#azerbaijan literature

[xuxanov]

971. Bir iki anlıq çıxdın özündən. Işıqlı dəliklər, çatlar, fışılar. Birazın yatsada birazın bizə gəldi. Qaldın! Rəngli rəngli başlara baxa baxa. Pırıl pırı parlaqların diyarına. Bizim köyümüzə xoş gəldin dedilər sənə Ey! Ey’dən gülümsədin. Baxa döndün. Yaşıl başlılarla sarılar yağışda otrub mızmızlarında! Zanbaqların yanındasa göy başlılar. Nərgislərin içdən yavaş musiqisi. Dəvələr kimin əyrilib düzələn Möv ağacları. Ahın gəldi içindən. Güldün. "Oğuznamələrdən mi bura" əcəba sordun yavaşcasına. Ağ başlılardan birisi yağış dolusu bardaqla suna gəldi. İçdin. Ginə içdin. Ginə. Gözlərin doldu. Bizlərsə gülümsədik. Melankolik çəvrə yapışmışdı içinə. Suda sənində başın boyalanmışdı. Gümüş rəngində. Ginə ahın tutdu içindən. Gözlərin kimləri axtardı! Kimləri gördü, ah o qırmız başlı, ah o altın yüzlü! İnanamadın. Hələ hələ məni öz yanında gördüyündə:

- Məni yazan hardadır sən?

- Ey! Ey ey ey!

-Xu Xanov-Jü: Dördüncü təkil bireylə danışmaq! “Xəyal Məyal” Kitabından.

—-

[xuxanov]

2

Yuxumda gördüklərimin yuxularında.

- Xu Xanov

Otaq, içəri, yağışlı soyuq hava:

İki Səs. Hərəsinin özəl danışmaları. Şəmsi Xanımın səsi xoşa gəlim, isti, qulaq sevindirici, bir az da tutqun. İçdən. İndi əyər gedip Bakıda bu gənç Şəmsi Xanımı tapıb desəm ki gəl sən bu yazını oyunla! Oynayıb oyunlar mı? Əə kim bilir? Bir az bizim Çinar Xanım kimi indi gülməz mi bu yazılara portaqal məjmesinin yanında otururkən? Oturmuşkən? Yaxcı birdə Qartal kişidən (Bu adam gərçək dəyil. Bütün reallığını özümdən birdə başqa tanıdıqlarımdan (Örnək sizlərdən) almışdır. Görəcəksiniz.) istərsəm. Görürsən həni dərmi o? Necə deyərlər? Kişi oturub deyinib dayanıb eşinməkdə. (biz nə dedyini açıq seçik başa düşə bilmirik, sadəcə xışşı xışlı səsini eşidməkdəyik. Əlli yaşlarında falan. Gözündə eynək, birdə duz bibərli saqqalı). Qadınsa hən hənlərin deyib yalnızca gülümlənsin! Biz belə istəyirik. Hələ. Taza hava! Bu kameranı bir az dahada yaxına çəksəm. Yazımın kamerasını. Sizlərin görmə alanını. Net çəkiş. Balıq gözüylə ev eşiyi, yüzlər isə gilələşdirmək! Kubik ləşdir mək yüzləri! Bütün yanlardan gözləri, qulaqları, tərpəntiləri görmək. Musiqi də elə səhnənin özündəki səs süslər! Net görünüş. Evin havası qış istisi bir aza da soyuq mavı. İysə portqal iyilə Qartal Kişini üstəndə yatan sigaret qarışığı.

- Eşidirsən məni ay Şəmsi Xanım?

- Dəvam et ay Qartal kişi!

Altına bizim kilimlərdən salınıb Şəmsi Xanımın. Qırmızılı Firuzəli, Sarı Köklü sarılı. Qatma qatma belinə qədər uzuyub tökülən xurmeyi saçlar. iki həlqə qızıl ala sırqa. Yapışqan qaraqat qarası kimin də gözləri. Sağ əli ənginin altında, qolunda sadə bir altın bəndli saat. Sol əlində bircə portqal sol dizinin üstündə. Arxasında Təbriz xalçası İsfahan motifləri. Bir bol, gən anadolu tumanını da geyindir Şəmsi xanıma.Yağış göyündə ulduzlarla dolu. Sol dabanı kilimə, barmaqlarısa yerə dayalı. Günortasında saat iki üç kimi. Bir azda yağışlı bir oda. Kölgələşmiş meşə. Qartal Kişini görə bilmirik baxanda. Yalnızca səsini eşidirik.

- Portqalların 13ü görünür.

- Səf! 14dü Qartal kişi.

Siz qıza baxarkən və Qartal kişinin anlaşılmaz danışma səsini eşidərkən məndə Çinar Xanıma zəng eliyirəm. Bizim o başdan üstlərdə yaşayır yoldaşılə neçə illərdir. Sasqaçuvanda. Almır. Çatmır zəngim. Buralarda artıq səs buraxmaq modda dəyir.Yazılaşmağada marağım çəkmir. Nə isə. Hələ nə deyəcəkdim ki biləsinə? Geçənlərdə bir Qız Şaiir varıdı, o ölmüşdü. (Cıqqılı Kəpənək) Qəlbi dayanmışdı gecə yarısı. Nədən görəsən? Nə yemişdi o gecə bizim Şairə Xanım? Kimlərlə danışmışdı o gün? Nələr yazmışdı o gecə? bəlkə başlanqıçda ondan söz açacaqdı, açacaqdık. Balıncına ətir vuran şaiirə. İki pişiyidə hələ var idi. Biri Ərəstu Ağa ötəki Fisaqurəs Xanım. O pişiklər indi neynəyirlər. Şəmsi xanımın fikrini sizdə oxuduz?! Mən oxudum. Elə onları alıb götürüb gətirəlim Bakuya. Bura. Nə manehçılığı var ki bunda. Gala! Bu Ərəstu Bəy buda Fisaqurəs Xanım. Nədənsə tıpışlayıb Qartal Ağanın qucağına atıldılar. Deyingən kişi. Elə mən özüm pişihlərin başbuğuyam daa. Əh! İstanbula gedirsən pişik, Təbrizə gedirsən pişik! Yaxşı ki burnuzlu doğuz zat saxlamırıq. Qartalın deyinməsı güldürür Şəmsi Xanımı. Gülməsi də bizi güldürür qızın. Hamımız gülməkdəyik. Çinar Xanım burda olsaydı onun vərindən uca uca indi gülməkdəydi! Nədənsə fikrimə çöhreyi Xəngəl gülü gəlir. Keşki elə başlayanda Şəmsi Xanımın saçını sancaqlayaydım birisini. Yaraşardı məncə. Gül qadına yaraşar daa!

- Belə Şəmsi Xanım!

- Eləsi Qartal ağa!

-P?

Yazının anlatanı danışsa belə olar da . Dedim oldu. Dedeyi oldu. Çinar Xanım oturub Qartal kişinin yanında, başında Xəngəl gülü, aypədində bir şeylər yazır. Hardan tapıb gəldin bura sən? Soruşmaq istirəm pis anlar deyə uturam sözümü. Pişiklərin yeri xoş. oturublar kişinin qucağında. Nədənsə Qartal kişi durmadan Şəmsi xanımla danışıqda və Çinar Xanımın orada olmasından xəbərsiz. Çinar xanımın telfon numrəsinə yazıram: "Xoş gəlmisən gözəl Xanım. Yanındakı danışan kişinin adı Qartal bəydir, o pişiklərdə bizim şənəsən gedən şairənin pişikləridirlər…" Netim yoxdur, getmir yazım telfonuna Çinar Xanımın. Hən otağın yağışlı, Xışxışlı,pişikli səsinin yanında indi də Çinar Xanımın yavaşca oxşaması. Sözsüz mırılım. Qarabağ şikəstəyə bənzər ımıltılar. Duruqlayır Qartal kişi. Yumur gözlərini.

-Nisigilli ahəng Şəmsi Xanım.

- Eşidməlidir Qartal kişi.

Ərəstu Bəy yavaşca Fisaqurəs Xanıma baxıb gözləri dolmaqda. Fisaqurəs Xanımda ahını içdən içdən: Ax can ax can burda olsaydı indi dəhşət ilhamlar alırdı ha! (Şənəsən Cıqqılı Kəpənəkdən danışırlar) Hən dəhşət ey, dəhşət. Tikrarlamaya başladılar eyni sözləri bir birlərinə pişiklər. Bu tutulmuş havada pürrəngi expresoda bətər yapışar deyə gülməm tutdu indi! O şənəsən şaiirənin ən sevdiyi isti bir şey. Cüt üçüt! Pişiklərin danışmasını hər qulaq almaz, bilməz, tutmaz. Deyəsən bunuda bir Şəmsi Xanım anladı birdə mən! Hən hələ məni siz tanımırsınız. O sonra işidir be qoli məruf! Nədə gönlümə o portaqalı əlindən yavaşca tutub alıb və ya o qızıl məjməyidən birisini götürüb soymağım gəlir. Nə də xoş iy burxmışlar bütün buraya. Pis olmaz mı alsam birisini, soysam yavaş yavaş? Sizdə buyurub mənimlə ağzınızı şirin elərdiz ay qadanızı aldıqımlarım.

- kimə tutmusan o əlindəkini Şəmsi Xanım.

- Yiyəsinə Qartal kişi.

Çinar Xanım əlindəki yazdığını yerə qoyub yan yönünə baxır. Bir şey axtarır. Pişiklərə baxıb qalır. Yavaşca Şəmsi xanıma doğru yeriyir. İlk soruşmaq istiyir: bə burda.. sonra əyilib onun qolundakı saata baxır: görürsən saat indi neçədir? Məndə saatıma baxmaq istəyirəm ama gəl görki illərdir qoluma saat bağlamıram. Bəs indi saat??! İki üç olmalıdır. Havadan b��lli. Bəlli deyəndə də yağışlıdır hava. Tutqun. Pəncərdən də baxanda bir elə qaraqat ağacı gözə batır birdə o qoca tosbağa. Daş tosbağa. Daşlaşmış tosbağa. Göy mavı daşlı tosbağa. Qırmız şərabı gözlərlə bizə sarı baxır sanki! Sankı evi gözətleyir. Şəhəri gözətleyir. Doqquz əl ayağıla. Harda bunu görmüşlüyüm var düşünürəm. Bizim Şənəsən Şəkər əfəndilə hardan geçməkdəydik bunu ilk kəz gördüyümdə. Çıxar bir yerdən indi gəlmir bir şey fikrimə. O ağacda əsgi qocalmış bir qadın kimin sankı birisini gözləməkdə. Görürsən kimi o indi? (Bizim Anamızın Xoş sözü var: dərdi ki hər bir şeyin içində bir göz hər gözdə gizli gözləmək!) Çinar Xanım yerinə qayıdıb aypədini alıb yumur gözlərini. Üşümüş birisi kimin.Yuxu görən birisi kimin. Hardan tapıb gəldi bura axı bu yazar xanım. Əslən mən özüm hardan buranı buldum ki? Şaiir nə tez çaşdın sən!!! Bədbəxtçılığa sən gəl bax. Yerimi itirmişəm. Öz yerimi tapanmıram ki. Gərçək mi, fantezi mi, qarışdırıram artıq. Bir azda sevdiyim anamın verdiyi yorqana bənzəyir buranın rənkləri.buranın varlığı. Bir az narıncı, bir az çöhreyi, azca firuzə, azca göy mavı. Yapışır içimə bu üşümək doğrusu. Bəlkədə yumub gözlərimi yatam deyirəm. Soyuqda yatıb düş röya görmək yapışar yazana! Sizdə yatmışsız indi?

