#ch paul revere

[clonehigh-takes]

Paul Revere (the horse guy in the ADD ep) would have LOVED TikTok he would have those gossip accounts about the school

where is my gossip girl when i need him

[neutrallyobsessed]

if ya asked me bout my fav background clone that'd be Paul Revere :3

[lenalvthor]

tethered playlist breakdown - ch 2: all too well

this chapter’s music centres mainly around Imogen and Ashton! because i didn’t say anything about Ashton’s musical backstory in the ch 1 breakdown, let’s start with them 🎸🤘🏼: 

Ashton

like Laudna, Ashton had a musical career as a teenager with his band The Nobodies (vibe: 2000s/2010s pop punk/punk rock, see - Five Minutes to Midnight by BOYS LIKE GIRLS or Check Yes Juliet (Run Baby Run) by We The Kings). also similar to Laudna, Ashton found themselves chewed up and spat back out by the industry they’d found a home in and were burned badly when the hamster wheel of international tours and year-after-year back-to-back albums slowed down for the first time (aka 1D vibes of burn out, band break-up + hiatuses). 

their first foray into making music again was through a single, Floating in the Night (by Judah & the Lion) which they had originally written as a more pop punk song, but Bertrand directed them towards The Crown Keepers who Ashton collaborated with to rewrite it into more of a indie/folk rock song, and who ended up featuring when the single was released. Ashton signed with Eshteross Records soon afterwards and started rebranding as a solo artist making more folk rock style music as the years passed (again, taking suggestions for what songs could be the right vibe for an album during this period). 

post 2-year-Bell’s Hells-separation-period, Ashton’s music has mellowed from the thing that’s remained so distinctive about him - the angry rock elements - which is why he is so nervous about his new music. that tone lingers a little in the lyrics and sometimes the instrumentation, but it’s not as consistent, so in the fic’s present-day, Ashton’s vibe most closely resembles Noah Kahan. 

the album Ashton’s been working on over these 2 years, and that he shows Bell’s Hells in this chapter, is:

how it is / how it was / how it has to be 

the view between villages

homesick 

growing sideways

no complaints

stick season

paul revere

call your mom

halloween 

dial drunk

new perspective

orange juice

you’re gonna go far

all my love

now listen to these songs through a different lens for me, will ya? — 

in this au, Ashton��s first real home was music; it was the industry, it was the fans, it was The Nobodies, it was discovering a queer world beyond the place they grew up. but at the same time, just like what happened with Laudna, that same home started to dig its claws in and try to tear Ashton apart without them realising. the industry, the expectations, the lifestyle, the spotlight … it became something so dangerously toxic, threatening to swallow him whole. it was the reason Ashton developed chronic pain, the industry pressure was the reason The Nobodies didn't stay together, it was the reason Ashton became angry and cynical and bitter jaded. so there was an unexpected, devastating relief when The Nobodies broke up and Ashton had an excuse to step away. even though it was his home, it was where he found himself, where he first found the thing in the world he loved to do most, where he found his first real people. 

so one of the reasons Ashton stayed away from music for as long as they did afterwards - older than many of the other Hells, just a little, having started in the industry before they did and waiting longer than Laudna between the teenage career ending and the adult career starting - was because they couldn’t figure out what to do with the conflict of the ‘place’ (the world / the lifestyle / the people / the culture) that made him also being the thing that caused him so much pain. 

how it is / how it was / how it has to be is, in some ways, Ashton’s life and career mapped in its trajectory. from meeting FCG first and toeing the line of being tied to that world, taking the long drive back (the view between villages, homesick) and being reluctantly pulled back into making music (growing sideways, no complaints), eventually signing to Eshteross Records and telling stories again (stick season, paul revere) and everything that’s happened with the Hells plot-wise (some things you know, some things you don’t, i.e. rest of the tracklist) until now (all my love).  

now, the song Laudna and Imogen mention that Laudna collaborated with Ashton on is, probably predictably: Call Your Mom ft Lizzy McAlpine. (Ashton writes it after Laudna gets back from her world tour to all the other Hells gone - Imogen especially - and Laudna and Dusk break up, and Laudna is just not doing well. Ashton first releases the original, and later that same month, a version with Laudna on it too.) also, as already mentioned in ch 2, the song Ashton wrote for + shows Imogen is you’re gonna go far because of course it is. 

Imogen

here it is, here it is, the heart of the fic, its namesake (almost all Taylor Swift songs (different albums tho!) and if you aren’t heels dug in the dirt with only listening to rerecordings, OG versions sound the most like Imogen to me) — 

tethered

breathe 

come back…be here

the story of us 

haunted 

all too well

wouldn’t come back [by Trousdale]

enchanted 

long live 

now buckle up buttercups, we’re looking at these songs through a whole new light. forget romance (mostly),  we’re doing family trauma: 

(okay, admittedly, there is romance woven into all of this because it can’t not be. but that’s not at the heart of this album, is what’s important to note.)

breathe is about Laudna, of course - about their rela—friendship falling apart after their fight two years ago, and as Laudna started dating Dusk before Imogen left. But it’s also about how Imogen saw the crumbling of Liliana and Relvin’s relationship from a young, co-dependent, whirlwind marriage to something neither of them were sure how to hold onto. 

come back…be here again, of course, is a little bit about Laudna (love how I said forget romance and here we are) — about her leaving to go on tour and follow the success of a career that’s finally controlled by her and not Delilah, about Imogen’s feelings of being left behind. but it’s also about Relvin and Imogen, being left behind by Liliana, about the faint memory Imogen has of watching her father pine for her mother as Liliana was off touring and making something of herself, Imogen and Relvin each longing for her to come back to them in Gelvaan one day but not knowing how to articulate that to each other and connect over it. 

the story of us is Relvin and Liliana once their relationship had ended and Liliana still came to see Imogen, and things were tense and uncomfortable and Imogen could tell that a chapter in her life had come to a close in front of her eyes (both for her parents and for her relationship with her mother, knowing it’ll never be the same because Liliana won’t want to come back in the same way.) 

haunted. look. I had many ‘oh my fucking god’ moments about this song. It’s my favourite Taylor song and I’ve used it for many an au, and l i s t e n. I know that for its symbolism and its imagery, could and should be about Laudna. but it’s not — this is about Liliana and Imogen. because the electric guitar and the tension and the building, growing crescendos of the whole song, the sharpness of the violins and the fury of the electric guitars all just fucking sounds to me like a storm. It’s about Imogen’s betrayal over Liliana leaving. so, you’re welcome. 

now here’s the one that fucked me the most and I am begging y’all to appreciate it with me okay — all too well. OG and not the 10-minute version. it’s the song Imogen is the most proud of and the most afraid of putting into the world because she doesn’t know if it makes sense to anybody except her. the perspective changes nearly with every line; it’s the song that blurs together the experience of Relvin, Liliana and Imogen all loving and hating and missing and losing each other. the lines between where one person’s experience ends and another’s starts is impossible to see, and the resounding message of i was there, i remember it, all too well is Imogen determined to make sure that despite Liliana’s death years and years ago, despite Relvin as good as pretending she never existed, despite Imogen having moved away and left it all behind her, none of it is forgotten; a memory of the fact that it all happened has to continue to exist. 

(and of course, that’s also the theme of this chapter.) 

It’s a mixture of Liliana’s perspective of the whirlwind, small town, young love between her and Relvin that was always doomed to end, and Imogen watching the tail end of this relationship, Relvin seeming to lock it away the second Liliana was too far for him to hold onto. it’s Imogen trying to remember, to make sense of her parents’ relationship, their family. 

and because this song is my roman empire for this au, please prepare for the fact that i’m giving you the line by line perspectives of this entire song, you’re welcome (i’m sorry): 

the first verse is about Liliana, the second verse is Relvin, the prechorus - “and I know it’s long gone…” - is both of them and Imogen. 

first chorus is Liliana and so is the verse that follows, but the second prechorus, that “there was nothing else I could do, and I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to” is Relvin. 

the first lines of the next chorus - “there we are again in the middle of the night, we’re dancing in the kitchen in the refrigerator light” - are Relvin and Liliana, but then the “down the stairs, I was there, I remember it all too well” is Imogen, as a little girl perched on the second to last step of the staircase, watching her parents dancing to the songs they used to love when they were teenagers, bathed in the light of the refrigerator with the door hanging open to cut through the sweltering, thick, night heat of Gelvaan’s summers (and in those moments, Imogen had been so sure that the three of them would be okay).

but of course, that’s not how it unfolded, which becomes clear in that build up to the bridge. so when it climbs and climbs to the “maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much, maybe this thing was a masterpiece til you tore it all up” is Relvin and Imogen, being left by Liliana, feeling hurt and betrayed and not good enough in such different but also achingly similar ways. 

