#427w

[flmboyz]

1972 Mercury Montego GT

[cabezadeperro]

Prompt time: Echo5s and 5 please (ba dum tss)

hi anon! thanks for sending a prompt! the song's as i walked out one evening, by susanne sundfor. horny make outs a few monts after rishi, 427w.

Wind rushes in from the north, and Echo shivers, hugs himself tighter. It feels nice on the hot skin of his face, on his damp hair, and he sighs and closes his eyes, breathing in the cold, damp night air. 

The front is a few kilometres away. If he listens carefully, he can hear the faraway noise of explosions, and he knows that if he made his way to the other side of the small copse of trees in front of here he’d be able to see the lights, pale and ghostly in the dark. 

He sighs. He feels drunk. His lips are wet and hot to the touch and his mind’s buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. 

His brothers at his back, in the improvised barracks—an old warehouse, one of many, still stinking of tibanna and spent blaster discharge and smoke, cold and echoing and safe—and the rest of the war in front of him, Echo feels safer, more settled, than he has in weeks. In months. Since they got to Rishi, maybe. He hurts and he stinks but he’s alive and they won the day and Fives—

Fives. 

He does this thing where he just keeps popping out wherever Echo is, without fail or respect or fear. In the fresher, in the bunkroom, in the mess, shoulder to shoulder shooting at clankers, thick duracrete wall at their backs and the world sharp and quick and bright all around them. 

Strong arms around Echo’s waist, and then a hot, damp hand slipping under the seam of his upper blacks, blunt nails scratching at the hairs under his navel, Fives’s stupid goatee rubbing the tender skin of Echo’s jaw raw. The sensation’s new but it already feels familiar, and Echo sighs softly and leans back, reaches with one hand so that he can tangle his fingers in Fives’s overgrown mess of curls, matted with sweat and grit as they are, and tugs. Fives gasps into Echo’s mouth, and Echo can’t help the grin even as he kisses back, turning in his arms.

“It’s kriffing cold,” Fives mumbles against his lips, hands on the small of Echo’s back, under his blacks. “Come back inside.”

Echo crowds him against the pockmarked wall, ignoring Fives’s annoyed hiss, and he nudges his thigh between Fives’s, pressing down on his crotch. Fives moans, and hot fingers slip under Echo’s waistband, first caressing and then digging into the skin of his ass, and he shivers.

“I think I like it here just fine,” he tells Fives, and Fives half-groans, half-snorts, lights dancing in his dark eyes.

[wheezykat]

The Last Line Game ✨

Rules: Share your favorite closing lines from 10 of your stories (if you have less than 10 then list them all!). Feel free to skip any that might be too spoilery. Notice any patterns? Pick your #1 and tell us why you love it. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

thank you @elvenwinters and @graymatters for the tags 😘

This is such a fun concept! I loved looking at my first lines and trying to pinpoint some of my own style, so this should be interesting! These are all Drarry (ofc lol) and the majority are my microfics, because I have an appalling amount of WIPs/projects that aren’t published. Haha!

Without further ado:

1. this delicate balance (167w, M) - “He loves him, too.“

2. set myself on fire (868w, M) - ‘ “You wish.” ‘

3. we’ll find (you) hiding (427w, M) - ‘ “Terminal,” he whispers to the dark, hands sliding to cling at his lifeline.“

4. good gracious, you’re a heart attack (221w, G) -  ‘ “She did it, Harry! She rode the horse just like Jack had suggested. Look at the photos!” ‘

5. some love was made for the lights (769w, T) - ‘ “I’ve always known it was you, Harry. I was just waiting for you to catch up.” ‘

6. sinking ship (WIP, 4.2kw, M) - “Through the sliver still visible as the door slowly swung to a close, he barely caught the faint flicker of surprise on Malfoy’s face before he relaxed, edges softening imperceptibly.“

7. devil like me (712w, T) - “Harry Potter is made of fucking miracles.“

8. silent waters run deep (310w, NR) - “A lit match, sparking cinders to a blaze.”

