#Nebraska Football Training

[precious-little-scoundrel]

i was thinking about what late night talks with bucky would be like (call me crazy), and it got me thinking:

other than dying (though arguably some are not afraid of dying), what do you think some of the mota men’s greatest fears are? i could write a hundred essays on each of them, they all are so different!

Gosh, this is an incredible ask and it got me thinkin. Too hard, probably. And while I didn’t summarize thoughts for everyone I did think of them for Bucky.

So much so I wrote a little blurb on it. Sorry Nonnie if you’re not even into this universe, I totally get it but I found fic to be a more enlightening method for exploring this. I wanna hear those thoughts of yours! Send them, I beg!

Greatest Fear

They got a bit existential as the weeks went on and their nights got more conscious. Ida and Bucky’s minds grew restless in the cold now that their bodies were healing. Huddled in their bunk they had debated baseball vs football endlessly, and argued regarding the accuracy of each other’s training anecdotes, the morality of mobsters and who was the better boxer: Braddock or Baer.

They’d ended up talking of the war, and both being sick of the dead end that the question of the future brought, they circled back around more concrete -if troublesome- thoughts. Most hairy landings, worst sounds either heard from their crew over the radio and what flashed across their minds when they had to finally press that abandon ship control.

And finally, Bucky ended up asking her what her worst fear was. And when Ida didn’t have it readily to hand -too used to suppressing any such thoughts even to her own self- he clarified: “Besides dying, I mean. If you’re even scared of that. Knowin’ you, maybe you aren’t.”

“I’d rather not.” she admitted.

“So? So what gets you scared?”

“This your way of fishing for another ghost story?” Ida teased.

“No. Just feels like sometimes you gotta remind yourself what it’s all about. Scared of dyin’ means you like livin’ enough to rather not stop. That sorta thing.”

“You’re saying love for one thing drives fear for another.” She summarized.

“Dunno. Just mullin’ it over.”

“I’d go through anything not to lose John.” she conceded, “Funny enough I’m positive he feels the same, so what a snarl.”

“I know he does.”

“Yeah.”

“If they put a gun to Buck’s head I’d tell ‘em Roosevelt's address and his favorite drink order, too.” Bucky expounded, tongue loosened by her tiny admission of frailty. “And he’d hate me for it.”

“All different kinds of loves out there.” Ida murmured consolingly, thinking hard on how her brother had been in a rage at her condition when he first saw her, and yet one of his first questions was whether she’d given anything up. Her Johnny knew she couldn’t live with herself if she had and he wouldn't've wanted her to. And nothing about that struck her as cold. Just as Bucky’s dangerous devotion to Gale didn’t strike her as weak. Just different.

“I saw a train.” Bucky began a thought but his voice died out with such finality Ida wondered if he’d ever pick the subject up again. But after a long moment he did, with some far away quality present in his voice that she’d never heard before, “On the way here. We were on one set of tracks and it was comin’ up the other.”

Ida had memories of trains, a lot of them. Going south all alone, first trip down to the uncle and aunts during the worst year of the depression. Old enough to know her own folks couldn’t support her, old enough to question how a ticket could be arranged but not supper. There had been trains that took her to training in Texas, then on to Iowa and Nebraska. Trains that took her deeper into Germany. One entire train car just for herself and too many German soldiers. Then the train that took them away from Ravensbruck. Ida felt an unsettled anticipation around trains that the peaceful rightness of flight had never caused her.

When Bucky mentioned trains and didn’t go on, Ida folded her hand into his huge one and squeezed it tightly. “What about those trains, John?”

“Heard ‘em before we saw ‘em.” he clarified, nodding his head conversationally as he was want to do, like he was gaining momentum towards a hard saying. Ida braced herself, squeezed just a little harder. “Not the engines, the screams. Car after car, and nothin’ but arms and faces reachin’ out. Screaming.”

Bucky’s bruised eyes were fixed, downcast gaze somewhere in the vicinity of her throat, but Ida knew he was seeing something far away. “I think I saw where they take them.” she muttered before she even had time to weigh her contribution to this horrid tale.

His eyes focused again and he looked at her with silent inquiry. “They took us to a labor camp first. Before here. Apparently one of the nicer ones, they had intentions of treating us as civilians.” Ida had been preoccupied with her aching body and her sharp terror of failure while at Ravensbruck, but not so much as to not notice the haunting vestiges of humanity answering roll beside her. “I felt like I was in Hades, the cold hell. Where the living damned can peruse each special misery waiting for them when they die. Called it a labor camp but I don’t know how skeletons like that could produce anything. Last bits of human resilience used to put together some industry to keep their oppressors fed, equipped. What an end.”

“Scares me shitless.” Bucky replied vehemently, and Ida realized they’d gotten full circle in their talk, that he’d dragged more out of her than she ever intended. Somehow neither his statement of fear nor her own felt weak in the moment. “That folks could get so hard they could do that to each other -I don’t know what to do with that, Ida. How’s it get to that point. Why’ve you got Fritz and then you’ve got…that? Same country, same sauerkraut, same uniforms. Scares me shitless.”

MOTA taglist, I only have one so ignore if this is not the universe you signed up for:

@stylespresleyhearted

@ab4eva

@earth-to-lottie

@suraemoon

@blurredcolour

@steph-speaks

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@piastrinho

[sa7abnews]

55 Things to Know About Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ Pick for VP

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/06/55-things-to-know-about-tim-walz-kamala-harris-pick-for-vp/

55 Things to Know About Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ Pick for VP

Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, once said he never expected a former high school geography teacher would make it so far in politics. He couldn’t have imagined that he would some day run for vice president.

That changed Tuesday when the 60-year-old was chosen by Vice President Kamala Harris to be her running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket. Walz, who has gained a reputation as an energetic and plain-spoken champion of Harris’ surprise candidacy, emerged late in a highly compressed vetting process — edging out Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.

Here — culled from articles about his 20-year career in politics — is a look at how Walz, a former non-commissioned officer in the Army National Guard, went from being the rare Democrat representing a conservative and rural district in Congress to becoming the progressive governor in his adopted state. It offers a glimpse of the person he might be if he becomes America’s next vice president.

1.

Walz was born in West Point, a Nebraska town of just 3,500 people. But he was raised in an even smaller town called Butte.

2.

Walz graduated from Butte High School in 1982. “I come from a town of 400 — 24 kids in a class, 12 cousins, farming, those types of things.”

3.

Walz credits his rural upbringing for his values: “A town that small had services like that and had a public school with a government teacher that inspired me to be sitting where I’m at today. Those are real stories in small towns.”

4.

Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard when he was 17.

5.

In his state Capitol office, Walz displays hundreds of “challenge” coins that he’s traded and collected for years around the world.

6.

Walz’s father, a school administrator, died of lung cancer when Walz was 19. Walz said this moment fueled his views on health care access: “The last week of my dad’s life cost my mom a decade of going back to work to pay off hospital debt.”

7.

Walz graduated with a social science degree from Chadron State College in 1989. He earned a Master of Science in educational leadership from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2001.

8.

He spent a year teaching in China after college before returning full time to the Army. He traveled to China with one of the first government-sanctioned groups of American educators to teach in Chinese high schools.

9.

He still speaks Mandarin.

10.

He taught on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. “I tell folks that managing a high-school lunchroom for years trained me for the craziness that can overtake Washington, D.C.”

11.

He rose to the rank of command sergeant major before retiring from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005. He served for a total of 24 years.

12.

Walz met his future wife, Gwen Whipple, a native Minnesotan, as they were both high school teachers in temporary classrooms. The first lady said she was irked by his loud voice disrupting her classroom.

13.

The two eventually moved to Mankato, Minnesota, where they both worked at Mankato West High School. “Gwen loved living in southern Minnesota. We jumped at the chance to move to Mankato and start our lives together.”

14.

Walz taught geography and coached high school football. “I don’t know if every high school geography teacher expects to be in this position at some point.”

15.

He was the faculty adviser for the school’s first gay-straight alliance chapter in 1999.

16.

7.

Walz graduated with a social science degree from Chadron State College in 1989. He earned a Master of Science in educational leadership from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2001.

8.

He spent a year teaching in China after college before returning full time to the Army. He traveled to China with one of the first government-sanctioned groups of American educators to teach in Chinese high schools.

9.

He still speaks Mandarin.

10.

He taught on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. “I tell folks that managing a high-school lunchroom for years trained me for the craziness that can overtake Washington, D.C.”

11.

He rose to the rank of command sergeant major before retiring from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005. He served for a total of 24 years.

12.

Walz met his future wife, Gwen Whipple, a native Minnesotan, as they were both high school teachers in temporary classrooms. The first lady said she was irked by his loud voice disrupting her classroom.

13.

The two eventually moved to Mankato, Minnesota, where they both worked at Mankato West High School. “Gwen loved living in southern Minnesota. We jumped at the chance to move to Mankato and start our lives together.”

14.

Walz taught geography and coached high school football. “I don’t know if every high school geography teacher expects to be in this position at some point.”

15.

He was the faculty adviser for the school’s first gay-straight alliance chapter in 1999.

16.

Walz, 60, has drawn criticism for appearing older than his age. Walz responded to this on X, saying that it’s because he “supervised the lunchroom for 20 years. You do not leave that job with a full head of hair. Trust me.”

17.

He has two children, Hope and Gus. Hope recently graduated from college in Montana, and Gus is in public high school in St. Paul.

18.

Both children were conceived through IVF and fertility treatments: “There’s a reason we named [our daughter] Hope.”

19.

Walz’s first job in politics was as a member of former Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. The campaign hired him to be campaign’s county coordinator as well as a district coordinator of Vets for Kerry.

20.

He said he was inspired to join Kerry’s campaign after he took a group of high school students to a George W. Bush campaign rally and security interrogated one of his students because he had a Kerry sticker on his wallet.

21.

Walz was first elected to Congress in 2006, in one of the biggest House upsets of the year. The district, home to both the Mayo Clinic and the Hormel meatpacking firm, had twice-voted for George W. Bush.

22.

He was the highest-ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in the U.S. House and only the fourth Democrat/Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party member to represent his district.

23.

Walz defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht despite being outspent by close to a half-million dollar margin.

24.

Walz won re-election five times in southern Minnesota’s mostly rural, conservative 1st District, serving in the House for 12 years.

25.

When he arrived in the House, Walz was elected to share the freshman class presidency with Rep. Paul Hodes of New Hampshire.

26.

He was named the ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in 2017. He focused on issues such as veterans’ mental health, suicide and pain management. He also called for funding to research medical cannabis treatment for veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain.

27.

More than half of the bills Walz co-sponsored between 2015-2017 were introduced by non-Democrats.

28.

Walz once earned an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and the group’s endorsement. In 2016, Guns & Ammo magazine included him on its list of top 20 politicians for gun owners.

29.

He later denounced the NRA and supported gun-control measures, such as an assault weapons ban. Duringhis first campaign for governor in 2018, the NRA completely downgraded his rating. “I had an A rating from the NRA. Now I get straight F’s. And I sleep just fine.”

30.

Shortly after the deadly Las Vegas shooting in 2017, which killed 59 people, he donated campaign contributions from the NRA to a nonprofit that supported the family of military members who died or were severely wounded while serving.

31.

Walz is an avid hunter and scoffed at JD Vance for talking about guns when “I guarantee you he can’t shoot pheasants like I can.”

32.

In 2019, Walz left the House to run for governor of Minnesota. He beat Republican Jeff Johnson by more than 11 points.

33.

Walz frequently defends his policies, such as the universal school meals bill signed into Minnesota law earlier this year, as common sense: “What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn and women are making their own healthcare decisions,” Walz said jokingly.

34.

Violence erupted after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, an incident that led to protests against racism and police brutality across the nation. Republican lawmakers issued a report later in the year, criticizing Walz’ administration for not intervening quickly enough to prevent looting and arson. “I certainly believe our administration … whether it be the National Guard, the State Patrol or the DNR [Department of Natural Resources], our front line folks responded in a noble and heroic manner. They saved lives,” Walz said. “A one-sided report coming out right before an election isn’t as helpful. But if there is helpful advice in there, I’ll certainly take it.”

35.

In recent weeks, Walz is credited for popularizing the Democratic Party’s latest line of attack against the Republican ticket, when he called Trump and Vance “these really weird people.”

36.

He told POLITICO in 2023: “When we’re running against the generic Republican, our races are always really close, but there’s no such thing [as a generic Republican]. These guys are weird. Once they start running, their weirdness shows up, and especially with the nominee on the other side. I don’t think it’s that surprising.”

37.

Walz told The New York Times that his comments about weirdness are about Trump and Vance, not Republicans generally: “And ‘weird’ is specific to him. I’m certainly not talking about Republicans. I’m not talking about the people who are at those rallies. I’m hearing this from my Republican friends, because the people at those rallies, they’re the ones that can most benefit from the message we’re delivering.”

38.

Last year, Barack Obama praised Walz when the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party gained control of the governor’s mansion, the state house and the state senate.

39.

Walz first met his lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, when he attended Wellstone Action, founded after the 2002 death of Sen. Paul Wellstone to train progressive organizers, activists and candidates. “I showed up and had a fantastic young trainer who turned out to be Peggy Flanagan. That’s when we started our friendship.”

40.

After Minnesota legalized recreational marijuana last year, Walz appointed a hemp shop owner to be the state’s top cannabis regulator. The next day, cannabis entrepreneur Erin DuPree stepped down from the role after the Star Tribune reported she had sold illegal products at her hemp shop and had federal tax liens and judgments against her. Minnesota’s nonpartisan government watchdog the Office of the Legislative Auditor later found the governor’s office missed some standard background check steps before the appointment of DuPree.

41.

In December 2023, Walz was tapped to chair the Democratic Governors Association, responsible for defending and growing the party’s share of chief executives in the states. “I’m a firm believer now that governors do make a difference. We saw it in Minnesota, we saw it in Michigan, we saw it in Colorado. We see these trifecta states improving folks’ live.”

42.

His beverage of choice is Diet Mountain Dew. He got a DWI in Nebraska in 1995 before he quit drinking.

