#Wilmington Prints

[bevanne46]

New - Unused -Unwashed

Ready for TakeOff Fabric Panel by Renae Lindgren for Wilmington Prints Licensed

Up Up and Away!

100% Cotton

Measures Approx. 25" W x 45" L

Find it here:

[geekynerfherder]

'Phish at Wilmington, NC' by Sébastien Féraut (aka Niark1)

18" x 24" screen print, in a numbered AP edition of 150 for $65.

On sale now through Posters And Toys.

[jenr8design]

Artistry Meets Technology: Jenr8 Design's 3D Printing Mastery

Unleash your artistic and engineering potential through 3D design printing in Wilmington. JenR8 Design combines skill and technology to transform your concepts into reality, one layer at a time.

To know more visit here: https://jenr8designs.com/2023/07/04/graphic-design-and-3d-printing-in-wilmington/

[jenrs8desing]

How 3D Design is Reshaping Wilmington's Printing Landscape

In the heart of Wilmington, a silent revolution is underway that is changing the face of the traditional printing industry. The convergence of 3D design in  printing wilimington technology is paving the way for a new era of creativity, efficiency, and innovation. This article explores how 3D design is reshaping Wilmington's printing landscape and redefining the possibilities of visual communication.

Unleashing Creativity and Innovation

Gone are the days when printing was limited to two-dimensional surfaces. With the advent of 3D design, artists, designers, and manufacturers in Wilmington are now able to unleash their creativity in ways never thought possible. Intricate sculptures, detailed prototypes, and functional objects can be brought to life with unparalleled precision. This surge of creativity is sparking a wave of innovation across various industries, from architecture to healthcare.

Prototyping and Rapid Iteration

One of the most significant impacts of 3D design on Wilmington's printing landscape is the acceleration of prototyping and rapid iteration. Designers and engineers can now create physical prototypes of their ideas in a matter of hours, allowing for faster testing, refinement, and development. This expedites the product design cycle and enhances collaboration among teams, ultimately leading to higher-quality end products.

Customization and Personalization

The marriage of 3D design and printing is also enabling a new level of customization and personalization. Businesses in Wilmington can create bespoke products tailored to individual customer preferences. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also opens up new avenues for marketing and brand differentiation.

Reducing Waste and Environmental Impact

Traditional mass manufacturing often results in wastage of materials and energy. 3D design and printing, on the other hand, employ an additive manufacturing process, where materials are added layer by layer. This approach minimises waste and reduces the environmental footprint of production. As Wilmington continues to embrace sustainable practices, 3D printing aligns perfectly with the city's commitment to environmental stewardship.

Education and Skill Development

The integration of 3D design into Wilmington's printing landscape has also catalysed educational opportunities. Schools, colleges, and training centres are incorporating 3D design principles into their curricula, preparing students for careers in a technology-driven world. As the demand for 3D design skills grows, this trend is positioning Wilmington's workforce for success in the evolving job market.

Challenges and Future Outlook

While the benefits of 3D design in Wilmington's printing scene are undeniable, challenges remain. The technology requires investment in both hardware and software, and there's a learning curve associated with mastering the intricacies of 3D design. Additionally, ensuring the quality and reliability of 3D-printed products is crucial for industries that demand precision and durability.

Looking ahead, the future of 3D design in Wilmington's printing landscape is bright. As the technology matures and becomes more accessible, we can anticipate a broader range of applications and an even greater impact on industries such as healthcare, automotive, and entertainment.

Conclusion

The fusion of 3D design in printing Wilmington's printing landscape in profound ways. It's fostering innovation, enabling rapid prototyping, and enhancing customization, all while contributing to sustainability and education. As Wilmington embraces this transformative technology, the city is poised to lead the way in redefining how we think about design, manufacturing, and visual communication.

[creations-by-chaosfay]

It begins!

This should give you vague idea of what the table runner will look like. Today, I focused on cutting fabric for the runner first. When this is sewn, I'll get to work on the eight placemats, then the coasters. Block arrangement will be determined after I finish making and arranging the blocks. The real challenge is the color volume and preventing things from appearing to blend in. That, and keeping similar colors from overwhelming each other. It's why blue is with orange and green is with purple.

Tomorrow, I begin sewing. Anyone else excited?

For those interested in the fabrics:

The floral is by Rifle Paper Co. and the fabric is part of their Strawberry Fields collection. The orange print is part of Dreamscape by Josephine Kimberling for Figo Fabrics and the green print is Hibiscus by Simple Simon and Company for Riley Blake Designs. The Grunge print is pattern number 30150 by Moda, and the blue has no name, just Wilmington Prints.

After I reach all my financial goals, I may indulge myself and rebuild my stock of fabric. Oh, and buy the mushroom themed print collection I saw at Jean Marie's Fabrics (my favorite quilt shop in the area). You can find the store on Etsy, but I prefer going to the store in person. They have stuff for sale that isn't listed, and don't lose anything to Etsy's greed.

[always-outlander]

Easter Eggs and Spoilers for 7x03 below the cut! 

The Big House

The big house burns - and we learn that Arch Bug had been hiding a secret right beneath Jamie and Claire’s nose. But what I found especially interesting about this storyline (and even more so when I first read the books), was the discovery that their obituary was written in error, and why.

Claire and Jamie remark that it is not January at the time that the house burns down, and it’s clearly not even Fall in the show (in the books the house burns on December 21st). Claire also makes a comment about how newspapers never get anything correct, which is comical considering Jamie’s previous profession as a printer.

In the epilogue of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, we discover that the news of their deaths was reported by a reader of the local paper in Wilmington, and was used to fill a page beneath General Washington’s address to the troops. Spoiler territory, but it was actually Tom Christie who heard of the big house fire and wanted to put a formal obituary in the paper to honor Claire and Jamie. We see that Tom is very much still alive in the preview for this week’s episode, so that will cover the rest of that storyline.

