#WordPress Themes 2021 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

archivyrep · 2 years ago

Text

Creating Your Own History: Archival Themes in "The Watermelon Woman" [Part 1]

An archivist speaks to the film’s protagonist about having a “great system” to organize archival records within the community archive.

The Core Values Statement of the Society of American Archivists says that archivists should expand access, respect diversity found in humanity, and advocate for archival collections that reflect humanity’s complexity. [1] The reality is often different from that ideal in a field that is overwhelmingly White, as a recent article about Black archives pointed out. [2] This is evident in Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 romantic comedy-drama film, The Watermelon Woman, which the Library of Congress added to the National Film Registry in December 2021 for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” [3] The film follows the story of one Black woman’s determined effort to create her own history and connect with the past. Although this eighty-six-minute mockumentary is over twenty-six years old, its themes of archival limits, power, silences, erasure, and fabrication continue to resonate today.

Reprinted from The American Archivist Reviews Portal. Thanks to Rose and Stephanie for their editing of this article! It was also posted on my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog on Jul. 5, 2022. This review contains some spoilers for the film The Watermelon Woman.

In the film, Cheryl Dunye plays a videographer (also named Cheryl Dunye) who works at a video rental store in Philadelphia with her friend Tamara (played by Valarie Walker). Cheryl watches a videocassette of an old 1930s film, Plantation Memories, and becomes interested in the character Elsie, a stereotypical ‘mammy’ character credited as “The Watermelon Woman.” She then strives to learn more about the actress who played Elsie. One of the first places Cheryl looks is in the basement of her mother’s house. Cheryl tells the audience that her mother, played by Irene Dunye, who is Cheryl’s mother in real life, throws nothing away. She says that Irene’s filing system needs updating. Her mother tells her about the films she watched growing up in the 1930s and notes that she saw “Elsie” singing in some clubs.

Cheryl continues her dogged search by talking to a person with a collection of old Black films and then traveling to the local public library, likely the Free Library of Philadelphia. After perusing the stacks, she checks out as many books as she can and talks to the reference librarian, a White man who is played by David Rakoff. Wanting information about the Watermelon Woman, she encounters her first archival limit, which scholars Sue McKemmish, Michael Piggott, Barbara Reed, Frank Upward, Jocelyn Fenton Stitt, and Sarah Tyson define as barriers created when documents pass into the hands of archival institutions from those who created them, inhibiting attempts to use records to tell family stories and circumscribing efforts to reclaim records about enslaved people. [4]

The librarian dismissively tells Cheryl to check the “Black,” “film,” and “women” sections of reference books for information about the Watermelon Woman. With much prodding, he eventually searches his computer and identifies Martha Page as the film’s director, telling Cheryl that information about Page is on a reserve desk on another floor. Although reserve desks serve students and faculty with materials typically meant for university courses, Cheryl is given an exception and is able to access the relevant information for her research. Yet, she is still unsuccessful because the materials she looks at don’t have exactly what she is looking for.

Notes

[1] “SAA Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics,” Society of American Archivists, accessed February 20, 2022, https://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics.

[2] Harmeet Kaur, “How Black Archives Are Highlighting Overlooked Parts of History and Culture,” CNN, February 19, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/19/us/black-archivists-history-culture-cec/index.html.

[3] Nancy Tartaglione, “National Film Registry Adds ‘Return Of The Jedi’, ‘Fellowship Of The Ring’, ‘Strangers On A Train’, ’Sounder’, ‘WALL-E’ & More,” Deadline Hollywood, December 21, 2021, https://deadline.com/2021/12/national-film-registry-2021-list-star-wars-return-of-the-jedi-fellowship-of-the-ring-sounder-nightmare-on-elm-street-wall-e-1234890666/. The film is available for rent on platforms such as Vimeo, Hulu, Apple TV, Prime Video, and BFI. I watched it, using my library card, on Kanopy. It can be watched free of charge on the Internet Archive.

[4] Sue McKemmish, Michael Piggott, Barbara Reed, and Frank Upward, Archives: Recordkeeping in Society (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier, 2005), 205; Jocelyn Fenton Stitt, Dreams of Archives Unfolded: Absence and Caribbean Life Writing (New York: Rutgers University Press, 2021), 42; Sarah Tyson, Where Are the Women?: Why Expanding the Archive Makes Philosophy Better (New York, Columbia University Press, 2018), 148.

82 notes · View notes

rainmustfallts4 · 2 months ago

Text

Family Ain't Just Blood (short story)

Note: Before we begin, I'd like to say thank you for voting in my poll c: As requested, here is the first of the short stories from my old wordpress blog. As you can see from the information below, it was written a while ago haha

Theme: Dinner

Challenge/Month: Monthly Simlit Short Story/October 2021

Genre: Friendship, family, fluff

Word/Picture Count: 800 words/15 pictures

John felt his hands tremble as he set up the table outside, pushing the chairs in and lighting the citronella candle to keep the bugs at bay. He had never hosted a dinner party before and, though it was all people he held deep in his heart, he was worried. What if he did something that upset them and ruined the relationship between them? He shook his head to rid himself of these worries.

Carly was in the kitchen, working on one of the dishes for the party. She had really jumped into her cooking hobby and was enjoying herself more than she thought possible. He found himself smiling as he admired her, noticing the way her eyes lit up as she crafted dishes.

She gave him a smile. “I’m making Aubergine Parmesan and Blueberry Pie. What do you think?”

He pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. “That sounds amazing, darling. I’m going to take a small nap before the party starts, okay?”

“Okay!”

She was proud of the product she had produced. It was her first time making this recipe but she had followed it to a T and was pleased by the smell it was producing.

It was nearly six and John stood before the mirror in the bedroom, checking his appearance. His nerves were at an all-time high and he was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to show up. He found himself glancing at the clock every few seconds.

“Relax, my love.” Carly cupped his cheeks. “They will show and it will be a wonderful night!”

“Thank you,” he whispered softly, resting his forehead against hers.

At 6:20, the guests appeared, dressed to impress as they approached the house. John felt relieved and happy to see all of the people he had grown to love. These people were his friends, his family.

Some sims believe that you can only be family if you share the same blood, but he had learned long ago that blood doesn’t make you family. In his experience, those sharing his blood often let him down or betrayed him, but those he had accepted into his life have always been there by his side, through thick and thin.

“Thank you for inviting us!” Rahmi smiled, pulling him into a hug. “Maira has been so excited, she hasn’t stopped talking about this night!”

“Mom~” the young Maira complained, pouting at her mother. The two adults just laughed.

The full moon was out tonight, shining down on them as they all took their seats at the table, chatting happily with one another despite the gentle rain falling down on their heads.

John sat at the head of the table, just looking around at his beautiful family. If you would have asked him just a few months earlier if he thought he would be sitting at a table surrounded by people he loved, people that loved him, he wouldn’t have believed you, but now he felt as if he were the happiest man on earth.

Klarence enjoyed all the attention he received, as well, but the night was growing long and it didn’t take long for him to start fussing because he was tired.

John excused himself to put his son to bed, giving him a soft kiss on his forehead.

“I’m so happy, my son,” he whispered. “You’re going to grow up surrounded by people who love and support you.”

Dinner was over, but the guests were still sitting around the table, enjoying each other’s company.

Cecilia and Carly were getting along well, even growing their friendship. This made Carly feel happy because she didn’t want to be on the bad side of Klarence’s mother. They had a lot in common, surprisingly.

The night came to a close and the dinner party went splendidly!

Carly was elated by how well it went, but she was also exhausted. After saying goodbye to her friends and giving her boyfriend a soft peck on the cheek, she retired to their bedroom to get some rest.

That left John with a huge mess to clean up. He had never seen so many dirty dishes in one place before! Even so, he was happy over how well the night had gone. His worries seemed so silly now.

Most of the guests had returned home, but Rahul held back because he felt guilty about the mess that was left behind. What better way to thank him than to help clean?

“Thank you, son.” John offered a smile as he washed the dishes.

“Of course! Tonight was a lot of fun.”

After cleaning up and sending Rahul home, John settled himself down on the porch, enjoying the sound of crickets chirping and the chimes singing in the wind. It was the perfect way to end a wonderful night.

#short stories #short story #msss #monthly simlit short story #the sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4 #simblr #the sims community #sims 4 community #the sims 4 simblr #sims 4 story #sims community #october 2021 #original story #story

3 notes · View notes

noirlevity · 9 months ago

Text

Fate: A Tadaai Unofficial fanbook Vol. 1 presented by Noirlevity

Theme:

This fanbook is a collection of the artwork I made for tadaai since 2021 until the early half of February 2024. This is not necessarily tadaai exclusive. Most, if not all the works included here are aitada shipper friendly.

Specifications:

A5, portrait, 64 pages fanbook (including cover and backcover).

Colored

Perfect bound

Laminated C2s cover. C2s papers will be used for the…

View On WordPress

#ainosuke shindo #aitada #art projects #digital art #fanbook #fanzine #sk8 the infinity #tadaai #tadashi kikuchi #myart #sk8 tadashi #sk8 adam #忠愛 #sk8 fanart

5 notes · View notes

historyhermann · 2 years ago

Text

Booming LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2021 [Part 1]

Two of the choices for “Fan Favorite Couple” in Autostraddle’s Annual Gay Emmys in September 2021 were in animated series. Both choices are highlighted here by yellow boxes.

In December 2020, I wrote that there is “hope in the future for diverse storylines and expanded representation,” adding that there is “a lot to look forward to in 2021 in terms of animated series…[which] will undoubtedly affect the ongoing war between streaming platforms for more subscribers, profits for themselves, and film distribution itself.” That still rings true, and 2021 has even more representation that I had imagined in December 2020, with continuing series like The Owl House, Disenchantment, Helluva Boss, Star Trek: Lower Decks, the third (and final) season of Final Space, and many others. The representation in 2021 is part of the “whirlwind” of LGBTQ representation which creator Noelle Stevenson described in November 2021.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs, my History Hermann WordPress blog on Jan. 15, 2023, and Wayback Machine. This was the seventh article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on January 5, 2022.

When Autostraddle, a digital lesbian culture publication, posted about their annual awards show, the Annual Gay Emmys, in September 2021, the influence of LGBTQ representation in animation was evident. [1] While most of the nominees for the categories were live-action series, there was an entire category dedicated to such series, “Outstanding Animated Series.” Harley Quinn, Blues Clues & You!, the “Obsidian” episode of Adventure Time: Distant Lands, The Owl House, “The Politics Episode” of One Day at a Time, and Magical Girl Friendship Squad were nominees. [2] The Harley Quinn episode “Something Borrowed,” was one of the nominees for the “Best Episode with LGBTQ+ Themes” category, and two couples in animated series were nominated for the “Fan Favorite Couple” question. When the results were announced Harley Quinn won for Outstanding Animated Series, although it was unfortunately the only animated series to win in a category. Of the series nominated, Magical Girl Friendship Squad and One Day at a Time ended in 2020, [3] Distant Lands ended in 2021, while three others are ongoing (Harley Quinn, Blue Clues & You!, and The Owl House).

