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rabbitcruiser · 2 years ago

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National Bird Day

Don your binoculars to spy these feathered friends in the wild, contribute to conservation efforts or raise awareness of birds in captivity.

The world is filled with a plethora of different species of birds. From cardinals to doves, from parakeets to parrots. Different people have different relationships with the various species of birds. As such, one could easily imagine that there could actually be numerous National Bird Days in the world, serving different purposes and perhaps varying by region.

What this day refers to, however, is known as National Bird Day, observed primarily in the United States. This is a bit different from occasions such as International Migratory National Bird Day, World Migratory National Bird Day, National Bird Day (UK), and several other National Bird Days which do not follow the same etymology as “turkey day”.

It is also worth noting that each of these is named for those avian friends, not the late Senator Robert Byrd!

The ‘National’ term might be a bit deceptive here, since it’s not actually a national holiday in the United States. For a day to technically be a national holiday, an Act of Congress is required, and there is no evidence that has ever happened. That being said, this delightful day is still popularly known as National Bird Day, regardless of whatever Congress might think of that.

So get ready to learn about and celebrate National Bird Day!

History of National Bird Day

Back in 1894, Charles Almanzo Babcock, the superintendent of schools in Oil City, Pennsylvania, declared the first holiday in the United States to celebrate birds. Babcock was passionate about the idea of advancing bird conservation as a moral value and it seems that his idea for the day caught on. Babcock’s National Bird Day eventually turned into what is now known as International Migratory National Bird Day, which is celebrated in May.

That day is not actually related to this National Bird Day, though, in terms of history. This particular version of National Bird Day was created as it marked the end of the annual Christmas Bird Count in the mid-21st century.

National Bird Day has been dedicated at least in part to raising awareness about birds that are held in captivity. This day is a project of the Avian Welfare Coalition, which works hard to raise awareness for birds that are captured or produced in captivity for either profit or amusement of humans.

Presumably that includes Aunt Marjorie’s parrot, the penguins in the Columbus Zoo, and that turkey that made the ultimate sacrifice to grace the family’s dinner table for Thanksgiving back in November. After all, a holiday that marks the end of three weeks of focusing on wild birds that occurs during the Christmas Bird Count would appropriately focus some attention on captive birds.

The goal of the day is to educate folks on the destructive tendencies of the bird trade, the cruelty of bird breeding mills, and ideas for helping and improving the lives of birds that are already living in captivity.

How to Celebrate National Bird Day

Looking for ideas on how to celebrate National Bird Day? Well this list is a great way to begin. Try out some of these ideas or come up with some of your own:

Learn More About Birds

Birds are important for a variety of reasons. They are a valuable part of nature’s ecosystem. Many of them sing and quite a few of them even look pretty! Of course, many species of birds are also eaten by humans, but it does seem that it might be a little inappropriate to go quail hunting in honour of National Bird Day, no matter how delicious quail might be.

Visit Unique Birds in Their Natural Habitats

Forgo the zoo and head on over to places where the birds actually live and thrive in their natural habitats. For some bird lovers, this could simply mean taking a walk in the forest with some bird watching glasses to spot some unique creatures.

For others, this might mean building an entire vacation to an exotic place to see tropical birds in their natural homes. Many different Eco-tour companies will offer limited viewing opportunities for those who want to travel around the world to see parrots in Guatemala, Tenerife, Belize, Honduras and more!

Help with Bird Conservation

Raising awareness, getting involved and making a donation are all ways that bird lovers can celebrate National Bird Day. Host a charity event or party to let friends and family enjoy an evening while learning about the important reasons behind National Bird Day. Get together for a meal, watch a documentary, and then let people know about these ways they can make a donation to these important support bird conservation efforts:

Indonesian Parrot Project Helping protect endangered parrots and cockatoos from trappers, smugglers, transporters and traders.

Hatched to Fly Free This organization works to breed and then release beautiful, colorful macaws in the nation of Costa Rica.

One Earth Conservation Empowering people to save the planet, this organization helps to educate and build programs to love nature, with a specific focus on parrots.

Visit the National Bird Day Website

There’s also a website at National Bird Day, for those who want to learn more about the folks who are actually promoting this day, this website is a great place to start. It’s filled with resources and information to educate adults and children about the difficulties faced by so many birds in captivity today.

Get Educated on the Risks of Bird Extinction

On a serious note, approximately 12 percent of the world’s bird species could face extinction in the next century, if things continue on as they have been. That includes nearly a third of the 330 different species of parrots.

Things don’t look a great deal better for numerous species of songbirds, not to mention some penguin species and others, like the kiwi bird. The largest components of these threats of extinction are habitat destruction and pet trade. A great idea for celebrating the day would be learning about all of the wonders of birds, then helping to educate friends and family members about their plight. Because the survival of the world’s birds hinges on public awareness as well as support for conservation efforts all over the world.

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lboogie1906 · 6 months ago

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Robert “Bob” Northern (born May 21, 1934 - May 31, 2020), known professionally as Brother Ah, is a jazz French hornist.

Born in North Carolina and raised in The Bronx, he studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Vienna State Academy. He is known as a session musician, working extensively in the 1950s and 1960s with musicians such as Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Gil Evans, Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, Roland Kirk, and the Jazz Composers Orchestra. He also worked with Don Cherry, Thelonious Monk, Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, and John Lewis.

He lived in New York City, and after a period of increasing interest in non-Western music, visited and studied in Africa (Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania) for seven consecutive summers. He released several albums as a bandleader; his release Sound Awareness featured Max Roach and M’Boom. These albums were reissued on CD on the Ikef Records label. He branched into percussion and flute performance in his career. He taught at Dartmouth College, Brown University, and the Levine School of Music. He is the founder of the World Music Ensemble, a group that explores African, Japanese, Spanish, East Indian, Native American, and American musical traditions, and the founder of The Sounds of Awareness Ensemble which explores the sounds of nature and music. He hosts a weekly jazz-oriented radio program, The Jazz Collectors, on station WPFW in Washington. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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justinspoliticalcorner · 1 year ago

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Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

Twenty-five years ago this week, Americans — and possibly much of the world — began thinking about anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes to an extent they hadn’t before. On October 12, 1998, 21-year-old gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard died in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colo., of injuries he’d sustained six days earlier in Laramie, Wyo. He was savagely beaten by two men he met in a Laramie bar and left hanging on a fence on the city’s outskirts. Shepard quickly became the face of the victims of anti-LGBTQ+ crimes or, as it was put then, antigay crimes. In the years since, there has been more recognition of the community’s diversity and of hate-crime victims’ diversity, but he remains the most famous victim of such a crime. After the attack on Shepard, Laramie was overrun with reporters from all over the U.S. His funeral drew protesters from the hateful Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., who waved signs with virulently homophobic slogans — which were blocked from the mourners’ view by young people wearing angel wings. The media returned in force the following year, when Shepard’s killers went on trial. Both are now serving life sentences.

Much has changed since then. Matthew’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, established the Matthew Shepard Foundation and have worked tirelessly to raise awareness of all LGBTQ+ hate crime victims and promote LGBTQ+ equality generally. Matthew’s brother, Logan, works with the foundation as well. In 2009, due partly to the family’s efforts, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, aimed at enhancing investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. Byrd was a Black man murdered in a racist crime, also in 1998. The LGBTQ+ community has made great progress in those 25 years. Marriage equality is the law of the land, LGBTQ+ people can serve in the military without having to hide their identity, and coming out is occurring at younger ages than ever. But much hasn’t changed, and progress is being eroded. This year has seen a record amount of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation introduced and passed in states around the nation, much of it specifically targeting transgender youth, and there remains an epidemic of violence against trans people of color.

Wyoming remains one of only four states that have no hate crimes law, let alone one covering crimes motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Activists have been trying to get one passed for years. “Five years ago, for the 20th anniversary of the murder of Matthew Shepard, I gave countless interviews, extolling the progress that we’d made in the last 20 years and exhorting my fellow Wyomingites to maintain the momentum and bring us across the finish line: pass a statewide hate-crime law, face head-on the shame and grief over Matthew’s murder so many years ago,” Sara Burlingame, executive director of Wyoming Equality and a former state legislator, tells The Advocate via email. “It felt like this healing was within reach, a fever that was going to break.” “I was wrong,” she adds. “In the last five years, the Equality State has slid backward, embracing a new form of politics and culture that I barely recognize.”

She had always known Wyoming, she says, as a conservative but live-and-let-live state, where legislators turned back anti-LGBTQ+ bills and people helped one another without prejudice. Now that has changed. This year the state passed a law excluding trans girls from girls’ school sports in eighth through 12th grades. A bill that would define the provision of gender-affirming care to minors as child abuse passed the Wyoming Senate by a large margin but failed to win House approval, so it didn't become law. Of course, the backward slide is going on nationwide, despite President Joe Biden’s strong support for the LGBTQ+ community (and, at least in part, in reaction to it). [...]