But back to the book epilogue. The printer admits that he was told the news of their deaths in December, but printed the date as January because he had set the page in a specific font which had been missing the November and December slugs, and would have had to type it out in separate letters (which he did not feel was worth it, since after all, they are dead).

1980’s

Back in the future, we are in Inverness with Fiona and her husband and daughters. We briefly see Jemmy and Fiona’s kids playing in the yard, with Mandy in the bassinet and implied to be recovering from her heart surgery. The year is 1980 but it’s implied they have been there for a little while now - I know a lot of people were confused as to why there was such a time jump. Claire and Jamie are in 1776, and while Claire always says she went back 200 years, we will soon learn once Roger begins writing his book on time travel that it’s not exact every time.

There, Fiona gives Bree and Roger a mystery box which had been delivered to Reverend Wakefield’s former address and kept by the bank for over 200 years. In the books, Claire and Jamie deliver this chest to a bank in Edinburgh once they arrive back in Scotland so that one day in the future it would be delivered to Jemmy. So to ensure that no one else would ever open the box at that time, they gave strict instructions that it not be opened by anyone other than the name on the top, and used Jemmy’s full name (presumably so that no other Scot with a similar name could claim it as theirs). We see them writing those letters in this episode to Brianna and Roger, updating them as to what has happened and their journey to Scotland.

In the books, the end of A Breath of Snow and Ashes is Bree reading the letter and line “we are alive”, then the book ends. I like that we don’t have that cliffhanger here and can see this storyline unfold right away as it is one of my favorites from the books. In this moment we were able to get excerpts from a few more letters which are taken directly from An Echo in the Bone, and can see how Jamie and Claire had both taken turns writing to the McKenzie’s.

In the books, the box includes letters, two books, and Sawnee, Jamie’s toy snake from his brother. In the show, they included a musket ball which we saw them making out of the stolen French gold in the episode. Another difference is that in the books, the letter is written on December 31st, ten days after the fire. In the show, it’s written in April.

Bree and William

In Echo in the Bone, the opening scene takes place with Bree and Roger still in Wilmington, and standing with William watching Stephen Bonnet tied up in the harbor (obviously this has been rearranged in the show, since the Bonnet storyline wrapped up in Season 5). It is on the shore that she meets William, and William meets Mandy and Jemmy as well. Then we cut to Lallybroch in September of 1980, where Bree and Roger are continuing to read the first letter from Claire. Having been so immersed in the show, it’s easy to forget how many storylines they have moved around from the books.

Like the books, Roger points out that Bree’s matches are in fact the thing that caused the fire of the Big House while reading Claire’s letter. He points out that in trying to prevent their deaths they had succeeded, and changed the future. This is reminiscent of Claire and Jamie’s journey to France and how their attempts to prevent an event were likely the very thing that caused it.

Ian and William

Back at the Big House, Claire, Jamie and Ian are going through the rubble in search of anything they can recover. Amongst the items are a few of Claire’s books, Jamie’s old tartan, and a piece of the french gold. Young Ian is also able to recover the portrait of William that Lord John had given Jamie.

In the books, Ian had been suspicious of William’s parentage the first time he met him as a child back on the Ridge when he and Lord John had visited. He had recognized his stubborn nature as one that mirrored Jamie’s and his mother’s, but never made mention of it to Jamie. In the show they took this opportunity to have Jamie and Ian share that really lovely moment. You can tell what a relief it has been to Jamie each and every time someone else learns of this secret he has been harboring. And Ian has such a huge role in Jamie’s life as his only true remaining family to be with him now. I really think John Bell is the perfect Young Ian.

French Gold

Arch Bug and Jamie have their inevitable confrontation where he admits that he had been taking it back from Hector Cameron bit by bit each time he was sent to River Run. For backstory and a refresher, Jocasta Cameron (Jamie’s aunt) was married to a man named Hector Cameron, who we briefly saw in a flashback during season 4. Hector, his brother in law Dougal (Jamie’s Uncle), and a third man (who we now know was Arch Bug’s Laird, Malcolm Grant) had the gold and intended to use it to support the Jacobite cause and aid Charles Stuart’s rebellion.

When Hector Cameron and Jocasta fled Scotland after the rising, they took their share of the Jacobite gold with them and used it to fund River Run. It was during that journey that Hector accidentally killed he and Jocasta’s daughter, Morna. Arch felt that the gold was misused and Hector was a traitor to Scotland and the cause. He felt it was his duty to take it back, and in doing so he stole from Jamie’s family. Jamie terminates Arch’s employment at the Ridge and releases him of his oath to him.

In the books this moment is substantial because the Bugs are less of background characters and we have seen how much they mean to the Frasers. The show isn’t able to capture that properly, and even more so with Mrs Bug. It isn’t until An Echo in the Bone where Mrs. Bug returns to the Big House in search of the remaining gold where she is mistaken for Arch and is killed by Ian. She was a grandmother figure to Ian whom he deeply loved and appreciated so this was heartbreaking in the books. I suspect in episode 4 we will see Ian and Rachel meet and perhaps by the end of this first half of season 7 we will have Arch return. In the books he goes after Rachel a few times, as Ian is in love with her. William is the one who saves her a few times, and I’m looking forward to him and Ian interacting with one another for the rest of this season.

Return to Scotland

Back on the Ridge, time has passed (as made evident by Claire’s hair). Jamie and Claire discuss where they might set out to build another house, and they share a conversation about where they would like their body’s buried should either of them be killed which is direct from the books. Jamie tells Claire that he wishes to first return to Scotland, as he had promised Ian and Jenny that he would return young Ian to them. With the war looming, it is now or never. They agree that they should go and begin making plans to travel back across the ocean to Lallybroch.