43.

Walz is a runner, who has participated in multiple competitions in Minnesota’s Twin Cities: “I’ve found that even before the most stressful events, if I’ve gone for a run, I’m calmer and more collected.”

44.

He likes to tinker on his vintage blue International Scout, a four-wheel-drive vehicle that International Harvester stopped producing in 1980.

45.

He has custom license plates that read, “ONE MN,” his campaign slogan for his gubernatorial bid.

46.

Walz promised his son Gus a dog if he won governorship in 2019. When the election was called, Gus exclaimed, “I get a dog!” Walz kept his promise by adopting Scout, a black lab mix, later in the year.

47.

Walz and Scout make daily morning visits to an off-leash Twin Cities dog park.

48.

Walz signed a bill last May expanding voting rights for an estimated 55,000 formerly incarcerated residents.

49.

Walz has met with the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States to sign a letter of understanding that creates an agricultural partnership between Minnesota and a northern region in Ukraine called Chernihiv. “Once we drive the Russians out, we will have some cooperation,” Walz said. “It’s a really important showing of friendship and a real important showing of ties.”

50.

In 2023, Walz signed an executive order protecting access to gender-affirming care. “As states across the country move to ban access to gender-affirming care, we want LGBTQ Minnesotans to know they will continue to be safe, protected, and welcome in Minnesota,” said Walz.

51.

His tater tot hot dish — the unofficial dish of Minnesota — won the Minnesota Congressional Delegation Hot Dish Off in 2014.

52.

He is a self-proclaimed sci-fi fantasy guy when it comes to books. “I just finished reading the four-book series Mortal Engines. I read a lot of these young adult ones, because I do it with my kids. I was reading that one with Gus,” he said in 2019. “And then I just finished one I would not suggest reading because it is terrifying: Command and Control. It traces the history of America’s nuclear arsenal.”

53.

His favorite song by Bob Dylan, one of Minnesota’s most famous celebrities, is “Forever Young,” which contains a “timeless message from a dad to his son,” according to Walz.

54.

He enjoys the all-you-can-drink milk booth at the Minnesota State Fair — so much so that he volunteered at the booth in 2022.

55.

Walz is a self-described optimist, but when it comes to government he tries to plan for the worst. “I think people should have an expectation of a forward leaning, anticipatory government,” he said as he took office in 2019. “A lot of things people write off as accidents or chance is really just poor planning and anticipation.”

[xtruss]

The Harrowing 5,000-Mile Flight of North America's Wild Whooping Cranes

Endangered Wild Whooping Cranes Must Soar Across the Continent Each Year to Ensure the Survival of Their Species—a Journey Packed with Obstacles like Power Lines and Poaching.

— By Rene Ebersole | Photographs By Michael Forsberg | March 19, 2024

Whooping Cranes Arrive at a Rain Water Basin Wetland in Nebraska to Roost for the Night.

We Were 800 Feet Up in the Air, Flying in a Helicopter with an International Team of Scientists over the vast boreal forest encompassing Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park, when one of them shouted the alert. “Bird at nine o’clock!”.

Pilot Paul Spring circled the helicopter left, tilting for a clearer view of one of the countless pools of water stretching to the horizon. Rimmed in sand and tamarack trees, the surface glowed iridescent. In the middle of the wetland, we could make out a pair of snowy white specks, though they stood roughly five feet tall at ground level.

“There’s a chick,” said Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) wildlife biologist John Conkin, training his binoculars on a rust-colored bird, slightly shorter than its parents, high-stepping in the marsh. Spring spotted a semidry piece of land and brought us to the ground. Conkin, his ECCC ecologist colleague Mark Bidwell, and the other crane catchers, U.S. Geological Survey biologist Dave Brandt and Canadian wildlife veterinarian Sandie Black, piled out of the chopper.

They had only 12 minutes to track down and capture the elusive target: a wild whooping crane chick designed for traversing boot-sucking mud, woody brambles, and bulrushes. Any longer and the team would have to call off the chase to avoid stressing the birds too much.

A young whooping crane (center) and its parents high-step through wetlands in Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada.

As the researchers vanished into the bush, Spring and I eased off the ground and zoomed up to 500 feet for an aerial assist. Sensing the humans’ approach, the crane parents flapped their giant black-tipped wings and departed, no doubt reluctantly leaving their flightless offspring behind. “I’ve got eyes on the chick,” Spring said to the group, who could hear him through the walkie-talkies attached to their vests. “It’s just below the chopper. Come toward the chopper.”

The team crashed through the underbrush, trying to push forward faster than the soggy terrain could pull them down. In a well-practiced maneuver, Conkin approached the chick; got hold of its beak, head, and legs; and carefully tucked the bird under his arm.

Six minutes, 36 seconds: bird in hand. Now came the more technical part. Panting and sweaty, the group unpacked their gear. Brandt, a seasoned wildlife biologist who has banded at least 150 wild whooping cranes in his career, held the chick on his lap, supervising Conkin as he affixed a transmitter to one leg and color bands (blue, yellow, green) on the other.

Massive Marvels! Whooping Cranes are North America's Tallest Birds. NGM Staff. Source: International Crane Foundation

Meanwhile, veterinarian Black performed a checkup, examining the bird’s eyes and taking stock of its body condition. She collected biological samples—blood, feathers, saliva, and oral and fecal swabs—for testing at the lab to reveal things such as the bird’s sex and if it had been exposed to harmful chemicals or diseases, including highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Then Bidwell moved in to help slip a camouflage Velcro harness around the chick and weigh it on a hanging scale.

They spoke in low voices. When their work was done, Brandt cradled the chick like a football and carried it to the edge of the marsh. There he gently set it down and dashed away. That chick—now known to the annals of science as 15J—fled in the opposite direction, pausing briefly to ruffle its feathers and shake its new leg jewelry before receding into the safety of the marsh, reuniting with its parents.

In Protected Areas of Northern Canada, whooping cranes build their nests from surrounding vegetation. Crane mothers most often lay two eggs, but usually only one chick survives.

These whooping cranes embody one of North America’s greatest conservation success stories. Yet they remain the rarest of 15 crane species found throughout the world and are still endangered. Scientists estimate that more than two centuries ago, some 10,000 whooping cranes lived in North America. But they were no match for steady habitat loss and hunters in the 1900s who killed them for food, sport, and plumes to supply the millinery trade during the gilded age. By 1941, there were only 16 migratory whooping cranes left, all of them traveling a seasonal gauntlet of nearly 2,500 miles from northern Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.

During the spring migration, whooping cranes mingle with hundreds of thousands of migrating sandhill cranes on Nebraska’s Platte River. The Platte and other wetlands in the Great Plains are vital bird stopovers.

Over the past 70 years, a raft of protections provided by grassroots conservation, legislation, habitat preservation, captive breeding, and research have slowly brought the population back. Today there are more than 800 birds, with over 530 in the central flyway migratory flock and much of the rest divided almost evenly between captivity and experimental reintroduction programs in Louisiana and Wisconsin. Still, many crane experts say it’s too soon to remove the birds from the endangered species list. The whooping crane recovery plan, written under the authority of the Endangered Species Act, has three main strategies to build both ecological and genetic stability. The first is to grow the migratory central flyway population large enough to survive a potentially catastrophic event, such as an outbreak of deadly bird flu. The second is to maintain a captive population to provide further insurance against calamity. And the third is to establish two additional self-sustaining wild flocks to help restore whooping cranes to other areas of the country where they lived historically.

Based on the current rate of population growth, some say the earliest we could plan for a victory party—albeit very tentatively—is about 2050. “The central flyway flock is halfway there,” George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation, told me. “And neither of the experimental flocks are self-sustaining at this moment.”

Only about one-third of chicks like 15J survive to reach their breeding age of four or five years. They’re killed by predators such as bobcats or coyotes or die of fatigue and starvation during migration. They face man-made dangers including polluted wetlands, poaching, and power lines that kill millions of birds each year.

Last fall, four men pleaded guilty to shooting and killing four whooping cranes in Oklahoma in late 2021. At the crime scene, the ground was littered with feathers from the dead birds. (Top)

Two adults and a juvenile, identifiable by its rust-colored plumage, migrate south over the central plains in late autumn. Parents teach their young about reliable pit stops on the journey. (Bottom)

Considering the whooping cranes’ plight, I wanted to get a closer look at the efforts to save them. They are the polar bears of the bird world. If they disappear, we will have failed to save one of the planet’s most beautiful species, a symbol of hope and an ambassador for vanishing wilderness—and all of the species that live there. My visit to Wood Buffalo National Park sparked a monthslong journey—with several important detours—as I tracked 15J’s hazardous trip.

Even after more than a century of research, bird migration remains one of nature’s greatest mysteries. How do the animals navigate over long distances? Is their migration route encoded in their genes or learned? Can they adapt their migrations to avoid modern-day threats, including energy development and increasingly extreme weather?

Technological advances in satellite telemetry and long-term monitoring are helping crane biologists unravel some of these mysteries. Since 2009, 178 cranes from the central flyway flock have been fitted with solar-powered tracking devices that collect location data. In addition to being granted the rare opportunity to fly with crane biologists in Wood Buffalo National Park, I was given a chance to receive updates about 15J and the cohort of 17 other “J-birds” tagged in August 2022.

The first update arrived a few weeks later around lunchtime one day in mid-October. I was at my desk sipping a cup of soup in New York; 15J was airborne and moving south, beyond the park, an area larger than Switzerland, with no cell coverage. Likely motivated by cooling temperatures and high northwest winds, she and her parents departed from Wood Buffalo and arrived the next evening, more than 500 miles away, in Saskatchewan.

Like many other whooping cranes leaving the park, 15J and her parents took a long pit stop there, resting and refueling in the prairie potholes, shallow wetlands created by receding glaciers about 10,000 years ago, and on the northern edge of the Great Plains. Millions of birds stopping over in this region increasingly face threats such as runoff from farming chemicals including fertilizer and pesticides. But in early fall, it also provides birds with a buffet of leftover waste grain in the agricultural fields as well as insects, amphibians, and other small creatures in the wetlands. The cranes typically linger in these vital staging grounds for a few weeks.

On November 3, 15J and her parents crossed the U.S. border into North Dakota, starting their southbound push. Three days and 300 miles later, 15J’s transmitter pinged a tower in South Dakota. As the birds gradually worked their way down the flyway, they stayed in some places for days and barely touched down in others. On November 14, almost 300 miles and another state south, they stopped for a night along Nebraska’s Platte River, where cranes roost on shallow mid-river sandbars and forage in braided side channels, agricultural fields, and wet meadows.

Conservation photographer Michael Forsberg, who’s documented whooping cranes for the past four years, saw 15J there in the pale light of one morning, probing for food along the river with her parents and a lone sandhill crane. He texted me from the river: “I just spent the last two hours with 15J on the Platte. Can’t believe it. They just took off. They’re heading to where it’s warmer. It’s cold here. The river’s freezing up. It’s starting to snow.”

As the number of healthy whooping cranes increases, however, such pit stops may hold a more existential threat. A year earlier, biologists surveying birds on the Platte had counted a group of more than 46 whooping cranes—the biggest flock of migrating wild whoopers that anyone alive today has witnessed in the United States. Some experts said the sighting was a sign the cranes are learning to once again flock together in a large group, a natural tactic for survival, but one that also prompted concern. When such a large percentage of a population clumps in one place, there’s the risk that an extreme weather event or disease outbreak could severely knock their numbers back.

Recently, HPAI has killed millions of other birds in 81 countries. Wildlife managers are on high alert for outbreaks in critically endangered bird populations, including whooping cranes. In Baraboo, Wisconsin, the International Crane Foundation has taken biosecurity measures to protect the cranes in its captive facility from exposure to wild birds that could transmit the virus. Today the organization still raises whooping cranes to be released into the nearby wetlands. It also supplies some eggs to a promising project in Louisiana that is reintroducing cranes to the same wetland from which they vanished some 70 years ago after hunting wiped them out.

While 15J continued her November journey south, I boarded a plane to Louisiana to see the whooping crane class of 2022 graduate from the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center in New Orleans, where the six-and-a-half-month-olds had become capable of flight, at which point they can be safely released into the wild.

Since the spring of 2011, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has been leading this reintroduction project. In the first season, biologists released 10 captive-bred youngsters at the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area in Vermilion Parish, about a four-hour drive west of New Orleans. They’ve since added more juveniles to the flock, which lives in Louisiana year-round, because some bird populations don’t migrate if they’ve only ever known one place and their needs are met. The state closely monitors the birds, often with help from cooperative landowners who tolerate cranes foraging in their rice fields and crawfish ponds. Louisiana’s flock is currently composed of about 80 birds. The goal is to establish a self-sustaining population of approximately 120 individuals, including 30 reproductive pairs, for a decade without restocking.

I arrived before dawn to witness the reintroduction day, when the cranes are rounded up from their grassy enclosures at the Species Survival Center and trucked down to White Lake to be released into the marsh. Richard Dunn, the center’s assistant curator, met me inside the gate and laid out the plan. After catching 10 young cranes from their enclosures, a team of biologists would weigh them and do a health check. Then each bird would be tucked inside a cardboard box with breathing holes and loaded into a van for the drive to White Lake.

At White Lake, we were greeted by Eva Szyszkoski, a wildlife technician with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Szyszkoski oversaw the birds as they were banded and fitted with tracking devices. Then the cranes in their boxes were shuttled onto a flat-bottom boat and ferried down a long canal to an area of the marsh enclosed with netting. A decoy crane stood inside the enclosure, welcoming the young birds to their new home.

One by one, each crane was removed from its box and carried by a white-costume-wearing biologist, disguised to prevent the birds from imprinting on people. As the humans waded into the muck, cradling the cranes, the birds’ heads bobbed on their long necks. Freed into the pen, they flapped their wings, stretching after a very long day.

