#citrus city records

[rueclfer]

crave to do it again // touya todoroki

when just for a second, it all felt so simple

a/n: geettt this shit out of my drafts!!! is this the fucking angst yall wanted!!!

@bbluefllame 😔

At 12:00AM, it was unusual for the city to go quiet. Aside from the buzzing lamp post, crickets chirping, and the occasional chatter from the nightcrawlers down the street, you wondered where everyone had gone. Maybe they knew what was to come.

The cool night breeze was circulating through your apartment along with soft ambient music emanating from your record player. You were fists deep in various articles of clothing, crumple up notes, loose photos, and more all haphazardly thrown in dingy cardboard boxes.

"Touya, look." You call his attention away from the wad of paper in his lap. "You have to wear this tomorrow." You held up the "If lost, return to Y/N" shirt you had gotten him as a gag gift for his birthday last year.

"Asshole." He chuckles. "If any part of that shirt survives, they'll come for your ass next."

"Heavy on the if." You mutter, sadly smiling to yourself, letting your hands fall back into your lap.

You tightly clutched the black fabric, looking closely at the worn cracked lettering before bringing it up to your nose, deeping breathing in his faint lingering scent of citrus and cedar mixed with laundry detergent.

You two were sat criss-crossed on your bed with a box sitting in between you two. You occasionally glanced up at him to see his furrowed brows focus on whatever item he had in his hands, silver hair damp from the shower, and him sporting an old band tee you two passed back and forth as a pajama shirt. You wished you could take a picture of this moment.

Everything almost seemed normal. Almost. You tried not to let the dread brewing in your stomach overwhelm you, but your hands had been clammy all day, you couldn't keep any food down, and you were sure you were less than 12 hours away from a breakdown.

"Gross. Don't know why I kept this." He flips a photograph over to you, revealing a creased family photo of the Todorokis burnt around the edges, but every single face still legible. "Throw it away for me, yeah?"

"Absolutely fucking not." You snatch the photo from his fingers, peering closer to see him in his childish glory- missing teeth, tousled hair, and a wide grin that had diminished with age.

It was rare for you to see a photo of Touya before he joined the league. You never told him, but the night he revealed his full name to you, you scoured the internet for any photos from his previous life, but only ever finding the haunting school photo from news articles announcing the death of pro-hero Endeavor's eldest child.

"I'm not throwing any of these things away." You held the photo close to your chest, tears suddenly welling up in your eyes the moment they met with his own.

His eyes widen for a split second, before faltering into a soft, regretful gaze.

"There it is." He sighs.

Touya shoved the box in between you two off of the bed, reaching over to take you in his arms.

"You know, I was waiting for the waterworks all fucking day, I was almost sure you were looking forward to me dying."

"Shut up, I'm fine." You say, tilting your head back, letting the tears settle back in your eyes.

"You don't have to be fine, sweetheart." He mutters, bringing your head into his chest, holding you tight. "We can talk about it, you know."

"It's just.." You begin, pulling back with tears streaming down your cheeks now "..look at how perfect this is, Touya." You plea. "Look at us." You gesture to the mess of your bedroom with his belongings and boxes scattered around.

In another timeline, it would have been an image of you two moving in together. It's your first night. You're figuring out how to split the closet with him. Maybe you can have breakfast for dinner for the fun of it. You'll try to sleep early, but you two are giggling to yourselves until early in the morning. You two would sleep in until mid-afternoon, and spend the rest of the day in bed. He'd stay.

"I know. I'm sorry." He whispers, reaching up and swiping away your tears with his thumbs.

You knew that despite the end coming near, it was all still perfect- meeting him, knowing him, falling in love, spending his last moments with him. Last moments. The dread was creeping up your throat. How can you make time stop?

Touya knew deep in his heart that if there was anything that could have saved him, it would have been you. If he had just been a bit less rotten, if he had been born in a different hour, in a different body, he would have married you, given you a quiet life, and anything else you wanted. He wouldn't have this festering darkness inside of him threatening to overcome with every passing second. He wouldn't have been born with a single purpose. His life could have been yours for the taking.

"Promise you don't hate me for this?" He hangs his head to rest on your shoulder.

"I could never hate you." You rake a hand through his hair, letting the other rest on the nape of his neck. "I'll think about you for the rest of my life. I'll celebrate your birthday every year. I'll talk to you every night before I go to sleep. I'll tell everyone about my partner and how big his heart was and how he made the stars shine for me. I'll love you forever."

"In another universe, I would have given you everything." He murmurs.

You two silently settled in bed, tightly wrapped in each other's arms as you laid your head on his chest, and taking in his heartbeat by memory, being sure to lock the gentle sound in your head.

"What do you think you'll do after?" He breaks the silence, hand running up and down your back.

"Maybe find God or something?" You sigh. "I dunno."

"Don't make me fucking laugh." He chuckles, almost making your eyes water again from hearing and feeling the deep vibrations through his chest. "God does not want to find you, that's for damn sure."

"Well ask him for me, when you see him, yeah?"

"So sorry to break this to you, babe, but I don't think I'll be meeting God tomorrow." You could hear a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I guess I'll see you in hell then." You look up at him, meeting his eyes in the moonlight leaking in from the open window. "Put in a good word for me."

"That's more like it." He presses a tender kiss to your forehead.

You two silently ask yourselves the same question. Will he be fine after tomorrow? Will you be fine after tomorrow? Will that little boy in the burnt photo be at peace? Will you be able to go on?

"Any last secrets?" You ask, half joking. "Or any burning piece of information you've been keeping from me? Now would be a great time to unpack."

He takes a moment to think.

"When you go through the rest of my clothes, in one of my pant pockets, I still have the wrapper of the condom we used from the first time we fucked."

You slap your palm down on his chest.

"Dumbass." You laugh. "Why the fuck would you still have that?"

"What can I say, I'm a sentimental guy. Put it in a scrapbook or some shit." He shrugs, smiling at the thought.

"Yeah. I will." You half laugh, half choke out, silent tears now staining his shirt. "I have a secret too."

"Go for it."

"What if I told you I already killed your dad so there's no need for you to go out tomorrow?"

He shifts his body to face you now, slinging an arm over your waist and pulling your body flush to him. The air was filled with you silently sobbing behind your hands. You told yourself you'd be brave for him, but the bitterness in your heart had been leaking. It was circulating in your blood, and you couldn't pretend like it wasn't killing you from the inside anymore.

"I'd say, cool." He presses his cheek against your forehead. "And then we'll stay like this all day. Or maybe we'll take the first plane ride out of Japan. Wherever you'd wanna go, I'll follow you."

"Yeah. I'd like that." You say in between sniffles. "I think it'd be nice to leave Japan. Just for a bit."

You wondered if this was acceptance or denial. You could laugh and cry about it now that you're in Touya's arms while you two were waiting for the sun to come up, but for a long time, you saw the headlights in the distance, and the humming slowly growing louder in anticipation as tomorrow crept closer and closer.

In this moment, you accepted that you would grieve for him much longer than you were able to love him. You denied that he would be leaving you in a few short hours. You accepted that this was a necessary evil that had to be taken care of. You denied that this was the only way.

In another universe, you won't have to miss him. In another universe, he doesn't have to die for this. In every single one, you love him for as long as you'll remember him. In every single one, he'll survive through you.

You eventually hear his breathing slow down into deep inhale and exhales through his mouth. This was your last act of love for each other while you two walked this Earth together- a quiet night in each other's arms.

You memorized the patterns of his scars, the way they brushed against your skin. The color of his eyes you would see in the ocean. His silver hair still clumped in your hairbrush sitting on your bathroom counter. His love dazed expression is captured on a photo strip hidden in your wallet. Maybe he'll live forever, after all.

He'll wonder how long it'll be under you check your glove department for his letter. Knowing you, it'll at least be a few weeks.

"Idiot." He thinks to himself.

Your laugh echos in his head right before he's engulfed in flames. He wonders if your homemade cream could heal these new burns. Can you see him now? Tell him you're proud. Death isn't so sweet as he imagined, he wants to tell you, but seeing your face dissolve with his vision as he burns up is as close to heaven as he'll get.

In the end, you were right. You always were. It is nice to leave Japan. Just for a bit.

[cherryredlove]

☆ you spin me right round ☆

Modern! Record shop owner! au Aemond Targaryen x Bar owner! reader SMUT

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You're the blooming business owner that owns the chic new bar in town, The Alchemist's Guild. All that's left to do is befriend your sourpuss neighbour, the cool owner of the music shop Targaryen Tracks. Maybe a crisis will do the trick?

Word Count: 1.9k

Themes: SMUT, 18+, rough oral smex, pearl necklace, sex in semi-public place

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Owning a bar was always a dream of yours, and now that dream has finally come true. The place you purchased is a hidden gem on the artsy quarter of the city of King's Landing, nestled between eclectic shops and quirky businesses, with just enough foot traffic to guarantee interest. You’ve christened it The Alchemist’s Guild, and you hoped it'll become the hottest bar in the area soon.

Every bottle and glass has been carefully selected, and you’ve spent countless hours transforming the run-down space into a chic, cosy haven for anyone seeking to unwind. Edison bulbs hang from the ceiling, casting a warm glow over the polished wooden surfaces and plush seating. The shelves behind the bar are stocked with an impressive array of gins and wines, and the scent of fresh herbs and citrus fills the air.

The only hurdle now? Making friends with the neighbours, particularly the one who runs the music shop next door, Targaryen Tracks.

You’ve seen him a few times, Aemond Targaryen, always dressed impeccably in black, with silver hair and an ever-present scowl etched onto his face. His shop is a world of its own, filled with vintage records and obscure music that you occasionally hear through the walls.

Today, after a couple of good days of business, you decide it’s time to introduce yourself properly. Maybe you can even convince him to partner up for some musical collaborations, adding a unique touch to your bar’s atmosphere. With a deep breath, you step into Targaryen Tracks, the door chiming softly as you enter.

Aemond looks up from behind the counter, his single blue eye meeting yours with a curious, almost guarded expression. He nods in acknowledgement, though his lips barely form a smile.

"Hi, I’m Y/N," you say, offering a friendly smile. "I just opened the bar next door, The Alchemist’s Guild. Thought I’d come by and say hello."

"Aemond," he replies curtly, giving you a once-over before returning his gaze to the record he’s examining.

The shop is a paradise for any music lover, with rows upon rows of records neatly organized by genre and era. The atmosphere is nostalgic, and you can’t help but feel a pang of admiration for the meticulous care he’s put into curating his collection. You too take great pride in organisation and decoration.

You take a moment to look around, pretending to browse. The silence stretches between you, and you rack your brain for something to say, anything to break the ice.

"You’ve got quite the collection here," you venture, picking up a random record and pretending to study it. "I’ve been thinking about hosting some vinyl nights at the bar. You know, set up a record player, get some more out there stuff playing."

Aemond’s eye flickers with mild interest as he raises an eyebrow. "That so?"

You nod eagerly, hoping to engage him further. "Yeah! I think it’d be great to have something a bit more unique than just playlists. It’s a vibe, you know?"

He studies you for a moment, considering your words. "I suppose it could work," he admits, a hint of intrigue in his tone. "What kind of records are you looking to play?"

"Honestly, I’m open to anything that sets the right mood," you reply with enthusiasm. "Jazz, blues, rock, maybe even some classical if it fits."

Aemond nods, the hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips. "I might have a few recommendations."

A spark of hope flickers inside you. Perhaps this sourpuss neighbor of yours isn’t as aloof as he seems. Maybe there's a chance for some collaboration after all.

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Business at The Alchemist’s Guild is booming. You’ve managed to create a buzz around town, and the place is packed almost every night. The combination of exquisite drinks and the cosy atmosphere has made your bar a go-to spot for many locals and visitors alike. It's become a favourite with the artsy scene in the quarter, putting you firmly on the map.

But tonight, as you’re hosting bustling Saturday evening, disaster strikes. The trusty sound system crackles and dies with a sad whimper. Panic sets in as you realize that without music, the bar loses a significant part of its charm.

As the clamor of conversation fills the air, you frantically fiddle with the cables and speakers, hoping for a miracle. But nothing works.

Just when you're about to lose hope, an idea strikes.

"Hold down the fort for me, Dyana!" You call out to the bartender you employed.

You dash out of the bar and head straight to Targaryen Tracks, where Aemond is about to close up for the night.

Aemond looks up at you as you barge into the shop, mildly surprised to see you so flustered.

"Aemond, I need a huge favour," you blurt out, trying to catch your breath. "My sound system just broke down, and I have a packed bar with no music. Can you help me out?"

He pauses. "What do you need?"

"Your records," you say quickly, hope rising in your chest. "And your record player and speakers. Just for tonight. I’ll give you free drinks for a week in return."

He narrows his eye, contemplating the offer. After a moment, he nods. "Fine. But you handle the equipment with care."

Relief floods through you. "Thank you, thank you so much! I promise I'll be careful. You can even handle changing the records if that's better. "

Together, you gather a selection of records, and Aemond helps you carry them over to the bar. With his expertise, you set up the record player, and soon, the rich, warm tones of vinyl fill the space, transforming the atmosphere instantly.

The patrons love it, and you can feel the tension leaving your shoulders as the night goes on smoothly. True to your word, you offer Aemond a drink on the house as a gesture of gratitude. He graciously accepts your Greyjoy Gin and tonic with a small smile.

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As the night draws to a close, the last of your customers finally trickle out, leaving the bar empty save for you and Aemond. The soft glow of the Edison bulbs casts a cosy light over the room, and the record player softly spins its last tune.

"Thank you again," you say, leaning against the bar, feeling the exhaustion of the night catching up to you. "You really saved me tonight."

Aemond shrugs, a faint smirk on his lips. "It was interesting. Your patrons seem to appreciate good music."

You laugh softly, nodding in agreement. "I owe you. Seriously, free drinks for a week."

He takes a sip of his drink, regarding you with an appraising gaze. "Maybe we can make this a regular thing. Vinyl nights, as you said. I can curate the music."

"That would be amazing," you reply, feeling your heart race a little. "I think it’d be a hit."

As you tidy up the bar, Aemond helps, and the two of you chat more easily than before. You discover that beneath his stoic exterior, he has a genuine passion for music and a dry sense of humour that you find surprisingly charming.

With the bar finally clean and ready for the next day, you both take a moment to relax, leaning against the counter again.

As the last record winds down to silence, an unexpected tension fills the air. The kind that lingers between two people until someone is brave enough to try.

It’s Aemond who makes the first move. His eye locks onto yours, and you see a flicker of something you hadn't quite noticed before. You feel your body light up.

Before you know it, he’s closing the distance between you, his presence commanding and electric. He pauses, giving you a moment to stop him if you wish, but you find yourself drawn in by the intensity of his gaze.

And then his lips are on yours, firm and insistent, sending a jolt down your spine. You kiss him back, matching his fervour with your own.

Aemond’s hands are on your waist, pulling you closer, and you respond by wrapping your arms around his neck, grasping at his hair. His mouth is hot and heady, and you moan into his as his hips grind against yours.

You barely notice as you’re backed against the bar, the cool surface a stark contrast to the heat of the kiss. Aemond’s hands are exploring now, tracing a path down your sides, and you let out a soft sigh of approval, urging him on.

The kiss deepens, his touch is confident, and you can feel the hardness of his cock against your tender pussy. Your body reacts, arching into him to relieve your aching sex.

Aemond unzips your trousers, moaning at how wet you are, before gliding his fingers into your soaked heat. You cling to him, mewling, and bit down hard onto his neck. Aemond’s long fingers move inside you, fingering you with a beckoning motion. His eye rolls back as you grasp his cock in your hand, massaging through his trousers.

Aemond hoists you up onto the bar's counter, kissing you roughly before kneeling, facing your soaked pussy. Your hands grip his hair, urging him onto your heat. His tongue flicks out to lick your juices, and the moan you let out spurs him to bury his face.

His long nose is shoved against your clit, rubbing you in the mot perfect way as his tongue laps you expertly. Your thighs squeeze his head tightly. One of his hands grips your soft thigh hard, the other resumes its ministrations inside your tight pussy, making you choke and feel the hot lick of pleasure push you higher and higher. You grind against his face, Aemond sucking your clit with suchbvigour that you cry out, cumming hard on him. You cream against his tongue, and he laps it all up with a deep moan.

Once your head has stopped swimming at the pleasure of your high, you wobble down and fall to your knees. His thick cock sits right in front of your face, and he slowly parts your lips with the red cockhead. It's huge, you run out of mouth room pretty quickly as his hands grip your hair. You moan, the vibration making his hips stutter, and begin to suck him hard.

"Your lips look so beautiful wrapped arouud me baby," he rasps out. "I'll cum if you carry on."

Enthused, you bob your head faster, hollowing out your cheeks and rubbing your tongue right against the slit of his tip. When you fondle his balls with your hands and swallow hard, Aemond releases a strangled cry of pleasure, face-fucking you hard and fast. He lets out an unintelligible moan as he cums. Some of it leaks down your throat, but he pulls out to cum all over your face and neck. You gasp at the hot white ropes of cum that decorate your collar bone.

Panting, he helps you up, swiping his cum off with a finger and parting your lips for you to swallow it. He kisses you gently, salty and sweet.

"Want to come back to mine?" He asks, eye glinting. You nod eagerly, kissing him sweetly. His hands hold you firmly, and you thank the Gods for your sound system breaking.

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AN: save me modern aemond targaryen save me! love writing that so gimme ur feedback and send any requests! if u like this sort of stuff check out my masterlist!

[allidoistrytrytryy]

a moment's silence when my baby puts her mouth on me (cove holden x reader)

ao3 version here

summary: Cove Holden and the black underwear (from Patreon moment 2, if you know you know), except it's his own surprise on a random Friday (smut with feelings)

word count: 3,116 words

tags: smut, porn with feelings, porn without plot, light dom/sub, switching, sexual intimacy, they're in love your honour, author has been feeling insane about cove for years and lately about the black underwear so here we are (female reader implied but i tried to be as non-descriptive as possible, can be a male trans reader too)

You were exhausted, your fingers rubbed at your eyelids and at your forehead, trying to take the headache away.

You had had a large project at your job, long hours, and planning that took too much of your time. You came home late, too late, so late sometimes Cove would already be in bed or asleep on the couch, always waiting for you (even though you had told him to sleep, not to wait up for you if you were too late, but he insisted every time).

You sighed at the thought of your fiancee. You missed him too much, missed being able to have time with him, going out on weekends or lazing around after work to watch a show you would fall asleep through anyway, snuggled in his warmth.

You hadn’t been able to do that in more than two weeks, always working, always in contact with your coworkers to continue the project even deep into the night. You were glad today was the presentation, and then you were taking a few days off, away from everything.

You felt the fear in your gut at the presentation. You were nerves on legs, as you always were when you had to talk in front of an audience. You knew that would never change, the way you spaced out, waiting and waiting, at your desk.

Your phone buzzed on your desk, which took you out of your thoughts and the ball in your stomach. A smile crept up on your face before you even had the time to read what the text said, at the name appearing on your screen.

Cove.

Romeo: You have this, show them what you’re made of. Love you. <3

You smiled hard, your finger rubbing at the heart emoji with the text, at the picture you had set as his picture on your phone. A picture of him asleep on your couch, snuggled under a blanket, his long hair freed from its usual low bun.

You hadn’t been able to resist the urge to take a picture, and your fingers had gone through his hair.

You sent him a heart back, now fired back up. You could do this, go home and kiss your fiancee senselessly until you fell asleep snuggled into his warmth.

And the presentation happened. It went well, and you shared smiles and compliments with your colleagues. Sighs of relief. You could all go home peacefully tonight.

Which you did. You sprinted to your car when the hour came, your colleagues’ laughter following you down the elevator. They all knew you were eager to be home again, to be with the fiancee you talked about too much. (You couldn’t help it. You loved Cove Holden too much, loved him since you were eight. What could you do?)

The drive went quickly and you arrived at your little place a bit further from the city in record time. When you parked in your spot, next to Cove’s car who was already there and home, you realized you had forgotten to send him a text. You bit your lip, hoping he hadn’t waited for it.

Five unread texts with Cove inquiring about the presentation, worried. Shit.

You climbed the stairs of the apartment complex quickly, your keys already in hand. You entered.

”I’m home! Sorry, I completely forgot to answer your texts, I’m so so...” You interrupted yourself by the sight of your living room, your coffee table with a range of plates and food, and even a cake.

Hands sneaked around your waist, a kiss on your hair, a chest against your back. Your fiancee enveloped you, mint, citrus and this particular ocean smell in your nose and you finally relaxed. “Hi sweetheart, how was it?” he asked gently.

You turned around in his arms and, as always, you had to crane your neck to look up into his eyes. You hadn't been fortunate with height while Cove had had too much of it over the years. His arms circled your waist. “Went smoothly, we can finally breathe now,” you answered and got on your tiptoes to kiss him quickly, which he answered with that giddy smile he never lost around you. “Now, what’s all of this, Covie?”

”Well, I knew it would go perfectly since it’s you,” you rolled your eyes at the remark but the smile betrayed you, the blush even more. “and wanted to celebrate it. I got your favorite things from your favorite places and got a cake.”

Cove looked like it wasn’t even an effort, and it wasn’t in your relationship. You both made so much effort, so much again and again for each other that it was just normal. But, it didn't change the fact that you were always touched by every gesture.

You still couldn’t phantom how dear you were to this man sometimes. You still couldn’t understand how your heart never seemed to stop expanding for him, taking in every piece, every detail, every word and action from him.

Your hands dragged his face to you, to kiss him deeply, like you had wanted to since you had finished the project. He sighed against your lips, that content sigh, his lips and tongue entangled with yours. An intimacy you could never get enough of.

”I love you so much,” you whispered against his lips and his eyes misted over, your crybaby, always yours.

”I love you too,” he whispered as if he didn’t want to break the calm of the moment, wanted to stay in this moment suspended in time.

Until you dragged him to the couch to drape yourself over him, eating and barely paying attention to whatever was on the TV as background noise. You talked about the project. He talked about his day and his own job.

When you finished, he pushed you to the bathroom. “Go take a bath, relax, I got the dishes,” Cove reassured and you pouted.

”But, I can help, I didn’t get dinner so it should be me,” you whined in his shoulder and he laughed while pushing in the bathroom while you couldn’t do anything.

”No way. Go, now,” he kissed your cheek and you still pouted as you got into the bathroom.

You did well on what he had told you to do, spending too much time in a hot bath until it got cold, your body wrapped in your comfortable fuzzy robe. You finally stepped out to get to the bedroom, itching to put your pajamas on, and fall asleep next to Cove.

The too-large shirt was in your hands, actually just one of Cove’s shirts you had stolen and never returned, as you did since you were teenagers, even before you were officially truly together. You hadn’t realized why the light was so dim, hadn't realized Cove was on the bed.

You turned your head slowly and you felt your knees wobble, felt your eyes widen until they almost popped out of your skull.

You had seen Cove in all types of clothes and nakedness over the years. You knew him and his body by heart, the moles, the sleeve on his right arm that you loved to kiss all over, the dips, and where the redness would creep. But right now? You were speechless.

Cove fucking Holden was sat against the headboard, half-lidded eyes on you, but you could see the blush high on his face and ears and down his neck. He was naked, well, except for the underwear but it was the underwear that made you want to scream.

It was black but it barely hid anything, the green happy trail visible from that delicious V-shape you liked to bite, down a dangerous low dip. Straps followed his hips and they showed his hipbones. You almost wanted to ask him to get up and show the back, to see how it looked over that ass you loved too much.

”Surprise,” he simply said, wanting to sound sultry but ending up at excited, embarrassed, waiting.

The shirt slipped through your fingers, forgotten on the floor, and you were still speechless. “What...are you...” you swallowed hard, heat at the back of your neck, on your ears.

Large shoulders were shrugged and he tilted his head, “I… we talked about how I wanted to try some...lingerie out and I thought it would be a good idea for a celebration.”

He was still waiting and you could see how waiting affected him, the redness ever more present on his face and down his neck, the quick jostle of his knee. You approached the bed slowly, eyes laser-focused on him.

You could feel a restraint slowly unfurling in your gut, a wait. You had missed Cove and his hands on you, you had missed the everyday intimacy but you had also missed the sexual intimacy you shared. You both couldn’t have enough of each other sometimes, a pull between your hearts and your bodies.

Your hands settled on the edge of the bed, and you crawled slowly to him, putting up a show for his eyes and his eyes only. The robe dipped down and he gulped, his eyes on your cleavage, on your bare chest visible underneath. You smirked, finding a place between his legs, hands on his thighs, so so close to the dangerous piece of underwear that threatened your composure.

”So, you decided to gift my eyes with this, baby?” you whispered, a finger playing with a strap at his hip. “You’re way too good for me.”

Cove gulped again and you wanted to bite at his Adam’s apple, leaving marks on his pale skin until everybody would know. He shook his head.

”What? You don't agree that you’re too good for me?” you asked, a little pout at the words, your eyes on his face. You were playing the game of how sultry you could be, how much you could push it until his own restraints broke. “Maybe I should show you.”

Your hands traced the straps and the edges of the underwear. Your mouth found a nipple as your hands traced but never touched where you could feel a hardness growing and growing. His moans hit your ears and you smiled, your tongue playing from one nipple to another.

”You don't have to...” he tried to say, his moans high, and god, did you love how vocal he could be. He was always so vocal, so good.

”I want to, so be a good boy, baby,” you whispered, bit at the side of his chest, so muscular, so pretty. He moaned higher, hips bucking against your chest. Your mouth traveled down and down, following the green trail of hair. “Driving me crazy with this, Covie.”

Your hands caressed the hardness over the fabric, but your mouth found the tip already out with how hard he was. The dip was so low that the tip was the only thing visible, so your tongue swirled around it, the saltiness hitting your tastebuds. You moaned, fingers at the straps.

”Oh my god," Cove whined loudly, hips bucking again, the tip making its way deeper into your mouth. “Shit, sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean to...”

You shook your head and pulled at the straps downward, until the underwear sat underneath his cock and you pushed more and more into your mouth, desperate for more, to make him feel even better.

”Fuck, fuck, fuck," you heard him repeat and you wanted to smile, to tease him like you always did because he only ever cursed in those moments, so gone, so desperate.

More and more, until you felt tears in your eyes, until you breathed through your nose, hands at what you couldn’t fit down your throat because of how big he was. But you loved it, thighs clenching to relieve the ache that formed in between.

It wasn’t about you, even though you could spend hours between his legs, to look at his head thrown back, his eyes closed and face scrunched up, like now. He looked out of this world, long hair around his head, down his shoulders, redness still at his face, sweat down his neck and on his chest. You couldn’t believe he was yours still.

”Shit, sweetheart, I’m gonna… I’m...” Cove’s voice rang out and you felt how tight his balls were getting, see how his abs tightened. He was close, and a part of you wanted him to cum in your mouth, but you had another plan.

You popped off his hardness with a loud pop, saliva around your mouth, and his head rose up, his eyes opened in question. You crawled back up his body, your hands opening your robe, until you could throw it on the floor beside the large bed. You settled on his lap, hands on his shoulders.

You swatted his hands away before they could fall on your hips, and you saw the small pout on his face that you kissed away with a laugh. “Sorry, no touching baby, be good a bit longer for me,” you kissed along his face, nibbled at his neck, leaving a few hickeys as your hips moved, your wetness rubbing on his cock.

Cove whined still against your shoulder, “But you look so good… And you’re so wet,” he moaned, groaned. “Let me touch you, please,” he begged but you shook your head, your hips rising up to catch the tip at the edge of your wetness, of your warmth.

You slowly sunk down, your own moan unable to stay in your throat at the delicious burn his cock always gave you, that fullness that always took your breath away. You hummed as you sank lower and lower.

His eyes were closed tightly, his body trembled when you finished back on his lap, the length fully inside you. You stayed still, enjoying the moment, and his hands stayed beside his hips, beside the underwear that was still underneath his cock, trapping his legs in place. He was taut, all muscles tight and restrained.

”Please, please, move," Cove begged and you could only answer with your hips moving up and slamming back down.

Your moans intertwined with Cove’s, as you rode him, slowly, building a faster rhythm with every breath, every moan. You rode him, a deep pleasure building in your stomach, pleasure built with his moans in your ear, your teeth at his shoulder.

You rode him until your thighs trembled and his hips, so restrained until now, slammed up in response. You almost screamed his name. It had hit that one spot deep inside and your body had fallen down onto his chest.

All restraint broke in his body, his hands at your hips, so tight you knew you would feel them still tomorrow, “Sorry, I can’t...” he breathed out, before his hips slammed up again and again, his hands guiding your hips down every time.

