#( ques tion marks ???? )

[castielgeralt]

An Introduction to Iambic Pentameter

How Shakespeare Uses Meter to Create Rhythm and Emotion

When we speak of the meter of a poem, we are referring to its overall rhythm, or, more specifically, the syllables and words used to create that rhythm. One of the most interesting in literature is iambic pentameter, which Shakespeare nearly always used when writing in verse. Most of his plays were also written in iambic pentameter, except for lower-class characters, who speak in prose.

Iamb What Iamb

In order to understand iambic pentameter, we must first understand what an iamb is. Simply, put an iamb (or iambus) is a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables that are used in a line of poetry. Sometimes called an iambic foot, this unit can be a single word of two syllables or two words of one syllable each. For instance, the word "airplane" is one unit, with "air" as the stressed syllable and "plane" as the unstressed. Likewise, the phrase "the dog" is one unit, with "the" as the unstressed syllable and "dog" as the stressed.

Putting the Feet Together

Iambic pentameter refers to the number of total syllables in a line of poetry—in this case, 10, composed of five pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. So the rhythm ends up sounding like this:

ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM

Most of Shakespeare’s famous lines fit into this rhythm. For example:

If mu- / -sic be / the food / of love, / play on ("Twelfth Night")

But, soft! / What light / through yon- / -der win- / -dow breaks? ("Romeo and Juliet")

Rhythmic Variations

In his plays, Shakespeare didn’t always stick to ten syllables. He often played around with iambic meter to give color and feeling to his character’s speeches. This is the key to understanding Shakespeare's language. For instance, he sometimes added an extra unstressed beat at the end of a line to emphasize a character's mood. This variation is called a feminine ending, and this famous question is the perfect example:

To be, / or not / to be: / that is / the ques- / -tion ("Hamlet")

Inversion

Shakespeare also reverses the order of the stresses in some iambi to help emphasize certain words or ideas. If you look closely at the fourth iambus in the quote from "Hamlet" above, you can see how he has placed an emphasis on the word “that” by inverting the stresses.

Occasionally, Shakespeare will completely break the rules and place two stressed syllables in the same iambus, as the following quotation demonstrates:

Now is / the win- / -ter of / our dis- / con tent ("Richard III")

In this example, the fourth iambus emphasizes that it is “our discontent,” and the first iambus emphasizes that we are feeling this “now.”

Why Is Iambic Pentameter Important?

Shakespeare will always feature prominently in any discussion of iambic pentameter because he used the form with great dexterity, especially in his sonnets, but he did not invent it. Rather, it is a standard literary convention that has been used by many writers before and after Shakespeare.

Historians are not sure how the speeches were read aloud—whether delivered naturally or with an emphasis on the stressed words. This is unimportant. What really matters is that the study of iambic pentameter gives us a glimpse into the inner workings of Shakespeare’s writing process, and marks him as a master of rhythm to evoke specific emotions, from dramatic to humorous.

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: Muslim Culture and Character: Morals And Manners: TEASING AND MOCKING

The Qur’an commands that people should not make fun of, embarrass, or ridicule one another, nor call each other by unbecoming nicknames. This is an important principle if there are to be good relations among people in a community.

O you who believe! Let not some people among you deride another people, it may be that the latter are better than the former; nor let some women deride other women, it may be that the latter are better than the former. Nor defame one another (and provoke the same for yourselves in retaliation), nor insult one another with nicknames (that your brothers and sisters dislike). Evil is using names with vile meaning after (those so addressed have accepted) the faith (– doing so is like replacing a mark of faith with a mark of transgression). Whoever (does that and then) does not turn to God in repen- tance, (giving up doing so), those are indeed wrongdoers. (Hujurat 49:11)

Here I will address the issues in this verse, using Elmalili Hamdi Yazir as a source, but attempting to simplify his ideas. After the verse opens with a call to believers to conscientiously treat each other well, it inspires believers to do so with the great- est sincerity, indicating that this will make it possible for many more nations and people to perceive and accept the beauty of Islam. Then, this verse goes on from generally fostering brother- hood to teaching people the adab of how to treat each other, both face to face and when apart. There were several events that occa- sioned the revelation of this verse:

1. According to a narration from Dahhaq, several people from the tribe of Banu Tamim teased and mocked Companions like Bilal al-Habashi, Habbab, Ammar, Suhayb, Abu Dharr, Salim, and Mawla Hudayfa.

2. Aisha said she used to tease Zaynab bint Huzayma al-Hila- liyya for being short. Likewise she and Hafsa talked be- tween themselves about how short Umm Salama was.

3. Ibn Abbas relates that Safiyya bint Huyayy once came to the Messenger and said, “The women call me ‘Jew, daughter of a Jew’ to tease me.” The Messenger replied, “Why do you not reply, ‘My father was Aaron, my uncle was Moses, and my husband is Muhammad’?”

4. Thabit ibn Qays was partially deaf and therefore when he was near the Prophet, other people would let him through the crowd so he could come closer to hear. One day he came and started going through the others, saying, “Move, make room.” One man did not pay attention, and Thabit became offended and asked, “Who is this?” The man told him his name. The other retorted, “No, you are the son of the woman who—” attributing him to a woman known for indecency. The man was embarrassed, and when this verse was revealed, Thabit never talked about nobleness by birth again.

5. Ikrima, the son of Abu Jahl (Islam’s most determined en- emy), became Muslim, but he was called “Son of the Pharaoh of the community of believers.” This upset him and he told the Prophet about it.41

According to Qurtubi, to mock someone means that one is looking down on them, insulting them, putting them down, and talking about their faults in order to ridicule them. Razi says from a community point of view, mocking another person means “showing one’s believing brother or sister less than their deserved respect and honor, approaching them in an uncomplimentary way.” In the above verse the words qawm (tribe) and nisa (wom- en) are used, which in Arabic denotes the men and the women of the community. There are other linguistic clues as well which prove this. The concept of the community is important in this verse in several ways:

1. It serves as a reminder that Islam is not a religion solely for private practice, but is meant to be lived as a community.

2. It shows that mocking others can cause serious problems and individuals must cease to practice such behavior.

3. The verse also implies that this action or habit on the part of one individual becomes like a sickness that affects the whole community, as a person who mocks others will al- ways have some hangers-on laughing at the jokes and try- ing to become their friend by doing the same. If any ques- tion remains as to why such actions are forbidden, every believer should be concerned about the final reason: It may be that, in God’s sight, the one who is mocked is ac- tually better than the one who is mocking. For we can on- ly know the outer appearance of others; God alone knows their hearts. We are not capable of knowing what level of value a person has in front of God. Therefore, no one has the right to belittle, look down on, or make fun of anoth- er person because of some outward appearance or action; this may be misleading. If the person we mock is greatly loved by God and we show them disrespect, then surely we will have wronged our own soul as well as that of the person. In other words, making fun of others is wrong in two ways: First, if a Muslim mocks another believer, they are mocking themselves, since we are all like one body. Second, if a person does something shameful, it brings shame most of all on their own soul. Thus, the verse can be paraphrased like this: “Do not mock, embarrass, or be- little believers; for to do so is to mock, embarrass, and be- little yourself.” Or, if we look at it from the second aspect, “When you make a fool of someone or demean them, the result is that you have made a fool of yourself and besmirched your own name.” In other words, the first meaning is more to do with brotherhood, while the second meaning pertains to the honor and dignity of our individual soul.

A nickname is given either to honor someone or to bring them down in some way. The verse uses the word nabz to refer to epithets with derogatory meanings; these are forbidden. On the other hand, it is permissible to give or use positive epithets. According to Kashshaf, the Prophet said, “One of the rights of a believer over his believing brother is to be called by the name he loves most.” This is why giving a beautiful epithet is Sunna, in ac- cordance with the Prophet’s example. Some of the Companions had such kunya, or respectful but intimate names. Most societies have such epithets. But any kind of derogatory term of abuse should be avoided. Calling someone by a derogatory name is fisq, or deviant, immoral behavior, so a person doing this is considered to be ignoring the ethics of Islam. This is a very serious situation for anyone to find themselves in. Knowing that this brings serious punishment and a state that is less than true practice and belief, one should actively and carefully avoid calling other people names or mocking them.42

MAKING A MOCKERY OF FAITH

Another related topic addressed in the Qur’an is a type of hypoc- risy. This occurs when people act one way while with believers, but make fun of the believers when they are not with them, thus showing their hidden identity. Just as believers should not make fun of one another, they should also exercise common sense and avoid making themselves the butt of others’ jokes by speaking of their beliefs among people who may mock them once they leave. In Sura Baqara it is written:

When they meet those who believe, they declare (hypocritically), “We believe”; but when they are alone in secret with their (apparently human) satans (to whom they hasten in need to renew their unbelief and their pledge to them for fear of losing their support), they say, “Assuredly we are with you; we only mock (those others).” (Since what they do only means demanding straying and ridicule,) God returns their mockery, leaving them to wander blindly on in their rebellion. Such are the ones who have bought straying in exchange for guidance, but their trade has brought no profit, and they have no way out to escape it. (Baqara 2:14–16)

There is no question about how despicable this kind of behav- ior is morally; such people cannot be called believers. They show a friendly, fawning face toward believers while they are with them, but only so that they can hide their true, malicious intentions. Then when they get together with the evildoing mischief-makers, they say, “We are truly with you and were only acting; trust us.” The more they swear their allegiance, the more they are actually confirming their treachery, pitting themselves against the believers with their fellow conspirators. Such an action is against basic de- cency and morality, as these people are mocking and devaluing be- lief itself; thus, it is easy to understand why such an attitude is one of the markers of unbelief (kufr).

To ridicule someone, even in jest, means to violate their hon- or and dignity. Most people who make fun of believers do not have the courage to insult them; if they do, then insult reflects badly on the person uttering it, not on the one they are insulting. But when people insult believers, God and the whole universe will hold them in contempt, whether they realize it or not, even if they think that their action is concealed. Without a doubt it must be the greatest burden to have such a thing on one’s conscience.43

[johnjhalseth]

Confederate Memorial Obelisk #3 Shepherdstown.