Keeping this in mind, reviewer Jade King, in a review of The Owl House, said “we shouldn’t look toward giant corporations for continual queer representation.” While that still rings true, many of the shows with LGBTQ representation are produced and broadcast by such companies. For instance, of the over 20 Western animations noted in this article, almost all of them are produced by the subsidiaries of companies like Disney, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and Sony, which bring in more than $1 billion a year. [4] The same is the case with many of the Japanese anime series noted in this post, which tend to have more LGBTQ representation, generally, than Western animation, although the instances of representation between Western and Japanese animation is slowly reaching the same level, and Japanese anime often plays into “many problematic aspects” and stereotypes in one way or another. King also pointed out that queer representation is not a competition, but should be a collaboration, rather than putting down one show while elevating another, arguing that “queer representation isn’t a linear path to acceptance. It’s messy and inconsistent.”

In 2021, shows on streaming platforms lead the way when it came to representation. Netflix tops the list in this regard, with shows like Disenchantment, Carmen Sandiego (to a lesser extent), and City of Ghosts. With Disenchantment, the show was described as “queer through and through,” with what some would call queer vibes throughout, had its third part air on Netflix in January of 2021. Recurring characters Odval (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) and Sorcerio (voiced by Billy West) were shown to be a gay couple, while there was an implied gay couple between Big Jo (voiced by LaMarche), and his assistant, Porky. Furthermore, Princess Bean, called a “rebellious, alcoholic, adventurous princess” by one reviewer, the show’s protagonist, voiced by Abbi Jacobson, was shown to be bisexual or pansexual. This is illustrated through her kissing the elf, Elfo (voiced by Nat Faxon), trying to have sex with various men, seeming to have feelings for Lady Bowmore (voiced by Tress MacNeille), female explorer, and falling in love with a mermaid named Mora (voiced by Meredith Hagner). This is further supported by the fact that Jacobsen is bisexual herself, making the representation that much more genuine. As for Carmen Sandiego, it was more implied than anything else. In February, in Instagram Live interview, Duane Capizzi, the showrunner of Carmen Sandiego, said that it was intentional that Le Chevre (also known as Jean Paul) and El Topo (also known as Antonio) were together, and confirmed them at a couple, calling them villains which are “sweet,” but you “can’t help but love.” [5]

Carmen Sandiego and Julia Argent in the Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal animated film

Some fans also speculated that protagonist Carmen Sandiego had feelings for Julia “Jules” Argent, called “Carulia” by fans, but that has not been confirmed by Capizzi or anyone on the show’s staff. Similarly, for City of Ghosts, the LGBTQ representation was subtle rather than outward like in Disenchantment. In the case of that series, Thomas, one of the show’s protagonists, a specialist of the Ghost Club and voiced by transgender child actor Blue Chapman, was non-binary, confirmed as such by show creator Elizabeth Ito. One episode of the series also showed a character with two mothers. The series, more broadly, was praised for its simple animation and characters, but having “strikingly complex” stories and background art which reflects the “realities of one of America’s richest cultural melting pots,” Los Angeles.

Disenchantment, Carmen Sandiego, and City of Ghosts were not the only Netflix shows with LGBTQ characters. The kids-oriented Ridley Jones also included such characters. The preschool animated series included a non-binary bison named Fred voiced by Iris Menas, and two characters (Aten and Kosi) voiced by Andrew Rannells and Chris Colfer, two openly gay actors. The series was created by Chris Nee, who created series like We The People and Doc McStuffins, both of which featured LGBTQ characters. Nee described herself as gay and “relatively butch” in an interview in 2021. Jacobson, who had voiced Bean in Disenchantment, voiced Katie, the protagonist of the animated film, The Mitchells vs. the Machines. In the film, she wears a pin with a rainbow flag and later is noted as having a girlfriend named Jade at film school, with the representation relatively subtle. More outward, in terms of the representation, were Chicago Party Aunt, which included a a gay man named Daniel, and Q-Force, which featured an assortment of LGBTQ characters. The latter series, which had caused great controversy and consternation online due to its use of stereotypes, features a gay protagonist named Steve Maryweather (voiced by Sean Hayes), a gay man named Benji (voiced by Gabe Liedman), a lesbian woman named Deb (voiced by Wanda Sykes), and a gay drag queen named Twink (voiced by Matt Rogers). A late-comer to this article was Arcane, the first part which aired from November 6 to November 20. Show writer Amanda Overton confirmed that Caitlyn Kiramman was a lesbian, saying that there is no word for gay or stigmatization against it in Piltover, meaning that Caitlyn could “marry any gender or race suitor,” but such a person would become “a part of her house.” Overton also said that the relationship between Caitlyn and Vi is “naturally developing,” with the trauma that Vi’s parents were killed by Enforcers, with Vi also confirmed as a lesbian as well. On Twitter, Overton said that everyone on the show’s crew is “working together to tell the same story.”

