#I also like the challenge of being at the forefront of a revival moment that is almost entirely made up of nerds (affectionate)

[meichenxi]

Speakers of non-English languages of the UK and Ireland wanted!!

Since it’s World Mother Language Day today (February the 21st), I’m thinking of doing a series of posts on the native non-English languages of the United Kingdom and Ireland, with some information and short interviews. 

For this, I am looking for both native speakers/signers and learners (with or without parentage/heritage of the language in question) of the following languages:

- Scottish Gaelic

- Irish

- Welsh

- Any sign language of the United Kingdom or Ireland (e.g. BSL)

- Any other minority language indigenous to the United Kingdom or Ireland. By this I mean primarily spoken only within the UK or Ireland as a minority, or spoken very little elsewhere. For example: Cornish, Manx, Shelta, or Anglo-Romani, not languages like Polish or Bengali that are minority within the UK but have a significant speaker base elsewhere. (I am aware that I am fishing for some of these *cough* Cornish *cough*...but you never know!)

- Any language or variety that you speak that you feel is linguistically / culturally distinct from Standard English that you would like to inform more people about. For example: Shetlandic, Scots, Ulster Scots. 

I don’t have anything finalised yet, but if you would be wiling to speak to me about some text-based interviews for the sake of qualitative and informative tumblr posts, please send me a message!

(NB: if I have used any names of languages that are not preferred, tell me and I will change them. I don’t know a lot about the non-Celtic and non-Germanic languages here, which is part of my reason for wanting to make this series of posts in the first place.)

Please reblog so more people see this!

- meichenxi

[insanityclause]

Zawe Ashton is sorry that she is tired. In her dressing room at Manhattan's Jacobs Theatre, at what would be the end of a working day for many, she still has to go over last night’s notes with her director Jamie Lloyd, and get into hair and make-up. Within hours, she will hit the stage for another sold-out night of her Broadway run in Betrayal, the Harold Pinter revival, which will make her a New Yorker until the end of the year.

“I feel like I'm going mad, but I think I'm really into New York. [When I speak], I can already hear my American upward inflections!” she giggles. The play, which also stars Charlie Cox and Tom Hiddleston, has come to New York after a sold-out turn in London in a year that has cemented 35-year-old Ashton's transition from emerging ingenue to bonafide leading lady. In person, she's warm, wickedly funny, and whip-smart — a combination that goes some way to explaining how she's built a career not just in front of the camera, but as a writer, director, playwright, too. Just don't call her an overnight success — it's been nearly 30 years in the making.

Ashton was born and raised in Hackney, a culturally diverse part of East London at the forefront of the city's gentrification. "Cut me open, and I do bleed Hackney," Ashton says. “I remember when cab drivers wouldn’t even go there but for me, there was just local people establishing community and establishing identity. It was multiculturalism, it was biracial, it was anarchy.”

She grew up the eldest child of an Ugandan mother and English father. She describes her younger self as a hyper child. “I just wanted constant stimulation.” Her mother, busy with three kids, enrolled Ashton in the Anna Scher Theatre, an affordable drama class, whose notable alumni ranges from Hollywood crossovers Daniel Kaluuya and Kathy Burke, to Eastenders favourites Sid Owen, Patsy Palmer, and Natalie Cassidy.

“I went in, and there were like three or four baskets on a tiny little stage. One said wigs, one said hats, one said costumes, and I thought to myself, 'I’m going to love this.'" Ashton went on to spend 14 years with the company. "Every Friday night and every Saturday afternoon for 14 years! I think back now, what a disciplined young person that I was. I think I’ve always needed something like that to keep me anchored.”

Small roles in Game On and The Demon Headmaster followed, along with appearances in British staples like The Bill, Casualty, and Holby City, but her success led to bullying at her north London school. “I was different from others at a time when you're supposed to just be blending into that wall,” she says. If there's one thing that's clear, it's that Ashton doesn't do blending in. "I never understood this thing of finding yourself or finding the truth — I couldn’t give a sh*t about the truth," she says.

Earlier this year, she released Character Breakdown, a book about her experiences as actor and the challenge of darting between make-believe and everyday life. "I've never bought into the idea that there is this one self," she says. "I started acting as a 6-year-old child, when my brain was still extremely fragile. I didn’t have hope in hell if I didn’t want to have fractured selves — that moment was over by the time I’d finished my first day on a film set."

Ashton's breakout role didn't come until years after that first day. In 2011, when she was 27, she debuted her role as the hilarious and sensational Vod in Channel 4's now cult classic, Fresh Meat. “When I got it, I had just done an independent movie called Dreams Of A Life,” she recalls. “That was a one-two punch. I had my independent film world covered and I suddenly had this cult TV world covered, and that was it. My head was above the parapet, and things have just been on the up since then."

Like many actors of her generation, she's only down with the "up" when it's about the work. "I’ve never been bothered about fame," she says. "Even when I was at Anna Scher Theatre, you were never allowed to use the words 'star' or 'fame,' they were like swear words. I want to be a successful actor, never a famous star. Because one is an organic meal that will sustain you, and the other is toxic.”

That does complicate things, because whether she's conscious of it or not, Ashton is a star. Her most recent work has seen her share the screen with Toni Collette in the BBC drama Wanderlust, about a therapist trying to save her fraught relationship with her husband,  played by Steven Mackintosh. She also had a lead role in Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw, a quirky thriller set in the contemporary art world where she plays Josephina, the object of affection, alongside an idiosyncratic art critic called Morf, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Her wattage is rising, and unsurprisingly, the designers have come calling. Erdem, Mulberry, Regina Pyo, and Roksanda Illincic all want to dress her, but as Ashton discloses, the style part doesn't always come naturally.

“People talk about ‘effortless style’ but effortless is so far away from any of my experiences of that sort of thing." She now works with stylist, art director, and brand consultant Steph Wilson for her big appearances. "She's not a celebrity stylist, which seems to be a very different breed of person," Ashton explains, "but my stylist is a big reason I am able to cope with events." Their first collaboration — a voluminous, tiered Stella McCartney gown that Ashton wore on the 2016 Olivier's Red Carpet — set the tone in their relationship. "We affectionately called [it] the lampshade dress," Ashton recalls. "It was a complete risk, and a risk that I'd been told again and again and again not to take. 'Don’t go there, you're not well known, you're not famous, unless you’re famous you shouldn’t wear things like this.' I just said, 'I want to dress like the artist I feel,' and that was that."

Ashton might sound assertive, but she swears she is only now coming into her own. “How long have we got to talk about women of colour and imposter syndrome,” Ashton asks, now in her hair and make-up prep. “It’s a real thing, and many people have it. It’s, I think, a particular characteristic of the overachiever. Because you're bottomless, you never think what you’ve achieved is enough. There are lots of little dots, as I approach my 30th year as an actor, that I'm sort of really looking to connect so I can move on to the next stage of my life.”

Part of that next stage is taking up more space. "When you work in film sets, when you’re working on projects that are male dominated, you are always treated as the last priority," she says carefully. "There have been times when, like in sex scenes or whatever, I’ve just been expected to get on with it. No conversation, no time wasting, you're just supposed to minimise your space, and let the money-making industry crack on because time is money." Not any more. "I'm going to call abuse when it’s abuse, and I'm going to call micro-aggression when it’s micro-aggression," she says of on-set behaviour she once might have let slide.

In October, in both Hackney and New York, she will stage For All The Women Who Thought They Were Mad, a play she wrote some 10 years ago when she part of the Royal Court Young Writers group. The play uses statistics to platform the cultural biases at work in medical institutions in Britain that are specifically stacked against women from the African diaspora. “Women being over medicated, unnecessarily being sectioned into their families, losing their jobs. It’s all really shocking, so I wanted to write something for all the women I’ve known [who] thought they were alone. It’s taken so long to get off the ground because it was considered an exposé by every theatrical institution in London, and [I'm] so glad we are doing it," she adds. "A lot of women for a long time have been told to find their voices, but I don’t agree. We have voices. We just need a platform. And we need the words."

One word Ashton is thinking about a lot these days is "motherhood." “I would like to have a baby,” she says slowly. "I’ve never said that before, but women never say it." Despite various rumours about her love life, she emphasises that the baby is a goal, not a current reality. "It's not in the works, and it's not being planned," she says. "There's absolutely not one single detail that I can mention, but the next thing on my agenda is building towards that stage, and I feel very proud of that."

Ashton is aware that the path in that direction will be unreasonably complicated. "The widespread shame of motherhood is criminal, and it needs to stop," she says. "The world can never improve if you disrespect the people that bring life." Still, Ashton is rolling up her sleeves. "I feel like this career has so many connections to my childhood desires, and now I want to figure out what my adult ones are.”

[gumnut-logic]

Favourite Character Meme

From @the-lady-razorsharp

Rules: Name your ten favorite characters in any fandom, then tag ten friends to do the same.

Okay...

Jim, John, Jack, John, Michael, John, Tony, and Virgil. Hmm, that’s not ten, but these are the only ones up there on a pretty much equal standing.

Jim Kirk - Star Trek: The Original Series & The Alternate Original Series. This is my original fandom. This is where is all started. The first fandom I encountered way back in 1986 (and yes, I am halfway through my lifespan, told you I never grew up :D ). He was in my first fanfic (which will never see the light of the internet because omigod bad - though you can see my second one - Goodbye, Spock - both of which were physically printed in my local club’s fanzine all those years ago). My history with ST is a little different to some. I entered through the James Blish books as at the time the show was not being shown on TV at all, videos were scarce and expensive and ST was not trendy, not at least until ST:TNG came to play a few years later (well, try four years, it took forever for anything to get onto this side of the planet back then). Fortunately there were books in libraries and I was an avid reader (and as a budding librarian, I had my ways :D ). So due to this, William Shatner wasn’t in the equation when I first met Jim Kirk. In fact, when I first saw ST:TMP I stared at the screen and asked what TJ Hooker was doing in the captain’s chair?! 