Area activists stepped up as well, despite the widespread fear. Renna recalls the appearance of the “angels,” organized by Romaine Patterson, a close friend of Shepard’s. “When they came around the corner with those big-ass wings, I was as surprised as Fred Phelps was,” she says, referring to the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church. “From that moment on, he got dealt with very differently. These kids showed him that you could respond to hate with love. It was just stunning.” During the trial, one of Shepard’s killers tried to use the “gay panic” defense, saying Shepard had made an unwanted sexual advance to him and that caused him to respond violently. The judge in the case ended up not allowing it, and use of this defense and the related “trans panic” defense has now been banned in numerous states. But in 1999, Renna says, she spent an hour and a half talking to reporters about the defense — and debunking it. The case “shifted the way we talk about that,” she says. With all the progress on LGBTQ+ rights since then, the backsliding we’re seeing now is frustrating, she notes. Also frustrating to her and others is that other anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes aren’t as well known. “Twenty-five years later, we’ve never had a hate crime get that much attention,” Renna says. She has tried hard to bring attention to others, such as the murders of Frederica C. Martinez, a two-spirit Native American teen, in Cortez, Colo., in 2001, and Sakia Gunn, a butch Black lesbian, in Newark, N.J., in 2003. That’s a reflection not only of media bias but of the LGBTQ+ community’s own bias, she says. Shepard was white, attractive, middle-class, a college student. “He had that boy-next-door quality,” Renna says.

On this day 25 years ago, Matthew Shepard was killed in an anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado 6 days after being savagely beaten and left hanging on a fence in Laramie, Wyoming.

25 years later, there is a frightening trend towards the erosion of hard-won LGBTQ+ rights (and transgender rights in particular) that were gained over this period.

#Matthew Shepard #Murder of Matthew Shepard #Death of Matthew Shepard #Hate Crimes #Homophobia #Anti LGBTQ+ Extremism #Gay Panic #Wyoming #Colorado #LGBTQ+ History #LGBTQ+#Gay Panic Defense

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queenoflonging · 2 years ago

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Defecit in dolore vita mea, et anni mei in gemitibus. Infirmata in paupertate virtus mea, et dolor meus renovatus est.

My life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty, and my sorrow is renewed. (from Psalms 30:11 & 38:3) William Byrd composed a motet, adding: Sed tu Domine refugium factus es mihi, et in misericordia tua consolatus sum.

But thou, Lord, art become a refuge unto me, and in thy mercy am I comforted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvjdP-KIKQw it’s wonderful. A great finishing touch to Boëtius Adamsz Bolswert’s engraving. It’s named Kind betreurt het voorbijgaan van de tijd (A Child Dreams of the Passing of Time). The child sighs, “Eheu!” (Alas!). The day and night pass, and we’re all at their mercy. But time has wings, it flies around unaffected, governing the two. I really like the contrast between the Time holding a sickle (perhaps a reference to Death) and an hourglass on top of its head and the child lying on the ground with a fallen hourglass on the right (the single raised wing seems to define our very efforts to resist time: We’ve both given up and keep trying. We know the battle is lost, but we try to live). But the child is the element that stands out: There is Time and the rushing day and night, but the child is lying on the ground calmly. The child takes everything in as it is: It is not aware of time directly as it doesn’t fully grasp it yet, but it knows something about it indirectly, through the changes it sees but does not yet comprehend (hence the ‘Eheu!”). The accompanying text reveals that the child will not remain unaffected by the passing of time...

William Byrd comes in and gives the whole picture hope with the blessing of Faith. Splendid!

There goes my interpretation.

I was quite captivated by this engraving (as I normally tend to be intrigued by motifs of dualism with a third element or trinities with a fourth), so I thought I might give it some context.

(via The Art of Dreams – The Public Domain Review)

#art #psychology #analysis #time #quotes #symbolism

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crankycreates · 2 years ago

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A Bird in His Hand, Chapter 2: An offer is made

“Do I have a choice?” “Of course you do,” he said, raising his eyebrows. At her slightly dubious expression, he gave her a wry smile. “This isn’t the mob, Miss Byrd. I’m simply a businessman, offering you a position at my company.” Chloe did not believe for a second that Jean was ‘simply a businessman’, but she didn’t contradict him. “As an … office assistant.” He gave a non-committal hum. Then he cocked his head, eyes very slightly narrowed and peering at her face. No — not her face. Her mouth, she thought. He said, “How’s your gag reflex?” Still trying to process the events of the past hour, Chloe couldn’t quite make sense of his question. “My what?” she said, sounding every bit as nonplussed as she felt. “Your gag reflex,” he repeated patiently. “Uh— Um—” She was suddenly intensely aware of a blush heating her cheeks. “I don’t know, normal I guess?” Jean hummed. (She remembered that hum, she’d gotten herself off to the memory of it.) He leaned closer, reaching out and cupping her jaw. When she tried to pull away from his touch, the back of her head met the back of the chair, and she was trapped. He tilted her head back a little. The pad of his thumb found her lips, and they parted for him, or perhaps for the whimper his touch elicited. “Open your mouth,” he said.

#a bird in his hand excerpts #a bird in his hand #jean & chloe #saagelius

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hotshotsxyz · 3 years ago

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HIPAA versus the Heart

buddie (3.3k) (read it on ao3)

inspired by this post by @free-byrd . thank you for letting me riff off your idea!

Dr. Carolynn Richards is a patient woman, so when her newest client says he’s not ready to talk about the incident that brought him in, she allows it.

“Why don’t you tell me about yourself, instead?” she suggests, and he does.

Eddie Diaz, former Army medic, current firefighter. Single father of the best kid in the world (his words). Best friends with another firefighter, recently recovered from a serious injury, recently out of a not-serious relationship. In Carolynn’s experience, ten months is usually fairly serious; she doesn’t vocalize the thought. She makes a note to ask about the injury.

Eddie holds his arms close to his sides as he speaks, not entirely closed off, but not very open, either. He shifts uncomfortably as Carolynn writes the observation down.

“Tell me,” Carolynn says, watching carefully as Eddie’s posture stiffens, “what’s your favorite thing about your job?”

Eddie relaxes almost immediately. “My team,” he says. “They’re my family.”

Carolynn nods.

A few weeks later, Eddie walks through the door practically vibrating. “You would not believe what Buck did today,” he says, throwing himself into his regular chair.

Carolynn’s eyebrow raises. It’s the most emotion she’s ever seen Eddie share willingly. Perhaps they’re finally making some progress. “Tell me,” she says.

“He tried to transfer stations,” Eddie says flatly. “As if the rest of us wouldn’t care. I don’t know what I have to do to get it through his thick skull that I - that we want him around.”

“Is that your responsibility?” Carolynn asks.

Eddie looks at her like she’s grown a second head. “Of course it is,” he says. “Buck’s one of the most important people in my life, and he’s been through a lot. I’ll tell him as many times as he needs to hear it. I just hope one of these days it really sinks in. My life - all of our lives are better with him in it.”

Carolynn nods. “Why don’t you tell me about him?” she asks.

Eddie smiles softly, an expression she’s only seen before when he’s spoken about his son. “What do you want to know?” he asks.

“Dr. Richards?”

Carolynn startles, so caught up in the article she was reading that she hadn’t noticed her colleague enter the room.

“Dr. Copeland,” she acknowledges, smiling. “What can I do for you?”

“You’re aware that I’m taking a sabbatical to do research, yes?”

Carolynn nods. “I am.”

“I have a patient that I believe would do well with you. Do you have any open slots? His name is Evan.”

“I think I need to talk about it,” Eddie says quietly. It’s the first thing he’s said since he arrived, aside from a mumbled greeting.

“Talk about what?” Carolynn asks gently.

“I told you I was injured,” Eddie says. It’s not really a question, but Carolynn nods all the same.

“I was shot,” he says, expression carefully blank. “On duty. By a sniper.”

Carolynn knows this story. She’d seen it on the news, just like every other citizen of Los Angeles. “I’m sorry that happened to you,” she says.

Eddie frowns. “I - it didn’t just happen to me, though, did it?”

“The shooter’s other victims-” Carolynn begins, but stops when Eddie shakes his head.

“No. I mean - it did happen to them, too, but that’s not what I’m talking about. My partner, Buck. He was there.”

“Was he hurt?” Carolynn asks, keeping her tone carefully neutral.

“No, not physically at least. He saved me.” Eddie swallows. His eyes are far away.

“What made you want to discuss this today?” Carolynn asks.

“Something happened at work,” Eddie says. “I - I thought I was fine. I thought we both were. About the shooting, at least.”

“What happened?”

“A hostage situation. We all made it out, but there was a gun, and-”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Buckley, it’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, Dr. Richards. Call me, uh, call me Evan.”

After discussing it with Evan, Carolynn chooses not to review Dr. Copeland’s notes. She can look at them later, she decides, but for now she’d like to form her own impressions, uninfluenced by her colleague’s. Still, though, she’s tempted. Evan spoke briefly about his sister during their session, and Carolynn suspects there’s a great deal more to their story than he lets on.

“I’m a firefighter,” Evan tells Carolynn proudly when she asks about his job.

“I’m surprised you’re not seeing one of the fire department’s counsellors,” she says.

Evan shakes his head. “I know how to be a firefighter,” he says. “This was never about the job.”

“Tell me what it is about, then.”

“A lot of things,” Evan says. “Me, I guess.”

Eddie makes a noise of frustration. “I want to talk about it, I just-”

“Don’t have the words?” Carolynn suggests when he doesn’t continue.

Eddie blows out a breath. “No, that’s not it. I know what to say, I just… can’t seem to make myself say it out loud.”

“Would it help if I asked you some direct questions?”

“I - maybe?”

“Alright then. Let’s give it a try. Did the shooting remind you of your time in the Army?”

