#spencer bledsoe

[jeremycollinsstan]

drew is the second coming of spencer bledsoe

[patientlibrarian]

Friday August 23

shades: pics of the day:

From Voyage fan site on YouTube

I confess I did/do have quite a thing for the actor playing Robert Todd Lincoln (Neal Bledsoe) in this episode and I think quite a lot is said in the scene (from 1.44) where he walks directly to Lucy to say that his father is dead. Her reaction and reaching for his hand rather hint to some feelings that have been addressed well in fan fiction. I love all their scenes together.

And now with us, Chapter 26 of TRLT!!!!!

The Road Less Traveled

Chapter 26: Quite The Team

Word count = 14,799

Lucy looks forward to returning to the safe house to finally reunite with her sister, but she and Garcia run into some complications on the way.

The Road Less Traveled - Chapter 26 - BattleshipGarcy - Timeless (TV 2016) [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

archiveofourown.org|Organization for Transformative Works

Notes:

It's been since last November since a new chapter was published. If you'd like to read a "Previously on TRLT" recap, click here.

As always, kudos are wonderful, and comments bring me so much joy. I thank you in advance, and will reply to your comments on AO3 as soon as I can 😊

I keep the tentative "publish to AO3" dates up-to-date on TRLT's AO3 page, on battleshipgarcy.com, as well as in this pinned post on Tumblr. The plan is to publish a new chapter in October, November, and December. Then (🤞) one chapter every couple of weeks starting in February 2025 until the story's final chapter.

All remaining chapters are written, and only need to go through the editing process. And I so cannot wait to bring them to you ❤

#battleshipgarcy#trlt#trlt new chapter#timeless#garcy#garcia flynn#lucy preston#carol preston#maria thompkins flynn#amy preston#karl#jiya marri#rufus carlin#stanley fisher#noah#garcy fanfic#timeless fanfic#fanfic#goran višnjić#goran visnjic#tree huggers#abigail spencer

Hello everyone, everywhere, it's a bit cooler here in my part of the UK today and a welcome relief. Hope your day goes as you would wish it to.

[pll-reimagined]

Pretty Little Liars: reimAgined

1x01 – Chapter One: How It All Started [Part 1]

[CAST] THE LIARS: Alison DiLaurentis, Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: Ian Thomas, Melissa Hastings, Mona Vanderwaal RECURRING CHARACTERS: Chassey Bledsoe, Phi Templeton

[SCENE I]

Imagine it’s a few years ago, the summer between your freshman and sophomore year.

You’re bronzed from lying beside your rock-lined pool, lounging in your new Juicy sweats, iPod blasting “Yeah!” by Usher – life is good.  You’re eating your Cocoa Krispies, doused in skim milk, and you notice a girl’s face on the side of the carton.

MISSING.

You see the mischievous glint in her eyes and think to yourself, she’s cute – probably cuter than me.  You wonder how someone so… well, so much like yourself went missing.  How tragic.  You’d thought only runaway losers ended up on the sides of milk cartons.

Well, think again.

-  -  -  MAY 2004  -  -  -

That missing girl?  That was me, or rather, Alison DiLaurentis. 

Flawless.  Perfect.  Unbelievable – all words people used to describe me.  I could even make dorky mom jeans look like a perfect-fitting pair of Stella McCartneys that nobody could afford.  Boys wanted to have me, girls wanted to be me.  Nobody could help but fall victim to my charm.

Our story begins on a picturesque cul-de-sac in Rosewood, Pennsylvania, a small, too-perfect town about twenty miles outside of Philadelphia.  The skies were blue, the lawns were manicured, and the symmetrical picket fences were perfectly white – a model image of suburbia, right down to the dirty little secrets simmering just beneath the surface. 

“You guys!” I called, twirling across my front lawn as my honey-blonde mane flowed in the summer breeze like a shampoo ad.

Aria Montgomery, our resident free spirit, grabbed a stuffed pig from her sweater-knit tote bag and flopped facedown onto the lush grass, mumbling, “Delicious.”  Aria was always carrying around weird things – stuffed animals, random pages torn out of old novels, and postcards of places she’d never visited. 

Emily Fields climbed out of her mother’s Volvo wagon, pushing the door closed gently as she waved goodbye with a freckled hand.  “Are you smelling the grass?”  she asked. 