Jim Kirk is your typical hero. Sacrifices himself to save the day, has great friends who would do the same for him, and a honkin’ great big starship to back him up. What’s not to like? :D

John Crichton - Farscape In the early 2000s before the new Battlestar Galactica changed sci-fi storytelling for good, Farscape was at the forefront. It bent the rules that BG later broke completely and that single astronaut stranded on the other side of galaxy found himself in a world nothing like the safe Star Trek he probably grew up with.

John Crichton is a geek, but a geek with spine and a good set of leather pants, long black jacket and a big gun to match. At heart he was a gentle scientist, but he was forced to adapt and kick ass. But through everything something in him stayed true and the world around him which at first found him simply a weak oddity eventually mapped itself to him. His weaknesses became his strengths, his associates of suspect motivations became his loyal friends and together they took on the universe.

And the leather, c’mon...

Jack O’Neill - Stargate SG-1 Oh, poor Jack. Stargate fandom was where I truly waded into fandom. I started really writing here back in 2003 (yes, I’ve been on FF.net that long). I met some fantastic friends through Stargate that had both me and them travelling thousands of miles to meet each other. It was also where I learnt to whump. As I said, poor Jack :D i wrote my first novel length fic in Stargate all 75,000 words of it. Took three months, most written by hand as I couldn’t type fast enough - by the time I finished it, I could touch type. 

Jack is the only character I can claim to still be older than me, just (it was a momentous year when I passed Jim Kirk’s age of 34, our characters are forever young, we are not). He is the goofy colonel, typical tough guy with a soft heart, but will of steel who always did what he thought was right, willing to make the necessary sacrifices just like Jim Kirk, and again with the team who would all do the same for him.

John Sheridan - Babylon 5 Okay, I admit it, I was a Scarecrow and Mrs King fan long before Bab 5 was even dreamt up. but the beard in season 4 that did it :D I’ve never written in this fandom, basically because it is pretty much a closed loop story and the actual show did a pretty good job of  venturing where fandom would have gone anyway :D

John was another military type with a strong moral backbone (would you believe that I’m not a military type, but all these guys seem to be - what that says about me, I don’t know :D ). Again he is soft around the edges hence the whole Delenn storyline. Maybe for me it is a combination of kickass, doing what is right and squishy insides :D

Michael Knight - Knight Rider I loved Knight Rider as a kid and in 2004 when I discovered the tiny little KR writing fandom online, I instantly fell in love. Real Life at the time was a bit of a challenge and KR was a haven for me. I wrote a lot of KR fanfic and it and the people I met in that fandom still hold a special place in my heart. Michael and Kitt saw me through some tough stuff and I returned the tough onto poor Michael. If I was feeling awful, he got it. I used my writing as a vent zone and managed to create something out of it. This was also the fandom that introduced me to RP. And yes, I RP’d Michael Knight, you can find my long abandoned journal here. I also managed a bunch of other characters including a several hundred year old version of KITT.

I really should say Michael and Kitt, because just like Kirk and Spock, one character isn’t much without the other. A hothead ex-cop who, once again, has a moral core to stand up for the small guy and drives a smart car, literally. The both of them together are quite capable of kicking ass. A not so typical buddy cop show with so many writing possibilities. I built up my writing skills in this fandom and eventually started writing original works (which were all brought to a grinding halt by the event of motherhood in 2008, thus followed the lack of writing for the following 10 years...until a month ago).

John Sheppard - Stargate Atlantis I’m mentioning this John because I fell into SGA quite hard about three years ago, but with the exception of one unfinished attempt at fic (which you can find on FF.net), i haven’t really written anything in this fandom. I like a bit of John and Rodney interaction and because I know SG-1 so well, and John is really just a younger version of Jack in many ways, it was inevitable.

John is military (again ::sigh:: ), but not military. He breaks the mold and tends to be just outside what he should be. Again a softy, not as confident or as steely as Jack O’Neill, but with his own code and strengths.

Tony Stark - Marvel Cinematic Universe Well, in all that writing desert, this is where I have been. There is enough fic in that massive fandom to keep an addict fed for years, literally, I’ve tried it. I have never written any Avengers fic. There is no need to, and really with young children, a job and a small business there really wasn’t time.

Tony Stark is a geek with money. He has troubles, he’s socially messed up in places, but under it all he does his best. He cares, sometimes too much, and is willing to step up to do what is necessary. He is far from perfect and he screws up big time, but he continues to try. There is also a load of angst and whump attached to this poor character, even in canon. (I think the last movie sent me into shock, I really shouldn’t have seen it while recovering from appendicitis, it hurt). And he is not a soldier, he has made that perfectly clear.

Virgil Tracy - Thunderbirds Are Go And here we are today. About a month a go this fandom hit me like freight train and in the process revived my writing skills, created this journal and drew me back into fandom. I still don’t have time to write, but somehow I have.

Out of all the characters above, Virgil is the most different. He has an artistic side which I can understand, being an artist myself (no, I don’t play the piano or any other instrument, unfortunately). He’s a softy, he’s kind, a bit of a dork, he’s calm (much unlike all of the above), he has four brothers he would do anything for, is certainly well built for a cgi character...and he drives a big honkin’ aerotank :D Pairing him up with Scott leads to interesting conversations and the whumpfactor...I’m so sorry, Virgil. But I think at the core of it is the hero again. The Tracy boys go out to save people. There are no guns, no animosity, they are just trying to help because they care. And who couldn’t fall in love with that?

I’m not going to tag anyone, but feel free. it is an interesting way to share info about yourself :D

[orbemnews]

The Small Business Administration’s Gaffes Are Now Her Job to Fix Isabella Casillas Guzman, President Biden’s choice to run the Small Business Administration, inherited a portfolio of nearly $1 trillion in emergency aid and an agency plagued by controversy when she took over in March. She has been sprinting from crisis to crisis ever since. Some new programs have been mired in delays and glitches, while the S.B.A.’s best-known pandemic relief effort, the Paycheck Protection Program, nearly ran out of money for its loans this month, confusing lenders and stranding millions of borrowers. Angry business owners have deluged the agency with criticism and complaints. Now, it’s Ms. Guzman’s job to turn the ship around. “It’s the largest S.B.A. portfolio we’ve ever had, and clearly there’s going to need to be some changes in how we do business,” she said in a recent interview. When the coronavirus crisis struck and the economy went into a free fall last year, Congress and the Trump administration pushed the Small Business Administration to the forefront, putting it in charge of huge sums of relief money and complicated new programs. It is by far the smallest cabinet-level agency, with an annual operating budget that is typically less than half of what the Defense Department spends in a day. It was long viewed within the government as a sleepy backwater. But when the pandemic sent unemployment claims soaring, Congress responded with an unprecedented plan: Give businesses money to keep their workers employed. Just seven days after President Donald J. Trump signed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in late March 2020, the Small Business Administration began accepting applications for the Paycheck Protection Program. Agency employees describe a blurry month of round-the-clock work to manage the program’s launch and early days. The agency’s 68 district offices, which normally field a few hundred inquiries a week, received 12,000 phone calls a day from desperate business owners. A rotating group of a dozen people camped in an ad hoc war room at the mostly empty headquarters to write the program’s rules and revamp technology systems to handle the onslaught of applications. Despite lots of speed bumps — including confusing, often-revised loan terms and several technical meltdowns — the program enjoyed some success. Millions of business owners credit it with helping them survive the pandemic and keep more workers employed. Economists are skeptical about whether the program’s results justify its huge cost, but Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden both embraced the effort as a centerpiece of their economic rescue plans. As the pandemic stretched on and the economy plunged into a recession, the Paycheck Protection Program morphed into the largest business bailout in American history. More than eight million companies got forgivable loans, totaling $788 billion — nearly as much money as the government spent on its three rounds of direct payments to taxpayers. But there were pitfalls, some of which will take years to unravel. Fraud is a major concern. Thousands of people took advantage of the rushed program’s minimal documentation requirements and sought illicit loans, according to prosecutors, to fund gambling sprees, Lamborghinis, luxury watches, an alpaca farm and a Medicare fraud scheme. The Justice Department has charged hundreds of people with stealing more than $440 million, and scores of federal investigations are active. (During her confirmation hearing, Ms. Guzman promised that she would “prioritize the reduction of fraud, waste and abuse.”) There were other problems. Female and minority business owners were disproportionately left out of the relief effort. A last-minute attempt by Mr. Biden to make the program more generous for solo business owners came too late to help many of them. This month, a new emergency popped up: The program ran short of money and abruptly closed to most new applicants. “There was no warning,” Toby Scammell, the chief executive of Womply, a company that helps borrowers get loans, said of the latest debacle. His company alone has more than 1.6 million applicants caught in limbo. The Paycheck Protection Program is far from the agency’s only challenge. It’s also managing a complex and evolving system of low-interest disaster loans of up to $500,000 and new grant funds, created by Congress, for two of the hardest-hit industries: the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant for live-event businesses and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. (The hotel industry is pushing for its own version.) Today in Business Updated  May 25, 2021, 2:46 p.m. ET Each required the agency to create policies and technology systems from scratch. The venue program has been especially rocky. On its scheduled start day, in early April, the application system completely failed, leaving desperate applicants hitting refresh and relying on social media posts for information and updates. “I turned to my associate director and said, ‘I figured something like this would happen,’” said Chris Zacher, the executive director of Levitt Pavilion, a nonprofit performing arts center in Denver. The Small Business Administration revived the system three weeks later and has received 12,200 applications, but it does not anticipate awarding grants until late May. People lower in the tiered priority queue, including Mr. Zacher, fear that even if their claim is approved, they won’t see a check until June or July — a major hurdle for venues trying to plan their summer and fall seasons. “It’s maddening,” Mr. Zacher said. “A program that’s supposed to help save indie venues is putting us at a disadvantage because of all these delays.” Ms. Guzman, 51, hears those criticisms relentlessly — the response threads to her agency’s social media posts have turned into primal screams of pain. (“I SERIOUSLY CANNOT TAKE THIS WITH SBA ANY LONGER” is one of the milder replies.) She said she understood the urgency. “It’s definitely unprecedented — across the board, across the nation — and we are seeing multiple disasters at the same time,” she said. “The agency is highly focused on just still responding to disaster and implementing this relief as quickly as possible.” This is Ms. Guzman’s second tour at the Small Business Administration. When President Barack Obama picked Maria Contreras-Sweet in 2014 to take over the agency, Ms. Guzman went along as a senior adviser and deputy chief of staff. The women had met in the mid-1990s. Ms. Guzman, a California native with an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, was hired at 7Up/RC Bottling by Ms. Contreras-Sweet, an executive there. “I was always impressed with her ability to handle jobs with steep learning curves — she has a quick grasp of complex concepts,” Ms. Contreras-Sweet said. Ms. Guzman spent her first stint at the agency focused on traditional projects like its flagship lending program, which normally facilitates around $28 billion a year in loans. This time, the job is radically different. “We’re working closely to identify opportunities to build up a strong agency to meet this demand of scale,” she said. “The S.B.A. needs to be as entrepreneurial as the small businesses we serve. What I really, truly mean by that is that a more customer-first approach.” The agency is testing a new “community navigators” program, which will fund local organizations, including nonprofits and government groups, to work closely with businesses owned by people with disabilities or in underserved rural, minority and immigrant communities. It’s an expansion of a grass-roots effort by several nonprofits to get vulnerable businesses access to Paycheck Protection Program loans. Ms. Guzman said she was bullish about that effort and other agency priorities, like expanding Black and other minority entrepreneurs’ access to capital — but first, like the clients it serves, the Small Business Administration has to weather the pandemic. And to do that, it has to stop shooting itself in the foot. The much-awaited second attempt at opening the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant fund was preceded by one final debacle: The agency announced — and then, less than a day before the date, abandoned — a plan to open the first-come-first-served fund on a Saturday. For those seeking aid that has not yet arrived, the incident felt like yet another kick in the teeth. Ms. Guzman said she was aware of the need for her agency to overcome its limitations and rebuild its checkered reputation. “This is a pivotal moment in time where we can leverage the interest in small business to really deliver a remarkable agency to them,” she said. “I value being the voice for the 30 million small and innovative start-ups around the country. What I always say to my staff is that I want these businesses to feel like the giants that they are in our economy.” Source link Orbem News #Administrations #Business #Fix #Gaffes #Job #Small

