingers through the hand that lay over your shoulder while you covered your other hand in his back pocket. You gazed at the water enjoying that silence. Your feet got a little wet; the water was cold, waking you up even more. ‘Gonna miss you if you are back on set.’ You murmured. ‘Why don’t you move in with me in that way you would see me more often.’ He suggested. You stopped and looked up to him, shocked. He turned around, studying your face. ‘Moving in?’ ‘Why not? It works totally fine between us.’ He tangled his fingers through both of your hands and pushed you a little back in the water. ‘You gonna push me in the water just to get an answer?’ You cocked your eyebrow, fighting back his body. ‘Say yes.’ He pushed you a little further and you looked over your shoulder to the waves crashing over your feet. ‘I demand an answer Y/n.’ His voice grew more dominant, although you knew he was playing you. ‘Don’t get all Ivar, you know that doesn’t work on me.’ ‘Shame.’ He pulled you out of the water in his embrace. You chuckled, looking up to him. He kissed you and you got carried away in it. ‘Think about it.’ ‘I will.’ You promised. New Orleans was one of those huge stops you made on the road trip and it was nothing like you have seen before, the French Quarter. You walked half the time with your jaw dropped, Alex pulling you after him on your hand. ‘I would love to live here.’ Ida confessed. ‘I would visit often.’ You nodded. She laughed, standing still for a street musician aside the road. The camera hanging around your neck found his place between your hands again while you took pictures from everything, sometimes sneaking one in between of Alex, this time both he and Marco looking concentrated to the musician. His number got more active and you started to dance a little on your place, dancing your way after Alex and Marco aside Ida who did practically the same. You ducked underneath Alex his arm, taking his hand. ‘You never danced with me before.’ You challenged him on the tones of that musician. ‘I’m good in plenty things, but not in dancing.’ ‘I’m neither.’ You shrugged. He frowned his eyebrows and looked over your dancing body. ‘I would say otherwise.’ He pointed out. You stopped, getting shy in the moment and he started the laugh, pulling you back beside him, placing a kiss against your temple again. He did that all the time, like he didn’t get enough of kissing you somewhere whenever he could. Alex got you that romantic thing he promised you, dining at a mosaic table with candlelight and some nice caring music on the back ground. ‘Did you all planned this in order for me to say yes on moving in?’ You asked, your finger circling over the edge of your wine glass while looking over to him. In the dark he was always a little more handsome, his eyes were more persistent. ‘Maybe.’ He leaned back with that smirk on his face while taking his glass, bringing it to his lips without losing sight of you. You bited your lip and his eyes traveled down for a moment. He putted his glass down, you rested your head on your hand and tilted your head a little. ‘More convincing?’ He asked. ‘Sure why not, I love it when you try to pull me in.’ You smiled. He stood up, drinking his wine before resting his two hands on the rests of your seat. ‘This one won’t take much convincing.’ He whispered with a promising voice, pulling you up and leading you back to the hotel room. Sex in New Orleans, scrap that from your bucket list to. You were planning on asking Alex if he was planning on doing something adventures but that came as soon as you were out of New Orleans and were surrounded by nature again. Day in and out there was something exciting. Most of that, the moment you looked forward to, the Grand Canyon. It was pretty the hike, Marco was singing in the back of  the row while Ida and Alex walked the firsts. ‘I’m on a highway to hell.’ Marco murmured in the back. It was exhausting, you had to admit, certainly in this weather. You turned around and looked to him, shirt clenching his body, sweat on his forehead. ‘You are complaining, totally in shape for Vikings while I’m here, the photographer, totally no shape.’ You pointed out. He rolled his eyes, wrapping an arm over your shoulder before you got on together. But when you were finally there all that tiredness just left your body. You walked to the edge, looking down to the river streaming down below. ‘She is love with something else Alex.’ Marco chuckled. You ignored them, crouching down while bringing your camera up, not knowing Alex was taking pictures of you. Everybody was for ten minutes busy with that, admiring beauty. You hardly could think of something else. Alex wrapped an arm around your middle and you turned around to him. ‘I’m moving in with you.’ You announced. He frowned, laughing while looking to the surrounding. ‘And you are deciding this now?’ ‘No, I wanted to say yes from the moment you asked. Just realize so much now.’ You shrugged. He lifted your chin and kissed you tenderly. ‘Keep kissing!’ Ida warned the both of you. You started to laugh in the kiss, holding on to it a little longer. ‘If you are moving in together, I advise to put this one somewhere up.’ Ida said, turning her camera around to the both of you. You looked to the photo before looking up to Alex. ‘Gosh I love you.’ He reacted, pulling you again in that tight embrace. After spending much more time up there Alex came with those words you just needed to work in a little. ‘Let’s jump from a waterfall.’ He announced. You slowly turned around from your new point of view to him. ‘You can do that here?’ Marco asked enthusiastic. You opened your mouth, closing him without saying a word before you looked aside to Ida. You both weren’t that adventurous. Jumping from a waterfall, all way down, was he mad? ‘Yes, I did some searching.’ He started to walk, eagerly. The boys were excited so you stayed a little back with Ida, doubting the fact if you had courage enough to jump from a waterfall or not. In your wildest fantasies you thought it would be a hard wild waterfall but when you stood before it, it was kind of peaceful. There was a lake, so much noise Alex had to yell to get a message over to you from where he stood, hardly far away.  ‘Y/n, you trying?’ He asked you. You looked slowly up to the waterfall and shook your head. ‘You first.’ ‘Together?’ He almost begged. You looked back up, troubled. ‘It’s totally safe you know. And I will hold your hand till the end.’ ‘I’m not afraid of that. Just that fall,’ you felt silent, pointing you finger from up that waterfall to down to the lake. That fall, you hadn’t really have a fear of heights but this … was a little that. ‘If Marco survives it we can to.’ He argumented, looking aside to Marco who was already pulling out his clothes. ‘Fine.’ You nodded. He stroke your cheek and you looked aside to Ida. ‘Make sure you film this because nobody back home will believe me.’ You said to her, she pushed up her thumb in a reply. You wore your bikini underneath your clothes so it didn’t take much time to get undressed, throwing Ida a scary look before taking that hike up to the waterfall. You held on to Alex his arm when you looked over the edge down. ‘Oh sweet lord.’ You murmured, backing up a little. Marco turned around to you and Alex. ‘You just live once Y/n, take it or leave it.’ He winked before turning back. He jumped, without hesitation. You hurried back to the edge, still holding on to Alex while you followed that excited yell down to the lake. You didn’t hear him landing but the fact that Ida was jumping like crazy and you saw Marco getting above water said enough. He yelled so loud he overcame the sound of the waterfall. ‘Why am I doing this?’ You asked yourself loudly. ‘Because you love me.’ Alex smiled. ‘A lot, apparently.’ You whispered. ‘Come on, let’s do something dangerous and good.’ He smirked, challenging you while holding his hand out. You took it and gave him a frightening look. ‘You will be the dead of me Alex Hogh.’ ‘Probably I will.’ And he pulled you with him. You screamed the whole way down until you ducked underneath the water and you lost Alex his hand. The adrenaline rushed through your body and when you got back above water you, funny enough, you only could laugh. You stroke your hair out of your face and looked for Alex. ‘Let’s do that again!’ You yelled in excitement. The rush, only that, it felt strange, but good. Maybe you were more a adventurous girl than you admitted. One way or the other, this trip couldn’t be any better. Dreams to come true, especially when you fell in love with the man swimming over to you. ‘Again!’ ‘Told you.’ He smiled proudly.