“Fuck, Cove, Cove,” you repeated his name, your forehead on his shoulder, your eyes on the spot that joined your two bodies together, his cock sliding in and out.

His name on your lips broke him again and you lost all control you had on the situation. His hands manhandled you on your back, almost ripped the underwear that had started it all off his legs, and he had your legs folded against his chest before he slid back in.

The breath was knocked out of your chest, your hands tugged at his hair, and your eyes were on him always. The muscles bulging with every movement, the sweat trickling down, the pure ferocity and desperation on his face.

Cove wasn't always pushed to this side of dominance, if not ever. Not to this degree. You both liked to switch, to play with what were the limits and new things, but falling back into lovemaking most of the time. Here, your gentle sweet Cove was gone, to leave a rougher Cove you loved too, your moans encouraging him.

”Don’t stop, Cove, don’t stop," you begged, hands desperate in his hair, hips moving to answer every thrust deep inside, against the spot. You could barely talk and he could only groan and moan, his own mouth busy on your nipples, back arched.

You were getting closer and closer, and he could feel it, the way you arched more and more, the way you were tighter and tighter around him, the way your moans only got louder. His eyes were on your face, a hand moving down from your hip to the nub of nerves, so wet from everything.

Your head tilted back into the pillow, “Cove, I’m… I’m gonna cum,” you moaned, warned and he hummed in response, his thumb insistent on your clit, in time with every thrust. Your back arched even more, the pleasure exploding in your stomach, behind your eyes, and in your whole body until you were left a trembling thing underneath Cove.

His thrusts slowed down, but your hips moved and you shook your head. “No, don't stop, need you to cum,” you croaked out, voice spent, hands still tugging at his hair.

”I don’t want to hurt you,” Cove moaned over you, eyes half-lidded on your face, but you shook your head again. You tugged him closer, forehead against his.

”You can’t hurt me. Please Cove, I love you, please,” you begged, his thrusts were erratic and you could tell he was close.

”I love you, fuck, I love you so much, I love you," he repeated against your cheek, and you hummed, answered back, until he moaned louder.

Until the final thrust, until he came deep inside you with your name on his lips and you kissed his face.

Cove detangled himself from you only to bring back a wet washcloth, to wipe you and himself. You only got up to go the toilets, fast and impatient, to find him back in bed, under the covers.

You cuddled in his arms, your cheek on his shoulder, legs entangled to look at him. Content, beautiful. It was magical, as always, to go to sleep with him every night, to have him be the last thing you always saw at night.

”Well, that was a nice surprise," you giggled and he smiled lazily. “I’ll be the one to surprise you next time.”

He groaned lightly but laughed, forehead hitting yours gently. “If you want me to really die, sure,” and you could only laugh, his lips on your eyelids, yours reaching up to kiss his eyebrows. “Go to sleep, sweetheart.”

You hummed, “I love you, Covie.”

His smile grew larger, and his cheeks turned red as always, “I love you too.”

And you fell asleep, safe, happy, home, where you belonged.

[wannaeatramyeon]

Ryuhei Kuroda x Reader: The moon is beautiful, isn't it?

G/N. A confession. Sorta follow up to this. (@razypie 🌝)

"Shall we bang?"

SMACK!

Finally, the errant bug stops buzzing. Squashed beneath your palm as payback for trying to bite you for the last minute.

Turning to Ryuhei with a glare and wiping the residue on his white coat, "I swear to god if you brought me out here to fuck, no one will ever find your body again."

"Can't blame me for trying," he says with a shrug and shit-eating grin.

Ignoring the stray insects and their valiant attempts to bite you now and then... and also ignoring your boyfriend's mood-killing question, you have to admit that this is pretty romantic.

A night time surprise, he had suggested. And you were definitely curious.

(The last night time surprise he sprang on you only a few days ago in bed, you thoroughly enjoyed. So why not, he's got a decent track record so far.)

What you didn't expect was for him to whip out a second motorcycle helmet, navigate quiet roads out of the city with you pressed against his back and arms holding him tight around the waist, until finally arriving at a lookout point.

Seoul shines in the distance, glowing and glimmering. Even from so far away you can feel the thrum of the city. The buzz and the beat of the capital.

But this here, where the cicadas are loudest, and the trees grown lush, sways and rustles with the breeze-

You begin to understand why when darkness falls and covers the earth in shadow, it is considered magical.

Air cool and skies clear. Stars sparkling in the inky sky that the light pollution of Seoul can only gently graze.

And then the moon. If you were a more sentimental person you would have gasped.

Full and bright and impossibly close. Overshadowing everything else with its lunar luminosity.

You didn't think Ryuhei had it in him for this type of romance.

(Truthfully, he was only half joking with his first question. Trying his luck. But if you agreed then you would both be doing something very different right this second.)

Ryuhei looks at you, everything else blurring into the background. There could be shooting stars and he wouldn't be able to catch one. The moon could be blue and he wouldn't notice.

What he does notice is you shivering when the breeze picks up. He wraps his arm around you and pulls you close, tucking you into his side, protecting you from the elements without complaint.

You rest your head on his shoulder.

The scent of grass and earth, the oil and petrol of his motorbike, citrus notes from his aftershave mingles together, carried by the wind until it's all around you.

Providing a deep comfort, a sense of ease and contentment.

Ryuhei, unusually quiet and in his native tongue, whispers into the night, "Tsuki ga kirei desu ne,"

You turn towards him, ready to ask for a translation but he's already looking at you.

"Tsuki ga kirei desu ne," he repeats again and you think he can see into your soul. Smiling softly, softer than you have ever seen, "It means the moon is beautiful, isn't it."

You nod. You think tonight is the most beautiful you've ever seen it.

Ryuhei smiles once more before pressing a kiss to your cheek, lips barely grazing your skin and then confesses.

Leans in close to your ear, voice hushed, "It also means I love you."

[jeannereames]

Hello Dr. Reames, this may sound like a strange question, but do you know if Alexander ate an early, ancient version of ice cream? Because I believe that read somewhere that he liked to ice covered in honey and nectar. Do you know if this is actually recorded anywhere or if this is some sort of legend?

I suspect somebody is confusing much later Persian sorbet (sharbat, sherbert in English) with ice cream. Sorbet doesn't have milk in it, although it is a frozen (fruit) treat with sugar. Some is liquid, some (thicker) was eaten with a spoon. Yet it's medieval.

Was there some earlier version? I just don't know. I do know that snow was sometimes fetched from mountain tops to cool wine. There's even a piece of pottery just FOR that (pskyter). One below: you can see how that bottom part would fit into the krater (mixing bowl), just below that, so it rests on top. The snow goes in the top, and it cools the wine. But that's wine.

This is the eternal problem for authors, too, btw. WHEN did something appear on the scene? The amount of time I spent running down random shit for Dancing with the Lion.... I had to take out a line about cloves because they didn't have cloves yet, for instance. And the reverse happens. I've had folks complain about the boys using "the finger" as an insult as "too modern," because it seems that way. It's not. Ancient pottery shows Greeks giving each other the finger. Ha.

Back to sorbet: it may appear in the Alexander Romance (I don't remember), but the Romance is centuries later. This is similar to "lemons" popping up in ancient Greece and Rome. They didn't have lemons. The citron was found in Persia...but that's not a lemon. It's the precursor to modern citrus. While some earlier work suggested Alexander brought back the citron (and I'm sure he probably ate one), we now think it was spread into the Mediterranean with migrating Jews, for sukkot. Same thing with apricots. Apricots were native to Anatolia. It's highly likely there were some dried apricot imports earlier, but apricot trees are later.

Trade is, actually, a very interesting aspect of history, and had a LOT to do with alliances and wars, and who had power. Consider the influence of "little" Portugal--due to trade connections. Whole cities (emporia) were built purely for trade. I think, towards the end of his life, Alexander was finally starting to understand the power of trade. ;-)

[melmedarda]

@meljaymicrofics ⸻ heatwave ⸻ wc: 975 ⸻ rated G

It’s insufferable.

Air too thick in her lungs, her throat and nose close around every inhale. Rebel with every exhale. Perhaps this is how she’ll die.

The woman on the television has a pretty, plastic smile on her face, make up perfect. Face without the sheen of sweat as she announces the weather report in her perfect, near robotic voice. Mel has never hated a woman more.

Hot winds blowing up towards the isthmus from the deserts of Shurima threaten to make this summer the hottest we’ve seen. With record breaking temperatures of 311K and above, the costal cities of Krexor, Holdrum, Piltover, Rokund, Trannit, and Zaun are facing several heatwaves in the summer season. This is Lady Sempescu with PNN, live from—”

The tele blinks off, Mel’s hand tight on the remote. Held like a spear, handled like a weapon within her grip.

There’s no one she can go to. Mel has few friends enough as it is, and the few she has are busy. Elora’s gone to some convention in Noxus. She hasn’t heard from Samira for upwards of two months, which means she’s on assignment. Shoola’s gone to Camavor on vacation, and she’d jump into the Pilt before ever asking Salo for a favor. And then, there is the manor.

She entertains the idea, stripped down to the barest of clothing. Reclined on the cool tile of the apartment, she relishes the feel of it against her heated skin. Stares at the ceiling and thinks of her childhood room in her too quiet apartment. Thinks of a place that has not been home for a long while now.

They have working AC there, no doubt. Ambessa would not tolerate anything otherwise. But if Mel was to leave Midtown Heights and return home, her mother would give her the look. The look which communicated that Ambessa was right, and that Mel should have never moved out in the first place.

Mel had left home to escape her mother’s controlling hand in her life. Tolerating Ambessa was much like this heatwave. Oppressive. Suffocating and smothering. Mel had worked hard to escape; to return for any would be humiliating. Not when she worked so hard to escape her mother’s world.

Mel would never live it down.

She calls the Midtown Heights office again, bare foot tapping impatiently as the line rings. Her skin is cooler after standing in front of her open freezer for some relief. But her core temperature is rising now, and her temper with it. Finally, she gets someone.

“Good morning, Midtown Heights Luxury Apartments, how may I help you?” the operator says. The cheeriness in her voice makes Mel want to reach through the phone and strangle her.

“Hello, this is Ms. Medarda, from the penthouse suite 1004. I’m calling to inform you of a issue with the air conditioning… yes, I left a message two days ago and have not heard back. Is the maintenance man available to come up today? Yes, please do. Thank you. You too.”

She’s near peeling her skin off her body by the time she hears the doorbell. The sky is too blue outside the large floor to ceiling windows, not a cloud on the horizon. The sun blinds, unrepentant. Beside her, the box of ice cream she’d picked up from the mart is half finished, containing a pool of melted Noxian citrus ice cream.

Mel opens the door and immediately, heat swirls and builds beneath her skin. The handyman is a vision. Smoking hot, as Samira would say. He smiles at her, and she feels his eyes rove over her as well. They leave a trail of new heat in their wake.

And Mel’s not one to feel embarrassed or self-conscious, but she cannot help her acute awareness of the too short night slip she wears, and the near sheerness of the material. Of how sweaty she is. Of how far from appropriate this situation is. Of how deeply the heat has addled her brain, because she realizes she hasn’t said anything as yet.

“Jayce Talis, Miss Medarda. Admin sent me to fix the HVAC?” Golden eyes flit back to her. Mel swallows thickly and nods, something bitter in her throat. Steps back. Opens the door wider to let him enter. Keeps her eyes on the deep blue of his henley as he walks past. She nearly swoons when he removes his work boots before stepping further into the house. Thoughtful.

He turns to face her, and Mel realizes she is simply standing. Watching. “Please, call me Mel.” Miss Medarda reminds too much of Ambessa. “And yes, the unit has been out for about two days. She gestures towards the hall, and he falls her through on near silent feet.

“It really is hot. Did you not want to go to a hotel until everything was fixed?” His curiosity betrays his real question. Why are you courting heatstroke by roasting in this glorified oven, no doubt.

“I have fish to feed,” is all she says as they pass her assortment of fans lining the hallway. “It’s just in here.” Her penthouse comes with a rooftop garden, within which the body of her problem lies. Jayce nods, and wordlessly gets to work.

She checks on him about 30 minutes later. Better clothes and bearing a glass filled with water and ice cubes. His broad back is the first thing the greet her, blue henley discarded. Then the toned muscles of his arms. Her eyes drink him in, greedy. A desire to paint overwhelms her. She says nothing, leaving the glass near enough that he might see it, and retreats into the house.

Perhaps she might see if there is anything else in the penthouse that needs…fixing.

[staccato-fever]

Mozambique's rubies: A blessing or a curse? | DW Documentary

In Mozambique, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and the country has a great potential for growth in the sector. Agriculture employs more than 80 percent of the labour force and provides livelihoods to the vast majority of over 23 million inhabitants. Agriculture contributed 31.5 percent of the GDP in 2009, while commerce and services accounted for 44.9 percent. By contrast, 20 percent of the total export value in 2009 originated from the agriculture sector, mostly through the export of fish (mainly shrimps and prawns), timber, copra, cashew nuts and citrus, cotton, coconuts, tea and tobacco.[14]

There are large mineral deposits, but exploration has been constrained by the civil war (1977–1992) and poor infrastructure. The World Bank has estimated that there was the potential for exports worth US$200m by 2005 – in the late 1990s they totaled US$3.6m, some 1% of total exports, and a contribution of less than 2% of GDP. Minerals currently being mined include marble, bentonite, coal, gold, bauxite, granite, titanium and gemstones. Illegal exports from artisanal production are estimated at US$50 million.[original research?]

Mozambique exported its first batch of coal in 2011 and expects to become the world's largest coal exporter. It is also spending about US$50 billion in infrastructure projects to access its coal reserves. Mozambique is reported to have the fourth largest reserves of natural gas in the world, after Russia, Iran, and Qatar.[20]

The Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral[1] (Portuguese: Catedral Metropolitana de Nossa Senhora do Rosário) also called Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, is located in Beira,[2][3] a town in the African country of Mozambique[4] and is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Beira.

Beira is where the Pungwe River meets the Indian Ocean. It is the fourth-largest city by population in Mozambique, after Maputo, Matola and Nampula. Beira had a population of 397,368 in 1997, which grew to 530,604 in 2019. A coastal city, it holds the regionally significant Port of Beira, which acts as a gateway for both the central interior portion of the country as well as the land-locked nations of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.

A marina (from Spanish [maˈɾina], Portuguese [mɐˈɾinɐ] and Italian [maˈriːna]: "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters.

A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, merchandising and selling their product. In some countries modern supermarkets are replacing fishmongers who operate in shops or fish markets.

Beaux-Arts Architecture: Banco da Beira; Casa Infante de Sagres, Beira; Edifício do Almoxarifado, Beira; Escola de Artes e Ofícios, Beira; Palácio dos Desportos, Beira; Standard Bank Building, Beira; Tribunal da Beira

S & M GOALS TEAMPLATE

Stretch Goals: Central African Republic Ranks Top 8 in FIFA World Rankings for Men's and Top 5 for Futsal

Micro Goals: All Time Laureus World Sports Awards Winner for Africans, Laureus Team Award, All Time African Footballer of the Year, AFCON Host Nation Champion*, African Transfer Record*,  Insead and WSJ Conferences*, Jeune Afrique Cover*, Verified LinkedIn Member*, and Agriculture Startup Reality TV

CAPÔI HABITANT CURRENCY MODEL

Pigou Effect, Corporate Tax Havens, Capital Gains Tax Havens, Private-Public Sectors, Joint Venture Plantations, Market Extension Mergers, with Business Incubators, and Enterprise Foundation, Holding Company, Subsidiaries, and Horizontal Integration for Monopoly.

A currency union (also known as monetary union) is an intergovernmental agreement that involves two or more states sharing the same currency. These states may not necessarily have any further integration (such as an economic and monetary union, which would have, in addition, a customs union and a single market). [Pigou Effect Currency (Short FX), Currency Board Currency (Retirement Fixed Exchange Rate), Market Currency (FX Long Currency)]

Gross national product (GNP) GNP is related to another important economic measure called gross domestic product (GDP), which takes into account all output produced within a country's borders regardless of who owns the means of production. GNP starts with GDP, adds residents' investment income from overseas investments, and subtracts foreign residents' investment income earned within a country. Whilst GDP measures the total value of goods and services produced within a country's borders, GNP focuses on the income generated by its residents, regardless of their location.

Gross National Income (GNI) is the total amount of money earned by a nation's people and businesses. It is used to measure and track a nation's wealth from year to year. The number includes the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) plus the income it receives from overseas sources.

Agriculture Central Hedge Fund, Mining Unions: Peninsula Agronomique Engineering, Commodities Options Exchange (Credit Spread Options, Farm REITs, Crop Production; Fertelizers and Seeds; Equipment; Distribution and Processing Stocks, Ag ETFs and ETNs, Ag Mutual Funds), Tableau Économiques, Investments Farms REITs, Art Financing Mardi Gras

Index Franc: Tobacco-Tobacco Soil Index/Franc Tabac Currency Pair (TBS/TAF)

The overlapping generations (OLG) model; consumption-based capital asset pricing model (CCAPM); Endogenous growth theory; Material balance planning; Leontief paradox; Malinvestment; Helicopter money; Modern monetary theory

Mercantilism Spectrum of CDF/CFA

CDF Raw Materials and CFA Products. (Prices); CDF Holding Company and CFA Conglomerate Company. (Equity and Dividend Yield); CDF is Gold Standard and CFA is Helicopter Money. (FX Rate/Hedging); CDF Helicopter Money [Supplier Currency] and CFA as Purchasing Power [Consumer Currency] (Currency Union & Currency Board and Negative Interest Rates); CDF is Congolese Franc and CFA is Central African Franc

CHAMA ROXA

Purple Flame represents Spiritual Development for Martyrology in Mozambique

It is also a Slang Term for “What Religion do you practice?”

Team Name for Mozambique National Team

DOS SANTOS FREE-ROLE

Supporting Striker (Inverted Winger)

Central Winger (False 10)

Overlapping Run/Defensive Winger (Half-winger)

An inverted winger is a modern tactical development of the traditional winger position. Most wingers are assigned to either side of the field based on their footedness, with right-footed players on the right and left-footed players on the left.[65] This assumes that assigning a player to their natural side ensures a more powerful cross as well as greater ball protection along the touch-lines. However, when the position is inverted and a winger instead plays inside-out on the opposite flank (i.e., a right-footed player as a left inverted winger), they effectively become supporting strikers and primarily assume a role in the attack.[66]

The "false 10" or "central winger"[55] is a type of midfielder, which differs from the trequartista. Much like the "false 9", their specificity lies in the fact that, although they seemingly play as an attacking midfielder on paper, unlike a traditional playmaker who stays behind the striker in the centre of the pitch, the false 10's goal is to move out of position and drift wide when in possession of the ball to help both the wingers and fullbacks to overload the flanks. This means two problems for the opposing midfielders: either they let the false 10 drift wide, and their presence, along with both the winger and the fullback, creates a three-on-two player advantage out wide; or they follow the false 10, but leave space in the centre of the pitch for wingers or onrushing midfielders to exploit. False 10s are usually traditional wingers who are told to play in the centre of the pitch, and their natural way of playing makes them drift wide and look to provide deliveries into the box for teammates. 

In Italian football, the term mezzala (literally "half-winger" in Italian) is used to describe the position of the one or two central midfielders who play on either side of a holding midfielder and/or playmaker. The term was initially applied to the role of an inside forward in the WM and Metodo formations in Italian, but later described a specific type of central midfielder. The mezzala is often a quick and hard-working attack-minded midfielder, with good skills and noted offensive capabilities, as well as a tendency to make overlapping attacking runs, but also a player who participates in the defensive aspect of the game, and who can give width to a team by drifting out wide; as such, the term can be applied to several different roles.

On occasion, the false-10 can also function in a different manner alongside a false-9, usually in a 4–6–0 formation. Midfield collective of False 9, False 10, Box to Box, Holding, Half Winger, Attacking, Defensive.

Thiago Motta’s ‘Super Offensive’ 2-7-2 Formation Explained: Instead of the traditional way of looking at a tactical set-up horizontally, the Brazil-born manager instead split the field into three vertical lanes. This means he effectively has seven players in the central channel with two players out wide on each flank. 

We are not stretching the defensive line itsself, but the space between the defensive line and the goalkeeper

Adjust Free Role System to The Scoreboard 

The Central African Games was an international multi-sport event for countries within Central Africa. (Boxing, Athletics, Tennis, Football, Rallycross, Olympic Weightlifting, Volleyball, Trap Shooting, Basketball)

The Central African Football Federations' Union, officially abbreviated as UNIFFAC[a], is a sports governing body representing the football associations of Central Africa. 

Teenage Prospect World Cup Medium of Exchange Jersey/FIFA Potential Rating System 65-80 Minutes Time Played Instrument; Match Rating System

W; I; M; V; Box Keeping Formation with 3 Centre-Backs

Spacing, Possession, Pass Completion, and Counter Pressing with Pursuit and Ambush Predation One Team Box Touches and Capture the Flag with Analytics-Geometry Total Football Trixie Bet on CNS Drugs (Xanax and Modafinil); 1-1-2-1 Diamond Rover Futsal Pivot Formation

Define a run in one of two ways: (i) as a set of consecutive goals scored by one team, without the other team scoring a goal; (ii) as a set of consecutive scoring events by one team, each event being either a goal or one or more Set Piece. Play aggressive and with counter pressing and run it up on the score board in the first half and after halftime play defense. You get a break at half and it's easier to win when someone plays defense and looks for opportunities instead of Attacking.

Posterior Chain Super Compensation and Speed-Endurance (Elastic-Connective Tissue) Force-Velocity Curve; Crescent Moon Horizontal Plane Vertical Force Sprinting Mechanics.

WM or Diamond Rover Futsal Pivot Formation

Positional Game is Diamonds Tic-Tac-Toe with Enforcer and Avoider. Striker [Enforcer] (Inverted Winger and Centre Forward), Deep Lying Playmaker [Avoider] (Holding Midfielder and Inverted Winger), and Sweeper Wingback Deep Lying Playmaker [Avoider] (Centre Back). Use Playing Styles, Manipulated Positions, and Combinational Games for Positional Play as Johan Cruyff students.

Set Piece Stylistic Biomechanics: Shooting Knee at Wall for Curve and Placement Knee for Corner. Follow through with Shot with proper Body Alignment 

Knee to Feet or Shoulder to Feet Cradling for Touch/Entertainment 

UEFA Front Office Curriculum 

DOS SANTOS Placement Mechanics: Ankle-Heel Linedrive and Arch-Knuckle Raised Curve; Placement Foot and Reverse Rotation with Shoulder for power and Accuracy; Arch of Feet at Target for Follow Through Accuracy

Agility Ladder Eyes Pocket: Eyes Between Defenders Feet and Ball, Numbered Footwork V-Step (Shifting Defenders with Momentum) et L-Step (Explosive First Step), All moves should form a Triangle or an Incomplete Triangle

Sprint Size Up: A series of feint Karaoké dribble moves with Eye Tricks (Fake Pass) but Sprint Position Finish

Triangle Philosophy: All Dribbling Moves should form a Triangle or an Incomplete Triangle while using V-Step (Shifting Defenders with Momentum) et L-Step (Explosive First Step).

Thé Crescent: In Close Dribbling; Crescent Footwork with L Shapes 

On the Run Dribbling Moves: Letters and Shapes; Still Play 1 on 1: Numbered Footwork

À ma sauce Courts: Drills Side/Box Play with 1 Net; Design Vaporwave Action Painting Angels; Knee for Direction and Sole Drags for Dribbling Touch and Crescent Moon Sprint Mechanics 

Gambling Games: 5 Roll (Captain, Ship, Crew); Live-Pool Betting Monopoly 

Stylistic Biomechanics: Dribbling Foot To Ball Contact (Balls of Feet and Arch of Feet); Knee for Direction; Foot Drags; & Hip Angle, Crescent Moon Running Mechanics, and Laces Kick.

Futsal Courts: Drills Side/Box Play with 1 Net; Design Vaporwave Action Painting Angels; Knee for Direction and Sole Drags for Dribbling Touch and Crescent Moon Sprint Mechanics 

Diamond Football (15 mins)

Set Up

-Lay out two overlapping sets of 4 flat markers in the positions shown above.

-Ask the players to stand on a flat marker for their teams colour (Red on Red, Yellow on Yellow).

Instruction

-Whenever the ball goes out for a kick in or for the defenders ball, the players must stand on their markers before play begins.

-As soon as the ball has been played in, players are free to move.

-Reset everytime the ball goes out.

Coaching Points, Progressions Ect.

-Ask players to shout out what each position on the park is to devlop understanding of their roles.

-If you decide to go to a normal game , leave the markers out for a visual aid for the players.

-If more than 8 players, Add in Goalkeepers who would then play the ball out to the DF,LM,RM.

-Rotate Positions, Ask Players to stand on a marker they haven't been on before

RUSSE NOIR ACCENT

Lingua Franca of Renaissance Latin (Vocabulary) and Atlantic–Congo Fon (Grammar).

Volta–Congo is a major branch of the Atlantic–Congo family. Fon (fɔ̀ngbè, pronounced [fɔ̃̀ɡ͡bē][2]) also known as Dahomean is the language of the Fon people. It belongs to the Gbe group within the larger Atlantic–Congo family.

In linguistic typology, subject–verb–object (SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third.

Haitian Creole (/ˈheɪʃən ˈkriːoʊl/; Haitian Creole: kreyòl ayisyen, [kɣejɔl ajisjɛ̃];[6][7] French: créole haïtien, [kʁe.ɔl a.i.sjɛ̃]), or simply Creole (Haitian Creole: kreyòl), is a French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12 million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it is the native language of the vast majority of the population. The language emerged from contact between French settlers and enslaved Africans during the Atlantic slave trade in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although its vocabulary largely derives from 18th-century French, its grammar is that of a West African Volta-Congo language branch, particularly the Fongbe and Igbo languages.

Prose Accent Congo and Modern Accent Congo.

Full Lips Endings with Vertical Narrow Mouth and Soft Rs.

A noun phrase – or NP or nominal (phrase) – is a phrase that usually has a noun or pronoun as its head, and has the same grammatical functions as a noun.

BELMÔNT'S SIN INDEX FUND PORTFOLIO 

Sin stock sectors usually include alcohol, tobacco, gambling, sex-related industries (Cabaret and Burlesque), and weapons manufacturers.

Diageo 

Phillip Morris

Sports Betting Investment Trust

Pharmaceuticals

Business Clusters with Scrum Management and Accelerators to produce Festivals.

Example: Create a Index Fund Portfolio of 15-20 Stocks and using Supply Side Economics to create Decentralized Gambling Economy.

BELMÔNT'S DECENTRALIZED GAMBLING ECONOMY

Corporate-Capital Gains Tax Haven

High Stakes Minimum Buy In

Card Gambling (Signal and President): Top 2 highest bids fight for the Coup d'état and the other two are lesser men, the lesser men are subordinates that aid in playing cards for the warlord, the winning team splits the money, the warlords switches based on the 13 cards dealt and bets placed, the first team to shed all of their cards win.

Domestic Gambling: Boxing

Retirement Gambling: Boat Racing

Residency Program for Tax Benefits

BELMÔNT'S TURF ACCOUNTING MODEL

+EV

Python Programming Gaussian Distribution

Exotic Options Trading Live Betting

Parlays Minimum for Round Robins

Daily Fantasy Sports Rakes

RUSSE NOIR PALACE

Definitions of ballroom. noun. large room used mainly for dancing. synonyms: dance hall, dance palace**. types: disco, discotheque.

Go Go Music Influenced, Eurphoric Trance Chord Progression Melody, Progressive House and Drum n' Bass Percussion-808 Call and Response Staccato Polyrhythm or Layered Kick and Punch 808.

In his 1972 study of French lute music, scholar Wallace Rave compiled a list of features he believed to be characteristic of style brisé. Rave's list included the following: the avoidance of textural pattern and regularity in part writing; arpeggiated chord textures with irregular distribution of individual notes of the chord; ambiguous melodic lines; rhythmic displacement of notes within a melodic line; octave changes within melodic line; irregular phrase lengths.

Have the Snare and Kick say, "Hi, How are you?" And the 808 say, "I am good thanks for asking.”

Use progressive House to push the Drums Conversation to either Fast and Punchy for Happy or Slow and Deep for Sad.