[theoptimisticpatriot]

A fractured Union

Prof Michael Keating’s new book State and Nation in the United Kingdom was published on 9th April. I was invited to make some remarks at a pre-publication discussion at the PSA’s annual conference in March 2021. I focussed on what Michael describes as the ‘loss of the polyvalent union’.

I understand the idea of a polyvalent union as one in which different conceptions of the union could co-exist, in tension but relatively successfully, for many years. England might imagine the union to be the extension and expression of its interests, while Scotland could be confident that the union recognised and respected its distinct nationhood. I’ll argue that the decline of this sophisticated, nuanced, knowingly asymmetric approach to the union was as British politics — a politics that was recognised across the island of Britain — came to an end. While things have come to a head in the past decade or so, the end of British politics was probably inevitable once challenges to the central union state began to be framed as national aspirations from the 1960s onwards.

Although the end British politics may have been inevitable, the particular way it happened stems from the mistaken belief of New Labour (the government of which I was part) that it was possible both to satisfy national aspirations in Scotland and Wales and to leave the governance of the union and of England unchanged.

By the end of British politics, I mean the idea that politics is primarily played out between British political parties contesting the same issues across all the mainland nations. Some parties may have been stronger in one place than another, but it was still a British politics.

2005 was the last election in which one party won in all three mainland nations. In the last three, each nation has been contested by different parties, and different parties have won. Elections to devolved assemblies have reinforced the differences. (Of course it must be acknowledged that the extent of the collapse of British politics amongst the electorate has been exaggerated by the FPTP electoral system. First past the post both gives Conservatism a dominance it does not deserve in England and underplays the support for both the Conservatives and Labour in Scotland.)

It is true that the 1980s were dominated by a Conservative government very largely elected in England. But, at the time, this didn’t seem to challenge the idea of British politics. Scotland and Wales had no democratic national institutions. Labour dominated Welsh and Scottish Westminster representation and, as the second largest party in England was clearly a Britain-wide opposition. It could aspire to win in England and form a UK government, as it duly did.

But in the 1980s many Scottish Labour politicians like Gordon Brown reframed Scottish Labour politics as one of national aspiration, rather than class and capitalism as an earlier Labour might have done. The problem was not the devolution that Labour introduced — this was almost certainly inevitable in one way or another — but the idea that an unreformed British state could be maintained to govern both the union and England. (The other flaw in the plan was that having fostered the sovereign right of the Scottish people to decide how they wished to be governed, Labour neglected to imagine that they might do so by rejecting Labour itself).

As the SNP rose, Labour collapsed and the Scottish Conservatives remained weak, British politics was over. Wales is not as starkly different in its Westminster representation, perhaps, but its post devolution politics is a much more distinct political space than it was in 1997. Support for independence is at record levels, particularly amongst young people.

Polyvalent unionism could prosper when England’s Anglo-centric view of the union afforded sufficient space to the contesting view of the union held in Wales and Scotland. The combination of devolution and the collapse of British politics has thrust England’s size and weight to the forefront. This has created — or at least made far more obvious — the asymmetry of a Conservative union government that rests on English support, carries little legitimacy in the devolved nations, and which on all domestic policy is solely focussed on the government of England. It has made Anglo-centric British unionism the unchallenged and narrow unionism we see today.

Despite the efforts of some Scottish conservatives, we see this in everything from the flag branding — the idea that British national identity can trump all others — to the willingness to put England’s interest in Brexit ahead of the interests of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales in their membership of the union. It ignores the evidence that being British is neither the dominant identity in any part of the union, nor does it carry the same meaning in each part of the union.

The recent report from Lord Dunlop has some sensible suggestions on intra-union cooperation and coordination, but the underlying thinking is still that the union would be more popular if it were explained better and there were more cheques with union jacks on the back.

The problem is exacerbated by the continuing adherence of UK Labour (in practice the name given to Labour in England) to an Anglo-centric British unionism. This leaves the party without a coherent understanding of the union and in a position where it rarely defends its own devolutionary history. In major speech on the union in December 2020 Keir Starmer did not mention Wales nor that fact that Wales had a Labour first minister. His exclusive use of the union flag to denote patriotism is not so different all those flags in Conservative ministers’ homes. The party does not engage with how England is governed and will not mention England even when talking only about England.

In Scotland, Labour wants to be the best party to represent Scotland within the union whilst seeking some form of devo-max with spending and welfare underwritten by England’s union state. That sounds rather like what it did 20 years ago but more of it. Welsh Labour has been clearest in warning that the union will only continue if it can be reformed.

If there is any merit in my analysis, what are the chances of a more subtle unionism returning?

The preconditions would seem to be a return to a form of recognisable British politics.

Perhaps the SNP will have Parti Quebecois moment — the PQ declined markedly having narrowly missed its target of independence — if it fails to deliver independence, and Labour rather than another party fills the gap. Those are two very big ‘if’s’

A more proportional electoral system for Westminster would give a more accurate picture of the support for major parties across the union and re-establish some sense of Britain wide politics. However, as none of the major parties would long survive the political fragmentation that would follow it’s not clear who has an incentive to put it forward. But why would the Conservatives change an electoral system that delivers union power to them? It looks a better bet for Labour, and many of its members support it, but it might also shatter Labour’s tense coalition into several different parties.

The establishment of a distinct machinery of government for England, perhaps with a dual mandate, would go some way to breaking the equation of the union with England, and require mechanisms to bring England’s relationship with the rest of the union into the open. England’s size and relative financial will always give it the whip hand, but a more consensual and consultative approach could meet the needs of all parts of the union better.

The ideological dominance of Anglo-centric British nationalism makes it hard for either party to contemplate delineating England’s government from that of the union. Both persist in the illusion that giving more powers to Mayor Andy Burnham in Manchester or Mayor Andy Street in Birmingham resolves the entirely different issue of England’s government by the union state.

It is easier to think of reforms that might offer revive the older unionism a new future than the political circumstances in which they come about. If any union has a future, it probably cannot be the return of the old via a revitalised British politics, but it’s refashioning as new relationship between the different parts of the union.

We are left with the uncertain power of a crisis: if the union looks all but lost; if the next election produces a UK majority for a group of parties but no English majority; if the vague rumblings of English regional discontent turn into a coherent clamour for change in England’s governance and funding.

By the time the depth of the crisis is deep enough to force change it may be too late to bring about change.

[jeremystrele]

Times Like These… With Artist And Designer Beci Orpin

Times Like These… With Artist And Designer Beci Orpin

Times Like These

by Sally Tabart

Prolific Melbourne artist and designer Beci Orpin is one of the hardest working people we know. She and her husband Raph Rashid, a Melbourne hospitality legend, and their teenage sons Ari + Tyke are bunkering down in Brunswick right now during this time of social distancing.

Although Beci has worked as a freelancer for a huge part of her career, it’s been over six years since she’s actually worked at home – and it’s been a bit of a challenge getting back into the swing of things. We spoke to Beci about reviving her home office situation, her fears for their family’s restaurant businesses, and hopes for reassessing humanity, when all this is over.

Hey Beci! Thanks for being the first person we’ve profiled in this new series. How has your work been affected by the current state of the world?

I had heaps of travel booked for April and May – I was travelling for more than a month in America, Perth, Sydney and Byron Bay and that’s been all cancelled. I’ve been pretty quiet with work and thought I might just not have any…but I have gotten some jobs over the last few days. They’re all kind of based around health, which is great because it’s something that is still at the forefront of what people are willing to spend money on and invest in right now. It’s not manic yet, but I was kind of preparing for it to be nothing for a few months. And it still might be.

What are your workdays looking like at the moment? 

I’ve got a terrible home office so I’ve just been trying to get it together, I can’t work in a space that I don’t love! I’ve been trying to make it into something that I actually want to spend time in. I try to keep a routine, but I am finding myself very easily distracted.

What are you getting distracted by?

The washing, the dishes! Also, my kids are hungry ALL the time!

What’s the biggest challenge for you guys right now?

