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artificial-horizon · 1 year ago

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TIL about Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman, a badass aviation pioneer who was the first Black and Native American woman to obtain a pilot's licence. Not sure if the Americans of Tumblr already know about her, but as a Brit I unfortunately did not until now, so I wanted to share her story here! (Image IDs in alt text.)

Born in Texas on January 26, 1892, Bessie was the tenth of thirteen children in a family of sharecroppers. From the age of six, she attended a small, segregated school, where she excelled as a student and eventually won a scholarship to the Missionary Baptist Church School aged 12. When she turned 18, she moved to Langston, Oklahoma to study at the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University, but had to drop out after one semester due to financial difficulties and returned to work at the acorn fields back home.

When she was 24, Bessie moved to Chicago, Illinois and worked as a manicurist in a barber shop, where she discovered her passion for aviation after hearing the stories of some of the clients, who had been pilots during World War One. She then decided to become a pilot herself, taking on a second job to save up for flight school. However, no flight schools in the US would admit Black or women students, so another of the barber shop's clients, Robert Abbott - a Black philanthropist and publisher of the Chicago Defender newspaper - suggested that she move to France and learn to fly there. He and Jesse Binga, another Black philanthropist and banker, gave her the financial support to do this, so in November 1920, Bessie set off for France to begin her training.

On June 15, 1921, Bessie Coleman was awarded an international pilot's licence by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, becoming both the first Black woman and the first American to do so. Following this, she returned to the US, but found it difficult to make a living as a pilot, as commercial flight did not yet exist - her only option was to become a stunt (aerobatic) pilot. Once again, the US's racism and misogyny prevented her from receiving stunt training there, so in 1922 she went back to France, and by September that year was back home again for her first stunt flight. On September 3, Labor Day, she became the first Black woman to stage a public flight in the US, flying at a show sponsored by the Chicago Defender and held in honour of the veterans of the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment of WWI.

Bessie soon became a media sensation, earning herself the nickname "Queen Bess" and performing at air shows across the US and Europe in a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane (example pictured above). She refused to fly at any shows that did not permit Black people to attend, and went on speaking tours at schools and churches to encourage fellow Black aspiring aviators to take to the skies. Her dream was to open a flight school to train Black pilots, and she tirelessly raised money for this with her shows.

Sadly, on April 30, 1926, while flying with her mechanic William D. Wills, Bessie's plane unexpectedly went out of control and dove into the ground, killing both of them. An investigation revealed that this had been caused by a wrench that had been accidentally left in the plane and had jammed its controls. It was a devastating loss, and her funeral, which was held in Chicago and led by Ida B. Wells, was attended by around 10,000 people. In 1929, the Bessie Coleman Aero Club was founded to continue her work promoting Black participation in aviation, and to this day there are several scholarships in her name aimed at high school students interested in careers in aviation.

"I knew we had no aviators, so I thought it my duty to risk my life to learn." - Bessie Coleman

Fly high, Queen Bess, blue skies forever! 🛩💙

#aviation #aviation history #black history #bessie coleman #planeposting #my writing #long post #planes ily #the only source not linked here (for the quote at the end) is The Aircraft Book by DK cos i have the physical copy #but that's where i first heard of her and i got genuinely emotional okay #as the only mixed/black + queer person who went through the atc recruitment process i just went thru i felt 1000% like the odd one out #it felt like the odds were very much stacked against me #but that's what it's like for us (in white majority countries anyway) so if i have to be my own sort of pioneer then so be it #we belong in aviation PERIOD #in the cockpit or the tower or the TRACON or the hangar or on the ground at the airport or anywhere else #we have always been here #and we will always be here #and we can fucking do it!!!!#sorry for any mistakes or shit writing i have covid rn dkljfklfslkja

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productsreviewings · 2 years ago

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The Maltipoo is a cross between a Maltese and a Poodle. Although Maltese canines solely are available in white and a few white mixtures, Poodles are available in many colours. For that reason, Maltipoos are a various bunch color-wise, with Maltipoo coat colours together with black, white, apricot, crimson, and cream. Brown is one other doable Maltipoo shade, however a very brown Maltipoo is fairly uncommon and is taken into account the product of genetic luck. That stated, you will get Maltipoos in numerous shades of brown together with tan and beige, and these are generally labeled “brown”. On this put up, we’ll discover the brown Maltipoo’s origins, historical past, and a few distinctive details about this happy-go-lucky, loving little canine. The Earliest Information of Brown Maltipoos in Historical past Maltipoos are a contemporary crossbreed and first happened within the Nineties, however to grasp extra about them, we have to look into the histories of the 2 mum or dad breeds. The Maltese canine is an historical breed that most likely dates again to the time of the Phoenicians, who're prone to have been liable for first bringing the Maltese to Malta previous to Greek rule. Their look was tremendously admired and immortalized in artwork by the Greeks within the 4th and fifth centuries B.C. and later by Roman aristocrats. Roman women specifically have been Maltese aficionados and stored them as lapdogs and trend symbols. Poodles date again greater than 400 years and, opposite to fashionable perception, had their beginnings in Germany, not in France. They have been initially bred as water retrievers due to their excessive intelligence, protecting curly coats, and glorious swimming capabilities. The title “Poodle” comes from the German phrase “pudelin”, which implies “to splash within the water.” Picture Credit score: voronaman, Shutterstock How Maltipoos Gained Reputation Maltipoos first turned fashionable within the Nineties as easygoing, affectionate, low-maintenance household canines. As for the mum or dad breeds, Maltese canines have been fashionable for his or her magnificence and appeal for hundreds of years, however Poodles turned fashionable outdoors of Germany a number of hundred years in the past, notably in France. The French individuals and nobles alike took a shine to each Commonplace and Miniature Poodles due to their elegant look and trainability. They have been introduced extra into the general public eye after they began being utilized in European circuses. At the moment, the Poodle is the nationwide canine of France. Formal Recognition of Brown Maltipoos The American Kennel Membership doesn't acknowledge the Maltipoo as a result of it’s a crossbreed. Nevertheless, each the Poodle and Maltese are acknowledged breeds. Poodles have been first acknowledged by the AKC in 1887 and the Maltese was acknowledged only one 12 months later in 1888. In Europe, the Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI) acknowledges a fourth Poodle measurement—the Moyen, which interprets to “medium”. The AKC, however, solely acknowledges three Poodles sizes, that are Toy, Miniature, and Commonplace. Picture Credit score: OlgaOvcharenko, Shutterstock High 3 Distinctive Info About Brown Maltipoos 1. Actually Brown Maltipoos Have No Black Pigmentation As we touched on earlier, Maltipoos are available in numerous shades of brown, however a very brown Maltipoo may be very unusual. A Maltipoo with true brown coloration may have no black pigmentation—the nostril and areas across the eyes ought to be brown. 2. F1b Maltipoos Are Extra Prone to Be Darkish Maltipoos of the F1b era are created by backcrossing a Maltipoo to a Toy Poodle. These Maltipoos usually tend to have a darker coat because of the increased share of Poodle genes. 3. The Maltese Canine is Thought-about a Canine Aristocrat Each the Maltipoo’s mum or dad breeds, the Poodle and the Maltese, have lengthy been fashionable for his or her magnificence and wonder, however the

Maltese has been thought-about an “aristocrat” within the canine world for greater than 28 centuries. Does a Brown Maltipoo Make a Good Pet? Maltipoos in each shade adapt splendidly to household life, whether or not that household is large, small, or a canine-human energy duo. They’re sometimes completely satisfied little souls, pretty in temperament, and with an actual sense of enjoyable. Maltipoos are additionally nice lap heaters attributable to their compact measurement and affinity for cuddles. By way of care, they don’t shed a lot, but it surely’s nonetheless a good suggestion to present them a fast brush day by day to stop mats and tangles. In case you have younger youngsters or different pets, supervise them intently round your Maltipoo as these little canines are fairly delicate—they’re not the kind of canines that may face up to roughhousing and may very well be simply injured by an overenthusiastic baby or canine. Picture Credit score: OlgaOvcharenko, Shutterstock Conclusion To recap, actually brown Maltipoos are beautiful, deep chocolate-colored little canines which can be surprisingly uncommon. Although a contemporary phenomenon, their ancestors have a protracted and wealthy historical past as Greek muses, Roman lapdogs and trend statements, and German duck hunters. The Maltese–Poodle combination has created a canine with all the perfect traits of the mum or dad breeds—tremendous clever, sparky, cheerful, and affectionate—and that's a lot cherished in lots of households at this time. Featured Picture Credit score: Alex Boc, Shutterstock !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments);if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window, document,'script',' #Brown #Maltipoo #Footage #Info #Historical past #Merchandise Reviewings

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itsfeckinwimdy · 3 years ago

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FC Chapter Two - Le Spinning Thing

Eventual cc!Karlnap x fem!reader (romantic) (soulmate au)

cc!Tommyinnit x reader (platonic) (family)

Reader Pronouns: She/Her.

Summary: Y/n pesters Wilbur before she meets the Americans.

Word count: 1.2k (1299) words.

Soulmate attribute: A compass points towards your soulmate.

FC Series Masterlist / Soulmate Multi-Series Masterlist / Soulmate Extra’s Masterlist / DSMP Masterlist

Published: 11/11/2021

Week Commencing 6th of July, 2020

As Y/n sat editing footage that morning, the time now nearing ten am, a notification popped up on her phone. She had decided to take a miniature break that morning, Y/n ended up scrolling through Twitter after tweeting a picture of herself sitting on Wilbur's bedroom floor, the fellow adult not entirely impressed with the fact she had come over quite so early that morning.