Emily had been a competitive swimmer since Tadpole League, and although she looked great in a Speedo, she never wore anything even remotely cute.  Her parents insisted that one should build character from the inside out; if you ask me, forcing Emily to hide her ‘IRISH GIRLS DO IT BETTER’ baby tee at the back of her underwear drawer is hardly character-enhancing.

Aria flipped onto her back, blowing her pink-striped hair out of her almond-shaped eyes.  “It smells good!  Like summer.”

Spencer Hastings slipped through a gap in the hedge separating our properties clutching a field hockey stick, dirty blonde hair slicked back into an athletic ponytail.  “What’d I miss?”

Spencer, Spencer, Spencer.  She’d been training relentlessly after missing the JV cut last fall – a spot that I’d snagged effortlessly – and we all knew that she’d been running solitary drills before we’d arrived.  Spencer hated it when anyone was better at anything than she was. 

Especially me.

A shout rang out.  Hanna Marin was scrambling out of her mom’s Mercedes, pudgy arms flailing wildly as she shouted, “Wait for me!”  As she stumbled over her tote bag, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.  Ever since Hanna’s parents’ divorce, she’d been steadily putting on weight, outgrowing most of her clothes.  We pretended not to notice; that’s just what best friends do.

Our group had bonded during the eighth grade, when our parents “voluntold” us to work Saturday afternoons at the Rosewood Day charity drive, except for Spencer, who’d volunteered herself.  By now, on the last day of the ninth grade, we were more than just best friends; we were the girls of Rosewood Day, and we’d worked hard to earn that.  Every sleepover, every field trip, every steamy note read over the PA system during homeroom – now a Rosewood Day legend – was meticulously planned.  We’d made ourselves unforgettable.

But everyone has things they’d rather forget.  For us, secrets were like blood oaths.  I always told my pretty little liars that sharing secrets would bond our best-friendship for eternity – “That’s what keeps us close.”

“I’m so glad this day is over.” I groaned, gently nudging Spencer back through the hedges. “Your barn.  Pronto.”

“I'm so glad the ninth grade is over,” Aria added as Emily and Hanna trailed behind us toward the renovated Hastings barn-turned-guesthouse.  Melissa Hastings, Spencer's older, prim and proper, excellent-at-everything older sister, had commandeered the space at the back of the property during her junior and senior years of high school; fortunately for us, she had just graduated and was headed to Prague for the summer, so it was all ours for the night.

From behind us, we heard a voice squeak, “Alison! Hey, Alison! Hey, Spencer!”  I glanced over my shoulder, smirked, and muttered “Not It.”

“Not It,” echoed Spencer, Emily and Aria.

Hanna frowned. “Shit.”

‘Not It’ was a game I’d lifted from my brother Jason’s playbook.  Jason and his friends would play it at parties when scoping out girls, and the punishment for being the last to call out ‘Not It’ was severe: you had to entertain the ugly girl for the night.  It essentially meant that, while everyone else got to hook up with her hot friends, you were just as lame and unattractive as she was. 

In my version, we said ‘Not It’ whenever there was anyone uncool, unfortunate, or undesirable in close proximity.

Today’s ‘Not It’ was reserved for ‘Loser Mona’ Vanderwaal – the bespectacled dork from down the street whose favorite pastime was trying to befriend myself and Spencer.  She was so lame that she’d hacked into the school’s computer system and then told the principal how to better secure it. 

Her two freaky friends, Chassey ‘Pigskin’ Bledsoe and Phi ‘Fo-Fum’ Templeton, weren’t much better, as Chassey was a religious nut that aspired to be a nun, and Phi couldn’t go anywhere without her yo-yo.  Need I say more?  The unholy trinity stood in the street, staring at us.  Mona was perched on her Razor scooter, Chassey was on a black mountain bike, and Phi was on foot – with her yo-yo, naturally.

“Do you guys want to come over and watch Fear Factor?” Mona called, smiling way too brightly.  “Ooh, sorry,” I simpered, “we’re kind of busy.”

Phi’s brows furrowed.  “Don’t you want to see when they eat the bugs?” 

“Gross!” Spencer whispered to Aria, who then started to eat invisible lice off of Hanna’s scalp like a monkey.  I tilted my head in faux disappointment.  “Yeah, I wish we could, but we’ve had this sleepover planned for a while now.  Maybe next time!” 

