#one piece wardlings

[maraschinocheri]

Happy 39th birthday to the London production of Les Misérables (which officially opened on 8 October 1985 at the Barbican Theatre, though previews began at the end of September)! By way of celebrations, scans from the 1985/86 / 1986/87 Royal Shakespeare Company Yearbook, which honoured the success of the Barbican production and its transfer to the Palace Theatre by making Colm Wilkinson and Michael Ball during 'Bring Him Home' its cover stars. The annual RSC Yearbook summarised productions in all of the company's (at the time five) theatres and on tour with production photography and critical commentary from newspapers and other media. Text from the pages above is under the cut below, with bracketed extra information to clarify some references.

Not since Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd back in 1979 has there been a score which soared out of the pit with the blazing theatricality of Les Misérables, and to those of my tabloid colleagues already in print with feeble and fainthearted objections to the show, I have but this to say: remember the demon barber. Sweeney, too, we were once told; was too dark, too savage, too downbeat a theme for a musical. Six years on, that show has won more awards and been acclaimed to more opera houses than any other in the entire history of the American musical. Les Misérables, in a brilliantly intelligent staging by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, will achieve a similar kind of long-term success …

[The Times’/Punch’s Sheridan] Morley went on. ‘… The greatness of Les Misérables is that it starts out, like Sweeney and Peter Grimes, to redefine the limits of music theatre. Like them it is through sung, and like them it tackles universal themes of social and domestic happiness in terms of individual despair.’

[The Financial Times’ Michael] Coveney talked of the allying of ‘Nickleby*-style qualities of ensemble presentation to a piece that really does deserve the label ‘rock opera’, occupying brand new ground somewhere between Verdi and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was not, he thought, a company celebration like Nickleby, ‘but an appreciation of those values along with the musical experience gathered by the team (Trevor Nunn, John Caird and David Hersey) on Cats and Starlight Express.’ To that extent, he went on, the show was an important one, ‘bridging gaps between musical and opera, and subjecting rock musicians to RSC tutelage while last year’s Clarence [in the RSC 1984 production of Richard III], Roger Allam, is unveiled in the role of Javert as an outstanding performer in the musical idiom.’

[*The RSC's landmark 1980 production of an adaption of Charles Dickens’ The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby]

[The Guardian’s Michael] Billington posited that if you fillet any great nineteenth-century novel, ‘you are left with melodrama.’ Les Misérables, he said, jointly produced by the RSC and Cameron Mackintosh at the Barbican, becomes exactly ‘high class melodrama.’ It was staged ‘with breathtaking panache by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. It is impeccably designed by John Napier. It has a lively score by Claude-Michel Schönberg. But it is three-and-a-half hours of fine middlebrow entertainment rather than great art.’ Billington claimed to have ‘conned’ the novel sufficiently ‘to realise that it is a towering masterpiece about social injustice, redemption through love and the power of Providence.’ What the musical offered, he went on, ‘is the hurtling story of Jean Valjean, the paroled prisoner who becomes a provincial mayor, who is relentlessly pursued by the policeman Javert and who achieves heroic feats of self-sacrifice at the 1832 Paris uprising. What you don’t get is the background of moral conflict that makes this more than a classy adventure story.’ In this he thought, Hugo’s novel was infinitely more dramatic than the musical.

[The Times’ Irving] Wardle spoke of the temptation in such circumstances for anyone who has read the novel ‘to quarrel with any adaptation for its omissions and liberties instead of judging the adaptation on its own merits.’ In this instance, he maintained, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg had done a capable gutting job. ‘They present a clear outline of the epic contest between Jean Valjean, the saintly ex-convict, and his implacable pursuer Javert: including Valjean’s defeated attempt to save the wretched Fantine, and his life-long devotion to her daughter, Cosette, only to lose her to a young love, Marius, amid the Paris barricades of 1832.’

The adapters had cut corners with boldness and ingenuity, Wardle believed, and had found fresh situations where Hugo’s are theatrically unworkable. They had also preserved the essential sense that Valjean and Javert are two of a kind, belonging, as Hugo puts it, to the ‘two classes of men whom society keeps at arms length: those who prey on it and those who protect it.’

Coveney maintained that the organization and placement of the continuously revolving stage was ‘beyond praise’, with John Napier’s design doing as much honour to Hugo’s Paris as he lavished on Dickens’s London [in Nickleby]: ‘Two huge trucks rumble on and form a barricaded wall which, just as Hugo describes, seems to contain a city in itself, a fantastic jumble of chairs, barrels, planks and people, a teeming segment of a revolutionary catacomb.’

This alternative society, Coveney said, was presented without sentiment ‘as indeed are its urchin sentinels, the daughter of Thenardier (a devastating waif performance by Frances Ruffelle) and Gavroche … sweetly and surely sung by an admirable child actor and just when you feel the production is slipping by allowing a [writer of Oliver] Lionel Bart-ish point number, he is shot full of bullets and left to sing plaintively on the wrong side of the barricade.’

The music, [The Sunday Times’ John] Peter though, ‘has a fresh, astringent lyricism and a powerful, ballad-like drive: number after number makes robust contributions to character and drama.’ The best performances, in Peter’s opinion, came from Alun Armstrong and Susan Jane Tanner as the ‘horrible Thenardiers', Patti LuPone (Fantine) and Frances Ruffelle (Eponine). But this was, he pointed out, ‘essentially a company musical rather than a star vehicle. If it transfers to the West End where its masterful theatricality would outshine almost anything else on offer, it might show people that success in this genre doesn’t depend solely on expensive star turns.’ The transfer to the Palace, of course, came swiftly after the Barbican opening.

[The Observer’s Michael] Ratcliffe described Schönberg’s score as ‘all tinselly arpeggios, stabbing staccato, pile-driving trumpets and thinly-disguised hymns.’ In polite terms he said, it was ‘electric, trailing a range of references from high-tech Bizet and Massenet to the air-time acceptable, and Celtic Fringe Folk.’

Some scenes, said Coveney, go straight into operatic form, ‘for example the apprehension by Javert of Valjean at Fantine’s deathbed, or a beautiful garden trio for young lovers in Valjean’s garden hideaway.’ There was also a ‘startling thematic echo of Rigoletto as Valjean ponders the son he might have had.’ Colm Wilkinson’s Valjean was in Coveney’s opinion ‘a remarkable study in impassive acquisition of self-knowledge … He [has] particularly fine and lyrical use of his upper register. Above all he transmits palpable goodness without sounding like a prig or a boar [bore?].’ [The Sunday’s Telegraph’s Francis] King thought Wilkinson not only sang the role with eloquence ‘but – far more difficult – brings out the essential goodness of a much-wronged man.’ The outstanding voice of the evening in King’s opinion, was that of Patti LuPone as Fantine.

The band under the stage and the musical direction of Martin Koch include some rumbling brass premonitions of disaster as well as some very fine work on synthesizers, brass and strings. The score also underpins such exciting production movements as the arrival of the barricade, the suicidal leap (done by the bridge flying up as Mr Allam free falls on the spot) and the descent to the sewers with lots of dry ice and naked banks of light not equalled in impact since Mr Hersey did something similar in Evita.

In short, this is an intriguing and most enjoyable musical, fully justifying the mixing of commercial resources with RSC talent and personnel, even if not all that many RSC actors are involved.* Being now acquainted with the demands of the score, I see why that should be so. [Morley]

[* The RSC members who appeared in the Barbican production were Roger Allam, Alun Armstrong, and Susan Jane Tanner. Other RSC members at this time joined Les Mis in later companies, among them David Delve, who would replace Alun Armstrong as Thenardier.]

[piss-bread-alterhuman]

Werewolf Etsy Recommendations

Hey everyone! Here's a list of etsy items that relate to werewolves! Suggested by Dylan on Discord!

This recommendation list includes 1 keychain, 2 pins, 1 sticker, 1 sticker pack, 2 gear items, and 3 miscellaneous items. It also includes 1 neurodivergence-related item, and one queer-related item.

Items Under the Cut!

Here's a neat looking PVC keychain! It's in the style of a caution road sign. Mothsprout is a great artist and i suggest looking through their shop for some other cool stuff!

Feral Animal PVC Keychain

I personally love button pins, and I might purchase this one myself despite not being a werewolf. Hazyhund and Verminvalley's art is adorable and it's really cool to see a shop run by not one, but two neurodivergent queer artists! I'd also recommend checking out their pronoun pins, I'm planning on purchasing some of those myself!

Neurodivergent Werewolf Club Button Pin

I will admit, I don't really know a whole lot about this artist, but they do have a tumblr! It hasn't been updated in a while, but here is the link! I would also recommend checking out their necklaces

Themed Sticker Sheet

Warning on this one for female nudity! Meike Hakkaart is an amazing artist, it's a shame how recently I discovered them. This particular pin is inspired by a piece of pottery! Please note, this shop is based in the Netherlands and the descriptions are not in English, I used Google's automatic translation to understand the words. Anyway, again, their art is absolutely gorgeous!

Lycanthrope Hard Enamel Pin

This is a really cool sticker by Jennette Brown! I first found their shop through Etsy, but the link here is to their website, as it has a lot more options for fandom-related stuff, and their Etsy shop is slowly being phased out. I'm planning on purchasing some Doctor Who stickers from them!

Werewolf Sticker

DarkFutureShop is a pretty interesting little Etsy shop! Oliver Bindel has a lot of dieselpunk and post-apocalyptic items, mostly clothing and wearable accessories like gloves. These specific gloves are a good gear item, and they do have a seperate listing for kid sizes. Please note they do have a bloody claw option if you look through the images!

Claw Gloves

Again, another seller i don't know a whole lot about. Their shop is full of high-quality 3D prints, and it seems like they have the licenses to sell prints of all of the designs. They have both PLA plastic and resin print options available.

Wolf Muzzle Mask

I don't know a whole lot about this seller, but they mostly sell wooden items. They seem very cool and high quality. Please note that they are based in Canada!

