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xtruss · 1 year

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How To Improve Your Trash Talk

Disrespect on the sports field can be effective—but carries risks

— May 12th 2023 |Culture | The sports page

Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺 — February 10: Australia leg spinner Shane Keith Warne (Born: 13 September 1969 – Died: 4 March 2022) celebrates the wicket of Nasser Hussain during the First Final of the Carlton & United One Day Series at Sydney Cricket Ground on February 10th, 1999 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Stu Forster/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive)

Two young pretenders recently learned the value of keeping schtum. In America’s National Basketball Association Dillon Brooks, a player for the Memphis Grizzlies, labelled LeBron James, one of the sport’s greatest players, “old” after a playoff match against the Los Angeles Lakers. The 38-year-old Mr James proceeded to score 25 points in the next game of the series; Mr Brooks was ejected from the court for striking the older man’s groin. In the snooker world Hossein Vafaei, an up-and-coming Iranian player, described Ronnie O’Sullivan, a British seven-time world champion, as a nice person “when he’s asleep”. Mr O’Sullivan remained wide awake to thrash Mr Vafaei in their subsequent world-championship match.

The episodes highlight the potential pitfalls of “trash talk”—insulting or taunting opponents in an effort to throw them off their game. The trash-talkers’ failure to lift their performances to the level of their rhetoric looked foolish, especially because their humiliation came at the hands of elder statesmen. The cases seemed to provide an additional argument to people who think that displays of disrespect denigrate principles of sportsmanship. Indeed, last month a disrespectful gesture made towards an opponent, Caitlin Clark, by Angel Reese, a college-level basketball player in America, had pious pundits fulminating—and seemingly ignoring the fact that Ms Clark had made a similar gesture earlier in the season.

The flinging of jibes at sporting rivals has a long history. Cricketers call it “sledging”; football managers employ “mind games”. Basketball legends like Larry Bird and Michael Jordan excelled at it. In a match between the Chicago Bulls and the Denver Nuggets in the early 1990s, for instance, Mr Jordan won a free-throw with seconds remaining on the clock. He eyeballed Dikembe Mutombo, a Nuggets player, and quipped, “Hey Mutombo, this one’s for you, baby,” before closing his eyes and making the shot. Mr Mutombo is still asked about the moment.

Displays of bravado enhance sporting legends. But do they achieve results? Proponents of smack talk argue that it plays a crucial role in winning the mental battle inherent in competition. Shane Warne, an Australian spin-bowler and famous sledger, called it a way to gain the “psychological edge” on the cricket field. The practice was commonly misunderstood, he noted: the idea was not to be nasty, but to find a clever way to unsettle or distract. If deployed appropriately, he claimed, mind games help to tip the balance in professional sport, where differences of skill between athletes can be very small.

The science suggests that badgering opponents can be effective, but only up to a point. Research led by Karen McDermott from the University of Connecticut found that participants were distracted by trash talk from opponents they did not know. It heightened emotions like anger and shame, affecting their performance. But a study led by Jeremy Yip of Georgetown University observed that, in general, the targets of trashing felt motivated to do better. Thus, taunts carry both opportunity and risk. You may put your opponents off, but you may also provoke them to give you a hiding.

For trash-talkers-in-training, a few pointers might help. First, consider the game at hand. Studies show that smack talk is especially effective in distracting players who are engaged in actions that require creativity or fine motor skills. So it may prove more effective in games demanding high levels of concentration than in sports that require mainly strength. Cricket meets those criteria nicely, especially when the batsman is fending off a world-class spin-bowler.

Next, it is worth thinking about the timing of your comments. In some sports, particularly combat ones, athletes swear by pre-match jibes. In 2015, for example, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, a Polish mixed-martial arts fighter, claimed that pre-fight taunts laid the foundations for her victory over Carla Esparza, her American opponent, in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. And who could forget Muhammad Ali’s suggestion in 1964 that Sonny Liston was “too ugly” to be boxing’s heavyweight world champion? Ali won a celebrated victory in the subsequent fight.

But unless you can credibly claim to be “The Greatest”, it may be a bad idea to give opponents time to stew over a taunt. Take a recent example from rugby union. In 2022 Australia’s men’s team hosted their English counterparts in a three-match series. After two games, the sides were drawn. Then Suliasi Vunivalu, one of Australia’s players, promised that his team would “shut the Pommies up” in the decider. The Australians went on to lose. Courtney Lawes, England’s then captain, said Mr Vunivalu’s cockiness had been “good fuel” for his team’s preparations.

Of course, trash talk can go too far. Critics say that cricket’s sledging culture, for example, can be racist. Last year a report on the Scottish game found that on-field chat could be racially abusive. Athletes who stoop to bigotry when they insult their opponents besmirch the not-so-fine art of trash talk. As Warne implied, it should be bracing but never boorish. It is, after all, supposed to be part of the fun. ■

#Cricket

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influencermagazineuk · 2 years

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Dubbed Anime: A MUST READ Guide to Understanding and Enjoying the Art Form

dubbed anime Dubbed anime is a term used to describe anime that has been translated and voiced over in another language. The process of dubbing involves taking the original audio in Japanese and replacing it with an audio track in a different language, usually English. Dubbed anime has been popular in the western world for decades and continues to be a major player in the anime industry. One of the main benefits of dubbed anime is that it allows non-Japanese speaking fans to fully understand and enjoy the story. The dialogue in anime is a crucial aspect of the viewing experience, and dubbed anime makes it easier for fans to follow along and understand the characters and their motivations. This is especially true for fans who are not proficient in Japanese, as the English dubbed version provides a more accessible experience. ALSO READ: https://influencermagazine.uk/2021/05/top-ten-anime-that-everyone-should-watch-it/ https://influencermagazine.uk/2021/05/top-ten-anime-that-everyone-should-watch-it/ Dubbed anime also offers a unique opportunity for fans to experience the art form in their own language. Many people find it easier to connect with the characters and the story when they can hear the dialogue in their own language. This can be especially beneficial for younger viewers, who may have a harder time following along with subtitles. The process of dubbing anime is a complex and time-consuming one. The voice actors must match the lip movements of the characters as closely as possible, which requires careful coordination and attention to detail. Additionally, the dialogue must be translated and adapted to fit the English-speaking audience, while still retaining the essence of the original Japanese version. Despite its challenges, the process of dubbing anime has produced some of the most memorable voice performances in the history of animation. Some of the most well-known voice actors in the industry, such as Vic Mignogna, Brina Palencia, and Caitlin Glass, have made their mark in the world of dubbed anime. These talented performers bring the characters to life, and their performances are often just as memorable as the animation itself. Dubbed anime also provides an opportunity for fans to discover new anime series and genres that they may not have otherwise encountered. With so many different anime series available, fans can explore and discover new worlds and characters, each with their own unique stories and styles. https://influencermagazine.uk/2021/06/the-10-best-anime-series-on-netflix-right-now/ However, it is important to note that not all fans are fans of dubbed anime. Some fans prefer to watch the original Japanese version, with subtitles, as they feel that it provides a more authentic experience. This is a matter of personal preference, and fans are encouraged to watch and enjoy the anime that they like best. Dubbed anime provides a unique opportunity for fans to experience and enjoy the art form in their own language. With its memorable voice performances, accessible storytelling, and diverse range of anime series, dubbed anime is a popular and growing aspect of the anime industry. Whether you are a fan of dubbed anime or not, there is no denying its place as a major player in the world of animation. Read the full article

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sciencespies · 4 years

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How—and When—Will the COVID-19 Pandemic End?

https://sciencespies.com/news/how-and-when-will-the-covid-19-pandemic-end/

How—and When—Will the COVID-19 Pandemic End?

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a moving target. Faced with stopping a pandemic scientists have yet to fully understand, researchers simply can’t guarantee what lies ahead—or when life will return to a version of normalcy.

But as businesses continue to shutter and people retreat into their homes, one thing has become clear: To stem the spread of disease, Joe Pinsker reports for the Atlantic, strict measures that keep people physically separated could be in place for several months—perhaps even more than a year.

These social disruptions are severe, alarming and difficult to fully comprehend. They also come at an immense psychological cost. Already, mere weeks of closures and separations have taken an immense toll on the world’s wellbeing, sparking major financial losses, widening socioeconomic inequalities and exacerbating the health burden on vulnerable groups.

Experts warn that this is the price that must be paid to stop the pandemic. Not because the costs we’re paying now are negligible, but because what stands to be lost is so immense. The United States now has the most confirmed infections of any nation in the world, surpassing 100,000 cases and 1,500 deaths in total on the evening of Friday, March 27—and it’s not yet known when the country will reach peak for new cases. So what happens next?

Immunity is key

When enough of the global population becomes immune, SARS-CoV-2 will lose its infectious toehold, failing to find enough new, susceptible individuals to infect before leaving its current hosts. Researchers estimate that about 2.5 to 5 billion people—roughly a third to two-thirds of the global population—will need to be immune to hit this critical threshold, Jonathan Lambert reports for Science News.

Two possible paths to immunity exist, neither of which is guaranteed. In one, individuals who recover from COVID-19 produce the immune molecules required to fight off the virus, should it try to infect them again. In the other, people become immune by getting vaccinated, teaching their bodies to recognize and destroy the invader without getting sick.

Both resolutions hinge on whether an exposure to SARS-CoV-2, or at least, pieces of it, can protect a person from future infection, which has yet to be shown definitively in the long term.

Flattening the curve

Though many COVID-19 vaccines are now in development, this process takes many months—often years. In the meantime, officials worldwide are scrambling to reduce the rate at which new infections arise to avoid overwhelming an already strained healthcare system.

That’s the idea behind “flattening the curve” of the pandemic’s trajectory: If the virus has fewer opportunities to hop from person to person, communities won’t see a big, rapid spike in new cases; instead, new cases would be spread out over a longer stretch of time, reducing the average number of people sickened with COVID-19 on a given date. Drawing out the pandemic’s timeline also allows researchers to develop much-needed treatments and tests.

The first step to achieving this slowdown is social distancing: drastically reducing contact with individuals, in this case by keeping at least six feet away from others—a distance that largely avoids the infectious droplets sprayed out of the airway of those infected with SARS-CoV-2. (Some psychologists have advocated for the use of the less isolating term “physical distancing” to encourage people to remain socially connected while physically apart.)

Given the infection’s weeks-long trajectory and the virus’ extreme ease of spreading, distancing is not something that will work instantaneously. The tactic effectively starves the pandemic of hosts—something that takes time, and could quickly be thrown off should some subsets of the population waver in their commitment.

If, for instance, distancing measures were relaxed too soon, SARS-CoV-2 could roar back in a still-susceptible population, extending the pandemic’s timeline even farther.