In the books he does not admit that to Claire right away but instead says his reason for returning is to fetch his printing press. The Ridge is no longer a safe place for them while there is so much unrest regarding Malva and now Mrs Bug. Claire thinks they can go live with Fergus and Marsali in New Bern, and it is then Jamie tells her he wishes to bring Ian home and have him avoid the war.

That night, while in bed, Claire can hear Jamie praying. In the books, he leaves their room and goes to a small pool or water near their cabin to pray, and Claire finds him there only to pick up on him praying to God to let him be enough. I enjoyed how this scene was shot in the show better, to be honest. And rolls perfectly into the following morning when Jamie tells Claire of his most recent dream.

The frequency of Jamie’s dreams of the future seem to be increasing, and this time he tells Claire that he saw the McKenzie’s. They were walking up to a house, and looked happy. He is able to tell Claire the name of the woman speaking to them both, Fiona, which Claire knows she had not shared with Jamie before. He also tells Claire that Jemmy was trying to talk to him through a box he’d never seen before, and she tells him it is a telephone.

To hide what was left of the French Gold, Jamie uses some of it for musket balls and the remainder he puts into a chest. He and Claire then return to a cave that we find out he used to come to with Jemmy. Inside the cave, Jamie shows Claire the remains of a Spanish man who died there. This is later important in Jamie’s cryptic letter to Roger and Bree which reveals Jemmy holds the key to finding it. The storyline with Jemmy in the future gets very interesting, and I feel like the cliffhanger for the end of this first half of the season might be his kidnapping.

A New Knife

Back on the Ridge, Jamie and Claire share a scene straight from the books where he gives her a new knife for their journey. There are lots of direct quotes from the books, minus a few dirty comments from Jamie. The two blood the blade and call back to the iconic line from their wedding, “Blood of my Blood” with a reworked version of their theme song.

I loved this parallel to their wedding, where Claire was not given a choice to share her blood and partake in this act. Now, we see her blood her own blade willingly and choose Jamie once again. The theme of Echo and the Bone is definitely heavy on Jamie’s self worth and Claire choosing him over and over again. Their strength as a couple will be needed more than ever this season, so I like that they are reinforcing that with these scenes.

Lallybroch

At the end of the episode, Bree and Roger drive up to Lallybroch. Ironically they were filming at when I was in Scotland last year and my tour was cancelled because they ended up extending filming due to rain. While there, Bree explains to Roger how much he would have loved the house in its hay day. They cut to a shot of Bree sitting on the steps looking through the gate like Claire had back in season 3 imagining Jamie there. Worried they are trespassing when another car arrives, they learn that the property is actually up for sale. When we see them in the future again in the books they had already purchased it, so I liked getting to see this scene in the show. The house is so central to their storyline and feels like a strong return to seasons 1 and 2. When Jamie and Claire go back to Scotland this season the two couples will be at Lallybroch simultaneously across time and I think that will be incredible to watch.

Wilmington again

Claire and Jamie travel to Wilmington (doesn’t it feel like they just left and were only home on the ridge for a long weekend) and along the way Claire spots Adso. She knows she cannot take him with her and sadly leaves him in the woods to live out his life at the ridge. She has a moment where the reality of their home being gone again hits her all at once and they have a really touching scene where she sees the stake that Jamie first put down in season 4 when they arrived at Fraser's Ridge.

She asks Jamie if they will make it back there one day, and he admits he never thought he’d see Scotland again but the Ridge is where they are bound, so they will. This ties back to his conversation with Bree where she tells him that the freedom gained in this war is worth fighting for, so Jamie knows he must take part. To wrap a nice bow around the episode, Claire says to him that he will always be enough for her, and it was the sweetest moment as the two ride off towards their next adventure in Wilmington as they prepare to travel to Scotland.

A good episode, pacing is still quite quick, but I’m enjoying this season a lot.

[irishcoyote]