9. underneath your teeth, it feels just like home (470w, M) - “He had discounted the wedding band that had been placed on the bedside table, quietly slipped back onto Draco’s hand as he left in the grey light of dawn.“

10. when scars become art (245w, T) - ‘ “I know.” ‘

I’m actually surprised when I sit down and look back at these - apparently I love to end on a short bit of snappy dialogue, which I didn’t realize I did so often. 😂 I might need to try and switch it up in my next few pieces! Endings are hard, man.

As far as favorites go, I’m not entirely sure I have one. I can tell you definitively that I loathe #9. I spent a ridiculous amount of time when writing it trying to fix it and make it sound better, but had a hard time putting concept to words at the time. I guess #5 is one that I kind of like; that was the bit of dialogue that inspired me to write it, so I was quite pleased I was able to sneak it in at the end. 

Tagging some peeps, who may or may not have already been tagged, because I’m jumping in at the end! So no pressure 💕 @3-of-spades @joonkorre @orange-peony @lucienne-archive @colormehazelnut and anyone else who wants to join! tag me so I can come creep on all your pretty words 😈😈

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[playback9]

ワークブーツ 全底張替えvibram 427w プレイバック リペア ショップIga Mie Japan #Allsole #Shoerepair #Playbackrepairshop (プレイバック) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLVdM4SLCPr/?igshid=1dl5oy1f4zpqx

[tdmotion1]

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[stalinbmusic]

(Wow)en verdad Las oportunidades Se me están dando Y quiero agradecer primeramente a papi dios por la oportunidad por guiarme en este camino. agradesco también A mi gente de la👇 REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA Gracias a DIDI Duirka Diaz Gracias @djfreddyrey.tv Y gracias a mis amigos/as cantante' que rompieron tarima🔥 y gracias al grupo El REFUGIO En verdad fue un show increíble que se llevó acabo En New York @stalinbmusic 💪🌎🙏 (en Home 427w 51th) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9k26hxjDp-/?igshid=3bdqrhnnzpjt

[j0sgomez-blog]

By Michael Lanza

We emerge from our tents on a mild August morning to discover that the waters of the upper and middle Cramer Lakes, in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, have transformed overnight. Where last evening these lakes on either side of our campsite had been rippled by mountain breezes, now they lie perfectly still; they are glassy mirrors offering inverted, sharp reflections of the forest and jagged peaks surrounding the lakes. A few hours later, our backpacking party of three parents and six teenagers hikes across wildflower meadows and past alpine tarns to proudly reach a mountain pass at over 9,000 feet on the Cramer Divide, overlooking a turbulent sea of razor peaks stretching to every horizon.

It’s an inspiring panorama. But to me, there’s more to this pass than the view: We also happen to be standing at one of the highest points along the most remote and wild long-distance trail in the Lower 48—and the newest. And thanks to the help of some conservation leaders in Idaho, this trail has, metaphorically speaking, come a long way from a notion in my mind to fruition.

A few years ago, I brought an idea to my good friend, Justin Hayes, then the program director of the Idaho Conservation League and now ICL’s executive director. I told him that Idaho deserves to have a long-distance backpacking trail that traverses its three signature federal wilderness areas.

My son, Nate, and two friends backpacking to Cramer Divide in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.

From north to south, they are the 1.3-million acre Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, which by itself is larger than many national parks, including Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Glacier; the nearly 2.4-million-acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness (aka “the Frank”), largest in the Lower 48 and bigger than Yellowstone; and the 217,000-acre Sawtooth Wilderness, protected as a primitive area since 1937, among the first places protected in The Wilderness Act of 1964, and now Idaho’s best-known and most beloved mountain range for its jagged peaks and hundreds of alpine lakes.