“MARKER NUMBER THREE Shepherdstown Through Four Years of War Marker No. 3, planted on the pike south of Shepherds- town near the cemetery, marks no particular battle, but we record some incidents worthy of notice. After the bat- tle of Sharpsburg, the town was literally filled with woun- ded Confederates. Every available house was occupied and many private residences as well. Hospital flags seemed to float everywhere. At the time of Lee's retreat, the Fed- eral artillery threw many shells over the town, a few fall- ing in it, but not much damage was done. Frequent raids were made into the town by the Con- federates, and some captures made by either side. Occa- sionally a Reb would steal into the town to see the homo folks, or the (/irl maybe, and be gobbled up and taken to Fort Delaware or Point Lookout. The country was without law for the four years, and robbery was frequent by men claiming to be sent by the Federal government, which, in some instances, was true. There was no recourse. Several cold-blood murders were committed by scala- wag army followers, and no investigation made. Most of this was in the vicinity of Shepherdstown. Two companies, from the town and surrounding neigh- borhood, served in the Confederate army from the begin- ning to the close of the war one a cavalry, and the other, an infantry company. The infantry company, known as the Hamtranck Guards, was organized by Colonel Hamtranck of Mexican War fame. The organization was kept up, and did service in the Brown Raid; and when the war came on it was assigned to the Second Virginia Infantry as Company B, and did its part in all the battles where the regiment was engaged. They were as well drilled as regulars, and as loyal to the South as any troops in the Confederate Army. Very few escaped wounds or death. Company F, First Virginia Cavalry, organized in peace times before the Brown Raid, and commanded by Captain Jacob Reinhart at the time of the Raid, was afterward reor- ganized and recruited to about one hundred and twelve men, commanded by Captain Morgan. This Company was as- signed to First Virginia Cavalry at the beginning of the war. Most of the men were fine horsemen and at home in the saddle well drilled and equipped. In justice to this Company, it can be said without ques- tion, that no cavalry company in the Army of Northern Virginia did more or better service than the First Virginia Cavalry, which included company F, commanded by Colonel Stuart, afterward General in command of all the cavalry in Lee's army. They did service for the whole army, for a short while, at the beginning. They were drilled and schooled by Stuart in person, in military duties, discipline, endurance, bravery, and patriotism which could be seen to the end of th.e war. It suffered heavily in killed, wounded, and in prisoners taken. “

[jackbeiste]

stumblin’ in [jack + sebastian]

characters: jack beiste and sebastian smythe (@sebastiansmythejoie)

date: october 15

note: jack wants to study, and sebastian feels surprisingly okay with it

warnings: minor explicit mentions

jack

He did feel a bit insecure about his sex life... perhaps not really the active sex life itself, but rather the way he quite enjoyed submitting to men... that he didn't actually know that well at all. It wasn't like he hadn't had his kinks during his solo sessions, but... he was truly getting an appetite for it. But the asks the other night made him hesitate. He felt embarrassed at the idea that people knew what he was doing. Whenever he had thought about sex before either Valerian or Sebastian, the realistic fantasies had always been... more making love. Now? He wasn't sure what the fuck was going on. Instead of cancelling on Sebastian, he decided that they were perfectly capable of doing something else - even if his idea of going to the library together was easily abandoned. Still, he actually felt quite relaxed as he knocked on Sebastian's door; strangely excited in a way to do something that didn't include getting their clothes off for once.

sebastian

Sebastian was looking forward to seeing Jack again, he was almost surprised the boy hadn't cancelled after yesterdays ordeal with the invasive internet people who seemed so interested in Jack's sex life. The younger man didn't exactly seem happy about how much was being shared but Seb wasn't ashamed and clearly neither was Val. He was just happy Jack hadn't been put off enough that he didn't want to see Bas again. Sebastian laughed at his phone seeing the text about studying and shook his head. Sure studying. Bas poured himself a drink as he closed his books for the night, not actually expecting to look at them again. He needed a drink though, things had been tough with Kat and Val recently and now that fencing competition season was close he was back to consuming nothing more elicit than a stiff drink. "Hello handsome" Bas smiled, opening the door for Jack, he chuckled seeing the books in Jacks arms.

jack

"Hey," he said softly, stepping inside. He had to admit, it felt a bit weird. It was the first time he'd meet up with Sebastian without... well, without sex being involved. He hoped the brunette would be okay with that. "I brau.... brought snacks to.. too." He walked over to place his books on Sebastian's table, shrugging his bag off to start piling up all his study snacks next to the books.

sebastian

Sebastian watched Jack with interest, again noticing the speech impediment but choosing to not mention it. Too many times in the past he had ended up in horrible situations because of things people couldn't change about themselves and Jack seemed like an honest good person and Seb didn't want to destroy that. Having someone honest and good around was what he needed right now, even if he would never admit it. "You know the only thing you needed to bring was yourself." He chuckled, but decided to go along with this plan to study, at least for a while. Seb sat down at the place at the table opposite Jack and flipped open the book on the top of his pile, taking a drink from the glass he had just poured.

jack

Jack rolled his eyes at the comment, though unable to stop a smirk. Even if it did fluster him a lot, he liked how Sebastian had no issue commenting on that kind of stuff. The words stayed with him all day, giving him a confidence he hadn't thought possible. He shrugged his bag off, candy and baked goods welling out like he'd packed for a month away in the woods. "Did your midtem.. midterms go ok, okay?" He asked softly, opening one of his books before looking for the right notebook on his bag filled with snacks and a few other things, like a notebook or two.

sebastian

Seb chuckled, his ability to make men smirk silly was one of his greatest sources of pride. "Mid-terms were as expected, A's across the board so keeping up my 3.9 GPA." He responded, with a look that said, 'I'm a genius and I know it'. "How were yours, Mr Pirates of the Caribbean?" Seb rolled his eyes in a playful mocking way, remembering Jack talking about his Pirates and the Carribean class earlier in the semester. A child-like mischievous look appeared on his face at the sight of baked goods. "Are you a baker?" He asked curiously, eyeing the treats.

jack

Jack nodded, not entirely surprised. He studied Law, after all... or he thought so anyway. He felt too shy to ask for clarification at this point. "I... okay, I thunk. Think," He said with a slight shrug. He'd been freaking out about midterms, especially as it was his very first time, even if he'd never been too concerned with grades (to be fair, he'd only gotten grades below A or B a few times, and it had mostly been math). "Sometimes... only at Val's. These are bau... bought."

sebastian

Seb tipped his head thoughtfully. "Did you not get your grades back yet? The deadline was supposed to be the 14th, that's why we had that weird camping social event so the profs could have a day full of grading." Seb rolled his eyes, teachers sure could be useless sometimes. "only at Val's" He stiffened in his seat. A flicker of something different crossed Bastian's face at the comment about Val. A lot of things in Sebastians life seemed to be hanging on that man. Seb was usually so relaxed around Jack but now he forced himself to stare at the text book in front of him reading the same sentence over and over. "How about you make me something sweet instead." Seb retorted, pushing down the feeling something was stuck in his throat.

jack

"I did... mostly As and Bs," He replied, not as used to bragging and boasting as Sebastian seemed to be. The only reason he got good grades was because he was also passionate about the subjects in his courses after all. He glanced over at the other man with a confused look, not entirely sure why his entire demeanor had suddenly changed. Was it somethint he had said? "Now?"

sebastian

Seb was slightly confused that Jack did in-fact know his grades but hadn't offered the information until Seb asked, especially when he had done well. He shrugged it off, taking another drink and grabbing a snack from the pile Jack had created on his dining table. "Sure, why not, unless you only bake for your special friend." He teased, letting humour cover his thoughts.(edited)

jack

"He's not...," Jack murmured, feeling his cheeks heat up. He knew Valerian and Sebastian had talked about him, and it made him a little nervous. "We're so.. supposed to studi.. study," He countered, looking over at the older man with a raised eyebrow. At least it wasn't sex he was suggesting, Jack reasoned with himself. Then again, baking had been the thing that somehow turned into sex at Valerian's. "Can you kv.. quiz me instead?"

sebastian

"That blush suits you handsome." Sebastian chuckled, it was easy to disarm Jack and he liked that. "Fine let's study." He rolled his eyes playfully, sticking his tongue out at Jack. Bas would never admit to any kind of jealousy and would do everything in his power to cover it and his playful expression was aiming to do just that. "Do you have flash cards or something or do you want me to surprise you?" He responded, reaching for Jack's text book, pushing his own aside.

jack

He flashed a grin at the way Sebastian stuck his tongue out, relaxing as the other man seemed to be okay after all. "Uh, there's some ques...tions at the end," he explained, gesturing for the other to turn the page. He liked the book because the quiz part was always easy but good, with concrete questions like, "where is Havana?" or "What did the Spanish mainly trade with in the Caribbean?"

sebastian

Sebastian flipped though the book, skimming some of the information; he was curious by nature and this was a completely new subject to him, learning new things was one of his pleasures in life. Finally he stopped at the page labelled quiz. "Okay here's a interesting one! What relation did Mary Read have to Mark Read?"

jack

A smile formed on his lips as Sebastian actually seemed to be looking for the chapter's study questions; it felt strange, but good, to be doing this. It wasn't all fucking with them, but it sure wasn't this. Sex was always the focus of their meetings. "All right, um...," He ran a hand through his hair thoughtfully. "Mark Read was Mary Reed, Read's alter-ego. She began dressing as a boy when she was young, and it eventually took her to the, ah, West Indies where she worked as a pirate under Jack Rackham."

sebastian

Sebastian cocked his head with a smile Jack was clearly in his element with this, and he was enjoying seeing passion in Jack that wasn't just for their sexual endeavours. "Way more information than they asked for but Mary Read sounds like a girl who knows what she wants, kudos." Seb looked back down at the book, but his eyes kept flicking back up to Jack's face. "Okay next question, What did the Spanish mainly trade with in the Caribbean?"

jack

"Yeah, but you know they'll want that part too on the eks.., exam," He shrugged, blushing slightly as he knew it was more his interest in the subject than in getting the best grade possible. "Uh, sugar and slaves."

sebastian

"Is it essay questions or quick answers for the exam?" Seb asked curiously, it was unlike him to openly take an interest in another person but Jack was interesting in him and that didn't happen often beyond being interested for sex. "So tell me what does a Pirates and the Carribean class get you after college?"

jack

"Both. At leash.. least on the midterms," Jack said, a bit thoughtfully. He quite liked it that way, even if he sometimes felt they used the wrong format for the wrong topics. Especially his class about witchcraft in american history. The professor loved to force them to go into details about mundane things, while the really interesting stuff only demanded quick answers; sometimes they were even just a simple three choice question. But he felt a bit uncertain wether that would interest Sebastian; he'd never been this interested in something that didn't clearly result in sex before. "Uh," he reached up to rub his temple, a small smile on his lips; both at the clear interest, and the fact taht he had no idea what he wanted to do. "It's not just pirates."

sebastian

Sebastian watched Jack carefully answering his questions about his classes, paying the younger man his full attention. He was getting more curious about Jack's speech; it seemed like he had more to say but was holding back, maybe because of his impairment, Seb wanted to ask but he knew this could go the wrong way and he didn't want to end up in any situation like he had done in the past. "What else are you studying?" He asked, gently pushing Jack to elaborate, he took a long drink from his glass, keeping his eyes on the other.

jack

He'd be lying if he didn't feel a bit surprised as well as relieved at how both Sebastian and Valerian seemed to just take his speech for what it was. It had felt more terrifying than he had expected to suddenly be in a new environment with none of his best friends around. Gabriel was there, sure, but it was different. His best friends from back home all had speech issues. But as relaxed as he felt, he still couldn't quite bring himself to talk freely. He kept the blabbering online. It made him feel safe, but he also felt limited. There was so much he wanted to say. But he supposed he also had a feeling Sebastian wasn't that interested. Perhaps the interest was simply because he didn't talk much. He doubted the older man would look as interested in what he was saying if he actually did say all he wanted to. "Uh, the wild west in popular culture. Wy.. Witches in America. All history stuff."

sebastian

"So you either want to teach kindergartener's history or you want to write period novels," Seb chucked, "Those are some wild class choices. The Ancient Egyptians and Romans will be so disappointed you're going all alternative." He rolled his eyes playfully. He was surprised how utterly interesting he found Jack and wanted the other to keep talking but he knew that wasn't necessarily a wish that could be fulfilled but as long as he kept talking Seb felt he could eventually get himself in under Jack's skin.