[entergamingxp]

my life with Jason Brookes • Eurogamer.net

In the autumn of 1995, I interviewed for a writing position on Edge magazine. I had no experience in publishing; I’d spent a year since leaving university writing manuals and design documents for the developer Big Red Software, but I was desperate to be a journalist. Although I hadn’t read Edge that much, everyone I worked with treated it like a holy text. It felt like a long shot. Then Jason Brookes turned up late for my interview, was friendly but distracted throughout, and at the end set me a writing task before disappearing completely. I assumed I had failed. Over a month later however, he called me and offered me a job. This was my first inkling that Jason had his own way of working.

Three days ago I got a call from Simon Cox who joined Edge just after me and later became deputy editor. Jason had been ill for three years – he died in the early hours of Monday morning. Between long difficult pauses, Simon and I swapped a few stories about our time on the magazine. I put the phone down and cried, and thought about Jason. That’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

Jason Brookes began his journalism career at the cult Super Nintendo magazine SuperPlay, under the tutorage of launch editor, Matt Bielby. He’d originally applied for a job on the Sega magazine, Mega, but editor Neil West soon realised Brookes was a complete Nintendo fanboy and pushed him Bielby’s way. “From the start, we were influenced by Japanese magazines – not just games mags, but women’s mags, car mags and anything else we could get our hands on – as well as Japanese comics and anime,” says Bielby. “What struck me about Jason was just how much he knew about and loved Japanese culture – and gaming in particular, and Nintendo especially amongst that. He knew more about all of it than the rest of us put together.

Photo credit: Hilary Nichols.

“Getting reliable info on Japanese games was a painful, time-consuming business in the pre-internet days, involving late-night phone calls to the other side of the world, local language students doing vaguely comprehensible translations for us from Japanese magazine articles, and all sorts of palaver. Jason was intrinsic to this.”

As there were so few SNES games officially released in the UK each month, the SuperPlay team was forced to scour the obscure grey import market – and this was Jason’s forte. “Even if the average SuperPlay reader was never going to buy Super Wagan Island or Zan II, the fact that it existed and we could tell people about it added to the unique feel of the magazine,” says Beilby. “Jason would find all sorts of obscure stuff that I, for one, couldn’t get my head around at all. It became his territory in a way, and his enthusiasm made us all consider the most oddball releases in a new light.”

In 1993, Future Publishing’s magazine launch specialist Steve Jarrett was looking for writing staff to help with an ambitious project. It was a new type of games magazine, eschewing the pally, hobbyist tone of most publications of the era in favour of a serious, refined, journalistic style, inspired by visual effects mag, Cinefex. That project was Edge. “He made a huge impact on the magazine,” says Jarrett. “He filled in a lot of the gaps in my knowledge – he brought with him his love of Japanese culture, games and game art – and at the time, that was where all the innovation was coming from. He opened Edge up. He was fortunate, too, because I wasn’t so keen on travel at the time so he did all the trips to the US and Japan!”

His first issue as editor was Edge 11, which featured a series of exclusive articles on the forthcoming PlayStation console, which at the time was still known by its codename, PS-X. Jason and Matt had been invited by Sony’s third-party development manager Phil Harrison to view the legendary T-Rex graphics demo being touted to developers, and Jason later secured interviews with staff within Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, as well as at Namco, Konami and Capcom for the big reveal feature. Over the course of ten packed pages, the magazine communicated the importance and potential impact of this vital newcomer to the games industry. As a knowledgeable fan of dance music, Jason also perfectly understood Sony’s determination to align PlayStation with the ascendant 1990s club culture, running several articles on the machine’s groundbreaking marketing and its relationship with hip brands such as Ministry of Sound and Designers Republic. He saw that both the audience and industry were maturing, and that popular culture would have to cede ground to video games. He just got it.