Mona gazed down at the sidewalk.  “Yeah, okay.”

“See ya!” I chirped as I opened Spencer’s back gate, rolling my eyes once we were out of view.  To our left was my neighboring backyard, where my parents were building a twenty-seat gazebo for their lavish outdoor picnics.  “Thank God the workers aren’t here,” I said, eyeing the construction site as we passed.  Emily shot me a concerned look.  “Have they been saying stuff to you?”

“Easy there, Killer,” I laughed.  Sometimes, we’d playfully call Emily ‘Killer,’ because she acted as my own personal pit bull.  Emily used to find it funny too, but lately, she hadn’t been laughing along.  “They’re just smelly, sweaty, and gross is all.”

The barn was just up ahead – a small, cozy guesthouse with a big window overlooking the Hastings’ lawn.  In Rosewood, you were more likely to live in a ten-room farmhouse with a mosaic-tiled pool and hot tub, like Spencer’s house, than in a prefab McMansion.  We had acres of lush pines, Colonial estates, and secrets as old as the Main Line itself.

As we neared the barn, the sound of giggles floated from within, followed by a muffled voice squealing, “I said stop it!”  Spencer rolled her eyes, groaning, “Oh God, what is she doing here?”  She kicked the door with the heel of her shoe to force it open, revealing Melissa and her tasty boyfriend, Ian Thomas, wrestling on the couch. The barn smelled faintly of moss and slightly burned popcorn. 

Melissa’s head snapped up.  “Spencer, what the fu–”  She stopped when she saw us and forced a smile.  “Oh, hey guys.”  We eyed Spencer.  Melissa had a friendly veneer, but Spencer had told us plenty about the venomous super-bitch that hid behind the perfect exterior.

Ian stretched as he stood up, flashing Spencer a lazy grin as he mussed his blonde curls.  “Hey.” 

Spencer perked up, trying to sound casual.  “Hi, Ian! I didn’t know you were here.”  Ian smiled flirtatiously.  “Sure, you did.  You were spying on us.”  A patch of red crept up Spencer’s neck.  Melissa cleared her throat, eyeing her sister with suspicion as she readjusted her long blonde hair and black silk headband.  “So, what’s up?”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt… It’s just…” Spencer stammered, “Well, we were supposed to have this place tonight.”  Ian playfully hit Spencer on the arm.  “I was just messing with you,” he teased.  Spencer beamed in spite of herself.  

“You know, Melissa,” I said, eyes twinkling mischievously, as I twisted my signature “A” ring around my pinky.  “I’ve never told you this, but I’ve always thought that you and Ian make the cutest couple.  Don’t you agree, Spence?”

Spencer’s face paled.  “Um…”

Melissa’s eyes narrowed, her scrutinizing gaze meeting mine before finally turning back to Ian.  “Can I talk to you outside?” she quipped.  Ian shrugged, downed the rest of his Corona, and offered a parting grin.  “Adieu, ladies.”  He winked and followed Melissa out, shutting the door behind him.

“Another problem solved by Ali D,” I said with a smirk as I crossed to the mini-fridge and grabbed a beer.  Ian would never know it was missing.  “Aren’t you going to thank me, Spence?”  Spencer didn’t answer, for she was too busy looking out the front window.  Lightning bugs had begun to light up the sky, and purplish clouds rolled ominously in the distance.

Hanna walked over to the abandoned popcorn bowl and absent-mindedly took a big handful.  “Ian is so hot.  He’s like, hotter than Sean.”  Sean Ackard was one of the cutest guys in our grade, and the subject of Hanna’s constant fantasies.

“You know what I heard?” I asked, nonchalantly sitting down on the couch.  “Sean really likes girls who have good appetites.”  Hanna brightened.  “Really?”

“No.” I snorted.

Hanna dejectedly dropped the handful of popcorn back into the bowl.

“So, girls,” I said.  “I know the perfect thing to do tonight to kick off the summer.”

“I hope we’re not streaking again.”  Emily giggled.  A month prior, the five of us had run through a nearby barren cornfield without a lick on – except for Hanna, who’d refused to strip down to less than her undershirt and day-of-the-week panties.

“I think you liked that a little too much, Em,” I murmured.  The smile faded from Emily’s lips.  “But no, I have something even better planned.  I’ve been saving this for the last day of school: I learned how to hypnotize people.”

