#or set it on fire and collect the insurance rather than sell it

[the-siren-queens-lover]

What happens to Nathan's house? Does the government permanently seize it or can they give the title deed to Neil after the investigations and court cases conclude?

I know he'd never want it but I'm sure he'd take the cash from it. (Even if it's just to donate the bulk to charity) And its not like the Moriyamas can take it unless it's handed over to Neil, sold, and converted into cash.

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Political Maneuvering

The human placed a small paper bound package on to the table and slid it over to which the Vojocal grabbed it with ease and ripped it open. As the contents fell across the table the Vojocal’s eyes darted between the falling Federation credits and frowned. 

“This is not enough.” 

They threw the paper wrappings back at the human and smacked the table with their hand. The action made them unstable and they wobbled before their three legs could regain their footing but they had wagered it would be sufficient to unnerve the human. The Vojocal people were civilized just like any other space fairing species of the cosmos, but their appearance made them somewhat difficult to interact with. 

Standing at roughly two meters tall on three legs they resembled what humans would call “ant eaters” with their long mouths and tongues. What made them difficult to interact with was their skin pattern. Rather than a single bath of fur or skin tone they had a selection of scales that would change pattern as they moved. The pattern shifted randomly but each pattern it took on it would be disorienting to the eye to look at, like an optical illusion that just didn’t make sense. 

The two humans standing behind the one sitting made to reach for something at their sides but were stalled with a wave of the sitting humans hand. 

“That was the agreed upon amount.” said the sitting human. They tried to stare down the Vojocal but they were having trouble holding it without having to break away and rub their eyes. “You’re not getting cold feet now are you Foldif?”

Foldif spread his arms wide in a motion that once again made the humans avert their eyes. “That was before I ran into complications.”

“How are complications my problem?” 

“Because complications for me mean I needed to do more work; and more work means more effort; and more effort” Foldif smirked, “means more payment.”

The human sighed loudly and motioned with one of them to come forward and they brought up a large suitcase and placed it on the table. Popping several latches it opened to reveal several dozen more stacks of credits. 

Foldif pulled the case over and examined the credits as his eyes widened over the amount of wealth now before him. He was transfixed for but a moment before looking back at the human. 

“You think you can buy me off wi-”.

“I would consider your next words carefully.” the human cut in before Foldif could finish. “I am being generous. It would be wise for you to not become greedy.”

Understanding the threat Foldif backed down as he saw he had pressed his luck as far as it would go with the human buyers. They wanted what he had, but they had also come with a limit they were willing to pay for rather than just killing him and taking it for themselves. 

Closing the case Foldif pulled out a small storage device and slid it across to the human. 

“Everything you need to know about the coming offensive is on it. Dates, locations, army groups, supply depots, fleet movements.” Foldif rambled off everything he had collected as the human pulled out a scanner and plugged the storage device in and began going over the contents. “With this you will soundly win the war.” 

The human pulled the storage device out and placed it into their pocket. “Once we’ve verified the information we’ll be in touch.” They stood and made for the turned to the door as the two behind him opened the door and exited. 

The human Foldif had been dealing with stopped at the door and turned back to look at him. “In the future, it would be wise to plan ahead so there would be no more “complications”. You’re an investment worth keeping, but not going broke on. Remember that.” With that they tipped their hat and left leaving Foldif alone in the room. 

After the human left Foldif pulled over the case again and began counting the credits he had just earned. He had gotten through a single stack when he heard a commotion outside that brought his attention up. 

Without warning bright lights lit up from outside and filled the room in a blinding glow. Foldif made to cover his eyes and only then could hear the shouting of voices outside. One of them was the human he had been just dealing with though he couldn’t be sure. He had just began recovering his eyesight when a loud crack of auto fire rippled from the street below and Foldif dove for cover. 

A short brutal exchange of gunfire came from below with a few stray rounds firing upwards and shattering several of the windows. 

Foldif was still hiding under his cover when the provosts kicked in his door and leveled their weapons at him. 

“Foldif Makthren,” the lead provost shouted as they pulled out a pair of restraints, “you are under arrest for high treason.” 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Our operatives were discovered shortly after the transaction was complete and killed on sight while attempting to flee.” The sub commander looked frustrated bu twas keeping a level head as they read the report of the latest failed mission to the head director of the Intelligence Subterfuge Agency, or more commonly known as the ISA. “Our informant was likewise discovered and is being held now awaiting trial.” 

The director was reading along with the report as it was read out loud; casually flipping back and forth between the pages as if confirming things in their mind. 

“We have lost not only a vital team of field agents but our highest placed source within the Vojocal Federation.” The sub commander took on a more defeated demeanor. “I will accept full responsibility and tender my resignation by the end of the day.” 

Finally looking up the director looked somewhat surprised. “Failure?” The director inquired, “What failure?”

It was the sub commanders turn to look confused. “For failing to obtain the recent enemy campaign plans.” 

Waving it away the director motioned for the sub commander to take a seat opposite him. They were all smiles as they pulled out a small glass container and poured two glasses of liquor. 

“The operation was never about getting the plans, it was about framing the informant.” 

“Sire, i don’t understand.” 

The director keyed in something into his desk and the holographic image of the informant appeared. “Foldif Makthren; age 79, single, no family, no love interests, no outside work friends or other relations; one might even go so far as to describe our friend here as a complete loser in his society.” The director chuckled at their own seeming reverent wit and continued. 

“Normally he would be a complete waste of time were it not for who he works for as an executive aide.” The director keyed a few more keys in and the image changed to another alien. “Supreme leader Volgrim.” 

“I’m afraid I still don’t follow sir.” the sub commander chipped in. 

“The mission was to frame Foldif and implicate him in an act of treason. Being the highest level aide to the supreme leader thus in turn implicates Volgrim into the affair as well.”

The director took a pause to sip their drink. “What would you say if my aide was caught sleeping with my wife without me knowing?” 

Not knowing how to respond the sub commander remained silent. 

“Come on, give me an answer.” 

“I would say, that you are not that observant.” the sub commander ventured.

The director smiled. “Exactly. People would be talking behind my back questioning everything I did after that. Which is exactly why we did it to Volgrim.” 

The dots started to connect one at a time as the director continued. 

“Foldif’s trial will besmirch Volgrim’s image in the eyes of his people now regardless if he’s found guilty or not. Now his opponents have been given ammunition to question him and hound his every action as subversive. He will be spending much more time trying to protect his political career rather than preparing the next invasion of human space.”

Something wasn’t adding up even as the director spoke and the sub commander could not wait any longer for its answer. 

“That’s all well in good and all, but that still doesn’t answer how they knew we would be meeting them.” 

Finishing their drink the director set it down and crossed their fingers. “They found out because I fed them the tip. 

“You what!?!” 

The sub commander rose up in shock but the director calmly waved them down again. 

“I tipped them off to ensure the team would be caught only moments after leaving the aide’s apartment, thus insuring a direct line of evidence leading back to him.” 

“But why would you sell out your own team?” 

The director shrugged. “They had failed me on several jobs before and I had told them this was their chance to regain my favor. Granted I failed to mention the job was destined to fail but in the end it all worked out rather nicely.” 

[cupcakemolotov]

New York, New York

So I finally finished a thing, and its not what I thought I was going to wrap up first but that is life! It is completely SFW, and very much “Canon, what Canon?” And its been more years than I willing to admin since I applied for colleges, I just glossed over those details. :)

Also, formatting, why are you like this.

-

Caroline rolled her eyes. “Bon. I don’t want to say I told you so but…”

The groan was loud in her ear. “I know, I know. But who would have thought it would be this bad?”

“Me. I thought it would be that bad,” Caroline said with a laugh. “And then I told you about it so you could avoid it. And then you didn’t.”

Bonnie muttered something so low, even Caroline’s vampire gearing couldn’t quite catch it. “Well, we're going to put down rules. As I’ve already told Elena, I might not be a vampire but I have a perfectly good set of ears and there are some things I do not need to hear.” Bonnie huffed out the last sentence. “And I refuse to have to spell my own bedroom to sleep.”

Caroline bit down on the side of her tongue to keep from commenting, knowing it would do little good. Somehow Damon and Bonnie had become friends, and while she would never understand it, she and Bonnie had come to an agreement. Caroline wouldn’t be automatically negative about Damon as long as Bonnie managed to do the same for some of Caroline’s friendships. 

It was a work in progress. 

“Well, if you need some breathing space, you are welcome to come hang out with me for a weekend. I’ve been melting my credit card, and I might as well use those points for something instead of shoes.” She glanced towards her bedroom and grudgingly admitted the next sentence. “I really don’t have the closet space for more shoes.”

Bonnie seemed to consider that. “Shoe collection aside, it can’t be that small…”

Caroline laughed. The apartment was a small one bedroom and technically outside of her budget, her dad’s insurance money only went so far, but she hadn’t felt a lot of guilt over her teeny tiny use of compulsion. Not when the renting market was so high and her textbooks were so expensive. And while hardly microscopic, her bed barely fit into the space designated as her bedroom. She did have walls that separate her bedroom from their living room, her couch, TV, and small table were tucked pretty close to her tiny kitchenette. The big selling point had been the claw-foot bathtub. She’d given up having a real shower, the  shower-head had been rigged above the tub and the shower curtain she’d bought was super cute but if she’d still been human the breeziness of the space would have been murder. Overall, the space she had carved out for herself was cute but cramped. 

And she wouldn’t change it for the world.

“It really can be. You should have seen Mom’s face when she agreed to co-sign, which is another really weird thing about this city. My credit check was stellar, I had the cash for the down payments and still they wanted a co-sign, but whatever. The good news is my obsession with HGTV has taught me plenty about hiding organizers, and thankfully, I don’t really need the kitchen.” She wrinkled her nose and looked down. “Though carpet is new but seriously ugly, so I am going to have to invest in a rug, I think.”

“The lack of needing a kitchen thing is kind of ideal for New York, but I personally am going to miss your stress brownies, though my hips wont,” Bonnie said with a sigh. “And your note taking. I already miss you in Physical Science, and why are Gen Eds so terrible?”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “It cannot be that bad.”

“Says you,” Bonnie retorted. “And anyway, Elena just stuck her head in to remind me that I promised to go to some Freshman Orientation event, so I guess I gotta go. Stay out of trouble, will you?”

“You first,” Caroline retorted. Bonnie laughed and disconnected the call. For a moment, she held onto her phone before sighing and setting it on the coffee table and flopping onto her couch. If she closed her eyes and listened she could hear everyone in her apartment building, which was something she hadn’t really thought about when deciding on an apartment.

Not that she’d had much time to figure things out. Weeks instead of months, but Forbes women were nothing but resourceful. And very, very determined.

Caroline just hadn’t expected her mom to get stubborn about her college experience. She’d expected Liz to be fine with Caroline going to Whitemore and sticking close to home, and it’s been a shock when things had gone sideways. When Caroline had marked down NYU on her SAT application form, it’d been on a whim. She’d been required to pick three schools and some part of her just couldn’t stick to the local community colleges. 

And later, when her counselor had handed her the application packets, she’d stared at them for hours, considering. She had never thought she’d get in or that she’d get enough of a scholarship that living in the city would be manageable if she was careful. Very, very careful with a bit of compulsion thrown in at least. She’s considered it for all of thirty seconds before tucking the acceptance letter away. 

There was just too much going on that she could walk away. Even with the Originals packing up and moving on, there was still her mom to worry about. One of the perks of being a vampire was that she could always pick up those dreams later. 

Her mom had disagreed. Loudly. It’s taken three days before Caroline has finally cracked, and admitted why she had refused. And she’d learned a lot about her mom that morning that she hadn’t expected, and hadn’t had much time to contemplate with the scramble of getting into NYU. Her mom hadn’t even argued when Caroline had dragged her to NYC to check things out and to smooth over the issues her late application had caused. 

Compulsion really was quite handy if she was careful with it. But more importantly, NYU was totally close enough that if she had to she could get on a plane for an emergency, but her mom, in a bit of underhanded maneuvering that Caroline had admired, had made a very specific list of what could be considered an emergency. And then she’d invited Elena and Bonnie over for dinner, and her mom had also explained it to them too. It’d been weird to have someone else fight that battle, but good. 

Above her, something crashed and there was muted swearing and Caroline sighed heavily. She was really going to have to make a point to stay well fed. Going on a rampage because Courtney in 4A couldn’t keep her dog from yapping at all hours of the night was not ideal. She had been prepared to listen to her neighbors have noisy sex, well, at least until she could get Bonnie here to do some proper spell work, but the rest of it was a learning curve. So far, eating had been going okay. 

She’d been getting tips. 

And boy, would her friends freak out as soon as they learned who she’d been texting. But Caroline had always considered herself pragmatic, and her options had been limited. Stefan would rather light himself on fire than give her any kind of 101 Guide To Eating People Without Killing Them, and she would rather light herself on fire than talk to Damon. 

Klaus…

She blew out a breath. Klaus was her friend, even if her graduation ceremony had made his position on… things… perfectly clear. But weirdly, she’d found his words strangely boundary defining and a relief. Last love was definitely not now, not anytime soon in fact, and his acknowledgement of that had eased the knot she always seemed to carry around in her chest. And so when she stood in the middle of the hustle and bustle of more people than she could remember really seeing in one place, like ever, she’d let herself text a number she’d refused to admit to anyone she had memorized ages ago. 

And he had responded. 

And Klaus had kept replying, no matter when she sent him a question. In between organizing her life and schedule, he’d been extremely helpful without any sort of judgement. If anything, he seemed more resigned to her lack of knowledge than anything else, providing her with Vampire Basics she’d never thought to ask Damon or Stefan about, and the knowledge had helped. Accepting the monster under her skin was not something that was going to be easy, but Klaus providing actual information about the whys and the hows helped far more than she thought she’d ever tell him. 

And his faith in her control was not something she’d ever expected to need. But he’d offered it with no prompting and the truth was she made an excellent vampire. She was good at it, thrived with the challenges of it, and she thought the next few years would be good for her. And it was nice, knowing that if she screwed it up she’d have people who’d help her fix it. Even if  some of them were just  a tiny bit more dangerous than others. 

Head tipping to the ceiling, she chewed on her lip and sighed. Putting Klaus in one category had never been easy, even when he’d been firmly in the villian bucket. She didn’t doubt he would continue to refuse any easy labels, and she thought she might be okay with that. 

For now. 

Pushing to her feet, she stretched and sighed. Classes started in two days, and while she’d already organized her books and started doing some pre-class reading, there was no harm in double checking her planners and reorganizing her books. And after, maybe she’d go for a walk. Check out some of the all night places near her place to plan for future all nighters. The kind of places you’d take broke friends to for pie.

The sudden knock on the door startled her, because she hadn’t noticed any unusual footsteps. For a moment, her pulse slammed in her ears as she recognized the slow thump of a dead heartbeat. A familiar barely their heartbeat that promised something old was outside her door, and one that should not be in New York City. Reaching for the phone she tossed on her coffee table she picked it up and typed out a quick text. No point in guessing who was there; not when it was pretty easy to check without moving any closer to the door. 

Caroline [8:30pm]: Seriously, tell me you are not standing outside my apartment. Like, right this second. 

A soft vibration, a low noise of amusement was all the confirmation she needed and Caroline stomped towards the door and yanked it open. “Are you serious right now? How do you even know where I live? I didn’t tell you that.”

Eyes gleaming, a hint of dimple curving in his cheek as he looked up from his phone, Klaus smiled at her. “Hello, Caroline.”

Arms crossed, she leaned against the door and huffed to cover the way her pulse skipped at the sight of him. He looked the same, same clothes and same hair, but she felt his presence with an awareness that did not bode well for her intentions of thinking of him as only a friend. Klaus had always straddled that line but here, outside of Mystic Falls, it somehow felt different. Better. And that was not something she could allow with her plans laid out in front of her. Plans that did not suit him. “Yeah yeah, hi. Why are you here?”

He slipped his phone back into his pocket, lips tugging upwards. “I was in town, and I thought I would stop by. See how you are settling in, perhaps come up with an idea for a house warming present, since it seems you will no longer need that mini-fridge, hmm?”

“In town,” she repeated, ignoring the rest of his words. “Doing what? Because I am attempting to avoid vampire shenanigans for the next four years, Klaus. I promised my mom.”

“Nothing like that,” he assured her. “Just a quick errand, and I head back to New Orleans tomorrow. I am quite invested in you having the experiences of your choice, sweetheart. No one will bother you while you are here.”

Caroline paused. “No one...  as in no one? Are you threatening people again? People I haven’t even met?”

“Not yet,” Klaus said mildly. 

She bit the tip of her tongue to stop the barrage of words that wanted to spill out. Slowly exhaling, she forced herself to let it go. There was a time and place for this discussion and she wasn’t sure right then was it, not when she was so surprised to see him, and she could hear some of her neighbors coming up the stairs. “Don’t think we won’t discuss this later but I suppose you can come in?”

