#Dunkin Brands Group

[enmi-land]

for anyone who is interested, mila’s personal profile has been updated to include her mbti, kibbe’s body type, personal colour, skill ratings, and brand endorsements! but i shall include them here for you to read, for those of you who don’t want to search for the new details! ^^

♯ MBTi ENFP ❨ the CAMPAiGNER ❩

FORMER MiSTYPES iNFP ❨ the MEDiATOR ❩

REASON FOR MiSTYPiNG Mila does possess some introverted qualities, especially when she was younger. Growing up, she was always the type to struggle to form close friendships with others, and had preferred to be alone and spend quiet time with herself than others. After she was able to make lifelong friends, realised how much she valued the company of others, and finds herself seeking company of people, though she still occasionally has moments of social depletion.

♯ PERSONALiTY TRAiTS People with the ENFP personality type are true free spirits – outgoing, openhearted, and open-minded. With their lively, upbeat approach to life, ENFPs stand out in any crowd. But even though they can be the life of the party, they don’t just care about having a good time. These personalities have profound depths that are fueled by their intense desire for meaningful, emotional connections with others.

POSiTiVE TRAiTS curious, perceptive, enthusiastic, excellent communicator, easygoing, good-natured and positive

NEGATiVE TRAiTS people-pleasing, unfocused, disorganised, overly accomodating, overly optimistic, restless

♯ KiBBE BODY TYPE Soft Dramatic

DECRiPTiON Soft Dramatics usually have features that are lush and sensual, such as big eyes, full lips, fleshy cheeks. They tend to be tall—i.e 5.5ft and over—with long vertical lines, characterised by long limbs, and are fleshy in the bust and hip areas with slightly small waists. Many have hourglass figures, but not overly so.

ESSENCE This body type has having a bold, exotic physicality combined with a powerful sensual essence.‍

MOST FLATTERiNG STYLE Diva Chic

FAMOUS EXAMPLES Tzuyu, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Hudson, Monica Belluci

♯ PERSONAL COLOUR PALETTE Deep Winter

♯ TRAiNiNG PERiOD 2 years, 1 months

♯ COMPANY Hybe/Be:Lift ❨ Current ❩, BigHit ❨ 2018-2020 ❩

♯ SKiLLSET DESCRiPTiON

VOCALS 89/100 — Mila has the most versatile vocal range within the group with solid high and low notes. Her live vocals are very stable, and breathless is minimal due to good breath control.

DANCE 92/100 — She’s able to pull off a wide range of choreography. Her flexibility is best among the members, with high stamina and a lot of power.

RAP 67/100 — Her flow and tone are good, but free styling is difficult, especially in Korean. She can rap well in covers and even original songs if she practises.

SONGWRITING/PRODUCiNG 78/100 — Her lyricism is improving the more songs she writes, but she has an impressive aptitude for thinking of harmonies to add.

PERFORMANCE 97/100 — Her facial expressions, stage presence, and overall skill set make her ideal for the centre position. As a group member, she’s an asset to the team that adds a new level of expression.

♯ POSiTiONS Visual, Centre, Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer

♯ MiC COLOUR Sparkly pink with matching in-ears.

♯ BRAND ENDORSEMENTS

GROUP Prada, BENCH, Tiffany&Co. ❨ w/ Jakehoon ❩, Dunkin’, Kèreastase ❨ w/ Kiara ❩, Ami

SOLO Versace, Victoria Secret, Mach & Mach, WEI Beauty, Olens

[dailyanarchistposts]

Chapter Five. Persecution

JOE:…Does it make any difference? That I might be one thing deep within, no matter how wrong or ugly that thing is, so long as I have fought, with everything I have, to kill it. What do you want from me? What do you want from me, Harper? More than that? For God’s sake, there’s nothing left, I’m a shell. There’s nothing left to kill. As long as my behavior is what I know it has to be. Decent. Correct. That alone in the eyes of God. —Tony Kushner, Angels in America[105]

Flakes of snow fall gently over the ponds, statues and lawns sloping down from the gold-domed Massachusetts State House. A cluster of several dozen young men and women walk along the edge of the Boston Common on Tremont Street. They chant, “Hate is curable and preventable!” “Jesus, cleanse this temple!” and “Conversion Therapy kills gay teens!” It is 7:30 in the morning. Many in the group carry rainbow-colored posters that say, “We’re God’s Children Too” and “God Loves Gays.” Some peel away from the procession to dart into a Dunkin’ Donuts. They emerge a few minutes later cradling a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

When they reach the Tremont Temple Church, they form a half-circle outside the front doors. Boston police are standing out front to block people without registration papers from entering the building. The protesters have converged on the church to demonstrate against a Love Won Out conference, sponsored by Dobson’s Focus on the Family, being held inside. Love Won Out officials, already nervous, have ordered lunch from Subway for the nearly 800 people attending their conference so no one will have to leave the church. Love Won Out volunteers meet everyone coming through the front doors.

“Are you registered?” a woman asks new arrivals politely.

If so, people are directed upstairs, where their bags are searched for tape recorders and cameras. Wrists are stamped and wrapped in bright orange-red bands. Only those wearing wristbands are allowed to file into the sanctuary. The church has long, dark, wooden pews. It is surrounded on three sides by a balcony and has towering stained-glass windows depicting biblical scenes.

The crowd takes several minutes to move through the swinging doors and settle into the pews. There are mothers and nervous teenage sons. Husbands and wives, their heads bent over the conference forms, circle on printed schedules the breakout sessions they plan to attend. Single men and women sit alone, thumbing through the conference notes. In a small media section at the back of the sanctuary, only a couple of seats are occupied. The event does not welcome the “secular” media, which it accuses of promoting an anti-Christian agenda. Love Won Out volunteers walk up and down the aisles looking for potential infiltrators or anyone holding a tape recorder or a camera. Those who attempt to tape or photograph the conference will be ejected.

Love Won Out was founded, its brochure says, to help families, men and women, and especially those plagued by what the movement calls “same-sex attraction,” recover traditional male and female roles. The organization, led by many who identify themselves as “ex-gays,” brands homosexuality as a disease and condemns it as a threat to the family, the health of the nation and Christianity. The movement’s professed goal is to “cure” those who have “same-sex attraction.” But it has also declared war against gays and lesbians who are unrepentant, those they brand as “militant” and who actively promote “the gay agenda.” Although they speak the language of compassion toward those willing to be healed, they also say there should be no tolerance or acceptance of gays and lesbians who refuse to seek help. And America will soon pay a price, they warn, for permitting gays and lesbians to live openly in defiance of God.

The legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts has helped mobilize the Christian Right, including many in the state who see the move as morally polluting their schools and communities. Christian activists in Massachusetts are frequent guests at Christian conferences, where they speak of their persecution by “homosexual radicals.” This cultivated sense of persecution—cultivated by those doing the persecuting—allows the Christian Right to promote bigotry and attack any outcry as part of the war against the Christian faith. A group trying to curtail the civil rights of gays and lesbians portrays itself, in this rhetorical twist, as victims of an effort to curtail the civil rights of Christians. One of the most vocal is Tom Crouse, a pastor in Holland, Massachusetts, who hosts a show titled Engaging Your World broadcast on local Christian radio station WVNE-AM 760 in Worcester. He features antigay guests and has held a “Mr. Hetero” contest in Wooster. The contest included “ex-gays.” Crouse says the contest was a way of promoting “God’s design” in response to a “Mr. Gay 2005” competition held in San Diego. He refuses to use the word “gay” on his talk show, saying he uses the word only “in its proper context, which means ‘happy.’”

“People will call in to my show and say, ‘You’re gay,’ to me on the air, and I’ll say, ‘I’m gay, you’re gay.’” He lashes out at “homosexual activists” who he says “are well financed, well organized, and small in numbers.

“They’re rabid and they’re active, and they have no problem telling you they’re going to kill you,” he has said, “no problem telling you they’re going to burn you to death, no problem telling you anything, all in the name of tolerance.

“If you listen to how Jesus is proclaimed today, you’d think Jesus is some tie-dye-shirt-wearing, pot-smoking hippie. That’s not who Jesus is. You know, Jesus was a man who spoke the truth. He said, ‘You’re of your father, the devil.’ He walked away from those who could have stoned him and killed him. Jesus said, ‘I am God, you are not. I am the living truth and the life. No one knows what God knows but me’—I say Jesus was the most intolerant person in the world. Jesus would not be accepted in many churches today.”

Mike Haley, director of gender issues at Focus on the Family, and himself an “ex-gay,” walks up and stands behind the pulpit in the Boston church. His collared shirt is pressed and tucked into his khaki pants. His sandy blond hair is combed neatly to the side. He welcomes the crowd to the first Love Won Out conference in Boston, the organization’s 36th event since its founding in1998. Trinity Temple, he reminds those in the sanctuary, has hosted every president since John F. Kennedy and now, Love Won Out. He raises his fist in the air as the crowd claps and says, “Amen.” The successful staging of the event in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriages were first legalized, is, he assures the crowd, a victory for Christians.

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a clinical psychologist, is president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, an organization known as NARTH. He says he has treated more than 1,000 men who came to him with “unwanted homosexuality.” He has written three books on the subject, including his most recent, A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality, co-authored with his wife, Linda Ames Nicolosi.