On November 25, 2021, the final season of F Is For Family, aired on Netflix. It included Louis, the gay brother of Sue, a character voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, an openly gay actor. It also included Ginny Throater, who divorces her husband, Greg Throater, and is bisexual, while Greg is gay, and divorces her as a result. Additionally, Eileen, Frank’s sister, is lesbian and becomes Ginny’s lover. The second and final season of the Netflix series, Centaurworld, premiered on December 7. It featured three gay characters: Zulius, Ched, and Splendib. Zulius, who was hinted to be gay in the show’s first season was confirmed as such in the second season, while Ched was revealed to be gay. Furthermore, Zulius is voiced by Parvesh Cheena, an openly gay actor.

Other than shows on Netflix, there were multiple series on other streaming platforms included LGBTQ characters. For instance, Volume 8 of RWBY, running from November 2020 to March 2021, which streamed on the Rooster Teeth website, featured a trans woman named May Marigold, who is voiced by a trans woman, Kdin Jenzen, a bisexual catlike woman named Blake Belladonna (voiced by Arryn Zech), and various lesbian characters. The latter included Ilia Amitola (voiced by Cherami Leigh) and a couple (Saphron and Terra Cotta-Arc) who have a child named Adrian. At the same time, the first season of Invincible, which aired on Amazon Prime from March to April 2021, included a gay recurring character named William Francis Clockwell, voiced by openly gay actor Andrew Rennells.

HBO Max, also owned by Warner Media like Rooster Teeth, featured a gay couple, Jonny Quest and Hadji Sing, in Jellystone!, while Young Justice, which focuses on young superheroes from DC comics, has a rash of such characters. Specifically, Kaldur’ahm/Aqualad (voiced by Khary Payton) is polysexual, while Marie Logan (voiced by Danica McKellar) is bisexual or lesbian, Eduardo “Ed” Dorado Jr. (voiced by Freddy Rodriguez) is gay, Violet Harper (voiced by Zehra Fazal) is genderqueer, Wyynde (voiced by Robbie Daymond) is gay, and Harper Row (voiced by Fazal) is bisexual. The second half of the fourth season of Young Justice premiered in late October of 2021 and aired until December 30, 2021. While Kaldur reappeared in the newest season and with speaking lines, characters such as Ed, Bart, Violet, and Harper either had no lines, were only pictured, or only their voices were heard. At the same time, Logan died in Season 2, Wynnde has not made an appearance. These are unfortunate developments.

The HBO Max preschool series, Little Ellen, featured same-sex couples, with a second part of season one released in October, while Summer Camp Island, which also airs on HBO Max, includes a non-binary couple (Alien King and Puddle) and two presumably gay ghosts. It was also implied in various episodes that Timothy Brice Campbell in the HBO Max series Close Enough was either gay or bisexual. The second and presumably final season of gen:LOCK premiered on HBO Max and it featured a genderfluid character named Val(entina) Romanyszyn. Her character was not only groundbreaking as a genderfluid character by smashing apart tropes attributed to such characters, but is voiced by a non-binary pansexual voice actor named Asia Kate Dillon. Val confirmed that she was pansexual in the same season and Robert Sinclair was shown to be gay, with a boyfriend named Chris.

Continued in part 2

57 notes · View notes

anja-merret · 6 months ago

Text

Early days of WordPress websites

Back in 2004, WordPress websites got their first big upgrade with version 1.0, named "Miles" after the cool jazz musician Miles Davis. Released on 3rd January, this update brought some awesome features that made the platform way better. It introduced a new templating system, so users could create their own custom themes and styles, giving them more control over their site's look. The admin interface also got a major makeover, making it super user-friendly with easier post editing, better user role management, and smoother navigation.

One of the most exciting additions was the introduction of plugins. Just like how Apple’s app store changed the game for the iPhone, WordPress plugins let third-party developers add all sorts of cool features and tools. This made WordPress super flexible and perfect for more than just blogging. Plus, it opened up opportunities for developers and designers to make a living by creating and selling plugins and themes.

Fast forward to today, and there are nearly 60,000 free plugins on the WordPress.org repository, along with loads of paid options. WP Engine estimated the WordPress ecosystem's value at a whopping $635 billion by the end of 2021. This shows just how massive and valuable the platform has become for users and developers alike, with the plugin market playing a huge role in making WordPress a powerful and adaptable tool for creating websites.

MaxiBlocks a tool for modern WordPress websites

MaxiBlocks is like the ultimate cheat code for WordPress websites! It's a super versatile plugin that lets you build stunning pages with a simple drag-and-drop interface, making it perfect for everyone, from beginners to pros. With MaxiBlocks, you can easily create eye-catching layouts and add cool features without touching a single line of code. It’s packed with pre-designed blocks and templates, so you can mix and match to create the perfect look for your site. Whether you're building a blog, an online store, or a portfolio, MaxiBlocks makes the process fun, fast, and super easy!