As she read the notification, her mood slightly increased and decreased at the same time. It was reminding her of the next race to take place in Austria where Ellis' sister, Mars, would be climbing into their formula one car and driving at the red bull ring, the race track in Spielberg.

Mars had only been able to go back to work recently due to the pandemic cancelling the racing season in March, which although she wasn't happy about, she was one of the people advocating for there to be better restrictions and handling by the FIA (the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile or the governing body for world motorsport) and thought that the races should've been cancelled until there was more known about the virus and how it spreads.

She missed Mars and genuinely couldn't wait to see her again. To her, Mars was like a friend you didn't expect to make, and you couldn't imagine them not being in your life. They were also the friend that you jokingly flirt with only for them to flirt back and you have to express multiple times that the two of you are only friends and are not actually together because of how often people think you're dating them. They were also physically affectionate with each other, not being afraid to give the other a hug, or sling their arm over the others shoulder. But of course, that makes people think you're dating them, because why would you show affection to your friends?

That's just ridiculous, right?

But then again, Y/n quite often posted edits of Mars on her Tiktok account because why not.

A message from Ellis popped up and upon opening it, Y/n could see it was them and Dream and Sapnap looking down at the camera, like children when they steal their parent's phone and take a picture. Y/n chuckled at that, screenshotting it so she could use it as blackmail later as a smile crept on her face.

Although she wasn't as close with the dream team, she still couldn't wait to meet Sapnap. It was just like a warm feeling swelled up inside of her whenever she got the opportunity to speak with the short brunette.

At least they would be able to settle the two arguments of who's taller.

See Y/n was taller than George, but Sapnap refused to believe that, stating she was lying or that she was wearing shoes and it was unfair. However, George was only slightly shorter than her, like a centimetre shorter but Sap kept insisting that he was taller than the two of them. She found it hard to believe him though.

However, if Jay got to meet him, he would probably fucking cry. They were at least 6ft 3in, if not taller.

Blame the Wilbur family Genes.

Reading the message sent by Ellis asking if she wanted to meet with the trio (and George) for lunch, she sent back a reply 'Only if we go to Wetherspoons' before closing her phone, placing it next to her.

She looked up at Wilbur, him locking eyes with her before letting out a groan of frustration.

"Fuck off," he muttered from where his head was buried in his pillow, before rolling over and facing away from the Simons girl. Wilbur still couldn't fathom why she was here this early, it was ten am and Wilbur wasn't doing anything but streaming that evening so all the more time for him to sleep. His eyes furrowed in confusion before he rolled back to face her, "Why are you here?"

Y/n looked at him, "Plot purposes."

"What?" Wilbur was more confused now.

"It doesn't matter," Y/n shook her head, "Go back to sleep Wilbur. You can steal my cat the next time you come over."

The giant man left out a quiet 'Yay' before closing his eyes and falling back to sleep.

Y/n's bag was heavy.

She didn't expect anything less, having her laptop and a bunch of other stuff in it as well. She needed to clean it out.

It was a job she was putting off because she knew it was going to take a good while to empty all the small things inside of it and decide what to keep and what to throw. She knew that there were at least two chargers for devices she may or may not have anymore, and probably a pencil case full of random stationery. There was also at least three decks of Uno and maybe a collection of empty packets.

As she walked down the street she could feel the gently thump of her soulmate compass hitting her thigh from where it was attached to the belt loop on her jeans. She grabbed onto it, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she saw the orange needle pointing a completely different way. Both of the compass points were always pointing south-west, never changing from that general direction, but now it was pointing northeast, the direction she was heading in.

It's pointing in the direction I'm going in.

Y/n decided to ignore it and deal with the problem later because right now she was going to be meeting up with, Dream, Sapnap, their roommate Ellis, and the amazing GeorgeNotFound.

With the current Covid rules and guidelines, the Americans of the Dream Team were able to travel to the UK with having two negative covid tests before they got on their flight. At least she could finally prove to Sapnap that she was taller than him.

As she got to the door of Waterstones, she pulled her face mask on before walking in and heading towards the back corner where Ellis and the others were sat.

George was the first one to notice her, him facing the door before a smirk appeared and it looked like he was trying not to laugh, "What are you doing here?"

"You know what," Y/n began, a smile on her face but you couldn't see it from underneath her mask, "Fuck you GeorgeNotFound."

The two people who had their back to her both turned around, one with dirty blonde hair, the other a brunette wearing a black baseball cap to which Ellis leant over the table and knocked it off his head.

Sapnap scrambled to try and catch it only to notice his own compass almost glowing whilst the blue needle in his was rapidly flickering towards where Y/n was standing. He grabbed the compass in his hand before looking up at her.

Y/n was trying not to laugh at both Sapnaps somewhat awkwardness and Geroge in the background who was snickering alongside Ellis. She locked eyes with the brunette, who was sitting there mouth agape before she noticed the compass in his hand. Looking down at her own she noticed the faint glow and the orange needle flickering towards Sapnap.

She looked back at him before Sapnap stood up, him shorter than her by an inch.

"Oh my god you're fucking short," Y/n burst out laughing dropping her compass before Sapnap took a step forwards and hugged her, Y/n wrapping her arms around as she was dying of laughter.

"You're my soulmate," Sapnap said, still holding onto her.

"And you're short," Y/n replied only for Dream to start wheezing in laughter.

Sapnap huffed in response before dragging out the word "Stop," in response to the bullying he was undergoing.

⇥ Taglist

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧ — @creatorofstars

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justforbooks · 4 years ago

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Marcel Marceau was born on March, 22 1923. He was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence" and he performed professionally worldwide for over 60 years. As a Jewish youth, he lived in hiding and worked with the French Resistance during most of World War II, giving his first major performance to 3,000 troops after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. Following the war, he studied dramatic art and mime in Paris.

In 1959, he established his own pantomime school in Paris, and subsequently set up the Marceau Foundation to promote the art in the U.S. Among his various awards and honors he was made "Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur" (1998) and was awarded the National Order of Merit (1998) in France. He won the Emmy Award for his work on television, was elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin and was declared a "National treasure" in Japan. He was friends with Michael Jackson for nearly 20 years and Jackson said he used some of Marceau's techniques in his own dance steps.

Marceau performed all over the world in order to spread the "art of silence" (L'art du silence). It was the intellectual minority who knew of him until he first toured the United States in 1955 and 1956, close on the heels of his North American debut at the Stratford Festival of Canada. After his opening engagement at the Phoenix Theater in New York, which received rave reviews, he moved to the larger Barrymore Theater to accommodate the public demand. This first U.S. tour ended with a record-breaking return to standing-room-only crowds in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and other major cities. His extensive transcontinental tours included South America, Africa, Australia, China, Japan, South East Asia, Taiwan, Russia, and Europe. His last world tour covered the United States in 2004, and returned to Europe in 2005 and Australia in 2006. He was one of the world's most renowned mimes. Marceau's art became familiar to millions through his many television appearances. His first television performance as a star performer on the Max Liebman, Mike Douglas and Dinah Shore, and he also had his own one-man show entitled "Meet Marcel Marceau". He teamed with Red Skelton in three concerts of pantomimes.

Marceau also showed his versatility in motion pictures such as Professor Ping in Barbarella (1968); First Class (1970), in which he played 17 roles; Shanks (1974), where he combined his silent art, playing a deaf and mute puppeteer, and his speaking talent, as a mad scientist; and a cameo as himself in Mel Brooks Silent Movie (1976), in which, with intentional irony, his character has the only audible speaking part, uttering the single word "Non!" when Brooks asks him (via intertitle) if he would participate in the film. His last film appearances included small roles in Klaus Kinski's Paganini (1989) and Joseph's Gift (1998). He also had a role in a low-budget film roughly based on his life story called Paint It White. The film was never completed because another actor in the movie, a lifelong friend with whom he had attended school, died halfway through filming.

As an author, Marceau published two books for children, the Marcel Marceau Alphabet Book and the Marcel Marceau Counting Book, and poetry and illustrations, including La ballade de Paris et du Monde (The Ballad of Paris and of the World), an art book which he wrote in 1966, and The Story of Bip, written and illustrated by Marceau and published by Harper and Row. In 1974, he posed for artist Kenneth Hari and worked on paintings and drawings that resulted in a book, and the art work in many museum collections. In 1982, Le Troisième Œil, (The Third Eye), his collection of ten original lithographs, was published in Paris with an accompanying text by Marceau. Belfond of Paris published Pimporello in 1987. In 2001, a new photo book for children titled Bip in a Book, published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, appeared in the bookstores in the U.S., France and Australia.

In 1969, Marcel Marceau opened his first school, École Internationale de Mime, in the Théàtre de la Musique in Paris. The school was open for two years with fencing, acrobatics, ballet and five teachers of Mime.

In 1978, Marceau established his own school, École Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris, Marcel Marceau (International School of Mimodrame of Paris, Marcel Marceau). In 1996, he established the Marceau Foundation to promote mime in the United States.

In 1995, pop megastar Michael Jackson, who had been friends with Marceau for nearly 20 years, planned a concert together with him for HBO, but the concert was cancelled after Jackson was hospitalised for exhaustion during rehearsals. Jackson, during an interview, said that he had always been "in awe" at Marceau's skill as a performer:

He was a great guy. I used to go see Marcel Marceau all of the time, before Off the Wall. I used to sneak in and sit in the audience and watch how he would defy the laws of gravity, like he was stepping on air. I would take some of those things and include it into rhythm and dance when I move.

