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Ambassador Cynthia Akuetteh (1948) a career Senior Foreign Service officer, was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as ambassador to Gabon and the island nation of Sao Tomé & Principe.
She was born in DC to Richard Louis Archie II and Sallie Dolores Hines. She graduated from Long Island University with a BA in History. She earned an MS in National Security Resource Policy from the National Defense University.
She served as a Program Officer for the Peace Corps and was Deputy Director of the Corps’s program in Ghana. Her embassy assignments included serving as the US Trade Officer in Niamey, Niger, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Policy Officer in Ottawa, Canada; and as Senior Desk Officer in Caracas, Venezuela. She was Deputy Director in the Office of Economic Policy, the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department. She was an economic policy officer at the Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. She held the same post in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Returning to the State Department she became a Director in the Office of Central African Affairs and held the same post in the Office of Europe, Middle East, and Africa for the Bureau of Energy Resources. She was Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs.
As Ambassador to Gabon and Sao Tomé and Principe, she led diplomatic efforts to prevent popular unrest in Gabon aimed at the Bongo family. The family has ruled this oil- and mineral-rich nation since 1967 and often aligned Gabon with US diplomatic interests in the region. Akuetteh has also promoted greater U.S. trade, investment, and tourism. She was a key factor in Gabon agreeing to allow Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard assistance in policing its shores to provide port security and prevent piracy and human, diamond, and weapons trafficking.
She was married to Nii Akuetteh, a Ghanaian-born policy analyst and activist who founded the Democracy and Conflict Research Institute in Accra. They are the parents of two children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence
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Book Review
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town
by Paul Theroux
Two decades ago, the novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux took an overland trip through Africa, starting in Cairo, Egypt and ending in Cape Town, South Africa. This certainly isn’t the safest or the most comfortable means of experiencing the supposed “dark continent”, but it makes for some interesting experiences and insights. Keeping in mind that Theroux’s observations are just one point of view among many, his resulting book Dark Star provides a unique look at a region of the world that holds a permanent place off the beaten path.
While Dark Star is an easy book to read, breaking it down into its individual elements is a good way to approach its merits and examine its flaws. The first element of importance is Theroux’s sense of place. Wherever he goes, the author describes what he sees and the vibe he gets from his surroundings. Starting on the tourist trail in Egypt, he heads south through Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, and South Africa. You quickly get a sense of what he appreciates and what he doesn’t. He doesn’t like sites that are swarmed with tourists, nor does he like cities with their concentrations of crime and poverty. He also doesn’t like the “death traps” as he calls public transportation which are usually over-croded minivans driven at dangerous speeds on poorly maintained roads, pockmarked with hippopotamus-sized potholes. If you’ve ever traveled in a Third World country, you will know exaclt what he is talking about.
The places that Theroux does like are usually rural, especially farm lands or jungle villages. These are the places where he sees Africans at their best, meaning Africans being Africans in the absence of corrupt and filthy cities built up on the foundations of European colonialism. Some of the book’s best passages involve descriptions of the pyramids in Sudan which are rarely seen by tourists, a boat trip across Lake Victoria, another boat trip from Malawi across the Zambezi over the border into Zimbabwe, and the pristine countrysides of Zimbabwe and South Africa. All places, whether Theroux likes them or not, are described with language that is clear, simple, and direct, making it easy to visualize what he sees.
Another element that is done to near perfection is writings about the people. Theroux talks with tour guides, people on the streets and in the villages, farmers, nuns, educators, government officials, Indian businessmen, prostitutes, authors, intellectuals, and ordinary people. Just like with the places he goes, he describes these people vividly with precision so that you feel like you quickly get to know them. But not everyone is to his liking. He gets into small argument with a fanatical Rastafarian in Ethiopia, a little ornery with physically fit young men who refuse to work, government officials who demand bribes to do their jobs, and he really gives a hard time to a young American missionary woman about the psychological damage that her evangelical ministry is doing to the local people. There is also plenty of anger directed at clueless tourists as well as NGO and charity workers who he sees as being the Westerners who do the most damage to Africa.
The third element of importance is the author, Paul Theroux himself, and his thoughts and commentaries on everything he sees. Before getting into this subject, it should be mentioned that Theroux had a purpose to his journey. In the 1960s he worked as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching in Malawi. After getting involved with a Leftist political group, he got fired then accepted a teaching position at a college in Uganda. He wanted to return and see what results, if any, his contributions to Africa grew into. What he found was a major disappointment. The charming campuses and villages where he had lived were in ruins and instead of a thriving civilization, he saw emaciated beggars, starving children, an ignorant populace, and chronically corrupt politicians. Shops that were formerly owned by Indian immigrants were abandoned and burnt to the ground, the result of a campaign of ethnic cleansing. African people wanted to buy from shops owned by Africans, but Africans never took control over the businesses after the Indians were killed or chased away. They resorted to begging, theft, petty crime, prostitution, and laziness instead of making an effort to build better villages for themselves. Due to the hopelessness of African society, the most educated citizens fled to America or Europe instead of staying in their home countries where they were most needed.
Throughout his travels in Tanzania, Uganda, and Malawi, Theroux gets increasingly bitter and cynical. He wanted to see Africans thriving and they weren’t. He directs all his wrath towards the Western charities and NGOs who he says are making the local people dependent on aid rather than learning how to run their societies for themselves. Even worse, these organizations work by bribing corrupt politicians to allow them to do work there, keeping greedy and psychotic leaders in positions of power they don’t deserve. Theroux points out that rural people who have given up on the hopeless market economy and returned to subsistence farming are the happiest and healthiest Africans he encounters. Heecomes close to advocating for a type of post-capitalist agrarian anarchism.
Some readers have criticized Theroux for his pessimistic views on contemporary Africa, but he does cite studies that support what he says. He also encounters a lot of Africans in several different countries that agree with him. To make sense of his negativity, you also have to remember that traveling overland through Africa is not exactly stress free. Anybody who has been on an extended backpacking trip anywhere in the world will tell you that traveler’s fatigue is a real thing. Theroux took a longer than average trip through one of the most underdeveloped regions in the world, got shot at by Somali bandits, stuck in the middle of nowhere when his transportation broke down, and got sick with food poisoning, magnifying his traveler’s fatigue to a outsize extent. These circumstances would make you grouchy too. But even in the darkest times, Theroux never loses his appreciation for Africa, the wildlife, the landscapes, and the people who are trying to make the best of their situations. Besides, by the time he crosses the river from Malawi into Zimbabwe, his mood really lightens up.
Dark Star is an engaging travelogue that should be read both critically and with an open mind. All the while, remember that this is Paul Theroux’s singular point of view. That doesn’t make it wrong; that just means that there are other points of view to take into account that may go against what he says even if they don’t necessarily invalidate his opinions. He saw what he saw and he expresses it well. This is raw and honest travel writing and if you haven’t been tough enough to make the same kind of journey, you’re not in a good place to be judgmental of the conclusions he draws.
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Holidays 10.14
Holidays
Allied Health Professional (AHPs) Day (UK)
Be Bald and Be Free Day
Chișinău Day (Moldova)
Defender’s Day (Ukraine)
Earth Science Literacy Day
Entrepreneur’s Day (Tajikistan)
Feed the Birds Day
14 October Democracy Day (Thailand)
Global FPIES Awareness Day
Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia Awareness Day
International E-waste Day
International Squalane Day
Julius Nyerere Day (Tanzania)
Mother’s Day (Belarus)
Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Day (Climax of the Uhuru Torch Race; Tanzania)
National Album Day (UK)
National Autobot Day
National Bookshop Day (UK)
National Bring Your Teddy Bear to School Day
National Dick Day
National Education Day (Poland)
National Fishermen’s Mission Support Day (UK)
National FRUMP Day (Frugal, Responsible, Unpretentious, and Mature Person)
National Heritage Day (Turks and Caicos Islands)
National Home Fire Drill Day
National I Love You Day
National Life Teammates Day
national lowercase day
National Ryan Day
National Soccer Day
National Stop Bullying Day
National Thot Day
National Veronica Day
National Women in Franchising Appreciation Day
Nyerere Day (Tanzania)
Peace Corps Day
Preaching of the Lion Sermon Day
Quarrel Festival (Japan)
Ride A Bicycle Somewhere Day
Spider-Man Day (New York)
The Sudden Departure Anniversary Day (from “The Leftovers”)
Svetitskovloba (Republic of Georgia)
Teachers’ Appreciation Day (Micronesia)
Turnip Day (French Republic)
Winnie-the-Pooh Day
World Cavity-Free Future Day
World Day of Organ Donation
World Day of the Seamstress
World Environmental Education Day
World Metropolitan Day
World Spirometry Day
World Standards Day
Youth Day (Zaire)
Food & Drink Celebrations
Chocolate-Covered Insects Day
Homebrewing Legalization Day
International Prokupac Day
National Dessert Day [also 2nd Thursday in Oct.]
National Real Sugar Day
Shrimp Sandwich Day (Sweden)
Wine Day (South Korea)
Independence & Related Days
Constitution Day (Sint Maarten)
Equatorial Guinea [observed] (from Spain, 1968) [Monday closest to 10.12]
Liberation Day (a.k.a. Second Revolution Day; Yemen)
Los Bay Petros (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]
Oprett (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]
2nd Monday in October
Bartolomé Day [2nd Monday]
Columbus Day observed [2nd Monday] (a.k.a. ...