Nicolosi says that all men are “born to be heterosexual.” He calls heterosexual orientation that which corresponds to man’s “true nature.” Homosexuality, he says, “is a masculine inferiority.” He speaks of “the gender identity phase” when the boy begins to realize that the world is divided into male and female. Children who cannot disconnect from their mothers and identify with their fathers, he explains, become homosexuals. He says the male child is biologically “trying to fulfill his natural masculine strivings. He is wired to be masculine. His body is designed for a woman.” The job of the child is “to dis-identify with the mother and bond with the father.”

The boy, he says, “begins to realize that he’s like this father image that he never really paid attention to before. He becomes interested in the father. And if he reaches out to the father, and if the mother supports him in making this transition, and if the father is welcoming and encouraging, the boy will make the transition. He’ll bond emotionally with his father, make that male identification, and that becomes the foundation of his sexual preference, what he finds sexually attractive.”

But if the father is distant, detached, unavailable, in short a “negative figure in the boy’s eye,” the boy will reach out to the father and be hurt.

“He will be made to feel ashamed of his masculine ambition,” Nicolosi says. “The father’s nonresponsiveness will make him feel bad about that effort, and he will basically shut down. And he will be shamed for his masculine strivings, and basically what he says is, ‘If you make me unimportant, I make you unimportant. If you’re not interested in me, I’m not interested in you.’ And you know, if you know any homosexual men, they do not have a good relationship with their fathers. Their fathers are just not that important in their lives, period.”

Nicolosi warns against fathers who are “weak and unmasculine, and perhaps beaten down by the mother.” He says that boys need a “strong, masculine father who is worthy of imitation, of modeling, worthy of disconnecting from the mother.” He also cautions against an “overemotionally involved mother” who is a “dominant, strong personality.”

He argues that mothers who do not cede authority to the father, who do not represent to the boy that dad is the leader of the family, contribute to their child’s homosexuality. In proper development, he says, the nurturing of women becomes less important as the boy grows older. The rougher play of the father is required if the boy is to develop into a man.

“You know, the young father tossing the son up in the air and catching him,” Nicolosi says. “And, you know, the father is laughing and the kid is petrified, you know? And the mother is watching this ritual and she has no idea, she’s getting a heart attack watching this. But as the father is tossing the kid up and down, because the father is laughing, the son starts laughing. And a very important lesson has just been taught, one that men teach boys: danger can be fun. Even if the father drops the kid and cracks his head a little bit, at least he will be straight. A small price to pay, I tell ya.”

And when males are brought up by masculine fathers, when they become fully developed men, they are, he says, “a little dull, you know what I mean? We don’t see colors as vividly. Have you noticed? We don’t seem to remember show tunes, I don’t know why. Anyway, more importantly than ‘Danger can be fun,’ the boy is caught by the father, ‘And I can trust dad.’ And men with a homosexual problem do not trust other men.”

Those who fail to achieve their masculinity, however, become mama’s boys. They seek to please the mother. They are the kind of boys, he says, who leave for school with their hair in place and wearing neat, clean clothes and come home from school in the same, perfect condition.

“And you can see how in adulthood, the gay man desires to break that good little boy mold,” Nicolosi says. “He is angry and wants to rebel. He’s aggressive. He’s shocking. He’s offensive. He’s provocative because he wants to break out of that good little boy mold that he was in. While all the other boys were being bad, he was sitting with mommy in the kitchen; now he wants to be bad. Have you ever seen a gay pride parade? That’s exactly right. If you walk into a gay bar, it looks like a bunch of men who want to be bad little boys. You walk into a straight bar, and all these straight guys are sitting there, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ because they got it out of their system a long time ago. They’re exhausted. Their wives exhausted them.”

He throws out that gay men gravitate toward theater to “escape into fantasy” because “fantasy is a big part of the gay identity.”

A woman in a pew leans toward her husband and whispers that this is a description of their son.

The cure for what he terms the “male gender deficit,” for those who suffer from “same-sex attraction,” is “reparative therapy.” It can come about through a close connection with a strong, heterosexual man who is comfortable in his male role. When homosexuals “make an emotional connection with a straight man, their homosexuality disappears,” he says. They no longer have trouble being assertive, and these “heterosexual men with a homosexual problem” are cured.

It is left to Mike Haley, who identifies himself as an ex-gay, to back up Nicolosi’s assertions with personal testimony. He tells the group that his father was cold and distant, refusing to initiate him into the world of men, and taunted him because of his lack of athletic ability as “Michelle” or “my third daughter.” He describes his close relationship as an 11-year-old boy with a man who eventually began to have sex with him.

Eventually Haley went to see a counselor who told him he was born gay. He frequented the gay bars and discos at Laguna Beach in California, not far from his home. He felt, he says, as if he had “come home.” His lifestyle, however, conflicted with the views of his church. And his pastor, when he confessed, told him he had to reform. The conflict between his desires and what he thought was right in the eyes of God began to haunt him.

“So what do you think I did as a 17-year-old junior in high school that didn’t want to be gay?” Haley says. “I read my Bible and I read my Bible and I read my Bible and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. I remember kneeling next to my bed and saying, ‘Lord, I’m not going to stop praying until I feel different,’ only to fall asleep, waking up to feel just the same as I had when I had started to pray.”

He finally turned his back on the church. He tells the group that at this juncture he believed Christianity was “a lie” and “hated Christians.”

“I wanted to be moral within my homosexuality,” he says. “I wanted to have that long-term monogamous relationship. But when I didn’t find it in this city, I’d move to the next.” He lived, he says, on the “gay treadmill.”

“It’s not a whole lot different than the treadmill that I see some heterosexual women buy in to,” Haley says. “When they believe they have to be a certain size, look a certain way, dress a certain way, to be acceptable to the heterosexual male population. Well, you take that same phenomenon and put it into the gay community, and it seems overexaggerated. To be the accepted commodity, you need to look a certain way, act a certain way, drive a certain car, talk a certain way. So I was working out three to four hours a day, I was doing injectable steroids. I was bulimic because I wanted to eat, but I didn’t want to gain weight because I had to have that perfect physique because that physique was what defined my value and my worth during my time and involvement in the gay community.”

He says he became a gay activist in Dallas. He marched in Gay Pride parades.

And then one night Haley picked up a man at a gay gym, but as they progressed the man stopped and told Haley he could not have sex. Haley recalls him saying: “I’m sorry that I’ve led you on, but I’m a Christian, and I’m trying to walk away from this.”

The two men spoke most of the night. Haley was introduced through the man to a counselor named Jeff Conrad, who promised to help cure him of his homosexuality. Haley started what he says was “a godly, Christian mentoring relationship.”

“He sent me birthday cards: ‘I don’t even know if you’re getting this card, but I want to let you know that I love you, that God loves you, that change is possible,’” Haley says. “I’d write him back the nastiest, ugly letters about his faith, about his God: ‘Leave me alone, I was born this way.’ He’d write me back: ‘Mike, I want you to go to the library. I want you to find me a study that will prove to me that you were born gay. And if you can do that, then I will change the way that I believe.’”

Haley says he left his “homosexual lifestyle” in December 1989 after his sessions with Conrad. He omits the details of his “cure.” He got married. He returned to the church and became a youth pastor. He started working for Dobson.

Dobson’s attacks on gays are relentless and brutal. He likens the proponents of gay marriage to the Nazis.[106] He warns in his book Marriage Under Fire that sanctioning gay marriage is the first salvo by the gay movement to destroy the American family. “This is an issue America has got to wake up to,” Dobson writes. “The homosexual agenda is a beast. It wants our kids….”[107] And he goes on to ask, “How about group marriage? Or marriage between daddies and little girls? How about marriage between a man and his donkey?[108]

“Moms and dads, are you listening? This movement is THE greatest threat to your children,” Dobson warns. “It is of particular danger to your wide-eyed boys, who have no idea what demoralization is planned for them.”[109]

This conference is one of many Dobson and his associates mount throughout the country every year. Bill Maier, vice president and psychologist in residence for Focus on the Family, rises to speak. He attacks the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts, which he calls “the most radical social experiment ever proposed in our country that’s redefining the institution of marriage.” He defines the ruling as one made by “four rogue judges on the Supreme Judicial Court who basically forced their will on the people and the legislature of Massachusetts.” The ruling, he says, is “a radical redefinition of the human family.” At issue is “whether men and women are unique and different and whether the two genders complete each other in their differences. It’s about whether mother and father are both essential in the process of healthy child development, and it’s about whether there are compelling societal reasons to define marriage as one thing and not define it as something else.

“When we follow God’s blueprint for how we’re supposed to live, things usually work out the way they’re supposed to,” Maier says. “But when we defy God, when we live in ways that are contrary to God’s design for us, we often reap a harvest of pain and suffering in our lives.” He warns that “if we redefine marriage in one way, there is no logical reason for us to not redefine it in other ways,” leading to the legalization of “polygamy or group marriage.” This opens up the possibility, he says, of fathers marrying their daughters. “They say, ‘Well, if marriage can be redefined to include two men or two women, what’s to stop us from redefining it to allow marriage between a man and four women, or a group of six or seven adults and their various children?’”

