#charles polk.. always in our hearts

[proteuus]

Thomas from SAT prep... u have a lot of nerve

[goswagcollectorfire]

CARL’S BLOG: ARKANSAS HILLBILLY Author’s Note: Dear Blogging friends.  I got my dates mixed up and sent the 1-6-21 blog out yesterday.  It should have been today’s blog.  This pandemic has got my calendar dates all mixed up. So, I am sending you 1-5-21 blog out today.  There will be no blog tomorrow. 1-5-21, My first year in the McNeil Public School System, McNeil, Arkansas.  The first year of forced Integration On August 19, 1969, the first semester of school opened with much excitement in the little town of McNeil in Columbia County, Arkansas. During the summer before school started in August, a federal court judge handed down a forced integration order for McNeil to integrate its white and black schools. The court order stated, “The McNeil Board of Education shall at the beginning of the 1969–70 school year completely integrate the ninth through twelve black students at South Side High School with the seventh through twelve grades at North Side High School.” The federal court also ordered that all grade levels be integrated at the beginning of the 1970–71 school year. The court order made North Side High School the junior and senior high school, which would house grades seven through twelve, while South Side would become the elementary school and house grades one through six. On the first day of school, the black students refused to go to classes at the white school. Instead, they, along with their parents, marched and demonstrated in front of North Side High School. They were bound and determined to defy the court order. By way of local, state, and national media, they put out the word they wanted the court’s ruling to be reversed and let them continue to attend their school on the south side of McNeil. The McNeil School Board consisted of an all-white board: Charles Cross, Clyde Gunnels, Franklin Gunter, Perry Polk, and George Kyle. The white school board governed the affairs of both the black and white schools. The blacks blamed the school board for promoting the federal court order to integrate the two schools. Most of the black community joined the black students in protest, and they marched daily during the first week of school. They were joined by the NAACP, which made state and national television. The news media was at McNeil every day filming the demonstration and interviewing parents, students, school administration, and school board members. I went about doing my job as basketball coach. Every day, after teaching my history classes at North Side High School, I slowly made my way through the big crowd of black protesters, who had blocked the street between the gym and high school. Each day, I would say, “Excuse me please,” as I cautiously made a path though the large protesting crowd. For some reason, I was never afraid of those protesting. The black patrons and students always treated me with respect. It was only later I realized that my three-black basketball players, who had been attending North Side on a “Freedom of Choice” agreement prior to the federal court order, had put out the word that I was a cool guy. I will always appreciate those young men for helping me. The three black students were John Smith—I called him Big John because he was six-foot-seven and had hands like Goliath—Vandon Warren, and William Glasper, three of the nicest young men I have ever coached. They were polite and worked hard to improve their game. After the first week, it was rumored that government officials had held a meeting with the black community over the weekend and told them if they did not send their children to school they would be held in contempt of the federal court order and would either be jailed or fined for their actions. On Monday of the second week, the black students in grades ninth through twelve entered North Side High School without incident. They were instructed to go to the auditorium where they were given their class schedules and a quick tour of the high school. All during the second week, tensions were high, but there were no fights or incidents worthy of mentioning. The teachers stood in the halls during the changing of classes, and bathroom breaks were taken only during break times or when an emergency occurred. By the third week, I thought everything was going well. I was in the gym coaching my senior boys when Mr. John Dunsworth, the new superintendent, came to the gym to see me. He asked if we could go to my office and have a talk. To be honest, I thought I might be in trouble about something. We went to my office, and I sat down behind my desk and offered him a chair across from me. “What can I do for you, Mr. Dunsworth?” “Coach Barger, I would like you to meet with me and the school board tomorrow at noon in the science room.” My heart began to race faster and faster. I just did not understand what was going on. All I could think about was whether I had done something wrong. “Mr. Dunsworth, am I in trouble or something?” “Oh, no, Coach. You are not in trouble at all. I hope I did not lead you to think that.” “What’s going on?” “Coach, as you know, I have two teenage children I’m raising by myself. My wife died last year, and I am their only living parent. My children are scared to death here. My daughter is being harassed in the hallway. There have been times her hair has been pulled. My son is under a great deal of pressure. They call him names. Our house has been rocked several times at night since school started. I’ve got to get my kids out of here.” I felt sorry for Mr. Dunsworth. I could see tears in his eyes as he shared these things with me. “How can I help?” I asked. “We’re having a special board meeting tomorrow at twelve o’clock. I am going to resign my position, and I want to recommend you as superintendent.”

[biofunmy]

Apple TV+ debuts Oprah, Jennifer Aniston series for streaming service

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Apple announced its own TV and movie streaming service, enlisting superstars to try to overcome its rivals’ head start. (March 25) AP

It’s almost time to take a bite out of Apple’s new streaming service.

The company is launching Apple TV+ on Nov. 1 with nine original programs for $4.99 a month. The new programming includes dramas, comedies and movies with big-name stars and producers such as Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston and Jason Momoa.  (Several of them attended a major kickoff event in March to showcase the new service.)

But can Apple TV+ replicate the success seen by other services including Netflix, Amazon and even Hulu? Take a look at what will be offered to its streaming customers on its first day and beyond, and judge for yourself.

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon star in the new Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show.” (Photo: Apple)

‘The Morning Show’ (Nov. 1)

First, this isn’t a morning show: It’s “The Morning Show,” a drama about a “Today”-like show. The series stars Aniston as an over-the-hill news anchor, Reese Witherspoon as an upstart and Steve Carell and a #MeToo’d anchor (think Matt Lauer). Apple has already picked up a second 10-episode season.

‘Oprah’s Book Club’ (Nov. 1) 

Apple announced a multi-year partnership with the talk show legend and founder of the OWN cable network. The deal includes the series “Oprah’s Book Club,” a feature made popular on Winfrey’s talk show after it was first launched in 1996. For the first Apple TV+ episode, Winfrey interviews author Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new book “The Water Dancer.”

‘See’ (Nov. 1) 

Jason Momoa (“Aquaman”) and Alfre Woodard (“Luke Cage”) star in this dystopian drama set 600 years in the future. The series follows the struggle and survival of the human race after a virus kills a large number of humans and leaves the survivors blind.

‘Dickinson’ (Nov. 1) 

Hailee Steinfeld (“Bumblebee”) plays “Dickinson” – yes, it’s a comedy – about the early life of poet Emily Dickinson, with Jane Krakowski (“30 Rock”) as the poet’s mother.

‘For All Mankind’ (Nov. 1) 

The new space series explores how different our world would be if the space race had never ended. The show is being created by Ronald D. Moore (“Outlander,” “Battlestar Galactica”) and stars Joel Kinnaman (“The Killing”) and Sarah Jones (“Alcatraz”).

‘Helpsters’ (Nov. 1) 

The team behind “Sesame Street” takes on this series about lovable monsters who help solve problems.

‘Snoopy in Space’ (Nov. 1) 

Get the gang together and bring the dog, too! The beloved characters from “Peanuts,” created by Charles M. Schulz, will make Apple their home for series, specials and shorts based on “Peanuts” characters. The agreement includes STEM content in partnership with NASA. First up: “Snoopy in Space,” about a dog who wants to become an astronaut.