In 2000, Marceau brought his full mime company to New York City for presentation of his new mimodrama, The Bowler Hat, previously seen in Paris, London, Tokyo, Taipei, Caracas, Santo Domingo, Valencia (Venezuela) and Munich. From 1999, when Marceau returned with his classic solo show to New York and San Francisco after 15-year absences for critically acclaimed sold-out runs, his career in America enjoyed a remarkable renaissance with strong appeal to a third generation. He latterly appeared to overwhelming acclaim for extended engagements at such legendary American theaters as The Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, demonstrating the timeless appeal of the work and the mastery of this unique artist.

Marceau's new full company production Les Contes Fantastiques (Fantasy Tales) opened to great acclaim at the Théâtre Antoine in Paris.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Marcel Marceau #Famous Birthdays

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grandhotelabyss · 4 years ago

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My Year in Books, 2020

Introduction

I don’t want to waste your time, dear reader, with a list of all the books I read in 2020—you can track that on my Goodreads, if you care—nor even a list of all the books I wrote about on my site. But I would like to take the occasion of New Year’s Eve to revisit some of my favorites. Please click below for the list. Happy New Year!

1. Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Reading old books can help us understand the present better than reading new books, which are often too caught up in today’s doxa to offer a true perspective on today’s world. Austen’s first major novel is a good example; what can help us understand class and gender better than this 19th-century narrative? As I wrote:

Marianne Dashwood (or Lily Briscoe or Sula Peace) has triumphed: today, she issues defenses of desire on podcasts and Patreon and posts pictures of her swollen ankle and putrid tonsils for the fetishists among her OnlyFans subscribers. If Elinor still functions as her conscience, she does so in the administrative bureaus of the corporation and university—human resources, diversity and equity—where her job is to intercept and interdict threats to the untrammeled unfolding of Marianne’s consciousness. This metamorphosis has undoubtedly liberated the individual from the stifling convention of bourgeois domesticity, but is the place where it has installed her now, where she must sell soul and body by algorithm just to stay alive, any less a prison?

I thought I’d get cancelled for that one, but nobody seemed to notice. Here’s another chance, cancel crew!

2. Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron

Like everyone else and for obvious reasons, I read The Decameron in 2020, but it didn’t make much of an impression, besides its historical interest. This might be the problem:

The late medieval personae and settings are different from the postmodern ones: clergy in place of technocrats, princes in place of corporations, and a network of land and sea routes where fiberoptic cables now run. But Boccaccio himself, in writing a comic prose work that has, according to the scholar Robert Harrison, been called “a mercantile epic,” did much to prepare the way for our world.

I’m sure this is a mix of presentism and philistinism talking, but a literary culture divided between Dante and Boccaccio would seem to have something wrong with it. The best writers earlier and later—Homer and Sophocles, Shakespeare and Joyce—seem capable of synthesizing what in Dante’s divine comedy and Boccaccio’s human comedy are held forcibly, artificially apart.

3. James Miller, The Passion of Michel Foucault

I review a scandalous biography of the theorist who may or may not have made our contemporary world:

His identification of a new oppressed class, and his observation of oppressive power structures working in precisely those institutions meant in the modern period to correct the “barbarities” of ages past with their torture chambers and ships of fools, would change the western left forever. The “abnormal” subject (rather than the worker) was now the protagonist of history, power (rather than exploitation) the mechanism of oppression, and modern scientific and liberal institutions (rather than capitalist economics) the enemy. Foucault’s anti-psychiatry stance is now in abeyance—a recent viral Tweet promised that “under socialism all men will be sent to therapy,” an old chestnut of Stalinist terror that redefines political dissent as mental illness in an instance of exactly the thinking Foucault meant to challenge. But the drift of his thought, toward the emancipation of western reason’s underside, still defines for many what it means to be on the left today. If the left once promised, per the Internationale, “reason in revolt,” Foucault offered unreason in revolt.

4. Plato, The Republic

A much misunderstood book, in my view:

Socrates clearly describes the defects of the soul’s non-rational divisions; by contrast, reason, ordained as it is to apprehend the perfection of the idea, is presumably faultless. Yet I would suggest that Socrates’s forgetting that divine inspiration is the source of poiesis, even as he utters poetry in praise of reason, is a flaw. If the fault of the soul’s appetitive part is an insatiable quest for more and more physical satisfaction, and if the fault of the soul’s spirited part is a desire for victory or conquest without limit, then might we not theorize a parallel danger in the soul’s rational part? And doesn’t Socrates exemplify this danger when he follows the autonomous logic of his argument past all experience, including the poet’s experience of divine inspiration?

What if we took up the hint and patterned contemporary novels on Platonic dialogues?

5. Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum

I have mixed to negative feelings about this cult classic, but I had fun introducing its conspiracy-laden plot with some paranoia of my own:

Finally, canvassing the Wikipedia entry on the novel before I read it, I found that among the endless occult paraphernalia Eco packed into the text was “[a]n obscure one-time reference to the fictional Cthulhu cult through a quote from The Satanic Rituals—‘I’a Cthulhu! I’a S’ha-t’n!’. The words closed a ritual composed by Michael Aquino.” Aquino was a high-ranking Satanist and a psychological warfare expert for the U.S. military; he co-wrote the notorious Pentagon position paper “From PSYOP to MindWar: The Psychology of Victory”. Understandably, he recurs again and again in the annals of American conspiracy theory: the politically paranoid on the right abominate him for his Satanism, while those on the left loathe his anticommunist and militarist commitments. Through a vector I’m not at liberty to disclose, I am only two of the proverbial degrees of separation away from Aquino, though I have obviously never met him or had anything to do with him or even discussed him with anyone who has. I imagine conspiracy theorists will promulgate this curious fact widely on the Internet to discredit me whenever I finally become as famous as I deserve to be, considering that I am one of America’s great writers. (Megalomania and paranoia: like horse and carriage.)

And no, I still won’t tell you how I’m connected to Michael Aquino.

6. Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician

Writing on this classic semi-anti-fascist novella, I wondered whether “anti-” is always the solution:

It is an old problem: how not to become what we behold, how not to transform into one’s enemy—how to be sure anti-fascism doesn’t become fully indistinct from fascism itself. Given our psychology, with its tendencies toward projective and dichotomous thinking, and given political realities, which often make violent confrontation seem fated, this may be an insoluble problem. Perhaps every anti-[X] is doomed by the occult law of similarities to become [X]; perhaps our time is better spent in simply not being [X] rather than defining ourselves against and therefore by [X].

7. Cormac McCarthy, The Orchard Keeper

I took the opportunity of McCarthy’s preternaturally eloquent first novel to clarify a point of political economy:

As I insist on reminding everyone from time to time, even at the risk of repeating myself, Lenin argues in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (a book I don’t claim to understand in every particular) that the monopolization of capital is the necessary and final stage of history before communism. Monopoly represents “a new social order, a transitional one from complete free competition to complete socialisation”—i.e., let the corporations do the work of centralizing production so that the biggest corporate body of all, the state, can easily assume the economy’s commanding heights. Marxism, therefore, is not really a challenger to neoliberalism but only the loyal opposition. Hence the chief theme of McCarthy’s corpus: how the inherent flaws of humanity and nature, those organic defaults that make the marketplace a necessary evil in both serving and curbing self-interest, immeasurably worsen when magnified to the scale of organized planetary warfare in the very name of their correction by rationality—or, as a pair of unorthodox Marxists called it, the dialectic of enlightenment.

Conclusion

Speaking of the economy, though, my most important literary event of 2020 was the publication of my novella, The Quarantine of St. Sebastian House, my attempt to turn contingent crisis into permanent art. With that, I leave you. Let’s hope the poet had it wrong when he said, “Nothing changes on New Year’s Day.”

#literature #literary criticism #philosophy #critical theory #literary theory #jane austen #giovanni boccaccio #plato #michel foucault #umberto eco #thomas mann #cormac mccarthy

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wrathofthestag · 5 years ago

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the stars look very different today

Summary: After 204 days on the International Space Station, Canadian Astronaut, Jack Zimmermann is ready to go home. His husband and daughter await his return. A ficlet on science, longing, and home. Also on AO3...

Home > Activities > Sectors > Sciences > Blog > Life in Space

On December 3, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jack Zimmermann arrived at the International Space Station. Slated to return on June 24, Zimmermann’s return will mark the end of the longest Canadian astronaut mission to date, 204 days.

While at the ISS, Jack has participated in hundreds of science experiments while onboard the orbiting laboratory, supported critical operations, held a history class for American teacher, Larissa Duan’s 5th grade class in Boston, Massachusettes, and continues to collect data for Canadian experiments and technology demonstrations.

Like many other astronauts, Jack shared his experiences in the space station via videos and social media. The joy and enthusiasm shared by Jack Zimmermann have been infectious as his fans not only in Canada but around the world, delight in his space antics and diligent work. Jack Zimmermann never expected to the darling of the CSA, nor did he expect his videos to be so popular.

When he’s taking a break from work, you can often find Jack interviewing fellow ISS crewmates: Russian cosmonaut, Alexei Mashkov; fellow Canadian astronaut Justin Oluransi; American astronaut, Adam Birkholtz; English astronaut, Camilla Collins; and Mexican astronaut, Georgia Martin.

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To: [email protected] From: [email protected]

Dear Bits,

The view outside my window is breathtaking tonight. You just get lost in the enormity of it all. I wish you could see it, and I know how much you miss it. I’ll never tire of the view, but I am still counting down the days till I can see you again.

