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doshmanziari · 3 years ago

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Architectural Criticism in 2021/2022 || Part 1.5

Before writing a fuller continuation of my previous essay on architectural criticism, I’m inserting a mini-essay that focuses on a particular piece of criticism. Let me be clear: I don’t see Kate Wagner, the person behind @mcmansionhell, as an enemy; I’m just using one of her articles as an example because I had, in my essay, already linked two articles of hers (more accurately, one article and an image from another), and I’d rather elaborate on what I mean when I write “...a vapid buildup to a politically convenient takeaway” than bring in an entirely different item. Wagner, in my view, represents a sort of destabilizing criticism that takes pleasure in tackling “dry” subject matter with breathless, Meme-heavy sarcasm. I find the tone off-putting, but I appreciate it as one attempt to invigorate and broaden the audiences of architectural appraisal. My issue is that by now the joke has overestimated its capacity for judgmental clarity. Really anything can be made fun of if you’re determined enough, and the more of an unquestioning audience you have the easier it is to believe everything you say is true or coherent.

The image was from this 2018 Vox article: “Betsy DeVos’ summer home deserves a special place in McMansion Hell” (a title likely devised by the editor; given the other residences Wagner has lambasted, I would be surprised if she truly believes this is among the worst). My observations won’t make sense unless anyone who is reading this reads her article as well, so please do that if you’d like to follow along. It should take only a couple of minutes.

What I’d first draw readers’ attention to is that Wagner spends the first four paragraphs on the United States’ beyond-vast inequality of wealth. Two of these paragraphs are the article’s largest, and the article is twelve-paragraphs-long, meaning that 1/3 of it is devoted to establishing a socio-economic context -- at least, that is the pretense. Once Wagner writes “...getting paid to make fun of DeVos’s tacky seaside decor is one of few ways to both feed myself and make myself feel better”, it is clear that her personal intent is a kind of vengeful mocking, and that her intent for readers is to prime them to associatively, knee-jerkingly despise anything which could come next with flat-affect “lmao”s. It’s hardly irrelevant to mention economic realities when examining luxury items (and what else is a mansion?), but Wagner’s subsequent analysis is not really architectural or even artistic: it is rather about looking at several photographs of a building, knowing who lives there and hating that person (and also imagining that they were responsible for all design decisions), and then mocking this-and-that in whatever ways one can devise. These grievances are understandable, but understandable grievances do not automatically lead to perceptive criticism.

Please look (perhaps again) at the first image. Note that only four, maybe, of the fourteen details Wagner chooses to focus on -- “no wry comment needed”, “these look like playdoh stamps”, “when you love consistency”, and “oh my god is this a shutter” -- approach anything vaguely resembling coherent criticism; and the other four images fare even worse (with the exception of the highlighting of an apparently absurd interior balcony). The rest are inane attempts at saying anything at all. Writing “hell portal” by an upper porch area may be funny for a moment, but what does it actually express? Well, nothing, except the author’s own irritation which will find whatever it can to announce its contemptuous sarcasm. Wagner’s captions will land only to the degree that the reader is humorously sympathetic.

The aforementioned remarks, excepting the one about the embedded chubby Tuscan columns’ Play-Doh-likeness, suggest that the worst thing a building can do is be formally heterogeneous. The implicative corollary here is that good architecture is eminently justifiable in all of its parts -- consistent, unified, rational. This is as fine a personal belief as anything else, but when it is wielded as dogma against architecture which has no interest in being a Petit Trianon it can only reveal its intellectual self-limitations. Wagner writes that “there is a difference between architectural complexity and a mess”, yet what that difference may be is hand-waved away. We just have to believe that thirteen different windows styles is too much. What’s the threshold? Does it depend on the size of the building? The types of styles used? Who knows.

Now of course bad architecture exists, and sometimes the failure indeed points to deficient editorial acumen; for architecture, like any other art, is as much about what’s included as what’s excluded. But in saying so little about the shingle style itself, Wagner seems to have given no thought to readers concluding that all shingle style houses are freakish -- more specifically, concluding that this freakishness is a damning transgression, and that no self-respecting, punching-up class-warrior would ever be caught dead sincerely enjoying their geometric, “exquisite corpse” escapades. In fact, the freakish tendencies of shingle style houses are just what make them such great fun to see, visit, or reside in. Wagner’s article, as far as I can tell, omits this possibility. When she writes, “Betsy likely went with this style because it is very popular in New England and in coastal enclaves of the rich and famous in general”, one is being pushed to presume that the only probable reason the shingle style exists or could be preferred over another style is to signal élite solidarity.

The photograph right above is of Kragsyde, a Massachusetts shingle style mansion, designed by the US-Northeast-oriented firm of Peabody & Stearns, completed in the 1880s. It was demolished almost a century ago, but the few exterior images of it which remain are, I think, fascinating -- maybe most of all for its enormous archway, possibly a porte-cochère, which has a thin, overextending keystone bizarrely driven into the top like a nail puncturing a petrified rainbow. I bring the building up because Wagner gives us no reason to consider why Kragsyde may have been a genuine architectonic accomplishment and not merely an oversized farce of contiguous pretensions. To the layperson hot off of the Vox piece, there may be no artistic difference between it and DeVos’ place, except that perhaps Kragsyde has a more consistent fenestrative application (would that make it better? if so, why?).

I appreciate that only so much can be said when you’re limited to less than a thousand words, especially when the issue is “complicated” (as the byline for Vox’s First-person series advertises). But the problem I keep coming back to is how DeVos’ mansion is treated as a stand-in for DeVos herself. This makes any architectural critique, no matter how pressed it is for size, flimsily presentist: its durability starts and ends with how alive the architecture’s resident(s) and political presence are. On some emotional level, this is pretty sensible: if we despise monarchical institution, we can find a sort of loophole to enjoying Versailles palace on the basis of it no longer being the residence of royalty. Our awe over its decadence and scope is intersectionally “admissible” on the basis of its having become a UNESCO World Heritage site. Similarly, one can imagine DeVos’ mansion being appreciated in a hundred years (should it still exist then) because the passage of time will have rendered DeVos’ person a historical fact, and perhaps more separable, and then tolerable, in that regard -- even if the building remains private.