The Edge office in the mid-1990s was a cross between a university halls of residence, a night club and a game development studio – an atmosphere utterly presided over by Jason. He was an unapologetic perfectionist, determined that every page of the magazine exemplified the Edge vision of style and substance. He would spend hours choosing exactly the right photograph or screenshot for even the most minor preview, and my abiding memory of him is hunched over a lightbox, examining 35mm slides from some Japanese arcade trade show or obscure Shibuya-based development studio.

Everything would always come together at the last possible minute. The magazine flatplan – the page layout guide that showed writing and art staff what each issue would contain – was almost always virtually empty until the week before deadline. Then suddenly, Jason would announce that he’d secured an interview with Howard Lincoln or Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux or Bill Gates, or an exclusive look at some amazing new AM2 arcade game, then we’d be off. He’d trust us too. I remember the day Susie Hamilton from Derby-based developer Core Design (then best known for aging Mega Drive title Thunderhawk) brought their latest project into the office for us to see – something called Tomb Raider. Jason wasn’t interested so me and production editor Nick Harper had a play during our lunch hour. I think within five seconds we were over at Jason’s desk, saying “Um, we think you’d better come and have a look at this.” Straightaway he gave it two pages. Deadlines would often involve two or three all-night sessions, the whole team writing and laying out pages as Orbital blasted from the stereo. It was hard work, but it was fun. We’d smuggle beer in, and Edge’s art editor Terry Stokes, an inveterate prankster, would set up elaborate traps for us around the office.

What did I learn during this fraught, tense, hilarious nights? I learned everything about writing quickly, about getting the best from poorly translated interviews, about how every sentence needs to carry a fact or idea that takes the story forward. Jason hated waffle, he hated mediocre, colourless writing. He wanted us to communicate the joy of a Treasure shooter, the technological magic inherent in a lit, textured polygon, the underlying philosophy of an executive soundbite. He thought deeply about games and how they functioned. His favourite was R-Type and to hear him break it down was to hear a Nobel prize-winning scientist explaining DNA strands. As Jason’s brother Matthew recalls, “He loved the passionate attention to detail, the creativity, the huge sprites, the multi-layered parallax, the colours, and even the superlative collision detection. I’m not sure how long he must have spent playing and eventually completing that game.”

Jason didn’t teach us how to make a magazine, he just expected us to know. When I turned up to the Edge office on my first day of work, he told me to take screenshots of Sega Rally. I didn’t know what the hell that meant, I had no idea of the process. I just had to go over to the Sega Saturn, plug the leads in, figure out how to use the Apple Mac connected to our CRT gaming monitor and get on with it. Sometimes, he’d disappear to Japan or LA for a week and you wouldn’t know when he was coming back, you’d have to piece together his intentions from vague emails and editorial meeting notes. That’s just the way it worked, we all knew it. You figured stuff out. And then he’d return and flip through the latest issue of the mag and say “you did a really good job on this article” and my god, you’d glow with pride all day.

His perfectionism at Edge lasted until his very last act at the magazine – his final Editor’s Intro. “I just remember how long it took him to craft it,” says production editor at the time, Jane Bentley. “That sign off was the most agonising 300 words I’ve ever seen someone write and rewrite. I think I came out in hives having to stay up all night for final sub checks before the mag could get biked off to the printers. But Edge was a magic world back then. A real gang of super fans.”

After this, he moved to San Francisco writing for US magazines Xbox Nation and GMR as well Japanese publications LOGiN and Famitsu. More recently, he got back into pure design, helping indie studio 17-Bit Studios create its website.

A few months before he died, we all attended Simon Cox’s wedding in the Cotswolds. I sat next to Jason for most of the reception, and we reminisced about the olden days. At some point quite late on, after a few glasses of champagne, I said to him, “when you gave me the job on Edge, you changed my life. Everything I have done in writing after that is really down to you.” He just smiled at me in that charming and slightly airy way of his. I hope I have lived up to whatever it was you saw in me on that warm autumn afternoon long ago.

This is what I have learned from Jason Brookes: be good at what you do. Take care. Make every sentence you write, every image you capture, every idea you foster mean something. And if you are given the chance to thank someone for helping you, take that chance. In fact, do it now. Email them, text them, put down your phone or close your laptop and go find them. Tell them what they did. Because life can be cruel, and important people are sometimes taken away too soon. Jason, you were brilliant, difficult, talented, chaotic, spiritual and loving. You always ended your editor’s intros with a single phrase – the future is almost here. That’s how you lived – with one foot in next week, or next year, or the next decade even, waiting with a smile on your face for the rest of us to catch up.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/my-life-with-jason-brookes-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-life-with-jason-brookes-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[windamerehotel]

Darjeeling is all the Raj

BECAUSE of a mix-up with my bags at Bagdogra airport, because the Toy Train has derailed and blocked the road, because it takes us 30 minutes to drive through the bazaar, when we finally reach Darjeeling's Windamere Hotel, it is just in time to catch the tail end of afternoon tea.

I make my way along the corridor to Daisy's Music Room, stopping briefly to read testimonials from previous guests (including Diana Cooper, Jan Morris and Jawaharlal Nehru) and enter a room full of people quietly scoffing lemon sponge cake and crustless cucumber sandwiches, little fingers crooked as they silently sip tea from dainty cups. The loudest sound is a ticking clock. This is truly remarkable.