“running scared, I was there, I remember it, all too well” is Imogen and Liliana, a decade apart, running from Gelvaan, from Relvin, from a town that wasn’t enough and desperate to find more but equally terrified for that murky unknown at the same time. 

and then — “you call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest” is Imogen. the experience of Liliana slowly but surely drifting away from being Imogen’s mother in a way that felt like such a betrayal. 

everything after this is all of them, everything from “time won’t fly” to the “it was rare, i was there” is all of them, losing each other at the same time and not being a ble to do anything as it happens. 

then those last three lines: “wind in my hair, you were there, you remember it all” is Liliana to Relvin; “down the stairs, you were there, you remember it all” is Relvin to Imogen; and “it was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well” is Imogen (to both of them, but to herself more than anyone else). 

anyway. moving on. 

wouldn’t come back is about the uncomfortable ease with which Imogen understands Liliana’s choices and decisions, when it comes down to it. because she left too, just like Liliana, and then she did it again years later, from people she really did truly love and a life she cherished, and this song is Imogen writing about those choices and those parallels and understanding both the hurt on the side of being left behind and the desperation of needing to leave. 

enchanted is about Laudna. every note, every line, every second, every piece of the story, is all all all Laudna, because I was lying to you about forgetting romance because c��mon. about first meeting Laudna years ago and thinking that she should, by all accounts, be intimidated seeing someone who’s music she’d listened to for years, who’s a household name in a way Imogen has only ever dreamed of being, in a way Liliana was, but Laudna was so shy and flighty back then, so soft and holy shit, she was - is - beautiful, her voice even more … musical than Imogen had heard in the interviews and clips. so that’s enchanted. 

and long live is, of course, about Bell’s Hells. about how they made each other better,  about how they saved each other at points when they were so afraid of what the world had in store for them, about how they made each other the most authentic versions of themselves, and how, as Imogen wrote this album, she was so isolated from all of them by her own making, how all she had was the memories of how that used to be, but that’ll still be worth everything to her. 

so that’s tethered. 

(oh as a little treat: the song Laudna is working on that afternoon while she and Imogen hang out in the apartment is Apple Pie by Lizzy McAlpine xo) 

I’ll wrap it up there so that this doesn’t become as long as the chapter itself, but: hope this gives you some music to listen to and a world to think about in the two week wait before next CR ep! 

give me music recs for this au if you think of any, tell me what you think of the songs I’ve already told you about, and for the sake of ease: here’s a playlist for y’all (will update it every week with new songs as I add them to the plot in the fic). 

love, chim ⚡️

[wickershells]

Forever intrigued by the portrayal of animals in media, how and if and why they are used as a conveyance of themes… the fremen + muad’dib, desert mouse, that can make its own water and is thus respected, ribbed and teased lovingly; Paul, fedaykin in fremen company, names himself after the same meek mouse — Paul, Lisan al-Gaib, holds his knife in the baron’s throat and coldly remarks that he “dies like an animal”. Ants, later, crawl up into his ear — make a feast of him, turn him into an emblem of the gluttonous (oppressive) cycle he propagated, through blood, in blood. Head of a Great House, now nothing more than animal feed, reduced to the “primitivity” of desert he believed inferior, worthy only in subject to him. (Paul, his grandson, will wander blind into the same world-desert, and what is expected to be made of him? To be swallowed whole by God: “‘There will be a worm for Muad’Dib,’ they said. And they began the chant for those committed to the desert, the ones whose water went to Shai-hulud: ‘Mother of sand, father of Time, beginning of Life, grant him passage.’” Messiah, ch. 24)

Rabban insisting that the fremen are not human, but rather rats, which is to say animal, which is to say lesser than [Harkonnen, Atreides, coloniser]; Shai-hulud, revered, regarded on high: a force more powerful than human, creator of Dune’s spice. The legacy of the Atreides empire comes in the form of sandworm hybridity — a futile conquering of that which you have already destroyed, a stalling of the inevitable loss to come. Animal as companion (indigenous respect) vs animal as dominion (colonial violence)

[the-redheaded-league]

WIP Whenever Tag!

Thanks for the tag @sleepswithvillains​...

I’m horrible at tagging people and remembering who’s who across platforms, so if you have something you want to add, please do!! I’m living for all of the talented artists and writers out there in the MM fandom!​

Now to confuse y’all, here are a few lines form a few WIPs:

Ch. 4 of The Ghost On the Shore:

Several things happened at once. Something crunched. Grace screamed. Riley and Hassan started running from where they had been talking. And then Paul did something no one had ever seen him do before and something he swore he would never do again: [redacted, you’ve gotta wait to find out]

Adam and...

“Shh.” Grace leaned in to kiss him, forcing him to end the deluge of every word that came to mind. “I love you more than anything too. And as long as you love me, I’m not going anywhere.”

“I do!” He cried the words out like a wounded animal, so worried she wouldn’t believe him. He was nearly hyperventilating, desperate to keep her in his life, desperate not to lose her because of who he was, desperate to ensure that she knew how much he adored and revered her.

“I know,” she said calmly, reaching for his hand. “I know. I know it every second of every day.”

Perfectly Imperfect:

After all, everyone who knew would naturally be curious about what the priest was like in bed. And now here he was, trying not to start sobbing and failing miserably. If the whole to town didn't know already, they would soon. "I’m sorry, Gracie. I - I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He buried his face in his hands, whimpering like a wounded animal as he felt Grace shift to sit beside him. "I didn't mean..."

[pamphletstoinspire]

Eucharist and Priesthood: The Feast of Corpus Christi

The early summer liturgical “trifecta” of Pentecost, Trinity, and Corpus Christi, forms a kind of “encore” to the joyful Easter Season focusing in succession on three fundamental realities of the Christian life: the Church, the Triune Godhead, and the Eucharist. This “trifecta” comes to an end with the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ.

The Readings for this Solemnity obviously focus on types and descriptions of the Eucharist, but there is a notably priestly theme that also runs through them.

How can we observe this connection between the priesthood and the Eucharist? It first comes to mind when when we are exposed to the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. In St. Ignatius of Antioch's famous passage concerning the Eucharist in his Letter to the Smyrneans (ch. 7), we suddenly realized that the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was and is the constant belief of the Church from apostolic times to the present day:

But consider those who are of a different opinion with respect to the grace of Christ which has come unto us, how opposed they are to the will of God. They have no regard for love, they do not care for the widow, or for the orphan, or the oppressed; or for the bond, or the free; or the hungry, or for the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, out of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrneans 6-7)

Upon reading this passage, supported with other teachings of the Fathers on the Eucharist, we can come to believe in the Real Presence. But then the following chain of thoughts should be considered: (1) Let us acknowledge that the Eucharist is truly transformed into the Body of Christ. (2) But does this happen when any Christian, at any time, prays over bread? Does every Christian have the power and authority to make bread into the true Body of the Lord? Surely that would be ridiculous, and lead to abuses of all kinds: persons confecting the Eucharist in sacrilegious ways, and treating the Eucharistic Lord without proper reverence. (3) Therefore, it must be the case that only certain persons, at certain times, can transform bread into the Body of Christ. (4) Who would those persons be, and what would those times be? Surely they must be persons authorized by the Church to do so, at the times when the Church authorizes the Eucharist to be celebrated. (5) But to be entrusted by the Church with the authority to celebrate the Eucharist is an awesome responsibility that marks a person out from among the laity of the Church. (6) Therefore, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist inevitably requires that there be a class of persons marked out from among the ranks of believers who are set aside and entrusted with the authority to celebrate the Eucharist at the proper times. This class of persons would constitute a priesthood.

This line of reasoning could surely be stated better and more succinctly by others, but hopefully the point has been made a little more clearly about the Real Presence doctrine of the Eucharist, in which the bread and wine are truly transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and, that it requires a new covenant priesthood. On the other hand, if the Eucharist is merely symbolic, it does not require priests to celebrate it. And indeed: Protestantism has a non-sacramental, non-priestly, purely functional view of their clergy.

On to the Readings:

The First Reading is Gn 14:18-20:

In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Melchizedek's name is Hebrew for “King of Righteousness.” He is identified as “king of Salem.” “Salem” is a form of the Semitic root for “peace,” as in the Hebrew “Shalom.” “Salem” is also the archaic name for Jerusalem, employed in at least one Egyptian inscription (I believe it is a campaign itinerary of Ramses II, if memory serves) as a reference to the city.

Jewish tradition held that Melchizedek was none other than Shem, son of Noah, based on the fact that Shem lived into the lifespan of Abraham, and who else would be qualified to invoke a blessing upon Abraham. “Melchizedek” was then understood as a throne name (which it surely was, whatever one may think of the identification with Shem). Thus, in the ancient Jewish view, Melchizedek transmitted to Abraham the blessing of the patriarchs extending through Noah all the way back to Adam.

Some hold that the bread and wine brought out were merely for the refreshment of Abraham and his men. The text, however, connects the bread and wine to Melchizedek's priesthood and the conferral of the blessing, so it would be better to understand the bread and wine as liturgical offerings (i.e. a grain offering with a libation). This does not exclude a practical use for the refreshment of those present, because liturgical offerings in the ancient world were often consumed by the worshipers as part of the ritual.