Trinket Box

I've been lookat at Luke Wardle's work on Etsy for a while now. They have some beautiful skull replicas, and if they weren't so expensive (though most likely worth the price) I would have absolutely purchased from them by now. They are based in Australia but have free worldwide shipping!

Resin Werewolf Skull

Wulfbäer Design has some gorgeous art. This specific bookmark from them is available in green or red. While I don't have a whole lot to say about this item, being a bookmark, I will say that I may be purchasing this one myself!

Laminated Bookmark

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] On Tuesday afternoon, in search of "Wordle" at the iOS App Retailer turned up a small handful of apps aping the identify and gameplay of the simple word game that has gone viral in recent weeks. However none of the ones iOS apps had been made by way of Josh Wardle, the Brooklyn-based device engineer who created the free web-based game last October.All of the ones copycat apps are actually long past, the plain results of a belated purge by way of App Retailer reviewers following some social media attention. However this most probably does not imply the tip of Wordle clones. The ones fast removals paper over the difficult felony and social panorama surrounding copycat apps and the protections builders can declare on their sport concepts.Who Owns ‘Wordle’?To begin, it's a must to word that the elemental five-letter guessing sport underlying Wordle isn't itself an absolutely unique thought. The similar fundamental gameplay was once popularized by way of Lingo, a sport display that dates back to the '80s in the US and different international locations. The 2-player pen-and-paper sport Jotto, which works again to 1955, would even be very acquainted to Wordle gamers. Prior to that, a extra conventional model of the sport referred to as Bulls and Cows has been performed for the reason that nineteenth century, in keeping with at least one source.Very easily, none of this historical past items a felony drawback for Wordle itself. "Every time you could have a copyright, you are protective the expression, no longer the theory," Dallas attorney Mark Methenitis told Ars. "It is a line a large number of other people have an excessively exhausting time with, particularly whilst you get into video games."In different phrases, it is exceedingly exhausting to copyright an summary sport mechanic like "guessing five-letter phrases and giving hints in accordance with proper letters." A sport developer can file for a patent on an unique gaming thought, a felony procedure that has been used to strangle online game clones up to now. However getting a patent is a protracted and exhausting procedure that may fall aside if there is "prior artwork" predating the theory (or if the mechanic may well be regarded as legally "evident").A Trademark Loose-For-AllBreak away copyright or patent, a hallmark may a minimum of legally offer protection to the identify Wordle from being exploited by way of copycats. However in contrast to copyright, which applies routinely when a piece is printed, emblems be offering very restricted coverage till and until they're registered with the USA Patent and Trademark Place of work.A snappy seek on the USPTO website presentations two prior marks for device referred to as "Wordle," one from 2010 and one from 2013. Either one of those had been deserted in a while after their unique submitting, however Wardle it seems that hasn't filed for his personal trademark on his fashionable identify.That has left the "Wordle" trademark legally up for grabs, a state of affairs that an organization referred to as Monkey Labs Inc. has taken good thing about. On January 7, that outfit filed its personal trademark software for "Wordle," claiming possession of the identify for "downloadable pc software device for social networking, particularly, for posting, appearing, or exhibiting knowledge within the box of digital gaming by the use of the Web, particularly, device for taking part in phrase puzzle video games."There may well be grounds to get that trademark canceled for business misrepresentation beneath the 1947 Lanham Act, however this kind of felony argument may well be an uphill fight. That is very true as a result of different video games and apps used the identify previous to Wardle's introduction. There are lately 3 video games at the iOS App Store—Wordle!, Wordle - Phrase Puzzle, and Wordles—that predate the Wardle model by way of years. Whilst none of those has any mechanical similarities to the present viral hit, they have got as a lot of a declare to the historic use of the "Wordle" identify as any individual.

Assault of the ClonesTrademark apart, the copyright regulations that offer protection to Wordle itself lend a hand offer protection to any individual who needs to make their very own model of the similar fundamental thought. That suggests there is no longer a lot the legislation can do to prevent different five-letter guessing video games from current. Ars Technica readers would possibly be mindful the an identical iOS clone explosion that faced the likes of Vlambeer's Radical Fishing and Super Crate Boy, in addition to Jenova Chen's fl0w, Spry Fox's Triple Town, and countless others.However whilst the thought of Wordle is not very legally protectable, the sport's explicit expression of that concept is. So a clone that copied the consumer interface, structure, and different design components of Wardle's model may nonetheless fall afoul of the legislation. Again in 2012, The Tetris Corporate used this argument to shut down a particularly blatant Tetris clone on the App Store. [ad_2] Source link #Apple #Booted #Wordle #Copycat #Apps

[iusedtogotogigs]

Mark Hollis: A Perfect Silence by Ben Wardle

Not long since I finished this wonderful book about Mark Hollis of Talk Talk by Ben Wardle. Full of fascinating details about this most brilliant musician and singular character, I’ve become a bit obsessed…

I have been a fan for years but the book has got me seeking out B-sides, rarities, live performances, covers and interviews and I’m loving it all. He’s such a beguiling character, full of contradictions: the lead singer of a classic 80s synth-pop band whose voice was a perfect fit for that early 80s sound, but who was always much more interested in jazz and classical. The band leader singing in front of thousands night after night who found that a pair of sunglasses made it feel like they helped block the world out and never performed without them again, and not at all after the band had toured their third album. The hero to thousands who loved his band, nigh-on a god to those of us for whom his later albums are the work of a genius, who more or less retreated from the music industry entirely in his 40s, and hardly recorded anything for the last twenty years of his life, preferring instead to devote himself to a quiet life with his family. And although this may just be a judgement borne of snobbery never has anyone so steeped in learning and culture - mainly music in his case but also movies and books - had a speaking voice so much like Henry’s Cat’s :)

And so much of what he said, the way he made his music, the way he lived his life and especially the way he left it all (making music) behind for a quiet life, really resonates. The way he used his voice as an instrument, that his voice and the words were subservient to the music, not the other way round, and the way his wrote his lyrics accordingly.

The way his last three albums came together is utterly fascinating. Endless session musicians were hired and given no instructions, but instead just asked to just play along however they saw fit (literally in the dark on Talk Talk’s last two albums). In many cases what they played was never used, in others a sequence of just a few seconds would be salvaged but then dropped in somewhere other than where it had originally been played. In his quest for the perfectly spontaneous performance he gave up on demos - as that spontaneity would be lost in the re-recording - and coldly overlooked the playing of his most trusted fellow musicians including fellow founder members Paul Webb and Lee Harris. He cost his record companies more money in studio time than they could ever hope to recoup from sales of the resulting albums - Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, and Hollis’ eponymous solo album - which have come to be regarded as masterpieces but were never going to sell well.

Ben Wardle brilliant captures the symmetry between Hollis’ love of silence, the spaces in-between the notes, and the silence of his refusal to give interviews or do anything that might reveal anything of what he was up to in his last years.

The desire for privacy, for quiet, to walk away from doing something when to everyone else it might seem like such a good thing, because ‘it was time’. So much resonates.

YOUR HOMEWORK:

The masterpiece album that first took Hollis and Talk Talk right away from mainstream commercial music is Spirit of Eden.

I urge you to seek out 'The Colour of Spring' the first track from his solo album ‘Mark Hollis’: https://open.spotify.com/track/7kYsV81UkV4z7UuF94u8T6... ...and specifically the gentle piano chords starting at around 2.02. So sensitively played and with so much silence around them. Quiet isn’t for everyone but for this Hollis fan, for whom there isn’t enough of it, it’s exquisite, one of my very favourite pieces of music.

Also, one of Talk Talk’s last ever live performances, at Montreux in 1986, when they were absolutely flying. The full gig is available but for a shorter intro this version of Living In Another World is ace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hop1tb-DR_k Ignore the mid-80s hair and clothes - they look like a funny-looking mix of rock-gods and office nerds with Hollis somewhere in the middle - and the hair-band guitar posturing at the end(!) and admire the song, arrangements and Hollis emoting. He didn’t like touring and never wanted to perform live again shortly after this, and yet his performance is fantastic here, so impassioned.

This has long been a favourite song incidentally. You can’t really hear the bass part very well here - listen to the album version - but it’s an absolute cracker and I’ve been trying to learn it for the last few days.

And of course, read the book: https://amzn.to/42XP4Yn

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[highfunctioningflailgirl]

An Eye For Evidence

“Check this for fingerprints, and I’m pretty sure you’ll have your serial rapist.” Strike pushes the taser they’ve found in Yellow Tie’s flat across his desk with a pencil. “And our client every reason she needs to divorce that monster.”

Wardle, sitting across from him, shrouded in the stubbly and wrinkled mood of a harrowing case, raises skeptical brows.

“You sure it’s him.”

“Yeah, the pieces of the puzzle fit,” Strike replies. “With this, we’ll have proof.”

Wardle purses his lips. Strike sees the usual battle of jealousy versus gratefulness going down behind the DI’s cool veneer. Jealousy that, once again, the Strike & Ellacott agency has solved a case the Met hasn’t been able to crack; gratefulness that a particularly disgusting piece of scum will be taken off London’s streets soon, and for good.

“Alright, Gooner,” he finally concedes. “I’ll have the lab process it. If an arrest comes out of it, I owe you one.”

“I’ll put it on your tab.” Strike leans back and crosses his arms, demonstratively magnanimous.

“Pfff...” Wardle snorts. “I’ll strike it off yours.”

They both grin at each other.

Behind the policeman, the door to the inner office swings open, and Robin breezes into the room. Her face is attractively flushed and glowing with happiness. 

“Sorry for being late,” she says brightly. “It got a bit late last night, and I had to take the tube from the other side of… Never mind,” she finishes, looking away to conceal a mischievous glint in her eyes.

It doesn’t take more than a second for Strike to realize she’s spent the night with Ryan. She’s wearing yesterday’s clothes, she’s smelling of an unfamiliar shampoo with a musky, herbal note usually reserved for males. And she’s moving in the sated, confident way that good sex will leave a woman with after a night of feeling worshipped.