We had the caribou chili you made for us. I was worried it wouldn’t hold up after all these weeks, but it reconstituted well. It was almost like being home again.

How’s Celly doing? I loved that picture you sent me of her and Bun. It was so cute. Tell her papa misses her.

We’ve been apart for almost six months. That’s too long, lapin. Twenty-six more days, bud.

Jack

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En direct de la Station spatiale internationale, l'astronaute de l'Agence spatiale Canadienne Jack Zimmermann repond aux questions des medias.

Live from the International Space Station: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jack Zimmermann answers questions from the media.

Reporter: You’re almost finished with your time on the ISS. What’s been your most memorable experience?

JLZ: Euh, there’s been so much good stuff. Things I can’t even adequately describe but the first time I saw the Nile River from up here? It was incredible.

Reporter: Is it true you and Alexei Mashkov were playing hockey on the station?

JLZ: No.

Reporter: No?

JLZ: Birkholtz and Oluransi were also involved.

Zimmermann laughs and Oluransi is seen waving in the background

Reporter: Have you wrapped up all of the projects you were working on while up there?

JLZ: Yes, for the most part. Mainly, I want to finish up my research on astronaut sleep cycles. I have hours worth of data and hope my work can help future missions—sort of following in my husband’s footsteps.

My husband is a botanist and his areas of focus were food and space farming. We actually met during my first round on the ISS three years ago. He was on the station working for NASA and developed ISS’s first LED lighting system and ethylene-scrubbing technology. He did a ton of work to develop a plant growth system and was able to grow some romaine lettuce.

Reporter: And he's continued his research?

JLZ: Yes! He continues to explore how to provide fresh food for long-term space crews. Food is a passion of his. Of course, with a baby, now all of his work takes place on the ground; and after this mission, so will mine.

Reporter: Is it also true you two did not get along on your mission together?

Zimmermann laughs and shakes his head

JLZ: Yes, it’s true! The first meal we had together as a crew, I told him he had to eat more protein. Eventually, though, we found our way.

Reporter: What was on today’s agenda for everyone?

Zimmermann twirls his microphone and it floats easily in place. He smiles then picks it back up

JLZ: Martin and Collins worked on an array of life science activities and will continue through the end of the week. Mashkov and Birkholtz swapped out a failed computer hard drive that runs some of our biology hardware. Oluransi continued his microbial work to understand how microorganisms adapt to weightlessness. It’s been a productive week.

Reporter: With hockey.

He laughs

JLZ: Yes, with hockey, too.

Reporter: What are you looking forward to the most upon your return?

JLZ: Seeing my husband and daughter. She’ll turn one just after I get back. We’ve seen each other on video but I’m afraid she’ll soon forget me.

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To: [email protected] From: [email protected]

Lapin,

Each sunrise, I see the curvature of the Earth, and it never gets old. I’m in awe every single time. But today, as I was on the treadmill and looked out the window, I saw North America and I knew that down there, in the eastern part of Canada, in a quiet sleepy neighborhood, sits a small yellow house in Montreal with a big backyard. And in that house, you are in our kitchen with our baby.

You are happy, maybe even baking a pie and thinking of me. So I blew you both a kiss and hoped it made its way down there. The image of you two, happy and in our home, is the most beautiful thing in the universe to me.

I won’t be able to walk very well, but when I’m back on Earth, I’ll be the one trying to run into your arms.

See you both in a few days.

Jack

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Technology & Science

Jack Zimmermann says He’s Recovering Nicely Upon his Return from the International Space Station

The astronaut is looking forward to acclimating to Earth once again.

Following 204 days in space, Canadian astronaut Jack Zimmermann is taking it slowly but surely as he adapts to life on terra firma once again. Zimmermann told reporters he’s not in any pain and is being cautious while getting his bearings.

Speaking from his home in Montreal, Zimmermann told reporters that even though he’s anxious to eat all of his favorite foods, he knows he has to ease into his old life.

“Gravity and I are becoming reacquainted,” he said. “For now, lots of clear broths, tea, and hugs from my family.”

What Zimmermann is most looking forward to is relaxing at his family’s cabin in Nova Scotia and eating some pie with his husband, former NASA astronaut, Eric Bittle, and their one-year-old daughter, Stella Celeste.

#zimbits #zimbits au #jack zimmermann #eric bittle #astronaut!jack #omgcp fan fiction #omgcp ficlet #omgcp au #science #for beginning and end notes visit the AO3 post #title taken from David Bowie's Space Oddity #my FF

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ddrmuseum · 4 years ago

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🎸🎶🎸🎶🎸🎶🎸🎶🎸🎶 🇬🇧 To counter the spread of American rock 'n' roll, the fashion dance Lipsi was introduced in the GDR in 1959. However, the youth hardly danced to it voluntarily, so that it disappeared again a few years later. Between 1964 and 1990 AMIGA acquired licenses for over 200 music albums of international rock and pop artists. The pictured record »Elvis« of the »King of Rock 'n' Roll« by AMIGA is from 1978. National Day of Rock 'n' Roll 🇩🇪 Um der Verbreitung des amerikanischen Rock'n'Roll entgegenzutreten wurde in der DDR 1959 der Lipsi eingeführt. Freiwillig tanzte die Jugend dazu jedoch kaum, sodass er wenige Jahre später verschwand. Zwischen 1964 und 1990 erwarb Amiga Lizenzen für über 200 Musikalben internationaler Rock- und Popkünstler. Die abgebildete Schallplatte »Elvis« des »King of Rock 'n' Roll« von AMIGA ist aus dem Jahr 1978. Rock 'n' Roll Tag #ddrmuseum #ddrgram #instamuseum #ddr #gdr #museum #berlin #history #geschichte #amiga #vinyl #elvis #rocknroll #vintagemusic #record #label — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2Do3n13

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pierrecardinfan5654-blog · 4 years ago

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❍❍❍ Definition and Definition of Film / Movie ❍❍❍ While the players who play a role in the film are referred to as actors (men) or actresses (women). There is also the term extras that are used as supporting characters with few roles in the film. This is different from the main actors who have bigger and more roles. Being an actor and an actress must be demanded to have good acting talent, which is in accordance with the theme of the film he is starring in. In certain scenes, the actor’s role can be replaced by a stuntman or a stuntman. The existence of a stuntman is important to replace the actors doing scenes that are difficult and extreme, which are usually found in action action films. Films can also be used to convey certain messages from the filmmaker. Some industries also use film to convey and represent their symbols and culture. Filmmaking is also a form of expression, thoughts, ideas, concepts, feelings and moods of a human being visualized in film. The film itself is mostly a fiction, although some are based on fact true stories or based on a true story. There are also documentaries with original and real pictures, or biographical films that tell the story of a character. There are many other popular genre films, ranging from action films, horror films, comedy films, romantic films, fantasy films, thriller films, drama films, science fiction films, crime films, documentaries and others. That’s a little information about the definition of film or movie. The information was quoted from various sources and references. Hope it can be useful. ❍❍❍ TV MOVIE ❍❍❍ The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1930s. Televised events such as the 1935 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 19340 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famous introduction at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 19440 World MOVIE inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and then in 1948, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “”Mr Television”” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 4, 2020 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets. The first national color broadcast (the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade) in the US occurred on January 1, 1954. During the following ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 1955, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 19402, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season. ❍❍❍ Formats and Genres ❍❍❍ See also: List of genres § Film and television formats and genres Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional MOVIE). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed] A drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures. Before the 2020s, shows (except for soap opera-type serials) typically remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little.[citation needed] If some change happened to the characters’ lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.[citation needed] Since the 2020s, many MOVIE feature progressive change in the plot, the characters, or both. 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If you are wondering what you can watch on this website, then you should know that it covers genres that include crime, Science, Fi-Fi, action, romance, thriller, Comedy, drama and Anime Movie. Thank you very much. We tell everyone who is happy to receive us as news or information about this year’s film schedule and how you watch your favorite films. Hopefully we can become the best partner for you in finding recommendations for your favorite movies. That’s all from us, greetings! Thanks for watching The Video Today. I hope you enjoy the videos that I share. Give a thumbs up, like, or share if you enjoy what we’ve shared so that we more excited. Sprinkle cheerful smile so that the world back in a variety of colors.

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scuervo21982-blog · 5 years ago

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Destination Deco

Miami Beach is iconic for its summer time fun - whether it be laying in the sun or cycling down Ocean Drive. Art Deco is iconic for setting the scene of these activities. It’s what gives this vibrant city its lively and colorful nature. Without it, the sunshine season would not feel the same. Not many people know how and why Miami brought this style into its look and feel. Thankfully, friends at Miami International Airport held the two day Destination Deco event and installation to inform travelers and natives alike about the city’s artistic legacy.

Pictured above is the sleek and enticing Destination Deco event that attracts anyone that may passing. This installation at the Miami International Airport is one of many scattered throughout the entire Miami area that will only be open for a limited time.

There’s a typical misconception that Art Deco originated in Miami, but American Airlines Event Coordinator Arthur Riveros broke it down for me.

Arthur Riveros, 54 year old Costa Rican native, says that the retro and fabulous Art Deco style actually originated in France. “Around the early 1920s, Art Deco was first exhibited in Paris as the epitome of wealth and elegance,” he said. “It was called ‘style moderne.’ The rave about it was so great that it eventually reached the United States in the 1930s, where it became more popularized.”