“Thank you, and I don’t doubt it,” he murmured as he took her invitation and stepped into her home. His gaze swept her space and for a moment, she had to stop herself from fidgeting. This was her first space that was hers and Klaus was the only person besides her mom who had seen it. He walked slowly through her public space, and his words were sincere when he spoke. “You’ve done a lovely job with your home, love. “

For some reason, she had to fight down a blush. “Thanks. The carpet sucks though.”

He slid her a laughing glance. “An entirely fixable state of affairs.”

“You will not compel my landlord,” she warned him, exasperation almost hiding the hint of her own smile. “About carpet or anything else, Klaus.”

He made a low noise but no promises. “And how are you liking New York?”

She did smile then. “I love it. But we’ll see if that sticks when I have to deal with the snow this winter and pushy people and an overheated subway. I’ve been warned.”

His laugh was soft. “I think you’ll manage. And while it's a bit late in the evening, could I interest you in dinner? My treat.”

Caroline eyed him carefully. “Taking me to dinner will not get you out of explaining how you have my address or any potential yelling about it.”

Klaus slid his hands into his pockets and dimpled. “I would expect nothing else. But I do hope that’s not the only topic you wish to discuss tonight.”

Curious, she tipped her head. “Oh?”

He lifted a shoulder, gaze intent. “I assume you’ve picked out your classes? Have your semester organized down to the hour? And while I am certain you more than have the knack of feeding down, sweetheart, I’m happy to answer any remaining questions you have or even provide a demonstration or two.”

The idea of hunting with Klaus did something funny to her stomach, and she turned towards her room to cover it. “I’ll think about it. Give me ten minutes to change and then yes, you can take me to dinner. But not something fancy, I am not in the mood for multiple forks. But wine would be great.”

His laughter followed her into her bedroom and she shut the door. Taking a deep breath, she forced down her tangle of emotions. One night out with Klaus wouldn’t hurt anything, she reminded herself, and he was right. She did have questions, and lists, and she should probably take the opportunity to go over everything while he was here in person. Plus she’d be willing to bet he had an opinion or two he’d be willing to share about rugs. 

Squaring her shoulders, Caroline headed for her closet to slap together a friendly dinner date outfit that would be suitable even if he did take her somewhere with too many forks. But they were definitely going to be chatting about his business in the city, and how he would not be dropping by without warning whenever he wanted to.

No matter how nice it was to see him. 

[drjackandmissjo]

it’s nice to have a friend

previous chapter --- chapter 7 --- next chapter

feysand masterlist

“Call my bluff, Call you ‘babe’“

It had been a fairly long day for Feyre. She had to organise a new collection for her gallery, dealing with things like catering for the event and security and insurances on the pieces that had to be exposed. Her assistant Ressina was searching for two more artworks, since two of her own paintings that she was supposed to showcase had been just bought.

The website Azriel had built for her gallery had been a complete success since the opening day, through it Feyre had managed to sell almost all of her creations and many of those that she presented through the gallery itself, reaching the proper audience even outside of Prythian. Paying for international shipping was her new most hated activity, but she couldn't complain.

In the few years since she had graduated and started business for herself, she had made a name for herself. Her junior and last year of university had given her the opportunity to internship in one of the best art museums in Velaris, where she learnt the importance of good displays and how to haggle the right price for each piece. During that time she mostly painted for commissions, which she continued to take now, five years later, with the only difference being that now a 'Feyre A.N.' costed much more than in her early days. Even those she created freely, out of her own heart's desires, were being sold at fairly high prices with a surprisingly high rate.

So now she had to look and scout for new artists to display, considering the current shortage of her own artworks. It all brought a whole new sense of responsibility to Feyre and a whole lot of paperwork she wasn't particularly fond of. She was everyday grateful of her choice of hiring an assistant, even if at the beginning she was a bit sceptical.

Thankfully, Velaris was the best place in the entire world to be an artist, a safe haven: the city had an entire neighborhood, the Rainbow, fully inhabited by writers and sculptors and poets and painters, with several theatres and galleries and museums. Feyre had chosen to open shop there, in one of the main streets and it had been a glorious success since the inauguration. The artists that made the community had welcomed her warmly and with open arms, helping her get on her own feet at the start with their support, and now she was repaying them in kind, offering opportunities to anyone who might need them.

Her originally rented space now fully belonged to her, having been bought two years after the opening with the money her hard work brought. She had fallen in love with the locale in an heartbeat, as she walked the Rainbow hand in hand with her boyfriend as he helped her carry back to her place bags full of paint and canvases. Feyre had stopped dead in her tracks, as if called by it, declaring it the perfect spot. Rhys had laughed at her and kissed the top of her head, telling her how she should take the number of the owner and contact them to see if she could rent. Being fresh out of college meant she didn't have enough funds to do more, but one day, Rhys had said, it could've been hers.

The old lady who owned the space had been ecstatic with her call and heard her ideas with interest. The rent was decent, given the great metrage and locations, but the place was new and needed little to no modifications, and thus 'Starfall ' gallery was born.

When her clock chimed, telling her the time, she slowly rose from her chair, stretching her sore back. The new tattoo she had gotten three weeks prior on her spine still hadn't healed fully, causing her some wincing that her husband was constantly worried of. The long piece was a masterpiece on its own, the longline depicting the different lunar phases she had drawn herself.

Deciding to call it a day, she gathered her stuff and closed the lights, locking the door on her way out. Despite it being mid-October, the weather was still pleasantly warm even during the evening, and Feyre enjoyed walking alongside of the Sidra quietly as the wind quietly messed her hair. She and Rhys had bought a townhouse on the other side of the river before their wedding, close enough to be able to walk to their respective workplaces, she to the Rainbow while he went back to the university, teaching English poetry and drama, as he had chosen that specific minor on his senior year.

Although they had a similar commute, the different paths had Rhys always beat her to the rush home and he started usually dinner, as she was downright cursed with her cooking inhabilities. Even helping in the kitchen was something she did carefully, her and her husband both weary of the outcomes. The only thing she could do safely from 'scratch' was to heat up soup.

A wicked plan began to outline itself in her mind. It had been awhile since she had humoured her husband, both too focused on their respective works. She moved in the upstair bedroom they shared, removing her proper attire to slip into a severely more comfortable pair of leggings and a worn out t-shirt, covered in blue paint of every shade. " This is gonna be fun" she thought, delighted in the possible turn of events as she rang up his favourite Chinese restaurant to order take-out to be delivered.

And then she set to 'work'.

***

As soon as she felt the front door open, Feyre moved swiftly to rotate the timer on the oven and made it set off immediately. She knew Rhys had heard the little series of noises that signaled the end of a cooking process. He usually would discard his keys on the small table that decorated their tiny foyer as soon as the door closed behind him, but this time he was stalling.

Probably debating whether to retreat back outside in case the kitchen exploded or not.

The problem wasn't that she was a bad cook perse. Feyre never had much time playing around the stove growing up, thankfully for them Elain was the chef of the household. She had learnt the basics, how to boil water for instant cheap ramen noodles and how to heat up frozen pre-cooked stuff in the microwave of the communal kitchen of her dorm on her first month in Velaris, with Alis patiently telling her what to do to survive in case there was an emergency. During the years she had tried a little more, once she moved with Amren and Mor and had a kitchen at her disposal without limitations.

Her first attempt at scrambling eggs for breakfast set the fire alarm off and she had to explain to an exasperated fireman that the house wasn't on fire. That earned her a wary look from her roommates, but considering that neither of them had any luck with cooking, no one spoke of it for the following week.

Her second one brought a weird texture of a pasture looking like brown instead of the expected yellow, completely stuck at the bottom of the pan. Not burnt, simply attached there and impossible to remove. She then went to buy a new set, throwing the mystery pan immediately in the trash.

Cassin was with her for her third trial, to guide her into the mystical art he had mastered, and made her solemnly swear to never, ever , again touch a kitchen utensil if not with the sole purpose to eat with it, and even then he had some serious doubts about letting her anywhere near anything inside a kitchen. She wasn't allowed to be there unsupervised, he had said, scared shitless.

So the problem wasn't inside her cooking abilities, since she made the best sandwiches out of anyone in the Inner Circle, but rather her rotten luck an inability not to burn anything that involved heat or patience to be made.

A smile appeared on Feyre's lips as she suppressed a series of giggles that were threatening to rise up, imagining the face her husband was surely making. The sounds from the foyer told her two things: the door had been closed and remained unlocked, ready to aid in their escape from a fire that Rhysand thought undoubtedly might happen any minute, and her husband was taking his time through his routine, as if a minimal change in the air might've triggered the self destruction of their home.

"Darling?" he called for her as he made his way through the open space of the living room to reach for the kitchen, cautiously stopping before properly entering the room and setting off something.

Feyre immediately turned around, her light brown hair neatly folded in a messy bun swinging to the side and promptly losing some strands that fell into her face. She found him leaning against the doorframe, seemingly relaxed were it not for the fact he was hiding his hands inside the pockets of his black pants. Her genuine smile seemed to ease his stance and Rhys took the opportunity to move towards her. She turned back at the task at hand as he walked past the island, using her knife to cut an apple into tiny slices. His arms came to encircle her, effectively pinning her against the counter, and she leaned back, resting her head on his chest.

"How was work today?" she asked, warmth radiating through her as he bent down to place a soft kiss to the top of her head. For someone who thought the stove might explode at any minute, he was incredibly calm with the whole ordeal.

"The usual" he shrugged "some kid had the audacity to groan when I told them we would soon start with Shakespeare's Sonnets!"

One of the many things she utterly loved about him was how passionate he was for his job, for the curriculum he got to teach each class. Overall, his favourite subject was Shakespeare, on whom he did his dissertation which got him the place at the University. He still kept on writing, publishing mostly the new researches his department did, and he worked with all his heart.

Feyre shook her head slightly, "Kids this day have no respect." Then, in afterthought, she added "Are you going to downplay the whole homoerotic full blown text like our old prof did?"

"Are you crazy? That's the best part!" His grip tightened around her as she set the knife down, wiping her hands on a nearby handchendief. "I'm thinking about letting those freshmans do their winter final paper on who they actually thought Good Ol' Willy was shagging."

"Professor Carver might object." she said, turning in his arms and now facing him, her back against the cold material of the counter.

"Who do you think I got the idea from? That man wants nothing more than to gossip, even if it's 500 years old stuff."

"Remember how he was somehow the first person outside our Inner Circle to know we were dating when we came back?" They both laughed at the memory, noses brushing softly as they were both content to remain there.

"How was your day?" he asked, his breath caressing her neck gently.

"Too much paperwork. But I sold that Springtime painting we both didn't like to probably the most horrible and rude woman ever."

The woman had truly been a demon: she had stormed in as if she owned the place, demanding attention. Ressina had been patient and listened to her raging nonsense as best as she could, but couldn't do much herself. Feyre then went into her aid: she had past experience dealing with bad customers from when she used to be a waitress in high school, yet this woman took the cake. lanthe Spring, as she had proudly introduced herself as if she was the most important person in the world, was looking for a present for her husband, she had told her while raising the most preposterous ring to ever been made. The green gems looked more like a torture device than a wedding ring, but Feyre didn't usually judge. After an entire hour looking at the catalogue, her eyes had set on one of the paintings Feyre had done way back in her freshman year. She had finally gotten the approval from the art department to sell the early works she had done during her period there and the majority had either already been sold or she had gifted to her family and friends. That was the last one to remain in Feyre's possession, probably the laziest work she had ever done: the colours well dull, the motif unclear; despite it showing a green and flowery scenery, it resembled much more a dead nature. She hadn't been in the best mindset when the work had come to life, her constant fights with Tamlin causing an artist block on all her works, yet the woman had been ecstatic, claiming it reminded her of her own husband.

Feyre didn't make the connection until she saw the checkbook, yet no feeling came to her, good nor bad. She would've liked to know his reaction at seeing her painting though, just to get some sick and twisted satisfaction at how she was thriving with only her 'hobby' . "But I got a nice cut from that, so dinner's on me!" she finished lightly, pulling herself from her daydream.

"I know exactly what you're doing, Feyre Darling." he hummed from her neck, as he drew his lips across the skin. Suddenly she was finding it hard to concentrate. "I have no idea of what you're talking about, Rhysand."

He pulled back abruptly, moving their bodies till she was now leaning against the empty and clean kitchen island. "Your attempt at scaring me almost worked, you know?" he whispered against her ear, moving to nibble at the soft flesh, "But next time make a little mess with some flour all around if you want to truly give me a heart attack."

"But you see," she started, trying to sort her foggy thoughts as the world narrowed to where his lips were against her neck once more, "I'd have to take you to the ER then and that's too much work, babe." She was breathless, sick of the attention her neck was getting. Hands plunged in his hair, positioning him flush against her as her lips claimed his, his own hands roaming freely under her T-shirt.

He suddenly pulled away slightly, eyes never leaving hers and not bothering to remove his hands from where they rested on her back, slowly working the clasps of her bra. "Not to mention you don't even know where to find most things that aren't downright edible without preparation in our pantry, am I correct?"

She brought him back down in an instant, "Arrogant prick" she murmured against his lips as she began to undo the button of his shirt, their hips moving in sync as their lips.

He hoisted her up on the island counter in one swift move as she took the shirt off of his shoulders, caressing the inky swirls of his traditional lilynian tattoo that adorned his upper torso. He immediately returned the favour, removing her tee and bra in one swipe, moving his attention fully to the newly exposed skin, biting and nipping there. Her grip on his hair became iron as his hands darthed southward, his own wedding band cold against her feverish skin as his mouth drew circles around her breast. He began to slowly slid off her leggings, never once removing his mouth from her, when the doorbell rang.

A string of colourful profanities that could've rivaled a sailor's entire vocabulary made its way out of Feyre's mouth as her husband merely laughed at their interrupted moment.

"I've ordered Chinese" was the only non-curse Feyre spoke as she jumped of the counter, grabbing her t-shirt to answer the door at least decent.

"I was indeed promised dinner" Rhys said, not bothering to cover himself as his wife paid for the food.

"I still got you there for a second, didn't l?" she asked, walking back to the kitchen carrying two bags.

Rhys kissed her cheek sweetly, "Always, my Darling."

[route22ny]

New York Unmasked

by Harry Siegel

Imagining our city, for worse and for better, after the coronavirus pandemic

The city that never sleeps is taking a nap now, and it’s going to be a very different place when it finally wakes up.

Not long after the World Trade Center was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, and again after Lehman Brothers collapsed on Sept. 15, 2008, there was a lot of talk about how New York wouldn’t be the same. Both times, reports of our collective demise proved to be greatly exaggerated as the city quickly recovered, economically speaking, and resumed the upward path — ever more prosperous, populated and pricey — it’s remained on for at least the last quarter-century.

This time is different.

Any remaining vision of the city somehow picking up more or less where things had been left off went away with the decision to start shutting down the trains for four hours each night. That’s a huge though supposedly temporary shift for a system that’s run 24 hours a day for over a century with only the briefest of interruptions — until now the only one in the country that doesn’t turn off, as I’ve been shocked to re-learn every time I make the mistake of visiting another city. As with many of the decisions New York and the nation have made in this plague year, it will be much more difficult to turn things back on than it was to turn them off.

Already, the devastation is staggering. In less than eight weeks, the 13,168 (as of Friday night) confirmed coronavirus deaths here have exceeded the total number of murder victims, 12,509, over the past two decades — and that’s counting the 2,977 victims of 9/11.

New York managed to keep the death count down to 13,168 at the cost of putting the city and its economy in the equivalent of a medically induced coma, and with no assurances at all that a second wave of infections won’t be coming despite that.

While putting New York under helped keep the first wave from completely overwhelming the medical system here, as happened in Italy, “the point where we can really start at reopening…obviously is a few months away at minimum,” Mayor de Blasio said Friday.

Even at that point, whenever we finally get there, it’s hard to see everyone just getting back on the train for a crushed morning commute to the office, or servers returning to packed restaurants and bars and theaters and nightspots. Forget about tourists flying in to burn dollars; it’s an open question how many of the generally better-off New Yorkers who’ve left in the course of this will return here, or how many families will borrow or pay now so students can have the city as their campus — or if there will be a campus at all this fall.

This is all surreal. While some people talk about how the virus ravaging New York compares to 9/11, Donald Trump — who claims he lost hundreds of friends on 9/11, though he’s never named a single one of them — dispatches fighter planes to fly low over the city as a tribute to first responders.

While we still don’t know why New York was hit so hard by the virus, it’s clear that density — in places from the Meatpacking District here to the meatpacking plants in the Midwest — plays a big role in spreading it. And this is a place built on density, by far the densest big city in America as well as the biggest.

So this witchy hour we’re in is looking less like a PAUSE than a painful and fundamental shift in how the city functions and what it means to be a New Yorker.

To get through it, many people need to keep looking ahead and, I hope, looking at what New Yorkers can do in their own lives and demand from their politicians to see the city finally emerge as a fairer and more resilient one . I was born in New York City just ahead of the blackout babies, in November of 1977 — the month that Ed Koch was elected mayor and started to set the city on the path it’s mostly remained on until the virus — and I’ve remained here pretty much since. My dad grew up here, and his dad , and me and my brother are both raising our daughters here now, walking distance from each other and Rosie and Zadie.