“Hypnotize,” Spencer repeated, skeptically.

“Mhm!  Iris taught me,” I answered.  Iris Taylor was one of the older field hockey girls that I’d been hanging out with, and Jason’s current girlfriend.

The energy in the room wilted, as the other four girls secretly shared the fear that I might replace them with my newer, cooler friend.  Hanna, fearing her position the most, piped up, “How do you do it?”

I shrugged.  “Sorry, she swore me to secrecy.  Wanna see if it works?”

Aria frowned, taking a seat on a lavender floor pillow.  “I don’t know…”

I felt a quick surge of rage.  “Why not?  Scared that you might tell us all your secrets?”  My eyes flickered to the stuffed pig resting on her lap.  “And why do you still bring that thing everywhere?”  I said, pointing at it.

Aria crossed her arms defensively around the pig.  “My dad got me Pigtunia in Germany.  She advises me on my love life.”  The girls giggled.

“Why do you want to carry around something your dad gave you?” I snickered, meanly.

“It’s not funny,” Aria snapped, whipping her head around.

The room went silent, and the girls looked at one another awkwardly.  You could cut the tension with a knife, but nobody dared move a muscle.  This had been happening a lot lately – I would mention something, someone else got upset, and the rest were too shy to ask what was going on.

Spencer broke the silence.  “I think being hypnotized sounds kind of sketch.”

“You don’t know anything about it,” I said quickly.  “C’mon.  I can do you all at once,” clapping my hands.

The girls exchanged nervous looks.  I was always coming up with stuff for us to try, like smoking dandelion seeds to see if we’d hallucinate or swimming in Pecks Pond, even though a dead body had once been found there.  The thing was… they often didn’t want to do the things that I made them do.  They loved being my friend and the status that came with being included, but that label came at a high cost.  Sometimes in my presence, they didn’t feel real, exactly.  They felt like… plastic dolls, with me carefully arranging their every pose.

“Please?”  I bat my eyelashes.  “Emily, you want to do it, right?”

“I’ll do it!” Hanna butted in.

“Me too,” Emily said quickly after.

Spencer and Aria reluctantly nodded.  Satisfied, I shut off all the lights and lit several vanilla-scented votive candles that were on the coffee table.  I stood back, and softly said, “Okay everyone, arrange yourselves around me, think calm thoughts, and relax.  I’m going to count down from ten, and as soon as I touch your forehead, you’ll be in my power.”

“Spooky.” Emily laughed shakily.  The flickering candlelight cast shadows along the walls of the barn as the girls followed my direction, while I hummed ambiently.

“Ten…” I began, “Nine…”

Eight…

Emily’s heartbeat slowed.

Seven…

Hanna’s breathing evened.

Six…

Aria shifted uncomfortably, twitching her foot.

Five…

Spencer uncrossed her legs.

Four…

I pressed my thumb to Emily’s forehead.

Three…

I touched Hanna’s forehead. 

Two…

I touched Aria’s forehead and turned to Spencer.

“One.”

When Aria opened her eyes, she saw Hanna and Emily sitting stoically on the carpet.  The barn was quiet and dark; the door was wide open, a wind howled through the outside trees, and the vanilla-scented candles had gone out.  Spencer and Alison were nowhere to be seen.  “Guys?” she whispered.

No answer.

Aria moved out to the porch, pulling her arms around herself to brace against the wind that carried a scent of rain and something faintly metallic.  “Ali?  Spencer?” she called.  Inside, Hanna and Emily rubbed their eyes.  “I just had the weirdest dream,” Emily said.  “Ali fell down this really deep well.  She was stuck at the bottom with no way up, and I couldn’t reach her.”

Hanna gasped.  “That was my dream too!  Well, sorta.  There was this big plant in mine, like a Venus Flytrap, that grabbed hold of her and wouldn’t let her go.”

“Woah,” Emily whispered.  They stared at each other, eyes wide.

At that point, Aria spotted Spencer approaching from the nearby brick path that trailed into the woods, looking very pale.  “Spencer!  Where’s Ali?” she rang out.  Hanna and Emily scrambled up to join her.

“I don’t know,” Spencer whispered, “I thought… I don’t know.”

The girls were silent; the only sounds were the tree branches smacking against the glass windowpanes and the roof creaking in the wind.