In Louisiana, biologist Eva Szyszkoski interacts with birds that originated from a raise-and-release program, using a puppet to mimic adult crane behavior. (Top)

U.S. Geological Survey biologist Dave Brandt (left) and International Crane Foundation veterinarian Barry Hartup care for an injured whooping crane in Texas. (Bottom)

The next morning, Szyszkoski returned to find them all milling around, looking a little antsy to fly. Soon the nets would be opened, inviting them to disperse throughout the area. It’s not uncommon for many of these birds to die within their first year of being released. That may be partly because captive-raised cranes haven’t experienced the wild before—they’re naive, she said, and living in close proximity to people, which means a high chance of collision with power lines and fences. More than a dozen whooping cranes have been shot and killed over the course of the project. Occasionally, some just vanish without a trace.

More than 1,600 miles into her journey, 15J was flapping a route through America’s heartland. On November 15, her transmitter connected with a cell tower in Oklahoma, a state where one of the largest wind farms in the U.S. had recently come online.

As policymakers and the energy industry work to reduce the country’s carbon footprint, there are concerns about how eco-friendly energy advancements and habitat disturbance may affect migratory birds such as whooping cranes. A recent study showed these creatures avoid wind farm areas, preventing them from using some important stopover sites. At least 5,500 turbines have been erected in the birds’ migratory pathway, and over 18,000 more are planned. So far there’ve been no reports of whooping cranes being killed by turbines, but the accompanying increase in power lines is a major concern to conservation groups, who continue to advocate for careful site placements that may reduce the risk of potential collisions and for making power lines more visible with reflective markers.

In Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas, whooping cranes prance alongside American white pelicans at sunrise. The nearly five- foot-tall birds need open spaces like this salt marsh pond to thrive.

One day and 260 miles later, 15J arrived in Texas near Fort Worth. By Thanksgiving, her transmissions went dark. USGS biologist Dave Brandt told me she was likely out of range of a cell phone tower in the state’s 115,000-acre Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1937 as a safe haven for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. If so, that would mean her first fall migration was a success—she’d traveled some 2,500 miles over the course of about a month and could spend the winter resting along Texas’s Gulf Coast.

This picturesque vista of coastline, salt marshes, and tidal ponds is the winter stage where whooping cranes and their lifelong mates perform elaborate courtship dances, spinning in pirouettes, hopping and flapping, bobbing crimson-capped heads, and bugling their namesake calls.

But even on these wintering grounds there are threats, including coastal development and sea-level rise caused by climate change. Some scientists predict rising seas and subsequent saltwater intrusion will convert more than 50 percent of the Texas Gulf Coast’s freshwater wetlands to open water by 2100. Meanwhile, freshwater inflows are declining because of persistent drought and thirsty cities such as San Antonio upstream. Changes to salinity in the coastal estuaries pose problems for blue crabs and wolfberry plants—primary food sources for whooping cranes. Some conservation groups have warned that without more thoughtful conservation of this larger ecosystem, the whooping crane could lose its only wintering home before the end of the century.

In December I met Brandt in Texas to attempt to locate 15J and other J-birds in their winter grounds. Standing along the Intracoastal Waterway, we looked out over a salt marsh stretching at least a mile. It seemed like a large area but was a fraction of the historic marsh devoured by development in recent decades. Suddenly, two whooping cranes flew up from behind a grassy dune, white feathers gleaming in the sunlight. “They’re here because this just doesn’t exist anywhere along the coast anymore,” Brandt said of the rich habitat. “This portion of the peninsula has about 40 percent of the population wintering here.” Shortly after dawn the next morning, we boarded a fishing boat and spent eight hours fruitlessly searching for 15J along the Aransas refuge and nearby shorelines. We did, however, find several other whooping crane families, including a male bird, 11J, tagged around the same time the previous August. He was walking along the salt marsh begging—peep, peep, peep, peep—for his parents to share the blue crabs and wolfberries in their beaks. They seemed intent on teaching him to find his own food.

Next evening, on my way home to New York, I got a text from Brandt: 15J’s transmitter had “checked in,” revealing her location was within a mile of where we’d cruised along the coast.

Now another full migration cycle through spring and fall has passed. Each time, 15J has proved to be the most elusive traveler among the J-birds. I often receive updates about others almost daily, but I’ve heard about her only a handful of times. Whenever there’s been a long gap, I’ve worried: Did she collide with a power line? Get eaten by a coyote? Was she shot by a poacher? Or did she succumb to an illness?

If all goes well, 15J will be among the now 536 recorded whooping cranes preparing to depart Texas this spring, when their instincts signal it’s again time to arrow north. In the span of a month, they’ll travel 2,500 miles to Wood Buffalo National Park, where many of the adults will build nests and lay eggs. With luck, in a few more years it will be 15J’s turn to join that cycle too, helping her species continue its climb back from the edge of extinction.

[jpbjazz]

LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

DAVID MURRAY, LE CAMÉLÉON DU JAZZ

“He's long appealed to an adventurous mainstream audience. It's versatility and growth that marks his work, and after a while it felt like he could do anything and go anywhere. So, playing with the [Grateful] Dead, working with African drummers, working with Ishmael Reed, and later when he started to investigate music around the world, Guadalupe and other places: his cultural investigations are his passport to all these various worlds.”

- Jim Macnie

Né le 19 février 1955 à Oakland en Californie, David Keith Murray est le fils de parents baptistes. Murray avait joué pour la première fois en public - comme saxophoniste alto - aux environs de 1965 en se produisant à la Missionary Church of God in Christ d’Allston Way, dont son père était un des diacres-fondateurs et où sa mère jouait de l’orgue. Plus tôt le même jour, Murray s’était vu offrir un saxophone alto par son professeur de musique Phil Hardymon de la Longfellow Elementary School. Lorsque Murray avait apporté son nouveau saxophone à l’église, le Père Thirland Daniels avait déclaré: “Young Murray’s got a new instrument. Let’s hear you play something.’’

Murray n’avait pas tardé à donner raison à Daniels. Murray avait déclaré plus tard: “I probably sounded like a young inexperienced saxophonist playing multiphonics and he said ‘You sound very spiritual.’ After a few weeks, I knew all the songs already. I grew very quickly on the horn.”

À l’adolescence, Murray avait commencé à se produire avec des groupes locaux. Durant ses études au high school, Murray avait joué avec des groupes de Rhythm & blues. Grand sportif, Murrau excellait également au basketball et au football. Murray avait même réussi à se tailler une place dans l’équipe junior de Berkeley avant d’être transféré à St. Mary’s.

Selon ses propres dires, Murray devrait sa remarquable éthique de travail à son père, qui avait quitté le Nebraska pour Los Angeles à l’âge de quinze ans alors qu’il n’avait même pas suffisamment d’argent pour se payer un billet de train. Après être entré dans les Marines, le père de David avait pratiqué plusieurs métiers afin de nourrir sa famille, dont ceux d’éboueur et d’acrobate dans un cirque! David Murray expliquait : “My father was the kind of guy who, if they asked him if he could do brain surgery, he’d say, ‘Yeah, sure! “Never say you can’t do something, because you can learn—and you can learn fast.’’

David Murray avait aussi des mots très tendres pour sa mère Catherine, une organiste qui lui avait transmis sa passion pour la musique et qui avait été son premier professeur. Murray racontait:

‘’She taught me how to play music on her lap. The first memory I have of music is playing on the floor, in between my mom’s legs, as she was trying to learn how to play the Hammond organ. I was 3 or so, trying to hit the foot pedals and throw her off. My father was a garbageman for the city of Berkeley, and he had to go to work at 5:30 in the morning. My mother started practicing after she got him out the door. She started off playing hymnal stuff, real quiet. Half an hour later it started getting louder and started to sound less hymnal, more lively. Then, by 7, she was banging, and that was my wakeup call {...}. From then on, music was part of my life.’’

Murray a d’ailleurs composé sa pièce ‘’Morning Song’’ en l’honneur de sa mère.

C’est après avoir entendu Sonny Rollins que David Murray avait opté pour le saxophone ténor. En 1969, Rollins s’était produit au Festival de Jazz de Berkeley. Un peu jaloux de constater que le saxophone de Rollins était d’une taille supérieure au sien, Murray avait supplié son père de remplacer son alto par un ténor. La mère de Murray étant décédée l’année précédente, son père, qui travaillait pour le département sanitaire de Berkeley, lui avait obtenu un prêt à l’agence de crédit. Murray s’était alors rendu au magasin de Forrests Music où il s’était acheté un saxophone ténor Selmer sur lequel il avait joué durant les vingt-cinq années suivantes.

Contrairement à la plupart des saxophonistes ténor de son époque qui étaient des émules de John Coltrane, David Murray avait surtout été influencé par Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Lester Young, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman et Paul Gonsalves.

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Après s’être installé à New York en septembre 1975 à l’âge de vingt ans, Murray avait fait la rencontre de grosses pointures comme Bobby Bradford, Arthur Blythe, Oliver Lake et son homonyme Sonny Murray, entre autres. Membre de l’Energy Band de Ted Daniels, Murray avait commencé à se produire avec des musiciens d’avant-garde comme Cecil Taylor, Lester Bowie et Frank Lowe. C’est après avoir étudié durant deux ans avec le critique Stanley Crouch et le trompettiste Bobby Bradford au Pomona College de Los Angeles que Murray avait commencé à jouer du jazz d’avant-garde, collaborant notamment avec le trompettiste Butch Morris, le clarinettiste John Carter, le saxophoniste alto Arthur Blythe, le contrebassiste Roberto Miranda et le batteur Don Moye de l’Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Conseillant à Murray de ne pas mettre tous ses oeufs dans le même panier, Crouch l’avait encouragé à poursuivre parallèlement une carrière de journalisye, ce qui lui a permis de rencontrer plusieurs sommités du jazz, comme Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Ornette Coleman et John Cage. Murray expliquait: “I came here on an independent study. I interviewed Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Cage and McCoy Tyner. I went around to every concert I possibly could, wrote a review of it, talked about the musicians. I had my heart set on being a writer and a saxophone player.”

Après s’être installé dans un loft de la 2e rue Est avec Crouch, Murray avait commencé à se produire avec la scène effervescente du jazz new-yorkais. Se rendant compte qu’il connaissait très peu de choses à la musique, Murray était entré dans une intense période de formation. Il précisait: “When I got to New York, I realized that, of the people that were around the Lower East Side, I knew a little more music than they did. I was into this whole new-music thing 'cause Stanley was into it, and the people around me were into it. But I could play a lot of different things, I read music, I understand the construction of songs and how to do it. Which led me to writing.” Murray avait également mentionné sa collaboration avec le World Saxophone Quartet qu’il avait co-fondé en 1976 avec Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill et Hamiet Bluiett comme ayant joué un rôle déterminant dans son développement.

Murray a enregistré un premier album comme leader en 1976 intitulé ‘’Last of the Hipmen.’’ L’album a été enregistré avec le trompettiste Butch Morris. Murray a enregistré deux autres albums en 1976: ‘’Live at the Peace Church’’ avec le contrebassiste Fred Hopkins, et ‘’Flowers for Albert’’, un hommage au saxophoniste Albert Ayler enregistré avec le pianiste Don Pullen.

Au cours de cette période, Murray avait également travaillé avec plusieurs écrivains et poètes de New York, de Crouch à Amiri Baraka en passant par Steve Cannon et Ishmael Reed. Décrivant la passion de Murray pour les mots, le poète Saul Williams avait commenté: “He’s inspired by words, their meanings, and something that speaks to a unified outlook. He’s a listener. He’s been around those people, like Amiri Baraka and Ishmael Reed, and it bleeds through.”

Parmi les poètes avec lesquels Murray avait travaillé, on remarquait l’écrivaine Ntozake Shange dont le poème musical “for colored girls who had considered suicide / when the rainbow is enough” avait remporté un grand succès au Public Theater avant de faire son entrée à Broadway. Avec Shange, Murray avaient créé plusieurs pièces qui avaient été présentées au Public Theater (dont “A Photograph” et “Spell #7”) et qui avaient inspiré la formation de la légendaire série New Jazz at The Public. Tombé amoureux de Shange, Murray n’avait pas tardé à l’épouser, mais le mariage n’avait duré que trois mois. ‘’It was a hell of a story”, avait expliqué plus tard Murray. Le saxophoniste se rappelait encore avec émotion de son séjour dans la communauté du jazz loft de New-York, à une époque où il pouvait partager des cigarettes avec les membres du groupe The Ramones, ses voisins de la 2e rue Est, échanger avec des personnalités de la culture pop comme Tiny Tim ou voir un jeune peintre comme Jean Michel Basquiat tenter sa chance dans la musique. Murray avait commenté: "I remember he played really bad clarinet, and they played really loud. Everybody was just growing up, and it was wide open during that time."

Finalement, sur les conseils du saxophoniste ténor Dewey Redman, Murray avait décidé de troquer définitivement le stylo pour le saxophone.

Initialement orienté vers le free jazz, particulièrement sous l’influence d’Albert Ayler (pour lequel il avait composé le magnifique ‘’Flowers for Albert’’), Arthur Blythe, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy (plus particulièrement à la clarinette basse) et Archie Shepp, Murray s’était diversifié avec le temps pour devenir une véritable encyclopédie vivante du jazz. Désireux de réconcilier tradition et modernité, Murray  était doté d’une connaissance encyclopédique de l’histoire du jazz.

En 1978, Murray avait enregistré avec le trompettiste Lester Bowie, le contrebassiste Fred Hopkins et le batteur Phillip Wilson l’album ‘’Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, Vols. 1 & 2.’’ Deux ans plus tard, Murray avait enregistré l’album ‘’3D Family’’ avec le pianiste Cecil Taylor, le contrebassiste sud-africain Johnny Dyani et le batteur Andrew Cyrille. En 1980, Murray s’était également produit en solo dans le cadre de l’album ‘’Solo Live’’ (volumes 1 et 2).

C’est au début des années 1980 que Murray avait formé son célèbtr octet qui comprenait notamment le trompettiste Butch Morris, le saxophoniste alto Henry Threadgill et le batteur Steve McCall. Le groupe avait d’abord enregisré trois albums : ‘’Ming’’ (nommé d’après son épouse de l’époque), ‘’Home’’ et ‘’Murray’s Steps.’’ Grandement apprécié par la critique, l’octet de Murray était demeuré son véhicule le plus efficace tout au long de sa carrière. Le groupe avait enregistré trois autres albums par la suite: ‘’New Life’’, ‘’Hope Scope’’ (tous deux publiés en 1987) et ‘’Picasso’’, publié en 1993.