- Saat iki ola bilər Şəmsi Xanım!

- Hən üçdə ola bilər Qartal kişi!

Qartal kişi grey caketini geymədən çiyinlərinin üstünə salıb otağın içində yerimağa başlır. Saat kimin. İki ilə üçün arasında dura qalır. Pəncərədən eşigə göz tikir. Şəmsi Xanım baxa baxa sankı yuxu görməkdə. Pişiklər getmişlər. Çinar Xanım… Çinar Xanımda demədən elə bil yavaşdan çəkib getmiş. Getməsini bilmədim. Heç yanyanada otrub danışamadıq. Çəkilmiş öz qarlı şəhərinə. Sabah indi biləsinə zəng açsam yaddaşştında bir şeylər qalır mı səncə? Xatırlarmı bu görüşü. İnanmıram. Bəlkidə Şəmsi Xanımın soyuqluğu onu biraz küstürmüş. Çinarın yoxluğu darıxdırır indi məni. Canım çayda istiyir. Qızıl güllü çay. Qartal dönüb samavara doğru gedir. İstikanlrı düzür. Havada dəyşiklik var. Rəngi qaçmış havanın. Qış kimin hava. Qarqa laqqıltısı qulağa gəlir. Asqıraqda bir tərəfdən məni mi tutmuş, Qartalı mı yoxsa indi qaldım bir az. İkimizdən birimiz dərin dərin asqırmada. Bax bax. Gəliblər pişiklər. oturublar qucağımda ondandır bu asqırmaq. Çinar Xanımın yerində oturub bir az yatmam gərək. Ağır ağır yaslanıram. Fisaqurəs Xanımla Ərəstu Bəydə qanadlarını açıb vızıl vızıl ayrılırlar otaqdan. Sankı Cıqqılı Kəpənəyi özləmişlər kimisi təbrizə doğru yoxlaşırlar. Pişiklər demişkən elə biz özümüz dədə babadanda pişlərə bənzərik. Qardaşlarımda , Əmilərimdə. Bir şey deməm gərəkirdi Şəmsi Xanıma. Kəsin bir maraxlı sözüm vardı ona. Əşi beynim getmiş da. İşləmir indi yaddaştım. Qartal kişi Çayını qarışdıra qarışdıra yerinə oturur. Birdə səslərini eşitsəm düşərəm quyumun qaranlığına. Xəngəl gülünü düşünür Qartal kişi. Ağzında uşaq şiriniyatının dadı. Çayını içib qıssaca gülməsi tutur.

- Sevilmək dəhşətdir Şəmsi Xanım!

- Sevməkdə dəhşətdir Aa Qartal!

Bir kinoya baxar kimisi TV dən görÜnüş birdən birə bozulub xışldayıb bir başında xəngəl gülünü gərdüm Şəmsi Xanımın birdə başını Fisaqurəsləş miş kimi. Birdə Xəngəlin rəngi Zümürrüt . Pişigin gözləri sə öz gözlərim. Odanın içi büzüşmüş asqıran bir ağız kimisi. Pətona pətona! Bu odaya nə oldu qaqaş durdum. Oturdum Qartal Ağanın yerinə. Kimin mırtının başı yarımlamış indi? Pəncərənin ardındakı tosbağanın yüzü bizim Qartal bəy, Qaraağat ağacının görnüşü iştə öpözü şənəsən Şairə Cıqqlı Kəpənək. Sürməli narin gözlər, saf qapqara saçlar, xışxışlı yavaş yavaş pıçıltılar.hən bu otdaqda bayaqdan bəri bir aynada görə bilmədik. Aynasız ev! Telfonuma da Çinar Xanımdan bir məsaj: bir Rəsim. Təbrizdə. Onun yaşam yoldaşı, özü və mən. Başımsa Ərəstu bəyin başı. Nə yazdığını oxuya bilmirəm. Dalqalı, Bir birinə yapışılmış əyirlmiş silinmiş bir yazı. Yazını gözlərimin oxuması gərəkirdə, də qulaqlarım sankı duymaqdadır Qartal bəyin səsilə:

- Belə Oldu Qayıdıb getddik Şəmsı Qız.

- Qayıddık, Getmədik Qartal oğlan!

—

İmg: The Orange Seller (1908) by Enrique Serra Auqué

The Orange Seller (1908) by Enrique Serra Auqué

[metamorphesque]

ASALA: Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (part 1)

In 1915, ottoman turkey committed the Genocide of Armenians: more than 1.5 million Armenians were massacred.

Women were assaulted, raped, sexually mutilated and tortured. Many were killed by bayoneting or died from prolonged sexual abuse. The “lucky ones” managed to kill themselves, while others were sold as slaves, forced to work as prostitutes or into marriage by their perpetrators. An eyewitness testified, "It was a very common thing for them to rape our girls in our presence. Very often they violated eight or ten year old girls, and as a consequence many would be unable to walk, and were shot."

The men were usually separated from the rest of “the deportees” during the first few days and executed, but, of course, not before being tortured and mutilated. Some were crucified, beheaded, others were often drowned by being tied together back-to-back before being thrown in the water. So many bodies floated down the Tigris and Euphrates that they sometimes blocked the rivers and needed to be cleared with explosives. Other rotting corpses became stuck to the riverbanks, and still others traveled as far as the Persian Gulf.

In 1918, the young turk regime took the war into the Caucasus, where approximately 1,800,000 Armenians lived under Russian dominion. Ottoman forces advancing through East Armenia and Azerbaijan here too engaged in systematic massacres. The expulsions and massacres carried by the nationalist turks between 1920 and 1922 added tens of thousands of more victims. By 1923 the entire landmass of Asia Minor and historic West Armenia had been expunged of its Armenian population. The destruction of the Armenian communities in this part of the world was total.

And yet, despite all of this—the unimaginable horrors that plagued the Armenian nation in the early 20th century—what do you think the world did in response? After this descent into hell, after the suffering, the bloodshed, the total annihilation—what followed? Silence. Deafening, shameful silence, as always.

Silence—until it was shattered 58 years later, when, at the age of 78, having exhausted every peaceful avenue to draw the world’s attention to the Armenian Question and faced with nothing but ignorance, Gourgen Yanikyan fired 13 bullets at the Turkish consul and vice-consul. This singular act of defiance wiped 58 years of dust from the forgotten pages of Armenian history, forcing the world to confront the cause once again.By sacrificing his freedom, Yanikyan ignited a movement. His act became the catalyst for a wave of Armenian activism, inspiring the creation of ASALA, who would go on to fight for the recognition of the genocide.

In 1975, a group of Lebanese-Armenians led by Iraqi-Armenian Hakob Hakobyan, all of whose parents and/or grandparents were survivors of the genocide, inspired by Yanikyan’s self-sacrifice, decided to found an underground organization, which through armed actions will again bring the Armenian Question into the international political and legal dimension, present the recognition of the Armenian Genocide carried out by the turks in 1914-1923 by the international community, and create prerequisites for the liberation of Western Armenia. The organization was called ASALA - Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia.

The military operations of the ASALA were mainly aimed at turkish embassies, consulates, diplomats, government officials, military and police institutions, the turkish business environment, especially the offices of "turkish airlines corporation", as well as the state and public structures of other countries, which showed financial or military support to the turkish state.

Now, why am I telling you about this today? Well, today - on September 24th marks the 43rd anniversary of the Van Operation (24/09/1981), carried out by 4 Armenian ASALA soldiers - Vazgen Sislyan, Hakob Julfayan, Gevorg Gyuzelyan and Aram Basmajyan. On this day in 1981, four Armenian youths, aged 20-24, armed with pistols, automatic rifles and explosives, seized the turkish consulate in Paris, holding it under their control for 15 hours.

4 Soldiers of The Van Operation taking off their masks

The trial of “VAN” turned into a trial of the turkish government. The “VAN” operation and the political trial that followed it played a major role in bringing the Armenian issue to the international political arena, globalizing the territorial claim and the violated rights of the Armenian people, creating a new wave of condemnation of the reality of the Armenian genocide, strengthening the pride and spirit of struggle among Armenians.

When all the hope has slipped away, It’s the mad who find a way.

Though violence is condemned, it is the cruel truth that it is the only language to which the world listens.

More about the Van Operation in the second part.

[black-swan-blog27]

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Başkasını sevmek harika bir duygu ama en büyük sevgiyi kendimize borçluyuz

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🧵Meet 15 Jewish Nobel Prize Winners Who Changed History🧵

The Jewish population constitutes just 0.18% of the world (15.3 million out of 8.2 billion), yet approximately 20-30% of Nobel Prize winners in fields like Physics, Chemistry, and Medicine are Jewish. This incredible fact highlights the Jewish community's historic contributions to humanity.

Let’s meet just 15 of the over 200 Jewish Nobel Prize winners.

1/ Albert Einstein (1921, Physics).

Einstein was born in Germany to a secular Jewish family. His groundbreaking discovery of the photoelectric effect laid the foundation for quantum mechanics, earning him the Nobel Prize.

▪ His theory of relativity (E=mc²) reshaped our understanding of gravity and spacetime.

▪In 1933, Einstein fled Nazi Germany to the U.S., where he became a vocal advocate for civil rights and Zionism. ▪He helped inspire the Manhattan Project but later became an advocate for nuclear disarmament.

2/ Niels Bohr (1922, Physics).

Born in Denmark to a Jewish mother, Bohr revolutionized atomic physics.