The danger of same-sex marriage is that it “will also teach our children that the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ and ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are simply meaningless social constructs.”

Melissa Fryrear, who says she used to be a lesbian, blames abusive parental relationships for “same-sex attraction.”

“For those who have been abused by a male, oftentimes that tremendous rage, that hurt, can go underground, if you will, and it can begin to emerge later in life, perhaps in rejecting your female identity or the fact that you look like a woman,” she says. “When I lived homosexually, I was very butch and very mannish. I still have some work to do”—a comment that elicits laughter—“but I’ve covered some bases, too. I looked mannish and I looked masculine because it was a liability to be a woman. Because it meant that I could be hurt, it meant that I could be victimized, and it was my suit of armor to keep me safe. So [it was a] rejection of that female identity. It can be a fleeing from men.”

Many in the church take notes in the space provided in their conference booklets. Many cry softly when speakers mention giving up their lives to God and being cured of “same-sex attraction.” And periodically, especially during the testimonies, there are shouts of “amen.”

The speakers accuse gays of controlling television, radio and Hollywood. The gay movement, they say, is more politically active and powerful than other movements. Gays are attacked as diseased and part of the criminal class. But the bedrock of the attack is that homosexuality is against God’s ordained natural order, that what gay men and women do is perverted and pathological. They are not only a threat to children, but a threat to Christians. Gays, those at tonight’s conference are told, hate them and want to destroy them.

“Religion is treated as irrelevant or downright evil,” Robert H. Knight writes in The Homosexual Agenda in Schools, distributed by Dobson’s Family Research Council. “Homosexual books, magazines and newspapers are filled with bitter and often obscene denunciations of religion in general and Christianity in particular. One activist calls for the outlawing of churches that disapprove of homosexual conduct. Another carefully outlines an advertising campaign that equates Christian clergy with Nazis and Klansmen. Homosexual stage performers dress up in clerical garb and commit obscene acts. A gay-rights cartoonist depicts Christ having anal intercourse with His cross. These are not isolated examples from an otherwise gentle and loving literature. The attitude pervades the homosexual movement.”[110]

Gays and lesbians within the church, seeking desperately to deny their sexuality and remain in the Christian collective, suffer severe depression and blows to their self-esteem. The U.S. Surgeon General’s office has published data indicating those who are young and gay are two to three times more likely to commit suicide.[111] Those who are able to conform, no matter what the personal cost, will find acceptance. Those who remain militant, who stand up for another way of being, are condemned. The tactics that will finally disenfranchise them and their supporters from a future Christian America are left unmentioned, but the rhetoric makes it plain that there will not be a place for them. And these preachers warn that if America does not act soon to repress the lifestyles of gays and lesbians, God will punish the nation.

When Pat Robertson was asked by Jerry Falwell if God had allowed the attacks on September 11, both the question and its answer stoked this fear of divine wrath and apocalyptic judgment:

I believe that the protection, the covering of God that has been on this great land of ours for so many years, had lifted on September 11, and allowed this thing to happen. God apparently had good reasons for exposing the U.S.A. to such destruction, given the many sins that Americans have committed ever since the Roe versus Wade court case and the Supreme Court’s decision to keep God out of the schools. In fact, American infidelity goes back to the 1920s and 1930s, to situational ethics and notions of cultural relativity, along with a flirtation with communism at the highest levels of government. The point is not just that Americans have been bad and forfeited their entitlements. It is that unless they reform themselves in a hurry, something far worse may happen to them.[112]

Should another catastrophic attack occur, what will prevent these preachers from calling for the punishment, detention and quarantining of gays and lesbians—as well as abortionists, Muslims and other nonbelievers—to safeguard the nation? What will stanch the hate crimes and physical attacks against those deemed immoral by fearful and angry Christians, those condemned by these preachers as responsible for the nation’s abandonment by God? How will the nation function rationally if homeland security depends on an elusive piety as interpreted by the Christian Right? And most ominously, the fringe groups of the Christian Right believe they have been mandated by God to carry out Christian terrorism, annointed to murder doctors who perform abortions and godless Muslims in Iraq. In a time of anxiety and chaos, of overwhelming fear and uncertainty, how many more will be prodded by this talk of divine vengeance to join the ranks of these Christian extremists?

The drive to ban same-sex marriages in the 2004 election was just one step in a campaign to strip gays and lesbians of civil rights. A 1996 federal law already defines marriage as a union occurring between a man and a woman. Currently 19 states have written prohibitions on same-sex marriage into their state constitutions. As of this writing the latest were passed in Kansas and Texas in 2005; 13 states adopted constitutional bans on gay marriage in 2004, while four had previous bans. At least seven states will hold statewide votes on same-sex marriage bans in2006.[113] These referendums fan the fires of fear and hatred. Bans have to be passed, believers are told, so “activist judges” will not overturn the laws forbidding same-sex marriages. The Christian Right, with its constant need for scapegoats and satanic enemies to be defeated, use the state referendums to mobilize and energize followers, even as the most pressing social ills of the country are ignored.

Any relationships outside the rigid, traditional model of male and female threaten the hierarchical male power structure vital to the movement. Women who do not depend on men for their identity and their sexuality, who live outside a male power relationship, challenge the cult of masculinity, as do men who find tenderness and love with men as equals. The lifestyle of gays and lesbians is intolerable to the Christian Right because their existence is a threat to the movement’s chain of command, one its leaders insist was ordained by God.

The Reverend Dr. Mel White, who produced films and worked with most of the prominent leaders within the Christian Right, came out as a gay man in 1993 in his installation as dean at the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Cathedral of Hope church in Dallas. Like many gay men in the church, he struggled until late in life with his homosexuality, condemning himself for feelings and inclinations he could not control.

“Conservative Christians shaped the very core of my faith and passed on to me my love for Jesus, the Bible, and the church,” White wrote in his autobiography, Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America. “But all through those wonderful days of childhood and early adolescence, a heavy layer of clouds floated between me and the heavens. In spite of their many gifts to me, those same conservative Christians remained silent about the secret longings of my heart. And though I was surrounded by their loving presence, that same silence left me feeling increasingly isolated and lonely. In the days of my gay childhood, there was no one who even tried to help clear up my growing confusion, guilt, and fear.”[114]

White’s grandmother was a tent revival preacher, traveling around the country on trains to preach and set up storefront churches. When White was 12 years old, she told him that she had given up sex with her husband to “work for the Kingdom.” “Jesus is coming soon,” she told White. “Don’t be distracted by anything.”[115]

White was a model Christian youth. He worked to save the souls of his friends and classmates. He was the student body president at his high school.

“In those early years, I thought for certain that my secret longings were a sign that my Creator had abandoned me,” White wrote.[116]

White would lie awake, “begging God to heal me, to take away the feelings I could not understand, to make me like the rest of them once and for all. It was a prayer I had prayed hundreds of times before. I prayed it in my junior high gym when we showered together and I was terrified by my involuntary physical response to the other naked boys. I prayed it at the beach when I lay with my fellow surfers in the sand and was aroused by their bodies. I prayed it when I was alone in my room at night, cutting out ads from bodybuilding magazines and hiding them under my bed.”[117]

In high school, White began to date Lyla Lee Loehr, whom he had known since seventh grade. White took Loehr, for their first date, to a Youth for Christ rally. He knew he could never bring her home to his parents—she wasn’t saved. But after a few weeks of spending time together at White’s church, she accepted Christ into her life.

White struggled to conform to a “heterosexual lifestyle.” His new girlfriend was the ticket out of sin.

“By then I had memorized the Old Testament lines from Leviticus that say a man who sleeps with another man is an abomination and should be killed,” he wrote. “Although I thought that God still loved me, I wasn’t certain how far God’s love would go if I ever ‘gave in’ to my ‘evil passions.’”[118]

White married Loehr and raised two children. He had a successful career in the church. He watched passively, however, as colleagues in the church struggled with homosexuality, suffered mental breakdowns or committed suicide. One such troubled man cut off his testicles.

When White’s younger brother was struck and killed by a car while riding his bicycle, White wondered if this was a message from God.

“There were desperate, irrational times when I thought maybe God was punishing me for my homosexual thoughts by letting my brother die,” he wrote.[119]

White, like many in the church, saw a series of Christian psychologists and psychiatrists. The first told him he needed to tell his wife. He did. Lyla agreed to help. White wanted to keep his family and career. He wanted to conquer his homosexuality.

“For the next years, I read and memorized biblical texts on faith. I fasted and prayed for healing. I believed that God had ‘healed me’ or was ‘in the process of healing me.’ But over the long haul, my sexual orientation didn’t change. My natural attraction to other men never lessened. After months of trying, my psychiatrist implied that I wasn’t really cooperating with the Spirit of God. After that, my guilt and fear just escalated.”[120]

In 1977, White began his first relationship with another homosexual man. The relationship lasted for a year, but the secrecy caused emotional strain. At the same time, he began ghostwriting for Francis Schaeffer, Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy, Pat Robertson and other Christian Right leaders.