jack

He blushed at that, not as much at the former as the latter - Sebastian wasn't wrong about that part. "I prefer Perc.. Persia," he shrugged, covering up his trademark blush with a grin. He really did love Ancient Persia. "What do you study? You never told me." To be fair, Sebastian had told him extremely little about himself.

sebastian

"Aha good old Persia, always down for a fight, but what's got you so interested?" Seb laughed, History was something he was mildly interested in but really he just wanted to know more about Jack. Seb was fine bragging about his accomplishments but terrible at sharing personal things. "I'm in the Law program. Got to have some people with their head on straight ensuring the laws in this damn country are enforced." He shrugged, yeah he really was bad at talking about himself in a way that held any substance.

jack

"I...," Jack hesitated, not sure wether to go with the honest truth or just the truth. "I liked how it sounded in my head. I couldn't... get it right, but...," he shrugged, his speech choppier than usual as he told Sebastian something so personal. Maybe it wouldn't come off as personal, but sounds had always been personal to him. "Oh?" He smiled crookedly at that, amused at the phrasing. It seemed... very Sebastian. And he liked that.

sebastian

Seb cocked his head thoughtfully; it was like seeing into Jack's soul knowing sounds were so important to him even though he struggled so much with them. A shiver went through Seb as Jack told him something that was clearly so personal; he wasn't the kind of person others usually chose to confide in. "That part of Southwestern Asia is supposed to be beautiful so if you like the name of their historic empires maybe the place will be just as fascinating." Seb mused, it was nothing to him to think of taking a trip just because he had an interest in something, plus he had a niggling part of his mind wanting to whisk Jack away. "How else do you think they will know who needs to be punished." Seb winked, not ready to tell Jack his deeper feeling on his future in law.

jack

Jack nodded, reaching up to rub at his temple a bit nervously; something he often did when he felt vunerable or insecure. He hadn't expected to confide in Sebastian, it had just come out. He hoped the older man would be okay with it, even if he was clearly not the kind of person who liked to get personal. "I hope to c... see it one day," he said softly. He had travelled quite a bit with his father across America, but he'd never been abroad. Sometimes he wasn't sure he wanted to - afraid that reality would be a disappointment compared to the worlds he'd created in his mind. He chuckled at that, but felt a bit strange at how this made his heart buzz. He knew better than to see Sebastian like that. "You don't want to do the punishing?" He asked innocently, raising an eyebrow, as he took extra care to spell out the last word correctly.

sebastian

"Maybe if you're good I'll take you" Seb winked, teasing to lighten the mood. He was enjoying seeing inside Jack but serious conversations were not something he felt comfortable with often and Jack was new in his life, though admittedly he had seen more of Jack recently than some of his fuckboys across the lifetime of their 'relationships'. "Oh punishment I can do," Seb grinned at the so called innocent look on Jack's face. "Do you want me to show you how well I can punish?" He whispered seductively, leaning over so his lips were almost touching Jack's ear as he spoke.

jack

Jack swallowed hard at the question, almost dropping the pen he'd kept in his hand. The words, especially the way they were said, went straight to his crotch; he could feel his cock stir in his jeans. "I... yeah," he managed to get out before he could really stop himself, wanting nothing more than to be punished by Sebastian right now.

sebastian

Sex hadn't been the plan today, well in Sebastian's mind it had been but they had made plans to study but here they were once again about to spiral out of control. Seb seemed even more unable to keep things PG around Jack than everyone else in his life and that was saying something considering how often things turned sexual with Sebastian.

* * * * * * * *

jack

Jack collapsed onto the bed, body still shaking as he couldn't quite let go of the bed frame. He could tell he was going to be sore tomorrow, but right now he just felt bliss, almost sleepy bliss. He reached up just enough to be able to pull Sebastian on to the bed next to him, giving him a soft, almost thankful, kiss.

sebastian

Sebastian was panting hard but had a satisfied smile on his face and the post sex haze was settling over him. In the haze he allowed Jack to pull him in close and kiss him in what felt like a very sweet way; much sweeter than the kind of kiss Seb was used to and it made him shiver; goosebumps raising on his naked body. Bas kissed Jack back almost nervously; it was without his usual hunger, instead it was slow and soft, his eyes fluttering shut and simply feeling.

jack

He finally let go of the bed frame, his hand cupping Sebastian's cheek as he continued to kiss him; still soft, almost loving. He loved the taste of Sebastian; both bitter and sweet in a way he could never quite explain. And he loved the feeling of the other's naked body against his own, even when they were both as sweaty as now. He couldn't quite explain why, maybe it was because it was so rare - Sebastian was usually rather quick to get his pants on again, sometimes out the door before Jack had truly recovered. This was... different. His thumb stroked Sebastian's cheek, smiling into the kiss.

sebastian

Seb melted into the bed, letting himself be physically close to Jack. Post sex was raw and Seb had trained himself to escape that moment as soon as possible; he could never risk letting someone fall though the cracks in that moment when emotions were running wild. Right now though Sebastian's mind and body felt clouded in a way he wasn't used to and he couldn't bring himself to run from Jack. Even the thought of staying hot and sticky was usually enough to get him moving but right now he didn't care; the feel of Jacks hot messy body against him was almost soothing. Bas parted gently from the kiss and threaded his hands gently through Jack's hair; not rough as his did during sex but rather just enough to keep the younger man close so his sweet breath was hot on Seb's face.

jack

Jack sighed softly, a little sad the other man pulled away from the kiss but comforted by the way he ran his fingers through his hair. He leaned into his touch, his thumb still gently stroking Sebastian's cheek. He trailed one hand down to roll the condom off of the brunette, smirking at the fact that the other for once hadn't gotten around to that part yet. He removed his other hand from Sebastian's face to tie a knot on the condom, placing it as far away on the bed as possible; he'd throw it away later. Right now he just wanted to relish in the feeling of their warm, naked bodies against each other; Sebastian's soft skin sending shivers through him.

sebastian

Sebastian felt a thrill try and awaken his cock as Jack reached down to touch him but his body quickly relaxed again one the other had pulled off the condom. He was feeling quite self conscious that he was clearly too distracted to even remember that. Awkwardness was begining to creep up on Sebastian, he'd never spent this long laying with someone after sex, and he wasn't a person well versed in comfortable silences. He tried to think of something to say but he was distracted by the thumb caressing his cheek. Bas had never in all his long and torrid sexual history had someone caress him like this and suddenly he was feeling so overwhelmed when years of hidden emotions, crushed down under layers of cruelty and sarcasm, tried to escape.

jack

"I wish I didn't have to go," He murmured, his fingers running through the hair on the back of Sebastian's head; his eyes closed as he nuzzled into the pillow. He had no doubt this meant the study session had ended. Even if he wasn't expecting actual cuddling, it would be nice to just... lay there. If he wanted another turn, it was always rushed; often still too sensitive and exhausted from round one. And he would be lying if it didn't make him feel cheap sometimes,   almost expecting the older man to throw some coins at him as he rushed off. Maybe that wasn't fair - he knew what Sebastian was about, and yet he continued to see him. But it didn't make the feeling go away, or the feeling of constantly wanting just a little bit more of Sebastian for each time.

sebastian

"Shame we have people to do, things to see." Sebastian chuckled, spinning the common phrase on it's head as he often did. Laying here in the quiet with Jack the world seemed to slow and for a moment that was calming, nice even, but the world was starting to spin again and everything was catching up with him. He couldn't lay here forever because it just might start to crack the foundations of the walls he had built and he couldn't risk letting them fall; he couldn't risk getting hurt. "Speaking of things to do I have a Fencing preseason practice to get to shortly."

jack

Jack smiled small at that, though a little sadly as he knew time was up. He felt guilty about being such a bad fuck buddy, he knew what he had gotten himself into and yet, he couldn't help but expect more. It wasn't fair. "Yeah... yeah," he murmured, his hands withdrawing from Sebastian, not sure he could bear to continue to touch him now. Suddenly, he also wanted to leave. "I'll....," he gestured out towards the kitchen, almost rushing to grab the clothing items he'd dropped on their way from the kitchen table to the bed.

[cafechaussette]

Tout est fiction, reste le marché

Nourri d’anecdotes et de précisions savantes, « Sapiens », de Yuval Noah Harari, se présente à la fois comme une séduisante entreprise de vulgarisation portant sur l’histoire de notre espèce et comme une réflexion sur le sens de cette histoire. La pédagogie se double ainsi de considérations qui, sous couvert de science, trahissent une banale défense de l’idéologie dominante.

Conjuguer histoire et science pour traverser cent mille et quelques années, et chercher à analyser ce qu’il s’est passé et ce qu’il se passera sur Terre, c’est ambitieux. Même en trois volumes. Yuval Noah Harari, professeur d’histoire à l’université hébraïque de Jérusalem, né en 1976, a été intrépide, et il a eu raison. Le premier volet de sa trilogie, Sapiens (1), s’est écoulé à huit millions d’exemplaires dans le monde. En France, il n’a pas quitté la liste des meilleures ventes depuis le 2 septembre 2015, date de sa sortie en librairies, et les ouvrages qui l’ont suivi, sans encore atteindre ces sommets, les tutoient : quatre millions pour Homo deus, le deuxième (2). Sapiens a été loué par MM. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Barack Obama, Carlos Ghosn, ou encore par l’artiste Damien Hirst. Impressionnant. Harari est ainsi adoubé comme un maître-penseur, y compris par Jared Diamond, l’auteur du célèbre Effondrement (Gallimard, 2006). En bref, il est aujourd’hui « le penseur le plus important du monde (3) » pour avoir, comme le résume brillamment le site de la Fnac, écrit « un livre-monument, audacieux et provocateur » qui « remet en cause tout ce que nous pensions savoir sur l’humanité ». À l’évidence, il serait dommageable de s’en priver.

« Logiciel biologique »

Sapiens, comme les ouvrages qui lui succèdent, cherche « une clé pour comprendre notre histoire et notre psychologie (4) ». La clé, c’est la capacité de l’espèce à nommer des entités qui n’existent pas et à les partager : cette « révolution cognitive » opérée par le langage humain permet de créer des fictions collectives. Dès lors, « un grand nombre d’inconnus peuvent coopérer avec succès en croyant à des mythes communs ». Les Sapiens vivent donc dans une double réalité, objective et imaginaire, mais c’est la réalité imaginaire qui devient la plus puissante : une religion, une nation, Google... Les principes universels, le libéralisme, le socialisme ? Des mythes, et qui, de surcroît, peuvent changer vite : « En 1789, la population française changea de croyance presque du jour au lendemain. » Des mythes dangereux, souvent, notamment la croyance dans la raison, le libre-arbitre. Ce sont des « lois, forces, entités, lieux qui n’existent que dans leur imagination commune (5) » qui suscitent chez les êtres humains « les croisades, les révolutions socialistes, la défense des droits de l’homme ».