American Indian Heritage Day
Amerigo Vespucci Day
Anti-Columbus Day
Descubrimiento de América (Mexico)
Día de la Hispanidad (a.k.a. Fiesta Nacional de España; Spain)
Dia del Respet a la Diversidad Cultural (Argentina)
Dia De La Raza (a.k.a. Day of the Race; Mexico)
Dia de la Resistencia (a.k.a. Day of Indigenous Resistance; Venezuela)
Dia de las Americas (a.k.a. Day of the Americas; Uruguay)
Dia de las Culturas (a.k.a. Day of the Cultures; Costa Rica)
Dia del Descubrimiento de dos Mundos (Chile)
Dia del Respet a la Diversidad Cultural (Argentina)
Discoverer's Day (Hawaii)
Discovery Day (Bahamas, Colombia)
Encuentro de Dos Mundos (Ecuador)
Fraternal Day (Alabama)
Indigenous People's Day
Leif Erickson Day
National Heritage Day (Turks and Caicos Islands)
Native American Day (South Dakota)
Native Americans Day
Pan America Day (Belize)
Piomingo Day (Chickasaw Nation)
Two Worlds Day
US Virgin Islands-Puerto Rico Friendship Day
Federation Day (Star Trek) [2nd Monday]
Health and Sports Day (Japan) [2nd Monday]
Lotu-a-Tamaiti (American Samoa) [Monday after 2nd Sunday]
Marinara Monday [2nd Monday of Each Month]
Meditation Monday [Every Monday]
Mindful Monday [2nd Monday of Each Month]
Monday Musings [Every Monday]
Motivation Monday [Every Monday]
National Heroes Day (Bahamas) [2nd Monday]
National Kick-Butt Day [2nd Monday]
National Online Banking Day [2nd Monday]
Native American Day (South Dakota) [2nd Monday]
Sports Day (Japan) [2nd Monday]
Thanksgiving (Canada) [2nd Monday]
World Rainforest Week begins [2nd Monday]
Yorktown Victory Day (Virginia) [2nd Monday]
Weekly Holidays beginning October 14 (2nd Full Week of October)
Bone and Joint Health Action Week [3rd Week]
Brandywine Valley Restaurant Week (Greater Wilmington & the Brandywine Valley, Delaware) [thru 10.19]
Choose to be G.R.E.A.T. Week (thru 10.18) [Begins 2nd Monday]
Hamden Restaurant Week (Hamden, Connecticut) [thru 10.19]
Hepatitis Awareness Week [3rd Week]
National Baking Week [3rd Week]
National Business Women’s Week [3rd Week]
National Culinary Week [3rd Week]
National Friends of Libraries Week [3rd Week]
National Kraut Sandwich Week [3rd Week]
National Nutrition Week (Australia) [3rd Week]
National School Lunch Week [School Nutrition Association] (thru 10.18) [Begins 2nd Monday]
Nuclear Science Week [3rd Week]
Weekly Holidays beginning October 13 (2nd Full Week of October)
Anti Poverty Week [Australia]
Drink Local Wine Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Earth Science Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Healthcare Security and Safety Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Improve Your Home Office Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Infection Control Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
International Credit Union Week (thru 10.19) [Week of Int’l Credit Union Day]
International Infection Prevention (or Protection) Week (thru 10.19)
Meditation Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
National Case Management Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
National Chestnut Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
National Food Bank Week (thru 10.19) [Week including 10.16]
National Lone Wolf Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
National School Lunch Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
National Veterinary Technician Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
Nuclear Science Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
Pet Peeve Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Teen Read Week (thru 10.19) [Week of Columbus Day]
YMCA With our Violence Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
Festivals Beginning October 14, 2024
Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival (Newport, Rhode Island) [thru 10.15]
DeKalb County VFW Agricultural Fair (Fort Payne, Alabama) [thru 10.19]
Dillsburg Farmers Fair (Dillsburg, Pennsylvania) [thru 10.19]
Nada no Kenka Matsuri (Himeji, Japan) [thru 10.15]
Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off (Half Moon Bay, California)
VGIK International Student Festival (Moscow, Russia) [thru 10.25]
Feast Days
Adolphe Monticelli (Artology)
Alesso Baldovinetti (Artology)
Angadrisma (Christian; Saint)
Bathukamma begins (Telangana, India)
Burckard, Bishop of Wurzburg (Christian; Saint)
Callixtus I, Pope (a.k.a. Callistus; Christian; Saint)
Daan Jippes (Artology)
Day of the Cathedral of the Living Pillar (Georgian Orthodox Church)
Dominic Loricatus (Christian; Saint)
Donatan of Rheims (Christian; Saint)
e.e. cummings (Writerism)
Festival for the Penates (Ancient Roman gods of the Storeroom)
First Fiddle of the Month (Shamanism)
Fortunatus of Todi (Christian; Saint)
Grover (Muppetism)
Hannah Arendt (Writerism)
Intercession of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox Christian)
Joseph Schereschewsky (Episcopal Church (USA))
Judge Isaac Parker Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)
Lois Lenski (Artology)
Mordgud’s Blot (Pagan)
Petca Paraskeva (Christian; Saint)
St. Thomas Aquinas (Positivist; Saint)
Try a New Beer Day (Pastafarian)
Vinternatsblot (Asatru)
World Food Day (Pastafarian)
Lucky & Unlucky Days
Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]
Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 47 of 60)
Premieres
The Accountant (Film; 2016)
The Accused (Film; 1988)
Alive II, by KISS (Album; 1977)
All Art is Propaganda George Orwell (Essays; 1941)
Atari 2600 (Video Game System; 1977)
The Big Year (Film; 2011)
Bootlegs, by Pearl Jam (Live Albums; 2000)
Cool Cat (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)
The Elephant Spreader (Super Chicken Cartoon; 1967) [#6]
Elizabethtown (Film; 2005)
Farmyard Symphony (Disney Silly Symphony Cartoon; 1938)
Foiled Again (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1935)
From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne (Novel; 1865)
Girl Crazy (Broadway Musical; 1930)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find, by Flannery O'Connor (Short Story; 1953)
The Greener Yard (Disney Cartoon; 1949)
La Flora, by Marco da Gagliano and Jacopo Peri (Opera; 1628)
Leprechauns Gold (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1949)
Little Audrey Riding Hood (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1955)
MAD TV (TV Series; 1995)
Max Steel (Film; 2016)
Mean Streets (Film; 1973)
The Mighty Navy (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1941)
Monkey Business (George of the Jungle Cartoon; 1967) [#6]
Mr. Elephant Goes to Town (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1940)
Pink in the Drink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)
Pink Lightning (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)
Pulp Fiction (Film; 1994)
Rosaline (Film; 2022)
Send Me No Flowers (Film; 1964)
Shane, by Jack Schaefer (Novel; 1949)
She’s So Unusual, by Cyndi Lauper (Album; 1983)
Smarty Cat (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1955)
Someday, We’ll Be Together, by The Supremes (Song; 1969)
Song of the Birds (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1949)
Spite Flight (Ub Iwerks Willie Whopper MGM Cartoon; 1933)
Standing Stone, by Paul McCartney (Symphonic Poem; 1997)
Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski (Children’s Book; 1945)
The Temple of Gold, by William Goldman (Novel; 1957)
Till (Film; 2022)
Watching the Detectives, by Elvis Costello (Song; 1977)
Watership Down (Animated Film; 1978)
White Christmas (Film; 1954)
Winnie-the-Pooh (Children’s Book; 1926)
Today’s Name Days
Burkhard, Kallixtus (Austria)
Pencho, Penka, Petka, Petko (Bułgaria)
Divna, Kalist, Krasna, Stanislav (Croatia)
Agáta (Czech Republic)
Calixus (Denmark)
Kai, Kaia, Kaidi, Kaie, Kaili, Kaisa (Estonia)
Elsa, Else, Elsi (Finland)
Céleste, Gwendoline, Juste (France)
Alan, Burkhard, Calixtus, Otilie (Germany)
Gervasios, Ignatios, Nazarios (Greece)
Helén (Hungary)
Callisto, Gaudenzo (Italy)
Minna, Vilhelmīne (Latvia)
Fortūnata, Kalikstas, Mindaugas, Rimvydė (Lithuania)
Kai, Kaia (Norway)
Alan, Bernard, Dominik, Dzierżymir, Fortunata, Kalikst, Kaliksta (Poland)
Parascheva (Romania)
Boris (Slovakia)
Calixto, Fortunata (Spain)
Manfred, Stellan (Sweden)
Gervais, Jervis (Ukraine)
Calista, Dwight, Fortino, Fortuna, Glennis, Glynnis (USA)
Today is Also…
Day of Year: Day 288 of 2024; 78 days remaining in the year
ISO: Day 1 of Week 42 of 2024
Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 16 of 28]
Chinese: Month 9 (Jia-Xu), Day 12 (Xin-Hai)
Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]
Hebrew: 12 Tishri 5785
Islamic: 10 Rabi II 1446
J Cal: 18 Orange; Foursday [18 of 30]
Julian: 1 October 2024
Moon: 88%: Waxing Gibbous
Positivist: 8 Descartes (11th Month) [Spinoza / Hobbes]
Runic Half Month: Gyfu (Gift) [Day 8 of 15]
Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 23 of 90)
Week: 2nd Full Week of October
Zodiac: Libra (Day 22 of 30)
Calendar Changes
October (Julian Calendar) [Month 10 of 12]
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Holidays 10.14
Holidays
Allied Health Professional (AHPs) Day (UK)
Be Bald and Be Free Day
Chișinău Day (Moldova)
Defender’s Day (Ukraine)
Earth Science Literacy Day
Entrepreneur’s Day (Tajikistan)
Feed the Birds Day
14 October Democracy Day (Thailand)
Global FPIES Awareness Day
Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia Awareness Day
International E-waste Day
International Squalane Day
Julius Nyerere Day (Tanzania)
Mother’s Day (Belarus)
Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Day (Climax of the Uhuru Torch Race; Tanzania)
National Album Day (UK)
National Autobot Day
National Bookshop Day (UK)
National Bring Your Teddy Bear to School Day
National Dick Day
National Education Day (Poland)
National Fishermen’s Mission Support Day (UK)
National FRUMP Day (Frugal, Responsible, Unpretentious, and Mature Person)
National Heritage Day (Turks and Caicos Islands)
National Home Fire Drill Day
National I Love You Day
National Life Teammates Day
national lowercase day
National Ryan Day
National Soccer Day
National Stop Bullying Day
National Thot Day
National Veronica Day
National Women in Franchising Appreciation Day
Nyerere Day (Tanzania)
Peace Corps Day
Preaching of the Lion Sermon Day
Quarrel Festival (Japan)
Ride A Bicycle Somewhere Day
Spider-Man Day (New York)
The Sudden Departure Anniversary Day (from “The Leftovers”)
Svetitskovloba (Republic of Georgia)
Teachers’ Appreciation Day (Micronesia)
Turnip Day (French Republic)
Winnie-the-Pooh Day
World Cavity-Free Future Day
World Day of Organ Donation
World Day of the Seamstress
World Environmental Education Day
World Metropolitan Day
World Spirometry Day
World Standards Day
Youth Day (Zaire)
Food & Drink Celebrations
Chocolate-Covered Insects Day
Homebrewing Legalization Day
International Prokupac Day
National Dessert Day [also 2nd Thursday in Oct.]