“I wasn’t wise enough to anticipate where all this talk of ‘cleansing the nation’ might lead. I didn’t foresee that one day those same religious media personalities and the political groups they would organize could become a dangerous threat to me, to my gay brothers and lesbian sisters, and to all persons who might disagree with their political, religious and social agenda for our country.”[121]

He contemplated suicide while scuba diving in Hawaii and later atop a bridge. He saw more Christian counselors, and in despair slashed his wrists with a coat hanger as his wife screamed at him to stop. It was the end of their marriage. White met his partner, Gary Nixon, who sang in the church choir. He walked away from one world and into another. It became his mission to document the hate talk of his former employers and organize gay and lesbian Christians to denounce the bigotry of the Christian Right.

“This is a black and white world,” White says. “It is between good and evil. It is not a natural political conflict where people of good will can disagree, and they’re playing the political game beautifully. They pretend that it’s a political game, whereas in fact it’s a fight between God and Satan. They don’t ever say that. So they have taken the political process, and used it fairly against us. They’ve won the Congress and the presidency, and they’re about to win the courts because of their Congress and the president. They’ve won state houses across the country and precincts everywhere by the political process. So they have done what we didn’t do. They have a system to throw democracy out the window.

“They want to end homosexuality in America,” he says, “…one step at a time, first the federal marriage amendment, and then comes no adoption, no service in the military, the reinstatement of the sodomy laws and driving us back into our closets, or worse. They do not want to compromise, but they begin with compromise after compromise after compromise.”

The advance, White says, is demoralizing the gay community, which he warns “is losing the will to fight.

“It’s safer back in the closet anyway, and since we can pass, or the gay leaders can pass, the ones who wear suits and have good jobs and have plenty of money, they will go underground,” he says. “It is the gay people out there in the hinterlands who have no options. They are being rejected by their families, discarded by their parents, kicked out of their jobs, harassed, outed and killed. The gay leaders don’t have a clue about this suffering.

“There are no fountains or cafeterias or bus stations we can integrate,” White says. “There are no symbols that we can attack. Marriage, the one great act of defiance, in San Francisco and Massachusetts showed to the country gay couples lined up to get married. This is something they didn’t like. The faces looked normal. They had children. These pictures were killing the caricatures. That, for me, is one of the great things we’ve done, just go to get married no matter what.

“What frightens me most are gay people who don’t understand what’s happening and who are unwilling to take a stand,” he says. “Once they take away our rights they’re going to start wanting to register us because we’re the ones who have the most sexually transmitted diseases. They’re going to say, ‘We want to register you so we can give you special medical attention.’ Quarantine comes next, along with taking away our children, the children we’ve adopted. They will take away the partnership rights the corporations put in place, because they can put pressure on the corporations. My bleakest description is that we’ll not only be driven back into our closets, but we’ll have to leave the country. Right now, we have to leave the state of Virginia, because of the law that says we can’t have any agreements, or any contracts, or any powers of attorney that represent marriage. So every gay person who has a business here lives in fear.”

The attack against gays and lesbians seeks to paint homosexual behavior as a form of barbarity, one step above bestiality. Gays and lesbians, like other enemies of Christ, are not fully human; they are “unnatural.” And in this assault there is often lurid fascination with the grittier details of homosexual encounters. Peter LaBarbera is the executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and a speaker who uses this rhetoric to depict gays as depraved. He denies the possibility of loving, committed relationships between gays and lesbians. He brands the lifestyle as one of “extreme promiscuity,” saying that “when homosexuals call it monogamy, it’s not real monogamy.” And sexual relations itself between gays and lesbians is, he insists, “gross, unnatural and dangerous behavior.”

He warns about what he calls “the totalitarian impulse of a gay man.” He viciously attacks National Gay and Lesbian Task Force director Matt Foreman, who has criticized ex-gay therapies and the role some members of the clergy play in pushing gay men to these ex-gay groups.

LaBarbera calls on the crowd to “stop backing up in the face of homosexual cultural aggression.” It is time to fight, he insists. And then he hints ominously at what he would like to see happen, how he would like to see Christians battle in ways, perhaps outside the law, that are no longer “nice,” how he would like to take this war to the streets.

“We need a good cop, bad cop strategy….” he says. “We’ve been too nice. We need to have some people go over and do the tough things, like the other side does.”

[emmacreatures]

A nice introduction

IM BACK AND ALL THE MORE INSPIRED. @niku30 and I already are expanding our faves in this world and I just had to write some for them. theifehrhdb THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO COME. MATT dunkin is a very build and tattooed all over man who drives a Chevy that makes the ground vibrate, thats how heavy it is. along that we have Dan Fuller, who is Matt's marketing department/social media, pretty much the whole package considering business for him. Then aside we have Jack Hardin.. Known as👁 The huntsman, and Cruze, the rookie! ENJOY

"Alright Cruze.. This is your first race among the big guys. I know your last was a very.. Life changing occurence, and I like your determination, thats why you're here, thats why you have your own group now. Its strong, keep that, but remember.. These men and women have been in this world for years. They dont come to play, they come to kill, and especially go after the new ones to scare them away. Just do what you think is right but be cautious." "You know who you're speaking to right?" "I like your style, I give you that, but I'm also serious. Dont underestimate or we might get your first scars today. You are with a new own vehicle, not some borrowed one from your brother in law, and a rather rough road, keep put" the sponsor of Cruze said as they all stood ready on the tracks.. All the usual drivers had heard of this rookie. And the press was all about wanting to see how this course would go. Cruze was new to this world.. Yet there was an unfamilair feel, something he'll have to learn along the way, but for now.. This daredevil wanted to drive in his own car.. Adjusted to his liking. A rather high advanced one, fast; lightweight.. And of his own brand. It felt surrealistic, yet rightous at the same time, and he couldnt wait.. His hunger was massive and his gut knew this was what he wanted to do

"Ready Cruze?" "I was ready hours ago".

"Lets go everyone.. lets see what this race with the new rookie will lead to" one of the new commentators said as most raised an eyebrow, hearing how the rookie got quite the attention. "Lets see how he'll speak after we're done with him" Matt said confidently, smirking as he was waiting for the lights to go green just like all of them. Matt wasnt easily offended at all, but the rest.. hearing how much attention that new one got, made them rather tempted to play tricky. They all worked so hard to get there, so one rookie shouldnt be difficult to teach some manners.. right?

"AND WE'RE OFF" the commentator said as everyone drove off within the second.. Cruze felt the immense power of his own car, almost wanting to yell out of joy before he got reminded what he was doing. He was driving among the best in the world.. and he needed to take it serious, despite he tried to enjoy the most out of it, and feel confident while being at it, wanting to show what he's got.. "Ah there ya go.." Matt whispered as the rookie passed him.. "He can definitely control his car I can tell him that.. But he should keep track of the back" Matt said tricky as he smirked, pushing more on the gaspedal as the rookie was right infront of him. "There are several thorns among you Cruze. We got some very impressive people among you. Stay focused. Dont hurray too much when you get closer to that front. While this was your main focus back at that other race, you need to watch your front, and back at all costs. This is a mental test constantly" The trainer/sponsor of Cruze kept saying, while Cruze was just focused and going fast, but it was more than just that, that was happening.. The sponsor noticed one of the loudest cars coming closer on Cruze.. Making him warn him. "Watch out for that big Chevy.. Cruze. I'm serious. He likes to slam dunk-" Before the sponsor could finish his sentence, Matt had given a firm push from the back as Cruze managed to keep the car on track, correcting it as he felt that. "every car.." The sponsor finished the sentence, making Cruze wake up a bit.

"HOLY FUCK, he just- is that even LEGAL. Who is that?" Cruze said as he learned every second. "Thats Dunken. His car is heavy and needs more time to speed up, but once it does its like a heavy metal train. Which means.. His forces are hard to break once he makes the speed he needs to make" His sponsor said. "Isnt that even deadly serious, something about force and not enough to put on the brakes" Cruze said with intelligence, making the man who talked to him happy. "Thats what I'm talking about. Use that against him. You can make sharp turns. Keep being focused. This is just a slight glimse of what can happen. Its a crazy world Cruze. Terms of it being legal.. he always gets away with it. Kind off like the way you push your car, you know where to stop. Dunken seems to.. Exactly swirl around the illegal route, and leave a dent in people's cars without being charged.". "Is he keen on tailgating?" Cruze immediatelt said, taking it serious.. While in the meantime, Matt was just having fun. "Oh he's fighting back. Staying pretty steady, thats a first. Most immediately swoop off like that, game over" Matt said as he wanted to give another push, of course as well to make him move so he could come closer to the front.. But Dan.. Noticed the horrendous behavior, taking the trainer's headphones as he took over. "No No NO- DONT DO THAT DUNKEN. I TOLD YOU ABOUT THIS" "Ah, fuller, cant you see. he just needs a little nudge. A little kiss on that ass to make him feel welcome" Matt said as he pressed the massive gaspedal to close in on the rookie again.. "DUNKIN I SWEAR- I cant risk another sponsorship to set sail because of your need to dent people's cars. You make us seem bad" "Well its all about it. I make you look good. It shows how stirdy the cars we have our. AND, To show we dont come to play, but to win." Matt said casually as if he wasnt in the middle of some race. "Dont worry about it sugar, I'll show them we're unstoppable. You get plenty of them." Matt said as he could hear his marketing manager just.. Die inside to hear Matt handle him like that, the man felt like it just to poke the bear. "I dont- I- Cant. nor Want to miss any opportunity MATT. You understand that. I do not want to argue with you again" "Mmhmm.. God, I love when you get all angry at me.. Like a soap series. you know, We could work on this, it might lead to some angry-" "No NO WE'RE NOT GOING THERE DUNKEN. STAY FOCUSED ON THIS GAME. There's people watching- Keep it together" Dan said rather stressed, making Matt smirk

"You're flustered huh.. I know you secretly love having these conversations. I prefer them much more over the ones I have with my trainer" "JUST FOCUS. MATT. COME ON." "I never left boss" Matt said so confident it would make women faint, before he smirked and got right into the race, without much of a chat despite when focused he was good at it. "Have this back.. I need to make some calls" Dan said as he would exhale rather firm.. This man sometimes was too much.. or was he the righr amount. "Alright Dunkin, i'll pretend I havent heard any of what you just said, but go for it will you" "Oh I'm way ahead of you. This kid needs to learn that he'll get some scars" Matt said as he smirked, driving dirty as it made things always tense.