In technical terms, "go-go's essential beat is characterized by a five through four syncopated rhythm that is underscored prominently by the bass drum and snare drum, and the hi-hat... [and] is ornamented by the other percussion instruments, especially by the conga drums, rototoms, and hand-held cowbells."[5]

Polyrhythm: In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term cross rhythm was introduced in 1934 by the musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to a situation where the rhythmic conflict found in polyrhythms is the basis of an entire musical piece.[1]

Four-on-the-floor (or four-to-the-floor) is a rhythm used primarily in dance genres such as disco and electronic dance music. It is a steady, uniformly accented beat in 4. 4 time in which the bass drum is hit on every beat (1, 2, 3, 4).[1] This was popularized in the disco music of the 1970s[2] and the term four-on-the-floor was widely used in that era, since the beat was played with the pedal-operated, drum-kit bass drum.[3][4] (Punch 808-Kick)

Polyrhythm 4 on the Floor examples 2:4 or 5:4

Hard trance is often characterized by strong, hard (or even downpitch) kicks, fully resonant basses and an increased amount of reverberation applied to the main beat. Melodies vary from 140 to 180 BPMs and it can feature plain instrumental sound in early compositions, with the latter ones tending to implement side-chaining techniques of progressive on digital synthesizers.

Singles Only Email Raves Blogger then Multi Market Distribution Deal: A distribution deal is a contract to release the music to platforms, but not own the publishing or exclusively lock the artist in. Record Artist Producer Label: Have Polyrhythm Artist earn Streaming Percentage under a Recording Artist Deal. Label has Distribution Above Me and I have Manufacturing over Polyrhythm Artist. Have a end of the Year Album for New Year's Raves!

BELMÔNT'S SYSTEM: CAPÔI RETAINER AGREEMENT WITH ASSET PROTECTION TRUST

Capo: Describes a ranking made member of a family who leads a crew of soldiers. A capo is similar to a military captain who commands soldiers. Soldier: Also known as a “made man,” soldiers are the lowest members of the crime family but still command respect in the organization.

A capo is a "made member" of an Italian crime family who heads a regime or "crew" of soldiers and has major status and influence in the organization.

Consigliere: Defense and Corporate Lawyers

Head Boss: Ministry of Medicine

Underboss: Pharmaceutical Industry

Capo: CAPÔI RETAINER AGREEMENT

Soliders: Artisans

Commercialism is the application of both manufacturing and consumption towards personal usage, or the practices, methods, aims, and distribution of products in a free market geared toward generating a profit.

Commercial art is art created for advertising or marketing purposes. Commercial artists are hired by clients to create images and logos that sell products. Unlike works of fine art that convey an artist's personal expression, commercial art must address the client's goals.

The word 'Commercial' is defined as follows: Concerned with or engaged in commerce. Commerce is the exchange of goods or services among two or more parties.

Craftsmen are committed to the medium, not to self-expression. Artists are committed to their self-expression, not the medium.

A medium of exchange is an intermediary instrument and system used to facilitate the purchase and sale of goods and services between parties.

Stretch and Micro Goals

Music Medium System: Distribution and Retailers Contract Theory (System) for Music (Instrument)

Football Medium System: Analytics and Geometry for Free Role (System) Trixies (Instrument)

Age 16-19

Bond Funds

Farmland REITS

CFDS

Real Estate Brokerage Trust Account

Age 20-30

Farmland Recession Proof Stocks (Cosmetics, AgTech, Ag ETFS, AgETN)

Incubator and Startup Accelerators

Real Estate Joint Ventures

Age 30-40

Farmland Blue Chip Indexes w/ Credit Spread Options

CURRENCY, OIL, & GOLD COMMODITIES CANDLESTICK CHARTS

Swing Trading: Use mt4/mt5 With Heiken Ashi Charts, Setting at 14 or 21 Momentum Indicator above 0 as Divergence Oscillator and Volume Spread Analysis as Reversal Oscillator and Trade when bullish candlesticks above 200 exponential moving average and/or 20 exponential moving average (EMA) on H1 (Hourly) Time Frame; use H4 (4 Hours) and D1 (1 Day) as reference.

TUNNEL STRATEGY (OFFSHORE BANKING)

Purpose: Permanent Residency Card

$250k Deposit

$125k: 60/40 portfolio, 60% Fixed Income & REITs and 40% Blue Chip Stocks

$50k: Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) and term deposits are secured investments. This means that you get back the amount you invest at the end of your term. The key difference between a GIC and a term deposit is the length of the term. Term deposits generally have shorter terms than GICs.

$75k: Spending Cash

SIN STOCKS PORTFOLIO

Sin stock sectors usually include alcohol, tobacco, gambling, sex-related industries, and weapons manufacturers.

Sports Betting Investment Trust

Pharmaceuticals

Example: Create a Index Fund Portfolio of 15-20 Stocks and using Supply Side Economics to create Decentralized Gambling Economy.

FESTIVALS DEAL

Singles Only Email Raves Blogger then Multi Market Distribution Deal: A distribution deal is a contract to release the music to platforms, but not own the publishing or exclusively lock the artist in. Record Artist Producer Label: Have Polyrhythm Artist earn Streaming Percentage under a Recording Artist Deal. Label has Distribution Above Me and I have Manufacturing over Polyrhythm Artist. Have a end of the Year Album for New Year's Raves!

NEUROPLASTICITY DRUG-CRIME NEXUS BASED ON TRAFFICKING

CPP, CNS Depressants, et FENTALOGS: Cul-de-sac

Defensive Penalty Capture The Flag Raiding Warfare

Grey-Decentralized Markets

Bastilles: Cul-de-sac Artist Résidences Penthouse Complexes

Polyrhythm Raves

Acid House Art Gallery

International Film Festival

Hôtel Chefs

Seigneurial System/Tableau Economique Raw Material Économics Production Spot

Surautomatism

Discount Networking Acid House Party

Opium Dens and Fragrance Festivals

Pill Pressers

CNS depressants

Upper-tier County System

Defense Lawyers are Traplords (Trafficking P4P and Malicious Prosecution)

Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC)

Brain Receptor Dealing

Neuroplasticity Drug-Crime Nexus

Religious Ecstasy

Entheogens are psychedelic drugs—and sometimes certain other psychoactive substances—used for engendering spiritual development or otherwise in sacred contexts

Live-Pool Betting Monopoly Board Game

Summary Sentencing

Urban Level: Street Culture Art Gallery (Street culture may refer to: Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities, Street market, Children's street culture, Street carnival, Block party, Street identity, Street food, Café culture, Several youth subculture or counterculture topics pertaining to outdoors of urban centers. These can include: Street art, Street photography, Street racing, Street wear, Hip-hop culture, Urban fiction, Street sports, Streetball, Flatland BMX, Freestyling), Art Pedagogy, Artist Residency, Art Schools, and Art Plugs

Art Pedagogy: Arts-based pedagogy is a teaching methodology in which an art form is integrated with another subject matter to impact student learning. 28-30. Arts-based pedagogy results in arts-based learning (ABL),11 which is when a student learns about a subject through arts processes including creating, responding or performing. Aesthetic Teaching: Seeking a Balance between Teaching Arts and Teaching through the Arts. In aesthetic education, learning must be developed especially with the inclusion of sensations and with the help of feelings. Sensations and feelings should lead to movement, representation, and expression. Aesthetic learning often entails learning to distinguish certain qualities or objects aesthetically in different ways depending on the situation and the purpose. Certain things can be experienced in negative ways in one activity and in positive ways in another.

A designer drug is a structural or functional analog of a controlled substance that has been designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, while avoiding classification as illegal and/or detection in standard drug tests

Patchwork tattoos are a collection of tattoos collaged together to create an overall design. Each individual 'patch' of the tattoo can be a different design, symbol or element with a little space in between. Patchwork tattoos are a collection of tattoos collaged together to create an overall design. In short, the gun-toting angel was a multifaceted metaphor. “It undoubtedly also reflected the Catholic Counter-Reformation militaristic rhetoric,” wrote Donahue-Wallace, “which promoted the church as an army and heavenly beings as its soldiers.”

DECADENCE AESTHETICS THEORIES

Slogan

J'Cartier, Je cours après les vœux de champagne,

Subjective

Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions

Gastronomy

Precarious Balance

Precariously: If something is happening or positioned precariously, it's in danger. A glass could be precariously balanced on the edge of a table. If something is on the verge of danger, then the word precariously fits.

Grey & Decentralized Markets

Tableau Économique

Semblance

Semblance is generally used to suggest a contrast between outward appearance and inner reality.

High Socioeconomic Status & Tattoos

Phantasmagorical

Having a fantastic or deceptive appearance

adjective. having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination. having the appearance of an optical illusion, especially one produced by a magic lantern.

Socioeconomic Status Development Immigration Multilingual Sensory Play

Law of Polarity in Relationships

In any successful relationship that has an intimate connection and sexual attraction, there is polarity. What does this mean exactly? Polarity in relationships is the spark that occurs between two opposing energies: masculine and feminine. Gender does not affect whether you have masculine or feminine energy.

Second Reflection

Burden Aesthetics with Intentions

The Second Reflection lays hold of the Technical Procedures

Tattoos

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGY

Keystone Theory Habits

Game Theory

Behavioral Finance

Self-actualization is the complete realization of one's potential, and the full development of one's abilities and appreciation for life. This concept is at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs, so not every human being reaches it.

Potential Psychology: Psychological potential is a very broad concept. It may include one's capacity to conform, change, re-invent oneself, bounce back from adversity, etc.

SOCIO-FORMAL SCIENCE

+EV Optimal Game Theory Poker

Civil, Agriculure, Solvent Levelling Effect Chemical Reaction, and Biomechanical Engineering

SOCIO-PHILOSOPHY

Ontology

IMPERIALISM, THE HIGHEST STAGE OF CAPITALISM

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism,[1] originally published as Imperialism, the Newest Stage of Capitalism,[2][3] is a book written by Vladimir Lenin in 1916 and published in 1917. It describes the formation of oligopoly, by the interlacing of bank and industrial capital, in order to create a financial oligarchy, and explains the function of financial capital in generating profits from the exploitation colonialism inherent to imperialism, as the final stage of capitalism. The essay synthesises Lenin's developments of Karl Marx's theories of political economy in Das Kapital (1867).[4]

Tax Mergers Law; Market-extension merger: Two companies that sell the same products in different markets. 4.2.2 Corporate Taxation At the corporate level, the tax treatment of a merger or acquisition depends on whether the acquiring firm elects to treat the acquired firm as being absorbed into the parent with its tax attributes intact, or first being liquidated and then received in the form of its component assets.

SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

Seconds Liberal Arts are often viewed as pre-professional since, while conceived of as fundamental to citizenship, they address the whole person in recognition that our moral and spiritual identities develop best through participation in a society that perpetually renews the rights and responsibilities of membership.

Executive management master's degree programs often result in an Executive Master of Business Administration, or EMBA. They are primarily designed to act as accelerated graduate programs for working professionals who already hold management or executive positions.

Engineering college means a school, college, university, department of a university or other educational institution, reputable and in good standing in accordance with rules prescribed by the Department, and which grants baccalaureate degrees in engineering.

Monopoly Family Boarding Schools: The socio-historical context refers to the societal and historical conditions and circumstances that influence events or individuals. It involves elements like the cultural, economic, and political circumstances during a certain time period.

Agriculturism is an ideology promoting rural life, a traditional way of life. It is characterized by the valorization of traditional values (the family, the French language, the Catholic religion) and an opposition to the industrial world.

CAPÔI CLASS STRUCTURE

Demonym Examples: CAR Congolese, Gabon Congolese, Afrikaans Congolese, and Congolese

Monopoly Family (Apartheid)

Chief Executive of State (Apartheid)

Political Class (RUSSE NOIR)

Upper Class (RUSSE NOIR)

Working Class (RUSSE NOIR)

JEAN-CLAUDE TRAORÉ BUSINESS ADVICE

Blue Ocean Strategy; Solvent Levelling Effect Chemical Reaction Engineering and Economic Science.

TENNIS AGRICULTURE

A clay-court specialist is a tennis player who excels on clay courts, more than on any other surface.

Due in part to advances in racquet technology, current clay-court specialists are known for employing long, winding groundstrokes that generate heavy topspin; such strokes are less effective on faster surfaces on which the balls do not bounce as high. Clay-court specialists tend to slide more effectively on clay than other players. Many of them are also very adept at hitting the drop shot, which can be effective because rallies on clay courts often leave players pushed far beyond the baseline. Additionally, the slow, long rallies require a great degree of mental focus and physical stamina.

CASAPIANOS MARTYROLOGY ORDER (CATHOLIC COUNTER-REFORMATION)

The Casa Pia is a Portuguese institution founded by Maria I, known as A Pia ("Mary the Pious"), and organized by Police Intendant Pina Manique in 1780, following the social disarray of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. For almost three centuries, thousands of young boys and girls were raised by Casa Pia, including many public personalities, called casapianos. Casa Pia is Portugal's largest educational institution dedicated to helping youngsters in risk of social exclusion or without parental support. The organisation is composed of ten schools and enrolls approximately 4700 students. In addition to standard schooling, the organisation also provides boarding for children in need. It strives to enable these youngsters to become healthy and successful members of society, by developing intellectual, manual, and physical traits, in an environment promoting spiritual, moral, and religious values. The institution is proud to have had amongst its students many outstanding Portuguese personalities, including politicians, journalists, and artists. A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches.[1] Consolidation occurred, by the combination of several local martyrologies, with or without borrowings from literary sources.

The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are priests who live in community under a rule (Latin: regula and κανών, kanon, in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a partly similar terminology. As religious communities, they have laybrothers as part of the community.

Clerics regular are clerics (mostly priests) who are members of a religious order under a rule of life (regular). Clerics regular differ from canons regular in that they devote themselves more to pastoral care, in place of an obligation to the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours in common, and have fewer observances in their rule of life.

Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, and from clerics, in that they were not in possession of (or preparing for) holy orders.[1][2][3][4][5]

In female religious institutes, the equivalent role is the lay sister. Lay brothers were originally created to allow those who were skilled in particular crafts or did not have the required education to study for holy orders to participate in and contribute to the life of a religious order.

Lay brothers were found in many religious orders. Drawn from the working classes, they were pious and hardworking people, who though unable to achieve the education needed to receive holy orders, were still drawn to religious life and were able to contribute to the order through their skills. Some were skilled in artistic handicrafts, others functioned as administrators of the orders' material assets. In particular, the lay brothers of the Cistercians were skilled in agriculture, and have been credited for the tilling of fertile farmland.[1]

Lay sisters were found in most of the orders of women, and their origin, like that of the lay brothers, is to be found in the necessity of providing the choir nuns with more time for the Office and study, as well as creating the opportunity for the illiterate to join the religious life. They, too, wore a habit different from those of the choir sisters, and their required daily prayers consisted of prayers such as the Little Office or a certain number of Paters.[1]

All canons regular are to be distinguished from secular canons who belong to a resident group of priests but who do not take public vows and are not governed in whatever elements of life they lead in common by a historical rule. One obvious place where such groups of priests are required is at a cathedral, where there were many Masses to celebrate and the Divine Office to be prayed together in community.

In modern astrology, Mars is the primary native ruler of the first house. Traditionally however, Mars ruled both the third and tenth houses, and had its joy in the fifth house. While Venus tends to the overall relationship atmosphere, Mars is the passionate impulse and action, the masculine aspect, discipline, willpower and stamina.

Mars rules over Tuesday and in Romance languages the word for Tuesday often resembles Mars (in Romanian, marți, in Spanish, martes, in French, mardi and in Italian "martedì"). The English "Tuesday" is a modernised form of "Tyr's Day", Tyr being the Germanic analogue to Mars. Dante Alighieri associated Mars with the liberal art of arithmetic. In Chinese astrology, Mars is ruled by the element fire, which is passionate, energetic and adventurous.

According to John Clements, the term martial arts itself is derived from an older Latin term meaning "arts of Mars", the Roman god of war, and was used to refer to the combat systems of Europe (European martial arts) as early as the 1550s

A religious congregation is a type of religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – in that members take simple vows, whereas members of religious orders take solemn vows.

In the Catholic Church, a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members that profess solemn vows. They are classed as a type of religious institute.[1]

Catholic School Girls Moon Evangelical Prophets: Consecrated life is "placed in a privileged position in the line of evangelical prophecy," whereby its “charismatic nature” and communal discernment of the Spirit "makes it capable of inventiveness and originality.”

Men Mars Angelology Conversion System: Church Enterprises (Planetary Intelligence Church District Real Estate; Liberal Arts Catholic Immersion Schools; Gold; Athletics; Cooking);

Church Gatherings (School Nights Virgil, Weekend Noon Mass then Weekend Sports League) Francis de Sales and Don St. Bosco Influence 

Harquebusier Angels Patchwork Tattoos: Biblical Crowns, Praying Hands, Gun Toting Angels, Dirty Dancing Angels, Drug Using Angels, Heavenly Choir, Summa Theologica Sherman, Saints and Pastors, Hebrew Tetragram, Council of Trent

HARQUEBUSIER ANGELS GANG BLUEPRINT: PARDISUS MEDIAE; Spirit Unity Oversoul Angelology Shaman, Eros Influence Angels: Ecstasy-Painkillers Trafficking Angel Spirit Type Oversoul, Jupiter-Mars-Venus with Planetary Intelligence; Erotes are Horcruxes, Google Imprint Oversoul, Choice of Choir is Heavenly Host, Lightning-Ice Element, Wings Transfer Invocation, MARS-JUPITER  Syncretism Planetary Intelligence, ESTJ Sensory Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator Syncretism, Church Expenses Occupation (Festivals, Venues, Freeports, Art Gallery, Underground Garages, Tobacco Store, Restaurants, Réal Estate Brokerage, Impure Aesthetic Thrillers Publishing Imprint et Production Company, Body Etching, Lipodissolve, and Hyaluronic Acid Fillers Cosmetics Surgery

ANGOLAN HARQUEBUSIER ANGELS STRUCTURE; Commission on the Social and Cultural Affairs; Commission for Ecumenism; The Commission on Christian Education; Liturgical Commission; Missionary Committee; Chief Executive of State and Military Religion Legislation; Stretch and Micro Goals

Material religion is a framework used by scholars of religion to examine the interaction between religion and material culture. It focuses on the place of objects, images, spaces, and buildings in religious communities. The framework has been promoted by scholars such as Birgit Meyer, Sally Promey, S. Brent Plate, David Morgan, etc.

Physiocracy (French: physiocratie; from the Greek for "government of nature") is an economic theory developed by a group of 18th-century Age of Enlightenment French economists who believed that the wealth of nations derived solely from the value of "land agriculture" or "land development" and that agricultural products should be highly priced.[1] Their theories originated in France and were most popular during the second half of the 18th century. Physiocracy became one of the first well-developed theories of economics.

The Bible typically describes the Heavenly host as being made up of angels, and gives several descriptions of angels in military terms, such as their encampment (Genesis 32:1–2), command structure (Psalms 91:11–12; Matt.13:41; Rev.7:2), and participation in combat (Job 19:12; Rev.12:7). Other passages indicate other entities make up the divine army, namely stars (Judges 5:20, Isaiah 40:26).[1][full citation needed] In Christian theology, the heavenly host participate in the war in Heaven.

The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheistic, pandeistic, or panentheistic faiths to suggest that the spiritual world permeates the mundane.

The Dionysian Mysteries were a ritual of ancient Greece and Rome which sometimes used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques (like dance and music) to remove inhibitions and social constraints, liberating the individual to return to a natural state. 

Religious nationalism can be understood in a number of ways, such as nationalism as a religion itself, a position articulated by Carlton Hayes in his text Nationalism: A Religion, or as the relationship of nationalism to a particular religious belief, dogma, ideology, or affiliation. This relationship can be broken down into two aspects: the politicisation of religion and the influence of religion on politics.

Dioceses ruled by an archbishop are commonly referred to as archdioceses; most are metropolitan sees, being placed at the head of an ecclesiastical province. In the Catholic Church, some are suffragans of a metropolitan see or are directly subject to the Holy See.

The body of light, sometimes called the 'astral body'[a] or the 'subtle body,'[b] is a "quasi material"[1] aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, posited by a number of philosophers, and elaborated on according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. Other terms used for this body include body of glory,[2] spirit-body, luciform body, augoeides ('radiant body'), astroeides ('starry or sidereal body'), and celestial body.[3] The concept derives from the philosophy of Plato: the word 'astral' means 'of the stars'; thus the astral plane consists of the Seven Heavens of the classical planets. The idea is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of the afterlife[4] in which the soul's journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as "an ecstatic, mystical or out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body and travels in their body of light into 'higher' realms."[5]

The canon law of the Catholic Church (from Latin ius canonicum[1]) is "how the Church organizes and governs herself".[2] It is the system of laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organization and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics toward the mission of the Church.

An institute of consecrated life is an association of faithful in the Catholic Church canonically erected by competent church authorities to enable men or women who publicly profess the evangelical counsels by religious vows or other sacred bonds "through the charity to which these counsels lead to be joined to the Church and its mystery in a special way".[1] They are defined in the 1983 Code of Canon Law under canons 573–730. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has ecclesial oversight of institutes of consecrated life.[2]

In Christianity, the three evangelical counsels, or counsels of perfection, are chastity (NEVER), poverty (or perfect charity), and obedience (RECKLESS ABANDONMENT).[1] As stated by Jesus in the canonical gospels,[2] they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect" (τελειος, teleios).[3][4] The Catholic Church interprets this to mean that they are not binding upon all, and hence not necessary conditions to attain eternal life (heaven), but that they are "acts of supererogation", "over and above" the minimum stipulated in the biblical commandments.[5][6]

Catholics who have made a public profession to order their lives by the evangelical counsels, and confirmed this by public vows before their competent church authority (the act of religious commitment known as a profession), are recognised as members of the consecrated life.

The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation. The Council issued key statements and clarifications of the Church's doctrine and teachings, including scripture, the biblical canon, sacred tradition, original sin, justification, salvation, the sacraments, the Mass, and the veneration of saints[4] and also issued condemnations of what it defined to be heresies committed by proponents of Protestantism. The consequences of the Council were also significant with regard to the Church's liturgy and censorship.

Initiated in part to address the challenges of the Protestant Reformations,[3] the Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort arising from the decrees of the Council of Trent. The effort produced apologetic and polemical documents, heresy trials, anti-corruption efforts, spiritual movements, the promotion of new religious orders, and the flourishing of new art and musical styles. 

Tradwave is a Catholic artistic style using synthwave and vaporwave art to promote traditional catholicism. Tradwave usually uses traditional catholic paintings, sculptures, or photographs of saints, given with vaporwave effects, often with a bible verse or quote about catholicism. The art usually tries to convey a resurrection of catholic spirituality in the modern atheist world. Figures often depicted in Tradwave art include Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Ven. Fulton Sheen, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and Mother Angelica.

Tradwave music often takes the form of two main styles. One of them is catholic hymns with vaporwave effects and traditional Vaporwave/Lo-Fi music. It can also have quotes from modern prolific Catholic figures, such as Ven. The other theme is Fulton Sheen and Cardinal Robert Sarah.

Heavenly Virtues: Another phrase to describe this obedience to the voice is “reckless abandon.” It simply means that we let God do what God wants to do through us. It means if He tells us to do something or say something—we do it.

Intercession or intercessory prayer is the act of praying to a deity on behalf of others, or asking a saint in heaven to pray on behalf of oneself or for others. Intercession of the Saints is a Christian doctrine that maintains that saints can intercede for others. To intercede is to go or come between two parties, to plead before one of them on behalf of the other. In ecclesiastical usage both words are taken in the sense of the intervention primarily of Christ, and secondarily of the Blessed Virgin and the angels and saints, on behalf of men.[2] The doctrine is held by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox churches , and some Lutherans and Anglicans (chiefly those of Evangelical Catholic or Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, respectively).[3] The practice of asking saints for their intercession can be found in Christian writings from the 3rd century onwards.[4][5][6] Catholic doctrine supports intercessory prayer to saints. This practice is an application of the doctrine of the Communion of saints. Some of the early basis for this was the belief that martyrs passed immediately into the presence of God and could obtain graces and blessings for others, which naturally and immediately led to their direct invocation. A further reinforcement was derived from the cult of the angels which, while pre-Christian in its origin, was heartily embraced by the faithful of the sub-Apostolic age. The doctrine of intercession and invocation was set forth by the Council of Trent, which teaches that "... the saints who reign together with Christ offer up their own prayers to God for men. It is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, and help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Who alone is our Redeemer and Saviour".[10] Intercessory prayer to saintly persons who have not yet been beatified can also practiced by individuals, and evidence of miracles produced as a result of such prayer is very commonly produced during the formal process of beatification and canonization.

In short, the gun-toting angel was a multifaceted metaphor. “It undoubtedly also reflected the Catholic Counter-Reformation militaristic rhetoric,” wrote Donahue-Wallace, “which promoted the church as an army and heavenly beings as its soldiers.” These "Harquebusier Angels" or "Arcabuceros" are full-length depictions of winged angels, elaborately dressed, and carrying matchlock guns (harquebuses).

The related term astrolatry usually implies polytheism. In anthropological literature these systems of practice may be referred to as astral cults.

A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Roman Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Roman Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the older monastic orders' allegiance to a single monastery formalized by their vow of stability. A friar may be in holy orders or be a non-ordained brother. The most significant orders of friars are the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, and Carmelites.[1]

Romans 8:31; Exploring Biblical Imagery is one of the most important keys to interpreting and gaining a deeper understanding of the Bible. The Bible often communicates truth to us through images and patterns.

Throughout history, armed priests or soldier priests have been recorded. Distinguished from military chaplains, who are non-combatants that provided spiritual guidance to service personnel and associated civilians, these priests took up arms and fought in conflicts as combatants. The term warrior priests or war priests is usually used for armed priests in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and of historical tribes.

Slang: In Romans 8:5-8, Paul presents a compelling contrast between living according to the flesh and living according to the Spirit. The flesh, with its disordered desires and rebellion against God, leads only to spiritual desolation. Martyr, one who voluntarily suffers death rather than deny their religion by words or deeds; such action is afforded special, institutionalized recognition in most major religions of the world. The term may also refer to anyone who sacrifices their life or something of great value for the sake of principle. A religious allusion is a brief reference to a person, event, place, or phrase from religious texts or traditions, without describing them in detail. 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. Martyr/Romans 8 Allusion Slang.

The Roman Martyrology is an official liturgical book of the Catholic Church, with ancient origins, that lists the martyrs, confessors, virgins, and other saints, each on his or her dies natalis, or birthday into eternal life, as well as major feasts of Our Lord and Our Lady.

The Roman Martyrology is also central to the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours—a daily set of prayers marking the hours of each day and sanctifying it with worship. During the Office of Readings, specific entries from the martyrology are recited to inform and inspire those in prayer.