Definitely Raph’s business [Beci’s husband, Raph Rashid, owns Juanita Peaches, Beatbox Kitchen, All Day Donuts + Taco Truck in Melbourne]. It’s terrible for Raph. It’s awful. He had every event cancel that was booked, so that was just crazy. We’re definitely trying to adapt in any way possible by offering alternatives – coming to meet people, leaving food at people’s doors, we’re hoping that will get us through because a lot of the restaurant staff are on contracts so obviously we’d really love to keep as many staff as possible. Trying to ensure that it survives will be huge, and to try to keep supporting staff who we feel a responsibility to.

We’re pretty active, so I think it’s going to be kind of hard to stay inside. I’m kind of excited too though. I had such a mental start to the year, I am kind of excited to stay inside. Although I’m sure that will last three days and then I’ll be losing my mind.

Yeah! I hope I don’t go crazy or drive my boyfriend insane whilst we’re both stuck in the house together..

Yeah! I’m super grateful that we have a garden so I can go outside, and we’ve got a big park across the road so we can still go there.

Is there anything you’re feeling optimistic about?

I feel optimistic about, at the end of it, what people will learn from all this. About reassessing humanity. I don’t know. I hope it will give people a better definition of consuming, and what they can be grateful for in a modern society.

I think really good things come out of dark times – it’s historical. It will be horrific, but I hope there are some good things.

I’m hopeful for that too. There hasn’t been a time where everyone in the whole world is going through the same thing, and there is potentially a lot of power in that. 

Yeah, I think so too. It’s a bit of a wake-up call I think. I go up and down. At one moment I think everything’s going to be fine, and then the next minute I’m like oh my god, are we going to be okay?

Who or what is bringing you good vibes right now? 

The internet is really good right now, I think you can see all the benefits of social media, which might be one of the positive things that come out of this too. I’ve had so many great conversations with people already, there are so many incredible memes. I’ve been chatting to this girl in LA on Instagram (@gentlethrills) who has been doing all these cool projects at home, and I am so here for it! It’s what prompted me to do my home office, I’m loving all that kind of stuff because it’s really easy to put on the internet.

What are you listening to? 

I find it hard to focus on podcasts, but there are lots of cool Covid-19-themed playlists on Spotify right now I’ve been listening to!

What are the things you’re trying to do to stay sane on a daily basis?

I’ve got heaps of creative projects. There’s an embroidery that I want to do, I want to make some pillowcases, rearranging furniture… all of those things make me really happy. I’m planting vegetables at the moment, meditation, try to keep a routine for me and the kids, try to not watch too much on-demand TV. I’m thinking of doing virtual dinner parties where we Skype a whole bunch of our friends and eat dinner together.

What businesses are you trying to support right now?

Anything local. If you do have money and you’re not too scared to spend it, then definitely just find a homewares business and buy some stuff for your house! I just bought a vase from Ellie King. We’ve got some savings so we are kind of in the position to help people, so I’m kind of just like, can I subscribe to a weekly flower subscription from Hattie Molloy? Can I get a voucher and do it later? I’m trying to support friends who run their own businesses and who I know would really struggle. Also people like Tsuno, a subscription service for pads and tampons etc. I just really want to keep my local community going. Who can we buy from and what we can do to support people?

At the time of publishing Beci + Raph’s businesses, Juanita Peaches, Beatbox Kitchen,All Day Donuts + Taco Truck are open for pick up and delivery. Please consider supporting these legends if you’re in Melbourne!

[imm-blog1]

4/12/11 NOTES FROM GM HIP-HOP SURVEY SESSION 3 of 3

4/12/11 NOTES FROM GM HIP-HOP SURVEY SESSION 3 of 3 (also included at bottom is session 1) [ To see the rest of this, if it gets cut off, go to hearingtheword2.posterous.com/41211-notes-from-hip-hop-su… ] HIP-hop session #3 of 3 (B. Santelli leading) : [he’s reviewing some books as I arrive] …Tricia rose, hop hop wars..I took her place at rutgers….another..written colloquial….book..new history of.."big payback"…also nelson George..fellow journalist..jersey,,opinionated, but well-written.I was a rollng stone writer.. ‘500 greatest albums"..not many hip hop..very white..mtv did a series on greatest hop hop..wanted to go over greatest emcees. 10) ll cool j, 9 eminem, 8) ice cube 7) big daddy kane 6) krx-1 5) nas 4) rakim (william griffin, aka ra) 3) notorious b.I.g, aka biggie, 2) tupac 1) jayzee [conversation]..rock roll hall fame..they put us rolling stone writers..together..sppsd to pick 500..sppsd to be fun, but..by wed we were @ eachothers throats..who’s missing? No females. Lauren hill? ..[what about lil wayne?] …& the albums? 10) pub enemy, nation of millions 9) tupac 8) 7) nwa 6)jayzee 5)run dmc raising hell 4) biggie, ready to die, 3). ..2)? 1)paid in full (eric b. & rakim [spare, stripped down..rhyming, flawless,..his fav, raising hell ..6 of 10 from gangsta rap era ..[has this guy abandoned anglos..has he caved? Or is he speaking to his primary audience ? Only a handful of whites in the room of maybe 50]…hip hop orig was new york centric..like 50’s in memphis & orleans..but now things changing..begin. here in L.A. large af am pop in late 80’s..lot of kids rapping , deejaying..public enemy (long island), ..why so amazing..first class..am bl roots of hip hop ..we mentioned gil scott herron..changing..g.master flash.. some dies..pub enemy brings it back.chuck d. Knows his …pub enemy makes a political mess. ..from a white perspective..bob dylan…Fear of a black planet..nation of millions..huge..brought over to white…white intells..get more intrsted..then nwa and tupac..gangsta rap..west coast..using what pub enemy doing back east..more outrageous & angry than pub enemy.. …What we hear..chuck D….at rock of fame..had him come & lecture ..he said it was a refl of blues..language previously couched..in blues..now able to scream it..listen to tupac, … in harlem..best pedigree..black panther..he was deep into it..early life a mess..what tupac … shakur.this man had a..he was a 5 tool player….genuine anger..he was intelligent..bitter but intelligent..most important..listen to cadence of words..anyone can rhyme..but cadence…..Eminem..too many words..don’t apprec his stuff as much..tupac best ever..right in middle..perfect storm..east west..1990’s..mid 90’s..bitter rivalry east v west ..ironic …and tupac …then —– killed..neither murder solved..//Why a feud ? East jealous? Tupac..death row l.a..; bad boy east..so 2 diff schools forming.. Then puff daddy..sean combs (aka diddy, p diddy, puff daddy, p daddy) .west… tupac….2 "m words" .1) MEDIA..hip hop mags..source..vibe..’88 mtv raps ..2) MONEY ..early 90’s..can make money..on radio…mtv..also white element..beastie boys..middle class white kids in suburbs.. …Bold personalities..incendiary..tupac murdered..later biggie (notorious B.I.G, Real name Christopher Wallace, aka biggie smalls) killed..media gets hold of it ..society says its out of control….when Biggie dies..album..double platinum.. Also the tree..acid jazz, socially conscious hip hop, funk jazz, trip hop, some from england ..england didn’t embrace hip hop at first ….Arrested development..? Hip hop? Some music lost relevancy..blues, big band ..glenn miller..ragtime..some become "historical"..mid-90’s..hip hop not dying, but branching out..moody blues..I hated it…but difference between hating versus respecting [I actually liked moody blues & saw them @ hollywood bowl]…Who else ? Outcasts, wootang, lords of underground, onyx,.[several others shouted out] .hip hop 90’s taking over…Now beyond nyc & LA..master P…new orleans..tree exploding..geographic connections..diff sound..good businessman..he also played b-ball..also atlanta…in south, but northern sensib.,,,also houston..health..multi-billion $ business..mainstreaming of hip hop,,,gangsta rap dies out…invention, re-invention…..also, rise of detroit..eminem..major figure…brings detroit to forefront..making detroit hip..and then kid rock ..real..metal..fringe genres..coming together w/ hop hop..limp biscit, korn,…Today? Hip hop becoming irrelevant? ..making lots of money..stop changing..less experimentation..less bold, ..fashion from hip hop …u know u become mainstream when grammy recognizes u..heresy for me to say but….Recording academy..being in biz..producer, writer, ….[Plays vid eminem & elton jon..given hip hop’s homophobic culture..this was seminal] [ was it a seminal moment as the beginning of the END of hip-hop, as it lost its verve?] ..2006 nas comes out saying hip hop dead..didn’t want to stay stuck in rut…had nas here….rock hall of fame brings in hip hop, grammy awards..world knows hip hop …After we did whitehouse thing..state dept..calls..cultural diplomacy..obama revived it.. they asked me to organize hop hop to go to muslim countries.[hip hop to muslim countries as a form of diplomacy ?! Please explain how that would appease muslims or appeal to muslims who already think of America as godless] .as did armstrong & ellington 50 yrs ago …I couldn’t run it….Where is hop hop now ? Ring tone..commercialize..sound same..its on life support now..homogenized..mentions nicky menaj opening for britney spears in upcoming tour..360 degrees ..piracy..economy ….Country music still buys cd’s ..loyalty..not download..not w/ hip hop….need audience with means to support act ..when economy of art form goes away..trouble ..younger gen doesn’t feel the concept of spportin.."////BELOW are the NOTES from SESSION 1 of 3 (I missed session 2 ) ——————————–