‘Ghostwriter’ (Nov. 1) 

A mysterious ghost in a bookstore enlists the help of four kids to release fictional characters from literature. The show is a reboot of a 1990s PBS series.

‘The Elephant Queen’ (Nov. 1) 

Apple TV+ will also take on nonfiction fare, including this documentary that follows a mother elephant and her herd.

‘Servant’ (Nov. 28)

A tragedy creates a rift in the marriage of a Philadelphia couple, which opens a portal for a mysterious force in this series from thriller creator M. Night Shyamalan.

‘Truth Be Told’ (Dec. 6)

Octavia Spencer (“Hidden Figures”) and Aaron Paul  (“Breaking Bad”) star in this series, which  examines true crime podcasts and the consequences of America’s obsession with this new form of media.

‘The Banker’ (January)

Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson, who both recently starred in “Avengers: Endgame,” play entrepreneurs trying to provide housing loans to African Americans in 1950s Texas. The project also stars Nia Long (“NCIS: Los Angeles”) and Nicholas Hoult (“Tolkien”). The movie will premiere in theaters on Dec. 6 before it appears on Apple TV+.  

‘Little America’

This new anthology series captures  the stories of immigrants in the United States. Based on a collection of stories in Epic Magazine, the show will be executive produced by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, the husband-and-wife team behind “The Big Sick.”

‘Hala’

A high school senior struggles to balance her life as a teenager with her traditional Muslim upbringing. The movie was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

The following Apple TV+ projects are among those expected to appear in 2020 and beyond. 

Chris Evans project

Evans has been tapped to executive produce and star in “Defending Jacob,” a drama based on the book by William Landay. Evans, best known as Captain America in the Marvel movie franchise, plays a man whose 14-year-old son is the prime suspect in a murder.

Brie Larson series

Larson, who triumphed at the box office with “Captain Marvel,” will try her hand at producing and starring in an Apple TV+ series. The untitled project is based on the book “Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA,” by former CIA undercover operative Amaryllis Fox.

Bill Murray movie 

Director Sofia Coppola is reuniting with her “Lost in Translation” star Murray in “On the Rock,” a film about a larger-than-life figure who reconnects with his daughter during an adventure in New York City. Rashida Jones (“Parks and Recreation”) is also set to star.

‘Time Bandits’

The new comedy series, about a young boy picked up by a group of time travelers, is based on the 1981 movie from  “Monty Python” alum Terry Gilliam. “Thor: Ragnarok” director Taika Waititi has been added to the project to direct and co-write the pilot. He’ll also be a producer on the series. 

J.J. Abrams and Jennifer Garner will be reunited for a new Apple TV+ series. (Photo: Christopher Polk, Getty Images)

‘My Glory Was I Had Such Friends’

Jennifer Garner and director J.J. Abrams, who teamed up on ABC’s “Alias” more than a decade ago, are reuniting for this limited drama series about a group of women supporting a friend waiting for a heart transplant. The show is based on the memoir by Amy Silverstein.

‘Sunny’ Day  

Fans of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” will be happy to see Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day working on the new Apple+ series “Mythic Quest” as writers and producers. McElhenney also stars in the workplace series about a video game studio alongside F. Murray Abraham (“Amadeus”) and Danny Pudi (“Community”).

Kevin Durant’s ‘Swagger’

The Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant’s life in youth basketball is the basis for the drama “Swagger,” which explores the lives of players, families and coaches in an amateur basketball league. The NBA star is an executive producer along with Brian Grazer (“Friday Night Lights”).

Spielberg’s ‘Amazing Stories’ returns

Executive producer Steven Spielberg is rebooting his NBC anthology series “Amazing Stories.” The 1985-87 sci-fi/fantasy series’ cast includes Edward Burns (“Saving Private Ryan”) and Kerry Bishe (“Halt and Catch Fire”) . 

Animated ‘Park’

“Central Park,” about a family of caretakers in the famed New York City park, includes the voice talents of Josh Gad (“Frozen”), Kristen Bell (“Frozen,” “The Good Place”), Leslie Odom Jr. and Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) and Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”).

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Essay代写：The American isolationist foreign policy

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文- The American isolationist foreign policy，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了美国的孤立主义外交政策。美国的孤立主义是一项和平时期的外交政策，它不放纵对外介入的感性冲动，采取务实的路线，以在现有国际��局中最大限度地降低国家安全风险，利用国外资源提高民众福利。

Isolationism was a long-standing and unswerving foreign policy of the United States before World War II. It should be the basic content of isolationist diplomacy to avoid intervening in external affairs politically and militarily. Accordingly, the isolationist diplomacy of the United States started in the 1820s. After World War II, with the beginning of the cold war, isolationist diplomacy finally retired from the stage of history.

Isolationism is a controversial phenomenon in the history of American diplomacy. Up to now, there have been fierce debates about "what is isolationism", "when and finally when" and so on. An in-depth and effective academic discussion should be based on the accurate definition of the core discourse. This essay attempts to analyze the connotation of American isolationist diplomacy, so as to seek advice from the local scholars.

The connotation of "isolationism" has always been ambiguous, and there are not only wide differences in American academic circles, but also differences in understanding. There are mainly several representative theories.

Eugene R, Wittkopf, Charles, w. egley, Jr. Thomas Jefferson supported isolationism as the best way for America to sustain and grow as a free nation." Isolationists are "those who oppose active U.S. involvement in international affairs, whether through mediation or conflict." This view was held by Charles a. beard, the standard-bearer of the progressive school, bemis and roque, the famous diplomatic historians, but this view was opposed by the famous diplomatic historian bailey, William a. Williams, the leading figure of the new left, and the contemporary American international political scholar rossetti fJerel, a. roch. "The elements of traditional American foreign policy are very clear -- isolationism and protectionism," mead said. In foreign countries, a large proportion of scholars hold this view, and this theory mainly explains isolationism from the perspective of national policy.

Isolationists argue that U.S. national interests can best be achieved "by taking formspapers the world, or by keeping a healthy distance from outside events at a minimum," notes gerp. Isolationism and internationalism are divided by means, not ends; The Monroe doctrine, the refusal to join the league of nations, the neutrality act of the 1930s, and the fear of future Vietnamese are all examples of isolationist principles. But he also acknowledged that isolationism and internationalism are two opposing overall U.S. foreign policy orientations. John w Davis agrees.

According to John c. halberg, isolationism refers to a series of ideas about the United States and its place in the world, which had a great influence on American foreign policy in the late 18th and early 20th centuries.

Cecil v. rabb: "starting with the farewell address in Washington, isolationism is really a set of attitudes and assumptions about America's particular relationship with the outside world. Isolationism has had several components from the beginning, and when the concept is applied to specific situations prevailing at home, each era tends to modify its content."

Most scholars in China accept the "policy theory", but some experts in American diplomatic history, such as Yang shengmao, wang xiaode and wang wei, are in favor of the "principle theory". Comparatively speaking, there are two obvious characteristics of relevant domestic works: one is that almost all the authors will define the meaning of isolationism when they refer to it. In most cases, this is not out of the cognition of relevant differences in American academic circles, but to distinguish the eastern-based policy of isolation. Second, it repeatedly emphasizes the active initiative of isolationist diplomacy and its geographical orientation towards Europe. However, when domestic scholars define isolationism, they lack the trace of the concept itself and the grasp of the connotation of isolationism in the dynamic process. Many scholars transplant isolationism in political discourse into academic research, which has become a major cause of disagreement. Because the isolationism in political discourse itself is strong

If we define American foreign policy before world war ii as isolationism, it can be summed up as nonalignment, an effort to remain neutral in national disputes, a refusal to intervene militarily and politically; Of course, once American interests are threatened or challenged overseas and the United States is able to intervene, American foreign policy will not be constrained by the latter two elements.