“If we all just went right back to how things were before, transmission would start again with the same intensity,” Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers tells Brian Resnick at Vox.

According to Science News, a minimum of one to three months of strict distancing will likely be required in the United States—and that’s just the beginning. Our battle with COVID-19 will likely extend far beyond that, especially if SARS-CoV-2 waxes and wanes with the seasons, or our immunity to the virus doesn’t hold up for more than a few months or years.

Until a vaccine becomes available, the world may be in limbo with distance policies tightening and relaxing when COVID-19 flares up or subsides, according to Gideon Lichfield at MIT Technology Review.

“We need to be prepared to do multiple periods of social distancing,” Stephen Kissler, an infectious disease researcher at Harvard’s School of Public Health, tells Ed Yong at the Atlantic.

The importance of testing

As Yong reports for the Atlantic, another crucial component is an expedient ramp-up in diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 infections. Without knowing the world’s actual burden of disease—the number of people infected, including those with mild or no symptoms—researchers can’t get a good handle on how the pandemic is evolving, or what populations are most at risk.

Other countries, like South Korea, deployed testing early, allowing them to identify and isolate infected individuals, then monitor their close contacts for signs of disease—a comprehensive strategy that largely curbed COVID-19’s spread, Rivers tells Science News. The United States is beyond the point at which it can mimic this trajectory.

But effective, accurate diagnostics remain crucial to preventing infections at the local scale, and can still slow SARS-CoV-2’s ongoing spread. By mapping out disease hotspots and pinpointing places where infections are more scarce, widespread testing could alleviate some of the most stringent social distancing measures, Sharon Begley reports for STAT.

More tests could also identify individuals who may have recovered from COVID-19, and—if they’re immune—those people could return to work, or help care for vulnerable populations. Critically, making and perfecting these tools now will equip us for any future outbreaks.

An end in sight?

After weeks of strict distancing, some parts of the world—including China’s Hubei province, where SARS-CoV-2 was discovered—are now initiating their “exiting strategies,” according to STAT. Here, the pace of the pandemic has dramatically slowed, following a complete lockdown that kept residents from traveling between cities or even strolling down the street.

With the exception of those in Wuhan, the city where the virus was first detected last year, Hubei residents can now leave the province, provided their health status is clear. Should the case count stay low, more restrictions are expected to be lifted in the coming weeks—though officials are readying themselves to reimpose measures if necessary.

The optimism in Hubei, however, is not universal. In the United States, COVID-19 cases are still skyrocketing by the day, and experts can’t yet forecast when this country’s outbreak will start to fizzle out. For now, many are highlighting success in other countries, and the glimmers of hope emerging in places like Washington state, where new infections are still occurring, but not as rapidly as before, thanks to widespread abidance to distancing.

The road to ending this pandemic is an obviously difficult one that relies, in large part, on the collective resilience of hundreds of millions. Strict distancing will not—and cannot—be sustained forever, and recovering from these measures will require careful attention to both physical and mental health.

But letting up too soon would only worsen the consequences, Lilian Alessa, director for the Center for Resilient Communities at the University of Idaho, tells Nicoletta Lanese at Live Science.

“We literally have to have absolute compliance,” Alessa says. “Without that, this is our new normal.”

#News

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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New Rule Would Let U.S. Hold Migrant Families Indefinitely https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/us/politics/flores-migrant-family-detention.html

Migrant Families Would Face Indefinite Detention Under New Trump Rule

By Michael D. Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs | Published Aug. 21, 2019 Updated 10:55 a.m. ET | New York Times | Posted August 21, 2019 11:20 AM ET |

Leer en español

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration unveiled a regulation on Wednesday that would allow it to detain indefinitely migrant families who cross the border illegally, replacing a decades-old court agreement that imposed a limit on how long the government could hold migrant children in custody and specified the level of care they must receive.

The White House has for more than a year pressed the Department of Homeland Security to replace the agreement, known as the Flores settlement, a shift that the administration says is crucial to halt immigration across the southwestern border.

The new regulation , which requires approval from a federal judge before it can go into effect and was expected to be immediately challenged in court, would establish standards for conditions in detention centers and specifically abolish a 20-day limit on detaining families in immigration jails, a cap that has prompted President Trump to repeatedly complain about the “catch and release” of families from Central America and elsewhere into the United States.

“This rule allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress,” Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, said in a statement. He called it a “critical rule” that would allow the government to detain families and maintain the “integrity of the immigration system.”

The administration proposed the rule last fall, allowing the public to comment on the potential regulation. It is scheduled to be published this week in the Federal Register and would take effect 60 days later, though administration officials concede that the expected court challenge will probably delay it.

Under the new rule, the administration would be free to send families who are caught crossing the border illegally to a family residential center to be held for as long as it takes for their immigration cases to be decided. Officials said families cases could be resolved within three months, though many could drag on much longer.

Trump administration officials — who briefed reporters on Tuesday night on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans — said that many of the families would be detained until they were either released after being awarded asylum or they were deported to their home countries. Some families might be awarded parole to leave the facilities while the courts decide their fate.

The 20-day limit has been in place since 2015, a legal outgrowth of a 1997 court-ordered consent decree after a federal class-action lawsuit alleged physical and emotional harm done to immigrant children held for extended periods of time in the detention facilities.

Previous administrations tried to change the rules for detaining children in efforts to reduce surges of migrants crossing the border. Mr. Trump’s homeland security officials have repeatedly said that limiting the detentions of entire migrant families has driven the surge of Central American families who crossed the border this year.

The officials said on Tuesday that enacting the new regulation would send a powerful message that bringing children to the United States was not “a passport” to being released from detention.

They predicted that the rule would cause a significant decrease in the number of families trying to cross into the United States illegally, reducing the need for more family residential centers.

Withdrawing from the consent decree has also been a personal objective for Stephen Miller, the architect of Mr. Trump’s immigration policy. Delays in finishing the new regulation had prompted Mr. Miller to lash out at senior homeland security officials, who were ousted from the department.

The New York Times reported in April that Mr. Miller berated the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ronald D. Vitiello, for not finishing the new rule. Mr. Vitiello later had his nomination withdrawn by Mr. Trump, who said he was not tough enough for the job.

The Flores settlement has also been at the root of partisan debates on immigration. Democrats have said the rules, are imperative to ensuring the well-being of detained children, especially after reports of children being kept in overcrowded cells and sometimes going without showers, toothpaste or hot meals.

Mr. McAleenan told the House Homeland Security Committee in May that the Flores settlement had incentivized migration to the United States, saying that “if an adult arrives with a child, they have a likelihood of staying in the United States.”

Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee, reminded Mr. McAleenan of the original purpose of the court-ordered regulations.

“It was about prolonged detention of children had proven to be harmful to their health,” Mr. Thompson said. “I think the court looked at it from that perspective rather than a punitive decision on the department.”

The Trump administration’s regulation, which is several hundred pages long, eliminates a requirement that federal detention centers for immigrant families be licensed by states, most of which had no such licenses.

Instead, under the regulation, the three centers built to house hundreds of immigrant families — in Dilley and Karnes City, Tex., and Leesport, Pa. — would have to meet standards set only by ICE, which runs them.

The administration officials insisted Tuesday that the facilities were, and would continue to be, maintained at high standards for the immigrants who were detained there. They said the facilities provided health care, education and “top notch” food.

But critics of the administration have long argued that the facilities were unsuitable for children to be held for long periods of time. And the recent examples of horrible conditions at overcrowded Border Patrol detention centers have underscored their concerns about the residential centers.

“We don’t disagree with detaining children when it’s necessary — namely, if they’re a flight risk or they’re a danger to themselves or others, we agree,” said Peter Schey, a lawyer who filed the original case and has continued to defend the settlement terms in court since. “It’s the unnecessary detention of child that this settlement sought to end. So these regulations really reflect a flagrant disregard on the part of President Trump and his administration for the safety and the well-being of children in the care of the federal government.”

Last summer, the Trump administration began separating children from their parents as a way to get around the Flores agreement. The children were sent to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services while the adults were imprisoned while awaiting trial on their violation of immigration laws.

A fierce political backlash forced Mr. Trump to publicly abandon the separation policy, though immigration advocates said some families continued to be separated after that announcement.

Administration officials said Tuesday that the effort to allow families to be detained indefinitely was an attempt to avoid having to either separate families or release them while they waited for their cases to be heard.

Even before the final rule was announced on Wednesday, immigration advocates said it amounted to a cruel effort to imprison families — some with infants or young children — many of whom are fleeing violence and corruption in their home countries.

Under the terms of the 1997 consent decree, the regulation must be approved by the judge in the original case, Judge Dolly M. Gee of United States District Court for the Central District of California. The government will have seven days to file a brief in her court seeking her approval of the regulation.

If she refuses, the administration is expected to appeal her decision in a case that could drag on for months or even years, legal experts said.

Caitlin Dickerson contributed reporting from New York.

The Flores Agreement Protected Migrant Children for Decades. New Regulations Aim to End It.

By Miriam Jordan | Published Aug. 20, 2019 Updated 9:52 a.m. ET | New York Times | Posted August 21, 2019 |

LOS ANGELES — Nearly 35 years ago, long before the current mass influx of Central American families making their way to America’s southern border, a different and more brutal migrant crisis was unfolding.

In El Salvador, government death squads were stalking suspected insurgents. Farmers, human rights activists and even priests were being caught in the crossfire. The widening civil war would leave more than 75,000 people dead, and send tens of thousands of people fleeing to the United States.

One of them was Alma Yanira Cruz, a 12-year-old girl who made her way north to join her mother in Los Angeles after her grandfather and uncle were killed.

What happened to her after she arrived in 1985 violated nearly every principle of today’s standards for protecting migrant children — an ordeal that even now, she said recently, is “too painful to remember, to discuss.”

And yet it had become shockingly routine.

A barricade of razor wire surrounded an old motel in Pasadena, Calif., north of Los Angeles, where migrants were locked in overcrowded rooms, children and adults jammed in together. For weeks, the girl remained there — offered no schooling, no recreation, no doctors, no visits with relatives.

“Alma suffered too much. She felt unsafe. She was mixed with all kinds of people and was afraid,” said her mother, Anna Aldana, who had come to the United States in 1979 and was working as a housekeeper in Los Angeles. “She told me they didn’t give her enough food. She told me she fell out of a high bunk bed.”

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping new set of regulations for detaining migrant children, replacing more than two decades of protections that were put into place as a result of what happened to Alma and her fellow detainees in 1985. The new standards, set to be published later this week, would allow the government to detain children and families indefinitely, revise the minimum standards of care and, if they stand up in court, end the 22-year-old consent decree, known as the Flores agreement, that has protected the nation’s youngest and most vulnerable new arrivals.