It seems that the kingship of the city of Jerusalem carried with it a priestly role, going back at least to the figure of Melchizedek. Later, in 2 Samuel 5, when David becomes King of Jerusalem, he seems to take on the priestly role that comes with his office, a kind of “Melchizedekian Succession.” In 2 Samuel 6, for example, we see David functioning as a priest when the ark is brought up into Jerusalem (vv. 12-19). (The liturgical feast that David provides on that occasion (2 Sam 6:17-19) is itself a type of the Eucharist.) David's priestly role was transmitted to his sons, according to 2 Sam 8:18. Jesus is the ultimate Son of David, whose priesthood can be traced back to Melchizedek (and then, if Melchizedek is Shem, back to Adam). Thus, Jesus' priesthood is more ancient and venerable than the priesthood of the Levites, which was only conferred on them after the sin of the Golden Calf (Exod 32:25-29). This is one of the arguments of the Book of Hebrews.

To sum up, Gen 14:18-20 reminds us that in Jesus we still have a priest who exercises the priesthood of Melchizedek, a priesthood that involves the offering of bread and wine which confers on the recipients blessing and salvation from their enemies.

2. The Responsorial Psalm is Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4:

R. (4b) You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek. The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek. The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion: “Rule in the midst of your enemies.” R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek. “Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor; before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.” R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek. The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent: “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

Psalm 110, like Psalm 2, was probably an ancient coronation hymn sung when each new successor of David mounted the throne to begin his reign. Psalm 110 reminds the new Davidic king of his noble priestly role, a role (as we saw above) that goes back to the great Melchizedek himself. The words of this hymn are hyperbolic when applied to any of the merely natural sons of David, but the words reach their full potential and meaning when applied to Jesus Christ. He is the one truly “begotten” by God, like the “dew,” which forms before the start of the “day,” (that is, before the dawn of creation). He is a priest “forever” in the fullest sense, for he never dies. Nonetheless, the Father has not yet made all his enemies “at footstool for his feet,” and he “rules in the midst of his foes,” that is, He leads us (the Church) to victory even though we are surrounded by enemies and persecutions in this life.

3. The Second Reading is 1 Cor 11:23-26:

Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

In the New Testament the sequence of verbs “take,” “give thanks” (or “bless”), “break,” and “give” are almost a technical sequence denoting the celebration of the Eucharist or its types. In this recitation of the Eucharistic “Institution Narrative” by St. Paul (which most closely resembles Luke of all the Gospels), we see the first three in this verbal sequence: “take,” “give thanks” (Gk eucharisteo), and “break.”

We note here the role of tradition. This passage, in fact, is witness to the process of sacred Tradition: authoritative teaching handed down from Christ through the Apostles. St. Paul speaks of “receiving” (Gk paralambano) teaching from the Lord and then “handing it on” (Gk paradidomi). The verb for “hand on” (paradidomi) corresponds to the Greek noun for “tradition” (paradosis). The Eucharist is the great tradition par excellence of the Church. The Eucharist is the “new covenant.” As Dr. Scott Hahn is fond of pointing out, the “new covenant” (or “new testament”) is not first of all a collection of 27 sacred books. It is, first of all, a liturgical act, a ritual celebration of bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The twenty-seven books of the “New Testament” only come to take on that name because of their association with the celebration of the Eucharist. They are the books read at each renewal of the new covenant.

It is so striking that Jesus identifies his Eucharistic Body and Blood as the new covenant itself. This fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah 42:6 and 49:8, that the “servant of the LORD” would actually become a covenant. We recall that a covenant, in the ancient world, was essentially a conferral of kinship via an oath. The Eucharist confers divine kinship in the most direct way possible, by placing within us the very body and blood of God.

4. The Gospel is Lk 9:11b-17:

Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured. As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.” Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty.” They did so and made them all sit down. Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.

Here we see the sequence of Greek verbs by which the New Testament typically denotes the Eucharist or its types: “take”, “bless” (functional equivalent of “give thanks”), “break,” “give.” Although the Church gives the most liturgical attention to the account of the Feeding of the 5000 in John 6, this miracle narrative functions as a Eucharistic anticipation in all four of the Gospels.

We learn about the Eucharist by reflection on this miracle. The Eucharist is our supernatural food. It is not the product of the personal efforts of the clergy: the disciples admit they don't have the resources to feed the people.

The Eucharist comes to us as we live in distress in the midst of the world. This world is truly a spiritually “deserted place,” a place without any lasting satisfaction, a place without the resources to satisfy our deepest hunger, which is for God Himself.

But the Eucharist is the food we may eat and truly “be satisfied.” Twelve baskets full are picked up afterwards, which (1) foreshadows the care for every particle of the Eucharist that later will be manifest by the Church, and (2) denotes by the number twelve the fullness of the tribes of Israel. Those who partake of the Eucharist are constituted as the New Israel, the new Twelve Tribes ruled over by the Son of David who is a “priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

From: www.pamphletstoinspire.com

[lorilee84-blog]

Week 4 Post

We covered ch 19 and 20 this week which talked about Baroque style and Rococo style. The Baroque Style came in to the picture near the end of the 16th century. It overlapped Mannerism. The themes of Baroque art could still have religious and classical aspects, however it was more emotional, over the top and theatrical.  The Rococo Style was seen mostly during the 18th century, but was seen even in the time period of 1700 to 1775. Rococo was basically a refinement of Baroque according to some scholars. In Rococo you might have seen more works of art having theme that were of nobility.

The more significant things happening in the world over those time periods were the revolutions in which the public decided not to be governed by kings anymore in France and America. There were tons of paintings commissioned by rich people and nobleman, and you notice that many are portraits of these noble people or their family members. With that, you also notice that there are more and more works of art from artists doing self-portraits in the same style. This got me thinking that in a way, these self-portraits of painters are not much different from us in the present taking our own selfies and filtering and polishing them to look just the way we want before we post them to our social media sites. Maybe some artists were completely honest with how they looked, but I imagine that many used some license.

The one artist that stood out to me with this thought in mind, was Rembrandt. Our text only shows a few of his self-portraits, but alludes to him creating many more. I did some research and found that the man did over 60 self-portraits. He even painted himself into some of his paintings where he did not have a live subject to work from! I absolutely love this. Here is a man, before our time, who had an interest in “taking pictures” of himself that would last the ages. He paints and draws himself in so many ways and styles. Also, his self-portraits are painted with him at different ages so this man did “painting selfies” his whole life.

Jeesh, and some people call me vain because I have 20 pictures of myself in Instagram. I don’t feel that Rembrandt was vain. I think he was just an odd-looking guy, which gave him a lot of material to work with. So, when I think about this period in time, I will think of the American and French revolutions. I will think of the guillotine. I will think of the saucy paintings of nobleman and noble ladies flirting in secret garden parties. Most of all though, I will think of Rembrandt. A true selfie addict whose passion for his self-portraits was just ahead of the times.

I have an important side note. John Singleton Copley’s painting of Paul Revere is amazing, but I fully admit that this painting of Paul Revere looks like the actor Jack Black. I will add the side by side of them to the images for this post. Tell me what you think.

[shiftybolshevik-blog]

My experience with chem

Me: think damn it, we can concentrate on this for like five minutes and then zone out

My brain: can I name 17 beastie boys songs with out looking

Paul Revere

Egg Man

Alive

Intergalactic

Ch-check it out

Pass the Mic

Body movin

Sure shot

Ill Communication

What'cha want

Sabotage

Girls

Fight for your right

No sleep till Brooklyn

Brass monkey

Triple trouble

Shake your rump

Me: I mean that's impressive but why can't you learn Hess's law you piece of shit

[araitsume]

The Desire of Ages, pp. 231-235: Chapter (23) “The Kingdom of God Is at Hand”

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:14, 15.

The Messiah's coming had been first announced in Judea. In the temple at Jerusalem the birth of the forerunner had been foretold to Zacharias as he ministered before the altar. On the hills of Bethlehem the angels had proclaimed the birth of Jesus. To Jerusalem the magi had come in search of Him. In the temple Simeon and Anna had testified to His divinity. “Jerusalem, and all Judea” had listened to the preaching of John the Baptist; and the deputation from the Sanhedrin, with the multitude, had heard his testimony concerning Jesus. In Judea, Christ had received His first disciples. Here much of His early ministry had been spent. The flashing forth of His divinity in the cleansing of the temple, His miracles of healing, and the lessons of divine truth that fell from His lips, all proclaimed that which after the healing at Bethesda He had declared before the Sanhedrin,—His Sonship to the Eternal.

If the leaders in Israel had received Christ, He would have honored them as His messengers to carry the gospel to the world. To them first was given the opportunity to become heralds of the kingdom and grace of God. But Israel knew not the time of her visitation. The jealousy and distrust of the Jewish leaders had ripened into open hatred, and the hearts of the people were turned away from Jesus.