Many early American politicians often had the traditional European concept of "balance of power". Many early politicians recognized the existence of a European balance of power, and to some extent its importance to American security. This is reflected in John Adams, Jefferson and others. In 1783, in a conversation with Richard Oswald, the British peace negotiator, Adams said, "it is evident that the European powers have been playing tricks on us to induce us into their actual or imaginary balances of power. In calculating our own strength, they all hope to make us complementary weights. This is hardly surprising. We can change the balance, though not always. But I think non-intervention should be our principle; the principle of the European powers should be that they don't want us to get involved, and if they can, they may not even allow us to get involved." In a parliamentary debate on March 1, 1798, gallatin, later secretary of state, argued that the balance of power in Europe had simply been the cause of many useless wars. "... We have no interest in that balance. We should completely forget about it and ignore it." In July of that year, senator George Cabot noted in a letter that "we are at least equal in our power." But isolationism is clearly incompatible with the idea of the balance of power, which needs to intervene firmly when necessary to restore the balance that has been broken. It was j.q. Adams who finally abandoned the ideological basis of the balance of power. In his 1821 independence day speech, he said, "wherever the standards of freedom and independence may be found, or shall be found, there is her heart, her blessing, and her prayer. But she will not go abroad in search of demons to destroy. America sincerely wants freedom for the world, but it has fought for itself, only to avenge it... She is very clear, once she stood on the other, rather than under their own flags, even standing under foreign flags to gain independence, she will get into the war of the benefit and the plot, a personal greed, envy and ambition of war and cannot extricate oneself, often in the name of freedom, because the war to usurp the standards of freedom. The basic tenets of her policy will be unknowingly transformed from freedom to violence... She could be the dictator of the world. She will no longer be the ruler of his own spirit." This abandonment was embodied in the Monroe doctrine of 1823. Later, President polk repeated this view in his annual address on December 2, 1845, and President Wilson in his annual address on January 22, 1918. Therefore, in terms of the formation of its connotation, isolationist diplomacy should begin in the early 1820s.

As for the end of isolationist diplomacy, bemis thinks it took place between 1947 and 1955; Mr Finderlin argues that isolationism is used to describe American foreign policy for most of the 19th century, but more often during the second world war, and that it does not apply to Latin America or China; President McKinley argued that after 1898, "isolation is no longer possible or desirable." Domestic views include the introduction of Truman doctrine and the establishment of NATO. To illustrate this issue, we should start from the specific historical facts, through the specific examination of American foreign policy during the World War II, so as to reach a more reasonable conclusion.

After the World War I, the tendency of American foreign policy to return to isolationism was very obvious, which was accepted by most scholars. The war greatly strengthened the popular sentiment of isolationism and thus dealt a fatal blow to Wilson's world policy. Memories of the war and disappointment with Europe, amplified by the media and stirred by social elites, quickly coalessed-into a powerful wave of isolationism. In the 1930s, the great crisis, the war debt problem, the investigation from 1934 to 1936, and the revisionist reinterpretation of the reasons for America's involvement in World War I greatly increased the sense of deception and distrust of big companies, Banks, and the President. This sentiment was evident in the mid-legislation after 1935, as well as in the opinion polls on the state of affairs in Europe.

The rejection of the treaty by the United States senate, despite various reasons, has objectively become the main symbol of the resurgence of isolationism. In March 1922, the senate added a reservation to its ratification of the four-strong treaty: "no commitment to the use of force, no alliance, no obligation to engage in any defensive action." After the war, when disagreements over compensation arose, hughes, America's secretary of state, said that "strong domestic opposition would make successful action impossible". The United States opposed the Geneva protocol, which strengthened the league of nations, and refused to join the international court of justice. Since 1917, France had been seeking an alliance with the United States against Germany, but was ultimately rejected by the United States for signing the multilateral non-war convention. Moreover, the United States states that the signing of the treaty does not prevent the United States from enforcing the Monroe doctrine or engaging in sanctions against other countries.

On the other hand, in Europe, the United States began to implement the so-called "economic diplomacy" represented by the dawes and young programs. But economic diplomacy in Europe is not a repudiation of isolationism. First of all, whether it is the dawes plan or the young plan, or the large amount of investment in Europe, especially in Germany, which helps restore the balance of power in the European continent, the first thing is to protect the overseas trade and investment of the United States and guarantee the recovery of war debts. In the Americas, the 1928 clark memorandum repudiated the legitimacy of Roosevelt's reasoning, ending criticism of Roosevelt's reasoning since the 1920s. By 1932, the U.S. withdrew from all of Latin America except for the panama canal zone. In addition, from the Montevideo Pan-American conference in 1933, the United States formally promised to give up interfering in the internal affairs of Latin American countries. In Asia, the open door policy is nothing more than a diplomatic gesture. "governments from 1899 to 1989 were reluctant to support China's open door policy with concrete actions. Even its author admitted in a conversation with the Russian ambassador to the United States: "the United States has no intention of using force to defend China's territorial integrity." Between 1920 and 1937, the United States recognized the dominant position of Russia and Japan in northeast China. One of the circumstantiary signs of American isolationist foreign policy during this period was a reminder to Hitler by the German ambassador to the United States, Hans tiekerhoff. "The United States will not be 'isolationist' forever," he said. "there can be no illusions about it," but Hitler believed that "the United States is nothing but a weak, non-interventionist state." From the eve of the outbreak of the European war in 1939 to Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the nominal policy of the United States gradually separated from the real policy. On the one hand, the U.S. government insists on staying out of conflicts overseas, but it is actually getting involved step by step. Roosevelt's charlotte address, in which he explicitly denounced isolationism, marked a shift in America's nominal foreign policy. Subsequently, American involvement in the war gradually intensified. Still, the United States did not choose to declare war.

So does America's behavior on the eve of the World War II, and between them, signal the end of isolationist diplomacy? No. Because war is such a state of affairs, wartime foreign policy is marked by obvious expediency. The key question is whether this policy orientation will continue after the war. The United States' large-scale involvement in the external political and military conflicts in World War I ended abruptly after the war, so it cannot be regarded as the end of isolationism. The situation after World War I was very different, and the changes in American wartime policy continued and intensified. The chapultepec resolution, signed by the United States in March 1945, and the treaty of Rio DE janeiro, ratified by the senate on 19 December 1947, were both clearly allied. On June 11, 1948, the United States senate adopted resolution 239 by an overwhelming majority of 64 to 4, suggesting that the President may "gradually establish regional and other collective arrangements for individual or collective self-defence, in accordance with the purposes, principles and provisions of the charter". It is thought to be the first time the us senate has publicly endorsed peacetime alliances with other countries. In 1949, the United States established and joined the north Atlantic treaty organization, thus making the scope of the alliance beyond the Americas. At the same time, the United States maintains an unprecedented number of troops in Asia and Europe. At this point, all other isolationist policy measures except the promotion of business are coming to an end. So the end of isolationism began at the beginning of World War II and ended with the establishment of NATO.