“I just want Maddie to be okay, you know? She’s made it through so much - I know she can make it through this, too. And Chim... I just wish he’d talk to me.”

“You speak about your sister the same way many people speak about their parents. Is there a reason for that?” Carolynn asks gently.

Evan’s expression shutters slightly. “Yeah, uh, Maddie… She did most of the heavy lifting growing up. Our parents were pretty distant most of the time.”

“I see. Have you considered that you might not have the same understanding of your sister that her partner has? That you might each know her in different ways?”

Evan shakes his head but smiles a little. “Somebody else told me the exact same thing.”

“Did I ever tell you about Ana?” Eddie asks.

Carolynn very nearly jumps in surprise. “No,” she says, I don’t believe you have.” With some prodding, Eddie will talk about the shooting. He’ll talk about Afghanistan, his job, his son, his friends, sometimes even his deceased wife. Eddie will not, however, talk about his most recent relationship. Not until now, at least.

“She was perfect,” Eddie says. “Everything I should want in a partner. Pretty, nice, my kid loved her. At least, I thought he did.”

“What was missing?” Carolynn asks.

“Nothing. Everything, I guess. She was perfect and I didn’t feel anything for her.”

Carolynn waits a moment, and Eddie chuckles darkly. “Well, that’s not quite true.”

“What does that mean?”

I had a panic attack.” Eddie grimaces, like it pains him to say the words. “I had a panic attack,” he repeats, “because someone thought she was Christopher’s mother and I couldn’t… I didn’t… I didn’t want that.”

“It sounds like ending the relationship was the right choice,” Carolynn says carefully.

“I just… why didn’t I want that? She was everything I’m supposed to be looking for, and most days I couldn’t even bring myself to kiss her. What’s wrong with me?”

The anguish in Eddie’s eyes and voice nearly breaks Carolynn’s heart. For a moment she thinks of her own son, how if he said such a thing she’d pull him against her chest and stroke his hair and tell him that he’s perfect just as he is. She wonders if Eddie’s mother ever told him that. She doesn’t ask.

“We can choose how we express our emotions, but rarely can we choose our emotions themselves,” Carolynn says instead.

Eddie shakes his head.

“Have you spoken to anyone about this? Buck, perhaps?”

Eddie snorts. “No, Buck’s the last person I want to talk about this with.”

“Why is that? He’s your best friend, isn’t he?”

Eddie’s eyes widen.

“What do you want, Eddie?”

“My best friend got shot six months ago and he won’t talk to me about it,” Evan says one day. “He - I can still taste his blood,” he whispers.

“I think I might be gay. Or - or bi, or something,” Eddie says in their next session. He’s tense, like he’s bracing for Carolynn’s judgement.

“I’m glad you’re considering that,” Carolynn says softly.

Eddie leans back in surprise. “Why?”

“In our last session, you mentioned several times what you ‘should’ want. I suspect this means you’re thinking about what you want for yourself, not just what other people want from you.”

“So what do I do?” Eddie asks.

“You don’t have to do anything, not if you don’t want to,” Carolynn says warmly. “But is there anyone in your life you’d like to tell?”

“I… yeah. There is.”

“Eddie’s been acting weird and he won’t talk to me about it,” Evan says.

“Eddie?” Carolynn asks.

“Yeah, my best friend? I’ve told you about him, he’s the one that got shot. He’s been acting weird ever since I broke up with Taylor.”

Oh. Oh. Oh no. Surely it’s a coincidence. There has to be more than one Eddie who’s been shot in LA.

“Do you and Eddie work together?” Carolynn asks

“Yeah, we’re partners. Most of the time, anyway. Right now he’s working with Hen, just until Chimney gets back.”

Ah. This is not ideal.

It’s not illegal. That’s the first thing Carolynn triple checks. Usually she has a rule against treating the close relations of her patients, but it’s not actually breaking any laws to do so. Still, she’s not sure it’s a good idea. After all, Evan and Eddie frequently discuss each other with her. She’s sure she knows things about both of them that they didn’t choose to share on their own.

Maybe she should send them both to different therapists. Eddie though… she’s made so much progress gaining his trust. She’s not sure he’ll be willing to go through that again with another therapist. And Evan will be back with Dr. Copeland in January, not even two months from now.

It’s fine, Carolynn decides. It’ll be fine.

It is, decidedly, not fine.

“I’m in love with Buck,” Eddie says, wide eyed and disbelieving. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. I - he’s practically co-parenting my child.” He laughs, almost hysterically. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You could tell him,” Carolynn suggests gently. She likes to think she knows Evan well enough to know that, even if he doesn’t reciprocate Eddie’s feelings, he won’t do anything to hurt him intentionally.

“Absolutely not,” Eddie shakes his head. “I can’t lose him. Not over this.”

“I just wish he would talk to me, you know?” Evan says. “I can tell something’s eating at him, but he won’t let me help.”

“Maybe it’s something you can’t help with. Maybe you need to let him come to you?”

“You sound like Taylor,” Evan grouses.

“You never told me why the two of you broke up,” Carolynn prompts.

“I need a partner, and I want a family. She was never going to give me either of those.”

“When you imagine those things, what does it look like?”

“Buck’s being weird. Or maybe I am?” Eddie says. “Do you think he knows?”

“Well that depends,” Carolynn says. “Have you told him?”

Eddie snorts. “I told you, I’m not going to do that. Why would I risk messing up what we already have? Whatever he’s willing to give me, that’s enough. He’s enough.”

“What if he’s willing to give you more?”

“He’s not.”

“I’m in love with Eddie,” Evan says, wide eyed and scared. “What am I going to do?”

Carolynn wants to laugh, or maybe cry. “You could tell him,” she suggests gently.

“No, no I - just, no.”

No. It certainly couldn’t have been that easy.

She’s done something to anger the universe, Carolynn’s sure of it. Because every week she listens to Eddie wax poetic about Evan’s smile, and Evan bemoan his surely unreciprocated feelings for Eddie. And she. Can’t. Do. Anything.

“Would it be so bad,” she asks Evan, the first week of December, “if Eddie found out how you feel about him?”

“Yes!” Evan exclaims. “He’s my person. Him and Chris… they’re my family. I can’t risk that.”

Carolynn wants to bang her head against the wall. “If you’re not going to tell him… are you going to try to find someone else?”

Evan shakes his head and smiles sadly. “There’s never going to be anyone else. Not after him.”

“Evan,” Carolynn says softly, “you should tell him. It’s hurting you not to.”

“Better me than him.”

The office decorates for a few weeks leading up to Christmas - lights and a tree in the waiting room, mistletoe hanging over the door that leads to the offices. It’s not much, but it brings some cheer into the space. It’s something many of Carolynn’s clients appreciate, either because it reminds them of their families, or because it helps them replace traumatic memories with healing ones.

It seems to make Evan, in particular, smile when he comes in.

“You seem happy today,” Carolynn observes.

“Maddie’s back,” he says simply.

“That’s wonderful news, I’m so glad to hear it. How is she?”

“She’s doing a lot better. Excited for Jee’s first Christmas. She spent some time in an in-patient facility. I think it really helped.”

“I’m so glad,” Carolynn says, and she means it. Both Evan and Eddie have told her about Maddie, and from what she’s heard, she seems like a wonderful woman who’s been through a great deal of trauma.

“I think… I think I might tell Eddie,” Evan says. “Maddie says I’ll regret it if I never do, and I think she might be right.”

“That’s good, Evan,” Carolynn says. “You deserve to be happy.”

Evan’s face twists, and he sniffs. “Do you think he’ll hate me?” he asks.

Carolynn bites her lip. She wants to shake his shoulders and tell him exactly how Eddie feels, tell him that there’s nothing he could ever do to make Eddie love him any less. After all, Eddie’s said it to her himself. It’s not her place, though.

“Buck, if he’s anything like the person you’ve described to me, he won’t hold your feelings against you.”

Buck stiffens and his brow furrows. “I didn’t think I ever told you that name.”

Fuck. Fuck! Carolynn keeps her expression as neutral as possible. “No? Maybe it was Dr. Copeland that mentioned it. I apologize if it made you uncomfortable, I’ll stick to Evan in the future.”

“It’s, uh. It’s fine,” Evan says, still sounding wary.

The rest of the session is stilted and awkward. Carolynn’s sure Evan isn’t aware that she’s seeing Eddie as well, but she’s just as certain he didn’t buy her excuse about Dr. Copeland. She should have done something as soon as she’d discovered the problem. Who knows what kind of irreparable damage she might have done? To both of them! She probably won’t lose her license over this, but god, maybe she should.

“Hey, uh, Doc?” Evan says. “Are you okay?”

Carolynn flushes. “I’m fine, yes, I apologize. Could you repeat the last thing you said?”

Evan looks at her with furrowed brows. “It’s okay if you read Dr. Copeland’s notes, you know,” he says finally.

“Excuse me?”

“I know we said at the beginning you wouldn’t but I gave her permission to send them to you for a reason. It’s fine if you looked at them.”

It’s an out. It’s an out and she should take it but she just can’t bring herself to lie. But she also can’t violate Eddie’s confidentiality and tell the truth. She was only seeing Evan for another two weeks, then Dr. Copeland would be back.

Two weeks, Carolynn tells herself. It’ll be fine.

“Thank you,” she says noncommittally.