Taken together, these three very special places comprise nearly four million acres of almost-contiguous wilderness, a vast realm of mountains and canyons divided by just one rural highway (ID 21 outside the small town of Stanley) and two remote dirt roads. If these three wildernesses were contained within one national park, it would be America’s third-largest and the biggest outside Alaska.

I already had a name for this new footpath when I approached Justin and ICL: the Idaho Wilderness Trail. Not only do I like how it sounds, but that name speaks volumes about the quality of the backpacking experience the trail delivers.

Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside, which has made several top outdoors blog lists. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip. Please follow my adventures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

  Linking up existing trails (requiring no new trail construction), the Idaho Wilderness Trail (IWT) crosses mountain passes over 9,000 feet and threads its way past peaks rising over 10,000 feet; follows three designated wild and scenic rivers, the Middle Fork of the Salmon, Main Salmon, and the Selway; traces the shores of innumerable alpine lakes; and meanders below dramatic spires from the Bighorn Crags in the Frank to the Selway Crags and the Sawtooths.

It traverses pristine backcountry that is home to mountain goats and bighorn sheep, elk and moose, black bears, hundreds of wolves (a population estimated to be at least seven times as many as live in Yellowstone), and abundant trout—and which offers some of the nation’s best remaining habitat in the Lower 48 for restoring a viable population of wild salmon.

Perhaps most uniquely, the IWT offers the kind of solitude you simply cannot find on most long-distance trails. In fact, many backpackers have never even heard of the wilderness areas the trail traverses.

Imagine that: Discovering a new long-distance trail that’s not just one of the best in America, but has been hiding in plain sight.

Now it’s ready to be explored by backpackers.

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  Birth of a New Long Trail

Having backpacked through much of the Sawtooths and parts of the Frank and Selway-Bitterroot over the course of living in Idaho for 20 years—as well as many of the very best backpacking trips the country—I knew that a north-south trail linking those wildernesses would constitute one of the most spectacular, diverse, challenging, and lonely long-distance trails in America.

With the help of ICL staff, including Community Engagement Coordinator Lana Weber, who served as ICL’s point person on the project, and a couple of hard-working interns named Hannah Zimmerman and Johnny Whittemore, we mapped out a route following existing trails across the three wilderness areas.

We learned that while the 11 national scenic trails in the U.S. were created by acts of Congress, many established long-distance trails—including the John Muir Trail (JMT) and other well-known footpaths—have no official designation: They have simply, over time, come to be widely known by a certain name to backpackers. In other words, we could “create” the Idaho Wilderness Trail simply by making people aware of it.

Lisa Fenton hiking Idaho’s Middle Fork Salmon River Trail.

The IWT stretches for 285.6 trail miles through these three wilderness areas, between its southern terminus on the outskirts of the tiny town of Atlanta, to its northern terminus at Wilderness Gateway campground on US 12. It can be hiked as three or four distinct sections or thru-hiked in a month or less—a more-reasonable distance and time commitment for many backpackers than the AT or PCT. (See my tips and more information on backpacking the IWT in the Take This Trip section at the bottom of this story.)

I’ve backpacked the John Muir Trail and parts of the Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, and other long-distance footpaths. The IWT matches them for scenic beauty, but far eclipses them in terms of solitude.

And while the AT, JMT, PCT and other long-distance paths are generally well-marked and well-maintained—and mostly beginner-friendly and popular enough that you’re likely to regularly encounter other backpackers who might offer help if you need it—the IWT poses significant challenges for its remoteness, dearth of people, and rough condition along some stretches. I’ve hiked through parts of the Frank, for instance, where trails go years without maintenance. I’ve seen footpaths that have essentially disappeared beneath overgrowth.

I can help you plan this or any other trip you read about at my blog. Find out more here.

  Much of the Idaho Wilderness Trail is no beginner backpacking trip.