A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Ms. Cruz, one of the other young Salvadorean girls being held in Pasadena; Jenny Lisette Flores, 15; and two other adolescent girls paved the way for one of the most important changes in immigration policy in half a century. When it was finally settled in 1997, the litigation transformed the way migrant children all across the southwest border were treated after arriving in the United States.

No longer could they be held indefinitely in hard-core detention facilities: They had to be released quickly to a family member or guardian or, if that was not possible, transferred speedily to a licensed care facility that did not operate like a jail. A subsequent interpretation of the agreement limited the time most migrant children could spend in detention, generally to no more than 20 days.

The Obama administration, which battled a new surge in migrant families arriving on the border in 2014, tried and failed to get out from under the strict limits. The Trump administration railed against the “legal loopholes” in the consent decree and tried mightily to upend it. The Flores agreement, the administration argued, helped create the current chaos at the border by providing an incentive for migrant parents to bring their children with them — the equivalent, under the current legal framework, of a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Administration officials said that the new regulations maintain the underlying purpose of the Flores agreement, and all children will be “treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors.”

But those who spearheaded the long-running litigation disagree.

“These regulations issued under orders from the White House show President Trump’s decision to politicize the detention of migrant children as part of his re-election campaign and his callous indifference to their safety and well-being,” said Peter Schey, who along with his co-counsel, Carlos Holguin, filed the original lawsuit.

When the Trump administration last year tried to get around the Flores agreement by separating children from their parents in order to detain the parents alone, the policy created such an uproar that it was soon rescinded, at least officially. Then, administration lawyers went to court to try to win permission to keep children with their parents in detention-type facilities for longer than 20 days.

Judge Dolly Gee of Federal District Court in Los Angeles, who oversees the agreement, denied the government’s request, blaming more than 20 years of congressional inaction and “ill-considered executive action” for the “current stalemate.” Three months later, in September, the administration published the proposed new Flores regulations for comment in the Federal Register.

After the final rule is published later this week, the plaintiffs’ lawyers will have one week to file a brief with the court if they believe the regulations fail to implement the terms of the settlement. If not rejected by the court, the regulations would take effect 60 days after publication.

The two plaintiffs’ lawyers have returned to court dozens of times to force the administration to abide by the agreement’s provisions and made repeated visits to detention centers to inspect them or interview children. Most recently, the legal observers in the case reported on a border facility in Clint, Tex., where they said migrant children were being held in filthy conditions with inadequate food.

“If someone had told me in 1985 that our work to protect children would continue into 2019,” Mr. Holguin said, “there is no way I would have believed it.”

Mr. Holguin was a 30-year-old lawyer working with Mr. Schey at a public-interest law firm when the two lawyers first got drawn into the case. It started with a phone call from the actor Ed Asner, who had heard about Ms. Cruz’s case and wanted someone to intervene.

Mr. Holguin’s father, the son of a Mexican immigrant, had been a public school teacher in East Los Angeles who had supported the 1968 Latino student walkouts across the city protesting racism and substandard education for Mexican-Americans. After college, Mr. Holguin enrolled in the People’s College of Law, an unaccredited law school in Los Angeles, convinced that the quickest way to a more equitable society was through the courts.

Mr. Schey was the son of a German gentile mother and a communist Jewish father who had escaped on a boat to South Africa during World War II. The family immigrated to United States when Mr. Schey was a teenager.

By the 1980s, Los Angeles was ground zero in the immigrant-rights movement. “The key national organizations were based in Los Angeles. The most vocal immigrant defenders worked in L.A.,” Mr. Schey said. The two lawyers were working together out of a 1920s-era Craftsman house with bad plumbing and a warped roof when the call about the girls being held in Pasadena came in.

Los Angeles was absorbing thousands of war refugees. “Back then, it was guerrillas, not gangs making people leave,” said Ms. Aldana, sitting recently in her modest one-bedroom apartment in a middle-class Los Angeles neighborhood adorned with photographs of her teenage grandchildren — the twins her daughter would go on to have.

Guerrillas who rampaged through her neighborhood in El Salvador had forced her children to procure and prepare food for them, she recalled. “I had to get them out of there.” After her son, Luis Alberto, crossed the border undetected, she decided Alma should come.

But Alma was apprehended by border agents at San Ysidro, and transferred to the detention facility in Pasadena. Ms. Aldana feared she would be deported if she came forward to claim her daughter, and the authorities would not allow anyone else to take her. So the girl languished in custody.

“I wept and wept. I felt helpless,” recalled Ms. Aldana.

At about the same time, Jenny Lisette Flores, whose mother was also undocumented and living in Los Angeles, had arrived at the border and been sent to the Pasadena motel. Her mother, too, was afraid to pick up her daughter because of her immigration status.

“Children were being indefinitely detained. The government was using them as bait to arrest their parents,” said Mr. Holguin.

With an army of law students and volunteer lawyers, the pair began visiting facilities and documenting what they witnessed.

The most serious thing they found was that immigration agents were doing body cavity searches on migrant children, said John Hagar, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, a co-counsel in the case. “They would look up a boy’s anus and a girl’s vagina,” he said.

The lawsuit filed on July 11, 1985, argued that the government needed to meet basic child-welfare standards, with education, recreation and medical examinations. It also said the authorities should release children to competent and available adults, rather than indefinitely detaining them until a parent or legal guardian could come forward.

On the day that the suit was filed, Ms. Aldana appeared at a news conference alongside Mr. Schey and the actor, Mr. Asner. To hide her identity, she tied a bandanna around her face, leaving only her forehead and eyes exposed.

“I was on TV, and I said that I had brought my daughter because I didn’t want her kidnapped by guerrillas,” Ms. Aldana said.

A few weeks later, a judge ordered the girls released to people appointed by their mothers who were American citizens. Ms. Cruz was handed over to a family friend who represented her in the lawsuit; Ms. Flores was released to an uncle.

The lawyers sought a nationwide injunction to apply the same principles to all children in federal custody. The parties began discussing a settlement and reached the now-famous consent decree in 1997.

“At the time, we didn’t realize it would be seminal,” said Doris Meissner, the immigration chief in the Clinton administration who signed off on the settlement. She said she had advised addressing the problems head-on. “If there are real issues surrounding the detention of minors, and the government is being held accountable for poor conditions, why are we litigating in favor of what we are doing wrong? Why don’t we settle the lawsuit?”

Complying with the standards in the settlement, she said, was “the right thing to do for kids.”

Little did the plaintiffs’ lawyers know that holding the government to the consent decree would become their life’s work.

“By and large, there was substantial compliance,” recalled Mr. Schey.

Then, in 2014, Central American families and unaccompanied children began pushing across the border in ever-larger numbers, fleeing horrific gang violence, domestic abuse and entrenched poverty. Most of them were seeking asylum. As the numbers climbed, the Obama administration responded by erecting large detention centers for families.

Mr. Holguin and Mr. Schey sprang into action in early 2015, filing a motion in federal court to enforce the Flores agreement. Judge Gee ruled that the settlement applied even to a child apprehended with a parent — meaning that the de facto 20-day limit on detentions applied not just to children, but to parents who were detained with their children.

The numbers of children in detention began rising again late last year, and Mr. Holguin and Mr. Schey enlisted dozens of lawyers and health professionals to inspect facilities like the one in Clint where they were being kept.

What they found was a constant pattern: One facility would be fixed. Then there would be problems at a different one.

“It’s like we are playing Whac-a-Mole. Done with that, then another violation comes up,” Mr. Holguin said.

Today, both Ms. Cruz and Ms. Flores live in Southern California, with children of their own. Though Ms. Cruz spoke briefly to The New York Times, neither wanted to be interviewed. Mr. Schey, who called the women “the Rosa Parks of the civil rights movement for immigrant children,” said he had not seen them in years.

“I’d love to see them,” he said, “to tell them that their willingness to be lead plaintiffs has provided protections for more than a million immigrant children.”

Michael Shear contributed reporting from Washington and Jack Healy from Denver. Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.

#politics #president donald trump #donald trump #donald trump jr #u.s. immigration and customs enforcement #immigration reform #immigration #immigrants #homeland security #u.s. news #u.s. department of justice #u.s. government #u.s. border patrol #ice #abolish ice

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nyfacurrent · 6 years

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Business of Art | The Artist’s Creed: 10 Guiding Principles for Your Arts Career

Make your arts career work for you with this empowering advice from artists.

There is no one way to be an artist. Artists use different media, explore a vast range of ideas, and face differing barriers and obstacles. Yet over the years we’ve observed that many artists have one thing in common: tenacity. Below, we’ve distilled advice from people we admire. These intentions and action steps can help you protect and strengthen yourself, as a member of a community, an individual who must survive in the world, and as a creator.

“Find the practice that works for you, and never apologize for it.” - Walidah Imarisha

You’ve most likely read an article, or many, about the routines that notable artists swear by as requirements for productivity. While content like this can be inspiring, it can also be discouraging and alienating. What if you’re not a morning person? What if you you can’t afford to create everyday because you’re juggling multiple jobs to pay the bills?

In the words of educator and writer Walidah Imarisha, writing or creating every day “works for some, but if it doesn't, especially because you’re struggling to survive, it doesn't mean you aren't a writer” or artist. You are the only one who can set the best, and most feasible, rhythm and schedule for yourself.

Try: If fitting in large chunks of time for your art feels unattainable right now, set aside a few minutes on a regular basis to explore. This could be every night before you go to bed, on your morning commute, or during a break at work. Write down impressions of your environment, do a brief sketch, or think about ideas you’d like to explore in future work. You’ll find these few minutes will add up.

Or, if you’re ready and able to carve out more time aggressively but find yourself pulled in opposite directions by various priorities and responsibilities, set aside realistic chunks of time in your calendar to create. If your calendar is digital, set up reminder alerts. Treat this time as you would a work obligation.

Build yourself up.

Become your own best supporter. Writer Esmé Weijun Wang takes a documented approach. “My own self-belief has to be nurtured. I have a file of Kind Words that people have said or written to me...which I sometimes refer to.”

Try: Create your own repository of kind words. This could be a document you add to, or you could try a more tactile approach and list compliments on your wall or create text-based art with them.

Do the thing.

Creative block will manifest for every artist, but it is different for every artist. Perhaps, to counter it, you need rest, or a break, or to let yourself focus on another project. Ultimately, though, it can be helpful to “do the thing,” in the words of author Pam Stucky. Wendy Perron (Fellow in Choreography ’85) recommends doing the thing “even if at that (blocked) point, it feels really stupid and pointless. At least then you'll have something to look at or fix or edit.”

It’s OK to ask for help.

You don’t have to do it alone. If you’re struggling in some way, it’s very likely there is someone or something that can help. That’s why NYFA offers the NYFA Source Hotline, a free referral hotline that you can call at (800) 232-2789, from Monday - Friday, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM EST, or email at [email protected].