The week of Christmas, Carolynn’s booked solid. Between the shortened week and the many clients who struggle during this time of year, Carolynn’s fairly certain she doesn’t have more than five minutes to herself until Friday.

She doesn’t realize the problem until it’s too late to solve it. She glances at her schedule as Eddie walks in, only to realize that, this week, Evan has the appointment directly after his. The odds that they don’t run into each other are astronomically low. The jig is up, as it were.

“I invited Buck over for Christmas,” Eddie says. “I think I’m going to tell him.”

“That’s wonderful news, Eddie,” Carolynn says. “What changed your mind?”

“Chimney, actually,” Eddie says with a rueful smile. “He gave me my own advice.”

“And what was that?”

“It was about Maddie. I told him that tomorrow wasn’t promised, so if he loved her, he should tell her.”

“That sounds like very good advice, Eddie.”

She follows Eddie out of her office, hoping she can somehow prevent him from running into Evan. Eddie beats her to the waiting room door, though, and standing on the other side is Evan, already reaching for the door handle.

“Buck?” Eddie asks.

Carolynn dives behind a fake plant. It’s not her proudest moment.

“Eddie? What are you doing here?” Buck asks.

Through the leaves, Carolynn sees Eddie shrug. “I, uh… therapy. I was going to tell you.”

“You didn’t have to, Eds,” Buck says softly. “But I’m proud of you.”

Eddie looks up at him, smiling brilliantly. “You are?”

“Always,” Buck says.

The way they look at each other… Carolynn wonders how they don’t see it. Too blinded by their own love, she supposes, to see it reflected back.

“You’re still coming on Friday, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Buck says, ducking his head and smiling.

“And you’ll stay?” Eddie asks quietly.

Buck’s head snaps up. “Eddie,” he whispers.

“You know,” Eddie says slowly. “I was going to wait until Friday to say anything.”

“But?” Buck asks, breathless.

“But we are standing under mistletoe,” Eddie says, looking up.

Buck follows his gaze. “We are,” he confirms.

Eddie takes Buck’s hand and weaves their fingers together. There’s an entire waiting room of people beyond the door’s threshold, and an overly invested doctor hiding behind a nearby plant, but they might as well be the only two people on the planet if the way their eyes never waver is any indication.

“Do you know what I told my therapist, just now?” Eddie asks.

Buck shakes his head.

“I told her that I was going to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“I’m in love with you,” Eddie says in a rush of air. “You walked into my life and made every single thing better, just by being you. And Evan, I just - I love you. I need you. I always want you to stay.”

Buck’s eyes are wide and shiny. “Do you know what my therapist asked me?” he says after a moment.

Eddie shakes his head. The corners of his lips are turned up in a small smile, like the fact that Buck’s hand is still in his hasn’t escaped his attention.

“She asked me what I pictured when I thought about the future. About having a partner and a family. And Eds, it’s you. It’s always been you. I’m in love with you.”

Eddie breaks into a wide smile and curls his free hand around Buck’s jaw. “I’m going to kiss you now, okay?” he murmurs.

In lieu of an answer, Buck surges forward, pressing his lips against Eddie’s.

The waiting room bursts into cheers - apparently Carolynn hasn’t been the only one watching.

Buck and Eddie break apart slowly, cheeks pink and grinning widely.

“Let’s go home,” Eddie murmurs.

“Yeah,” Buck agrees. “Oh, I, uh, I should let my therapist know,” he says.

“Pretty sure she already knows,” Eddie says, tipping his head towards the plant Carolynn’s hiding behind.

Carolynn hits the ground, cheeks flaming. She’s definitely going to lose her license over this.

To her surprise, Buck laughs, loudly. “I think it’s time for me to go back to Dr. Copeland,” he says.

“I’m sure Dr. Richards will understand,” Eddie says warmly. “Now, home?”

“Yeah,” Buck says, “Home.”

#buddie #911fic #911 #911 fox #Evan buckley #Eddie diaz #fic #I had fun with this one #I hope you enjoy!#Abbie writes #mine

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hargrove-mayfields · 4 years ago

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Headcanons Part Two!!!

My last headcanon post was all about Billy and Steve, but they won’t be the only ones showing up in my stories, so here’s some hcs for a few of the most recurring characters!

Starting with Max!!

My preferred middle name for Max is Nicole, because Maxine Nicole sounds pretty, but can double as being intimidating if someone was yelling at her. Also, she’s named after her aunt Nicole just because I can see Susan being like that.

Most important thing to know about Max in my writing is that she is ALWAYS autistic. I might not specify depending on the content of the story, but she is never ever ever meant to be allistic. I imagine her as being on a moderate support needs level, meaning for those who don’t know the term that she has highs and lows! There’s days where she can pass as allsitic and days where she can’t, and she maybe doesn’t need a lot of assistance in everyday life, but she still needs lots of stimming and has meltdowns and stuff!

Related to this fact is that in the 80s, autism was not a very common diagnosis at all, and so I don’t think she’d really have a word for it other than like, that just being the way she is. Because no one will give her the official diagnosis, Neil thinks she’s faking, so she gets told to stop stimming, isn’t treated fairly during a meltdown, told to “act normal” etc, etc, and she needs a lot of therapy in the future for it.

Her favorite ways to stim are rocking on her heels, humming, listening to loud noises (like sirens/car engines/lawn mowers, NOT things like music/Susan doing the dishes, those do the opposite) and dancing!

Her least favorite sensory things are raindrops touching her skin, her hair brushing her shoulders or her face, overwhelming smells (cologne, candles, food on the stove) and furniture that’s too firm! (like a memory foam mattress or a leather couch)

The first time she feels truly seen in the way she is is when Fraggle Rock starts airing in ‘82. Susan tells her to watch it because she thinks Max is still a baby no matter how old she is, but the minute she lays eyes on Wembley Fraggle she knows he’s like her. He stims vocally and with his hands, his friends don’t understand him, he’s empathetic, bad at choosing, gullible, and in every way just so much like her! Her and Billy have an inside joke where, if she’s putting something off or can’t make a decision, he’ll tell her to stop her Wemblin’ and sometimes he calls her Wembles without thinking!

There isn’t a lot of personalized furniture in the Hargrove-Mayfield, so I think it’s safe to say that she doesn’t really have any comfort items lying around. No favorite blankets or stuffed animals or toys of any kind, and I think because of that she clings to people. That’s why she is so insistent on getting in with the party, and why was so excited about having a brother in Runaway Max, because she relies on comfort people instead of objects.

She’s not very good at putting a name to her relationships. Like, she doesn’t really know how to describe how she feels about somebody, she just knows if she likes them or not. If she feels happy and sage with someone, that’s all that matters, she doesn’t feel the need to classify them beyond that. But she’s also aware that others don’t feel that way! And she feels pretty special when Lucas calls her his girlfriend!

In the future, there can be a lot of different outcomes for her.

If Billy stays dead, I can see Max ending up two ways, either staying in Hawkins because that’s where her brother is dead and buried and trying to move on in her own way, or leaving Hawkins entirely, just cutting ties completely with everyone and everything there to move away from the trauma that’s there, except for every year on B’s birthday when she comes back to visit.

If Billy lives though, I think there’s again two outcomes for her. One where she feels guilty about not noticing the mindflayer and her and Billy’s relationship gets a little strained, because they don’t cope well when they’re trying to pin the blame, or one where she is just grateful her brother isn’t dead and decides to live life to the fullest after that.

In any scenario, she would obviously get the happy ending she deserves, she just has to get there a totally different way.

And also, regardless of what path she takes, I think she’d make for an excellent writer in her future career. She’s smart, she’s got lots of story to tell and draw inspiration from, and it just seems right for her, because it isn’t super constricting and it’s a job most people who do it love!

Now onto Robin!

Her middle name is Leora!

For some reason I have this idea in my head that she doesn’t live with her parents anymore. Not that she got kicked out or anything, just that she moved out pretty early on.

I also think she isn’t from Hawkins. I like the idea that her family moved there just before high school from either Ohio or Maryland, not sure which.

In band, I think she’s a flute. She just gives me flute vibes but I got kicked out of the band so maybe I could be wrong.

It’s canon that she’s goth, wearing her spiky leather bracelet with her work uniform and all, but I think she also sometimes goes in the totally opposite fashion direction, like, sometimes she’s just feeling the patterns and fabrics and colors of the sixties and seventies her mom gave her.

One of her favorite things to do with her friends is go shopping! Not like, around malls, in part because other than Starcourt, the closest mall to Hawkins is forty five minutes away, but she likes to go out with her group and visit all the local thrift shops and cafés and stuff like that.

And she’s super crafty! She has embroidery hoops, beads, jewelry making kits, all of it scattered everywhere!

She has like, the tips of her hair bleached, they sort of look like highlights in a way, so I think it was her that convinced Steve to get his highlights done too.

Matter of fact, I think she teaches Steve a lot of things about himself without either of them realizing. She’s just so, not-superficial I guess, that it starts to rub off of him.

In my head she’s just always got like, a suuuuuper good read on people even if they just met, like, she just sees straight through everybody ever, and that’s why she even gives Steve a chance despite knowing how he treated her in school.

Her Scoops! shorts are pretty big while Steve’s are tight as heck, so I hc that those are his shorts. The uniform used to be a skimpy sailor skirt, but she’s seventeen and not particularly keen on being creeped on by older men when she gets hired there, so she refuses to wear it. She gets in trouble on the first day for wearing jeans, and Steve feels bad about it so he gives her the extra pair of shorts from his uniform!