▪His Bohr Model showed electrons orbit the nucleus in distinct energy levels. ▪During WWII, Bohr worked on the Manhattan Project after escaping Nazi persecution. ▪Beyond science, Bohr advocated for global cooperation and peaceful nuclear energy use.

3/ Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1966, Literature).

Born in Galicia (modern-day Ukraine), Agnon immigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1908.

▪His novels and stories delve into Jewish tradition, spirituality, and the tension between modernity and faith. ▪His acclaimed works include A Simple Story and Only Yesterday. ▪Agnon’s Nobel solidified Hebrew literature's global recognition.

4/ Rosalyn Yalow (1977, Medicine).

Yalow, born in New York to a Jewish family, co-developed radioimmunoassay (RIA), a groundbreaking technique to measure hormones in blood.

▪Her work revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of diseases like diabetes. ▪Despite gender biases in science at that time, she became the second woman to win the Medicine Nobel.

5/ Baruch Blumberg (1976, Medicine).

Blumberg, a Jewish-American physician, discovered the Hepatitis B virus and developed its vaccine.

▪His research saved millions from liver disease and cancer.

▪Blumberg also served as the first director of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute, exploring life’s origins in the universe.

6/ Lev Landau (1962, Physics)

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, to a Jewish family, Landau made ground-breaking contributions to condensed matter physics and quantum mechanics.

▪His groundbreaking work on superfluidity explained the behavior of liquid helium at extremely low temperatures. ▪Landau also developed the "Landau-Lifshitz equations," foundational in describing ferromagnetism. ▪Known as a genius in theoretical physics, his "Landau Levels" remain crucial in quantum mechanics.

7/ Richard Feynman (1965, Physics).

Feynman, born to Jewish parents in New York, shared the Nobel for his work in quantum electrodynamics (QED).

▪Known for his brilliance and humor, he revolutionized particle physics with "Feynman diagrams." ▪He contributed to the Manhattan Project and inspired countless scientists through his lectures and books like Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

8/ Elie Wiesel (1986, Literature).

A Romanian-born Holocaust survivor, Wiesel wrote Night, a searing memoir of his Auschwitz experience.

▪He dedicated his life to Holocaust education and combating hatred. ▪Wiesel’s Nobel recognized his literary contributions, ensuring the horrors of the Holocaust were never forgotten.

9/ Herbert Hauptman (1985, Chemistry).

Hauptman, a Jewish-American mathematician, co-developed direct methods for solving crystal structures, revolutionizing crystallography.

▪His work paved the way for advances in drug design, enabling scientists to develop life-saving medications. ▪Hauptman’s methods remain foundational in understanding molecular structures in biology and medicine.

10/ Robert Aumann - Yisrael Aumann. (2005, Economics).

An Israeli-American mathematician, Aumann revolutionized game theory, analyzing strategic interactions between rational decision-makers.

▪His work, particularly on "repeated games," has applications in economics, military strategy, and even evolutionary biology. ▪Aumann is an observant Orthodox Jew and has been a vocal advocate for Israel's security and has connected his mathematical insights with the Talmudic concept of fairness and justice. He often reflects on his Jewish heritage in his work and public speeches.

11/ Aaron Ciechanover (2004, Chemistry).

Ciechanover, born in Haifa, Israel, discovered the ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation system.

▪This mechanism explains how cells identify and destroy faulty or damaged proteins, which is essential for maintaining health. ▪His findings have significant implications for treating diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's.

12/ Avram Hershko (2004, Chemistry).

Hershko, born in Hungary and a Holocaust survivor, worked alongside Ciechanover on the ubiquitin system.

▪His research showed how proteins are tagged for destruction, which is vital for cellular health. ▪Hershko’s journey from surviving the Holocaust to becoming a Nobel laureate highlights the resilience and brilliance of Jewish scientists.

13/ Daniel Kahneman (2002, Economics).

Kahneman, born in Tel Aviv, is a psychologist whose work transformed economics.

▪He co-authored Thinking, Fast and Slow, exploring how cognitive biases affect decision-making. ▪His prospect theory explained how people assess risk, challenging classical economic theories of rationality.

14/ Ada Yonath (2009, Chemistry).

An Israeli crystallographer, Yonath is celebrated for uncovering the 3D structure of ribosomes, the cell's protein factories.

▪Her work advanced the development of antibiotics targeting bacterial ribosomes, combating antibiotic resistance. ▪Yonath is the first Israeli woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

15/ Saul Perlmutter (2011, Physics).

An astrophysicist from Berkeley, Perlmutter co-discovered that the universe’s expansion is accelerating due to "dark energy."

▪His work confirmed the existence of this mysterious force, which makes up about 68% of the universe. ▪Perlmutter’s groundbreaking discovery led to a wave of new theories and observations in cosmology, changing how we understand the cosmos and our place within it.

Conclusion.

Of the 976 individual winners of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences from 1901 through 2024, at least 217 have been Jews or people with at least one Jewish parent, an astonishing 22% of all recipients. 

This amazing achievement underlines the huge contribution that the Jewish community has made to world progress in a wide range of areas, from science and medicine to literature and economics. 

With only 0.2% of the world's population, Jewish people have continued to shape and inspire the world with intellectual perseverance and innovation, thus leaving a lasting legacy for future generations. 

Correction *Jewish population is at 15.8 million. 

Correction: Wiesel won for peace. 

@AP_from_NY

[ohsalome]

As a fact of history and problem of contemporary geopolitics, Russia’s nature as an imperial power is incontrovertible. After World War I, the Russian Empire avoided the permanent dismemberment that befell other multi-ethnic land empires, such as the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. The Soviet Union not only reconquered most of the non-Russian lands that had declared independence from Moscow in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution (including Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan)—but even expanded the empire in the course of World War II, annexing Moldova, the western part of Ukraine, and other lands. Nor did the Soviet Union participate in the decolonization era. Even as the French and British empires were being dissolved, the Soviet Union was expanding its colonial reach, tightening its grip deep into Eastern and Central Europe with bloody crackdowns and military actions.

[...]

During the Cold War, Western universities, research institutions, and policy think tanks opened numerous centers and programs for Soviet, Russian, and Eurasian studies in a bid to better understand the Soviet Union and its heritage. However, these efforts had a strategic flaw: Born in an era when Moscow’s control reached far beyond today’s Russian borders, these programs inevitably framed the region through a Moscow-centric lens. Today, even as they dropped “Soviet” from their name, most of these programs have inherited this old Moscow-centric framing, effectively conflating Russia with the Soviet Union and downplaying the rich histories, varied cultures, and unique national identities of Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, the Caucasus, and Central Asia—not to mention the many conquered and colonized non-Russian peoples inhabiting wide swathes of the Russian Federation.

[...]

In many cases, Western academic programs require students to study the Russian language—often including courses in Moscow or Saint Petersburg—before they have the option of studying any of the region’s other languages, if they are so inclined and if those languages are even offered. A similar problem affects cultural studies, including literature and art, where the many ways Russian works—including the classics read by countless high school and university students—transport Moscow’s imperial ideology are rarely addressed. This only perpetuates the habit of looking at the former Soviet-controlled and Russian-occupied space through the prism of the world’s last unreconstructed imperial culture. Unwittingly, today’s Russia studies in the West still replicate the worldview of an oppressor state that has never examined its history and is nowhere near having a debate about its imperial nature at all—not even among the Russian intellectuals or so-called liberals with whom Western students, academics, and analysts generally interact and cooperate.

Finally, Western academia also presents Russia itself as a monolith, with little or no attention paid to the country’s Indigenous peoples. By now, many who study Russian history are at least vaguely familiar with the Stalin-era genocide of the Crimean Tatars and their replacement on the peninsula by Russian settlers. But why not shed more light on the Russian conquest and subjugation of Siberia, one of the most gruesome episodes of European colonialism? Or Russia’s 19th-century mass murder of the Circassians, Europe’s first modern-era genocide? What have we learned about the short-lived Idel-Ural state, a confederation of six autonomous Finno-Ugric and Turkic republics crushed by the Bolsheviks in 1918? Why not highlight Tatarstan, which proclaimed its independence from Russia in 1990? Nascent efforts to give Russia’s Indigenous peoples a voice have gotten underway, including the Free Peoples of Russia Forum that last convened in Sweden in December 2022—but they have hardly registered in Western academia. Not only are Western scholars’ interests and relationships Russia-centric; within Russia, those relationships and contacts are Moscow-centric. It’s as if Russia’s highly diverse regions didn’t exist.

[deductordemigod]

It's winter. You ask me about love and I tell you about violence. I'm sorry. I thought that's what love was. It's all the same anyway. Love is never what you want it to be. It can be better, but it can be worse. It doesn't always have to hurt but it always hurts me. The devotion to pain, to something bigger than myself. Love is something big and loud, and god left a long time ago, and took the tenderness with him. So if you're going to feel anything, why not make it hurt. I used to be a hole in the ground, now I am just a hole in myself.

Saudi Arabia GP [Jeddah] (2022) // unknown // Azerbaijan GP [Baku] (2019) // Azerbaijan GP [Baku] (2023) // 'Translations' by Brian Friel [Act 2 Scene 2] (1980) // unknown // Belgian GP [Spa] (2004) // German GP [Hockenheim] (2018) // Singapore GP [Marina Bay Street Circuit] (2023) // 'Translations' by Brian Friel [Act 3] (1980)// unknown // Bahrain GP [Bahrain International Circuit] (2022) // 'Translations' by Brian Friel [Act 3] (1980) // British GP [Silverstone] (2022) // 'Translations' by Brian Friel [Act 3] (1980) // unknown // Spanish GP [Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya] (2022) // French GP [Circuit Paul Ricard] (2022)

so i'm studying the play 'Translations' in my english literature class, and i couldn't help but find some of the quotes relatable to charles. i then found this poem online (unfortunately no source to be found no matter how hard i look), and the rest is history so to speak.

[totowlff]

chapter twelve — like susan and lucy

➝ with the pregnancy progressing healthily, cassie decides it's time to tell one of her most trusted people about the baby. unfortunately, she wasn't alone.

➝ word count: 4,8k

➝ warnings: none

10 WEEKS

Your womb is now about the size of an orange. You may find your clothes are tighter and your stomach may be sticking out, but this can be due to changes in your bowel activity rather than your pregnancy.

It was the perfect early summer day as Cassie drove down the M40 from Oxford to London. It seemed like there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, which felt like a rare treat for the UK. 