Just like that, the summer that the girls had planned to spend flirting with boys at pool parties and shopping all day at the King James Mall had been shattered.  It was instead spent in a police station answering questions or sitting alone and bleary-eyed in a canopied bed, staring blankly at photo-covered walls.

The same thoughts haunted all four of them, but there wasn’t anything left to say to one another.

The summer faded into winter, which then melted into summer again.  Still no Alison.  I was gone, not a single golden hair to be found.

Eventually, the girls found a twisted sense of relief in my absence – sure, they missed me, but they were also afraid of me.  You see, I knew more about them than anyone else did, maybe even more than they knew themselves.  The good, the bad, and especially the ugly.  They each felt horrible for thinking so, but… if I was gone, their secrets were safe.

Because two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.

Right?

[artisticlegshake]

24SEVEN PROVO RESULTS 2023

JUNIOR SOLOS:

1st Tessa Ohran - CSPAS  STC!

1st Anistyn Larsen - CSPAS  STC!

1st Kylie Lawrence - CSPAS  STC!

2nd Kazuma Brailsford - HONOLULU DANCE  STC!

2nd Sara von Rotz - P21  STC!

2nd Violet Schwarz - CSPAS  STC!

3rd Patience Hughes - CLUB  STC!

3rd Delilah Hewitt - THE ACADEMY  STC!

3rd Rory Frye - CSPAS  STC!

4th Hadlee Heriford - CSPAS  STC!

4th Goldie Ford - CSPAS  STC!

4th Payton Harrison - CSPAS  STC!

5th Claire Pistor - ARTISTIC DANCE PROJECT  STC!

5th Cora Spencer - ARTISTIC DANCE PROJECT STC!

5th Savannah Gilliam - CSPAS  STC!

5th Liv Woodley - HI-LIGHT  STC!

6th Ali Jaramillo - DYE’N 2 DANCE  STC!

6th Monroe Miner - THE WINNER SCHOOL  STC!

6th Kelsey Diaz - ARTISTIC DANCE PROJECT STC!

6th Aylannah Ames - THE DANCE FACTORY  STC!

6th Jillian Mahan - P21  STC!

6th Eve’Lynne Hew-Len - CSPAS  STC!

7th Emmy Bezzant - CSPAS

7th Capri Jackson - CSPAS

7th Ellena Shi - CAA

8th Elliana Wilson - CSPAS

8th London Smith - CSPAS

9th Kinley Rixon - DIPAC

9th Lexi Whitehead - THE DANCE PROJECT SLC

9th Ava Bledsoe - CAA

9th Chloe Midget - CSPAS

9th Jane Johnson - THE WINNER SCHOOL

10th Ava Johnson - UTAH DANCE ARTISTS

10th Brooke Patterson - ARTISTIC DANCE PROJECT

10th Gigi Simpson - HI-LIGHT

10th Holland Hartpence - CAA

10th Colbie Cutler - EMOTION

JUNIOR DUO/TRIOS:

1st A River Runs Through Me - CSPAS  STC!

2nd The Sun - EMOTION

3rd Watching Me - HI-LIGHT

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

NWS MORRISTOWN HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR… N BLEDSOE COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE

UNTIL 600 PM CDT.

AT 534 PM CDT, A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR SPENCER, MOVING SE AT 30 MPH. HAZARD…60 MPH WIND GUSTS AND NICKEL SIZE HAIL.

[ahye1427]

Lot 80 Long Branch Rd Spencer, TN 38585

Looking for a unique community? Dive into the charm of Long Branch Lakes! This 3.29 AC wooded lot offers serenity and adventure, with waterfalls and trails at your doorstep. Nestled in Central Tennessee, it's surrounded by 3500 acres of woodlands and lakes, plus 7000 acres of Bledsoe State Forest. Enjoy fishing, hiking, kayaking, and more, with access to equestrian facilities. Join this fire-wise community and make this slice of heaven yours! Call Elijah Castelli 931-283-6644 for more details.

[fentw]

SURVIVOR CAGAYAN - BRANTSTEELE EDITION

Link: https://brantsteele.com/survivor/28/r.php?c=TZkWiK4E

--------------------------------SPOILERS----------------------------------

Maybe the best season ever!