Même s’il excellait dans le cadre de son octet, Murray avait toujours rêvé de diriger son propre big band. Le groupe avait d’abord enregistré deux albums en concert: ‘’Live at Sweet Basil, Vol. 1’’ (1985) et ‘’Live at Sweet Basil, Vol. 2’’ (1986). En 1992, le groupe avait enregistré un autre album, ‘’David Murray Big Band Conducted by Lawrence “Butch” Morris ’’, qui avait été suivi trois ans plus tard de ‘’South of the Border.’’

Dans les années 1980, Murray avait aussi dirigé un certain nombre de petites formations. Ses albums ‘’Morning Song’’ (1984) et ‘’Ming’s Samba’’ (publié en 1989, l’album était son premier publié par une maison de disques américaine), qui mettaient en vedette le bateur Ed Blackwell, avaient été particulièrement louangés par la critique. En 1988, Murray avait également publié un album en trio intitulé ‘’The Hill’’ (1988), qui comprenait des compositions de Duke Ellington et de Billy Strayhorn. À la suite de la publication de l’album, certains critiques avaient commencé à définir Murray comme un ‘’néo-traditionnaliste’’ en raison de son sens de l’harmonie et de mélodie dans un style de jeu dominé par le swing et le post-bop. Murray a enregistré un autre hommage à Ellington avec le World Saxophone Quartet en 1986. Murray a également rendu hommage à Thelonious Monk sur l’album ‘’Blue Monk’’ en 1991 dans le cadre d’une collaboration avec le pianiste Aki Takase.

ÉVOLUTION RÉCENTE

La fin des années 1980 et le début des années 1990 avaient aussi permis à Murray d’explorer davantage ses racines gospel. En compagnie du pianiste Dave Burell et de diverses sections rythmiques, Murray avait enregistré des albums inspirés de sa jeunesse avec sa mère organiste, dont ‘’Deep River’’ (1989), ‘’Spirituals’’ (1990) et ‘’Remembrances’’ (1991), qui évoquaient tous la tradition religieuse afro-américaine par l’entremise d’hymnes et de spirituals composés pour l’occasion.

Murray avait également collaboré avec l’ancien pianiste de Mingus, Don Pullen. Après avoir convaincu Pullen de troquer le piano pour l’orgue, Murray avait enregistré les albums ‘’Shakill’s Warrior’’ (1991) et ‘’Shakill’s II’’ (1994). Qualifiant ce dernier album d’un des meilleurs disques de la décennie, le critique du Wall Street Journal, Jim Fusilli, avait ajouté: “Murray’s playing is phenomenal, full of melody and adventure.’’ À la même époque où il explorait son côté spirituel, Murray avait enregistré des albums en duo avec des pianistes comme John Hicks, Dave Burrell, Randy Weston, George Arvanitas, Aki Takase et Donald Fox. Parmi les plus remarquables de ces albums, on remarquait ‘’The Healers’’ (enregistré avec Weston et publié en 1987) et ‘’Brother to Brother’’ (enregistré avec Burrell et publié en 1993).

Au milieu des années 1990, Murray s’est installé à temps partiel à Paris en France, où il avait fondé un nouveau groupe, le Fo Deuk Revue (qui signifie “Where do you come from?” en langue wolof), sous l’influence du Afro-pop, du hip-hop et du jazz. Le groupe, qui employait des musiciens sénégalais ainsi que des chanteurs et des rappeurs, avait permis à Murray de se bâtir un nouveau public. L’ancien collaborateur de Murray, le poète, écrivain et critique Amiri Baraka, avait également travaillé avec le groupe. Décrivant son travail avec le groupe, Murray avait déclaré au cours d’une entrevue accordée au Washington Post en 1998: “Fo Duek Revue is my way of addressing my relationship with Africa without going out and shouting slogans or dressing like them. I just get to the meat of it.”

Même si Murray avait beaucoup voyagé en Afrique, il n’avait jamais perdu ses illusions au sujet de l’évolution politique continent et s’était limité à étudier sa musique et son histoire. Murray, qui avait enregistré plusieurs albums au Sénégal, avait expliqué ainsi son intérêt pour la culture africaine: “American black people, we’re from all different tribes, but we’ve become a tribe, too. My idea is to share those experiences with all of our brothers that are in Africa. I always thought that traveling and playing music, I’m teaching at the same time. In the big-band situation with Ellington, he used to always have older cats in the same band as the young ones. The philosophy was each one teach one.”

Murray s’est installé en permanence à Paris en 1997, où il était demeuré durant vingt ans, collaborant notamment avec des musiciens des Caraïbes et de l’Afrique de l’Ouest. Au cours de son séjour à Paris, Murray était tombé amoureux de l’activiste et gérante d’artistes Valérie Manot, qui l’avait incité à s’ouvrir à d’autres musiques à travers le monde. Commentant son ouverture aux musiques du monde, Murray avait précisé: “My whole idea was if I did world music, I wanted to play with the best musicians — the top tier of people.’’ À Paris, Murray avait établi son propre bureau connu sous le nom de "3D Family", d’après le titre d’un de ses premiers albums.

Grand voyageur, Murray était particulièrement ouvert aux musiques du monde. Murray a intégré des danseurs et des chanteurs d’Afrique du Sud dans certains de ses spectacles et a même fait une incursion dans le jazz cubain. Aussi influencé par la musique classique, Murray a également composé une suite pour orchestres à cordes en hommage au poète russe Alexandre Pouchkine.

Au milieu des années 1990, Murray avait également formé un groupe de  jazz-funk de huit musiciens mettant en vedette le claviériste Robert Irving III, un ancien collaborateur du groupe de Miles Davis. En 1996, le groupe avait publié un album en hommage au groupe Grateful Dead intitulé ‘’Dark Star: The Music of the Grateful Dead.’’ Murray, qui avait grandi dans la région de la baie de San Francisco, était un grand amateur du groupe avec lequel il s’était souvent produit au cours des années 1990, notamment dans le cadre d’une performance au Madison Square Garden de New York en 1993. Selon le critique Jason Fine du magazine Rolling Stone, “Dark Star is a revelation for Deadheads who never thought jazz could rock so hard and for jazz snobs who never imagined so much life could be squeezed from the Dead.” Murray a aussi collaboré avec le groupe de rap Positive Black Soul.

Dans les années 1990, Murray avait également enregistré des albums influencés par le R & B, dont ‘’The Tip’’ (1994) et ‘’Jug-a-Lug’’ (1995).  En 1996, Murray s’était aussi réuni avec son vieil ami James Newton dans le cadre de l’album ‘’The David Murray/James Newton Quintet.’’ Murray avait également continué de se produire avec le World Saxophone Quartet. Depuis sa fondation en 1976, le groupe avait enregistré une vingtaine d’albums. Après la mort de Julius Hemphill, le principal compositeur du groupe, John Purcell s’était joint au groupe en 1996 à titre de producteur et saxophoniste consultant. Après la mort d’un autre de ses collaborateurs, le pianiste Don Pullen, Murray lui avait rendu hommage dans le cadre de l’album ‘’A Tribute to Don Pullen’’ en 1998. L’année suivante, Murray avait enregistré ‘’Creole’’, un album inspiré par la musique des Caraïbes. En 1994, Murray avait également participé à un album du quintet du batteur Andrew Cyrille. Intitulé ’’Ode to the Living Tree’’, l’album a été enregistré avec un groupe tout-étoile composé d’Oliver Lake au saxophone alto, d’Adegoke Steve Colson au piano électrique et de Fred Hopkins à la contrebasse. En 1991, Murray avait également enregistré l’album ‘’44th Street Suite’’ avec le pianiste McCoy Tyner. Murray a aussi collaboré avec le pianiste D.D. Jackson dans le cadre des albums ‘’Peace-Song’’ (1994) et ‘’Paired Down’’ (volumes 1 et 2) en 1996.

Même si le nombre de ses enregistrements en studio avait diminué à la fin des années 1990, Murray avait continué de se produire en concert. En 1999, Murray avait fait une tournée avec un big band de quarante-cinq musiciens dans le cadre d’un hommage à Duke Ellington. La même année, Murray avait fait une tournée avec la Fo Deuk Revue. En 2003, Murray avait aussi enregistré un album en trio intitulé ‘’Circles: Live in Cracow’’ avec Marcin Oles et Bartlomiej Brat Oles.

Tentant de se rapprocher d’un jazz plus ‘’mainstream’’, Murray avait fait dire au critique de jazz Jim Macnie:

“He's long appealed to an adventurous mainstream audience. It's versatility and growth that marks his work, and after a while it felt like he could do anything and go anywhere. So, playing with the [Grateful] Dead, working with African drummers, working with Ishmael Reed, and later when he started to investigate music around the world, Guadalupe and other places: his cultural investigations are his passport to all these various worlds.”

Même si Coltrane n’avait pas vraiment été son modèle comme saxophoniste, Murray lui a rendu hommage en 1999 sur son album ‘‘Octet Plays Trane’’ qui avait remporté un prix Grammy en 1989.

Murray avait aussi fait partie du groupe Clarinet Summit avec John Carter, Alvin Batiste et Jimmy Hamilton et du groupe Special Edition de Jack DeJohnette. Décrivant sa réaction lorsque John Carter lui avait proposé de se joindre au groupe Clarinet Summit, Murray avait expliqué: ‘’I was knocked over, because there are some three great clarinet players who asked me to play bass clarinet with them and I'm not even a clarinet player and I grew in that group and I just treasure the time that I spent with those guys because I learned a lot about the clarinet. They were happy that I was not a clarinet player per say because I took other kinds of chances.’’

Retourné à New York après la dissolution de son mariage en 2017, Murray avait continué de collaborer avec certains de ses contemporains comme le batteur et percussionniste de Chicago Kahil El’Zabar. Murray collaborait avec El’Zabar depuis qu’il s’était installé à New York en 1975. Murray expliquait:

“Kahil and I met on the basketball court, and we started hanging out. Kahil was a great basketball player in Chicago. He’s a visionary who’s hooked up to the creator and the universe, and transfers that to the music. We’re not just a duo. We’re a band. We continue every year to get better and better and more explorative. I’m the silent one on stage, other than what’s coming out of my bass clarinet.”

El’Zabar et Murray avait aussi enregistré en duo en 1989 l’album ‘’Golden Sea’’, publié sur l’étiquette allemande Sound Aspects. Comprenant des pièces comme  “Song For A New South Africa”, l’album reflétait l’atmosphère plutôt optimiste de l’époque qui coïncidait avec la fin de la Guerre froide et le renversement du système d’Apartheid en Afrique du Sud. Lorsqu’il n’était pas en tournée avec Murray, El’Zabar se produisait avec son Ritual Trio, qui comprenait Murray et d’autres saxophonistes d’avant-garde comme Pharoah Sanders et Archie Shepp, ainsi qu’avec le groupe Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Murray avait enregistré d’autres albums avec El’Zabar, dont ‘’Love Outside of Dreams’’ (1997), ‘’One World Family’’ et ‘’We Is: Live at the Bop Shop’’ (tous deux publiés en 2000) et ‘’Spirit Groove’’ (2019).

Jouant également un rôle de mentor, Murray adorait s’entourer de jeunes musiciens qui l’aidaient à se garder jeune et alimenter la flamme. Murray expliquait: “It’s just so good to have young, spirited minds pushing the envelope. This 68-year-old person that I’ve become, I feel rejuvenated and uplifted to have this youth behind me.” Un de ses plus récents quartets mettait en vedette la pianiste Marta Sanchez, le contrebassiste Luke Stewart et le batteur Russell Carter. “They're all leaders in their own rights’’, avait déclaré Murray au sujet des membres de son quartet.

Commentant sa collaboration avec le groupe, Murray avait ajouté: “I cherry-picked my cream of the crop. I’m teaching them and I’m mentoring them in how to play with me — what I want, how I want it — and they’re very willing to come in my direction.” Conscient que sa créativité le conduisait désormais ailleurs, Murray avait précisé: “I want to have the energy of Russell and Luke and Marta. That generation of people, that’s the generation I want to play with right now.” Murray avait déjà travaillé avec Carter et Stewart dans le cadre d’un trio qui l’avait emmené jusqu’en Allemagne et en Belgique.

Si Carter était originaire de Washington, D.C., Stewart venait du Mississippi mais avait vécu à Washington durant plus de quinze ans. Murray adorait jouer avec des musiciens de Washington, même si la présence de Carter et de Stewart dans son groupe était une coïncidence. Commentant sa collaboration avec les deux musiciens, Murray avait ajouté: “Russell is a very strong, beautiful player. Luke is a visionary: We call him ‘the poet’ because he’s very creative.”

Même si Murray appréciait de travailler avec Carter et Stewart, le groupe était centré sur le jeu de la pianiste Marta Sanchez. Selon Murray, Sanchez avait entièrement transformé la dynamique du groupe. Murray, qui a toujours eu une relation difficile avec le piano, avait cependant abordé sa relation avec Sanchez avec prudence. Il expliquait: “My criticism of the piano is very harsh. I expect a lot. You know, the piano’s always playing. Either it’s accompanying or it’s soloing. That takes up a lot of space. So sometimes the piano just has to not be played, or else there’s no melodic space left for me!” 

Comparant sa collaboration avec Murray à son album de 2022 intitulé "SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum)", Sanchez avait commenté: “It's [his] open approach: how you hear the same tune in different recordings, and the approach and the treatment are totally different. I love the openness to let the musicians put their personality on the tunes, and reshape the tunes.”

Avec Sanchez, Murray jouait à la fois un rôle de professeur et d’étudiant. Née à Madrid, en Espagne, Sanchez avait travaillé pour la première fois avec Murray dans le cadre d’un festival espagnol. Murray précisait: “We’ve learned how to play together. She understands when I say ‘stroll,’ that means stop playing, in a hipper, nicer way. And then when she comes in, it’s her statement. It’s not a cover for the whole band.” Le groupe, qui avait connu du succès dès le départ, avait inspiré le commentaire suivant à Murray: ‘’“The band just meshed and jelled in such a beautiful, organic way.’’