Inflamed Sense of Rejection: Chapter One

~~~~~~~~~~~ Author's Note: This is that Angel Face backstory I was talking about. His name is Caleb Handover because I'm not going to call him Angel Face the whole time. There will be no "spice" because I type this on a school computer and honestly I want to expand my writing abilities. ~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a horrible way to start a journal, probably the most over-done and unintriguing sentence used to start a story, but my name is Caleb Handover. I’m 16 years old, and I live in Wilmington, Delaware. I go to Mt. Pleasant High School, class of 2001. That makes me a Junior.

It’s boring. Every single day is the same. The ducks pass over the sky when I’m walking to school, and it looked cool when I was nine, but nowadays it just feels like I’m watching someone drive to work. 

Delaware duck schedule: 6 AM, wake up to the same alarm as everyone in the neighborhood. 7 AM, fly to the pond for breakfast and a bath. Pass by that blond kid again. 

My hair was born white. People on the street asked my mom while she was pushing the stroller, why do you bleach your baby’s hair? 

She never did. 

 First period is Advanced Placement Calculus. I’m thinking about ducks. Derivatives, ducks, hyperbolas, ducks, factorials, ducks, integrals…

My mom called my hair duck-fuzz.  

I like math, but I only say that because high schoolers have to like something. If you say you don’t like any subjects in school, you sound like a wannabe-dropout loser. I’m 16 years old and taking AP Calculus. I don’t think I’m a wannabe anything, but I don’t think I’m genuine, either. I’ve already done the warmup question on the board. Find 34! It’s just a factorial. Does anyone see me?

“Caleb Handover?”

Only during attendance. 

I raise my hand until my elbow is about six inches off of my table, parallel to the smooth, fake-wood surface. Not high enough to seem like a geek, but still giving effort.  

Invisibility is a science.

“Here.” 

There’s a pause. My hand stays in the air.

“Caleb Handover?” my teacher tilts his chin up and surveys the room, his pencil hovering over my name, ready to write truant. 

“I said I’m here,” I said louder as I raised my hand higher. My pen balances between my peace-sign fingers. My teacher flicks his eyes to me, and his eyebrows soften. He adjusts his glasses. The sad taste of desperation lingered in my mouth after essentially begging to be accounted for.

“Oh, hello Caleb. Sorry I didn’t see you.” My teacher laughs dryly and clears his throat. “Serena Hofstadter?” 

She has mono. 

“Gordon Jacobs?” 

That’s how Serena got mono.

For a moment I picture Serena and Gordon as Romeo and Juliet during the final act. Gordon drinks from a tall, crystal vial of mononucleosis extract and collapses. Serena, covered head-to-toe in orange spray tan and blonde highlights underneath her Shakespearean garb, discovers him on the floor and gives a tearful soliloquy before kissing him feverishly in an attempt to drink the mono from his lips. In the end, they’re both bedridden, and everyone knows. 

In fair Delaware we lay our scene.

I don’t know why, but I’m angry at them. Serena and Gordon. My knuckles turn white as I grip my pen harder, gritting my teeth and thinking about my peers who go to parties to drink and kiss and do drugs. I didn’t even think parties were a real thing until I started listening to rich kids’ conversations. 

“I got home so late last night…” quote from the boy wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

“I’m, like, so hungover.” quote from the girl wearing sunglasses indoors at 8:30 AM.

“Her house was so tacky.” quote from the girl whose locker is head-to-toe in sequins and leopard print, who uses perfume to cover the smell of anxiety pheromones. 

I’m not jealous, and I’d rather have lifelong diarrhea than be in the same boat as these kids, but it would be nice to have a life. 

It would be nice to be a part of something bigger than myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~ Author's Note: Please let me know what you think, and if I should keep writing this. It would be appreciated :)

[christiwhitson]

My first impression of Jamie’s Aunt Jocasta was rather ambiguous. She shared Jamie’s magnetic presence and a more feminine version of her brothers’ broad cheekbones and high brow. Her sweet smile and warm, pleasant voice reminded me of the elderly nurses who had trained my unit at Pembroke. Though I recalled all too well that they could go from maternal to tyrannical in the blink of an eye. Jocasta looked genuinely happy to see Jamie and absolutely thrilled to meet his family--especially Brianna.

The ambiguity stemmed from the fact that she and her husband, Hector, were traveling with two young slaves. One of them was a girl near Bree’s age, while the other was a teenage boy, closer to twenty than ten. Although both appeared to be healthy and well-groomed, they apparently did not merit an immediate introduction by the Camerons. Instead, they had entered the print shop behind their owners with heads bent and promptly gravitated to the far corner. Even after months of immersion in a culture that embraced slavery, I couldn’t help but think poorly of slave owners on principle, and my daughter’s distaste for them rivaled my own.

I glanced at Bree and found her watching the young girl with a heartsick expression, compelling me to straighten my shoulders and address the two servants directly.

“We’re pleased to meet you as well,” I said with a kind smile, ignoring their looks of shock. “I’m Claire Fraser, and this is Brianna. I assume you already know my husband. I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your names.”

“I’m Phaedre. This is Rufus,” the girl answered timidly after a nervous glance toward the Camerons.

“It’s lovely to meet you both,” I replied, careful to show the same cordiality I’d offered Hector and Jocasta. “Brianna, why don’t you show our younger guests where they can find some refreshment.”

I added a subtle wink that only she could see and was pleased when she offered a mischievous smile in return. We were clearly united on this front--while they were in our home, Rufus and Phaedre would be treated as equals.

[puckhq]

― PERSONAL

Name: Noah Theodore Puckerman

Nickname(s): Puck, Puckzilla (if you're nasty 😏)

Age: Thirty-Two (32)

Birthday: August 9, 2024

Gender: Cisman, He/Him/His

Sexuality: Bisexual

Height and build: 6 ft 2 in/188 cm + Athletic and Lean

Place of birth: Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Place of residence: Los Angeles, California, USA

Type of residence: Single Family Home (the he built)

Extrovert/Introvert: Extrovert

Optimist/Pessimist: Optimist

Illnesses or disabilities: PTSD, Depression, undiagnosed ADHD

― PHYSICAL

Eye color: brown

Hair colou: dark brown/black

Hair length: short tapered side with a little length on top

Memorable physical features: all of his features are memorable, have you seen him? but also his freckles and some notable scars

Posture: stands tal, has good posture overall

Clothing and accessories: everyday wear he's in jeans and a t-shirt or athleisure, wears tennis shoes or tims and loves a good fitted baseball cap usually worn backwards for work he has to wear a suit and non slip dress shoes and no matter what he's got his star of David necklace on other accessories his apple watch, sometimes diamond stud earrings and a gold chain necklace and a gold chain bracelet