The poster reproduction and punch bowl he is pointing at are original artworks made in 1923 that were displayed in the very exhibition that Arthur was talking about - the “Paris 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.”

Another misconception about Art Deco is that it only applies to the tropical glamour expressed in Miami’s world famous architecture.

Art Deco is actually more multifaceted than it seems. The character of Deco also embraces a machine aesthetic composed of fountains and statues. This 1932 Urn by Italian artist Umberto Bellotto was exhibited at the “1932 Venice XVIII Biennale Wrought and Cast Iron.” Belloto’s heavy dependence on dark contrasts and geometric shapes helped make him an influential figure in the Art Deco movement. He was also one of the first to introduce glass, iron, and ceramics into this style.

Anything with a “streamline” look of symmetry, repetition, and simplicity is already on the right track for being classified as Art Deco. Floral and sunny motifs as well as manmade materials are also not uncommon. Of course, you can’t forget the most recognizable aspect of this movement - the pastels! Blues, pinks, oranges, and yellows (although not always present) provide an instant recognizable look into Deco.

This recognizable look is self evident in this postcard reproduction of the Nash Senator Hotel by architect Lawrence Murray Dixon in 1939. This structure is the epitome of the timeless Art Deco, which connects both past, present, and future with its special sophistication.

If you ever get the chance to visit the marvelous oceans down in Miami, just know that right around the corner is the real life version of Destination Deco waiting for you in all its glory.

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laurent-bigot · 6 years ago

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ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – William Powell dans la séquence d’ouverture

Dans un paradis de coton et de marbre, Florenz Ziegfeld se remémore ses souvenirs terrestres. Il fut un très célèbre directeur de revue à Broadway. Un à un, ses numéros défilent dans sa mémoire. Ne vous laissez pas effrayer par les automates mal dégrossis qui ouvrent le film. Dans un Broadway cartonné façon école maternelle, Vincente Minnelli commence par évoquer la pré-histoire de la comédie musicale, avec toute sa mièvrerie archaïque. Au fil du temps, il nous laisse contempler l’éclosion de ce genre féerique, pour accéder à l’apothéose, avec des numéros étincelants, peut-être parmi les plus beaux que Hollywood nous ait offerts. A la manière d’un reportage foutraque et raffiné, il laisse les étoiles du genre (Fred Astaire, Judy Garland…) jouer leur propre rôle, et se gausse des futures hagiographies documentaires que la télévision leur consacrera. Une fantaisie brillante et prémonitoire qui nécessiterait peut-être un petit remontage : l’humour de certains sketchs non musicaux a mal vieilli, mais la folie brûlante des autres compense largement ces faiblesses. Allez, s’il fallait n’en garder que deux, ce serait sans aucun doute la lévitation éthylique de Cyd Charisse, blottie dans un nuage de bulles de champagne, et le frissonnant Love, que Lena Horne psalmodie comme une formule hypnotique… [Télérama – Marine Landrot]

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “Limehouse Blues “

Le 1er mars 1944 débute le tournage de Ziegfeld Follies, l’année même où la M.G.M. célèbre son vingtième anniversaire. Réunir dans une série de sketches, plus ou moins inspirés des fameux spectacles de Florenz Ziegfeld, les plus célèbres vedettes de la Firme du Lion, est une idée séduisante qui enthousiasme Arthur Freed et Louis B. Mayer.

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “Here’s to the Girls “

La production du film va pourtant poser une succession de problèmes et ce n’est que plus de deux ans après son premier jour de tournage que sortiront dans son montage définitif ces Ziegfeld Follies qui vont mobiliser l’énergie de la plupart des créateurs de l’ ”Unité Freed”.

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “Here’s to the Girls “

« Arthur Freed, dit Minnelli, me demanda de réaliser tous les numéros et sketches prévus dans Ziegfeld Follies. Il s’agissait de tourner chacun de ces épisodes au moment où la star concernée était libre, puis chaque vedette tournait en même temps un autre film. De cette manière, nous économisions énormément de temps et d’argent. Mais, plus tard, parce que nous nous aperçûmes que certaines stars étaient disponibles à la même date, certains sketches furent confiés à d’autres réalisateurs… histoire de gagner encore du temps ! La réalisation de l’ensemble devait demander au moins cinq mois ; il fallait créer des décors très sophistiqués et organiser des répétitions assez longues pour les numéros les plus compliqués. Cinq autres mois seraient probablement nécessaires pour le montage et les travaux de labo. Il fallait donc gagner le plus de temps possible sur le tournage.»

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “Love”

Le fait que Minnelli n’ait pas été l’unique maître d’œuvre du film contribue rapidement à l’apparition de nombreux problèmes et l’on voit Minnelli réaliser un numéro alors que sur le plateau d’à côté, un chorégraphe tel que Walters répète un autre numéro dont Minnelli va par la suite assurer la mise en scène, dès qu’il aura terminé celui sur lequel il travaille. C’est ainsi que Charles Walters pouvait déclarer, dans Positif : « J’ai fait tout le numéro A Great Lady Has An Interview avec Judy Garland et, comme vous pouvez le constater par la façon dont c’est réglé, je l’avais conçu en fonction de la caméra. Puis tout d’un coup, ils ont dit : “Laisse Vincente le tourner. Il vaut mieux que tu te mettes à travailler avec Fanny Brice.” J’ai protesté que c’était tout prêt mais on m’a répondu que justement Vincente le tournerait comme je l’avais prévu et qu’il fallait que nous avancions dans le travail. Je n’ai donc pas eu ‘Directed by…” à l’écran, ce que je souhaitais déjà ». [Minnelli « De Broadway à Hollywood » – Patrick Brion, Dominique Rabourdin, Thierry de Navacelle – ED. 5 continents Hatier (1985)]

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “A Great Lady Has An Interview”

Tourné dans une grande dispersion créatrice, Ziegfeld Follies se présente bientôt comme un film-mammouth de 173 minutes qui se compose de 18 numéros. Une première preview a lieu le 1er novembre 1944. Les réactions du public ne sont pas bonnes. Le film est jugé trop long. Mais que faut-il couper ? Chacun a sur ce sujet sa propre idée. De nouvelles previews ont alors lieu, le 12 mars et le 20 août 1945 et l’accueil du public n’est pas jugé satisfaisant. Les dirigeants de la M.G.M. décident de modifier encore le montage et, pendant plusieurs mois, toutes les solutions possibles sont envisagées.

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “A Great Lady Has An Interview”

De même que George Sidney, premier maître d’œuvre du film, avait cessé, après un mois de travail, de superviser cette production aux mille problèmes, Minnelli a arrêté, lui aussi de s’occuper du film et, depuis le 1er septembre 1944, il a succédé à Fred Zinnemann sur The Clock (L’Horloge). Le 15 mars 1946 sort enfin Ziegfeld Follies qui. Le film est un triomphe commercial et on peut remarquer que son coût de revient final (3 240 816 dollars) est à peine plus élevé que le devis initial (3 000 000 dollars). Contrairement à ce que l’on peut penser, le montage du film n’est d’ailleurs pas aussi définitif que prévu et la continuité de la version dite “internationale” (23.7.48) indique un ordre de succession des numéros différent de celui que nous connaissons. [Minnelli « De Broadway à Hollywood » – Patrick Brion, Dominique Rabourdin, Thierry de Navacelle – ED. 5 continents Hatier (1985)]

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – Ballet Watter

A l’image de ce que devaient être les spectacles produits par Florenz Ziegfeld, le film allie le meilleur au pire. Il vaut certes mieux passer sous silence les quatre sketches dont la moindre “re-vision” accuse les faiblesses mais on aurait tort de n’attribuer qu’à Minnelli la réussite des numéros musicaux. L’apparition de Lucille Bali, rousse flamboyante, dressant, le fouet à la main, des femmes-panthères dans Here’s to The Ladies, dirigé par George Sidney, est un admirable moment dans lequel le Technicolor de l’époque est à lui seul un inoubliable spectacle. Quelques années plus tard, Minnelli fera d’une Lucille Bali métamorphosée, la vedette de The Long Long Trailer (La Roulotte du plaisir), une impitoyable satire de l'”american way of life”. Tout aussi magnifique est la composition de Lena Horne dans Love dont le décor – un cabaret enfumé de la Martinique – est tellement beau que le numéro, mis en scène par Lemuel Ayers a souvent été attribué à Minnelli lui-même…

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “Here’s to the Girls “

« Pour différentes raisons, quatre scènes du film me sont restées très vivantes à l’esprit, écrit Minnelli. La première est This Heart of Mine où Lucille Bremer se révèle excellente danseuse, tout à fait à la hauteur aux côtés du grand maître Fred Astaire. L’anecdote était celle d’un voleur s’introduisant dans un grand bal, où il remarque particulièrement une jolie femme…. à diamants. Robert Alton en réglait la chorégraphie. Nous utilisâmes tous les procédés et accessoires imaginables : un plateau tournant révélant peu à peu les danseurs cachés derrière des arbres blanchis, un magnifique dancing circulaire rehaussé de statues créées par Tony Duquette… tout un décor somptueux qui ne faisait pourtant pas oublier les merveilleuses évolutions de Fred et de Lucille. » La splendeur de ce gigantesque décor qui se referme derrière les deux danseurs comme un véritable écrin témoigne du goût de Minnelli qui oppose à la foule qui s’y meut, le paysage hivernal qui se trouve à l’extérieur. [Minnelli « De Broadway à Hollywood » – Patrick Brion, Dominique Rabourdin, Thierry de Navacelle – ED. 5 continents Hatier (1985)]

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “This Heart of Mine “

Fred Astaire séduit en dansant avec Lucille Bremer et le numéro est une véritable ébauche de Yolanda and The Thief (Yolanda et le Voleur) qui les réunira à nouveau, quelques mois plus tard. Moins inspiré quoique plastiquement très beau, Traviata permet à Minnelli de jouer sur les couleurs (une femme en rouge dans un décor noir) et sur les costumes d’Irene Sharaff.