Romeu e Julieta (Casapianos Order 1996 Adaptation 18+ Romance Thriller)

While it retains the original Shakespearean dialogue, the film represents the Montagues and the Capulets as warring mafia empires (with legitimate business fronts) and the Capulets were "a Latin family, sort of,"[15] played by Latin-American and Italian actors.[16] It is set in contemporary United States, where swords are replaced by guns[17] (with model names such as "Dagger", "Sword", and "Rapier"), and with a FedEx-style overnight delivery service called "Post Haste".[18] Shakespeare and Impure Aesthetics explores ideas about art implicit in Shakespeare's plays and defines specific Shakespearean aesthetic practices in his use of desire, death and mourning as resources for art. In fiction, a subplot or side story is a secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or for the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or thematic significance. Subplots often involve supporting characters, those besides the protagonist or antagonist. Subplots may also intertwine with the main plot at some point in a story.[1]

THE ENCYCLICAL PASSIONARIES ABOUT YHVH CASAPIANOS (MARTYROLOGY BIBLE)

Specifically, the royal psalms deal with the spiritual role of kings in the worship of Yahweh. Aside from that single qualification, there is nothing else which specifically links the ten psalms. Each of the psalms make explicit references to their subject, the king. Royal (messianic) psalms deal with the king as God's anointed or chosen one. Many are prayers for the wisdom of the king, his long life or success in battle. Some are prophetic in nature in that they also point to the ideal future king, the Messiah or the King of kings. A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches.[1] Consolidation occurred, by the combination of several local martyrologies, with or without borrowings from literary sources. Simple martyrologies only enumerate names. Historical martyrologies, also sometimes called passionaries, also include stories or biographical details. (Reckless Abandonment; Mars Shamanism and Casa Pia Wing Transfer Invocation)

The term "revolutionary martyr" usually relates to those dying in revolutionary struggle.[50][51] During the 20th century, the concept was developed in particular in the culture and propaganda of communist or socialist revolutions, although it was and is also used in relation to nationalist revolutions. In the martyrdom narrative of the remembering community, this refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of an individual by an oppressor. Accordingly, the status of the 'martyr' can be considered a posthumous title as a reward for those who are considered worthy of the concept of martyrdom by the living, regardless of any attempts by the deceased to control how they will be remembered in advance.[1] Insofar, the martyr is a relational figure of a society's boundary work that is produced by collective memory.[2] Originally applied only to those who suffered for their religious beliefs, the term has come to be used in connection with people killed for a political cause. (Armed Friars and The War for Central Africa between Casapianos and The French; The Fall of Yoruba for Bembé; Arcubusier Angels in Africa)

The Metal Ages is a term for the period of human civilization beginning about 6,000 years ago during which metallurgy rapidly advanced, and human populations started using metals such as copper, tin, bronze and finally iron to make tools and weapons. By heating and shaping metals in hot furnaces, humanity also learned to use precious metals such as gold and silver to make intricate ornaments.[1][2] With these technological adaptions, human society became more productive and human settlements became larger and more prosperous, but also more violent.[3] The Metal Ages are divided into three stages: the Copper Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.[1][2] (Calcium Age of Mozambique)

Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. The application of the modern concept of "religion" to ancient cultures has been questioned as anachronistic.[1] The ancient Greeks did not have a word for 'religion' in the modern sense. Likewise, no Greek writer known to us classifies either the gods or the cult practices into separate 'religions'.[2] Instead, for example, Herodotus speaks of the Hellenes as having "common shrines of the gods and sacrifices, and the same kinds of customs."[3] Various religious festivals were held in ancient Greece. Many were specific only to a particular deity or city-state. Altogether the year in Athens included some 140 days that were religious festivals of some sort, though they varied greatly in importance. (Festival Martyrology)

Gnostic cosmogony generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity (sometimes associated with the biblical deity Yahweh)[1] who is responsible for creating the material universe. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance, but with illusion and enlightenment.[2] Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in the Mediterranean world around the second century, when the Fathers of the early Church denounced them as heresy.[3]

The original sense of apotheosis relates to religion and is the subject of many works of art. Figuratively "apotheosis" may be used in almost any context for "the deification, glorification, or exaltation of a principle, practice, etc.", so normally attached to an abstraction of some sort.[1] In religion, apotheosis was a feature of many religions in the ancient world, and some that are active today. It requires a belief that there is a possibility of newly-created gods, so a polytheistic belief system. The major modern religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism do not allow for this, though many recognise minor sacred categories such as saints (created by a process called canonization). A mural crown (Latin: corona muralis) is a crown or headpiece representing city walls, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the Romans a military decoration. Later the mural crown developed into a symbol of European heraldry, mostly for cities and towns, and in the 19th and 20th centuries was used in some republican heraldry. (Mural Crown Wing Transfer)

In religious studies, an ethnic religion is a religion or belief associated with notions of heredity and a particular ethnic group. (CHAMA ROXA)

An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people.[1] (Sensory Process Sensitivity)

Capricornus is one of the 88 modern constellations, and was also one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. Its old astronomical symbol is  (♑︎). Under its modern boundaries it is bordered by Aquila, Sagittarius, Microscopium, Piscis Austrinus, and Aquarius. The constellation is located in an area of sky called the Sea or the Water, consisting of many water-related constellations such as Aquarius, Pisces and Eridanus. It is the smallest constellation in the zodiac. (Men)

Leo Minor is a small and faint constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. Its name is Latin for "the smaller lion", in contrast to Leo, the larger lion. It lies between the larger and more recognizable Ursa Major to the north and Leo to the south. Leo Minor was not regarded as a separate constellation by classical astronomers; it was designated by Johannes Hevelius in 1687.[2] (Women)

Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s.[4][5] Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.[6][7] In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall (or "ragga") becoming increasingly characterized by faster rhythms. Key elements of dancehall music include its extensive use of Jamaican Patois rather than Jamaican standard English and a focus on the track instrumentals (or "riddims"). Dancehall saw initial mainstream success in Jamaica in the 1980s, and by the 1990s, it became increasingly popular in Jamaican diaspora communities. In the 2000s, dancehall experienced worldwide mainstream success, and by the 2010s, it began to heavily influence the work of established Western artists and producers, which has helped to further bring the genre into the Western music mainstream.[8][9][10] (DOS SANTOS was this first generation of Dancehall Consumers)

5 SENSES CITY MARTYROLOGY BIBLE: LIGA CASAPIANOS (GOVERNMENT)

A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups.[1] The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of adversaries) during battle, from the Latin congressus.

A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision, neither by the component states nor the federal political body without constitutional amendment.

The League of Corinth, also referred to as the Hellenic League (Greek: κοινὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων, koinòn tõn Hellḗnōn;[a] or simply οἱ Ἕλληνες, the Héllēnes),[3] was a federation of Greek states created by Philip II[4] in 338–337 BC. The League was created in order to unify Greek military forces under Macedonian leadership (hegemony) in their combined conquest of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.[5][6][7]

The League was governed by the Hegemon (leader)[21][22][23] (strategos autokrator[24][25] in a military context),[26] the council (Synedrion),[27] and the judges (Dikastai). Delegates of the member-states (Synedroi) were responsible for administering the common affairs of the League. They were summoned and presided over by a committee of presiding officers (Proedroi), chosen by lot in time of peace, and by the Hegemon in time of war.[19] Decrees of the league were issued in Corinth, Athens, Delphi, Olympia and Pydna.[28] The League maintained an army levied from member states in approximate proportion to their size, while Philip established Hellenic garrisons (commanded by phrourarchs, or garrison commanders) in Corinth, Thebes, Pydna[29] and Ambracia.

Heortology or eortology is a science that deals with the origin and development of religious festivals,[1] and more specifically the study of the history and criticism of liturgical calendars and martyrologies*.

Religious Ecstacy Entheogens are psychedelic drugs—and sometimes certain other psychoactive substances—used for engendering spiritual development or otherwise in sacred contexts (Birth as a Festival Capital)

Taste: Lamb and Wool

Touch: Tomato Food Fight

Scent: Overnight Fragrance Festivals

Sight: Fireworks on the Waterfront

Sound: Bassline Genres

ANGELOLOGY GANG BLUEPRINT: CHAMA ROXA (MARS ANGELS MARTYROLOGY BIBLE)

Spirit Unity Oversoul Angelology Shaman

Eros Influence Angels: Ecstasy-Painkillers Trafficking Angel Spirit Type Oversoul, Neptune-Jupiter-Mars-Mercurcy with Planetary Intelligence; Erotes are Horcruxes

Google Imprint Oversoul

Choice of Choir is Principality Heavenly Host

Lightning-Ice Element

Wings Transfer Invocation

ESTJ Sensory Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator Syncretism

Church Expenses Occupation (Festivals, Venues, Freeports, Art Gallery, Underground Garages, Tobacco Store, Restaurants, Réal Estate Brokerage, Impure Aesthetic Thrillers Publishing Imprint et Production Company

Body Etching, Lipodissolve, and Hyaluronic Acid Fillers Cosmetics Surgery

CASA PIA FEDERATION

🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿🇲🇿

[endless-summer-soldier]

you see me - bonus chapter

pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

summary: Bucky has grown used to a life of solitude after a mysterious accident leaves him forgettable. every person he comes in contact has no memory of him the moment he walks away. until he meets a cute girl at a record store who actual remembers him.

a/n: I had to write a little something in memory of my guy Jimmy Buffett <3. just a little fluff between two of our favorites during a tough time.

taglist: @sebsgirl71479

word count: 1.2k

series playlist

series masterlist

X

“Good morning love,” Bucky said as Y/N walked into the kitchen. He studied her face and immediately identified the look of distress. “What’s the matter?”

She looked at him with a devastated expression, “Jimmy Buffett died.”

“Oh baby,” he walked toward her, enveloping her in his strong arms, “I’m so sorry.”

“I just…I don’t know how to feel right now.” The death was unexpected. Jimmy Buffett was one of the artists she loved because of her dad. She had fond memories of them listening to Buffett during long car rides and holiday weekend cookouts. And while Bucky knew this about Y/N, he didn’t know how to comfort her best. These memories were deeply personal, it was almost as if she was losing her father all over again.

“Today is your day. We can do whatever you want,” Bucky said.

“I think we need…margaritas.”

“Right now?” he asked, preparing to pour a large mug of coffee for his wife.

She gave him a soft smile, “Coffee first, but then I think we should go somewhere. With margaritas and TouchTunes.” He chuckled to himself, thinking about how much money his wife had already invested into TouchTunes.

“Whatever you want my dear.”

They enjoyed their breakfast together and then prepared to celebrate the late island rock god. Y/N wore a bright Caribbean blue dress and picked out a Hawaiian shirt for Bucky. It wasn’t his style in the slightest, but this wasn’t the day to protest. He would do anything she asked of him.

They walked hand in hand into the nearby tiki bar situated along the Chicago river. As Y/N expected, it was crowded for two on a Saturday. The place was filled with hawaiian shirts and bucket hats as parrot heads gathered to pour one out for Jimmy. Bucky navigated the bar to get them some drinks as Y/N secured a high top. She looked out onto the river, watching as tourists explored the city on such a beautiful day. Bucky returned and placed a chartreuse beverage in front of her. She smiled at him as they clinked the plastic cups together and took their first sips. Y/N downed close to half the margarita, despite the fake lime taste.

“Maybe I should’ve opted for the party bucket,” Bucky teased.

She shook her head, “Honestly, I don’t think I can drink more than one of these.”

“One honorary margarita for Jimmy, then we can switch to something more palatable.”

“Deal,” she agreed. They sipped the citrus concoction as fellow Buffett fans approached their table and shared some of their favorite memories. The Margaritaville radio continued to play, as fans sang along to their favorite tunes. Frozen margaritas and tropical drinks spilled over the plastic cups and patrons danced and swung their arms around each other. As beautiful as the tribute was, it all became a bit much for Y/N and Bucky spotted her discomfort immediately.

“You okay?” he asked, placing a hand over hers. 

“Yeah, just a lot happening.”

“Let’s finish this round and go somewhere else,” he suggested. 

 With that, she chugged the remainder of her drink and Bucky followed her lead. 

They left the tiki bar without a destination in mind. Until Bucky took her hand and led her toward the corner store. Once inside Bucky grabbed a six pack of Landshark while Y/N found a family size bag of lightly salted potato chips. As they met back up at the register, Bucky slid a bag of peanut M&M’s across the counter with the rest of their order. Y/N eyed him and he explained, “You’ll want those later.” She grinned at him, knowing he was right.

They took their bag of goods and Bucky collected her hand in his, leading the way.

“Where are we going?” Y/N asked once she realized they weren’t heading home.

“I have an idea,” Bucky stated, continuing his trek. Y/N knew better than to question him. When he set his mind to something, there was no sense in arguing. They continued walking, past the bars and restaurants, past the hordes of tourists, towards the water. And as they approached the shore of Lake Michigan, Y/N smiled. Bucky found a quiet spot for them to sit in the sand. The morning beach crowd was floundering as families packed up their camp to head back to the suburbs and the twenty-year-olds had passed out from overconsumption.

“This is perfect,” she smiled at him. He cracked open a beer and handed it to her. She took a long sip and looked out on the lake.

“I didn’t expect to feel this sad.”

“No?” Bucky asked, hoping she would continue.

“With my dad, at least I knew it was coming. He was sick for a while and we knew we didn’t have much time. But Buffett…I mean I thought I’d get to see him live again. I wanted to bring you! And now he’s just…gone.”

Bucky didn’t have words, and he knew she didn’t need them. Instead he ran his hand up and down her back.

“I just…he was one of the few connections I still had with my dad. And now he’s gone.” She started to tear up and Bucky pulled her in closer to him.

“Just because he’s gone doesn't mean your connection with your dad disappeared. Buffett’s legacy will live on through his music. All you have to do is put on one of his songs and it’ll bring you back to the simpler times you had with your dad. It’s sad that he’s gone now, but that won’t change the memories you have of your father.” 

“You’re right, I know I’m being silly.”

“You aren’t being silly. Grief impacts us all differently. But the only thing we can do is move forward.”

She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. She raised her beer bottle and leaned it in towards his.

“Here’s to Jimmy. I hope he’s up there eating that cheeseburger in paradise,” she smiled.

Bucky chuckled and clinked his bottle with hers. They sipped and Y/N started playing some of his music on her phone. The two of them sat drinking beers, sharing laughs, and looking out on the water. 

Once the six pack was finished, Y/N turned toward Bucky and asked, “You want to do something crazy?”

“I don’t know, do I?” he replied with skepticism.

“Come on,” she stood up and ran towards the lake, shedding her dress as she ran. Bucky darted after her, stripping down to his boxers. Y/N ran into the lake first, squealing as the cold water caressed her legs. Bucky wasn’t far behind and scooped her into his arms, momentarily protecting her from the icy chill. He trudged further into the water as she clung to him. Once the water was up to Bucky’s waist he counted to three and dropped down, dunking both of them into the waves. They both emerged from the water with smiles on their faces. He tucked a piece of wet hair behind her ear and ran his thumb up and down her jaw. She stood on her tiptoes and planted a sweet kiss on his lips. Then she took his hand and pulled him further into the water. They splashed and teased one another before Bucky pulled her close again and they floated in each other's arms.

“Thank you,” she finally said to him.

“For what?”

“For turning this day into one I will always remember with fondness.”

[pascaljanssen]

Pascal Janssen - Artwork for 'Citrus City Vol. 1' by Citrus City Records

Instagram

[kammartinez]

When Roxy Music was recording “Street Life” for the 1973 album Stranded, they hung a mic out the window of AIR Studios above Oxford Street, but they didn’t like the results and they ended up mixing in the sounds of a Moroccan market instead. As “Street Life” begins, we hear traffic amid four haunting chords and a shimmering hi-hat rhythm, and then Bryan Ferry belts out that he wishes everyone would leave him alone. He goes out for a walk. “Each verse seems to have its own character,” he later said, “like blocks on a street.” A fan since my youth of early Roxy Music, I still hear that song’s ethereal city vibe when I, too, wish everyone would leave me alone and, like Bryan, hit the streets.

If I go left, heading into what I think of as downtown Echo Park, I glimpse the green folds of the Angeles Crest as I pass Craftsman and Victorian houses and courtyard bungalows. I turn onto Sunset Boulevard, passing barber shops, burger stands, bookstores, and botanicas. I can get my knives sharpened and my shoes repaired, shop for groceries, eat eighty different kinds of food. The streets are full of people of all kinds, even as Echo Park comes twentieth in a walkability ranking of L.A. neighborhoods, according to some website. MacArthur Park, which is more population-dense than parts of Manhattan, ranks higher, as does Hollywood. But here I have the option of avoiding commerce by going three blocks north to the park, where I can walk miles of shaded trails. Or stroll my little residential enclave, where people are sitting on their stoops, a guy is working on his ’68 Camaro, trees are heavy with citrus, softball-size dragon fruits shine redly through a fence. I can walk to Echo Park Lake, due west, entirely through an alleyway, where among overgrown fig trees and sidewalk pulverized to dirt you might think you were in some Mississippi backwater Barry Hannah was describing, but you’re parallel and just behind Sunset. At the lakefront are picnickers, food carts, fishermen creating what my son refers to as “pressure on the lake.” One day I watch a guy and girl furtively produce a pristine white duck from a knapsack and release it. They’ve clearly just bought the thing at a live-poultry shop and are trying to rewild it among the mallards and grebes, but the mission seems also to be a form of courtship.

On these walks, minutes from home, I am certain that Los Angeles, which I moved to from New York twenty years ago, is the most beautiful city in the world (and yes, I have seen the world). But that’s only if I go west or north or south. If I head east, toward downtown, 1.5 miles away, my booster talk ebbs. It’s freeway overpasses, empty lots, and fortress-like buildings, a dead zone.

I should be able to walk to the opera house, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Broad, the Bradbury Building, or City Hall, to the grand old theaters on Main Street, the jewelry district, Union Station. To Philippe the Original on Alameda, a hundred-year-old deli where undertakers from the nearby mortuaries park their hearses and stop in for a sandwich. To the new Frank Gehry building on Grand, across from my son’s music school. (Late in life, Gehry now seems to believe in design that prioritizes not postmodern showiness but plazas and shade and places for the passerby to sit.) But to get to the pedestrian-friendly world downtown involves several blocks of monolithic residential architecture along freeways, all by the same developer, inward-facing buildings with dark and empty storefronts, bunker parking, and sky bridges. The tenants of these places don’t have to ever step foot on the street. I’ve heard they are mostly USC students, but you don’t see them. The only people I might encounter are unhoused individuals, and those in this particular area often appear to be in severe mental crisis, as they linger beyond buildings that are as obdurate and closed as medieval armories.

Dubbed the Renaissance Collection, these buildings form a plaque that separates the people of Echo Park from downtown L.A. They were built by Geoffrey Palmer, a little man who resembles a ventriloquist’s dummy and is gifted at making enemies. Palmer buys up forlorn and odd plots alongside freeways, where he builds his “Italianate” developments, as Italian as leatherette is leather, but less charming. In 1973, the artist Gordon Matta-Clark purchased random little slices of land around New York City for a conceptual art project he titled Fake Estates. Perhaps the unsavory parcels that Palmer acquires would remain similarly conceptual were it not for the very real fake estates he builds on them. This is his own defense—that he’s building where no one else dares—but he seems to take almost libidinal satisfaction in perching rows of apartment balconies over the 110–101 freeway interchange. The off-white stucco exteriors of his buildings are coated with soot within days of completion. In 2003, he illegally bulldozed the last Victorian of Bunker Hill while building the Orsini, a few blocks from my house. Palmer is vehemently opposed to affordable housing and has spent tens of millions on lawsuits and ballot measures to ensure that he won’t have to build any. He recently settled a class-action suit over systematically keeping tenants’ security deposits. One of Trump’s biggest donors, he has bragged that his company hasn’t paid federal taxes in thirty years. In the fall of 2014, a fire was deliberately started in Palmer’s half-built and wood-framed Da Vinci, a block down from the Orsini. Flames shot higher than many buildings downtown, stretched a city block, melted freeway signs, and cracked one hundred and sixty windows in the iconic John Ferraro Building, headquarters of Water and Power. The consensus among architects, residents, and journalists was that almost anyone could have started the fire, given how many people hate Palmer. City commissioners joked, in a planning meeting, that they sure hoped everyone present had an alibi. The city sued Palmer for the reckless conditions that allowed the blaze to grow so large. The person who started it was caught and sentenced to prison. He supposedly did it for Michael Brown, to protest the police killings of unarmed black men. No one was hurt. The Da Vinci was promptly rebuilt.

“Why is Everything So Ugly?” wondered a recent editorial in n+1. The editors structured their thoughts on the subject around a Situationist-style dérive they take through New York City. They begin by pondering a new condominium tower limply called the Josh, which has been erected in place of a recently demolished hundred-year-old building. The Josh, they tell us, is made of plastic, concrete, and “an obscure wood-like substance”—materials that have been chosen not for quality and beauty but on the basis of global supply-chain availability, a cookie-cutter design review process, and a cost-saving preference for semi-skilled labor. The Josh is already looking shabby at five months old. When it rains, its façade gets “conspicuously . . . wet.” Their dérive continues past more than one Bank of America, alongside a vape shop, and into a theater, where a shitty franchise based on a TV show of a comic book is playing. After the movie, there’s a run-in with blindingly bright LED lights, resulting in a visit to urgent care.

Google reveals that the building the editors are calling the Josh is actually the Greenpoint—located, as you might guess, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn—but the Josh does more work to illustrate certain ideas than the real name might. I think I know eighteen Joshes. No offense to any of them; I too have a common name and would wager the Josh could have been called the Rachel in the blink of an eye. Still, the Josh has a certain sound when isolated as a branding mechanism, with its soft landing into sshh, whether put to service selling wine or machines for living. I chuckled about the Josh. It, or he, made me think of that guy Tom from MySpace, everyone’s first friend. I imagined Tom living at the Josh, enjoying an industrial salad at a particle-board table. But names are merely symptoms. They are not the cause of “the violence of the new ugliness” that the n+1 editors ponder. Branding arises from standardization. If the things that are made are more or less the same, difference itself must be manufactured.

The Situationists first began undertaking their dérives—which means to drift, to walk without a fixed plan—in response to a rail strike. Guy Debord and others tumbled drunkenly through the night, walking or hitchhiking, and found that the new routes they forged promised a change of orientation, a new outlook. In Debord’s autobiographical Panegyric, at a point in his life when he had lost hope in the city and headed for the hills, he regrets that a “flood of destruction, pollution, and falsification had conquered the whole surface of the planet, as well as pouring down nearly to its very depths.” (Had Debord, too, noticed how wet the Josh was looking?) Five years later he shot himself in the heart. It wasn’t just that everything was ugly and the revolution stalled, if not foreclosed. Alcohol had done him in.

I decided, on a recent afternoon, to conduct my own dérive, straight into the morass between my street and downtown. I left the house, took a right, another right, and then a left over the 101 freeway. If this overpass could talk, I thought. It might tell of the many women and the many nights of flinty bargains with men in cars. By daylight, it was empty. I turned left onto Temple Street, passing a hotel that abuts the 101, and a sun-blasted bus stop where my kid was let off in grade school, and from which he began conducting his own dérives. This block of Temple has a bakery, a liquor store, and until recently, D’Bongo Party Supplies, then falls into a post-human stretch: there is a tow yard, a recycling center, a cul de sac against the freeway where there was a tent encampment until it burned, and a huge and empty bus yard. That’s all on one side of the street. On the other is the massive retaining wall of a high school baseball diamond. The reason there is open land here, greenery, even if it’s chemically treated monograss beyond chain-link, is that this was an oil field, and it isn’t safe to put up buildings. (What look like lampposts around the field are actually vents that allow methane gases to escape.)

Beyond the baseball/methane field, I pass our own version of the Josh, but it’s called the Charlie. The Charlie is new. There used to be an auto repair and car wash here that was run by a family. Now there is a narrow eight-story building in “space gray” with a gaggle of red real estate balloons bobbing on the wind. I have driven past at night. The units are dark, while the Charlie’s eight-story “parking podium” glows meanly, prison-bright.

From the Charlie I cross the street toward a new Palmer monstrosity on a ten-acre site that used to be a Bank of America data center. Construction is not yet finished. The invasive palms that have been chosen as Palmer’s signature “lush Mediterranean landscaping” have just been trucked in and still have their fronds gathered into ponytails. Even with their fronds let down, they will provide no shade. There’s a giant piss-elegant fountain but it’s dry. now renting 2 months free + free parking, a big sign says. The name of this new addition to Palmer’s suite of Italianate freeway rentals is the Ferrante. Maybe the name came from his wife, a Parisian who seems a little more cultured than he is. Perhaps she’s a fan of Elena Ferrante’s books. I have no proof. I’m guessing.

We’ve been told for years now that Elena Ferrante is a fiction, a made-up name, like Tom, or the Josh. But someone is of course writing those books. Whoever they are, they’re talented, but the insistence on anonymity is starting to seem a little showy, even a bit tacky, if not as tacky as the Ferrante and its 1,150 units. I pass its blank row of street-level commercial spaces. Palmer won’t even try to rent them out. And apparently there’s no fine for leaving them empty. As an architect explained to me, he doesn’t build that income into his plans. Why should a developer care if there is street life? I turn left and walk under a highway overpass and approach the rangy back edge of our neighborhood CVS. What does CVS stand for? No one seems to know. Everything you might want to buy there is now locked up, and you have to press what feels like a panic button to get access to the shelves.

I cross through the parking lot, past a weird machine with a tower on it, flashing a blue light. This is some kind of automated security apparatus, but I’m not sure how it works. A barefoot boy asks me for a light. I don’t have one, I tell him.

Remember how outraged everyone was to discover that the author JT LeRoy, supposedly an ethereal rent boy/lot lizard, was actually a middle-aged woman? They acted like this was the ultimate con, something ugly and counterfeit masquerading as something genuine and tragic and hot. Meanwhile, Elena Ferrante is purporting to be a middle-aged woman. What if she’s a teen boy turning tricks in parking lots? I think, as I turn out of the lot and go right on Sunset.

I walk toward Palmer’s Orsini, which lines both sides of the street, all of its commercial space dark and empty and locked. There is no one here except one man in rags setting bits of trash on fire on the sidewalk. Is it Palmer’s fault that people are setting things on fire? It’s more complicated than that. But with no street activity, people act out. Or, their actions are starker, and less muted by a variety of people and vibrancies that a healthy street should reflect. At the end of this very long, sterile block is one other person, a young woman. Her arms are covered with injection scars. She seems not to notice me. She’s in a kind of Sisyphean struggle, attempting to push an e-scooter that is not activated, its wheels on lock.

The next day I drive back down this street, heading to pick up my son from music school. I spot the woman who tried to push the scooter. She’s still here, as if this bleak zone were her proving ground. Her shirt is off now, and she is throwing her half-clothed body against the brick exterior of the Orsini. But the building is constructed not to feel her, the street not to see her, and I barely see her myself, because my light is green.

While parts of the designed world might be ugly at any speed, it is only the slowness of traveling on foot that causes true discomfiture, by forcing a walker to behold, worry over, brood upon, those to whom this ugliness shouts loudest.

[yesyourstalker]

Neta: *snoring*..mmmmm uh fuck....hello..*sniff*.... yeah....maki-mahi.. what is it? What's up?..... Yeah yeah he has the job he can come in Tuesday or whatever..... Yeah no you can go home *yawn* I don't feel like opening the store today something's come up. No, everything is fine. I'm fine. Just something has come up recently. Don't worry about it......ok bye

Ikkan: *yawn* so he has the job?

Neta: yeah

Ikkan: and you're going to be nice?

Neta: ..........as nice as I can be...... hehehehe Mommy and daddy took away his money hahaha *sigh* I love it

Ikkan: yeah. He's going to be a part of normal everyday society for a little while that's good I think he needs this.

Neta: you think ?

Ikkan: last winterfest he gave me an eight carat tennis bracelet and all I gave him coffee table

Neta: why a coffee table?

Ikkan: it came with the record player and it had a little shelf where you can store vinyls. It was like $300, the bracelet he gave me was more than my first car.

Neta: Cod..............how long are you staying?

Ikkan: I think I missed the train to the airport.... honestly I wanted to stay for another night anyway

Neta: that's good I missed waking up next to you

Ikkan: mmmmm you're sweet....you want to go to fishies get some breakfast or something?

Neta: yeah let me check my sugar and I'll head out.... Cirrina. Morning crab cakes.

Cirrina: what is it dad

Neta: going out to get something to eat. You want me to get you a shrimp scramble and maybe some warm tea. You said you were still cramping you want me to get you something?

Cirrina:ugh......Cod dad.....No! I don't want anything. I'm going back to bed.

Neta: ok.... wanted to see if you're doing ok. I'm sorry I didn't mean to bother you crab cakes

Cirrina: Wait! Can you give me extra lemon for the tea and no ketchup on the scramble

Neta: ok baby

(car ride)

Neta:...........

Ikkan:.........

Neta: so how are things?

Ikkan: it's fine. Diss-pair is on a break, college is good. I'm getting into pottery, I'm now allergic to citrus so is noji now apparently

Neta: I always forget you two are related

Ikkan: yeah, we're the definition of fraternal.... I got offered a job at a school as a teacher for mollusk academy private school. They said after I graduate I can get the job.

Neta: babe that's amazing! You're gonna say yes right please tell me you're going to say yes.

Ikkan: I don't know....it's one of those fancy school..... I'm not really good with kids... What if they don't like me?

Neta: those kids are going to fucking love you babe. I think you should take it. Where is it anyway?

Ikkan: It's in the next city over by Inkopolis

Neta: Cephal City?

Ikkan: yeah

Neta: I think you should take the offer... I really do what kind they want you to do be a band director ?

Ikkan: music teacher....so mostly orchestra. With Warabi working now this could be a nice career change.

Neta: yeeesssss..... Besides it doesn't mean diss-pair has to end.

Ikkan: yeah. You're right....how are things with you?

Neta: it's been great.... The stores doing amazing. My store was featured in a magazine as one of the top 10 stores right under Toni kensa outlet

Ikkan: that's really good to hear!?..... And cirrina? How is she been? She was really quiet when I came over

Neta: she's........... She's 13 now......*sigh* She's growing, developing and maturing......you know....

Ikkan: oh....I get what you're saying.

Neta: she's not my baby girl anymore and I don't know what to do. It just feels like I'm either doing too much or not enough for her.

Ikkan: you doing enough babe you're there for her and you're doing your best to support her

Neta: It just feels like she's pushing me away. I used to be her favorite person. Every time I come home she'd run to my arms. Now I'm lucky if she looks at me.