Robin totally bottles up everything from Starcourt until she can’t anymore. Like, Steve is very open about his struggles with what happened under the mall because he wants help and he’s done it alone before, but she feels like she should be strong, grateful that they survived, and just, move on and forget about it. It doesn’t work and she ends up crashing hard. Like she goes from silently suffering to getting panic attacks all the time, and falling in a super deep depression rut. Obviously her friends are very supportive and provide her with the help she needs, and with time (lots and lots of time) she gets better!

Heather!

Her middle name is Ernestine! It was her grandma's name!

I head canon that she is a lesbian and I ship her and Robin!

She calls Billy William all the time because she was raised to be formal and respectful, and Billy just doesn’t feel or sound right when she says it. Even though she insists her name is Heather and she doesn’t need a nickname, Billy calls her Hetty or H!

She wears clip on earrings! Her parents refuse to let her get her ears pierced because they say she needs to respect her image and all that, but she always felt like she was missing some accessories, and found out from one of her friends about clip ons, which they allow!

Even though she has popular girl vibes, I don’t think she was in high school. Just sort of a floater, and she liked it that way! She’s way too sweet to be in with Steve’s crowd, but had some things in common with pretty much everyone else. Once she’s graduated she sort of falls into that popular category around Hawkins because she’s rich and older now, but she’s still the same old Heather.

Heather is a super good baker and cook! Her mother always had her helping in the kitchen while her dad was staying late at work, and eventually she got really good! Sometimes she’ll just randomly bring her friends like, a load of banana bread or a hot dish because it makes everyone happy!

She's a very affectionate person! If she hasn’t seen her friends for a while she’ll kiss them all over, and everytime you see her you have to hug her (unless you don’t want to, she’s equally as understanding as she is lovey!)

I reject canon! Heather is not dead! I know it’s very unlikely but I think the clones in the upside down were like fail saves, and the real versions are all still alive somewhere!

In the case that this is true, when everything gets fixed I don’t think her memories of what happened to her would be intact, and I think that would be super traumatic for her. Almost worse than how she would be feeling if she knew.

In the future she wants to be in the entertainment industry! I can totally see her becoming a country singer or a soap opera actress or both!

Robin becomes a librarian at the same school that Steve works at when he becomes a teacher! She also does art commissions on the side. Sculpting, painting, charcoals, all of it, she’s good at all of it!

And last but not least, Tommy!!

My hc for Tommy’s middle name is Byrd. It was like a super common name at one point and then just sort of plummeted, and I like to think his parents thought they were being original choosing that one. All of his friends call him Tommy Bird to make fun of him, but he secretly doesn’t hate it.

Tommy and Steve didn’t really become friends until middle school! Hawkins has two elementary schools based on which region you live in, and because they live in like, opposite ends of town they go to different ones. But the first day of middle school when the two schools merge, they’re out for recess, Steve sees Tommy alone and approaches him, and they become instant besties!

Tommy is very insecure about his popularity. Steve is cool with letting his slip because he has other things to worry about, but Tommy doesn’t. His grades are alright and his home life is decent, and he’s not involved in upside down business, so when Steve ditches him and people start to lose interest in him, he gets extremely upset. It consumes him sort of, the fear that nobody likes him anymore. That ends up being why him and Carol break it off for good.

Another reason he thinks a reputation is so important is because he used to be picked on before being friends with Steve. When he was little he had giant glasses and dressed kinda lame, and he internalized that a lot. He’s scared that without Steve they’ll go back to that.

All of that is why he clings onto Billy so tight. Like, his best friend for the past six or seven years just walked out without looking back, and he’s terrified that he’s going to be bullied again. So when big tough guy Billy Hargrove rolls into town he’s like I have to be friends with this dude right now or I’ll die.

I ship him with Steve! A lot! But also I like the thought of Tommy and Steve and Billy, platonically and shippy-y!

As for where he’s from, I don’t think Tommy is Hawkins born and raised. He grew up down south, maybe Georgia, or Tennessee?, but then his uncle over in Indiana starts a snake oil business with his dad and they have to move.

I think he’s very much a lightweight. Alcohol isn’t really his thing because his dad was an alcoholic and it scares him that he’ll be like that, so he never really tried it and his tolerance is super low. He always designates himself the driver, only he doesn’t have a car of his own, he’s not allowed to until he’s on his way to college, so he always drives other people’s cars to their houses and walks home.

I don’t know if Tommy is able to avoid the upside down beyond st2. Maybe him and Billy try to keep in contact once school lets out, but he notices somethings off with him because he’s flayed. This could result in him also being flayed, depending on the situation, or if not he might get involved later, because he starts putting the pieces together after Starcourt.

Tommy owning up and joining Steve in monster hunting quests! Heck yeah!

If there is no involvement with all that mess though, I’d say it takes a few years out of high school for him to finally admit to being wrong. Like, he always maintained that he was right to be mad at Steve for driving away and right to be basically just a bully like he was, but once he’s older, mid twenties maybe, he realizes that wasn’t the way to be and calls a bunch of people up to apologize to them.

He goes to beauty school and becomes a hair stylist and makeup artist on television sets!

As for other background characters, like other party members or adults, I don’t have a whole lot of specific ideas that aren’t already canon! In the future if I write anything where they are more central characters that might change, but as of right now I don’t really have any headcanons for them!

#max mayfield #robin buckley #heather holloway #tommy h #nonsense from ej #headcanon #obviously I have a bunch more in my head when I write but this is just the basic stuff I wanted to throw out there #it’s also kinda a mess because I’ve been trying to get this list organized before I post my next fic #which I already said a couple of days ago would be up in a few and it will #I’m working on it I just have a heck ton to do right now #anywho pardon all the projecting I did here #and sorry if this is formatted super weird I’m posting this from mobile

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angrylightgentlemen · 3 years ago

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Vitamins necessary for hair growth

Hair loss is a frequent problem that can be remedied by taking vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals are necessary for optimal cell growth and function. A lack of these essential nutrients can lead to hair loss and force you to opt for treatments like surgical and non-surgical hair replacements in California. While supplementing is very inexpensive and easy to obtain, it is critical to understand which vitamins and minerals are beneficial in treating hair loss.

The reasons for hair fall can be numerous, such as:

· Lack of Nutrition: Hair, like everything else that grows, requires the proper nutrients and circumstances in order to thrive. And it all begins with your diet and lifestyle.

· Health Issues: Thyroid issues and anemia, for example, can have a negative impact on hair health and development.

· Age: We have hairs developing, resting, and shedding at all times, but as we get older, the fraction of hairs actively growing decreases.

· Genetics: The gene for male and female pattern hair loss is carried by 60 to 70 percent of the population.

Nutrients are essential for a healthy being. The first step towards your healthy tresses is to have a well-balanced diet. However, you may want additional assistance to jump-start your hair restoration.

Hair development is influenced by a variety of factors, including age, genetics, and hormones, but the most important element is proper food consumption.

Five vitamins that may be crucial for hair growth are listed below.

1. Vitamin A

Vitamin A is required for cell proliferation, including the hair, the fastest-growing tissue of the human body. Vitamin A also aids the production of sebum, an oily material produced by sebaceous glands. Sebum helps maintain healthy hair by moisturizing the scalp. Vitamin A deficiency can lead to a variety of issues, including hair loss. While getting adequate vitamin A is necessary, getting too much can be deadly. Overdosing on vitamin A has also been linked to hair loss in studies.

Beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A, is readily available in sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, spinach, kale, etc. Animal products such as milk, eggs, and yogurt also contain vitamin A in a significant amount. Cod liver oil is one of the most excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

2. Biotin (Vitamin B7)

Biotin is essential for the health of your body's cells. Hair loss, rashes, and brittle nails can all be caused by its deficiency. Your levels may be low if you're:

· Expecting a child or nursing a baby,

· Taking antibiotics or anti-epileptic medications

The majority of people consume enough biotin through their food. It is widely found in foods such as:

· Yolks of Eggs

· Whole Grains and ground forms of such grains

· Meat

3. Vitamin C

Vitamin C is required for iron absorption in the intestines. It can be found in a variety of food items, including:

· Fruits of the citrus family

· Greens with lots of leaves

· Bell Peppers

Megan Byrd, MD, tells WebMD Connect to Care that eating iron-rich foods with vitamin C-rich foods will help you absorb the iron in those foods more effectively.

Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that protects the body against free radical-induced oxidative damage. It is also required for the production of collagen, a protein that is a key component of the hair structure. Vitamin C facilitates the absorption of iron, a mineral necessary for hair development.

4. Vitamin D

You must already be aware of the importance of vitamin D for bone health. When you get enough sunlight, your skin produces vitamin D, but many individuals don't get enough from the sun alone.

Eating fatty fish or drinking fortified milk can help you raise your levels. You can also ask your doctor for a supplement recommendation. Magnesium supplementation with Vitamin D improves the bioavailability of the nutrients in your body.

5. Vitamin E

Vitamin E, like vitamin C, is an antioxidant that helps to avoid oxidative damage.

According to one study, after eight months of supplementing with vitamin E, persons with hair loss showed a 34.5 percent boost in hair growth.

There was only a 0.1 percent gain in the placebo group.

Vitamin E is found in various items like sunflower seeds, almonds, spinach, and avocados.