The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ's message and was bent upon His death; therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations.

As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ's withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but the religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day few of the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the word of God. And many times those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may render obedience.

The people of Galilee were despised by the rabbis of Jerusalem as rude and unlearned, yet they presented a more favorable field for the Saviour's work. They were more earnest and sincere; less under the control of bigotry; their minds were more open for the reception of truth. In going to Galilee, Jesus was not seeking seclusion or isolation. The province was at this time the home of a crowded population, with a much larger admixture of people of other nations than was found in Judea.

As Jesus traveled through Galilee, teaching and healing, multitudes flocked to Him from the cities and villages. Many came even from Judea and the adjoining provinces. Often He was obliged to hide Himself from the people. The enthusiasm ran so high that it was necessary to take precautions lest the Roman authorities should be aroused to fear an insurrection. Never before had there been such a period as this for the world. Heaven was brought down to men. Hungering and thirsting souls that had waited long for the redemption of Israel now feasted upon the grace of a merciful Saviour.

The burden of Christ's preaching was, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Thus the gospel message, as given by the Saviour Himself, was based on the prophecies. The “time” which He declared to be fulfilled was the period made known by the angel Gabriel to Daniel. “Seventy weeks,” said the angel, “are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.” Daniel 9:24. A day in prophecy stands for a year. See Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6. The seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety days, represent four hundred and ninety years. A starting point for this period is given: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks,” sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred and eighty-three years. Daniel 9:25. The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, as completed by the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus (see Ezra 6:14; 7:1, 9, margin), went into effect in the autumn of B. C. 457. From this time four hundred and eighty-three years extend to the autumn of A. D. 27. According to the prophecy, this period was to reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One. In A. D. 27, Jesus at His baptism received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and soon afterward began His ministry. Then the message was proclaimed. “The time is fulfilled.”

Then, said the angel, “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [seven years].” For seven years after the Saviour entered on His ministry, the gospel was to be preached especially to the Jews; for three and a half years by Christ Himself; and afterward by the apostles. “In the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” Daniel 9:27. In the spring of A. D. 31, Christ the true sacrifice was offered on Calvary. Then the veil of the temple was rent in twain, showing that the sacredness and significance of the sacrificial service had departed. The time had come for the earthly sacrifice and oblation to cease.

The one week—seven years—ended in A. D. 34. Then by the stoning of Stephen the Jews finally sealed their rejection of the gospel; the disciples who were scattered abroad by persecution “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4); and shortly after, Saul the persecutor was converted, and became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.

The time of Christ's coming, His anointing by the Holy Spirit, His death, and the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles, were definitely pointed out. It was the privilege of the Jewish people to understand these prophecies, and to recognize their fulfillment in the mission of Jesus. Christ urged upon His disciples the importance of prophetic study. Referring to the prophecy given to Daniel in regard to their time, He said, “Whoso readeth, let him understand.” Matthew 24:15. After His resurrection He explained to the disciples in “all the prophets” “the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:27. The Saviour had spoken through all the prophets. “The Spirit of Christ which was in them” “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” 1 Peter 1:11.

It was Gabriel, the angel next in rank to the Son of God, who came with the divine message to Daniel. It was Gabriel, “His angel,” whom Christ sent to open the future to the beloved John; and a blessing is pronounced on those who read and hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written therein. Revelation 1:3.

“The Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants and prophets.” While “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God,” “those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.” Amos 3:7; Deuteronomy 29:29. God has given these things to us, and His blessing will attend the reverent, prayerful study of the prophetic scriptures.

As the message of Christ's first advent announced the kingdom of His grace, so the message of His second advent announces the kingdom of His glory. And the second message, like the first, is based on the prophecies. The words of the angel to Daniel relating to the last days were to be understood in the time of the end. At that time, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” “The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:4, 10. The Saviour Himself has given signs of His coming, and He says, “When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:31, 34, 36.

We have reached the period foretold in these scriptures. The time of the end is come, the visions of the prophets are unsealed, and their solemn warnings point us to our Lord's coming in glory as near at hand.

The Jews misinterpreted and misapplied the word of God, and they knew not the time of their visitation. The years of the ministry of Christ and His apostles,—the precious last years of grace to the chosen people,—they spent in plotting the destruction of the Lord's messengers. Earthly ambitions absorbed them, and the offer of the spiritual kingdom came to them in vain. So today the kingdom of this world absorbs men's thoughts, and they take no note of the rapidly fulfilling prophecies and the tokens of the swift-coming kingdom of God.

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” While we are not to know the hour of our Lord's return, we may know when it is near. “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6.

[evolvedcatholic]

Paul said

1 Corinthians 11:2 (NABRE): I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 (NABRE): Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.

And to make sure you understood he said,

2 Thessalonians 3:6 (NABRE): We instruct you, brothers, in the name of [our] Lord Jesus Christ, to shun any brother who conducts himself in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us.

What are these traditions they taught?

Ignatius of Antioch was taught by the apostles, he explains:

"See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is administered either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude of the people also be; even as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." —Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Ch 8

#podcast #bible #beer #Christian #Catholic #wine #alcohol #scholar #bluecollar

[christianworldf]

New Post has been published on Christian Worldview Institute

New Post has been published on https://christianworldviewinstitute.com/bible-prophecies/end-time-events/book-of-revelation/angel-little-scroll/the-angel-and-the-little-scroll-revelation-10-and-11/

The Angel And The Little Scroll - Revelation 10 and 11

Paul & Pauline read from Revelation Chs 10 & 11 on Lantana Station in Outback Queensland. As part of the Aussie Bible study .

Revelation 10: NKJV 1 I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.” 5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, 7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. 8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” 9 So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” Revelation 11: NIV The Two Witnesses 1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. 7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. 13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon. The Seventh Trumpet 15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. 18 The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

To see more like this click here; https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGoqEw8SVsIavb4dEKamZ4gKOtfWV7m2d source

[liberty1776]

Plus, in the minds of most hearers as well as Trump, the implication is that the government is to be an approved tool of God on earth for good. That is far from the truth, but Trump’s words do at least subjugate the false god of the state beneath our Father, the true God of heaven and earth.

Such words should have come from a Christian leader like the present head of the Vatican. But instead, we have heard from him only contempt for the value of individual human beings. That is despite human persons being made individually, from the very beginning – not as one of a hierarchical group of lessers and betters, but honoured with the very “image” and “likeness” of God.

Individualism, the leader of the Vatican claimed, is selfish.

He is hardly a lone voice calling in the wilderness of history: “turn away from the anti-Christian, smug individualism of the past” the National Socialist, Adolph Hitler also cried out [Turner, “In Hitler– Memoirs of a Confidant”, Ch. 23]

So what then, would be considered un-selfish? The answer from his communist background is that being “un-selfish” is to meekly allow the organised collective group, the state, to take over our individual charitable duties and our family responsibilities. Not to mention the rest of our lives.

But false prophets – “wolves in sheep’s clothing” – instead tell the world to worship the government as saviour. They publicly call for people to sell out their God given individual liberties and the holy order of the family, in order to place their hope in a communist/globalist welfare/warfare state.

Most perplexing of all are those believers who are so utterly deluded, that they would try to straddle the two – government and the Gospel – and then call it, “Christian”.

Just as perplexing are those who claim not to worship government but then bow down to it and with great reverence, pledge their lives and the lives of their children to it – even in church services.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: A Moving Image Artist Finds Freedom After Abandoning the Film Industry

Cauleen Smith, “Lessons in Semaphore” (2015, still) (image courtesy the artist)

Despite working in a variety of disciplines, Cauleen Smith still thinks of herself as a filmmaker. Her elaborately crafted banners titled “In the Wake,” which are currently on view in the 2017 Whitney Biennial, were initially made for a procession that was to be part of a film. But they are just as powerful outside of their original context. “Sometimes I’ll be conceiving a film and it requires objects or props, and in the process of building all of those things I realize that film might not be the best vehicle for the ideas,” she says. “Sometimes the objects are already doing the work.”

Cauleen Smith, “In the Wake” (2017), satin, poly-satin, quilted pleather, upholstery, wool felt, wool velvet, indigo-dyed silk-rayon velvet, indigo-dyed silk satin, embroidery floss, metallic thread, acrylic fabric paint, acrylic hair beads, acrylic barrettes, satin cord, polyester fringe, poly-silk tassels, plastic-coated paper, and sequins (photo by Benjamin Sutton for Hyperallergic)

Smith calls this process “ramping up production,” an application of the training she received as a filmmaker. Born in Riverside, California in 1967, Smith studied film, first at San Francisco State University, and then at UCLA in the shadow of the LA Rebellion, a loose group of artists of African origin or descent — Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, Haile Gerima, to name a few — who used the school’s film program to make work that was outside the norms of an industry that ignored their stories. The group’s legacy would have a profound impact on multiple generations of filmmakers that followed, including Smith. In 1998, she wrote and directed drylongso (1998), a narrative feature which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and won an Independent Spirit Award. But the difficulty of getting another film off the ground, and the resistance within the film industry to her ideas, began to pull her away from narrative all together.