She might as well have grabbed the taser from Strike’s desk and applied it to his chest.

Wardle, with an eye for evidence like Strike has, tilts his head and casts her a teasing, suggestive look.

���He’s that good, is he?”

While Cormoran’s heart still seizes in his chest, he somehow manages to keep an even expression on his face.

Robin smiles, not quite as modestly as expected, cheeks pink, and opens her mouth to say something, but then she swivels around and, flustered, asks the room in general: “Tea, anybody? I could use one.”

And then she’s out of the inner office again, bustling about in the little kitchen, and Wardle looks at Strike. The DI’s expression changes from smugness to commiseration. 

“Ouch, mate.”

Strike huffs exaggeratedly. “What are you talking about?” he says, chest still aching. “She’s happy. He’s good for her. I’m happy.”

“Yeeaah,” Wardle extends the word into at least three seconds of ironic length. “And if you say ‘happy’ one more time, I’m gonna puke.” 

Strike almost fails at glowering at him.

Slapping his thighs, Wardle springs out of his chair and picks the taser up with his fingertips to slide it into an ‘evidence’ bag.

“I’m off duty once I’ve dropped this at the lab,” he announces. “How about a pint at the Tottenham in an hour?”

Strike wants to turn him down, but when Robin reappears, hips swinging, carrying a tray with steaming mugs and biscuits, looking painfully gorgeous, he reconsiders.

“Yeah,” he grunts morosely. “See you there.”

Also on AO3, if you prefer:

[the-real-tc]

I posted 132 times in 2021

85 posts created (64%)

47 posts reblogged (36%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.6 posts.

I added 253 tags in 2021

#heartland - 75 posts

#season 14 - 28 posts

#jack bartlett - 26 posts

#season 15 - 23 posts

#lisa stillman - 22 posts

#amy fleming - 22 posts

#tim fleming - 18 posts

#ty borden - 15 posts

#jessica steen - 12 posts

#lou fleming - 12 posts

Longest Tag: 54 characters

#(i always thought that should be 'cooke' but whatever)

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

In all this, can I say how much I really appreciated Jack being vulnerable with Amy about his grief when Lyndy died? Like, we never had that level of openness from him on that subject. And to finally get some kind of clue about Lyndy’s demise—wow. We now know she was ill; Jack figured she’d recover, but she didn’t. All of that and more makes me hopeful for a Heartland Season 14 that lets us really enter into the thoughts and emotions of these characters, because for the longest time, I’ve felt like these important pieces were being kept from me.

38 notes • Posted 2021-01-11 08:21:09 GMT

#4

Amy’s dream sequences were breaking my heart each time she began pouring that tea. Jack remembering the cattle drive with Ty brought some tears, too. As much as it hurts, I’m glad the Writers are showing us these things—again, giving us permission to grieve instead of “moving on”.

39 notes • Posted 2021-01-18 01:38:23 GMT

#3

Heartland Grows Up

This serves as a sort-of “review” of the first three episodes of Season 14, since I don’t think there’s a need for a blow-by-blow analysis of all of them. I will say I am thoroughly impressed by what I’ve seen so far; more than I have been by any new season of Heartland I have seen.

Now that we’re all up-to-speed on the biggest thing to ever happen on our beloved show, let me just say definitively that I am at once surprised and impressed the Writers had the guts to take this shocking plot development to the limit. 

We all saw the signs. Graham Wardle was getting restless. After spending more than a decade as Ty Borden, the guy felt it was time to move on. He’s been moving on for quite a while, and the show was suffering because of it. 

I am fairly easy-going when it comes to my entertainment. But one thing I can’t abide is lazy writing, or drama for the sake of drama. 

Ty dying is not “drama for the sake of drama”; at least not in the usual sense. This turn of events was not some out-of-left-field scheme to shock viewers. This was a carefully considered plot to facilitate Wardle’s permanent departure.

I feel quite sad for the fans who watch Heartland just for the cutesy happiness of the Amy and Ty pairing. I could say more about what I really feel about all the (what I feel to be) spiteful, bratty comments from other viewers, but I won’t. Suffice it to say I think killing off an important character like Ty is the single most important development that could have ever happened to the show.

Ty’s death has now catapulted the show into realms that were never before possible. In my opinion, the show—at its core—has always been about A Girl and Her Horse. Yes, it is also an ensemble show, meaning we have secondary characters whose lives we care about and whose side stories help flesh out the Heartland universe, but let’s face it: every single character could depart and the show could still go on—with the exception of Amy Fleming. Those who know me know if there’s any pairing on the Show I’m most interested in—it’s Jack and Lisa, so whatever happened with Amy and Ty was just a matter of course. They were the central pairing we were supposed to root for (and I did), care for (and I did). But there’s a burden when you’re the “it” couple on a show. How do you keep things fresh and interesting without resorting to the same old tropes and predictable relationship woes? 

Sure, Heartland could have limped along the way it always has with the horse-problem-of-the-week, but for how long? How vanilla is that? If that’s what floats most the viewers’ boats week-in and week-out, more power to them, I guess. For me, I’m thrilled to have something meatier after so many seasons of increasingly bland fare. How much longer could we have suspended our disbelief that Ty was “away” for whatever reason? Untenable, and unsustainable. Ty had to die for the show to be reborn; or maybe for the show to mature a little. 

Already the first three episodes of Season 14 have demonstrated Heartland can handle heavier drama than characters getting stranded in a snowed-in cabin or silly teen rivalries and love triangles; it can handle more than plane crashes and greedy poachers, improbable hostage takings and kidnappings. Heartland can do raw grief, and the actors have been knocking it out of the park. 

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, because I appreciate so much all the care that’s been taken to do justice to Wardle’s departure/Ty’s death: the Writers are giving us permission to grieve. Too often in TV a character dies, their friends and family are shown to be upset, sad, sorrowing, etc., for maybe an episode (two, if we’re lucky), and then that’s it. Sometimes, we don’t even get that, and while we would like to be given time to process a beloved character’s death, the TV show must go on, and so it does. We aren’t given permission to mourn the character because we don’t get the cathartic release of seeing the other characters mourning.

Not so with Heartland. They’re doing it the right way, in my opinion. Jack told Amy there’s no right way to grieve and everyone grieves differently. I get the impression this is going to be a recurring theme throughout this season as they all come to terms with what happened: Amy was numb for a whole year. Tim and Jack repressed their anger in their own ways. Lily fell off the wagon hard. Georgie apparently buried herself in her studies. Lou ignored it and focused on her mayoral duties. But watching them all dealing with what has happened means I can release my emotions, and the brilliant part is I don’t feel manipulated into crying. In fact, I’ve had to make a good effort not to sob out loud at some of the scenes, though tears have certainly flowed on a few occasions. 

Ty had to die to get the show past its creative rut. That may sound crass and callous, but I’ll reiterate it’s the best thing that could have happened to the Show at this juncture, and that’s no knock on Graham Wardle. Had he been willing to be 100% invested in the series until its conclusion instead of this one-foot-in-one-foot-out scenario, perhaps things might have been okay. They could have coasted along, telling very middle-of-the-road stories like always, and the fans would have continued to come back to the very comfortable, safe, predictable Heartland universe. No complaints. No grievances. Everyone goes home happy and content. I would also have hung on, if not out of plain loyalty and the enjoyment I get from interacting with fellow fans.

Well, we all just had a massive wake-up call, and I’m here for it. Heartland has grown up, thanks largely to the massive risk taken by the Writers, and by the excellent performances by all the players—Amber Marshall in particular—who has really dived deep into the depths of exploring Amy’s grief. I hope the Canadian Screen Award folks take notice, because this is some of the best acting I’ve ever seen from her. 

I’m looking forward to seeing what else is in store for us in Season 14, and hopefully beyond.

43 notes • Posted 2021-01-28 07:31:02 GMT

#2

See the full post

64 notes • Posted 2021-01-12 20:55:06 GMT

#1

Review: Heartland Ep. 1503 Bad Moon Rising

(A truncated version of this was posted on Facebook.) I feel like I'm still holding my breath after watching Ep. 1503 on Sunday. Episode writer Ken Craw left us with a bit of a cliffhanger when the credits started rolling on "Bad Moon Rising". It's not often that we get a touch of fear and dread on Heartland, but it's been building ever since the season began with the serial break-ins happening in Hudson. And now, our beloved family has fallen victim to the thieves, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The break-ins are still going on in Hudson, and everyone is on edge. Lisa convinces Jack to install a security system. He manages to do it with Parker’s help, but not without a few hiccups involving a destructive raccoon and a thirsty Lyndy who only wanted a night-time glass of milk. (If you didn’t immediately want to hug that poor kid when she accidentally tripped the motion sensors... way to go, Jack. You’ve probably traumatised your great-granddaughter for life.)

The second plot point is Amy lending a hand at Cooper's equine therapy centre ("Higher Ground"). It seems that on top of being super busy, his horse trainer up and quit on him. Amy has agreed to step in on short notice, but only until Cooper finds a real replacement. The current "busy-ness" is a gala Cooper's been planning to raise awareness for the centre.

For now, Cooper has six kids (teens, really) from a group home outside of Hudson. We soon learn the names of two of them: “Mac”, a scowly youth with his ubiquitous backwards ballcap, and “Logan”, a tall, lanky kid with an easy smile and a mop of curly hair. We soon also learn which one to trust, and which one to avoid — especially if we’re of the equine species. Third plot point: Paula Westfield is on the warpath over the break-ins. She nastily blames Cooper’s recent batch of kids for the unsolved crimes, and wants Lou to take action and shut down Higher Ground immediately. (Side note: it’s during their conversation we learn where Georgie’s been, which is Florida, training for a chance at the Olympics. The startled look on Paula’s face—and her attempt to be gracious about it when she totally wasn’t—was priceless.)