But if architecture is, as a craft, critically whittled down to nothing more or less than inorganic expressions of social disparities, with every aesthetic decision a reflection of politically explicable taste, then we must assume that a great deal of the world’s most remarkable architecture is equally ridiculous and despicable, since so much of it was born out of great privilege and required specialized resources. I doubt Wagner actually believes this, because it would betray the entire premise of her McMansion Hell project, which is to demonstrate how so many modern day mansions are deeply unpleasant mounds of visual illiteracy, and cannot hold even a stump of a candle to the luminously learned and eclectic talents of prior great architects such as Mackintosh, Norman Shaw, Lutyens, or Ledoux. So what’s the takeaway here? As far as I can tell, it’s simply that if you hate Betsy DeVos, and if you care about class, you should hate her house too. And I do not think that that is architectural criticism.

#Architecture #architectural criticism #mcmansion #shingle style

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scotiaeire · 4 years ago

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GREED WAS DIFFERENT IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

(PLS EXCUSE CAPS, SIGHT ISSUES)

“ Stanford historian Laura Stokes is uncovering how attitudes toward "acceptable greed" have done a turnaround in the past 500 years. Self-serving behavior deemed necessary on Wall Street today might have been despised in medieval Europe. One might even have been murdered for using wealth as a justification for circumventing societal norms. “

I WAS RAISED IN RURAL SCOTLAND. SINCE SCOTLAND IS OWNED BY ENGLAND, THE CONCEPT OF GREED WAS ALWAYS AROUND. LARGELY IN THE FAMILIAR FIGURE OF “THE ESTATE”. THESE ARE LARGE TRACTS OF SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE NORMALLY OWNED AND HELD BY ABSENTEE ENGLISH LANDLORDS.

THEY ARE USED FOR FORESTRY (CASH CROP) HUNTING, SHOOTING AND FISHING (MORE “CASH CROPS”) AND AS THEIR OWN PRIVATE GETAWAYS. PRETTY MUCH LIKE BALMORAL, WHICH QUEEN ELIZABETH, SECOND OF ENGLAND, FIRST OF SCOTS (NOT SCOTLAND..THE SCOTS ACTUALLY HAVE TO GIVE HER CONSENT TO BE THEIR QUEEN AND WHATEVER FECKING EEJITS DID THAT NEED SHOT IMO) AND WHERE CHARLIE RAN AND HID WHEN THE COVID19 SURFACED, PRETENDING TO BE “SELF ISOLATING” WHEN ALL THEY WERE DOING WAS SHOVING HIM SOMEWHERE REMOTE, SO THEY COULD PROTECT THE HEIR TO THE THRONE (DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ IN THOSE TRASHY MAGS. ENGLISH ROYALTY HAS A SUPREMELY STRICT INHERITANCE STRUCTURE).

ANYWAY, AYE, *THAT* KIND OF GREED. SO VAST AREAS OF LAND THAT FORMERLY BELONGED TO THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND, WHO ELECTED CLAN CHIEFS TO ACT ON THEIR BEHALF, WELL, ALL OF THAT CHANGED WHEN THOSE CLAN CHIEFS WERE BOUGHT OFF BY ENGLISH GOLD AND WAYS AND INSTALLED THE ENGLISH FEUDAL SYSTEM.

NO, I’M NOT A FAN OF ENGLISH GOVERNANCE. IS ANYONE? IF YOU ARE, YOU’RE AN IDIOT OR A TORY. POSSIBLY BOTH. AND I’M LONG PAST THE AGE OF CARING WHAT FOLKS THINK OF ME.

SO, BACK TO GREED. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT, IN SCOTLAND, ABSENTEE LANDLORDISM CREATES ISSUES BECAUSE OF GREED FOR LAND. THERE ARE NO NEW HOMES BUILT FOR LOCALS AND THEIR CHILDREN. THIS IN TURN FORCES THE CHILDREN TO LEAVE THE PLACE OF THEIR BIRTH AND GO TRY TO FIND WORK, OFTEN SO FAR FROM HOME MANY OF THEM NEVER RETURN. IT DEPOPULATES COMMUNITIES THAT ONCE WERE TIGHT KNIT AND FULL OF PEOPLE WHO CARED FOR THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE. A “TRIBAL” SYSTEM WHICH BENEFITTED EVERYONE, IN WHICH EVERYONE HAD A FAIR SHARE, DID THEIR SHARE OF THE WORK NEEDED TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE, AND ANSWERED ONLY TO THEIR CHIEFTAIN.

ALL THAT WENT WHEN THE CONCEPT OF ENGLISH GREED ENTERED SCOTLAND AND CHANGED THE ENTIRE STRUCTURE OF HIGHLAND SOCIETY. (I’M NOT EVEN GOING THERE WITH THE CLEARANCES OR I’LL BE HERE ALL DAY)

AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS THE SHORT VERSION OF “HOW ENGLAND FUCKED UP AND KILLED SCOTLAND”. BY GREED. (IT’S STILL GOING ON, IF ANYONE’S INTERESTED...AN EXAMPLE BEING, 98% OF SCOTLAND’S OIL PROFITS GO TO WESTMINSTER. NEXT TIME THEY SAY THERE’S NO CASH FOR THE NHS ASK BORIS WHERE THOSE PROFITS WENT)

SO, I KNOW FIRSTHAND WHAT AN IMPACT GREED, AS WE KNOW IT TODAY, CAN HAVE ON SOCIETY, FAMILY AND INDIVIDUALS.

MY HISTORICAL INTERESTS GO BEYOND THAT OF PRE-UNION SCOTLAND, AND INTO THE ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY AND CULTURES OF THE BRONZE AND IRON AGES. A TIME WHERE GREED AS WE SEE IT TODAY WOULD NOT BE CONDONED.