Glasses?: no

Tattoos: one over his heart for Maya that he got at 17 with her baby hand print and her birthday 06.02.09 underneath

Piercings: has his ears pierced but doesn't usually have any studs in unless it's a special occasion

Reference: optional reference photo

― FAMILY

Mother: Nora Puckerman

Relationship: He is his mother's pride and joy and his mom is his favorite person. Now, she is the first one to call him out on his shit but she does it with so much love and compassion so it's okay. She has always been loving and supportive and patient with him. Their relationship is and has always been rock solid. To this day, she's about the only person Puck will talk to when he's just not fucking okay. Maybe she's not perfect but she the exact right person to be Puck's mom and he loves her more than anything, except Maya.

Father: Gabriel Puckerman

Relationship: To say that Gabe and Puck's relationship is rocky would be a fucking understatement. When Puck was a kid, up until he was about ten years old, his father was his hero, he wanted to be him when he grew up. Use to sing and play guitar, was even pretty good at it. But eventually he got old enough to realize his father wasn't a good person. For his whole life, Puck's been Gabe's verbal punching bag. Yet, to this day, Puck is the only person willing to help Gabe out of a tough spot. Long story short, it's a fucked up relationship.

Parent relationship: Divorced

Birth order: first born (as far as he knows)

Child's Name: Maya Ruth Puckerman

Age: fifteen (15)

Relationship: They have a very good relationship. Puck, even at sixteen years old, was adamant about making his daughter his number one priority and that has remained true. He knows he's not perfect, he did everything he could to give his kid a good life and she seems well adjusted. He makes as much time for her as he can, although these days she'd rather hang out with pretty much anyone else. But they're still close and Puck has never and will never, love anyone more.

Sibling #1: Jake Puckerman ( @puckjake )

Age: almost twenty-six (26)

Relationship: Even though they only recently found each other, they have quickly adopted each other as family. They get along really well and Jake is Maya's new favorite person, which Puck definitely isn't jealous about. But they quickly regarded each other as family and trust one another. It's sweet and precious and Puck loves being a big brother.

― RELATIONSHIPS

Relationship status: in a semi complicated situationship with Eva Anderson ( @anderseva ) and Morgan Weston ( @morgan-weston )

Notable past romantic relationship(s): Santana Lopez ( @psusantana ) - she is the mother of his child they didnt date so much as have a week of fuckery when they were sixteen and Avery Dunn ( @averydunn ) - they dated for a bit when Puck was stationed in Louisiana, but Puck fucked it up and cheated on her

Sexual history: Zach Wilde ( @zachwilde ) - friends with benefits for the last nine months

Best friend(s): Cooper Anderson ( @actorcooper ) and his mom

Friends: Delilah Rose ( @rose-delilah ), Maeve Flynn-Abrams ( @ltcdrmaeveflynnabrams ) and Penny Sylvester ( @pennysylvester )

Antagonist(s): does Gabe count?

Roommate(s): Just Maya and also kinda Jake atp

― EDUCATION & CAREER

Past college education: none

Current education: A freshman at PSU, Fire Science Major

Past job(s): House/pool cleaner & construction - worked these in high school, Marines - enlisted at 18 was honorably discharged at 30

Current job/career: Security at PSU

Wanted job/career: Firefighter

― FAVORITES

Favorite band/musician: Queen, Kendrick Lamar, OutKast/Andre 3000 ( rap, rnb, classic rock )

Favorite color: Orange

Favorite season: Summer

Favorite scent: the way a space smells after you bae anything with cinnamon in it and the smell of whoever he's in love with

Favorite food: carne asada fries, poke, pot roast and a good ole burger

Favorite drink: water and sugar free redbull and $0.99 Arizonia drinks

Favorite movie: Fast Five, but the whole fast and furious franchise inclusing Hobbs and Shaw

Favorite TV show: Ginny & Georgia, The Have and the Have Nots and New Girl

[kate-voegele]

katevoegele: So fun to see these pics from @ varnercreative of our first ever @ yourfutureghost show in Wilmington last month! You guys bought EVERY SINGLE ONE of those homemade t-shirts and art prints. Time for round 2???

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 10, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 11, 2024

Former president Trump met with a New York City probation officer today for a pre-sentencing interview. They met over video for a first step in the sentencing process, in which an officer assesses the convicted criminal’s living situation, finances, mental health, addiction, and criminal record. Trump was expected to have his lawyer, Todd Blanche, with him when he linked in from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. Judge Juan Merchan will take the information from the interview into account when he sentences Trump. He will also consider that Trump was held in contempt 10 times during the trial for violating the gag order designed to stop him from attacking witnesses and court personnel and their families.

Ever since a New York jury unanimously found the former president guilty of 34 felonies on Thursday, May 30, he and his supporters have tried to assert that he is, in fact, in a strong position for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and for the November election itself. First, they insisted that his convictions made him more popular than ever, an assertion undermined by their own desperate avoidance of other trials and the demands of both Trump and House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to have the Supreme Court somehow step in to overturn a conviction by a state court.

Trump has also tried to reassert dominance by insisting in at least five interviews that he will seek “revenge” on Democrats for prosecuting him, and MAGA loyalists have echoed this threat. But as Greg Sargent pointed out today, this, too, is spin. 

There is a big difference between a prosecution advancing on the basis of evidence gathered by law enforcement, evidence that prompted grand juries to indict Trump, and his own threats to prosecute President Joe Biden and other Democrats simply because he had to endure a prosecution, not because there is any evidence that they have committed crimes. The first serves the rule of law, the second shatters it.

Since the conviction, as political analyst Simon Rosenberg points out, the right-wing Murdoch media empire “has gone into hyperdrive.” That empire, which includes the Fox News Channel, supports Trump and knowingly lied that the 2020 election had been stolen. On June 4, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal printed a story saying that “behind closed doors, Biden shows signs of slipping,” but the piece quoted only former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who previously had hammered Biden in public but privately assured colleagues he was mentally sharp.