Among the unique qualities of the IWT are some that don’t always come immediately to mind when you think about backpacking. Camping in these wilderness areas, you will gaze up at one of the darkest night skies in America—the Milky Way looks like it was painted across the heavens. A 1,400-square-mile area encompassing the Sawtooth and neighboring White Clouds wilderness areas has been officially recognized for the untainted blackness of its night sky with the designation of the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, the country’s first dark sky reserve.

Sunset at Middle Cramer Lake, Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho.

And those night skies aren’t just in the Sawtooths. I have also gazed up at night skies in the Frank and Selway-Bitterroot so dark that I’ve at stared for endless minutes, transfixed.

And nowhere else will you breathe as easily. Designated a Mandatory Class I air quality area by the 1977 Clean Air Act, the Sawtooth Wilderness has the clearest air in the continental United States. You can bet the air in the Frank and Selway-Bitterroot is nearly if not just as clean.

Beyond introducing more backpackers to these wildernesses, a primary objective of our effort is to use the IWT as a communication vehicle to promote wilderness values and, hopefully, gradually grow a larger constituency of people willing to pitch in to protect and maintain it. That support is desperately needed because these places suffer from decades of chronic under-funding that has created shocking trail-maintenance backlogs throughout the U.S. Forest Service.

Because loving anything isn’t enough by itself. You have to show the love.

Plan your next great backpacking trip in Yosemite, Grand Teton, and other parks using my expert e-guides.

  True Wilderness

Twenty summers ago, I backpacked a roughly 160-mile, north-south traverse of central Idaho’s wilderness, from a remote, grass airstrip on Moose Creek in the Selway-Bitterroot—where a friend and I stepped out of a six-seater prop plane to begin our trek—to the end of a remote dirt road at the foot of Sleeping Deer Mountain in the Frank.

That friend accompanied me for the trip’s first week; I did the second week solo, until two other friends met up with me the last night before I finished. During those two weeks, I hiked through rugged, breathtaking mountains, and canyons thousands of feet deep that impressed upon me the scale and remoteness of these places.

Few backcountry experiences in my life, before or since, have given me such a powerful sense of wilderness and solitude as that trip. Just two Alaskan adventures come immediately to mind, in fact: backpacking in Denali National Park and sea kayaking in Glacier Bay National Park.

Much of what I hiked that summer long ago is now the Idaho Wilderness Trail.

The view from Johnson Point of the Middle Fork Salmon River canyon.

And the defining characteristic of that two-week hike—what made it feel so different from the many other backpacking trips I’ve taken in some of America’s signature wild landscapes—was the solitude. While I encountered rafters and kayakers along the Main Salmon and Middle Fork Salmon rivers (and was the grateful recipient of meals generously offered by them), I saw exactly two other backpackers in two weeks. And they were on the Middle Fork Salmon Trail. For several days of backpacking through the mountains between those canyons, I saw no one.

Where else in the Lower 48 can you backpack for two weeks in the peak of summer and see not another person for days?

More recently, in July 2015 and again in July 2019, I floated the Middle Fork of the Salmon through the Frank with my family and 20 friends (on each trip), guided by my favorite river company, Middle Fork Rapid Transit. (See these photos from our most-recent trip and watch for my upcoming story about it.) Besides running scores of exciting rapids on a wilderness river, one of the most unique features of floating the Middle Fork is the abundance of side hikes to waterfalls, hot springs, high points, along tributary creeks. We took several hikes on the Middle Fork Salmon Trail, which parallels much of that river, sometimes hugging its banks, sometimes meandering hundreds of feet above river level to afford long vistas of that canyon of indescribable beauty.

Hiking the Middle Fork Salmon Trail—which the IWT follows—gave me a fresh perspective on the magic of the Idaho Wilderness Trail. That now has me planning to backpack the IWT’s longest section, through the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

Accessorize wisely. See my “Review: 22 Essential Backpacking Gear Accessories.”

  The Most Remote and Wild Trail

As the ICL team and I worked on creating the IWT, we settled pretty quickly on a slogan that epitomizes the IWT: “The most remote and wild long-distance trail in the Lower 48.”