National Real Sugar Day
Shrimp Sandwich Day (Sweden)
Wine Day (South Korea)
Independence & Related Days
Constitution Day (Sint Maarten)
Equatorial Guinea [observed] (from Spain, 1968) [Monday closest to 10.12]
Liberation Day (a.k.a. Second Revolution Day; Yemen)
Los Bay Petros (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]
Oprett (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]
2nd Monday in October
Bartolomé Day [2nd Monday]
Columbus Day observed [2nd Monday] (a.k.a. ...
American Indian Heritage Day
Amerigo Vespucci Day
Anti-Columbus Day
Descubrimiento de América (Mexico)
Día de la Hispanidad (a.k.a. Fiesta Nacional de España; Spain)
Dia del Respet a la Diversidad Cultural (Argentina)
Dia De La Raza (a.k.a. Day of the Race; Mexico)
Dia de la Resistencia (a.k.a. Day of Indigenous Resistance; Venezuela)
Dia de las Americas (a.k.a. Day of the Americas; Uruguay)
Dia de las Culturas (a.k.a. Day of the Cultures; Costa Rica)
Dia del Descubrimiento de dos Mundos (Chile)
Dia del Respet a la Diversidad Cultural (Argentina)
Discoverer's Day (Hawaii)
Discovery Day (Bahamas, Colombia)
Encuentro de Dos Mundos (Ecuador)
Fraternal Day (Alabama)
Indigenous People's Day
Leif Erickson Day
National Heritage Day (Turks and Caicos Islands)
Native American Day (South Dakota)
Native Americans Day
Pan America Day (Belize)
Piomingo Day (Chickasaw Nation)
Two Worlds Day
US Virgin Islands-Puerto Rico Friendship Day
Federation Day (Star Trek) [2nd Monday]
Health and Sports Day (Japan) [2nd Monday]
Lotu-a-Tamaiti (American Samoa) [Monday after 2nd Sunday]
Marinara Monday [2nd Monday of Each Month]
Meditation Monday [Every Monday]
Mindful Monday [2nd Monday of Each Month]
Monday Musings [Every Monday]
Motivation Monday [Every Monday]
National Heroes Day (Bahamas) [2nd Monday]
National Kick-Butt Day [2nd Monday]
National Online Banking Day [2nd Monday]
Native American Day (South Dakota) [2nd Monday]
Sports Day (Japan) [2nd Monday]
Thanksgiving (Canada) [2nd Monday]
World Rainforest Week begins [2nd Monday]
Yorktown Victory Day (Virginia) [2nd Monday]
Weekly Holidays beginning October 14 (2nd Full Week of October)
Bone and Joint Health Action Week [3rd Week]
Brandywine Valley Restaurant Week (Greater Wilmington & the Brandywine Valley, Delaware) [thru 10.19]
Choose to be G.R.E.A.T. Week (thru 10.18) [Begins 2nd Monday]
Hamden Restaurant Week (Hamden, Connecticut) [thru 10.19]
Hepatitis Awareness Week [3rd Week]
National Baking Week [3rd Week]
National Business Women’s Week [3rd Week]
National Culinary Week [3rd Week]
National Friends of Libraries Week [3rd Week]
National Kraut Sandwich Week [3rd Week]
National Nutrition Week (Australia) [3rd Week]
National School Lunch Week [School Nutrition Association] (thru 10.18) [Begins 2nd Monday]
Nuclear Science Week [3rd Week]
Weekly Holidays beginning October 13 (2nd Full Week of October)
Anti Poverty Week [Australia]
Drink Local Wine Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Earth Science Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Healthcare Security and Safety Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Improve Your Home Office Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Infection Control Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
International Credit Union Week (thru 10.19) [Week of Int’l Credit Union Day]
International Infection Prevention (or Protection) Week (thru 10.19)
Meditation Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
National Case Management Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
National Chestnut Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
National Food Bank Week (thru 10.19) [Week including 10.16]
National Lone Wolf Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
National School Lunch Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
National Veterinary Technician Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
Nuclear Science Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
Pet Peeve Week (thru 10.19) [2nd Full Week]
Teen Read Week (thru 10.19) [Week of Columbus Day]
YMCA With our Violence Week (thru 10.19) [3rd Week]
Festivals Beginning October 14, 2024
Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival (Newport, Rhode Island) [thru 10.15]
DeKalb County VFW Agricultural Fair (Fort Payne, Alabama) [thru 10.19]
Dillsburg Farmers Fair (Dillsburg, Pennsylvania) [thru 10.19]
Nada no Kenka Matsuri (Himeji, Japan) [thru 10.15]
Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off (Half Moon Bay, California)
VGIK International Student Festival (Moscow, Russia) [thru 10.25]
Feast Days
Adolphe Monticelli (Artology)
Alesso Baldovinetti (Artology)
Angadrisma (Christian; Saint)
Bathukamma begins (Telangana, India)
Burckard, Bishop of Wurzburg (Christian; Saint)
Callixtus I, Pope (a.k.a. Callistus; Christian; Saint)
Daan Jippes (Artology)
Day of the Cathedral of the Living Pillar (Georgian Orthodox Church)
Dominic Loricatus (Christian; Saint)
Donatan of Rheims (Christian; Saint)
e.e. cummings (Writerism)
Festival for the Penates (Ancient Roman gods of the Storeroom)
First Fiddle of the Month (Shamanism)
Fortunatus of Todi (Christian; Saint)
Grover (Muppetism)
Hannah Arendt (Writerism)
Intercession of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox Christian)
Joseph Schereschewsky (Episcopal Church (USA))
Judge Isaac Parker Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)
Lois Lenski (Artology)
Mordgud’s Blot (Pagan)
Petca Paraskeva (Christian; Saint)
St. Thomas Aquinas (Positivist; Saint)
Try a New Beer Day (Pastafarian)
Vinternatsblot (Asatru)
World Food Day (Pastafarian)
Lucky & Unlucky Days
Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]
Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 47 of 60)
Premieres
The Accountant (Film; 2016)
The Accused (Film; 1988)
Alive II, by KISS (Album; 1977)
All Art is Propaganda George Orwell (Essays; 1941)
Atari 2600 (Video Game System; 1977)
The Big Year (Film; 2011)
Bootlegs, by Pearl Jam (Live Albums; 2000)
Cool Cat (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)
The Elephant Spreader (Super Chicken Cartoon; 1967) [#6]
Elizabethtown (Film; 2005)
Farmyard Symphony (Disney Silly Symphony Cartoon; 1938)
Foiled Again (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1935)
From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne (Novel; 1865)
Girl Crazy (Broadway Musical; 1930)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find, by Flannery O'Connor (Short Story; 1953)
The Greener Yard (Disney Cartoon; 1949)
La Flora, by Marco da Gagliano and Jacopo Peri (Opera; 1628)
Leprechauns Gold (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1949)
Little Audrey Riding Hood (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1955)
MAD TV (TV Series; 1995)
Max Steel (Film; 2016)
Mean Streets (Film; 1973)
The Mighty Navy (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1941)
Monkey Business (George of the Jungle Cartoon; 1967) [#6]
Mr. Elephant Goes to Town (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1940)
Pink in the Drink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)
Pink Lightning (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)
Pulp Fiction (Film; 1994)
Rosaline (Film; 2022)
Send Me No Flowers (Film; 1964)
Shane, by Jack Schaefer (Novel; 1949)
She’s So Unusual, by Cyndi Lauper (Album; 1983)
Smarty Cat (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1955)
Someday, We’ll Be Together, by The Supremes (Song; 1969)
Song of the Birds (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1949)
Spite Flight (Ub Iwerks Willie Whopper MGM Cartoon; 1933)
Standing Stone, by Paul McCartney (Symphonic Poem; 1997)
Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski (Children’s Book; 1945)
The Temple of Gold, by William Goldman (Novel; 1957)
Till (Film; 2022)
Watching the Detectives, by Elvis Costello (Song; 1977)
Watership Down (Animated Film; 1978)
White Christmas (Film; 1954)
Winnie-the-Pooh (Children’s Book; 1926)
Today’s Name Days
Burkhard, Kallixtus (Austria)
Pencho, Penka, Petka, Petko (Bułgaria)
Divna, Kalist, Krasna, Stanislav (Croatia)
Agáta (Czech Republic)
Calixus (Denmark)
Kai, Kaia, Kaidi, Kaie, Kaili, Kaisa (Estonia)
Elsa, Else, Elsi (Finland)
Céleste, Gwendoline, Juste (France)
Alan, Burkhard, Calixtus, Otilie (Germany)
Gervasios, Ignatios, Nazarios (Greece)
Helén (Hungary)
Callisto, Gaudenzo (Italy)
Minna, Vilhelmīne (Latvia)
Fortūnata, Kalikstas, Mindaugas, Rimvydė (Lithuania)
Kai, Kaia (Norway)
Alan, Bernard, Dominik, Dzierżymir, Fortunata, Kalikst, Kaliksta (Poland)
Parascheva (Romania)
Boris (Slovakia)
Calixto, Fortunata (Spain)
Manfred, Stellan (Sweden)
Gervais, Jervis (Ukraine)
Calista, Dwight, Fortino, Fortuna, Glennis, Glynnis (USA)
Today is Also…
Day of Year: Day 288 of 2024; 78 days remaining in the year
ISO: Day 1 of Week 42 of 2024
Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 16 of 28]
Chinese: Month 9 (Jia-Xu), Day 12 (Xin-Hai)
Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]
Hebrew: 12 Tishri 5785
Islamic: 10 Rabi II 1446
J Cal: 18 Orange; Foursday [18 of 30]
Julian: 1 October 2024
Moon: 88%: Waxing Gibbous
Positivist: 8 Descartes (11th Month) [Spinoza / Hobbes]
Runic Half Month: Gyfu (Gift) [Day 8 of 15]
Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 23 of 90)
Week: 2nd Full Week of October
Zodiac: Libra (Day 22 of 30)
Calendar Changes
October (Julian Calendar) [Month 10 of 12]
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𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕦𝕤 𝕤𝕡𝕒𝕦𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘
he was born thirty-two years ago, he is a human who lives in white oaks as an emt firefighter, he looks an awful lot like richard madden.