If you’re experiencing financial duress because of an emergency, you may be the perfect candidate for an emergency grant.

Try: Reach out. Your local arts council or arts organization likely has the exact resources you need. Need a writer’s community or workshop? They may be able to connect you. Is your studio space lease ending with no alternative in sight? Organizations like chashama and many others offer free and affordable residencies. And remember, your peer network—either online or in-person— is one of your best resources available to you. Your fellow creators may be able to provide you with feedback, spread the word about your events, and help you make connections. Just be sure to offer help in return to ensure a fair and equitable partnership.

“Watch your pals.” - Hanif Abdurraqib

It can be a challenge to find the perfect outlets for your work once you’re ready to share it with the world. Here’s a simple starting point from poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib: “All of my dream publications are the places I can be published next to the work of my friends and heroes.”

Try: Create a list of 10 favorite artists in your discipline with whom you feel an affinity in style or subject matter. These could be artists in your circle, online or in-person, or others you admire from afar. Where are they published? Which galleries exhibit their work? At which festivals have they performed? Then, research any relevant deadlines or eligibility guidelines and set reminders for deadlines and the steps you need to take along the way to be ready to submit.

Court rejection.

Don’t let the “no’s” you receive define you. Rejection is inevitable. Poet Lauren Whitehead speaks of “courting rejection.” Lean into the “no’s” you receive because that means you’re putting your work out there. Celebrate your rejections. Some even recommend aiming for 100 rejections per year, because that increases your odds of being accepted.

You can be financially stable.

Being an artist can be a financial challenge, whether you’re trying to finance a full-time artistic practice, pay student loans for your creative education, or afford studio space. But let’s throw out the stereotype of the starving artist. It is possible to survive, and even thrive, financially as an artist or creative, and there are many ways to reach this goal. Caitlin Pearce, Executive Director of the Freelancers Union, offers one strategy for independent contractors: “For many freelancers, stability comes with diversifying their income portfolio… [and with] finding diverse ways to monetize their skills and expertise.”

Try: Artists and creatives in all fields are often at a loss on how to price their work or services. Artist fees and hourly rates should be realistic in order to be competitive. But begin with the income you need, and want, to earn as your starting point, and prioritize this number. Your target annual income can help you find a sustainable hourly rate. Try using the formula provided by Andrew Simonet in Making Your Life as an Artist (free for download with newsletter sign-up).

Another principle to live by: when you’re creating a project budget, remember to pay yourself for your time.

Know your rights.

Here’s a staggering statistic from the National Endowment for the Arts: “American artists are highly entrepreneurial; they are 3.5 times more likely than the U.S. workforce to be self-employed.” This means that artists and creatives can find themselves without the protections of a standard workplace, shouldering more risk and liability.

There are steps you can take to protect yourself. Work with a contract so that expectations are clear. This is crucial for larger projects and highly recommended for smaller projects. The Freelancers Union offers contract templates that are compliant with New York City’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act, which protects the right to timely and full payment.

Another consideration for independent contractors: try to avoid work for hire contracts, in which the party that commissions the work or the employer owns the rights to the work. Poet, educator, and performer Denice Frohman cautions: “Don’t give your rights away.”

Try: There are a range of contract templates online or you may want to ask peers to share their template with you. Photographer Reggie Cunningham reworks templates that large companies and clients have sent to him. Whatever your method, resolve to find the format that works for you, so that it’s ready to go before your next opportunity presents itself.

Protect your work, invest in your future.

Your work and your well-being are precious resources; luckily, protecting yourself is well within your power. Every small step you take adds up to readiness in the face of disaster, as well as readiness for exciting opportunities in your arts career.

It’s important to document your work and related materials. “Archives help capture what can easily be lost.” says Eric Colleary, Cline Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center. For many artists, “documenting their work for posterity almost becomes an artwork itself“ and is a highly individual process. Apply the same care and creativity in preserving your work as you do in producing it.

Try: Every tiny step is helpful. Here’s an example: look around your studio or living or storage space. Are there important materials in a basement or attic that could flood or experience extreme temperature shifts? Move them to a safer spot. Or, research opportunities to preserve your assets. CERF+ offers mini grants for craft artists called Get Ready Grants to help artists safeguard their studios and their careers.

Ready to start archiving? Here are a few resources that can guide you through the archival process: a guide from the Joan Mitchell Foundation for visual artists; Dance Heritage Coalitions Artist’s Legacy Toolkit; and resources on preserving electronic and time-based works from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Thinking about your legacy early on will also help you get your work out into the world in the present.

The world needs your perspective.

Artists are all too familiar with imposter syndrome, as people who make their own rules and create something out of nothing. This leaves room for doubt. Over time, you’ll find your own ways to counter this feeling, but try starting with affirmations that help you fake it ‘till you make it. Writer Brandon Taylor says: “I try to remind myself that my work is worthy. Sometimes I literally say that in the shower until I believe it. ‘Your work is worthy, your work is worthy, your work is worthy.’ I try to take it very seriously. So that even if I suck that day, I still try.”

On top of everyday imposter syndrome, many artists receive messaging, subtle or otherwise, that their work or experiences are less valued than others. Deanna Fei (Fellow in Fiction ’06) on writing about her experiences as a parent: “We assume the family or domestic sphere is less worthy as fodder for art. But race, class, power are in every class and playground.” Disregard that prejudice and create “what inspires you. Start with the tiny and specific. Then go wide and big.”

- Mirielle Clifford, Program Officer, Online Resources

This article draws inspiration from #ArtistHotline, an initiative dedicated to creating an ongoing online conversation around the professional side of artistic practice. Our goal is to help artists discover the resources needed, online and off, to develop sustainable careers.

Have an arts career question? You can contact NYFA staff directly via the NYFA Source Hotline at (800) 232-2789, from Monday - Friday, 3:00 - 5:00 PM EST or email [email protected].

This initiative is supported by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.

Images from top: Michelle Boule (Fellow in Choreography ’16); Jordan Casteel (Finalist in Painting ’18), The Baayfalls

#business of art #artisthotline #professional development #artist professional development #nyfasource #nyfa source #emily hall tremaine foundation #mirielle clifford #instagram

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saxbys · 6 years

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Passing the Latte: Caitlin Hoos is Ready to Lead our Saxbys West Chester University Cafe

Caitlin Hoos has studied business management in the classroom. Now she’s getting hands-on experience that’s crucial to taking her career to the next level. The junior at West Chester University will spend the next six months leading Saxbys West Chester, where she’ll not only get real-life business experience but also earn college credit and competitive pay.

Caitlin is the latest Student Cafe Executive Officer (SCEO) at Saxbys, responsible for team development, community leadership and financial management. We caught up with Caitlin shortly after she began her tenure to find out what she has planned for the cafe.

Overview

Are you excited for the position?

Of course! I love the idea that it’s my cafe! I have a lot of say in what goes on. I’m only 20 yrs old and I’m running a cafe. It’s crazy. I have yet to wrap my mind around it.

Did you get any advice from Kelly Ingram, the previous SCEO?

She trained me in so many ways. She even gave me a list of common questions to expect. She also told me that I can’t always say “yes” to folks in the community or team members — and that’s okay. She told me to stay calm, don’t stress out and everything will be okay.

Team Development

What are your thoughts on the team you’re inheriting?

I’m lucky because my team feels like a family. I have five team members who are not working right now but are still sitting in the cafe hanging out. On the business side, everyone knows what they’re doing and many have been with the cafe from the start. I’m pretty set.

How do you plan to build a culture based off your leadership style at your cafe?

I’m going to try to work on communications between team members — especially between the folks who open the cafe and the ones who close. I’d love to have the night and morning staffs switch shifts once or twice so they can better understand the issues each team faces day-to-day. Overall, we have more than 30 team members and they all don’t know each other yet. I want to make sure people are interacting with one another regardless of when they’re scheduled to work.

What obstacles are you preparing for?

Scheduling. Everyone wants more hours but I can’t always give it to them. So I try to make sure everyone is sharing and I’m fair in that process and alternating between team members.

Community Leadership

Do you have any community initiatives planned?

We have an exciting event in March benefitting the student recreation center and nutrition department. They’ll be promoting our smoothie the Daily Grind because it’s nutrition month. Some of our proceeds are going to the West Chester food pantry. Personally in the cafe, I’m going to invest in a bulletin board and put it in a prominent place so people can post flyers or business cards about events, groups or meetings around town. We also have plenty of events planned with groups on campus, from marching band to crew.

What kind of impact do you think your community leadership will make?

I think it’s going to be a game-changer. Starbucks is our main competition on campus and a lot of guests tell me that our cafe feels more welcoming because team members are happy and committed to working with the community. The events will enhance that even further and make the university community aware of us even more.

Financial Management

How do you plan you manage and understand your profit/loss statement (P&L)?

I’m not really great on financial stuff just yet. Kelly even left me a “things to do” list to get me on track. I love looking at the reports, I watch our labor costs vs sales all day. I also like analyzing the differences from month-to-month. Since we’ve only been open for less than a year, we still have some benchmarking to do. So I like to see if our ticket sales are higher or more people are coming to the cafe.

Final Thoughts

Do you have any other initiatives planned?

I made a suggestion box so team members can get more involved and offer their opinions. They know more than me, and I would never neglect that. We also have a board with a list of items we need to order, so I tell them that if they notice anything we need, just put it right on the board. People have really good suggestions.

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sunshinesunsethappiness · 6 years

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Talking a bit about the Tornado Twins book! Not really a review, more some general thoughts. These are not all my thoughts; I’m still not feeling 100% but I wanted to write something for those curious about the book!

I’m going to focus mostly on the part with the twins.

Enjoyed reading it. Probably my fav out of the three in the books series. I’ll put up a general impression first and then go into spoiler territory under the cut. I’d definitely recommend reading it without spoilers however. So be sure to get a copy!

The book series follows a timeline where Flashpoint never happened. So everything is the same up until the porch scene in 3x23. But Barry goes back inside instead of running away to create Flashpoint.

Like I said, it was a nice read and I think the writer did a good job with the characters. Like the other books Iris gets her own POV moments. While Barry is away in the future, the team isn’t idly sitting by. They still play a major part in the story as they’re trying to apprehend a criminal called Earthworm. I think Lyga does a good job of using the entire team. The team is: Barry, Iris, Wally, Cisco, Caitlin, Joe and HR.

If I’m honest, though, I thought the most interesting part of the story was the future stuff with the twins. In general I wished we got to spend more time with the twins, but more on that in the spoiler section.

There weren’t too many moments on the WestAllen interaction front just because Barry traveled to the future pretty early on in the book and didn’t return to the end. But they did keep thinking about each other and their love for each other was clear.