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “A Great Lady Has An Interview”

Chorégraphié par Charles Walters, A Great Lady Has an Interview est un hommage de Minnelli à celle qui allait devenir sa femme, Judy Garland, et l’arrivée de celle-ci en blanc sur un fond orange, tel un diamant, demeure dans la mémoire de tout cinéphile. La démarche ondulante et sinueuse de Judy Garland et sa manière de chanter : « I feel… well I feel Just like a soldier out of step Yes, but would the episode outlive me Would my public quite forgive me If I tried to show the world l’m really help ? Oh, but now, you darlings, You adorable, dear, dear boys l’m going to tell you all about my next picture. » figurent parmi les grands moments de la future actrice de The Clock et The Pirate.

Avant-dernier numéro du film, The Babbitt and The Bromide réunit pour la première fois Fred Astaire et Gene Kelly, les deux plus grands danseurs de l’histoire de la comédie musicale hollywoodienne. « Après coup, déclare Minnelli, Gene a estimé qu’étant donné le caractère exceptionnel de cette réunion, le numéro aurait dû avoir plus de poids. Je ne suis pas de cet avis: après tout, il s’agissait d’une “revue” et je pense qu’un peu de recul et d’humour par rapport au statut de star de nos deux grands danseurs étaient les bienvenus. D’autant que, si Gene et Fred ont considéré ce numéro comme facile, leurs performances respectives n’en sont pas moins brillantes et impressionnantes. La chorégraphie du numéro fut conçue par Fred et Gene eux-mêmes. ‘Nous étions si polis et si qénéreux l’un vis-à-vis de l’autre que ça en devenait presque ennuyeux !, en a dit plus tard Gene Kelly. Je peux dire quant à moi que, pendant la préparation du numéro en question, chacun d’eux hésitait à lancer une idée, de peur d’être accusé de vouloir imposer son propre style chorégraphique. Aussi Gene, comme Fred, y allaient-ils prudemment, en ayant l’air de faire une simple suggestion : – Et si on faisait comme ça ? Et devant l’absence de réaction de l’autre, celui qui avait parlé se pressait d’ajouter : – Non, après tout, ce n’est pas une très bonne idée ! »

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “The Babbitt and the Bromide “

La déception que l’on peut parfois éprouver à la vue de cette rencontre historique entre Astaire et Kelly, tournée en quatre jours, après six jours de répétition, tient sans doute essentiellement à la différence de style des deux danseurs. La grâce aérienne d’Astaire, évidente dans The Band Wagon (Tous en scène), s’oppose en effet au style plus moderne et plus réaliste de Kelly qui trouve inversement son apogée dans Singin’ in The Rain (Chantons sous la pluie). Quant à Limehouse Blues pour lequel Minnelli ne cache pas son faible, c’est tout à la fois le plus beau moment du film et l’un des sommets de son œuvre. [Minnelli « De Broadway à Hollywood » – Patrick Brion, Dominique Rabourdin, Thierry de Navacelle – ED. 5 continents Hatier (1985)]

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “Limehouse Blues “

« Pour cette séquence, l’une des meilleures choses que j’aie faîtes, raconte-t-il, j’avais un prologue et un épilogue en pantomime où j’utilisai seulement deux couleurs : le jaune et le marron. Le style du prologue et de l’épilogue s’inspirait des gravures anglaises à la manière noire : très sombres et floues. La fantaisie chinoise fut réalisée dans le style des “chinoiseries” françaises, tout ce mobilier, ces lambris, etc, de l’époque Louis XVI. A cette époque-là, les Français avaient une conception particulière de la Chine, tout comme ils imaginaient une Amérique peuplée d’Indiens emplumés. Quelque chose d’absurde, mais assez beau d’une certaine façon. »

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “Limehouse Blues “

La magie de Minnelli éclate dès les premiers plans. Le quartier chinois. L’atmosphère du Londres victorien de Dickens mais aussi de jack l’Eventreur et de Mister Hyde. Un Londres où l’on peut rencontrer Sherlock Holmes et où se trament les forfaits de Fu Manchu. Un éclairage glauque. Un vieil homme qui fume (de l’opium ?). Un phonographe ambulant. Des “pearlies” et soudain l’apparition de Fred Astaire en coolie vêtu de noir. Il est impossible de ne pas songer aussitôt à Richard Barthelmess dans Broken Blossoms (Le Lys brisé) de D.W. Griffith. Cet homme en noir est fasciné par une femme en jaune. Un vol. Des coups de feu. Le coolie s’écroule et le rêve commence. Un fabuleux paysage chinois s’anime et Minnelli oppose soudain à l’atmosphère trouble et nocturne du début un univers éclatant de lumière dans lequel vont évoluer ses deux danseurs. Dis-huit jours de répétitions, deux jours d’enregistrement et dix jours de tournage aboutissent à un moment de cinéma de treize minutes, un des ces “instants” sublimes. [Minnelli « De Broadway à Hollywood » – Patrick Brion, Dominique Rabourdin, Thierry de Navacelle – ED. 5 continents Hatier (1985)]

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – Numéro d’ouverture avec les marionnettes de Louis Bunin

Le talent des créateurs de la M.GM. transformant pour Limehouse Blues le décor construit pour The Picture of Dorian Gray (Le Portrait de Dorian Gray), se combine avec le génie de Minnelli, son habileté à faire répondre les couleurs les unes par rapport aux autres, à passer de la réalité au rêve et à métamorphoser un plateau de cinéma en un monde où se mêlent l’amour, la danse et la beauté. Le style pictural de Minnelli réapparaît partiellement dans la dernière partie du film qui comprend la chanson “Beauty” de Kathryn Grayson et quelques plans provenant du numéro There’s Beauty Everywhere.

ON SET – ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945)

« Le décor de ce numéro, raconte Fred Astaire, était un imposant ensemble de rochers et nous devions danser plongés jusqu’à la ceinture et en habit de soirée dans un véritable bain de mousse. De jolies filles étaient disséminées ici et là sur des rochers, semblables à de grandes mouettes. Plusieurs s’évanouirent, incommodées par les émanations des produits chimiques nécessaires à la fabrication de la mousse. Tout cela ne donna sans doute rien, la plus grande partie du numéro ayant sauté au montage final. Grâce au ciel, tout ce que j’y faisais avait disparu. C’était un véritable gâchis.» Restent un ensemble de rochers et de nuages, des girls ressemblant à des vestales et un décor qui rappelle certaines œuvres de Dali ou de Chirico. Cyd Charisse évolue au milieu de grandes masses de mousse, donnant une petite idée de ce que pouvait être à l’origine le numéro…

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – William Powell dans la séquence d’ouverture

Dans sa forme actuelle, et en dépit de ses sketches…, Ziegfeld Follies est un éblouissant spectacle, chatoyant et somptueux, un hymne à cette femme moderne idéalisée par Ziegfeld.

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES – Vincente Minnelli (1945) – “Limehouse Blues “

Programme musical

Here’s to the ladies Après avoir payé un tribut à la beauté des femmes, Fred Astaire laisse la place à Lucille Bail et ses femmes panthères et à Virginia O’Brien qui, sur un cheval de manège, glorifie “l’homme merveilleux”. Director : George Sidney – Music by Roger Edens – Lyrics by Arthur Freed – Sung by Fred Astaire, chorus – Danced by Cyd Charisse, Lucille Ball, chorus Bring on the wonderful men Director : George Sidney – Music by Roger Edens – Lyrics by Earl K. Brent – Sung by Virginia O’Brien

Water ballet. Un ballet nautique conçu et exécuté par Esther Williams. Director : Merril Pye

La Traviata. James Melton et Marion Bell du Metropolitan Opera, chantent un extrait de l’opéra de Verdi. Director : Vincente Minnelli – “Libiamo ne’lieti calici” from “La Traviata” – Music by Giuseppe Verdi – Sung by James Melton, Marion Bell

This heart of mine. Fred Astaire, croqueur de diamants, offre son cœur à Lucille Bremer au cours d’une danse, mais ne l’en déleste pas moins de son bracelet. Avant qu’il disparaisse, elle lui offre un autre bijou. Director : Vincente Minnelli – Music by Harry Warren – Lyrics by Arthur Freed – Sung by Fred Astaire

Love. Dans un décor tropical, Lena Horne chante l’amour. Director : Lemuel Ayers – Music by Hugh Martin – Lyrics by Ralph Blane

Limehouse blues. Fred Astaire, en coolie chinois, est ébloui par l’apparition de Lucille Bremer, superbe orientale vêtue d’une robe jaune. II la voit admirer un éventail dans une vitrine. Elle s’éloigne et s’approche à son tour de l’objet. Des bandits cassent à ce moment la vitrine du magasin. Astaire s’empare de l’éventail et tombe, frappé d’une balle perdue. Il se retrouve, en rêvant, en train de danser avec cette femme merveilleuse. Il meurt au moment où, revenue pour acheter l’éventail, elle le rejette avec dégoût parce qu’il est taché de sang. Director : Vincente Minnelli – Music by Philip Braham – Lyrics by Douglas Furber – Sung by Harriet Lee