We don’t know what to believe about Cooper’s kids, but one of them (Mac) causes Challenge the horse to spook and react violently when Amy tries to pair them up. It’s Logan to the rescue, though. He jumps into the pen and gets between Challenge and Mac just as Amy rushes in to calm the horse. Belligerent Mac acts like he did nothing wrong, leaving Amy and Cooper at a loss as to what to do, since they don’t know what triggered Challenger. Lou tries to make good on her promise to Paula to check out the centre and OH MY GOSH! Is that Clint Riley?

Hi, again, Clint. It’s good to see you... maybe? It seems Clint is there because they’ve also received calls about the possibility Cooper’s kids could be involved in the break-ins. Cooper denies they could be, but neither Lou nor Clint would be doing their due diligence if they didn’t at least take a look.

While trying to get to the bottom of Challenge’s issues, Amy learns lanky Logan has a great instinct for horse behaviour. We also learn he’s reluctant to bond with any horse because he won’t be there long. His dad is coming to get him very soon Logan says, and they’re going to be reunited. (As viewers, we obviously sense this ain’t happening exactly the way Logan hopes it will.) As it happens, just as Logan says he’ll be outta there like *that*, he snaps his fingers, causing Challenge to spook. It’s the clue Amy’s been looking for: loud, unexpected noises are the trigger. Anyway, Amy is impressed with Logan’s natural ability with horses. He’s curious about how she gentled a wild horse like Challenge, so she takes him out to see the wild herd, and the splashy paint she wants to gentle for her stepmother, Jessica Cook.

(Side note: warm welcome to Drew Davis aka Logan. He’s already charmed his way into my heart with his easy-going manner and easy smile. I hope he gets more screen time as Logan is a very likeable character already.)

Paula accosts Lou again in her office, demanding to know what’s being done about Higher Ground. Her place was nearly broken into the night before, but the perpetrators were scared off by one of the grooms. She declares if Lou won’t take action, other people in her circle will (“pillars of the community”) and that the Centre is going down, and that Lou will probably go down with it. (Side note: Kate Drummond is so great in these scenes as Paula, you love to hate her. But the best—or worst, depending on your interpretation—from her is yet to come. More on that later...)

Lou learns Cooper’s Centre is in serious financial trouble. He’s pretty much pinning all his hopes on the success of the gala. He might be a great social worker, but he’s a lousy accountant. Lou offers to help him due to her business acumen, but things aren’t looking good.

Despite Amy’s work with Challenge, the horse still reacts negatively to Mac, a sign the horse might not be safe to remain at the Centre and be around kids. Logan is distressed about this, since Amy tells him she doesn’t know where the horse would end up, since he can’t go back to his herd. It doesn’t take long before we find out why Challenge reacts to Mac, and why he’s scared of loud noises. Mac has locked him up in a stall and has unleashed the full measure of his cruelty: he’s throwing bang snaps at Challenge, the gunpowder exploding and sending off sparks everywhere, while the other kids just stand around and do nothing. Logan angrily grabs Mac’s bag of “party favours” away; Mac accuses him of being a thief just like his father. That sends Logan back at him with a fist. Mac deflects the blow and scurries off, leaving Logan seething. The other kids slowly leave, and Logan is alone with Challenge. He gently releases the horse from the stall and walks him out back to the paddock. A much calmer Challenge seems to sense he’s got a friend in Logan.

Later, the whole Heartland household is all dressed up for the gala and waiting for Jack in the kitchen. Jack comes rushing in and pulls out his bolo tie from a box also containing an antique watch engraved with the initials “J.E.B”. Lisa comments she’s never seen the watch before and Lou asks why he never wears it; Jack makes light of it, saying it’s just a piece of metal before tossing it back into the box on the kitchen table. (Foreshadowing, anyone?)

The gala turns out to be a very swanky affair, attended by what looks to be a large contingent of Hudson high society, including (pro) Fairfield clients Lisa quietly called, and (con) Paula Westfield’s “pillars of the community” who are probably there to see Cooper’s dreams are crushed.

Cooper’s kids are also guests at the gala. Logan tries to tell Amy about Mac’s actions, but they’re interrupted. Meanwhile, the security system is being a pain with a pile of motion alerts being sent to Jack’s phone (rascally raccoons), so he decides on Lisa’s suggestion to just shot off the camera alerts. (Foreshadowing, anyone?)

All seems to be going okay for Cooper as he stands up to say a few words... until Paula interrupts and says a mouthful—a damning mouthful—about the “criminal element” the centre has brought in, since some of the kids have a juvenile record. Clint finally steps in to stop her, but the damage is done. Paula leaves, and several guests follow in her destructive wake.

You’d think things could not get worse, right? They do. Logan, having heard Paula’s accusations, confronts Mac, asking if he’s had anything to do with the robberies. Mac denies it; Logan says he doesn’t trust him. Mac needles him by referring to Logan’s soft spot for locked up animals—like his father. Logan loses it and hauls off with a punch that knocks Mac to the ground. Appalled, Amy and Cooper (and everyone else, really) can’t believe what they’re seeing. Logan blurts out that Mac’s been torturing Challenge.

With that, Emma Fitzroy, one of Cooper’s early donors and supporters, tells him she’s re-thinking her support after that disturbing display. It’s like the last nail in the coffin for Higher Ground, Cooper says. Lou, Clint, and Amy try to bolster his sinking spirits, but he can’t bear to hear about it right now.

You’d think things could not get worse even after this, right? Oh, they do.

Upon arriving at Heartland... The lights are out. The screen door is off its hinges. A window is broken. Remi is barking out on the porch at the door. Lou pulls up next to the truck in the SUV and Amy’s on the phone to the police. Lisa begs for Jack’s phone so she can see when the break-in happened, except... when he tried to turn off the camera alerts, he turned off the whole system. Jack grabs a tire iron from the truck, and demands Lisa stay back. Inside the house, it’s a disaster zone. Thoroughly ransacked. And the thieves are long gone. Jack looks like he’s on the verge of tears at this violation. Cut to credits.

I have so many thoughts about this episode that I’ll probably share as the week progresses, but for now I can say I’m still really uneasy about how absolutely trashed the ranch house was, and how upset I am at Paula Westfield’s audacity. She’s ruined Cooper with her accusations.

It’s also a foregone conclusion Jack’s watch is gone. Despite his lack of sentimentality when Lisa and Lou commented on it, there’s got to be something more to it. Jack Bartlett, after all these years, you continue to surprise us.

Ken Craw really left nothing on the table with this one. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. But Heartland being Heartland, I await the happy resolution to this. 

73 notes • Posted 2021-11-03 07:07:45 GMT

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[gtccollectionstories]

A Wedding Quilt from a “Below Stairs” Romance

A small white silk hexagon forms the central piece of this patchwork wedding quilt top which was donated to the Collection in 2005. It is printed with the words “SAMUEL MILTON MARRIED TO SARAH SAGE ON JANUARY, 30TH 1868”. Very typical of the printed silk inserts used in greetings cards of the time, it may be from one of their wedding invitations. According to the Accession Register entry, the quilt was bought in the Devon/Cornwall area in 1993.

The quilt top is large and virtually square at 268cm by 261cm. The patches are cut predominantly from multi-coloured silks with some cottons. The concentric rings around the central hexagon consist of flower-like groups joined together.

Having the names of both the bride, groom and a wedding date, it was quite easy to find them in the public records. Sarah Sage, aged 37yrs, married Samuel Milton, 40, on 30th January 1868, at the Parish Church in the small village of Colaton Raleigh, Devon.

The marriage register entry shows that Samuel was the son of John Milton, labourer and Sarah the daughter of Thomas Sage, farmer. Samuel’s occupation is listed as a servant and he is resident in Bovey Tracey. Sarah is listed as a lace maker, resident in Colaton Raleigh.

Looking back into the census returns in 1841 aged 10, Sarah is listed as the eldest of 5 children of Thomas and Mira Sage at Blackberry Farm, Colaton Raleigh.

By 1851, the family had moved to Springles Farm. Her father now the farmer of 10 acres, assisted by his sons, Mark, 16, and Mathew, 14. Sarah, unmarried and aged 20, is listed as a Farmer’s Daughter, and she would have helped her mother on the farm.

By the 1861 census, Sarah appears on the returns for the Divett family at Bystock House, Colaton Raleigh. She is employed there as an under housemaid, with Samuel Milton the coachman – so this is where they presumably met and where their romance began.  

The Divett household was large with a total of nine servants including a butler, housekeeper, cook, governess and nurse, plus a gardener living in Bystock Cottage. The Divetts were an important local family. Samuel and Sarah’s employer, Edward Divett (1797-1864) was the Liberal MP for Exeter from 1832-1864. He was a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant for Devon and the Chairman of the South Australian Banking and Land Company. He had married Ann Ross in 1836 and they had six children.

Edward had inherited Bystock and its large estate on the death of his father in 1819. In 1838, Bystock was described as “one of the prettiest seats in the south-east of Devon” with “a well wooded park and beautiful gardens”. It had beautiful views of the coast from Torbay to Exmouth. 1

Ann Divett died in 1856, and Edward died in 1864, aged 67yrs, at which time Samuel and Sarah would likely have lost their jobs. The marriage register entry indicates that whereas Samuel was living and working as a servant in the Bovey Tracey area, Sarah appeared to have returned to the family home in Colaton Raleigh, turning her hand to lacemaking to provide herself with an income. The village is to the west of Sidmouth, and the well-known lacemaking centre of Honiton is less than ten miles to the north.

We have many pieces of Honiton lace in the Collection. It is characterised by floral motifs (especially roses) with leaves and sprays and…

“...the almost invariable use of ornamental fillings consisting of a network of tiny squares or rectangles. These easily recognised fillings are frequently found in the centres of flowers which remained the favourite motifs for Honiton lace throughout the century.  The flowers are generally executed in a simple, rather naïve style...”                                                                             (Wardle, P137) 2   

A Honiton lace cuff, showing the floral motifs and fillings

When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840, she had insisted on using British made goods for the occasion. She commissioned Honiton lace for her wedding dress and veil and her patronage made the lace very fashionable and in demand. The wedding dress can be seen in the Royal Collection here:

https://www.rct.uk/collection/71975/queen-victorias-wedding-dress

Throughout the 1850s, Honiton lace remained popular for wedding and bonnet veils, borders, berthas, collars, cuffs and lappets. However by the 1860s, the quality and design of the lace had started to deteriorate:

“On the one hand there were a small number of very skilled workers, capable of producing the finest types of lace, and these pieces were expressly for royal orders; on the other were the majority of workers who were content to turn out lace of moderate or poor quality for which there was a steady market…

                                                                                                     (Wardle P.149)

Unfortunately, we have no examples of the lace that Sarah made to know how skilled she was.