#wordpress #maxiblocks #page builder #wordpress website builder #wordpress block templates #wordpress block themes #wordpress websites

2 notes · View notes

simoneandherbooks · 8 months ago

Text

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick // Book Review

My first PKD and I don’t think it’ll be my last. Reading a book that’s supposed to be set in the future, but that future is 2021 and it’s now 2024…that’s a bit weird, but I don’t think PKD skimped in any way on its science fiction-y components or its even bigger themes. Here’s more about Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere…

View On WordPress

#science fiction

2 notes · View notes

kellykhalsa · 1 year ago

Text

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

As the Taurus Full Moon Lunar Eclipse approaches on October 28, 2023, the energy around us starts to shift. We are in Scorpio season now and can feel our emotions are stirred. The veil that separates us from our deepest desires is lifted, and we see things that were previously hidden from us. The key messages of this Eclipse urge us to cast our minds back to November 2021. What were the themes…

View On WordPress

3 notes · View notes

ianchisnall · 1 year ago

Text

Could we get Petitions for FareShare and Food Banks?

A couple of years ago in 2021 I submitted a e-petition that was a clear call for funding from the Government for FareShare and Food Banks and other similar agencies. Tragically I only managed to obtain 3,469 signatures. I have just checked out how many other petitions there are that cover the same theme. Tragically there are only 10 significant e-petitions that cover the theme that have similar…

View On WordPress

#e-petition #FareShare #Food Banks

3 notes · View notes

gaybookpromotions · 1 year ago

Text

Caged Time by Erik S. Meyers #giveaway

BOOK BLAST Book Title: Caged Time Author: Erik S. Meyers Publisher: Mirador Publishing Release Date: February 2, 2021 Genres: LGBTQ Jewish historical fiction Tropes: Struggling to be yourself in a place/time that doesn’t really want you Themes: Coming out, being yourself Heat Rating: 4 flames Length: 144 pages It is a standalone book and does not end on a…

View On WordPress

2 notes · View notes

popculturegenealogy · 2 years ago

Text

The specter of the genealogist stereotype

In 1982, Peter Andrews wrote in American Heritage that the "stereotype of the genealogist" has been familiar in popular culture, usually a "specific type, easily recognizable and faintly ridiculous," whether an elderly lady examining musty records or a "retired clergyman supplementing his pension." He adds that this meant that genealogy, itself, "carried an air of quackery about it." However, he says this is no longer the case. This is evident in some series I have written about on this blog before, like Amphibia, Infinity Train, Steven Universe, and throughout the recent reboot of Carmen Sandiego, to name a few posts, apart from last week's post reviewing genealogy in the Outlander series. This is not unique to those series, however. After all, as a podcast, BlackGenProLive, “genealogy and history are en vogue in popular culture, largely due to the number of television programs that are themed around the topics,” and noted in FamilyTree, with The Guardian even saying the current family history boom is due to the internet and TV. [1] Genealogy and family history is widespread in popular culture, with some authors, like Juliette Eames, creating customized children's family history books for people! As Thomas Jay Kemp put it in 2013, "you can find references to genealogy everywhere in America these days."

Reprinted from my Genealogy in Popular Culture WordPress blog. Originally published on April 12, 2021.

John D. Beatty of the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center wrote in 2018 that genealogists before the 1970s especially only played "incidental roles in eccentric, snobby, or dysfunctional veins." He called the famous satirical painting by Grant Wood, Daughters of Revolution, criticizing the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), one of the first "artistic depictions of genealogists," and noted a few other examples prior to the 1970s:

In the 1942 film Castle in the Desert, Professor Gleason, a genealogist with a "moustache and walking stick," arrives at a a mansion of another affuelent man, and he is introduced as a genealogist who will “tell us about the monkeys in our family trees.” He later inquires about a notorious family and the wife of the affulent man gives him a warning, and he died after drinking a cocktail. The message of this film for such a superficial portrayal of a genealogist, is that genealogy is "something that only interested the upper classes and involved the lineages of famous families."

In a 1961 episode of the The Andy Griffith Show, “A Plaque for Mayberry," a town mayor summons a sheriff and his deputy, where they meet two elegantly dressed ladies of a Women’s Historical Society, declaring that they are "attempting to trace the descendant of a Revolutionary War hero, Nathan Tibbs, who had played a pivotal role at the Incident of Mayberry Bridge," which supposedly turned the tide of the war, wanting access to town records. Ultimately, while the genealoists serve only as incidental characters, the view of genealogical research as "a blue-blooded occupation and those who pursue it do so only to find links to prominent forebears" is communicated once more.

In a 1969 film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, James Bond goes undercover as a genealogist in order to "investigate Blofeld’s claims of nobility," and it again promotes a view of "genealogists as effete elitists, a campy profession that attracted only eccentrics."

In a 1969 comedy-drama, The Sterile Cuckoo, Pookie Adams is not a genealogist, but loves cemeteries, taking her boyfriend to a graveyard, extoling the "ability to find stories of the departed by reading their epitaphs." Beatty suggests that this shows that "cemeteries were not places that psychologically-healthy people ever visited."

youtube

After 1970, Beatty specifically holds up Roots as shattering the "notion that genealogy was only for the blue-blooded," and says that Alex Haley "embodied a sense of normalcy that had eluded earlier caricatures of genealogists." This is much better than the "magical quality" displayed in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by transphobic J.K. Rowling, with genealogy not explored at length in the film, none of the characters as genealogists, and the family genealogy is only a minor plot device. Contrast this with the controversial film, The Da Vinci Code, in 2006, where genealogical research plays a key role in the film itself,and various popular television shows [2] where ordinary ancestors are discussed. Even though research is often minimized, Beatty argues that these shows "provide some insight into research methodology." He concludes his article by saying that new portrayals reflect a change in genealogy over time, including further professionalization and democratization which makes it more available to the masses, even while he acknowledges no one should expect genealogists to become "commonplace on the silver screen" even if they show up more in television. He then hopes for complex and diverse genealogical characters in the future which are devoid of stereotypes and are problem-solvers.