Much of the IWT lies at least a day’s hike from the nearest road—in long stretches of it, multiple days. Even in the Sawtooths, the smallest and most accessible of the three wildernesses traversed by the IWT, backpackers must devote significant time and effort to explore the trail.

On that August backpacking trip in the Sawtooths that I described at the beginning of this story, our group left a wonderful campsite beside Edna Lake on our third morning and started hiking uphill toward Sand Mountain Pass. And within minutes, we turned at a trail junction and left the Idaho Wilderness Trail behind—having spent only about two days, cumulatively, of our four-day trip on it.

Edna Lake in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.

But that illustrates the IWT’s remoteness: Even in the relatively accessible Sawtooths, the IWT traverses the most inaccessible corners of those fabulous mountains.

Take my advice: Walk this trail. You will discover some of the finest wilderness lands in America, and an experience every backpacker should have.

See all of my stories about the Sawtooth Mountains and the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness at The Big Outside.

Read all of this story, including my tips on planning this trip, and ALL stories at The Big Outside, plus get a FREE e-guide. Join now!

  Take This Trip

THIS TRIP IS GOOD FOR fit, experienced backpackers with expert navigation and backpacking skills—not beginners—at least on the more difficult, remote, and in spots infrequently maintained sections of the Idaho Wilderness Trail, especially in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. On other sections, particularly traversing the Sawtooth Wilderness on the IWT, trails are generally well maintained, obvious, and signed at junctions—appropriate for beginner to intermediate backpackers.

Challenges include significant elevation gradients of 3,000 feet to more than 5,000 feet separating valleys and canyon bottoms from mountainous terrain; mountain passes reaching over 9,000 feet; possible thunderstorms and other weather; and the physical and mental rigors inherent to any long, remote trek. Some stretches of the IWT—again, mainly in the Frank and Selway-Bitterroot—lie multiple day’s walk from the nearest road.

Trying to figure out if you’re ready for the remote parts of the IWT? See my story “Are You Ready for That Outdoor Adventure? 5 Questions to Ask.”

See also my expert tips in “How to Prevent Hypothermia While Hiking and Backpacking” and my “8 Pro Tips for Preventing Blisters When Hiking.”

By Michael Lanza

We emerge from our tents on a mild August morning to discover that the waters of the upper and middle Cramer Lakes, in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, have transformed overnight. Where last evening these lakes on either side of our campsite had been rippled by mountain breezes, now they lie perfectly still; they are glassy mirrors offering inverted, sharp reflections of the forest and jagged peaks surrounding the lakes. A few hours later, our backpacking party of three parents and six teenagers hikes across wildflower meadows and past alpine tarns to proudly reach a mountain pass at over 9,000 feet on the Cramer Divide, overlooking a turbulent sea of razor peaks stretching to every horizon.

Map and Guide See an overview map of the Idaho Wilderness Trail at drive.google.com/file/d/11GOZEV1ufser-wbHh9SniDkdXeJKyN2Q/view?ts=5ce5d90e. The Idaho Conservation League hosts a website describing the IWT at idahoconservation.org/events/plan-your-own-adventure/idaho-wilderness-trail. We are currently working with a cartographer to produce section maps of the IWT that will be available for sale online; more information to come when they are ready.

Want to make your pack lighter and all of your backpacking trips more enjoyable? See my story “A Practical Guide to Lightweight and Ultralight Backpacking.” If you don’t have a paid subscription to The Big Outside, you can read part of that story for free, or click here to download that full story without having a paid membership.

Find categorized menus of gear reviews, expert buying tips, and best-in-category reviews at my Gear Reviews page.