All right book spoilers next (major spoilers, so beware!)! Again, I’d advise reading the book without spoilers!

I guess possible show spoilers, but I think the author has said in an interview that he doesn’t really consult with the writers of the show, so I don’t think that what happens in the book is necessarily connected to what will happen in the show. But just in case!

Just to set up some things for a second:

In the second book of the series Johnny Quick, Book tl Cisco vibes and talks to tv show Cisco. That’s how he finds out about there being an alternate timeline where Flashpoint happened. He tells Barry at the beginning of this book. They have an interesting discussion about timelines. He and Cisco have this whole conversation about how Barry thinks the timeline is like a river and that eventually all the sidestreams end up back in the big one (something like that).

I kind of like this idea, because to me it means the timeline is not as fragile as the show sometimes shows it to be. But there is no real answers as to if Barry’s theory is right. More on that later.

Let’s get to the Tornado Twins! Barry tries to get to 6345 (the reason he goes to the future is to catch a villain named hocus pocus) but he gets stuck in 2968 and meets the Tornado Twins! The girl isn’t named Nora, but Dawn (so Dawn and Don). At first they speak Interlac, and there isn’t any translation in the book! So I really had to work to translate what they were saying 😄 (but I love those kinds of things, adds an element of mystery). There’s a really crucial line in there however:

‘’Wow,” he said, “check it. This guy’s costume is pretty good. He looks just like Dad.”

The girl nodded but shrugged. “I gotta admit I prefer the classic version, though.”

It’s never actually outright said that they’re Barry and Iris’ twins or even that they’re related, but it’s pretty clear throughout that they are related and are at the very least descendants of Barry and Iris (Barry didn’t suspect a thing, lol.) :

-dad line above

-They don’t want to tell him their last names

-They have his Flash ring

-They have access to the flash museum and mumble something about it being because of their family

-They’re very interested in his life and are especially interested in his relationship with Iris

-just the way they act

With the line about ‘dad’ and their special interest in Iris, I’m going to go with them being Barry and Iris’ kids, despite living in 2968. I want to reread to see if I missed something, because I was super excited to read so I went through it pretty fast.

I’m guessing the reason they live in that time is still a story to be told. Unfortunately not in this book, however. Barry hangs out with them for a bit, and helps them defeat a villain and then they help him the rest of the way to the future. The rest of the book is still interesting, but I was a little disappointed when we left them, just because I really liked those parts and there was a mystery waiting to be revealed. What we got was great, I just wanted more. Especially since the book is called Tornado Twins.

During the entire book Barry keeps wondering if the futures he is visiting are the futures from his timeline, or the one from the TV-Show Flashpoint timeline. When Barry travels even further in the future he meets the Abra Kadabra who remembers meeting the Barry from the Flashpoint timeline (he asks if Barry about Savitar and if Barry managed to save Iris from Savitar since history isn’t clear on that or something).

If the 6345 Year Barry goes to is technically show timeline future, that also means it’s possible that the 2968 that Barry went to could possibly be show timeline future. But it’s never made clear. Again, I don’t know/think it necessarily says anything about the TV Show, especially considering what the author said about his involvement with the writers, but it’s pretty interesting that the author went that route.

It actually did make me wonder for a bit if Nora perhaps is from farther in the future than we might think. Just because she was born 30 years in the future, doesn’t mean that at some point she doesn’t go to live further in the future. Perhaps she was even sent there for her own safety? (just a theory in its beginning stages, I don’t actually think this is the case, but it’s interesting to entertain)

#The Flash #Tornado Twins #WestAllen #book spoilers #spoilers

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ts-beijing-olympics · 2 years

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EP 2 - In My Kerrigan Era - Joey

Even though I was eliminated by basically my entire tribe I don't blame then but I didn't like the way they carried it out. At the same time I'm not gonna sit on my ass and wallow. I'm taking these guys down and it's time they realize why I'm a winner

I formed a trio with Andry and Timmy, whether or not they’ll stick to it, that’s up to them, but right now in Round #2, I want to continue to reach out to Austin and Justin, ideally we go to zero team meetings before Monty turns on Wheeldecide.com and pings us with the “HEY BESTIESSSSSSSSSSS GET TO THE ARENA”(that, but in lowercase). Also, shoutout to Dennis for being amazing at what he does.

These players can throw anything they send at me. I'm not backing down and I'm going to fight for my position in the game.

OMG i forgot to do this ANYWAY. We started the game! Yay! So many twists! In game currency, redemption, Arena comps. Tea is I know like 8 people going into this game. Caitlin, Andry, Justin, Madison, Emmy, Adam, Mark, and Pat I all at least know. Some like Adam I have played with and have good blood between (Adam). Some i have bad blood between (Mark and Madison) and the rest i have either been hosted by, hosted with, or hosted myself but have never played with. YIKES. Lots of intertwined connections. I'm obvs most worried about Madison and Mark, even though Mark and I are cool outside of Venue, and Madison and I had a talk during Day 1 about working together and burying the hatchet from Odyssey, you truly never know. Mark might wanna get me out cause he thinks I'd want revenge from venue, and Madison might want her own revenge from me IDOLING HER OUT in Odyssey. Oy vey. I wanna use my connections to keep me safe in the game, even the rocky ones. But it can't be the only thing I rely on or else I'll end up with a MAJOR blindspot. So getting to know people on my team like Zach and Daisy is gonna be crucial to make sure i'm in with the most people possible. Gonna be interesting to see how this shakes out.

Ughhh it's been a long day personally so losing the arena comp just really sucked. I know I don't want to be seen as a comp threat, so losing is good. But this round has so many advantages and disadvantages tossed around that im kind of.......... ugh. I know I did everything I could and that's what sucks. I also think my team is the dry team.... literally loved talking to ppl at the arena but these folks are a snooze fest

I got a gold medal!!! Even if they wanna take me out, they can’t! Imagine if I could go on some winning streak and keep this bad boy until the merge. One can hope.

So happy 2 have won a medal. Wish I knew when I should be coming back to the blog....

Okay but maybe Jabari just completely big brained that entire moment. Getting voted out while getting a 10% Arena advantage, AND lying to everyone about what you have for the emoji hunt, and getting to stay? Power moves only here in Beijing. But honestly, this challenge is all about one thing: agency. As long as we can do the puzzles fast and absorb the disadvantages, we'll be fine. It seems like we'll be fine for this round as long as the winners dont win, we'll be good. Caitlin is a threat in challenges and can't go home if Dwen goes to council, which again would be ideal. Cicero I hate to see you go, you seemed nice, but read next time.

i didn't think i would lose the arena comp, so that was honestly such a shook to me (but i did say my comp skills aren't what they used to be). anyways, i hope my team doesn't hold it against me right now. there's so many disadvantages being thrown around this round that i think that will be the deciding factor in this comp tbh

I would like to just point out that I hate jigsaw puzzles, especially online ones cause i suck at them most of the timeeeee anyways, the vibes here at Dwen have been incredibly chill, I genuinely get along with everyone so if we ever have to go to a team meeting, it'd be a little stressful, but I feel like ive made good and strong enough connections to keep me here. I do feel though that my timezone may be a detriment to the team, but I just have to make sure I build on these connections and MAKE them want to keep me, rather than me begging to stay. For now, my trust rankings are as follows: Daisy > Caitlin > Zach > Max, but this could all change by the next team meeting so we'll just have to wait and see!

I'm happy that my old team won but it's very bittersweet and I'm sure I could have pulled through the comp a little more. In other news I didn't secure my second ring and now the next course is to prepare to take whoever was on Bing down.

Welp...we're going to a team meeting and that sucks ass. Had a call with joey and andry and we're set on voting Austin. It's bittersweet since Austin is my friend and personally I would rather have Justin out but like I'm fine either way. Apparently Justin is telling Austin that because Austin didn't give him a name yet (keep in mind it's currently less than 3 hours after results) that it's probably him (Justin) getting votes or that people are just scared to say names. I think that's because he is more of an older org player where people really did used to talk about the votes and plan stuff shortly after results when nowadays it's a lot of last minute plans. Although now we have already made a plan but like that is certainly not the norm. I am having a lot of fun already this season and I am looking forward to what is going to happen next round.

okay so last night I called with Timmy and Joey. Originally when we got on the call they said they were debating between voting either Austin or Justin, with a preference for Justin to go. We called for about an hour, and throughout the call I just kind of kept on bringing up the fact that we know where Justin’s head is at right now as he’s messaging us telling us how he thinks, Austin is not doing that. And by the end of the call Joey said OK well I think I want to vote for Austin. And then Timmy said yeah I think that’s the smarter play, and I went with it as well. I think I could’ve been a little bit smoother and trying to make sure Justin stayed, but ultimately I wasn’t gonna let Justin go and I think that voting off Austin was the easier move, then going against Joey and Timmy in this round. They could be playing me, and choosing to vote for me in this round. Obviously with the first round you never know how things are going to go. I hope things work out in my favour tonight, but I will not be surprised if they try to pull a fast one on me.

So I'm very happy that we're safe, but I don't know how we still almost lost. I realize that my time in the challenge wasn't incredible, but still. Lord help us the next time we don't have disadvantages to give to the other teams. I also feel bad tacking all those disadvantages onto Andry and Austin. I really like them both and wanna work with them. But I was worried that I was being seen too much as a leader on a four person tribe. So I said we should save the Rhon team since they're already at four like us. But what I really wanted was for Dwen to get the disadvantages. Caitlin and Keaton are my #1 targets at this point. And Caitlin has a gold medal and is safe at the first team meeting she goes to. So my hope was to wipe that out. Because I don't want to end up in a situation where someone else having a gold medal puts me in a situation where I'm in trouble. I mean I've got a gold medal now too, but ya know. The only problem with that would have been a 50/50 shot of Daisy and David going home, but high risk, high reward. I let Mark decide who we were giving them to because basically everything we've done up to that point was my decision, so I'm trying to take a step back moving forward. I just hope we can pull out the next challenge too.

Honestly there isn’t too much to say here. My trust was correct, we won a challenge, I’ve dipped for a bit. We chilling and I happy thank you for coming to my Ted talk

The vote will happen in about 45 minutes, and like always I am super paranoid with the first vote in a new group people. I think this is really where trust is built, so it’s important that that people stick with the plan. Everyone’s been a little quiet, which isn’t super on brand for this group. With that being said, can’t help but feel nervous when it is like that.

I thought I did way BETTER at the immunity two wow… And so that’s on tea. Not me getting 14 minutes and having the AUDACITY TO SAY “was i the fastest?” bye

Something seems off I am not getting a good vibe

Also I feel bad we took out Cicero it was a tough choice, obviously I didn’t want anyone to go home so soon. But I like my team a lot but I know it won’t like this forever!!!