Ikkan: sweetie, she loves you. She's just trying to find her independence and where she fits in this world and that comes with some boundaries challenging authority. You can't take them personally. She still loves you. She's just going through a lot at that age..... I remember I used to be like that.... Except with crippling gender dysphoria .............but other than that I understand what it's like. This rebellion will soon fizz away and she'll be back to normal. Maybe just sit down and talk to her and ask her how she's feeling from time to time. Maybe that's all she needs at the moment

Neta: I'll try. Maybe start with her behavior in school. Her grades are amazing. Straight A's and everything better than me!! But she's also getting in trouble and I caught her skipping school a lot like I ground her but she goes back to doing it after the punishment is over

Ikkan: maybe she's not challenged enough. Maybe put her in another school if this one isn't working out. She's still playing the cello?

Neta: yeah! She's really good...........You're a good teacher

Ikkan: hehehe.....,*sigh* maybe enroll her in mollusk academy.

Neta:....that's something else I need to think about......... unless.......I've been thinking of expanding the store.

Ikkan: it's already big

Neta: ha! no. I mean I'm thinking of opening another store. You know the arowana mall? they're moving the Rockenberg store to the back and they have a space open..... they offered it to me it's a two story space they left the lounge upstairs with self-serve coffee place

Ikkan: that sounds really cool.....arowana mall is 20 minutes away from cephal city...............

Neta: ..........................yeah it is...... huh-

Ikkan: I graduate in 2 years and mollusk academy is a high school she'll be in high school by then. How long will it take for your store to be built?

Neta: 3 years at best......... But I'll have to move and I'll have to find someone to run my other store

Ikkan: mahi! They're your longest employees? Have them run the store how old are they?

Neta:Mahi? They're 24.

Ikkan: by the time your other store opens they'll be 27, perfect age they can run the store by themselves. Now with Warabi working there they'll have some help

Neta: yeah that sounds like a solid plan. Sooooo what is this? what are we doing? What's going on?

Ikkan: I don't know but we have at least 3 years to figure it out. That's plenty of time.

Neta: *sigh*............... I hope so

Epilogue at

Warabi: so what he say?

Mahi: He told me you got the job

Warabi: That's it. he didn't say anything else? there's no catch or anything. Didn't you say no the first time.

Mahi: He actually said 'hell no' but yeah he did say no the first time. I don't know what convinced him

Warabi: hm... Maybe he just had a change of heart and just-................ Oh my cod..........

Mahi: what? what's wrong?

Warabi: shhhhhjj be quiet. Don't turn around hehehe

Warabi: let me call him............ Hey ikkan. Where are you?..... Oh you're at home?....in splattsville...... that's funny because I see someone standing in line at fishies. Looks exactly like you and he's with your ex. That couldn't be You could it?.................. Your silence is a lot louder than-......... I'm literally staring at you! Don't you fucking!.............He hung up

Mahi: something's come up huh!?.....oh shit.. Hehehehe they're fucking leaving

Warabi: hehehe we're going to get fucking fired for doing that hahahaha

Mahi belongs to @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

[anewswire]

Plaxico Burress Net Worth, Biography, Career, Income, Home & Age

  What is Plaxico Burress' Net Worth? American professional football player Plaxico Burress has a $1 million fortune. Wide receiver Plaxico Burress spent 12 seasons in the NFL. Before joining the Pittsburgh Steelers again for his final NFL season, he originally played for the New York Giants, New York Jets, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Burress defeated the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in the Super Bowl XLII while playing for the Giants. Burress is also relatively well-known for a gunshot incident from 2009 in which he unintentionally shot himself in a nightclub in New York City. According to reports, Burress entered a club with a loaded gun and shot himself in the thigh. Two days later, he handed himself up on charges of unlawful possession of a pistol. Because of the ongoing legal saga, the Giants released him. Burress agreed to a plea agreement that resulted in a two-year jail sentence. He has engaged in a number of additional court cases including claims of moving violations, auto accidents, and contract violations with automobile dealerships. Career Earnings Plaxico Burress earned approximately $29.5 million in salary over the course of his NFL career. Here is a breakdown of his salary by year: - 2000: $1.23 million (including signing bonus) - 2001: $450,000 - 2002: $550,000 - 2003: $650,000 - 2004: $2.2 million - 2005: $1.5 million (including signing bonus) - 2006: $6.75 million - 2007: $3.29 million - 2008: $3.46 million - 2009: Did not play (suspended) - 2010: Did not play (suspended) - 2011: $3 million - 2012: $925,000 Total career earnings: ~$29.5 million Financial Problems In Totowa, New Jersey, a 5,500 square foot estate was purchased by Plaxico for $1.5 million in 2005. The property was reportedly in foreclosure in 2018, a year after Burress allegedly stopped making mortgage payments. For $999,00, the house was sold in 2015. Early Life Plaxico Burress was born on August 12, 1977 in Norfolk, Virginia. He has two brothers. As a teenager, Burress attended Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, and graduated in 1996. He went on to spend one year at Fork Union Military Academy. Collegiate Career When he was in college, Burress played football for Michigan State. As a Spartan, he was an immediate success, catching 65 passes in his debut season to set a new mark for the most in a single Big Ten Conference season. The following year, Burress outperformed himself with 66 receptions for 1,142 yards and 12 touchdowns. He had 131 receptions, 2,155 receiving yards, and 20 touchdown catches in his two seasons at Michigan State. With a school-record 13 receptions for 185 yards and three touchdowns in a victory over the University of Florida in the 2000 Citrus Bowl, Burress wrapped up his undergraduate career. Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Burress with the eighth overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. His role in a historic mistake, in which he spiked a ball he thought was dead but was actually live, allowing the Jacksonville Jaguars' Danny Clark to recover it and gain 44 yards, made his first season with the team somewhat difficult. Burress improved in his second season with the Steelers, breaking the 1,000-yard barrier. However, his best season was his third with the team, with new career highs in receptions (78) and yards (1,325). Burress also participated in his first playoff game. Altogether, Burress recorded 261 receptions for 4,164 yards and 22 touchdowns during his five seasons and 71 games with the Steelers. New York Giants In 2005, Burress shifted to the New York Giants. His first season with the organization was productive; he caught 76 receptions for 1,214 yards, which helped the Giants win the NFC East. In the end, the Carolina Panthers eliminated the team in the first round of the playoffs. Burress set a new career best in touchdowns in 2006, scoring 10 despite playing in only 15 games due to injuries. His best NFL season may have been the following one, when he assisted the Giants in their run to Super Bowl XLII. The Giants defeated the previously unbeaten New England Patriots 17-14 after Burress grabbed the game-winning touchdown pass. Burress was unhappy with his salary after his outstanding performance in Super Bowl XLII and refused to participate in mandated mini-camp practices with the Giants. In his opinion, he received a lower salary than other notable NFL receivers. He was briefly suspended in September 2008 after failing to arrive for work. Burress eventually made a comeback, but not before receiving four fines for various unsportsmanlike conduct offenses. In the midst of his accidental shooting court case, he played his final game with the Giants in late November before being released by the team in April 2009. Final Playing Years With the New York Jets, Burress returned to the NFL in 2011. Before re-signing with his first squad, the Steelers, in late 2012, he spent one season with the group. He grabbed a touchdown pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on December 30 for the first time since 2004. The pass was a 12-yard score. Burress later agreed to a contract to stay with the Steelers until 2013. Nevertheless, his NFL playing career came to an end when he was placed on injured reserve in August after tearing his rotator cuff during practice. Legal Troubles Over the years, Burress has run into numerous legal issues. The most serious incidents happened in late 2008 and early 2009, starting with his unintentional self-inflicted gunshot wound at the LQ nightclub in New York City. When Burress grabbed for a revolver that had become loose in his pants pocket, the gun shot into his right leg. He spent a short time in the hospital before turning himself in to the police, who had strangely not been informed of the occurrence. Burress only had a Florida concealed carry license that had expired, it turned out. He was charged by a Manhattan grand jury in the summer of 2009 with two counts of second-degree felony criminal possession of a firearm and one count of second-degree misdemeanor reckless endangerment. Burress later consented to a plea agreement that included a two-year prison term and an extra two-year period of supervised release. He finally served 20 months before being freed in 2011. Beside the unintentional shooting event, Burress has faced other civil lawsuits for a variety of reasons, such as failing to uphold a publicity arrangement with Chevrolet, which had also leased him a car that was wrecked, and for allegedly inflicting lasting harm on a woman whose car he struck. Then, in 2015, Burress ran into difficulties after being charged by the State of New Jersey with failing to pay income taxes. He might have received a conditional jail sentence and up to five years of probation during his sentencing hearing in early 2016. Personal Life In 2005, Burress married Tiffany Glenn. The couple has a son named Elijah and a daughter named Giovanna, and lives in Totowa, New Jersey.   Read the full article

[dankusner]

Singer, activist Anita Bryant Dry dies at 84

Known for anti-gay stance in later years Anita Bryant, a singer, entertainer and anti-gay activist, has died.

She was 84.

According to the obituary submitted Thursday by her family to The Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY Network, she died on Dec. 16 at her Oklahoma home surrounded by family and friends.

She became known as Anita Bryant Dry after marrying former astronaut Charlie Dry, who preceded her in death.

Bryant pursued music and performance, and achieved renown early, with her own TV show at the age of 12.

She was crowned Miss Oklahoma in 1958 at age 18.

Her records 'Paper Roses' and 'In My Little Corner of the World' were Top 10 Billboard hits.

She made guest appearances on 'Dick Clark’s American Bandstand' and other television programs.

The Grammy nominee was particularly known for her stirring performances, such as her rendition of the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic.'

Her talent led to numerous prominent singing engagements over the years. She sang for President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House and traveled with actor Bob Hope on his holiday tours to entertain U.S. troops abroad, according to her obituary.

The entertainer also sang at the Super Bowl in 1971 and co-hosted the nationally televised segment of the Orange Bowl Parade for nine years, according to her obituary.

She touted Florida orange juice and Coca-Cola in commercials.

In the late 1970s, Bryant became well known in a new way: as a vocal anti-gay activist who organized opposition to the movement for LGBTQ+ rights by founding an organization called Save Our Children.

In 1977, Bryant spoke against an ordinance in Dade County, Florida, that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation, and a national bill in Congress to declare gay people a minority group, according to The Oklahoman’s archives.

During a news conference, she said, 'The war goes on to save our children because the seed of sexual sickness that germinated in Dade County has already been transplanted by misguided liberals in the U.S. Congress.'

Dade County voters repealed the ordinance.

Bryant also campaigned for a California initiative that would have prohibited 'pro-homosexual' views in the classroom. That initiative was defeated.

At a Des Moines, Iowa, news conference in 1977, gay rights activist Tom Higgins slammed a pie into Bryant’s face for the benefit of TV cameras, The Oklahoman reported.

She responded by saying, 'At least it was a fruit pie,' before breaking into tears.

In the wake of the pie incident and nationwide 'gaycotts' of Florida orange juice, the Florida Citrus Commission dropped Bryant as a spokesperson, according to the outlet.

Bryant’s family received daily death threats as well as hate mail containing feces and voodoo dolls, she said.

Her 1978 interview for Playboy is considered to be a key moment in the gay rights movement, galvanizing members.

In it, she advocated for returning homosexuality to a felony offense and said it violated 'God’s law.'

In 1980, Bryant gave up her career.

She told The Oklahoman in 2011 that she did not regret her stance against homosexuality. 'I did the right thing,' Bryant said, adding that she does not hate gay people. 'I’ve never regretted what I did.

PLAYBOY: Have you always been obsessed with homosexuality?

BRYANT: Not at all. If I had been, would I have waited until 1977 to speak up? We could have gone on the offense long ago. We would have tried to shut down their publications, which anyone can pick up at a local hotel, and which show that they can do what they want with kids of whatever age they want, and even what kind of sex they can have. The homosexuals have their national directory and it lists Miami as the most open city in the nation. I got involved only because they were asking for special privileges that violated the state law of Florida, not to mention God’s law. You know, when I was a child, you didn’t even mention the word homosexual, much less find out what the act was about. You knew it was very bad, but you couldn’t imagine what they tried to do, exactly, in terms of one taking a male role and the other taking a female role. I mean, it was too filthy to think about and you had other things to think about. So when I finally found out all the implications, it was a total revelation for me.

PLAYBOY: Then when you opposed the Dade County ordinance, at first you didn’t even have a clear idea what you were opposing?

BRYANT: Well, I knew some things, because Bob had told me–he is nine years older and he has taught me a lot of things about sex. He was born in the Bronx and I was raised in the Bible Belt–what can I say? I mean, you have visions of, well, now, what can they do as two men in bed or two women in bed? But I didn’t really know the nitty-gritty of the thing.

PLAYBOY: Until when?

BRYANT: I’m not going to tell you.

PLAYBOY: Wasn’t it when you got a letter in January 1977 with an explicit picture enclosed?

BRYANT: Okay, yeah. And, I mean, I was absolutely appalled. I just couldn’t believe it. And then, afterward, a local police sergeant gave a presentation in our church basement with slides and all about child pornography and it shocked our whole congregation. We understood then just how debased the whole thing was. I mean, it’s a sin under the laws of God. And sin is like leprosy–it starts with just a little speck and you don’t even notice or care. You think, That’s not going to hurt me, and all of a sudden it begins to spread and you still don’t worry until the sores spread to the shoulder and the pus starts oozing, but by then it’s too late. God says the wages of sin are death, and one little sin brings on another. The homosexual act is just the beginning of the depravity. It then leads to–what’s the word?–sadomasochism. It just gets worse as it goes on. You go further and further down the drain and it just becomes so perverted and you get into alcohol and drugs and it’s so rotten that many homosexuals end up committing suicide. The worst thing is that these days, so many married men with children who don’t have a happy marriage are going into the homosexual bars for satisfaction–if they’re not careful, they’re going to get caught up in it totally.

PLAYBOY: You believe in a kind of sexual domino theory, then?

BRYANT: Lots of wives and former homosexuals have testified to me about these things.

PLAYBOY: Didn’t your biggest shock about homosexuals come when you realized that male homosexuals eat each other’s sperm? A Miami reporter briefly quoted you as saying the reason God calls homosexuality an abomination is that homosexuals eat spermatozoa, the building block of blood, so, therefore, homosexuals are swallowing, and presumably digesting, the essence of life?

BRYANT: I did not … um … I did not say that to any reporter. I’m not that stupid.

PLAYBOY: Did you say it to anybody?

BRYANT: I was overheard talking to a reformed homosexual on the phone and I had no idea our conversation would ever get printed. It was a very personal thing and I never dreamed it would get printed. The reporter deceived me. I was very naïve about the media then–since then, I’ve been trained. At that time, I was like a babe among the wolves.

PLAYBOY: But you did say it.

BRYANT: It was a personal thing. I don’t want to talk about it.

PLAYBOY: Why not?

BRYANT: Because it’s just too gory, too raw for most people to comprehend.

PLAYBOY: You could take this opportunity to explain yourself, rather than let it stand as an overheard conversation.

BRYANT: Well, I was witnessing to this guy, and I didn’t let on that I knew he had been a homosexual, and I threw the question at him because I wasn’t sure myself and I wanted to find out. I had read about this phenomenon, but I wasn’t sure it was true. See, I was at my desk one night and I was reading and studying; it was about one in the morning and when I read about it—-

PLAYBOY: You mean swallowing sperm?

BRYANT: Yeah, when I read about it, I about fell through my chair. I said, “Oh, God, this can’t be true.” That was the first time I really knew. I mean, I had seen in writing before what they did in bed, and so forth, but I never knew that they ate the male sperm. I just wanted to fall off the chair. So when this guy called, I wanted to really find out if what I’d read was true. So I said very casually, “Oh, by the way, do you know that homosexuals eat the male sperm?”

PLAYBOY: What did he say?

BRYANT: He said yes.

PLAYBOY: And?

BRYANT: And I still couldn’t believe it.

PLAYBOY: Why not?

BRYANT: Well, throughout the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, men are referred to as trees. Even in the Garden of Eden, when God referred to the tree of life, He was talking about the whole spiritual salvation of men, and so forth. And in the New Testament, it says Jesus was called the fruit of the womb–which is very interesting, because even the homosexuals know this. Did you know there is a group in Seattle that calls itself The Fruit Loops?

PLAYBOY: So?

BRYANT: Why do you think the homosexuals are called fruits? It’s because they eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of life. God referred to men as trees, and because the homosexuals eat the forbidden fruit, which is male sperm…. There is even a Jockey short called Forbidden Fruit. Very subtle. Did you know that?

PLAYBOY: No. We’ve heard only of Fruit of the Loom.

BRYANT: You see, I agree with the anti-abortion people that the beginning of life is when the male sperm fertilizes the female egg. The Scriptures talk about John the Baptist jumping in the womb when he was in the presence of the Mother Mary when Jesus was still in the womb, and that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit. That was the beginning of life and I believe that–I cannot deny what I know to be true. That’s why homosexuality is an abomination of God, because life is so precious to God and it is such a sacred thing when man and woman come together in one flesh and the seed is fertilized–that’s the sealing of life, that’s the beginning of life. To interfere with that in any way–especially the eating of the forbidden fruit, the eating of the sperm–that’s why it’s such an abomination. I can’t deny it. When I discuss this with Christians, it revolts them, especially when they don’t know the Bible and cannot see sin in its most hideous forms. You really turn people off when you speak in these blunt terms, and they can’t believe I’m saying it. But you have to tell them that it’s true. It’s there, it’s logical and it makes the sin of homosexuality all the more hideous because it’s antilife, degenerative.

PLAYBOY: Surely, you must know that the eating of sperm is not confined to homosexuals. In fact, it’s quite popular in heterosexual relationships these days.

BRYANT: It’s true. I agree with you. The abomination is spreading. Ideally, of course, the relationship between a man and a woman should embody oneness with God–the most natural thing is the reproducing of life and having the first fruits from that oneness together.

PLAYBOY: So sex is only for procreation?

BRYANT: Oh, no. But God created the family to be a picture of perfection. Nothing is perfect, of course, but a woman’s giving herself to her husband should try to resemble perfection, just as the husband’s protection of his wife should be a love like he loves his own body. How many men do that with their woman? If you could see that bliss as an expression of God’s perfection, it would make you yearn to know God.

PLAYBOY: You’re saying that sexual intercourse between man and wife is an acknowledgment of God?

BRYANT: Right–it’s a picture of the Church, in a sense. It’s a beautiful thing, ordained of God, meant to be enjoyed and to be pleasurable, not looked on as debased or ungodly or dirty, as so many Christians unfortunately see it. Sex was never meant to be that. God tells us it’s like a mystery–he means a coming together that releases the joy you have in that moment of climax when there is a oneness with you and your husband and with God. It’s physical, but it becomes spiritual. I’ve often thought that at that moment, you experience the release and the purity that God meant to be…. Well, it’s like the way Christ loves the Church. When you come together, it’s like when the Church is brought up to meet Christ in the air, when we will all take on immortality. There is a releasing of all the burdens of the mortal body and such sheer release of joy and oneness–it’s almost like floating in the air and you know someday you will be able to meet Christ. I think the reason there’s so much promiscuity and so much emphasis on sex these days is because people leave out the spiritual part.

PLAYBOY: Is birth control an abomination against the Lord? Is taking the pill a sin?

BRYANT: No, because the way it’s done, you are not wasting the sperm. I’ve never really gone into this before. I’ve never had that question asked of me. I do think it’s important to realize God’s glory when you come together–if there’s not the oneness of the spirit, soul and body, then there’s an imperfection. This whole discussion is so delicate–that’s why it’s so important that the government and the public schools should not take the responsibility to explain sex to our children–it is the province of the parents.

PLAYBOY: Some parents may be less qualified to explain it than educators are.

BRYANT: I don’t care, the child should hear it from the parents.

PLAYBOY: Many parents refuse to accept the responsibility. What then?

BRYANT: I know. It’s not easy. I don’t have all the answers. I know what you’re talking about, because my mother and her mother didn’t know how to talk about sex.

PLAYBOY: Okay, let’s get back to deviant sexual practices, as you characterize homosexuality. Why did you decide to oppose the Dade County ordinance last year? You’d never taken a political stand before.

BRYANT: Right, I never had. The basic reason was because I am first and foremost a mother, and I was standing up for my rights as a mother to protect my children after I realized what the threat the homosexuals were posing meant. That’s why we called our organization Save Our Children, though we’ve since been forced to change it to Protect America’s Children, because the Save the Children Federation took us to court. The ordinance the homosexuals proposed would have made it mandatory that flaunting homosexuals be hired in both the public and the parochial schools. My children attend a religious school. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution, and if you believe that adultery, homosexuality, drunkenness and things like that violate your religious standards, you then have a right to prevent a teacher from standing up in front of your children and promoting sin. We were fighting religious bigotry. What gives the homosexual any more right to stand up in front of children and talk about his sexual preferences than a man who has a great Dane as his lover?

PLAYBOY: Bestiality is just around the corner, then?

BRYANT: Under the proposed ordinance, every sexual deviation would have been legally acceptable among schoolteachers. Right behind the homosexual community in Dade County was a group of prostitutes who were going to initiate similar legislation permitting whores to stand up in front of kids in the classroom and proclaim their sexual deviation and then ply their trade. Ad infinitum. The issue had nothing to do with what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms. If two men or two women live together and don’t flaunt their deviant lifestyle, fine. Let them do what they want. But when they try to interfere with my right as a mother to raise my children the way I see fit, then I draw the line. I mean, no one got very excited about the ordinance–no one knew it was an issue, really, it was so secretive. It had passed two readings at the Dade County Commission before we even became aware of it. On the third reading, it would have become law–we only had a week and a half to try to stop it. The ordinance sounded very simple–it said there should be no discrimination in the areas of housing, public accommodations and employment. Who wants to discriminate? It’s a no-no. But the discrimination they were talking about was not based on race or religion. Homosexuals would have us believe they’re born that way, because they’re in total darkness and they’ve never been told any different. But if they’re a legitimate minority group, then so are nail biters, dieters, fat people, short people and murderers. Who will be the next in line to ask for special privileges? When it came down to a courtroom hearing, the homosexuals in Dade County said it’s not a matter of housing, public accommodations and employment–we’re already there, they said. Which they definitely are. They said, “The point is that we want to come out of the closet, we want to tell you where we’re at and we don’t want to lose our jobs because of it.” One of the homosexual leaders made a statement before the Community Relations Board. He said he became a homosexual when he was seven years old but that it bothered him that he never had a role model to look up to.

PLAYBOY: Aren’t you just resorting to the same kind of argument that Joe McCarthy used in the Fifties against communism? He insisted that Americans could not be exposed to it lest they immediately turn into raving Marxists. Do you think “flaunting homosexuals,” as you put it, will automatically turn America’s children into homosexuals?

BRYANT: Of course it’s not just an overnight thing. What happens is that the door then opens onto a lot of other things. It may not have an immediate effect, but certainly down the line it will–on your kids and your grandchildren, for generations to come. We can’t see the evils of sin right off. It looks so innocent at first, but I’ve seen too many lives ruined by that kind of thinking.

PLAYBOY: A moment ago, you lumped homosexuals into the same category as murderers.

BRYANT: But I’m not saying homosexuals are murderers.

PLAYBOY: You’re saying they’re just as bad.

BRYANT: No, I don’t say they’re as bad. God says it. It’s in the Bible. First Corinthians, I think.

PLAYBOY: Since you’ve never been connected with political causes before, how did you feel when you found yourself embroiled in a controversial issue as its leader?

BRYANT: I was petrified. I was devastated by the fears within me that I would make a fool out of myself. I knew what I was up against–the homosexuals in Dade County had amassed support from homosexuals around the country and they had the active backing of a wide range of liberal politicians. I asked myself, what can I possibly do that will matter? But, thanks to the encouragement of my husband and my pastor, I became aware of the difference one person can make. Similar ordinances had been passed in 36 other cities around the country and Congressman Ed Koch [now New York City’s mayor] had even proposed a federal bill along the same lines. The homosexuals in Miami knew that Dade County was one of the most liberal counties in the country. They said if they won, it would be a barometer for all of America. I’d really done my homework before I stood up. I went through a lot of anguish.

PLAYBOY: Your pastor convinced you it was a sin not to stand up?

BRYANT: Yes. I was totally convinced of that. My eyes had been opened and I really had no choice. Still, I vacillated between being weak and being strong. Then I told myself, well, if God is before me, who can be against me?

PLAYBOY: You had God on your side?

BRYANT: Yes. I had given the Lord my total being–I mean, everything. So I had a confidence, a strength that everything I had always tried to attain in my own flesh, and never could, would be now possible. When you give yourself to God, God gives you everything. My pastor, Brother Bill, had a much bigger picture than I did. He told me, “I don’t know anyone else in the nation who could take a stand like this.” He saw that I was the one person who could make a difference. When I finally surrendered to God, I gained a confidence and I’ve not been afraid since.

PLAYBOY: You weren’t afraid when you got the bomb threats?

BRYANT: No.

PLAYBOY: The death threats?

BRYANT: No.

PLAYBOY: How about your children?

BRYANT: They’re not afraid because we’re not afraid. I’m not afraid for myself, but I am afraid for my children.

PLAYBOY: You must know that the homosexual leaders, as much as they loathe you, nevertheless credit you with helping them publicize their cause. You’re saying it was a quid pro quo–that they had the same effect on your cause.

BRYANT: I don’t owe anything to them. I owe it all to God, because God pushed me into that corner. I will never give the homosexuals the credit. In fact, the more the homosexuals rant and rave, the more the committed Christians are going to come out of the closet. It’s God’s plan. I am only his humble servant. I never wanted to be the leader of anything. In fact, knowing what I know now, if I had the choice, I would definitely have chosen the role way back when of just a simple wife and mother.

PLAYBOY: You’d have given up your career?

BRYANT: Yes, definitely, knowing what I know now. It’s so much easier to do that than to stand up and rant and rave for your human rights against militant homosexuals.

PLAYBOY: All right, back to Miami. What was your first step when you decided to take a stand?

BRYANT: I wrote a letter to the nine county commissioners, stating my convictions. After I wrote the letter, the homosexual leaders united against me. They called the Florida Citrus Commission and threatened a national boycott of Florida orange juice. The commission was very upset–they didn’t understand why I was standing up. Then the homosexuals went further–they said they’d make me the laughingstock of the country. They said they’d sue my A-S-S off. It was just a scare tactic–we didn’t know if they could follow through with their threats, but it was scary–we had never been up against anything like that before. I remember walking around the house for several days, talking to myself, wondering what to do; I’d get real bold one minute and the next minute I’d burst into tears, crying out loud. I was so scared. Anyway, before all of this happened, I’d agreed to go on a local radio station–the disc jockey was a real Christian gal, so I felt pretty safe in her hands. But I was trembling still–I had hoped my letter to the county commission was enough. But I decided I had to do the show, to help our cause, and I did it. It was great. I’d brought my daughter Barbara with me, and when we started driving back after the show, there was a drizzly rain. Suddenly, in front of us, there was a car crash. It was a real bad accident. I swerved around it, and to this day, I don’t know how we escaped death. We were real shook up. I pulled over to the side of the road and I said to Barbara, “Let’s just pray. Let’s thank Jesus for saving us from this accident.” I took her hand and we prayed–Barbara is like me. I mean, when she was born, she was 42 years old. She looked up at me and said, “If God can help us like this, can’t he help you win against the homosexuals?” I tell you, my tears started coming and I knew then we would win.

PLAYBOY: Did Barbara understand what homosexual meant? She’s nine years old. Had you discussed the issue explicitly with your children?

BRYANT: Yes. We had to talk with them in very practical terms on their age level.

PLAYBOY: How do you explain homosexuality to a nine-year-old?

BRYANT: Well, now you’ve got me on the spot. Basically, we explained to our children that marriage is a sacred vow and that in Genesis, God said he knew man was incomplete and man needed a helpmate, so God made woman, and that man and woman were meant to come together and multiply the earth. I explained in simple terms to the little ones that some men try to do with other men what men and women do to produce babies; and that homosexuality is a perversion of a very natural thing that God said was good, and that it is a sin and very unnatural. I explained to the children that even barnyard animals don’t do what homosexuals do.

PLAYBOY: That’s simply untrue. There is a lot of evidence proving not only that barnyard animals do engage in homosexuality but that in many primitive human cultures around the world, homosexuality is and has been institutionalized as part of tribal culture.

BRYANT: Well, I’ve never heard of it. The point is that God says it’s an abomination of nature and it’s wrong.

PLAYBOY: That’s a different point–we’re saying that among various species, human and animal, it is a common occurrence.