3/29/11 NOTES FROM HIP-HOP SURVEY COURSE (1 of 3) taught by Bob @ GM: "…learn more abt music forums….like hip hop..whats a middle age white guy teaching hip hop..I’m a musical historian…af am music my specialty..not hip hop.this class not like the elvis class.this is a survey course..3 periods as an overview..will have other courses..hip hop america’s pop music now last quarter century..its a survey class..people who live this culture..if u want to add, embellish..can never learn too much..my expertise. Af am music..also reggae..after hip hop comes bob marley exhibit..a hip hop museum ready to launch..in bronx..I’m on board…maybe russel simmons on board..anybody see him here a few weeks ago….others coming chris blackwell, ..pbs special..kate..@ whitehouse..kate did this exhibit..don’t need to agree..its interpretive..subjectivity..otherwise just read in book ..used to teach @ rutgers..this is not academia..try to do this in colloquial way..not preach to u..meant to be entertaining..some here b/c I asked u to come..I didn’t come quickly to hip hop..even tho I was there in the early 70’s…think of 20th century..america’s century..come to age as superpower..after fall of comm ..also musically, no country can touch what we have given to the world musically in 20th century..separate bl & wh culture..look @ af am contribs..as to amt..# of new forms..brilliant artists..overall impact.entire world..not all clear cut..jazz black music form..but dig down.others contrib too ..but in general..louis armstrong et al..blues blues jazz, soul, funk, r & b, disco, hip hop, bee bop swing, cool, fusion,,of all these forms..all given due..endorsed exported..except hip hop until now…revol music..challenges..polit..most recent..hasn’t gotten its due.celeb gospel blues…maybe too controversial to get credit..still…what made it so..give & take of african cult..also anglo irish..also racism..extra tension..in nutshell..bl & wh celbr..where r we now..first time..af ams bouncing …haven’t had major music..lately..last was grunge..late 80’s, 90’s..music slowed down ?ess imp..25% decrease in concert att…here to ..soul music..motown..also…and atlantic..golden age..also rock roll..then 1970’s..chronolog..musically ’63 to ’73..that’s the 60’s music era..hip hop..not 60’s ..bronx..how go from soul ..then..to funk…I don’t know re hip hop in ’73 ..have to wait 6 years..before recorded artifact..rappers delight ..sugar hill gang..why in this ? .69 71 motown losing lustre..stevie wonder..migrated..motown leaves detroit comes here..but not like it used to be..sly & family stone..loses sensib as..couple key bands & artists..2 huge..gil scott herron ..last poets..black..music…."when revol comes.."..gangsta rap..not on radio..last poets..many blacks didn’t even know of this music..marvin gaye..more known..cnsdrd greatest of all times..70-73 ..clip.."far too many of u dying.."…[red hat]..also "sounds of philadelphia"..the oj’s..signed in cleve but rcrded in phillie.."love train" ….revolution vs love..this is backdrop to bronx ..no q..rock surfaces memphis ..why hip hop fr bronx..music to be created & sustained..not just artist but audience..in bronx..it was like beirut or baghdad..suffered incredibly..ny in bad condition..bronx pushed aside..gangs ..drugs..south bronx..maybe mother cabrini projrcts chicago..maybe south l.a….become so isolated..create in a vacum w/o outside interference or ack..seattle..grunge..a seam..pearl jam, nirvana..already formed b/f world knew..a lot carribeans settled nyc ..jamaicans..brooklyn..1962 jamaica indep..many got out..s. bronx…late 60’s..kid campbell..clive ..from jamaica..brings..reggae..sound systems..everything outdoors ..disc jockey….toast over dub plates..jamaicans come to usa with this..clive campbell..longs for jamaica..wonders what he’s doing in bronx..sound system..he didn’t know he was creating history…invit..come to dj cool hercs party set up jamaica style..earliest hip hop…rap..part of af am cult..verbal battles..here at herks party..af ams and jamaicans together..’73..sudden concept of spinning records..unique way, art form..74 75..another frm..also hispanic & gay..disco..gets no respect…but it was important..w/o disco no m. Jackson, no usher..in manhattan..records..disc spun..if white grate dead, almond bros,..underground movement, black hispanic gay..dance again..mixing..never leave dance floor..77 sat night fever..mst imp of all time..j. travolta..exported disco cult..drugs..all this happ.. bee gees..trammpps…burn baby burn..disco inferno..red & white outfits..early hip hop would borrow from.some day will do disco shoe exhibit….or rush..sex pistols.springsteen..u had to select what u would embrace….people dressed their music..

Then bob marley..new sensib..lively up yourself..all this happening..rappers delight..sugarhill gang….soul train on tv..imp for black..this was seminal..just happened to catch it on camera..not the best

Three main entities..curtis blow..then up to run dmc ..hip hop is developing a consc style.that will explode…grand wizard theatre..scratching..then grand master flash. Popularized it..then .barbada (?)..flash a seminal giant..

Dj & mc..back then dj..was the guy..age of mc in future..dancing why they’re spinning records..bee boy bee girl..bboy break dancing..some of best break dancers were latino ..

Tagging..grafitti..becomes part..cey dams..tagging did a piece here ..been dodging cops for 3 decades…there’s a f you mentality in bronx..didn’t want to be part of discos..taggers..socs & psys studied.. I was in zurich..most expensive place in world..cab..graffitti wall..

[He periodically makes some of his prejudices obvious..re "conservative zurich"..wouldn’t apprec it in des moines iowa.."no offense to des moines"..let’s "rock n roll"..(it was a term for sexual icourse)..he’s talking to white christians….jazz also fr black culture ..means sex icourse.."

Posted by VANDERKOK on 2011-04-14 00:16:15

Tagged: , curtis blow , run dmc , grand master flash , grand wizard theatre , tagging , graffiti , nas , black planet , ll cool j , eminem , big daddy kane , mtv , krx-1 , public enemy , rakim , gangsta rap , diddy , puff daddy , p diddy , sean combs , arrested development , outcasts , wootang , nwa , shakur , tupac , ice cube , beastie boys , lords of underground , jayzee , lil wayne , santelli , grammy moody blues , bronx , russel simmons , sugarhill gang , last poets , marvin gaye , ojays , clive campbell , dj cool herc , saturday night fever , travolta , disco , bee gees , trampps , disco inferno , burn baby burn

The post 4/12/11 NOTES FROM GM HIP-HOP SURVEY SESSION 3 of 3 appeared first on Good Info.

[riewebster]

It’s been exactly a week since I’ve written this. In that time, I’ve given serious consideration to editing or completely deleting it, replacing it with something far less personal. Sunday’s New York Times article, titled ‘Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration, felt like a kick in the teeth so immediately after taking the risk of outing myself as transgender at school. While I trust those I attended class with, I know that this was far more personal for me than I had originally intended to share.

This article brought all of my raging insecurities and fears to the forefront. I spent much of Sunday morning crying while simultaneously trying to figure out my best course of action; should I continue on the road that I’ve started, with eventual plans to start hormone replacement therapy, get top surgery, change my name, and legal gender markers, or should I slip quietly back into the closet for the rest of my life, closing the door against the inherent risks of being transgender in a society rife with hatred and fear for people like me?

The thing is, I don’t want to. I am absolutely terrified by what my future holds. I could put not only myself, but also my partner, at risk just for existing as myself. But I want to be openly, unabashedly myself, with no fear that someone will want to kill me when I start using the public bathroom that aligns with my gender. If I don’t come out, don’t transition, I know it will slowly eat at me, gnawing at me until I’m raw and ragged, an emotional husk at a loss to define who I even am. It’s an ugly place to be and I’ve been there. I’m teetering on the edge right now, but I didn’t fall in and I’m finally getting my footing back under me. 

You see, I found something in the Galapagos that I didn’t expect. Each trip has done this for me, served as a reminder that people change and that change is okay, change is good. The Galapagos in particular though, gave me back something I thought I’d lost; faith in other people. Faith that good people are fighting for good causes, that there is hope, even when things seem impossible, there is reason to hope. 

Invasive species are devastating. How do you fight back against something like the invasive blackberries ravaging the Galapagos, growing tall and strong? I watched as my classmates and leaders pulled on gloves and buckled down to an impossible task. One plant at a time, pulling it, tossing it aside, somehow clearing space. I could tell, those moments when they realized what was happening, what they were achieving. There was surprise, pride, a renewed sense of purpose. 

Listening to the rangers at the tortoise breeding centers. They had hope, hope of reviving species on the brink of extinction. One baby tortoise at a time. They scoffed at the idea that it didn’t matter. They were making a difference and they knew it. It might seem small and insignificant, but all of the small insignificant things build up to momentous changes. As outsiders, we see those big milestones, but miles are walked by single steps one after the other.

Yes there are challenges, and yes there are fears, but there is also hope. Hope and faith that things are getting better. Improvements and changes are not linear, are never smooth. Sometimes the miles are crawled, a few steps forward and a stumble backward. While society and this administration scare the shit out of me right now, I have to remind myself of the good people doing good things to effect change. 

I can see it in the small things: a classmate’s assurance and encouragement to leave the original post up, as is, a friend’s nine year old daughter telling off her classmates about their teacher and returning home to her mom, telling her “we need to have a protest because transgender people are treated badly and polyamorous people can’t marry.” It’s in knowing that that kid has been brought up knowing nothing else and she is absolutely incensed that people would have a problem. It’s in watching family and friends reach out to my transgender cousins to check in on them after the news broke. Each of these was a small thing, in and of itself, but taken as a whole, was indicative of a broader shift towards protecting and loving people for who they are, as they are.

We cannot live a life dictated by fear; that’s not living in a true sense. There’s a certain courage in having hope. Courage, hope, and faith in things inescapably getting better, all because of good people doing good things.  

Times of Change: Galapagos

I feel lost. I know where I am. I know who I am. And yet, I don’t feel like me.

I always seem to be in a precarious place before these trips. Teetering on the precipice of me - of finding myself and losing myself. But perhaps that is where you can truly piece together a sense of self, a marriage of who you were, who you are, and who you want to be.

More than anything, that is what the Galapagos was for me; finding ways to redefine myself and being surprised by what I learned. While delving into the complexities of the theory of evolution, I latched on to the knowledge of the enduring inevitability of change. Small changes, small actions have big impacts.

I sit here, months after returning from this trip and thinking of everything we talked about and shared. I realized that this trip gave me something I desperately needed. It was a reminder. There are incredible people in this world doing incredible things. They are kind and compassionate, driven, excited, and driving forces of change in the people and places around them. Sometimes, they don’t even see it themselves. Their passions rekindled my own, and I promised myself that I would do something about it when I returned home, that I would make more of those small changes so that I could be more unabashedly, unapologetically me. 