Not accounting for documentaries with family history themes, like Children of the Inquisition, Birthplace, and August: Osage County as pointed out by Esther of MyHeritage, Helen, in an undated post on her genealogy blog, gives a few examples of genetic genealogy in popular culture:

The TV series Shameless. In a 2011 episode, "Nana Gallagher Had an Affair," an estranged mother tried to get custody of her son, but finds out that her ex-husband, Frank, is the biological father. In a 2016 episode "Own Your Shit," a brother takes another ancestry DNA test, showing that Carl is "part Native American, specifically Apache, securing him a reserved place." Then there's the 2017 episode "Got Bless Her Rotting Soul," where a family friend takes a DNA screening test, finding a "rare chromosomal pattern" which belongs to a fictional, and isolated, community in rural Kentucky.

In a 2018 episodes of the series, A Discovery of Witches, there is a study of genetics of various species, like demons, witches, and vampires, including an explanation of mitochondrial DNA

In a 2018 episode of the series, Bull, "The Missing Piece," a team assists a man after police identify him as a suspect using "investigative genetic genealogy via a match in a for-profit genetic genealogy company's customer database," and he finds out that he was adopted and had an identical twin brother, with the revelation of a twin brother resulting "in all charges against him being dropped."

In a 2018 episode of Blue Bloods, "Thicker Than Water," two detectives investigate an attempted murder after a daughter discovers, using a consumer DNA test that "the doctor is her biological father." Oh no, what a shock! In a later episode of Blue Bloods, "Family Secrets," in 2020, one character is puzzled by an "unknown first cousin match on his paternal side when he does a consumer DNA test for a school assignment."

In the series Grey's Anatomy, there is an episode in 2019, "Blood and Water," where a doctor orders a DNA test to "overcome her fears about her unknown genetic heritage when feeling pressured to have children." In another 2019 episode, "And Dream of Sheep," a co-worker is able to identify the birth mother of his friend using a "first cousin DNA match."

In a 2019 episode of The Good Fight, "The One where a Nazi Gets Punched," a law firm represents plaintiffs in a lawsuit against a "direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing company."

In a 2019 episode of Nancy Drew, "The Hidden Staircase," a co-worker whips out a DNA test from her lock, asking her long-lost cousin for "some of his saliva for a DNA comparison to help her uncover her mother's mysterious past."

In a 2020 episode of Stumptown, "The Past and the Furious," a former marine and current PI, is hired to track down the birth parents of an adoptee.

In a 2020 episode of Vera, "Parent Not Expected," a DCI investigates the death of a young man who had recently found, through a DNA test, that "the man who raised him was not his biological father," with the admin of an online genealogy forum helping people identify their biological fathers.

"The laws governing inheritance are quite unknown; no one can say why the same peculiarity in different individuals of the same species, and in individuals of different species, is sometimes inherited and sometimes not so; why the child often reverts in certain characters to its grandfather or grandmother or other much more remote ancestor; why a peculiarity is often transmitted from one sex to both sexes, or to one sex alone, more commonly but not exclusively to the like sex"- Chapter 1 of The Origin of the Species

On a related note, in 2013, Daisy Hildyard in The Guardian listed ten literary works about ancestors, specifically pointing to Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, "This Be the Verse" by Philip Larkin, The Rainbow by DH Lawrence, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, "The Eternity of Nature" by John Clare, Brief Lives by John Aubrey, Henry IV Part I by William Shakespeare, Chronicles by Holinshed, and The Bible. Family history themes are even more widespread than this, however. Noel Murray, in 2015, talked about nine films focusing on family secrets, specifically Little White Lie, Secrets & Lies, A Family Thing, Lone Star, Siskel & Ebert, Capturing the Friedmans, The Celebration, Ida, Daughter from Danang, My Architect, and Stories We Tell. Others have written about genealogy in the realm of theater, of which were are various examples, [3] or noted some of the "most insane families in anime." On the latter, in a post for the Anime News Network, Gia Manry mentioned:

Arcana Famiglia (La storia della Arcana Famiglia), a mafia-style family

The Rozen Maidens (Rozen Maiden), sister dolls

The Ushiromiya Family (Umineko no Naku Koro ni), a huge clan

The Matou Family (Fate/stay night), creators of a system that serves as a central conflict throughout the franchise as a whole

Eastern Europe (Hetalia), composed of personified nations

Britannian Royal Family (Code Geass), has a family history "chock-full of colorful characters, political intrigue, and outrageous deaths"

The Hair Siblings (Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo), siblings fighting over their inheritance to the Hair Kingdom and are totally bonkers

The Ikari Family (Neon Genesis Evangelion), a clan which has a lot of internal family problems

Some others, like BYU Family History, lists family history themes in the White supremacist Back to the Future, and other films, like Lion King, Holes, Star Wars, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Hitch, and Mulan. As one genealogist put it, "genealogy has changed; but yet it has not," with genealogists continuing to seek out "records hidden in courthouse attics and basements."

Notes

[1] There may be some reviews of popular culture in Christine Scodari’s book Alternate Roots: Ethnicity, Race, and Identity in Genealogy Media, although I’m not sure. But I'll try to get the book and let you know what I think, writing about it on here.