“good people are like candles; they burn themselves up to give others light.”
tw: death, dysfunctional family
Thaddeus lived a lavish life with his father being a well-known politician and his family part of the socialite scene. The kind of lifestyle he and his younger siblings lived was one that could be seen on a television show where everyone knew your every move. Although the parents on the outside appeared to love each other, it was all for publicity sake. Just as the children were pawns to further his father’s career and push the Spaulding family legacy onto the next generation.
From a young age, his parents groomed him to be a man they could be proud of with private school and tutors. At the age of sixteen he graduated high school and got accepted into Cambridge to study abroad. After he received his degree, he got accepted into the college’s prestigious law school. After two years of law school and at the ripe old age of twenty-three, Thaddeus began to perceive the world differently and did not want to be just another cog in the machine. It was then he dropped out at his parents’ dismay and joined the Peace Corps and got sent to Tanzania.
During his time in Tanzania, Thaddeus built infrastructure and worked in education. It was here where he met Kylee who also was volunteering in the same village. Eventually the two decided to move to her home city of Greywood where they continued to court each other and he learned that she was not human but in fact fae. The two of them were inseparable, they had a huge passion for living life to the fullest and oftentimes could be found on the mountains side of Colorado or at a homeless shelter volunteering. They often took excursions to go mountain climbing and climbed three of the seven summits. On his twenty-seventh birthday, he learned Kylee was pregnant with his child. Sadly, when she delivered there were complications and Kylee died giving birth to their daughter Norma. After the birth of his daughter, his parents thought this would be a great opportunity for him to wet his feet in politics or return to university to finish his law degree. However, he had different plans. He started working as an EMT firefighter as his way to give back. Although it was not the ideal plan his parents envisioned for their son, they often use his career path for their public image.
Now Norma is four years old and is the light of his life. Thaddeus is still learning more about the supernatural community, wanting his little girl to be raised around those like her and hopes to provide a loving home for her.
“what power did he attain when settling in greywood?”
None.
penned by... amber
#supernatural rp#town rp#oc rp#mature rp#horror rp#literate rp#richard madden fc#human#taken#death tw#dysfunctional family tw
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The Grand Heist
Being exposed to theft is almost a guarantee in Peace Corps. It occurs in towns, guest houses, and even in volunteer's homes. Volunteers experience a spectrum of losses. From the guy who comes home to find the solar panel from his roof is gone to the kid who's laptop gets stolen from his room through a window. There's even a kid in my class who recently shared that he has a little girl who stalks his house and steals whatever she can whenever she can, and he is powerless to stop her. Even with her parents and school officials involved, she keeps taking things.
These incidences leave most volunteers feeling violated. It frays our trust with our communities and generally becomes a low point in our service. I have been fairly lucky in my service. Sure I have had small things disappear here and there, books “lost”, and a kid who loved taking my flash drives, but it was never anything expensive.
Everything I brought to country I didn't count on it returning (see Rules of Peace Corps). When my student roommate, Dayana, asked for a radio to listen to music, I just gave her my old iPhone 4 (it has no SIM slot so it doesn't work here). When I gave it to her, I knew it would be a potential target; that she may lose and or break it. When she came back from Winter break, I was excited to see that it was not cracked. She even had pictures of her family and music which she played as she went about her day. She used it more in the past 2 months than I had used it in the past 2 years.
And then the inevitable happened. My neighbor stopped by the morning after I got back from a week long trip to Dar. She told me that her daughter (who's friends with Dayana) went to retrieve some clothes from Dayana's room and decided to borrow the iPhone. She took it to the school farm to listen to music. At the farm she was showing it off to everyone and put it in her backpack when doing farm work to keep it safe. When checking her bag later, she discovered that the iPhone was gone.
People can believe what they want to believe, but I believe that story is a load of garbage. The bottom line is my neighbor's kid was a thief the minute she left my house with the phone. I felt so sad for Dayana and kept thinking about the personal things she had on the iPhone. It wasn't mine anymore so I didn't feel as though I had lost anything but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth.
This neighbor is drowning in familial responsibilities. Throughout my service I have been close with her, helping out when I could. They are the classic textbook case of keeping up with the Joneses, where they have some uncontrollable desire to show off the idea of wealth. They have a car but they eat dinner in the dark, with only the lights from their cell phones to illuminate their unusable tv and stereo set. They have all the nice things ,but are the unhappiest people. They're the house that all the neighbors can often hear kids being “disciplined” and loud yelling. I once asked the woman about the noise after a particularly loud incident and she made up a story about her infant having hot water poured on him, even though he showed no signs of that happening.
So I felt bad for her. She has all these responsibilities and is essentially on her own because her husband is the dumbass (a pastor aka a man of God) who makes these financial decisions for the family. So as her friend I gave her the things I could part with and even lent her some money ($50, the amount I was willing to lose). I think over a period of half a year, her family destroyed 4 different solar powered lights. And so I learned that you can't just give people nice things for free and expect them to take care of it. Economic incentive is the most powerful behavior change tool and if people don't work for something, they don't pay for it, they don't appreciate it. They lived without it before, so they can live without it again. When people buy things, it creates a sense of ownership like no other. It also doesn't help that people don't emphasize saving money. When they have it they spend it, when they don't they don't. So now I'm here, waiting to be reimbursed for a phone from someone who has numerous debts already. I came here to help the school and students, not my neighbor and her husband’s financial decisions. It's unfortunate when money ruins relationships, but in the end maybe it's for the best in this situation.
With less than 6 months left in my service, I find myself questioning my views on international development. Sure, one person can't change a village, specially an outsider. The change must come from within, and grow naturally. Change is impossible though when people don't have skills, knowledge, or capital. Behavior change is the key to so many problems here and yet it is the hardest thing to implement. Real sustainable change rarely seems to come from giving people things. In all honesty, I am just tired and looking forward to returning home and starting my life. I came, I saw, I lived, and I'm just about done.
#keeping up with the joneses#Peace corps problems#peace corps tanzania#pctz#theft#change#money#more money more problems
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That feeling when you meet your host mom for the first time... Love seeing these beautiful smiles!
#Tanzania#africa#smiles#peace corps#peace corps volunteer#travel#host parents#learn#explore#discover#international#volunteer
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Volunteer Roger Rhatton in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), 1965. NARA ID 593669.
#OTD 1961: JFK CREATES THE PEACE CORPS
Peace Corps Volunteer in Istanbul, 1964. NARA ID 593652.
JFK greets Peace Corps volunteers 8/9/1962, NARA ID 194180.
On September 22, 1961, President Kennedy signed congressional legislation creating a permanent Peace Corps to “promote world peace and friendship.” This Act formalized his vision of a volunteer organization to provide education and skilled labor to developing nations. First proposed to students at the University of Michigan during JFK's presidential campaign, the Peace Corps has supplied more than 240,000 volunteers to 141 different countries.
Peace Corps Act, 9/21/1961, NARA ID 299874.
"Teaching in the Peace Corps to Help Shape Eternity" poster, NARA ID 148728354.
Peace Corps poster NARA ID 148728352. "You get a lot of training in innovative techniques... And you come home after three good years with money in the bank..."
FILM: The Peace Corps in Retrospect - JFK promotion and PSAs from NBA's David Thompson and Bob "Join the Peace Corps" Hope.
Excerpts:
"I'm David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets, and I'm a long way from NBA action."
"I learned as much from them as they did from me."
"It's not all giving. There's a lot of getting, too."
“There’s time enough to start a good career, but first find out something about life. If you don’t, you may never learn that money isn’t the only thing in it.”
More Peace Corps-related online resources:
JFK and the Peace Corps, JFK Library
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection, JFK Library
Records of the Peace Corps
The Peace Corps in Retrospect, Pieces of History.
A Call to Public Service: the Peace Corps, Pieces of History
Founding Documents of the Peace Corps, DocsTeach
Cultural Diplomacy and Propaganda During the Cold War, Docs Teach
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September 7th 2017
These past two weeks have been a whirlwind! Saying goodbye to Solwezi was hard. It’s amazing how you can make such great friends in just four months.
Our ring out ceremony was okay. I’ve never been too good at things like that, I didn’t go to my own college graduation because of it. We came as ~62 and less than half of us rang out with me. A lot went home because of medical, or safety and security, or this just wasn’t for them. A good number early COSed last month to start jobs or grad school, and a good number is extending a third year in Zambia. I rang the tire, got my pin, and said goodbye to Peace Corps. I am now an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer). That night we all had a nice steak dinner to celebrate.
The next day I got on the old bus to Northern Province. In Kasama I got to spend time with my RPCV neighbor, Claire, at her office. She runs an organization called Bakashana, which gives girls from rural areas an opportunity to go to secondary school. They’re currently running programs through an MTV grant to work with BanaChimbusas. The BanaChimbusas are the women in the villages that run ceremonies for young girls. I had the privilege of sitting in on one of these workshops. Bakashana teaches the women about HIV, cervical cancer, and general woman’s health so they can spread the message onto the young girls they’re initiating. In addition to dancing and celebrating with the BanaChimbusas, I got to meet the newest edition to the Lukupa family, Claire’s beautiful baby boy. I had a unique peace corps experience of having other RPCV’s live in the same school district as me. Claire is the most selfless, caring person I know. She has an amazing ability to connect to others. Her and her husband have integrated flawlessly into Zambian culture, and inspire everyone they interact with. I feel so blessed to have been invited into their home. If anyone actually reads my blog and is looking for a good cause to donate to this holiday season please consider Bakashana. I personally seen all the good even the smallest donation does. You can read more at www.bakashana.org
While in Kasama I got the chance to reunite with a lot of people. First I went back to my old hut to see my brothers, the kids, and my host mom. I was welcomed back with so many hugs and a freshly killed chicken. I was only gone four months but already toddlers have taken their first steps, exams have been passed, and new babies have been born. I showed by brothers pictures from northwest and they laughed as I tried to speak Lunda and Kaonde. Bamayo moved into my hut, which I was expecting, my replacement was moved to a host family closer to school. She made it her own with couches and televisions that don’t work because the solar setup is broken. The next day I went to the river with Mutale and Mwamba and soaked in the sun and freezing water. Saying goodbye was hard but not as hard as last time. We’ll keep in touch.