Isolationism is, in a sense, a peacetime foreign policy. It does not indulge the impulse to get involved. It takes a pragmatic approach to minimize national security risks in the current international situation, and USES foreign resources to improve the welfare of the people. The study on the connotation of isolationism in the United States is also of great significance to China's foreign policy and practice. At present, China is undergoing a critical period of socialist modernization. Peace and development are also two major themes in the world today. Therefore, it is a wise choice for China not to participate in or try to avoid external disputes, to develop itself and to make the most of advantages and avoid disadvantages as much as possible when its national strength is limited. Of course, a country's diplomacy is in direct proportion to its strength. In the 20th century, especially after the World War II, the United States and the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries were like "giants" and "pygmies", which could not be said in the same day. The isolationism adapted to the small and weak America in the 20th century has become a cut and fit fit, and its exit from the stage of history is only a matter of time.

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[theconservativebrief]

Earlier this year, influential drag performer RuPaul sat down for a political conversation with New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow during the fourth annual RuPaul’s DragCon in New York. After their discussion — which covered President Donald Trump, youth voting, and other issues — an attendee asked RuPaul about drag’s connection to the #MeToo movement. RuPaul said that both have a rebellious spirit.

“We’re saying to the structures of society, ‘Fuck you!’” RuPaul said. “In that regard, I think we’re well aligned with the movement.”

Although DragCon is a convention where drag queens can meet their fans, both the convention and the reality TV show that spawned it have become increasingly political over time and increasingly popular with teenagers, preteens, and younger kids who ask their parents to take them to the convention.

A mother and her preteen daughters pose for a picture with drag queens during RuPaul’s DragCon at the Los Angeles Convention Center, May 7, 2016, in Los Angeles, California. David McNew/AFP/Getty Images

Recent seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race have featured House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as a guest; contestants discussing conversion therapy while applying their makeup; and one performer, Bob the Drag Queen, describing his arrest during a 2011 marriage equality protest.

Similarly, previous DragCons in New York and Los Angeles have featured panels like “Drag In Trump’s America,” “The Art of Resistance” and “Liberty and Justice for All,” in which presenters from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) showed everyday citizens different ways to become politically active.

At another panel, drag nuns from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence shared their group’s 39-year history of activism. Meanwhile, in the exhibition hall, groups like the Human Rights Campaign and Swing Left, an organization focused on congressional races in US swing districts, educated attendees about policy issues and the importance of voter registration.

“DragCon has never been a bubble in denial about reality,” said Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, co-founders World of Wonder and DragCon and executive producers of RuPaul’s Drag Race, in a statement to Vox. “It’s a celebration of life through difference and diversity, and it’s about planting that flag in the ground and claiming our place in this world.”

Nonetheless, classifying drag only as a guilty pleasure underestimates its power, Bailey and Barbato say.

“Because as playful and as fun as drag can and will always be, it can also be serious fun, by playing with society’s norms in a very profound way. And drag only becomes more pointedly political in an environment where an illegitimate regime seeks — picking just one example — to impose reductive and cruel ideas about gender that fly in the face of gender’s proven complexity.”

While the US Supreme Court justices hear arguments surrounding the same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8, A man dressed in drag known as “Queen,” from Florida, dances in front of the Court on March 26, 2013, in Washington, DC. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

In the modern age, drag queens have risen from obscure gay-bar performers to celebrities with an ever-expanding social media reach. As entertainers who straddle the gender divide and are known for their irreverent outspokenness, they may seem to be in a particularly unique position at this exact political moment to address the Republican pushback on the #MeToo movement and transgender rights.

But a closer look reveals a hazy view of the political change drag queens can actually create, a view that has some social conservatives alarmed nonetheless.

Drag queens as we know them in America really developed from vaudeville acts in the early 1900s that caricatured feminine stock characters like “the wench,” “the damsel” and “the prima donna,” according to Roger Baker, author of Drag: A History of Female Impersonation in the Performing Arts.

Since then, drag queens and impersonators of women have gone from kitschy 1930s comedy acts enjoyed by everyone alike to gay club acts where publicity would risk criminal charges, including transvestitism, prostitution, sodomy, and other “lewd and lascivious” acts that officers generally considered offensive, until around the 1970s.

But Chris Mitchell, a doctoral lecturer of gender and sexuality studies at Hunter College, told Vox that the current generation of politically active drag queens found early incubation in the Cockettes, a 1970s San Francisco queer performance troupe. Their ragtag shows lampooned highbrow theater musicals and satirized political events — for instance, their staging of the wedding of Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia ended in an LSD-fueled orgy. While their performances failed to attain a national following, their free-spirited satirical irreverence arguably planted a seed that would later sprout around 1980 with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

The Sisters reportedly formed as an antidote to the boring conformity its founders saw occurring in San Francisco’s gay Castro District. So they donned nun’s habits, painted their faces in white and glittery makeup, and began different spectacles of public activism.

In 1980, they held a public “Rosary in Time of Nuclear Peril” to protest the 1979 nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island, chased anti-gay Christian protesters out of the Castro and Polk neighborhoods, and raised money for Cuban refugees in a combination bingo game and disco.

Over the next two years, they’d host the first-known HIV fundraiser and support Sister Boom Boom’s campaign to unseat then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein, now a US senator. (Sister Boom Boom lost.)

Sister Missionary Position, a member of the activist group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, holds gold-wrapped condoms they will distribute during Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1987. Bettmann via Getty Images

The Sisters’ unique brand of community activism has continued into the present day as a global nonprofit organization with more than 1,000 nuns of every race, gender, and sexual orientation currently serving in 42 states, nine countries, and four continents.

Since then, Sister Roma from San Francisco has emerged as the organization’s most outspoken and visible member. Serving since 1987, she joined the San Francisco order when HIV and internal divisions had reduced its ranks to just five sisters.

During her service, she has helped fundraise more than $1 million for various LGBTQ charities and served as an emcee for numerous local non-LGBTQ related events and fundraisers, like Outward Bound and the Boys and Girls Club.

“We always believe that we should follow our hearts to the voting booth and remember that we’re voting for the future, we’re voting for the planet, we’re voting for our friends, our family, our community, equality, women, people of color, LGBTQ, all of that, all the good stuff,” Roma told Vox.

As a nonprofit, the Sisters cannot endorse any political candidates, but Roma says the San Francisco Sisters are pushing for Proposition C, a measure that would tax certain businesses to fund housing and homelessness services.

By simply going out in public, Roma tells Vox that her appearance as a drag nun immediately brings different layers of social activism like homophobia, misogyny, and religious oppression.

Sister Dana Van Iquity, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, serves dessert to John McKay at a community Thanksgiving meal organized by a gay church and a Catholic church in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood on Thursday, November 25, 1999. Dan Krauss/AP

“I really do enjoy the power of the drag and the way that you see different people’s reaction to it,” Sister Roma says. She says when she’s in drag, people feel more inclined to donate money or speak personally to her. But naturally, some people find Roma and the Sisters off-putting because of their clownish makeup or the perception that their work mocks religion.