I’m committed to the city for a lot of reasons, in addition to my family here: I own a house (or at least the bank lets me live in it), and one that’s bizarrely worth much more than I bought it for, at least if I was to sell it. My kids have a couple hundred square feet of their own outside as we shelter in place. And I know a bit and write a lot about New York, which really isn’t a skill set that travels.

But the truth is that the city of the past two decades has felt less and less like home, and more and more like the parts of Manhattan I try to avoid. I’ve spent too much of my adult life railing against the hipsters, gentrifiers, trustafarians and yuppies who didn’t have the good taste to spend their money here and then leave but instead “discovered” neighborhoods and remade them in their images, often to be priced out in time by new “discoverers.” I saved a bit of spleen for the people who rail against those people, rather than do something more productive with their time.

New York has become a city of increasingly sterile retail, one where internet listings have made real estate a more transparent and internationally accessible marketplace for foreign capital to reshape neighborhoods that preserve less and less of their old characters — for better and for worse.

It’s a corporate town, full of semi-interesting hustlers and characters along with its steady share of the depraved, the doomed, the damned and the dull. I’ve seen enough and read enough to know that none of that is new. But it’s metastasized over decades of financialized and increasingly monopolized and VC-fueled growth to swallow other values and ways of life. It’s hard to swim against a tide of money, and it takes a certain mania to even try.

Some of this is selfish, for sure. I preferred the waterfront of my youth, when the piers were barren and all but off-limits but for the bold and the desperate. No one with means would walk there, let alone live there, since it still had the taint of not so long ago shipping and industry and the rougher trades that lived by the waterfront, when the High Line was just a long-abandoned elevated track west of the projects that you could break into and walk on.

That all became part of the steel-and-glass luxury city that Mike Bloomberg described, one here for companies that can afford the best and priciest, and the people who draw incomes from those companies, directly or by providing services for their FIRE (that’s finance, insurance and real estate) workers who live in The City while firefighters commute in from Westchester and Long Island, or by constructing the buildings these people live in, or from the bloated government that services the “other” people who need help to stay here at all. A city that’s priced hospital beds out of big swathes of Manhattan and Brooklyn to clear space for luxury housing.

For years, I’ve been anticipating a reset as office space declines in importance with the rise of remote work, and that in turn brings down commercial and residential prices; hoping for a different, sturdier and livelier New York that exists for and better reflects the people who live here rather than serving as a clearinghouse for the world’s money. Over my adult life I’ve read endless warnings — including in this paper — about the return of the “bad old days” that are long gone for most New Yorkers, if they were here for those days at all. Now, we’re about to get a real taste of what a sharp downturn, along with a hostile federal government, feels like: “Drop Dead.” Now they’re looming as trading floors are vacant along with everything else that isn’t actually essential, and much of what’s abruptly left won’t soon return or the money that they brought in and splashed around.

This will be painful, but New York has always found ways to make new uses of what’s here. The same way that small and sturdy Brooklyn rowhouses built for the burgeoning middle class woke up one day as $2 million “townhouses,” and Single Residence Occupancies that single men depended on to maintain lives here, such as those were, become mansions with enough money and time, office spaces can become creative spaces like warehouses became artist’s lofts. Finally, housing prices, and everything else, should relate to the incomes of the bulk of the people working here. Right now, they relate to the vagaries of the global markets.

I’ll repeat that: The size of our economy, and real estate prices, should relate to the value of the goods and services people here actually produce. That will hurt a lot of New Yorkers who’ve invested in the city, including me, as property values and rents flatten or even go down, but some of that pain is needed. A city that’s too expensive for gas stations or grocery stores — looking at you, Manhattan — is too expensive for most people.

I hope we’re becoming a city that gives a proper Bronx cheer to Airbnb and Seamless and Uber and WeWork and all the venture capital-funded wannabe monopoly “tech” companies looking to “disrupt” fundamental aspects of our life by losing money for long enough to drive their competitors out of business altogether. That resists the convenience of Amazon and its ilk to support our local grocery and book and hardware stores, so that those are still there when we really need them.

A city that knows better than to cut off its nose to spite its face, now that we know better than to touch our faces. If New York has to sleep now to survive, it’s the perfect time to dream.

harrysiegel@gmail.com

***

This essay appeared in the New York Daily News, May 3, 2020.

Photo via ShutterStock

[lozza-85]

The Most Unique Strike In History

THE MOST UNIQUE STRIKE IN HISTORY? In December 2020, the GMB union balloted British Gas field engineers for the right to strike against the Fire and Re Hire the Senior Management have been threatening us with since June2020. 89% of ballot returns voted in favour of industrial action. That is around 5,000 engineers. The company is leading people to believe that over 80% of its employees have already signed up to its new conditions so there is nothing wrong with them. The details they have not included is that the ones who have are Office staff and Contract employees on completely different contracts then the field staff. A good majority of these are receiving small improvements and only the long-term employees that are the minority are losing out. What makes this vote unique is that we are not asking for anything extra from the company. All we want is for them to remove S188 Fire and Re Hire and continue negotiations with the Union. The company have point blankly said they will not engage in any further talks and the clock is ticking until a legally approved final date is issued. So far it has been moved from January 2021 and we believe they will be issuing our new contract to sign on the 31st March2021 with two options. Sign the contract or leave the business. No redundancy as the role is and has been understaffed for years. A huge number of these engineers have only ever worked as an engineer for BG since leaving school and have always envisaged it to be a job for life. Two years ago, the company managed to get through a change to our Final salary pension seeing it cut in half moving forward. Yes, it was a good pension in today’s market, but this was one of the major factors in people staying with the company as it had already been removed to new entrants years ago. I believe they got the numbers required in the vote on this due to a £8k one of payment before tax and NI. Personally, it has reduced my pension by around £11k a year so not great. Unfortunately, many had already become disillusioned with the way the company was going and could not foresee staying until retirement. Senior Management must have seen this as a huge win and I believe this started the wheels in motion for what we are being faced with today, after working through the biggest pandemic in centuries, constantly entering and working in people’s houses and even ones who had tested positive. As a leaked clip recently shows a Senior manager is in tears early on in this pandemic because of what the company is asking us to do for its customers. This has been followed by another leaked clip of various senior managers gloating over the fact that the pandemic and recent events in America have managed to keep the strike almost completely out of the mainstream media. Just Before Christmas 2020 they constantly contacted us which some have seen as bullying and intimidation to pre sign a copy of intent to sign the contract in February. For this you got a sweetener or as they called it a transition payment of either £1k or £2k depending what part of field services you worked in. Also enhanced benefits of extra holiday that was being taken away under the new terms and enhanced bonus scheme that has not even been trailed yet to show if fit for purpose. Those receiving London Weighting or those set to lose it under the new agreement also got this for a few extra years, for some up to £5k. I will now try and summarise the changes I have managed to understand under the new contract for a service and repair engineer. I am still yet to find a single positive for the employee. 1. The average engineer will be losing 4 days annual leave and around 10 rest days. 2. Those who receive London weighting (up to £5.2k) will either loose it completely or see it dramatically reduced. 3. We have been told we earn above market average for our role so will receive no pay rise for a minimum of 3 years guaranteed and could be between 5-10 years without a rise. 4. Our 37-hour week will increase to 40 hours, you will not see an increase in your base pay for these hours so will be effectively taking a pay cut as your hourly rate will reduce. The companies new bonus scheme (CTAP) could if you exceed targets pay for these hours. 5. CTAP the new bonus scheme has not been trailed or tested to see if it is fit for purpose. 6. The sharesave scheme will no longer be available. 7. Being forced to pay for private health insurance otherwise you will only receive statutory sick pay. Also 6 months full and 6 months half pay will change to 3 months at 100% and 9 months at 66% 8. Core hours will change Currently Summer Monday to Friday from 8am to 7pm. Winter Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm. Saturday 8am to 6pm and Sunday 8am to 5pm. All days will be 7am to 9pm. 9. No caps on weekend working, Sundays are currently 1 in 6 max. 10. No weekend payment currently around £26 Saturday and £40 Sunday. Depending on roster frequency a loss of just over £1k 11. Start time, at present need to be at collection point or on patch en route to 1st job. New contract you will need to be on your 1stjob at start time and should be within 30mins from home. So technically 30 mins of unpaid hours. You will be told by the system when to collect your parts and allocated the travel time for this. 12. Overtime rates will all be at 1.33% of hourly rate. Currently from 1.25 upto 200% 13. EA (Emergency call out throughout the evening and night) is the biggest hit as going from 200% to 1.33%. 14. Will now be rostered to work on bank holidays and apart from Christmas, Boxing day and NYD will attract no extra payments. 15. Current 6 monthly roster will change to 6 weeks rolling roster making planning your outside time a lot harder. Also, any holiday booked outside the 6-week window will be at 40 hours regardless of what that future shift time will be. 16. Loss of 28/45 hour summer and winter shifts replaced with 32/44 min and max depending on workloads and not summer and winter. 17. Our managers will remain on a 37-hour week and these extra hours will I assume only be covered by a duty manager if they decide to answer the phone. Good luck at 7am and up to 9pm 18. Loss of 3-day weeks in summer when work loads are low. Minimum will be a 4-day week. 19. Work systems are old, and the company have stated that these needs updating to accommodate todays demands. New contract relies on these but no commitment or time scales as to when these will be updated. 20. If an engineer’s performance is below the required new untested target, then a new untested performance management will be used and could result in dismissal within 3 months. 21. Overtime will only be paid once your CTAP balance is positive so could be doing OT just to balance the books. 22. No confirmed details to say if consolidating London weighting will affect pension cap. 23. You will only receive time credits whilst working or if waiting for a job. So, if you have 20mins left on shift and do not want a job then you loose 20mins from CTAP. Also, if you request a job in this time anything could come down and you will be forced to take it and work OT or loose the wait time. 24. QDOS will be no longer so no more payments for selling products and upgrades. You will be allocated a set time into CTAP for this. 25. No commitment to stop contractors picking the best jobs and travel plans. All the company have committed to is looking at this later. Means they get better pay and we lose out n CTAP. 26. Job Recall time currently at 10 days will change to 28 days even if it unrelated. 27. No travel time will be credited if you need to pick up parts from another engineer. So, you will be penalised for doing the right thing for our customer. 28. No more quarterly bonus. 29. Rest day working will only be paid if you have a positive balance in CTAP 30. Business have agreed some long duration time takes a lot longer than the time allocated. Again, no change of this and hopefully something they will look at later. 31. All Training roles have gone and manager/CDMs will coach engineers even though many have been off the tools for ages. 32. If you log a lead and that goes ahead you will still get a recall if we need to go back within 28days. Even if the installer is at fault and not the engineer. 33. CTAP is not in your Terms and Conditions so no collective agreement for the future of this. 34. Some current work tasks will not be left to an engineer’s judgement rather than credit the relevant time to these and protect safety. 35. No longer be able to carry over or sell holiday entitlement. 36. April 2019 the company made a commitment in the pay agreement to 400 new apprentices by 2023, only 48 so far to date. Half the time gone and only 10% of this has been fulfilled.

[cha-d]

Early in the formidable new essay collection “Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning,” the poet Cathy Park Hong delivers a fatalistic state-of-the-race survey. “In the popular imagination,” she writes, “Asian Americans inhabit a vague purgatorial status . . . distrusted by African Americans, ignored by whites, unless we’re being used by whites to keep the black man down.” Asians, she observes, are perceived to be emotionless functionaries, and yet she is always “frantically paddling my feet underwater, always overcompensating to hide my devouring feelings of inadequacy.” Not enough has been said, Hong thinks, about the self-hatred that Asian-Americans experience. It becomes “a comfort,” she writes, “to peck yourself to death. You don’t like how you look, how you sound. You think your Asian features are undefined, like God started pinching out your features and then abandoned you. You hate that there are so many Asians in the room. Who let in all the Asians? you rant in your head.”

Hong, who teaches at Rutgers, is the author of three poetry collections, including “Dance Dance Revolution,” which was published in 2007, and is set in a surreal fictional waystation called the Desert, where the inhabitants speak a constantly evolving creole. (“Me fadder sees dis y decide to learn Engrish righteo dere,” the narrator says.) “Minor Feelings” consists of seven essays; Hong explains the book’s title in an essay called “Stand Up” that centers on Richard Pryor’s “Live in Concert.” Minor feelings are “the racialized range of emotions that are negative, dysphoric, and therefore untelegenic.” One such minor feeling: the deadening sensation of seeing an Asian face on a movie screen and bracing for the ching-chong joke. Another: eating lunch with white schoolmates and perceiving the social tableaux as a frieze in which “everyone else was a relief, while I felt recessed, the declivity that gave everyone else shape.” Minor feelings involve a sense of lack, the knowledge that this lack is a social construction, and resentment of those who constructed it.

In “The End of White Innocence,” Hong describes her childhood home as “tense and petless, with sharp witchy stenches.” Her father drank; her mother, she writes, “beat my sister and me with a fury intended for my father.” Her parents grew up in postwar poverty in Korea—as a child, her father caught sparrows to eat. In order to get a visa to immigrate to the United States, he pretended to be a mechanic, and ended up working for Ryder trucks in Pennsylvania, where he was injured, and fired. He moved to Los Angeles and found a job selling life insurance in Koreatown, then bought a dry-cleaning supply warehouse, and became successful enough to send Hong to private high school and college. He recognized that Americans valued emotional forthrightness in business and developed a particular way of speaking at work. “Thanks for getting those orders in,” Hong remembers him saying on the phone. “Oh, and Kirby, I love you.”

Hong feels ashamed, but not of her proximity to awkward English, or her features, or witchy domestic stenches. “My shame is not cultural but political,” she writes. She is ashamed of the conflicted position of Asian-Americans in the racial and capital hierarchy—the way that subjugation mingles with promise. “If the indebted Asian immigrant thinks they owe their life to America, the child thinks they owe their livelihood to their parents for their suffering,” Hong writes. “The indebted Asian American is therefore the ideal neoliberal subject.” She becomes a “dog cone of shame,” a “urinal cake of shame.” Hong’s metaphors are crafted with stinging care. To be Asian-American, she suggests, is to be tasked with making an injury inaccessible to the body that has been injured. It is to be pissed on at regular intervals while dutifully minimizing the odor of piss.

For a long time, Hong recounts in the book’s first essay, she did not want to write about her Asian identity. By the time she began studying for her M.F.A., at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she had concluded that doing so was “juvenile”—and she couldn’t find the right form, anyway. The confessional lyric felt too operatic, and realist fiction wasn’t right, either: “I didn’t care to injection-mold my thoughts into an anthropological experience where the reader, after reading my novel, would think, The life of Koreans is so heartbreaking!” In “Stand Up,” she asks, “Will there be a future where I, on the page, am simply I, on the page, and not I, proxy for a whole ethnicity, imploring you to believe we are human beings who feel pain?” The predicament of the Asian-American writer, as Hong articulates it, is to fear that both your existence and your interpretation of that existence will always be read the wrong way. At Iowa, Hong noticed other writers of color stripping out markers of race from their poems and stories to avoid being “branded as identitarians.” It was only later that Hong realized that all of the writers she had noticed doing this were Asian-American.

I read “Minor Feelings” in a fugue of enveloping recognition and distancing flinch. I have tended to interpret my own acquiescence to and resentment of capitalism in generational terms rather than racial ones; many people my age seem to accept economic structures that we find humiliating because we reached adulthood when the margins of resistance appeared to be shrinking. I know, too, that my desire to attain financial stability is connected with a hope, bordering on practical obligation, to protect my parents, as they grow older, from the worst of the country that they immigrated to for my benefit. But, for some reason, I haven’t written very much about that. Was I, like Hong’s grad-school classmates, afraid of being branded as an identitarian? Had I considered the possibility of being positioned as a proxy for an entire ethnic group, and, unlike Hong, turned away?The term “Asian-American” was invented by student activists in California, in the late sixties, who were inspired by the civil-rights movement and dreamed of activating a coalition of people from immigrant backgrounds who might organize against structural inequality. This is not what happened; for years, Asian-Americans were predominantly conservative, though that began changing, gradually, during the Obama years, then sharply under Trump. Today, “Asian-American” mainly signifies people with East Asian ancestry: most Americans, Hong writes, think “Chinese is synecdoche for Asians the way Kleenex is for tissues.” The term, for many people—and for Hollywood—seems to conjure upper-middle-class images: doctors, bankers. (We are imagined as the human equivalent of stainless-steel countertops: serviceable and interchangeable and blandly high-end.) But, although rich Asians earn more money than any other group of people in America, income inequality is also more extreme among Asians than it is within any other racial category. In New York, Asians are the poorest immigrant group.Hong describes a visit to a nail salon, where a surly Vietnamese teen-age boy gives her a painful pedicure. She imagines him and herself as “two negative ions repelling each other,” united and then divided by their discomfort in their own particular Asian positions. Then she pauses. “What evidence do I have that he hated himself?” she wonders. “I wished I had the confidence to bludgeon the public with we like a thousand trumpets against them,” she writes elsewhere. “But I feared the weight of my experiences—as East Asian, professional class, cis female, atheist, contrarian—tipped the scales of a racial group that remains so nonspecific that I wondered if there was any shared language between us. And so, like a snail’s antenna that’s been touched, I retracted the first person plural.” Hong doesn’t fully retract it—“we” appears fairly often in the book—but she favors the second person, deploying a “you” that really means “I,” in the hope that her experience might carry shards of the Asian-American universal.