Next I went to Florence’s house. It was great to see her, BashiMule, and the kids again. Kiri was even smiling which she’s usually too stubborn to do! We drank village beer and walked around talking about trees, the farm, and the future. That night Cecilia and Kiri joined me in my tent for the slumber party Cecilia was always asking for. I woke up the next morning to them cuddling close to me and pinching my face, smiling.
I even got to see BaRemy and pay him for some more baskets, because of everyone’s support all of his children’s school fees are paid for. In town I met up for lunch with Madam Mulenga, my computers counterpart and she told me about her upcoming wedding. I really value all the relationships I made there. I never thought I would feel so close to people I couldn’t even communicate in English with. Living in a village has been humbling and eye opening in so many ways that I don’t think you’ll ever fully understand unless you’ve done it yourself. I believe I’ve changed a lot in the past two years and hope to carry some of that with me to America.
I left Kasama early on the train. I met up with a friend, another education volunteer from my intake named Shawn on the train. We spent two nights and three days there all the way to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This was my second time in Dar. I really like Tanzania. The Swahili language is beautiful. There’s so much more color, spices, smells, and sights than in Zambia. I think it’s a combination of different religions and cultures coming together, as well as being a mountainous country along the Indian Ocean. I wandered over to the National Museum of Tanzania and looked at all the fossils, rock art, and artifacts from an older country than the one I am standing in now. Shawn and I walked down Obama Road to get a glimpse of the Indian Ocean, it is too cold to swim though. Yesterday we took a 13 hour bus ride to the Northern part of Tanzania, past the Kilimanjaro, to a town called Arusha. While long, the bus ride was nicer than the ones in Zambia, it had AC, a toilet on board, and refreshments. Oh! And enough seat room! We’re staying at White House backpackers and I’ve already made friends with a group of Italian doctors who I think I’ll be joining on a Safari today. This place is really cute, run by some locals who love meeting people from all over the world.
I’ve been thinking a lot this past week and had to make a tough decision. My original plan was to move on from here and go to Mombasa, Kenya, then to Nairobi. I’ve been talking to some people over the past few days. Kenya is mid election so tension is high. I have been feeling more anxiety about being a solo female traveler in Kenya, than I normally feel. I’ve decided that if I was traveling with someone else during the elections, I would be fine, or if I was traveling by my self not during election season, I would be fine, but combining all of that is too much for me right now. So for the second time in my life I am canceling plans to go to Kenya. I am confident I’ll reach there one day, but right now is not the time. I will keep learning Swahili and watching the news so I can work up the courage to make it there. But for now, I will stay in Tanzania a while longer, and show up early to Ghana.
#zambia#tanzania#africa#east africa#trave#backpacking#peace corps#kilimanjaro#safari#anxiety#museum#dar es salaam#arusha
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Kwame Nkrumah on the methods of neo-colonialism (from Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism):
Some of these methods used by neo-colonialists to slip past our guard must now be examined. The first is retention by the departing colonialists of various kinds of privileges which infringe on our sovereignty: that of setting up military bases or stationing troops in former colonies and the supplying of ‘advisers’ of one sort or another. Sometimes a number of ‘rights’ are demanded: land concessions, prospecting rights for minerals and/or oil; the ‘right’ to collect customs, to carry out administration, to issue paper money; to be exempt from customs duties and/or taxes for expatriate enterprises; and, above all, the ‘right’ to provide ‘aid’. Also demanded and granted are privileges in the cultural field; that Western information services be exclusive; and that those from socialist countries be excluded.
Even the cinema stories of fabulous Hollywood are loaded. One has only to listen to the cheers of an African audience as Hollywood’s heroes slaughter red Indians or Asiatics to understand the effectiveness of this weapon. For, in the developing continents, where the colonialist heritage has left a vast majority still illiterate, even the smallest child gets the message contained in the blood and thunder stories emanating from California. And along with murder and the Wild West goes an incessant barrage of anti-socialist propaganda, in which the trade union man, the revolutionary, or the man of dark skin is generally cast as the villain, while the policeman, the gum-shoe, the Federal agent — in a word, the CIA — type spy is ever the hero. Here, truly, is the ideological under-belly of those political murders which so often use local people as their instruments.
While Hollywood takes care of fiction, the enormous monopoly press, together with the outflow of slick, clever, expensive magazines, attends to what it chooses to call ‘news. Within separate countries, one or two news agencies control the news handouts, so that a deadly uniformity is achieved, regardless of the number of separate newspapers or magazines; while internationally, the financial preponderance of the United States is felt more and more through its foreign correspondents and offices abroad, as well as through its influence over inter-national capitalist journalism. Under this guise, a flood of anti-liberation propaganda emanates from the capital cities of the West, directed against China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Algeria, Ghana and all countries which hack out their own independent path to freedom. Prejudice is rife. For example, wherever there is armed struggle against the forces of reaction, the nationalists are referred to as rebels, terrorists, or frequently ‘communist terrorists'!
Perhaps one of the most insidious methods of the neo-colonialists is evangelism. Following the liberation movement there has been a veritable riptide of religious sects, the overwhelming majority of them American. Typical of these are Jehovah’s Witnesses who recently created trouble in certain developing countries by busily teaching their citizens not to salute the new national flags. ‘Religion’ was too thin to smother the outcry that arose against this activity, and a temporary lull followed. But the number of evangelists continues to grow.
Yet even evangelism and the cinema are only two twigs on a much bigger tree. Dating from the end of 1961, the U.S. has actively developed a huge ideological plan for invading the so-called Third World, utilising all its facilities from press and radio to Peace Corps.
During 1962 and 1963 a number of international conferences to this end were held in several places, such as Nicosia in Cyprus, San Jose in Costa Rica, and Lagos in Nigeria. Participants included the CIA, the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), the Pentagon, the International Development Agency, the Peace Corps and others. Programmes were drawn up which included the systematic use of U.S. citizens abroad in virtual intelligence activities and propaganda work. Methods of recruiting political agents and of forcing ‘alliances’ with the U.S.A. were worked out. At the centre of its programmes lay the demand for an absolute U.S. monopoly in the field of propaganda, as well as for counteracting any independent efforts by developing states in the realm of information.
The United States sought, and still seeks, with considerable success, to co-ordinate on the basis of its own strategy the propaganda activities of all Western countries. In October 1961, a conference of NATO countries was held in Rome to discuss problems of psychological warfare. It appealed for the organisation of combined ideological operations in Afro-Asian countries by all participants.
In May and June 1962 a seminar was convened by the U.S. in Vienna on ideological warfare. It adopted a secret decision to engage in a propaganda offensive against the developing countries along lines laid down by the U.S.A. It was agreed that NATO propaganda agencies would, in practice if not in the public eye, keep in close contact with U.S. Embassies in their respective countries.
Among instruments of such Western psychological warfare are numbered the intelligence agencies of Western countries headed by those of the United States ‘Invisible Government’. But most significant among them all are Moral Re-Armament QARA), the Peace Corps and the United States Information Agency (USIA).
Moral Re-Armament is an organisation founded in 1938 by the American, Frank Buchman. In the last days before the second world war, it advocated the appeasement of Hitler, often extolling Himmler, the Gestapo chief. In Africa, MRA incursions began at the end of World War II. Against the big anti-colonial upsurge that followed victory in 1945, MRA spent millions advocating collaboration between the forces oppressing the African peoples and those same peoples. It is not without significance that Moise Tshombe and Joseph Kasavubu of Congo (Leopoldville) are both MRA supporters. George Seldes, in his book One Thousand Americans, characterised MRA as a fascist organisation ‘subsidised by . . . Fascists, and with a long record of collaboration with Fascists the world over. . . .’ This description is supported by the active participation in MRA of people like General Carpentier, former commander of NATO land forces, and General Ho Ying-chin, one of Chiang Kai-shek’s top generals. To cap this, several newspapers, some of them in the Western ;vorld, have claimed that MRA is actually subsidised by the CIA.
When MRA’s influence began to fail, some new instrument to cover the ideological arena was desired. It came in the establishment of the American Peace Corps in 1961 by President John Kennedy, with Sargent Shriver, Jr., his brother-in-law, in charge. Shriver, a millionaire who made his pile in land speculation in Chicago, was also known as the friend, confidant and co-worker of the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Allen Dulles. These two had worked together in both the Office of Strategic Services, U.S. war-time intelligence agency, and in the CIA.
Shriver’s record makes a mockery of President Kennedy’s alleged instruction to Shriver to ‘keep the CIA out of the Peace Corps’. So does the fact that, although the Peace Corps is advertised as a voluntary organisation, all its members are carefully screened by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Since its creation in 1961, members of the Peace Corps have been exposed and expelled from many African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries for acts of subversion or prejudice. Indonesia, Tanzania, the Philippines, and even pro-West countries like Turkey and Iran, have complained of its activities.
However, perhaps the chief executor of U.S. psychological warfare is the United States Information Agency (USIA). Even for the wealthiest nation on earth, the U.S. lavishes an unusual amount of men, materials and money on this vehicle for its neo-colonial aims.
The USIA is staffed by some 12,000 persons to the tune of more than $130 million a year. It has more than seventy editorial staffs working on publications abroad. Of its network comprising 110 radio stations, 60 are outside the U.S. Programmes are broadcast for Africa by American stations in Morocco, Eritrea, Liberia, Crete, and Barcelona, Spain, as well as from off-shore stations on American ships. In Africa alone, the USIA transmits about thirty territorial and national radio programmes whose content glorifies the U.S. while attempting to discredit countries with an independent foreign policy.
The USIA boasts more than 120 branches in about 100 countries, 50 of which are in Africa alone. It has 250 centres in foreign countries, each of which is usually associated with a library. It employs about 200 cinemas and 8,000 projectors which draw upon its nearly 300 film libraries.