Week two was MUCH BETTA. I love Jessica forever. I really didn’t want to try and keep Jabari but it was up to her to throw out a name. There’s also a chance that I might try to team up with the guys if things stay the same moving forward. Yikes but like with never voting out Jessica. I hope if a swap comes in with Timmy or Andry

not much to say been a chill round. Dwen hasnt had to vote anyone out so that's good. I like these folks so i hope we can stay away from TMs but if i do have to go then i have a plan. not sure if it'll fly but i think i can make my case at least on why it should happen. We'll see!

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#tsolympics4 #confessionals

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shrinkthisviolet · 1 year

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I've seen you sometimes reblog stuff about how sometimes you can't change the story, and...I kind of get that feeling with your Morgan Wells series. Like Eobard is a shitty parent, we know that, and yet it wouldn't have mattered if he was a good parent, because he still murdered her real parents along with countless other people. That's not something you can come back from, especially not in his case (and ultimately no matter what his love is always going to be conditional).

Ahhh I love getting the excuse to ramble about Morgan, thank you for this :D

And yeah, absolutely! I did toy with the idea of Eobard being a good dad, especially since it would certainly make the story even more tragic (and canon implies he has people he cares about in the future, albeit in a deleted scene, though I do like taking those as canon when possible), but...Eobard is the kind of person who, even when he cares about someone like his own child, will not hesitate to kill them if they threaten his plans. Which suggests that no matter who that mysterious loved one was (imo it's Robern, but my thoughts on Eobard and his complicated family dynamics could be a whole post in and of itself), Eobard still had a very troubled childhood growing up in the CW/Arrowverse iteration (was it as messed-up as the comics? Who knows. But the early parts at least were probably the same).

He truly loves Morgan, it's not a front or a facade (and that part is so crucial to understand)...but his love is also conditional. It's unhealthy. Even if he read all the parenting books, followed all the steps...even if he was Morgan's guardian consistently for those entire 15 years, he has that mindset. Granted, even the way he sees Cisco (and arguably Caitlin too, but canonically he says this to Cisco) and Morgan is slightly different, in that Cisco is like his son while Morgan is (in his opinion) his rightful daughter and legacy (and also Cisco is an adult and his employee, which adds a bit more independence from Eowells that Morgan doesn't have), but it's also very similar. Cisco and Morgan, though they don't say it often, consider themselves siblings...largely because Eowells considers them so.

In the end...no matter how much he loves (and he does love, this is undeniable, no matter how much s4 says otherwise), Eobard Thawne will always look out for himself first and foremost, and Morgan second.

And he will never regret killing Harrison and Tess, not even as an apology to Morgan, because...in his eyes, what does it matter? Morgan was too young to remember them anyway, and he's her parent, she doesn't need anyone else (and that sense of entitlement would be even stronger if he was actually a good dad, though it's still gonna be pretty strong in my AU once we get to that point).

On that note, by the way...there's something else despicable that he's done, which Morgan doesn't know about yet (and y'all don't either ofc, that'll be revealed at the end of s1). And it just cements that mentality...that no matter what, the story always ends in tragedy for them. Eowells can never keep her as his daughter beyond s1...and Morgan, for her own peace of mind and prosperous future, has to walk away from him, because his love for her is selfish, dangerous, and destructive.

And of course, letting go of Eowells takes years for her, regardless of whether he's a loving dad or not. But she has to do it. That's how the story has to end. And if that ever changes, then the story is lost forever.

#morgan wells au #oc: morgan wells #eobard thawne #morgan & thawne #the flash

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uglyproduce · 3 years

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Identification and Planning Framework

The following trigger questions are designed to encourage debate about your project and to get some clarity about how you will proceed as a group over the coming weeks. Don’t expect to have answers for all the questions straight away, if you do you probably haven’t gone deep enough with your research.

Your Team

Who are you?

Holly

Lilly

Caitlin

Grace

What are the strengths and skills of the team?

- Communication design

- Branding

- Strong in design programmes

- Writing

- Communication + Teamwork

- Creative thinkers

Identify things that you can each do, positions and key responsibilities, background info

Your Project.

What is your concept?

Online community/marketplace for farmers to connect directly to consumers to sell 2nd grade/ugly produce. Aims to reduce waste in the farming industry and helps with surplus around lockdowns.

What is the purpose of your venture?

- Reduce food waste

- Helps lower income families access fresh food

- Helps farmers make extra income off product that may have been chucked

- produce not meeting cosmetic standards make up around 40% of total food waste

-use Te Reo in everyday practice

Who is it aimed at? Who are your potential customers?

-Low income families

-People who consume fresh produce

-people who want to help out the environment

Why should people care about this venture?

-produce not meeting cosmetic standards make up around 40% of total food waste

- Reducing food loss has been identified as one of the most effective ways to improve food security – a pressing challenge as the global population grows. Food waste also hugely contributes to global warming and our carbon footprint. In response, ugly food is fighting back. More and more companies are selling ugly produce and using it in their products, helping reverse the fate of ugly food from waste to delicious, perfectly edible and nutritious food. The burgeoning ugly produce movement also has the potential to improve food inequality by passing lower prices onto customers, and tackling public perception.”

What do you offer? Describe your products or services etc.

-app – connect page, marketplace, recipes, about the farmers, about us, farmers to farmer relationships

-delivery service, subscription

-fresh vege, butchery, eggs, raw ingredients

-commercial (restaurants)

-show where you get your produce (100% transparency)

-farm map for pickups

Outline your channel to market; how do you intend to distribute your product/.service to the market?

-delivery from farm to customer

-pickup (find nearest location on map)

Aim, Mission and Core values

What is your mission and vision for this venture?

-reduce wastage

-Benefits consumer and supplier

-ethical + 100% transparent

-encouraging healthy eating for all New Zealanders especially low income families that may struggle to find healthy options

-reduce waste lost to no hospo in lockdown

Describe the core values that underpin your business.

-ethical

-Sustainable

-equal access to fresh produce

-support framers with extra income

-use of Te reo to emphasise being local and NZ owned

Explain why these core values are crucial to the success, how they will affect customers (the benefits)? and how they will help to motivate both your team?

-people like to support ethical and sustainable businesses

-low price means a larger reach in target audience

-success comes from support from farmers who have their own gain in mind

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xtruss · 2 years

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The Devastating Economic Impacts of an Abortion Ban

The overturning of Roe v. Wade would seriously hinder women’s education, employment, and earning prospects.

— By Sheelah Kolhatkar | May 11, 2022 | The New Yorker

Illustration by Nicholas Konrad/The New Yorker

Last December, oral arguments were held before the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case leading to the leaked draft opinion last week that, if finalized, would overturn Roe v. Wade. During one especially illuminating moment, Chief Justice John Roberts attempted to draw Julie Rikelman—the litigation director of the Center for Reproductive Rights, who was arguing to have a ban on abortions after fifteen weeks in the state of Mississippi overturned—into a back-and-forth about the significance of the cutoff for having access to an abortion. Rikelman made a broader argument, that narrowing women’s access to the procedure could disproportionately harm low-income women or those experiencing personal crises. She turned to numbers to bolster her argument. “In fact,” Rikelman said, “the data has been very clear over the last fifty years that abortion has been critical to women’s equal participation in society. It’s been critical to their health, to their lives, their ability to pursue—”

“I’m sorry, what—what kind of data is that?” Roberts interrupted.

When Rikelman tried to answer, Roberts interrupted again. “Well, putting that data aside,” he said, “why would fifteen weeks be an inappropriate line?”

Listening to the exchange, Caitlin Myers, an economics professor at Middlebury College who studies gender, race, and the effects of reproductive-health policies on people’s lives, was stunned. Why would a Supreme Court Justice, in considering such a crucial issue, not be interested in knowing “the data”? Roberts’s colleagues signalled a similar disregard in the draft opinion for the Dobbs case that was published by Politico: the Justices behind the opinion seemed not to care about the issue. Where the original Roe decision acknowledged that making people carry and raise unwanted children could “force upon” women “a distressful life and future,” the draft opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, barely mentioned the substantial ways that the loss of access to safe, legal abortion would hamper the ability of women to participate fully in society.

Last fall, Myers marshalled a hundred and fifty-four economists to file an amicus brief against the abortion ban, in which they outlined decades of research on how unwanted pregnancies can affect women’s education, employment, and earning prospects, and can impact the labor market more broadly. “Economists as a whole don’t have disagreement about this,” Myers said. “This is not a question about the minimum wage—if you bring that up, then they’ll start arguing. But, if you ask about the role of childbearing in women’s lives, they don’t argue on many of the facts.”

Tiffany Green, an economist and population-health scientist and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, noted that many of those effects would disproportionately fall on those who were already marginalized—particularly women of color and nonbinary and transgender people. A few statistics help clarify how race and class influence who will most be harmed: in 2014, forty-nine per cent of all abortions were obtained by people who were below the federal poverty line. As of 2004, approximately a third were obtained by people who were white, thirty-seven per cent by those who were Black, and twenty-two per cent by Hispanic people. Black women are significantly more likely than white women to experience an unintended pregnancy, owing to disparities in the economy and the health-care system, and other factors; for the same group, childbirth is more dangerous. “Whether you believe abortion is a moral thing or not, the evidence is the evidence,” Green told me. “And the overwhelming thrust of the evidence is that this is going to negatively impact women and other pregnant people’s economic prospects, their mental health, their physical health, and ultimately their lives. The end of Roe v. Wade is likely going to have devastating fallout.”

In the brief filed to the Court, Thomas Dobbs and the State of Mississippi presented an argument about modern parenthood that seemed disconnected from reality. Dobbs, Mississippi’s state health officer, argues that the Roe v. Wade decision—and a subsequent Supreme Court case that upheld Roe in 1992, Planned Parenthood v. Casey—were simply no longer relevant to women and parents. “The march of progress has left Roe and Casey behind,” the brief reads. It goes on to suggest that factors including access to contraception, laws on family leave, and availability of child care had rendered the matter irrelevant. Furthermore, it notes, all fifty states have “safe haven” laws that make it possible to relinquish unwanted newborns to the government so that they can be adopted, often with no questions asked. All of these developments, the brief reads, “facilitate the ability of women to pursue both career success and a rich family life.” In response, Myers noted, “You don’t need an economist with fancy statistics to tell you that’s laughable.”

The legalization of abortion, in the seventies, had dramatic effects on the ages at which and the circumstances under which women became mothers. It reduced the number of teen-age mothers by a third, and that of women who got married as teen-agers by a fifth. “Those effects are concentrated among young women and women of color,” Myers said. “Even when abortion was illegal, women who had the means would find a way.” Women who were able to delay motherhood through legal access to abortion were much more likely to finish college, pursue higher degrees, spend longer in the labor force, and enter higher-paying occupations; they were much less likely to fall into poverty later in life. “Fifty years later, the question is: does it still matter?” Myers said, of abortion access. “In short, the answer is yes.”