The work that followed — much of which is being shown as part of the Migrating Forms festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, beginning March 24 — combines documentary, fiction, essay, and abstraction to explore ideas about identity and the collectivity of black life. Smith’s work is indebted to the legacy of Afrofuturism — a term she is hesitant to apply to her work — and finds its energy in the connectivity of ideas that can be found through different spaces, which has led her to make work both in New Orleans and, most recently, in Chicago, where she is currently based.

*  *  *

Craig Hubert: What initially drew you to moving images?

Cauleen Smith: The main thing was learning about the way cinema works on us subconsciously, the way different shots convey information nonverbally. Once I realized that was the way moving images were working on me when I was watching television or film, I really wanted to make images that didn’t produce harm, and images that I really wanted to see. That’s what drew me to filmmaking in the first place: I wanted to have control over the images as opposed to having to passively submit to what was being presented to me.

CH: Has that thinking about taking control over the images changed over time?

CS: That was more of a priority when I was thinking more about narrative and representation. I feel like my work is moving more and more toward—maybe it’s not abstraction, but something that is less dependent on representation, or of people projecting their desires on something. My work now operates for people to engage and find their own way through something, as opposed to telling people what to think.

CH: Why the break from narrative and representation?

CS: I really gave up on narrative film and the film industry. Things have now changed, but I wasn’t willing to stick it out over the last 15 years waiting for things to change [laughs]. I didn’t want to have to pitch ideas or beg for money from people who had no investment in what I cared about. It was just trying to figure out how to make something that they were comfortable with as opposed to making something that was interesting, or powerful. And the art world has more receptivity to ideas. The film world is not about ideas, but things that we can consume. There were fewer gatekeepers as far as control of ideas in the arts communities that I found, and so I felt really free to pursue the edges of ideas and ways of making that I found interesting as opposed to trying to conform all my values into the kind of practice that didn’t serve my interests at all.

Cauleen Smith, “Chronicles of a lying Spirit By Kelly Gabron” (1992, still) (image courtesy the artist)

CH: This is evident in the work that is grouped together under Afro-futurist Tapes (1989–2010). The word “Afrofuturism” can mean a lot of different things, so I’m interested in what it means to you.

CS: Well, my first stumbling upon the word was through this website, afrofuture.net, in the 1990s. At that point, it was really just creative black people who were interested in science-fiction and speculative-fiction, and the potentials of the African diasporic experience, aesthetic, and narrative. I’m happy that the word exists because, in the popular realm, it makes my work legible for people who before didn’t understand what I was doing. I’m not so much disavowing Afrofuturism. I’m backing away from it and letting the people who seem to really need it, or need to leverage it, have it. I’m not entirely comfortable with how reductive it has become.

CH: The short works that are included in Afro-futurist Tapes were made over a number of years, and appear to have been a source of creative experimentation. Each little piece is very different than the one before.

CS: Totally. For me, the whole idea of using cosmological metaphors of space and time and sound and environment to talk about experience or identity was exciting. I was constantly trying to find different ways to play with what the form could be. So there’s a lot of use of sound, there’s a lot of use of text, there’s a lot of appropriation of images, or not using images at all. Afrofuturism isn’t for me about dressing in a space suit. It’s about pushing notions of space and time.

CH: Can you talk about the importance of place in your work? There are films that are not just set in places like Chicago and New Orleans, but seem to be in conversation with those spaces.

CS: I mean, talk about Afrofuturism and clashes of the past and the future—New Orleans is that place. It’s vibrationally a central place of human culture. I depend on place, and I’m always looking for these different locations, to teach me or to reveal to me what’s possible or what has been possible. Therefore, you can speculate in terms of possibility or impossibility. So, with New Orleans, on my first visit there in 2007, I realized this place, literally, is the bedrock and foundation of everything we understand about contemporary popular culture. In terms of rhythm, melody, and sound, it came out of Congo Square in New Orleans. Without that site, we wouldn’t have rock ‘n’ roll music the way we have it now. We would have something completely different. And that’s a really profound idea in American history, that we can link our culture to a place in such a direct way. That lineage is so clear, it’s embedded in the earth there. And New Orleans has been flooded many, many times, so there is this idea of the subterranean, which emerges in “H-E-L-L-O” (2014), in terms of lower frequencies and what lies beneath, the depths of things. With The Fullness of Time (2008), that was about the post-water trauma of Katrina, a post-traumatic stress disorder rumination.

Cauleen Smith, “Crow Requiem” (2015, still) (image courtesy the artist)

CH: And Chicago has now become a central place for your work.

CS: I have a similar reverence for Chicago in terms of its production of so many radical experimental thinkers, or of it being a laboratory, a place where people can push their ideas to the edge, and do it within a working-class context. I think what distinguishes Chicago from other communities in New York, Los Angeles, or Atlanta, is that experimentation for black artists can and does happen within the working class. That’s really well understood. People are conversant in avant-garde ideas and practices. It’s ridiculous how many accomplished and amazing African Americans have come out of Chicago. I was like: What is it about this city that was and is producing that? I’m still trying to figure it out. There is what the world knows about Chicago, then there is what life is really like here. But even though conditions have changed, there’s still this really interesting creative experimentation that goes on here that I have never had the privilege of experiencing elsewhere.

CH: Paul Youngquist, in his recent book about Sun Ra and the birth of Afrofuturism, talks about Washington Park in Chicago as this hub of social and political activity, where working-class African-Americans could share and debate ideas. These kind of public spaces produced a network of ideas that could bounce off one another, and were stronger because of the contact.

CS: That particular narrative of Sun Ra hanging out in the park and talking with all these different constituencies was really influential. The stuff I made changed when I got to Chicago, and I started really designing films that were about performative gestures outdoors. It was about trying to reignite that idea about the possibility of public space here in Chicago.

CH: There is a clear connection between the performative outdoor gestures that is central to the films you’re making in Chicago and “In the Wake,” the banners that you created that are currently being exhibited in the Whitney Biennial. Were those made for a film project?

CS: If I had my way I would have already shot a film using those banners. They are meant to be used in a procession that was meant to be a film. I’m literally sending off a proposal to the Whitney this afternoon to get them to let me to borrow them back long enough to let them make that film. And the banners themselves, and the things on them, they come out of conversations, out of popular culture, out of music and slang, out of colloquialism and internal wordplay. They are ruminations on the social conditions that have become really, really explicit in the last couple of years.

Police shootings have always happened, but they were dismissed as isolated incidents. There is something both painfully discouraging and validating about the way social media refuses to allow that dismissal or isolation of these incidents to continue. We all must reckon with the reality of our condition as black people in the country, and how little our lives are valued. I was also thinking of funerals, and when you plan your own funeral and you splurge, and it’s the best party you’ve had since, maybe, your wedding [laughs]. But yeah, those banners are hanging up there for people to see. But, man, I really hope I get to take them out into the streets very soon.

Cauleen Smith, “In the Wake” (2017), satin, poly-satin, quilted pleather, upholstery, wool felt, wool velvet, indigo-dyed silk-rayon velvet, indigo-dyed silk satin, embroidery floss, metallic thread, acrylic fabric paint, acrylic hair beads, acrylic barrettes, satin cord, polyester fringe, poly-silk tassels, plastic-coated paper, and sequins (photo by Benjamin Sutton for Hyperallergic)

Selections of Cauleen Smith’s films are screening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn) on March 24, March 26, and March 28 as part of the Migrating Forms series.

Her banners are on view in the 2017 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan) through June 11. Two of her films are also included in the Whitney Biennial film program and screen at the Whitney Museum on March 25 and 26.

The post A Moving Image Artist Finds Freedom After Abandoning the Film Industry appeared first on Hyperallergic.

from Hyperallergic http://ift.tt/2nvjMGU via IFTTT

[pamphletstoinspire]

CATHOLIC APOLOGETICS INFORMATION - Part 1

Introduction

"Catholic doctrine tells us that the primary duty of charity does not lie in the toleration of false ideas, however sincere they may be, nor in the theoretical or practical indifference towards the errors and vices in which we see our brethren plunged . . . Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them." - Pope St. Pius X, Our Apostolic Mandate, August 25, 1910.

*

O Lord, who art called the Branch, the Orient, the Splendour of the eternal light, and the Sun of Justice, who art that Tree, of whom Thy beloved disciple speaks as the Tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, and its leaves for the healing of the nations, give Thy grace and blessing on all those various states and conditions in Thy Holy Church, which have sprung from Thee and live in Thy Life.

Give to all Bishops the gifts of knowledge, discernment, prudence, and love.

Give to all priests to be humble, tender, and pure;

Give to all pastors of Thy flock to be zealous, vigilant, and unworldly;

Give to all religious bodies to act up to their rule, to be simple and without guile, and to set their hearts upon invisible things and them only.