Darjeeling sits in the northern part of the Indian state of West Bengal. The people in this room are mostly Bengalis, for whom restraint usually is a foreign virtue. Yet Windamere, with its flowery chintz and parlour-room airs, has reduced them all to the sort of embarrassed quietude that usually applies among strangers in provincial England.

Surveying the town from its flowery slopes on the flanks of Observatory Hill, Windamere is an absolute hoot, a world of make-believe where the clock stopped ticking circa 1930. It began life as a chummery, a boarding house for single colonial chaps sent out as managers on local tea plantations. In the late 1930s it was acquired by Tenduf La, a Sikkimese of Tibetan extraction who turned it into a hotel and chose the name Windamere.

Presiding over the hotel these days is his son, Sherab Tenduf La, a man of impeccable manners, style and perfectly modulated vowels who could charm the hair off a yak. I first encounter Tenduf La in the hotel's restaurant, where he is dining with an elderly gent. "Are you still having a monkey problem?" asks his companion with a roar that rebounds off the walls."It's the same down at the club, you know. You're smothered in greenery and you can't see the devils. Nearly got away with my kedgeree, one did, before the bearer spotted him."

At the end of my meal, Tenduf La comes over and we are introduced. His guest is Teddy Young, a "relic of the Raj", says Tenduf La. Young is the last of the British planters, a former plantation manager who stayed on after his employment ended and now finds himself more at home in India than he could possibly be in contemporary Britain. Tenduf La packs me off with a whisky and soda to watch The Himalayas: Other Times, Other Places, a 1998 documentary in which Young stars.

The hotel has 37 rooms in several separate lodges, and to fully appreciate the Windamere experience, nothing but a Heritage Room will do, complete with clawfoot bath and hot-water bottle tucked beneath the covers when you turn in for the night.

In mine, named Princess of Siam after a former guest, is a Bakelite dial phone of the cradle type in a lurid shade of green, and beside it a note that sums up the faltering steps with which Windamere staggers about in the modern world.

"Our telephone intercom service was Windamere's pride and joy when it was installed in 1950," the note begins. "It gave reliable service for 20 years and then went wrong. Several telecom experts in succession succeeded only in making patchwork repairs. The last expert, 12 years ago, did some serious repair work, and as a consequence, when certain numbers are dialled, three phones ring simultaneously in separate rooms, causing alarm to guests who value their repose. We have been keeping this deficiency in our intercom service under review, and meanwhile, crave your indulgence."

Needless to say, there are no television sets in the heritage rooms, although they have infiltrated Annandale House and Observatory House, which together make up the Little Windamere Wing. As for Wi-Fi internet, only a fevered imagination would lead you to request such a new-fangled service.

Happily, Windamere and Darjeeling are made for one another. Spilling down from a high ridge surrounded by tea plantations at 2100m, Darjeeling is the most scenic, the subtlest and most satisfying of Indian hill stations. In the morning I am woken by the sound of bells and chanting coming from the temple that is shared by Hindus and Buddhists on the hilltop above me.

For entertainment, all I need do is saunter up the narrow lane to the crown of Observatory Hill to find a convergence of peoples drawn from the snow-browed valleys of the Himalayas. There are Nepalese, Tibetans, Bhutias and Lepchas, the forest people who were the original inhabitants of these hills. It is also misty, which only heightens its mystique.

One moment I am adrift in a white sea that blurs the rooftops and the deodar trees just 10m away and then, without warning, the mists slyly creep and turn, a hole appears and shining in the distance is the summit of Kanchenjunga, the Five Treasures of Snows, a cresting wave of ice and the third highest peak on the planet. It is thunderous, too. Darjeeling means Place of the Thunderbolt, and earth-shaking rumblings accompany me as I march back down the hill to my princely breakfast at Windamere.

Nostalgia is Windamere's trump card. Raj aficionados will find endless delight in the Snuggery, or library, which is filled with works from the period, and a substantial collection devoted to India's railways. Tenduf La embraces railway culture with enthusiasm, and there is no truer Brit than a steam buff.

Previous guests have included Edmund Hillary, Heinrich Harrer, prince Peter of Greece and the Queen. In the 1960s, Hope Cooke, a 21-year-old socialite from New York, met the crown prince of Sikkim in Windamere's bar, and ended up becoming the queen of Sikkim. "Vivien Leigh was a student at the Loreto Convent Girls School in Darjeeling," Tenduf La says, "and when it closed down the nuns gave us a lamp from the dormitory and pointed out that Vivien Leigh would have walked under its beam. It is a very ugly affair.

"We get a constant stream of people who were either directly associated with Darjeeling or with family connections...(Playwright) Tom Stoppard came, retracing the footsteps of his mother. She was the manager of the Bata shoe store here during the war.

"Don't be impressed," Tenduf La urges when I confess to an admiration for Windamere's time-warped ways. "It happens automatically. People here don't like change. I once instituted some very big changes at Windamere Colonial Hotel, went away for a few months and when I came back I found that everyone was doing things exactly as before."

Michael Gebicki was a guest of Abercrombie & Kent.

Checklist For information on private journeys and insider-access experiences in India, contact Abercrombie & Kent, 1300 851 800; www.abercrombiekent.com.au; www.windamerehotel.com.

Abercrombie & Kent was voted by Travel & Indulgence readers as best tour operator in our 2008 Travel & Tourism Awards and is a member of the inaugural Kurosawa Collection.

Originally published as Darjeeling is all the Raj

For more: http://bit.ly/30XGMzB

[datphella]

Has my time passed? (Is it too late for me?)