The emotional whiplash hit me once I got home. The plans, the excitement, the change, all came to a grinding halt as I fell back into the same patterns that trapped me. Depression reared its ugly head and dragged me down in a spiral that I have been crawling and fighting my way back out of since. There are moments when I hold true to those promises I made myself, though, and they stand like a bastion against the onslaught of my own mind. Working in the fossil prep lab, my friend and I discovered tooth marks indicative of scavenging on Stegosaur ribs. It was like a gasping breath of air and sunlight; getting to share that moment in the lab and with visitors alike. In being more true to myself, I have begun the slow, terrifying process of coming out as transgender to friends and family.

I am not who I want to be, not yet, but I know who I am and who I will become. While my time in the fossil prep lab is infrequent, it is a much needed reminder of who I can be; a confident, passionate, excited educator who delights in discovery. I am currently in the process of getting into therapy, for both depression and navigating my transition, as a means of guiding myself towards the changes I want to make in my life. Change, like evolution, is slow, even as we mark its passage and well after those changes have been set in motion.

[acrystalssoul]

Ruby wasn’t exactly sure when she fell for Y’shtola, but she did. She thinks it was before the crystal braves coup d’état. When she laid eyes on the scions’ mining garb, that’s probably when. Almost distracted her from what was going on, it just suited Y’shtola perfectly.

From there, Ruby just payed more attention to the miqo’te. The way she spoke was just elegant and clearly portrayed her intelligence, but also conveyed a kindness. The desire to protect, to save the realm. Ruby couldn’t help but be drawn to it.

Then the coup happened. The sultana was poisoned, the scions betrayed and separated. Lyse, then Yda, and Papalymo got lucky compared to the rest, they escaped after buying the rest of the scions time. The others weren’t as lucky. Thancred and Y’shtola stayed back during the escape to give Ruby and Minfillia a better chance to escape. But in doing so cause Thancred his ability to manipulate aether and Y’shtola to get absorbed into the Lifestream. Then Hydaelyn took Minfillia away, leaving Ruby to escape alone.

She thought she lost all her allies that night, Alphinaud was nowhere to be seen.  Her emotions where all over the place. She couldn’t even process Y’shtola’s supposed death over all the others. The night was just much.

Then it was revealed that all of them escaped, to varying degrees.  Y’shtola was ‘found’ first, and once revived Ruby felt relived. If one survived the rest could too.  Of course, the fact it was Y’shtola they found first lifted Ruby’s spirits.  She was elated to see Y’shtola again, even if was under those circumstances.  And the gear Tataru made for Y’shtola just made her stand out more to Ruby as well.

After her revival Ruby, subconsciously at first, tried getting closer to Y’shtola.  Spending her time with the scion where possible, letting down her guard and trying to get to know her.  To her surprised, Y’shtola also wanted to get to know her.  Not that there was much to tell; Ruby grew up as an orphan and turned to adventuring when she was old enough, taking up the lance and making her way to Gridania, where she caught the attention of Yda and Papalymo.

Not that she kept to the lance, Ruby found that she liked being the ‘shield’ of a adventuring party.  Taking to the Great Sword, Axe, Sword and Shield before settling on the Gunblade; the right balance of offence and defense.

But all in all they grew together throughout their time dealing with the troubles of the realm.  From the Asians and the Empire, though to dealing with the Dragons and the troubles in Ishgard.  Even helped one another when Alexander popped up in Dravania.

Then the Ala Mhigan revolution came to the forefront, to which the Scions of the Seventh Dawn would assist. But doing so lead to Papalymo’s sacrifice, using up his life force to briefly contain Shinryu, a dragon primal summoned by the Griffin, the leader of the revolution at the time. We managed advert disaster by using Omega, an apparent Allagan weapon, but the loss of Papalymo was still felt.

On top of that it’s turns out Yda wasn’t who she said she was: She is Yda’s younger sister Lyse. To the surprise of none of the scions apparently. Despite that, they used the opportunity to push into Ala Mhigo, with Lyse taking over the revolution, determined to get her homeland back.

After making it through the border between the Black Shroud and Gyr Abania, Ala Mhigo, the scions pushed through the fringes into the resistance base at Rhalgr’s Reach. But that success was short lived.

The Garleans raided Rhalgr’s Reach, with the Emperors son, Zenos yae Galvus, leading the raid. It was a hard fight. Ruby wasn’t strong enough at the time, she barely held her own. Not only that only she could stand against Zenos, who wounded Y’shtola in the raid and overpowered Lyse.

They only survived because Zenos grew bored and the Eorzean Alliance arrived. With the battle ended Ruby turns her focus to Y’shtola, who was badly injured and unconscious.

She was very quickly attended to however, the scion was an important member of the group after all. None the less Ruby was filled with worry til Y’shtola woke up.

When she did, Ruby stayed by her side in her free time. She was relieved that Y’shtola was fine, or as fine as one is while recovering. So relieved that she let slip how worried she truly was.

To which the scion couldn’t help but tease her for. Ruby couldn’t help but go red in the face before turning away and mumbling the reason why. That she was in love with Y’shtola, that she lost her once she doesn’t want to lose her again.

It was now Y’shtola’s turn to blush, not knowing how to respond to the declaration. She hadn't really thought about Ruby like that. That's not to say that she didn't feel something between them, but she's been focused on the mission; to defeat the Asians and bring peace to the realm.

Ruby didn't have the courage to look up the Scion while they processed her confession, she was sure she heard her. She didn't mean to, but the words flowed out of her before she could stop herself.

Her thoughts where distracted by a hand being placed on hers. She looked up to see the other miqo'te's hand on hers and a soft smile on her face. The look in Y'shtola's now silver eyes is filled with nothing but softness. Ruby was held in suspense, she had no idea how the scion would react. Would she reject her? That wouldn't surprise Ruby, they were close but no that close. Right?

However Y'shtola surprised the Warrior of Light, gently squeezing her held hand.

"It warms my heart to know you care for me so." Y'shtola states gently after a content sigh. "And... And it's good to know the feeling is mutual."

Ruby stared at Y'shtola, who still held her gaze with the soft expression. Ruby was speechless, her face growing redder by the moment. Her confession just poured right out of her and here Y'shtola was reciprocating it. Ruby stammered as she tried to respond, getting a chuckle then a wince out of other miqo'te.

"Mayhaps we should continue this at a later time." The scion states, with a pained smile. "I am still recovering after all." She adds, giving the Warrior of Light's hand another gentle squeeze.

Ruby nods with a smile on her blushed face. "Of course. I'll leave you to recover then."

"Indeed. We shall continue this later, My Crystal."

Ruby perks up, her face growing even redder than it was before smiling and leaving the room. Only looking back to catch smile of the Scion. Smiling in return she continues to walk out, going back to helping the resistance push into Ala Mhigo.

She never dreamed this day would come, that her feelings would be returned. Now that they have, Ruby was prepared to take on any challenge in her way, to be by Y'shtola's side.

[morethanjustmediocremusings]

The Concept of Wellness

Taylor Abouzeid

Professor Patrikya Kuznetsoff

English 145-17

20 October 2017

The collision of social media and a blind enthusiasm for all things “well” has created an environment flooded with different conceptions of wellness. Peggy Orenstein’s article “I Tweet, Therefore I Am” explores social media’s effect on our everyday lives in the age of technology, but it refuses to acknowledge the consequential health outcomes. The origins of wellness are firmly rooted in the absence of illness. When one had no aliments, he/she was considered “well.” These ideals continued until 1948, when the World Health Organization published that health is considered much more than the absence of illness (History of Health). Today’s perceptions of wellness have transformed into a largely commercialized market and disregard its more authentic past. Before explaining todays understanding of wellness it is beneficial to asset a retrospective analysis of wellness’s history.

Dunn campaigned for a new understanding of health as a positive thing. He attributed ultimate wellness to accepting oneself. In 1961 Halbert L. Dunn published High Level Wellness, this overlooked wellness bible taught that achieving wellness came from a holistic approach (Ames 2009). The exploration of wellness as a form of alternative medicine described a perfect blend of mental and physical wellbeing. Dunn, now described as the father of the wellness movement, wrote ahead of his time and even today, humanity lives nowhere close to achieving his goal level of wellness. His prescribed concoction of mind, body, spirit, environment, and community intrigued many in the years to come.

John Travis, the son of a country doctor, found Dunn’s work exactly ten years after High Level Wellness’s publication. Deep in the hills of Mill Valley, California, Travis started the Wellness Resource Center in 1975 (Zyga 2011). People flocked to his retreat with the intention of curing addiction, aiding depression, and achieving overall wellness. Life at the mansion focused on the fundamentals of healthy connections (Zyga 2011). Using High Level Wellness as his guide, Travis summarized all of his work into six words: “The currency of wellness is connection” (Zyga 2011). This elusive relationship that people seem to be searching for is a connection to the physical, emotional, and spiritual world. In the seventies wellness was not a lucrative business, and in 1979 the Wellness Resource Center closed down. Today, when someone has a problem they must treat it. This medicalization of wellness can be traced back to the eighties. Now “treatment” means supplements, juice cleanses, or even crystal baths. However, one does not treat wellness. A movement in the seventies based on personal progress has now become a profitable industry.  

Based in commercialism, wellness today exploits the overarching desire to be well. Seemingly inescapable, wellness has seeped its way into everyday life. Wellness shots are advertised on every corner, Starbucks offers a variety of green juices, essential oils are like candy, and Halbert’s flavor of wellness has become lost in the advertisements. A popularized dietary approach full of vitamins and supplements helps mitigate some of the symptoms, but eventually the root of the problem should be dealt with. Dr. Molly Maloof is a pioneer in the relatively new field of scientific wellness. She recommends that while embarking on a wellness journey “always start with food, then use supplements as prescribed over a specific period of time” (Dr. Molly Maloof). But in today’s world, is there a point when eating healthy becomes unhealthy? Dr. Danyale McCurdy-McKinnon believes so; “something recently added to the nomenclature of eating disorders is orthorexia” (Dr. Danyale McCurdy-McKinnon). It is an obsession with the quality of food whereas anorexia is more with the quantity of food. The concept still remains the same though, the more people think about food, the more they think about food. The idea of ��clean eating” created a trigger, as the opposite of clean is dirty, something people want to avoid. These charged words, derived from an infatuation of health, can potentially evolve into obsessional eating which is the direct antithesis of pure wellness (Dr. Danyale McCurdy-McKinnon).