BRYANT: That still doesn’t make it right.

PLAYBOY: What if, despite your efforts, one of your kids turned out to be a homosexual? Would you disown him or her?

BRYANT: I would never disown my children, no matter what. I��m a firm believer in taking my children in my arms every day and saying “I love you”–every day. I have a real bugaboo myself–if I fail as a mother to my children, then I have failed completely. My family is my first priority. If one of my kids chose the homosexual lifestyle, I would sit down and explain to him that he’s hurting no one but himself and that God cannot tolerate that kind of sin in his life and that lie will have to suffer the consequences of sin, particularly in knowing that he will never be happy choosing the way of the Devil rather than God’s way.

PLAYBOY: But you would regard yourself as a failure if that happened?

BRYANT: Yes. If my kids don’t become happy, worthwhile, responsible citizens, then I will have failed everything. All else will have been in vain–the career, everything. Nothing else really matters.

PLAYBOY: Were there particular problems with your children after you took your anti-homosexual stance?

BRYANT: There was one point where our daughters, Gloria and Barbara, told me that they didn’t want to hold hands with their little girlfriends anymore. They were afraid people would think they were homosexuals. I had to sit down and talk to them–I told them in very practical terms that that had nothing to do with homosexuality. And then I talked to our other kids, individually, to make sure their views in regard to their friends weren’t warped. You know how kids are–they tease kids who have effeminate qualities. They harass them.

PLAYBOY: You told your children it was wrong to harass boys who were effeminate?

BRYANT: Absolutely. I’ve taken great pains with the children to educate them that that kind of thing is not Christian. But kids are influenced by their peers; all of a sudden, they get very brave when they’re with other kids. My kids aren’t perfect–they might resort to that. Kids have a tendency to call each other queer or weird. We’ve stopped our kids from saying that, I think, through careful explanation of how wrong it is to do that. I think our kids are much more careful about that kind of thing, because they know the harm they can cause, especially in that the accusations can be false accusations. The militant homosexuals in Miami accused us of printing a Kill a Queer for Christ bumper sticker. I mean, never would we endorse that kind of thing. That would be disrespectful to homosexuals as human beings. We would never say “queer” or “faggot”–I mean, “homos” is not that bad, really, but we would never say it. And that’s a much more honest position than the militant homosexuals take. I have no respect for homosexuals who insist that their deviant lifestyle is normal. We pray for them, we try to lead them out of it–that’s more honest than the stance of saying what they do is normal. I mean, you ask them, “What is your role in the sex act–is it male or female?” They say, “Well, sometimes it’s male, sometimes it’s female.” Isn’t that play acting? Is play acting normal? Let’s clarify the issue of what constitutes a homosexual. I think a lot of parents pass down to their kids a misconception–if a boy doesn’t have masculine muscles and he doesn’t go out for sports, that doesn’t make him a sissy or a queer. I don’t think a homosexual is a homosexual until he commits the act. I mean, just because a child fantasizes about another man–lots of psychiatrists claim that it’s the latent homosexuality expressing itself in the brain of a little one. That’s garbage. It’s not a physical problem, it’s a spiritual one. Just because this kind of kid has certain characteristics that make him different when he’s growing up, and he was laughed at or mocked by other kids, that doesn’t make him a homosexual, any more than it makes me a grandmother.

PLAYBOY: So a homosexual is not a homosexual until he commits a physical homosexual act?

BRYANT: That’s what I consider a homosexual to be. I don’t think that if you have fantasies or dreams or whatever counts. No matter if your father or your mother rejected you, no matter what happened in your life, still, it’s a matter of choice in a context.

PLAYBOY: As far back as 1948, Dr. Alfred Kinsey showed that, from his research, two out of every five American males had committed a homosexual act. You’ve heard of his research, we assume.

BRYANT: Not that much, no. But, of course, we know where he was coming from, personally.

PLAYBOY: What does that mean?

BRYANT: Well, I mean, he had no spiritual beliefs, no religious beliefs.

PLAYBOY: Nevertheless, as a social scientist, Kinsey claimed that 37 percent of the American male population–and this was in the late Forties–had committed at least one homosexual act.

BRYANT: But that doesn’t mean they were homosexuals.

PLAYBOY: But wait, just a moment ago, you said that committing the homosexual act defined the homosexual being.

BRYANT: Well, one or two acts don’t make you a practicing, full-fledged homosexual.

PLAYBOY: You said precisely that.

BRYANT: Yeah, I did say the sex act constitutes…. Look, what I’m saying is that people experiment–they may do it a couple of times. It doesn’t mean they are practicing homosexuals for life. Some people will try it out just for the kicks–out of curiosity. They can still be forgiven for that sin.

PLAYBOY: In your most recent book, The Anita Bryant Story, you say that you don’t know what causes homosexuality. Don’t you think you should have studied its causes?

BRYANT: You see, that’s the whole thing–the militant homosexuals contend that they are born homosexual and that it’s a natural thing. All I know is that God condemns it as unnatural. That’s why I insist on saying “homosexual” and “so-called gay.” The word gay totally belies the homosexual lifestyle. I don’t even know how the word gay was attached to the homosexual lifestyle. The militant homosexuals took the word and with the power that they have, they programed it into our modern vocabulary. That in itself is a frightening example of what they can do to a society–how they can brainwash you into using their terminology. It’s a matter of habits. It’s like most homosexuals, when they go into the deviant lifestyle, they don’t take on the effeminate affectations until they have become part of the homosexual community–they go almost into camp, that’s what it is, and they take on those roles whether male or female. It’s a learned pattern–so it can be unlearned. That’s why it’s so dangerous–I think it is so difficult to unlearn because it becomes natural after a while, and they don’t have to think about it.

PLAYBOY: What about bisexuality? Is it as great a sin as homosexuality?

BRYANT: Because homosexuality is an abomination, whether you do it once a month or it becomes a lifestyle, when it becomes harder for you to come out of it—-

PLAYBOY: So is there more hope for salvation for bisexuals?

BRYANT: I can’t say there’s more hope for them. It’s a dangerous place to be, because they’re in a promiscuous area. They’re committing fornication and homosexuality as well–sin. It’s almost as if those people are playing with it. They think, “I’m not really a homosexual, I don’t do it that often.” They don’t really want to align themselves with the depravity of the homosexual community, per se. They’re enjoying their cake but not eating it, you see.

PLAYBOY: Let’s return to the Dade County ordinance for a moment. What were the immediate consequences of your standing up against it?

BRYANT: Threats, blackmail, boycotts, intimidation. I won’t say who, but someone threatened our business manager in New York that if we continued with the campaign, he would start the rumor that Bob was a former homosexual.

PLAYBOY: Was he?

BRYANT: Of course not. But during the time of the referendum, we lost 70 percent of our bookings. You’ve got to remember that, predominantly, I’m a variety artist and the bulk of my income comes from performing–Florida Citrus is only a small part. We had no conventions in 1977 and I had been one of the top convention entertainers in the country. I did a grand total of two state fairs in 1977. The militant homosexuals will go to any extreme to try to get me out of my livelihood. In New Orleans, they went to the manager of the New Orleans Pops orchestra and tried to prove to him that I had been responsible for local homosexual suicides. Every place I go, there are bomb threats. Every place we go, they send half a dozen people from other towns and they come a week before and organize a protest against me. We were really surprised that they had the power to do what they do. It’s not the democratic way at all–if we had lost, we would have said, well, we feel bad, but that’s it. Well, they lose and they punish you for winning. I had no idea of the viciousness or vindictiveness of the homosexual community. I was very naive in that respect.

PLAYBOY: Any regrets? Would you do it all over again?

BRYANT: I would still stand, I would still make the same choice. I might change some of the statements that were made that were not mine, but unfortunately, that’s part of what you have to go through when you’re working with people from all walks of life who are part of your organization. It hasn’t been easy. I don’t think anybody wants to see his livelihood stripped away from him, and you’ve got to come to grips with the threats to your family–that’s something you’d never ask for; you’d have to be crazy to ask for it. But we also got to work with some wonderful people. Seventy percent of the Jewish rabbis supported us, as well as the majority of the black community. That was a wonderful experience.

PLAYBOY: What did you think when the Florida Citrus Commission renewed its contract with you?

BRYANT: I thought it was a courageous thing to do and, of course, I was very glad.

PLAYBOY: Is the tide now turning on your behalf? Your contract was renewed, you were named Most Admired Woman by readers of Good Housekeeping and liberal columnists such as Nat Hentoff have come out defending your right of free speech.

BRYANT: It’s too early to say, and I don’t know what the homosexuals still have up their sleeve. They are very desperate people who will stop at nothing.

PLAYBOY: Do you feel any responsibility for homosexual suicides? Or for the murder of homosexuals? There was a lawsuit filed against you in San Francisco last year, later dismissed, that charged you with creating a homophobic hysteria that resulted in the murder of a young homosexual.

BRYANT: Yes, that’s true. But I had nothing to do with any murders. There is a homosexual murder every day in San Francisco. It made me sad and it shocked me that anyone would think I had anything to do with it, but my conscience is clear. I can’t be responsible for how people react to what happened in Dade County. My stand was not taken out of homophobia but out of love for them. Look, I’m not as stupid as people make me out to be, especially concerning homosexuality. In Richmond, four of them came up to me. One of them gave me the record Hurricane Anita and looked at me like he was waiting for me to faint dead away or turn pale, and I said I was familiar with it, and I wrote down a Scripture and said, “I love you.” And one other guy came on real strong and he said, “You’ve broken my heart and I cry all night and day because you hate us.” I said, “I don’t hate you, I love you.” I took his hand and said, “I love you; can you say you love me?” This guy started shaking. He said, “I can’t say that.”

PLAYBOY: That record is just one of the satiric attacks made upon you. There have been more Anita Bryant jokes than Polish jokes in the past year. Rod McKuen said–

BRYANT: He’s really a … nothing.

PLAYBOY: People like Johnny Carson and Bob Hope and Martha Raye have also made jokes about you.

BRYANT: Right, and I really was hurt by them. I mean, I could tell you stories from being on U.S.O. tours with Bob Hope and Martha Raye that would make your hair stand on end, but I won’t. Yet they attack me. I asked my son Bobby one day about it and he said, “Well, they have a lot of jokes around school about you.”

PLAYBOY: Dirty jokes?

BRYANT: No, funny ones. And he said, “They don’t bug me.”

PLAYBOY: What other kinds of repercussions did you suffer from the so-called gaycott of you?

BRYANT: Well, I couldn’t get booked on virtually any of the talk shows, where I’d always been welcomed before. And I recorded a song called “There’s Nothing Like the Love Between a Woman and a Man,” a real upbeat, down-home country tune. All the record companies agreed it was great, but none of them wanted to risk putting it out.

PLAYBOY: In some jurisdictions, homosexual behavior is now prosecuted as a misdemeanor. Are you in favor of returning it to a felony status?

BRYANT: Yes, I think so. Any time you water down the law, it just makes it easier for immorality to become tolerated.

PLAYBOY: Let’s say two adult men are caught in bed, fornicating. Under felony provisions, they could be sent to jail for 20 years. Do you think 20 years in prison would rehabilitate them?

BRYANT: Why make it easy for them? I think it only helps to condone it and to make it easier for kids who wouldn’t be so concerned if it were just a misdemeanor, whereas a felony might make them think twice, especially the younger ones.

PLAYBOY: What if it doesn’t? Boys should spend 20 years in jail for one act?

BRYANT: If they’re on good behavior and everything, and they really–

PLAYBOY: What are you saying–that someone will be rehabilitated and turned away from homosexuality in prison? Surely, you know that prisoners are gang-raped routinely. Someone jailed on a homosexual charge is particularly vulnerable. You must know that.

BRYANT: They’ll have plenty of time to think. Just because prisons are corrupt and not doing the right job in rehabilitation because they don’t have enough spiritual emphasis doesn’t mean that there should not be a strong punishment for that.

PLAYBOY: Does punishment lead to redemption?

BRYANT: It’s in the Bible.

PLAYBOY: Twenty years in jail?

BRYANT: Well, there’s no easy answer and I’m sure we don’t have all the answers.

PLAYBOY: You’re avoiding the question, not just the answer. To stick a kid in jail for committing a homosexual act would seem to most people the greater crime–and sin. If anything were going to reinforce his homosexuality, it would be prison.

BRYANT: But, you see, if there are no consequences for any kind of sin, if there’s no law and order, if there’s no price to be paid for–

PLAYBOY: But you’re advocating making homosexuality a felony. The price would certainly exceed the “crime,” if you had your way.

BRYANT: Are you saying do away with the law totally? Look, I’m just thinking of a deterrent to keep young people from going into it. That’s why you’ve got the ministry in the prisons. They’re trying to find an answer there. Maybe the answer is to put the homosexuals in a different place in the prison.

PLAYBOY: That’s already the case; do you think that would deter them from homosexuality? How familiar are you with prisons? Have you ever performed inside one?

BRYANT: Yes, I did the Huntsville Prison Rodeo. It was great–the audience was very captive. [Laughs]

PLAYBOY: Did you get a firsthand look at the prison conditions?

BRYANT: No, I’ve read about them and I have mixed feelings, because I’ve heard a lot of radical people who come out and say the prisons are terrible, but you know where they’re coming from–they want to do away with law and order because they’re rebellious against God. I know what the cause of the prisons is. The cause is sin.

PLAYBOY: So for one sin, the sin of one man making love to another man, you would send them to jail? That’s the Christian approach?

BRYANT: As a Christian, I know the only answer is the Gospel.

PLAYBOY: And you would set it up so that the Gospel you advocate would be preached to imprisoned human beings surrounded by the very crime you accuse them of.

BRYANT: All right, you have a point. Especially when you put it in terms of kids; I would like to be working with them to save them from their sins.

PLAYBOY: Let’s explore some of your theological beliefs. For instance, nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus make any statement about homosexuality.

BRYANT: Well, Jesus did. He spoke about adultery and fornication.

PLAYBOY: But you didn’t conduct a campaign against heterosexual swingers’ teaching your kids. The fact remains that Jesus never even mentioned homosexuality and virtually every reference to it is in the Old Testament.

BRYANT: But he talked about fornication and he said, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.” He was very plain on it. Jesus never wavered from sin one iota. To say that Jesus wasn’t against sin is ridiculous. A lot of people who want to interpret the Bible for their own ends, such as the so-called Metropolitan Community Church, ignore parts of it to condone their immoral lifestyle. They make a sham of everything Jesus stood for. If he was not truly the Son of God, then he’s just … nothing. It sounds like it’s contradicting itself, but when you read the whole Bible, all of it together, then you understand why at certain points it seems like it’s contradicting, but yet it’s not. God is simply trying to explain the truth.

PLAYBOY: When did you come to that realization? When did you first sit down and read the Bible from cover to cover?

BRYANT: I never have. I have tried.

PLAYBOY: That’s surprising.

BRYANT: See, I never went to a Catholic or a Baptist school where they made us do that.

PLAYBOY: Why haven’t you read it on your own?

BRYANT: I don’t know. Why did you ask me that? I just learned to love the Bible and read it and I read it all the time. But I’ve never had the time to read it from cover to cover.

PLAYBOY: What is your interpretation of heaven?

BRYANT: The Bible describes heaven as a place where there’ll be no sorrow, no tears nor sin. No day and no night; a continuous joy and peace. I’ve been so high with the Lord that I believe I’ve had a foretaste of glory divine, of what it’s going to be like to not have to put up with pressure and hassles from the physical body. There will be no temptation from the Devil, no evil thoughts will enter your head. I won’t have to worry about a schedule, I won’t have to live by my little black book, I won’t have to write everything down, I won’t have to be interviewed. I won’t have to sing unless I feel like it. God talks about heaven in a very literal way. He says the streets are paved with gold, a pure gold, and he talks about the pearly gates–it’ll be pure pearl. I believe it will literally have those things that are described; that’s why it was described that way. A lot of the Bible I take literally.

PLAYBOY: And hell?

BRYANT: That is a place God did not make for mankind–he made that as a place for the Devil, a place he could put him because he was the maestro of music in heaven, and he betrayed God. God created hell to pass Lucifer down into it. In the meantime, he let him become friends of this world, and that’s why we have to suffer a spiritual warfare until he comes back for His own.

PLAYBOY: Do you believe in purgatory?

BRYANT: No.

PLAYBOY: All or nothing, then. How does the Devil tempt Anita Bryant?

BRYANT: Through my kids, my husband, just getting on my nerves; my family is where I’m most vulnerable. If I get really tired, I can put my garbage on Bob very easily. Not like before–we used to really fight.

PLAYBOY: But how does the Devil get to you?

BRYANT: Like he gets to anybody. I know the days when I am so beaten down I can see 12 demons around me with billy clubs on my head and I know they’re there and I verbally cast them out. I say, “Satan, get thee behind me.” I mean, you can’t let clown your guard for a moment. You simply have to remember that God is your best friend and know the peace God can give you when you’re in the flow of the stream of his wisdom and love. It’s like they call me Hurricane Anita–the Weather Service sent me a letter telling me the name had been picked out 10 years ago, for the storm that hit last spring. It was so weird, the timing. I just thought it was another of God’s jokes. He has such a sense of humor, he really does, you know. So some Weather Service people sent me a picture of the hurricane and in the middle of all this turmoil is a perfect eye of stillness. That’s me, in the center.

PLAYBOY: You often quote Leviticus and Deuteronomy–the “lawbooks” of the Old Testament–to support your beliefs against homosexuality. But the Bible is so ambiguous that people on fundamentally different sides can quote it against each other to support their positions.

BRYANT: There were certain things in the Old Testament that you had to do in order to be clean and righteous. Yet when Jesus came, he fulfilled the law. In other words, it’s not the Ten Commandments that save you, it’s the fact that Jesus died on the cross that saves you. You are not bound by all the things that it says to do in the Old Testament.

PLAYBOY: So you pick the ones that suit you?

BRYANT: Jesus was the fulfillment. He told us we were not to be concerned by the things the Old Testament said–that kind of thing–again.

PLAYBOY: Yet you consistently quote the Old Testament as a justification for your positions, particularly regarding homosexuality. It reminds us of the Scopes trial in Tennessee in 1925, when William Jennings Bryan insisted on a literal interpretation of the creation.

BRYANT: Well, when you start nitpicking, when we try in our own feeble minds to understand God … God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts.” There’s no way you can comprehend what creation is. You’re trying to come to a logical conclusion as to how God did it and there’s no way we can know how God did it. From man’s point of view, miracles never happen. From God’s point of view, they do.

PLAYBOY: Does there have to be a conflict between belief in evolution and belief in God?

BRYANT: Except that Darwin did not believe in God.

PLAYBOY: That doesn’t answer the question.

BRYANT: Look, because of his atheistic influence, Darwin is taught in the public schools as fact. That’s fine, if people want to believe that, but I say we must also put Genesis and the Bible in the school teachings as an alternate belief. And, look, really, there’s no way I can answer your question, because I don’t know how God did it. I just believe he did it. It’s like when Moses parted the Red Sea. To man, that was an impossible feat, yet it was one of the great miracles of the Bible when Moses lifted his rod again and the sea closed. I mean, it boggles your mind to think of the majesty and supernatural power it took to do that. My pastor put it this way: He said, for God, it took only the flick of his pinkie to part the Red Sea.

PLAYBOY: God has a pinkie?

BRYANT: Oh, I don’t know, it’s just an illustration. Actually, the biggest miracle of all was the constraint God showed not to split the earth in half when he parted the Red Sea. What I’m saying is that God didn’t have to do things man’s way. He spoke the universe into existence.

PLAYBOY: But even from your point of view, is it not still a miracle to create the universe over a period of billions of years?

BRYANT: Why would he take that kind of time? He doesn’t have to.

PLAYBOY: Why not? If he is eternal, time is nothing to him.

BRYANT: Well, that’s true … but the Bible says God just spoke the universe into existence.

PLAYBOY: Many Biblical scholars aren’t nearly as fundamentalist as you are in believing such things.

BRYANT: I don’t know! What do I know? We’ll know those answers when we get to heaven, all right? And you can ask God yourself!

PLAYBOY: Do you think that people who either don’t believe in Jesus as God–Jews, for example–or those who have never been exposed to Christian teaching are condemned to hell?

BRYANT: Well, I personally have to believe that, because I believe God’s word. I didn’t write the Bible, and that’s what the Bible says. But there are a lot of Jews today who are accepting Jesus as the Messiah.

PLAYBOY: What about those who are not–the vast majority, in other words?

BRYANT: You’re putting me on the spot again. As much as I would like to say other people can be saved by some other means than Jesus, I cannot deny what I know from the Bible. It doesn’t make me feel good or give me any gratification to think someone’s going to hell. I have great respect for my Jewish brothers. But I am what I am, I believe what I believe and I can’t stick my head in the ground and say, “Well, I believe if people are really good and if they live by other standards, they can get absolved”–God just didn’t say that. This whole question is very hard for me, because I have come to love Rabbi Weberman and the other Jewish people I have worked with in Dade County very much. I have a great respect for them, so I don’t think in terms of hell-fire and damnation.

PLAYBOY: Presumably, you feel the same way about other faiths–the Moslem faith, for instance.

BRYANT: God is using so many people all over the world to get the Gospel to the Moslems, to everybody. Whether a person will accept or reject the Gospel is between him and God. I’m not responsible for that. I mean, God could just have made us all into robots, but he took a chance. He wanted us to choose his way.

PLAYBOY: If you tried to tell a devout Moslem about Jesus as savior, he would be just as immune to hearing your message as you would be if he tried to tell you Mohammed was the Prophet.

BRYANT: I don’t have the answer for that. I can’t approach it from an intellectual point of view. There’s a lot of things I don’t understand about God.

PLAYBOY: Where is your sense of justice? If someone truly lives a good life, if he’s sincere and moral, just because he doesn’t believe in Jesus–

BRYANT: Even though he is sincere, he is sincerely wrong. Sincerity doesn’t make you right. The homosexual community believes it’s sincerely right too.

PLAYBOY: What about some Pygmy or some South American Indian who has literally never heard of Jesus and never will, who has his own set of gods that he’s worshiped for thousands of years? He’s going to hell too?

BRYANT: That’s all the more reason we have the responsibility to pay for missionaries to get the truth to them. I mean, I’ve heard weird stories all over the world about where missionaries have gone to odd places and where people have been saved just by seeing a torn page of the Bible on the floor. There are some weird salvation experiences all over the world. I believe that it’s God’s plan that all should be saved.

PLAYBOY: But, according to your way of thinking, Jews, Moslems, Pygmies, Eskimos and atheists are going to hell.

BRYANT: According to God’s word, they do. I mean, if there’s no heaven and no hell, what are we talking about? You know, your problem is that you have to have all the answers. It’s impossible to have all the answers!

PLAYBOY: How do you feel about the inferior status conferred on women in the Bible? Would you agree, as some women do, that it’s because the Bible was written by men in the context of the times?

BRYANT: Well, no, men didn’t write it, the Holy Spirit did. Most of the preachers are men, though, and I think that’s brought about an unhealthy balance. It’s a thing where you hear so much about “women, submit yourselves to your husbands,” and that is Biblical, where women must submit first but it also says, “submit yourselves one to another.” It has to be a submission of both women to men and men to women.

PLAYBOY: But you’ve also said that women are weaker vessels than men.

BRYANT: Well, they are. I don’t think that has a bad connotation.

PLAYBOY: Weak isn’t exactly a complimentary term.

BRYANT: Well, it’s a Biblical term, you see…. All I know is God did have a plan. I don’t always want to agree with it and I don’t always understand it, but it’s like the clay trying to understand the potter. All I know is that he did set the man over the woman. When he said we were to become as one flesh, he meant it in all ways. So if I don’t submit to Bob–

PLAYBOY: Why shouldn’t he have to submit to you first?

BRYANT: I believe that it’s easier for the woman to submit. That’s Biblical.

PLAYBOY: Why?

BRYANT: I don’t know, but I just think that a woman has the capability of submitting. I really thought in my younger days that I could do anything that Bob could do and probably better, and for a time, maybe I showed that I could. But I had a limit. I could take only so much, whereas God has equipped men to take much more responsibility–he made them to be the head and he gave them a certain ability. Women come at things with a much more emotional point of view.

PLAYBOY: What do you mean, emotional?

BRYANT: I can’t explain it. I just think women have a softer approach. We’re more vulnerable, just like in the Garden of Eden. Bob has an ability to see things from a totally different perspective than I. I am much more trusting. Women are vulnerable as far as people are concerned, whereas men can see through things. Of course, I’m talking about the perfect specimen–everybody’s different. But I believe there is an innate ability that men have that’s different from women’s. I think women have much more of a capacity for pain, for instance–no question there. I’ve seen it time and time again. I know I have much more endurance than Bob in many areas, and yet for decisions and responsibilities, I got into an awful lot of trouble by taking on more than I was able to handle, and when Bob finally saw that, he took the responsibility for that and it was a tremendous burden lifted off my shoulders.

PLAYBOY: If Bob told you to do something right now that was against the grain of your thought, would you simply submit to him?

BRYANT: I might rebel against it–and I have many times–but, Biblically, I would submit, yes.

PLAYBOY: You’ve gone against your own better judgment?

BRYANT: Oh, yes. For me to learn to submit was one of the most difficult things in the world, because from the time I was a little child, I was a very hardheaded, independent human being. Yet God showed me my weaknesses, showed me where I was the weaker vessel in many respects, and I still didn’t want to recognize that. It was in real submission, when I was able to let Bob take over, that I really realized I was usurping his authority by not allowing him to be the person God meant him to be. Submission really means to throw oneself under, so the decision an equal person has to make is to become the one underneath, and that’s a matter of choice. Jesus Christ is a terrific example of one who submitted. And either he was who he said he was or he was the greatest liar ever on the face of this earth. I am not intimidated by being called the weaker vessel, because I know that in many areas I am the stronger vessel. I mean, for a long time, I really would have been in agreement with the feminist movement, particularly for the anger I had toward my father that I transferred to Bob. I usurped Bob’s authority in many ways for many years and our marriage was rocky, really rocky, until I recognized I was in rebellion against God, and I got right and submitted. I’m not saying it was easy. I’ve read some of the feminist materials these days, and some of them get so uptight when the Bible refers to “man” when God talks about the individual, but there was much discrimination in the Jewish heritage against the woman, so when Jesus Christ came, he freed them and made them equal spiritually. Now, we all know there’s a tremendous difference between men and women, but we have different roles. It really bothers me that these feminists get so uptight–they have this attitude. It’s so rebellious, not only against God but against man. You can tell they hate men and they hate even the word of God–they want to change the word of God.

PLAYBOY: You mentioned your anger toward your father. Let’s talk about your upbringing. For instance, most people would be surprised to learn that the first liquid to enter Anita Bryant’s throat was a slug of corn-mash moonshine.

BRYANT: Yeah, it’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? You see, I was born dead. My mother was visiting her parents, my Grandma and Grandpa Berry, and I was a month late in coming. When I came, somehow my mother’s system had filled up with poison and I was all black and blue and not breathing. My grandfather was not yet a Christian and he picked up the doctor and said, “You blankety-blank son of a you-know-what, either you save my daughter and my granddaughter or I’ll kill you.” Well, the doctor sort of had to go along. He told Grandma Berry, “All right, get me a pan of ice water and some whiskey and make a strong pot of real thick coffee as black as you can make it.” Then he stuck my head in the water and that shocked me into gasping for breath, and Grandma got the whiskey and they got that down me. I vomited and filled a big pan full of black-green poison. I shrank from nine pounds down to a tiny thing–and that’s how I came into the world. I was born in my Uncle Luther Berry’s bed–that’s prophetic, you see, because he’s a Baptist minister.

PLAYBOY: You recovered from birth trauma sufficiently that you were able to make your singing debut at the age of two, though?

BRYANT: Yeah, Grandpa Berry felt I was his special grandchild. When I was six months old, he’d rock me in his arms and say, “Sing, Anita, sing!” and I’d yell back to him. So when I was two, he bribed a preacher in the church to let me sing “Jesus Loves Me”–or at least he nagged him to death. And people who would come over to the house, I’d set them down and say, “Do you want me to sing for you?” I was a brash kid, real ornery. Grandpa used to call me the brave one, because one time during a tornado, I went rushing out of the house after a washtub that was rolling down the street and he had to rescue me. Later on, when I was learning to ride horses bareback, I’d get thrown 50 feet and get back up and try again, and so the neighbors would call me brave, too. I didn’t think I was so brave.

PLAYBOY: Were you a happy child?