YES, THE VIKINGS PLUNDERED. THEN THEY TOOK WHAT THEY HAD FOUGHT FOR, SHARED IT OUT (WOULD *YOU* GO A-VIKING IF THERE WAS NOTHING IN IT FOR YE?) AND TOOK THE EXCESS BACK HOME TO IMPROVE YOUR LANDHOLDINGS AND SHARE AMONGST YOUR PEOPLE. (THERE *WERE* THE ODD EXCEPTION. THEY WEREN’T LOOKED KINDLY UPON)

SEE, FOR VIKING AGE PEOPLES, “FUN” WAS IMPORTANT. FEASTING, DRINKING, MORE FEASTING AND DRINKING, THAT WAS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT THAT FORMED ALLIANCES, (OR BROKE THEM DEPENDING ON HOW PLASTERED A GUEST GOT TO THE POINT HE INSULTED THE HOST) AND REINFORCED FAMILY TIES. TO DO THIS...BECAUSE IN THOSE TIMES AND PLACES, A STINGY HOST WAS NO HOST AT ALL...WEALTH WAS NEEDED. BECAUSE OFTEN, THE ONUS ON GIFT GIVING WAS ACTUALLY ON THE HOST, NOT THE PARTYGOER. AYE, THAT’S RIGHT. THE HOST GAVE PRESENTS TO THOSE ATTENDING HIS FEASTS. AND THE MORE LAVISH THE GIFTS, THE MORE CHANCE OF CEMENTING THAT ALLIANCE, OR FIRMING THOSE TIES.

YOU MIGHT THINK THAT SHALLOW AND IN IT’S OWN WAY, GREED DRIVEN. BUT IT WASN’T. IN THE SAME WAY AS WOMAN (AND MEN!) OF THOSE TIMES WORE THEIR WEALTH, OFTEN WALKING OUT IN EVERY PIECE OF JEWELLERY THEY OWNED. AT ONCE. SO THE WOMEN IN PARTICULAR COULD SAY “LOOK HOW STRONG AND GOOD AT PROVIDING FOR ME MY MAN IS” OR, YES, “LOOK AT HOW F*CKING GREAT I AM AT GETTING MYSELF SORTED* THEN THE LOCAL VIKING HERO OR CHIEFTAIN/KING WOULD GIVE THE MOST LAVISH GIFTS HE COULD. IT WAS A WAY OF SAY “LOOK AT ME. THE GODS FAVOUR ME. AND SINCE OUR GODS ARE KICKASS GODS, THINK HOW DAMN *GOOD* THEY MUST BELIEVE I AM, AS A KING, AS A WARRIOR, AS A MAN, TO BE SO FAVOURED. SO IT DOES YOU GOOD TO HOOK UP WITH ME, JUST REMEMBER THAT”.

(POTTED HISTORY OF WEALTH AND GIFT GIVING IN THE VIKING AGE)

NOWADAYS? WELL...I LOOK AT FOLKS LIKE THE KARDASHIANS, WHO CLAIM TO “WORK HARD” FOR THEIR MONEY BUT IN REALITY, HOW MUCH WILL THEY MAKE WHEN THEIR LOOKS GO? AND WHAT KIND OF A SOCIETY BUYS THEIR GOODS BASED JUST ON A PRETTY FACE? WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT MINDSET? (I COULD TELL YE’S BUT I MIGHT BE LOCKED OUT OF TUMBLR BY DOING SO).

AND I LOOK AT CORRUPT POLITICIANS, LINING THEIR POCKETS AT THE EXPENSE OF SOCIETY’S MOST VULNERABLE, SO THAT PEOPLE DIE ON A DAILY BASIS OF STARVATION, LACK OF HEALTH CARE OF SHELTER, OR BY BEING ABUSED, MURDERED, AND WELL, YOU GET THE PICTURE. I’M SURE MOST OF YOU KNOW THE SITUATION REGARDING THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN YOUR OWN COUNTRIES. CERTAINLY, IN SCOTLAND (I HAVE TO POINT OUT I LIVE IN IRELAND NOW, AS THE ENGLISH GOV WOULDN’T LET ME REMAIN IN MY NATIVE SCOTLAND BECAUSE I MARRIED A DISABLED BELGIAN MAN. BREXSHIT.) ENGLAND GETS THE BULK OF PROFITS FROM SCOTLAND’S NATURAL RESOURCES, TRADE AND INDUSTRY (EVEN TO THE POINT THEY REBRAND SCOTCH WHISKY WITH THE UNION FLAG AND CALL IT “BRITISH” WHICH KINDA MAKES ME FEEL....SICK....)

SO AYE, THIS ARTICLE’S WORTH A READ, I GUESS.

BUT WHAT MIGHT BE MORE IMPORTANT IS THAT THE UPCOMING GENERATION (SORRY GUYS, HAS TO BE YOU. WHEN YOU GET TO MY AGE YOUR ACTIVISM DAYS ARE BEHIND YOU. I JOINED CND AND MARCHED AGAINST NUKES BACK IN THE DAY. DID IT CHANGE ANYTHING? NOT ONE SINGLE THING. BUT DINNAE STOP TRYING PLEASE) ANYWAY, HOPING THE UPCOMING GENERATION, WHO ARE MORE SAVVY THAN SAID POLITICIANS AND ROYALS GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR ON THE WHOLE (KARDASHIAN WORSHIPPERS ASIDE) CAN CHANGE THINGS. BECAUSE AT THE ROOT OF IT ALL IS GREED. CLIMATE ISSUES..GREED FOR ENERGY. MILLIONS STARVING..GREED FOR NATURAL RESOURCES TO SELL ABROAD FOR CASH, GENERALLY. I WON’T GO ON.