Il semble quand même, sans vouloir être désagréable, que cette lecture de l’histoire humaine ne soit pas très éloignée des clichés de comptoir : tout n’est que croyance, la vérité n’existe pas, l’universalisme encore moins. La réalité objective se dissout dans le récit qu’on en fait. On comprend que l’auteur soit quelque peu obsédé par le matérialisme historique et le « communisme », dont il se plaît à faire le symbole de l’erreur tragique — ses fidèles ayant été selon lui « prêts à risquer l’holocauste nucléaire à cause de leur croyance au paradis communiste (6) ». Voilà une pensée agréablement conforme à l’idéologie en place, d’autant que, aux yeux de l’auteur, le capitalisme, autre version d’une religion centrée sur l’homme, a « réduit la violence humaine et accru la tolérance et la coopération ». Bon. Pour l’égalité postulée par les droits de l’homme, même entreprise de pulvérisation : il faudra s’en passer. Comment ne pas reconnaître, par simple bon sens, que c’est une sottise ?, interroge Harari. L’aptitude au bonheur, par exemple, est génétique, et les humains sont ainsi par nature inégaux devant lui...

Il reste à comprendre comment ces illusions prennent corps et s’inscrivent dans la réalité « objective » qu’elles modifient. Nous ne le saurons pas. Et nous ne saurons pas davantage comment la science ne relève pas du « récit » mythifiant. Car Harari croit en la science. D’ailleurs, « peut-être un jour des percées dans la neurobiologie nous permettront-elles d’expliquer le communisme et les croisades en termes strictement biochimiques », avance-t-il dans Homo deus. Notre « logiciel biologique » est déterminant. Sans grande surprise, il affirme avec force que « notre ADN croit encore que nous sommes dans la savane » — belle époque, où nous n’étions pas encore des « serial killers écologiques » — et que, plus largement, les scientifiques sont de plus en plus enclins « à soutenir que le comportement humain est déterminé par les hormones, les gènes et les synapses ». Autrement dit, l’humain a beau (se) raconter des histoires, au fond du fond, ce sont la mécanique neuronale et l’inné qui le font agir.

Mais qu’est-ce qui déclenche la mécanique, fait se connecter les synapses, fait, somme toute, qu’on produit des mots et des idées, par exemple ? Précisément, des « algorithmes » établis par les gènes et l’environnement. Réflexion, travail d’émancipation ? Algorithmes. Soyons clair : nous sommes programmés. Comme dans Matrix, sauf qu’ici c’est sans espoir. On ne peut en sortir. Une solution pour l’accepter : la méditation vipassana — de façon taquine, l’auteur nous confie qu’il en est adepte seulement vers la fin de son troisième livre (7). Elle permet de saisir « que la vie n’a pas de sens et qu’il n’est pas nécessaire de lui en chercher un », comme le pensait le Bouddha, mais aussi d’accueillir le fait que le moi, comme toute autre entité imaginaire, est une fiction.

Dans ces conditions, on comprend difficilement pourquoi Harari estime que, « plus que du chômage de masse, nous devrions nous inquiéter du glissement de l’autorité des hommes aux algorithmes (8) » ; ou pourquoi il dénonce un risque de dictature numérique que permettrait la fusion de l’« infotech » et de la « biotech », afin d’élaborer des algorithmes au plus près des désirs de chacun — si ce chacun en a les moyens. Ce serait, à terme, la fin de Sapiens, mais son règne sur Terre « n’a pas produit jusqu’ici grand-chose dont nous puissions être fiers », alors...

Harari a cherché à étayer, et souvent asséné, les lieux communs propres à la conception du monde selon le libéralisme : tout est relatif ; il n’est pas de vérité ultime ; il y a une nature humaine première ; la raison sert de masque aux émotions qui l’impulsent, seules véritablement déterminantes, etc. On comprend qu’il ait pu être invité au Forum économique de Davos. On comprend moins qu’il soit pris au sérieux.

Evelyne Pieiller in Le Monde Diplomatique (janvier 2019)

(1) Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens. Une brève histoire de l’humanité, Albin Michel, Paris, 2015.

(2) Yuval Noah Harari, Homo deus. Une brève histoire du futur, Albin Michel, 2017.

(3) Thomas Mahler, « Yuval Noah Harari, le penseur le plus important du monde », Le Point, Paris, 20 septembre 2018.

(4) Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens, op. cit. Sauf mention contraire, les citations suivantes proviennent du même ouvrage.

(5) Yuval Noah Harari, Homo deus, op. cit.

(6) Ibid.

(7) Yuval Noah Harari, Vingt et une leçons pour le XXIe siècle, Albin Michel, 2018.

(8) Ibid.

[voodoo-economics]

A useful mnemonic tool for remembering Morse code!

CAPITAL=DAH lowercase= dit

LETTERS: A- A-part B- BOOT- to the head C- COca-COla D- DOG- did it E- eh! F- get-a HAIR cut G- GOO-GOL-plex H- hip-pi-ty hop I- aye-aye! J- let's JUMP JUMP JUMP! K- CAN-dy KID L- to 'ELL with it! M- MORE MILK! N- NA-vy O- ONE OF US P- a POO-PY smell Q- GOD SAVE the QUEEN R- ro-TA-tion S- si si si! T- TALL U- un-der WHERE?! V- Beet-ho-ven's FIFTH W- a WHITE WHALE X- X marks the SPOT! Y- ON a PO-NY Z- FEEL-ING fun-ny

PUNCTUATION:

. - a STOP a STOP a STOP , - COM-MA it's a COM-MA ?- it's a QUES-TION, is it? !- OH lord! OH lord! IT'S ALIVE!

I hope you found this helpful!

[almanci]

So what if the founders of evolutionary biology were eugenicists? Does this mean that biology isforever connected to itsroots and doomed to play out its eugenic scripts? Yes, I believe it does, unless biologists deal with this history rather than choosing to ignore it entirely. I have come to realize that while I innocently gazed at a field of morning glories, this history shaped what I saw and the questions I asked. Why this variation? Why so many colored flowers? While my biological education revealed particular answers, I now realize why and how I framed them in this way. It is worthwhile to ask: Why am I asking these questions and not others? Why have these two perspectives remained so compelling? The binary scripts of good and bad variation are tied to a long history of a binary politics of eugenics where scientists wrestled with the ideal vision of a good society—should it be one with homogeneous brilliance or heterogeneous diversity? It isthese two positionsthatshaped my vision of the morning glory field, my seeing of flower color variation as a problem, and consequently my designing experimentsto ask whether variation was maintained or eroded by the actions of natural selection. One of the striking aspects of this history is how overtly political and ideological some of the founders were. The inability of evolutionary biology to resolve this debate may be a consequence of mixing politics with science, but I think not. While some scientists continue to be engaged in using scientific knowledge toward political ends, the norm is to reassert claims to political neutrality. While the sciences go through periodswhere politics are visible and periods when it is never overtly discussed (Paul and Spencer 1995), I would argue that by not recognizing that the originary formulation of the field was so grounded in human differences we are doomed to revisit the same questions unless or until we engage these groundings. While evolutionary biology after the horrors of the holocaust was more careful about the use of “race” in the post–World War II era, it is clear that marking “race” as a category endures today. For instance, in recent years the FDA approved its first “ethnic” drug (Kahn 2005, Fullwiley 2007, D. Roberts 2008). As Lisa Gannett reminds us, ideas about biological“race” have been recoded in the terminology of population thinking (2001). The ideological commitments remain but are expressed in a new vocabulary. While this history is seldom addressed in the training of evolutionary biologists, the history and foundational political debates are nonetheless deeply embedded in the theory and methods of biology. It is this history we need to unearth, revisit, confront, and silence

— Ghost Stories for Darwin by Banu Subramaniam

[colorgamesblog]

I‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍ have attached assignment instruction and marking rubric fi

I‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍ have attached assignment instruction and marking rubric fi

I‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍ have attached assignment instruction and marking rubric file for the assignment. Please read it carefully . In assignment instruction there are four ques‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍tions out of which i have to do question number 2 for the topic adolescent parenting. Important please read marking rubric And task instructions carefully‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍.

[endesuch]

I‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍ have attached assignment instruction and marking rubric fi

I‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍ have attached assignment instruction and marking rubric fi

I‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍ have attached assignment instruction and marking rubric file for the assignment. Please read it carefully . In assignment instruction there are four ques‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍tions out of which i have to do question number 2 for the topic adolescent parenting. Important please read marking rubric And task instructions carefully‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍.

[yes-bernie-stuff]

MERCREDI 11 AOÛT

SAVOIR SE SERVIR DE LA CRITIQUE

« CELUI QUI AIME ÊTRE CORRIGÉ AIME LA CONNAISSANCE ; CELUI QUI A DE LA HAINE POUR LA RÉPRIMANDE EST BÊTE » PROVERBES 12.1

Il existe deux sortes de cri­tiques : 1) la cri­tique injuste. Il y aura tou­jours des gens qui ten­teront de s’élever en enfonçant les autres, pour gâch­er leur joie. Mark Twain déclare : « Éloignez-vous de ceux qui ten­tent de réduire vos ambi­tions. C’est ain­si qu’agissent les mesquins. Mais celui qui est vrai­ment génial vous donne le sen­ti­ment que vous aus­si pou­vez le devenir. » 2) la cri­tique con­struc­tive. Salomon a dit : « Un anneau d’or et une parure d’or fin, tel est, pour une oreille atten­tive, le sage qui rép­ri­mande » (Pr 25.12). Il y a un obsta­cle majeur à sur­mon­ter pour attein­dre son plein poten­tiel : la réti­cence naturelle à décou­vrir des choses peu flat­teuses sur soi. Lorsque l’on érige des défens­es pour ne pas voir ses défauts ou pour les cacher, on rate une occa­sion de mieux se con­naître. On se refuse alors la sat­is­fac­tion de grandir. Cha­cun peut amélior­er son ouvrage ou sa tech­nique. Se réjouir d’un suc­cès passé ne fait pas pro­gress­er dans l’avenir. Après avoir rem­porté son troisième cham­pi­onnat du monde de rodéo, au lieu de se repos­er sur ses lau­ri­ers, Tuff Hede­man est par­ti à Den­ver pour une nou­velle sai­son. Tout était à refaire. Son raison­nement était le suiv­ant : « Le tau­reau de Den­ver ne sera pas impres­sion­né par ce que j’ai fait la semaine dernière. » Qu’on soit novice ou vétéran, pour être un cham­pi­on demain, il faut être récep­tif aujour­d’hui. Comme le dit Salomon : « Qui accepte les rép­ri­man­des est avisé » (Pr 15.5, BFC).

B365 — Plan de lecture

Job 36-37, 1 Corinthiens 9

Prière du jour

Aide-moi mon Dieu à accepter les critiques constructives.

The Word for Today écrit par Bob et Debby Gass © UCB UK 2021

Publication

Parole du jour

© PHARE MEDIA 2021

[leviathangourmet]

There was a time when Das Kapital was my bible. It sits on one of the bookshelves that line my living room, alongside other artifacts from my youthful foray into Marxism. The front cover is worn, the pages slightly frayed. For years, I returned to those words, chewing slow on arguments unspooled in archaic prose about labour-power and the appropriation of surplus-value. I was certain I’d found the key to understanding the modern world; a truth so pure it would end the oppression of man by man.