Throughout the book, Hong at once presumes and doesn’t presume to speak for people whose families come from India, say, or Sri Lanka, or Thailand, or Laos—or the Philippines, where my parents were born. The Philippines were under Spanish control from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, and under American control until the middle of the twentieth. Many Filipinos have Spanish last names and come to the States speaking English; many have dark skin. In his book “The Latinos of Asia,” the sociologist Anthony Christian Ocampo argues that Filipinos tend to manifest a sort of ethnic flexibility, feeling more at home, compared with members of other Asian ethnic groups, with whites, African-Americans, Latinos, and other Asians. The experience of translating for one’s parents is often framed as definitive for Asian-Americans, but it’s not one that many Filipinos of my generation share; my parents came to North America listening to James Taylor and the Allman Brothers, speaking Tagalog only when they didn’t want their kids to listen. I grew up in a mixed extended family, with uncles who are black and Mexican and Chinese and white. Ocampo cites a study which found that less than half of Filipino-Americans checked “Asian” on forms that asked for racial background—a significant portion of them checked “Pacific Islander,” for no real reason. It denoted proximity to Asian-Americanness, perhaps, without indicating a direct claim to it. (About a month ago, at a doctor’s appointment, an East Asian nurse checked “Pacific Islander” when filling out a form for me.)

“Koreans are self-hating,” one of Hong’s Filipino friends tell her. “Filipinos, not so much.” My experience of racism has been different than Hong’s, as has my response to it. Much of the discourse around Asian-American identity centers on racist images associated with the stereotypical East Asian face: single-lidded eyes, yellow-toned skin, a supposed air of placid impassivity. I don’t have that face, exactly, and I’m not sure that I’ve confronted quite the same assumptions; when I hear people perform gross imitations of “Chinese” accents, I don’t know if it hurts the way it does because I’m an Asian person or because I come from a family of immigrants or simply because racism is embarrassing and foul.

If you escape the dominant experience of Asian-American marginalization, have you necessarily done so by way of avoidance, or denial, or conformity? What can you do when colonization is embedded in your family’s history, in your genetic background, in your very face? If I feel comforted in a room full of Asian people rather than alarmed at the possibility that my inner racial anxieties have been cloned all around me, is this another effect of the psychic freedom I’ve been granted with double eyelids and an ambiguously Western last name, or does it mark progress in the form of a meaningful generational shift? In the decade that separates me from Hong, the currency of whiteness has lost some of its inflated cultural value; one now sees Asian artists and chefs and skateboarders and dirtbags and novelists on the Internet, in the newspaper, and on TV. Is this freedom, or is it the latest form of assimilation? For Asian-Americans, can the two ever be fully distinct?

“Minor Feelings” bled a dormant discomfort out of me with surgical precision. Hong is deeply wary of living and writing to earn the favor of white institutions; like many of us, she has been raised and educated to earn white approval, and the book is an attempt to both acknowledge and excise such tendencies in real time. “Even to declare that I’m writing for myself would still mean I’m writing to a part of me that wants to please white people,” she explains. She’s circling the edges of a trap that often appears in Asian-American consciousness, in which love is suspicious and being unloved is even worse. The editors of “Aiiieeeee!,” one of the first anthologies of Asian-American literature—it was published in 1974—argued that “euphemized white racist love” had combined with legislative racism to mire the Asian-American psyche in a swamp of “self-contempt, self-rejection, and disintegration.” A quarter century later, in her book “The Melancholy of Race,” the literary theorist Anne Anlin Cheng described “the double bind that fetters the racially and ethnically denigrated subject: How is one to love oneself and the other when the very movement toward love is conditioned by the anticipation of denial and failure?” In the introduction to his essay collection “The Souls of Yellow Folk,” published in 2018, Wesley Yang writes about a realization that he regards as “unspeakable precisely because it need never be spoken: that as the bearer of an Asian face in America, you paid some incremental penalty, never absolute, but always omnipresent, that meant that you were default unlovable and unloved.”

The question of lovability, and desirability, is freighted for Asian men and Asian women in very different ways—and “Minor Feelings” serves as a case study in how a feminist point of view can both deepen an inquiry and widen its resonances to something like universality. Essays and articles about Asian-American consciousness often invoke issues of dominance and submission, and they often frame these issues according to the experiences of disenfranchised men. The editors of “Aiiieeeee!” call the stereotypical Asian-American “contemptible because he is womanly”; Yang often identifies the Asian-American condition with male rejection and disaffection. Hong reframes the quandary of negotiating dominance and submission—of desiring dominance, of hating the terms of that dominance, of submitting in the hopes of achieving some facsimile of dominance anyway—as a capitalist dilemma. I found myself thinking about how the interest and favor of white people, white men in particular, both professionally and personally, have insulated me from the feeling of being sidelined by America while compromising my instincts at a level I can barely access. Hong writes, “My ego is in free fall while my superego is boundless, railing that my existence is not enough, never enough, so I become compulsive in my efforts to do better, be better, blindly following this country’s gospel of self-interest, proving my individual worth by expanding my net worth, until I vanish.”

I hate my Asian self the way I worry about being written off as a woman writer—which is to say, not at all. Hong concedes that the self-hating Asian may be “on its way out” with her generation: for me, the formulation still has weight, but does not capture the efflorescence of the present. The question, then, is whether the movement toward love, as Anne Anlin Cheng put it, can be made outside the grasp of coercion. Is there a future of Asian-American identity that’s fundamentally expansive—that can encompass the divergent economic and cultural experiences of Asians in the United States, and form a bridge to the experiences of other marginalized groups?The answer depends on whom Asian-Americans choose to feel affinity and loyalty toward—whether we direct our sympathies to those with more power than us or less, not just outside our jerry-rigged ethnic coalition but within it. The history of Asian-Americans has involved repression and assimilation; it has also, to a degree that is often forgotten, involved radicalism and invention. “Aiiieeeee!” was published by Howard University Press, partly as a result of the friendship that one of its editors, Frank Chin, formed with the radical black writer Ishmael Reed. Gidra, an Asian-American zine that was published in Los Angeles in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, called for the “birth of a new Asian—one who will recognize and deal with injustices.” (Gidra reported on cases of local discrimination and profiled activists such as Yuri Kochiyama; it’s now back in print.) To occupy a conflicted position is also to inhabit a continual opportunity—the chance, to borrow Hong’s words, to “do better, be better,” but in moral and political rather than economic terms.In one of the essays in “Minor Feelings,” called “An Education,” Hong looks back on her friendships in college with two other Asian-American girls—brash, unstable hellions named Erin and Helen. They made art together, they traded poetry, they got drunk and fought and made up. “We had the confidence of white men,” Hong recalls, “which was swiftly cut down after graduation, upon our separation, when each of us had to prove ourselves again and again, because we were, at every stage of our career, underestimated.” The story of their friendship is a story about the way that loving others is often a less complex and more worthy act than loving ourselves—and the way that love can blunt the psychological force of marginalization. If structural oppression is the denial of justice, and if justice is what love looks like in public, then love demonstrated in private sometimes provides what the world doesn’t. Hong is writing in agonized pursuit of a liberation that doesn’t look white—a new sound, a new affect, a new consciousness—and the result feels like what she was waiting for. Her book is a reminder that we can be, and maybe have to be, what others are waiting for, too.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 3 (18.7):  Arrangement of the Shukō-chawan [珠光茶碗], and a Maru-bon Taikai [丸盆大海], on the Fukuro-dana.

18.7) Arrangement of the Shukō-chawan [珠光茶碗]; and of a taikai [大海] chaire arranged on a round tray.

[The writing reads: (above the upper sketch, from right to left) Shukō-chawan (珠光茶碗)¹, nakatsugi  natsume mo (中次・ナツメモ)²; (to the right of the upper sketch) mizusashi no ue  chakin ・ chasen (水指ノ上 茶巾・茶筅)³; (to the left of the upper sketch) chashaku (茶杓)⁴; (above the lower sketch) maru-bon⁵ taikai⁶ (丸盆大海).]

_________________________

¹Shukō-chawan [珠光茶碗].

    While the original bowl that belonged to Shukō was destroyed in the summer of 1582, other, similar, bowls survive into the present.

    There were actually a number of virtually identical bowls of this type*, each of which bore the name of the chajin who owned it†.  The only discernible difference between them is the number of marks from the hera [篦] (see sub-note “*”, below) that are found on the outside of the bowls, and some variation in color (which ranges from a greenish-ocher to a stronger military green -- the slightly pinkish-gray tone seen in the interior of this bowl appears to be what Sōji referred to as hishira-iro [ヒシラ色]):  according to the Yamanoue Sōji Ki [山上宗二記], the chawan of this sort that belonged to Shukō had 27 of these marks.  While Shukō's chawan was destroyed (in the fire that consumed the Honnō-ji in Kyōto‡, in 1582), several others have survived down to the present** -- while others have since been imported from China (where they are occasionally recovered from the ruins of the storerooms at old kiln sites).  The photos, above and below, show one of these other bowls (the shifuku is tied in what is called the tsune-no-tonbo musubi [常の蜻蛉結び] -- the “ordinary” dragonfly knot -- in the Nampō Roku:  this is how the bowl would have been displayed on the ten-ita of the fukuro-dana)††.

    These bowls were all decorated on their inner faces with a cloud-like design (using a sort of cutting tool that resembles a Rösle pastry wheel, which scores lines of small dots) -- since the designs differed slightly from bowl to bowl, the potters could ask a higher price by saying they were handmade.  The circular depression in the bottom of the bowl insured that they would stack securely‡‡ (the staff of roadside food stalls generally took their pots and serving bowls home with them at the end of the day, to prevent theft or breakage).

    The original Shukō-chawan is said to have developed a small crack at the rim early on, and this worsened while it was in Jōō’s keeping (Jōō seems to have been the person who was responsible for having the bowl repaired with same-colored lacquer).  This probably accounts for the way it is arranged on the fukuro-dana, as well as its special usage***.  After Rikyū was forced to sell his collection of utensils (apparently to Jōō), Jōō presented him with this chawan (as a sort of consolation gift), since its imperfect state -- as well as its history -- were sympathetically appropriate to Rikyū’s now-diminished circumstances. __________ *These bowls were shaped using a mold.  Which, at that time (these bowls continued to be made, in Southern China, from the Sung to the Yuan periods), meant a wooden form that created the inside of the bowl (it was important that the interiors be identical in size, since they were used for serving noodles in road-side food stalls -- and if some of the bowls were of a different size, this could create serious problems between the staff and the frequently low-class customers who ate at these establishments).  A uniform slab of leather-soft clay was placed over the mold and beaten into shape with a hera [篦] (which is a sort of spatula with the blade divided into elongated teeth like a comb, which makes it somewhat flexible:  these marks are clearly visible in the photo on the lower right) while the mold was being turned slowly.  Then the foot was added, the arabesque-like cloud motif was incised on the interior, and the mouth was trimmed.  After drying, the bowls were glazed and fired.

†All of those who have been identified seem to have emigrated from Korea to Japan around the same time as Shukō, and they appear to have brought these bowls along with them.  Since these bowls were actually made for serving noodles in roadside food stalls in China, they most likely were sold in stacks of 10 or so.  It would seem that someone (perhaps a monk) brought back a stack or two of these bowls when he returned from a visit to China, and handed them out to the people who had given him money to support his pilgrimage (the cash that was then given as a thank-present would help him reestablish himself back in Korea).

‡Nobunaga was serving tea to his page-lover Mori Ranmaru [森蘭丸; 1565 ~ 1582] when Akechi Mitsuhide [明智光秀; 1528 ~ 1582] attacked the Honnō-ji, in Teramachi, Kyōto.  After committing seppuku (to prevent his being captured alive) -- Ranmaru acted as his second -- Ranmaru set fire to the shoin by scattering the charcoal from the furo around the room (this was to prevent the dishonor of Nobunaga's head being collected and paraded by Mitsuhide).  After which Mori Ranmaru also committed suicide (apparently unassisted).

    Nobunaga was performing the naga-ita temae (interesting enough, the same temae that Yoshimasa had performed the last time he did chanoyu -- though he died of old age).  The mizusashi (the seiji unryū-mizusashi [青磁雲龍水指]), chawan (the Shukō-chawan [珠光茶碗]), and kiri-kake kama were destroyed, while the old Temmyō kimen-buro [古天明鬼面風爐] (this was the furo that had been used by Ashikaga Yoshimasa during the period of his brief second retirement), and the two tea containers (the karamono-bunrin chaire now known as the Honnōji-bunrin [本能寺文琳], for koicha; and the old Seto chaire that is usually referred to as the Enjō-bō katatsuki [圓乗坊肩衝] today -- because it was rescued from the ruins of the temple by the monk Enjō-bō Sōen [圓乗坊宗圓; his dates of birth and death are unknown] -- for usucha), while damaged, were salvaged (and have managed to survive down to the present day -- though the furo was damaged further in the Keichō-Fushimi earthquake of 1596).

**They seem to have mostly lost their original names, and are (collectively) referred to as Shukō-seiji chawan [珠光青磁].  Shukō-seiji being the name that the Japanese gave to the low-quality green-glazed ware that resembled his chawan.  (While this bowl is used as a chawan today, Shukō would have used it as the kae-chawan for his temmoku.)

††Like Shukō’s chawan, the bowl shown in the photo was also cracked and then repaired with (same-colored) lacquer.  The silver fukurin was added in recent years, to help protect the bowl from further damage (lacquer repairs tend to become brittle as the centuries pass).

‡‡While this circular depression is called a cha-damari [茶溜り] today (meaning the place where the tea rests), it seems that the original name was chawan-damari [茶碗溜り] (the place where a chawan rests).  In fact, the foot of one bowl fits into the depression like the foot of a cup into its saucer (and these large chawan seem to have been used as a sort of saucer for the temmoku before the introduction of Chinese lacquered temmoku-dai).

***The Shukō-chawan is placed, as a mine-suri [峰摺り], on the ten-ita of the fukuro-dana.  This is the most exalted arrangement possible.  However, when used with the daisu, it was displayed in a clearly inferior manner.  This suggests that, in Jōō’s opinion, the Shukō-chawan was the preeminent chawan for wabi-no-chanoyu (and his gifting of this bowl to Rikyū, after Rikyū was forced to give up all of his fine utensils, can be understood as a recommendation that Rikyū henceforth give up any pretenses to gokushin-no-chanoyu, and devote himself exclusively to wabi tea for the rest of his life).

    The special usage associated with this bowl (which was probably the “ku-den” to which the red spot is referring to) required the host to open the mizusashi at the beginning of the temae (before opening the kama).  Then two hishaku of cold water were added to the kama (to cool it), and half of a third hishaku-full of cold water was poured into the chawan (while the rest was also added to the kama).  Then a quarter hishaku of hot water was poured into the cold water in the chawan, and the bowl was picked up and rotated very slowly, to warm it gently.  Next, without discarding the water that was already in the bowl, the Shukō-chawan was placed down on the mat again, and (following a yu-gaeshi) a half hishaku of hot water was added; the bowl was rotated three times again, and this time the water was discarded.  Now, sufficiently warmed (so that the shock of adding hot water would not cause the crack to worsen -- as it apparently had before this procedure was created for it), a half-hishaku of hot water was added to the bowl, and the lid of the kama, and then the mizusashi, were closed, and the host performed the chasen-tōshi.

    The remainder of the temae was as usual, though hot water was used for the final chasen-tōshi, rather than cold water.

    After the bowl came into his possession, Rikyū used it resting on a large, red-lacquered, sakazuki [盃] (shaped like a flat dish with a raised rim, and low foot, measuring 6-sun in diameter), as a mark of respect.  It is said that the first time he did so was when Jōō visited his residence for the first time.

²Nakatsugi ・ natsume mo [中次 ・ ナツメモ].

    While the shin-nakatsugi was probably preferred (since it had been created by Shukō), a natsume could be used as well.  The shin-nakatsugi would be arranged on the fukuro-dana hadaka [裸] (without a shifuku), and resting on a shiki-kami [敷紙]*; but a natsume would be displayed tied in its shifuku.  The shiki-kami was only used with a shin-nakatsugi.

    While Jōō created both the large natsume (ō-natsume [大棗]) and the small natsume (ko-natsume [小棗])†, the large natsume more closely approximates the volume of the shin-nakatsugi. __________ *See the post entitled Nampō Roku, Book 3 (18.2):  the Arrangement of an Ordinary Chawan and Chaire on the Fukuro-dana; and the Arrangement of a Shin-nakatsugi on the Fukuro-dana for more on this, including directions for making the shiki-kami.  The URL for that post is:

https://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/186916844698/namp%C5%8D-roku-book-3-182-the-arrangement-of-an

†The assertion that the ko-natsume should be used for koicha and the ō-natsume for usucha may be a later interpretation:  the ko-natsume holds enough tea for no more than three portions of koicha, while Jōō is mentioned as having served tea to as many as six (or even ten) guests during a single za.