The draft opinion suggests that the conservative members of the Court accepted as fact the fantasy version of reality presented by the Dobbs argument—or perhaps that they simply don’t think that the potential economic effects of an abortion ban on women’s lives are relevant to the discussion. In truth, most people don’t have access to paid family leave: the U.S. is one of the few nations that doesn’t guarantee paid leave to new parents. The cost of child care is prohibitively expensive, averaging more than a thousand dollars a month for infants. Research conducted by economists such as Claudia Goldin, at Harvard, and Francine Blau, at Cornell University, has shown that the gender pay gap begins to widen once women become mothers. The workplace protections that do exist for mothers apply mostly to people with college degrees; at the lower end of the economic spectrum, where hourly workers may be engaged in shift work with unpredictable hours, there are few safeguards in place. “I think we need the data. And we have it. And we gave it to them,” Myers told me. “And it just seems to not be reflected in that draft.”

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cgcpoems · 7 years

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VIRGO: So, you’re finally figuring out where the pieces of your life are supposed to fit together and ‘relief’ is a bit of an understatement. There was a time in which your existence felt a lot like trying to finish a puzzle while blindfolded: all of the parts within reach yet, still so far away. But you kept going and you found yourself again and I hope that you’re proud. I hope that when you go to sleep at night you feel comfortable with your decisions and all of the things you’ve been strong enough to overcome. I can’t promise that you won’t find yourself faced with broken things in need of fixing again, but I can promise that you’ll be able to put it back together. You always do. LIBRA: It seems like every time you leave the house nowadays you brace yourself for impact, which is another way of saying that you’ve had to abandon being soft in order to survive. You’ve had to use your voice to ask for things that your earlier self would’ve shoved under the carpet. And while that’s definitely something to be proud of, the strength you’ve found within yourself, don’t let that close you off to all of the joy that accompanies being kind and open. It’s possible to stand your ground with open palms; asking for what you deserve and embracing the gentler aspects of life aren’t mutually exclusive. They never will be unless you let them. SCORPIO: I know that it’s hard to refrain from comparing yourself to every person you meet, but you have to remember that not everybody has had the same background as you. Not everybody understands the feeling that comes with being told you’re not good enough, or the feeling of realizing that the people you thought were friends had been bringing you so far down that your back was flat against the floor. You haven’t fallen behind or lost your way just because you’ve had to take a few detours in order to find yourself. You’re trying your best, and your best is more than good enough. Someday you’ll be grateful that you kept on fighting. SAGITTARIUS: Recently you felt the spark that can only ever mean something is beginning; it’s unfortunate that sometimes this also indicates that another thing is ending. And while that’s typically sad, an event you’re bound to mourn, every closed door is an opportunity to turn yourself around and have an experience that you wouldn’t normally. Eras will end as you continue to grow into yourself, and that doesn’t mean that they’re THE end. Be self-aware and work some more on loving yourself as you embrace these fresh starts and their accompanying lifestyle changes; there’s nothing shameful about being a fan of yourself. CAPRICORN: One of the hardest things you’ll ever have to learn is that sometimes people leave and there isn’t a reason or a motive behind it, they just go. And that doesn’t mean that you did anything to instigate this, or that you push where others pull; it just means that because of whatever external reason, something wasn’t quite right. There’s no reason to make lists of all the people that you feel you’ve driven away when there are others beside you that are supportive, wanting only to shower you in the affection that you dole out so generously. The way that your peers choose to exit your life is always going to be a choice that they make themselves. You are not a burden. AQUARIUS: You don’t have to treat every beautiful thing that waltzes into your path as if it’s temporary, bound to disappear as soon as you look away. I know that it’s hard to take good fortune with anything other than a grain of salt after everything you’ve lost, but perpetually being in a state of worry when you have no reason to be so is ridiculous. Your potential for happiness is so much greater than you’re allowing yourself to have. There aren’t limits or rules when it comes to the progress you make and the people you invite into your life. If you spend all of your time walking on eggshells, you’ll never able to leave your mark. Be bold. Be genuine. PISCES: You’ve been taking happy vibes to the next level lately and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. I know occasionally you start thinking that maybe you don’t deserve to be feeling this light, or that there are more pressing aspects of your life that you should be devoting your attention to, but what you’re doing right now is more than okay. It’s encouraged, in fact. Try not to hold yourself to a higher standard than you would hold the people that you love to. The perfectionist that shows up within you very once in awhile to make unnecessary comments about your progress isn’t the boss of you, you’re the boss of it. Allow yourself to be happy without any strings attached. ARIES: It always takes time to adjust to a situation that you’ve never been in before, especially when you’re doing it all by yourself. Don’t forget that you’ve seen and conquered cities much bigger than this one. I know that everything in you wants to make a snap judgement regarding whether or not you like the direction you’re walking in, but try to refrain from doing so too soon as it could change your perception of an otherwise lovely experience. Give this road a chance before re-routing and switching courses altogether. Listen to your gut, you know more than anybody else what will benefit you most in the long run. TAURUS: Are your days really blurring together, or are you so afraid of feeling something new that you’re hiding behind the safety of monotony? Sure, you’re stuck in more than a couple of ways, nobody’s denying that you’ve faced more than your share of quicksand. But something you should consider is how your actions play into that. I think there’s a sort of comfort in being stationary, as you know exactly what to expect, but I also think that you deserve a better quality of life than you’re currently getting and some of the responsibility for changing that rests on your shoulders. Try something new this month and see what happens next. GEMINI: The heat of summer has peaked and descended and you’re finally able to leave the house without getting burned. This means that it’s time to refamiliarize yourself with your surroundings, because in the midst of life and all its trials I think you’ve forgotten about what’s in front of you. Examining the ground that your feet touch day after day, with eyes that are wise and observant and actually looking, can lead to revelations about yourself. I know that you’ve felt the holes in your life as of late and you’ve been looking for something to fill them, and the materials to do this are closer than you think. You might already be holding them. CANCER: It’s really easy to overthink your choices when you’ve become accustomed to exposing the soft parts of yourself only to be handled roughly and without the right amount of care. And yet despite your history of hurt you’re still choosing to try again, which says a lot more about you than other people’s actions ever could. Nobody is going to hate you for laying bare your heart and soul, and if they do then that means they don’t deserve to see it anyways. You are allowed to feel proud of your accomplishments and you’re allowed to be vocal about it. Don’t be hesitant with self praise and accepting it from others. Everyone’s rooting for you. LEO: Your environment lately has been hectic, to say the least, and that’s starting to take a toll on you more than you can probably see. I know that it feels as though you don’t have time to take a break, and that in order to cross-off every task on your never-ending to-do list you need to constantly be on the run, but that’s just your anxiety talking. While time is a constant wave that we’re all riding, that doesn’t mean you can’t lay back and enjoy the view as you float. Caring for yourself will never be detrimental to your progress, as the health of your mind and body are crucial when it comes to success. Give yourself a break for not being a superhero.

SEPTEMBER HOROSCOPES, by Caitlin Conlon

#astrology #zodiac #horoscope #spilled ink #poets on tumblr #caitlin conlon #cgcoriginal #september horoscopes

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differentnutpeace · 3 years

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The Future Of The Pandemic In The U.S.: Experts Look Ahead

A year after the pandemic shut down the country, a growing number of infectious disease experts, epidemiologists, public health officials and others have started to entertain a notion that has long seemed out of reach: The worst of the pandemic may be over for the United States. หวย บอล เกมส์ สล็อต คาสิโนออนไลน์

No one thinks that's guaranteed by any means. There are many ways the pandemic could resurge. But many say it's becoming increasingly possible that the end may finally be in sight.

Even experts who have raised the alarm about the severity of the COVID-19 crisis nonstop for more than a year are optimistic.

"The worst may in fact be behind us," says Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown School of Public Health, one of more than 20 people interviewed by NPR for this story. "To be able to say: 'I think, [I'm] cautiously optimistic that the worst may be behind us?' Boy, that does feel really good."

Now, to be clear, more than 50,000 people are still getting infected daily with the coronavirus and hundreds are dying. So there's a great deal of sickness and suffering still in store for the country before the pandemic ends.

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How Is The COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Going In Your State?

And the newfound optimism comes with three big caveats: The worst may be over if too many people don't let down their guard too fast, if the more dangerous variants don't make cases surge before enough people get vaccinated, and if the vaccination campaign doesn't stumble badly.

But if none of those problems occurs, life could slowly but steadily return to something much more normal.

The optimism is based on the rapid ramp-up of the vaccination campaign combined with the fact that a significant proportion of the country already has some immunity from being exposed to the virus, and the warmer weather that is linked to slower viral spread.

"If all goes well, if we stick by the public health measures, if we effectively vaccinate, I think we are looking at a brighter future over the next several months. That's entirely conceivable and probably likely," says Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Now, not everyone is quite ready to say the worst might be over. Several experts worry about the more contagious variants combining with too many communities lifting mask mandates and other restrictions and too many people letting down their guard, especially over spring break and Easter.

"I'm worried," says Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "If you wanted to put all the viral ingredients in one big mixing bowl to cause them to transmit in ways that would be very damaging to us, do what we're doing right now."

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How To Sign Up For A COVID-19 Vaccine In Your State

In fact, new hot spots may already be emerging, especially in Michigan and other parts of the Midwest, and in the Northeast, including New York City and New Jersey. Not only has infections started increasing in dozens of state, but hospitalizations may have also started creeping up again in at least a dozen states, according to new data from Pinar Karaca-Mandic and her team at the University of Minnesota COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project.

But while most experts agree that there's still a sword of Damocles hanging over the nation's hopes, most think that the country could avoid another big surge such as the one that occurred over the winter.

"There are nightmare scenarios that we can paint out. And I can't say that those are such remote possibilities that we can dismiss them," says Jeffrey Shaman, an infectious disease researcher at Columbia University. "But I do think that this was probably the worst, and it will continue to go down."

Here's a road map to what we can expect for the future of the pandemic in the United States.

Late spring and summer: a cautious return to social life

Experts NPR spoke to predict that this spring, as more people are vaccinated, more people may be able to return safely to stores, restaurants and work, more children could return to in-person learning, and small groups of fully vaccinated people can get together for dinner parties indoors without masks.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued guidelines that say vaccinated people can already start to get together that way.

And if case counts continue to decline and vaccination rates increase, many public health authorities think the summer could be even better.

"Life will get better for sure," says Ali Mokdad at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. "We will see more grandparents visiting and hugging their grandchildren. More restaurants will open. We will see sport events. Weddings. Church and religious events. We will have summer camp for kids. People will travel more."