"Watch out for a few more Cruze.. Dunkin there is a dirty driver, but there are more that you need to he weary off" "Like what.." Cruze asked genuine, not as if he was unimpressed.. But right as he was around 3th place for now, a car with a heavy tone passed him out of the blue, getting closer to the front as Cruze was certainly surprised "Holy.. How- Where did he came from.. I didnt see that one in ANY direction" Cruze said as the final lap came in sight.. Noticing right before the end, the car that passed him like a predator catching prey, managed to make it in first place.. "Thats the huntsman.. Another one I wanted to warn you about, but I felt like you needed to see it yourself." the sponsor said; making Cruze legitimitely question how he did that.. "Did you see him coming.." "Sometimes he finds specific turns that we dont even catch on camera.. I know your senses feel like they're off, and I know your senses are heightened, you have a feel for this.. but trust me, the huntsman is unlike anything the world has seen, and keeps it up everytime." The sponsor said "You did well Cruze.. Especially being 3rd." "Yeah.. Thanks" Cruze said as his mind was so... Blown by how that heavy fort mustang, was able to appear and dissapear like that. It were years of training.. but damn.. Cruze for the first time felt tricked but he wasnt even offended.. He was feeling challenged. He wanted to dig about this, feeling all the more excited about this world and where he managed to end up. "Cruze?" "Yeah.. I'm here.." Cruze said, but while he'd normally be all excited over the fact the rookie managed to place 3rd on the first game.. His mind was elsewhere.

[justa-opossum]

Unusual Asks

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? 

is your room messy or clean?

what color are your eyes?

do you like your name? why?

what is your relationship status? 

describe your personality in 3 words or less

what color hair do you have?

what kind of car do you drive? color?

where do you shop?

how would you describe your style?

favorite social media account

what size bed do you have? 

any siblings?

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?

favorite snapchat filter? 

favorite makeup brand(s)

how many times a week do you shower?

favorite tv show?

shoe size?

how tall are you?

sandals or sneakers? 

do you go to the gym? 

describe your dream date

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?

what color socks are you wearing? 

how many pillows do you sleep with?

do you have a job? what do you do? 

how many friends do you have? 

whats the worst thing you have ever done? 

whats your favorite candle scent? 

3 favorite boy names

3 favorite girl names

favorite actor? 

favorite actress? 

who is your celebrity crush?

favorite movie? 

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? 

money or brains? 

do you have a nickname? what is it? 

how many times have you been to the hospital?

top 10 favorite songs

do you take any medications daily? 

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)

what is your biggest fear? 

how many kids do you want? 

whats your go to hair style?

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) 

who is your role model? 

what was the last compliment you received?

what was the last text you sent?

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?

what is your dream car? 

opinion on smoking?

do you go to college? 

what is your dream job? 

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? 

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? 

do you have freckles? 

do you smile for pictures?

how many pictures do you have on your phone? 

have you ever peed in the woods? 

do you still watch cartoons? 

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds?

Favorite dipping sauce? 

what do you wear to bed? 

have you ever won a spelling bee?

 what are your hobbies?

can you draw? 

do you play an instrument?

what was the last concert you saw? 

tea or coffee?

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?

do you want to get married?

what is your crush’s first and last initial?

are you going to change your last name when you get married? 

what color looks best on you? 

do you miss anyone right now? 

do you sleep with your door open or closed?

do you believe in ghosts?

what is your biggest pet peeve? 

last person you called`

favorite ice cream flavor? 

regular oreos or golden oreos? 

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? 

what shirt are you wearing? 

what is your phone background?

are you outgoing or shy?

do you like it when people play with your hair?

do you like your neighbors? 

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?

have you ever been high? 

have you ever been drunk? 

last thing you ate? 

favorite lyrics right now

summer or winter? 

day or night? 

dark, milk, or white chocolate? 

favorite month? 

what is your zodiac sign

 who was the last person you cried in front of? 

Non of those

Messy af

Grey

I like my name because it's unusual but elegant

Unfortunately single

Gay

Brunette

I don't drive

Wherever I'm taken

Alternative

Tumblr

Twin sized

4

Probably Germany

I don't have Snapchat

The stuff I make

Once or twice (other days I take baths, I only shower if I need to wash my hair)

Two broke girls

4 in women's

4'11

Sandals

No but I do work out

Idk

137.59$

I'm not wearing socks

My pillows are asexual

I don't have a job but I'm applying for one in January

Idk

Isk

Vanilla

Vance (sounds cool), Cane (idk why), & Seth (sick AF)

Josie (really pretty), Rose (my favorite flower), Leslie (after my great aunt whom is wonderful and is very accepting)

Jack Black

Idk

Don't have one

The tale of the princess kaguya

Not particularly

The final girl support group

Brains

I have a lot

Once

Sailor song, the other side of the wall, song of the celestial maiden, cruel world, teenagers, girls, 911, mad dog, Loli god requiem, steady steady

No

Normal

Being forgotten

Two

Down

Medium

My great aunt

"your cute I guess"

A yt link

I always knew

Idk

Don't do it

Not yet

Being a therapist

Suburbs

Obviously

Yes

A lot

No

Yes

Wendy's

Whatever I was wearing before

No

I have too many

Yes

Not yet

I haven't been to one

Tea

Neither

Yes

Uhhh not disclosing that info

Maybe

Black and red

Yes

Closed

Yes

Idk

My sister

Vanilla

Regular

Gay sprinkles

No shirt lol

Black rose lace

Depends on the situation

NO

Yea

Yup

Nope

Nope

Reese's cup

"won't you kiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor"

Winter

Night

White

February

Sagittarius

I cried while texting my bestie at two am

[roshankumar7904800]

Coffee Market

Coffee Market Size, Share, Trends: Nestlé S.A. Leads

Premiumizing and Specialty Coffee Growing in Frequency

Market Overview:

The global Coffee Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% between 2024 and 2031, reaching USD 155.64 billion by 2031, up from USD 102.15 billion in 2022. Europe led the market in 2022 and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. Driven by rising coffee consumption, booming cafe culture, and growing demand for specialty and premium coffee products, the coffee business has been consistently expanding internationally. Changing consumer preferences define the sector; a drive toward sustainably, ethically made coffee beans reflects this transition. Moreover, raising the possibilities of the industry are innovations in brewing techniques and the introduction of ready-to-drink coffee goods.

DOWNLOAD FREE SAMPLE

Market Trends:

In the coffee industry, specialty coffee options and premiumizing are gaining the stage. Consumers looking for unique, premium coffee experiences are driving demand for handmade roasts, bespoke mixes, and single-origin beans. Growing knowledge of coffee among consumers—who are more picky about taste sensations, brewing methods, and origin stories—fuel this trend. Customary coffee shops and micro-roasters are growing to satisfy this demand for first-rate coffee experiences. Coffee manufacturers are also introducing limited-edition, seasonal varieties to capitalize on this trend. The premiumizing trend into at-home consumption is driven by consumers making daily rituals involving premium coffee beans and upscale brewing equipment.

Market Segmentation:

Arabica coffee continues to be the dominant offering on the global coffee market with the largest market share. Arabica beans, valued by both casual consumers and coffee drinkers for their smooth, nuanced flavor profile and low relative caffeine content compared to Robusta, have become even more important in the market as demand for premium, specialty coffee grows. Mostly grown in Latin America, East Africa, and certain parts of Asia, Arabica growth is confined to places with specific weather requirements. Arabica beans are a top choice in the coffee industry as its premium helps shops and producers to have larger profit margins.

Market Key Players:

The global coffee market is highly competitive, with major players focusing on strategic acquisitions, environmental initiatives, and product innovation to remain in their markets. Key companies such as Nestlé S.A., Starbucks Corporation, JDE Peet's N.V., The Kraft Heinz Company, Lavazza Group, The J.M. Smucker Company, Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc., Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., Tchibo GmbH, and Strauss Group Ltd. dominate the market.