I’ve thought often about that sense of certainty in the years since. I turn the memories over in my mind, amazed at my erstwhile fervency. The sense that I, a teenager and later a young man, had found the answer to what ails the world in a text of political economy published in 1867….That hubris, in retrospect, is shocking.

Although I would have protested the idea then, it’s become clear to me that my former sense of conviction was a secularized form of faith. My pretense to holding an atheistic worldview coldly ruled by reason was just that: a pretense. Marx may have been correct that religion is the opiate of the masses, but he failed to envision what his materialist conception of history would become to his followers in a secularized world. On an unconscious level, my ideology was fundamentally theistic, my nominal rejection of the supernatural notwithstanding.

The link between religion and Marxism (or, more recently, identity politics) has been remarked upon by many writers, including here in Quillette. Nevertheless, I continue to be struck by how many intelligent and empathetic young people, often on the tail end of a gradual, multi-generational rejection of God, become congregants of the radical left.

I’ll use Christianity and Marxism to illustrate the point, but it holds for other religions and ideologies as well. Jesus steps onto the world stage to bring forth the word of God, before sacrificing himself for the sins of mankind. Marx rises from obscurity after revealing the unfolding logic of history and—by extension—the end point in the social organization of man. The apostles, the closest followers of Christ, dedicate themselves to interpreting and spreading his word. The post-Marx Marxists do the same, although the most revered figures vary depending on geography and personal preference. For some, it’s butchers such as Stalin and Mao; for me, it was Lenin and Trotsky, the architects of the October Revolution of 1917. Perhaps most on the nose: The Czech-Austrian communist theoretician Karl Kautsky, the most well-known follower of Marx and Engels in the immediate aftermath of their deaths, was affectionately called “the pope of Marxism.”

The Old Testament is replaced by Das Kapital or The Communist Manifesto, and the New Testament by Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution, or Mao’s On Guerilla Warfare, or Lenin’s April Theses. Parsing these texts becomes an obsession for generations of true believers. The rapture, that bloody apocalyptic end of days, is replaced with revolution. And like fundamentalist Christians, many Marxists look forward to it, including the death and terror it would bring. Finally, communism marks the manifestation of heaven on earth. Despite the pretension to atheism, Marxism provides a secularized Christian eschatology, rooted in an unconscious Manichaean millenarianism.

The late British-American essayist Christopher Hitchens was a reformed Marxist. In his 2007 book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, he likened his youthful political convictions to religious faith thusly:

When I was a Marxist, I did not hold my opinions as a matter of faith, but I did have the conviction that a sort of unified field theory might have been discovered. The concept of historical and dialectical materialism was not an absolute, and it did not have any supernatural element, but it did have its messianic element in the idea that an ultimate moment might arrive, and it most certainly had its martyrs and saints and doctrinaires and (after a while) its mutually excommunicating rival papacies. It also had its schisms and inquisitions and heresy hunts. I was a member of a dissident sect, which admired Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky, and I can say definitely that we also had our prophets…Those of us who had a sort of rational alternative for religion had reached a terminus which was comparably dogmatic.

As I can attest, there is a certain comfort that accompanies this mindset, which I suspect is similar to what religious true believers feel. It also gives one a sense of purpose, for I was a missionary on the hunt for converts. There were times I travelled hundreds of kilometres to participate in demonstrations that had little, if any, connection to my life, except for the hope that one day, perhaps even after my death, my efforts would help usher in the prophesized utopia. There were moments my comrades and I would even acknowledge and poke fun at this aspect of our activism: During a campaign that involved canvassing poor neighbourhoods in a major U.S. city, knocking on door after door, we began referring to ourselves as the Jehovah’s Witnesses of the revolution.

One of the most evident problems with faith-based (or ersatz-faith-based) worldviews is that they arm adherents with a sense of certitude that is corrosive to discourse. It leaves them utterly certain that they occupy the moral high ground on every issue, and so the facts must be on their side. And if the facts prove uncooperative, they are either ignored, distorted, or simply erased. This is something the much-maligned French philosopher Michel Foucault understoodquite well, notwithstanding all of the criticism to which he has been subject:

The polemi­cist…pro­ceeds en­cased in priv­i­leges that he pos­sesses in ad­vance and will never agree to ques­tion. On prin­ci­ple, he pos­sesses rights au­tho­riz­ing him to wage war and mak­ing that strug­gle a just un­der­tak­ing; the per­son he con­fronts is not a part­ner in search for the truth, but an ad­ver­sary, an en­emy who is wrong, who is harm­ful, and whose very ex­is­tence con­sti­tutes a threat. For him, then, the game con­sists not of rec­og­niz­ing this per­son as a sub­ject hav­ing the right to speak, but of abol­ish­ing him as in­ter­locu­tor from any pos­si­ble di­a­logue; and his final ob­jec­tive will be not to come as close as pos­si­ble to a difficult truth, but to bring about the tri­umph of the just cause he has been man­i­festly up­hold­ing from the be­gin­ning.

There’s an episode from my own past that illustrates this general principle nicely. I’m young and arguing with my stepfather about politics. In Canada, where we live, our nation’s treatment of Indigenous peoples is a shameful stain on our history. The Indigenous population remains marginalized, their communities being often poor and isolated. We were discussing what needed to be done to remedy this. My stepfather argued that there is only so much the government can do to improve the lot of any group, and that states should create the conditions in which people can lift themselves up, before getting out of the way entirely. It’s a perfectly reasonable position, one I’m sympathetic to now. But at the time, I was having none of it. Not only was he on the wrong side of the issue, he was on the wrong side of history. Frustrated and angry after a lengthy, emotional exchange, I called him a racist, practically spitting the word at him. In fact, my stepfather is nothing of the sort. I’ve never heard him utter an unkind word, let alone one that betrayed an attitude of bigotry. This wasn’t a case of him denying historical wrongs. He simply disagreed what steps could best be taken to address a problem we both recognized as real. Thinking back on the encounter still makes me feel ashamed.

For many of us, such one-off encounters have become a regular—sometimes even daily—form of “debate,” especially on social media, whose dynamics encourage rhetorical stakes-raising. The idea that two people acting in good faith can look at the same set of facts and reach different conclusions has gone from unspoken assumption to exotic claim. People aren’t just wrong on this or that issue: They’re morally flawed. They don’t have bad politics: They’re bad people. On Twitter, you actually find college professors and politicians using Nazi analogies to attack people who disagree with them on mundane points of policy.

My job as a journalist requires me to spend a fair amount of time on Twitter, which I find draining and toxic. My feed is a curated list of North American politicos and reporters, which gives me a front row seat on the outrage mobs. I’ve concluded that many of the most active and influential culture warriors—the ones in the front pews praying the loudest, and the most ecstatically—are mentally unwell.

The Covington Catholic student controversy at the Lincoln Memorial offered an extreme example—perhaps even a wake-up call. People are no longer seen as individuals, but rather stand-ins for group identity. Nick Sandmann, the 16-year-old boy at the centre of things, was depicted as the very distillation of white supremacist, patriarchal evil. Making a single individual, let alone a child, the proxy for centuries of oppression isn’t social justice. It’s insanity. One was reminded of a Christian mob in ancient times that had found a heretic to sacrifice—or a similar mob in modern Pakistan that had seized some poor sod accused of mocking the Prophet Mohammed or desecrating a Koran.

One of the best descriptions of the ideologically possessed mind comes to us from Hungarian-British author Arthur Koestler (1905-1983). In The God that Failed, a 1949 collection of essays written by ex-communists detailing their conversion to, and disillusionment from, Marxism, Koestler wrote:

Something had clicked in my brain, which shook me like a mental explosion. To say that one had ‘seen the light’ is a poor description of the mental rapture which only the convert knows…The new light seems to pour from all directions across the skull; the whole universe falls into a pattern like the stray pieces of a jigsaw puzzle assembled by magic at one stroke. There is now an answer to every question, doubts and conflicts are a matter of the tortured past.

What is needed in the face of such ideological certainty is a phase shift to a more modest intellectual approach. When I look back on my time as a Marxist, I’m struck by how little doubt I experienced. The world is an unbelievably complex place composed of infinite shades of grey. And anyone who thinks they have it all figured out should be mistrusted on principle.

These days, when I see that copy of Das Kapital on my shelf, my mind turns not to its author, but to Socrates. For during my years as a Marxist, I lost touch with the philosopher’s greatest insight: “I neither know nor think I know.” Socrates was the smartest man in Athens because he recognized his ignorance. It is perhaps the oldest lesson that philosophy has to teach us, yet so many of us have forgotten it.

This is not a call for epistemological nihilism. I am not advocating a bottomless appeal to subjectivity that destroys the very idea of truth. Meaning and knowledge, not just aesthetic preference, are possible; and it is incumbent upon us to strive for them. But we must also remember that people of good faith can be divided by politics and religion. Your favorite pundit or political theorist is just that—a pundit or political theorist, not a Moses, Mohammed or Jesus. And there is no one ideology that will lead us to an imagined promised land.

[byalexandreds]

Photos et palmarès des MTV VMA 2015

Hier soir se déroulait la cérémonie des MTV VMA, avec comme présentatrice Miley Cyrus. Dès la première préstation on a pu voir que Nicki Minaj et Taylor Swift étaient réconciliées ! Mais cette fois c’est à Miley Cyrus que Nicki Minaj s’en est prise en l’insultant. Durant la soirée Kanye West a affirmé son intention de se présenter aux élections présidentielles américaines de 2020 !

Découvrez le palmarès, les photos du tapis rouge, et les photos du show.

Palmarès :

Clip de l’an­née : Taylor Swift et Kendrick Lamar – Bad Blood

Meilleur clip d’une artiste fémi­nine : Taylor Swift – Blank Space

Meilleur clip d’un artiste mascu­lin : Mark Ronson et Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk

Meilleur clip pop : Taylor Swift – Blank Space

Meilleur clip en featu­ring : Taylor Swift et Kendrick Lamar – Bad Blood

Meilleur clip à message social : Big Sean, Kanye West et John Legend – One Man Can Change The World

Meilleur clip hip-hop : Nicki Minaj – Anaconda

Meilleur clip rock : Fall Out Boy – Uma Thur­man

Meilleur réali­sa­teur : Colin Tilley et The Little Homies – Alright

Meilleurs effets spéciaux : Jack U et Justin Bieber – Where Are Ü Now

Meilleure direc­tion artis­tique : Snoop Dogg – So Many Pros

Meilleur montage : Beyoncé – 7/11

Meilleure photo­gra­phie : Flying Lotus et Kendrick Lamar – Never Catch Me

Meilleure chorégraphie : OK Go – I Won’t Let You Down

Photos :

[public-new-yahoopartner-blog]

Photos : Cannes 2017 : Laura Tenoudji et Christian Estrosi : c'est le Festival du baby bump !