[2] Like Who Do You Think You Are, Genealogy Roadshow, and Finding Your Roots. Some scholars have criticized what they call "selective rememberance" on these TV shows.

[3] In one post, Sydney Orton,talks about family history themes in Ragtime, Bandstand, The Pirate Queen, Miss Saigon, Finding Neverland, Evita, Bonnie & Clyde, Fiddler on the Roof, and Big River. In another post, she focuses on similar themes in Come From Away, 1776, Allegiance, Anastasia, 9 to 5, Les Miserables, Newsies, A Tale of Two Cities, Bright Star, Memphis, West Side Story, Titanic: The Musical, The Sound of Music, and The Civil War.

9 notes · View notes

mkfiq · 1 year ago

Text

What Does Ecommerce home page template Mean?

When you plan on providing digital products you probably don’t have to have a full fledged ecommerce platform. A digital product might be a thing like an ebook, online course, audio file, video file, or software application.

Marketers and developers are actually starting to really feel the mobile speed crunch. Mobile users assume pages on their own mobile devices to load faster than desktop.

Magic Spoon, a breakfast brand, does an excellent position portraying its products’ texture on its ecommerce site. The layout features a journal-like construction, which has a sparking color palette and detectable specifics powering each individual click and scroll.

logo created for fashion e commerce website working with a simple script font model and skinny feminin model as the most crucial thought should be to offer Ladies outfits

Given the gravity of this determination, Kimp delivers you a guidebook on designing Ecommerce logos in 2021.

Simply because nearly every single business contains a logo, generating your own ecommerce logo alerts to customers that your online store is legitimate and credible.

The logo had been designed before which was Unused and client observed it and acquired it for his or her new eCommerce company. We both of those are adore the SD mark! by Graphaety ™

Video & movement graphics for partaking content material & adsKimp Video – Video & motion graphics for participating content & ads

You will need to use a paid application to take full advantage of Amazon FBA integration and dropshipping. Many fulfillment centers offer you free WooCommerce integration, nevertheless some could involve customized development for an extra cost.

There are ten themes (all free) offered within the admin. You would possibly need tiny familiarity with HTML and CSS given that the theme customizer doesn’t Have got a drag and drop functionality.

The In addition plan is $29/month and involves features like deserted cart email, personalised products, and ratings and reviews. The Top ecommerce marketplace quality Plan is $79/month and contains all that furthermore genuine-time shipping prices.

You can use free applications to incorporate Amazon two way sync and Amazon Checkout. You’ll will need paid out applications to manage items like Amazon FBA, fulfillment center and dropshipping integrations, eBay 2 way sync, evaluate snippet structured data, email marketing automation, and print on desire. You’ll require custom development if you would like integrate Adobe Commerce with WordPress.

For the small business over a spending plan, Sellfy is a good starting level. It provides you with anything you might want to get started selling online – regardless of whether you promote physical or digital products. It’s not a perfect solution at scale, although.

This beautifully designed ecommerce store incorporates a theme with a lot of white Room, which helps present the goods more prominently. It has an incredibly neat and clear design, making the website glimpse really Experienced and sophisticated.

#ecommerce #united states #iphone

3 notes · View notes

archivyrep · 2 years ago

Text

Archives in...Carmen Sandiego?

Now, this was something I was not expecting. In the final season of Carmen Sandiego, Julia "Jules" Argent, who has retired from her job as an archaeology professor at an unnamed university, returns to a shadowy agency known as ACME or the Agency to Capture and Monitor Evildoers. Anyway, the Chief gives Jules a mission of finding Carmen Sandiego's mother. We see the record room of the headquarters in a few episodes, like the final episode, "The Dark Red Caper," which is shown above. She is going through stacks of paper and undoubtedly archival records along with it! Unfortunately, we don't see the records that closely, so they aren't that detailed, but I still enjoyed that part.

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog. Originally published on Jan. 23, 2021.

This isn't the only episode in this season of Carmen Sandiego which features the record room. In the episode before this, "The Viennese Waltz Caper," the Chief gives Jules a research project she says would be of interest to her: finding out about Carmen's mother! Jules, who probably has a crush on Carmen and feels that Carmen is a force of good, happily agrees to this. We later see her going through more records, with her project interrupted as she goes on a trip to Austria, in an attempt to find Carmen. What follows is a heist for VILE that is successful because Carmen has been brainwashed to join them. Oh no!

This is not the first time records appeared in the series, although, admittedly, not in an archival context. In the previous season, Carmen searched for her both in Buenos Aires, looking through a safety deposit box, and there are still loose ends, unfortunately. And in a season before that, she looks through VILE's case files, which have ended up in the ocean. But that's about it, when it comes to archivy themes. I'll end this episode with a screenshot of Jules in the ACME record room in the episode "The Viennese Waltz Caper":

The final episode of the series, "The Dark Red Caper," Carmen is handed a file which Jules put together, with this information, with Shadowsan giving her a choice of where to go forward with her life. She opens the file and meets her mom at the end of the episode. What a victory for archives, records, and everything in-between!

#carmen sandiego #jules argent #carmen x julia #carmen x jules #files #family history #genealogy #the chief #acme #records room #archival studies #archival science #archives #case files #file cabinet #good ending

33 notes · View notes

nichenirvana · 1 year ago

Text

Niche Site Teardown #3: housefresh.com

Site: housefresh.com

Niche: Air Purifiers & Humidifiers

Note: Data such as traffic, backlinks, competitors, authority, keywords rankings etc are all ESTIMATES provided by 3rd party tools mostly UberSuggest.