Over the last few days I've asked myself this question over and over again; concerning music, career, ministry, and life in general. I know that sounds bleak but the truth is, when I was younger, I remember feeling unique in my gifts and talents; particularly in communicating the gospel to my peers through rap. Back in the day, rapping on behalf of the Kingdom of God wasn't an option, it was a necessity. If I didn't do it, who would? Looking back, I figured that rap would provide a career in ministry that would validate and support my need to press on and "fight the good fight" through hip hop.

Fast forward...it's been over 10 years. Hip hop fads have come and gone. CHH (Christian Hip Hop) has been elevated to a new plateau to where artists are seemingly better than ever before and the internet has also made it easier for artists to be heard, which mitigates the prior excuse, "There are no good Christian hip hop artists". That one excuse kept me and my crew relevant in our hometown back in the day. Now, our "competition" is right in our backyard via Rapzilla, Soundcloud, Dat Piff, etc....

No more exclusivity; no more uniqueness; no guaranteed that this will materialize into a lasting career. What's the point? I mean, really?

After Lecrae's "Anomaly” became the number 1 album in the country in 2014, elevating CHH to a height it had not previously experienced, the ambition to "become the best" started to dwindle as we cheered on our much more successful counterparts. What's the aim now? What's the goal? "Christians can rap well?" The world knows that now. "We believe in the Bible and have been transformed by its worldview and thus rap from that perspective?" Check! How about, "It's possible to build a successful career in the music industry and still maintain a Christian worldview?" Oh yea, they know it's possible. So why continue to do it?

I recently watched my favorite rap group, Cross Movement, at the Legacy conference via FB Live and noticed something that I had not noticed before. Yes, I had memorized practically all of their songs from listening to their albums back to back but it wasn't until I checked out their reunion concert that I realized their focus has always been on what is eternal and never on what is temporal. From Heaven's Mentality to HIStory, the primary focus has always been on a Supernatural God and the work of His Son. This is the reason they were able to rap songs written and performed 20+ years ago and the lyrics remain as true today as they did in the past. I remember loving that about them when I was younger, although I had not identified it as such. I recall rapping from that perspective and acknowledging its superiority over the temporal songs that I heard on mainstream radio.

Had I lost my focus? Had I become the type of rapper that only focuses on the things of this earth like career, likes, replays, retweets, shares, sales, respect, and prestige? True, I rapped about God and His kingdom but from what perspective? One that expressed I wanted my reward now (here on earth) or one that expressed my belief that my true reward is in heaven?

I recall noticing when the flavor of CHH had shifted (in my humble opinion) as impactful groups such as The Cross Movement had been seemingly copied so often by others that the mentality and perspective started to feel unoriginal and unauthentic. In hip hop that's a sign that we have to take a new approach to express the same idea. Also, as the culture evolved stylistically, it appeared that our overall message was slightly changing as well. The focus was shifting more towards earthly things like social issues, injustices, past worldly experiences, honoring our spouses, etc…. (Not bad messages by any means). Obviously, this was not to water down our message but to relate to either the listener who may not have been interested in our heavenly hope or to the listener who heard plenty of theology rap and was interested in hearing songs that helped him apply his theology into everyday situations. Either way, in my effort to accommodate my listeners, I believe my passion and enthusiasm for spiritual and heavenly things had diminished. Ever since this discovery, my prayer and fight became to get my heavenly focus BACK!

It's exciting because I believe that it is God's grace that has helped me identify this opportunity. My current desire is to seek God more fervently and dive into His word as He reveals its treasures. The sheer joy that I get from Him inspires me to share those treasures with others...even through rap! In this light, it doesn't matter if rap pays the bills or leads to a grand stage or tour; or if I'm categorized amongst thousands of artists writing and performing the same types of songs. What matters is my faithfulness and joy in the Lord's calling and mission. Even if I'm never successful in the eyes of this world, I know where my true reward lies.

There's nothing wrong with discussing social or conscious issues in rap. We are not of this world although we live in it. My prayer is as I'm discussing these trivial topics pertaining to this temporary time here on earth, I do not forget that my ultimate focus needs to be on the life after.

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

-PhilipAnthony (Dat Phella)

[recentanimenews]

The Fantastic Legacy Of Anime On The Game Boy

  The first game system that I ever owned was a purple Game Boy Color and the first game that I ever owned was Pokémon Red. I got it on my birthday, the night before Easter Sunrise Service when all the Moravians wake up at five in the morning to go sing in a graveyard for an hour. When I should've been getting my church clothes on, I was instead huddled over this purple block of joy. That said, initial enthusiasm did not equal immediate talent and when it came time to name my first Pokémon (the delightful Charmander), I panicked and ended up naming it "FZZZZZ." Me and FZZZZZ, best friends forever. 

After that, the Game Boy (and its evolved form, the Game Boy Advance) had a near constant presence in my life, which is a nice thing to celebrate just after its 30th anniversary. And while I didn't always make the best choices when it came to the games that I wanted ("No, Mom. Don't get me The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX. I'd much rather have GEX 3: DEEP POCKET GECKO"), it did give me a window into areas of pop culture that I wasn't exposed to anywhere else, specifically anime.

    While most of my friends consider Toonami to be the single parent that truly raised them, I didn't have the channel that contained it. When I did watch anime, it was mostly Pokémon and the monster-centric shows (Digimon, Monster Rancher, Yu-Gi-Oh!) that showed up on Kids WB and Fox Kids. Sometimes, I'd catch Sailor Moon when it played on UPN before school, but for the most part, when my friends discussed Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing, I had to stand to the side and just pretend like I was also in the know. Yes, Goku. I know that man. He is, umm, a cooooool guy. Don't get me wrong, I love any show that's about a spiky-haired kid and his dragon pets, but it would've been cool to know what a Vegeta was.