A great lady has an interview. Judy Garland, star inaccessible, accorde une conférence de presse. Director : Vincente Minnelli – Music by Roger Edens – Lyrics by Kay Thompson

The Babbitt and the Bromide. Fred Astaire rencontre Gene Kelly : tous deux exécutent un numéro de George et Ira Gershwin. Deux hommes se rencontrent tous les vingt ans et échangent les politesses banales d’usage. Director : Vincente Minnelli – Music by George Gershwin – Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

There’s Beauty Everywhere. Kathryn Grayson chante un hymne à la beauté qui conclut ces dernières Follies du grand Ziegfeld. Director : Norman Taurog, Vincente Minnelli – Music by Harry Warren – Lyrics by Arthur Freed – Sung by Kathryn Grayson

Fiche technique du film

Dans un paradis de coton et de marbre, Florenz Ziegfeld se remémore ses souvenirs terrestres. Il fut un très célèbre directeur de revue à Broadway. Un à un, ses numéros défilent dans sa mémoire. Ne vous laissez pas effrayer par les automates mal dégrossis qui ouvrent le film. Dans un Broadway cartonné façon école maternelle, Vincente Minnelli commence par évoquer la pré-histoire de la comédie musicale, avec toute sa mièvrerie archaïque. Au fil du temps, il nous laisse contempler l'éclosion de ce genre féerique, pour accéder à l'apothéose, avec des numéros étincelants, peut-être parmi les plus beaux que Hollywood nous ait offerts. A la manière d'un reportage foutraque et raffiné, il laisse les étoiles du genre (Fred Astaire, Judy Garland...) jouer leur propre rôle, et se gausse des futures hagiographies documentaires que la télévision leur consacrera. Une fantaisie brillante et prémonitoire qui nécessiterait peut-être un petit remontage : l'humour de certains sketchs non musicaux a mal vieilli, mais la folie brûlante des autres compense largement ces faiblesses. Allez, s'il fallait n'en garder que deux, ce serait sans aucun doute la lévitation éthylique de Cyd Charisse, blottie dans un nuage de bulles de champagne, et le frissonnant Love, que Lena Horne psalmodie comme une formule hypnotique... [Télérama - Marine Landrot] Dans un paradis de coton et de marbre, Florenz Ziegfeld se remémore ses souvenirs terrestres. Il fut un très célèbre directeur de revue à Broadway.

#arthur freed #comédie musicale #cyd charisse #esther williams #fred astaire #gene kelly #judy garland #lena horne #lucille ball #vincente minnelli #william powell #ziegfeld follies

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cooperhewitt · 6 years ago

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As Seen from Above

Author: Amelia Peck

In celebration of the second annual New York Textile Month, members of the Textile Society of America will author Object of the Day for the month of September. A non-profit professional organization of scholars, educators, and artists in the field of textiles, TSA provides an international forum for the exchange and dissemination of information about textiles worldwide.

This silk fabric, printed to depict an overhead view of people sheltering under umbrellas during an April shower, is one of Clayton Knight’s most fanciful patterns designed for the Stehli Silks Corporation’s Americana Prints line. The Americana Prints were meant to be an answer to the ascendancy of French textile designs and designers, and were conceived of right after the design director for Stehli, Kneeland “Ruzzie” Green, went to Paris to see the 1925 Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes. Green came home determined to create a printed textile line that he later described as “…designs for modern American women by modern American artists reflecting the modern American scene…”[1]

Clayton Knight, along with his wife, Katherine Sturges, were among the initial group of six artists selected to design for the line that premiered to the public in Spring 1926. For this first group, Knight designed Manhattan a cubist vision of klieg-lit New York skyscrapers that has become one of the best known and most beloved Art Deco fabrics of its day. The Americana Prints were introduced in several collections: Series I (November 1925 for Spring 1926) for which Knight designed four patterns (Manhattan, Kew, Grand Canyon and Jungle); Series II (October 1926 for Spring 1927) for which Knight designed three more (War Birds, Cherries, and June); Series IIa (January 1927), a collection of designs based on photographs by Edward Steichen; and a final Series III (Fall 1927 for Spring 1928) for which Knight produced Mid-Ocean and this design, April.

Knight was a fighter pilot in England during WWI, and became well-known as an illustrator of books about aviation. Two of his patterns for Stehli reference airplanes: War Birds, a pattern of small airplanes sprinkled on a dark background, and Mid-Ocean, which focuses on an airplane’s single front propeller high above ocean waves. April can be thought of as an aerial view, though with a more cheerful perspective than the war plane prints. The design is reminiscent of the figures on a bridge caught in slanting rain in the famous Japanese woodblock print Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi bridge and Atake (1857) by Hiroshige. Though this may seem like a stretch, Catherine Sturges illustrated a book called Little Pictures of Japan (1925) in which the picture presented with the haiku “Over the Bridge of Seta” (p. 132) is closely copied from this Hiroshige print. So if Sturges saw and used the print for her artwork, it seems quite likely that her husband could have been inspired by it too. The design was probably printed in eight colorways, as were others of the American Prints. Today, apart from this piece with umbrellas in shades of orange, gold and grey on a pale yellow ground, there is a piece in the Metropolitan Museum that features umbrella in three shades of brown on a cream ground, and a piece in the Allentown Museum with pink and light brown umbrellas on a dark brown ground. All three colorways have rainbows in bright primary colors—blue, yellow, and red.

[1] “Americana Fabrics” Creative Art Magazine, January 1929, pp. 103-107.

Amelia Peck is the Marica F. Vilcek Curator, The American Wing, and Supervising Curator, The Antonio Ratti Textile Center, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum https://ift.tt/2oMAaT8 via IFTTT

#cooper hewitt #design conversations

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ella-guinness-autphotography2022 · 3 years ago

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Teju Cole

Teju Cole is a writer, photographer, critic and author of several books. He critiqued photography for the New York Times Magazine from 2015 until 2019 and currently the Gore Vidal Professor of the Practise of Creative Writing at Harvard. His most prominent works “Every Day is for the Thief”, “Open City” and “Known and Strange Things” were featured on a huge number of the year lists, “Open City” won the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New York City Book Award for Fiction, the Rosenthal Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Internationaler Literaturpreis. His photography and literature has been displayed and exhibited globally

His book of photography and texts called “Blindspot” was recognised by Time Magazine and called it one of the greatest books of the year after it won the Aperture/Paris Photo Photobook Award. “Blind Spot” is a documentation of his travels to cities around the world was published by Random House in June 2017 and On his travels to cities around the world, Cole took photos, initially to aid his memory. His pictures and texts show him to be wonderful at seeing.

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houstonvote · 3 years ago

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Juneteenth, 20 minutes prodcast on Radio France Internationale.

The link for the podcast: https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/grand-reportage/20210618-m%C3%A9moire-et-r%C3%A9parations-de-l-esclavage-%C3%A9ternels-d%C3%A9fis-pour-le-texas

the Full Script, translated in english:

June 19th is now the 11th national holiday in the United States this date commemorates June 19th 1865, when 2000 Union soldiers arrived in the last Confederate city in the country.

General Gordon Granger announced the immediate liberation of the slaves, and the effective end of slavery in the United States. This city was Galveston, Texas.

This great port of the triangular trade is today a seaside resort, a touristic and historical attraction and a place of memory on the outskirts of one of the great black cities of the country, Houston...For 156 years, Galveston and Houston have commemorated the anniversary of the end of slavery, but also the long way to heal the wounds.

Memory and reparations of slaver: the eternal challenges for Texas,

Thomas HARMS, RFI

-----

"This building used to be here (showing a picture). This was General Gordon Granger's headquarters. We're standing in the exact spot where General Order Number 3 was issued. " (Tommie Boudreaux)

Tommie Boudreaux is the city historian for Galveston. The Emancipation Act signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 freed the slaves, but it took 2 1/2 years of fighting for the news to reach Texas. And that Union troops led by General Gordon Granger finally arrived in Galveston... where he had his general order number 3 read: " (…) all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves..."

"As far as we know he was standing around here when the announcement was made. Of course the merchants of the town came out in number to attend. He had 2,000 men with him, which was already unusual, and that made what he was going to say all the more important. He also had black soldiers with him.” (Tommie Boudreaux)

In his order, General Granger made it clear what the slave owners had to do, for example, that the slaves could stay and work for them for a wage. In Galveston, this order was not applied until much later...

"In order not to lose their heritage, they found legal loopholes and ways to keep the new free men in bondage. You had to work to pay off all the debts accumulated during the years of slavery. So a lot of them left Galveston. And because there was a lot of virgin land in Texas, they had that opportunity (..) When you think of slavery, you think of working in the fields from sunrise to sunset. Galveston was different, the soil didn't allow for farming so the slaves worked at the ports, on the docks, loading the ships, cleaning the holds... they were craftsmen, blacksmiths, the women were nannies, and did most of the domestic work..."(Tommie Boudreaux)

The place of the historic declaration of June 19, 1865, Juneteenth in English, is today a parking lot. But since March, artists have painted a Mural of more than 450m2 on the adjacent building.