Accom­pa­gnée de son mari, l'actuel maire de Nice, Chris­tian Estrosi, Laura Tenoudji était radieuse pour monter les marches de Festi­val de Cannes. Elle a donné à voir un joli baby-bump aux photographes, qui indique que les cigognes ne devraient plus tarder ! "Ce que j'aime chez mon mari, c'est l'homme. Il a été cham­pion de moto. C'est lui que j'ai épousé, pas la poli­tique", avait indiqué Laura Tenoudji à propos de Christian Estrosi, le 15 mai dernier dans les colonnes de Téléstar. L'homme politique de 61 ans et la protégée de William Leymergie, âgée de 41 attendent ensemble leur premier enfant . Un bonheur prévu pour cet été, au regard de la silhouette de la maman, qui était resplendissante, ce mercredi 17 mai 2017 lors de l'ouver­ture du festi­val de Cannes avant d'assis­ter à la projec­tion du film "Les Fantômes d'Ismaël".Habillée d'une robe rubis signée Séraphine (une marque de grossesse française qu'affectionnait particulièrement Kate Middleton lorsqu'elle attendait le prince George, puis la princesse Charlotte), celle que l'on surnomme "Laura du web" à la télévision n'a pas caché sa joie face aux photographes massés au pied du Palais des Festivals.Il s'agit du deuxième enfant de la journaliste, déjà mère d’un petit garçon de 7 ans, Milan, fruit de ses amours avec Michael Tapiro (direc­teur de l'école inter­na­tio­nale Sports Mana­ge­ment School, établissement spécia­li­sé dans le mana­ge­ment du sport), et le troisième de Chri... Retrouvez cet article sur Public

Photos : Festival de Cannes 2017 : Bella Hadid, culotte apparente, démarre fort comme l'année dernière !

Photos : Cannes 2017 : Marion Cotillard, Louis Garrel et Charlotte Gainsbourg ouvrent le Festival morts de rire !

Cannes 2017 : Monica Bellucci montre un téton et embrasse Alex Lutz pour l'ouverture du Festival !

Photos : Cannes 2017 : Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, Pedro Almodóvar... L’incroyable jury de Cannes !

Photos : Ciara : Elle affiche son baby bump très spectaculaire !

Photos : Cannes 2017 : Laura Tenoudji et Christian Estrosi : c'est le Festival du baby bump !

"Ce que j'aime chez mon mari, c'est l'homme. Il a été cham­pion de moto. C'est lui que j'ai épousé, pas la poli­tique", avait indiqué Laura Tenoudji à propos de Christian Estrosi, le 15 mai dernier dans les colonnes de Téléstar. L'homme politique de 61 ans et la protégée de William Leymergie, âgée de 41 attendent ensemble leur premier enfant . Un bonheur prévu pour cet été, au regard de la silhouette de la maman, qui était resplendissante, ce mercredi 17 mai 2017 lors de l'ouver­ture du festi­val de Cannes avant d'assis­ter à la projec­tion du film "Les Fantômes d'Ismaël".Habillée d'une robe rubis signée Séraphine (une marque de grossesse française qu'affectionnait particulièrement Kate Middleton lorsqu'elle attendait le prince George, puis la princesse Charlotte), celle que l'on surnomme "Laura du web" à la télévision n'a pas caché sa joie face aux photographes massés au pied du Palais des Festivals.Il s'agit du deuxième enfant de la journaliste, déjà mère d’un petit garçon de 7 ans, Milan, fruit de ses amours avec Michael Tapiro (direc­teur de l'école inter­na­tio­nale Sports Mana­ge­ment School, établissement spécia­li­sé dans le mana­ge­ment du sport), et le troisième de Chri Plus d'images sur Public.fr !

Source: Public

Accom­pa­gnée de son mari, l'actuel maire de Nice, Chris­tian Estrosi, Laura Tenoudji était radieuse pour monter les marches de Festi­val de Cannes. Elle a donné à voir un joli baby-bump aux photographes, qui indique que les cigognes ne devraient plus tarder ! Plus d'images sur Public.fr !

Source: Public

Source: Public

Source: Public

Source: Public

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Source: Public

Source: Public

[seniorbrief]

This Was Jackie Kennedy’s Incredible Mark on History

AP/REX/Shutterstock

This article was originally written by Carl Sferrazza Anthony and first appeared in the June 2001 issue of Reader’s Digest.

“I’m sixty-two now, and I’ve been in the public eye for more than thirty years,” Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis told a friend in 1991. “I can’t believe anybody still cares about me or is interested in what I do.” How wrong she was.

When she stepped into our lives, she was just 31, the youngest First Lady of the 20th century. She lived in the White House only from 1961 to 1963, yet re­mained an object of admiration, and even obsession, until the day she died. Part of the fascination with Jackie was due to timing: television exploded as a mass medium at the precise moment she and JFK and their beautiful children became the First Family. We could see them on TV, we loved what we saw, we wanted to see them again. Later, after the assassinations of JFK and RFK, she provided a place to focus the national grief.

She was more, though, than a pretty face on the small screen or the queen in a sad fairy tale. As a modern Supermom, she raised Caro­line and John into exemplary adults, avoiding the potholes many of their cousins hit. Just as feminism ar­rived, she went to work as a book editor, brown-bagging her lunch and sitting in a windowless office until she earned her way up the corpo­rate ladder. She kept on trying at romance, too, marrying Aristotle Onassis and, after he died, settling into a comfortable relationship with financier Maurice Templesman. This spring a tribute to Jackie Ken­nedy— modern American woman­ plus some spectacular clothes she wore in the White House—will be on ex­hibit at New York City’s Metropoli­tan Museum of Art, before traveling to Boston. “It’s an opportunity,” says guest curator Hamish Bowles, “to ex­plore the style and the substance of a woman who defined a generation.” Here, a fresh look at Jackie, and why we still admire her.

Underwood Archives/UIG/REX/Shutterstock

Although she called it Camelot only after JFK’s assassination, Jackie began working on an image for the Administration the moment she and the President moved into the White House. She thought everything through­, especially how things looked.

Take, for instance, the many pho­tographs of the family at play, which appeared in magazines like Life, Look and The Saturday Evening Post. Seem­ingly casual, some of them were in fact professionally lit, and the peo­ple in them styled, made-up and posed. Photographer Richard Ave­don shot a breathtaking series of photographs of Jackie and baby John. The pictures are as crisp and allur­ing as the fashion-magazine covers for which Avedon is best known. “She was aware of what the camera did for the children, and for the fam­ily,” says Jacques Lowe, another pho­tographer who worked with Mrs. Kennedy.

All of her efforts at creating a Kennedy image came together in the 1962 television tour of the White House. One-third of the nation was watching that night—56 million peo­ple. The special, which won Jackie an Emmy Award, displayed her meticulous restoration of the Execu­tive Mansion. But it was the First Lady, not the glorious Empire style of the revitalized Red Room, that riveted the nation. “I remember watching and listening to Mrs. Kennedy more than thinking about the White House,” Barbara Bush later said in an interview. See these rare photos of John and Jackie Kennedy.

Creating Camelot also meant that bad habits were discouraged, at least in public. A lifelong smoker (Marl­boros, Salems), Mrs. Kennedy did her best to veto photos that showed her with a cigarette in hand. Her press policy was “minimum infor­mation given with maximum po­liteness.” Her unavailability, in the end, only heightened her mystique.

Palmieri Tony Machalaba Nick Traina Sal/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock

“I feel as though I have turned into a piece of public property,” Mrs. Kennedy told an acquaintance in early 1961. During the Presidential campaign the previous summer and autumn, the press and the public focused intently on the young Mrs. Kennedy. And small won­der: no candidate’s wife in living memory had looked so good. The blunt cut of her hair, the clean, sim­ple lines of her brightly colored cloth­ing—American women craved the Jackie Look.

Partly it was the sheer novelty of her. Jackie was a new woman for a new time—the ’60s. She waterskied, she danced the twist, she listened to the bossa nova on her White House hi-fi.

Department stores began using models and drawings in ads that looked like Jackie. A movie maga­zine offered advice on “How to Be Your Town’s Jackie Kennedy,” with penny-wise advice on copying her look. The subject of all this atten­tion left her somewhat bewildered. “What does the way I wear my hair have to do with my husband’s abil­ity to serve as President?” she asked.

The scrutiny became so intense that Jackie realized she needed help from a professional. She turned to New York designer Oleg Cassini, a family friend who had once been one of Hollywood’s top costume designers. As she wrote him, “I re­fuse to have Jack’s Administration plagued by fashion stories of a sen­sational nature—or to be the Marie Antoinette of the 1960s.” Cassini re­called his initial meetings with Mrs. Kennedy, when they worked out what she would wear at her hus­band’s swearing-in:

“She asked me to come meet with her in her Georgetown University Hospital room just days after she gave birth to John], two months be­fore the Inauguration. All the other women [ would be wearing] furs, looking like bears. My concept was to make her look divinely simple­ in a beige coat and hat. She came out, and was instantly distinct.

“Immediately a style was established. It was not a French look, not an American look, but a Jackie Look. She said to me, ‘You dress me per­fectly for the role.’ For the role! And what was the role? First Lady of the country. And First Lady of the world, really, at that moment.”

(You’ll want to steal these 7 timeless fashion tips from Jackie Kennedy.)

CONSOLIDATED NEWS SERVICE/REX/Shutterstock

On Friday morning, November 22, 1963, Jackie put on a Chanel suit in the rooms she shared with the President at the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth. The President, Mrs. Kennedy told friends later, had chosen the suit for her. Within hours, the pink wool jacket and skirt had become a part of his­tory. Mrs. Kennedy wore the suit through LBJ’s swearing-in ceremony, on the long, sad flight back to Wash­ington, and finally for the return to the White House.

On the plane coming East, she began to reflect on how she wanted the White House prepared for the return of the President. As White House usher Nelson Pierce recalled: “That afternoon was spent looking up the details so that we could have things as near as possible the way they were at the time Lincoln was assassinated. It was 4:20 Saturday morning when Mrs. Kennedy came with the President’s body, and at 4:10 we had finished putting up the last pieces of crepe.”

Everyone had an opinion about the funeral details. Catholic Church officials in Washington wanted her to hold the ceremony in the grand Shrine of the Immaculate Concep­tion. She held out for St. Matthew’s, which was smaller—but was where the President had often attended church. Some members of the Presi­dent’s family wanted him buried in the Kennedy plot in Massachusetts. She decided on Arlington National Cemetery. The Secret Service ques­tioned her decision to walk behind the caisson from the White House to the church.

Jackie stood firm. Familiar as it is, footage of her long walk behind the riderless horse, Black Jack, a pair of boots tucked backward into the stirrups, has lost none of its awful majesty. Recalling Mrs. Kennedy, and the dignity she showed, French Presi­dent Charles de Gaulle said, “She gave the whole world an example of how to behave.” This is the last thing JFK said to Jackie before he died.

Traina/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock

Even while attending her husband’s burial, Jackie never forgot her obligation to Caroline and John. Just hours after the funeral, the widowed former First Lady hosted her son’s third birth­day party at the White House.

From the time they were toddlers until they left home, Mrs. Kennedy’s children were her priority. Caroline and John drew nearly as much cu­riosity as their parents. “I think it’s hard enough to bring up children anyway, and everyone knows that limelight is the worst thing for them. They either get conceited or else they get hurt,” Jackie said. “They need their mother’s affection and guidance, and long periods of time alone with her. That’s what gives them security in an often confusing new world.”