She’d felt a bit hesitant to go to London on one of the few weekends when Toto wouldn’t be at a race until the summer shutdown, but she felt like it was important to maintain her own schedule while she still could, before the latter stages of the pregnancy when she likely wouldn’t want to go anywhere, and before all of her time and energy would be devoted to caring for her child. The child she was having with Toto. 

“I don’t want to smother him”, Cassie thought to herself, shaking her head, like the physical action of doing so would reorder her scattered thoughts. “We’re not together, not really. But, it’s like all I want to do is spend time with him”.

In an effort to distract herself from the urge to drive over to Bedwells Heath and spend the weekend with Toto, probably talking about the things they needed to buy for the baby, she’d called her sister, Helena, to see if she could pay her a visit.

Plus, she hadn’t told Helena about the baby yet, and desperately wanted to tell someone, and Helena was all too happy to have her over.

— Jack is going to be gone all weekend, he’s going to Zurich on business. It’ll just be me and Tommy, and we definitely need to catch up.

Tommy was Cassie’s four-year old nephew, Icarus, but his parents addressed him by his middle name, Thomas, and usually called him Tommy. Helena had chosen his name in line with the family’s tradition of using names from classical literature, but after the boy was born, she and Jack had a long discussion about his nickname possibly being “Icky”, which might make the poor boy’s life difficult in school. 

“I’m not sure why they didn’t think of that beforehand”, Cassie remembered thinking, shortly after they’d decided on his name. 

As she drove past a field full of grazing sheep, her mind drifted back to two days ago, when she and Toto met for their regular chat over coffee at the factory. In Cassie’s case, she’d begrudgingly made the switch to non-caffeinated herbal tea.

It had been almost a month since Cassie found out that she was expecting, and she and Toto were the only people that knew — aside from Cassie’s doctor and the Mercedes board chairman Ola Källenius, who Toto couldn’t resist telling during one of Ola’s visits to Brackley because Toto was too excited to contain himself.

She was fit to burst with excitement and wanted to tell everyone she saw, but she felt like she needed to wait a bit longer because she was nervous about telling anyone. She knew it was normal to wait until the end of the first trimester for most women to disclose the news, but it was all Cassie wanted to talk about and it was taking a great deal of restraint to not say anything yet. 

“But if I say anything and something happens”, she thought. She felt like she would jinx it if she told someone too early.

— Are you okay? — Toto asked her, causing Cassie to snap out of her thoughts. He had been talking about his upcoming trip to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and Cassie must have let her mind wander again. It seemed to be happening quite a bit, but her doctor told her to expect some brain fog in the first trimester.

— Hm? Oh, yes, just thinking.

— What were you thinking about? — Toto asked. 

— Just about how I haven’t told anyone about, uh, the news yet. It’s almost all I can think about, but you’re the only one I can talk to about it.

— Ah, I feel the same way. It was hell at the race in Montreal last week, all of the reporters asking questions about Lewis beating Ayrton’s number of poles, but all I wanted to talk about was — he dropped his voice and leaned in a bit — The fact that I will be a father soon.

— I mean, at least you got to tell someone — Cassie teased. She’d been a little miffed when she found out that Toto had told the man who was, more or less, his boss, but she couldn’t be too upset about the gifts Ola had sent them — Who am I even going to tell? Victoria?

— No, but you could tell… Er, what about your aunt? What was her name — Toto combed his fingers nervously through his hair as he tried to remember — Uh, don’t tell me… Not Sylvia, right?

— Sybil? — Cassie said, incredulous. She laughed a little, and shook her head in disbelief — God, no. I love the woman dearly, she’s been more of a mother to me than my own mother, but the problem is that she’s an incorrigible gossip, and if she finds out, everyone in West Sussex will know, including my actual mother. But, I could tell my sister, I suppose. We’ve always been close, which I consider to be nothing short of a miracle. We were like Susan and Lucy growing up… You know, from the Chronicles of Narnia?

She noticed the way Toto’s facial expression turned confused.

— I… Actually haven’t read that book, I don’t think. I will take your word for it. You have a sister and a brother, right? — Toto asked, taking the last drink of his coffee. 

— Yes, that’s right. My brother is named Jason. We are… Not close, not really. He’s had… Um, the same mindset as my father, about, well, everything. The problem is that Jason’s wife is a lovely woman, and she likes me, and his three daughters, my nieces, adore me, which I think annoys him a bit, like he’s afraid I’ll corrupt them, or something — Cassie giggled.

— Family is certainly complicated — Toto said, nodding sagely. He glanced at his watch, and then said — I have to get back to my office, I have a meeting with… Someone, but I can’t remember who. I guess I’ll find out when I get upstairs.

He shrugged, and smiled as he stood up from his chair, offering Cassie his hand to help her stand up, despite her having no difficulty doing so on her own.

— But remind me to tell you about my mother and her sister, my aunt, sometime, you will probably relate — he added, before saying goodbye and going back to his office.

Cassie watched carefully for the exit for Great West Road she needed to take, as she always seemed to miss it because of traffic around Heathrow. Sometimes she didn’t notice she’d missed her exit until she crossed the Thames, meaning she’d gone too far south.

She made it to Pimlico without incident, and admired the seemingly endless rows of grand white townhouses that lined the streets. It was a gorgeous day. The sky was bright blue, and the smogs of summer hadn’t started yet. Cassie took her time walking to her sister’s building, taking it all in. It was a charming neighborhood, and she could see why her sister and her husband decided to settle here, but at the same time, she was happy that she and Toto didn’t live in London instead. Oxford was a large enough city for her tastes, and she liked being somewhere that wasn’t constantly congested with people.

She rang her sister’s doorbell when she arrived at the correct building, and a few moments later, the smiling face of a four year old boy appeared in the glass.

— Auntie! — the boy squealed, as he pulled the wooden door open. 

— Tommy! — Cassie said, kneeling down to give the boy a hug and a kiss — You’re getting so big!

A moment later, her sister appeared in the doorway.

— Cassie! — she said, pulling Cassie into a hug and giving Cassie a customary, but still fond, kiss on the cheek in greeting — So good of you to come. Come in, come in, I’ve made tea already.

Cassie took a moment to take her shoes off in the doorway, as listening as Tommy chattered away about how he had watched Lewis’ last race and how he told one of his friends at preschool about how his auntie worked with Lewis Hamilton. Cassie didn’t have the heart to tell him that she only worked with the drivers on rare occasions, as she didn’t travel to the races, but Lewis was kind enough and invested enough attention in the staff at both Brackley and Brixworth that didn’t travel to races that he’d given Cassie a few items he’d signed, specifically to give to her nephew, like a cap and a miniature replica helmet. 

Cassie followed her sister into the townhouse’s drawing room, where afternoon tea was set out. Cassie was relieved to see that her sister didn’t go to the trouble of using her nice china just for her. She was using a modest, everyday set, that was a shade of gray that matched perfectly with the townhome’s modern, monochrome decor. Her sister had set out some biscuits and the standard cucumber tea sandwiches. Cassie smiled as she sat down and watched her sister pour her son some milk with a small splash of tea, and offered her some. — Milk and two sugars, still?

— Ah… Yes — Cassie said, accepting the proffered cup. She didn’t start drinking it right away, opting to take a biscuit first. As she took a bit of it, Cassie took a moment to look at her sister and her nephew, wondering what sort of features her baby would get. 

Would she inherit the narrow, pointed nose that Cassie, her sister, and her nephew had gotten from Andromeda, or would she get Toto’s wider nose that crinkled when he smiled? Would she get the narrow jaw and almost pointed chin she got from her father, or Toto’s square, strong jawline? Cassie’s nephew got his father’s pale eyes, but Cassie and Toto both had dark eyes. But, Cassie thought, would they be shaped like his intense, hooded stare, or her eyes that were turned slightly upward at their corners? Would their baby inherit the warmth of his skin tone that tanned readily during the warmer months, or would she be pale and prone to freckles and sunburn like Cassie was? Would she get Cassie’s red hair? It was unlikely, Cassie had decided, since she’s not even sure what side of the family she inherited it from. Jason and Helena both had light blonde hair as children that grew out to a medium blonde, like Albert had before his hair went completely white at a relatively early age.

— So — Helena said, settling down in her chair and spreading her napkin out on her lap — What’s new with you? It’s been a while since we last talked. You must be busy with race season fully underway, but I’m sure you don’t want to talk about work on your day off. Any promising prospects lately, in the romance department? The last I heard about was the French restaurant man, what was his name again?

Cassie took a moment to think, remembering the disastrous date that started her on this odyssey to childbirth. So much had changed since then, but how could she explain it all to Helena? 

— Um… I actually don’t even remember the guy’s name — Cassie said, with a small giggle — That was the last date I went on, but he was a real treat. Did I tell you that he told me he expected me to quit my job? On the first date! I do confess to making a bit of a scene in the restaurant when I left, but I don’t regret it.

Helena laughed. 

— I’m sorry, Cass. I’m sure there’s someone good out there waiting for you.

— Well, it’s funny that you should mention that, because…

Cassie was interrupted by the sound of the townhouse’s doorbell ringing through to the sitting room they were in.

Helena’s brow wrinkled in confusion, as she looked at Cassie. 

— Mum, who’s that? — Tommy asked, looking up at his mother.

— I don’t know, Tommy. I wasn’t expecting anyone else today. Excuse me while I go check. Tommy, stay here and tell your auntie all about your riding lesson yesterday.

While Cassie never was swept up in the family’s passion for equestrian sports, Helena took to it immediately. She developed a passion for riding Dressage, and spent most of her time and energy on it growing up. Cassie knew enough about the sport to know that Helena had a passion and a natural gift for the sport that she herself was lacking. Helena cleaned up in competitions in her youth and continued competing into her teenage years and early adulthood. She competed at events all over the world and also competed on the first team — the most prestigious one — during all three of her years at Cambridge, telling Cassie that it was nice to have some “more relaxed events to do”. Just after graduating from college, Helena was named as a reserve rider for the Great Britain dressage squad for the London Olympics.

Cassie didn’t think she’d ever seen either of her parents so proud and happy, certainly not at anything Cassie had done. Helena intended to have another go at making the Olympic team properly for the 2016 games, but she’d gotten married and had a baby two years before then, and “temporarily retired” from competition. Now, she taught high-level riding lessons at an elite stable in Wimbledon, and made frequent trips down to West Sussex to help out at their father’s barn. 

Cassie only half-listened as Tommy talked about the pony he got to ride at his most recent lesson, a Palomino named Jammie Dodger, which was his favorite one of the barn’s lesson ponies, because Jammie Dodgers were his favorite biscuit. She was distracted, wondering what was taking her sister so long to return. She was growing a bit concerned.