One of the authors of the piece sparked outrage in October 2021 by tweeting that Biden, who was visiting the graves of his dead children and wife, “goes to church and walks through a graveyard in Wilmington as his legislative agenda is dying in Washington.” 

In November 2021, Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. In June 2022 he signed into law the Safer Communities Act, a gun safety law. In August 2022 he signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act that invested billions in semiconductor manufacturing and science, and the Inflation Reduction Act that provided record funding for addressing climate change and permitted Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices. Together, those legislative accomplishments rival those of Presidents Lyndon Baines Johnson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose congressional majorities were far stronger than Biden’s.

The Republicans’ frantic pushback on Trump’s conviction reveals both that it has hurt him badly, and that without Trump projecting the dominance of a strongman, they have little to fall back on except for personal attacks on Biden. 

Trump had counted on using immigration against Biden and ordered his loyalists to scuttle the bipartisan immigration measure the Senate hammered out in February in order to keep the issue alive. Swing voters took notice: in March a focus group showed that 9 out of 13 Wisconsin swing voters blamed Trump for killing the bill.

As soon as that measure failed, the administration began to talk of what Biden could do through an executive order, despite believing that such an order would be challenged in the courts. At the same time, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris continued their pressure on the Mexican government to increase its own immigration enforcement. That process worked, and undocumented migration has dropped sharply at the southern border. Meanwhile, the administration’s parole program for people from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba has cut undocumented migration from those countries by almost 90%. 

Then on Tuesday, June 4, likely trying to get ahead of the usual summer rise in immigration, and after Senate Republicans once again killed the bipartisan border measure,  Biden issued an executive order permitting him to seal the southern border temporarily when undocumented crossings surge to more than 2,500 a day, a restriction stricter than that negotiated in the Senate measure Trump scuttled. This order looks more like Trump’s effort to curb migration—one that courts blocked—at least in part because without legislation, there is no new funding to provide the additional courts the administration wants in order to move asylum cases faster. 

As predicted, the order is likely to face legal challenges. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), who worked with Senator James Lankford (R-OK) on the Senate immigration bill, wrote in a statement: “I am sympathetic to the position the administration is in, but I am skeptical [that] the executive branch has the legal authority to shut down asylum processing between ports of entry on its own. Meaningful asylum reform requires a bipartisan solution in Congress.” 

Nonetheless, while Trump continues to demagogue immigration issues, the charge that Biden wants “open borders”—which was always disinformation—is now harder to make. 

Meanwhile, the measures Democrats advocate are so popular that Republican legislators are taking credit for projects funded by them even though they voted against the laws themselves. Katherine Tully-McManus of Politico pointed out today that Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will deliver nearly $470 million to her district. She has attended a highway ribbon cutting and boasted of the modernization of locks and dams on the Mississippi River in her district despite her “no” vote.

Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) called the infrastructure law a “socialist wish list” and a “fiasco” but nonetheless celebrated a federal grant for nearly $26 million to invest in public transit in her district. 

This credit-taking is widespread among those who opposed the law. Just this weekend, Trump falsely asserted that it was he, not Biden, who lowered the cost of insulin to $35 a month. In fact, it was Biden who signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act that made such negotiations possible.

There is little else for Trump to stand on. The Republicans’ position on abortion is so unpopular that when Trump spoke today to the Danbury Institute, which calls for abortion to be “eradicated entirely,” he never mentioned the word abortion. Instead of delivering a keynote address, he spoke for less than two minutes and said that the attendees “can’t vote Democrat” because “[t]hey’re against religion.” 

Democrats pushed back on the Wall Street Journal’s article attacking Biden, calling it a “hit piece” and noting that their own quotations did not make the cut. Observers pointed out that reporters jump on Biden’s speech while Trump’s jumbled and offensive statements—like his crazy hash of MIT, electric batteries, boats, and sharks yesterday—rarely get reproduced.

The Biden campaign is addressing that lack with a new ad campaign, one that deliberately punctures the idea of Trump as a strongman. One ad shows foreign leaders laughing at Trump’s statements, and another, directed at Latino voters, shows Trump last week kissing former Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff Joe Arpaio, whom Trump pardoned after his conviction related to racial profiling. Another ad from the Biden campaign in the wake of the 80th anniversary of D-Day focuses on Trump’s quotations mocking the military as suckers and losers and quoting some of his other offensive statements about those who serve. 

Finally, the Biden team rushed to produce an ad today using Trump’s own words from a rally this weekend in the broiling Nevada desert in which he said he didn’t want people to keel over because: “We need every voter. I don’t care about you. I just want your vote. I don’t care.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[zoeandsubalovephotog]

Elliott Erwitt (1928-2023)

Wilmington, North Carolina, 1950

Gelatin silver print

[starseneyes]

i love your spapel metas and analyses so much! keep them coming please!

can i ask you if you are a film or media studies graduate? because your posts are so well thought of and formulated.

Hello, Anon! Thank you so very much, and I'll do my best to keep 'em coming.

My background is incredibly varied, but it definitely all feeds into how I write these.

It all started with Little Rachel growing up on sets. Not only was I a background/bit actor/commercial actress from a young age, but my mother was a hair and makeup artist.

Whenever I was bullied in school, my mom took me on set. And folks there were welcoming. Directors almost always invited me to sit over their shoulders so I could see the monitors. I'd help out at Crafty. I got to run lines with Michael Rooker, once, as he prepped for a scene.

When mom worked on this one 90's show in Wilmington, she was too tired to collate her scripts by the time she got home. I volunteered to stay up and do it, which gave me the opportunity to see how revisions worked.