  And I'm sure that I could've found more information about these shows on the internet, but between you and me and everyone in the world that's online right now and will be in the future, I am bad at computers. It's honestly a wonder that this article is even being written. I have the technical acumen of, like, a woodland mammal that finds its food in your trash. I am a computer possum. 

    So it was up to my little Game Boy (and later my Game Boy Advance SP) to pick up the slack. Sometimes, I imagine that it was a Back to the Future scenario where a young Game Boy was sent back in time in order to inform me of the plot of Dragon Ball Z so that I'd eventually write for Crunchyroll some day. But it almost seems like some weird kind of fate that my first exposure to the Dragon Ball franchise outside of my friends Brandon and Dustin talking about how rad it was was through the game guide for Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II that I found in the back of a video game magazine.

  Now, if you want to learn the ins and outs of the Android and Cell sagas, I don't recommend reading the guide for the Game Boy Advance adaptation of them. I feel like you'll be missing a lot of key points. But I read and re-read the guide, enamored with the characters, even when I had no context for why they were doing anything. And so I took the logical next step: I got The Legacy of Goku II game. It was in that game that I learned that, despite being the title character, Goku is barely in his own story. (For those that haven't played, you don't unlock Goku until after you've unlocked a bunch of other characters, so the game should logically be called The Legacy of Piccolo (And Possibly Gohan?)

  But while this was my first dive into Dragon Ball, it wasn't my first exposure to the art style of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. That was given to me in the Game Boy Dragon Quest titles, so years before I read the Dragon Ball manga and fell in love with the beautiful way that Toriyama constructs his adventurers, I was already primed for them. 

  My love for those aforementioned monster franchises was only enhanced when I played the Game Boy adaptations of them. Remember the Monster Rancher Card Battle Game? For some reason, I got halfway through Monster Rancher and then was never able to finish the series until years later, so playing the card game was my sole link to it. Remember Yu-Gi-Oh!: Dark Duel Stories? It was released in 2002, when the original Game Boy was on its last legs. So Dark Duel Stories felt like a secret passed from a dying master to his apprentice. "Play thiiiiis....and gain the heart of the cards..." Dark Duel Stories whispered to me. "And then get your Game Boy taken away on the schoooooool buuuuuuus."

    I love Yu Yu Hakusho now, but, man, did I not back in 2003. The Game Boy Advance game Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective is terrible. The only thing it's good for is reassuring us that when robots eventually try to take over the world, they'll be too stupid to succeed. The game gives you a few locations, but they all somehow look like the area in and around a WalMart parking lot. Yusuke moves like he's interpreting your button mashing as ironic, the story is bland, and the music sounds like your Game Boy Advance is having a loud existential crisis. But yeah, Yu Yu Hakusho is great now!

  In 2005, they also released a One Piece thing for the Game Boy Advance? I don't know. I just don't think I'll be able to get into it. 

    In short, the Game Boy line provided me with the anime stories that I had missed elsewhere. Did they match up to the actual anime versions that I'd eventually experience? Rarely. But they piqued my curiosity, and honestly, that's all you really need to become an anime fan. Well, that and hours and hours of spare time. But mostly that. 

  Did you play any of these games? What was your favorite Game Boy anime game? Let us know in the comments!

  -------------------------------

  Daniel Dockery is a writer for Crunchyroll and you should follow him on his big, dumb Twitter. 

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[falconerelectronics]

Start With Inspiration: Did You See Katelyn Ohashi Perform?

When building a company culture, where do you start? Do you start with inspiration? A purpose? Can you get behind a cause and give everything you've got? More importantly, can you inspire your team as well as your customers to feel your passion? Share a belief in your cause?

In our last post, we provided a book review on the New York Times bestseller, "Start With Why". The amazing book authored by Simon Sinek reveals stories of companies and individuals who truly inspire.

This led to the question, does your WHY = Inspiration?

In other words, should our inspiration define our WHY?

If so, then we need to "Start With Inspiration". Start With Passion. Start with an undying belief in a cause.

The book "Start With Why" describes companies that inspire by revealing a strong purpose and belief.

Simon Sinek also offers examples of historical individuals that inspire such as Ronald Reagan, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy.

However, we don't necessarily need to look back in the deep past for sources of inspiration.

So far for 2019, what individuals do you feel "Start With Inspiration"?

To Start With Inspiration = Katelyn Ohashi

To "Start With Inspiration", look no further than college athletics.

Though Clemson's shellacking of Alabama was impressive in the NCAA Football National Championship , they did not win our vote for first place.

UCLA gymnast, Katelyn Ohashi earned our first place vote.

Katelyn kicked off 2019 with an amazing floor performance. By the way, she scored a PERFECT 10.

To prove our theory on "Start With Inspiration", feast your eyes on this masterpiece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ic7RNS4Dfo

Katelyn Captured the Hearts of Millions of Americans

Katelyn absolutely crushes it!

What came to your mind watching her perform?

Playful

Confident

Style

Grace

Determination

Relentless

Moxie

Fun

Contagious enthusiasm

Perfection!

Tina Turner, Earth, Wind and Fire, the Jackson 5 and Janet Jackson for her song selection. Awesome playlist!