— Stay here for a moment, Tom Tom. I’m going to see what’s keeping your mum — Cassie said as she took the napkin off of her lap and stood up. She heard snatches of hushed conversation between Helena and another woman coming from Helena’s foyer as she practically tiptoed down the hall.

— Um, I’m sorry, it’s just not a good time. I just wish you’d called first, I have…

— Well, I thought I’d surprise you. I had to be in London today for…

— I know, but…

— I just wanted to stop by and see…

She knew that other voice. She knew who had come by to visit, apparently unexpectedly, who Helena was talking to. Her blood ran cold in her stomach, making her feel nauseous. She was prone to nausea these days, but this kind of sick feeling had nothing to do with her pregnancy or the part of a tea biscuit she’d eaten, but everything to do with who was at the door. She wasn’t sure what to do. She could slink her way back into the sitting room and wait for her sister to see the uninvited guest away, stay in the hallway and continue trying to eavesdrop, or she could confront the visitor head-on, and let things happen as they may.

The choice was made for her, though, by an energetic four-year-old tearing down the hallway in a loud, thumping sprint. 

— Gran! — he yelled, catching sight of the woman in the foyer. 

— Tommy! — Andromeda squealed, kneeling down to give the boy a big hug. Cassie was relieved that Andromeda hadn’t seemed to notice her yet, but Tommy blew her cover — How is my little man?

— I’m good, gran! Auntie Cassie is here too! — the boy said, cheerfully. 

— Oh, is she? — Andromeda said, trying to sound pleasant, despite a distinct squeak in her voice.

Cassie silently cursed the boy, but her frustration was fleeting — he wasn’t aware of the fact that Cassie and the members of her family that weren’t her sister had such a volatile relationship, especially because the last big fallout Cassie and her parents had took place long before Tommy was even born.

Cassie took a moment to steel herself before rounding the corner into the foyer, trying to make sure the expression on her face looked as neutral-to-pleasant as possible.

— Hello, mother — she said, quietly.

Andromeda stood back up straight, and Cassie tried not to stare as she looked her mother up and down. It had been years since they’d been in the same room together, but she mostly looked the same as she remembered. Her dark, wavy hair was cut into an elegant bob and swept away from her face, exactly like she’d styled it for the entirety of Cassie’s life. Her jaw was set, and her thin, carefully-plucked eyebrows were raised. There were streaks of gray emerging at her temples that made her look even more imperious than she usually did. She was wearing a pressed navy blue cotton shift dress and a light gray blazer, with a pair of slingback kitten heels to match. 

She was wearing her wedding ring, and a matched set of simple platinum jewelry — a ring, necklace, and bracelet, all from Cartier, if Cassie had to guess, as that had long been Andromeda’s “everyday wear” jewelry of choice. On her thin, elegant wrist, Andromeda wore a vintage Cartier Tank watch that had belonged to Cassie’s grandmother that Andromeda had worn daily since she’d inherited it. 

Her nails were manicured to perfection and painted the same shade they’d always been — Essie’s “Ballet Slipper”, which she started wearing years ago because it was an apparent favorite of Queen Elizabeth’s. Cassie balled her hands into fists in a subconscious effort to hide her fingernails, which were currently unpolished and chewed on, as she hadn’t gotten them done in a while. She’d been a nail-biter since childhood, and it was a terrible habit she’d never been able to break.

— Cassandra — Andromeda said, her voice terse — It’s… Ah, good to see you. I hope you’re doing well, with… Whatever it is you’re doing.

— Helena didn’t tell me you were coming today — Cassie said, wondering if she sounded as nervous as she felt. She shot her sister a pleading glance that she hoped Andromeda wouldn’t pick up on.

— I didn’t — Helena started, but Andromeda cut her off.

— Well, it was an unplanned visit. I had to come do some errands on Oxford Street, and I had to pick up something for your father on Savile Row, so, I thought I’d stop by on my way back to see my daughter and grandson. I didn’t realize it would be a… Problem. Speaking of Oxford, is that where you are, still? — she said, leveling her icy gaze at Cassie.

— Yes. Still in Oxford, still working for Mercedes in Northants.

— And still single, I presume? — Andromeda asked, narrowing her eyes. Cassie felt a wave of annoyance ripple across the back of her scalp in pinpricks, but now it was her turn to be cut off as she opened her mouth to respond.

— This is a lovely catch-up — Helena said, abruptly — But I’d prefer we do this somewhere other than my foyer. Cassie and I were just sitting down to tea. Care to join us in the sitting room, mum?”

Andromeda seemed a bit disarmed by the offer, but acquiesced. 

— Right this way, then — Helena said, grasping her son’s hand and leading the two other women down the hallway in somewhat of an awkward procession.

Cassie sat back down in her chair and watched as her sister hurriedly set out another place setting for their mother. Helena, then, poured her mother’s tea, making it just the way Andromeda had always preferred it — no sugar, no milk.

— Thank you, my sunshine — Andromeda said to Helena — Now, I believe Cassandra was about to answer my question before we came and sat down.

— We don't have to talk about that — Helena said. Cassandra knew exactly what her younger sister was doing, because she had been doing it since they were teenagers. She was trying to be some sort of referee, a moderator, a buffer between Cassie and their mother. Cassie felt terrible about Helena likely feeling like she had to play this role, but she loved her sister for it.

— No, it’s okay, Helena. You asked as well, before mum arrived. And you’ll be pleased to know that there is someone.

— Really? — Andromeda said, raising her eyebrows — You found someone that can tolerate all of your little… Quirks? At your age, I’m surprised you hadn’t given up trying, I was expecting you to say you’d decided to follow in Sybil’s footsteps and dedicate your life to spinsterhood.

For a moment, it felt like all of the air had left the room. It would have been deadly quiet if not for Tommy noisily scraping his fork against his sandwich plate, trying to spear a piece of cucumber sandwich that Helena had cut up for him. 

Cassie could feel white-hot anger rising in her chest. She intentionally clenched her teeth together in a herculean effort to keep her mouth shut and not say the things she desperately wished to say. 

— Mother — Helena said, sternly. 

— What? She’s in her mid-thirties, it’s not like she’ll be able to have children or anything by now, even if she does find someone who can put up with her.

Without knowing it, Andromeda had tripped the detonator on what was left of Cassie’s restraint. She felt just like she did in that French restaurant with… What was his name? Paul? Peter? There was no reason to maintain any sort of politeness, not if her mother was going to speak to her that way. 

— Actually, mum, I was about to tell Helena the good news before you arrived, uninvited — she watched as Andromeda scowled — So, since you’re here, I suppose I’ll share with both of you at the same time. I am seeing someone, in fact, and just over a month ago, we found out that I’m pregnant.

The room filled with noise in an instant, as Cassie could hear the clatter of Andromeda’s teacup falling out of her hands and onto the tabletop in surprise, sending tea sloshing out of the cup and down the front of Andromeda’s dress. 

Helena gasped and shrieked with joy as she bolted out of her chair to embrace her sister. Even as she hugged Helena back, she didn’t take her eyes off of Andromeda, who looked crestfallen as she tried to blot the tea off of the front of her dress with her napkin. 

— I’m so happy for you — Helena said, pressing a kiss to her sister’s cheek. 

— There’s a baby in your tummy? — her nephew asked — Is it a girl or a boy? I hope it’s a boy so I have someone else to play with other than Phoebe, Thalia, and Ariadne.

Cassie laughed at her nephew.

— No promises, Tom Tom, we don’t know yet.

Her sister released Cassie from her clumsy embrace and sat back down in her chair. 

— I had no idea, I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend. Tell me everything, what’s his name? What does he do?

Cassie tried to think of how to explain it all. She was aware that “the CEO of my company and I have become close friends over the past few years, and entered into a co-parenting agreement with him being the sperm donor for an IVF conception that failed, so we conceived naturally after I had an emotional breakdown, and now I’m in love with him, but my feelings are not reciprocal, so I will spend the rest of my life breaking my own heart to be close to him and make him happy”, was a bit of a mouthful, as well as being difficult to explain.

— His name is To… um, Christian. He’s in finance, and we’ve known each other for a few years — Cassie said, trying to be as simple and vague as possible, while still answering at least one of her sister’s questions. She certainly wasn’t lying, until she said — He loves me, and I love him very much.

Andromeda appeared to be frozen in her seat, slack-jawed in horror as she watched Cassie stand up and pick her purse up from where it was hanging on the back of her chair. 

— Now, I’m going to head back home before it gets too late. Thank you for the invitation and the tea, it was so good to see you again. Come to Oxford soon, we’ll get together.

She hugged her sister goodbye, and gave Tommy an affectionate pinch to the cheek. 

— And you too, Tom Tom. Next time, I’ll bring you some of the new driver cards we have for this season.

— I’ll walk you out — Helena said. 

When they got to the door, Cassie turned to her sister.

— I’m sorry about throwing that grenade and leaving, and thank you for trying to moderate today. I had a lovely time, aside from the obvious. I’ll call you later and tell you everything — she promised, giving her sister a polite kiss on the cheek.

— It’s nothing. I know how things can be with you and mum. Drive safe, and congratulations, once more. Keep me up to date on your progress, and don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything. 

When Cassie got back to her car and sat down in the drivers’ seat, she sighed deeply before turning the ignition over, the afternoon playing back in her head. She had intended to tell her sister, but certainly not like she had. She let her mind go blank as she navigated back to the M40, concentrating on trying not to miss her exits. Once she was back on the familiar highway, she felt herself starting to cry a little. 

She regretted that her relationship with her mother was such that she announced her pregnancy only to shock her, as a form of petty revenge for Andromeda’s snide comments about her age and relationship status. It was not the kind of relationship a mother and daughter should have — Andromeda should have been overjoyed to hear about the fact that another grandchild was on the way, but it was nothing Cassie wasn’t used to by now.

“At least I know my child will never have a conversation like that with me”, Cassie thought. She was sure of that. She was sure of the fact that she would love her child unconditionally, no matter what her interests were or what kind of life she chose to live when she was older. 

She was sad, too, about the fact that she lied about Toto to Andromeda and Helena. She loved him, there was no doubt about that, but she knew that Toto didn’t love her back. 

Growing up, her parents — her father, mostly — told her that she was difficult, that she was frustrating, that it was hard to love her. “Nobody likes a know-it-all”, was one of her father’s pet phrases with her. Maybe, without realizing it, she’d internalized that, and after her disastrous relationship with Callum, when he started telling her she was too outspoken or hard-headed, and that she was “too much”, she saw it as confirmation, and didn’t try to find anyone again for a long time after that ended. As she thought about it, she realized that, maybe if Toto didn’t love her back, he’d never see the parts of her that made her too difficult to love for anyone that had tried to before.