Sometimes we got advanced copies of episodes, and I'd sit down with my mother to see how they translated from script to screen, and then how the editors changed the advanced copies to the final versions that aired. It was all fascinating to me.

By age 13, I wrote my first screenplay for fun for Star Trek: Voyager. And I was constantly on editing teams and video teams in high school.

At 16, I joined AFTRA as a Voice Over Artist, and made a decent chunk of change doing it until 2008 when things went sideways in the industry. Also, the Studio where I was a contract player changed hands, and the new owner cared more about shareholders than us peons.

In college, I chose to go after Communications, and both my degrees are in it (Bachelors in Communications - Mass Media, Masters in Strategic Communication). But my minor was Film. I directed, edited, story-boarded, wrote, acted, and lit so many projects. Nothing ground-breaking, of course, but I learned a lot in the practicality of it and used my knowledge of growing up on sets to help our work really shine.

I went into Journalism between Freshman and Sophomore year and did that for many years, working in Broadcast and online journalism as a producer and researcher. My first job at 19 in the newsroom was to watch Iraq War and 9/11 footage and mark which parts were airable and which were not.

I transitioned into theater for a decade, there, and my film side took a step back. I've worked so many different jobs and for so many different clients.

Written articles, a cook book, website content, helped with front-end app development, emails, print pieces, etc. Professionally, these days, I'm a Digital Marketer. Been working freelance for 6 years, now.

I dream of writing TV (and I was a finalist with a Pilot of mine in a contest last year), but the reality is that living in Virginia makes my options and opportunities small. Having a Special Needs child makes moving to California without a job lined up pretty impossible.

But, I'm not disheartened. Chances still exist. Someday, perhaps, I'll sell a script. Perhaps, I'll get to act, again, when the time is right.

And in the meantime... I write scripts. I participate in online table reads with friends. I write these Metas and have so much fun using that portion of my brain, again.

Because while I'm so stoked these Metas have been well-received, I'd write them even if nobody read them. I write because I must. Because I love it. And because no matter where my life takes me... these bits and pieces remain a core part of me.

Anyway, that's a long-winded response, but hopefully I didn't offend you since you've made it through the Metas! Again, thank you for reading and asking the question! I wish you well in all you do.

[positivexcellence]

sophiabush:  On our first seasons of @dramaqueensoth we’ve often talked about how our female friendships are the “always,” the ultimate, lasting, there-no-matter-what, love story. ❤️‍🔥 And while I was having the ultimate fomo missing our Wilmington reunion this weekend while I was sick on the couch, my girls @hilarieburton @joylenz were sending me constant weekend updates. I dug out these photos out of the memory box I’d planned to bring along, to send Hil. That time #BrookeandPeyton invented the selfie!! And then she sent me THESE!? I can’t even handle it. I love when people find the #PSawyer to their #BDavis. I got to find mine twice. Once in our early days together in North Carolina. And again as grown women who love each other fiercely. I can’t wait to frame these Polaroids. Definitely going to put a little print out of these tats on the back of frame. 🥹 And my Joyous! Thanks for checking in on me! We’ll just have to keep packing all of the stuff we forgot to swap back to each other on tour, forever and ever just in case, because we keep carrying them in our bags and then forgetting and that cause we’re neural pathway twins 🤣🧠🧳 #DramaQueensOTH #AlwaysAndForever #Wilmington

[jenrs8desing]

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[nicklloydnow]

“"I have spent much of the time between the day of my loss and this Sunday morning in reflection and study. I would like to add in prayer, but although I have gotten on my knees time and again, I have not sensed the presence of God, and so reflection and study had to do.”

Silence from the congregation. Every eye on him.

"I went to the Gates Falls Library in search of The New York Times, but all they have on file is the Weekly Enterprise, so I was directed to Castle Rock, where they have the Times on microfilm - 'Seek and ye shall find,’ Saint Matthew tells us, and how right he was."

A few low chuckles greeted this, but they died away quickly.

"I went day after day, I scrolled microfilm until my head ached, and I want to share some of the things I found.”

From the pocket of his black suit coat he took a few file cards.

"In June of last year, three small tornadoes tore through the town of May, Oklahoma. Although there was property damage, no one was killed. The townsfolk flocked to the Baptist church to sing songs of praise and offer prayers of thanksgiving. While they were in there, a fourth tornado - a monster F5 - swept down on May and demolished the church. Forty-one persons were killed. Thirty others were seriously injured, including children who lost arms and legs."

He shuffled that card to the bottom and looked at the next.

"Some of you may remember this one. In August of last year, a man and his two sons set out on Lake Winnipesaukee in a rowboat. They had the family dog with them. The dog fell overboard, and both boys jumped in to rescue him. When the father saw his sons were in danger of drowning, he jumped in himself, inadvertently overturning the boat. All three died. The dog swam to shore." He looked up and actually smiled for a moment - it was like the sun peeking through a scrim of clouds on a cold January day. "I tried to find out what happened to that dog - whether the woman who lost her husband and sons kept it or had it put down - but the information wasn't available.”

(…)

Next file card.

"October of last year. A hurricane swept onshore near Wilmington, North Carolina, and killed seventeen. Six were children at a church day-care center. A seventh was reported missing. His body was found a week later, in a tree."

Next.

"This item concerns a missionary family ministering to the poor with food, medicine, and the gospel in what used to be the Belgian Congo and is now, I believe, Zaire. There were five of them. They were murdered. Although the article did not say - only the news that's fit to print in The New York Times, you know - the article implied that the killers may have been of a cannibalistic bent."

A disapproving mutter - Reggie Kelton was at the center of it - arose. Jacobs heard and raised one hand in what was almost a benedictory gesture.

"Perhaps I need not go into further details - the fires, the floods, the earthquakes, the riots, the assassinations - although I could. The world shudders with them. Yet reading these stories provided some comfort to me, because they prove that I am not alone in my suffering. The comfort is only small, however, because such deaths like those of my wife and son - seem so cruel and capricious. Christ ascended into heaven in his body, we are told, but all too often we poor mortals here on earth are left with ugly heaps of maimed meat and that constant, reverberating question: Why? Why? Why?