AMASSING WEALTH ISN’T, IN ITSELF, A BAD THING. USING IT TO FURTHER STEAL FROM OTHERS IS. USING IT TO LORD IT OVER OTHERS AND DICTATE THEIR LIVES IS.

PERSONAL NOTE: THERE’S MORE OF US..THE POOR FOLKS...THAN THE RICH ELITE.

THEY’RE OUTNUMBERED.

SO SOMEONE TELL ME *WHY* WE ALLOW THEM TO DO WHAT THEY DO TO THE PLANET, TO US, AND TO OUR CHILDREN?

BECAUSE ALL THE “NON VIOLENT PROTESTS” IN THE WORLD CHANGES LITTLE. SOMETIMES, YOU NEED TO SMACK THE BULLY DOWN SO THEY DON’T GET UP AGAIN, SO THEY NEVER WANT TO BULLY ANYONE EVER AGAIN.

YES, THERE *ARE* TIMES WHEN VIOLENCE IS JUSTIFIED AND I MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR SAYING SO.

SCOTLAND HAD AN INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM IN 2014. ROUGHLY HALF OF SCOTS, SAID THE POLLS, WANTED FREEDOM. (SADLY, THE LARGE NUMBER OF ENGLISH SETTLERS IN SCOTLAND DON’T). THE REALITY WAS, WE WON. AND IT WAS STOLEN FROM US. BLANK BACKED BALLOT PAPERS (MINE, FOR EXAMPLE) WHICH WERE MEANT TO HAVE BAR CODES AND UNIQUE NUMBERS ON THE BACKS. MISSING BALLOT PAPERS (A WOMAN WHO FOUND A BUNDLE IN TRASH CANS HANDED THEM INTO THE POLICE. *SHE* WAS ARRESTED AND HAS BEEN MADE TO SIGN A SILENCE ORDER BEFORE BEING RELEASED. FACT.) POLITICIANS OPENING POSTAL VOTES BEFORE THE VOTING HAD EVEN ENDED, ON LIVE TELEVISION. (AYE, DAVIDSON, LOOKING YOU, WOMAN,,,) AND A CONSTANT BARRAGE OF ASSAULT ON THE OLD, BY THE ENGLISH MOUTHPIECE IN SCOTLAND, THE BBC, TELLING PENSIONERS THAT UNDER INDEPENDENCE THEY’D LOSE THEIR PENSION (LIES), THAT UNDER INDEPENDENCE FOLKS WOULD NEED PASSPORTS TO GO BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND (LIES) AND MORE, WHEN THE TRUTH IS THAT SCOTLAND’S RESOURCES SHORE UP ENGLAND’S ECONOMY.

NOW *THAT* IS GREED ON A GRAND SCALE. AND THAT IS WHY ENGLAND REFUSES TO LET GO OF IT’S OWN CASH COW...

WHATEVER THE FUTURE HOLDS, I HOPE THE UPCOMING GENERATION CAN COPE WITH IT. BUT MORE, I HOPE THEY CAN CHANGE IT. I HOPE THEY HAVE THE COURAGE TO DO WHAT IT TAKES. LOOK AT THE PAST, SEE WHAT OTHERS DID, DON’T REPEAT.

BECAUSE GREED IS WHAT’S KILLING US ALL, IN TRUTH.

ARTICLE SOURCE HERE: https://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/august/greed-middle-ages-080212.html

#GREED #POLITICS #MEDIEVAL #TODAY

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tipsycad147 · 4 years ago

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Grey Witchcraft

There are many types of witches in the world; kitchen witches, white witches, hedge witches, the list goes on. I am a practicing grey witch. But what exactly is a grey witch? How are they different than other types of witches? What kind of spells do they cast?

Now, I always warn people that I do not claim to speak for all grey witches. I only speak for myself because everyone's path and practice is different. I can give you an idea of what grey witchcraft is, but I can't tell you how all grey witches practice their craft. This is because the way I practice magic may or may not be completely different than another witch.

Some grey witches might favor the Right Hand Path, and others lean towards the Left Hand Path. Others only cast white magic spells unless the situation is dire enough to use black magic. There are some who use black magic whenever they want. There is no set code or instruction booklet for the grey witch. They really just follow their own flow, taking inspiration from whatever sources they find helpful. So What is a Grey Witch? A grey witch is essentially one who practices both white and black magic, not favoring one over the other. In essence, they are a neutral force in the world of witchcraft. The grey witch believes that the world does not work in black and white, but in shades of grey, thus it is reflected their craft.

Most people who practice witchcraft recognize natural polarities, such as good and evil, black and white, male and female, etc. Many witches will side with one of the polarities. For example white witches work with mostly beneficial magic, never harmful. Black witches will cast any number of hexes, curses, bindings, banishments, and even controversial love spells. A practitioner of grey witchcraft works between the polarities, somewhere in the middle of positive and negative.

Perhaps the emergence of the grey witch is a response to the growing attitude of "harm none" in the witchcraft communities. It's no secret that casting a hex or cursing someone is a controversial practice among witches, especially those that follow the Wiccan Rede. White witches are sort of seen as the moral ideals of the community, and the grey witch is a relatively new force that counters this. A popular phrase among grey witches after all is "a witch who cannot harm cannot heal."

Is There "Grey Magick"? Yes and no. A grey witch may be less likely to chant "harm to none, nor to me; as I will it, so mote it be", but that doesn't mean they are incapable or unwilling to give blessings or perform cleansings. One could argue that there is no such thing as grey magic, only neutral spellwork that neither benefits nor brings harm. The efficacy of this is debatable. One could say that spellwork which benefits the witch while bringing harm to another is also inherently grey magic. Whether someone uses a blend of black and white magic, or performs black spellcraft and white spellcraft separately is up to the individual.

Grey witchcraft is probably better understood not as a form of magic, but as a mindset or philosophy. The grey witch won't be the one to scorn another witch for casting a love spell or hexing an enemy. They understand and respect the merits of dark arts and has likely invoked an infernal deity or two in the past. But the grey witch isn't one to mock or dismiss the craft of the white witch either. My spellwork involves both white and black magic. It may be different for other witches, and that is okay because everyone's path and practice is different. Respect is all one can ask for in this world.