Sister Roma adds, “The Sisters quite often say, and I believe it’s 100 percent true, is that we are mirrors — really a reflection of the people who look at us. I can walk down the street from one corner to the next and get the entire gamut of reactions,” from people complimenting her makeup or asking to take pictures with her to people making snarky comments or calling her homophobic slurs. “I learned pretty early on is that people’s reactions to me say a lot more about them than they do about me.”

During her activism, Roma crossed paths with another drag queen called Lil’ Miss Hot Mess. The two worked together on the #MyNameIs campaign opposing Facebook’s 2014 “Real Names” policy that temporarily forced users to only create profiles based on the names on their government-issued ID.

Roma, Hot Mess, and other activists successfully argued that the policy unfairly targeted trans people, Native American people, well-known performers, and survivors of abuse who each use non-government-issued names for different legitimate purposes.

Drag queens Lil’ Miss Hot Mess (left) and Sister Roma (Center) and others walk to a news conference after meeting with San Francisco city officials to discuss Facebook’s name policy on September 17, 2014. Eric Risberg/AP

But since that battle, Hot Mess has gone on to become a board member of Drag Queen Story Hour, a different sort of community group that has recently gained the ire of social conservatives.

Drag Queen Story Hour was started in 2015 by Michelle Tea, an author and queer San Francisco parent who wanted more programs for LGBTQ parents and their kids.

The program is exactly what it sounds like: Drag performers wear extravagant makeup and age-appropriate outfits and read books to children for an hour. Though the queens sometimes read books with themes of diversity and inclusion, like And Tango Makes Three or Princess Boy, Lil’ Miss Hot Mess, a board member of Drag Queen Story Time, tells Vox that libraries and individual organizers choose what to read, sometimes choosing titles that fit seasonal themes.

It’s now a national nonprofit organization whose program has been replicated in public libraries in 27 states.

Lil’ Miss Hot Mess reads to a group of young children during Drag Queen Story Hour at the Brooklyn Public Library in Park Slope on May 13, 2017. Mary Altaffer/AP

A group of anti-gay activists in Houston filed a federal lawsuit against the mayor and the head of the municipal library system for allowing Drag Queen Story Hour to happen at a local library. The Campaign for Houston PAC helped file a lawsuit stating their opposition to “taxpayer dollars [being] used for a drag queen to come in and indoctrinate our young kids.”

The group that filed the lawsuit became known among LGBTQ activists around 2015 when they successfully overturned the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance preventing any forms of discrimination against transgender people.

Hot Mess told Vox that Drag Queen Story Hour operates without taxpayer funds — all a library needs to host one is a children’s book and a drag queen willing to volunteer. Chief US District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal denied the lawsuit a hearing four days after it was filed, stating, “There is no basis to support the requested relief.”

Nonetheless, Campaign for Houston PAC attorney and spokesperson Jared Woodfill says his group will spend $500,000 on mailers and TV ads to oppose the program and shut it down. The group has already started running campaign ads and postcards (with images of drag queens reading to kids) to urge voter to choose Republican candidates.

“In some ways it feels like a backlash,” Hot Mess says, “but I think the reality is that this is exactly the kind of hate that’s been going on for a long time, that queer people have been fighting for a long time. It’s really just the bias of conservative and right-wing people who think we shouldn’t exist at all.”

Protesters of the Drag Queen Story Hour hold a cross outside of the Mobile Public Library in Alabama on September 8, 2018. Dan Anderson/AP

Meanwhile, in the face of mounting political opposition, Drag Queen Story Hour is currently crowdfunding $10,000 to offer support to current and future programs across the US. This support will include a database of drag queens and public libraries interested in participating; a guide to putting on these events; and suggested reading and conversation guides for librarians, teachers, and parents to foster larger conversations about diversity and acceptance.

Hot Mess says many children’s books, from Harry Potter to The Hunger Games, tell stories about kids standing up to authority and resisting unfair social standards, fighting evil, and working together to build a better world.

“I think that what drag queens are doing, hopefully or ideally, isn’t really all that different,” she says. “I think the only thing that we’re ‘indoctrinating’ are values of acceptance and diversity and letting people express themselves and be who they are. It’s shameful to me that those kinds of values are things that people want to protest.”

In the April 26, 2018, episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, then 22-year-old performer Blair St. Clair unexpectedly became the face of #MeToo in drag when she explained that her delicate, feminine aesthetic stems from experiencing a sexual assault earlier in her life.

She tells Vox she hadn’t planned on discussing it beforehand and shared viewers’ surprise at the sudden admission. But by uttering it, she has become the only queen among the show’s 126 competitors over 10 seasons to ever discuss sexual assault on the show.

“I’m overwhelmed in a positive way at how many people — gay men and queens especially — have opened up to me privately,” St. Clair tells Vox. “I never expected to be that voice or that face. It has been incredible … I always needed someone to look up to. If I can be that person for those people, then I feel like I’ve done some justice.”

Blair St. Clair poses for a photograph at RuPaul’s DragCon at the Los Angeles Convention Center on May 12, 2018. Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images

It’s important to assess the impact of St. Clair’s story on the show’s small but fiercely devoted viewership.

St. Clair’s admission compelled various LGBTQ and mainstream websites to publish articles about sexual assault in the gay community, a topic that rarely, if ever, gets mentioned at gay bars where alcohol and cruising add to the atmosphere.

A 2015 report from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center said that 40.2 percent of gay men and 47.4 percent of bisexual men experience sexual assault; 63 percent of assaults go unreported, partly because of social expectations that men should always enjoy sex or be “strong” enough to fend off an attack.

In subsequent interviews, St. Clair stressed the importance of speaking openly about sexual assault and alluded to her long, personal healing process. And yet she told Vox that she’s saddened by the fact that other sexual assault survivors often face accusations of being calculating or fabricating their stories.

“It’s so ridiculous that people have to live in fear now of telling their stories … [and] in fear of setting themselves free because they’re afraid of what other people are going to think,” St. Clair says.

It’s also important to emphasize how radically RuPaul’s Drag Race has changed the popularity of drag performers in America. The show snagged six Emmy Awards this year, including the award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program, beating out shows with much larger viewerships like The Amazing Race and The Voice.

Past and present Drag Race competitors can brag upward of a million social media followers — and the show’s young viewership will happily shell out serious cash to see their favorite performers at a local venue or a DragCon event.

RuPaul (center) during the ceremonial ribbon cutting at DragCon NYC 2018. Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

But not all Drag Race contestants speak out politically in fear of alienating fans — something that irritates longtime drag performer Jackie Beat. In July 2018, Beat criticized former Drag Race competitors via Twitter for not using their social media followings to speak out more forcefully against Trump. She tweeted:

“It’s 2018. Our country is going to Hell in a designer handbag. If you’re a drag queen, ESPECIALLY ONE WHO WAS ON THAT TV SHOW THAT INSTANTLY AFFORDS ONE RECOGNITION & FAME AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE, & you refuse to ‘get political’ — FUCK YOU. I’m not asking you to march or give lengthy speeches… Just sit on your padded ass & tweet ANYTHING. Make a point, take a stand. Stop playing it down the middle, bitch. LET YOUR FANS KNOW EXACTLY WHO YOU ARE. And more importantly, WHO YOU AREN’T.”