BRYANT: You have to remember that my parents were first divorced when I was two years old and a lot of my insecurities started then. Mother had to go to work and I had to live with my relatives, and that affects a child greatly. They had married very young and they really had no idea of the responsibilities of marriage. I had lots of nightmares after the divorce and I walked in my sleep. I was a very hyperactive kid and a very sickly child. I caught everything that came around. I had the measles, the chicken pox–and every disease I had was like the worst in medical history. I was anemic and had worms. I had pneumonia about eight times. We didn’t have the money to go to the doctor every time I was sick, so it wasn’t until much later that I found out that I was a highly allergic person. Even today, I can’t take certain foods–I eat beans and I itch all night long. I’m allergic to dust–lots of things. And nobody in rural Oklahoma knew anything about nutrition, so my meals were imbalanced. I was raised on fried quail, frogs’ legs, wild rabbit, squirrel, venison–stuff my dad or grandpa would hunt. I do remember parts of my childhood as being happy and other parts I’ve blocked out because it hurts too much. I guess I was happiest when I was eight years old and my parents were remarried, and I was baptized and came to know Christ as my personal savior. Most of my life, I’ve been a real go-getter, the original Unsinkable Molly Brown. I’ve been down but never out. Even when I was very young I was determined to be a star. I told the Lord, “Lord, let me be a star.” I was a strong-minded, independent kid. Remember–we were really living in the sticks. There was only one television in the neighborhood, and on Saturday nights we’d go over and watch it. I remember the first show I ever saw was Ed Sullivan. My dad was a real roustabout–he went from job to job, working in oil fields and what have you, doing what he could. I mean, it was the sticks and basic things were hard to come by. We lived in a trailer for a year and a half and went to the bathroom in the woods. Even the local school had outhouses–and that was when I was in the sixth grade. Your life was centered around God, your church, your family. But primarily the church.

PLAYBOY: Were your parents as fervent as you in their religious convictions?

BRYANT: No. They got away from the church; they really never had a church home. I felt responsible and I blamed myself.

PLAYBOY: What happened after your parents remarried?

BRYANT: We moved to Oklahoma City and I thought it was the end of the world. It was the biggest city I’d ever seen and the adjustment was real hard. Then my mom and dad started fighting again. They divorced again when I was 12. I didn’t see my father for a long time afterward–he moved to another city, found another job, and we’d hear from him once in a while, but it was a long time between phone calls. A lot of that period I don’t remember. I guess I really don’t want to. It was real painful and it just about killed my mother. She was a very submissive wife–she was too submissive and it angered me. She let my dad step all over her and she would have done anything to get him back. Mother had a terrible inferiority complex. My father was a very proud man, a hard worker, but he didn’t communicate well with his family. When Daddy left, I had to sort of become the head of the household–iron the clothes, make the dinner and generally be supportive. I learned to relate to adults and I seemingly had great sophistication, though I really don’t. Life was hard for my mother, because she had to learn everything the hard way. I mean, she married when she was 18 and she didn’t even know anything about sex until after her honeymoon night.

PLAYBOY: Did she talk to you about sex?

BRYANT: When the time came, she tried, but it would have been better if she had described more. Even so, she did better than her mother. Grandma married when she was 15 and never told a soul about anything. Grandma Berry was love personified and a real pioneer woman, but she did have her hang-ups. Anyway, after the second divorce, Mother had to rely on us kids–and trust us in our dating. We were proud that she could trust us. It was almost like growing up with my big sister rather than my mother–she was only 18 years older than me. I knew she blamed God for her problems–and she was very bitter about God. Eventually, she remarried, we moved to Tulsa and my mother rejoined the church. She was really beautiful when we were growing up; she had a great figure. She’s chunky now since she stopped smoking, but that’s okay, because you want your mother to smell sweet.

PLAYBOY: So you resented your father?

BRYANT: I tried very hard to forgive him for what lie had done to my mother–and to me. Because of him, I think I went through life for a long time hating all men, including my husband, Bob. It took me a long time to get over my resentment of Daddy. For many years, I thought I’d forgiven him, when I really hadn’t. It wasn’t until 1974 that I truly forgave him, when I realized that I couldn’t blame him for his actions. But it took a long time, let me tell you.

PLAYBOY: How did your musical ability progress?

BRYANT: People kept saying, “How can such a big voice come from such an itty-bitty child?” It’s just a natural gift that God gave me. I have natural rhythm, a quality you either have or you don’t. It was in my blood and I was determined to make the best of it. I’d spend most every weekend traveling around the state and singing before the Lions Club, the Elks, that sort of thing. I was billed as Little Miss Terrific. By the time I was 12, I had my own television show. I’d won a contest on the Gizmo Goodkin Talent Show and I got my own 15-minute show every Friday night. I had to become an adult real young. In some ways I was ready, but in other ways I was robbed of having a nice normal childhood.

PLAYBOY: Did you have normal childhood fears?

BRYANT: Oh, yes. I remember one time when we were living in a bad part of Oklahoma City, after Daddy left for good, there was a Peeping Tom around. One night I was sleeping with my mother and she heard a noise and ran to the back door to make sure it was locked, and somebody grabbed the doorknob and tried to open it. Then she ran to the front door and just as she got there, somebody tried to get in the front door, too. It was a very frightening experience. So afterward, Mother went to bed with a butcher knife. As far as a physical experience is concerned, I’ve never been afraid–I always thought I could do anything. But spooky movies used to freak me out.

PLAYBOY: Do they still?

BRYANT: Yes; I would not see Jaws or The Exorcist. In fact, most movies made these days I find morally objectionable. But one movie I saw as a kid that really impressed me was So Dear to My Heart. It was an old Disney movie in which a little kid who didn’t have much money raised this little black lamb and entered him in the contest at the state fair. The black lamb didn’t win, but he got a special ribbon–he was a loser, and I identified with him and the movie has stuck in my head forever. I really do think I grew up too quick. Bob tells me I never had a real childhood because I’m so serious about so many things. I think the thing I’ve had to learn as an adult is a sense of humor. I don’t mean learn it, really, but just to be able to laugh at myself in different situations. You know, knowing how to relax and just be silly, do silly things. It’s taken a lot of pain for me to get to a place where I can have a sense of humor. Oh, I always had a kind of cynical, straightforward one. In a way, I guess I’ve always been funny–not to everybody but to people who know me. My friends tell me I’m a big tease all the time.

PLAYBOY: Did your sense of humor help you when the jokes started during the Dade County campaign?

BRYANT: Yeah. A lot of the jokes that are told about me are not really filthy or vicious–well, I’ve learned to laugh at them. I got a big kick out of one cartoon in The Miami Herald that showed me leaning over some guy’s shoulder and saying, “Oh, I think I saw one over there underneath the Sunshine Tree.” And I was bending over and my bottom was real huge and there was a flag on it. I thought, Well, they could have made my bottom a little smaller. They really thought they were hurting me, when really it’s so far from the truth it’s funny. But I liked the flag. At least they caught the fact that I am patriotic. But I didn’t like the big bottom. So I’ve learned more how to relax and be silly about some things. Not everything, of course–I never read silly novels, for instance.

PLAYBOY: What do you read?

BRYANT: I read constantly, but I don’t read nonreligious stuff. I don’t have the time.

PLAYBOY: Have you read the classics? Shakespeare, Melville, Henry James …?

BRYANT: I read Hemingway and stuff like that in school. I loved The Old Man and the Sea. The theme is nonviolence and I hate violence. There’s so much of it on television these days, it makes me nervous. I loved reading romantic stories–I loved Wuthering Heights when I read it a long time ago–but I don’t read those kinds of things anymore. I used to read books that would make me fantasize–romance stories and what have you. I’ve since learned…. It’s like the movies. I loved romantic movies like Gone with the Wind, but I realized the effect of that kind of thing–when your home life isn’t ideal, you seek it somewhere else, so that your natural relationship with your husband becomes distorted. For a long time, that was a real problem with me and Bob, because I was preserving my own ideal–Hollywood’s ideal–and ignoring the real problems that come up between a husband and a wife. It’s the same thing with the modern-day housewife and the afternoon soap operas. Let’s face it–the housewives identify with the soap operas because the shows uplift them from their humdrum daily life. They compare their own lives with the TV show, rather than remembering God’s word–it’s bound to affect them badly. The women are told it’s OK to have an affair if their home life is frustrating. Just plain garbage. They watch television because it’s a vicarious thrill to live that life–to those poor bored women, the grass is always greener on the other side, and they are tempted by Satan to believe his side is the way, so that by the time the husband comes home after a hard day at the office, the housewife hates the box he’s put her in. What she’s missing is the challenge she can create–what greater responsibility is there than to be a loving wife and mother, to compensate for the things her husband is missing?

PLAYBOY: Let’s back up a moment. What gave your career its biggest push?

BRYANT: Arthur Godfrey. One of his talent scouts came to Tulsa and held a competition. I won hands down, week after week. I was determined I would win. When I won, the decision to go to New York was automatic–I didn’t even have to pray about it, until my pastor talked to me. I really didn’t have peace in my heart about leaving for the big time. What if God says no? I thought. I was miserable until I prayed to God and he gave a yes right back to me. I can’t explain it, but I just knew it would be okay.

PLAYBOY: But you were already a star, in terms of Oklahoma. How did that affect your teenage life? In terms of boy-girl social intercourse?

BRYANT: Well, it didn’t help my self-image. I was kind of scrawny–I’d never get the captain of the football team, I knew, so it was surprising to me that I got to date a lot of neat guys. As a matter of fact, I dated my pastor’s son for three years. We made plans to get married. Oh, we were so perfect–he had a beautiful voice and we sang together in the church choir. I just adored him. But one night we went out in his car and he pulled out a cigarette. “Look, you don’t really know me,” he said. I said, “Of course, I’m surprised that you smoke, but what does that have to do with us?” He told me he wanted to live it up and get his kicks. So we broke up and, immediately, he started going with a gal who had a bad reputation. It just broke my heart. I wanted to die. I felt the world was coming to an end and I didn’t even go to school for a week. I was just sick. I decided then that I wouldn’t marry until I was 25.

PLAYBOY: But you were glamorous by small-town standards. Surely, Satan tempted you in numerous ways–such as sex. How did you resist? Or did you?

BRYANT: See, the kids today have a much harder time dealing with sex, because it’s no longer “in” to be a virgin. In my time, when I went to Will Rogers High School, it was not the hip thing to do to go to bed with somebody, or even to let a boy fondle you–you just didn’t do that. Some girls did it, sure, but their reputation was ruined all over town. And because I was such a hardworking girl, I didn’t date that much. I concentrated on my career, my church activities and my grade-point average, and I was just too busy to be tempted by the Devil. If I dated some guy who tried to pet with me, I just told him, “Look, you can take me home right now, if you want–I’m not gonna go any further. If you don’t enjoy being with me as a person, just take me home.” I mean, I loved the kissing part and, I must say, I had some pretty passionate feelings, too, because I’m no prude, but I knew where to stop. My faith was so much a part of me that I knew my body was a temple of God and that God held it sacred. And I knew that my husband would know if I had been promiscuous and that if I didn’t save myself for my marriage, if I wasn’t pure, I would miss out. The consequences just weren’t worth it to me. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was saved when I was eight years old and my beliefs were reinforced in the public schools then through prayer–this was before that atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair made the worship of God illegal, you see. Kids today don’t even know God, unless their parents are religious.

PLAYBOY: You never let sexual temptation get out of hand, then?

BRYANT: Well, there were times when I was tempted, but because I was faithful to God, I wasn’t willing to step over that line. I knew the boy would go as far as the girl would let him and, mainly, I tried not to get into situations that I couldn’t get out of.

PLAYBOY: What about other teenage temptations? Is rock ‘n’ roll today something you disapprove of?

BRYANT: Oh, yes. In my days, the lyrics were understandable and you didn’t have to slow it down to hear the dirty cuss words and the jargon that parents today can’t understand.

PLAYBOY: Come on. You admit in one of your books that when you added a hard, driving beat to “Till There Was You,” you achieved your first 1,000,000 seller. And even when you were coming of age in the Fifties, there were plenty of sexual double-entendres in the rock lyrics.

BRYANT: Yeah, but it’s not like today, where there are a lot of rock dances and rock music that are brainwashing the kids, because it’s all very promiscuous and it glorifies promiscuity and acid rock and a lot of those things. The kids get into the dirty lyrics and the beat is just very, very seductive.

PLAYBOY: What do you suppose the thrill was that Pat Boone found on Blueberry Hill?

BRYANT: All I know is that there are a lot of filthy words I’ve heard in listening to the radio these days that are just shameful and outright sinful. I think a lot of evil things are much more prevalent these days. I think kids growing up today have pressures that we never had in the Fifties. It’s so discouraging.

PLAYBOY: Let’s get back to the emergence of your career. It was Godfrey who got you out of Oklahoma?

BRYANT: Yeah. I went to New York and, I mean, he was really the king then–he ruled the roost. I went on his morning show, so I had to live in New York and scrounge like a dog to keep up my school grades. Speech was my strongest subject. English I had no problem with. Math–forget it. I just couldn’t comprehend. But I did all right, all in all. I had to work hard, and I knew how to work hard. Mother, of course, was very concerned with my fate in New York. We went up there together the first time and found that the Salvation Army ran a hotel for women right on the edge of Greenwich Village–the area was a pretty good neighborhood then. And in that hotel, no men could get past the lobby–mother liked that. I met some interesting people during that period.

PLAYBOY: Like who?

BRYANT: Well, Chubby Checker–he was very hot and heavy. And Leslie Uggams–talk about a straight little girl who was really naïve…. Anyway, there were things I didn’t tell Mother about.

PLAYBOY: Such as?

BRYANT: I don’t want to tell you.

PLAYBOY: Oh, go ahead.

BRYANT: Well, there was this one television producer who made it clear to me that I could be a very, very big TV star if I slept with him.

PLAYBOY: You were still a virgin?

BRYANT: Absolutely. Anyway, the whole thing scared me to death. I really prayed and prayed–I wanted to make it in show business so bad. So I went to a guy who was like an uncle to me who was in the business. He asked me if I drank and I said no. So he said, “In that case, you’ll have no problem.” I prayed some more, and then I went to this producer’s apartment for dinner. He made the overtures, but I was able to talk him out of it.

PLAYBOY: How?

BRYANT: I made sure that the cook stayed around–I didn’t want to be alone with him. Anyway, it worked. The word got around and he was so embarrassed that he didn’t dare try to hurt my career. Thank God.

PLAYBOY: As you did.

BRYANT: As I did.

PLAYBOY: What was your next noteworthy achievement? Entering the Miss America Pageant?

BRYANT: Not yet. When I was 16, I did a tour with Ricky Nelson. I really had a crush on him.

PLAYBOY: Was it returned in kind?

BRYANT: No. He was very big then. He liked to swing with the airline stewardesses. I was just a kid to him. I also did some tours with Fabian and Bobby Rydell, and later on, I did American Bandstand with people like Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon–that was after I got a recording contract.

PLAYBOY: Then you entered the Miss Oklahoma pageant, first as Miss Tulsa, then on to the Miss America competition. Why did you do it?

BRYANT: I did it on a dare. Some of my friends made me do it. One of my basic motivations was to get the Miss America scholarship so I could go to college. I was very awkward–I had skin and weight problems. I was fairly well proportioned, but I knew I was no beauty. And most of the other girls were much older than I was–I was only 18. I had to fake my way through the pageant. And I just couldn’t believe that I made Miss Oklahoma and the national finals.

PLAYBOY: Wasn’t the act of parading around in a tight swimsuit a violation of your Christian ethics?

BRYANT: It did bother me. But I figured, well, you go to the beach in your swimsuit…. I didn’t feel ashamed or anything, but I didn’t enjoy it. It was kind of a necessary evil. My over-all attitude was that it was a one-time experience, so enjoy it. My basic weakness was in answering the judges’ questions–I was not aware of world affairs and I felt very inadequate.

PLAYBOY: What did they ask you?

BRYANT: I don’t even recall. I rattled on and on–I didn’t know what in the Sam Hill I was talking about, even though I’d boned up all week by reading Newsweek. Part of the reward for winning the pageant was a recording contract, and I already had a recording contract. So I was quite pleased that I got as far as second runner-up, although I was really disappointed that I didn’t get the Miss Congeniality trophy–I’d ended up in a tie with another gal for it, and because I made second runner-up, the judges broke the tie and gave her the trophy. I really wanted it…. It’s funny, though. To this day, people come up to me and ask me what it was like to be Miss America.

PLAYBOY: What was your next step?

BRYANT: I moved to Chicago and enrolled in Northwestern University–I’d gotten an offer from The Breakfast Club to sing on the show and Northwestern had a good music school. I had no choice, really–in this business, when your career gets going, you take advantage of what you get. The pace was just running me down, I was working so hard. I was trying to do everything, I was overworked and I was very lonely in Chicago.

PLAYBOY: No boyfriends?

BRYANT: Well, kind of unofficially, I was engaged to Pat Boone’s brother, Nick Todd. We didn’t have a ring or anything, but we dated when we could and went to church together. That wasn’t his real name–he changed it because he didn’t want to feel he was making it because of his famous brother. I’d first met Nick in New York when I was doing the Godfrey show. We were very close and I think we were in love with love more than anything else–there weren’t that many straight guys around and he was available and I was available and we hit it off. I went to Nashville and met his parents and everything….

PLAYBOY: And then Bob Green entered your life. That was in 1959?

BRYANT: Yeah, right after I went to crown the new Miss Tulsa. Bobby Darin was the m.c. for the ceremony and he asked me for a date. I told him I had to leave for a disc jockeys’ convention in Miami that night to promote my records–and that’s where I met Bob Green. He was a real big glamorous disc jockey then. Bob met me at the Miami airport and I took one look at him and went “Wow!”–you know, he was a real dreamboat. He drove this neat white T-bird with his name on the side. He wore these silk suits, he came on real strong. He looked totally different than he looks now. He was so good-looking, and lie was in shape, and it was incredible. I didn’t think I’d have a chance with him–I expected to get rejected. Plus, I thought he was too good-looking to be a nice boy. And he was always surrounded by these pretty gals who were just falling all over him. Everywhere we went, the girls would scream and ask for his autograph–they didn’t know me from Adam. I was surprised when that first day he asked me out for a date, but I turned him down. I was too concerned about singing at the show that night, and Pat and Shirley Boone were there and I didn’t want them to think I was stepping out on Nick. And I still was hurting from the rejection of the preacher’s son…. I didn’t want to get hurt again. I mean, Bob had every girl in town and dated the airline stewardesses and all the pretty gals. He had it made.

PLAYBOY: Yet he was interested in you?

BRYANT: He just couldn’t figure me out. I was an oddity–I’ve always been an oddity. Anyway, after the show that night, I was sitting around in the club, getting bored, and there was smoke and drinking and all, and Bob came over and invited me for a drive, so I said okay. The moon was over Miami and we were driving down Collins Avenue and the music was on and I fell asleep! I knew I was getting to his ego, and when he drove me to the airport the next day, I never thought I’d see him again. Anyway, to make a long story short, he just kept after me–hours of long-distance phone calls, letters every day. I kept telling him not to get his hopes up, that I was engaged and that I didn’t want to get married until I was 25. But he just wouldn’t take no for an answer. But after Bob, I knew I just didn’t feel the same way about Nick. I told Nick about Bob and we stayed good friends after we broke up. When I broke up with Nick was when I realized how much I loved Bob. We were both ready to settle down, I guess, and we had the same values–plus, Bob didn’t smoke or drink, which surprised me.

PLAYBOY: And you shared the same religious beliefs?

BRYANT: Bob wasn’t born again until the night before we got married.

PLAYBOY: Was that a deal you made?

BRYANT: We had no conflict about it. But I was very scared of marriage and I almost backed out at the last minute.

PLAYBOY: Was marriage everything you’d dreamed it would be?

BRYANT: It depends on what you mean.

PLAYBOY: Well, sexually, for starters.

BRYANT: I have a fantastic sex life!

PLAYBOY: Emotionally, then.

BRYANT: Marriage is very hard. Lots of problems are involved with two people working out a loving relationship and adhering to God’s laws. And it upset me when I was told I could not bear children. We adopted our first child, Bobby, Jr. Later, when it turned out I could bear children, I had twins who were born months prematurely–and they almost died. Plus Bob was making a lot more money than I was then. Finally, Bob became my manager and that solved a lot of problems. He’s been a great manager, and until I started getting boycotted and black-listed by the militant homosexuals last year, I had all the work I could handle.

PLAYBOY: We’ll get back to that. First tell us about what you have described as the most important turning point in your life, when you had a nervous breakdown in 1974.

BRYANT: It was not a nervous breakdown–it verged on it, certainly, but it really makes me mad that the militant homosexuals try to use it against me by saying, “She flipped out, she went crazy.”

PLAYBOY: Well, what did happen?

BRYANT: I lost three people very dear to me in one year. I sang at all their funerals. Dan Topping [the former owner of the New York Yankees], my Grandpa Berry and a gal named Teddy who was like a big sister to me and who was about my age when she died. I couldn’t understand why God would just nip her in the bud when she was in the prime of her life. There are few people I can share my heart with, and I could talk to Teddy about things I couldn’t even talk with Bob or my pastor about. It was that deep. Then Bob developed a heart condition and almost died, and I had to think for the first time about raising four kids alone without Teddy to lean on anymore. It was after Grandpa Berry’s funeral when the straw landed that broke the camel’s back. It was like God wanted to put me flat on my back so the only way I could look was up. He knew I was holding out on Him and He wanted the whole of me, not just part of me. He knew I had a lot of rebellion and anger and bitterness in me. I thought I’d forgiven my daddy, but I hadn’t–I still hated and resented him, and the pent-up hatred was poisoning my marriage and my relationship with people all around me. So I collapsed after Grandpa’s funeral–I totally gave up. I lay down and I just…. I’d decided not to see his body, but after I sang at the funeral, I changed my mind; before they buried him I wanted to see him. When I did, I just broke down and they laid me down on the pew right next to him and I couldn’t stop crying–I was just hysterical and that shook everybody up. They just couldn’t comprehend that I would go under–I was like the Rock of Gibraltar, and always had been, even as a child. I’d always learned to lift my head above the jungle and be responsible, no matter what. For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to be responsible anymore. I wanted to do away with all responsibility–I was so tired. I think had I been anyone else, I probably would have had a heart attack or a total nervous breakdown, but I just came to a point where I didn’t want to do anything. I just sat in my office and looked at the stack of letters from people who were asking me for advice and counseling–and I just couldn’t be responsible anymore. I needed advice and counseling, and the one person I could have talked to, Teddy, was gone. I said, “No more,” and I would just sit in my office all day. I said, “I’m not going to do anything else, ever.” It scared me to death. Bob was scared to death, too.

PLAYBOY: Did you consider seeing a psychiatrist?

BRYANT: No, it was so painful–it was like I felt I’d be committing a sin by going to a psychiatrist; can you imagine that? I thought it would be denying Jesus. And I knew that a lot of psychiatrists tell you things totally contrary to Biblical teaching, such as in order to get along with your husband, go out and have an affair, or something like that. But friends of ours told us about this Christian retreat in Rosemead, California–it’s sort of a Christian counseling center, quite famous. Marabel Morgan and lots of famous Christian people have gone there. So I decided I had to do something, that God was sending me out there. The night before I went, I told Bob, “I don’t think I’m ever coming back.” I really thought that–I was so scared and weary. We arrived at night and I met the psychologist and I liked him very much. I was told to come back the next morning and to plan on staying for at least two weeks. When we got to the hotel, I just could not sleep. I didn’t want to wake Bob, so I went into this tiny bathroom and closed the door and got down on my hands and knees and just started praying. Something from way down deep inside of me was trying to come out. It was, so strange. I took a legal pad and a pencil and I started writing down these things that were bugging me. I filled 17 whole pages.

PLAYBOY: What did you write?

BRYANT: Some things I wouldn’t want printed because it does no good to bring them up, but…well, the hatred of my father and the resentment toward Bob, things that went way back into my childhood and other more recent things, such as little difficulties I was having with the kids that I’d kept pent up. And the fact that I’d had all the responsibility pushed upon me for so many years–I had had responsibilities thrust on me no 12-year-old should have had, and they were still weighing on me. Anyway, I felt like a different person when I walked into the psychologist’s office the next day and showed him the 17 pages. He said, “It looks like my work has already been done for me.” God had been taking me in different stages, but I was holding out on Him without even knowing it, and now I was saying, OK, God, I’ll give You my emotions, too. I still felt very ashamed that I’d even had to go to Rosemead–I just felt so guilty because of bad teachings about psychology and I didn’t want anyone to know I’d even gone.

PLAYBOY: Was it that hard to admit?

BRYANT: It hurt me to admit that I was that human, yes. It took me 34 years to be able to admit that.

PLAYBOY: Has your marriage improved since Rosemead?

BRYANT: I never realized before then how I dominated Bob, but, fortunately, he was stronger than I and we were able to work these things out. The main problem we had in our marriage was that, because of my father, I basically had a hate for men. I mean, there were times when I literally hated my husband–I couldn’t help it. But I was responsible because I allowed it to fester and didn’t take it to the Lord. And divorce wasn’t in my vocabulary, because I’d suffered the scars of divorce as a child and I knew what my children would suffer from it. But, above all, I knew it was against God’s word. Bob and I still have our ups and downs, because I’m not a goody two-shoes. I know now I’m a human being, just like anybody else. If it weren’t for Jesus Christ in my heart and life, I probably would have married several times. I probably would have slept around with guys and whatever. I always say that I’m just a sinner saved by grace.

PLAYBOY: What are your sins?

BRYANT: Oh, I don’t know…maybe the sin of intolerance. [Laughs]

PLAYBOY: That’s exactly what those you call militant homosexuals say about you.

BRYANT: I just meant it as a pun.

PLAYBOY: A pun? What pun?

BRYANT: I try not to be intolerant. All I’m saying is I don’t have anything to brag about. The reason I can relate to the homosexual is because I’ve had emotional scars in my own life. I really felt the rejection of my father, and that is one of the things that maybe lead someone going into homosexuality. Look, I don’t hate homosexuals–that’s the truth, no matter what they think of my motives. I’ve always said I love the sinner but I hate the sin.

PLAYBOY: You’ve been saying that America and her children are being destroyed. You’ve compared America to Sodom and Gomorrah; you say God destroys the kind of nation that America has become.

BRYANT: Absolutely. I believe that’s what has been happening to America.

PLAYBOY: Do you think it still is?

BRYANT: I believe now that we have a greater hope than ever before–that God is allowing America one last space to repent. If the parents of American children had stood by God’s word, had they not had their head in the sand for so many years, the destruction of America’s moral fiber wouldn’t have happened. But it happened so fast no one knew it was happening. But now it seems people have a hunger. They’ve seen how so-called humanism works. They were told, “Well, one way to change the world is to educate the people. You educate them to a certain point, they’re going to change.” Well, has that been true? Has that happened? No. Our country was strong for so long because we claimed we were one nation under God and God blessed us. I believe that right now, God has removed himself from America. If we’ll look through history, we’re in the same situation as were Greece and Rome, when homosexuality and other sins were so rampant they became the norm.

PLAYBOY: So this and your crusade are America’s last chance?

BRYANT: Yes. I didn’t even come to the realization that America was so far gone until the time of the referendum, when I got letters from groups all over the country describing the fights they were in and how they were righting some of the same things and it looked to me like a big octopus that had its tentacles around America and was squeezing our country to death. And it grieved me. I mourned for America for several days.

PLAYBOY: You cried for America?

BRYANT: Yes, I really saw for the first time in my life what was going on. I had been very idealistic about America all my life–I am still–because in reading the last book of the Bible, I know what the hope for the world is. And I think there’s a revival beginning in America now. What happened in Dade County is happening all over the country. I know that’s how God rewards prayer, and Dade County was the answer to a lot of prayers world-wide.

PLAYBOY: Let’s talk about the media for a moment. Do you think you’ve gotten a raw deal from the press?

BRYANT: Let’s face it–quite honestly, the press can make anybody look like anything it wants to. I mean, there are a lot of things in all of our lives that you don’t want known–nobody’s perfect–that could ruin you. The press has placed me in a stereotyped box. Like, I’m not a prude, but that’s the image they want to portray, because they’re after me. I think it’s snobbery. You see, there are so many intellectuals in this nation and they’ve really become snobs as far as how they approach grassroots things. It’s really true. Like, when we started the opposition to the Dade County ordinance–all the press figured it was for one of two reasons: either to run for public office or for publicity for my career. They just couldn’t accept my real motivation, because they don’t know me. It took me a while to see that I was really under a microscope and had to watch what I said. I’m OK now–I think I could handle the Good Morning America show and Gore Vidal.