Are Grey Witches Wiccan? Wicca is only one denomination of paganism. Not all witches are pagan just as not all pagans are Wiccan. Witchcraft, however, is not Wiccan nor pagan. It is not a religion at all, rather it is a practice. That doesn't mean witches can't be religious, in fact you can be a witch and follow any religion you want, it is even possible to be a christian witch! But a witch does not need to summon spirits, invoke deities, or call upon otherworldly entities to perform a spell.

A grey witch is no different than any other witch, they can follow a secular path or a theistic one. They can invoke their favorite goddess to help them out or they can cast a spell without calling on any deity at all. Many witches simply call upon the energies of the earth for their magic.You can be Wiccan and a grey witch if you like. There may be a conflict between grey witchcraft and the Wiccan Rede, however. Other witches might be able to reconcile this though, so again it really depends on the witch.

Are Grey Witches Solitary Practitioners? Whether one works alone or in a group is up to them. Perhaps some grey witches have joined a circle or were initiated into a coven but it's not mandatory. Some covens require members to swear an oath upon initiation, so grey witches should keep in that mind The practice of grey witchcraft requires no specific oath or creed, only an understanding of the forces at work.

A witch may be willing to work with others even though they are mostly solitary. Group work and solitary work both have a purpose in witchcraft. Whether you prefer to work alone or with others solely depends on your preferences. I am a solitary witch, but not by choice. I wish I could do more group work, but there just aren't any other witches in my area.

How Does One Become a Grey Witch? Anyone can become a grey witch. It does not matter your age, race, gender, etc. But the path of the grey witch might not suit everybody. Some people aren't comfortable practicing black magic, even if the situation could use it. Before you start delving into the world of witchcraft, you should evaluate your wants and intentions. What is your reason for wanting to become a grey witch in the first place? Do you feel that your personal ideals align with the fundamentals of grey witchcraft or would another type of witchcraft suit you better?

To become a grey witch, I suppose all it takes is understanding of witchcraft and knowledge of both white and black magic. Knowing where you stand in the polarity of things requires a bit of soul searching. Please remember to do thorough research no matter what path you choose to take.

Do We Really Need More Magick Colours? I am not a fan of identifying types of spells and magic with colours in the first place, especially since there are some historically racial connotations with "black" and "white" magic. But I will admit that it makes things a lot simpler to indicate what kind of spells are being performed by using those terms.

The term "grey" in my opinion is not literally referring to the colour grey. It is a statement to figuratively mean neutral or between the polarities of light and dark. Don't think of it as an edgy new label witches are now painting themselves with to be unique. Think of it instead as a simple way for us to let other witches know what path we follow. Do Grey Witches Look Different From Others? Though historic custom dictates that witches wear traditional pointy hats and ride crooked brooms into the night sky, we don't actually have uniforms. Many witches practice their craft skyclad, meaning naked. Others like to wear ritual robes and ceremonial garb. Some simply wear their everyday clothes.

Grey witches are no different in this regard. Whether they go full nude, wear pointy hats, or dress the same as your average Joe, you can't specifically identify them. Perhaps some grey witches wear grey coloured ritual robes while working at an altar with silver tools and a gray altar cloth, but it's safe to say that is not the case.

A witch's day to day clothes are a personal choice, their style could reflect their heritage, their culture, or their tradition. Witches embrace other styles too, sporting flowing folksy skirts, lacy gothic corsets, plain jeans and Tshirts, four inch heels and a club dress, etc. The choice is their own to make. How Old is Grey Witchcraft? The history of grey witchcraft follows the same stream as white or black witchcraft. Most sources are lost to us today, but I did manage to dig up a few resources discussing grey witches throughout the 19th century. You can read about my findings here, but I'll give a quick summary.

One of the oldest sources I found comes from Gleanings in England written by the clergyman Samuel Jackson Pratt in 1801. In it, he indicates the grey witch as playing a role in the Witches of Warboys witch trials around the year 1590.

But one source that I found most interesting comes from the Household Words weekly journal, written and edited by none other than Charles Dickens in 1857. In the journal, he dedicates a section to the Witches of England, where he describes the "three classes of witches". These are, of course, the white witch, black witch, and our dear grey witch. Charles Dickens is a famous author who has produced classic works such as Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. With a historical figure as substantial as Dickens recognizing the entity of the grey witch, there is little doubt that we are a very real part of the legacy of witchcraft.

Is Grey Witchcraft a Witchcraft Tradition? First things first, a witchcraft tradition and traditional witchcraft are not the same thing. When most people think of traditional witchcraft, they imagine a highly exclusive, ancestral practice that requires some element of magical heredity. This is not to be confused with hereditary witchcraft, which is the belief that practitioners are "born" not "made". There are plenty of online sources for traditional witchcraft, so if you want to learn, you will have to find a different blog than this one. A witchcraft tradition, however, is a particular mode of practice that is unified under more than one practitioner. A witch will usually align his or her personal practice, called a path, with a tradition.

It is important to know that a tradition begins when a witch codifies their practice or passes their practice down by sharing that knowledge with other witches. Some traditions are centuries old and are very exclusive. These tend to be family traditions, where one generation teaches their offspring witchcraft known of that bloodline. Family traditions are more cultural in nature, which makes sense as all bloodlines are rooted in one civilization or another. This is why many American witches are drawn to magic of Europe, since their ancestors were mostly immigrants who came to the colonies centuries ago.

There are also initiatory traditions where the tradition is only taught to witches who have been initiated into that coven or circle. Initiatory traditions can vary in age. Some may have historical roots, and others may only be as old as the high priest or priestess that began the tradition.