Sa collaboration avec le groupe avait aussi aidé Murray à apprécier de plus en plus son rôle de mentor. Il expliquait: ‘’When I tell them about things other players did, all the players that I’ve experienced, everybody really likes it. It’s kind of like grandpa’s telling stories.” Lorsqu’on avait demandé à Murray comment il se sentait en jouant avec des musiciens deux fois (et même trois fois !) plus jeunes que lui, Murray avait commenté: “They call me O.G.. It came so fast. I went from being enfant terrible, to one of the oldest living.” Murray avait ajouté: “It makes me feel quite admirable, that my life was worth something. To have played with Max Roach and Julius Hemphill when I happened to be 15-17 years younger than them, I looked up to them. I guess now it’s my time.”

Murray attribuait son récent retour en force à sa nouvelle épouse et gérante Francesca Cinelli, qu’il considérait comme une sorte de ‘’muse.’’ Le couple vivait dans le haut de la ville, non loin de l’endroit où Murray s’était installé à son arrivée à New York en 1975. À l’époque, Murray se sentait aussi beaucoup mieux physiquement et mentalement. Il expliquait: “My life is better. I'm more healthy now than I probably have been in many years. And I'm hoping that it reflects in my playing.”

Murray n’avait qu’un seul regret: presque tous ses anciens collaborateurs avaient disparu. Murray qui avait travaillé avec les plus grands musiciens de jazz au cours de sa carrière, avait ajouté: “there’s nobody left. All my rhythm sections have died on me. Almost all my guys are gone.”

Reconnu pour ses talents de mélodiste, Murray est à l’aise aussi bien dans des petites formations (duo, trio et quartet) que dans les grandes (octet et big band). Il excelle aussi à la clarinette basse. Considéré par plusieurs comme le meilleur clarinettiste basse de l’histoire du jazz depuis Eric Dolphy, Murray a d’ailleurs consacré un album complet à cet instrument dans le cadre de l’album ‘’Ballads for Bass Clarinet’’ en 1991.

Intitulé ‘’Blues For Memo’’ (2017), un des derniers albums de Murray avait été réalisé avec la collaboration du poète et chanteur Saul Williams. Enregistré à Istanbul avec une formation composée d’Orrin Evans au piano et de Craig Harris au trombone, l’album était une initiative du producteur turque Ahmet Uluğ. Uluğ  avait eu l’idée d’enregistrer l’album après avoir entendu Murray lire un poème lors des funérailles d’Amiri Baraka. Murray et Williams avaient éventuellement présenté le projet à Anvers, en Belgique, dans le cadre de la 50e édition du festival de jazz de Middelheim.

Malgré son calendrier chargé, Murray était toujours demeuré en contact avec ses origines californiennes. Murray est un membre-fondateur du conseil-adviseur du EastSide Cultural Center, pour lequel, en collaboration avec l’activiste et poète Amiri Baraka, il a créé l’opéra ‘’The Sisyphus Syndrome’’, mettant en vedete la chanteuse originaire de Berkeley, Faye Carol, le contrebassiste Jamaaladeen Tacuma, le réalisateur Boots Riley et le Deep River Gospel Choir. L’opéra a été présenté par la suite à Paris et Milan.

Lorsque Murray était en ville, il continuait de travailler avec le membre du groupe Grateful Dead, Bob Weir, le bluesman Taj Mahal et Cary William dans le cadre d’une comédie musicale en hommage au légendaire lanceur de baseball Satchel Paige, un projet de longue haleine sur lequel ils collaboraient depuis environ trois décennies. Une des pièces de la revue, “Shoulda Had Been Me”, qui a été composée par Weir, Bruce Cockburn et Michael Nash, a été incluse sur le CD de Murray intitulé ‘’Dark Star: The Music of the Grateful Dead’’ en 1996. Murray avait toujours été reconnaissant à la région de Berkeley d’avoir fait de lui l’artiste qu’il est devenu.

David Murray a remporté de nombreux honneurs au cours de carrière. Nommé musicien de la décennie par le magazine Village Voice en 1980 , David Murray s’est également vu décerner le Bird Award en 1986, le Danish Jazzpar prize en 1991 et le prix remis au musicien de l’année par le magazine Newsday en 1993. Le collège Pomona où Murray avait étudié durant deux dans dans les années 1970 lui a décerné un doctorat honorifique en 2012.

Considéré comme un des meilleurs compositeurs de l’histoire du jazz depuis Charles Mingus, David Murray a fait l’objet de deux documentaires : ‘’Speaking in Tongues’’ en 1982 et ‘’Jazzman’’, qui a été mis en candidature au Festival du Film de Baltimore en 1999.

Reconnu comme un des saxophonistes les plus enregistrés de l’histoire du jazz, David Murray a enregistré plus de 150 albums sous son nom au cours de sa carrière. Il a aussi collaboré à une centaine d’albums comme artiste invité. Musicien très prolifique, Murray a travaill avec une grande variété de musiciens au cours de sa carrière, d’Henry Threadgill à James Blood Ulmer, en passant par Jack DeJohnette, Mal Waldron, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Ed Blackwell, Lester Bowie, Max Roach, Don Cherry, James Blood Ulmer, Aki Takase, Dave Burrell, John Hicks, Oliver Lake, D.D. Jackson, Cecil Taylor, James Newton, Kahil El’Zabar, Andrew Cyrille, Johnny Dyani, Fred Hopkins, Don Pullen et Randy Weston. Élu musicien de la décennie par le magazine Village Voice en 1980, David Murray pratique un jazz de symbiose qui est ouvert à toutes les influences, qu’il s’agisse du jazz d’avant-garde, du jazz traditionnel, du jazz-rock ou de la World Music. La technique de respiration circulaire dont Murray est un adepte lui permet de prolonger son phrasé sur de très longues périodes sans reprendre son souffle.

c- 2022-2024, tous droits réservés, Les Productions de l’Imaginaire historique

[weekendweirdweb]

Americans get attention......for Colorado Buffaloes

In US sports, the game between Nebraska and Colorado on college football has gained attention in America. It's the more bets either playbooks or fantasy ones than a week 1 of NFL. Colorado has been trained by Deion Sanders best known as Coach Prime. What's it means: Las Vegas hails Coach Prime

[swldx]

BBC 0440 20 May 2023

12095Khz 0357 20 MAY 2023 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55434. English, dead carrier s/on @0357z then ID@0359z pips and Newsroom preview. @0401z World News anchored by Gareth Barlow. Leaders of the world's richest democracies acted yesterday to stiffen sanctions against Russia, while a draft communique to be issued after their talks in the Japanese city of Hiroshima stressed the need to reduce reliance on trade with China. The G7 leaders, to be joined this weekend by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pledged to restrict any exports to Russia that could help President Vladimir Putin's invasion of his neighbour and to stop sanctions-busting. The US says it will allow its Western allies to supply Ukraine with advanced fighter jets, including American-made F-16s, in a major boost for Kyiv. US troops will also train Kyiv's pilots to use the jets. Kyiv was attacked with another wave of drones. Also, three "powerful explosions" occurred in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol. Nebraska lawmakers on Friday passed a bill that limits abortion and puts restrictions on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth in a single piece of legislation that strikes at two highly divisive issues. The bill, which Republican Governor Jim Pillen is expected to sign into law, bans abortions after 12 weeks of gestational age, making Nebraska the latest state to impose restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The province of Alberta, Canada, home to more than four million people, is under a state of emergency, as nearly 100 wildfires burn, dozens of them out of control. Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has stepped up military pressure on the democratically governed island. Outgoing Montenegro President Milo Djukanovic gave a farewell press conference on Friday. Economic expert Jakov Milatovic, a political novice, won presidential runoff with around 59% of the vote. This was Djukanovic's first loss in an election since he entered politics in the former Yugoslav republic in the early 1990s. During his decades in power, the 61-year-old switched from being a pro-Serbian communist to a pro-Western politician. Jim Brown, the legendary American footballer who became a Hollywood action hero and civil rights activist, has died at the age of 87. @0406z "The Newsroom" begins. 250ft unterminated BoG antenna pointed E/W w/MFJ-1020C active antenna (used as a preamplifier/preselector), Etón e1XM. 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2257.

[aryburn-trains]

BN 3145, Chalco, NE

A BN special train moving fans &/or customers from Omaha to Lincoln for the Nebraska - Oklahoma football game. Nebraska was ranked #1 before the game. Oklahoma moved from #2 to the #1 spot after winning 17 to 7. A lot of homes have replaced the corn stalks around Chalco since this photo was shot. 11-21-1987

[gamer-logic]

Hetalia Platonic Ships Week Day 4 Annual Canadian-American Sleepover

Allen and James had never had the pleasure of experiencing the annual Canadian-American sleepover/prank way before, so the kids all decide to 'initiate them.' Pure chaos ensues.

They all have the sleepover at Alfred's place since it's the biggest.

Full-on prank war starts right out of the gate. Allen and James are immediately initiated by everyone with the oldest trick in the book: getting slathered in maple syrup and chicken feathers. Louisiana teams up with Ontario to terrorize Quebec voodoo-based pranks. Of course, Allen runs damage control makes sure to keep track of what they're doing, and cancel any horrible aftereffects. Nevada runs bets on who falls for what prank. The highest is California falling for the kale snack that's actually grass prank. With Tony's help, Alfred pranks Mathew by beaming down beavers on his head and teleporting him into a giant pile of maple leaves filled with syrup. Mathew immediately retaliates by jump scaring him with a creepy eagle mask every time he enters a room then chases him into the barn where he's covered in ketchup and mustard.

Pennsylvania and New Brunswick team up to switch PEI's hair care products and New Jersey's hair gel. They also replace New Jersey's bottle of soap with Tan in a Can mixed with Cheeto puff powder. Saskatchewan and Nunavut scare New York and make him think Wendigos are after him. New Mexico and Arizona fill every bit of Minnesota's winter gear with desert sand. North Dakota and North Carolina team up against South Dakota and South Carolina in a giant nerf war. Delaware, being Delaware, puts sticky notes on everything. There's can only be one. The Southern States team up to terrorize Florida in revenge for Florida man. They convince Florida she needs to around dressed as all their state football mascots to ward off Florida man who's coming to fight her Alligators.

Arkansas borrows Lousiana's pet pelican and trains it to dive-bomb Alabama and Mississippi with stink bombs. Texas mixes his five-alarm chili seasoning in with food and gets people to eat it. Alfred easily falls for this when it's put in ice cream. Mathew as well when it's put in poutine. Wisconsin makes various cheese replicas of everyday items and replaces them. He'll go around just eating things like a lamp in front of people to subtly frick with them and make them question reality. Oregon tye dyes everything Washington has. Tennesee has trained various chickens to crow at Kentucky at various hours of the day whenever she walks by. Hawaii and Alaska are currently leading on the scoreboard because, despite their unassuming looks, they're little devils, especially when hyped on sugar.

Their most successful one to date would be tying one end of Texas' lasso to Ameriwhale and telling him they found it, giving him the other end, and making him go for a swim. British Columbia and Alberta accompany Maryland who loves subtly messing with Mr. Perfectionist Delaware by moving everything he has in his room an inch over to the right and making everything crooked. Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa rig a popcorn matching to shoot popcorn at random intervals. James ducktapes Allen's shades to his head and his bat to the top of the tallest tree in the yard. He also trains Kuma to roar in his face every time he turns a corner and turns on Jersey Shore every time he comes close to a TV to get him stuck using that accent for a whole day. Allen retaliates by hiding his hockey stick in a nearby beaver dam, dies all his flannel pink and puts polka dots on them, puts honey in his scruff and hair which makes Kuma chase him down to lick it off. He also rigs his motorbike to be remote controlled (a trick learned from Massachusettes) and attaches the back of his paints to it, making them fly off.

Eventually, things start settling down and everyone starts up the movies and eats pizza. The award for the best prank goes to, surprisingly, Wyoming and Newfoundland who actually are aresponsible for over 20+ pranks with Hawaii and Alaska in a close second and Wisconsin in third for sheer creativity. Wyoming enlists Newfoundland to help her set this up, swearing him to secrecy. Many of their pranks include creating an impossible-to-navigate maze and trick people to go in, being continually chased by prairies dogs, gophers, and various farm animals, rigging various wire traps around the house and whenever someone activates one they immediately get pied in the face, and somehow rigging every toilet in the house to flush and sing Another One Bites the Dust on command. No one knows where they got them or how they managed to do this in such a short time. They were also never caught until the scores are tallied and they revealed themselves after no one could figure out who did most of the pranks. It's always the shy ones.

About five minutes into the movie, New Jersey hits New York with a pillow starting another all-out brawl. Texas immediately goes big with a bean bag chair because it's on like Donkey Kong and his motto is 'go big or go home!' Even Delaware, usually a tightwad, gets crazy and helps West Virginia target, Virginia. All of the New England states hunker down in a pillow fort under heavy fire with the Southern states who also vote unanimously to sacrifice Florida. Oklahoma and the rest of Tornado Alley team up and become a giant collective twister of unstoppable force. The battle of the 48th parallel states and provinces i.e. BC, Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario vs. Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington rages on with South Dakota betraying them for the chance to hit North Dakota and Ontario also going rouge after being booted out. Eventually, though, they reveal their double agent status which decimates both sides. Mathew and James immediately go into hockey mode while Allen goes into baseball mode and Alfred into football mode.