Beat is a Los Angeles-based drag performer who has performed in numerous benefits for all sorts of causes: AIDS/HIV awareness, animal rights, reproductive justice, immigration, and various legislation. To her, drag queens can be superheroes whose superpower is simply telling the truth, albeit in comedic or entertaining ways.

Beat tells Vox that any drag queen who meets with parents and children at DragCon or a touring drag show should remind them that “beneath the clown everyone is laughing at is either a gay man or a trans person who is directly in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s rifle.”

“If you have been granted a certain amount of mainstream fame,” she tells Vox, “It’s your duty to speak out about things that threaten and/or violate the very rights that allow you to do what you do.”

She continues, “It’s vital for young people to know that what is happening is not right. It’s crucial that people with a strong social media presence remind their many fans that this is not normal. Otherwise, we all just treat it like it’s a crazy reality show. And it’s not. It’s really life. And it’s getting real ugly. I see a lot of queens finally speaking up for our trans brothers and sisters, and it makes me so happy. I’m just saying that if you are worried about losing, alienating or boring your fans then, in my opinion, you’re doing drag for all the wrong reasons. Be a person first and a clown second.”

But if St. Clair now demurs about discussing politics, other former competitors, like season five winner Jinkx Monsoon and season 10 competitor the Vixen, use their fame to encourage fans to vote or to join campaigns against homophobia.

Among the show’s most outspoken and politically engaged winners is Bob the Drag Queen, the season eight champion.

During Bob’s season, the performer mentioned a personal tagline, “Bob the Drag Queen: A Queen for the People,” and discussed his arrest by New York City Police for blocking a roadway with a giant banner during a 2011 marriage equality protest.

“They fucking threw my ass in jail, in full drag, girl.”

Discussing the importance of political involvement, the queen told viewers, “You don’t have to go get arrested. Just [do] something. Something as simple as voting.”

To Bob, Trump is merely a symptom or a reflection of longer ongoing issues in America like racism, sexism, misogyny, transphobia, and homophobia. Whenever the queen sees white fans publicly declare, “These are the darkest times we’ve ever had,” Bob told Vox that it feels like a slap in the face of enslaved people, prisoners, and other people of color who have faced far darker times.

Bob the Drag Queen performs at New York City Pride on June 24, 2016. Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Bob agrees that drag has a definitely unique vantage point in the world of gender politics, but, “The more I travel, the more I realize that maybe it’s not as unique … because drag is basically just performing femininity or … toying with sex outside of the assigned gender you were given at birth,” something that the performer sees people doing all over the world, especially young people.

When Bob first started performing in drag, the audience consisted mainly of other gay men. These days, Bob’s touring audiences consist largely of preteen girls.

“Many of those girls would’ve never had an experience talking about gender or gender issues, or even race issues,” Bob says. YEt the performer hears people in the younger generation saying things like “gender is a construct,” after overhearing their favorite drag queen saying it. These teens don’t emptily parrot these sentiments, Bob says, but start exploring and researching it in their own lives.

Like Roma, Bob doesn’t begrudge drag queens who don’t use their fame to address politics, but they also don’t think that conservatives and Republicans will find a place on the drag runway.

Consider the case of Elaine Lancaster, the South Florida drag performer who, in October 2017, was removed as the emcee of a drag brunch at Señor Frogs after posting a tweet that used the hashtag #JewishCollusion when linking to a story about Facebook’s CEO supposedly meeting with Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta before the 2016 election.

At the time, Lancaster claimed she quit the drag brunch gig to travel the world with right-wing author Milo Yiannopoulos. But three months earlier on CNN, she lamented being professionally “blackballed” from her decades-long drag career after coming out as a Trump supporter.

“I come from a community that touts that we are so inclusive, we are so embracing of what’s different, all we ask for is tolerance and equality,” she told the Miami Herald after her CNN appearance. “I make a living as a female impersonator in the state of Florida. I have hosted all the major events — White Party for 19 years. When I came out as a supporter of Trump … I was thrown off the [White Party] committee. I couldn’t be the emcee anymore. I got death threats. I have lawsuits pending against people.”

Lancaster did not respond to a request for comment from Vox.

Roma says she had known Lancaster for years as a friendly acquaintance, never realizing her far-right political views. “I wonder if she thinks she’s going to be the first drag queen in the White House,” Roma says.

“I don’t know why you’d want to go out and support a candidate, and a political party, that would just as soon throw you in prison or strip you of your human rights or watch you die in the streets … she tried to explain to me that she wants to have a place at the table. I’m like, ‘Girl, they wouldn’t let you anywhere near the table.’”

Miami-based drag queen Elaine Lancasters waits for President Donald Trump to speak at a rally in Estero, Florida, on October 31, 2018. Susan Walsh/AP

Roma says she admires Lancaster somewhat for facing online harassment and career hardships while voicing her political views, but adds that it has been difficult to watch Lancaster go through it.

Bob, however, supposes, “If you’re a Trump supporter, no other drag queens are going to support you. You’re gonna have a bunch of crunchy, raggedy-ass drag queens who are supporting you, but outside of the community, you will get nothing. … If you vote against the right of your community, you do not deserve asylum from your community … or you [may] deserve it, but you won’t get it.”

Perhaps they feel this way because contemporary politics under Trump seem so antithetical to the gender playfulness and LGBTQ community so closely associated to drag queens.

An aerial view of the convention floor at RuPaul’s DragCon NYC 2017. Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

But even on the left side of the political spectrum, Mitchell from Hunter College thinks drag can only do so much. Mainly because while America’s LGBTQ people have long huddled in gay bars as one of their community’s only safe places, it was more out of necessity rather than commonality, Mitchell says.

Mitchell tells Vox that while drag incorporates cultural aspects from each of the LGBTQ community’s individual segments — with some women performing as drag kings and other trans, queer, and nonbinary performers working as drag queens too — the art form can’t be expected to express the complicated class, racial, and gender divisions experienced by distinct queer groups. This is especially true of drag since it remains largely a cisgender male pursuit whose professional echelons requires lots of free time and money.

Even shows like Drag Race still operate with certain ideas of what constitutes praiseworthy drag, and their acting challenges often rely on clichéd caricatures of histrionic women using their sexuality and feminine wiles to catfight one another.

RuPaul’s comments earlier this year comparing hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgeries to “performance enhancing drugs” in her reality TV competition showed that even the torch bearer of inclusive queer entertainment still knew little about the number of transgender people already performing in drag.

So while drag queens may find themselves increasingly in a position to sway fans and younger generations about gender expression and political involvement, Mitchell thinks the inherent contradictions of drag performance and LGBTQ politics ultimately limits their power to dramatically shape the political landscape.

”To me, there’s not just one drag, and it is a little bit of a Rorschach test,” Mitchell says. “When you ask different kinds of queers what they see when they look at drag, you’re going to get really different kinds of answers. And a lot of times it’s going to tell you about the identity of the person who’s talking more than it’s going to tell you about drag.”