This agency is directed by a central body which operates in the name of the U.S. President, planning and coordinating its activities in close touch with the Pentagon, CIA and other Cold War agencies, including even armed forces intelligence centres.
In developing countries, the USIA actively tries to prevent expansion of national media of information so as itself to capture the market-place of ideas. It spends huge sums for publication and distribution of about sixty newspapers and magazines in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The American government backs the USIA through direct pressures on developing nations. To ensure its agency a complete monopoly in propaganda, for instance, many agreements for economic co-operation offered by the U.S. include a demand that Americans be granted preferential rights to disseminate information. At the same time, in trying to close the new nations to other sources of information, it employs other pressures. For instance, after agreeing to set up USIA information centres in their countries, both Togo and Congo (Leopoldville) originally hoped to follow a non-aligned path and permit Russian information centres as a balance. But Washington threatened to stop all aid, thereby forcing these two countries to renounce their plan.
Unbiased studies of the USIA by such authorities as Dr R. Holt of Princeton University, Retired Colonel R. Van de Velde, former intelligence agents Murril Dayer, Wilson Dizard and others, have all called attention to the close ties between this agency and U.S. Intelligence. For example, Deputy Director Donald M. Wilson was a political intelligence agent in the U.S. Army. Assistant Director for Europe, Joseph Philips, was a successful espionage agent in several Eastern European countries.
Some USIA duties further expose its nature as a top intelligence arm of the U.S. imperialists. In the first place, it is expected to analyse the situation in each country, making recommendations to its Embassy, thereby to its Government, about changes that can tip the local balance in U.S. favour. Secondly, it organises networks of monitors for radio broadcasts and telephone conversations, while recruiting informers from government offices. It also hires people to distribute U.S. propaganda. Thirdly, it collects secret information with special reference to defence and economy, as a means of eliminating its international military and economic competitors. Fourthly, it buys its way into local publications to influence their policies, of which Latin America furnishes numerous examples. It has been active in bribing public figures, for example in Kenya and Tunisia. Finally, it finances, directs and often supplies with arms all anti-neutralist forces in the developing countries, witness Tshombe in Congo (Leopoldville) and Pak Hung Ji in South Korea. In a word, with virtually unlimited finances, there seems no bounds to its inventiveness in subversion.
One of the most recent developments in neo-colonialist strategy is the suggested establishment of a Businessmen Corps which will, like the Peace Corps, act in developing countries. In an article on ‘U.S. Intelligence and the Monopolies’ in International Affairs (Moscow, January 1965), V. Chernyavsky writes: ‘There can hardly be any doubt that this Corps is a new U.S. intelligence organisation created on the initiative of the American monopolies to use Big Business for espionage. It is by no means unusual for U.S. Intelligence to set up its own business firms which are merely thinly disguised espionage centres. For example, according to Chernyavsky, the C.I.A. has set up a firm in Taiwan known as Western Enterprises Inc. Under this cover it sends spies and saboteurs to South China. The New Asia Trading Company, a CIA firm in India, has also helped to camouflage U.S. intelligence agents operating in South-east Asia.
Such is the catalogue of neo-colonialism’s activities and methods in our time. Upon reading it, the faint-hearted might come to feel that they must give up in despair before such an array of apparent power and seemingly inexhaustible resources.
Fortunately, however, history furnishes innumerable proofs of one of its own major laws; that the budding future is always stronger than the withering past. This has been amply demonstrated during every major revolution throughout history.
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Ambassador Dr. Tulinabo S. Mushingi (August 4, 1956) was the Ambassador to the West African nation of Burkina Faso (2013-16). After nomination by President Barack Obama and his confirmation by the Senate, he arrived in Ouagadougou. He is a career officer of the Senior Foreign Service and the first African-born, naturalized US citizen to return to that continent as a US ambassador.
Born in Belgian Congo, he earned a BA and an MA from the Institut Superieur Pedagogique. He earned an MA from Howard University. He continued his studies at Georgetown University and received a Ph.D. in Linguistics. His dissertation was titled Vehicular Languages as Media of Instruction: The Case of Swahili in Zaire.
He was a cultural trainer for the Peace Corps, working in Papua New Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, and the Central African Republic. He joined the US Foreign Service and served in various roles: General Services Officer at the Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique. Counseling and Assignment Officer in the State Department Bureau of Human Resources, and Management Officer at the Consulate in Casablanca, Morocco.
He was a Supervisory General Services Officer for Secretary of State Colin Powell. He was a Counselor for Management Affairs at the Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was Deputy Executive Secretary in the Executive Secretariat and Executive Director of the Executive of the Secretary of State.
He received the Superior Honor Awards from Secretary Hilary Clinton and Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, as well as one for outstanding leadership during President George W. Bush’s successful four-day visit to Tanzania.
He was a visiting lecturer at Dartmouth College and taught at Howard University. He is married to Rebecca (née Marshbanks) Mushingi and has one daughter. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence
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1985 Camaro
AMERICAN DREAM, Chapter 2. You can find all other IkeSen works of mine here. NOTES: Brief conversation about prior death, otherwise safe. Thank you @missjudge-me for commissioning this piece!
---
They camped out on the back patio until the sun set. He cooked gyoza and rice balls and some pan-fried chicken, and she ordered ice cream delivery, and they nested their knees together and tucked into a pint of something labeled ‘Just Ask’ and when he asked, she wouldn’t tell him, not even when he tickled her (It wound up being a delicious caramel-Oreo flavor). She instead told him about her degree and moving out, about keeping in contact with Mitsunari as he served in Tanzania through hand-written notes on origami paper. They swapped curated Instagram snapshots and embarrassing anecdotes and reminisced.
“I’m sorry,” she said finally. “About your dad.”
Masamune shrugged. There was nothing to say. It hurt and always would, but that was his private journey. “Old bastard waited too long to have kids s’what. If he’d had me at a nice, respectable age, we wouldn’t be doing this, the old coot!” He waved a dramatic fist at the sky, relishing her giggles. “You fucked up!”
Overhead, his mother’s bedroom light flicked on.
“Shit,” he muttered. She dropped her face into her hands to stifle the raucous laughter.
“How—” Now she was whispering. Masamune wriggled closer, their legs reflexively entwining. “How’s that going?”
“Better than it used to. We can talk without yelling. Something something time and distance. I’m planning on hunkering down here for a little bit, and once all of the stuff is settled, I’ll probably go back north. The restaurant owners offered to hold my position for me, which is really nice.”
“Hell yeah it is. Isn’t that kind of a cut throat world? They must love you.”
“Yeah. Good openings don’t stay open long in the restaurant biz, so that’s really cool.” Absently, he ran his thumb over the whorls of the deck. “What about you? What’s next?”
“Well.” And she paused, eyes luminous. “I got offered a job interview out east. It’s a good job.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Once upon a time, when she was too nervous to really settle her heart on something she wanted, she smiled shyly and fluttered her eyes away. Some things stayed the same. His heart surged as the familiar expression played out before him. “It could be a game changer for me.”
“That the case, huh?”
“Yeah. I mean, I have to do some logistics, and I have to interview, right? But if I get it…” She stretched up to the sky, wriggling her fingers long at the clouds, all the prickled flesh on her arms visible in the cold moonlight. Without thinking, he shuffled closer to warm her. “I mean, I have to actually get to the interview first, so there’s the first hurdle.”
Masamune chewed his lip. “How far out is it?”
“It’s in Virginia. Complete other side of the country. The plane tickets are outrageous.”
“Damn. Guess you’re road tripping, huh?”
A gust of warm breath huffed from her lips. “I mean, I hate going on them alone, but I don’t even have a car right now. Mine got totaled; kid hit me when I was driving down here. Guess I’m taking a damn greyhound.”
His first reaction was to say ‘yikes’, and then… well. Masamune paused, soaking in the possibilities. “So you need a car is what you’re saying?”
“Mmhmm.”
Back in the day, his dad often said that the universe lined things up. Masamune didn't exactly believe in fate—he believed in making things happen—but occasionally, he saw the reasoning.
“How do you like eighties cars?” He asked.
She eyed him, a smile in her eyes and voice. “Like the Camaro? Sure, it’s cool. Why?”
Masamune snickered. “Everything in the Date family is cool as hell. What if I told you I could get you a car and a road trip buddy?”
The click of her brain working was almost audible. “Don’t you have to be here?”
“Gotta wait for the death certificates, which is probably a week or so. Mom wants the Camaro gone, and if she has to be around me too long, she’ll probably get sick of me real quick. I might as well make myself scarce and hang out with a dear friend. Besides—I’ll cut you a deal on selling you it. Call it a test drive.”
“A test drive? For like, a week?” But she was grinning, her shoulders angled in toward his. “Weeklong test drives aren’t kosher, Mr. Date.”
“And I’m not Jewish.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Serious as my dad’s grave.” Masamume brushed a lock of stray hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Want me along for the ride?”
Once upon a time, years ago, the whole gang got into an altercation with an older man in a Ford pickup. They were only teenagers sitting on a dock, but the guy pulled up and screamed at them for ‘loitering’. Mitsunari tried to intervene, and when the man acted like he might hit him, Ieyasu almost threw hands himself. They’d retreated into the woods—and when the man left, Masamune, Mitsuhide, and she went back and lit the dock on fire to spite him. Right beforehand, she’d fixed him with the most mischievous expression he’d ever seen: mouth sucked into her teeth, eyes glittering, staring out from under her lashes.
Now, she made that same expression, and it lit a fire in him.
“We’d have to leave like…” She mentally calculated. “In three days to make it.”
“Or we could take the long road, do a little sightseeing, and leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” She echoed. Only a half second later, that smile was back. “I’m game.”
---
At six a.m. sharp, Masamune tried to wake her by flinging rocks at her window. That didn't work. At last he resorted to calling her, discovering that she stayed in a completely different room now.
“Could’a used that knowledge,” he chuckled, hopping in place to warm his legs. The fog pressed in around him, September chill early this year. “Don’t suppose anyone is using that room?”
Her voice was thin, but warm over the phone. “No, it’s a home gym now.”
“Great! I didn't hassle anyone else. Get out here, Kitten, we got a road to get on.”