Social traditions are more open than family or initiatory traditions but can still hold a cultural aspect. They do not require initiation or heredity to be practiced. A social tradition can, at some point, become an initiatory or family tradition if it is taken, refined, and tailored to a specific unit of witches. Social traditions depend on the accessibility of knowledge, the exposure of perspectives, and the generosity of other witches to share their experiences.

I personally identify Grey Witchcraft as belonging to the social tradition category. Witches who follow a social tradition may not actually think of themselves as belonging to a tradition. For most witches, especially the solitary types, they just prefer the term "path", which is their personal and private practice. It's up to you how you define witchcraft traditions, but try not to force your definition onto others. What Kind of Resources are Available for the Grey Witch? To be honest, not many. You might find a brief mention of grey witchcraft in a few books, but very little in-depth discussion goes along with it. There is of course the book The Gray Witch's Grimoire by Amythyst Raine which is the only known published work created solely with the grey witch in mind. I own a personal copy of the book and recently wrote a review that you can find here. In short, I don't recommend it. If you are familiar enough with witchcraft to identify as a gray witch, then you are already too advanced for this book. Fledgling witches in general may find the work helpful, but The Gray Witch's Grimoire is best described as just another Wicca 101 book.

Because of the lack of resources, I decided to make this blog focus on my path as a grey witch. My hope is that it helps those seeking witches find what they need to begin their journey into grey witchcraft. Though I would one day like to publish my very own book on the matter, at the moment a blog is all I have to offer. You can browse a number of posts I have written describing spells, rituals, and other intricacies that I feel represent the spirit of the grey witch. I recommend my series of posts entitled Grey Witch Guide, which are written with fledgling grey witches in mind. Here are links to the various topics I discuss that I feel are relevant to grey witchery:

http://porcelainpumpkin.blogspot.com/p/the-grey-witch.html?spref=pi

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warninggraphiccontent · 4 years ago

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5 June 2020

A quiet week

Yeah, right.

It was Data Bites #11 on Wednesday. It was good. You can watch the video here. It will also appear here soon. There's a Twitter thread here. Previous events are here. The next one will be on 1 July. And Glyn made paella.

I wrote 3,000 words explaining how government is planning to use our personal data to combat coronavirus - contact tracing apps and much else besides...

...and I discussed data on this week's IfG podcast with team IfG, and special guest Rowland.

I wittered on a bit more on Twitter about the tenth anniversary of David Cameron's open data letter.

What are you doing this Monday morning at 0930? You're watching me interview digital government rockstar and revolutionary, Audrey Tang, about Taiwan's coronavirus response, aren't you? Register here.

We're doing a short report on digital government and coronavirus - how did existing services cope, how has it accelerated change, etc. If you're a UK civil servant, we'd be very grateful if you could spend two minutes filling out our survey on remote working tools. Thank you!

Don't forget our spreadsheet of data-related developments in the UK government's coronavirus response. And don't forget to add anything that we've forgotten to add.

There's just under a week left to enter the Orwell Youth Prize. If you know any 12-18 year olds, let them know!

Some good people doing good things:

Julian (and other former colleagues) have just launched Engage Britain, a new approach to tackling the biggest challenges facing the UK (using, in part, the same platform Taiwan uses for public engagement)

Rachel has helped bring together a number of charities to call for a data collective to get charities the data they need to make a difference; and

Hera is leaving the Open Contracting Partnership to go full-time at Chayn, a global volunteer network providing resources to help women experiencing abuse.

Giuseppe highlighted Loud Numbers, a new data sonification podcast coming later this year. Here are my data sonifications from late last year.

And to bring it full circle back to this week's Data Bites... I couldn't resist illustrating just how stupid this week's developments in parliament have been by comparing how long the voting queue of MPs was to London buses and Big Ben.*

Finally, the excellent Ben Worthy has a plea to anyone who's used parliamentary data:

Who’s Watching Parliament: help with our survey of data users

Our new project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, looks at how new data is being used to monitor parliament. We want to know more about who is using data, what they are using it for and how this could impact on their thinking about Parliament and democracy in the UK.

If you have used Parliament data, please help us by filling in our short survey.

The project is being overseen by Dr. Ben Worthy, an academic at Birkbeck College. Please ask him any questions via email.

Have a great weekend

Gavin

*Yes, I know, Big Ben is the name of the doctor.

Today's links:

Tips, tech, etc

How to hold an unconference online (James Cattell)

How Hansard is reporting parliamentary business during lockdown (Parliamentary Digital Service)

Join the COVID-19 Response Network: A Slack Workspace for Public Servants (Apolitical)

Power Dynamics and Inclusion in Virtual Meetings (Aspiration)

Working from home (Andrea Cooper)

Graphic content

#BlackLivesMatter

Minneapolis Police Use Force Against Black People at 7 Times the Rate of Whites* (New York Times)

Covid-19 pandemic hits black voters’ incomes hardest, FT poll shows* (FT)

Photos From The George Floyd Protests, City By City* (New York Times)

1,023 people have been shot and killed by police in the past year* (Washington Post)

W.E.B. Du Bois’ Visionary Infographics Come Together for the First Time in Full Color (Smithsonian Magazine)

W. E. B. Du Bois’ staggering Data Visualizations are as powerful today as they were in 1900 (Nightingale)

What W. E. B. Du Bois Conveyed in His Captivating Infographics* (The New Yorker)

Viral content: cases

UK excess deaths during pandemic reach 62,000* (FT)

UK coronavirus death toll passes 50,000, official figures show (The Guardian)

Coronavirus excess deaths: UK has one of highest levels in Europe (The Guardian)

Coronavirus in charts: the fact-checkers correcting falsehoods (Nature)

Democracies contain epidemics most effectively* (The Economist)

A deep dive into testing statistics (Ed Conway)

Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 (Public Health England)

Exclusive: Government censored BAME covid-risk review (HSJ)

This is how many tests have been done, and those that were sent out in May (Paul Bradshaw/Flourish)

There Has Been an Increase in Other Causes of Deaths, Not Just Coronavirus* (New York Times)