"This is History that you see, when scrolling from left to right. We see the boats, and the Africans who are forcibly embarked. We see Harriet Tubman who helped many slaves to escape. In the middle you see Abraham Lincoln breaking the chains. Above him you see the Union soldiers, some of whom are African-American. Then you see General Granger signing General Order number 3. We also see the African Americans who left Galveston to settle further north. This wall is interactive, with your phone you can zoom in on a part of the drawing to see a video that tells the episode represented." (Tommie Boudreaux)

Sam Collins, co-chair of the juneteenth legacy committee, is at the origin of the mural project. The idea came to him a few days after George Floyd's death in May 2020. He contacted the owner of the building and the parking lot who was excited by the idea.

"This design, which has been called “absolute equality”, is part of the Junetenth legacy project. It was created by artist Reginald Adams and his team (the Creatives). Every year Juneteenth is an important event. There was a lot of talk about it last year (during the protests after George Floyd's death), but this History has always been important to the Galveston community, to Texas and to the United States. " (Sam Collins )

But Galveston past resurfaced in 2019, when a man, Donald Neely, walked through the city between two sheriffs on horseback. The hands tied behind his back and pulled by a rope, as were the slaves captured by the slave patrol. The video went viral around the world.

"I don't think the police intended to hurt, it was more a lack of sensitivity and cultural reference that lead them to make him walk like that in the street. But it is also because of a lack of historical knowledge. That's why it's so important to have art projects like this one, to teach history to citizens and law enforcement. I'm sure none of them had seen a slave militia or someone pulling a tied slave on the street before. Maybe if they had been taught this in school or high school, they would have thought twice about doing this to someone. You have to teach the full story and tell what happened here. We all live in this house America that was built on a cracked foundation. We need to repair that foundation. It is my job to tell that story, the artists to paint it. It's all part of the repair work to make America better. " (Sam Collins )

At 1 hour drive from Galveston we arrive in Houston. The Buffalo Soldier Museum is located In an old army building, It traces the history of black soldiers in the United States... including those who accompanied General Granger, as Captain Paul Matthews, the founder of the museum, tells us.

"When General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston to read his declaration, he had 300 black troops with him to enforce the law. Many of these African American soldiers remained in Texas after the Civil War. So part of the maneuver was to free the slaves but also to enroll them in the army. Look at what the ardent defender of slavery Howell Cobb wrote in 1865: "The day you make soldiers of them, speaking of Negroes, is the beginning of the end of the revolution. If slaves make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong. " (Captain Matthews)

In 1865, many former slaves made the journey from Galveston to Houston, more than 2 days by foot or boat. They landed in Freedmen's Town, a town created by freed slaves some twenty years earlier. Catherine Roberts is a historian and co-founder of the Rutherford Yates Museum, which traces the history of the original inhabitants of Freedmen's Town.

"The 40 blocks of Freedmen's Town housing listed on the National Historic Register are the only evidence of urban settlement by former slaves in Texas. Because of Jim Crow laws, former slaves could only buy land in very few places. They were allowed to settle on a swamp, along the Buffalo Bayou River which is always flooded. Because they were the first inhabitants, archaeologists consider Freedmen's Town a treasure because everything found in the land was left by newly freed slaves, so we know how they lived and how they built this community on a swamp. " (Catherine Roberts)

When they were taken to Africa and made slaves, the most expensive were the ones with skills. Those who knew how to work metal, mastered basketry or pottery.

"When they were able to get their own land, they knew how to do just about everything, because they had built up their skills on the plantations. There were 13 blacksmiths living here, 34 brick makers, masons and carpenters of quality. There was also a fairly diverse population. Jewish families moved in right after slavery in the 1800s, as they were also subject to segregation laws (Jim Crow). They were limited in where they could go, where they could live and own land. That's why you have a Jewish cemetery at the end of the street. (…) The inhabitants had to protect their children from strangers coming into the neighborhood, so when you look at this model you see that they relied on an African tradition of a central courtyard in the heart of the block of houses. Each porch faced the street and between the houses was a central courtyard where livestock was stored, gardening was done, and children could play safely. "(Catherine Roberts)

Of these original wooden houses, painted white, few have been preserved. Since 1985, 500 of them have been torn down or burned to make way for expensive middle-class homes in this central Houston neighborhood.Charonda Johnson is a neighborhood activist who was nominated mayor of the community.

"This was my childhood home. My family has been in Freedmen's Town for five generations. I used to play in the Gregory School when it was abandoned. The Gregory School was the first school for black children. It opened in 1872. How did my grandmother get here? My mother told me, everybody knew to come here. It was a kind of Mecca. The word was passed around that people were free here. Some people walked from Galveston, but most came by boat on Buffalo Bayou. We are not upset that people are moving into our community today. We just want everyone to know that this is a historic place where our ancestors came from and it deserves respect. "(Charonda Johnson )

Charonda organizes tours of Freedmen's town and fights to keep the developers from destroying the history of these houses and cobblestone streets. She is supported by the city council, which has helped create the Freedmen's Town Conservation Center... an NGO headed by Zion Escobar, who has just gotten Freedmen's Town officially designated as a historic district, the first in Houston...

"When you look at a map of the area...You see Galveston, where the Juneteenth Emancipation Proclamation was read. All that green space there is plantations. So people went north from there by trade routes, and some by boat. You take a whole region, concentrate all its population looking for economic opportunities, take them to Freedmen's town and you get a black Wall street, which was bigger than Tulsa's. But nobody knows that. It's this chapter of American history: this is what happens in the aftermath of the end of slavery! That's why we're trying to get Freedmen's Town designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Because nowhere in the United States can you find so many houses that date back to the history before the Civil War (..)"Here you can see the big picture, and realize that there were thriving businesses. This gentleman owned a brick factory, a drug store, and he was a writer. This one was the first black lawyer in Houston... We need to stand up for ourselves, we need to stand up for this space, politically and legally, or else anyone would just set it on fire and think they can take it over. "( Zion Escobar)

Freedmen's Town was quickly enclosed, a highway was even built in the middle of it. The descendants of the former slaves therefore left for other parts of Houston, notably towards the 3rd Ward. Carl Davis presides over the " Houston Society for Change ", which is very active in this district.

"Emancipation Park is the site that 4 former slaves were able to purchase together in 1872, 7 years after 1865. They wanted a place where they could celebrate their Freedom as a family. The community leaders pooled their resources, $800 to buy these 10 acres of land. It was the first public park in Texas. The 1872 celebration was a huge success, everyone came as a family, they had been enslaved for so many years. When they were able to celebrate that they were free it was a feeling of fulfillment. They wanted a place where they could come together and be one. Today, if there is a tragedy in the country, Emancipation Park is the focal point, the place where you can share your feelings or express your protests because we consider this place holy ground. It is a sacred place for us African-Americans. " ( Carl Davis)

On the ground, a group of young women paint "Be the change". Emancipation park is not only the symbol of Juneteenth, but also the symbol of recent struggles against systemic racism and police violence. George Floyd, whose murder by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 generated a huge wave of protest in the United States is indeed from this neighborhood of 3rd Ward. His face is represented on several murals.

"We find these paintings on the walls of several buildings of Third Ward. There is one in front of Jack Yates High School, where George Floyd studied. I helped create it: it's a Black Lives Matter mural, which takes up the demand for social equity that has been going on around the country. But we added a coat of arms, with on one side the lion, mascot of the school, and on the other side George Floyd's soccer jersey...with his number, 88, his name, his birth and death dates. We want these children growing up in this African American high school to see, every morning, that "Black lives matter," that their lives matter. That's the message that should give them hope. " (Carl Davis)

A few steps from Emancipation Park, we come across 7 restored houses of the first descendants of slaves. Today they host artists for creations related to the current events of the neighborhood... Eureka Gilkey directs the Row House Project organization which promotes art and development of 3rd Ward.

"The 7 artists who created the Row House Project were inspired by Dr. John Biggers who founded the art studies department at Texas Southern University, Houston's Black University. He studied and worked on the architecture of these slave houses, which are called "shotgun houses". Most people think that the name comes from the shotgun, because an urban legend says that when a slave tries to escape, the owner can shoot the house and hit all the inhabitants. But in fact these houses are the result of the architectural ingenuity of the slaves. Inside, you find a central column, a bit like a chimney, with a hole inside. This allows air to circulate and keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the cooler months. The word comes from the Yoruba "Shogun", which means "the house of god", but it has been distorted by dialects and time...” Juneteenth will always be at the heart of the work we do here, especially because of the geographical proximity of the "Row houses" to Emancipation Park. But it's also important to know that the Row house project has been at the forefront of social justice issues for many years. One of our creations a few years ago was titled: "Breaking the Concrete: Artists, Activists and Instigators" and one of the installations highlighted police violence and the need for police reform. " (Eureka Gilkey)

Marked by slavery and its memory, the Houston area has become, since Emancipation, one of the spearheads of the struggle for perfect equality, "absolute equality" written as early as 1865. Max Krochmal is Professor of History and Chair of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Texas Christian University.

"There was a fierce struggle in Houston for civil rights. African-Americans fought for decades before the struggles of the 1960s, and they continue to do so today. African-Americans continue to come to Houston because it is recognized that it is an easier city for them to live in than other cities. It's not the slave plantation city it used to be..." (Max Krochmal)

It is not a coincidence then that it is thanks to the mobilization in Galveston and Houston, that since 1979, June 19th is a holiday in Texas...( and that Juneteenth is now a holiday everywhere in the United States.) It's no coincidence either that it's Houston's congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in Washington who is trying to get a vote on the creation of a reparations commission for the descendants of slaves.. Because here in Houston, instead of the term African Americans, we prefer an acronym, ADOS, African Descendant of Slaves.

Descendant d’esclaves africains… (in French)

Thomas Harms, Houston, RFI

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