Guide/Outfitters/Rentals Various guide services offer backpacking, river float trips, climbing, fishing, and other trips in these wilderness areas, providing access to parts of the Idaho Wilderness Trail. My family has taken a couple of outstanding, six-day float trips down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the Frank Church Wilderness with Middle Fork Rapid Transit (middleforkrapidtransit.com), an adventure that offers almost daily opportunities to hike parts of the IWT that overlap the Middle Fork Salmon Trail through that magnificent canyon.

Contact Idaho Conservation League, idahoconservation.org/events/plan-your-own-adventure/idaho-wilderness-trail/

  Tell me what you think.

I spent a lot of time writing this story, so if you enjoyed it, please consider giving it a share using one of the buttons at right, and leave a comment or question at the bottom of this story. I’d really appreciate it.

[v-eight-lover]

'65 Shelby Daytona, 427W, 565hp, 11 of 50...

[artsaveslivesinternational]

Michel Montecrossa

Michel Montecrossa from Mirapuri-Coiromonte, Italy; is a visual artist who paints, draws, uses photography and creates film; as well as a philosophical and fictional writer and poet – who is also a musician. Michel has chosen the subject of Heterosexual Privilege for his submission for issue 4 of ASLI Magazine: “Discrimination, Privilege and Stigmatisation”.

  Can you tell us a little about yourself?

My aim in life is to grow in consciousness to a fulfilling completeness.

What is your artistic/creative background?

Based on this aim I chose to become an integral artist that perfects his natural artistic capacities in fine arts, music, literature, movie-making and consciousness-research. I received a good education in these fields through schools and private teachers as well as extensive travels for the study of Eurasian and U.S.A. cultures.

What motivated you to deal with your chosen submission subject?

Out of this formative process a clear and intense certitude about the human potential emerged, a certitude about the fact that a better tomorrow is created by growing and entering into a new consciousness that among many things can change the heterosexual privilege of dominance into a tolerant and creative spiritual & social power for establishing and securing freedom of choice for all sexual expressions and preferences – this would be a step of great cultural importance; liberating in all aspects of human life, hidden and suppressed creative springs.

’Erotic Enrichment Society’ (Freedom Of Choice)’, Mirapuri, 2014, acrylic and ink on canvas, 200 x 100 cm

What is your process when creating?

The process of creating is an evolving and self-creative synthesis of all possibilities with drawing, painting, music, writing and movie making; that are embedded in my state of continuous consciousness-researching.

Who are you influenced by within your artistic discipline?

The artist, musician and consciousness liberation fighter Mira Alfassa.

Who inspires you in general?

The Great Consciousness that can be felt and seen in all creation as well as in all that transcends it.

What causes and world issues are you passionate about, campaign for, volunteer for…?

I have dedicated my life, work and art to help to build Mirapuri, the City of Peace and Futureman in Europe, Italy.

What do the statements “art saves lives” and “art creates change” mean to you?

“Art saves lives” because art connects us to the very principle of life which is consciousness showing us the meaning of life and how to live this meaningful life. For the same reason “art creates change”.

Have your artistic and creative outlets saved your life in anyway and do you think your message within them could help create change in the world?

My artistic and creative outlets saved my life through steadiness and through the message of hope contained in them. It is the message of hope that the world is in the process of a big change and that every action of goodwill can and will accelerate the speed of this change into a new step of evolution giving birth to the Futureman of Joy and Love and the building of the United States of Planet Earth for securing peace and creative world unity.

What are your present and future goals for your art?

The present and future goals of my art are the completion of Mirapuri, the City of Peace and Futureman in Europe, Italy, and to strengthen the spirit of Joy and Love all over the world through freedom of consciousness-growth

’Two Time-Women In a Landscape’, Mirapuri, 27th January 2015, ink on paper, 29,7 x 42 cm

‘Child Of The Mother Of Sex’ Mirapuri, 2012, acryl & wax crayon and ink on canvas, 140 x 100 cm

‘Selfportrait As A Landscape’ Mirapuri, 2013, Acryl on canvas, 100x80cm

‘Girl & Girl’, Mirapuri, 2013, ink and acryl on canvas, 30x118cm

Have you experienced any form of discrimination; and if so what was it based on and how did you deal with this?