Where U.S. coronavirus cases are on the rise (Reuters)

British nursing homes in crisis as deaths mount (Reuters)

Revealed: the coronavirus death toll across Britain - how many excess deaths has your area had?* (Telegraph)

Viral content: consequences

Coronavirus and unemployment: a five nation comparison (IfG)

The vaccine: the only way back to previous life (El Pais)

Trust and Behavioural Responses to COVID-19 (trustgov)

Trust in UK government and news media COVID-19 information down, concerns over misinformation from government and politicians up (Reuters Institute)

Next Wave of U.S. Job Cuts Targets Millions of Higher-Paid Workers* (Bloomberg)

American retailers have laid off or furloughed one-fifth of their workers* (The Economist)

Only 12% of Brits think MPs should have to physically be in Commons to vote during COVID-19 crisis (YouGov)

Is Britain easing lockdown too soon?* (New Statesman)

Anti-viral content

Environmental justice (IPPR)

The hospital corridor (Dr Kate McLean)

Ministerial directions (IfG)

Ministerial moves (me for IfG)

Air pollution in China back to pre-Covid levels and Europe may follow (The Guardian)

‘Going in the Wrong Direction’: More Tropical Forest Loss in 2019* (New York Times)

Meta data

Viral content: contact details

Personal data and coronavirus (me for IfG)

Spot the difference – explaining the Covid-19 apps (ODI)

Germany and Korea expose flaws in the NHS track and trace plan* (Wired)

The coronavirus pandemic highlights the need for a surveillance debate beyond ‘privacy’ (Inforrm)

UK ‘test and trace’ service did not complete mandatory privacy checks (Politico)

Book excerpt: Developing for privacy in the pandemic (Heather Burns)

Viral content: lies, damn lies and...

Sir David Norgrove response to Matt Hancock regarding the Government’s COVID-19 testing data (UK Statistics Authority - more)

Statistics Watchdog Still Not Satisfied With ‘Trustworthiness’ Of Covid Test Figures (Huffington Post)

Informing the pandemic response: What’s next from the ONS? (ONS)

‘No part of the economy remains untouched’: update on how the ONS is measuring the impact of COVID-19 (ONS)

Interview with Sir Ian Diamond, National Statistician of the United Kingdom (UN)

Viral content: everything else

Why we’re calling for a data collective (Catalyst)

The problem of modelling: Public policy and the coronavirus (TLS)

Excess mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic (FT)

AI firm that worked with Vote Leave given new coronavirus contract (The Guardian)

Flawed data casts cloud over Spain’s lockdown strategy* (FT - thread)

Vital data and research projects to tackle COVID-19 searchable via new developments in online health data portal (HDR UK)

Covid, hysteresis, and the future of work (VoxEU)

Big tech

Welcome to the United States of Amazon* (Tortoise)

Whole Foods Just Fired an Employee Who Kept Track of Coronavirus Cases (Vice)

Facebook’s Smooth New Political Fixer (Politico)

Facebook Employees Stage Virtual Walkout to Protest Trump Posts* (New York Times)

Anti-viral content: digital government

More must be done to realise the value of geospatial data (Public Technology)

Facing up to the digital identity challenge (HM Land Registry)

Vision, Voice, and Technology: Is There a Global “Open Government” Trend?* (Administration & Society)

Archival Catalogue Record Identifiers (Down the Code Mine)

SHARED, CROSS-GOVERNMENT PLATFORMS (Jerry Fishenden)

Anti-viral content: everything else

When the Robot You Consider Family Tries to Sell You Something (Slate)

Measurement for Learning: A Different Approach to Improvement (Centre for Public Impact)

Fact-checking the president: A study in post-truth (Martin Gurri)

Us folks at @fullfact have produced a prototype API for how our fact checks related to the coronavirus could be made available as a machine readable view (Andy Dudfield)

Who governs? A new global dataset on members of cabinets (Jacob Nyrup and Stuart Bramwell, via Tim)

The police want your phone data. Here’s what they can get — and what they can’t. (recode)

Why Information Matters (The New Atlantis)

Eye-catching advances in some AI fields are not real (Science)

Opportunities

EVENT: How Taiwan became a coronavirus success story (IfG)

JOB: Head of Geovation (Ordnance Survey)

JOB: Head of Digital Inclusion, Accessibility & Standards (HMRC)

JOB: Technical writer (GDS)

JOBS: Product people (GOV.UK)

JOB: Senior Data Analyst (Lower) (Citizens Advice - more)

JOB: ANALYST, DIGITAL RESEARCH UNIT (Institute for Strategic Dialogue)

JOB: Data Scientist / Mid-Level / Senior Data Scientist (Flowminder)

JOB: Technology Editor (Rest of World)

JOB: Research Fellow, TrustGov Project (University of Southampton)

JOB: Learning and Development Specialist – Data Trainer - maternity cover (ODI)

And finally...

Urban henges… or streets of the rising sun (Victoria Crawford)

Taking Lessons From a Bloody Masterpiece* (New York Times)

When you're building a general course about artificial intelligence, you come across some good memes. (Mindy McAdams)

How Pi was nearly changed to 3.2 (Numberphile)

next slide please (Darren Dutton)

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junker-town · 7 years ago

Text

A former Panthers employee writes powerful letters on Jerry Richardson’s workplace misconduct

Richardson, Bob McNair, Ron Rivera, and others are addressed in letters published on Sports Illustrated.

A former Panthers employee who says she was harassed by owner Jerry Richardson published her story in her own words via Sports Illustrated on Thursday.

The victim addresses six different people or groups of people in various letters. It details abuse that she went through, and tackles people who enabled the abuse, and others who backed up Richardson. Richardson announced that he would be selling the team shortly after the harassment claims surfaced.

She writes to Jerry Richardson, and reveals disgusting things he did.

At the center of the entire ordeal, is what Richardson did to her and many others. She says that enablers told her to go to lunch with him, no matter the circumstances, answer his phone calls, and do whatever he asked. That included going to his home, carrying his things, meeting him in his personal office or suite, and giving him handwritten thank you notes to reiterate his “greatness.”