Kass McQuillen Winner Finalist 7 Votes To Win

Tony Vlachos 2nd Place Finalist 2 Votes To Win

Woo Hwang 3rd Place Juror 1 Vote

Trish Hegarty 4th Place Juror 2-2 Vote 1-1 Revote Tiebreaker

Jeremiah Wood 5th Place Juror 3-1-1* Vote

Alexis Maxwell 6th Place Juror 2-2*-2* Vote

Tasha Fox 7th Place Juror 4*-2-1 Vote

LJ McKanas 8th Place Juror 6*-2 Vote

Spencer Bledsoe 9th Place Juror 4-4-1 Vote 4-3 Revote

Jefra Bland 10th Place Juror 5-4-1 Vote

David Samson 11th Place Juror 7-4 Vote

Garrett Adelstein 12th Place Pre-Juror 2-2-2* Vote 3-1 Revote

J'Tia Taylor 13th Place Pre-Juror 4-3 Vote

Lindsey Ogle 14th Place Pre-Juror 4*-3 Vote

Cliff Robinson 15th Place Pre-Juror 3-2 Vote

Sarah Lacina 16th Place Pre-Juror 4-2 Vote

Brice Johnston 17th Place Pre-Juror 3*-2 Vote

Morgan McLeod 18th Place Pre-Juror 5-1 Vote

[transportationunknown]

Bringing Transport into Black Geographies: Policies, Protests, and Planning in Johannesburg (wood, 2023)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2022.2151407

Why I read this paper: For despite the explicit centering of Black people/Blackness/Black existence with place and space, I am surprised to see so few literature regarding not just Black mobility, but Black modality. Because transportation was used as an explicit method of segregation. The Black geographies is a relatively new subdiscipline that appears to have not gained its legs until the mid 2010s, so there is some catching up to do. Because I am interested in, as I’ve come to learn, the “geographies of Blackness”, I want to understand how a Black geographies researcher thinks about transportation, even if my focus is on Black Americans and this article is grounded in Johannesburg. 

Crux of paper:

“This article contributes to the burgeoning dialogue in Black geographies by adding a focus on transport.” (p. 1)

The three aims of the paper:

This article aims to bridge the lacuna between Black geographies and African studies. 

Second, the article is motivated by calls to bring recent debates on the urban into Black geographies. 

This article therefore aims to integrate the theoretical approaches of Black geographies with African and urban studies. 

This paper focuses more on the practice through integrating black geographies and transportation, but does draw upon the theoretical foundations that have shaped the discipline: whiteness in geography, the creation of in the black geographies, and finally a link to the history of transport planning in Johannesburg. During Apartheid era, transportation was used as a tool for social division and “discipline” in Johannesburg. In the postapartheid era, transportation is being used now for “social and spatial transformation.” (p. 2)

Wood focuses on three "tactics" to speak to the "tensions between race, space, and transport":

Study the policy and legal system

Consider community action and protest

Examine informal transport systems that emerge in response to urban disinvestment and marginalization (p.2)

The article is grounded by three examples, each one relating to the three tactics above:

Legalization of separate buses in by the 1934 Spencer Commission

Public response to racial inequities through the 1957 Alexandra bus boycotts

Planning of the informal mini-bus/taxi industry in the 1980s

Key/New terminology:

“Black geographies” (McKittrick 2006; Gilmore 2007) - refers to “black agentic practices of analyzing and actively creating space and place” (Bledsoe 2021, 1017)

“geographies of blackness” (Madera 2015; M. Wright 2015) - are the “geographic studies of black experiences in space” (Bledsoe 2021, 1017).

Arguments:

This article aims to bridge the lacuna between Black geographies and African studies.

Second, the article is motivated by calls to bring recent debates on the urban into Black geographies.

This article therefore aims to integrate the theoretical approaches of Black geographies with African and urban studies. 

The Whiteness of Geography:

This section delves into the creation of geography and its inherent discomfort with race, or really anti-racism (as racism certainly exists within the discipline). Wood notes that the disciplines foundational racism has kept there from being meaningful engagement with the Black geographies, which exists in reaction to the missing gaps of knowledge regarding Black geography, mobility, and the intersection of race, space, and place. However, in 2016 the Black Geographies Speciality Group was formed at AAG and the subdiscipline has become more prominent amongst geography researchers. 

The timing of the rise of this subdiscipline is very useful. 