Contact Us:

Name: Hari Krishna

Email us: hari.krishna@aurorawaveintellects.com

Website: https://aurorawaveintellects.com/

[buttercupkg66]

Three Major Brands Halt Advertising on Amazon’s Twitch amid Antisemitism Controversy

Bloomberg reports that AT&T, JPMorgan Chase, and Dunkin’ Brands have withdrawn their advertising spots from Twitch, the popular gamer-oriented streaming service owned by Amazon. According to insider sources, the decision comes amidst a controversy stirred up by a group of exiled Twitch streamers who allege that the platform is promoting antisemitic content. A fourth major sponsor, Chevron, is also reconsidering its future support for TwitchCon, the company’s annual convention, after its brand appeared in the backdrop of a contentious panel discussion at the event.

The allegations primarily revolve around Hasan Piker, a prominent Twitch streamer known for his pro-Palestinian stance and criticism of Israel. Piker’s detractors have launched a coordinated campaign accusing Piker and Twitch of enabling antisemitism on the platform.

[vawagencymarketing]

Social Media Trends and Online Marketing Strategies for 2024

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, 2024 brings with it new opportunities and challenges for businesses striving to stay relevant and competitive online. Social media trends are reshaping consumer behavior, while online marketing strategies are adapting to these changes. To thrive in this dynamic environment, marketers need to embrace innovation, leverage new tools, and implement strategies that resonate with their target audience.

This guide explores the key social media trends of 2024 and how you can align them with your online marketing strategies to maximize growth and ROI.

Why Social Media Trends Matter for Online Marketing Strategies

Social media trends act as a barometer for consumer preferences and behaviors. Staying ahead of these trends allows businesses to:

Engage Audiences Effectively: Tailoring content to match current preferences improves engagement.

Leverage Emerging Platforms: Adopting new platforms early can give brands a competitive edge.

Drive Conversions: Trends often signal new ways to connect with consumers, resulting in higher conversions.

Top Social Media Trends for 2024

1. Short-Form Video Dominance

Short-form videos have become a staple of social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. These bite-sized videos are engaging, highly shareable, and perfect for conveying a message quickly.

How to Leverage This Trend:

Create Snackable Content: Focus on storytelling in 15-60 second videos.

Prioritize Authenticity: Users prefer raw, authentic videos over overly polished content.

Experiment with Formats: Use behind-the-scenes clips, tutorials, or user-generated content (UGC).

Example:

Brands like Dunkin’ and Nike use short-form videos to showcase relatable moments and viral challenges, boosting brand awareness.

2. Rise of AI-Generated Content

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are transforming the way marketers create content. From automated image generation to AI-powered writing assistants, 2024 is set to see a surge in AI usage for social media marketing.

How to Leverage This Trend:

Personalize Content: Use AI tools to tailor posts to specific audience segments.

Generate Ideas Quickly: AI can help brainstorm captions, hashtags, and creative concepts.

Optimize Performance: AI analytics tools can predict which types of content will perform best.

3. Social Commerce Growth

Social media platforms are increasingly integrating e-commerce features, making it easier for users to shop directly through apps. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are leading the charge with shoppable posts, live shopping events, and in-app payment options.

How to Leverage This Trend:

Tag Products: Use shoppable tags to make it easy for users to buy.

Host Live Shopping Events: Showcase products in real time to engage with audiences.

Offer Exclusive Deals: Provide discounts available only on social media platforms.

4. Authenticity and UGC

Consumers are becoming more skeptical of traditional advertising and gravitating toward authentic content. User-generated content, reviews, and testimonials resonate deeply with audiences.

How to Leverage This Trend:

Encourage UGC: Create campaigns that invite users to share their experiences with your brand.

Feature Real Stories: Showcase genuine customer success stories.

Engage with Influencers: Work with micro and nano influencers for authentic brand representation.

5. Niche Communities

Social media users are increasingly gravitating toward niche communities and private groups, where they can interact with like-minded individuals. Platforms like Discord, Reddit, and Facebook Groups are thriving as hubs for these communities.

How to Leverage This Trend:

Join Relevant Groups: Participate in conversations that align with your brand.

Create a Community: Build your own group to foster connections with your audience.

Offer Exclusive Content: Provide valuable resources or insider tips to group members.

6. Sustainability and Social Responsibility

Consumers, especially Gen Z, prioritize brands that demonstrate environmental and social responsibility. Sharing your sustainability efforts on social media can boost brand loyalty and trust.

How to Leverage This Trend:

Highlight Initiatives: Share your company’s sustainability goals and progress.

Be Transparent: Address social issues authentically and avoid performative actions.

Collaborate with NGOs: Partner with organizations to amplify your efforts.

Online Marketing Strategies to Align with 2024 Trends

To maximize the impact of social media trends, your online marketing strategies must adapt accordingly. Here’s how:

1. Content Marketing Strategies

Content marketing remains at the core of online marketing, but the format and distribution channels are changing.

Tips for 2024:

Embrace Interactive Content: Quizzes, polls, and augmented reality (AR) filters engage users.

Diversify Platforms: Go beyond Instagram and Facebook to explore TikTok, LinkedIn, and emerging platforms.

Repurpose Content: Turn long-form blogs into short videos, infographics, and carousel posts.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO continues to play a crucial role in driving organic traffic to your website. In 2024, optimizing for voice search and AI-driven algorithms will be key.

Tips for 2024:

Focus on E-A-T: Build Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness in your content.

Optimize for Voice Search: Use conversational keywords and natural language.

Leverage AI Tools: Tools like ChatGPT or Jasper can assist in generating SEO-optimized content.

3. Paid Advertising Strategies

Social media platforms are refining their advertising features, offering businesses more precise targeting and interactive ad formats.

Tips for 2024:

Leverage AI-Powered Ads: Platforms like Meta (Facebook) and Google Ads now offer AI-based targeting.

Use Interactive Ad Formats: Try polls, carousel ads, and AR ads to engage users.

Focus on Retargeting: Re-engage users who’ve interacted with your brand but haven’t converted.

4. Email Marketing Integration

While social media is essential, email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to nurture leads.

Tips for 2024:

Personalize Campaigns: Use segmentation and behavioral data to craft tailored messages.

Automate Follow-Ups: Set up drip campaigns triggered by user actions.

Include Video Content: Embed short-form videos in emails for higher engagement.

5. Data-Driven Marketing

Leveraging data to make informed decisions is more critical than ever in 2024.

Tips for 2024:

Use Predictive Analytics: Forecast customer behaviors to optimize campaigns.

Track Metrics: Focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) like click-through rates, conversion rates, and ROI.

A/B Test Regularly: Continuously test different elements of your campaigns for improvement.

6. Influencer Marketing Evolution

Influencer marketing is shifting toward authenticity and value-driven collaborations.

Tips for 2024:

Focus on Micro-Influencers: These influencers have smaller audiences but higher engagement rates.

Collaborate Creatively: Co-create content with influencers for maximum impact.

Measure ROI: Use analytics to track the effectiveness of influencer campaigns.

7. Voice Search and AI Assistants

As voice search continues to grow, optimizing your marketing efforts for smart assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant is crucial.

Tips for 2024:

Use Long-Tail Keywords: Target conversational phrases users might speak aloud.

Answer Questions: Structure content to address common questions directly.

Optimize Local Listings: Ensure your business appears in local voice search results.

Best Practices for Success in 2024

Stay Agile: Trends shift quickly—adapt your strategies as needed.

Engage Consistently: Post regularly and interact with your audience to stay top of mind.

Invest in Analytics: Use advanced analytics tools to measure and refine your campaigns.

Focus on Storytelling: Create emotional connections through compelling narratives.

Conclusion

The intersection of social media trends and online marketing strategies is where businesses can find success in 2024. By embracing innovations like short-form video, AI tools, and social commerce, and aligning them with data-driven strategies, you can build a robust marketing approach that drives results.

Start by identifying which trends resonate most with your target audience, experiment with new tactics, and always prioritize delivering value. With the right strategies in place, 2024 can be your most successful year yet.

[michaelartappreciation]

Virtual Sketchbook 2

Journaling -

Unity and Variety - Unity refers to how blended together the elements of an artwork looks looks. Variety refers to how much the different elements of an artwork contrast. These two principles of design are opposites both referring to how much or how little the elements of a piece of art work together.

Example:

Balance - Balance refers to the state in which the elements of an artwork have reached a visual equilibrium. An artwork may gain balance through either symmetry or a lack thereof.

Example:

Emphasis and Subordination - Emphasis refers to the method by which an artist draws attention to an aspect of their work. Subordination refers to the method by which an artist draws attention away from an aspect of their work. Both principles are about drawing a viewer's attention. This is done by the usage of size, color, or contrast.

Example:

Directional Forces - Directional forces refers to direction to which an artist draws your eyes. This principle is used to draw the viewer's eyes to a focal point of the art piece.

Example:

Repetition and Rhythm - Repetition refers to the many usages of a visual element, which can create unity. Rhythm refers to the usage of a sequence of elements with differences.

Example:

Scale and Proportion - Scale refers to the comparison of the size of one aspect of an artwork to another. Proportion refers to the relationship between the different sized aspects of one whole piece.