    Furthermore, Jōō served each guest an individual bowl of koicha (meaning that more tea would be needed than for a single large bowl of tea that was served as sui-cha [吸い茶] -- the practice where a single bowl of koicha is shared by all the guests).  What is more likely is that Jōō used whichever was suitable, depending on the amount of matcha that had been ground.

³Mizusashi no ue chakin ・ chasen [水指ノ上茶巾・茶筅].

    This temae is technically referred to as chasen-kazari because the folded chakin, with the chasen resting on top of it, is “displayed” on the lid of the mizusashi.

    Because the Shukō-chawan was a large bowl (it measured 5-sun 2-bu in diameter), the chakin was initially folded in half (rather than into thirds, as is usual when a smaller chawan is being used).

⁴Chashaku (茶杓).

    This would have been a chashaku that was made to be used with the nakatsugi (or natsume).

    During Jōō's lifetime a Shutoku* chashaku [珠德茶杓] (above) was probably been paired with the former; but one of Jōō's own chashaku would have been more appropriate when using a natsume†. __________ *Shutoku [珠德] was the name of the craftsman who made chashaku for Shukō (and possibly accompanied him from the continent when he emigrated to Japan).  He worked in both ivory and bamboo; and the special feature of his scoops (the bamboo ones as well as those carved from ivory) is the prominent flaring of the butt-end of the handle.

†The fact that the chashaku is displayed on the tana suggests that the comment regarding the use of a natsume as being a suitable substitute for the shin-nakatsugi was added in the Edo period.

    As Shibayama Fugen has remarked several times, most -- if not all -- of the writing was added by later people.

⁵Maru-bon [丸盆].

    Both Shibayama Fugen and Tanaka Senshō understand this to be the meibutsu naka-maru-bon [中丸盆] that had been used by Ashikaga Yoshimasa.

    This tray was 1-shaku 2-sun 3-bu in diameter.  However, the tray itself seems to have been 1-shaku 2-sun across, with straight sides, and a raised rib 1-su 5-rin high in the middle of the side.  The face of the tray had a large “gold” (probably brass, since the purpose was to prevent the face of the tray from being damaged by heat) plate inlaid in the lacquer, and the rim of the tray was adorned with a fukurin [覆輪] (edge) of the same metal.

    The tray seems to have originally been made for carrying chafing dishes and other heated serving vessels from the kitchens to the residential apartments (in China -- this was the purpose of the metal inlay, to keep the tray from catching fire), and (like the other meibutsu trays used by Yoshimasa) was adopted for use in chanoyu because its dimensions conformed to what was required.

    The original of this tray had been destroyed when Yoshimasa's storehouse was burned down during the Ōnin wars (sometime between 1467 and 1477).  However, Yoshimasa was able to order a (Japanese-made) copy in mirror-finished black lacquer (without either the fukurin or the metal inlay), and this was probably the tray that Jōō originally used with this kazari.

⁶Taikai [大海].

    The taikai was the oldest kind of chaire used in Japan* -- and its use predated the arrival of chanoyu (c 1403) by several hundred years.  The karamono taikai chaire known as Maru-umi [丸海] is shown below.

    The fact that the chaire overlaps the kane by one-third (in other words, the foot was placed immediately to the side of the kane) means that this was one of the large taikai chaire that had been used to hold the tea on the o-chanoyu-dana [御茶湯棚] in the days before chanoyu was brought to Japan.

[I have circled the words uchi ni taikai [中ニ大海), which are written above the drawing of the tray -- indicating that these large taikai were the proper chaire for use in this setting.  This sketch was drawn by Nōami (能阿彌), and shows the arrangement of the o-chanoyu-dana that he approved.]

    Because it was an adopted piece (rather than one of the chaire that had been used for gokushin tea), the taikai was being treated as inferior to the “proper” chaire -- even when these chaire had been imported from the continent.

    Takahashi Sōan [高橋箒庵; 1861 ~ 1937] mentions six karamono taikai-chaire† in his seminal work, the Taishō Mei-ki Kagami [大正名器鑑], and the pertinent data for each has been entered in the following table.

    Thus, while there was no absolute size, the taikai used in this temae were usually a little over 3-sun in diameter.

    Note that while the line representing the kane is done in red, the chaire only overlaps the kane by one-third (like an ordinary chaire, rather than a meibutsu):  the red ink is intended to draw attention to the fact that, even though the taikai is resting on a tray, it is displayed as if it were an ordinary chaire. ___________ *In the Chanoyu San-byakka Jō [茶湯三百箇條], which Jōō ascribed to Shukō (though the only surviving version of this document was edited extensively by Jōō’s disciple Uesugi Kenshin, and subsequently by Sen no Dōan and his disciple Kuwayama Sōzen, and the content clearly bears the stamp of these individuals), the taikai [大海] is considered to be the intermediate stage between the ko-tsubo [小壺] and the large katatsuki [肩衝], and so can be used in either way (tea was “pulled out” of the ko-tsubo -- sukuu [掬う] being the Japanese verb for this action -- with the side of the chashaku, but it was scooped out -- here the verb is kumu [汲む] -- from a katatsuki).

†A number of old Seto taikai chaire are also mentioned in the Taishō Mei-ki Kagami -- which is to be expected because every mansion had to have an o-chanoyu-dana, so there were many locally produced examples of this necessary object (only the wealthiest households could afford the imported pieces).

    But both Shibayama Fugen and Tanaka Senshō, however, state that this chaire must be a karamono taikai, according to tradition.  This is why I have not included the Japanese-made pieces in the list.

==============================================

I. The first arrangement.

    Here the Shukō-chawan is arranged, together with a shin-nakatsugi, on the ten-ita of the fukuro-dana.(the nakatsugi without a shifuku, and resting on a shiki-kami [敷紙]*).  The Shukō-chawan, being the preeminent chawan for wabi-no-chanoyu†, it is arranged as a mine-suri [峰摺り].

    A chashaku -- probably made by Shukō‘s chashaku craftsman Shutoku [珠德]‡ -- is placed on the extreme left side of the kō-dana, while the chakin and chasen are arranged on top of the mizusashi (so that a kae-chawan is unnecessary).

    While I have shown the Shukō-chawan without a shifuku in my sketch (so that the relationship between the cha-damari [茶溜り] -- the depressed circle in the bottom of the chawan, into which the matcha is transferred -- and the kane), the chawan would be displayed in its shifuku, as per Jōō’s sketch.

    With respect to kane-wari, the tana is han [半] (with the exception of the chashaku, all of the objects arranged on it contact a kane).  Taken together with the chabana in the toko**, and the kama in the ro, this gives a han count to the goza. ___________ *See footnote 2, and its sub-note “*”, above.  The shiki-kami allows the nakatsugi to “overlap” its kane -- something impossible otherwise, since the straight sides mean that, when placed immediately adjacent to its kane, unlike most other utensils, there will be no “interaction” between the two at all.

†The Shukō-chawan was probably never used for drinking koicha by Shukō.  It was the kae-chawan that he used when serving tea in his temmoku.

    While sometimes the kae-chawan was used to serve usucha to the shōkyaku’s attendants (by mixing the cha-no-ato [茶の跡] in the temmoku with some more hot water, and then pouring this into the kae-chawan -- which was occasionally used as a sort of saucer when a lacquered Chinese temmoku-dai was not available), its primary purpose was to allow the host to bring the chakin and chasen into the room, serve as a vessel in which the chasen could be cleaned with cold water at the end of the temae, and then be used to take the chakin and chasen back to the katte at the conclusion of the service of tea.

     The use of the kae-chawan to serve tea -- to the shōkyaku -- was a defining element of wabi-no-chanoyu (where the “proper” utensils were considered to be things that had been “neglected” theretofore in the practice of gokushin tea).

‡Shutoku [珠德] was active during the second half of the fifteenth century, but his dates of birth and death are unknown.  His name suggests that he was a disciple of Shukō’s (as well as the man who carved chashaku -- in both ivory and bamboo -- for him), and he may have accompanied Shukō to Japan from Korea.

    As for the chashaku itself, if a natsume is used (rather than a shin-nakatsugi), then one of Jōō‘s chashaku would be more appropriate (since Jōō created the natsume, just as Shukō did the shin-nakatsugi).  A chashaku made by later generations of chajin, or by the host himself, would probably not be appropriately displayed in this way (since the chashaku does not contact a kane, its absence would not change anything -- though its absence would present the difficulty of how to get the chashaku into the room, since a kae-chawan is not available:  perhaps it could be placed in the ji-fukuro; but the better idea would be to use one of the appropriate sort).

    The chashaku is placed on the extreme left side of the tana because it must always be to the left of the tea container (and the shiki-kami means that the nakatsugi occupies all the space to the right of the kane).

    This is an important point to keep in mind -- and not just in relation to this arrangement:  when performing chasen-kazari, the chaire is usually displayed inside the chawan, and in this case (contrary to what many modern schools teach) the chashaku rests across the rim of the chawan on the left side of the chaire.  Nevertheless, the present temae is, indeed, a variation on chasen-kazari.

**Assuming the chabana is displayed in the middle of the toko -- either resting on an usu-ita on the floor of the toko, or suspended from the hook that is inserted into the middle of the back wall.

     If the chabana is suspended on the bokuseki-mado (or from a hook nailed into the minor pillar on the outer-wall side of the toko), then the toko is chō [調] -- which (like an empty toko) would give a chō count to the za, if all of the other things remained the same.

——————————————–———-—————————————————

II. The second arrangement.

    In this arrangement, a (large) taikai chaire (of the sort that was used on the o-chanoyu-dana in the years before chanoyu was brought to Japan at the beginning of the fifteenth century).  According to both Shibayama Fugen and Tanaka Senshō, the “maru-bon” in question is the meibutsu naka-maru-bon [中丸盆] that was used by Ashikaga Yoshimasa*.

    Because this chaire was adopted for use in chanoyu from a different purpose (the o-chanoyu-dana -- which was not considered to be chanoyu, even though matcha can also be served in that way), it was considered to be an “ordinary” utensil.  For this reason, even though it is displayed (and will be handled) on a tray, it still overlaps its kane by one-third†.

    According to the Nampō Roku, of the six meibutsu trays associated with Ashikaga Yoshimasa, only the two smallest trays -- the Gassan nagabon [月山長盆] (outer dimensions, 1-shaku 3-sun 2-bu x 9-sun 2-bu), and the round Chōshō rai-bon [趙昌雷盆] (measuring 1-shaku 1-sun in diameter) -- were cleaned with the host’s temae-fukusa‡.  The other four trays (of which the naka-maru-bon was one) were cleaned with the habōki.  This is why the habōki is displayed on the maru-bon on the fukuro-dana at the same time as the hishaku.  The chawan (probably something like an ido-chawan during the period when the original document on which Book Three is based was written) is placed in the ji-fukuro.

    According to the Chanoyu San-byakka Jō, the fukuro-dana should be placed either 8-sun, or else 1-shaku 2-sun, away from the upper corner of the ro.  While 8-sun generally suffices (which would be the case of for all of the arrangements discussed thus far), the present arrangement needs it to be 1-shaku 2-sun away, so that there will be sufficient room for the maru-bon (which is lowered to the mat so the karamono taikai can be handled upon it).

    And finally, looking at the kane-wari, the tana is a straight-forward han [半] (the chawan in the ji-fukuro is ignored for this purpose).  Assuming that the toko is also han**, this will yield a han count for the za. ___________ *This tray, which measured 1-shaku 2-sun 3-bu in diameter, is described more fully above in footnote 5.  The original was destroyed during the Ōnin wars, and the tray that Jōō used for this arrangement was the copy made for Yoshimasa by Haneda Gorō.

    The reader should keep in mind that all of the arrangements described here use very specific utensils, most of which existed as only a single example.  If one managed to acquire the utensils specified, then one could perform this temae.  And if not, using copies was generally frowned upon (though one could sometimes use other utensils that matched the important criteria).

†As always, the foot is placed so that it is immediately adjacent to the kane with which the chaire is associated.  This allows the chaire’s bulk to “overlap” the kane in the appropriate manner.  Any necessary adjustment can be made because the kane is 3-bu wide, and the edge of the foot of the chaire can be found anywhere within that space.  This is explained in greater detail in the appendix that is found at the end of the post entitled Nampō Roku, Book 3 (18.5):  Arrangements for a Meibutsu Futaoki, and for a Karamono Chaire.  The URL for that post is:

https://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/187172815712/namp%C5%8D-roku-book-3-185-arrangements-for-a

‡Trays smaller than these were, of course, also cleaned with the fukusa (though these “chaire-bon” did not exist until created by Jōō, many decades after Yoshimasa’s time):  as can be seen in the chart that was included under footnote 6, the diameter of the foot is always close to one third of the total diameter (any deficiency can be made up by the fact that the “kane” is 3-bu wide, and the edge of the foot can be located anywhere within that space -- this was explained in the appendix at the end of the previous post).

**The room is always han, because it necessarily must contain the kama in the ro -- and generally nothing else (since the fukuro-dana was the original kind of wabi arrangement, the first departure from the formality of the daisu).

[whipplefilter]

How does Harv deal with Lightning, his star client, continually turning down Tex Dinoco’s offers? In the first movie, getting Tex to make the offer was the major goal. :) Thanks!

By still charging Lightning what he’d be charging him if Lightning were racing for a bigger team, LOL. 

So I guess the question we need to ponder first is, what difference does it make for Harv if LMQ is racing for Rusteze or Dinoco? I figure Harv has two concerns with regard to his job as an agent: 1) notoriety and 2) money.

How the money works in the Piston Cup/the Cars world is something I wonder about a lot, and am probably unnecessarily intrigued by, so let’s tl;dr the living heck out of this! 

It seems like there are three major sources of team funding in the Piston Cup:

sponsorship (the main team sponsor and other supporting/contingency sponsors)

the purse

kickbacks from media appearances, merchandise, etc.

In NASCAR, the race team and its sponsor are not the same entity, so there is potential for race teams to use money from other ventures they have (like team owners’ sizable personal fortunes)–which in addition to attracting bigger/more generous sponsorship deals is probably a leg-up that big teams in NASCAR have over small teams. At least from a fiscal standpoint, there would seem to be a bit more parity in the small vs. large teams debate in the Piston Cup than in NASCAR.

R&D seems to be less of a thing in Piston Cup racing. Since there don’t seem to be extremely strict rules with regard to body design or aero, teams probably don’t have to spend as much researching that. They clearly still do (or are beginning to–we see Sterling has a wind tunnel, so aero research must count for something), and I imagine the Piston Cup does test things like best brake pad compounds, or best air filter, etc. Maybe R&D is something that happens earlier in the chain for Piston Cup racers–like, whoever/whatever made Lightning, or made Storm, invested money in a new race car design at their inception, and probably gets a cut of whatever success they have. 

(SIDEBAR, I wonder if whoever designed Storm then sold “generic Next-Gen body prototype design” to other custom fabricators, which spurred the burst of other Next-Gens. Which would mean whoever designed Lightning either didn’t sell/didn’t make more Lightning-shaped cars, OR they weren’t successful??)

Anyway, I feel like because there’s less R&D the bigger part of a Piston Cup team’s budget would be the talent. The racers are… the car… so it would make sense that those budget line items would be paired closer together. XDD The team would need to be able to offer enough money to entice a talented racer, while also paying for their other staff salaries (which again, staff seem to be fewer in the Piston Cup world).

Things a Piston Cup team would have to pay for: payroll, car parts (to replace worn or damaged components after each race), tires, travel, extremely fancy simulators and training centers that clearly Rusteze never in its pre-Sterling life ever had anyway

Things the racer probably pays for separately: car/health insurance, agent fees, lawyer fees, living expenses

Staying with Rusteze over Dinoco meant the sponsorship money available was significantly less. Tires, travel, and car parts are going to cost the same no matter the team, so the main difference would be money spent on payroll and training (which they didn’t spend).

Less money not being an obstacle to Lightning’s success probably, then, hinged on a few things:

Payroll Savings. While going through the trouble of hiring multiple crew chiefs over the first year was probably expensive, lolllll, Doc probably didn’t take a salary as Lightning’s crew chief; and the rest of Radiator Springs was probably content to not be paid much (by the racing world’s standards), either. (The racing world’s standards for “not much” are very different from small-town Arizona’s.) After Doc’s passing, Lightning didn’t hire another crew chief–likely for a whole plethora or reasons, money not being a very important one, but not having a crew chief undoubtedly saved money, as well.