She emerged twenty minutes later, sweatpants fresh from the dryer, wet hair in a sloppy bun and a suitcase click-clacking behind her. She never was a morning person. Masamune snickered and popped the Camaro trunk. “Wanna drive, or wanna let me do it?”
“You start. Can we get some Starbucks?”
“Ugh.” He clutched his chest, mock-wounded. “All of the coffee places in the world, and you want Starbucks. My palate is crying.”
Rolling her eyes, she slid into the passenger seat. “Drama queen.”
They got Starbucks. She tucked her feet into fuzzy socks and folded them under her knees, clutching the large mocha. Only the rush of the road beneath their tires filled the silence. Asphalt and trees emerged from the mist like a benevolent ghost, Americana obscured. They’d only just merged onto the highway when Masamune realized there wasn’t an audio jack in the car.
“Shit,” he muttered.
She opened her eyes, head lolling on the headrest. “What?”
He flicked the dashboard. Nope, no audio jack. Not even a CD player. No; amidst all the toggles and buttons of the dash was a cassette player. “I don’t have anything to listen to. This thing won’t hook up to the phones, and I don’t have any tapes.”
“Hm.” Taking a long sip of her drink, she mused, “Maybe your dad has some in here?”
“I guess that’d make sense. Take a look around, would you?”
Sure enough, she was right. Tucked away in the glove compartment was a treasure trove: Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, AC/DC, Prince, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen. “Damn,” she chuckled, “Your dad had good taste.”
Masamune took the copy of Rumors in his fingers, never taking his eyes off the road. The dust was thick under his thumb. “He’d play ‘Back in Black’ when he picked me up from school. It was cool as hell.” With a snap, he pried open the copy of Rumors and popped it into the player. The speakers hummed to life with strumming guitar, Fleetwood Mac echoing. “I know there’s nothing to say, someone has taken my place…” She rested her elbow on the center console, brushing his arm with her as she texted.
“Guess what?” She murmured. “Mitsunari just got back from Tanzania.”
“Oh shit, really?” How long had it been? Masamune mentally calculated the dates. “I guess it has been two years, huh? The Peace Corps finally turned him loose?”
“Yeah. He’s apparently crashing at Ieyasu’s place—” Masamune barked a laugh, and she tittered, but continued, “—and wants to know if we’re going to head that direction.”
“He’s in Maryland, right?” Fishing out his phone, he checked it. “Yasu didn't tell me about this. Bastard. Well, we get there fast enough, then we can definitely hunker down there for a day or so and celebrate his coming back.”
Classic rock kept them company on the long drive. He didn't mind roadtrips. There was something sacred about them. Forget the American Dream; it was dead. Long live the American Road Trip, a rite of passage for the lost souls from sea to shining sea. Nothing cleared the senses like cranking up the heater on the floorboards and rolling down the window to a blast of autumn air. She let down her hair and it whipped wild in the wind.
Thank God she was here. Masamune quietly relished her reappearance in his life. She was a gateway to an old world, one with his father alive, one where he still snuck out of the house at night and biked to the 7-Eleven for slurpees at 3a.m. They stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner and ordered root beer floats and roasted each other over the annoying ‘jump-the-pegs’ game perched on every table. Though you were supposed to reduce it to one peg, she couldn’t quite manage it. Somehow she kept getting two or three.
“I got it down to one peg once,” she laughed, shoving it toward him. Masamune swirled it under his hand.
“I can do it,” he commented. “But that’s because Mitsunari taught me the trick years ago.” He knocked the first peg out of the top of the triangle, moving it elsewhere. “That’s the one that’s gotta be empty. From there on out, there’s a set solution.”
She craned over it, investigating. “What’s the set solution?”
A long, hefty pause lingered between them as he slurped some of his float.
“Dunno anymore.” He cracked a grin. “I forgot like, eight years ago.”
“Ass! Then you don’t know!” She swatted at his arm and grinned. “Liar!”
“Hey! I was just trying to look cool in front’a you, Kitten, I can’t look like some big dumb stud after all these years—”
“I love how you allow for the possibility that you’re dumb,” she cackled, “but not the possibility that you’re anything other than hot.”
“Am I wrong? Look at me.”
The roll of her eyes was exactly what he wanted. She shoved a biscuit at him over the table. “I think Mark Twain said something like, ‘it’s better to stop talking and appear dumb than open your mouth and remove any doubt’, Masamune.”
He clutched at his chest, but took the biscuit anyway. “You wound me, Kitten.”
As they were paying the bill, she split off and reappeared a minute later, plunking thirty cents onto the cash register and tucking a cinnamon stick into his jacket pocket. “Here.”
“My favorite!” He peeled back the plastic wrapper. “Thanks, Kitkat. You remembered.”
For the first time since they’d seen each other again, her expression evolved to one he’d almost forgotten. He’d only seen it once before. It was a moonlit night back in their senior year, after prom, when they were both lingering in the pool as everyone else passed out drunk. He’d wiped a leaf from her hair and told her she was beautiful, and she’d looked at him like that so long and hard that he wondered if he’d ever known her inner thoughts at all.
“Of course I remembered,” she answered at last, soft and clarion clear. “I remember all kinds of things about you, Masamune.”
#American Dream#ikesen masamune#modern au#ikesen modern au#1985 camaro#my writing#roadtrip#commission
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Holidays 10.14
Holidays
Allied Health Professional (AHPs) Day (UK)
Be Bald and Be Free Day
Chisinau Day (Moldova)
Chung Yeung Festival (Hong Kong)
Defender’s Day (Ukraine)
Feed the Birds Day
Global FPIES Awareness Day
International E-waste Day
International Prokupac Day
International Squalane Day
Liberation Day (a.k.a. Second Revolution Day; Yemen)
Mother’s Day (Belarus)
Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Day (Climax of the Uhuru Torch Race; Tanzania)
National Album Day (UK)
National Autobot Day
National Bookshop Day (UK)
National Bring Your Teddy Bear to School Day
National Dick Day
National Education Day (Poland)
National FRUMP Day (Frugal, Responsible, Unpretentious, and Mature Person)
National Home Fire Drill Day
National I Love You Day
National Life Teammates Day
national lowercase day
National Ryan Day
National Soccer Day
National Stop Bullying Day
National Thot Day
National Veronica Day
National Women in Franchising Appreciation Day
Nyerere Day (Tanzania)
Peace Corps Day
Preaching of the Lion Sermon Day
Quarrel Festival (Japan)
Ride A Bicycle Somewhere Day
Spider-Man Day (New York)
Svetitskovloba (Republic of Georgia)
Teachers’ Appreciation Day (Micronesia)
Turnip Day (French Republic)
Winnie-the-Pooh Day
World Cavity-Free Future Day
World Day of Organ Donation
World Day of the Seamstress
World Environmental Education Day
World Spirometry Day
World Standards Day
Youth Day (Zaire)
Food & Drink Celebrations
Chocolate-Covered Insects Day
Homebrewing Legalization Day
National Dessert Day [also 2nd Thursday in Oct.]
National Real Sugar Day
Shrimp Sandwich Day (Sweden)
Wine Day (South Korea)
2nd Saturday in October
African Penguin Awareness Day [2nd Saturday]
Fall Astronomy Day [2nd Saturday]
Global PT Day of Service [2nd Saturday]
Home Movie Day [2nd Saturday]
I Love Yarn Day [2nd Saturday]
International African Penguin Awareness Day [2nd Saturday]
International Newspaper Carrier Day [2nd Saturday]
International Pinotage Day [2nd Saturday]
Migratory Bird Day (Mexico) [2nd Saturday]
National Chess Day [2nd Saturday]
National Costume Swap Day [2nd Saturday]
National Curves Day [2nd Saturday]
National Family Bowling Day (a.k.a. Kids Bowl Free Day) [2nd Saturday]
National Motorcycle Ride Day [2nd Saturday]
National Thrive Outside Day [2nd Saturday]
Pinotage Day [2nd Saturday]
Universal Music Day [2nd Saturday]
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day [2nd Saturday]
World Migratory Bird Day [2nd Saturday]
World Porridge Day [Saturday of 1st Full Week]
World Squash Day [2nd Saturday]
Independence Days
Los Bay Petros (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]
Oprett (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]
Feast Days
Alesso Baldovinetti (Artology)
Angadrisma (Christian; Saint)
Bathukamma begins (Telangana, India)
Burckard, Bishop of Wurzburg (Christian; Saint)
Callixtus I, Pope (a.k.a. Callistus; Christian; Saint)
Day of the Cathedral of the Living Pillar (Georgian Orthodox Church)
Dominic Loricatus (Christian; Saint)
Donatan of Rheims (Christian; Saint)
Festival for the Penates (Ancient Roman gods of the Storeroom)
Fortunatus of Todi (Christian; Saint)
Grover (Muppetism)
Intercession of the Theotokos (Christian; Saint)
Joseph Schereschewsky (Episcopal Church (USA))
Judge Isaac Parker Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)
Mordgud’s Blot (Pagan)
Petca Paraskeva (Christian; Saint)
St. Thomas Aquinas (Positivist; Saint)
Try a New Beer Day (Pastafarian)
Vinternatsblot (Asatru)
World Food Day (Pastafarian)
Lucky & Unlucky Days
Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]
Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 47 of 60)
Premieres
The Accountant (Film; 2016)
The Accused (Film; 1988)
Alive II, by KISS (Album; 1977)
All Art is Propaganda George Orwell (Essays; 1941)
Atari 2600 (Video Game System; 1977)
The Big Year (Film; 2011)
Bootlegs, by Pearl Jam (Live Albums; 2000)
Cool Cat (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)
Elizabethtown (Film; 2005)
Farmyard Symphony (Disney Cartoon; 1938)
From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne (Novel; 1865)
Girl Crazy (Broadway Musical; 1930)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find, by Flannery O'Connor (Short Story; 1953)
The Greener Yard (Disney Cartoon; 1949)
La Flora, by Marco da Gagliano and Jacopo Peri (Opera; 1628)
MAD TV (TV Series; 1995)
Max Steel (Film; 2016)
Mean Streets (Film; 1973)
Pulp Fiction (Film; 1994)
Rosaline (Film; 2022)
Send Me No Flowers (Film; 1964)
Shane, by Jack Schaefer (Novel; 1949)
She’s So Unusual, by Cyndi Lauper (Album; 1983)
Someday, We’ll Be Together, by The Supremes (Song; 1969)
Standing Stone, by Paul McCartney (Symphonic Poem; 1997)
Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski (Children’s Book; 1945)
The Temple of Gold, by William Goldman (Novel; 1957)
Till (Film; 2022)
Watching the Detectives, by Elvis Costello (Song; 1977)
White Christmas (Film; 1954)
Winnie-the-Pooh (Children’s Book; 1926)
Today’s Name Days
Burkhard, Kallixtus (Austria)
Pencho, Penka, Petka, Petko (Bułgaria)
Divna, Kalist, Krasna, Stanislav (Croatia)
Agáta (Czech Republic)
Calixus (Denmark)
Kai, Kaia, Kaidi, Kaie, Kaili, Kaisa (Estonia)
Elsa, Else, Elsi (Finland)
Céleste, Gwendoline, Juste (France)
Alan, Burkhard, Calixtus, Otilie (Germany)
Gervasios, Ignatios, Nazarios (Greece)
Helén (Hungary)
Callisto, Gaudenzo (Italy)
Minna, Vilhelmīne (Latvia)
Fortūnata, Kalikstas, Mindaugas, Rimvydė (Lithuania)
Kai, Kaia (Norway)
Alan, Bernard, Dominik, Dzierżymir, Fortunata, Kalikst, Kaliksta (Poland)
Parascheva (Romania)
Boris (Slovakia)
Calixto, Fortunata (Spain)
Manfred, Stellan (Sweden)
Gervais, Jervis (Ukraine)
Calista, Dwight, Fortino, Fortuna, Glennis, Glynnis (USA)
Today is Also…
Day of Year: Day 287 of 2024; 78 days remaining in the year
ISO: Day 6 of week 41 of 2023
Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 12 of 28]
Chinese: Month 8 (Xin-You), Day 30 (Yi-Si)
Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)
Hebrew: 29 Tishri 5784
Islamic: 29 Rabi I 1445
J Cal: 17 Shù; Threesday [17 of 30]
Julian: 1 October 2023
Moon: 0%: New Moon
Positivist: 7 Descartes (11th Month) [St. Thomas Aquinas]
Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 3 of 15]
Season: Autumn (Day 21 of 89)
Zodiac: Libra (Day 21 of 30)
Calendar Changes
October (Julian Calendar) [Month 10 of 12]
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Holidays 10.14
Holidays
Allied Health Professional (AHPs) Day (UK)
Be Bald and Be Free Day
Chisinau Day (Moldova)
Chung Yeung Festival (Hong Kong)
Defender’s Day (Ukraine)
Feed the Birds Day
Global FPIES Awareness Day
International E-waste Day
International Prokupac Day
International Squalane Day
Liberation Day (a.k.a. Second Revolution Day; Yemen)
Mother’s Day (Belarus)
Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Day (Climax of the Uhuru Torch Race; Tanzania)
National Album Day (UK)
National Autobot Day
National Bookshop Day (UK)
National Bring Your Teddy Bear to School Day
National Dick Day
National Education Day (Poland)
National FRUMP Day (Frugal, Responsible, Unpretentious, and Mature Person)
National Home Fire Drill Day
National I Love You Day
National Life Teammates Day
national lowercase day
National Ryan Day
National Soccer Day
National Stop Bullying Day
National Thot Day
National Veronica Day
National Women in Franchising Appreciation Day
Nyerere Day (Tanzania)
Peace Corps Day
Preaching of the Lion Sermon Day
Quarrel Festival (Japan)
Ride A Bicycle Somewhere Day
Spider-Man Day (New York)
Svetitskovloba (Republic of Georgia)
Teachers’ Appreciation Day (Micronesia)
Turnip Day (French Republic)
Winnie-the-Pooh Day
World Cavity-Free Future Day
World Day of Organ Donation
World Day of the Seamstress
World Environmental Education Day
World Spirometry Day
World Standards Day
Youth Day (Zaire)
Food & Drink Celebrations
Chocolate-Covered Insects Day
Homebrewing Legalization Day
National Dessert Day [also 2nd Thursday in Oct.]
National Real Sugar Day
Shrimp Sandwich Day (Sweden)
Wine Day (South Korea)
2nd Saturday in October
African Penguin Awareness Day [2nd Saturday]
Fall Astronomy Day [2nd Saturday]
Global PT Day of Service [2nd Saturday]
Home Movie Day [2nd Saturday]
I Love Yarn Day [2nd Saturday]
International African Penguin Awareness Day [2nd Saturday]
International Newspaper Carrier Day [2nd Saturday]
International Pinotage Day [2nd Saturday]
Migratory Bird Day (Mexico) [2nd Saturday]
National Chess Day [2nd Saturday]
National Costume Swap Day [2nd Saturday]
National Curves Day [2nd Saturday]
National Family Bowling Day (a.k.a. Kids Bowl Free Day) [2nd Saturday]
National Motorcycle Ride Day [2nd Saturday]
National Thrive Outside Day [2nd Saturday]
Pinotage Day [2nd Saturday]
Universal Music Day [2nd Saturday]
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day [2nd Saturday]
World Migratory Bird Day [2nd Saturday]
World Porridge Day [Saturday of 1st Full Week]
World Squash Day [2nd Saturday]
Independence Days
Los Bay Petros (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]
Oprett (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]
Feast Days
Alesso Baldovinetti (Artology)
Angadrisma (Christian; Saint)
Bathukamma begins (Telangana, India)
Burckard, Bishop of Wurzburg (Christian; Saint)
Callixtus I, Pope (a.k.a. Callistus; Christian; Saint)
Day of the Cathedral of the Living Pillar (Georgian Orthodox Church)
Dominic Loricatus (Christian; Saint)
Donatan of Rheims (Christian; Saint)
Festival for the Penates (Ancient Roman gods of the Storeroom)
Fortunatus of Todi (Christian; Saint)
Grover (Muppetism)
Intercession of the Theotokos (Christian; Saint)
Joseph Schereschewsky (Episcopal Church (USA))
Judge Isaac Parker Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)
Mordgud’s Blot (Pagan)
Petca Paraskeva (Christian; Saint)
St. Thomas Aquinas (Positivist; Saint)
Try a New Beer Day (Pastafarian)
Vinternatsblot (Asatru)
World Food Day (Pastafarian)
Lucky & Unlucky Days
Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]
Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 47 of 60)
Premieres
The Accountant (Film; 2016)
The Accused (Film; 1988)
Alive II, by KISS (Album; 1977)
All Art is Propaganda George Orwell (Essays; 1941)
Atari 2600 (Video Game System; 1977)
The Big Year (Film; 2011)
Bootlegs, by Pearl Jam (Live Albums; 2000)
Cool Cat (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)
Elizabethtown (Film; 2005)
Farmyard Symphony (Disney Cartoon; 1938)
From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne (Novel; 1865)
Girl Crazy (Broadway Musical; 1930)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find, by Flannery O'Connor (Short Story; 1953)
The Greener Yard (Disney Cartoon; 1949)
La Flora, by Marco da Gagliano and Jacopo Peri (Opera; 1628)
MAD TV (TV Series; 1995)
Max Steel (Film; 2016)
Mean Streets (Film; 1973)
Pulp Fiction (Film; 1994)
Rosaline (Film; 2022)
Send Me No Flowers (Film; 1964)
Shane, by Jack Schaefer (Novel; 1949)
She’s So Unusual, by Cyndi Lauper (Album; 1983)
Someday, We’ll Be Together, by The Supremes (Song; 1969)
Standing Stone, by Paul McCartney (Symphonic Poem; 1997)
Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski (Children’s Book; 1945)
The Temple of Gold, by William Goldman (Novel; 1957)
Till (Film; 2022)
Watching the Detectives, by Elvis Costello (Song; 1977)
White Christmas (Film; 1954)
Winnie-the-Pooh (Children’s Book; 1926)
Today’s Name Days
Burkhard, Kallixtus (Austria)
Pencho, Penka, Petka, Petko (Bułgaria)
Divna, Kalist, Krasna, Stanislav (Croatia)
Agáta (Czech Republic)
Calixus (Denmark)
Kai, Kaia, Kaidi, Kaie, Kaili, Kaisa (Estonia)
Elsa, Else, Elsi (Finland)
Céleste, Gwendoline, Juste (France)
Alan, Burkhard, Calixtus, Otilie (Germany)
Gervasios, Ignatios, Nazarios (Greece)
Helén (Hungary)
Callisto, Gaudenzo (Italy)
Minna, Vilhelmīne (Latvia)
Fortūnata, Kalikstas, Mindaugas, Rimvydė (Lithuania)
Kai, Kaia (Norway)
Alan, Bernard, Dominik, Dzierżymir, Fortunata, Kalikst, Kaliksta (Poland)
Parascheva (Romania)
Boris (Slovakia)
Calixto, Fortunata (Spain)
Manfred, Stellan (Sweden)
Gervais, Jervis (Ukraine)
Calista, Dwight, Fortino, Fortuna, Glennis, Glynnis (USA)
Today is Also…
Day of Year: Day 287 of 2024; 78 days remaining in the year
ISO: Day 6 of week 41 of 2023
Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 12 of 28]
Chinese: Month 8 (Xin-You), Day 30 (Yi-Si)
Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)
Hebrew: 29 Tishri 5784
Islamic: 29 Rabi I 1445
J Cal: 17 Shù; Threesday [17 of 30]
Julian: 1 October 2023
Moon: 0%: New Moon
Positivist: 7 Descartes (11th Month) [St. Thomas Aquinas]
Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 3 of 15]
Season: Autumn (Day 21 of 89)
Zodiac: Libra (Day 21 of 30)
Calendar Changes
October (Julian Calendar) [Month 10 of 12]
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Robert F. Kennedy is greeted in Tanzania on a Peace Corps visit on June 6, 1966.
#robert f kennedy#rfk#bobby kennedy#ethel kennedy#the kennedys#senator#history#american history#politics#1966#1960s#camelot
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