Continuing Sarah and Samuel’s story after their marriage, in 1871 they are living in John Street, St Sidwell, Exeter and Samuel is once again listed as a servant. Then we find the birth of a son, John Thomas Milton in 1872.

In 1881, now living at Little Clifton Street in Exeter, Samuel is an agricultural labourer and John Thomas aged 9, a scholar. By 1891 in Clifton Street, St Sidwell, Exeter, Samuel is a coach builder’s labourer and John Thomas, 19, is a baker.  

Sarah died in 1894 aged 64yrs and Samuel two years later in 1896, aged 68; both deaths were registered in the Exeter district. I have been unable to trace their son, John Thomas.

But once again, a small piece of fabric has unlocked a fascinating real-life story behind an item in the Collection.

Jane H

REFERENCES:-

1.  Devon Gardens Trust website  https://devongardenstrust.org.uk/gardens/bystock-court  Includes a print of Bystock House, which (judging by the costume) may be about the same time that Sarah and Samuel were working there.

2. Victorian Lace – Patricia Wardle, 1992 (2nd Edition)

[simonefmp]

1. Your Final Major Project

What is the title of  your Project? What do you aim to produce? How does this relate to your work  and ideas from your programme so far and how does it extend your knowledge,  understanding and creative ability?

(guide: 150 words)

‘Exploring the self  through history of arts iconography’. I aim to produce work that explores  ‘the self’. Specifically, the attributes one wishes to project, as well as  those that one would like to conceal. I plan on achieving this through a visual  conversation, using iconography in art ranging from ancient to modern. I am  intrigued by and intend to use and play with the symbolism of these objects,  poses, and backgrounds; in order to gather a greater understanding of ‘the  self’. I will be continuing to world build which I plan to execute through  various forms of portraiture. Recommencing my exploration of narratives  through surreal and playful imagery to embody a reality. I expect this to  extend my knowledge of symbolism in the visual world, my understanding of  myself and others, and to push my creative ability by using traditional  imagery in a current, relevant, and honest way for myself and subject matter.

2. Influences, Research, Sources and Ideas

What are your  influences, starting points and contextual references and how are they  relevant to your ideas? What subject areas do you intend to research and what  are the likely sources of information (media sources, museums, specific  locations, performances, etc.) you plan to use? You do not need an extensive  list in this section, but include your bibliography in the Appendix, clearly  identifying all references including texts, periodicals, websites, etc.  

(guide: 150 words)

My initial artistic  influences are Tim Walker because of his exuberant world building using  sculpture and set, Cindy Sherman due to her creation of narratives and  character through costume and prosthetics, and William Blake owing to his  narrative work in which his own iconography was created, as I intend to also  do.

Potent symbolic imagery  such as in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly delights, and folkloric work  of the medieval period for example ‘the unicorn tapestries’.  Are relevant to my exploration of ‘the  self’ through symbolism and dream like world building. Through Academic  references, books, documentaries, exhibitions, films, and gallery spaces I intend  to research into visual iconography, religion, and gender. To enrich my  knowledge and in doing so be able to create works not only symbolising ‘the  self’ but having a conversation of what the subject’s self represents currently  and historically. Hopefully exploring, gender, ‘morality’, religion, myth,  and lore.

3. Techniques, Processes and Timescale

What techniques and  processes do you intend to use? Describe the range of media and materials  relevant to your project and how you may use them to explore and develop your  ideas. Include aspects of studio practice, workshop procedures, or the use of  particular equipment and software. Give an indicative timescale for your  project and how you intend to plan your time in order to investigate,  develop, produce and evaluate your project fully. This could be a daily or  weekly schedule.  (Please attach at the  end of this form.)

(guide: 150 words)

I intend to use the  studio photography room when creating film and photographic portraiture, so I  can utilise the set lighting and take clear pictures to enhance the scene created.  This will give me the freedom to explore different compositions and see how  that effects the portrayal of ‘the self’. The objects I plan on creating to build  these iconography based narratives will vary in material. I will make ceramic  glazed sculpture to enhance the attributes of the certain objects, for  example a pearl. I will use screen-printing to experiment with the images I  have created, this medium will allow for a discussion with colour and sizing.  Painting set backgrounds will allow for explorations into landscape  iconography. The use of film with allow me to create a narrative not only  through sculpture but a moving story with them. Using mud rock will enable me  to play with size and create wearable work. Perfect for my dream-like world building.

 4.  Method of Evaluation

How will you critically  review and analyse your work and determine if it is successful? How will you  identify directions for ongoing development? Do you have a method to record  the critical response to your ideas? How do you propose to assess the success  of your Final Major Project and what will be your methods of evaluation?

(guide: 100 words)

I will critically review  my work by continuously evaluating it, seeing if I have pushed it and myself  to its fullest potential, visually and conceptually. Analysing it through its  relevance, contextual, and visual strengths, realises successes and flaws and  building upon them. The direction for my ongoing development will be  identified by my interests in research and what media I find works well with  my concepts. Continually evaluating the relevance of concept, context and  material. Responses to my work and ideas will be found in tutorials and peer  evaluations, which I will seek out weekly. This important information will be  kept in my sketchbooks and blog. I plan to assess the success of my final  major project by reflecting on all my work and writing an evaluation.

5. Appendix

Include an appendix for  the bibliography and any other relevant material for your Final Major  Project.

Compile an accurate bibliography before starting your  project, that correctly acknowledges all references including texts, books,  websites, magazines, films, documentaries, museums that you will study for  initial research on your project.

 1. Gibson, W. S. (1973). Hieronymus Bosch and the Mirror of  Man: The Authorship and Iconography of the" Tabletop of the Seven Deadly  Sins". Oud Holland, 205-226.

2. Gibson, W. S. (1973). The Garden of Earthly Delights by  Hieronymus Bosch: The Iconography of the Central Panel. Netherlands  Yearbook for History of Art/Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek Online, 24(1),  1-26.

3. Marrow, J. H. (1986). Symbol and meaning in northern European  art of the late middle ages and the early Renaissance. Simiolus:  Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, 16(2/3),  150-169.

5. Bragg, B. (2019). Advertising Antiquity: The Cultural  Utility Images Of Antiquity Enjoy In The Commercial Lexicon. Plan II  Honors Theses-Openly Available.

6. Wardle, J. (1978). Blake and iconography: analogues of  Urizen and Vala. Colby Quarterly, 14(3), 4.

7. Cosgrove, D., & Daniels, S. (Eds.). (1988). The  iconography of landscape: essays on the symbolic representation, design and  use of past environments (Vol. 9). Cambridge University Press.

8. " Holland, N. N. (1959). " The Seventh  Seal": The Film as Iconography. The Hudson Review, 12(2),  266-270.

9. Straten, R. V. (1994). An Introduction to Iconography:  Symbols, Allusions and Meaning in the Visual Arts.

10. Kosmopoulou, A., & Templer, W. (2002). The  iconography of sculptured statue bases in the Archaic and Classical periods.  Univ of Wisconsin Press.

11. Easton, M. (2012). FEMINISM. Studies in  Iconography, 33, 99-112.

12 Cohen, S. (2014). Review Essay: Animal Imagery in  Renaissance Art. Renaissance Quarterly, 67(1),  164-180.

13. Cavallo, A. S. (1998). The unicorn tapestries  at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan museum of art.

14. Janick, J. (2010). Plant Iconography and Art: Source of  Information on Horticultural Technology. Bulletin of the University  of Agricultural Sciences & Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. Horticulture, 67(1).

  Week 1  Lots of research  in order to build a foundation of knowledge. Experimental work in reaction to  research. Using sketchbook as well as blog to record every thought, experiment,  relevant conisation and piece of research.

Week 2  Continuing  research; I plan to have completed reading most of my academic references by  the end of the week. Documenting and experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I  will start to build large scale sculptures in accordance with iconography of  objects I connect to.

Week 3  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I will have researched into the  iconography of poses, the body, and landscape and will make costumes and set  backgrounds in accordance with my research and experimentations.

Week 4  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I will go do a workshop on ceramics and  go into the ceramic studio and experiment and create objects relevant to the  media.

Week 5  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog.  I will use the photography studio to  experiment in creating portraits using people and my props. I will go into the  dark room to experiment with the images produced. Working towards a final  outcome. I will experiment with film.

Week 6  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I will do a course in screen printing  and experiment with previous images created in the photography studio as well  as creating new work. Working towards a final outcome

Week 7  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I will be finishing my final project

Week 8  finishing touches  on work, continuing to document, finishing, handing in work.

[screengrabba]

‘THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS’ Review: Should Ethics Be Compromised for the ‘Greater Good’?

"It’s a little darker than a Disney movie.”

“Anybody could just walk around the corner and discover that [they] have a twin out there.” Though it comes at the film’s end, this final line of dialogue deeply transformed my entire viewing experience of Three Identical Strangers, from one filled with undeniable and complete empathy to one that was invasively personal, and nearly suffocating. More than evoking empathy, however, this powerful statement essentially frames the provocativeness that this film embodies by questioning one’s previously established beliefs on who or what should be sacrificed for the benefit of all.  

The greatest element of Three Identical Strangers is its intentional and intelligent narrative, that is how director Tim Wardle decides to tell the story of identical triplets Bobby Shafran, David Kellman, and Eddy Galland reuniting after being separated at birth only to eventually be torn apart by the very same cause that separated them in the first place-- an experiment which studied whether nature or nurture matters most in human development. 