As a free and living soul one is always in contact with discrimination which is based on unwillingness to change in harmony with the constant changes of the universe. One can deal with this by being an example for the Joy and Love that come through every step of widening the consciousness, understanding and compassion.

What are your opinions on what causes discrimination?

The cause of discrimination is conservatism and fear. They are the testing-grounds for every new step of evolution so that the new things can prove their effective right and capacity to replace old orders through love, peace, prosperity and security.

What do you do to actively stand against discrimination and have you ever had to intervene as a witness to it?

To be an artist means to actively stand against discrimination by showing the better way of wideness, freedom and love. To follow this way is a constant intervention for the better of all.

What are your opinions on labels and stereotypes?

Labels and stereotypes are reactions of fear. Empathy, humour and joy can transform fear into a happy ‘Let’s play together and have a good time’.

What are your opinions on national identity and in your opinion does nationalism create or deter discrimination?

National identity is good and necessary, if it is an identity that has its goal within a world union, the achievement of unity in diversity where each nation plays its indispensable free and self-determined role in the concert of the United States of Planet Earth and its well-being. Nationalism for its own sake is destructive and discrimination-driven.

How does social privilege affect our world in your opinion?

The true privilege is to know always more and to be able to do always more. If this privilege is activated in a non-egoistic way, it will lead our world in a positive direction.

Have you ever denied your own privilege due to feelings of guilt or misunderstanding?

To be conscious of the soul is a constant source of happiness where there is no guilt or misunderstanding.

Have you ever experienced social stigmatisation and if so what was it based on and how did you deal with this?

Social stigmatisation may come about to learn better how to transform it into higher understanding. So, the best thing is to reach higher understanding.

Have you ever contributed to the stigmatisation of any individual or group, and if so were you aware you did this and how did you deal with this aftermath?

Everything and everyone has a right for existing for some time whether you like it or not. The best thing is to learn from it and thus grow in consciousness so that the wrong things are not repeated and good things become real.

What are your opinions on political powers and world leaders using stigmatisation against certain groups to further their own agendas, such as with Muslims, Black people, LGBTQ individuals, mentally ill and disabled people?

Political powers and world leaders must be there to lead to freedom and unity, to the experience of a progressive world where everything is in its right place and time without quarrel and arrogance, full of goodwill to help each other and ready for the living celebration of humanity.

Do you support or take part in any anti-stigma organisations or charities and if so which ones and why?

I support and take part in the building of Mirapuri, the City of Peace and Futureman in Europe, Italy because it is an important anti-stigma organisation and warmhearted charity project.

In your own words please tell us how you feel the arts and creativity can further help to empower, communicate and educate people with regards to discrimination, privilege and stigmatisation?

Art and creativity are straight roads out of discrimination, false privileges and stigmatisation because they empower you, communicate to you and educate you through the true, the right and the vast of your loving soul.

  ’Deep Space Woman’, Universe Triptych #2, Mirapuri, 2014, acryl on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

‘America Comeback’, Miravillage, 2013, acryl and ink on canvas, 169 cm x 86 cm

When we embrace, Mirapuri.

’The City Of Ideas’, Mirapuri, 2014, wax crayon on paper, 29,7 x 42 cm

If you would like to know more about Michel Montecrossa please follow these links:

Website 

Mirapuri, the City of Peace and Futureman

Michel Montecrossa Blog

Facebook Page

Twitter

– Michel Montecrossa on iTunes

Michel Montecrossa on Vimeo

If you have any feedback on this article please fill in the contact form below:

[contact-form] Artist Michel Montecrossa addresses heterosexual privilege in a new art piece for ASLI Magazine Michel Montecrossa from Mirapuri-Coiromonte, Italy; is a visual artist who paints, draws, uses photography and creates film; as well as a philosophical and fictional writer and poet - who is also a musician.