Grant to fathers of families to recollect that they will have hereafter to give account of the souls of their children; grant to all husbands to be tender and true; to all wives to be obedient and patient; grant to all children to be docile; to all young people to be chaste; to all the aged to be fervent in spirit; to all who are engaged in business, to be honest and unselfish;

And to all of us the necessary graces of faith, hope, charity, and contrition.

Bl. John Henry Newman

Twelve Meditations and Intercessions for Good Friday __________

CATHOLIC APOLOGETICS INFORMATION - Part 2

Be A Catholic Apologist Without Apology

By: Carl Olson

"I’m sorry. I’m really very sorry. I wish I could convey to you how deeply sorry I truly am."

The speaker was a poker-faced Karl Keating, founder and president of Catholic Answers, an apostolate dedicated to the defense of the Catholic Faith. Addressing a crowd of several hundred in central California, he stepped back and paused for a few moments, letting his introductory words settle in.

"There you have it," he said, moving to the microphone, "a demonstration of what so many people think a Catholic apologist does."

The well-received joke played on the fact that "apologetics" is not a common word in the vocabulary of many Catholics. When introduced to the term, more than a few people wonder if it means apologizing for something. As Keating noted, "Some people think that an apologist is someone who travels the country apologizing for being a Catholic."

The Meaning of Apologetics

"Apologetics" is derived from the Greek root word apologia. In ancient Greece it referred to a formal defense of a belief, an explanation or argument for one’s philosophy or religion. The word occurs several times in the New Testament, including sections of the Gospels, seeking to persuade unbelievers of the truth claims of the Church, especially the unique nature of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Standing before a tribunal in Jerusalem, the imprisoned Paul states, "Brethren and fathers, hear my defense [apologia] which I now offer to you" (Acts 22:1). In his epistle to the Philippians the Apostle to the Gentiles states that one of his tasks was to make a "defense of the Gospel." Perhaps the best-known appearance of the word in the Bible is in Peter’s first epistle: "Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence" (1 Peter 3:15).

Catholic apologetics is the defense and explanation of the teachings, beliefs, and practices of the Catholic Church. Its goal is to remove objections, shed light on difficult or misunderstood matters, and ultimately help win minds and souls for Jesus Christ. Apologetics is the activity of helping people answer the question: "Why should I be Catholic?" It does so by engaging the mind to reach the heart.

Unfortunately, apologetics has a negative connotation for some Christians, including more than a few Catholics. For these people, Avery Cardinal Dulles notes in A History of Apologetics, "the apologist is regarded as an aggressive, opportunistic person who tries, by fair means or by foul, to argue people into joining the Church." As Cardinal Dulles notes, there have undoubtedly been some bad apologists for the Catholic Faith. Apologists can be unduly argumentative, contentious, mean-spirited, triumphalistic, and arrogant. They can offend unbelievers just as easily as they defend Christian beliefs.

The Dos and Don’ts of Apologetics

However, apologetics should not be dismissed because of misuse or misunderstandings. The value and place of apologetics is best judged by looking to the finest defenders of Catholicism: Paul and Peter, Justin Martyr, Eusebius, Augustine, Aquinas, de Sales, Pascal, Newman, Chesterton, and even Pope John Paul II. These men dealt with pagans, Jews, Muslims, Protestants, agnostics, and atheists, adapting their methods and styles according to their audience while never deviating from the truth.

Most importantly, they are saints first, apologists second. They are men of holiness and prayer. A consistent and vital life of prayer is imperative for the apologist, especially since he is often under attack, verbally, spiritually, and, on occasion, physically. Prayer leads to a deeper knowledge of God and truth. "The closer the apologists grows to God in prayer," writes apologist (and president of Ignatius Press) Mark Brumley in How Not To Share Your Faith, "the more intense his hatred of error and his desire that all men know the truth; the more intense his desire to use apologetics to help bring people to the truth."

Knowledge of the Faith is necessary, of course, since the Church’s teaching about Jesus Christ, or the Eucharist, or the communion of saints cannot be defended without knowing something of substance about them. There is much to comprehend about the Catholic Church and her teachings, but the most basic study materials should include the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, augmented by solid works of biblical and theological scholarship. The good news is that publishers such as Ignatius Press, Sophia Institute Press, Our Sunday Visitor and others have been publishing quality works of popular and scholarly apologetics for several decades. Classic texts by John Cardinal Newman, G.K. Chesterton, Ronald Knox, Frank Sheed, and other leading apologists of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century are in print and readily available. Contemporary authors Thomas Howard, Karl Keating, Peter Kreeft, Patrick Madrid, Mark Shea, Rev. Peter Stravinskas, and many others have produced an impressive array of books addressing modern challenges to the Catholic Faith, including fundamentalist Protestantism, secularism, feminism, and relativism.

All Catholics should have some basic knowledge of apologetics since they will all undoubtedly encounter questions and challenges about what they believe. When challenged to explain why and what they believe, Catholics should keep in mind what apologetics can and cannot do.

Apologetics should remove objections or false ideas about Catholicism. For example, when asked why Catholics worship Mary, the apologist should be able to explain that Catholics do not, in fact, worship Mary, but worship God alone, clarifying the nature of "worship" and the role of Mary in the life of her Son and in the Church. Much good can come of simply breaking down stereotypical ideas and misunderstandings that are far more prevalent in American culture than some Catholics appreciate.

Apologetics presents reasoned evidence for Catholic doctrine. Doctrines such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Real Presence of the Eucharist cannot be proven through logic or scientific method, but good arguments can be made that they are reasonable and not contrary to logic, even though they transcend the limits of human understanding. A good example of this are the evidences offered by Thomas Aquinas for the existence of God: they logically show that it is more reasonable to believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator and Designer than to believe that the universe is the result of blind chance.

Apologetics should prepare the heart for conversion through an appeal to the intellect. Peter Kreeft writes in Fundamentals of the Faith, "Remember that the purpose of apologetics is not just to win the head but to win the heart through the head." The goal of apologetics is never to demonstrate the intelligence and wit of the apologist, but to invite others into a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In the case of apologists who deal with anti-Catholic Protestants, the goal is an invitation into the fullness of Christ’s Church. Even in the midst of conflict, focus on conversion; while addressing the head, aim for the heart.

Apologetics cannot demonstrate the truth of the Catholic Faith. There are limits to apologetics arguments, no matter how sound and good they are. The hypostatic union and transubstantiation cannot be proven in the way that the existence of gravity or the chemical makeup of water can be proven. Put another way, the apologist has to respect both the reach and the limits of argument and reason while bearing in mind the nature of faith, which is a gift from God.

Likewise, the apologist cannot force, by sheer reason, people to believe. Humans are not calculating machines who crisply process information and then make perfect, understandable decisions. Good apologetics respects the dignity and free will of each person, even when challenging persons to consider serious reasons to believe the claims made by the Catholic Church. Defending the Faith should not be about winning arguments, but presenting truth. As the old saying goes, "Win an argument, lose a convert."

The apologist does not win souls–that is the work of the Holy Spirit. The knowledge of an accomplished apologist can potentially tempt him to lose the humility necessary to clearly understand his work. That work is always dependent on God’s grace. Which is yet another reason that constant prayer and reflection are keys to healthy apologetic activities.

Telling Your Story

One of best apologetic methods is personal testimony. In a recent article in First Things magazine titled "The Rebirth of Apologetics" (May 2004), Cardinal Dulles writes, "The apologetics of personal testimony is particularly suited to the genius of Catholicism. In the act of Catholic faith, reliance on testimony goes out indivisibly to Christ and to the Church through which he continues his mission in the world. Such testimony invites us not only to individual conversion but to communion with the whole body of believers." This thought echoes the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which explains that the sacrament of confirmation gives Catholics "the special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross" (CCC 1303).

The new evangelization promoted and articulated by Pope John Paul II emphasizes the importance of ordinary Catholics sharing their testimonies of faith with others. Dry facts and logical arguments may leave many people cold, but few cannot resist the story of a soul transformed and made anew by God’s grace. In this way the exhortation of the first pope can be realized in the life of every Catholic: "Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence." No apologies necessary.

A Short History of Apologetics

The first apologists were the apostles, who defended the faith while evangelizing, preaching, and establishing the Church in Palestine and throughout the Roman Empire. The two most famous apologists of the second century were Justin Martyr (c. 100-c. 165), a former pagan philosopher, and Irenaeus (c. 130-c. 200), bishop of Lyons. Justin wrote defenses of Christianity for Roman readers, relying on his background and skill in philosophy and rhetoric. Irenaeus was one of the first great theologians of the Church and he used his skills to combat the various strains of gnosticism that threatened the Church in the late second century. His major work, Against Heresies, is a significant apologetic landmark.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is a Doctor of the Church and is, along with Thomas Aquinas, one of the most brilliant theologians and apologists of the Western Church. A convert from Manichaeism, the African bishop wrote apologetic works aimed at the Manichees, pagans, and the Donatists. His masterpiece, The City of God, is heavily apologetic in nature, defending the Church against attacks from pagans prior to the fall of Rome. Augustine’s Confessions is one of the most famous works of early medieval literature and an example of the power of personal testimony as it continues to touch lives many centuries after it was written.