In three distinct acts, audiences are literally taken along the triplets’ intimate journey as each new piece of information is presented to viewers in much of the same, linear way it was presented to the three brothers; we rejoice with them when they finally meet up with each other for the first time, we laugh with them as they discover their uncanny similarities, we scratch our heads in angry frustration along them as they question the motives of their adoption agency, and so on. This manner of linear storytelling, combined with the pacing of the documentary as a whole, enables even the most distracted and unsympathetic viewers to remain wholly engaged as they're forced deep into the catacombs of their emotions-- and only deeper into them as the story progresses.

Considering the undeniable immorality of the twin experiment, it is the seeming utter lack of empathy displayed by previous research assistants of the study, specifically Natasha Josefowitz, that affected me just as well. Josefowitz, a small but sprightly woman of 90 years, is introduced to viewers as she walks along her sunny beachfront home. She proudly shows off her array of prized possessions-- framed photographs of her and highly revered celebrities and political figures and several art pieces by Pablo Picasso-- before she impatiently asks the filmmakers, “When are we going to talk about the twin study?” Her joy and simultaneous indifference stands in stark contrast to the previous images we see of Bobby and David, who are distraught and heartbroken in talking about their and their brother’s estrangement and its detrimental effects that came at the cost of scientific advancement. I was almost personally offended on behalf of the triplets at this woman’s reaction, which, to me, felt like sociopathic disassociation. (Author’s Note: I recognize that my anger may be misdirected as she wasn’t in charge of this experiment, but Josefowitz for me represents the researchers and supporters of the study who remain unbothered by the damages the study itself has had on its subjects).

It’s hard for me to consider that the ethics of the 1950s are vastly different in comparison to the ethics of our present time. Still, it’s one thing for someone to recognize how ethical differences can change with time and adjust their feelings accordingly; it’s another thing for someone to recognize this difference and not care anyway. Natasha Josefowitz starts off her interview by saying she wasn’t a main researcher on the twin study, then defends the study by stating that the advent of psychology was more prominent than ethical concerns. Most disturbing of all, she attributes any anger someone may have upon discovering the experiment or its findings to people feeling upset about “how little influence they have, how little control they have.” She seems to remain unflinching at the fact that her shared mentality caused the destruction of the beautiful and potentially long-lasting familial relationship.

While it may actually be upsetting to some to find out that there’s some aspects of their lives that they can’t control, it’s more upsetting to me that multiple families and numerous relationships have had to suffer for the purposes of that very discovery. Bobby, David, Eddy, and all who knew them or their story may have been naive by only focusing on the phenomenal and heartwarming similarities they shared, but it was cruel and immoral for the researchers of the twin experiment to lust after their differences.

[petalpetal]

About the discussion over what kind of style of art we'd like to see, I would love to see some more artwork that are similar to Arthur Wardle's piece called 'A Fairy Tale.' I only happened to stumble upon it, and it has become one of my most favorite pieces of art.

i check out the piece and it looks very much like pre raphaelite art 

i’ve done some pre raphaelite artist but I can do some more

[allthefilmsiveseenforfree]

Three Identical Strangers

I’m not a big documentary gal. I guess I’ve always been drawn to fiction because the world is big and scary and I like knowing I can escape from it. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to enjoy more things of the “truth is stranger than fiction” variety, probably because my country is a literal game show now and we’re all losers. As soon as I saw the trailer for this documentary, I was hooked. Three Identical Strangers is the story of Robert Shafran, Eddy Galland, and David Kellman - three identical triplets born in 1961 who were separated at birth and raised by three different families and were reunited by chance when they were 19. That story is wild enough as it is; it’s a heartwarming and offbeat human interest story with a feel-good ending. But the purpose of the documentary is to dig further into the story, to figure out why these triplets were separated at birth in the first place. And that’s where shit gets wild. How wild? Well...

The brothers were separated at the discretion of the adoption agency their respective parents used, Louise Wise, a Jewish adoption agency in New York. They claimed no family would want to take three babies at one time, so they split them up to ease placement. Which, like, early 60s ideas about children and child development, ok I can see that. I just assume every decision made in 1961 was to get you closer to a martini and a cigarette. This first section of the film in which the brothers reunite and the mystery of their separation is first addressed is non-stop action. One revelation after another, it leaves you almost giddy at the joy we see in archival footage of all three boys, 19 years old, deliriously happy and with the world at their fingertips. You’re so bowled over by the joy, it’s hard to focus on “well, why did this happen, though?” Filmmaker Tim Wardle does an excellent job of leading us, bit by bit, into darker, more disturbing territory, though. As their tale progresses, an extreme debate of nature vs. nurture emerges, with horrific consequences. By the end of the film, the full scope of what happened to the triplets emerges, and it’s so shockingly, desperately sad that it’s hard to remember that reckless joy from the first 30 minutes of the film. It’s a deft piece of documentary filmmaking from Wardle, and my biggest hope is that it brings the brothers some catharsis and peace after all they went through.

Some thoughts:

The thing I most appreciated about this as a documentary was its clear vision for how to carefully lay out this absolutely bonkers, larger-than-life story. Too many documentaries are meandering affairs, or start as one thing but turn into another along the way without adequate care. Wardle does an excellent job laying out breadcrumbs, developing themes, and letting the story breathe. Really, really well done.

All of the archival footage of the triplets - and there’s a lot - is such a joy to watch, but the home movies of Eddy in particular feel like even more of a treasure. Getting to see the boys outside of the spotlight but still living their lives together gives a better sense of perspective of how much they lost by being apart for 19 years.

The triplets also have a brief cameo in Desperately Seeking Susan, which I have never seen but now must rent immediately just for the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

In spite of the dark territory it wades into, the movie is surprisingly funny. David especially is a loud, boisterous storyteller, and his anecdotes provide some of the biggest laughs.

For some of the early events, Wardle creates these sort of faceless reenactments - people dressed in c. 1980 clothing but we can only see the backs of their heads as they walk through the college campus where Bobby went to school and was confused for Eddy. We get to live that experience as Bobby, and follow him as he goes to meet Eddy for the first time, but you never see the reenactor’s face. It’s a neat trick - many of the documentaries I’ve seen recently use animation to portray these kinds of early memories, but I liked the visceral immediacy of this tactic. There’s not a flawless way to pull off this particular challenge in any documentary, I don’t think, but this came the closest for me. 

I would have paid so much money to go to the NYC restaurant the brothers opened, called Triplets. 

This is without a doubt the most compelling documentary I’ve seen this year, and maybe in my life (keep in mind, I don’t watch a ton of them, so y’know, grain of salt). The story of these brothers will stay with me for a long time, and I hope that this film will give them a version of peace that their lives have been missing for some time.

[caitlindowdart]

'Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Sea, Rock, Earth and Ice'. Sheffield Graves Gallery

What can you tell us about Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s exhibition at the Jerwood Gallery, Hastings?

The show at the Jerwood in Hastings takes as its starting point a work from their permanent collection titled, ‘Winter Landscape’ 1952. This is an important transitionary work between Barns-Graham’s important ‘Glacier’ series of works begun in 1949 and a later group from the early-50s, which looked more at the structure of cliff and rock features in Cornwall. Curated by Jerwood Collections' Lara Wardle, the exhibition overall focuses on Barns-Graham’s fascination with the forms and forces found in nature.   

What is it that drew Barns-Graham to depictions of nature, both abstract and representational?

Barns-Graham felt a strong affinity to the landscape and the elements within it from an early age. Being out in nature, be it in Scotland, Cornwall or travelling abroad, was for her a way of finding shapes and forms which could be assimilated into her practice. The landscapes were full of discoveries and her drawings were a notation of these discoveries, to later inform her imagination. She regarded drawings from nature as exercises, as much perceptual as conceptual. She had no problem with working with both figurative and abstract approaches simultaneously. 

This same exhibition, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Sea, Rock, Earth and Ice, will then be moving to Graves Art Gallery in Sheffield, 8 December 2018, supplemented with further paintings and drawings. How might these additions change and enhance the exhibition?

Because Graves Art Gallery has more available space for the exhibition, we were able to select an additional group of works that look at the same themes addressed at the Jerwood, but in more depth and at a larger scale, demonstrating a broader range of her stylistic approaches. Included at the Graves, for example, will be the important painting ‘Cliff Face’ 1952, which couldn’t be accommodated at the Jerwood.

Do you have favourite piece from any of these exhibitions?

It’s very hard to choose from the strong group of works in the exhibition, however, if I had to pick one, it would be ‘Clay Workings, Chiusure’ 1954. Using simple brown tones of ink and wash, it is a remarkably sophisticated and multi-faceted depiction of a specific place, perfectly exemplifying her fascination with underlying structures in nature.

There are many further events and exhibitions happening in 2018 and on into 2019. What are your highlights?

While Wilhelmina Barns-Graham: Sea, Rock, Earth and Ice at the Jerwood and then in Sheffield is our main public gallery exhibition for 2018, we also have a substantial group of works being shown in The Art of Collecting at the Mall Galleries 27 June - 4 July, as well as selling exhibitions coming up at Gallagher & Turner in Newcastle upon Tyne and The Watermill in Aberfeldy in September. We’re also delighted that in August a group of late Barns-Graham works will go on display at the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood.  

Barns-Graham spent much of her time in Cornwall, and is associated with those from the School of St Ives. What was the importance of St Ives to Barns-Graham?

Barns-Graham was recommended initially to go to Cornwall by the then head of Edinburgh College of Art, Hubert Wellington. Arriving in 1940 she found her way into what was still a relatively small modernist art community of artists with whom she felt a kindred spirit. In the following years she established her own voice within this community, playing a central part to its existence. Clearly the up and down interactions between the artists provided a stimulating milieu, though times were hard for many of them. Inheriting a house near St Andrews in 1960, sharing her time there often gave respite from the intensity of the community, but she always considered St Ives as her primary artistic home.