           Mental wellbeing is a huge part of the wellness puzzle, but as a largely invisible entity it is notoriously hard to measure and manipulate. At UCLA a team of researchers address that challenge by working with advanced imaging tools to map brain activity (Arthur Ashe Health & Wellness). With photographs taken in an MRI scanner, doctors generate a perfect and personalized rendering of the brain. Using this kind of technology, researchers are able to view the physical, real-time effects of all kinds of phenomena on the brain. From getting high off Instagram likes to easing stress with meditation, doctors see mental receptors ignite. Dr. Robert Bilder of UCLA started Mind Well, a campus wide initiative that promotes wellness of mind, brain and spirit. Mind Well was created in an attempt to promote a balance and harmony of mind. Mindfulness practices such as meditation, have been well associated with an increased sense of wellbeing. These acts actually change the expressions of DNA in our cells and can actually alter the body’s response to stress (Robert M. Bilder). By analyzing the “wellness” of the brain scientists can view, in real-time, how technology alters our perceptions of happiness.

           Aristotle defines Eudaimonia as a type of preserved happiness. It is easiest to describe in contrast to Hedonia, which is the immediate gratification that comes from satisfying one of the basic urges; feeding, fighting, fleeing, and reproductive behavior. There is a system in the brain that matches up what is expected to happen with what really happens. The mental systems then secrete dopamine into the ventral regions of the brain where the “reward centers” are located (Robert M. Bilder). As soon as this excessive stimulation goes away, the mind is left in a state of withdrawal. Social media hijacks these systems, and addicts new generations to the feeling, falsifying one’s presence as if connected to another person. During these moments of fabricated attachment, one’s sense of wellness begins to disintegrate as tangible relationships disappear.

Regardless of objective science, simply believing in something and acting accordingly could have a profound effect. Due to the fact that we live in such a negative society, people are turning to alternative means in an attempt to achieve personal wellness. People often doubt the impressed importance of crystals, yet they have a huge diamond ring on their finger that they impose so much worth upon and use as a status signifier. Every crystal is a conductor of a precise frequency, but what comes out of that frequency is in the control of the beholder. According to Mark Phillips and Martin Anguiano of Spellbound Sky in Los Angeles, “wellness represents loving yourself, being kind to yourself, and thinking positively” (Phillips 2016). Despite having significantly less science behind them, crystals, and the possible placebo effect associated with them, come with little consequences, and in a world obsessed with wellness what could possibly be the harm of accessorizing with some rose quartz here and there.

A new-age wave of apps is propelling wellness to the forefront of people’s screens and encouraging mindfulness in everyday life. Former monk, Andy Puddicombe, co-founded Headspace with his partner Rich Pierson in 2010 in an effort to make the practice of meditation more accessible to the world (The Orange Dot). By harnessing the power of the internet, they were able to revamp the wellness behind social media. The addictive traits behind apps such as Instagram and Twitter seem to melt away in Headspace’s simple ten-minute introduction practice. The app has now been downloaded by over seven million people worldwide. As a word, meditation is loaded with baggage, but in its entirety, meditation is simply the practice of mindfulness; being present in a moment. Typically, humans live fifty percent of their lives in the moment, with the recently discovered addictive traits behind social media, however, that percentage is continually decreasing (The Orange Dot). Andy’s movement has started to restore the toxicity of yesterday’s understanding of wellness and revive the original connotation of the word.

Wellness is not necessarily a selfish thing it’s about a sense of community and connecting with others. There seems to be one commonality through the exploration of different approaches to wellness, and that is the message of living in the present and being mindful. There also appears to be a large focus on balance, wellness shouldn’t be taken too far, because at some point it does become unhealthy, and from this a large focus on balance derived. The journey of wellness is unique for each person, but becoming mindful of oneself is a step closer to achieving a comprehensive level of wellness.

 Ames, Evelyn. “High Level Wellness: Its Meaning.” WWURA Newsletter, Nov. 2009, www.wwu.edu/wwura/pdf/0911.pdf.

“Arthur Ashe Health & Wellness.” Student Health & Wellness, UCLA, 2017, www.studenthealth.ucla.edu/default.aspx.

“Dr. Danyale McCurdy-McKinnon, Psychologist, Los Angeles, CA 90012.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 2016, therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/name/Danyale_McCurdy-McKinnon_PhD_Los Angeles_California_126479.

“Dr. Molly Maloof.” Wellness as a Service World Summit, Hyper Wellbeing, 2017, hyperwellbeing.com/2017/speakers/molly-maloof/.

“History of Health.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/suggestions/faq/en/.

Phillips, Mark. “S P E L L B O U N D    S K Y.” BIO, SPELLBOUND SKY, 2016, spellboundsky.com/bio.

“Robert M. Bilder, Ph.D.” Robert M. Bilder, Ph.D., UCLA Brain Research Institute, 2016, www.bri.ucla.edu/people/robert-m-bilder-phd.

“The Orange Dot.” Headspace Blog, Headspace, 2017, www.headspace.com/blog/.

Zyga, Mark. “John Travis: Wellness.” John W. Travis, MD, MPH, WellPeople, 2011, www.wellpeople.com/John_Travis.aspx.

[aion-rsa]

Emerald City: EP Shaun Cassidy Talks Dorothy’s Grown-Up Adventure

We’re definitely not in Kansas in any more.

“The Wizard of Oz” remains one of the most beloved films of all time. “Emerald City,” a 10-part NBC event series premiering tonight, features many familiar faces from Oz, but doesn’t ever attempt to duplicate the same magic. The producers cherry-picked different elements and characters from L. Frank Baum’s various books — there’s still Dorothy, a twister and a place called Oz. From there on, “Emerald City” explores new territory.

Dorothy is a hardened, 20-year-old nurse played by Adria Arjona and works at a local hospital. Toto stands as a frightening German shepherd police dog. Glinda is hardly a goody-two-shoes, and the Wizard has dubious intentions.

Executive producer Shaun Cassidy, who starred as Joe Hardy in 1977’s “The Hardy Boys Mysteries” and enjoyed success as a teen pop star before establishing himself as a successful producer on “American Gothic” and “Invasion,” recently spoke with CBR about bringing Dorothy over the rainbow again, crafting an adult fairy tale, the state of magic in Oz and putting twists on iconic characters. In addition, Cassidy discussed the possibility of reimagining the Hardy Boys for a new generation.

CBR: How intimidating was it tackling these iconic characters?

Shaun Cassidy: If the approach had been, “Let’s remake ‘The Wizard of Oz,'” I would have said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t want to be involved.” But that was never the approach. Matt Arnold had an idea, which was picked up and run with by Josh Friedman, who is a friend of mine, and David Schulner. He got into developing it and all of us are in the same building at Universal. We’re all friends. I was working on a different show at the time on Amazon. David was working on something else, but we talked to Josh occasionally and what he was crafting. I was fascinated by his ideas. I said to him, “If this ever gets on its feet and I’m available, I’d love to work on it with you.” As fate would have it, he ended up not being on the project. The project kinda died because there was a difference in approach between the studio, network and Josh. It all sadly collapsed for nine months.

Then, they reached out to David, who had been working on it at the tail end of the Josh version. He knew where some of the bodies were buried. He was open to putting Dorothy front and center. Josh wanted to treat it as an ensemble piece. The network and studio were interested in walking in this world in Dorothy’s shoes. They called me and said, “You’ve produced a lot of big, sword-building shows. Will you work on this?” I said, “Yes,” but David and I both called Josh and said, “Why don’t you come and work in it with us?” He said, “No, no. I’m off of it. You guys are awesome. Let’s see what you can do.” It’s been this weirdly beautiful relay race with the baton being passed from one person to another. We took a lot of what Josh had done and threw our own spice in the soup and came up with our own ideas for these 10 hours.

What was the biggest challenge was not retelling or reinterpreting these stories or characters. There have been many reinterpretations. Some successful and some not. But, there has never been what we’ve set out to do, which is to take all of these characters, put them in a world that feels timeless, and, yet, feels grounded for a fantasy and very relevant in terms of a lot of subject matter we deal with. They feel very timely to these issues that are at the forefront of political discussions today.

EMERALD CITY — “The Beast Forever” Episode 101– Pictured: Adria Arjona as Dorothy, Toto — (Photo by: David Lukacs/NBC)

How are audiences introduced to Dorothy in this story and what is your spin on her?

She’s older than the Dorothy of the books. Our Dorothy is a young woman. She’s 20. She’s a nurse. She is left on the doorsteps of the people she calls Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. In our story, I don’t think they are related by blood, but they were chosen by the woman who dropped Dorothy off there.

She grew up as an adopted child and she has yearned to know her biological parents. But, she has anger. She has abandonment issues. As she says in the pilot, “Wishes she was more. Wishes she were more accomplished. Wishes she was fully realized.” That may be a defensive posture because she’s afraid. It’s scary and painful. She can’t engage in relationships to any depth. Part of Dorothy’s journey is finding out who she is, finding her strength, opening her up and becoming a fully realized human being. It is a thematic journey our story is on, which is trying to find a way to marry the two forces that are currently at conflict — magic and science. This is the story of alchemy. If Dorothy can bring those two forces together, Oz can be healed and united. Then, Dorothy can be healed.

The series also features a major character named Lucas, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Who is Lucas and what does he add to this adventure?

He is the impressionistic version of the Scarecrow. He’s a man who has lost his memory. He’s lost his brains, but he hasn’t lost his ability to think. He doesn’t know who he is. He’s been left for dead. Dorothy sort of picks him up on the yellow brick road and off he goes with her, again trying to find himself. Our Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion and Wizard are all searching to make themselves whole as well. Specifically, with the Scarecrow, because he’s on the same journey with Dorothy, things happen and they begin to fall in love. Of course, the rug gets pulled out from under Dorothy as Lucas gets his memory back. We find out he has a whole other life that’s going to be in direct conflict with their hopes and aspirations.

How does the Land of Oz view magic?