Example:

2. Writing and Looking -

Figure 3.9a, Tobit Burying the Dead, by Andrea di Lione contains linear perspective, implied lines, focal points through high contrast colors, implied light, and implied mass.

3. Connecting Art To Your World -

I am someone who puts effort into what I wear when I go outside. Color always affects me in the process I go through when choosing an outfit. Whenever I want to wear one piece of clothing, I must find another piece that looks good with the first one. Influenced by TikTok, something I have recently gotten into doing when choosing an outfit is using the color wheel. I first choose the hue, the base of the color, I wish to wear. I then look for whatever color is directly across it, these two colors are complementary. I am able to choose a piece of clothing that is higher or lower in value to that complementary color. If I had to pick a color scheme for my life, it would be the near neutral color scheme consisting of beige, tan, brown, and other colors because outfits consisting of one of these colors are the ones I love to wear the most.

4. Art Project -

This comic tells the story of how whenever I am feeling down, it always makes me feel better to buy a Lego set and put it together.

5. Photo/Design: Logos -

Group 1. Layout

The logos in my everyday surroundings include on my clothes, my shoes, the cars on the road, the stores I pass by, my devices, the food I buy, and the items I carry. The logos and brand names I see around me in my life include GAP, H&M, Levi's, Nike and the Nike swoosh, the NB of New Balance, Adidas, Converse, Crocs, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, Jansport, Swiss Gear, HP, Dell, Apple, Lego, Extra, Walmart, Publix, Dunkin, Coca Cola, Pocky, Lays, Doritos and Marvel.

I know about these logos and brand names because they are on the clothes and shoes I wear, the stores I pass by, the online media I consume, the food I buy, and on the cars I see on the road.. A logo or brand name such as those listed above can be found quite literally anywhere in everybody's lives and on anything they interact with. Logos help to distinguish the item that you see or interact with, and it lets the company that made it tell you, "I made this, and this is my brand, so you should buy all the other things I made". That logo was put together by a group of people who set out to highlight their brand as being one of a kind, building off of pre-existing typefaces to make something of their own.

[church-capital]

Guerilla marketing agencies in Rhode Island

The Rise of Guerilla Marketing Agencies in Rhode Island

In the evolving world of marketing, businesses continually seek innovative strategies to capture the attention of their audience. Traditional advertising, while still effective, often falls short in creating the kind of buzz that guerilla marketing can achieve. This unconventional, creative, and often surprising approach to marketing has found a firm foothold in Rhode Island, with numerous agencies specializing in guerilla marketing techniques. This article explores the landscape of guerilla marketing agencies in Rhode Island, their unique approaches, key players, and notable campaigns that have captured the imagination of the public.

What is Guerilla Marketing?

Guerilla marketing is an advertising strategy that focuses on low-cost, high-impact tactics to engage consumers in an unconventional way. The aim is to create a memorable experience that encourages word-of-mouth and viral sharing. Guerilla marketing can take various forms, including street art, flash mobs, unexpected events, and innovative use of public spaces.

Why Guerilla Marketing?

Cost-Effective: Often less expensive than traditional advertising methods.

High Impact: Designed to be surprising and memorable.

Viral Potential: Engaging and unique content that encourages sharing.

Memorable: Creates lasting impressions on the audience.

Key Guerilla Marketing Agencies in Rhode Island

Nail Communications

Location: Providence

Overview: Nail Communications is renowned for its inventive guerilla marketing campaigns. The agency combines creative thinking with strategic planning to create impactful experiences.

Notable Clients: Lifespan, Alex and Ani, and Cox Communications.

Unique Approach: Nail Communications focuses on storytelling and emotional connections, making their campaigns not just seen but felt.

RDW Group

Location: Providence

Overview: RDW Group is a full-service agency that integrates guerilla marketing into its comprehensive marketing strategies. They emphasize data-driven approaches to maximize impact.

Notable Clients: Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, University of Rhode Island, and Dunkin'.

Unique Approach: Combining traditional marketing with unconventional guerilla tactics to create cohesive and engaging campaigns.

Duffy & Shanley

Location: Providence

Overview: Duffy & Shanley offers a blend of advertising, public relations, and guerilla marketing. The agency is known for its creative and strategic prowess.

Notable Clients: Samsonite, BankNewport, and Foster Grant.

Unique Approach: Leveraging deep market insights to develop disruptive and memorable campaigns.

Figmints Digital Creative Marketing

Location: Pawtucket

Overview: Figmints specializes in digital and guerilla marketing, offering services that range from web design to experiential marketing.

Notable Clients: Swarovski, Hasbro, and Johnson & Wales University.

Unique Approach: Utilizing a digital-first mindset combined with creative guerilla tactics to engage audiences in unique ways.

Notable Guerilla Marketing Campaigns in Rhode Island

Lifespan's Health Awareness Campaign

Agency: Nail Communications

Campaign Overview: To promote health awareness, Nail Communications set up interactive installations in public spaces, encouraging passersby to participate in health-related activities.

Impact: The campaign generated significant public engagement and media coverage, raising awareness about health issues and Lifespan's initiatives.

Alex and Ani’s Pop-Up Events

Agency: RDW Group

Campaign Overview: RDW Group organized a series of pop-up events across Rhode Island to promote Alex and Ani’s new jewelry line. The events featured live music, interactive displays, and on-the-spot customization.

Impact: The pop-ups created a buzz on social media and attracted large crowds, significantly boosting brand visibility and sales.

University of Rhode Island’s Student Engagement Campaign

Agency: Figmints Digital Creative Marketing

Campaign Overview: Figmints developed a campaign to engage prospective students using augmented reality (AR) experiences on campus tours.

Impact: The AR campaign increased campus tour participation and enhanced the university’s reputation for innovation.

The Future of Guerilla Marketing in Rhode Island

The future of guerilla marketing in Rhode Island looks promising as businesses continue to seek innovative ways to stand out. Key trends that are likely to shape the future include:

Digital Integration: Merging digital technology with guerilla tactics to create hybrid experiences that can be shared online.

Personalization: Tailoring campaigns to specific demographics for greater relevance and impact.

Sustainability: Utilizing eco-friendly materials and practices in guerilla campaigns to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers.

Interactive Campaigns: Increasing use of interactive and experiential marketing to engage consumers directly.

Conclusion

Guerilla marketing agencies in Rhode Island are pushing the boundaries of traditional advertising, creating memorable and impactful campaigns that resonate with audiences. From interactive installations and pop-up events to augmented reality experiences, these agencies are leveraging creativity and innovation to help brands connect with their audiences in meaningful ways. As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, Rhode Island’s guerilla marketing agencies are well-equipped to navigate the changes, delivering cutting-edge campaigns that drive engagement and achieve remarkable results. For businesses looking to make a lasting impression, partnering with a guerilla marketing agency in Rhode Island offers the expertise and creativity needed to stand out in today’s competitive market.

[greekfood9]

Franchise Opportunity in Restaurant Industry

Franchising in the restaurant industry offers entrepreneurs a proven business model with built-in brand recognition, operational support, and marketing resources. Here are some popular franchise opportunities within the restaurant industry:

Fast Food Chains: Fast food franchises such as McDonald's, Subway, Burger King, KFC, and Taco Bell are well-established brands with widespread recognition and a global presence. These franchises typically offer a menu of quick-service favorites like burgers, sandwiches, fried chicken, and tacos.

Casual Dining Restaurants: Casual dining franchises offer a relaxed atmosphere and a diverse menu of comfort food favorites. Examples include Olive Garden, Applebee's, Chili's, TGI Fridays, and Outback Steakhouse. These franchises often cater to families, groups, and individuals looking for a sit-down dining experience.

Pizza Chains: Pizza franchises are popular options for entrepreneurs interested in the restaurant industry. Brands like Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Little Caesars, and Marco's Pizza offer delivery, carryout, and dine-in options with a variety of pizza flavors and toppings.

Coffee Shop Chains: Coffee shop franchises appeal to consumers seeking specialty coffee beverages, baked goods, and light snacks in a cozy atmosphere. Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Tim Hortons, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Caribou Coffee are prominent coffee shop franchise options.

Fast Casual Concepts: Fast casual franchises offer a blend of fast food convenience and casual dining quality, often with a focus on fresh, customizable menu options. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panera Bread, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Shake Shack, and Jimmy John's are examples of successful fast casual franchises.

Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert Chains: Ice cream and frozen dessert franchises are popular choices for entrepreneurs seeking a sweet treat concept. Dairy Queen, Baskin-Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery, Menchie's Frozen Yogurt, and Rita's Italian Ice offer a variety of frozen desserts and customizable options.

Healthy Food Concepts: With a growing emphasis on health and wellness, franchises offering healthier food options are gaining popularity. Examples include Subway, Smoothie King, Saladworks, Freshii, and Sweetgreen, which offer fresh salads, smoothies, wraps, and other nutritious choices.

Ethnic Cuisine Concepts: Franchises specializing in ethnic cuisine offer unique flavors and culinary experiences to customers. Thai Express, Panda Express, P.F. Chang's, Moe's Southwest Grill, and Noodles & Company are examples of franchises offering Asian, Mexican, and other international cuisines.