As her thoughts turned to Toto, she stopped crying. She called him, having her car’s stereo system dial his number without a second thought, almost as if it was a reflex. She thought about hanging up as she listened to the outgoing call ringing to his number, but he picked up before she could manage.

— Hi — he said. His voice sounded warm and fond — Are you still in London?

— No, just on my way back — Cassie said, trying to not smile so much that Toto could hear it in her voice — Just on the M40 now, about forty minutes out.

— How was it? Did you tell your sister the news?

— Well, my mother showed up…

— Oh no. So, you…

— So, yes, I told her the news. Both of them, at the same time.

Toto chuckled, which made Cassie smile. He had such a nice laugh.

— I’m sure that went well.

Cassie laughed.

— It went about as well as you'd expect.

— Well, I’m just making myself some dinner, if you haven’t eaten yet, I’d be happy to make some for you, if you want to come over and tell me all about it?

A warmth spread through Cassie’s chest, pushing out all of the tightness and sadness she was feeling just moments ago. She may have a lifetime ahead of breaking her own heart to make Toto happy, but these moments — where she could feel happy, too — were well worth the pain.

— I’d love to. I’ll be there soon.

[brookston]

Holidays 5.23

Holidays

Angelica Day (French Republic)

Aretha Franklin Appreciation Day (Michigan)

Aromanian National Day (Balkans; a.k.a. Aromanians, Vlachs, or Macedo-Romanians)

Asian Corpsetwt Day [Every 23rd]

Best Friend-in-Law Day

Bifocals Day

Bluebell Day

Caracal Day

Climb A Tree Day

Day of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Azerbaijan)

Day of Ukrainian Marines (Ukraine)

Divorce Day (UK)

Empire Air Day (UK)

Empire Day (Bermuda)

EMS Save-a-Life Day Day

Festival of Saint Sarah the Egyptian (Sara Kali the Black Queen; a.k.a. Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France) begins [until 25th]

Go For A Walk In Your Swim Fins Day

Go Nissan Day

Harvesting Healing Day

Heroes’ Day (Ukraine)

International Day of Women’s Football

International Day to End Obstetric Fistula (UN)

International GM1 Gangliosidosis Awareness Day

International Synthesizer Day

Isis Asteroid Day

Kids Ocean Day (California)

Kiss Day (Japan)

Komagata Maru Remembrance Day (Canada)

Labour Day (Jamaica)

Linnaeus Day (Sweden)

Lucky Penny Day

Mass Graves Day (Iraq)

Mayoring Day (Rye, Sussex, UK)

Melissa McBride Day

Mesmerism Day

Moog Day

National Apology Day

National Best Friend-in-Law Day

National Braid Day

National Canine Cancer Awareness Day

National Day (Morocco)

National Ethan Day

National Fill Your Thermos Brand Bottle Day

National Girls Learn Coding Day

National Goat Day

National Infantry Day (Ukraine)

National Medical Coder Day

National MILF Day

National Reed Day

National Stop the Bleed Day

National Tea Cosy Day

143 Day (Mr. Rogers)

PitDark Pitch Day

Stormy Daniels Day

Students’ Day (Mexico)

World Crohn's and Colitis Day

World Day Against Melanoma

World Turtle Day

World Wrestling Day

Youth Day (Tajikistan)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Dunkin Iced Coffee Day

National Asparagus Day

National Drinking with Chickens Day

National Pork Roll Day

National Taffy Day

Independence & Related Days

Ausveria (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Bonumland (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Constitution Day (Germany)

Plan for Palestine Independence by 1949 (Approved by UK Parliament; 1939)

Reberia (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

South Carolina Statehood Day (#8; 1788)

4th Thursday in May

Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day [Thursday of Memorial Day Weekend]

Red Nose Day (US) [Last Thursday]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

World Chardonnay Day [Thursday before Memorial Day]

Weekly Holidays beginning May 23 (3rd Full Week)

National Safe Sun Week (thru 5.29)

Festivals Beginning May 23, 2024

Asian Festival of Children’s Content (Singapore) [thru 5.26]

Book World Prague (Prague, Czech Republic) [thru 5.26]

Hay Festival of Literature and Arts (Hay-on-Wye, United Kingdom) [thru 6.2]

Hot Luck (Auto, Texas) [thru 5.26]

Kerrville Folk Festival (Kerrville, Texas) [thru 6.9]

Kodiak Crab Festival (Kodiak, Alaska) [thru 5.27]

Main Street Port Clinton Walleye Festival (Port Clinton, Ohio) [thru 5.27]

Patriotic Festival (Norfolk, Virginia) [thru 5.26]

Ware Shoals Catfish Feastival (Ware Shoals, South Carolina) [thru 5.25]

Feast Days

Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)

Amaldus Nielsen (Artology)

Anathansius (Positivist; Saint)

Appreciate Reptiles Day (Pastafarian)

Bertholet Flemalle (Artology)

Bluebell Day (Shamanism)

Bufi the Toad (Muppetism)

Carl Bloch (Artology)

Carista (Day of Peace in the Family; Pagan)

Declaration of the Bab (Baba'i)

Desiderius, Bishop of Langres (Christian; Saint)

Desiderius of Vienne (Christian; Saint)

Euphrosyne of Polotsk (Christian; Saint)

Franz Kline (Artology)

Giovanni Battista de' Rossi (Christian; Saint)

Guibert of Gemblours (Christian; Saint)

Harold Hitchcock (Artology)

Ivo of Chartres (Christian; Saint)

John Baptist Rossi (Christian; Saint)

József Rippl-Rónai (Artology)

Julia of Corsica (Christian; Saint)

Leontius of Rostov (Christian; Marty)

Margaret Fuller (Writerism)

Mitch Albom (Writerism)

Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler (Episcopal Church (USA))

Peter Matthiessen (Writerism)

Quintian, Lucius and Julian (Christian; Saints)

Rosalia (Ancient Rome)

Simon the Zealot (Abkhazia)

Slim Pickens Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Tubilustrium (Ceremony to Purify the Ceremonial Trumpets; Ancient Rome) [also 3.23]

Turtle Day (Pastafarian)

Vulcan's Day (Ancient Rome)

William of Perth (Christian; Saint)

William of Rochester (Christian; Saint)

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Full Moon [5th of the Year] (a.k.a. ... 

Bright Moon (Celtic)

Buddha Day (Buddhism)

Budding Moon (Traditional)

Corn Planting Moon (Alternate)

Dragon Moon (China)

Egg Laying Moon (Traditional)

Fell Moon (South Africa)

Flower Moon (Amer. Indian, North America, Traditional)

Grass Moon (Neo-Pagan)

Hare Moon (England, Wicca)

Leaf Budding Moon (Traditional)

Milk Moon (Colonial)

Panther Moon (Choctaw)

Planting (Cherokee, Traditional)

Southern Hemisphere: Beaver, Frost, Hunter’s

Buddha Day [Around 5th Full Moon of the Year] (a.k.a. ... 

Buddha Jayanti (Nepal)

Buddha Purnima (Parts of India)

Buddha Purnuma (Bangladesh)

Hari Raya Waisaki (Indonesia)

Lord Buddha’s Parinirvana (Bhutan)

Saga Dawa (Sikkim, India)

Shyadar Pidar (Parts of India)

Vesak Day (Singapore, Sri Lanka)

Visakha Bucha Day (Thailand)

Visakh Bochea (Cambodia)

Wesak (Malaysia)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Addicted to Love (Film; 1997)

The Asphalt Jungle (Film; 1950)

Blended (Film; 2014)

Born This Way, by Lady Gaga (Album; 2011)

Brassed Off (Film; 1996)

Bruce Almighty (Film; 2003)

Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (Novel; 2012)

Cat Nipped (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1932)

The China Plate (Silly Symphonies Cartoon; 1931)

David and Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell (Book; 2014)

Doctor Faustus, by Thomas Mann (Novel; 1947)

Dragonquest, by Anne McCaffrey (Novel; 1971) [Dragonriders of Pern #2]

The Dwarf, by Pär Lagerkvist (Novel; 1944)

The Fabulous Riverboat, by Philip José Farmer (Novel; 1971) [Riverworld #2]

Fidelio (Final Version), by Ludwig Van Beethoven (Opera; 1814)

Fish Tales (WB LT Cartoon; 1936)

Follow That Dream (Film; 1964)

Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns (Music Documentary Film; 2003)

The Gong Show Movie (Film; 1980)

I’ll Be There For You, by The Rembrandt’s (Song/Friends Theme Song; 1995)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Film; 1984)

Injun Trouble (Mighty Mouse Cartoon; 1951)

Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell (Novel; 1960)

The Kids Are Alright (Documentary Film; 1979)

Law and Audrey (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1952)

Lights Fantastic (WB MM Cartoon; 1942)

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Film; 1997)

The Marshall Mathers LP, by Eminem (Album; 2000)

Much Ado About Nutting (WB MM Cartoon; 1953)

A Mutt in a Rut (WB LT Cartoon; 1959)

Nutty News (WB LT Cartoon; 1942)

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (Film; 1973)

Patience, by Gilbert & Sullivan (Operetta; 1881)

Persepolis (Animated Film; 2007)

The Shining (Film; 1980)

Silly Scandals (Betty Boop Cartoon; 1931)

Taking the Long Way, by the Dixie Chicks (Album; 2006)

The Thin Man (Film; 1934)

Tommy, by The Who (Album; 1969)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (Film; 2014)

Today’s Name Days

Alma, Desiree, Renate (Austria)

Deziderije, Nada, Vilim, Želimir, Željko (Croatia)

Vladimír (Czech Republic)

Desiderus (Denmark)

Lii, Liidi, Liidia, Ly, Lydia (Estonia)

Lyydia, Lyyli (Finland)

Didier (France)

Alma, Désirée, Renate (Germany)

Dezső (Hungary)

Desiderio (Italy)

Leontīne, Ligija, Lonija (Latvia)

Gertautas, Ivona, Tautvydė (Lithuania)

Oddlaug, Oddleif (Norway)

Budziwoj, Dezyderiusz, Dezydery, Emilia, Iwona, Jan, Leontyna, Michał, Symeon (Poland)

Mihail (România)

Želmíra (Slovakia)

Desiderio (Spain)

Desideria, Desirée (Sweden)

Allard, Desirae, Desire, Desiree (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 144 of 2024; 222 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 21 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Huath (Hawthorn) [Day 12 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ji-Si), Day 15 (Ding-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 15 Iyar 5784

Islamic: 15 Dhu al-Qada 1445

J Cal: 24 Magenta; Threesday [24 of 30]

Julian: 10 May 2024

Moon: 100%: Full Moon

Positivist: 3 St. Paul (6th Month) [Anathansius]

Runic Half Month: Ing (Expansive Energy) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 66 of 92)

Week: 3rd Full Week of May

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 3 of 31)

[xuxanov]

Uçmaqda da (Cənnət) bu yer için ağlayacağam.