PLAYBOY: You mean the show on which Vidal mentioned you in the same breath with Hitler?

BRYANT: Yeah; I think I could handle that now. I must be doing something right. I taped the Today show last fall and did so well against Tom Brokaw–and he wasn’t being his usual nice self, let me tell you–that they asked us to tape a second segment, where he was nicer. So we’re OK now. We’ve been trained.

PLAYBOY: A baptism by fire?

BRYANT: Yeah, I guess you could say that. I mean, I learned. Let me give you an example. After Dade County, some people from the media asked me, “Would you go to San Francisco and Los Angeles?” And I said, “Sure, if I’m asked and if after I’ve prayed about it God says yes.” Well, immediately, they put it on the wire that Anita Bryant plans on going on a crusade across the country. Okay, to counteract that, I say to the press, I am not going out on a “crusade” across the country, to do in other cities what we did in Dade County.

PLAYBOY: There is no crusade in the works?

BRYANT: God is saying there’s a different route to go. There’s a part of me that is a Carry Nation, that would very much like to go across this country. We could fill up every auditorium in America. If we had done so after our victory in Dade County, we could have gotten such a momentum going that we could have wiped the homosexual out. That was a very real possibility. We realized that. We could have made a lot of money, too.

PLAYBOY: That sounds brutal. Do you mean you’d wipe them out personally?

BRYANT: Well, not quite. But I must admit, when you’ve known that kind of power, it is easy to succumb to it and use it for your own advantage and to wipe out a lot of things that need wiping out. But sometimes the Lord has a different way.

PLAYBOY: Are you a militant Christian?

BRYANT: Not at all. That word has such a bad connotation, like the Crusaders who went out and killed people who didn’t believe as they did. I don’t want that label put upon me; that’s why I’m so adamant about saying I’m not on a crusade.

PLAYBOY: Yet you are in the forefront of a kind of Christian ground swell?

BRYANT: If it hadn’t been for the committed Christians, we wouldn’t have won in Miami. They’re being used for God’s purposes, because the people God wants to arouse right now are the Christians. They’re the ones who will make a difference in the future of this country.

PLAYBOY: Given that you now know it’s a sin not to speak out against moral depravity, why haven’t you embarked on a crusade throughout America?

BRYANT: Well, if nothing else, what we did in Dade County has had a nationwide effect. Koch’s bill HR2998 is buried—

PLAYBOY: Suppose it’s revived. Would you lead a fight against that?

BRYANT: Absolutely. But the reason we didn’t jump into a nationwide thing after our victory was that we needed a rest and I had no leading of the Lord to do it. I wanted and felt it was important to do it, but sometimes the hardest thing is to not go when the whole world is saying go. I mean, why not? It’s the logical thing, but God doesn’t always do things logically. All the people we’d been working with were chomping at the bit to go national, but I just did not have a direct leading of the Lord to continue in that light. I prayed and I prayed and wanted direction from God to do that and it wasn’t coming. And it bothered me. It’s been so hard to wait on the Lord.

PLAYBOY: Do you mean you’re abandoning the organization you established with your Dade County effort?

BRYANT: Oh, no. We’ve built up mailing lists and we’re putting out a monthly newsletter, and everywhere I go, I say to people, “Write to me so I can inform you as to what is going on in America.” We’ve got people watching and we’re really four years ahead of what any organization would be nationally, had it just started. Overall, God is showing me the core of where a lot of our ills lie. Right now, I want to have some meetings with important people and pick their brains as to what they see the need is and how we could go about things in a specific way, to counteract the feminists who say they represent the women of America but in no way do. I definitely believe those people are in the minority, and we have to gather the mothers together, through the churches, the pastors, the godly people of this nation. I see the plan coming together.

PLAYBOY: So you, in fact, have a national organization in the gestation period right now?

BRYANT: Oh, yes. I think we can inspire other people to stand and be a catalyst in their communities for bringing everybody together. To take a stand in their locale and find out what affects your children. Who is teaching them? What are they teaching them? Do you know? Do you really care? Who is deciding what the laws are in your community? What kind of men and women are they? Are they really moral? Check them out–get committed, get involved.

PLAYBOY: That sounds like a crusade to us. and a self-righteous one at that.

BRYANT: No, more of an encouragement. I think when you tell genuine true-life stories of other people and what they’ve accomplished in their communities, it’s a great help. Not an over-all guerrilla tactic of how to go out and change the world–that’s not my belief. But I do believe we have a right to stand up and say what we mean. It’s a big job. It’s not easy to do without being misconstrued. That’s the hardest thing in the world, but you’ve got to take a stab at it, you’ve got to try.

PLAYBOY: Do you intend to structure your effort more formally?

BRYANT: That’s coming. It’s in our heads now and we’re bringing people in and talking with a lot of people. We see the pieces of the puzzle falling into place, slowly but surely. We have a concept now called Anita Bryant Ministries, which would have centers in every key city across America. It’s just in the embryo stage, and I’ve been praying about it. I want to be very sure that’s the Lord’s leading.

PLAYBOY: Would these be centers where homosexuals could repent, as you might put it?

BRYANT: Not just for homosexuals but for drug addicts, and America’s 1,000,000 runaway children, and families that have marital problems and don’t have a church home or a pastor they can go to. These people might come to an Anita Bryant center, and we could meet their needs on a spiritual level. Then we could perhaps set up homes for homosexuals and also for lesbians, so that if they were really sincere in getting out of their lifestyle, they could sign up for a year with us. It takes a long time and a lot of compassion and love and dedicated people to minister to homosexuals in that way, and that would take a lot of work. We could also work all denominations, educating pastors and lay leaders as to how to meet the emotional and moral challenges that confront America today that are not being met.

PLAYBOY: Although at one point you claimed to have some sympathy for feminists, you nevertheless refer more often to the feminist movement as if it were some kind of conspiracy against decency.

BRYANT: Well, look at that Houston convention last year. The government gave the feminists $5,000,000 and Phyllis Schlafly not one penny. It was a closed shop. It’s almost Communistic the way Phyllis Schlafly and the ones who truly represent the grass roots of American women cannot even get the forums to be represented in.

PLAYBOY: So the Communists are conspiring to keep the patriots out of the picture?

BRYANT: Well, it’s very suspicious that in many of the state conventions before Houston, they did not even pledge allegiance to the flag and they did not sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It goes hand in hand, it seems to me. Whether they’re all in a big conspiracy together, I can’t say. You can’t really say that anymore, because people pooh-pooh it and they say, “Well, that’s a very right-wing cop-out,” so you don’t even say that; but it seems very obvious that the Communist element is a part of all this, because a lot of these people have no reverence for their country. I still believe that America, with all her faults and trials and tribulations, is the greatest country on the face of this earth, and if women could get their eyes off of themselves and their own human life, if they could look at what they have and be grateful and thankful for it … I mean, where else but in America could someone like myself have made it? Where else could someone who was raised in poor surroundings attain what I have attained at the age of 38? Who needs the E.R.A.? The key to women’s rights is to activate the laws that are already on the books. Most of them are too lazy to do that. I mean, women are even admitted into the Armed Forces now. What more do they want? I mean, don’t talk to me about discrimination. I’ve experienced it. I’m an eighth Cherokee. My dad was a roustabout, low man on the totem pole. We didn’t even have a decent house to live in. I went to school in hand-me-downs. I just praise God that I live in a land of plenty where someone can come from the bottom and go up. If you want to make it, you can.

PLAYBOY: That sharply contradicts what you were saying about America as a decaying nation, but let’s go on. Do you have any heroes?

BRYANT: Hmmm. I don’t have many. I don’t know if I have any. I think the reason I’m so disillusioned is because I really looked at Jimmy Carter as a hero, as one who had caught the eye and the heartbeat of the grass roots of America. I really had great expectations of him, and I found that in life, when you put different individuals on a pedestal, God very carefully takes them off the pedestal and shows us that we’re to put no one there.

PLAYBOY: Why did you sour on Carter?

BRYANT: Well, how can a born-again Christian who’s truly born again not take a stand against the sin of homosexuality? He himself stated in the Playboy Interview, which my husband bought for me to read, that he was against homosexuality, and yet he allows [aide] Midge Costanza to go down to Dade County on a local issue and campaign for homosexuality. She was paid by our opposition to come down. I won’t say any further what I know about her, because that’s not important, but the thing is that she has an open door to the President of the United States, who claims to be a born-again Christian, when homosexuality is at the very core of what God is against.

PLAYBOY: You mean the Playboy Interview helped convince you to go for Carter?

BRYANT: I felt overall that it was not bad, except for some of the choice words he used, and I even understood why he felt compelled to use them.

PLAYBOY: And now you feel betrayed by him?

BRYANT: Well, we’re pretty much in touch with the heartbeat of the grassroots people, and most of those people are totally dismayed and disillusioned with Carter. But, at the same time, our whole family prays for the Carters on a daily basis. I voted for him; I now have my doubts, but I cannot judge him–only God can. I’ll tell you this, I would never jump onto someone again so easily. I wanted to support Carter because I wanted to believe he was really a Christian, but his sister Gloria Spann said in an interview that she doesn’t even believe in hell. That’s hard to believe. I think I represent a lot of Christians, I would say probably the majority of Christians, and they’re looking at Carter right now and most of them are saying he’s a one-term President. I believe that when a man is president, we have an obligation as Christians to pray for him, so I’m caught between a rock and a hard place, because I want to defend him, and yet I can’t dismiss the straddling of the fence he’s done so far on all the important issues like E.R.A., homosexuality, the Panama Canal, etc.

PLAYBOY: You’re a registered Democrat, aren’t you?

BRYANT: Yes, and until the Dade County thing happened, I thought I was a liberal.

PLAYBOY: Now that you know you’re no longer a liberal, you favor such conservative politicians as Jesse Helms, Phyllis Schlafly and Ronald Reagan. Are you becoming a friend of Reagan’s?

BRYANT: I admire him and like him very much and if I were a Republican and he were running, I would probably vote for him.

PLAYBOY: But you intend to remain a Democrat?

BRYANT: Well, yes.

PLAYBOY: If it’s Ronald Reagan against Jimmy Carter in 1980, whom will you support?

BRYANT: At this point, I can’t say, because I want very much to talk to President Carter.

PLAYBOY: Do you think he’ll talk to you?

BRYANT: If he looks at it from a political point of view, no. If he were to look at it from a Christian point of view, he should.

PLAYBOY: If the election were held tomorrow, would you vote for Reagan or Carter?

BRYANT: Considering everything, Reagan.

PLAYBOY: Would you ever consider running for political office?

BRYANT: It’s totally contrary to me, and yet my eyes have been opened to the need for involvement. The day after we won in Miami, as I was on my way to the airport, I bet I had 15 people who said, you know, “Run for President!” I mean, I laughed at them. I could not believe it. I just won’t even think about it, let alone entertain the idea. It makes me sick inside. It makes Bob sick.

PLAYBOY: What if God tells you you have to run for office?

BRYANT: Well, I can’t answer that until it happens. I feel I can be much more effective as a mother coming from my own motivations.

PLAYBOY: But if God came to you next year and told you to run for office, you wouldn’t refuse?

BRYANT: I can’t refuse God anything

[classicmobilebartenders]

Personalized Cocktail Menus in Los Angeles: Elevate Your Event with Custom Creations

In a city as dynamic and vibrant as Los Angeles, every event is an opportunity to create unforgettable experiences. From glamorous weddings in Beverly Hills to intimate gatherings in Santa Monica, one element can make your celebration stand out: a personalized cocktail menu. Custom drink offerings not only enhance your event’s theme but also leave your guests talking about your creativity and attention to detail.

Why Choose a Personalized Cocktail Menu?

Tailored Experiences Personalized cocktail menus are crafted to match the theme, mood, and preferences of your event. Whether you’re hosting a beach-inspired bash in Malibu or a sophisticated soirée in Pasadena, the right drinks can set the tone.

Guest Engagement Signature cocktails named after the couple at a wedding or themed drinks for a corporate event add a unique, interactive element. Guests enjoy sipping on beverages that feel exclusive and thoughtfully designed.

Memorable Celebrations A custom menu elevates your event beyond the ordinary. From exotic ingredients to innovative presentations, these drinks become conversation starters and cherished memories.

Key Features of Personalized Cocktail Menus

Signature Cocktails: Custom-designed drinks named after people, places, or themes relevant to your event.

Seasonal Ingredients: Fresh and locally sourced fruits, herbs, and spices to reflect the best of what Los Angeles offers.

Themed Presentations: Elegant glassware, edible garnishes, and artistic designs that align with your celebration’s vibe.

Mocktail Options: Non-alcoholic variations that ensure every guest has a delightful drink in hand.

Perfect Occasions for Personalized Cocktail Menus

Weddings: Celebrate with cocktails inspired by your love story, featuring your favorite flavors and shared memories.

Corporate Events: Impress your colleagues and clients with drinks that reflect your company’s branding and professionalism.

Private Parties: From birthdays to anniversaries, custom drinks add a creative and fun twist.

Themed Events: Whether it’s a retro Hollywood party or a tropical luau, tailor-made cocktails complete the experience.

Popular Personalized Cocktails in Los Angeles

"The Sunset Spritz" A nod to the breathtaking LA sunsets, featuring Aperol, Prosecco, orange slices, and a splash of sparkling water.

"Malibu Mojito" Refreshing and tropical, this drink blends white rum, coconut water, mint, and fresh lime juice.

"Hollywood Highball" A sophisticated mix of whiskey, ginger ale, and a dash of bitters, garnished with a cherry.

"Citrus Grove Martini" Inspired by California’s citrus farms, this martini combines lemon vodka, orange liqueur, and a sugared rim.

Areas Served in Los Angeles

From the beaches of Santa Monica to the hills of Calabasas, expert bartenders offer personalized cocktail menus across:

West Hollywood

Beverly Hills

Sherman Oaks

Glendale

Culver City

Long Beach

Santa Clarita

Thousand Oaks

Choosing the Right Bartender for Your Personalized Menu

Experience Select a professional with a proven track record in creating unique cocktail experiences.

Creativity Look for mixologists who bring innovative ideas to the table, ensuring your menu stands out.

Customization Ensure the bartender listens to your needs and incorporates your preferences into the menu.

Attention to Detail From flavor profiles to drink presentation, every element should be flawlessly executed.

Conclusion

A personalized cocktail menu in Los Angeles transforms any event into a standout occasion. By blending creativity, flavor, and flair, custom drinks create an unforgettable experience that reflects your style and vision.

Whether you’re planning a large celebration or an intimate gathering, trust Los Angeles’ expert mixologists to deliver innovative and delicious creations that your guests will remember long after the last sip. Let your event shine with bespoke cocktails that are as unique as the city itself!

[202314297caic2425]

Stories from Asheville: A Calamity and a Community

First, it started off the coast of Cancun. Then it made landfall in northern Florida with wind speeds of up to 140mph. Then it kept moving north. Hurricane Helene was the 9th strongest Hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. History, and the deadliest hurricane since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. What is perhaps most notable about the effects of Helene was its devastating impact on the otherwise inland region of western North Carolina, and the mountain city of Asheville. Over 90 people had died from the storm within the state, making it the deadliest natural disaster in North Carolina’s history. Of this total, 61 of them came from Buncombe County, the county where Asheville is situated. Asheville itself, being a relatively isolated, medium-sized Appalachian city, was specifically much more worse off than the rest of the region from this disaster. It also saw the lengths people went to to protect what they cared about. Many people flew illegal independent helicopter resupply missions, getting in the way of federal aid. Along with this, police officers blockaded grocery stores, stopping people from looting when they had nothing else. This disaster, its impacts and the response, is a stark lesson about what the future might hold for America, with the ever-intensifying climate crisis. Looking closely at Asheville, we will find out if there are glimmers of hope for the nation, among the rubble of what has been lost.

Hurricane Helene was first spotted on September 17th, 2024, as a potential storm off the coast of Nicaragua. As the storm continued north towards Yucatan, it was steadily upgraded to a tropical depression.

Path of Hurricane Helene across North America, 17-29/09/2024.

This timeline of events shows the path and intensity of Helene from when it started on September 17th to when it dissipated over Tennessee by September 29th. The first yellow dot, just off the coast of Cancun, was when Helene was first reported as a category 1 Hurricane, at 15:00 UTC on September the 25th. What is truly remarkable about Helene is the sheer rapidity it increased in intensity as a storm. Hurricane Helene was first classified as a Category 4 Hurricane, the strongest of 2024 by that point, by 01:00 UTC on September the 27th, around 2 hours before it would make landfall in Florida. This meant that the storm grew in winspeeds from 74 mph to 130 mph, almost doubling, in 32 hours. Not only this, but Hurricane Helene was also unusually large for a Category 4 hurricane. At around 400 miles across, Helene was among the largest Hurricanes to make landfall in the United States, being a similar size to the Category 5 Katrina in 2005. This record growth has largely been attributed to excellent conditions for Hurricanes being present within the Gulf of Mexico. Exceptionally high sea temperatures were present, along with this, mid level wind shear was low, which is often a current that can break up a storm's growth. This level of rapid growth and intense storms has been attributed to climate change, as the warming planet and ocean temperatures make more violent tropical storms like this one more common.

Hurricane Helene from ISS, 26/09/2024.

By September 24th, when the hurricane’s forecast showed it heading towards the Big Bend, evacuations started occurring in Citrus County and Wakulla County Florida, near to where the hurricane would make landfall. September 25th, the day where Helene grew from a Category 1 to a Category 4 storm, was the day when preparations inland truly began. Both Georgia and North Carolina declared states of emergency on this day, and Georgia began to set up emergency shelters with the help of the National Guard. Along with this, several schools and public attractions were closed, such as North Carolina’s Mount Mitchell State Park. 

The Hurricane made landfall in the late hours of the 26th of September, and slowly started heading north across the state of Florida and into Georgia. As communication lines broke down, the best way to follow the effects of the hurricane became the infamous Waffle House Index, tracking where the famously stalwart fast-food chain closed stores became a good indicator for the movement and intensity of the storm. As the storm moved north into Georgia, it weakened back to a category 1 hurricane, but still had devastating effects, with the city of Atlanta having to issue a flash-flood warning for the first time in its history. Pushing further north still, the hurricane weakened further to a tropical storm, as it crossed north over Atlanta and headed into North Carolina.

Amount of precipitation from Hurricane Helene over Mexico and the United States.

This map, created by Imperial College London within a report of the effects of Hurricane Helene, shows where the worst rainfall from the storm fell. As per this map, it shows that the area in the hills around Asheville, NC, experienced a similar amount of rainfall as those in South Florida when the storm first made landfall. However, due to the hilly nature of the terrain in western North Carolina, this rainfall was channelled into devastating storm surges that wiped out many buildings and even some towns. Asheville itself experienced just under 10 inches of rainfall in two days, breaking its previous record. Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, two small towns just to the southeast of Asheville, experienced almost 11 inches of rainfall, and much of the main street of the towns were swept away. By the 29th, the storm had left the state, and 72 people were found dead within Asheville alone, with that number rising throughout the day. Former NOAA Chief Scientist Ryan Maue estimated around 41 trillion gallons of rainwater had fallen on the Southeast over the course of the 4 days since landfall, with Associated Press’s fact-checker Ed Clark calling it an “accurate, if anything conservative” figure. After this total calamity and destruction, all that was left was the repair, rescue, and recovery efforts.

Within hours of the storm passing through, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (or FEMA) were boots on the ground in North Carolina. Around 129 million dollars was sent to the state to help with the rescue efforts, and outside of pure money, around 3000 military personnel were also present in the hills in and around Asheville helping remove people from rubble, and setting up emergency food shelters. Some of the most notable things to happen as part of immediate aid to the state was the abundance of air dropping supplies. Due to Asheville’s position deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, and the fact that various storm surges had cut key transport and communication links in and out of the city, much of the support was provided by helicopters the air dropped supplies, and airlifted individuals to safety. ‘Operation Helo’ was an unofficial portion of the search-and-rescue efforts which recruited private helicopter pilots in order to use their own vehicles for varying aid work. At its height - around October 3rd, a week after the hurricane - Up to 100 helicopters were flying 400 rescue missions a day, and the charity itself gained over half a million dollars from local donations.

Motorsports personality Garrett Mitchell uses his private helicopter to provide aid in North Carolina, 29/09/2024.

However, this overwhelming support from the public did not always go down well with official law enforcement and emergency service responders. One notable story is that of the individual Jordan Seidhom, a volunteer helicopter pilot who flew several rescue missions in the especially hard hit town of Lake Lure. However, on October 1st, Seidhom recounted a story where he was flying a rescue mission to save a couple stranded after their house was washed away. After picking up the wife and leaving his son behind due to his worries about weight on the aircraft, he was accosted by a member of the Lake Lure fire department for flying in a “restricted area”, and was threatened with arrest if he flew again. Seidhom ignored him and went back to rescue his son, but it did lead to the husband, Michael Coffey, being abandoned and having to find his own way to safety. Indeed, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had put up strict restrictions and flight paths over North Carolina in the days following Helene, as the first day of rescue efforts (September 28th) had 30 mid-air close calls reported as FEMA aircraft jostled space with charity and volunteer support. Whether or not Seidhom was following regulations or not, this story speaks to the confusion that followed in the wake of Helene. Despite the overwhelming support for volunteer rescuers by both the public and the National Guard, it is clear that systems like FEMA are still necessary to be put in place in order to make sure these organisations work in harmony together, to avoid mid-air collisions or conflicting interests. Even taking Seidhom’s unfortunate story into account, it is clear that in the days following a major disaster, many Americans are willing to help and save each other, even without an overarching organisation calling the shots.

Elsewhere in Asheville, the new reality facing thousands of Americans came with new challenges itself. Many individuals had lost power, running water and heating, and some had even lost valuable property and homes. Various communities around the city such as Fairvew reported an uptick in looting immediately after the hurricane, due to lack of basic necessities driving people to be desperate. Power to all aspects of the city had shut down, from basic heating and lighting out to even traffic lights going out, and the lack of widespread refrigeration and kitchen heating meant that gas supplies and ice bags became valuable items for many individuals. Along with the lack of power and connection for card readers and cash machines for several days, many individuals also lacked the funds for their needs, with most shops being cash only. However, it was not just the lack of necessities that stopped some locals from what they needed. A post that went viral on the website formerly known as twitter on the 29th September detailed how police officers in Black Mountain, a town just east of Asheville, blocked entry to the supermarket Ingles for hours at a time, despite many people at the doors who needed supplies. Suggestions about whether the store was flooded or empty were quickly dissuaded and the customers standing outside could see the fully stocked shelves. This post, which now stands at 20,000 likes and 10 million views, led to a lot of criticism of the Black Mountain Police Department and the supermarket chain Ingles, which has since privated its social media platform. Critics who focused their fire on the BMPD discussed anti-police rhetoric, such as their role to protect property over the safety of individuals, and some even called for them to overpower the officers and raid the store for what they needed. While this is fairly drastic action, it is difficult to understand what Ingles and the BMPD wanted out of barricading the store, especially at a time when need for the people outside was higher than ever before. The BMPD itself has not responded to the incident since it occurred.

Police officers outside the Black Mountain Ingles, 29/09/2024.

Zooming back out from Asheville, it seems only right to conclude on Hurricane Helene from a global perspective. Looking at the damage in total, Helene is almost hard to quantify. Looking at pure facts and figures, Helene is one of the strongest, most costly, and most deadly Hurricanes in American history. On a more personal level, Helene has destroyed countless homes and lives. Unfortunately, events like these are only going to become more common in America’s future. Several reports have detailed how Hurricane Helene was intensified and is largely a result of the climate crisis, and even without the report, the existence of Hurricane Milton, another category 5 hurricane hitting the U.S. within a month, showcases that these events are now far from once in a lifetime. However, events from Asheville have showcased a possible portent to how the U.S. might cope with future climate disasters. Those who can help, do, as evidenced by the hundreds of volunteer helicopter pilots who helped bring many people to safety, and gave many others life-saving supplies. It is also possible that some of the established order might begin to break down, as shown by the officers outside of Ingles. Yes, they held the blockade then, but it is not unreasonable to think that people will be more and more negative towards the police the more desperate they become, and anti-police sentiment in the U.S. grows year on year. However, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Some locals in North Carolina took the opportunity of simplified needs to reform and restructure their lives, and benefitted from the lessons this moment of vulnerability had taught them. Also, it is clear that community volunteering and support systems are in place to protect and support those in need. In this way, we can see Helene as maybe the start of the future. Helene was and remains a tragedy, an immense loss of human life, and an incalculable loss of human property. It was a natural disaster, in the truest sense of those words. But, out of the rubble and the floodwater, there was help. There was support from neighbours, communities, and volunteers. And yes, there was support from the Federal government too, a great deal of it in fact, but that’s not the surprising part of what happened in Asheville. What happened in Asheville was a natural disaster, but a human achievement. It was people coming together to support each other, give what they could, and support with what they had. Hurricane Helene may be a sign of the future coming for America, the destructive and deadly climate crisis. But perhaps the stories from Asheville are also a sign of the future coming for America. That of the community overcoming adversity, That of support through disaster. That’s what Asheville should be remembered for.

Two Friends embrace as they survey the damage to their hometown of Marshall, NC. 01/10/2024.

[ankitsharma990]

5 Brilliant Cleaning Hacks for a Spotless Home

Maintaining a spotless home in Denver can feel like a constant challenge, especially with busy schedules and the city’s unpredictable weather. Whether you’re tackling deep-cleaning tasks or managing daily upkeep, a few clever cleaning hacks can simplify your life and keep your home looking its best.

In this guide, we’ll share five top cleaning hacks that save time, reduce effort, and deliver sparkling results. Plus, discover how Amenify’s professional cleaning services can make your life even easier by handling the tough jobs for you.

Top 5 Cleaning Hacks for a Sparkling Home

1. Freshen Your Kitchen with Lemon and Baking Soda

Mix lemon juice and baking soda to tackle stubborn grease and grime on stovetops, sinks, and cutting boards.

Why It Works:

Natural, eco-friendly alternative to chemical cleaners.

Leaves a fresh, citrus scent while cutting through grease.

Minimal effort for maximum results.

2. Steam Clean Your Microwave with Vinegar

Place a bowl of water mixed with vinegar in the microwave and heat for 5 minutes. The steam loosens food splatters, making cleanup effortless.

Why It Works:

Eliminates scrubbing—just wipe away the mess.

Naturally sanitizes and deodorizes your microwave.

Affordable, quick, and effective for deep cleaning.

3. Remove Pet Hair with a Squeegee

Run a rubber squeegee over carpets and upholstery to lift pet hair without vacuuming.

Why It Works:

Perfect for homes with pets, especially during Denver’s shedding seasons.

Saves time and money on specialty cleaning tools.

Simple and efficient for daily upkeep.

4. Dust Baseboards with Dryer Sheets

Wipe your baseboards with used dryer sheets to clean dust and repel future buildup.

Why It Works:

Prevents dust from settling, reducing future maintenance.

Quick and easy—no special tools required.

Keeps your home looking consistently clean.

5. Brighten Grout with Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda

Create a paste using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, apply it to grout lines, and let it sit for 15 minutes before scrubbing and rinsing.

Why It Works:

Restores grout to a clean, bright finish.

Removes tough stains without harsh chemicals.

Enhances the overall appearance of your tile surfaces.

How Amenify Makes Cleaning Effortless

While these hacks work wonders, keeping up with cleaning can still be time-consuming. That’s where Amenify comes in!

1. Professional House Cleaning Services

Amenify’s expert cleaners provide high-quality, thorough cleaning tailored to your needs.

Benefits:

Save time and effort for what matters most.

Spotless results in every room, from baseboards to grout.

Flexible scheduling to fit your busy lifestyle.

2. Specialized Deep Cleaning Services

Need a deep refresh? Our deep-cleaning services are perfect for seasonal transitions or post-holiday cleanup.

Benefits:

Eliminate deeply embedded dirt and allergens.

Extend the life of surfaces and furniture.

Leave your home feeling clean, fresh, and revitalized.

3. Customizable Cleaning Plans

Choose the cleaning services that work best for you—whether it’s regular maintenance or a one-time deep clean.

Benefits:

Options for every budget and household size.

Transparent pricing with no surprises.

Trusted, reliable cleaners with a proven track record.

Conclusion

Keeping your Denver home sparkling doesn’t have to be a challenge. With these simple cleaning hacks and the help of Amenify’s professional cleaning services, you can enjoy a clean, organized home without the stress.

Let Amenify take care of the hard work so you can focus on what matters most. Contact us today to schedule your next cleaning and experience the difference a spotless home can make!