Breakfast and Brunch Concepts: Breakfast and brunch franchises cater to morning diners seeking hearty breakfast options, brunch specials, and specialty coffee beverages. IHOP, Waffle House, Denny's, First Watch, and The Original Pancake House are popular choices in this category.

Food Truck Franchises: Food truck franchises offer a flexible and mobile option for entrepreneurs interested in the restaurant industry. Brands like Cousins Maine Lobster, The Halal Guys, Kona Ice, and Cousins Subs offer food truck franchise opportunities with proven concepts and support.

Before investing in a restaurant franchise, entrepreneurs should conduct thorough research, evaluate financial requirements, and consider factors such as location, competition, and market demand. Working with a reputable franchise consultant and seeking advice from current franchisees can help entrepreneurs make informed decisions and maximize their chances of success in the restaurant industry.

[foodalliedinfoglobal]

Frozen Food Packaging Market Size, Companies Profiles, Segmentation and Forecast by 2031 | AMR

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Frozen Food Packaging Market, by Type, Product Type, and Material: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2031" The frozen food packaging market was valued at $38,826.20 million in 2020, and is estimated to reach $63,980.50 million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 5.03% from 2022 to 2031.

Top Players Profiles:

The key players profiled in the report include Amcor Ltd., Ball Corporation, Bemis Company, Inc., Crown Holdings, Inc., Graphic Packaging International, Inc., International Paper Company, Pactiv LLC, Sealed Air Corporation, Sonoco Products Company, and WestRock Company. The other key market players (not profiled in this report) in the value chain include American Packaging Corporation, Berry Plastics, Caraustar Industries, CM Packaging, Emmerson Packaging, Flair Flexible Packaging Corporation, Graham Packaging Company Huhtamaki N.A., LINPAC Group, and Sabert Corporation.

Access Full Report Details @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/frozen-food-packaging-market 

Various types of packaging, such as boxes, bags, cups & tubs, trays, wraps, pouches, and others are used to package frozen food products. Packaging not only extends the shelf life of the product but maintains its nutritional value as well. Rapid rise in popularity of convenience, increase in the purchasing power, and changes in lifestyle in emerging economies (China, India, and others) largely supplement the growth of the frozen food products, such as frozen vegetables, fruits, potatoes, meats, sea food, ready meals, and soup, which in turn, fuel the growth of frozen food packaging market. Moreover, the growth in demand for attractive and innovative packaging in the food industry for product differentiation is also one of the factors that drives the frozen food packaging market growth.

Increase in popularity of fast-food restaurants, also known as the quick service restaurants (QSRs), majorly boosts the growth of the global frozen food packaging market. China and India stand out in terms of frozen food consumption, owing to their large population base and growth in number of QSRs such as McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Subway, and Dunkin’ Donuts, which contribute to the growth of the frozen food packaging industry. The business of QSR chains in India is expected to grow eight-fold, owing to rise in disposable income and increase in urbanization, which lead to higher consumption of packaged frozen food. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), by 2025, about 530 million people in India are anticipated to reside in urban areas, which offers an attractive opportunity towards the global QSR chains. This is expected to open potential opportunity for the manufacturers of frozen food packaging. Increase in demand for frozen ready meals due to increasing female participation in the workforce and changing family dynamics in developing regions, such as Asia-Pacific accelerate the growth of the frozen food packaging market. Sustainable packaging, low cost of manufacturing, and implementation of advanced technologies are few of the Frozen Food Packaging Market Trends suppoting the growth of the market worldwide.

Key findings of the study

Frozen food packaging market analysis predicts that Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 7.8% during the forecast period, followed by LAMEA.

Frozen food packaging for the ready meals segment accounted for the highest market share in 2021.

Plastics-based frozen food packaging accounted for the highest Frozen Food Packaging Market Share in 2021 and is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 5.7%.

Europe generated the highest revenue, accounting for approximately two-fifths share of the market in 2021.

North America frozen food packaging market size is anticipated to grow at a decent CAGR from 2022 to 2031.

[flyingfreakingunicorns]

Discussion: Layout - Group 1 Logos

Looking around me I am surrounded by so many logos. Dell computer, Aquaphor ointment, Apple phone, bath & body works lotion, Kleenex tissues, Nike shoes, Healing Hands scrubs, Pandora bracelet, Tiffany & Co. necklace, Keurig coffee machine, Dunkin Donuts coffee pods, Paper mate pen, Sharpie highlighters, Purell hand sanitizer, and Stanley water bottle.

Logos are a symbol created to easily identify a brand. looking at the logos within my surroundings, I know about these logos because I use them on a daily basis and majority I recognize because I see advertisements daily for them. Logos are a valuable identifying marks, corporations spend time calibrating them to be as memorable and distinctive appearance. Logos help consumers recognize the brand, who they are and what they stand for.

[mallscom]

Subway sandwich chain completes $9.6 billion sale to Roark Capital

Subway founders sold their company for $9.6 billion.

Subway founders sold their company for $9.6 billion. Fast food restaurant chain Subway has announced the sale of its business to investment firm Roark Capital. It is known that the transaction amount during the auction amounted to $ 9.6 billion. Roark Capital will pay $9 billion of that amount upfront, with the remaining amount contingent on achieving certain financial milestones.

Subway, founded in 1965 as a small sandwich store, has since grown into one of the largest fast-food chains in the United States. Throughout its history, the company has been owned by the families of its founders, Peter Buck and Fred DeLuca. The WSJ reported on the possible sale of the company earlier this year. At the time, Subway was valued at more than $10 billion.

The Subway chain currently has about 45,000 locations worldwide. According to CEO John Chidsey, the deal with Roark Capital will result in another 23,000 locations being added to the chain in the coming years, primarily through franchising. It's important to note that all of Subway's current management team, including the CEO, will continue to work for the company after the deal is finalized.

Roark Capital is one of the most prominent players in the U.S. food industry. In 2020, Roark-backed restaurant company Inspire Brands acquired Dunkin' Brands Group for $8.8 billion. Inspire Brands also owns Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-In and Jimmy John's, making it one of the largest restaurant groups in the U.S. with more than 32,000 locations. The total value of Roark Capital's investment portfolio is estimated at $37 billion.

This article was originally published on Malls.com

[yuna-writes]

Politics

Usually, I don't get involved into politics, but then I spent the past several weeks analyzing why politics is needed...because it's everywhere. I think most of the problems I always struggled with is my self worth and self esteem. You can imagine a normal life consist of people being treated fairly and equally. Real life is nothing like this...from my observation.

I always tried to figure out why the kids in my school didn't approach me when I was the new kid in school. My impression at that time was that the kids were either mean or stupid. As an adult, I realize cliques or groups are formed by politics. If you think about it, school has a social hierarchy too. The rich kids are viewed favorably while the poor kids aren't viewed positively or even recognized. Kids who were extroverted were more popular than the introverted. People care about the status of who you are compared to the qualities you have. It's just the reality of it.

Admitting yourself to be a new kid is signaling people around you that you have no friends, have no power, and have no influence over other kids. Therefore, other kids have no reason to hang out with you because they can choose to hang out with kids who will improve their own status. It doesn't matter if you are smart, kind, and thoughtful person. If you are poor, unattractive or somehow ranked lowest in the totem pole of the social hierarchy then people generally don't see the value in you. It might seem unfair, but I think the competition makes people operate this way.

The psychology is weird to me, why do people feel so attached to the culture or brand of someone or something more than the content of their character? Just a while ago, a small Dunkin Doughnut cafe closed down and my co-workers were disappointed over the change. The new cafe that took over sold higher quality coffee but people ignored the new cafe. It made no sense to me because Dunkin Doughnut coffee taste pretty terrible lol. Their coffee is cheaply made, but people care about the status or brand of Dunkin Doughnuts. The new cafe didn't have a strong brand or reputation, even though the coffee bean was higher quality and coffee tasted better.

I feel like people judge other people's character similarly. It doesn't really matter so much If I call myself friendly, smart, attractive etc. No one cares about my opinion. What they do care is what other people think about me, which is really fascinating to me. I always avoided politics because playing the game felt really superficial, but that's how you gain supporters and friends. If you win the friendship of rich people, their approval will influence other people to like you too. My question is, how many people actually go about their lives...making "friends" and other relationships, but not really get to know who they are in reality? We have an idea of who our friends are, but we'll never know their identity was constructed by the opinion of others. We may have been easily as influenced by the next person.

It's like people love Dunkin Doughnuts because their friends love it too. The positive emotions associated with it overcomes the shitty taste underneath the coffee beans.

[tommybprompts]

Redesign

5A

The main purpose for my redesign was to give the product a more "luxurious" feel. I make my own coffee at home, so whenever I purchase it from another source, I'd like to feel more justified in my purchase with something of a little higher quality than a drink in a plastic bottle.

My group also talked about how vast the selection of coffee and energy drinks are, so I wanted to make something that was a little different from what other brands had, while still making it recognizable as Dunkin'

5B

I think the main pull for my redesign is market-pull innovation and meaning-making. The intent of the redesign is the make the product "feel" more expensive based just on the design of the label. This ties in to human centered design as it changes the perception of what the consumer may think about it. I haven't seen too many products rebrand themself to look more luxurious and instead focus on playing on the pre-existing image, so I don't think it falls into being a familiar design solution.