[piranot]

Sem espaço para enterrar as vítimas da Covid-19, Manaus empilha caixões

Diante do colapso no sistema de saúde e de uma explosão no número de enterros, a Prefeitura de Manaus está empilhando caixões em uma vala comum para poder dar conta de todos os sepultamentos das vítimas do novo coronavírus. Há uma semana, a prefeitura passou a enterrar os corpos um ao lado do outro, em uma vala comum no cemitério Nossa Senhora Aparecida, no bairro Tarumã.

Foto: Sandro Pereira /Fotoarena/Folhapress

Desde então, o número de mortes continuou a aumentar, e a prefeitura decidiu abrir uma cova mais funda para permitir o sepultamento em camadas, ou seja, o empilhamento dos caixões. Antes da pandemia, o cemitério realizava cerca de 30 enterros por dia. Na última semana, esse número triplicou e, neste domingo (26), chegou ao pico, com 142 sepultamentos. A prefeitura projeta que mais de 4.000 pessoas devem ser enterradas no mês de maio.

Vídeos que circulam nas redes sociais mostram familiares criticando e questionando a necessidade de empilhamento dos caixões. “O espaço que tem para enterrar é esse. Acabou esse espaço, não vai ter para enterrar mais ninguém”, diz um policial militar a familiares das vítimas da Covid-19 em uma gravação. Em outro vídeo, uma pessoa mostra uma cova funda e diz: “Essa aqui é a vala que eles vão enterrar três, um em cima do outro”.

Para tentar reduzir o número de sepultamentos, a Prefeitura está arcando com os custos da cremação dos corpos, para famílias que estejam de acordo com essa alternativa. No sábado (25), jornalistas foram barrados de entrar no cemitério. O prefeito de Manaus, Arthur Virgílio Neto (PSDB), restringiu o acesso da imprensa ao cemitério após reportagem da Folha de S. Paulo mostrar aglomeração de familiares e coveiros sem EPI (equipamentos de proteção individual) em enterros de vítimas da Covid-19, contrariando orientação do Ministério da Saúde. Na terça-feira (21), em meio à explosão no número de enterros, a prefeitura de Manaus proibiu a entrada de jornalistas nos cemitérios municipais alegando “consecutivos conflitos entre familiares e a imprensa”. Nesse mesmo dia, passou a enterrar mortos pela Covid-19 numa vala comum.

As primeiras imagens dos enterros coletivos, que rodaram o mundo, foram feitas pelos próprios familiares. Alguns fotógrafos furaram o bloqueio, e outros usaram drones. Na quinta-feira (23), após negociação com o Sindicato dos Jornalistas Profissionais do Amazonas, a prefeitura limitou a presença da imprensa das 9h às 11h, de segunda a sexta-feira. Além disso, apenas cinegrafistas e fotógrafos têm permissão para entrar no cemitério Nossa Senhora Aparecida. Em novo comunicado, a prefeitura comandada por Virgílio Neto disse que a decisão foi “pautada pela ética e pelo jornalismo cívico, voltado ao interesse do cidadão” e voltou a dizer que o motivo da restrição ocorreu “por conta de conflitos registrados entre os profissionais e os familiares”.

Com todos os leitos públicos de UTI ocupados, o Amazonas já contabilizou 3.928 casos confirmados do novo coronavírus e 320 mortes em decorrência da Covid-19. Manaus concentra 2.738 das infecções e 256 mortes.

[joebustillos]

Remembering One's Voice... Musically

Remembering One’s Voice… Musically

2009-05-05 Orlando FL. Like most things, I started writing songs because I didn’t know any better. Teenage angst is like that. Fortunately for me it was a hell of a lot less destructive than all the other things that I could have been doing with my frustrations and energy. I also started writing because that’s what my best-friend, Jimmy, was doing. He wrote the happy tunes and I wrote the…