-Marina Tsvetaeva, from Earthly Signs: Moscow Diaries, 1917-1922; “A Hero of Labor”

—

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.18

Holidays

Aging Awareness Day

Astronomy Day (Armenia)

Big Brothers Big Sisters Day (Canada)

Celebrate Your Name Day

Celebration of Talent (French Republic)

Chiropractic Founders Day

Clemente Day

Day of National Music (Azerbaijan)

Deceased Motorcyclists Remembrance Day (Ukraine)

Dieciocho (Chile)

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 8: Human Rights

European Heritage Days (EU)

Feast Day of the Walloon Region (Belgium)

Festival of Inner Worlds

Festival of Labour (French Republic)

Fiesta Patrias (Chile)

First Love Day

Global Company Culture Day

Hug a Greeting Card Writer Day

International Equal Pay Day (UN)

International Pitt Hopkins Awareness Day

International Read an eBook Day

Island Language Day (Okinawa, Japan)

Jeannie in a Bottle Day

Jitiya Parwa (Only Women Employees; Nepal)

Jonny Quest Day

Long Playing Record Day

Mickey Mantle Day (New York)

Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday (Taiwan)

Mountain Meadows Massacre Anniversary Day (by Mormon Church Members; Utah)

Mukden Incident Anniversary Day

National Cannabis Day (Germany)

National Ceiling Fan Day

National Colton Day

National Day of Civic Hacking

National Fitness Day (UK)

National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day

National Museum Day [also 5.18]

National Music Day (Azerbaijan)

National Play-Dough Day

National Rehabilitation Day

National Report Kickback Fraud Day

National Respect! Day

National Science Reading Day

National Tree Day (Canada)

Navy Day (Croatia)

New York Times Day

918 Day (Oklahoma)

Persian Literature and Pony Day (Iran)

PCOS Awareness Day

Scouring of the White Horse (Wantage, Berkshire, UK)

Shima-kutuba Day (Japan; Okinawa)

Top Ten List Day

U.S. Air Force Day

Victory of Uprona (Burgundy)

Vulver Awareness Day

World Bamboo Day

World Knot Tying Day

World Medical Ethics Day

World Water Monitoring Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Brett Day

National Cheeseburger Day

National Chocolate Day

Rice Krispies Treats Day

Independence & Related Days

Buddie Union (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Chile (a.k.a. Dieciocho, 1st Gov't Junta, 1818)

Free Republic of Silbervia (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

3rd Wednesday in September

Banned Websites Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Human Resource Manager Day [3rd Wednesday]

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

Mouth Cancer Awareness Day (Ireland) [3rd Wednesday]

National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Rehabilitation Day [3rd Wednesday]

National School Backpack Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wandering Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wiener Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning September 18 (3rd Full Week of September)

Wear Cotton Week (thru 9.25)

Festivals Beginning September 18, 2024

Eurofurence (Hamburg, Germany) [thru 9.21]

Festival du Film Merveilleux et Imaginaire (Paris, France) [thru 9.20]

Lost Lands (Thornville, Ohio) [thru 9.22]

National Cattle Congress (Waterloo, Iowa) [thru 9.22]

Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield, Kansas) [thru 9.22]

Feast Days

Amoeba Assimilation Day (Pastafarian)

Anton Mauve (Artology)

Arcadius, Bishop of Novgorod (Christian; Saint)

Ariadne of Phrygia (Christian; Martyr)

Bidzin, Elizbar, and Shalva, Princes of Georgia (Christian; Martyrs)

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (Artology)

Castor of Alexandria (Christian; Martyr)

Constantius (Theban Legion)

Ear Wig Fitting Day (Shamanism)

Edward Bouverie Pusey (Episcopal Church)

Eleusinian Mysteries begin (Ancient Rome; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Eugene’s, Bishop of Gortyna (Christian; Saint)

Eustorgius I (Christian; Saint)

Ferreol (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Ceres (Roman Goddess of Agriculture & Grain Crops)

Festival of Labour (French Republic)

Foundation Day (Unification Church)

Hilarion of Optima (Christian; Saint)

Joe Kubert (Artology)

John Harvey Kellogg Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

José de Rivera (Artology)

Joseph of Cupertino (Christian; Martyr)

Juan Macias (Christian; Saint)

Konstantin Kakanias (Artology)

Leonardo da Crunchy (Muppetism)

Lord Berners (Artology)

Lynn Abbey (Writerism)

Mark di Suvero (Artology)

Methodius of Olympus (Christian; Saint)

Plataia (Ancient Greece)

Richardis (Christian; Saint)

Rosmerta (Celtic Book of Days)

Samuel Johnson (Writerism)

Scouring the White Horse begins (Everyday Wicca)

Sophia and Irene of Egypt (Christian; Martyrs)

Third Nostril of Christ Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Thomas of Villanova (Christian; Saint)

Tzom Gedaliah (Fast of Gedalia; Judaism)

Vanaheim Day (Pagan)

Vondel (Positivist; Saint)

Zay Day (Sus God Zay) [Wear red or purple hoodies]

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chong Chao (Macau)

Chusok (South Korea)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [38 of 53]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [31 of 37]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [24 of 30]

Unlucky 18th (Philippines) [3 of 3]

Premieres

Abacab, by Genesis (Album; 1981)

Abou Ben Boogie (Swing Symphony Cartoon; 1944)

The Addams Family (TV Series; 1964)

Birthday, recorded by The Beatles (Song; 1967)

A Bully Frog (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Film; 1958)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Animated Film; 2009)

Continental Divide (Film; 1981)

Crazytown (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Film; 1951)

Dog Daze (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

Enough Said (Film; 2013)

The Farm of Tomorrow (MGM Cartoon; 1954)

Fatal Attraction (Film; 1987)

Five and Dime (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)

The French Lieutenant’s Woman (Film; 1981)

Funny Girl (Film; 1968)

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss (Albums; 1978)

Get Smart (TV Series; 1965)

Goldfinger premiered in UK (1964) [James Bond #3]

Goo Goo Goliath (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

The Gullible Canary (Phantasies Cartoon; 1942)

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

Heartache Tonight, by The Eagles (Song; 1979)

I Likes Babies and Infanks (Fleischer Cartoon Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak (Children’s Book; 1970)

The Japoteurs (Fleischer Cartoon; 1942) [#10]

Jennifer’s Body (Film; 2009)

Jonny Quest (Animated TV Series; 1964)

Making Money, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 2007) [Discworld #36]

Maple Leaf Rag, by Scott Joplin (Song; 1899)

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Film; 2015)

The Moffatt Translation of the Bible (Bible; 1922)

More Than a Feeling,, by Boston (Song; 1976)

New York Times (Daily Newspaper; 1851)

Old Rockin’ Chair Tom (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1948)

Pain Strikes Underdog, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S2, Eps. 1 & 2 1965)

Pink in the Clink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1968)

The Road to Ruin or Mine Over Matter (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 55; 1960)

Rockin’ with Judy Jetson (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Movie; 1988)

Rush Hour (Film; 1998)

School Daze (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner (Novel; 2010) [Maze Runner #2]

Serve It Forth (Art of Eating), by M.F.K. Fisher (Food Essays; 1937)

Severed Relations or How to Get a Head (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 161; 1962)

Sicario (Film; 2015)

Singles (Film; 1992)

Smiley Smile, by The Beach Boys (Album; 1967)

Strange Little Girl, by Tori Amos (Album; 2001)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Film; 1951)

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (TV Series; 2006)

Superman: Doomsday (WB Animated Film; 2007)

That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles or Me and My Chateau (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 162; 1962)

Tired and Feathered (WB LT Cartoon; 1965)

Two Flying Ghosts or High Spirits (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 56; 1960)

Wagon Train (TV Series; 1957)

War Pigs, by Black Sabbath (Song; 1970)

Where’s Wally, by Martin Hanford (Puzzle Book; 1987)

WKRP in Cincinnati (TV Series; 1978)

Today’s Name Days

Herlinda, Josef, Lambert, Rica (Austria)

Alfonz, Irena, Jonatan, Josip, Sonja (Croatia)

Kryštof, Oskar (Czech Republic)

Titus (Denmark)

Tiido, Tiidrik, Tiidu, Tiit (Estonia)

Tytti, Tyyne, Tyyni (Finland)

Nadège, Véra (France)

Alfons, Herlinde, Lambert, Rica (Germany)

Ariadne, Ariadni, Evmenis, Kastor, Romylos (Greece)

Diána (Hungary)

Eumenio, Giuseppe, Maria, Sofia (Italy)

Alinta, Elita, Gizela, Liesma (Latvia)

Galmantė, Mingailas, Stefa, Stefanija (Lithuania)

Henriette, Henry (Norway)

Dobrowit, Irena, Irma, Józef, Ryszarda, Stefania, Tytus, Zachariasz (Poland)

Eumenie (Romania)

Elizaveta, Raisa (Russia)

Eugénia (Slovakia)

José, Sofía, Sonia (Spain)

Orvar (Sweden)

Irene (Ukraine)

Clint, Clinton, Corbin, Corwin, Corwyn, Korbin, Korvin (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 262 of 2024; 104 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of Week 38 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guy-You), Day 16 (Yi-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 15 Elul 5784

Islamic: 14 Rabi I 1446

J Cal: 22 Gold; Oneday [22 of 30]

Julian: 5 September 2024

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 10 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Racine]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 91 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of September

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 28 of 32)

[metamorphesque]

Aurora (Arshaluys) Mardiganyan: the girl who survived

Operation "Nemesis": Part 1

Gourgen Yanikyan: 13 bullets that shattered the world's silence

ASALA: Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (part 1)

ASALA: VAN Operation, September 24 (part 2)

Monte Melqonyan: Armenian Hero

History of Artsakh: Part 1

What is western azerbaijan? - yet another azeri delusion

BREAK THE CHAIN OF IGNORANCE: Free Armenian Prisoners

September 19, 2023: Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh

The Amusement Park of Armenian Genocide in baku

The dehumanization of Armenians as state policy in azerbaijan

Formula 1, Sportswashing and Greenwashing a Genocide … in other words, just an ordinary day in baku

Facing The Facts: Resources on the Armenian Genocide

Frequently Asked Questions About Armenian Genocide

Sample Archival Documents on the Armenian Genocide: U.S. Archives

Sample Archival Documents on the Armenian Genocide: British Archives

Map of the 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Turkish Empire

Talaat Pasha's Official Orders Regarding the Armenian Massacres, March 1915-January 1916

The Massacre of the Armenians (”Ambassador Morgenthau describes the forced evacuation of one group of Armenians from their homeland to the Syrian desert.”)