An excerpt of his abuse, detailed by the victim:

I didn’t know what to do when you started leaving me suggestive handwritten notes, insisting that I reply and then destroy the note. I didn’t know what to do when you summoned me to your personal office, instructed me to sit in the chair across from you, pulled my chair towards you so you could sandwich my legs, which you proceeded to rub, between yours. I didn’t know what to do when you called me to your stadium suite in the middle of the week so you could take off my shoes, place my legs in your lap and rub their entire length, from toes to crotch. I didn’t know what to do when you asked me to turn around so you could see how my jeans looked. I didn’t know what to do when you brushed my breasts to put my seat belt around me in the front seat of your car. I didn’t know what to do when you put your hands on my mouth, for me to kiss them. I didn’t know what to do when you asked me uncomfortable, sexually charged questions.

I didn’t know what to do. So, I did what you told me to do.

Sports Illustrated also published photos of some of the notes that Richardson would write her.

Some of them read as such:

A. ”The week before we play New England please do the following:

① manicure

② pedicure

③ facial

④ hair stuff

⑤ wear lip gloss

I want all of us to be at our best that week-end”

B. ”④ If I could...I’d pamper you more. Rub your feet. Shave your legs. Put lotion on your body - etc, etc”

C. ”④ you did not answer my questions – – Do you think of me as:

① your grandfather

② your second father

③ your second husband

④ your friend

⑤ your boyfriend

⑥ or something else –

I regret I have never been able to give you pleasure – ”]

She goes on to mention that he told her that he was taking care of her, how much she was hurt by him, has low self-esteem because of him, and how she can’t trust anyone, or have a relationship because of him.

“I can only hope you donate your new billions to a credible non-profit organization that might make something good out of something so wrong,” she concludes.

She says Bob McNair has “no clue or compassion in regard to sexual harassment and racism.”

McNair, owner of the Houston Texans, made comments on March 25 saying that he should have defended Richardson, calling him “an outstanding person” and that “sometimes things get misunderstood.”

The victim wrote, “Your comments on March 25, which affirmed you still have no clue or compassion in regard to sexual harassment and racism, also let me know that Jerry Richardson broke the non-disclosure agreement he had signed with me.” Then she added, “Because Jerry Richardson spoke on the subject, I can write these letters and finally speak my truth.”

The victim goes on to explain how McNair’s comments are incredibly short-sighted, and offensive.

She calls the NFL investigation “a farce.”

The victim believed that something would be done once they “took over the Carolina Panthers’ bogus ‘investigation’” into the allegations against Richardson of workplace misconduct. However, she says that wasn’t the case at all.

She wrote:

Finally, I thought, with an outside party conducting a real investigation, my truth will come out. Little did I understand, you don’t really care to know my truth. Makes sense. My truth is bad for your business.

My attorney spoke with Mary Jo White to let her know that I was willing to cooperate with the investigation that you had given to her. Ms. White said she would like to hear my truth, but neither she nor you could protect me from the penalties of breaching my NDA.

What?

Let me get this straight. You say you are doing a thorough investigation of “workplace misconduct” of Jerry Richardson. Through my attorney, I let you know that I am indeed a victim of such “misconduct” and have information for you—but you cannot protect me. Got it. You have zero power, and that makes your investigation a farce.

She powerfully ends with, “Throughout the many years I was sexually harassed by Jerry Richardson, I always believed that there was no one above him, no one whom I could tell, without repercussions, what was happening to me. You proved me right. You have now become another enabler.”

She addresses enablers, ones she knows, and “even more I don’t.”

The victim names out the Carolina Panthers General Counsel, and the former and current Panthers directors and upper management who knew and witnessed it happening.

“Did you ever think to follow the policy, and maybe prevent another female from being harassed?” she questioned.

“Your silence contributed to this horrible behavior by not only allowing it to survive, but to thrive. I know some of you have daughters. Is this type of work environment what you want for them?”

Ron Rivera ending a huddle with “Mr. Richardson, on three” was wrong.

After the Panthers’ Christmas Eve game against the Falcons, Rivera broke a postgame huddle with “Mr. Richardson, on three.”

She explained that hearing and seeing that brought back the painful memories.

“In the blink of an eye, you—along with the likes of Jerry Jones (“Jerry [Richardson] is one of the really, really, really outstanding men of football that I’ve ever met, and I really admire him”) and Bob McNair (“I know Jerry [Richardson]. He’s an outstanding person’’)—became yet another enabler. You are part of the reason this behavior is condoned and continues.”

She also mentions while Richardson may have done things to help others, what he did to her and other victims doesn’t change her truth, or the truths of others.

She hopes the future owner of the Panthers can change the culture

The victim maintains that she still wants to be a fan of the Panthers, and hopes she can be once a new owner is in place.

“I hope you are female and/or African American,” she writes. “But regardless, please respect the power that comes with your new position. Don’t use it to intimidate or oppress people. Actually, be proactive and use it to mandate equality.”

She also would like to see the statue of Richardson come down outside the stadium. It serves as a brutal reminder of the abuse she endured.

Most importantly, she would like to see the new owner take their newly inherited platform for greater change:

Please think beyond Carolina and be a leader in pushing for real, systematic change in the NFL. Demand strict policies that actually mean something and are not just for show. Maybe initiate a third-party, league-wide human resources department. Implement training for preventing, identifying and reporting sexual harassment. Push for legislative changes to allow OSHA to increase its authority concerning workplace sexual harassment. Work to eliminate NDAs.

Be the change. I pray you are up for the challenge. Good luck!

Sincerely,

A Jerry Richardson Victim Still Too Afraid

The Panthers released a statement after the letters were published:

A statement from the Carolina Panthers pic.twitter.com/OAJOF9CajH

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) April 26, 2018

The team is expected to have a new owner sometime in May.

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