The Angelic Doctor, Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), produced timeless works of scholastic apologetics, including the Summa Contra Gentiles, written to answer objections raised by Muslim theologians. Aquinas wrote that he set about the task "of making known, as far as my limited power will allow, the truth that the Catholic faith possesses, and of setting aside the errors that are opposed to it." Aquinas’s greatest work, the Summa Theologiae, carefully and thoroughly answered objections to the Faith, often articulating opposing arguments more cogently and persuasively than those who held them. Aquinas’s general approach to apologetics was to use the Old Testament in addressing Jews, the New Testament for Christian heretics, and natural reason for pagans and Muslims.

The sixteenth-century witnessed the dramatic upheaval of the Protestant Reformation, creating the need for apologetics oriented towards a host of different non-Catholic Christian communities and perspectives. In addition to many Jesuit apologists, the theologian and bishop Francis de Sales (1567-1622) stands out for his tireless efforts in France to win back Catholics who had embraced the teachings of John Calvin. As a young priest de Sales was responsible to winning back tens of thousands of such Catholics through writing pamphlets and handing them out door to door. Those pamphlets were subsequently published under the title The Catholic Controversy.

One of the most unique Catholic apologists was the French scientist and mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-62). A child prodigy, Pascal underwent a dramatic conversion in his early thirties and dedicated the rest of his short life to defending the Catholic Faith against Enlightenment-era secularism and liberalism. He planned to write a thorough work of apologetics but died before completing it. The fragments and notes for that book were collected and published as Pensées. Full of insight into human nature and psychology, Pascal’s apologetic method was markedly different from the scholastic approach of Aquinas. "I can think of no Christian writer," T. S. Eliot wrote, "more to be commended than Pascal to those who doubt . . ." Essential to Pascal’s perspective was his conclusion that there exist three basic types of people: Those who seek God and find him, those who are seeking God but have not yet found him, and those who neither seek nor find.

The best-known Catholic apologist of the nineteenth-century was John Henry Newman (1801-90), an Anglican priest and scholar who eventually entered the Catholic Church after much study and personal anguish. Newman was a patristic scholar and a brilliant stylist; his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine is still considered to be a monumental work on early Church history, as is The Arians of the Fourth Century. But his greatest work of apologetics was his autobiographical Apologia pro vita sua, written in response to accusations that his conversion to Catholicism was a cynical and self-serving sham.

A blossoming of popular apologetics occurred in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries, led by English lay men Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, and Arnold Lunn and priests Ronald Knox and Martin D’Arcy. Chesterton (1874-1936), a former agnostic, is notable for his prodigious output, continued popularity, and recognizable style. Frank Sheed (1897-1982), a former lawyer, founded both the Catholic Evidence Guild and the publishing house Sheed & Ward and wrote numerous apologetics works, including the classic Theology and Sanity.

Fr. John Francis Noll (1875-1956) founded Our Sunday Visitor in 1912 in an effort to fight the socialist, anti-Catholic periodical The Menace. He soon published a number of popular apologetics and catechetical texts, including the famous Father Smith Instructs Jackson, and established OSV as a leading Catholic publisher in the United States. For several decades in the mid-1900s Bishop Fulton Sheen very effectively used television and printed media to defend and explain Catholicism, reaching numerous non-Catholics.

Apologetics were popular in the decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council, but the 1970s were a low point for both popular and scholarly defenses of the Faith. The 1980s saw a resurgence of popular apologetics, often called the "New Apologetics," led by priests Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Fr. Joseph Fessio,, Fr. Peter Stravinskas, and Fr. William Most, and lay men Karl Keating, Peter Kreeft, Scott Hahn, Patrick Madrid, and others. Publishers including Our Sunday Visitor, Ignatius Press, Emmaus Road, Sophia Institute Press, and Ascension Press have produced dozens of apologetics texts in recent years, some of them classic works from previous eras and others the works of contemporary writers.

In a recent interview with IgnatiusInsight.com, Karl Keating reflected on his twenty-plus years in apologetics: "For many years Catholic Answers was a one-man operation. Today there are dozens of apologetics groups, some regional and some national. So apologetics is much more widely done than a quarter century ago, and the stigma that used to be attached to apologetics has largely been overcome." No need to say, "I'm sorry"—apologetics are alive and well.

From:  www.pamphletstoinspire.com

[homestudyhelp365-blog]

Pick an Indian corporation with which you are familiar and analyse the reasons why it might be motivated to expand its internationalism

Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets

Project Report and Thesis - Contact

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224

 International Management

 Case Studies

Woman CEO Manages by the Textbook (20 Marks)

 The demand for managers with an international background is great. Consider Marisa Bellisario who was one of the most soughtafter executives in Europe. She was the first woman to head a major industrial firm in Italy, the state – controlled ITALTEL Societa Italiana. This company is the biggest Italian firm making telecommunications equipment. Bellisario’s background, however, is international. After receiving her degree in economics and business administration from Turin University, she worked at Olivetti in the electronics division. When Olivetti sold its date processing unit to General Electric, she spent time in Miami working on GE’s worldwide marketing strategy for computers. She left GE to head corporate planning at Olivetti. As the CEO at ITALTEL, she turned the company around, showing a small profit. (The firm had experienced huge losses in the past.) Her managerial approach has been characterized as “straight out of the textbook,” and companies such as GTE Corporation, IBM, AT&T, and other European and Japanese firms are interested in recruiting her.

 Answer the following question.

 Q1. Why was Ms. Bellisario a muc– sought – after CEO ? What was her career path ?

Q2. What special problems may she have encountered as a woman heading a major company in Italy ?

Q3. If she was successful managing by the textbook, why do some managers still think that management cannot be taught ?

 Coke’s European Scare (20 Marks)

 What seemed like an isolated incident of a few bad cans of CocaCola at a school in Belgium turned into near disaster for the soft drink giant’s European operations. In June 1999, Coke experienced its worst nightmare a contamination scare resulting in the recall of 14 million cases of Coke products in five European countries and huge blow to consumer confidence in the quality and safety of the world’s most recognizable brand. After the initial scare in Bornem, Belgium, Coke and Coca – Cola Enterprises (CCE), a thought they had isolated the problem. Scientists at the CCE bottling plant in Antwerp found that lapses in quality control had led to contaminated carbon dioxide that were used in the bottling of a recent batch of Coke. Company officials saw the contamination as minor problem and they issued an apology to the school. At the same time that the problems were being dealt with in Antwerp, things were breaking down at Coke’s Dunkirk, France, bottling plant. In Belsele, 10 miles from Bornem, children and teachers were complaining of illnesses related to drinking Coke products. The vending machines at the school were stocked with Coke from the

company’s Dunkirk plant’s practices were being questioned. What initially seemed like an isolated incident was now a crisis. Immediately following the second scare, Belgium’s Health Minister banned the sale of all precuts produced in the Antwerp and Dunkirk plants. Things got worse when Coke gave an incomplete set of recall codes to a school in Lochristi, Belgium, resulting in 38 children being rushed to the hospital. Immediately following this incident, French officials banned the sale of soft drinks produced in the Dunkirk plant. It was believed that fungicide on wooden shipping pallets were the cause of the illnesses at the Dunikrik plant. On June 15th, 1999, 11 days after the initial scare in Bornem, Coke finally issued an explanation to the public. Most Europeans were not satisfied. Coca – Cola officials used vague language and often contradicted one another when making statements. France’s Health Minister, Bernard Kouchner, stated, “That a company so very expert in advertising and marketing should be so poor in communication on this matter is astonishing.” After three weeks of testing by both Coke officials and French government scientists, it was concluded that the plants were safe and that there was no immediate threat to the health of consumers. Coke has destroyed all of the pallets in Dunikirk and tightened quality control on CO2. How could this happen to the company that is revered worldwide for its quality control and the superiority of its products ? Coke has spent decades building its reputation

overseas and the European market now represents 73% of total profits. While the scare has had some effect on Coke’s profits in Europe, the company is more concerned with damages to its reputation and consumer confidence in its products. Many critics say that Coke’s slow response time, insisting that no real problem existed and belated apology have severely damaged the company’s reputation in Europe. Some would disagree and feel that Coke handled the situation as best it could. “I think that Coke acted in a responsible, diligent way,” says John Sitcher, editor of Beverage Digest. “Their first responsibility was to ascertain the facts in a clear and unequivocal way. Any as soon as Coke knew what the facts were, they put out a statement to the Belgium people.” The character and quality of a company can often be measured by how it responds to adversity. CocaCola believes that this crisis has forced the company to reexamine both its marketing and management strategies in Europe. Coke executives in Brussels are predicting that the company will double its European sales in the next decade and that this setback will only make the company stronger. Wall Street analysts seem to agree. Only time will tell.