The party shows no signs of slowing as the chaos continues late into the night. Everyone wakes up the next morning to find feathers everywhere, Texas' entire cowboy hat collection on the roof, PEI, Ontario, New Jersey, California, and Quebec are all duct tapped to the ceiling, Kansas is wearing a Dorothy costume while Maryland wakes up surrounded by hermit crabs. Georgia is covered in peaches and Florida is seemingly missing until they find her safe and sound in the pool snoozing on a giant Alligator float still in the Bulldog costume with every other state mascot suit next to her. Manitoba, Utah, Kentucky, and Nebraska all wake up in the barn with the chickens crowing. Texas is sleeping on top of his bull ride with his state flag dropped over him. Alfred wakes up in the bathtub in a Captain America costume and Mathew Wakes up in the shower with a Captain Canada costume on. Allen and James come out of things relatively unscathed with Allen crashed on the couch with his motorbike covered in glitter courtesy of Hawaii and Alaska in the living room and James with Kuma in the garage with Wisconsin's cow and goats. Basically, everything is pure chaos and no one knows what has been replaced by cheese and what hasn't. Needless to say, Allen and James' first annual family prank war/sleepver was a success. See y'all next year!

[raging-violets]

Connie Sinclair, Collateral Damange (A Stargirl Fanfic)

The Crocks want to prove they’re worth more than sitting on the sidelines. The Sinclairs have always wanted a “seat at the table.” What better way to prove themselves than to present the ISA with a supplement to increase the strength and durability of their team?

Tired of waiting for Jordan Mahkent’s next orders, the Crocks take it upon themselves to fill time with their own personal mission: to make sure their daughter is the greatest football player of all time. With Artemis’s best interest at heart, they know that the newly manufactured Miraclo would do wonders for her football career. A few rounds of the steroid and she would never have to be benched again. With the worry of side-effects at the front of their minds, the Crocks turn to their friends, the Sinclairs, to test the new drug on their own athlete: softball player and Artemis’s best friend, Connie.

Connie Sinclair, Artemis Crock, and Cameron Mahkent have been friends since they were kids – each looking for a way out of Blue Valley, Nebraska. With years of softball under her belt, Connie knows the discipline of hard work, good grades, late practices, and never leaving the house without her power shake. The perfect place to hide Miraclo. Soon, Connie’s proficiency starts to slip as she experiences blinding headaches, lapses in her memory, and unusual bouts of anger. More often, she finds herself “waking up” in various places around town, accompanied by unexplainable injuries, and answering to the name Cardinal.

Connie, Artemis, and Cameron are soon faced with the fact that while life gives you the opportunity to leave your own unique mark on the world, their destinies may already be set in stone. With two choices for her future – to continue to train in the hopes of being scouted for a Division I college, or to take on the mantle of Cardinal and help Shiv take down the newly formed JSA – Connie’s moral compass has started to spin out of control.

Coming Soon

[suckmysupernatural]

Sunshine - Chapter 5

Series Masterlist

Word Count: 1810

Pairing: Sam x OC Sunny

Series Summary: The Winchesters meet a cheerful hunter named Sunny, who quickly captures Sam’s attention. Little do any of them know what lies in store when Sunny gets invited to join the brothers. Who can say how Sam, Dean, and Sunny will be some training days, a handful of hunts, romantic dates, a kidnapping, and one vengeful demon later.

Chapter Summary: Sunny and the Winchesters find a case.

Warnings: language

-------------------------------------

“Hey, Sunny. We found a case. You want to come?” Sam offered as he walked into the library. Sunny had been immersed in a book of zombie lore but hearing the word ‘case’ caught her attention. 

“Yes! Yeah, yes yes!” Sunny answered excitedly. Sam laughed, nodding.

“Okay, we leave in 10. Pack for a few days,” Sam said. He left to go to the kitchen, leaving Sunny to hustle to her room. She grabbed her empty duffel bag from under the bed, shoving some clothes into the bag. She made sure to put a mix of hunting clothes and a couple of nicer outfits in case they went undercover. Sunny walked up to her nightstand, looking fondly at the photos that sat there. 

“I’ll see you guys later,” she smiled, kissing two of her fingers before touching each photo. This was a ritual that Sunny had set in place soon after her family had died. While she knew that her family was gone for good, she couldn’t help but talk to them sometimes. There were times when she would just talk to her sister about the hot guy at the bar or telling her dad a joke. It brought Sunny comfort. 

Reaching the Impala, she saw Dean on the driver’s side, waiting for her and Sam. Sunny looked around for Sam, but he must still be packing. Laughing to herself, she hopped into the passenger seat for the first time. Dean looked over and laughed.

“Sammy won’t be happy about this,” Dean pointed out. 

“Well, now he gets the pleasure of staring at me the whole trip,” Sunny winked. It was then that Sam walked into the garage. He approached the passenger side and stopped, surprised to see his seat taken. Sunny rolled the window down, looking up at him. “Hello, can I help you?” 

“Wow,” Sam said in mock offense, “how dare you.” Sunny giggled as Sam made his way into the backseat. Dean turned to face his brother, one arm resting on the back of the bench seat. 

“Www-chhhhh,” Dean mimicked the motion of a whip. Sunny gave Dean a small shove, trying to hide a laugh. Sam simply rolled his eyes at his brother’s teasing. He was used to it. Dean turned to face forward, reversing the car out of the garage. Sunny bent down to pick up the Impala’s cassette collection. She looked through the titles, smiling when she found one that had been shoved to the bottom. She slid it into the player and turned up the volume.

It didn’t take long for the familiar upbeat electric guitar to flow through the car’s speakers. Dean was already speeding down the road but the music broke his focus. He whipped his head to look at Sunny as the lyrics started.

What I want, you've got 

But it might be hard to handle

Like the flame that burns the -

Before the first verse could even finish, Dean pressed the eject button. He kept eye contact with Sunny as he rolled down the window, grabbed the cassette, and chucked it out of the car. 

“Dean -” Sunny started to complain but was quickly interrupted.

“NO HALL & OATES IN BABY,” Dean yelled. He reached into the box of tapes, pulling one out at random. Soon the tunes of AC/DC filled the car. Sam and Sunny sat in shock at first before bursting into laughter. Dean quickly joined them, chuckling as he continued onto the highway. 

“Okay, so what is the case boys?” Sunny asked, her eyes shifting between the brothers. 

“Blair, Nebraska. We already have six bodies waiting for us in the city’s morgue. They have all been brutally murdered, some were stabbed while others had their neck snapped.” Sam explained.

“Couldn’t this just be a serial killer?” Sunny asked. 

“At first, it looked that way. But for a couple of the victims, their families have described a rotten egg smell in the home. One had even been visited by an electrician that morning after complaining that the lights in her home had been flickering even after replacing the light bulbs,” Sam gave a knowing look at Sunny.

“So we’ve got ourselves a demon,” Sunny said.

“Yep, one with an anger management problem it seems.” 

------------------

The drive to Blair, Nebraska was relatively short. Within four hours they had arrived at the city’s only motel. It was small, with only about a dozen rooms. The three checked in, only getting one room. Sam and Sunny had discussed it and decided to share a bed on hunting trips. They weren’t sharing one back at the bunker, but Sam felt better knowing that Sunny was in the same room when there was a dangerous monster roaming about. He knew that she was an incredible hunter, maybe even better than him, but didn’t want to take the risk. That was fine by Sunny as she liked knowing that Sam was safe as well. 

Going into the room, they all quickly changed into their FBI gear. They were all wearing suits by the time they had climbed back into the Impala. Sunny wasn’t a big fan of her gray pantsuit, wishing she could wear something brighter instead; she knew that neutral colors were best if she wanted to be taken seriously. 

-----------------------------------

“Please tell me that you guys got some info on this demon,” Dean groaned as he flopped onto the motel bed. They had decided early on to split up, each covering two of the victim’s families. Each hunter got barely any information that could lead to the motive behind these murders. None of them had any major successes within the last ten years, so a demon deal was quickly eliminated from the list. 

“So I have a pediatric surgeon who recently gave a pro bono surgery to a child with cancer and a high school football coach with a nicotine addiction and a tendency to sleep with cheerleaders,” Sunny told the boys. 

“The older woman, Marge, volunteered at her church and had a book club. I also met the very distraught mother of the dead teenager. He was constantly in trouble and his browsing history was filled with porn,” Sam stated. Dean raised his eyebrows in approval at the mention of the teen’s pornography habits.

“I got the woman that ran the non-profit and knit caps for newborn babies and a man who had a bad gambling debt. Like 100,000 dollars worth of debt,” Dean said dully. There wasn’t much to go on and the boys thought that they had hit a roadblock. That was until Sunny spoke up.

“Wait guys, I think I found a pattern. We have three women who were giving and kind, amazing people. Then we have three guys that are on the bad side of things,” Sunny said. The boys’ faces lit up in understanding. 

“So, sinners and saints?” Sam asked, looking at the other two. 

“It’s weird but we’ve seen weirder,” Dean pointed out. Sam nodded in agreement.

“So tomorrow, we just research what? Awesome women and shitty men?” Sam asked.

“Sounds hard to narrow down,” Sunny laughed. Both of the brothers looked at her as if they were deeply offended. It didn’t last long, with both guys agreeing. The three of them got ready for bed, deciding to call it a night. They had been working all day and tomorrow would likely be the same.

Dean fell asleep quickly, his snores filling the motel room. The sound was like a white noise machine was playing so Sunny and Sam weren’t bothered by it. It wasn’t long until they were also in deep sleep, their cuddling keeping them warm throughout the night.

------------------------------

“Rise and Shine, lovers!” Dean yelled out from the foot of the bed that Sam and Sunny were sharing. They both groaned at the older brother, Sam throwing a pillow at him. “Hey, Woah. Is that any way to treat the man who got you coffee?”

Sam shot out of bed, quickly grabbing the cup from Dean’s hand. The brothers both shared a slight caffeine addiction, using coffee to get through the day. Sunny, on the other hand, often preferred tea. Dean had remembered that fact and handed her a cup of Earl Grey.

“Thanks, Dean,” Sunny inhaled the enticing aroma. Dean sat down on his bed, looking at the other two hunters.

“So, how do we find the next victims?” Dean asked. It was a question that none of them truly knew the answer to. 

“Um… maybe we can just ask around town? See what the gossip is?” Sunny offered. She wished that there was something more concrete, but this was all they had at the moment. 

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll check out the police station, see if they have any repeat offenders,” Dean said. 

“Okay, Sunny and I will look for some do-gooders,” Sam shrugged. Dean nodded, going to the bathroom to get ready. It didn’t take long, putting on the fed suit once again because he was going to the police station. Sunny and Sam, on the other hand, got to dress casually. Sunny was glad to leave behind the pantsuit, trading it in for a light blue, knee-length sundress with buttons down the front and pockets. 

“Wow, you are beautiful,” Sam said at the sight of her. She could feel a blush crawling up her cheeks as she gave him a large grin.

“Why, thank you,” Sunny gave a small curtsy. Sam laughed, offering his hand for her to take. The two, now hand-in-hand, left the motel room to walk towards the town’s center. The city was small so they would be fine without a car. In fact, Sunny found it rather enjoyable. The sun was shining down on them, the slight breeze keeping them from overheating. 

It was difficult to focus on the case at hand as both were distracted by one another. Sam couldn’t think of a time that he was this happy. Looking down at her, he couldn’t believe his luck. Her eyes were closed, letting the sun wash over her face and trusting Sam to guide her. He was in awe of Sunny, how she takes something as small as the sun on her face and lets it fill her with joy. Her eyes fluttered open to meet Sam’s.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing, I was just thinking about how I am the luckiest man alive,” Sam said matter-of-factly. Sunny let out a giggle that made his heart skip a beat.

“Okay, Mr. Luck. We gotta focus up, finish this case and I’ll show you just how lucky you are,” Sunny winked and gave his hand a squeeze. Sam’s eyebrows raised, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. 

“Let’s get to work then,” Sam said with determination as he increased his pace. Sunny laughed as she attempted to catch up with him and his long legs.

Chapter 6 ->

[tlc4gums]

Meet Dr. Gordon Wilson

Dr. Wilson was born in Santa Monica, California but moved to a small town in Western Nebraska before his first birthday. He grew up on a farm, where he developed his strong work ethic. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he was a varsity member of the Cornhusker’s football team. He was also a patient administration specialist in the United States Army Reserve branch of the 82nd field hospital. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in August of 1990, Dr. Wilson volunteered for active duty and was stationed with the 42nd field hospital on the Island Emirate of Bahrain. During the first Gulf War, he was placed in charge of the hospital’s quality assurance, medical evacuations, and triage.

Arizona Periodontal Laser Institute

Upon returning from the Gulf War Theatre, he attended the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Dentistry. As an undergraduate dental student, he participated in a table clinic competition where he presented the six published preparation designs for porcelain laminate veneers, and he introduced a seventh preparation design. He was the very first dental student in the medical center’s history to be allowed to provide porcelain laminate veneers for a patient. Dr. Wilson moved to the Valley of the Sun in 1995, where he has dedicated his professional career to providing patients with the absolute best that dentistry has to offer. He is continually upgrading himself with the latest techniques in state-of-the-art, personalized, and comfortable dental care. Dr. Wilson is also the founder of the Arizona Periodontal Laser Institute, where he trains other dentists and hygienists on the use of lasers and non-surgical methods of treating gum disease. He is an Arizona licensed general dentist who is highly skilled in all disciplines of dental care including cosmetic dentistry, oral surgery, root canal therapy, dentures, implants, crowns, bridges, and preventive dentistry. Dr. Wilson has been featured on Good Morning Arizona, Good Evening Arizona, The Wellness Hour, ABC15, FOX10, The Arizona Republic, and Today’s Arizona Woman. He has been recognized locally, nationally and internationally for his excellence in dentistry.

[bethanydevos]

“The Nudge” by Justin March

Justin March leads the Bethany Lutheran Church Men’s Ministry and sends a weekly email message to the Men’s group every week.  Justin has generously permitted us to post his weekly reflections here.

Have you ever felt that nudge? That nudge where no matter how much you try to ignore it, it refuses to go away until you pay attention to what it really wants? That nudge that is persistent, constant, and demanding? That nudge, that if you choose to ignore it, will make sure your life is full of worry, doubt, and sleepless nights?