There’s a war raging on. The Wizard [played by Vincent D’onofrio] has come to oppress magic because he fears it. He has tried to trade his notion of science — he’s introduced electricity and other stuff — and brought it into Oz to oppress those who were in control before, namely the witches and the previous regime. Magic that is innately in Oz comes of nature. Magic was organic in this world and now it’s been oppressed. That’s a dangerous thing to do, to oppress the natural order of things.

What was the thought process behind making the Wizard the main antagonist?

I’m not sure he is. He’s one of them, for sure. Glinda is a pretty formidable force, too. The war is between them and Dorothy is in the middle of it. The Wizard is a very frightened, very little man. In that sense, you can say he’s very much like the Wizard of the original film. He’s a fraud. Our man is a man behind the wig. He’s a tragic figure. It’s only in his quiet moments, when he’s alone, or when he’s with people who know the truth about him, do we see a version of the real him and how sad he is and how scared he is. I don’t know if he’s an arch-villain. He’s a scared little man — and scared little men do dangerous things.

EMERALD CITY — “The Beast Forever” Episode 101– Pictured: Vincent D’onofrio as The Wizard — (Photo by: David Lukacs/NBC)

Dorothy previously encountered winged monkeys, the Wicked Witch of the West and poppies. What obstacles does she face on her adventure this time?

They are numerous and relentless. There are the witches alone. First, it’s Ojo and then it’s West. There’s the actual landscape itself and the stranger in the strange land aspect of it. There’s the wrath of Glinda. Then there are the Wizard’s soldiers, who are hunting Dorothy to kill her.

With so many books to mine, do you have ideas for further installments?

Oh, yes. There are so many books and so many different characters. We’re looking forward to it. If we have any success at all, we will definitely dive into a second year. One of the benefits of writing all 10 years before ever shooting is David and I spent a lot of time on the set talking about, “What if we do this? Maybe we should try that. Maybe we should introduce that character.” Mother South is going to be a great character.

Shifting gears, Netflix has tapped into TV nostalgia lately and revived a couple of past series. Has there ever been discussions about updating “The Hardy Boys Mysteries?” How would you feel about those characters getting a second life?

It’s not the first time it’s been mentioned to me. Other people have suggested I revisit the Hardy Boys in my current job. I would love to do that. I’ve thought about it long before Netflix was doing it. I have a very specific take I would love to apply to the Hardy Boys. One of the challenges about the Hardy Boys is they are a very successful series of books that have been around forever. You can’t mess with them too much or change them too much. Unlike “The Wizard of Oz,” it’s not public domain.

And, if you look at the stories, they were pretty simple. Even in the TV series I was in — you can’t do a story about Joe loses his bicycle. They were turned into FBI agents by the second year because the show was fighting to add more drama to the stories. The original books are simple little stories. But, I have an approach that I’d love to apply to it. I don’t know where the rights are. I think they are at Fox. I know that Ben Stiller had been trying to make a movie, sort of a “Hardy Men” movie. If anybody is out there listening, and wants a sharp young kid to look at those “Hardy Boys” books again, I’m your guy. I think there’s a cool approach to retelling those stories now that would honor the original, and, yet, make it feel contemporary.

“Emerald City” debuts 9 tonight on NBC.

The post Emerald City: EP Shaun Cassidy Talks Dorothy’s Grown-Up Adventure appeared first on CBR.com.

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[orbemnews]

The Small Business Administration’s Gaffes Are Now Her Job to Fix Isabella Casillas Guzman, President Biden’s choice to run the Small Business Administration, inherited a portfolio of nearly $1 trillion in emergency aid and an agency plagued by controversy when she took over in March. She has been sprinting from crisis to crisis ever since. Some new programs have been mired in delays and glitches, while the S.B.A.’s best-known pandemic relief effort, the Paycheck Protection Program, nearly ran out of money for its loans this month, confusing lenders and stranding millions of borrowers. Angry business owners have deluged the agency with criticism and complaints. Now, it’s Ms. Guzman’s job to turn the ship around. “It’s the largest S.B.A. portfolio we’ve ever had, and clearly there’s going to need to be some changes in how we do business,” she said in a recent interview. When the coronavirus crisis struck and the economy went into a free fall last year, Congress and the Trump administration pushed the Small Business Administration to the forefront, putting it in charge of huge sums of relief money and complicated new programs. It is by far the smallest cabinet-level agency, with an annual operating budget that is typically less than half of what the Defense Department spends in a day. It was long viewed within the government as a sleepy backwater. But when the pandemic sent unemployment claims soaring, Congress responded with an unprecedented plan: Give businesses money to keep their workers employed. Just seven days after President Donald J. Trump signed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in late March 2020, the Small Business Administration began accepting applications for the Paycheck Protection Program. Agency employees describe a blurry month of round-the-clock work to manage the program’s launch and early days. The agency’s 68 district offices, which normally field a few hundred inquiries a week, received 12,000 phone calls a day from desperate business owners. A rotating group of a dozen people camped in an ad hoc war room at the mostly empty headquarters to write the program’s rules and revamp technology systems to handle the onslaught of applications. Despite lots of speed bumps — including confusing, often-revised loan terms and several technical meltdowns — the program enjoyed some success. Millions of business owners credit it with helping them survive the pandemic and keep more workers employed. Economists are skeptical about whether the program’s results justify its huge cost, but Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden both embraced the effort as a centerpiece of their economic rescue plans. As the pandemic stretched on and the economy plunged into a recession, the Paycheck Protection Program morphed into the largest business bailout in American history. More than eight million companies got forgivable loans, totaling $788 billion — nearly as much money as the government spent on its three rounds of direct payments to taxpayers. But there were pitfalls, some of which will take years to unravel. Fraud is a major concern. Thousands of people took advantage of the rushed program’s minimal documentation requirements and sought illicit loans, according to prosecutors, to fund gambling sprees, Lamborghinis, luxury watches, an alpaca farm and a Medicare fraud scheme. The Justice Department has charged hundreds of people with stealing more than $440 million, and scores of federal investigations are active. (During her confirmation hearing, Ms. Guzman promised that she would “prioritize the reduction of fraud, waste and abuse.”) There were other problems. Female and minority business owners were disproportionately left out of the relief effort. A last-minute attempt by Mr. Biden to make the program more generous for solo business owners came too late to help many of them. This month, a new emergency popped up: The program ran short of money and abruptly closed to most new applicants. “There was no warning,” Toby Scammell, the chief executive of Womply, a company that helps borrowers get loans, said of the latest debacle. His company alone has more than 1.6 million applicants caught in limbo. The Paycheck Protection Program is far from the agency’s only challenge. It’s also managing a complex and evolving system of low-interest disaster loans of up to $500,000 and new grant funds, created by Congress, for two of the hardest-hit industries: the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant for live-event businesses and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. (The hotel industry is pushing for its own version.) Today in Business Updated  May 25, 2021, 12:48 p.m. ET Each required the agency to create policies and technology systems from scratch. The venue program has been especially rocky. On its scheduled start day, in early April, the application system completely failed, leaving desperate applicants hitting refresh and relying on social media posts for information and updates. “I turned to my associate director and said, ‘I figured something like this would happen,’” said Chris Zacher, the executive director of Levitt Pavilion, a nonprofit performing arts center in Denver. The Small Business Administration revived the system three weeks later and has received 12,200 applications, but it does not anticipate awarding grants until late May. People lower in the tiered priority queue, including Mr. Zacher, fear that even if their claim is approved, they won’t see a check until June or July — a major hurdle for venues trying to plan their summer and fall seasons. “It’s maddening,” Mr. Zacher said. “A program that’s supposed to help save indie venues is putting us at a disadvantage because of all these delays.” Ms. Guzman, 51, hears those criticisms relentlessly — the response threads to her agency’s social media posts have turned into primal screams of pain. (“I SERIOUSLY CANNOT TAKE THIS WITH SBA ANY LONGER” is one of the milder replies.) She said she understood the urgency. “It’s definitely unprecedented — across the board, across the nation — and we are seeing multiple disasters at the same time,” she said. “The agency is highly focused on just still responding to disaster and implementing this relief as quickly as possible.” This is Ms. Guzman’s second tour at the Small Business Administration. When President Barack Obama picked Maria Contreras-Sweet in 2014 to take over the agency, Ms. Guzman went along as a senior adviser and deputy chief of staff. The women had met in the mid-1990s. Ms. Guzman, a California native with an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, was hired at 7Up/RC Bottling by Ms. Contreras-Sweet, an executive there. “I was always impressed with her ability to handle jobs with steep learning curves — she has a quick grasp of complex concepts,” Ms. Contreras-Sweet said. Ms. Guzman spent her first stint at the agency focused on traditional projects like its flagship lending program, which normally facilitates around $28 billion a year in loans. The time, the job is radically different. “We’re working closely to identify opportunities to build up a strong agency to meet this demand of scale,” she said. “The S.B.A. needs to be as entrepreneurial as the small businesses we serve. What I really, truly mean by that is that a more customer-first approach.” The agency is testing a new “community navigators” program, which will fund local organizations, including nonprofits and government groups, to work closely with businesses owned by people with disabilities or in underserved rural, minority and immigrant communities. It’s an expansion of a grass-roots effort by several nonprofits to get vulnerable businesses access to Paycheck Protection Program loans. Ms. Guzman said she was bullish about that effort and other agency priorities, like expanding Black and other minority entrepreneurs’ access to capital — but first, like the clients it serves, the Small Business Administration has to weather the pandemic. And to do that, it has to stop shooting itself in the foot. The much-awaited second attempt at opening the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant fund was preceded by one final debacle: The agency announced — and then, less than a day before the date, abandoned — a plan to open the first-come-first-served fund on a Saturday. For those seeking aid that has not yet arrived, the incident felt like yet another kick in the teeth. Ms. Guzman said she was aware of the need for her agency to overcome its limitations and rebuild its checkered reputation. “This is a pivotal moment in time where we can leverage the interest in small business to really deliver a remarkable agency to them,” she said. “I value being the voice for the 30 million small and innovative start-ups around the country. What I always say to my staff is that I want these businesses to feel like the giants that they are in our economy.” Source link Orbem News #Administrations #Business #Fix #Gaffes #Job #Small