6. Zinc

Zinc is necessary for the production of proteins in your hair and other cells. Because your body cannot produce it, you must obtain it through diet or supplements. Rapid hair loss, low wound healing, and a weakened sense of taste or smell are all symptoms of low zinc levels.

If you do any of the following, you are more susceptible to having a zinc deficiency.

· Are pregnant or breastfeeding

· Have a bowel disease or severe diarrhea

· Have kidney disease

7. Iron

Iron is crucial for red blood cells to transport oxygen. Iron deficiency anemia is a severe disease that the lack of this essential mineral can cause. Fatigue, pale skin, and hair loss are some of the symptoms.

If any of the following apply to you, you are susceptible to be at higher risk for iron deficiency:

· You're a woman who has a lot of periods.

· You have a long-term illness.

· You're a vegetarian or vegan,

��The following food items are significantly rich in iron:

· Grass-fed red meat

· Greens with lots of leaves

· Legumes

These are just some of the nutrients essential for healthy hair. For a detailed understanding, you can also visit a hair clinic in Concord like Just Hair. They are experts in this field with over 40 years of experience. They also offer the best non-surgical hair replacement in California.

#hair growth #Hair Care Guide

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Marvel’s Loki Episode 5 Ending Explained: Who is the Real Villain of the MCU Series?

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This article contains spoilers for Loki episode 5.

Agent Mobius did say that time ran differently in the TVA but who could have imagined that the penultimate episode of Loki would arrive so quickly? Marvel’s Loki episode 5 “Journey Into Mystery” keeps up a streak of superb installments for this increasingly superb show.

In this hour, Mobius joins the side of the heroes, Judge Renslayer has some questions, and Loki and Sylvie’s relationship continues to blossom thanks to the conjuring of an uncomfortable green blanket. Equally as important, however, is that “Journey Into Mystery” raises some big questions about the ending of this show and the future of the MCU. Questions like…

What is The Void?

This episode does a pretty good job of succinctly describing what the Void is. The Void is the end of time, itself. Since the Time-Keepers are unable to completely destroy matter (Theory of Conservation of Mass and all that), they send unwanted Variants to the end of the timeline to languish or be swallowed by a hungry monster (more on him in a bit).

In Marvel Comics, The Void is something of an actual character. It is a destructive amorphous entity capable of both adopting a corporeal form and destroying the universe as we know it. During the Siege storyline, the Void even killed Loki, which then facilitated his “rebirth” as Kid Loki. See how this all starts to fit together?

What is Alioth?

In the world of Loki, Alioth is a big, hungry cloud monster that prowls the Void looking to consume yummy matter. It’s the TVA’s unwitting cleaning service, wiping out all the Variants that the TVA can’t eliminate. Classic Loki helpfully offers up the analogy that the Void is a shark tank, and Alioth is the shark.

Alioth of the comics was first introduced in 1993’s Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #1. That same comic also introduced Ravonna Renslayer and features Kang the Conqueror as its central villain. Oh yeah, it’s all coming together.

Alioth is considered to be the first being that broke free from the constraints of time. It’s no wonder then that it would make an appearance in Loki.

What’s Up With That Castle?

It’s about time a Marvel villain lives in an honest-to-goodness castle! While it’s still possible that this is a misdirect and this environment is not what it seems, for now it looks like episode 6 will be headed off to a spooky castle.

Interestingly, there are no shortages of spooky castles in Marvel comics lore. Perhaps the most famous one is Castle Doom within Doomstadt. Bet you’ll never guess who lives there! Yes, it’s ol’ Victor von Doom himself, Doctor Doom to his friends…of which he has very few.

Another notable abode is Castle Limbo, which serves as the home of Immortus, who was once Nathaniel Richards a.k.a. Kang the Conqueror. Look, Kang is a confusing character, so you’ll just have to trust us on this one.

What is Mobius’s Plan?

Thank the gods that Loki and Mobius finally embraced their destiny as best bros. Mobius leaves all the Lokis behind in The Void to return to the TVA. What does he plan to do once he gets there? Why, burn the whole thing down, of course!

It’s unclear how Mobius believes he’s able to pull off such a grand task. The TVA is an enormous bureaucracy with seemingly infinite moving parts. The only real weapon that Mobius has at his disposal is the truth. The truth changed his and Hunter B-15’s perspectives but can it do the same for everyone else? The only other named TVA employee that we’re aware of is Casey (Eugene Cordero). He seems like a sweet, non-confrontational lad. But perhaps that will all change once he realizes he’s been robbed of fish dinners his whole life.

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What Becomes of the Other Lokis?

The most pleasantly strange aspect of “Journey Into Mystery” is how many new Lokis it introduces. This hour features: Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant), Boastful Loki (DeObia Oparei), Kid Loki (Jack Veal), President Loki (Hiddleston), and Alligator Loki (uh… a CGI alligator). Naturally, each of those Lokis has their own official hashtag sprite on Twitter.

Fittingly for their chaotic energy, each of the Lokis introduced in this episode have quite different ultimate fates. Boastful Loki betrays his Loki comrades, because that’s just what Lokis do. The subsequent scene of President Loki and his Void army battling the other Lokis is one of the best moments of this show yet. That causes our Loki to take off with Classic, Kid, and Alligator. When Mobius invites that trio to come back to the TVA with him, they decline because the Void is their home now.

Sylvie is the Secret Heart of Marvel’s Loki

By Lacy Baugher

Games

How Loki and Fallout Use Retrofuturism to Unnerve Us

By Matthew Byrd

That is the last we’ve seen of Kid Loki and Alligator Loki thus far but not the last of Classic Loki. The comic-accurate trickster returns to help Loki and Sylvie when they need it the most. He uses stunningly powerful magic to create an approximation of Asgard all around him, distracting the ravenous Alioth. Even Sylvie with her enchantress power is stunned by Classic Loki’s abilities.

Is Richard E. Grant’s Classic Loki Really Dead?

Ultimately Classic Loki is swallowed up by the Alioth and therefore finally blinked out of existence. Or is he? It seems like he could have been utilizing the very same technique here he claims to have used to escape his death at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. “I think we’re stronger than we realize,” Loki tells Sylvie, so this would certainly be a case of that if it came down to it.

Plus, that leads us to the final and most important question that this episode raises.

Who is the Villain?

Who indeed? There has been one name bandied about as the most likely Loki Big Bad. Before we get to him (and it’s absolutely who you think), indulge us in another theory. What if the villain of Loki is…

Classic Loki or Another Loki Variant

Richard E. Grant is kind of a big deal as an actor. It’s not every day you can find a seasoned performer who can portray a kindly exterior with some menace underneath. With that in mind, it’s possible that Classic Loki is a bigger character than he appears at first glance. This episode goes out of its way to communicate just how powerful Lokis can be. And when you combine that kind of god-like power with a trickster’s sensibility, it’s not hard to imagine that Classic Loki, or another Loki entirely, could be pulling all the strings.

Kang the Conqueror

While Loki confronting himself in the end would make for a dramatically interesting enterprise, the hard evidence at hand still seems to indicate that Kang the Conqueror is our real villain. The internet at large has been banging the drum for Kang the Conqueror as the ultimate Loki villain for weeks now and it’s not hard to see why.

This isn’t a case of collective delusion like with all of the Nightmare/Mephisto WandaVision theorizing, Kang really does seem to be a legitimate possibility. For starters, we know we already have an MCU actor for Kang in the fold already in the form of Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country). Kang was announced for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania but doesn’t it sound very Marvel for the character to make his unexpected debut here?

In the comics, Kang the Conqueror is wrapped up in multiverses, timelines, and all manner of heady sci-fi nonsense that Loki is already invested in. In fact, as Reddit user u/Hpotter821 points out, one iteration of Kang in Marvel comics sought to become Immortus by eliminating all of his other Variants. It would seem that creating the TVA to police other timelines would be quite useful in that mission.

Then there’s the fact that Kang has at least some level of crossover with just about every major character and element of Loki. Kang has a relationship with Ravonna Renslayer in the comics and is also an occasional rival of Alioth. The show is not shy about injecting Kang’s aesthetic into the proceedings. While ostensibly space lizards as Loki described them, the Time-Keepers do appear to resemble the classic Kang the Conqueror look a bit. And the TVA logo?

Oh. Hey. I just noticed that the centerpiece of the Time Variance Authority’s seal totally looks like Kang’s head. 🤷‍♂️ #Loki pic.twitter.com/93QzNDVSbi

— Ken Plume (@KenPlume) July 2, 2021

Oh yeah, that’s Kang, baby.

Perhaps by this time next week, all of this Kang conjecture will look as silly as WandaVision’s Mephisto fever dream. It’s undeniable, however, that Loki has provided us with plenty of breadcrumbs. If it’s all a Kang-sized red herring, then so be it.

Doctor Doom

This is a considerable longshot, despite the fact that we’ve wanted it to happen for a long time. Doom was at the center of Marvel Comics’ multiverse-shattering Secret Wars event by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic, and the castle we see in this episode’s conclusion sure does look an awful lot like his humble Doomstadt home.

Every time we get excited about Doctor Doom or the potential Secret Wars threads embedded in this show, we’re brought back to reality by the fact that there’s virtually no way that Marvel would introduce arguably their greatest villain in a teasing series finale episode, especially not when they’ve got the Kang-centric Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to tee up with Kang. Yes, we’re hedging our best by including him, but can you blame us?