Establishing herself as a name in Edinburgh and London, in her later years she added the new medium of screen-prints to her work. What led to this development and how, over the years, did her work change?

Barns-Graham had been approached by Kip Gresham (Curwen Studio) around 1990-91 to work with him on making screenprints, which she did successfully, but without being entirely satisfied with the process. She went on to make a small number of prints elsewhere, by invitation, at Dundee Printmakers Workshop and Porthmeor Printmakers, St Ives. In 1998 she was then introduced to Carol Robertson and Robert Adam who had set up their own studio, Graal Press, after leaving Edinburgh Printmakers. After cautious beginnings it was clear that Carol, in specialising in the use of water-based screen-printing inks, was able to offer something very new which excited Barns-Graham. This complimented her work in other media while the collaboration with Carol provided her with a freedom to experiment in new ways. Printing and painting were to feed off each other.

Being a Scot, when Barns-Graham was awarded a CBE in 2001, she wore tartan. What of her Scottish heritage might you be able to see in her artworks, if any at all?

Barns-Graham was very proud of her Scottish heritage. This was of course reinforced when she inherited Balmungo House outside St Andrews, which led to her spending more time in Scotland. Studying at Edinburgh College of Art (1931-37) was crucial to the development of her art, both in her use of colour (for which Scottish art is so well recognised) and, of equal importance, drawing, which was a key element of her training and which played such a vital role her life as an artist. The early influence of her teachers – (Sir) William Gillies and Johnny Maxwell are clear to see in this, while S.J. Peploe and (Sir) William MacTaggart taught her painting. 

What made the Trust decide to join Artimage, and what have been the greatest benefits?

One of the main functions of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust is to work to enhance the reputation and understanding of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham as one of Britain’s most significant 20th century artists. An important part of this is to ensure that we make images of her works from across her long career as widely visible and accessible as possible. Artimage can play an important role in this.

[rogersip]

JD Sports, Tessuti, Tessuti, and JD Gyms

Founded in 1983, JD Sports has a large portfolio of products, both online and in-store. In addition to its gym equipment and sportswear, the company also offers a wide range of fitness-related services. The brand's multichannel approach to retailing has helped it to achieve significant success in the United Kingdom. As the company continues to grow, its presence is expanding abroad, too.

Founded in 1983

The year 1983 was a historic one. Space missions were being launched by the likes of NASA and the Soviet Space program, the IRA was causing problems in the UK and the video game industry was still a fledgling. This was also the decade when the internet was being born. During this time, the one of the first large scale commercial BIOS was developed by Phoenix and the first commercially available tape drive was the QIC standard.

A few months later, in January of 1984, the neophyte Rich Linton applied IBM technology to Snyder Irrigation and launched the company's first irrigation system. During this period, Rich did not have a big budget, but had a clear objective: to produce the next big thing in the world of agriculture.

Stores in the United Kingdom

JD Sports is the largest sports fashion retailer in the UK. It has a presence in over 900 stores worldwide and a strong online presence. It offers a wide range of brands, including Nike, Puma, Adidas and Converse. The company's flagship store is located in Bury, Greater Manchester.

JD Sports was founded in 1981 by John Wardle and David Makin. Initially the sportswear specialist focused on providing a range of sporting equipment, but it soon diversified to sports fashions.

In the early 1990s, the JD Sports store chain expanded its retail network. It acquired branded stores in Asia, Europe and North America. By the end of the decade, the number of stores grew to 149.

Multichannel retailing

JD Sports is one of the leading multichannel retailing companies in the world. With over 850 stores in 19 countries, the company sells branded sportswear, trainers, casual wear and leisurewear. The company also provides a full range of fitness equipment at affordable prices.

JD Sports is a leader in the sports industry, and has earned a reputation for high quality and innovation. Using its expertise, the retailer offers a seamless shopping experience across all channels.

The company has made several important acquisitions. One of the first was its purchase of sportswear retailer DLTR in February. This was a key element of its expansion plan.

Tessuti

Tessuti is a clothing chain with stores across the United Kingdom. It provides designer collections for both men and women. In addition to clothes, the store offers a range of accessories such as t-shirts and hoodies.

The company has grown in popularity throughout the UK. It also operates a web presence. This has allowed the company to develop a reputation as a 'one stop shop' for the consumer.

A number of other retailers are also part of the JD Sports Fashion portfolio. These include Finish Line, Originals, Go Outdoors, Chausport, Sports Zone, Footpatrol, Scotts and Size.

Tessuti has also become a key part of the strategy of the JD Sports PLC. In November 2015, the company acquired premium menswear brand Infinities and retail business Aspecto. After purchasing these brands, JD Sports Fashion rebranded them under the Tessuti name.

JD Gyms

It may be surprising to learn that JD Gyms is actually a spin off of the JD Sports fashion brand. The name may be a mouthful, but the high end fitness center has been making waves in East Lancashire for a while now. There are currently four sites in the region: Bolton, Preston, Thornton-Cleveleys, and Rochdale. Some of the latest additions include a 20,000 square foot facility in Burnley. One of the first in the area, this gym will boast hundreds of pieces of high tech equipment. In addition to a ladies only gym area, there will be saunas in the changing rooms.

App

The JD Sports App has a lot of functions. From checking out the latest sportswear to finding out which stores have the best deals, it's a one stop shop for the most up to date information. But you might have to go through a few steps before you actually see the full benefits.

First of all, you'll need to make sure you have a stable mobile connection. If you aren't, you might have trouble loading the app, or you may have to restart it. That's not to say you can't use the app, but you may have to wait a while before you're ready to buy.

[writtingclass-blog]

“There is more than one story about writing”

        When crafting a textbook to be used for college writing classes, Wardle and Downs attempted to include everyone's perspective by expressing the varying different literacy sponsors through writing and a compilation of articles addressing the same topic. They address that students may have had bad, some even traumatic, experiences with writing in an educational setting. By pulling in personal memoirs such as “Learning to Read” by  Malcolm X and “Only Daughter” by Cisneros, the reader experiences a deeply personal look at how gender, race and socioeconomic backgrounds are the general sponsors of literacy. Through the academic piece written by Deborah Brandt, “Sponsors of Literacy”, the reader is expressly told that it is in fact true: gender, race and socioeconomic backgrounds are the sponsors of literacy. There is one other sponsor they do not explicitly explain but it is rooted in every experience: interpersonal relations. For most of the population this holds true, it can be applied to everyone, these sponsors affected even you. Yet it is false that these are the only sponsors of literacy.  Warble and Downs excluded students with learning differences (LD’s).  Learning differences are both a sponsor of literacy and affect ones literacy learning. For people with learning differences, Wardle and Downs are further ostracizing them from main stream education and culture by excluding them from this “inclusive” textbook.  

          In chapter one of Wardle and Downs textbook “Writing about Writing” they warm the reader up by explaining that writing and reading is how the entire world operates. It is everywhere and in everything we do, they explain this by listing of daily experiences you have with writing and literacy without even realizing. They list off things like texting, road signs and the obvious school writing. They lead up to their main point “There is more than one story about writing”(pg. 3). Later in the chapter they give in depth examples as to how you may have been negatively affected by the educational system and external factors that went into it. “But if we come from an immigrant family, and our parents speak, for example, Spanish or Portuguese, and we had no books written in English at home, we likely started school without the literacy experiences that teachers expect, speaking and writing with an accent that set us apart” (pg. 9). It is clear to me that Wardle and Downs put a great deal of effort into creating an inclusive textbook. Coming from California, a place with a large immigration population particularly with San Francisco being a safe haven city, I was surrounded by kids who were coming from these atypical homes, primarily due to english not being a first language. 

     My friends who fit this category I am sure would be more open to this text because they felt included, someone took the time to acknowledge their experience.  

     Deborah Brandt re-emphasises the concept that these particular literacy sponsors are the only sponsors. She writes in her essay “Sponsorship and the Rise in Literacy Standards”, “I have been attempting to argue, literacy as a resource becomes available to ordinary people largely through the meditations of more powerful sponsors. These sponsors are engaged  in ceaseless processes of positioning and repositioning, seizing and relinquishing control over meanings and materials of literacy as part of their participation in economic and political competition”(81).This quote re-emphasizes that a sponsor can be both positive or negative but in the end it all relates back to economics and politics. Earlier in Deborah Brandt’s article,“Sponsors of Literacy”, she recounts a study she did of Dora Lopez and Raymond Branch. She focuses on the different experiences they have largely based on race and economic background. These two kids live in the same town yet, Dora Lopez partially struggles with her literacies because she is bilingual and has immigrant parents.

      My personal experience with literacy sponsors has been one deeply rooted with dyslexia. As a child I was made to read books at a beginner level (BOB Books) until second grade. By this point I hated reading, writing, and everything things involved in the process. I was primarily bored of being made to read books that were designed for, cognitively, a much younger audience. There was a rule that if you missed four words on one page, the book was above your reading level. As someone with dyslexia I am capable of missing a word in every sentence, however I still understand the content. As of today, as a college student, this still happens to me. I was extremely lucky because my mother had dyslexia and was able to see that I too was struggling with it. From an early age she was able to provide me the tools to be successful in school. This ranged from teaching me self advocacy, to tutors that gave me skills to work around some of the issues I experienced with dyslexia. 

       A lot of people are only aware of dyslexia being “the thing where you flip letters?” so I have included this to give a little bit more of an insight into what dyslexia looks like for some people. 

      Students with learning differences specifically dyslexia tend to be pushed to the side, the teacher needs to teach to the majority of the room. Yet public schools have integrated english as a second language literacy programs into schools. The number of students with learning differences in public education is around 6.7 million. This number excludes the kids who have not been tested or that have the privilege of attending a private school where their accommodations are better met. The number of bilingual students is only  roughly 1.2 million. Wardle and Downs manage to look at the experiences of  bilingual students in public education, they even chose to include Deborah Brandt’s study about Dora Lopez and her experience and disadvantages from being form a home that was atypical.