Win a lot. More winning, more prize money! Meaning the relative lack of sponsorship money would mean less. Lightning did a lot of winning, so all good there. XDD

Managing the sponsorship/winnings split? In Cars 3, Lightning has fewer supporting sponsors than he does in Cars 1, which might mean that Rusty/Dusty wanted to manage Lightning’s time and energy (not having to do as much sponsorship stuff beyond Rusteze), and also that they were okay with taking less sponsorship money from these other companies. Maybe in the Cars world since teams/sponsors are synonymous, supporting sponsors also get a cut of the winnings. If Lightning was winning a lot, keeping purse money in-house might have made more sense than taking in sponsorship money but also paying out some of the purse to those sponsors/teams.

Don’t crash! Even if it’s not a medically-threatening crash, crashing is expensive. If Rusteze’s budget were going to work, Lightning would need to be damaged a below-average amount. While I’m sure he still got collected in his share of misfortunes and mess-ups, Lightning’s racing style is already very invested in never touching anyone else (as we see in both the Southern 500 in Cars 1 and at Thunder Hollow), so that likely lent itself well to this plan. 

Lightning himself would need to be willing to make a lot less money, simply because there wasn’t nearly as much to go around. He’s evidently fine with that by the end of the first movie, and aside from putting money into the town and getting very glamorous paint jobs very often, his expenses aren’t much. Sally probably doesn’t even charge him for his Cone. XD And probably doesn’t charge anywhere near as much for her legal services as the previous lawyer did. 

So, to come back around to the actual question, Lightning’s major expenditure might actually be Harv (and insurance). But, following my earlier headcanon about Harv taking on a lot of Lightning’s marketing himself (rather than Rusty and Dusty doing it), Harv might also have essentially paid for himself. I feel like Rusty and Dusty’s idea of marketing was setting up their little EZ-Up and inviting their customer base to the races. The bobbleheads and stickers and TV spots (beyond the Rusteze commercial) and all of that? All Harv. 

Harv says he gets “10% of your winnings and merchandising. And ancillary rights in perpetuity” which–and I say this knowing very little about how money works–seems like…. a lot? According to this article, agents in the NFL get 3% of the player’s salary. Obviously the Piston Cup is not the NFL, but 10% still seems high, and LOL at “ancillary rights in perpetuity”–which means that even if Lightning were to fire Harv, Harv would still own Lightning’s merchandising/etc. rights for all time, forever, no matter what. Harv could kill a man and unless Lightning took it to court, he’d still need to pay Harv for publicity, lololol. Which certainly lends credence to the idea that Harv set himself up as Lightning’s marketing guru/business manager in addition to his agent doing normal agent things, since he negotiated for the rights in the contract. 

In short (LIES, this none of this was or will be short), I think Lightning’s success at Rusteze was largely dependent on… Lightning’s success at Rusteze. That team would only work, at that level of success in racing, in one way–and it happened to be the one Lightning was able to actualize. If anything else had been different, or gone awry, it’s possible Lightning wouldn’t have been able to be as competitive as he was on a team of that size.

As for Harv, as long as it was working–well. Then it was working. As long as Lightning was willing to take the cut and pay Harv the same as he would if he were making Dinoco money, when it’s all good. Harv probably also doubled down in his moonlighting role as business manager/marketer, which is certainly not something that would have been open to him at Dinoco, anyway, since Dinoco already has many cars that do that job. So Lightning’s decision might actually have benefitted Harv in terms of the money. And in terms of the notoriety, Lighting having the success that he did would have given him that no matter what team he raced for–but Harv’s marketing and agent-ing solidified it, and doing it with a small team probably made it all the more impressive. Win-win!

And just in case we’re worried that Lightning got the short end of all the sticks here:

He really just wanted to race, anyway. Money was appealing to him in the first movie because what else was there? He didn’t know. But if you sign with Dinoco, you know your team is never folding and you always get to race. Rusteze? Ehhhhhh. Maybe one day you wake up and suddenly Rusteze didn’t sell enough bumper cream, and there’s no more money, and therefore no more racing. That’s a material reality Lightning probably wanted to avoid.

Even taking major pay cuts and paying out the wazoo for Harv, Lightning has probably still taken home more money than this entire fandom will ever make, all together, for our entire lives. He embarked on a next-day multi-stop international journey without even pausing to think about the cost of short-notice international jetsetting. He’s fine. XDDDD

[butyouvealwaysbeenthecaretaker]

I feel so let down by everyone around me :/

my union dude replies "I'm not really sure about that" every time ive gone to him with something; I've been trying to get him to take on discrimination stuff since September. I now have about 2 weeks to bring a claim, which may not be enough time.

my work have just spent a year on "we can't give you the accommodations you ask for and we've decided not to give you the right workload because discrimination; now let's set goals for you to meet, because your work performance is suffering and you don't seem to be sure of what you're doing", and then having thoroughly wrecked my wellbeing and health, replaced me with a fresh person

My therapists have stopped hiring a receptionist. I've been trying to book an appointment for 3 months now. I leave a message; they don't call back.

The latest stage in my living space is that the dehumidifier off switch has broken; the guys couldn't come and look at it for two weeks; then they announced its not them, it's the people who do the tiling, and we have to remove the unit ourselves and re tile before they can fix the off switch.

This may sound petty, but here's how things stand with my gas: it was accidentally left on by other builders overnight. My neighbours had to call the fire brigade because of the gas build up. I need to replace the door lock. The gas engineer confirmed the boiler was OK but left a bit off by accident. That was in July. Next, I had to replace the kitchen (insurers wouldn't) because it had rotted after the flood (which my insurers took 6 months to come and assess). So we are without cooking facilities for a month. The dude comes to reinstall our hob, and notices that the boiler has been venting exhaust fumes into my home since ??? It'll take him 2 weeks to get the part, and until then no cooking, hot water or heating at all. It's November.

I have a similar story about my bathtub - where 3 successive builders have come in and fixed it, but it continues leaking. Replaced the bathroom floor, planks had just rotted. And my electrics and everything else. For over a year.

I've gone to citizens advice; they've just followed up our early October meeting with advice for handling difficulties at work. I'm no longer employed.

I've done everything to get a local GP or an auto prescription. They can't do it. I have to get a monthly prescription in person from a clinic 90 minutes from home; the kind of prescription that, without which, I can barely get out of bed. Hilarity ensues.

Meanwhile, my parents have decided they now want to sell the house I live in because it's "too much hassle, and wouldn't it be so much nicer to live in {shitty middle of nowhere village} than {the city you have lived in for 10 years, collect books on its history and literature, and literally worship as a god}. And my husband has, one month post marriage, declared he can't stay here either, and his depression is due to this place which. One suspects there's a reason this conversation was so timed.

I just want some part of my life to...stop for a moment. And be kind.

I feel like an article about troubled Milennials; since 2015 its been one thing after another, like that stupid poem about the horse shoe nail, and now I'm at the "one more unexpected, costly crisis and we have nothing" point. It's maddening, and you know, I'm going into work and to my parents and my therapist and saying "here's all the things I am doing!" without anyone recognising that I am trying my best, and I genuinely need the thing I am asking for rather than {this other thing we want to provide}.

And those things are only the things within human control. Flood took out my business, destroyed some expensive equipment, killed my pet. I'm weathering the expense and distress of that as best I can. Injured my hands at work, got dumped from my band; can't play any more. Weathering it as best I can. Partner has given up; doing the best I can.

But something has to give. And I feel so hollowed by it all, and hopeless. A whole year of hope that, while today is bad, the worst will end soon. But now I've got to the end of my work trial period, only for my employers to reveal they've been planning to ditch me since March; and I've gone home, only for everyone around me to decide it's time to leave again.

So, it's just. We're at the "walled up the doors and windows" stage of the Masque of the Red Death, having a party and not thinking about the plague. I hate myself, and the world, and everything in it. There is a distinct absence of cavalry coming.

[loifonnimu1975]

surrender insurance policy

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes from different companies :bestinsureonline.top

surrender insurance policy

surrender insurance policy, when you purchase a car loan, to cover the balance of the loan, or can be taken over. It can also be used when you buy a home or when you own a small investment vehicle. When you finance a vehicle, it is very important to protect the vehicle against collision. If your car is financed, a large portion of your financing bill goes directly to the lender. If you re going forward, consider asking the lender whether you can set up a variable life insurance policy to replace the loan. These policies offer a guarantee income that you can keep in the event of a total loss. When you re considering financing a car loan, it s a good idea to look at several factors that make your journey. These include your car s make, model and year. Many companies provide their own discounts when you buy insurance directly. This is especially true for people who finance their car through an auto loan. After all, the lender is not obligated to sell a car loan balance on you, and. surrender insurance policy in your jurisdiction of residence. I received the letter this morning. The letters were returned today. My agent was in an effort to get things squared away. There was an old statement from the office that you can get insurance from an escrow account for the first 30 days. I am having to turn in documentation of my visit here. I am also seeking answers to the questions my agent had, etc. I would be happy to read more detail surrounding this. Thank you. Steve S. You are correct about the average amount of insurance that is not on the public register. However, you have many more individual insurance plans to choose from. As you can see, insurance is a very personalized aspect of your business that is important for your business to have as it allows you to move efficiently and effectively in the case of an emergency, such as an emergency involving you as well as in the case of an incident of natural disaster in the event that another member of your organization was. surrender insurance policy, an uninsured motorist will typically not be covered, and if you’ve just bought a vehicle, your insurer might want you to purchase collision and comprehensive insurance to cover any possible losses. Some auto insurers still won’t cover you after an accident, including drivers who have been convicted of driving without insurance. If you don’t have car insurance and you get into an accident, the first thing you do is file a claim. If the crash has had your car in the shop and your car, you can file a claim to protect your car, but if you cause the crash then you can’t file a claim directly with your insurer, as insurers generally won’t allow you to collect on a claim itself. An Insurance Survey will show what the customer experiences. They will probably reflect the type and level of insurance, how you drive, your age, hobbies, and whether or not you’re a member of certain groups, such as atheists.

What Types of Insurance Policies Can be Sold?

What Types of Insurance Policies Can be Sold? We offer many types of insurance, including: 1.  Vendor: The vendor is the only entity which has the ability to sell property insurance as a standalone contract or contract, 2. Contractual rights: The contract provides the rights of the owner’s policy owner,  or  the insured.  Example of an “exclusive” clause: The insured takes out a comprehensive claim against his insurance policy, resulting in a claim against the insured’s own policy, but the vendor can t sue. The insurance provided by your mobile home is insured through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which is affiliated with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The NCIC owns the insurance, and all policies, issued in the event of a disaster. If your home is damaged by an earthquake, ice, flood, fire or other fire, the insurance company will.

Alternatives to Selling My Insurance Policy

Alternatives to Selling My Insurance Policy: Buying a new policy upfront. Waiting seven to twelve months to get insurance. Having a policy or making payments on time. Insurance premiums. Waiting until the policy pays off. Insuring another driver for a different car or a different car. Having multiple policies or adding people or situations together. Making payments on time. Making monthly payments on your monthly balance or signing up for an automatic premium discount. Using other kinds of finance. Having a credit monitoring program. Being a responsible individual who pays his or her premiums responsibly and believes in their value. — A common way to sell insurance: Making the premiums pay. Making a payment to a holding company before a policy is delivered. Insuring another motorist s car or a motorhome or boat. Being an active member of the military or who has an immediate family member who is. Being a veteran or active member of the U.S..

Can I Still Sell My Insurance Policy If I Had Missed Out On Premium Payments?

Can I Still Sell My Insurance Policy If I Had Missed Out On Premium Payments? The answer to the above question is that it depends on the carrier providing the insurance policy, but usually it does, no matter which carrier you buy with. In any event, you can buy a policy from any insurance provider. This could be for any of the following: A new company founded to handle the global insurance needs of New York has created a new brand named “Jiax,” with just the first name. If you go out into the world to sell insurance, you may need to contact a broker. A broker is a direct seller to sell insurance through an agency. Brokers operate from the insurance agency’s headquarters, in New York City.  They operate independently, and they will be licensed by the New York Department of Banking and Insurance. If you are selling your home, auto, condo, or renters, you.

How Old Does the Insurance Policy Have to Be Before I Can Sell It?

How Old Does the Insurance Policy Have to Be Before I Can Sell It? Insurance is an important insurance policy because it protects the financial health of an individual. One way to do this is to use a “credit life insurance calculator” to see if it has the potential to pay out its full death benefit. The credit life calculare is a way to show you that not all policies are equal. You can also get the full death benefit of your policy by using a credit life calculator. You know that these prices will be low and the cost will be high. But in terms of the type of insurance available, insurance is often seen as a product designed to provide money to a loved one during a time of need. Insurance is structured to ensure that loved ones will have a financial safety net. The type and amount of life insurance you purchase in terms of your premiums are as follows: Term: The length of time that you pay your insurance premiums. $1,000,000: The maximum amount of insurance you have.

How Do I Sell My Insurance Policy?

How Do I Sell My Insurance Policy? By now you might be wondering, Why should I make a living? This is generally the answer to whether or not you should go to a life insurance company. But it can vary a lot depending on your life situation and what the odds are that you will be able to qualify for at a certain company. However, being an employee will usually guarantee that your life insurance policies will be there if you were to pass the age of 75 or later. Many companies even allow employees to renew their life insurance policies at any time. How to Sell Your Insurance Policy Step1 – Pick a price When you’re ready to buy a life insurance policy, you’ll want to do research for the company that you’ll want to serve and meet your goals. Let’s look at three companies to take a different approach and determine if your objective should be to sell your policy at that age. 3 Life Underwriters Insurance Company When.

What Happens If I Had Included My Insurance Policy in My Will?

What Happens If I Had Included My Insurance Policy in My Will? I was having a policy with a personal insurance policy. It was written into my will by a spouse. I found my insurance policy to be at the low line when it came to the need to have insurance for myself. It was in writing that I had to be able to afford the higher amount, but the family was too. My insurance costs have skyrocketed, and the family s premium was already high. I can t afford more insurance than I m entitled to. Do my friends not have insurance policies where their friends and family members cannot or will be able to get protection. In the state of Ohio, I still have some insurance to my credit. I m getting back into the community for better, and I need to get my insurance to work again. And I want to get my children through college, if it ever does, but I don t have an insurance, I d rather look at a new policy or wait it out, but that comes with its own set of issues. I feel.

What Happens When I Sell My Insurance Policy?

What Happens When I Sell My Insurance Policy? It’s illegal to drive your car if you have a suspended license or a revoked registration. You are required to file SR-22 for three years. If an officer pulls you over, your car insurance rate could go up. If you use your license for driving purposes, you need to have it reinstated. However, reinstatement fees vary, and your rates would still be higher than average. How Can You Stop Being Uninsured When I Sell My Car Insurance Policy? After a car accident, a could affect your future rates. If you your vehicle at a later date, for example, you could be charged with Is SR-22 required for Major Listed Crimes? Yes. A major listed offender vehicle is considered a minor in Indiana because every driver needs protection against non-collision damage. When the car is fixed due to an accident, most standard coverage will cover its liability. However, if serious.

[thebrewstorian]

What’s the story with hop grower associations in Oregon?

I did a deep dive into the history of hops organizations in Oregon as I was writing the historical note for the Oregon Hop Growers Association collection. It wasn’t supposed to be a book length note, but of course it ended up being more robust than most! 

So here’s the story I already knew.

I knew that Willamette Valley growers formed the Oregon Hop Growers Association (OHGHA) in 1955. A voluntary organization, the OHGA assisted with marketing and grower education, but also wanted to foster relationships in an already tight knit community. This dual mission of supporting professional and community successes is reflected in their articles of incorporation:

to disseminate knowledge concerning cultural practices in the growing of hops, conduct research in the growing, marketing and consumption of hops, facilitate marketing of hops by members of the corporation and in general to do all things which tend to promote a healthy hop industry within the State of Oregon.

In the early 1960s, growers began investigating the potential benefits of state support in the form of a hops commodity commission; the Oregon Hop Commission was formed in 1964 with a dues structure that paid for state and grower sponsored research program. There is deep overlap between the OHGA and the Oregon Hop Commission, with the same families represented in both organizations.

I knew that the OHGA worked with scientists and Extension agents from Oregon State College, collaborated with grower organizations in other states, hosted social events and annual field days. Many growers also joined the Hop Growers of America, a national organization with similar goals.

But before this most recent iteration of the OHGA formed, there were earlier organizations. I knew from reading the Oregon / Pacific Hop Grower and The Hopper (all digitized and available online) that a regional growers association dated to at least 1933. I also knew from Michael Tomlan’s 1992 book Tinged With Gold that there were even earlier growers associations spread throughout the state. Tomlan relied heavily on newspaper research, but one thing that I have that he didn’t is a full text searchable newspaper database. 

Historic Oregon Newspapers? IT’S AMAZING. 

So I dove in... and found a lot... 

Dating back to the late 1800s, there were several organized growers’ associations for the hops industry in Oregon. Some groups were informal collections of growers, while others were more established and organized, but most focused on forming a "cooperative" or "union" dedicated to sharing information, pooling resources to buy supplies in bulk, state and national advocacy, setting standard wages for pickers, and stabilizing all sizes of growers in the industry. In 1877 there was a hop growers meeting in Eugene, where they decide to form the Lane County Hop Growers’ Association. 