"I have read scripture all my life - first at my mother's knee, then in Methodist Youth Fellowship, and then in divinity school - and I can tell you, my friends, that nowhere in scripture is that question directly addressed. The closest the Bible comes is this reading from Corinthians, where Saint Paul says, in effect, 'It's no good asking, my brethren, because you wouldn't understand, anyway.’ When Job asked God Himself, he got an even more blunt response: 'Were you there when I made the world?' Which translates, in the language of our younger parishioners, to 'Buzz off, Bunky.’”

No chuckles this time.

He studied us, a faint smile touching the corners of his lips, the light from our stained glass window putting blue and red diamonds on his left cheek.

"Religion is supposed to be our comfort when the hard times come. God is our rod and our staff, the Great Psalm declares; He will be with us and bear us up when we take that inevitable walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Another Psalm assures us that God is our refuge and our strength, although the people who were lost in that Oklahoma church might dispute the idea…if they still had mouths to dispute with. And the father and his two children, drowning because they tried to rescue the family pet - did they ask God what was going on? What the deal was? And did He answer, 'Tell you in a few minutes, guys,’ as the water choked their lungs and death darkened their minds?

"Let us say plainly what Saint Paul meant when he spoke of that darkened glass. He meant we're supposed to take it all on faith. If our faith is strong, we'll go to heaven, and well understand the whole thing when we get there. As if life were a joke, and heaven the place where the cosmic punchline is finally explained to us."

There was soft feminine sobbing in the church now, and more pronounced masculine rumblings of discontent. But at that point, no one had walked out or stood up to tell Reverend Jacobs he should sit down because he was edging into blasphemy. They were still too stunned.

"When I tired of researching the seemingly whimsical and often terribly painful deaths of the innocent, I looked into the various branches of Christianity. Gosh, friends, I was surprised at how many there are! Such a Tower of Doctrine! The Catholics, the Episcopalians, the Methodists, the Baptists - both hardshell and softshell - the C of Es, the Anglicans, the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Unitarians, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh-day Adventists, the Quakers, the Shakers, Greek Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, the Shilohites - mustn't forget them - and half a hundred more.

"Here in Harlow, wer’e all on party lines, and it seems to me that religion is the biggest party line of them all. Think how the lines to heaven must get jammed on Sunday mornings! And do you know what I find fascinating? Each and every church dedicated to Christ's teaching thinks it's the only one that actually has a private line to the Almighty. And good gosh, I haven't even mentioned the Muslims, or the Jews, or the theosophists, or the Buddhists, or those who worship America itself just as fervently as, for eight or a dozen nightmare years, the Germans worshipped Hitler."

(…)

"Some of these various sects and denominations are peaceful, but the largest of them - the most successful of them - have been built on the blood, bones, and screams of those who have the effrontery not to bow to their idea of God. The Romans fed Christians to the lions; the Christians dismembered those they deemed to be heretics or sorcerers or witches; Hitler sacrificed the Jews in their millions to the false god of racial purity. Millions have been burned, shot, hung, racked, poisoned, electrocuted, and torn to pieces by dogs. . .all in God's name."

My mother was sobbing audibly, but I didn't look around at her. I couldn't. I was frozen in place. By horror, yes, of course. I was only nine. But there was also a wild, inchoate exultation, a feeling that at last someone was telling me the exact unvarnished truth. Part of me hoped he would stop; most of me wished fiercely that he would go on, and I got my wish.

"Christ taught us to turn the other cheek and to love our enemies. We pay the concept lip service, but when most of us are struck, we try to pay back double. Christ drove the moneychangers from the temple, but we all know those quick-buck artists never stay away for long; if you've ever sat your self down to a rousing game of church bingo or heard a radio preacher begging for money, you know exactly what I mean. Isaiah prophesied that the day would come when we’d beat our swords into plowshares, but all they've been beaten into in our current dark age is atomic bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles."

(…)

"And what do we get for our faith? For the centuries we've given this church or that one our gifts of blood and treasure? The assurance that heaven is waiting for us at the end of it all, and when we get there, the punchline will be explained and well say, ‘Oh yeah! Now I get it.’ That's the big payoff. It's dinned into our ears from our earliest days: heaven, heaven, heaven! We will see our lost children, our dear mothers will take us in their arms! That's the carrot. The stick we're beaten with is hell, hell, hell! A Sheol of eternal damnation and torment. We tell children as young as my dear lost son that they stand in danger of eternal fire if they steal a piece of penny candy or lie about how they got their new shoes wet.

"There's no proof of these after-life destinations; no backbone of science; there is only the bald assurance, coupled with our powerful need to believe that it all makes sense. But as I stood in the back room of Peabody's and looked down at the mangled remains of my boy, who wanted to go to Disneyland much more than he wanted to go to heaven, I had a revelation. Religion is the theological equivalent of a quick-buck insurance scam, where you pay in your premium year after year, and then, when you need the benefits you paid for so - pardon the pun - so religiously, you discover the company that took your money does not, in fact, exist.”

(…)

My dad stood, then. "Charles, you need to step down." Reverend Jacobs shook his head as if to clear it. "Yes," he said. "You're right, Dick. Nothing I say will make any difference, anyway.”

But it did. To one little boy, it did.

(…)

"Just one more thing. We came from a mystery and its to a mystery we go. Maybe there's something there, but I'm betting it's not God as any church understands Him. Look at the babble of conflicting beliefs and you'll know that. They cancel each other out and leave nothing. If you want truth, a power greater than yourselves, look to the lightning - a billion volts in each strike, and a hundred thousand amperes of current, and temperatures of fifty thousand degrees Fahrenheit. There's a higher power in that, I grant you. But here, in this building? No. Believe what you want, but I tell you this: behind Saint Paul's darkened glass, there is nothing but a lie." (pages 99 - 107)