 While I was in Norfolk, Nebraska last weekend, that nudge came strong. It was Saturday morning, and my buddy and I were getting ready to watch the first Husker game of the season. We both knew a winter storm was coming, but neither one of us paid much attention to it. It is football season, and we will not be bothered by trivial news like the weather! Then, the nudge began. First, my buddy’s wife got a phone call from her mother saying that she was worried about me driving home the next day. We listened, but a concerned mother really is not something out of the ordinary. But as we watched football that Saturday afternoon, the nudge strengthened and became more difficult to ignore. The television was blasting winter storm warnings, the temperatures were dropping, and Sunday looked like it could be a tough day to drive. That nudge got stronger, and by the end of the Husker game, it was almost impossible to ignore.

So, after talking to my friends, calling my wife, and reluctantly accepting the nudge, I packed up, said my goodbyes, and left Saturday afternoon. Man am I glad I did! If I would have stuck to MY plans, I would have left Sunday morning and been in trouble. I would have been greeted by snow, icy road conditions, and a much longer drive than anticipated. MY plans could have put me in danger, but listening to those nudges, changing course, and accepting HIS plans, got me home safe.

Whether we realize it or not, God is always looking out for us. Sometimes the message may come in subtle nudges, and sometimes the message may hit us like a freight train. But when those nudges come, we are left with the choice to ignore them or accept them. God has given us the freewill to do what we want, yet HE nudges us to do the right thing and follow HIS instructions.

Are you feeling the nudges in your life? Are you willing to accept them, follow HIS plans, and do what HE asks? Or are you ignoring them, dodging the work that needs to be done, and then wondering why life is not turning out the way you had hoped? It is your choice to accept or deny the nudges, but let me tell you, when you choose to follow the messages God puts in front of you, you will see the beauty of HIS creation, you will be able to forgive those that wrong you, you will show grace when others cannot, and you will love like your family and friends have never experienced before.

What will you choose this week? Will you roll the dice and ignore the nudges HE is trying to send your way? Will you risk the consequences that may come from following YOUR path instead of HIS? Or will you accept HIS nudges, have faith in HIS direction, and enjoy all HE can offer in your life? The choice is yours, but I pray you choose to glorify God, spread HIS messages, and allow HIS nudges to make this world a better place for all of us!

[blackkudos]

Charles Drew

Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of lives of the Allied forces. As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with the American Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.

Early life and education

Drew was born in 1904 into an African-American middle-class family in Washington, D.C. His father, Richard, was a carpet layer and his mother, Nora Burrell, trained as a teacher. Drew and three of his four younger siblings grew up in Washington's largely middle-class and interracial Foggy Bottom neighborhood. From 1920 until his marriage in 1939, Drew's permanent address was in Arlington County, Virginia, although he graduated from Washington's Dunbar High School in 1922 and usually resided elsewhere during that period of time.

Drew won an athletics scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1926. An outstanding athlete at Amherst, Drew also joined Omega Psi Phi fraternity as an off-campus member; Amherst fraternities did not admit blacks at that time. After college, Drew spent two years (1926–1928) as a professor of chemistry and biology, the first athletic director, and football coach at the historically black private Morgan College in Baltimore, Maryland, to earn the money to pay for medical school.

Drew attended medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he achieved membership in Alpha Omega Alpha, a scholastic honor society for medical students, ranked second in his graduating class of 127 students, and received the standard Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degree awarded by the McGill University Faculty of Medicine in 1933.

Drew's first appointment as a faculty instructor was for pathology at Howard University from 1935 to 1936. He then joined Freedman's Hospital, a federally operated facility associated with Howard University, as an instructor in surgery and an assistant surgeon. In 1938, Drew began graduate work at Columbia University in New York City on the award of a two-year Rockefeller fellowship in surgery. He then began postgraduate work, earning his Doctor of Science in Surgery at Columbia University. He spent time doing research at Columbia's Presbyterian Hospital and gave a doctoral thesis, "Banked Blood," based on an exhaustive study of blood preservation techniques. He earned a Doctor of Science in Medicine degree in 1940, becoming the first African American to do so.

Blood for Britain

In late 1940, before the U.S. entered World War II and just after earning his doctorate, Drew was recruited by John Scudder to help set up and administer an early prototype program for blood storage and preservation. He was to collect, test, and transport large quantities of blood plasma for distribution in the United Kingdom. Drew went to New York City as the medical director of the United States' Blood for Britain project. The Blood for Britain project was a project to aid British soldiers and civilians by giving U.S. blood to the United Kingdom.

Drew started what would be later known as bloodmobiles, which were trucks containing refrigerators of stored blood; this allowed for greater mobility in terms of transportation as well as prospective donations.

Drew created a central location for the blood collection process where donors could go to give blood. He made sure all blood plasma was tested before it was shipped out. He ensured that only skilled personnel handled blood plasma to avoid the possibility of contamination. The Blood for Britain program operated successfully for five months, with total collections of almost 15,000 people donating blood, and with over 5,500 vials of blood plasma. As a result, the Blood Transfusion Betterment Association applauded Drew for his work.

American Red Cross Blood Bank

Out of Drew's work, he was appointed director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank in February 1941. The blood bank being in charge of blood for use by the U.S. Army and Navy, he disagreed with the exclusion of the blood of African-Americans from plasma-supply networks. In 1942, Drew resigned from his posts after the armed forces ruled that the blood of African-Americans would be accepted but would have to be stored separately from that of whites.

Academic career

In 1941, Drew's distinction in his profession was recognized when he became the first African-American surgeon selected to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery.

Drew had a lengthy research and teaching career, returning to Freedman's Hospital and Howard University as a surgeon and professor of medicine in 1942. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP in 1944 for his work on the British and American projects. He was given an honorary doctor of science degree, first by Virginia State College in 1945 then by Amherst in 1947.

Personal life

In 1939, Drew married Minnie Lenore Robbins, a professor of home economics at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, whom he had met earlier during that year. They had three daughters and a son. His daughter Charlene Drew Jarvis served on Council of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 2000, was the president of Southeastern University from 1996 until 2009 and was a president of the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

Death

Beginning in 1939, Drew traveled to Tuskegee, Alabama to attend the annual free clinic at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital. For the 1950 Tuskegee clinic, Drew drove along with three other black physicians. Drew was driving around 8 a.m. on April 1. Still fatigued from spending the night before in the operating theater, he lost control of the vehicle. After careening into a field, the car somersaulted three times. The three other physicians suffered minor injuries. Drew was trapped with serious wounds; his foot had become wedged beneath the brake pedal. When reached by emergency technicians, he was in shock and barely alive due to severe leg injuries.

Drew was taken to Alamance General Hospital in Burlington, North Carolina. He was pronounced dead a half hour after he first received medical attention. Drew's funeral was held on April 5, 1950, at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

Despite a popular myth to the contrary, once repeated on an episode ("Dear Dad... Three") of the hit TV series M*A*S*H, Drew's death was not the result of his having been refused a blood transfusion because of his skin color. This myth spread very quickly since during his time it was very common for blacks to be refused treatment because there were not enough "Negro beds" available or the nearest hospital only serviced whites. In truth, according to one of the passengers in Drew's car, John Ford, Drew's injuries were so severe that virtually nothing could have been done to save him. Ford added that a blood transfusion might have actually killed Drew sooner.

Legacy

In 1976, the National Park Service designated the Charles Richard Drew House in Arlington County, Virginia, as a National Historic Landmark in response to a nomination by the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation.

In 1981, the United States Postal Service issued a 35¢ postage stamp in its Great Americans series to honor Drew.

Charles Richard Drew Memorial Bridge, spanning the Edgewood and Brookland neighborhoods in Washington, D.C.

USNS Charles Drew, a dry cargo ship of the United States Navy

Parc Charles-Drew, in Le Sud-Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Drew as one of the 100 Greatest African Americans.

Numerous schools and health-related facilities, as well as other institutions, have been named in honor of Dr. Drew.

Medical and higher education

In 1966, the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School was incorporated in California and was named in his honor. This later became the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

Charles Drew Health Center, Omaha, Nebraska

Charles Drew Science Enrichment Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Charles Drew Health Foundation, East Palo Alto, California, 1960s-2000, was the community's only clinic for decades.

Charles Drew Community Health Center, located in Burlington, NC near the site of the old Alamance County hospital.

Charles Drew Pre-Health Society, University of Rochester

Charles R Drew Wellness Center in Columbia, South Carolina

Charles R. Drew Hall, an all-male freshman dorm at Howard University, Washington D.C.

Charles Drew Memorial Cultural House, residence at Amherst College, his alma mater

Charles Drew Premedical Society at Columbia University, New York

K-12 schools

Charles R. Drew Middle School & Magnet school for the gifted, opened 1966 Los Angeles Unified School District https://drew-lausd-ca.schoolloop.com/

Charles R. Drew Middle School Lincoln Alabama operated by Talladega County Schools

Charles R. Drew Junior High School, Detroit, Michigan

Dr. Charles R. Drew Science Magnet School, Buffalo, NY

Charles R. Drew Elementary School, Miami Beach and Pompano Beach, Florida

Bluford Drew Jemison S.T.E.M Academy, Baltimore (closed in 2013)

Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy West, a Middle/High School in Baltimore, Maryland

Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School, Colesville, Maryland

Charles Drew Elementary School, Washington, DC

Charles R. Drew Elementary School, Arlington, Virginia

Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School, New Orleans, LA

Charles R. Drew Charter School opened in August 2000 as the first charter school in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the setting for the 2015 Movie Project Almanac.

Dr. Charles Drew Academy, Ecorse, MI

Charles R. Drew Intermediate School, Crosby, Texas

Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School, San Francisco, Ca.

Charles Richard Drew Intermediate School / Charles Richard Drew Educational Campus, Bronx, New York

[disarraycd]

it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s ALEX SUMMERS / HAVOK, a HERO from MARVEL! HE is 26 years old and look an awful lot like JAMES REID. i hear that they work as UNEMPLOYED. rumor has it they were AGAINST the Accords and ARE registered under the new laws. i wonder what they’ll find with their new beginning!

basics —

FULL NAME: alexander “alex” summers ALIAS: havok BIRTHDAY: february 14th AGE: 26 PLACE OF BIRTH: honolulu, hawaii CURRENT RESIDENCE: new york, new york HEIGHT: 5’8” SPECIES: mutant EYE COLOR: blue HAIR COLOR: blonde AFFILIATIONS: x-men, avengers (formerly) EDUCATION: masters in geophysics with some doctoral research completed ALLERGIES: tomatoes BIRTH FAMILY: scott summers (older brother), jean grey (future sister-in-law), gabriel summers (younger brother), christopher summers (father), katherine summers (mother, deceased), philip summers (grandfather), deborah summers (grandmother), nathan summers (nephew), rachel summers (niece), hope summers (grandniece) ADOPTIVE FAMILY: andrew blanding (father), joanna blanding (mother), haley blanding (older sister), todd blanding (older brother, deceased) SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: biromantic MARITAL STATUS: single LIKES: stephen king books, west side story, surfing DISLIKES: cauliflower, his short-temper

origin —

alexander summers is the son of christopher summers (a test pilot for the united states air force) and katherine ann summers. he has an older brother named scott that’s six years older than him which makes alex their second child. their father was away a lot, leaving the three of them alone more often than not. scott was always happy to help look after his baby brother — something that never quite changes. alex always waited outside to see scott come home from school, and would run to him.

one day the brothers were flying home with their parents on a vintage private plane. they were meant to be coming home from a family vacation, but their plane caught fire while in the air. unfortunately they only had one parachute on board. alex who was still young at the time was clinging to his older brother while crying about what was going on. he didn’t quite understand, but their mother was setting the boys up with the only parachute available. they got pushed out the door by katherine, and alex continued to hold onto his brother. scott held onto him so tight that there was bruises on alex’s arms. he shielded him from seeing the plane go down in flames. scott used his optic blasts for the first time to slow their descent after their parachute caught fire too. they were orphans now, and alex continues to stay close to his brother everywhere they went.

they both ended up being hospitalized after the incident. After two weeks the boys left the hospital to be placed in the State Home for Foundlings — an orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska. they were subjected to a battery of tests and experiments by the owner, mr. milbury. which was an alias for an evil geneticist named Sinister. alex didn’t know what to think about the orphanage, afraid of it so he would hide behind scott when anyone approached them. ainister ended up separating them by adopting alex out to the blanding family.

andrew and joanna blanding adopted alex into their family. they recently lost their son todd in a car accident. he wasn’t completely alone, gaining an older sister named haley who looked out for him the best she could. his adoptive parents would pressure alex into being a replacement for todd. he was forced to join the football team as a quarterback because that used to be the position todd played on the team. alex didn’t have any interest in the sport at all, preferring basketball if anything, but tries his hardest to please them. haley would help alex escape from awkward situations if she could.

it turns out todd’s death wasn’t an accident, but instead was killed by someone named vincent. one day while alex and haley were walking home vincent kidnapped them. he was angry and even accused alex of stealing his spot on the football team in the past. the attack causes alex to manifest his mutant abilities for the first time. although his plasma blasts accidentally incinerated the boy into bones and ash. his sister tried to clam him down, saying that they couldn’t tell anyone about what happened.

what alex didn’t know is that sinister has been keeping an eye on him all this time since he was adopted. so he came forward that night to place psi-blocks on both alex and haley so they would forget everything that happened that night. alex has no idea about his mutant powers the next day or the fact he killed vincent.

alex didn’t realize that he was a mutant until he became eighteen. his archeology professor ahmet abdol was also a mutant — who ended up kidnapping him. it was all part of a plan to use the ambient cosmic radiation from alex’s body to attain his latent potential. the energy transformed abdol into the living monolith — a gigantic mutant with vast cosmic power. the strain of abdol’s technology on alex made his mutant powers resurface again. the monolith was defeated by the x-men, and this is when the summers brothers got reunited after all these years. alex’s older brother scott became the x-men’s field leader known as cyclops.  

alex decided to stay in the egyptian desert because he wasn’t able to control his shock waves yet. although soon as the x-men left a sentinel captured alex. he was taken to the headquarters of larry trask. it was here that trask gave alex the codename havok.  he was given a suit that displayed his build up of cosmic energy within him. eventually the x-men freed the captive mutants here, and alex finally went with his brother to civilization. the x-men started to help alex train so he could keep his energy in check. he eventually mastered it to only release it when he wished to.