She relished the role of everyday mom. For Caroline and her class­mates, Jackie managed to get ahold of a pregnant rabbit so that the chil­dren could all anticipate the arrival of a litter of bunnies. Recalled Kennedy friend and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., “On Halloween evening in 1962, the doorbell rang. When my fourteen-year-old daugh­ter opened the door to the trick-or­-treaters, she found a collection of small hobgoblins leaping up and down. After a moment a masked mother in the background called out that it was time to go to their next house. It was, of course, Jackie.”

After the assassination, Mrs. Ken­nedy and the children moved into a house in Georgetown. To her dis­may, crowds of gawkers still showed up daily for a glimpse of John and Caroline at play or on their way to school. The next year Jackie moved to New York, hoping the big city­ and an apartment high above Fifth Avenue would offer a refuge. “I want them to know about how the rest of the world lives,” she told the New York World Journal Tribune in 1967, “but also I want to be able to give them some kind of sanctuary when they need it, someplace to take them into when things happen to them that do not necessarily hap­pen to other children.”

Through the ’60s and ’70s, Jackie made JFK as much a part of her children’s lives as she could. They visited some of his favorite places, such as the ranch of an Argentine family friend, where JFK had spent a spring vacation as a teenager. On that trip, John Jr. was too young to grasp what the visit was about, but Jackie said she believed it would all fall into place for him later. “I want to help him go back and find his father,” she said.

Said family friend Fred Papert: “She raised her kids so that all three locked onto each other in a way that families almost never do. They needed one another. They all came through for one another. She really liked them as friends, and they her.”

AP/REX/Shutterstock

Many people reacted with astonishment when Jackie married Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis in October 1968, just four months after the assassination of Robert Kennedy. She was 39. He was in his sixties. What was she thinking?

In fact, Onassis had been a Kennedy family acquaintance for years. Rose Kennedy, JFK’s mother, gave Jackie her blessing. As she later wrote, “I told her to make her plans as she chose to do, and to go ahead, with my loving good wishes.” Jackie later said: “When I married Ari, she of all people was the one who en­couraged me—who said, ‘He’s a good man. ‘”

One thing Onassis also offered was security. “He was a source of refuge and protection,” said her brother-in­-law Sen. Edward Kennedy. “I think she felt safe with him.” Jackie mar­ried Ari on his private island, Skor­pios, and had at her disposal homes in Paris and Athens, helicopters, a yacht and Olympic Airways—all of it heavily guarded.

Transformed from the Widow Kennedy to Jackie O, she became a sort of irreverent, naughty figure in the American imagination. She with­drew, but people still wanted to see what she was up to. Paparazzi from all over the world obliged, once even photographing her sunbathing with no suit on.

The marriage grew cooler as the years went on, and Onassis went into a slump after the death of his son, Alexander, in 1973. Two years later, he was dead. Jackie and Ari were together for just seven years. For her, it was a healing interlude. ”Aristotle Onassis rescued me,” she said, “at a moment when my life was engulfed with shadows.”

Peter Simins/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock

The period that began in September 1975 was perhaps the happiest time of Jackie’s life. She was doing exactly what she wanted––and not what parents, husbands, family, friends, and the public expected. Now 46, she took an editing job at Viking Press. She had no previous professional editing experience. She was assigned a tiny office, which was what she also got when she moved to Doubleday as an associate editor in 1978. “Like everybody else,” she said, “I have to work my way up to an office with a window.” She finally got a view when she was promoted to senior editor in 1984.

She was an intense, hands-on ed­itor. Colleagues could tell when she was pleased—she would rub her hands together and say, “Hot spit!” Variety was the only consistency of her projects: photography books like Egyptian Time by Robert Lyons and Allure by Diana Vreeland, biogra­phies of Czar Nicholas II and Jean Harlow, recollections by friends of Fred Astaire and George Balanchine, and even a collection of articles from Rolling Stone. Says Doubleday colleague and friend Lisa Drew:

“Part of the joy of publishing is that you learn from every book. Much was made in the press about how she got her own coffee and did her own xeroxing. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was written about as if a mira­cle had occurred. It amused us how people outside were dazzled by this celebrity. Brighter, funnier, nicer than many, yes—but she was just another person.”

In February 1994, when she was 64, it was announced that the former First Lady had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, often a treatable form of cancer. Five years earlier, she had re­sponded to my written questions and then corrected the manuscript for one of my books, First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power, 1789-l990. Judging from her notes, I sensed she was able to view the notion of being the world’s most famous woman with detach­ment. In the middle of a sentence that read “If there was one sphere where Jacqueline had great influence, it was fashion,” she scribbled, in blue ink, ‘Much to her annoyance!’”

She was pleased with the book because she felt it would move peo­ple’s opinions of her beyond mere style: “I hope now that people will realize,” she said, “that there was something under that pillbox hat.”

Now, take a look at these rarely seen photos of Jackie Kennedy.

Original Source -> This Was Jackie Kennedy’s Incredible Mark on History

source https://www.seniorbrief.com/this-was-jackie-kennedys-incredible-mark-on-history/

[villaine26]

"KUNG BAKIT MAY TULDOK ANG QUESTION MARK" Mula sa likhang storya ni: Winfour Alferez Isinapiyesa ni: Marvin L. Cabote IKAW. AKO. TAYO. Siguro, likas na sa atin ang maghanap ng kasagutan sa ating mga katanungan. Mga katanungan na ganito: Bakit kaya nabuhay ako? Bakit kaya ako nandito sa mundong ibabaw sa gitna ng kailaliman ng mundo? Bakit kung sino pa ang mahina, sila pa ang lapitin ng tukso? Bakit kaya depresyon ang laging panauhin ko? Bakit kailangang wakasan ang bawat k'wento? Bakit gano'n? BAKIT AKO? Ako nga pala si Mark, simpleng tao lang. Tumatawa, nahihiya, umiiyak, nasasaktan. Katulad ng iba, katulad ng karamihan. Pero lumala ang mga ganitong kaganapan. Nang ako ay malunod sa mababaw ngunit malalim na katotohanan. Nagkaroon ako ng kasintahan. Siya si Ques, 'yan ang natatangi niyang pangalan. Ramdam ko naman ang aming pagmamahalan. Pero gaya ng iba; Ayon! Humantong din sa hiwalayan. Hindi ko mawari kung ano ang dahilan. Nagmistula kang pumaradang sasakyan, Nanatili ka nang panandalian pero aalis ka lang din naman. Nagmistula ka ring sipon sa ilong na tumutulo pa. Na pilit kong binabalik kahit gusto mo nang kumawala. Hinayaan na kita, hindi na ako nagparamdam. Naging matalik kong kaibigan ang kwarto ko't higaan. Apat na sulok ng dingding at kisame na lagi kong tinititigan. Patay ang ilaw, binabalot ng kadiliman. Isang araw may mensahe akong natanggap mula sa 'yo. Iyong sinabi na " Galit ka ba sa 'kin dahil pinagpalit kita?". Hindi ko na ito sinagot pa, bagkus mas aking napuna. Ang anyong pangkalawit ay bakit may tuldok sa ibaba. At dito ko na tinuon ang oras ko para malaman kung bakit nga ba. Nagsaliksik ako. Nagtanong-tanong kahit kanino. Nagtanong ako sa mga p'wedeng pagtanungan. Tinanong ko sa kanila ang aking katanungan. Tinanong ko ang aking tanong ngunit wala pa ring kasagutan sa aking tanong kaya mas minabuti na itanong sa sarili ang aking katanungan ngunit ang aking tanong ay wala pa ring kasagutan. Gusto kong mapag-isa, kaya nakumbinsi ko sila Mama at Papa na ako'y mangupahan. Mithiin ko lamang na bigyang linaw ang ang aking katanungan. "Ano ba kasi ang ginagawa mo riyan?!" Kausap ko ang tuldok sa anyong pangkalawit na 'yan. Ilang araw, ilang linggo ang nagdaan. Hinahanap ko pa rin ang kasagutan. Habang napapagod, Ako ay mas lalong ginaganahan. Kahit na mababaw ay mas lumalalim ang kasagutan. Habang lumalabo ay mas lalo akong nalilinawan. "Kapag nalaman ko ang dahilan, doon ka lang magkakaroon ng karapatang sabihin sa 'kin na mamatay na ako". Minahal ko na ang pagtatanong, hindi sa iba kun'di sa sarili ko. Inulit-ulit ko ang bumabagabag na katanungan kong ito. Kadiliman ang nananaigting ngunit naliwanagan na ako. Sa isang kwaderno't dingding ko nilapat ang mga ito. Question Mark! Question Mark! QUEStion MARK! QUES tion MARK! QUES AND MARK!! ALAM KO NA! "Ques and Mark. Alam ko na." Malinaw na ang lahat sa pananaw ko. Na ang anyong pangkalawit ay sumisimbolo sa IKAW at AKO. At ang tuldok ay sumisimbolo sa TAYO, tuldok na sumimbolo na tapos na ang ating kwento. Namumugtong mga mata. Mga labing namumutla. Pagod na pagod ang utak at katawang hinang-hina. Hindi ko na kinaya at tuluyang bumigay. Pagkahilo na nauwi sa pagkawala ng malay. Hindi ko na alam ang sumunod na pangyayari. Tila may sumusundo na sa akin na hindi ko mawari. Ang aking mga katanungan ay patuloy na maglalakbay. Ngunit aking pamamahinga ay naging permanente na habang buhay. Kaya IKAW. AKO. TAYO. Likas nga talaga sa atin ang maghanap ng kasagutan para sa ating mga katanungan. Pero hindi natin naiisip minsan, na ang hinahanap nating kasagutan ay naroon na mismo sa ating katanungan.~

[inkingaboutwords-blog]

Lesson 2: Editing

1) Foreword

Hey there crew! A couple changes this month: I reordered devices before forms, because it makes more sense that way. I won’t be taking submissions to workshop from here on out, because I just don’t have time to (this platform also isn’t great for interactivity, and that’s really showing, but I’m going to continue to press on with this approach to get the content done so that I can transfer it to something better next year and hopefully that experience will be more interactive and more digestible for people.)

This lesson is pretty heavy (will probably be the heaviest one) because it’s focused on identifying different formats, and there’s a LOT of technical terms to cover regarding that. Two things I want to make clear in regard to that:

I use the words ‘form’ and ‘format’ interchangeably. Just want to make sure that doesn’t confuse anyone. Form is the more correct term, if you’re wondering.

You really, really don’t have to perfectly memorize the correct term for everything to be a poet (this applies to devices as well). It will help you a lot when discussing poetry, and a little when analyzing poetry, but what’s really important is just that you understand the concepts even if you can’t put a name to them. I’m not doing this to make your work more academic, just to give you tools to improve the way you want to.

Anyway, that’s me for the month. Hope you enjoy the lesson.