Website Overview

Date Site Founded: 2013 (first registered but not built out until 2021)

Domain Authority: 53

Organic Monthly Traffic: 112,000 visitors p/m

Number of Keywords Ranking: 40,190

Number of Backlinks: 10,322

Number of Pages: 295

Top 5 Pages

6 Best Bathroom Dehumidifiers – 10,650 visitors p/m.

9 Best Air Purifiers for Cigarette Smoke – 4,961 visitors p/m.

Humidifier vs Air Purifier: What’s The Difference? – 2,683 visitors p/m.

6 Best Air Purifiers for VOCs – 2,529 visitors p/m.

6 Best Air Purifiers Made in the USA – 2,167 visitors p/m.

Monetization Methods:

Affiliate Marketing: Yes.

Display Ads: Yes. (Mediavine)

Digital Products: No.

Physical Products: No.

Subscriptions / Memberships: No.

Branding & Design

Built On: Wordpress.

Theme: Generatepress.

Unique or Generic Looking: Generic.

Well Branded: Yes.

Good Logo: Yes.

Trust & Authority

Real Person or Persona: Persona (I think – About page lists owner and staff but no full names or personal social profiles linked to so hard to be 100% sure)

Good About Page: It’s OK (Covers what the site does, why should trust them, how they test products etc)

Genuine Authority: Yes (A full topical authority covering all things humidifier, air purifiers, and filters)

Social Prescence: Yes . - Facebook: No. - Instagram: Yes. - Pinterest: Yes. - Youtube: Yes. - Tik Tok: No. - LinkedIn: No. - Twitter: Yes. - Discord: No.

Email List: No.

Competitors List

ohsospotless.com / Estimated Traffic = 95,532 visitors p/m / # of Backlinks: 40,789

airpurifierfirst.com / Estimated Traffic = 40,000 visitors p/m / # of Backlinks: 8,820

airfuji.com / Estimated Traffic = 4,819 visitors p/m / # of Backlinks: 5,078

My Thoughts on How To Improve Traffic:

Video Traffic: If they are really reviewing the products, and they do have unique images which suggests they own the products, I think they could do more with video to drive traffic. Adding full video reviews of the products on Youtube and Tik Tok could be more revenue.

Social Traffic: Despite having a social media presence they have very little following and haven’t posted much social content – if this was something they focused on it could become a bigger traffic driver.

Build an Email List: Although sites built around specific product types can be difficult to build an email list there are options such as a lead magnet advising on the best ways to clear the air in your house or the best device for specific type of air issues.

My Thoughts on How To Improve Revenue:

Avoid Distracting The Reader: The top of some of their “best X” affiliate reviews have highlighted boxes that randomly link out to other websites (I believe in the thought that linking out to authority sites is a good signal to Google, which is true) but this is likely to send people away from the affiliate content and lose sales, so put those links at the bottom of the page or within the content.

Call To Action Buttons: There’s no buttons with call to actions in the “top 3” product review comparison tables on their affiliate content, just text links, big, colourful buttons, would generate more attention and clicks.

Showcase The Personal Experience: Though they seemingly have unique images of the products and even videos on Youtube showcasing the products their written reviews and affiliate content don’t really highlight that personal experience of using the product, it still reads like a very generic review written by someone who hasn’t actually used it (even though I believe they may have owned and used the products).

Don’t Display Prices: They are displaying prices directly in reviews and comparison affiliate posts which I would discourage because one big reason people will click your affiliate buttons is to check the price on the retailer.

Avoid Listing The Retailer: On their call to action buttons they often use terms like “Buy on Amazon” which although I’ve never tested it specifically I believe could cause a reduction in clicks because people may think “OK, I’ll check it on Amazon later” or open Amazon direcrly without clicking your links or buttons.

Biggest Takeaways To Apply To Your Own Site

Product Sites Still Work: Going all in one specific product type (in this case devices that clean the air of your house) and covering every piece of information, reviewing every product, and comparing all the different models can give you high topical authority and extremely high traffic (an estimated 100,000+ visitors p/m in this case).

Using the Products Builds Trust: If you can buy the products and take original photos and videos to add into your content then do it – this shows much more trust because people can see you have actually used them rather than regurgitating the Amazon listing information.

Always Use Call to Action BUTTONS: Never use text link call to actions but instead always use big, colourful, contrasting buttons people can’t miss.

Don’t Distract Your Visitor: Never put anything at the top of your pages that can take your visitor AWAY from the thing you want them to focus on otherwise you’ll lose their attention and lose clicks and sales.

Avoid Listing Prices: Avoid using product prices on your affiliate content (even when using Amazon’s API to display the current price) because it gives people one less incentive to click through to Amazon – many people will click to check the price.

Don’t Tell The Reader Where The Link Leads: Again, avoid mentioning “Amazon” on your call to action buttons (though remember you do need a clear disclaimer at the top of your pages / visible above the fold saying you’re an Amazon affiliate) as many people will open Amazon in a new tab or decide to just check it directly on Amazon later meaning they won’t click your affiliate link.

Build your Email List: It drives repeat traffic back to your site, makes people more likely to buy, and drives more sales plus it’s something Google cannot take away from you.

#affiliate #marketing #niche ideas #niche marketing #seo

4 notes · View notes