Lil’ Miss Hot Mess put on the final touches of an outfit before going to reading to children for Drag Queen Story Hour at the Brooklyn Public Library. Mary Altaffer/AP

Original Source -> Drag queens are more political than ever. Can they lead a movement?

via The Conservative Brief

[sylvan6970-blog]

The Dating Forest

Hello fellow web surfers,

My name is sylvan (syl ) ducote.I am creating this blog to give my perspective about the dating scene on the internet. I will be using my own experiences as a resource for the information you will be reading. So far the journey has been full of deception. But I still believe love can be found because others have experienced it. As in the movie “The Edge” staring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. Anthony Hopkins characterI “Charles Morse” says to Alec Baldwin’s character “Robert Green” after a very large mean bear is chasing them relentlessly, and  Robert Morris is afraid they are going to be killed by the bear and he is feeling hopeless. Charles Morse says, “We are gonna kill that “Muthafucka. If one man can do it another man can do it”. That is my attitude “if one man can find love on the net another man can find it”. I will be giving examples of good and bad experiences. Then you can make your own decision wether  you want to go fourth into the forest of the internet wilderness . Where anything can happen.

First I want to tell what made me want to look for love in the internet wilderness? It is as tho I was going into that forest in the Hobbits movie where those giant spiders were. Also let me say “Romantic Scammers, and Catfishers” are like farmers. They look for and desire the best soil to grow their crop. The best soil for them is a person who is in a state sorrow, desperation, feeling unloved, emotionally ill, horny as hell, feeling hopeless, and lonely. A person who is in need of a kind heart. Someone to tell them that they matter, that they are loved. at the time it was me.

Well my twin brother died in 2012. He was my rock. His name is Howard. The most loving man you ever wanted to meet. He loved the Hobbits movies too. We both graduated from Columbia College Chicago Howard in 1987 and me in 2007. We both studied film courses. We have this dream of being film makers. Together we were going to make fantastic films right here in our home town of Chicago. I remember when Howard was studying in the 80s he made some student films I was so proud of him. He even let me work on his movies and he was so talented. Before that we were drafted into the Army from 1968 to 1970. We went through all of our training together. Basic training at Fort Leanardwood Missouri . AIT at Fort Polk Louisiana. This was the first time we would be separated. All through childhood, and up to that point Howard was always the twin who had the most common sense. he was the stable, safe twin, the twin that had his shit together. he knew where he was going. On the other hand I was the twin nobody knew what I was going to do next. The twin who took the most risk, the the clown, the child, the immature twin. I did not care wether there was going to be a tomorrow or not. I just did not give a fuck. My two favorite words were “fuck it”. I was the court jester. When we got our orders to go to Viet Nam the sergeant told us, “one of you is going to Viet Nam so you better decide right now”. We stood there in front of the Sergant. I felt I was in a black hole as I stand in front of Howard. I could not hear or see anything but darkness for a few seconds. Howard was standing in front of me and I could not see him. And then from far far away from the abyss I heard a voice, “I’ll go.” I saw Howard in front of me looking at me. I felt as tho I had been in another dimension and returned. I told the sergeant I wanted be with my brother and he said we cannot send both of you to a war zone. so Howard and I saluted the First Sergeant and left. For a while we were very quiet and then we started talking of getting hi.  We had heard that if your broke you could get hi on nutmeg so we snuck into the mess hall and stole a big bottle of nutmeg. First we snorted it then we ate it with a water like tea. yeah! we got hi alright nice and sick as hell and high. but we lay in the grass and just enjoyed being together for the last time before he shipped out. After that the next day we got passes and went to Leesville. The Ary town where all the solders went to buy pussy and get drunk and fight. When you know your going to a war zone you try to block out the part that you just might get killed. We had a uncle who lived there. “Uncle George” he had been in the penitentiary. he helped us buy some pussy. Howard would not pay the prostitute.  So we ended up barely escaping with our lives. Thanks to uncle George. Saying goodbye to my twin brother for the first time in our lives was chilling. I tried to get orders to join him but could not so I tried to go to other countries but couldn’t. Howard and I were lucky that we were both assigned to Headquarters Companies. Both of us were trained as supply specialist. I was finally sent to Fort Carson Colorado where I earned the rank of SP/4 by going through a Special Forces training program called “Recondo” our specialty was fighting and survival in the mountains. I got a chance to discover the mountains of Colorado. I will never forget the feelings I got from that training. Me a city boy in the mountains of Colorado. We learned everything there was to learn about mountain survival. Climbing, repelling, how to walk down a mountain in different terrains. how to read the stars  at night to find out where you are. how to read maps. How to hunt and kill to eat, and lots of early morning PT in winter weather. I recommend  military training for all citizens who desire a change. It is a good place to discover what your made of. Howard and I wrote each other all the time the only other person that I wrote letters to was my fiancé, TJ Lindsey/Ducote who I later married and have a beautiful daughter with. We got married in 1969 and divorced in 1974. After I got out of the military I was not the same guy she knew before I went in. Tho I knew she loved me she had the balls not to tolerate the new me. I have always been attracted to good looking strong woman. My mom and all of my five sisters are good looking strong woman. It affected my romancing too. After Howard and I got out of the military we went on with our lives drinking, getting high, and chasing woman. I would like to say there is nothing more satisfying than getting drunk and chasing woman with your twin. We never liked the same type of woman so there was never any competition. I remember when I talked to Howard about going to Columbia College Chicago to take film courses he knew of my reputation for quitting things I start. In 2004 I was 56 years old and sickly so I figured If I go to school and get a student loan in four years I will probably die and then I won’t have to pay back the loan any way, So I registered. One day I got a package at my door. I opened it up and there were 10 nice shirts and 4 pairs of really nice pants. Immediately I called Howard and asked  him, “did you send me these cloths?” He said, “ Yes! … now you have no excuse not to go to class.” and that was my twin brother. I love him so much. The day he died he was suppose to go to the doctor that morning. I usually call him to make sure he is gets out on time. but I did not get a answer so I hung up and called back a few minutes later still no answer so I figured he had left for the doctors at the VA.

Then I called one more time and my sister Nettie answered the phone. I asked her:

me: “Nettie what are you doing there?”

Nettie: “just quiet down ok”

me: “Nettie what are you doing there?”

Nettie: “just take it easy ok”

me: Nettie is Howard dead?”

Nettie: yes

me: “don’t touch him till I get there”

At the time Howard and I were both well over 350 pounds. We both had diabetes, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and obesity. I was using a walker and Howard a scooter. but I ran out of the house without my walker hopped in a cab and got there to discover my twin brother Howard sprawled out across his bed. All I could do was stoop down and hug his body repeating his name. Howard? Howard? It was the end of the world. I had alway thought about this happening and Howard and I talked about it. I always wanted to die first. Always because I could never dream of a life without him. Even when he was in Viet Nam i felt his presence. It was just something I could not imagine. A world without him. What would I do? What? For the first time in my life I experienced being alone.

Howard did everything right. got the great job, the college degree the first out of nine siblings to get a B.A. a nice house and a good place in his church. He never got married and never had children. That made me sad. But now what was I gonna do? I did not have my twin brother to tell anything to. to laugh and watch scifi movies with, and then critique. To wear each others cloths, to visit family together. “Here come the twins” people would say. After his death when I looked at my reflection anywhere I saw his image not mine. I had to stop looking at my reflection every where I went. It was too freaky. I took about 2 months for that to go away.