Anyway, patience, Doom fans. The Fantastic Four movie is finally a priority for the MCU, and we should see that by 2023.

Kevin Feige

This obviously won’t happen but in the spirit of Marvel’s next Disney+ series What If…?, what if Loki and Sylvie arrive to the throne room in the castle and Marvel Studios head Kevin Heige is hanging out there wearing one of his trademark baseball caps? As witnessed in WandaVision and now Loki, this phase of Marvel cinematic storytelling is clearly about setting up a new multiverse of possibilities. What better way to introduce that multiverse than by completely breaking the fourth wall?

OK, so there are probably a ton of better ways but Feige would at least be fun and truly unexpected.

The post Marvel’s Loki Episode 5 Ending Explained: Who is the Real Villain of the MCU Series? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2Uv1SXs

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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rabbitcruiser · 11 months ago

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National Bird Day

Don your binoculars to spy these feathered friends in the wild, contribute to conservation efforts or raise awareness of birds in captivity.

It is also worth noting that each of these is named for those avian friends, not the late Senator Robert Byrd!

So get ready to learn about and celebrate National Bird Day!

History of National Bird Day

How to Celebrate National Bird Day

Looking for ideas on how to celebrate National Bird Day? Well this list is a great way to begin. Try out some of these ideas or come up with some of your own:

Learn More About Birds

Visit Unique Birds in Their Natural Habitats

Help with Bird Conservation

Indonesian Parrot Project Helping protect endangered parrots and cockatoos from trappers, smugglers, transporters and traders.

Hatched to Fly Free This organization works to breed and then release beautiful, colorful macaws in the nation of Costa Rica.

One Earth Conservation Empowering people to save the planet, this organization helps to educate and build programs to love nature, with a specific focus on parrots.

Visit the National Bird Day Website

Get Educated on the Risks of Bird Extinction

Source

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lboogie1906 · 3 years ago

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Robert "Bob" Northern (born May 21, 1934 - May 31, 2020), known professionally as Brother Ah, is a jazz French hornist. Born in North Carolina and raised in The Bronx, he studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Vienna State Academy. He is known as a session musician, working extensively in the 1950s and 1960s with musicians such as Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Gil Evans, Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, Roland Kirk, and the Jazz Composers Orchestra. He also worked with Don Cherry, Thelonious Monk, Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, and John Lewis. He lived in New York City, and after a period of increasing interest in non-Western music, visited and studied in Africa (Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania) for seven consecutive summers. He released several albums as a bandleader; his release Sound Awareness featured Max Roach and M'Boom. These albums were reissued on CD on the Ikef Records label. He branched into percussion and flute performance in his career. He taught at Dartmouth College, Brown University, and then at the Levine School of Music in DC. He is the founder of the World Music Ensemble, a group that explores African, Japanese, Spanish, East Indian, Native American, and American musical traditions, and the founder of The Sounds of Awareness Ensemble which explores the sounds of nature and music. He hosts a weekly jazz-oriented radio program, The Jazz Collectors, on station WPFW in Washington. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd0VnKOukiczCLWL-webIvR8Chpvr2ix_cyVaM0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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supermaryauniverse · 5 years ago

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And Now For Something Completely Different

For fun I’ve posted a piece that I will read at CSU in May. This creative non-fiction work was for my class in Creative Writing. Hope you enjoy it.

Where’s the Corpse?

Pets die and for some people it’s the death of a family member. Veterinary clinics, pet cemeteries/crematoriums provide options for handling the deceased’s remains and normally things go smoothly, without drama. However, on rare delicious occasions things go horribly wrong, chaos ensues, and a funny story is birthed. This incident occurred in the “Shallow South,” close to the Mason-Dixon Line where Yankee infiltration occurs and explains this major faux pas. Names and locale are changed to prevent further grief, embarrassment and legal action against yours truly. The bizarre, true event raises questions concerning proper “Petiquette” for pet funerals.

Our tale of woe begins with the death of “Lassie” a collie, one of “Mr. B’s” five mixed species pets. Purchasing individual lots guaranteed that all of them, together in life, would be side-by-side eternally. Displeased with the facility’s casket selection, Mr. B did what any reasonable grief-stricken pet lover would do. He promptly visited a funeral home, the humankind, and found something more suitable. The clinic storing Lassie in its deep freeze was notified. Bring her out, chip off the ice crystals and transport the body to the pet cemetery for a viewing (you read that correctly) and funeral. A quick search produced an alarming discovery. Lassie had vanished. How far can a dead dog go? Who knows? Lassie wasn’t just dead; she was actually dead and GONE!

The most likely answer, short of a dead dog-napping, and I’m aware of one such incident, was that Lassie was mistakenly tagged for mass cremation. She was then shipped off with the rest of those poor animals whose heartless owners chose not to have an urn containing the beloved’s ashes prominently displayed in their home, like on the fireplace mantle, complete with a pet portrait above it. A quick call to the crematorium confirmed the worst fears. They had no record for Lassie’s individual cremation. If she’d been sent to them improperly marked, she was now part of a mélange of assorted animal ashes to be unceremoniously disposed of.

I know it can be hard when pets die. However, this story made me laugh until I cried. The incident not only opens up a whole new realm of quirky human behavior to be examined, but also raises the critical question. Who will write the book covering the new field of Petiquette? Miss Mammals?

Seriously, who in their right mind has a viewing for a dog? Furthermore, what Petiquette applies when hosting one? We need to know! Which is more appropriate: an obituary’s cattle-call for attendees, or hand-addressed invitations with R.S.V.P cards? Local custom calls for light snacks to be provided. Considering special dietary needs, would a variety of low calorie, gluten free, macrobiotic, organic free-range, shade grown, bird friendly snacks for visitors suffice? Most pets would stick their paws down their throats and gag before eating such over-priced cardboard. Don’t you have anything better to eat here?

Would our pets stand around and ask each other the question: “Doesn’t he/she look like him/herself?” In Lassie’s case, unless a stunt double was secured, this was a moot point. Should leash laws be enforced or should attendees be allowed freedom of expression to assuage their grief? We humans endure long winded eulogies and tributes. Now pets can be bored to tears also.

We love our pets which provides an open door to crafty entrepreneurs to eagerly separate our money from our wallets in a time of emotional distress. How about cryogenically preserving Miss Muffins or Hercules for future resuscitation? Inter-galactic pet cemeteries would allow departed pets to chase asteroids and dodge space junk. Specially trained grief counselors will help surviving pets find “closure.” (Don’t laugh, I also know this has happened at least once.) How they’ve managed for all this time without our help is a mystery.

According to Hollywood All Dogs Go To Heaven so we know where Lassie wound up. Bets are off for everything else. Taxpayer funded studies could explore what eternal rewards pets receive. However, what happens if we precede our furry family members in death? Put in our shoes, not literally of course, what would they do? Will they bother with a lot of expensive nonsense to bury us? I don’t think so. A simple hole in the ground would suffice, and a trip to Hawaii or a cruise to Alaska to restore their emotional equilibrium will work just fine. Sounds like a plan to me.

Dr. Byrd, if you yank me off the roster, I will certainly understand.

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doomedandstoned · 5 years ago

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Label Misconceptions

~Bacon's Blog~

Photograph by Randy J Byrd

I’ve been spending a lot of time listening and looking around in terms of what the needs are in terms of education for the scene lately. There’s a lot of different things you can potentially sink your teeth into, but I thought it might be wise to spend a little bit of time breaking down a few common misconceptions about labels. There are a ton, but four key ones that people seem to miss are that labels are not all powerful, they are not really looking for something hyper specific, the smaller ones are good to work with, but need to be dealt with thoughtfully and finally that you honestly probably do need a label if you want to get to the next level.

4. Labels Are Not All Powerful

This is a big one I think that people don’t understand. On some level, I think that a lot of people get that a label is not a booking agent nor are they a manager. A label is not the people who are necessarily going to break your band, though they can certainly have a part in it. Most important though, and this is one that it really took me hanging out in a lot of label offices to get -- labels are run by humans. They aren’t perfect. They might not understand something. They are going to fuck things up. That’s just what happens with humans -- especially when they are underpaid, undervalued and overworked. The thing is, especially on the higher levels, you have to realize that this is fundamentally just a job. Don’t think that you will find a label guy who can wiggle his magic wand and get you everything you have ever wanted.

3. Labels Aren’t Looking For Something Precise

So often I see bands asking me super specific questions like “Do you think Napalm Records would be looking for a groove metal band with a Southern twist?” or “I heard Metal Blade is looking for hardcore bands with a nu metal edge. Do you think we capture that in this new song?” That’s not how labels work at all. I have been involved with signing a lot of cool bands, stuff like Coven, Xasthur and Wino. Here’s the logic we use, every time. It’s just some basic questions. First: “Is the music good? Is the product we will be receiving sellable?” If the answer is yes then we move on to the next question which is, “Does anyone care about this band? Will it actually move any units and can we help raise the bands profile in a meaningful way?” Assuming the answer to both is yes – usually a band will get an offer. Of course they might be bogged down by production schedules but that’s a separate issue.