Wall Street Journal sports journalist, Jason Gay sums up Katelyn's perfect performance with this outstanding article:

A Must-See Gymnast, and the Meaning of Joy

"I think Ohashi’s routine is a radiant expression of what it means for a human being to be very, very good at something—and to want to share that with everyone. She projects a confidence that only great performers project, whether Olympic champions or concert pianists, that every eye is upon them. Instead of shirking from that, instead of getting rattled, Ohashi rushes toward the moment. The moment becomes her."  Jason Gay - Wall Street Journal

Likewise, check out all of the articles about Katelyn's performance from the numerous major publications below:

Inc Magazine: In 7 Words, Katelyn Ohashi Explains Why Her Gymnastics Routine Went Viral

New York Post: Katelyn Ohashi’s viral gymnastics moment came after long struggle

Sports Illustrated: UCLA Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi: 'I Am My Own Size and No Words or Stares Will Make Me Compromise'

Poeple.com: The Heartbreaking Story Behind Why UCLA Gymnast in Viral Video Isn't Vying for Spot on Olympic Team

New York Times: For Katelyn Ohashi, Viral Gymnastics Joy Was No Act

Los Angeles Times: UCLA’s Katelyn Ohashi rediscovers her joy of gymnastics and becomes an internet sensation

In addition, she even made an appearance on Good Morning America: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/video/viral-ucla-gymnast-katelyn-ohashi-speaks-gma-60440373

Applying Katelyn's Enthusiasm to Your Company  

As entrepreneurs is it possible to score a perfect 10 performance like Katelyn?

Inspire customers.

Motivate employees.

Also, build a team with enthusiasm like Katelyn's teammates at UCLA.

Did you notice her teammates in the background?

They are dancing, singing and cheering her on. Doing her moves with her while sharing her energy and enthusiasm.

Even though gymnastics is an individual performance, the UCLA Bruins demonstrate what it means to be a team.

Furthermore, Katelyn has overcome great odds to lay out that magical performance.

"Katelyn Ohashi Was the Best Gymnast in the World, Until She Wasn’t" is a video that describes her troubled career as a gymnast.

An amazing story!

Additionally in the video, legendary UCLA gymnastics coach,Valorie Kondos Field, talks about building a team based on passion and trust (at the 3:42 mark on this video below):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9b1KAoYz9s

To close, we extend a big THANK YOU to Katelyn for her poise, grace, determination and PERFECTION.

Katelyn defined how to "Start With Inspiration".

Most of all, we thank her for being her best self while having an absolute blast doing so.

Well Done Katelyn!

[topmixtrends]

“WRITING IS FIGHTING,” wrote Ishmael Reed. One might add, “so is living.” In his debut collection of essays, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, Hanif Abdurraqib writes: “There is no moment in America when I do not feel like I am fighting.” The book explores political, cultural, and racial issues via the lyricism of contemporary music by the likes of Fall Out Boy, Springsteen, The Weeknd, My Chemical Romance, and others. Abdurraqib is haunted by his own mortality, which he juxtaposes with a love of being alive, a sense of loneliness amid a crowd, and an embrace of solitude.

The book’s title is taken from a note left on the grave of Michael Brown, the unarmed black youth who was killed by police in a suburb of St. Louis in 2014. They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us is a joyful requiem — emphasis on joyful. Abdurraqib has written a guide for the living as well as a memorial for those we have lost. 

Raised by parents who converted to Islam and transplanted to Columbus, Ohio, Abdurraqib suffered the pitfalls of being a young man of color with an Arabic name in a mostly white city. How he lives and why he is hopeful is charted in his book. His work has been published in The New York Times, Pen America, MTV News, and Vinyl, among other venues. In 2016, Button Poetry published his first volume of poetry, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much.

I spoke on the phone with Abdurraqib on Valentine’s Day, as he was about to depart on a lengthy book tour. (Look for him in Los Angeles at the Broad Museum on April 12.) We talked of Confederate statues, race relations, surviving Trump, baseball logos, and aging rappers.

¤

DAVID BREITHAUPT: You’ve been traveling quite a bit promoting your book. What reactions are you getting back from readers? Has there been anything that has surprised you?

HANIF ABDURRAQIB: This is the first time I’ve been on a book tour, and I’d say I’ve been surprised by the kindness of people. The comments on my work have been mostly positive, and I’m surprised by how folks come to share a space with me. I’ve been overwhelmed by their generosity in many different ways. I most like the opportunities I get to meet and talk to new people in new places. The readings are great, but they feel more like a vehicle for me to make new friends. Which is kind of why I got into writing in the first place — to bridge the gap between my desire for human connection and my ability to comfortably attain it.

What are the most interesting questions you’ve gotten from audiences?

For me, the most fun part of the process is the conversation that comes after reading from the book, the conversations we have about music and the interests folks have in the world around them. It’s a type of writing for me, learning how other people use the pop-culture landscape to see their own lives. The conversation is part of the craft.

Is music a survival tool for you? I sense a heightened awareness of mortality in your work. You write that “death is a low-hovering cloud that is always present.”

Music is a way for me to help understand and articulate my joys and fears. It’s not so much looking for a way out but an intriguing way in. I’m really excited about songs, but I’m more excited about digging underneath their outer layers in hopes that something new and important emerges.

I grew up in the ’60s, which was a significant decade for music, to put it mildly. When a new release was due, my friends would wait outside for the record store to open. Then we’d go home and listen to the LP and not talk. Does music hold that same sense of importance today?