      Seeing kids continued to be marginalized for things that they can not control is, as Warble and Downs have said, not fare. “There is more than one story about writing” and to create a text claiming to examine and bridge the bounds of these different literacy experience yet leave out LD’s is perpetuating the toxic learning environments of mainstream education that both authors passively rail against.

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

Whumptober 2021

Prompt #4: Taken hostage

“One step closer and I’ll kill her!”

“No, you won’t.” Hands raised, face outwardly calm, Cormoran took another step forward. “You want her. If you shoot her, you’ll have nothing left.”

Robin suppressed a frightened gasp as her abductor pressed the muzzle of the gun harder against her temple. She could feel him tremble against her back, almost twitching with nerves. He was reeking of flop sweat, his arm around her too tight.

“Stay back!” the man shrieked at Strike, still moving towards them, his boots crunching loudly on the grit of the nightly shipyard.

“Stay back or I’ll shoot you both!”

“You won’t,” Strike bellowed. “She’s the love of your life. That’s what you said, right? You can’t kill her!”

He took another step.

“But go ahead, shoot me! Because I’ll break your fuckin’ neck if you touch her.”

This time, Robin gasped audibly.

What the hell was Strike doing?

Mason d’Aubrey was crazy. He’d murdered two people in cold blood, and she had no doubt he was capable of killing more. Especially a six foot three tall, determined looking ex-SIB coming directly at him.

“No! Cormoran, stop! He’s going to-“

D’Aubrey’s gun went off right beside her ear. The noise and pain almost whited out her vision. Through the haziness, she saw Strike stumble backwards, arms flailing. Then he fell.

Noooo!

For some reason, d’Aubrey’s arm disappeared around her and he, too, dropped to the ground. His forehead had a hole in it, and the back of his head was gone.

“Strike! Strike!”

Ears ringing, Robin stumbled to her partner, lifeless on the ground, arms spread-eagle. She barely registered Wardle who’d stepped out behind a container, gun in hand.

“Cormoran!”

She dropped to her knees, her eyes searching for blood on Strike’s still body, her hands flipping his coat open to look for the wound.

Oh God, please, no-

There was a round, perfect hole in his jumper, right in the middle of his chest.

Robin’s blood ran cold. Her heart beat in her throat. Her fingers flew to Strike’s neck, trembling, searching for a pulse.

Please…!

He moved.

With a deep groan that sounded distorted in Robin’s still-ringing right ear, he rolled his head and blinked his eyes open.

“Ow…!”

His hand went to his chest.

Robin, between shock and relief, caught his hand in hers.

“Don’t! Stay still, you’ve been shot.”

“He hasn’t.”

Wardle appeared beside her, casually tucking his gun away.

“At least not really.” He leaned over Strike. “You alright, big guy?”

“What…?”

Confused, Robin stared at Cormoran as he gingerly sat up, wincing and taking laboured breaths. He fumbled at his jumper and managed to pull it up a little.

Robin gasped when she saw what was underneath it.

“A bullet-proof vest?!”

“Yeah,” Strike said hoarsely. “Now would you please help me get this thing off of me? I can’t breathe.”

Wardle stepped in, expertly reaching under Strike’s layers to release the velcro straps and pull the vest out from under his clothes. Robin had dropped to both knees, the adrenaline in her system burning out to leave her exhausted - and angry.

“Are you insane?!” She yelled at Strike.

He looked up at her, his face a mixture of pain, surprise and guilt.

“It was his idea, really.” He pointed at Wardle.

The DI shrugged his shoulders. “We had to distract him. Had to get him to take the gun away from your head. Give me a window to shoot.” He shrugged again. “It worked.”

“Unbelievable.” Robin was furious. She wanted to both slap Wardle, and then Strike, and then hug the latter and not let go. She did neither.

“Let me see this.” Pushing up his jumper and the t-shirt underneath, she inspected the deep bruise that was forming on Strike’s ribcage. When she palpated it, he flinched.

“Ow!”

“Oh, come on, Gooner, it can’t be that bad! He hit you from miles away.” Wardle rolled his eyes.

In reality, d’Aubrey’s body was lying only fifteen feet from where Strike had dropped, and Robin shuddered.

“He could have hit your head,” she said darkly. “Why on earth would you take such a risk?”

Cormoran looked straight at her, eyes watery and bright with pain, his gaze suddenly intense. The moment seemed to freeze.

For her. He’d done it for her.

“You don’t seriously need an ambulance, do you?” Wardle jibed, but Robin saw the worry hidden behind the snark.

“If you try to put me in an ambulance it’s going to be you needing one!”

Indignantly, Strike rubbed his chest. He was breathing easier now, but Robin, still shaken, wasn’t convinced.

“Cormoran, you should really get yourself checked out. This looks pretty bad.”

“Nonsense.” He waved a dismissive hand. “Now help me up, you two! I don’t want to be sitting here like an idiot when the circus arrives.”

Together, they pulled him to his feet. To Robin’s surprise, he was able to stand, although his hand, big and warm, remained on her shoulder. To steady her or himself? She wasn’t entirely sure.

Sirens wailed and quickly came closer. Wardle wandered off to show them the way.

Standing in the cool night breeze, Strike solid and in one piece at her side, she looked up at him.

“Thank you, Cormoran.”

His mouth, still tight with pain, turned upwards at one corner.

“Anytime, Ellacott.”

The police arrived.

(You can also read and comment on AO3:)

[baotos-blog]

There Is More To Literacy Success Than Meets The Eye

In a world where literacy success is measured through academic background and letter grades, it is hard to remember that there is a variety of contributors to one’s literacy development. Although most things learned through formal education is applicable outside of the classroom, institutions lack focus on the nontechnical aspects of literacy. Students often feel compelled to memorize countless grammar and punctuation rules. Because of this practice, they often forget to analyze content rather than to focus on the technicality of a text. Literacy success does not only depend on formal education. Many skills that enhance one’s literacy also originate from experiences and persons unique to one’s life.

Imagine a child, among other children who are approximately the same age. The playing field seems leveled with children in the same room learning the same thing. They first start with their ABCs and gradually progress to grammatical rules, an essential to understanding basic text. Placing children in an environment with other children their age is beneficial in the sense that students feel less intimidated. Furthermore, progressively teaching literacy in an orderly manner helps students easily comprehend information. This method of teaching helps create a firm foundation for students to further build on.  

Photo credit: Eric Cuthbert, http://tinyurl.com/y48d52wh 

Although institutions are often praised for their approach on literacy, their methods can also have counterintuitive results. In order to install a concrete literacy foundation, institutions primarily focus on the technical aspects of literacy such as grammatics and text structure. It is popular and, in an extent, mandatory for students to take standardized tests in order to gauge their literacy development. Of course, many children adapt their skills to satisfy the demands of the standardized tests which dominantly assess comprehension of literacy rules. However, some do struggle with learning, understanding, and applying these rules and structures which negatively affects their perception on literacy. An exaggerated focus on one genre of writing creates a misconception that there is only one viable way to write. Depending on how a student may preform, this idea could either hinder or support their writing journey. Although the ability to apply these rules is critical for literacy development, students lack practice to develop other important abilities such as comprehension skills.

Photo credit: Forenex Summer Camps, http://tinyurl.com/y2txm6rr  

In addition to the literacy abilities that institutions establish, there are other literacy skills that institutional methods sometimes fail to consistently develop. Surprisingly, Malcolm X, a man who greatly impacted American history, only completed eighth grade of his formal education. Many may not believe that a man of his intelligence and leadership originated from mere middle school education. Although Malcolm X had some background with literacy through his formal education, he chose to continue his literacy journey through other means of learning.

Before Malcolm Little became Malcolm X, he had found himself imprisoned at Norfolk Prison Colony. At this point of his life, he had struggled with writing and communicating. Though this dilemma may seem minute, it inspired Malcolm X to become the leader that he was. When Malcolm X ended his eighth grade career, he stopped learning from a traditional teacher and classroom; instead, many contributors such as leaders, experiences, and places helped Malcolm continue his literacy journey.

While in Norfolk Prison Colony, Malcolm X enlarged his vocabulary as he painstakingly wrote down each and every definition from a dictionary. The library at that very prison also impacted the future leader’s literacy development. There, literature helped shape the very core of who Malcolm X was. Furthermore, many people like minister Elijah Muhammad of Norfolk Prison Colony took part in guiding Malcolm X’s literacy development. Each of these literacy sponsors provided critical pieces to Malcolm X’s literacy development; however, none were the means of traditional education.

In addition to Malcolm X, many others enhanced their ability to read and write using methods other than conventional schooling; Dora Lopez was one of them. In Deborah Brandt’s Sponsors of Literacy, she compared two individuals, one of which was an individual named Dora Lopez. Though she was of Mexican American descent, she lacked the skills to communicate in spanish. Because of this, she aspired to learn Spanish literacy.

At a young age, Lopez and her family moved from a Texas border town to a university town where there was a deficit of a Mexican American population. The scarcity of formal resources pushed Lopez to divert her methods of learning towards other tools such as magazines and books. Furthermore, she practiced her skills by writing letters in spanish to her family members in Colombia. Through her biliteracy, Lopez gained many employment opportunities. Though she did not receive much formal education to learn Spanish, Lopez’s literacy sponsors made it possible for her to become literate in her pursued language.

Often, one’s literacy is assessed by judging their achievements through the means of formal education. Through formal education, students develop an understanding of literacy rules. These developed skills help students gain recognition through the use of standard tests such as the ACT and SAT. Though there may be some significance in these accomplishments, it does not accurately consider one’s literacy background. Often, one’s experiences are taken for granted which brings forth bias judgement, especially in the workforce. By increasing consideration towards other sources of literacy, people’s true potential can be more accurately measured. Perhaps by embracing this concept of literacy success and its contributors, people will be given more credit for something other than just an oversimplified score on a piece of paper. 

Photo credit: George Ammar, http://tinyurl.com/yyvq4owr

Bibliography

X, Malcolm. “Malcolm X.” Writing About Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 106-114.

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” Writing About Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 68-99.