he left to go finish his degree after gaining control over his powers. he continued to be a member of the x-men, but it was important to finish his geophysics studies. he decided to transfer to a college in new york to be close to scott while completing his masters.

the registration —

after arriving much too late to the park, alex didn’t handle the news of his older brother dying well. while upset he accidentally incinerates several trees around him with his plasma blasts. this doesn’t go unnoticed. soon enough an inhibitor collar is put around his neck and he was sent to a cell on the raft for his destructive behavior. he spends the next several weeks locked up, mourning scott.

eventually they approach him with an offer since nobody was actually hurt by his display in the park. they decide to let him walk free on one condition. he is forced to register. they didn’t give him much choice, and claimed they were doing him a favor with this. alex is told to be thankful that they didn’t put a tracker under his skin. as if being spared from that should make him feel better about being forced to register.

it makes him feel sick.

he just got out of the raft, and put back into society which is how alex finds out scott is alive again. he doesn’t understand how, but worries about how his brother will react to what happened to him. the guards in the prison weren’t exactly the kindest to him since they would rough him up just for being a mutant.

powers and abilities —

alex is an alpha-level mutant

AMBIENT ENERGY CONVERSION: absorbs ambient cosmic energy into the cells of his body and processes it into plasma. this results in control over an extremely powerful sort of destructive force. at times he is not entirely able to control this ability, which sometimes makes him a danger to those around him unless he wears a special containment suit to assist him. alex’s body is constantly in the process of absorbing cosmic radiation. upon the total expenditure of all his available energy, it takes his body about 16 ½ hours to recharge to its peak level unless he absorbs a large amount of energy at once. the act of concentration involved in releasing his energy in anything other than an omni-directional wave is physically exhausting for alex if he continues it over an extended period of time. he can absorb cosmic energies from his environment (such as starlight, x-rays, and gamma radiation) and store them within his body cells, metabolizing the energy in order to generate plasma wave discharges that super-heat and disintegrate objects or create concussion bursts by violently displacing air molecules in his path. his ability to absorb energy is so great that he was able to survive being dropped into a large star, and use it’s energy to augment his powers.

ENERGY ABSORPTION: not only can alex passively absorb cosmic energy from his environment but has shown he can willingly absorb, store, and re-process various other energies from other sources through conscious force of will. he showcased this aspect once when he was thrown into a star.

PLASMA EMANATION: ability to shoot or emanate plasma in the form of a blast or discharge, with a tell-tale concentric circle pattern. these waves will emanate from his body in all directions unless he purposefully tries to channel them in a single direction, usually along the length of his arms. this results in control over an extremely powerful sort of destructive force. when havok strikes an object with the waves of intensity of hot plasma, the sudden vast jump in temperature will often cause objects to shatter, explode, or seemingly disintegrate. should havok direct his energy at the lowest level, he can project it towards a human being and his target will suffer a severe headache but will not burn up.

FLIGHT: can also use stored energy for flight by directing it as a downward thrust. at full energy capacity he has an easier time managing his energized propulsion through his powers.

HEAT IMMUNITY: virtually immune to the effects of most forms of heat.

RADIATION IMMUNITY:  virtually immune to the effects of most forms of radiation.

GENIUS LEVEL INTELLECT: well educated in geophysical sciences.

EXPERT MARTIAL ARTIST: he was taught by wolverine.

IMMUNE TO SCOTT’S OPTIC BLASTS.

[thecollegefootballguy]

The Top 25 Teams of the Decade: #8 Wisconsin

Hello everybody, we’re celebrating the arrival of the 2020′s by looking at the 25 best programs of the previous decade.

We’re on to the top ten to celebrate the #8 team from the 2010′s:

University of Wisconsin Badgers

Record: 102-34 (.750) Division Titles: 5 Conference Titles: 3 Bowl Seasons: 10 Major Bowls: 6 Final Top 25 Finishes: 8 Final Top 10 Finishes: 4 Best Season: 2017

Wisconsin has been one of the most consistent winners in the 2010′s, they’ve easily been the most successful team in the Big Ten besides Ohio State even with a resurgent Michigan and Penn State as well as Michigan State dominating for much of the same run.

The Badgers began the decade at peak form. After a successful transition of power from the legendary Barry Alvarez to Bret Bielema, Wisconsin really started to roll in 2009 and built up great momentum going into 2010. The Badgers started ranked #12 in the nation but didn’t climb higher than 11th due to an easy schedule in the first month. #11 Wisconsin visited #24 Michigan State and fell 24-34 in East Lansing. It would end up being a crippling setback. The Badgers rebounded with a win over rival Minnesota for homecoming. The next week #18 Wisconsin dominated #1 Ohio State 31-18, launching the supposedly dead Badgers back into the national title conversation. The next week, now #10 Wisconsin slipped past rival #13 Iowa 31-30, opening up the path to win out. The 11-1 Badgers were placed 4th in the final rankings, the loss to the Spartans ending up ruining their chance at competing for a national championship. Wisconsin was instead placed in the Rose Bowl ahead of Ohio State and Michigan State. The Badgers ended up losing 19-21 in Pasadena to an equally hard-nosed TCU squad.

Wisconsin rolled their momentum into 2011 where they began the season at 11th in the polls. The Badgers easily ran out to a 4-0 lead against an easy schedule. #7 Wisconsin’s first big matchup was against #8 Nebraska in the Cornhuskers’ first ever conference game as a member of the Big Ten. The Badgers thrashed the Huskers 48-17 to vault into the top five. Wisconsin’s brief flirtation in the national title race went belly-up in the end of October. The #4 Badgers fell in East Lansing in back to back years, losing to #15 Michigan State 31-37. The next week, Wisconsin went to Columbus and lost to unranked Ohio State, falling well out of the national picture and all the way to 19th in the polls. The Badgers rolled through the rest of their Big Ten schedule as it eased up. They ended the regular season with a dominating #20 Penn State 45-7 right after the Nittany Lions had their hearts torn out in the weeks following the breaking of the Sandusky scandal. Wisconsin’s win put the Badgers in a tie with PSU atop the new Leaders Division, so UW was sent to Indianapolis to play in the first ever Big Ten Championship Game. It was a rematch with #11 Michigan State, and this time #15 Wisconsin pulled out the 42-39 victory to earn their second consecutive trip to Pasadena. The #9 Badgers suffered another gut-wrenching defeat in the Rose Bowl, this time to PAC-12 Champion #6 Oregon.

Wisconsin took a step back in 2012. The Badgers fell to Oregon State in Week 2 and then lost to #22 Nebraska 27-30 before September was over. Wisconsin rose up to 6-2 before again losing to Michigan State. November was a very bleak month, the Badgers went 1-2 with overtime losses to both Ohio State and Penn State. However, with both OSU and PSU banned from playing in the postseason due to NCAA sanctions, Wisconsin was selected as the division winner despite placing 3rd in the standings. The 7-5 Badgers were big underdogs against 10-2 #14 Nebraska in the Big Ten Championship, but UW ended up pounding the Cornhuskers 70-31 to secure an third consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl. However, Bret Bielema departed after the season to take the vacant head coaching job at Arkansas. It was a controversial move and seen by many Badgers fans as a lateral move at best and a betrayal. The man who had just guided the team to three trips to Pasadena was gone. Barry Alvarez came out of retirement to coach in one more Rose Bowl. Wisconsin acquitted themselves nicely against #8 Stanford, losing only 14-20 despite probably not belonging there.

Gary Andersen was brought in to keep the train rolling. Andersen had just previously resuscitated Utah State into respectability for the first time since the 60′s. Andersen quickly picked up where Bielema left off, an built on the 8-6 record from 2012. A tight 30-32 loss to Arizona State in Tempe was a setback, and a close 24-31 loss to #4 Ohio State knocked UW out of the division race which the Buckeyes would run away with. Wisconsin rebounded with an easy 35-6 win over #19 Northwestern to re-enter the AP Poll. The Badgers rattled off six straight wins before falling to Penn State to end the regular season with a 9-3 record. #19 Wisconsin was paired up with #8 South Carolina in the Outback Bowl and unsurprisingly lost 24-34.

The Badgers were set up for another run in 2014, but stumbled out of the gate with a close 24-28 loss to #13 LSU in Houston to open the year. UW easily blew through the rest of the non-conference schedule before travelling to Evanston where they were upset by Northwestern 14-20. Wisconsin’s offense really ignited in mid-October, torching the weaker B1G opponents before the name opponents came in. The #22 Badgers again blew out #11 Nebraska, this time a 59-24 mauling that vaulted Wisconsin into the lead in the new Big Ten West division. Victories over Iowa and #22 Minnesota sealed the deal. 10-2 #13 UW was riding high on a 7 game winning streak going into the Big Ten Championship Game, but they ran into a brick wall in #5 Ohio State. The Buckeyes vaporized the Badgers 59-0 en route to an unlikely national championship. Wisconsin appeared to be on solid ground as a program despite the loss, but head coach Gary Andersen resigned as head coach in a stunning move. Barry Alvarez again filled in to guide the team through their bowl. The Badgers was left to lick their wounds in the Outback Bowl again, this time defeating #19 Auburn in overtime.

Another Alvarez disciple, Paul Chryst, was brought in from Pittsburgh to be the new permanent head coach in Madison in 2015. Chryst took no time getting things rolling. Wisconsin suffered another neutral site loss to open the season, this time to #3 Alabama. But, you know, that’s gonna happen. The Badgers were upset in the conference opener to unranked Iowa 6-10, but the Hawkeyes would end up going 12-0 through the regular season. Wisconsin ended up breezing through the rest of the schedule before again being upset at home by #20 Northwestern 7-13. A win over USC in the Holiday Bowl would give the Badgers a 10-3 record, an auspicious start for the new regime. 

UW brought that momentum into 2016, when the Badgers edged out #5 LSU in Green Bay to start the season and immediately vault into the top ten despite starting the year unranked. Wisconsin ended September with a commanding 30-6 victory over #8 Michigan State. October brought a cruel gut punch, as the Badgers lost to #4 Michigan and #2 Ohio State in back to back weeks by a paltry two touchdowns. Wisconsin’s Playoff hopes were dashed, but they quickly recovered to tear through the Big Ten West. The 10-2 and 6th ranked Badgers once again found themselves in Indianapolis, where this time they would face #8 Penn State. In a heartbreaking 31-38 loss, Wisconsin’s hopes were dashed. The Badgers were given a berth to the Cotton Bowl as a consolation, and they safely defused #12 Western Michigan with a 24-16 victory. Though it wouldn’t be their last brush with PJ Fleck.

2017 was a banner year for Wisconsin. The Badgers had put together another monstrous defense combined with a solid passing game and steamrolling run attack. UW began the year ranked in the top ten and never let go. Wisconsin raced out to a 9-0 start before the schedule even got a little tough. The Badgers nearly won all of those contests by double digits. If UW was ever going to lose in the regular season it would have been against #25 Iowa or #19 Michigan in November. They didn’t. The Badgers beat both teams 38-14 and 24-10 respectively, then blanked Minnesota 31-0 to secure a perfect 12-0 record. #3 Wisconsin was in the driver’s seat, a win over #8 Ohio State would be a ticket to the College Football Playoff and the program’s first real shot at a national championship. It wasn’t to be. The Badgers fell just short, 21-27, and all their hopes were dashed yet again. #6 Wisconsin was placed in the Orange Bowl against #11 Miami and beat the Hurricanes 34-24. At 13-1, it’s probably the best season in Badger history.

Wisconsin took a clear step back in 2018. The Badgers began the year ranked 4th in the AP Poll, but things quickly fell apart. UW lost to BYU in non-conference play, and they would lose to every other quality opponent they faced. #12 Michigan and #21 Penn State won handily at home, and a loss to Northwestern handed the Wildcats the division by the end of October. Despite being the best team in the West, the Badgers would limp to the finish line, where the ultimate indignity occurred, a loss to rival Minnesota for the first time in 15 years. They played Miami in a much less heralded Pinstripe Bowl, beating the Hurricanes again to salvage an 8-5 record.

Wisconsin’s 2019 was a mixed bag. At parts of the season, they looked like a clear national title contender, but two pairs of back to back losses pumped the breaks pretty hard on the Badgers’ aspirations. UW raced out to a 6-0 start, including an easy 35-14 win over #11 Michigan. The week before their climactic showdown with Ohio State, Wisconsin was upset by bottom feeder Illinois, THEN they lost easily to the #3 Buckeyes. Wisconsin dug themselves out of their hole with another 4 straight wins, sealing the division with victories over rivals #18 Iowa and #8 Minnesota. #8 Wisconsin was again pitted against now #1 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game. They managed to hang in there with OSU for a while before eventually succumbing 21-34. With the Buckeyes headed to the Playoff, the Badgers were awarded the Big Ten’s slot in the Rose Bowl. In a close 27-28 nail-biter, Wisconsin lost to #6 Oregon. As far as 10-4 records go, UW did a very good job.

I have high hopes for Wisconsin in the 2020′s. The Badgers can probably keep on winning the Big Ten West with relative ease. They’re one of the most consistent winners in college football and show no signs of slowing down. Hopefully they can actually win a Rose Bowl one of these years.

Wisconsin absolutely dominated their rivals in the 2010���s. They commanded a 9-1 record over Minnesota and went 7-1 against Iowa. If we’re calling Nebraska a rivalry, the Badgers are also 8-1 against the Huskers, including the win in Indianapolis.

[travsd]

Of Ward Bond and "Wagon Train"

Of Ward Bond and “Wagon Train”

A hearty “Yah!” and a crack of the bullwhip today in salute to the great Hollywood actor Ward Bond (1903-1960).

Raised in Nebraska and Colorado, Bond was a star of the USC football team, which is how, along with lifelong friend and fellow USC football alum John Wayne, he was cast in John Ford’s 1929 football movie Salute. Both Bond and Wayne would come to be key members of Ford’s stock company,…