2. Dealing With Smaller Labels

Now the fact that people behind labels are human is especially important when you are dealing with smaller labels who frequently have limited resources. While a bigger guy might be able to get you on some cool tours, they are of course also drowning in submissions constantly. They can only sign a small handful of new bands a year. So, of course, you might start by working with smaller label. This makes total sense – but realize that because smaller labels have limited resources you want to make your deals as simple as possible. That is to say, go for product deals, where you get a share of the CD’s and LP’s printed rather than a royalty. In brief do stuff in a way that if you get ghosted you will not be completely fucked – because it happens more than you might think.

1. You Need A Label

Of course, you might be saying, “Matt this all seems very complicated, why the fuck should I do this? Can’t I put out a record on my own?” and the answer is yes you absolutely can. The thing is though – how many bands have really gone somewhere without a label? I’m not saying you should take any deal that comes your way. Look at what I said about small labels, frequently they are not well run and can ghost you. But you should still be very aware of the fact that every virtually every big band and every notable musician is out there needing a proper label to release their music on. If you’re not getting any offers after putting in a ton of work and putting together a good package then its simply proof that you don’t have a product any label feels confident investing in. But guess what? You can change that, you can improve upon that and develop opportunities that help you grow in the long run, you’re never fully out -- you just have to keep improving what you are doing.

Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) with Dropout Media is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Matt also co-hosts the Dumb & Dumbest podcast with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.

#Bacon's Blog #Matt Bacon #Dropout Media #Advice #Photography #Randy J Byrd #Doomed & Stoned

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ruminativerabbi · 5 years ago

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As the Holidays Approach

Elul, the month that leads directly into the High Holiday season, should be ideally devoted to the thoughtful, principled introspection that can serve as the foundation upon which the spiritual work of the whole holiday season should then come to rest. And that only makes sense: to come before Judge God and successfully to negotiate the experience requires, at the very least, knowing yourself well enough to speak honestly and authoritatively on your own behalf and in your own defense. And that level of self-awareness comes to most of us, possibly even to all of us, solely as the result of the kind of wholly honest self-scrutiny that yields the unvarnished truth about ourselves and our lives.

The problem is that most of us find any sort of serious self-analysis off-putting, unnerving, and, to say the very least, deeply anxiety-provoking. And yet, that is precisely what otherwise halcyon Elul offers: week after week of days unburdened by any other holidays or special observances that may therefore be given over to thinking carefully about ourselves and our lives and our deeds…and, painful though the process may be, also in identifying our own moral shortcomings, errors of judgment, ethical missteps, and unnecessarily missed opportunities to do good in the world. It is a pleasant experience for almost none, but it can be a productive one.

To assist in making the whole Elul experience as positive as possible, it has been my custom in recent years to recommend to my readers a single book that might prove helpful in framing otherwise amorphous thoughts and regrets in a productive way, in confronting the larger paintings of which the details of our personal lives are the brushstrokes, in setting our personal stories into the larger saga of humankind and its foibles and flaws, and, generally speaking, in coming to terms with the lives we have constructed and owning up to the various ways in which those lives have been characterized more often than not by decisions that, for all they seemed reasonable at the time, feel flawed and inconsistent with the values we claim to hold dear when viewed in the rearview mirror.

Last year, I recommended a remarkable novel that I had just read, Marcos Aguinis’s book Against the Inquisition, which I found both moving, intelligent, and stimulating. (To revisit my thoughts from last Elul, click here.) This year, however, I would like to recommend a book that I first read decades ago, and which wasn’t that new a work even then: Clark Moustakas’s book, Loneliness.

Moustakas’s renown has faded in the years following his death in 2012 at age eighty-nine, but in his day he was one of America’s foremost psychologist/authors and was widely acclaimed specifically as an expert in humanistic and clinical psychology. He published prodigiously throughout his career, but the book I wish to recommend was one of his earlier works that first appeared in 1961. (I read it when I was a student at JTS more than a decade after it first came out.) I would like to introduce it to you in this week’s letter and suggest why I feel it would make an excellent choice for Elul reading.

The book isn’t long at all, a mere 107 pages in the first print edition. Yet the author manages in those few pages to speak almost amazingly deeply and provocatively about the human condition…and in a way that is somehow both reassuring and challenging. I just finished re-reading the book and, even after all these years was struck again by its remarkable profundity. If there is one book you can find the time to read this Elul, Loneliness is the one I recommend you consider. (Nor is this a pricey investment: you can find used copies online for $2 a book.)

I was prompted to re-read the book by an article I noticed the other day on the website of YouGov, the U.K.-based data analysis firm, that determined—not anecdotally, but by using actual data collected this last summer and subsequently analyzed by themselves—that the millennials among us can reasonably be characterized as the loneliest generation ever. (Click here to read the article for yourself.) This came as a huge surprise to me—you would think that people raised in a world in which people are practically defined by social media that offer the possibility of maintaining not dozens or scores but hundreds or even thousands of “friendships” concurrently, you would think such people would constitute the world’s least lonely people ever. And yet, the report seemed unequivocal: 30% of millennials polled reported feeling “always or often” lonely (as opposed to half that many baby boomers such as myself) and more than one in five—22%—of millennials reported that they do not have any friends at all. A different slice of the millennial pie—27% of the total—reported having some friends but no “close” ones. Together, that’s one percentage point short of half of all Americans between the ages of twenty-two and thirty-seven reporting that they either had no friends at all…or at least no close ones. When asked why they find it difficult to make friends with others, a startling 53% responded that the fault was in their own stars—that they personally were too shy to go out there and find people to be friends with. All of this came as a huge surprise to me.

There’s more thought-provoking data on the YouGov site to consider as well, but what interested me most of all was the basic assumption of the essay’s author, Jamie Ballard, that loneliness was a bad thing that healthy people would naturally avoid (and thus a situation in which most would only find themselves accidentally or tragically). Nor was I amazed that she took that approach, which I think is probably what most people actually do think. The phenomenal success of the television series Friends, which ran for ten years starting a quarter-century ago, was probably rooted in that concept as well: the show was a little about romance and a little about life, but it was mostly about friendship—its name basically said as much—and its great success lay in the portrait it offered viewers of young urban types, the sustaining feature of whose lives was precisely the degree to which their friends watched out for them, cared for them, and, yes, loved them even when they were being otherwise disagreeable or snarly.

I think most of us subscribe to the notion that loneliness is a bad thing. And yet Moustakas’s book goes off in the precisely opposite direction, describing self-growth—and specifically the kind that leads to self-awareness and self-confidence—as an edifice almost of necessity built on a foundation of the kind of aloneness that moderns inevitably denigrate as unwanted, unworthy loneliness.

He writes anecdotally, telling us the stories of several of his patients and also telling his own story in a few intensely personal, sustained episodes. But he also writes about famous people and describes the source of their inventiveness, their creativity, their artistry, and their success in life as having been rooted in the deep sense of personal autonomy that begins with the acknowledgement that we are all alone in our lives and then goes on to create the impetus to seek the kind of companionship that, rather than denying or masking that sense of aloneness, celebrates and enhances it to the degree that we find in love the experience of being fully autonomous—and thus fully alone—in the company of a similarly autonomous individual. Among the people about whom he writes, some will be familiar to all—the sections on Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, and Admiral Richard Byrd are particularly moving—and others, like the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry or the German adventurer and explorer Hermann Buhl will be less well known. But, taken all together, the portraits he paints are all of individuals who found in loneliness the foundation upon which to build a social, meaningful, intensely productive life guided by principles forged by those individuals themselves in the crucible of their own autonomous selves.

Perhaps I should let the author speak for himself. In the introduction to these portraits I just mentioned, he sets forth his argument in these terms:

Every man is alone. Ultimately, each person exists in isolation. He faces himself in silence, wending his way in individual pathways, seeking companionship, reaching out to others. Forever, man moves forward stretching to the skies, searching the realization of his own capacities. In loneliness, man seeks the fulfillment of his inner nature. He maps new meanings, and perceives new patterns for old ways and habits. Alone, the life of man passes before him. His philosophy, the meanings he attaches to his work and his relations, each significant aspect of his being comes into view as new values are formed, as man resolves to bring human significance, to bring life to each new day, to each piece of work, to each creation. In loneliness, every experience is alive and vivid and full of meaning. When one has been greatly isolated and restricted in movement, one deeply feels the value of openness, of freedom and expansiveness. Life takes on an exquisite meaning, an exhilarating richness. When one has lived in total darkness, one piercingly appreciates the sunlight, the fireside, the beacon, the beginning dawn. When one is cut off from human companionship, one discovers a deep reverence for friendship, for the one who stands by in the hour of need and shame. In the days of pain and defeat, loneliness takes on a human depth. When one is sequestered from life, when one is purely alone and dying, when one is lost in a world of dreary emptiness, then color becomes exquisite, rich, desirable, fulfilling. When one has been sharply isolated and lonely, every moment is pure, every sound is delightful, every aspect of the universe takes on a value and meaning, an exquisite beauty. The isolated tree stretches out to meet its new neighbor; the lonely star twinkles and turns to face its emerging companions in the night; the lost child runs to loved ones with open arms.

A mere excerpt or two won’t do justice to the book, which is remarkable both in terms of its brevity and its profundity. I recommend it wholeheartedly to all—both broadly as a very interesting, challenging way to consider the human condition and more narrowly as an Elul book that has in its handful of chapters the capacity to frame the whole experience of entering the Days of Awe almost upon us not as a burden or a test, but as an exercise in deep, sustaining self-awareness and self-knowledge.

#Clark Moustakas #Loneliness #Elul

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