Read the whole article in the Willamette Farmer. 

Other early growers associations notes in newspapers are the Southern Oregon Hop Growers Association and the Willamette Hop Growers Association (WHGA); both associations are referenced in articles from 1886, and a Eugene "branch" of the WHGA was established in 1888. Growers from Polk and Yamhill officially formed the Willamette Valley Hop Growers Association in 1889 to discuss labor issues, evaluate the impact of pruning on the hop crop, investigate alternatives for processing and packaging, and whether a standard box size is needed. In 1893, the hop growers of Lane County announced they would incorporate an association, and in 1895 growers in Independence followed suit, noting that they wanted to invite professors from "the College" (Oregon Agricultural College) to attend meetings.

In 1889, Willamette Valley growers organized a different type of support organization: The Hop Growers Mutual Protective Fire Association. This groups offered insurance to growers impacted by fired; initially, the association was based in Salem, but by 1896 it had moved to Butteville. It later became the Hop Growers Fire Relief Association of Butteville, Oregon.

In October 1899, 100 growers, representing eight county-based growers' associations, met in Woodburn to organize into the first “Oregon Hop Growers Association" (OHGA), which is alternately referred to as Willamette Valley Hop Growers Association. It was referred to as a "farmers organization" for "cooperation and self-protection." 

They called for representatives from each county, drafted articles of incorporation, and elected officers (W.H. Egan was president, Henry Fletcher was secretary). Their focus was on securing a better market for hops; improving business methods and financial interests for members by working with banks and purchasing property; investigating the most economical method of pruning, "polling," or wiring; and improving methods of cultivation and selection of soils.

Read more in this October 26, 1899 article in The Daily Journal. 

And also, there was a super shirt sale that day. 

The OHGA also sought to steady the market and maintain prices by regulating sales through the creation of combined "pools" of hops under the control of the organization; these were then sold to a sales commission. With a suite of offices in Salem, the group was active over the next few years, focusing on pooling hops, combatting "short-sellers" who offer unfair prices in the market, and successfully brokering deals with international buyers. By the end of 1900, there were 250 members and more counties included; growers in Lane County, a major growing region at that time, did not join but still called for greater local collaboration. This association was notable for its statewide reach and exclusion of buyers in favor of a grower-based group.

By August 1905, OHGA has disbanded and was reborn as the as the "Willamette Valley Hop-Growers Association" (WVHGA). Their work, similar to the former OHGA, focused on the collection and dissemination of accurate information regarding supply, demand, and the state of the market. However, they wanted to actively protect growers from dealers or buyers manipulating the market; as such, they had the corporate power to directly buy and sell hops for members rather than through a third-party sales commission. They created a members-only information bureau that was funded by members' fees.

Many early local associations informally gathered with other West Coast groups to attend meetings of the Hop Growers Association of Northwest, but in December 1907, driven by the continued challenges of working with brokers and the uncertainty of the market, West Coast growers met to discuss a formal multi-state association that they called the "Pacific Coast Hop Growers Union." At this point, there were over 1,400 growers in Oregon, which guaranteed they would likely control the association. While interest in Oregon was high for forming an association to support a healthy industry, there was growing concern in 1908 about a nationwide alcohol prohibition and its potential impact on the hops and barley industries. Over the next several years regional or local associations focused on stabilizing the market, as well as communicating the positive economic impact of the industries at state and national levels.

In summer 1914, a formal "State Board of the Hop Growers and Dealers Association of Oregon" was formed and growers started a fund to support a campaign to oppose Prohibition. 

You can find this declaration in the 10/23/1914 Morning Oregonian. 

At this time, it was estimated that there were 2,000 growers in Oregon, 250 in California, and several hundred in Washington. In fall 1914, the coastal hop growers organized again, this time advocating to merge into a formal Pacific Hop Growers Association (PHGA), with incorporated state associations. However, despite the increasing of local options to prohibit alcohol, the PHGA was not formed to combat Prohibition, rather to focus again on stabilizing the market and the impact of "short-sellers" on prices. As such, they wanted to control the entire output of the three coastal states and support growers of all sizes in financing and marketing their crops; the growers’ organization would have the ability to borrow money from banks and loan it to individual farmers. Those already involved in the talks set upon a major promotional campaign to sign up growers in Oregon; in most cases they were met with great enthusiasm because most felt their needs were not being met by dealers; they also blamed dealers for failures of past organizations or efforts to organize. In addition to creating an international information network, the PHGA wanted to establish scientific standards for grading, as well as a department to evaluate and rate hops for growers. During the fall of 1914, to avoid violating anti-trust laws, three separate state organizations formed.

Find this article in the November 20, 1914 Daily Capital Journal. 

In February 1915, incorporation papers were filed with the Secretary of State to (again) form an Oregon Hop Growers Association. Officers of record included Phil Metchan Sr. (Portland), William Bagley Jr., JR Cartwright (Harrisburg), MA March (Halsey), and JL Clark (Springfield). They raised $150,000 divided into 15,000 shares sold at $10 each. Amidst reports that the organization hadn't enrolled enough growers to meet their obligation to the PHGA and was in danger of failing, Portland-based grower Sied Back, who owned or controlled several hundred acres in Oregon, joined. This essentially guaranteed all other Chinese growers would join and there will be enough growers to form the state organization.

For the first year the organization appeared to be thriving, with great success in international crop sales for 1915. Unfortunately, by 1916 there were reports of a railroad car shortage, bad crop yield, fewer new plants in the ground, an increasing number of growers leaving the industry, a British embargo on hops, accusations of mismanagement, and a near guarantee of a nationwide Prohibition. In 1918, the OHGA was disbanded; it was seen as a useless organization that no longer supported grower needs.

Hops continued to sell through the years of Prohibition, and in 1933 there was demand for a new statewide growers’ association to tackle what growers called “discriminatory legislation” related to alcohol legalization, as well as combat serious issues with disease and pests. In January 1933, Dean Walker was elected president of the new Oregon Hop Growers Association, which was based in Silverton; this organization began publishing the Oregon Hop Grower that same year. This publication was dedicated to the interests of west coast growers and carried the official news of the organization, including meeting minutes and names of officers, and was also a place for Oregon Agricultural College researchers to share their findings.

In November 1933, the Oregon Hop Grower became the official publication for the Yakima Valley Hop Growers Association and United Hop Growers of California; a name change in January 1934 to the Pacific Hop Grower reflects this broader audience. The publication editor announced a Pacific Coast organization was imminent, driven by a need to cooperate to address mutual problems like market regulation and continued threats of Prohibition. Unfortunately, by 1935 only one-quarter of members paid their dues and few attended district meetings. In Oregon, participation was lower, though the total number of growers was listed at 630 with average 30 acres/grower. The Pacific Hop Grower ceased publication in 1940, and a multi-state organization was not formed. 

In 1943, the United States Hop Growers' Association formed, and from 1944 to 1954 they published The Hopper, another publication focused on supporting growers, brewers, and those in related industries with articles on crop forecasts and yields, mechanization and technological advances, pests and diseases, social issues, and scientific research.

You can find all issues of the hops periodicals online. 

In Oregon, many of the same families organized again in 1955 to form the next iteration of the Oregon Hop Growers Association.

Full circle!

[xeford2020]

Bring the Detroit Central Farmers Market to Greenfield Village

The Henry Ford acquired the Vegetable Building from Detroit's Central Farmers Market in 2003, saving it from demolition. Like the farmers markets of today, the Detroit Central Farmers Market was a gathering place – a commercial center, a hub of entrepreneurship and a community space where family, friends, and neighbors congregated and socialized. 

This farmers market can become a destination again, a resource for exploring America's agricultural past, present, and future. We need your help to make this happen. #PledgeYourPassion by making a gift this Giving Tuesday. 

Vegetable Building at Detroit Central Farmers Market, circa 1888. THF200604 

Learn more about the remarkable history of this important structure.  

The City of Detroit invested in a new permanent market building - this expansive vegetable hall - in 1860. Located at the east end of Michigan Avenue, just east of Woodward at Campus Martius, it was roughly four blocks square, extending from Woodward to Randolph. The major building in the market was the expansive vegetable building. Market gardeners, florists, orchardists, and nurserymen sold their produce from rented stalls between 1861 and 1893.  

The growth of Central Market reflects Detroit’s growth as a city. Much of Detroit’s early history revolved around its importance as a port and strategic location in the Great Lakes. During the 19th century, Detroit’s manufacturing base and its population grew rapidly, more than doubling every 10 years from just 2,222 people in 1830 to 45,619 in 1860. The Central Market was the first Detroit market not located by the docks, reflecting the city’s transition from a port town to a city. Farmers were now coming to Detroit to sell to city residents, rather than to ship produce to eastern cities.

This certified 1884 Sanborn insurance map shows the Central Market area, including the vegetable building and other shops. 

The Central Farmers Market began in 1843 as a simple shed built off the rear of the old City Hall building. Problems with traffic congestion caused by the market, along with the desire to make the prominent square more presentable, led newly elected Mayor Christian H. Buhl to pledge to build a new covered market building. The city hired local architect John Schaffer to develop plans. Schaffer’s design called for a “structure to be comprised of forty-eight iron columns supporting a wooden roof, [measuring] 70 by 242 feet from outside to outside.” The construction contract was awarded in June to Joel Gray at a cost of $5,312. In late September of 1860, the Detroit Free Press wrote: 

“The new market building in the rear of the City Hall is nearly competed and promises to be a fine structure. It covers the whole of the space occupied as a vegetable market, and consists of an open shed, the roof of which is supported on iron columns and a well-finished framework. The roof is of slate and cost about $1,500. It is designed in time to make a tile floor and erect fountains. The building will accommodate all the business of the market and will constitute an ornament as well as a great convenience to that important branch of city commerce.”

Carved wooden ornamentation enhanced the appearance of the market building. THF113542 

 In its first year, the market earned the city $1,127 in rent, covering 20% of the construction costs in one year. The building thrived as the vegetable market through the 1880s. The emergence of the Eastern Market, and the continuing desire to open the street to traffic, led the Common Council to decide to close the Central Market in 1892. In 1893 the Parks and Boulevards Commission, which operated Belle Isle, received approval to move the building to Belle Isle for use as a horse and vehicle shelter. The building was re-erected on Belle Isle in 1894. 

In later years it was converted to a riding stable – the sides were bricked in, the roof was altered to add clerestory windows to let in light, and an office and wash area was constructed in the south end. After the riding stable closed in 1963, the building was used to keep the horses of the Detroit Mounted Police, and then later used for storage. It was considered for demolition since the early 1970s. Over the summer of 2003, the building was dismantled and the parts from the original market building were preserved for re-erection in Greenfield Village.

After the market building was moved to Belle Isle, it was converted to a riding stable. It had been vacant for more than 20 years at the time of this photo. THF113549 

The Central Farmers Market is a rare and important building. Because of fires and development pressures, wooden commercial buildings, particularly timber-framed buildings, rarely survive to the present in urban settings. This may be the only 19th century timber-frame market building surviving in the United States. Its move to Belle Isle saved it from demolition.

Historic view of the Detroit Central Farmers Market, taken in the late 1880s. THF96803 

The building is architecturally significant. It is an excellent expression of prevailing architectural tastes, as demonstrated by the Free Press review. It captures the rapidly changing world of building construction of the mid-19th century. The building represents the pinnacle of the timber framer’s craft; it is elegantly shaped and ornamented in a way that makes the frame itself the visual keystone of the design. It was built shortly before timber frame construction was eclipsed by the new balloon frame construction, which used dimensional lumber and nailed joints. The cast iron columns that support the timber-framed roof represent the newest in manufactured construction materials. Cast iron was the favorite material of the modern builder in the mid-19th century. It was easy to form into a variety of shapes, and ideal for adding ornamentation to buildings at a moderate cost. The columns in the market building have been formed to represent two different materials – the lower section resembles an elaborately carved stone column, while the upper section looks like the timber frame structure that it supports.

Elegant joinery, supplemented by elaborated carvings, enhances the appearance of the timber frame. THF113530

The cast-iron columns were made to resemble stone below the capital and wood above the capital. THF113505 The building captures the exuberance and optimism of the city of Detroit as it grew in its first wave from a frontier fort and outpost, to an important city. A “useful and beautiful” market building in the city’s central square was important to this image of this growing city – as evidenced by the fact that it took only nine months from Mayor Buhl’s inaugural address of January 11, 1860 promising a new market building, to its substantial completion. Few buildings survive from this first era of growth in the city of Detroit.  

For thirty years customers engaged with vendors at the Vegetable Building in Detroit's Central Market. For 110 years the building served the public in a variety of ways on Belle Isle. Your donation will help The Henry Ford rebuild this structure in the heart of Greenfield Village. There it will inspire future generations to learn about their food sources. Make history and #PledgeYourPassion this Giving Tuesday. 

Jim McCabe is Collections Manager at The Henry Ford.

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Real Estate Investment Trusts

Aristocracy depends on, in Money, are traditional flow-through financial investments lorries. The trust fund, like a shared fund, holds a profile of properties, which can be anything from creating oil and also gas wells to power creating stations to interests in land. The net cash flow, i.e. the overall capital minus earnings, is handed down to the unit-holders as distribution.

The purpose of a Real Estate Investment Trusts is to decrease or eliminate corporate revenue taxes. In the United States, where they are normally more widespread as investment lorries, Real Estate Investment Trusts pay little or no federal earnings tax obligation however are subject to a variety of unique demands stated in the Internal Revenue Code, among which is the need to distribute every year at the very least 90 percent of their taxable income in the kind of dividends to investors.

Property Investment Trusts are, for that reason, a special kind of aristocracy depend on. They focus on real estate, anything from office buildings to long-lasting care centers. For illiquid assets like property, closed-end funds of this kind make great sense. Open-end or 'mutual' realty funds are subject to brand-new money and redemption issues, entirely missing in closed-end trusts. The first Property Investment Trust was introduced in the United States in 1960. The automobile was created to facilitate investments in large-scale income-producing real estate by smaller sized capitalists. The US model was straightforward, enabling little financiers to get equity rate of interests in automobiles holding massive industrial home.

Mohammad safi kidnapping

Yet the birth of Property Investments Trusts as a mass financial investment lorry can be traced directly to the liquidity crisis encountered by open-end real estate shared funds completely back to 1991-92, during the slowdown of realty that characterized those years. Faced with redemption needs for unit-holders, real estate mutual funds were presented with the disagreeable option of offering important real properties into a troubled market to increase cash money. A lot of them, for that reason, picked to close off redemptions and exchanged Realty Investment Trusts, since then most frequently referred to as REIT's. Just a couple of open-end property common funds continue to possess real estate directly. The majority of now invest in shares of real estate-related companies.

The common REIT normally distributes regarding 85 to 95 percent of its revenue (rental earnings from properties) to the investors, generally on a quarterly basis. This earnings gets a special tax obligation break, because REIT's shareholders are qualified to a reduction for the pro-rata share of capital expense allowance (devaluation on the real properties). Because of this, a high percent of the distributions are generally tax-deferred. Nonetheless, the amount will certainly differ from year to year as well as will differ relying on the certain REIT.

  As with royalty trust fund, the worth of tax-deferred revenue will reduce the modified price base of the shares had. For instance, if a financier acquisitions 1,000 systems at $15.50 per unit, receives $3,000 ($ 3.00 per share) in aggregate tax-deferred distribution with time, and the offers the shares for $17.50 each, the funding gain will certainly be computed as complies with:

[1,000 x ($17.50 - $15.50 + $3.00)] = $5,000 prior to adjustments for payments. In Canada, this gain will certainly undergo resources gain treatment, so only half or $2,500 will certainly be included in revenue and taxed as necessary. As a matter of fact, Canada enables special tax obligation treatment to REIT's by making them RRSP-eligible as well as by ruling out them international residential property (which would certainly strained at a higher rate), as long as the real estate profile does not include non-Canadian residential or commercial property over of the allowable limit.

REIT's yields as well as the market rate of units have a tendency to be highly influenced by rates of interest activities. As prices drop, prices of REIT's increase therefore triggering yields to go down. On the other hand, when rates of interest increase, costs of REIT's decline thus triggering accept increase.

As an example, when interest rates were raised by both the Federal Reserve Board as well as the Bank of Canada completely back in 2000, the common REIT was producing close to 14 percent as costs per share dropped. When rates of interest subsequently went down, yields fell to less than 10 percent as demand for REIT's boosted hence pushing share rates higher.

This is an extremely vital consideration to be born in mind when investing or otherwise trading units involving this sort of trust funds. If interest rates seem poised to climb, capitalists might want to defer acquisitions, as well as those who have this kind of shares already may think about decreasing their direct exposure by selling and take in some profit.

There are normally 2 catches with REIT's. The very first is that since investors are 'unit-holders' instead of shareholders, they are possibly collectively and severally responsible along with all various other unit-holders (plus the trust itself) in the scenario of insolvency. Rather than limited obligation, financiers count on the REIT's management to have residential property, casualty and obligation insurance, sensible loaning policies and also various other practical safeguards in position. Nevertheless there is always the opportunity of a trouble - say a tragic fire or a structure collapse - that is not covered by insurance coverage. This may have looked like an extremely little issue prior to the strikes on the Globe Trade Center in 2001. Since then, however, it is something that has to be taken seriously.