Defining the Black Geographies:

Did not take many notes on this section, for it is background knowledge I’ve come to understand thanks to a semester-long dive. But some definitions do stand out: 

“For the most part, Black geographies examines place making and the everyday lived experiences of racism across U.S. cities… Scholars draw on the historical and political processes that led to the production and reproduction of the Black ghetto (Rose 1971), the slum (Bunge 2011), and the (neo-)plantation (Woods 1998; McKittrick 2011)” (p.4). 

“Black geographies draw on geography as the central analytic through which to understand Blackness, whereas geographies of Blackness consider race as the focal point from which to consider engagements with space.”

I think am more interested in the latter half/geographies of Blackness…

Bringing Transport into Black Geographies:

“Although transport geography has remained a predominately White discipline, mobilities, forced as well as restricted forms of movement, are inherent to Black geographies.” (p. 6)

Black transport is an understudied topic within the black geographies. Wood is using this space to make the case for greater study, through Johannesburg. Page 6 provides a subsection of lit review of automobility (facilitation of and restricted movement), public transport (and transport racism/transit racism), and tourism/travel mobilities that black transport geographies studies through racialized mobilities. Wood provides linakges here in the foundation of these works for they draw upon “Cresswell’s (2010) politics of mobilities and the entanglement of movement, meaning, and power (Alderman and Inwood 2016; Hinger 2022)”, as well as the “intersections between transport justice and social exclusion.” Alderman and Inwood’s (2006), “Mobility as antiracism work: The “hard driving” of NASCAR’s Wendell Scott” provided two concepts that Wood highlights: 

“black mobility” to reflect on the ways in which movement is controlled by racist regimes 

“antiracism mobility” to highlight the everyday “countermobility work.”

Black Geographies and Transport in Johannesburg

Wood makes a note of adding South Africa’s rather complex handling of Blackness and that of greater Africa, as well. “African blackness”, Wood notes, “…out to be taken up more seriously and rigorously in the conceptualizations of blackness.” The Black geographies does focus on Blackness through a North American, mainly U.S.-ian lens, but with greater inclusion of Latin American Blackness. Following this, South Africans are said to engage in “mutliple consciousness” built off of DuBois’ “double consciousness” that described the Black American experience. South Africa’s own experience with apartheid, which only ended in 1994, made it a great case of understand South African Blackness transport in this paper.

Again, Wood focuses on three "tactics" to speak to the "tensions between race, space, and transport" and grounds them with three examples:

Legalization of separate buses in by the 1934 Spencer Commission

Natives (South African Black people) were separated from Europeans (future Boers), and the transport system was designed for European movement. Interestingly enough, in the 1940s, buses were deigned for Black South Africans and the trams were called… European Trams. Natives were allowed to board them, but only when European traffic wasn’t heavy. By 1978, Buses that carried Black passengers were almost always full and financially viable (78 buses and 16 million passengers). Buses that carried White passengers were typically half-empty and drained financial resources (365 white buses and 30 million passengers). 

Public response to racial inequities through the 1957 Alexandra bus boycotts

Bus boycotts started in the 1940s in Alexandra, an economically struggling neighborhood in Johannesburg. Also dubbed the “Dark city” for its frequent blackouts. The Public Utility Transport Corporation (Putco) tried raising bus fares by a penny, leading to boycotts. The inhabitants of Alexandra were already living in economic distress and living on the outskirts of the city. Putco tried it again in 1957 and in responses 70,000 residents walked 20 miles from Alexandra to Johannesburg’s CBD. Other neighborhoods communities joined in. It lasted until Putco agreed to subsidized the fare. This boycott stands out because in 1957, “Blacks held no right to vote, no representation on municipal or national bodies, no right to assemble, and no outlet for consultation with any authority.”  (p.10).  Furthermore, Black movement was restricted by law and Black residents could not move closer to the city. The bus boycotts are considered the foundation for the antiapartheid movement. 

Planning of the informal mini-bus/taxi industry in the 1980s

As of 2022, over 16 million South Africans use informal transport (minibus taxis) to get around. The sector took off in the 1980s and afforded opportunities for economic mobility for Black South Africans who were generally shut out of other professions. The minibuses were a preferred model by Black residents as they were cheaper and more efficient than the government ran buses. Also, the usage of certain modes (bus vs. tram) was highly politicized. The popularity of the minibuses began to cut into the bottom line of municipal ran services, thus in 1982, the minibus — specifically a 16-seater — was allowed to enter the market. On the surface, this looks like stabilization of the service but in reality it was designed to deregulate the informal market and create internal competition. Unfortunately, it worked. There have been multiple attempts at formalizing the service with the government since 1999, but they’ve been mostly failures. 