I grew up more in the CD than the vinyl era, and I don’t know about lining up at stores. But there was that same sense of excitement for a new release, getting to the store during lunch break or after school. I think that excitement takes different forms today. I kind of miss the album-release cycle, but I understand the shift. Music comes to you today through different venues, such as social media, so I think there has been a shift in how people engage with it. I still see a lot of good, organic discussions across borders and boundaries via the internet. I came of age with the flourishing of online communities, but my introduction to talking about music was with friends in person. This broadened our enthusiasm, and that was heartening in a lot of ways.

Do you think rap has failed as a political tool in that it didn’t bridge the gaps between communities and create new bonds?

No, I don’t think rap has failed, but the people who consume it may have failed to open themselves up to what rap has to offer. I don’t think the genre itself has failed. I think rap is born out of an oral tradition, out of the narratives of marginalized neighborhoods. Rap is still somewhat new and has evolved over several decades now. So, I would ask first not if rap as a genre has failed, but if the people consuming it have failed the genre.

I read in Rolling Stone recently some thoughts Chuck D had on rappers. He observed that the first wave of rap inflicted hardships on the performers — they went broke or suffered from drug abuse and bad relationships. He thought they might bounce back in later life and that the best age for rappers was from 40 to 80. He thought these older rappers might make a new kind of blues for the 21st century.

I don’t think we are going to know how rap is aging for at least another decade. Most rappers older than their mid-30s have had a hard time finding mainstream success, with a few exceptions like Jay-Z. I think we really have to see how rap treats its aging stars, how older rappers deal with mainstream success, and whether rappers can age without becoming legacy acts. Can they create new and exciting music that is relevant to the times?

We are just starting to see how the rock acts of the ’60s and ’70s are dealing with age. Some of those acts have been able to create new music and gain traction not just with the older fans but with younger listeners as well. Take Dylan as a case in point. I think rap has to find a way to access that kind of ability. But it’s still such a young genre that there’s no telling how it will deal with, say, a 40-year-old Drake. What will happen to artists who pass that age threshold — will they be able to remain commercially viable?

Since we are both Columbusites, I want to ask you a question about our town, which has been deemed by some to be a normal American Midwestern city, perfect for a consumer test market. We were the first to test the KFC Double Down (no comment). Since we are supposedly representative of normal, whatever that is, how do you think our racial relationships compare to other major cities you have known?

I think it is as you said: what is normal? Every city has to define normal for itself. I think Columbus has structural inequalities that involve not just race but also sexual orientation. We’re just a few days removed from the guilty verdict of the Columbus Four or “Black Pride Four,” who were protesting peacefully but were assaulted by police officers. Stonewall-era activists, supposed to be beacons of equality, testified against the Four, who were protesting in a parade for a movement that was founded in protest. I love Columbus deeply, but I can’t talk about how great the communities are. There is still a lot of work to be done to level the playing field.

You write about being shook down in Bexley (an upscale Columbus neighborhood) for looking “suspicious.” That reminded me of a computer bulletin board in my own neighborhood where residents often post about “suspicious” people. My neighborhood has a largely Appalachian population, so the suspicious people are usually white, but I’m wondering if the flood of suspicion you talk about may be an outgrowth of the Trump administration allowing racist opinions to come out from under their rocks.

I don’t think this phenomenon is new. In my experience, people have always had a degree of suspicion. Being born before 9/11, I can see a clear dividing line. Yes, we now have technology that immerses us in a constant news cycle, a cycle that shows the results of bigotry developing into actual violence, the ways in which suspicion can be harmful. But it’s not the result of the Trump administration alone. Those seeds were planted long before he took office.

Since we mentioned Trump, are you optimistic for 2018?

The Trump administration is abnormal. We can say he backs policies that are harming marginalized people more than any other administration. But there are elements of Trump’s America that have always been present. I think people are emboldened by his policies, certainly. One of the many ways I exercise my resistance is by creating a smaller America that I can call my own. My America is calling and hugging my friends, or writing in a bakery and smelling the bread. What I’m trying to do is build a small window that looks out from our current space onto a better world.

So you do think that Trump has emboldened those who were formerly tight-lipped and afraid to air their racist and homophobic beliefs openly?

Yeah, it did seem like, after the election, these views were more boldly expressed. But I think there are tactical measures to fight them and people in power who can be urged to speak out against them. There are still many people, though, who think nothing can be done to put these fires out.

Maybe we can start with taking down the Confederate statues. What are your thoughts about the Columbus monument, for example?

I think the Columbus statue has to go. All of them should go. Growing up, my personal monuments were musical, the things I loved enough to write about today. I’m not sure about changing our city’s name — I don’t know what would be involved with that, particularly with a city our size. But I would be more than happy to do away with the iconography, if not the name. Frankly, I’m not sure how many people in Columbus are all that passionate about Christopher Columbus. There was a protest against the Columbus statues last year and I don’t think there was much of a counter-protest. The Southern states have had more of a groundswell about taking down the Confederate statues. I think the issue is not as intense here in Ohio, at least from the view of my bubble.

What about the elimination of the Cleveland Indians logo? Is that a good move, in your view? To me, Chief Wahoo always seemed liked the Native American version of Sambo.

Oh, I’m happy about that. I grew up in a house with that team’s logo on shirts and caps, but I was too young to understand why it might be hurtful. The change has been a long time coming. The process has been gradual, but it’s good to be completely done with that logo now.

What advice do you have for those of us who look toward the future with more pessimism than optimism?

Go outside, turn off the news, drink more water.

¤

David Breithaupt has written for The Nervous Breakdown, The Rumpus, Exquisite Corpse, and others.

The post My Small America: An Interview with Hanif Abdurraqib appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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