 Answer the following question.

 Q1. What are the management issues in this case ?

Q2. What did Coke do and what could have been done differently ?

Q3. What are the key factors that were or should have been considered by management ? Profiles of Two Visionaries –

 Bill Gates & Steve Jobs (20 Marks)

 Two men who gave their hearts and souls for developing their visions have driven the personal computer revolution. However, the way in which each of theses men went about this quest has been different. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have changed the way the world does business, but the story of their leadership styles is even more compelling than the success and innovation spawned by Apple and Microsoft. Bill vs. SteveThe Early Years Bill Gates started developing his computer skills with his childhood friend Paul Allen at Lakeside School in Seattle. At the age of 14, the two had formed their first computer company. After high school, Allen and Gates left Seattle for Boston. Gates was off to Harvard , Gates and Allen left Boston for Albuguerque to develop a computer language for the new Altair 8080 personal computer. This computer language would become BASIC and was the foundation for Microsoft, which was created as a partnership in 1975. After five years in New Mexico, Microsoft relocated to Bellevue, Washington in 1980 with BASIC and two other computer languages (COBOL and FORTRAN) in its arsenal. Later that year, IBM began developing its first

PC and was in need o an operating system. Microsoft development the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MSDOS)

for IBM while two other companies created competing systems. Gates’ determination and persuasion of other software firms to develop programs for MSDOS made it the default IBM platform. As Microsoft became more successful, Gates realized that he needed help managing Microsoft. His enthusiasm, vision, and hard work were the driving force behind the company’s growth, but he recognized the need for professional management. Gates brought in another one of his friends from Harvard, Steve Ballmer. Ballmer had worked for Proctor & Gamble after graduating from Harvard and was pursuing his MBA at Stanford. Gates persuaded Ballmer to leave school and join Microsoft. Over the years, Ballmer has become an indispensable asset to both Gates and Microsoft. In 1983, Gates continued to show his brilliance by hiring Jon Shriley who brought order to Microsoft and streamlined the organization structure, while Bailmer served as an advisor and sounding board for Gates. Microsoft continued to grow and prosper in the 1990s and Gates has become the richest man in the world. Microsoft dominates both the operating system market with its Windows application and the office suite software market with Microsoft Office. Gates recognized that his role was to be the visionary of the company and that he needed professional managers to run Microsoft. Gates combined his unyielding determination and passion with a wellstructured management team to make Microsoft the giant it is today. The other visionary, Steve Jobs, and his friend Steve Wosniak started Apple Computer at Jobs’ garage in Los Altos, California in 1976. In contrast to Bill Gates, Jobs and Wosniak were hardware experts and started with a vision for a personal computer that was affordable and easy to use. When Microsoft offered BASIC to Apple, Jobs immediately dismissed the idea on the basis that he and Wosniak could create their own version of BASIC in a weekend. This was typical Jobs: decisive and almost maniacal at times. Jobs eventually agreed to license Microsoft’s BASIC while pursuing his own vision of developing a more usable and friendly interface for the PC. Many see Jobs as antiGates. He is a trailblazer and a creator as opposed to Gates who is more of a consolidator of industry standards. Jobs’ goal was to change the world with his computers. He was also very demanding of his employees. Jobs was different from Gates, Allen and Wosniak. He was the person selling the idea of the personal computer to the public. Jobs made the decision to change the direction of Apple to develop the Macintosh using a new Graphical User Interface (GUI) that introduced the world to the mouse and onscreen icons. Jobs forced people to choose between the MicrosoftIBM DOS operating system and his GUI Macintosh OS. In the beginning, jobs was the visionary who changed the computer world and Apple dwarfed Microsoft. With all this success, there was a major problem brewing at Apple Steve Jobs was overconfident and did not see Gates and Microsoft as a serious threat to Apple. Soon after the release of the Macintosh computer, Jobs asked Microsoft to develop software for the Mac operating system. Gates obliged and proceeded to launch

a project copying and improving Apple’s user interface. The result of that venture was Microsoft Windows. This cocky attitude and lack of management skills made Jobs a threat to Apple’s success. He never bothered to develop budgets and his relationship with his employees has been criticized. Wacintosh due to differences with Jobs. In 1985, John Scully, CEO of PepsiCo replaced Steve Jobs as president and CEO of Apple Computers. The 1990s saw Microsoft and Apple go in two very different directions. Microsoft became one of the most profitable companies in the world making Bill Gates the world’s richest man. Microsoft Windows became the industry’s standard operating system. Apply fell from grace and became a niche market player. Jobs went on founding NEXT, a small computer manufacturing company and Pixar, the animation house that produced Toy Story and A Bug’s Life. Microsoft and Apple at the Turn of the CenturyAn Industry Giant and a Revitalized Leader With the success of the Windows operating system, the Office application suite and Internet Explorer software, Microsoft has become a household name; Bill Gates has been hailed as a business genius. The fact that Microsoft’s competitors, the press, and the US Justice Department have called Microsoft a monopoly reinforces Gates’ determination to succeed. Many people question whether Microsoft can survive that Justice Department’s decision.

Bill Gates, however, has shown that he is the master of adapting to changing market conditions and technologies. Apple had gone in the opposite direction in the 1990s. The outdated operating system and falling market share eventually led to a decrease in software development for the Mac. Something needed to be done. In 1998 Steve Jobs returned to Apple as the “interim” CEO. His vision, once again, resulted in the innovative iMac. The design was classic Jobs. In the 1980s he created the simpletooperate Macintosh to attract people who were using IBM PCs and their clones. Now he has developed a simple, stylish, and internetfriendly computer to add some muchneeded excitement to the computer market. Jobs has also changed as a manger and a leader. He has matured and looks to his professional staff for advice and ideas. Although he is the interim CEO, Jobs has sold all but one share of his Apple stock. Larry Ellison, Oracle’s CEO and Apple board member, attributes Jobs’ ability to lead Apple to this fact: “He owns only one share of Apple stock, yet he clearly owns the product and the idea behind the company. The Mac is an expression of his creativity, and Apple as a whole is an expression of Steve That’s why, despite the ‘interim’ in his title, he’ll stay at Apple for a long time.”

Many people believe that this will lead to continued success for Apply and a renewed battle between Gates and Jobs.

 Answer the following question.

 Q1. How did Bill Gates and Steve Jobs differ in their leadership style ?

Q2. Compare and contrast the managerial practices of Gates and Jobs.

Q3. What do you think about the future of Microsoft and Apple Computers ?

 How to Win at Westinghouse (20 Marks)

 Westinghouse founded the Westinghouse Electric Company in 1886, over 100 years ago. From the beginning, the hallmark of the company was one of entrepreneurship and creativity. By inventing a new for tr3nsmitting electric current over long distances, the firm penetrated the fledgling electric industry. Its aptitude for technological innovation led the firm into the development and creation of diverse products, from household appliances to watches to nuclear power equipment. The firm also demonstrated creative diversity, branching into such endeavours as radio station operations, softdrink bottling, and low income housing Today, the Westinghouse Corporation is organized into six operational groups broadcasting, commercial, electronics systems, energy and utility systems, financial services, and industries. As Westinghouse grew and began its expansion into foreign markets, it became apparent that the firm’s organisational structures and communication systems would have to be modernized to provide the flexibility demanded by overseas operations. Rigid procedures and red tape had to be eliminated, and ways had to be developed, by which key employees around the world could communicate with each other rapidly, so that their giant company could adequately react to

changing conditions around the world. To meet this communication support challenge, Westinghouse established a changeresponsive high-tech communication network to support its farflung operations. A new commuter system allows employees at all levels of the corporation to communicate through decentralized support networks. Westinghouse employees from different divisions and different departments can linkup in order to share information around the world. The new support system, called the Westinghouse Information Network (WIN), links more than 600 Westinghouse facilities, providing both voice and data transmissions as well as an electronic mail system. Westinghouse employees can link WIN to their homes or to their laptops when travelling. WIN offers videoconferencing, which reduces or eliminates the need for costly and timeconsuming travel to meetings. WIN also contains an advanced negotiation system, called EDGE, which supports sales personnel during complex sales negotiations. Every working day, over 90000 Westinghouse employees utilize the WIN system, which provides the flexible online support that Westinghouse needs to expand its global enterprises.

 Answer the following question.

 Q1. Describe the ways in which international business has an impact on your life.

Q2. Pick an Indian corporation with which you are familiar and analyse the reasons why it might be motivated to expand its internationalism.

Q3. What sorts of adjustments might McDonald’s have to make in its operations in India?

Q4. What do you believe India must do to improve its international competitiveness?

 Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets

Project Report and Thesis - Contact

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224

  ��o2�qT]�κ

[neutrallyobsessed]

thats a face that says im going to tell everyone about this!!

Paul Revere (the horse guy in the ADD ep) would have LOVED TikTok he would have those gossip accounts about the school

where is my gossip girl when i need him