Mostly sincerely, Vex

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2) Index

1. Foreword

2. Index

3. Lore

  3.1 Syllables

  3.2 Words

  3.3 Rhyme

  3.4 Stress

  3.5 Foot

  3.6 Meter

  3.7 Stanza

4. Devices

  4.1 Substitution

  4.2 Triple construction

5. Forms

  5.1  Kelly Lune

  5.2 Collom Lune

  5.3 Gwawdodyn

  5.4 Rispetto

  5.5 Descort

6. Skills

 6.1 Editing

7. Suggestions

 7.1 DIY

 7.2 Edit Some Poems

 7.3 Edit Backwards

 7.4 Write Scansion

 7.5 Try New Formats

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3) Lore

3.1) Syllables

In English, a syllable is a set of letters that form a single sound in a word. Meter uses syllables to measure the rhythm of a line. A few poetic forms, such as the Kelly Lune, constrain the number of syllables on each line, and though poetry sites tend to explain forms in terms of syllables, it's rare that this is the intent of the form (if a site gives you a range ie "this line should be 10-13 syllables", then this is a misreading/misexplaining of the form's meter)

It's worth noting that you've probably been taught that a haiku counts syllables per line, but that's incorrect. More on that when we cover haiku.

Rarely, a word may vary in how many syllables you pronounce it with due to divergence between how it was originally said, and how it's commonly said. This is true for words such as "". Technically, this is only really true if you're pronouncing words wrong, but do what you want cause a pirate is free. (Also get used to breaking rules! You need to be comfortable with this to be a poet)

3.2) Words

Similarly, some forms may describe the number of words on a line. The Collum Line is one such example. Many of the forms not measured in meter are designed to be accessible to new poets.

3.3) Rhyme

Rhyme is a repetition of sounds. There are many types of rhyme that we will cover in a later lesson. The most basic form, where two lines end with the same sound, is used to define many formats. We're covering this now because this lesson is about being able to understand formats.

3.4) Stress

Stress is a measure of which sounds in a word are more emphasized. Stress is important because we use it to build rhythm in our works, which affect their flow when performed or read. To denote the stress of a line, people commonly use a notation called scansion. In the simplest form, a stressed syllable is marked as ‘x’ and an unstressed syllable is marked as ‘/’.

e.g.   x    /   / Syl la ble

Further reading: The wikipedia page covers more complex versions.

3.5) Foot

A metric foot is a single measure of a pattern of stresses in a line. Sometimes scansion will have lines broken into feet using ‘|’ (this can also denote a pause in the reading if two are used ‘||’)

e.g.

  x   /     /        x      /         /            x     /       /         x         /       x     / Syl la bles | and such sounds, || Will not know | what rhyme | a bounds.

The first three feet in this line are known as dactyls, while the last two are trochees. Here’s a list of what feet are named: Trochee:       stressed - unstressed Iamb:             unstressed - stressed Spondee:      stressed - stressed Pyrrhic:         unstressed - unstressed Dactyl:          stressed - unstressed - unstressed Anapest:       unstressed - unstressed - stressed Amphibrach: unstressed - stressed - unstressed To determine the name of a meter using these feet, just add ‘ic’ to the end. (trochaic, iambic, spondaic, pyrrhic, dactylic, anapestic, amphibrachic)

3.4) Meter (or Metre)

Meter is a way to describe the flow of a line being spoken, written, or read, and create an intentionally concordant (or rarely, discordant) rhythm in how it is delivered. A “base meter” describes the most common meter in the line, verse, or poem you’re talking about. A “mixed meter”, like in the example above, contains different feet in the same line - these are often used at the end of a stanza to break an established pattern for impact. Sometimes a mixed meter line is simply the result of a poet needing to use a particular word (meter is less often the most important factor in word choice). When a metrical foot repeats in a line, a prefix is used to signify how many times the foot has repeated. 1 = meter 2 = dimeter 3 = trimeter 4 = tetrameter 5 = pentameter 6 = hexameter etc. (It's not common to go over 6, since that's a loooong line, but if you feel like fucking shit up, go ahead)

3.7) Stanza

A stanza is a grouping of lines. Stanzas are further categorized according to how many lines are in them. 2 = couplet 3 = tercet 4 = quatrain 5 = quintain 6 = sestet 7 = septet 8 = octave

Most formats group lines for rhythmic structure, but stanzas often are written in a way that gives the stanza structure in other senses. This is an emergent property of the format. Consider a narrative poem in a format with four quatrains followed by a couplet. It would be unusual to split the sections of the narrative in a way that didn't relate to the stanzas of the format. It makes sense to use the first stanza as a setting, the middle two as the conflict, the last quatrain as a climax, and the couplet as an anticlimax. Thus the rhythmic structure informs the narrative structure.

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4) Devices 4.1) Substitution (or Inversion)

Substitution is where an unusual foot appears within an otherwise normal meter. This is described above as ‘mixed meter’ in the section about meter. (When speaking of the device, it would be proper to call it substitution, but in describing the meter of a line ‘mixed meter’ makes more sense.)

A great example comes from a Shakespeare line you’re probably familiar with:

x    /      x    /     x   /         x    /     /       x        / To be, | or not | to be, || that is | the ques | tion

In this we see ‘the ques’ is an iambic foot within a trochaic meter.

4.2) Triple construction

Now commonly known as ‘The rule of three’, triple construction involves using three of something. It doesn’t sound like much of a literary device, but it has a big impact in writing. Supposedly this is because three is the smallest number of things required to form an identifiable pattern, making it easy for readers to recognize, and allowing the most people to get the pleasant feeling of seeing where an intentional poetic device was used.

Examples of triple construction that we’ve already discussed today include tercets, dactyls, anapests, amphibrachs, and trimeter. It also occurs very often in parallelism, which we covered in the last lesson (in fact, the example I used, “I came, I saw, I conquered”, is probably the most famous instance of triple construction ever). ---

5) Forms

5.1)  Kelly Lune

The Kelly lune is a format created by Robert Kelly in an attempt to make an English version of the haiku that was more conceptually consistent with the original form of haiku than the commonly accepted 5-7-5 format. The form still lacks some of the constraint of an original haiku. The Kelly lune is defined as a tercet of 5-3-5 syllables. It has no other restrictions.

5.2) Collom Lune

A variant of the Kelly lune reportedly created through a misremembering of the constraints defines the format by words instead of syllables. It’s still a tercet, but the Collom lune has 3-5-3 words.

5.3) Gwawdodyn

This form is an example of formats described by rhyme. The area where the Gwawdodyn originated has many quatrain-based formats, and you’ll note the similarity they have to the Limerick. It involves a quatrain that has three 9 syllable lines (the 1st, 2nd, and 4th) that all rhyme, and a 3rd line of 10 syllables with an internal rhyme that either rhymes with the end of the 3rd line, or the middle of the 4th.

So either --------A --------A ----B----B --------A or --------A --------A ----B----C ----B---A (worth noting C could also rhyme with A)

5.4) Rispetto

A rispetto is a form that is defined primarily by its meter. It involves two quatrains of iambic tetrameter. It also has a rhyme scheme of abab ccdd.

5.5) Descort

This is both the strangest and hardest of the forms we’ll cover this lesson. It is not defined by its meter, syllables, words, or rhyme, but rather by its inconsistency in all those things. In a descort, each stanza must have a different number of lines, and each line must have a different number of syllables. A rhyme must not occur in multiple stanzas. Some sources I’ve seen report that each line also must have a different meter from each other line. I’m not sure this is following the original definition, but it certainly is in the spirit of the format. One poet from the time and place the format was created is known to have written descort poems where each stanza is in a different language. ---

6) Skills

6.1) Editing

Following up on last month’s lesson in drafting and analysis, now we’re going to get into the hard work. For my 2nd draft, I like to start by ensuring every stanza is in the correct order. Usually a beginning and an ending stand out evidently (though I find I often have multiple suitable endings and have to choose one - the others will be later reworked to suit another space in the narrative). If you don’t have obvious contenders for the beginning or ending, or if you feel what you do have isn’t strong enough, make a note to come up with something better.

The ending is typically the most evocative or contemplative line. If you plan on performing the piece, it’s a good idea to ensure an audience will recognize it as an ending or you’ll get scattered applause (more about this later when we cover performing). Usually the reason an audience might not recognize an ending is because the piece doesn’t contain a strong narrative for it to conclude, so they are unsure if more is coming. We could go deeper into this, but for brevity, let’s just say if you have this problem just test the piece with friends until you get it right.

The beginning is more versatile, so whatever suits the piece or your preference is likely fine. Strong beginnings tend to set up a context for the narrative, or an unusual perspective on a well-known topic.

Once you have two locations, the rest of the poem can be constructed as a journey from one to the other. Start by placing the best work in your draft between the beginning and ending in whatever order suits it, then go through and mark spots where it is difficult for a reader to jump from one thought to another. These will most often be between stanzas, but consider carefully where this also might occur between lines. Once the gaps are identified, you can fill them in with things that will make that transition easier (in a later lesson, we’ll look at how this relates to memorizing). Throughout this process, you’ll likely find lines that sound janky, or ones that speak about things a bit removed from the overarching narrative. I mark all of these lines, and occasionally stanzas, to be deleted (though not all of them will be, some will just be improved).

The sad truth is that to allow your poem to reach its potential, you often have to cut out something you really want to say about the topic because it doesn’t fit the narrative well enough. Don’t be scared to cut those - the narrative will deliver your message so don’t cheapen it with clutter. Cutting lines isn’t forfeiting your right to say them, you can still put those thoughts into a draft for a separate poem.

Once you have a poem with a solid narrative, you can start digging into the finer details to polish them up:

Check your syllable counts and stanza sizes. Even when writing open verse, consistency benefits a piece by introducing intentional repetition to the rhythm. It will also set you up for the next step.

Work out the meter of each line, and use that to decide where the impact will be. Meter is a mechanic you can use to emphasize anything you wish. The more consistent an existing pattern (in this case, the base meter of your work and how often you apply it to a line) is, the more powerful it is to break it using mixed meter or an unexpected change.

Consider adding more devices. Your first draft will have devices you came up with and thought were clever, but it will also have lines you wrote just to support those devices. Often these lines can be adjusted to contain more devices. For emphasis, it pays to pick the devices already used in the best lines of the poem, and try to use those particular devices elsewhere.

Consider removing devices. Sometimes they can be too heavy-handed in one area (I see this most often with assonance), or they overshadow or obscure the actual messages in the words (and this with metaphor). If you feel you have those problems, try to distribute the devices more evenly throughout the piece (it’s worth noting that this may not necessarily mean removing devices. It’s possible to achieve the same effect by spreading that heavy-handed use of devices throughout the whole work. If you can manage this, it will REALLY pay off.)

Further watching: Paper People by Harry Baker for an example of said pay off for using assonance heavily but consistently.

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7) Suggestions

7.1) DIY

Have a try at making your own format. Remember that the rules around meter, syllable, and rhyme are only the mechanical side of a format. Most poetic forms were created in a particular context with a particular purpose, such as to entertain, to tell oral history, to court, etc. The context you write your form for may give it narrative or syntactic rules as well.

7.2) Edit Some Drafts

Take something you wrote for lesson one and try the editing steps above. Make a checklist to ensure you try each step. Note down additional steps your own process requires.

7.3) Edit Backwards

Take the same first draft and swap the beginning with the ending, and see how this changes the end result and also the editing process.

7.4) Write Scansion

Find a poem you like and determine the meter of each of its lines. Identify the base meter, and name all of its stanzas and meters. Write down the rhyme scheme if it has one. It’s much easier to read meta-information about poems if you practice identifying it in existing pieces. Don’t just do this for a classic poem, try some songs you like too.

7.5) Try New Formats

Try out the formats we covered today. They’re all pretty easy and interesting forms to write.