Out of this new aloneness came my attraction to the internet. And here is where I start my journey looking for some one to fill the abyss created from my brothers death. The soil for the scammers and catfishes was being created. I was desperate and ripe for the scammers, and I got bit plenty of times with a total of $2,000.00 lost to so-called woman who said they loved me and would come to Chicago and marry me to be my companion keeping me full of love and devotion. Muthafuckas never showed up time after time. Until now I know what a romantic scammer is and how to recognize them.

My most recent romantic scammer is a person calling themselves Catherine Morris.  One characteristic you can tell a “RS” Romantic Scammer or Catfish is they fall in love with you very deeply and very fast. Unbelievably fast, not normal fast. and the only person who would fall for a con like that is a person like me who was desperate for love and alone and horny, and needy. One thing the scammers do is find the sexiest photos possible to bait you. I’ll tell you a story about that and how far they will go later .But for now I want to tell you about “Catherine Morris.”

It all started off quite innocently we had a small conversation and then very quickly it led into the I love you’s. At that time I was so lonely and so horny I would’ve said anything. We had gotten to the point where we wanted to meet. She told me,

Catherine: “I really like you but you have to get a daters id.”

me: :What is a daters id?”

Catherine: “A daters ID is a identification to let me know that you are safe and can be tracked so you are not going to hurt me.”

It has my personal information and if something happened when we met I could be arrested. so what she did was she sent me some pictures of her in a hospital bed.

Catherine: ”Somebody I met on the Internet on the dating site hurt me and I don’t want it to happen again so that’s why you have to get a daters ID. Okay baby i will not going to force you to get this kind of  ID  but sorry  this is the only way for us to meet  I’m not trying to be paranoid or anything but I need to do that for myself. If there’s one thing my parents taught me, they said that its better to be safe than sorry. I just wanna meet the right guy !!!”

Now here’s how you get a daters ID. She gave me a URL of a website, and I would to go to this website and sign up it was supposed to be free. But they ask you for a credit card. The website was one of those X rated websites so I was kind of questioning what was going on but I’m so lonely and horny and in love, and nieve. Because this is all new to me. But they charge me $39.00 so I went back to Catherine and said:

me: what’s up”? they charged me $39.00”.

Catherine: Don’t worry about it I’m going to give that back to you when I come to you baby”

me: ok

She wanted me to use my bank card but I said:

me:  Hey I’m not using my bank card I’ll get one of those prepaid cardd and put money on it. and I’ll use thay

Catherine: OK do that. So the next day I went to a Walgreens by my house the new and purchased  a American Express prepaid gift card, and put $50.00 on it. I didn’t know that with a gift card you could not use it with a atm. All you could do with it is to buy merchandise. I still tried to use it to get verified and get the id just as Catherine wanted me to. At this point I wanted her pussy so bad I would have purchased 100 prepaid cards.

me: Why don’t I just pay you $250.00 and you come over and we fuck”?

The reason I said that was because.

Catherine: Honey I promise you if you do this I will do whatever you want. I will come to you will be happy”

So I went and got a Walmart prepaid card but did not put any money on it.

Catherine: Because I really want to see you baby. I love you”.

me: : I don’t want to do it anymore I’m not going to do the dating ID because I’m not that kind a guy. I would never hurt you. I just want to love you and fuck you. and you said that is what you wanted to do too. Plus I don’t want to jump through any more hoops for you”. “I don’t want to do it anymore.”

Catherine: Honey that’s the only way we’re going to meet is for you to do the dating ID.”

me: Let’s have a video chat on Skype”.

Catherine:  I would rather have live meeting it is better you will see. So let’s finish the id baby.”

I went through 3 prepaid cards Walmart, OneVanilla , and American Express gift card. none of them got me approved. probably cause I didn’t put any money on 2 of them. I was too paranoid. finally Catherine says she wants to help me so she starts giving me credit card numbers and emails of different people and tells me to use them to get approved. she will give me instructions on what to do. Then she gives me url’s to go to and get approved and get a daters id. I follow her instructions 3 times and the url’s take me too some x rated websites where I input the information she gives me and BAM! I get approved. now it is time to meet and I say:

Me: “I am approved now when are you coming over?” “You promised.”

At this point I don’t realize how dumb I am. but Nooooo! Catherine says:

Catherine: I will baby but we have to do one final approve and that will be it. after this one I am all yours.”

At this point I am thinking this is really not going well, no video chat? No phone chat? I tried to call her number but always got a message center. Just like all the other scammers I have met. Now… as usual I only know Catherine by the photos she has posted for me.The hottest pictures I have seen in a very long time, and our texting. So I do not really know that she is who she says she is. But I am hooked on her appearance. The sexiest body , the cutest face, the most luscouse pair of breast I have ever laid eyes on. And it could all be mine! and she loves me! and she wants to marry me! After all this time. more than two months. so now I am suspicious so I go on the Internet and I discover “Google Reverse Image. I get a picture of her that she gave me and I put it in Google Reverse Image and what do you know a perfect match. What Google Image Reverse does is it takes your photo you upload and searches the Google internet which is everywhere. It will come up with perfect match or faces that look like the face you uploaded. The face that comes up is a perfect match right down to the tattoo on her arm to the cloths she is wearing. And it’s not Catherine Morris.  It is “Jessica Weaver” a very very famous woman. A model with all kinds of creative interest, and credentials, and 3 million followers. So I ask myself “Why would this woman go to all the trouble to land a 69 year old, one leg in the grave and one leg on a banana peel man?”. I mean she is everywhere on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. As a matter a fact she is everywhere, and very successful at what she is doing, She has millions of followers and she gives great advice to guys who need to know about woman. So I snapshot a few of the photos on Jessica Weavers Instagram website. Exactly the same ones Catherine posted on Hangouts, and Messenger. I say to Catherine:  

me: You’re not gonna believe what I found?”

and I show her the photos, and to my surprise she says that it is her and she uses Catherine Morris as a second name for Anonymity. then I did something for the first time, I contacted Jessica Weaver on her Instagram page.  I tell her:

me: There is a person using your picture on Hangouts and Messenger, saying that she is you. She says her name is Catherine Morris, and that she is you. telling me she loves me and will marry me, and all kinds of things with me. But before we can meet I need a daters id. She even uses your pictures in the hospital. I just want to let you know”.

Ms Weaver was very cordial, very kind and showed compassion towards me. I appreciate that too. I would like to say it is a on going process getting over a fantasy love affair and then talking to the real person. At least I think I have talked to the real person. So now every time I go on a dating site I google every potential date and I never send money not for any reason. I also have learned to look for love right here in my own back yard. Where the cost of meeting does not include a large transportation cost. I also always have a video chat and regular phone call before we meet.and above all “BE PATIENT.”

So fellow surfers looking for love on the great WIDE WEB. The forest of mystery and intrigue, danger and enlightenment if your lucky. Be vigilant my friends, men and woman. And the first place to look for love is like our ancestors said, at home in our own self our own hearts. After you find it there love is everywhere. It is barren soil for the “Romantic Scammers and Catfishers.” Nothing they try to plant will grow because then we have love at home.

I am leaving you with a gift fellow surfers. this music I arranged in Garageband for all of the ladies/Scammers I fell in love with it is not copyrighted so use it for whatever project you have. I hope you like it. Happy Trails.