Wood concludes their aim at intergrating transpot with the Black geographies, but shares the limitations of Black geographies scholarship today:

First, there is a tendency to associate Blackness with urbanity.” (p.11) Wood believes that dig into how the city shapes Blackness and how Blackness shapes the city. The existence of transport racism (and the white rural and, arguably, the white spatial imaginary of the suburbs also feeds into this) and the banishment to the outskirts of the city is a part of understanding this issue.

“Second, there is a propensity to rely too heavily on historical studies as evidence that Black bodies belong in the city.” (p.11) Wood argues that:

it is ahistorical given the history of coloniality and slavery 

It constrains contemporary scholarship

But also, it is a “necessary means, however, through which to counteract Whiteness and racism.” The addition of transport is included to help in understanding the relationality between the examples

[reportwire]

‘Survivor’ Season 44 Premiere

Tyson Apostol and Riley McAtee return for Season 44 of Survivor. They are joined by Reiman (Spencer) Bledsoe—a two-time player from Survivor: Cagayan and Survivor: Cambodia—to help recap the premiere episode. Reiman compares the new first-timers to reoccurring competitors, as well as the different types of advantages this season. They also discuss this episode’s injury, strategy versus luck, the…

[not-wonderlandd]

final two we deserved: spencer and kass

final two we got: tony and woo

[sollarion]

Survivor Cagayan:

Jeremiah Wood + Spencer Bledsoe

[diggorypuff]

okay but can we recognize what a great player spencer bledsoe actually is on survivor. he made it to the near end twice while being a massive threat who was often the underdog. in Cagayan he was an underdog the entire time, and he managed to get to fourth, which had it been a normal final three would have been right before the final tribal. and then he came into Cambodia with a massive target on his back and was an underdog up until the merge and even managed to convince his survivor arch-nemisis to save him. he did most of the strategy and led massive votes. he despite not being exactly a top social player forged relationships that made people willing to hear him out despite their best interests and played them twice a good chunk of the time. and now both the winners of his season who came in as massive threats too are deep into the season, and personally i think they’ll go a lot deeper. but these people he lost to are top tier players, and i think there are several seasons had he been on those he would have been the winner but was always up against tough players. Cagayan and Cambodia are both hailed as seasons where gameplay was massive and most of the players were greats and he got to/near the end both times he played. and winners at war playing the way it does just shows that his losses are ones in which he lost to people who are great’s and he came close to beating those greats. he’s just an amazing player and remains my favorite to this day.

[krispykrema1212]

survivor brawn beauty and brains thoughts

-spencer is such a sweetie and deserved better

-i cant believe david was voted off before j'tia? she burned all their food and we never actually saw her succeed at anything?? and i kinda liked davids nerdy humor ("the pants arent the same color, so its not a suit")

-trish is a total b**** for literally BULLYING lindsey into quitting. idc what lindsey did or didnt do for the tribe, trish didnt handle things well at all. you could tell lindsey was really hurt when she was telling jeff why she was quitting and i cant believe absolutely no one stood up for her. i didnt like her in the beginning but I'm proud of how mature she was about everything

-i really thought sarah and tony's alliance was gonna be big and that they would work together well

-no wonder the brains tribe was constantly losing, theyre lovable little nerds that sit in their offices all day. the other two tribes were actually pretty in shape

-i want j'tias tshirt and i would totally fit in with the brain tribe

[thatsbelievable]

The Six Peach Trees of Spencer Bledsoe

Peach-tree enthusiast Spencer Bledsoe (pictured above, left), posing with his five prized peach trees, 1915. “I used to have a sixth peach tree,” Bledsoe said at the time, “but I lost it. I thought maybe I dropped it somewhere, but then I remembered that trees are pretty big and I don’t usually take them places.”

Source: The New York Tattler, July 11, 1915.

[icancirieclearlynowthegameison]

This whole season was like a middle finger to Brad with all of his “WWMD” stuff. Hilarious. Almost like Spencer on Second Chances talking about making connections just to lose to Jeremy who actually made connections.