American Documents

British Documents

Russian Documents

French Documents

Austrian Documents

Public Lectures

Eye Witnesses

Aurora Mardiganyan's book, "RAVISHED ARMENIA" (14-year-old girl who managed to escape)

The Turkish Woman

That is all right, but who killed hundred of thousands Armenians?

Einar af Wirsen

The Story of Anna Hedwig Bull, an Estonian Missionary of the Armenian Genocide.

"That's How It Was"

ARAB EYEWITNESS FAYEZ ALGHUSSEIN ABOUT THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Report by an Eye-Witness, Lieutenant Sayied Ahmed Moukhtar Baas

Letters of Turkish doctors addressed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey

Martyred Armenia: Eyewitness account of the Armenian genocide by Faiz El-Ghusein a Turkish official

PHOTO COLLECTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

[ghelgheli]

[Samad] Behrangi was the educator par excellence. For eleven years he taught in the village schools of [Iranian] Azerbaijan and intermittently at a teachers' training school in Tabriz. His face-to-face encounters with rural poverty and broad exposure to Azeri folk culture helped shape both the content and medium of his message as a writer. Behrangi's corpus of fiction—short stories often referred to as children's stories in the West, but really timeless folktales meant for child and adult alike—is deeply rooted in his village teaching experiences and his love for Azeri folk culture. Behrangi left no doubt that he wrote these tales to instruct and to incite: "The time of limiting children's literature to passive propaganda and rigid, fruitless institutions has ended. We must lead our children away from building hopes on false and empty visions towards. creating hopes based on a correct understanding and interpretation of the harsh realities of society and on how to struggle to eliminate those harsh realities." Pleasure was not the sole or even the most important reason to read his tales: "Reading stories is not only for pleasure. I don't desire that aware children read my stories only for pleasure." [...] To evade the censor Behrangi used the folktale form. Behrangi's fiction consists entirely of folktales, either translated from the Azeri Turkish or created anew. That he should have chosen this style is not at all surprising, given his fascination with Azeri folk literature and positive experiences in teaching folktales in the village schools. However, the opportunities to evade the censor through allegories and metaphors surely were not lost on Behrangi. Precisely for this reason, the folktale—euphemistically called "children's literature"—with its own long and rich history in Persian literature became one of the most important genres in post-June 1963[, when widespread demonstrations in response to the arrest of Ruhollah Khomeini were met with lethal government crackdown.]

The "Westoxification" of Iran: Depictions and Reactions of Behrangi, Al-e Ahmad, and Shariati, Brad Hanson 1983 [JSTOR]

[terranautica]

welcome!

this blog loves planet earth and the people in it.

some notes:

I generally try to identify places + groups

I try to make conscious decisions about tags that respect cultural identities, consider historical context and reject imperialism. I realize this is impossible and messy and doomed to be inconsistent. choices I've made include one Korea, one Ireland, and multiple tags for separatist states, i.e. Scotland, Catalan Countries.

I am currently unsure when or if it makes sense to tag the "bigger" nation in a post about an autonomous region, ex. China and Tibet, Faroe Islands and Denmark. I want to respect widespread independence movements, but also not become bloated with regional tags. Tibet deserves to be free of China but I have to laugh at modern Texas separatism.

Israel does not get a tag. Jewish diaspora, Free Palestine, genocide, USA, or anti imperialism are used.

I am not always sure when to use the indigenous peoples tag. if I am unsure I will probably leave it out.

except the history and prehistory tag, I currently am not tagging things that no longer exist, ex. Soviet Union, Roman Empire. I may instead tag with related tags, ex. Russia, Greece

Tags like EU, UK, Africa, Asia, Latin American, Polynesian, etc. are used in posts that refer to many places/groups collectively ex. Lunar New Year in Asia

I try to tag the country/group that an artist/writer/creator belongs to, ex. a post featuring Baldwin tagged with USA, literature, black diaspora

tags are ever-evolving!

country/place tags:

Africa, Albania, Angolia, Argentina, Armenia, Asia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Catalan Countries, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Emirates, Estonia, Ethiopia, EU, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guatemala, Haiti, Hawai'i, Hungary, Iberia, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, free Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, free Tibet, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Wales, West Papau, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

diaspora + ethnic group + cultural group tags:

Ainu, Apache, Bahá'í, Basque, Black diaspora, Chechen, Choctaw, Chulym, Dakota, Dharumbal, Dolgan, Galician, Gavião, Guarani-Kaiowá, Hui, Igbo, immigrants, Ingorot, Inuit, Ixil, Jewish diaspora, Karakalpak, Kashmir, Kazakh, Ket, Khakas, Lakota, Latin American, Lezgin, Mah Meri, Maka, Makonda, Mari, Mohegan, Ojibwe, Pataxo, Polynesian, Pueblo peoples, Purepecha, Q'eqchi', Rapa Nui, Rohingya, Romani, Rukai, Ryukyuan, Sakapultek, Samburu, Sámi, Selkup, Sioux, Tamil, Tatar, Tigray, Tlingit, Tokalau, Uyghur, Yazidi

culture + other tags:

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ugly tags:

acab, anti capitalism, anti imperialism, anti misogyny, anti xenophobia, genocide

[opiatemasses]

Ignorance is bliss: the narrative of sportswashing reviewed

When will people jump off the bandwagon? When will people have the courage and challenge the narrative of sportswashing?!

Sportswashing is a term commonly used, especially in articles criticising Middle Eastern countries hosting major sporting competitions. A buzz word that’s gained a lot of media attraction; sportswashing is a ‘phenomenon in which political leaders use sport to appear important or legitimate on the world stage whilst distracting from chronic social problems and human rights abuses at home” (Boykoff 2022:342). It was a term first used towards criticising Azerbaijan hosting the 2015 European Games and now our eyes turn to Saudi Arabia hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2034.

The argument for sportswashing is one that is genuine and well-intended however it’s important to highlight and question what points it misses and tone of language it sets. Being an avid reader of sport articles, ‘blatant sportswashing’ is what is described to me whenever I read about this topic. It made me feel that sports were just a pawn and despised countries like Saudi Arabia etc.

I decided to go against the narrative and attempt to seek reasons other than sportswashing and challenge its term.  Formulating an opinion that’s looked at all angles is an opinion that’s more well-rounded than an opinion that looks at one side of the story, don’t you think?

White man’s burden

There lies an ideological burden when scholars and journalist use the language of sportswashing. It simplifies and fails to shed light on the complexity of sport policies as well as a prejudiced tone towards these authoritarian regimes (Elsborg, 2022). Admittedly criticism has tended to focus on autocratic governments; however, when countries promote similar use of sport, e.g., South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup despite xenophobic attacks occurring that resulted in 62 dead, these practices are understood as ‘sports diplomacy’ (Soyland,2020). Why the contradiction?

Sports diplomacy projects a mutual, positive, and arguably friendlier choice of language in contrast to the action provoking metaphor of sportswashing. I would argue its use can be challenged as subjective and ultimately positions countries that are more liberal, democratic, and Western-friendly at a higher moral standing.

Perhaps this comes because between 2000 and 2020 65% of papers concerning political use of sport and sport diplomacy derived from affluent parts of the globe of Europe and North America (Postlethwaite et al., 2023).  Susceptibility to falling into a narrative of eurocentrism (an ideological perspective that favours European culture and values above else) is at risk due to minimal representation from other continents. We need to acknowledge and give a platform to those that are less represented in the field of literature to contribute and challenge or support narratives being portrayed.

Double-edge sword

Sportswashing is not just a one-way process. People should acknowledge and be aware that for a country to host such event, the governing bodies of the sport Like FIFA, IOC needs to give the approval it requires for it occur in the country. Therefore, the definition of sportswashing should acknowledge that it isn’t solely the country involved but also the sport’s governing body responsible.

There is further complexity when global capitalism is involved. The EU is Saudi Arabis’s second-largest trading partner, accounting for 14.8% of its global trade, including exporting 7.8% of crude oil. Furthermore, economic co-operation has strengthened between UK and Qatar. The state of Pearl is set to buy another 12 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, displaying that the two nations are willing to do business despite cultural differences.

The notion of ‘double standards’ is unavoidable. If these countries with terrible human rights record are at fault, why are we doing business with such nations? Surely, we should distance ourselves rather than associate? Criticism is one thing, but acting upon it is another.

Criticism of such nature may consequently lead to damaged relations and withdrawals from trade agreements, which can have significant impact towards our economy and cause problems such as energy shortages and spike in energy costs. You can read more about the importance of maintaining an interest in the Middle East here.  Maintaining a cooperative relation with the Middle East is pivotal and thus the narrative of sportswashing may have unintended consequences to what it was set out to do originally. 

My aim is to challenge and push away from the generalised narrative of sportswashing but to observe it on a wider scale and be open to reasons that can question its legitimacy. I believe that sports and politics will always be intertwined, and how we interpret it and why we interpret it in such a way is crucial in the way we see things in society.

Concluding Thoughts

Ultimately its up you, the reader to interpret how you see the narrative of sportswashing.

Looking ahead in the future, more collaborative work and partnerships should be formed with countries and their educational institutions that are underrepresented respectively. Subsequently this would ensure a much more universal approach when discussing the narration of sportswashing. As well as that, critics that support sportswashing must also hold sport organisations accountable and include them more in their point of argument.

Taking action

Educate ourselves further with the issues surrounding sportswashing. Ensure to read different articles from different sources. Who benefits from a particular policy or narrative? What are the potential downsides? Who might be left out of the conversation?

Talk to people from different nationality and cultural backgrounds. Ask for their opinion and see how their backgrounds influence and shape their opinion.

Be willing to show emphasis. If you were a Qatari citizen, how would you feel about your country hosting a global sporting event? Would you perceive different nations differently and if so, why?

So, what do you think of the narrative of sportswashing? Is it justifiable or are there more parts to be unveiled? Please get stuck in the comments and let me know your thoughts and opinions!

Further readings