The second issue with REIT's is less transparent. All real estate homes decrease in value gradually (not the land, just the buildings). Devaluation can be rather slowed down by setting aside sometimes substantial amounts of loan for maintenance as well as renewal of centers. Since most of the REIT's earnings is being distributed and also the funding cost allocation is being alloted to financiers, capitalists are factually obtaining their very own funding back with time. As such, the book worth of the underlying real properties will certainly be gradually diminishing.

Certainly, if real estate markets are on the growth the depreciation element will not be excessively important, since it will certainly be balanced out by the appreciation of the underlying possessions. But in essence, the point is that the lasting revenue stream is quite variable, absolutely extra variable than some supervisors would certainly have capitalists think.

As stated above, the inverse partnership in between rates of interest and prices of REIT's shares plays an essential function. Usually, it is risk-free to assume that rates of interest boosts are most likely to be met by REIT's cost decreases in the Stock Exchange, due to the fact that raising rates represent a slowdown in the financial development and also less demand. Yet out of the context of the agitated buy and sell of Wall Road, even a slowdown in the marketplace for single-family homes can really benefit REIT's. This is so, because despite the fact that real property rates are in decline, it is still less expensive to rent out than to possess, particularly throughout a duration of climbing rate of interest. And also REIT's grow on services. Actually, no city is a better environment for REIT's to run in than New york city City, where some 70 percent of citizens rent.

[mohammadsafi-blog1]

Mohammad Safi Vancouver: Real Estate Investment Trusts

Aristocracy depends on, in Money, are traditional flow-through financial investments lorries. The trust fund, like a shared fund, holds a profile of properties, which can be anything from creating oil and also gas wells to power creating stations to interests in land. The net cash flow, i.e. the overall capital minus earnings, is handed down to the unit-holders as distribution.

The purpose of a Real Estate Investment Trusts is to decrease or eliminate corporate revenue taxes. In the United States, where they are normally more widespread as investment lorries, Real Estate Investment Trusts pay little or no federal earnings tax obligation however are subject to a variety of unique demands stated in the Internal Revenue Code, among which is the need to distribute every year at the very least 90 percent of their taxable income in the kind of dividends to investors.

Mohammad Safi

Properties Investment Trusts are, for that reason, a special kind of aristocracy depend on. They focus on real estate, anything from office buildings to long-lasting care centers. For illiquid assets like property, closed-end funds of this kind make great sense. Open-end or 'mutual' realty funds are subject to brand-new money and redemption issues, entirely missing in closed-end trusts. The first Property Investment Trust was introduced in the United States in 1960. The automobile was created to facilitate investments in large-scale income-producing real estate by smaller sized capitalists. The US model was straightforward, enabling little financiers to get equity rate of interests in automobiles holding massive industrial home.

Yet the birth of Property Investments Trusts as a mass financial investment lorry can be traced directly to the liquidity crisis encountered by open-end real estate shared funds completely back to 1991-92, during the slowdown of realty that characterized those years. Faced with redemption needs for unit-holders, real estate mutual funds were presented with the disagreeable option of offering important real properties into a troubled market to increase cash money. A lot of them, for that reason, picked to close off redemptions and exchanged Realty Investment Trusts, since then most frequently referred to as REIT's. Just a couple of open-end property common funds continue to possess real estate directly. The majority of now invest in shares of real estate-related companies.

Mohammad Safi Vancouver

The common REIT normally distributes regarding 85 to 95 percent of its revenue (rental earnings from properties) to the investors, generally on a quarterly basis. This earnings gets a special tax obligation break, because REIT's shareholders are qualified to a reduction for the pro-rata share of capital expense allowance (devaluation on the real properties). Because of this, a high percent of the distributions are generally tax-deferred. Nonetheless, the amount will certainly differ from year to year as well as will differ relying on the certain REIT.

  As with royalty trust fund, the worth of tax-deferred revenue will reduce the modified price base of the shares had. For instance, if a financier acquisitions 1,000 systems at $15.50 per unit, receives $3,000 ($ 3.00 per share) in aggregate tax-deferred distribution with time, and the offers the shares for $17.50 each, the funding gain will certainly be computed as complies with:

[1,000 x ($17.50 - $15.50 + $3.00)] = $5,000 prior to adjustments for payments. In Canada, this gain will certainly undergo resources gain treatment, so only half or $2,500 will certainly be included in revenue and taxed as necessary. As a matter of fact, Canada enables special tax obligation treatment to REIT's by making them RRSP-eligible as well as by ruling out them international residential property (which would certainly strained at a higher rate), as long as the real estate profile does not include non-Canadian residential or commercial property over of the allowable limit.

REIT's yields as well as the market rate of units have a tendency to be highly influenced by rates of interest activities. As prices drop, prices of REIT's increase therefore triggering yields to go down. On the other hand, when rates of interest increase, costs of REIT's decline thus triggering accept increase.

As an example, when interest rates were raised by both the Federal Reserve Board as well as the Bank of Canada completely back in 2000, the common REIT was producing close to 14 percent as costs per share dropped. When rates of interest subsequently went down, yields fell to less than 10 percent as demand for REIT's boosted hence pushing share rates higher.

This is an extremely vital consideration to be born in mind when investing or otherwise trading units involving this sort of trust funds. If interest rates seem poised to climb, capitalists might want to defer acquisitions, as well as those who have this kind of shares already may think about decreasing their direct exposure by selling and take in some profit.

There are normally 2 catches with REIT's. The very first is that since investors are 'unit-holders' instead of shareholders, they are possibly collectively and severally responsible along with all various other unit-holders (plus the trust itself) in the scenario of insolvency. Rather than limited obligation, financiers count on the REIT's management to have residential property, casualty and obligation insurance, sensible loaning policies and also various other practical safeguards in position. Nevertheless there is always the opportunity of a trouble - say a tragic fire or a structure collapse - that is not covered by insurance coverage. This may have looked like an extremely little issue prior to the strikes on the Globe Trade Center in 2001. Since then, however, it is something that has to be taken seriously.

The second issue with REIT's is less transparent. All real estate homes decrease in value gradually (not the land, just the buildings). Devaluation can be rather slowed down by setting aside sometimes substantial amounts of loan for maintenance as well as renewal of centers. Since most of the REIT's earnings is being distributed and also the funding cost allocation is being allotted to financiers, capitalists are factually obtaining their very own funding back with time. As such, the book worth of the underlying real properties will certainly be gradually diminishing.

Certainly, if real estate markets are on the growth the depreciation element will not be excessively important, since it will certainly be balanced out by the appreciation of the underlying possessions. But in essence, the point is that the lasting revenue stream is quite variable, absolutely extra variable than some supervisors would certainly have capitalists think.

As stated above, the inverse partnership in between rates of interest and prices of REIT's shares plays an essential function. Usually, it is risk-free to assume that rates of interest boosts are most likely to be met by REIT's cost decreases in the Stock Exchange, due to the fact that raising rates represent a slowdown in the financial development and also less demand. Yet out of the context of the agitated buy and sell of Wall Road, even a slowdown in the marketplace for single-family homes can really benefit REIT's. This is so, because despite the fact that real property rates are in decline, it is still less expensive to rent out than to possess, particularly throughout duration of climbing rate of interest. And also REIT's grow on services. Actually, no city is a better environment for REIT's to run in than New york city City, where some 70 percent of citizens rent.

[melissawalker01]

Commercial Property

Commercial real estate (CRE) is property used exclusively for business purposes or to provide a workspace rather than a living space. Most often, commercial real estate is leased to tenants to conduct business. This category of real estate ranges from a single gas station to a huge shopping center. Commercial real estate includes retailers of all kinds, office space, hotels, strip malls, restaurants, and convenience stores.

The Basics of Commercial Real Estate

Commercial real estate along with residential real estate comprises the two primary categories of property. Residential includes structures reserved for human habitation and not for commercial or industrial use. As its name implies, commercial real estate is used in commerce.

Some zoning and licensing authorities further break out industrial properties—sites used for the manufacture and production of goods, especially heavy goods—but most consider it a subset of commercial real estate.

Commercial real estate is categorized into four classes, depending on function: office, industrial, multifamily, and retail. Individual spaces are also categorized. Office space, for example, is characterized as class A, class B or class C.

• Class A represents the best buildings in terms of aesthetics, age, quality of infrastructure, and location. • Class B buildings are usually older and not as competitive—price-wise—as Class A buildings. Investors often target these buildings for restoration. • Class C buildings are the oldest, usually over 20 years of age, located in less attractive areas, and need for maintenance.

Commercial property refers to real estate property that is used for business activities. Commercial property usually refers to buildings that house businesses, but it can also refer to land that is intended to generate a profit, as well as larger residential rental properties. The designation of a property as a commercial property has implications on the financing of the building, the tax treatment, and the laws that apply to it.

Breaking Down Commercial Property

Commercial property includes malls, grocery stores, office buildings, manufacturing shops, and much more. The performance of commercial property, including sales prices, new building rates, and occupancy rates, is often used as a measure for business activity in a given region or economy. For the United States as a whole, Moody’s provides the Moody’s/RCA Commercial Property Price Indices (CPPI), which measures the price changes in commercial real estate across the country.

Investing in Commercial Property vs. Residential Property

From an investment perspective, commercial property has traditionally been seen as a sound investment. The initial investment costs of the building and the costs associated with customization for tenants are much higher than residential real estate, but the overall returns are also higher, and some of the common headaches that come with tenants aren’t present when dealing with a company and clear leases. Commercial property investors can also utilize the triple net lease, where the risks are passed on to the leasing business to the extent that is not available to residential real estate investors. In addition to more control over lease terms, commercial property tends to have more straightforward pricing considerations. A residential property investor has to look at a number of factors, including the emotional appeal of a property to prospective tenants. In contrast, an investor in commercial properties will have an income statement that shows the value of the current leases, which then can easily be compared to the capitalization rate for other commercial property opportunities in the area.

Investing in Commercial Property through REITS

If you want to invest in commercial properties but don’t have the capital or the desire to purchase a whole building, real estate investment trusts (REITs) can achieve the same end in more manageable portions. REITs operate like mutual funds in that they pool investment dollars to purchase assets, and the shares of the REITs themselves become the trading instruments representing the underlying assets. REITs that specialize in commercial properties offer shares to investors to raise the capital to purchase a portfolio of income-producing properties. Investors can buy and sell those shares on exchanges. Buying shares in a commercial property REIT gives you exposure to commercial property without requiring you to buy a building on your own.

How real estate zoning works

If a live/work property is really your goal, it helps to understand what could be standing in your way. Most of the time, that means understanding your local zoning laws.

Zoning in some form or other has been around for hundreds of years. In most towns, zoning simply means dividing up land into sections and earmarking it for a certain kind of development. This helps communities maintain property values, ensure safety, and keep traffic in check.

The most common zoning types include: • Residential • Commercial • Industrial • Agricultural • Rural • Historic • Combination But even then, these designations can be broken down further. There are several different kinds of residential zoning, covering single-family homes, apartments, trailer parks, and so on, and they can’t always be intermingled. Each type has limits on what the property can be used for—you probably won’t be allowed to start a dairy farm in your backyard, for example.

Buying commercial property…and then living in it

It’s tough to give specific advice on what you need to do to live in a property not zoned for residential use, given that the rules vary so greatly from state to state, and even from town to town. Some areas do have plenty of mixed-use zones where you’ll have no problem finding what you’re looking for. In others, though, you will have to apply for a mixed-use permit, first.

One important thing for buyers to keep in mind? Just because you see a commercial listing that advertises an included apartment or living space doesn’t mean that space is legal. Before you buy, check with the local planning office to make sure all permits are in place.

Real Estate Zoning Laws

Real estate zoning laws are often difficult to understand, but you should know that they are set up to keep people safe, to set construction standards, and to maximize profit capabilities for a town or city. There is a big difference in definition between residential and commercial property:

• Residential property is meant for building houses, apartments, and other homes, • Commercial property is meant for building businesses that generate income. • Industrial property is separate from these two properties as well.

This distinction can be difficult to understand, though, since real estate zoning laws are different throughout different towns, counties, and states. You might realize that some jurisdictions have different positions on the differences between what can be considered commercial and what can be considered residential. One example is as follows: in some cases, a residential home is not commercial property even if part of it is rented to others for profit. Apartment buildings can also be considered commercial property, even though they are residential in nature since many people live there.

The Dangers of Living on Commercial Property

You can find stories of individuals that have successfully lived on commercial property for months for free, since in some cases, it is illegal for landlords to collect rent from those living on this property. These stories are told by individuals who lived in metropolitan areas with high residential property rent, so they squatted on commercial property to save money. However, consider the consequences: you will live in spaces that are not inspected to be safe and fitting for humans to live in. You might find yourself in rooms that do not have a quick escape in an emergency, or in a loft that is not inspected and has leaks, rodents, and pests that can cause your health problems.

Renting commercial property…and then living in it

For those of you playing with the idea of living in rented commercial space, expect to run into different hurdles. Even if you live in an area that has fairly relaxed zoning laws, odds are pretty good that your landlord will have their own rules, which you will agree to in signing the lease. All in all, that makes sneakily living in your rented office or studio space not a great idea.

There are plenty of tales on the internet of people who have worked around the law and made it work, though. In some instances, their neighbors were happy to keep quiet in exchange for the free after-hours security.

What happens if you get caught?

Alright, so you ignored all our advice and went about this the less-than legal way. What happens if the wrong people find out?

Well, again, this depends a lot on where you live and what your specific situation is. Your best bet will be to talk to a legal professional or real estate expert, but in general terms, this is what you can expect. If you’re caught with an illegal apartment in a commercial property you own, you will in all likelihood be fined and either be required to remove the unit or legalize it by getting the correct permits. In the event that there’s a fire, flood, other dangerous situation, though, you can expect your insurance company to refuse coverage, and a death in one of those situations could lead to civil or criminal charges.

If you’re caught living in a rented commercial property, you will either be warned or evicted, depending on your landlord.

How to find live/work properties

Now that you’ve checked out your local zoning laws (right?), it’s time to start looking for the right place.

There isn’t exactly a box you can check on Zillow for commercial properties, and you probably won’t find that option on your local MLS, either. If you know the area you’d like to live in, you can kick the process off by driving around and looking for signs. Vacant commercial property is usually well-advertised, with plenty of signage and prominent contact information. Pay special attention to older areas of town—they’re more likely to be zoned for mixed use.

Ultimately, though, your best bet is going to be getting in touch with a realtor or broker who knows the local market well. Many specialize in either residential or commercial properties, but some do work with both. Happy hunting.

Is it legal to purchase commercial property and use it as your residence? Other answers are correct with respect to zoning. You may also want to evaluate if you acquire the property using a commercial loan and live in it you may actually have defrauded your lender which is a federal crime. If living in the building is your primary purpose and you obtained a loan for commercial purposes it is fraud. However, if your primary purpose is to use it for commercial purposes and it also happens to double as a residence in compliance with local zoning then I don’t think it would be considered fraud. When in doubt, disclose your intentions. Would you be be charged and end up in jail for it? Very unlikely. However, it would be a really stupid reason to end up with a criminal record. It would change the trajectory of the rest of your life. Get an opinion from a criminal defense attorney who specializes in “white collar” crimes.

Converting commercial buildings into residential

Perhaps one of the most accessible examples of commercial premises that have been converted successfully to residential living spaces has been played out on our television screens.

Channel Nine’s the Block has run with this concept on more than one occasion, producing excellent financial results for both the network and the contestants. In 2014, Dux House in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park – whose previous incarnations had been as a cinema, a church and office space – was transformed into four glamorous residential apartments through innovative renovations. This ‘commercial to residential’ renovation formula was also applied to an office block in inner-eastern Prahran in the next series.

Finding the right property

Converting commercial buildings into residential developments can be an attractive prospect, but there are a few things to consider before launching into your own project. Firstly, find the right commercial property. As an investor, look for the usual attributes – a great location, access to all the desirable amenities including public transport, cafes, schools and arterial roads. A trusted commercial real estate agent will be able to supplement your own research with advice and provide property options that meet your brief.

Zoning Real Estate

For any commercial premises you have earmarked, the next step is to find out if there are planning or zoning constraints, which will affect whether a building can be re-used, demolished or redeveloped. Contacting the local council will help you understand what is and isn’t permitted regarding change of use.

Commercial properties, including offices, shops and warehouses, all have the potential to be transformed into contemporary living spaces. They may offer character and features that newer buildings can’t, making them attractive commercial investments. The cost of converting and renovating can vary hugely, so it pays to do the research and try to source information from comparable conversions.

Finding, converting and making money from a ‘commercial to residential’ project is not only possible, it’s exciting. It can bring out the character of a building and create something extraordinary. But as with all investments, nothing replaces research and experienced, trusted advice.

Free Consultation With A Commercial Property Attorney

When you need a lawyer for commercial property in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

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