In fact, Mokdad says, he has plans to fly to see his mother.

Still, Mokdad stresses that activities such as summer camps could only probably safely operate with precautions, such as random testing, mask-wearing and open windows to provide fresh air.

And Americans still need to be careful: Hot spots could flare up due to the variants, people getting careless and triggering superspreader events, and among pockets of people who haven't gotten vaccinated.

"Specific communities may see a resurgence because of the variants — there may be hot spots," says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "But I don't think there will be another wave like we saw in the winter."

Fall: Schools reopen, and life starts feeling almost normal

By the fall, while young children still won't be vaccinated because scientists have just started testing the vaccines on them, their teachers hopefully will be. So in places where infections are low, schools should be pretty safe, experts told NPR.

Students will probably still wear masks and may still need to keep their distance from one another. But hopefully no more slogging through school on laptops at the kitchen table for most kids.

Experts predict in-person schools will be able to open widely around the country by fall. Some places already have, such as Medora Elementary School in Louisville, Ky.

Jon Cherry/Getty Images

"I am counting on it, and I'm thrilled," says Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who has a 7-year-old son. "Seven-year-olds aren't supposed to spend their entire days on a computer."

Researchers such as Fauci hope that more aspects of our day-to-day lives could edge back closer to pre-pandemic times.

"It is conceivable, and probably likely, by the time we get to the fall — late fall, early winter, by the end of this year — that we have a gradual but very noticeable and important return to some form of normality," Fauci says.

Winter: Brace for another possible surge — and booster shots

Some experts worry the virus could follow a seasonal pattern like the flu and surge again in the late fall or early winter. And that threat may be even greater because of the variants, especially the strains originally spotted in South Africa and Brazil that appear to be better at evading natural immunity and the vaccines.

The vaccine works against the U.K. variant, says Mokdad of the University of Washington, so with more vaccination, other variants may become dominant. "And by winter we assume these two will become the dominant one unless we have more that show up. And they will cause more infections and more mortality."

But even if there is no new winter surge, the virus won't be gone. It just hopefully won't be causing anything like the suffering that's already occurred.

It could, however, still be causing significant problems in parts of the world that haven't gotten vaccinated, which could spawn new, even more dangerous variants that could travel to the United States.

As a result, the country will probably need new versions of the vaccines for the variants and booster shots. And many experts say it's crucial that the U.S. help the rest of the world vaccinate as quickly as possible, too.

"If we don't get rid of this thing everywhere, it's going to just come back and get us again," says Robert Murphy, executive director of Northwestern University's Institute for Global Health. "The virus will continue to mutate. This is really a worldwide problem."

The pandemic's aftereffects

But even if the country is on the road out of this, the impact has been tremendous, and the aftereffects are likely to be long-lasting, many experts say.

"This pandemic is right up there as a world-changing event. It has already had a profound impact on society, on basic questions like the nature of our social interactions. It's already shaped and reshaped this particular generation," says Keith Wailoo, a historian at Princeton University. "And the ripple effects are likely to play out for years, perhaps even decades to come."

The pandemic revealed some deep problems, such as how society treats older people, poor people and people of color.

"Pandemics create what some people have called a kind of stress test for all of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities and fault lines of societies, and I think that's been especially true of COVID-19," says Allan Brandt, a historian at Harvard University.

It could change so many parts of our lives. Our homes. Our work. Travel. How we touch each other. Will the elbow bump replace the handshake for good?

Online schooling and social distancing have taken a toll on kids and adults during the pandemic. The aftereffects of such widespread social challenges may be felt for years, experts say.

Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

"There's a whole realm of everyday interpersonal practices that are going to be, you know, very, very hard to revisit and redevelop easily, like handshaking and kissing and hugging," Wailoo says. "Or even walking closely together with friends and laughing together. All of these things today carry the stigma of disease transmission."

The Black Death led to the Renaissance. The 1918-19 flu pandemic gave way to the roaring '20s. We've just begun the new '20s. It's impossible to know what world will emerge as the virus recedes. But it seems pretty clear we'll be hearing the echoes of this pandemic for a long time.

"The disruptions to our economy, to our sense of safety in the world are of an order that our established ways of thinking are likely to undergo some pretty significant changes," says Nancy Tomes, a historian at Stony Brook University.

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ralphlayton · 4 years

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Best Of Social Media Marketing: Fuel Your 2021 With Our Top 10 SMM Posts

In 2020 B2B marketers continued to find new and creative uses of social media marketing during a pandemic year unlike any other, and we've been fortunate to feature many excellent articles on our blog over the year that explore how marketers are pushing social media marketing to fuel new levels of success. We're lucky to have a wealth of talented B2B marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing blog — which will celebrate its 18th year in 2021 — including our CEO Lee Odden, Joshua Nite, Elizabeth Williams, Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson, Debbie Friez, Birdie Zepeda, the author of this post, and Alexis Hall, among others. The insight and expertise our team has acquired helping some of the top brands in the world including 3M, Adobe, SAP, LinkedIn, and Oracle plan, implement and measure a variety of marketing programs has often made it here to our blog. To help our blog community grow their social media marketing knowledge, we're delighted to offer our annual list of the most popular social media marketing posts of 2020. The social media marketing posts that proved to be our most popular of 2020 based on web analytics and social media data are listed below. We hope that they will help you ask the right questions and provide best-answer solutions to some of the most important challenges we'll all be facing anew in 2021. We give many thanks to all of our blog authors for their work in advocating social media marketing best practices, and especially to our dedicated readers for continuing to make the TopRank Marketing blog a go-to B2B marketing resource.

Our Most Popular Social Media Marketing Posts in 2020:

1. Social Media Polls For Marketers: 6 B2B Brands Winning With LinkedIn Polls — Lane R. Ellis

Data from social media polls shows what customers are thinking about when it comes to a variety of important subjects, and in the most popular social media marketing post of 2020 on our blog, I took a look at how B2B brands Microsoft, Olive Communications UK, Redis Labs, LinkedIn News, Dell, and RateLinx are winning with LinkedIn polls. Polls offer a unique two-for-one value for B2B marketers, providing quality feedback on what customers want while also offering brands a powerful interactive social media marketing element. This post examines the year's changes in online polls, and gives examines of how B2B marketers and brands are using social media polls in innovative ways, including six B2B brands winning with LinkedIn polls. You can check out all of my posts here, and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“Poll data shows what marketers are thinking about when it comes to a variety of important subjects, ranging from everyday tasks to far-reaching future trends.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

2. Get Ready For Video In 2021: Watch 5 Creative Examples of B2B Marketing on YouTube — Lane R. Ellis

In our second most popular social media marketing post of the year, I share the latest from YouTube, and how B2B marketers are using the video platform to power creative and engaging campaigns. Taking a look at YouTube Shorts and other features adding in 2020, we also share five creative examples of successful B2B marketing on the platform from:

Adobe*

Constant Contact

Deloitte

Ernst & Young

[bctt tweet="“YouTube’s orbit casts a wide swath in the B2B marketing universe, and 64 percent of B2B buyers have increased their use of online video during the pandemic.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

3. 32 Top Social Media Marketing Influencers To Follow — Lane R. Ellis

With a powerful group of 32 top social media marketing professionals to follow and learn from, our third most popular social media marketing article highlights how the SMM industry is bursting with innovative B2B marketing professionals — people who push the boundaries of existing social platforms, embrace new ones, and ditch low-performers. We’ve put together a list of 32 top social media marketers that includes a number of fantastic folks who may not already be on your Twitter “following” list, in addition to some industry stalwarts who those new to social media marketing would be wise to follow and learn from. We’ve also added a quote, tip, or short lesson from each of these 32 subject matter experts, to help inspire your own social media marketing efforts. [bctt tweet="“With unprecedented targeting via the social media platforms, it is essential brands and media companies not take a one size fits all approach with their social video strategy.” — Caitlin Angeloff @caitlinangeloff" username="toprank"]

4. 5 Things to Know About Building Trust in the Age of Social Media — Nick Nelson

In the fourth most popular social media marketing post of 2020, our content marketing manager Nick Nelson shares five items to help build trust in the age of social media. Nick also explores the roles that trust and transparency play in developing an effective B2B social media strategy during this unprecedented time, along with examining how brands can best reach the crucial objective of trust-building using social media today. You can check out all of Nick's posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“The worst stand any brand can take is standing still.” @NickNelsonMN #SocialMediaMarketing #PurposeDriven #B2B" username="toprank"]

5. Active Social Media Listening: Tips for a New Era of COVID-19 — Debbie Friez

Now is the time to listen beyond your basic brand searches, and in our fifth most popular social media marketing post of the year, our influencer marketing strategist Debbie Friez helps you dive into the many insights B2B marketers can gain from social media listening, along with tips for better social marketing during times of crisis. Debbie shares insight from Meltwater's Lance Concannon, Brandwatch's Joshua Boyd, Sprout Social's Kristin Johnson, Sprinklr's Ragy Thomas, and other subject matter experts. Social media listening requires marketers to move beyond monitoring to analyzing the full situation, which can often be a moving target, and Debbie takes a close look in this insightful piece. You can check out all of Debbie's posts here, and follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“Social listening tools move beyond the top level of monitoring and help hone your strategy with deeper insights into the sentiment, regional differences, and understanding of the conversation.” — Debbie Friez @dfriez" username="toprank"]

6. 10 Fresh Social Media Marketing Tools To Boost Brand Storytelling — Lane R. Ellis

Have you tried all 10 of these fresh social media marketing tools? In our sixth most popular post of the year, I show how to refine and expand your brand storytelling with 10 of the year's latest social media tools. Sifting through tens of thousands of available tools can be a hit and miss proposition, but these 10 fresh marketing tools let you skip most of the research queue and get right into useful tools for helping you tell marketing stories in new ways through social media. Learn from our collection of 10 fresh tools to boost your social media marketing experiences, including image and video manipulation tools, headline analysis utilities, social media monitoring apps, and more. [bctt tweet="“Sifting through thousands of available tools can be a hit and miss proposition, making reviews and vetted lists of truly useful utilities more useful than ever for helping you tell marketing stories in new ways.” @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

7. 8 Things B2B Marketers Need To Know About Reddit in 2021 — Lane R. Ellis

In our seventh most popular social media marketing post of the year, I take a look at whether B2B marketers should be using Reddit, and share eight things B2B marketers need to know, including how businesses are using it, the latest news from the social media platform, and why more firms than ever will be using it in 2021 and beyond. We also take a look at just how effective Reddit is for advertising and organic marketing communication, and dig in to some of the top tips and advice for B2B marketers new to Reddit or those looking to expand their presence on the social media platform. While Reddit may no longer be the wild west for B2B marketers, incorporating it into your strategy doesn’t have to be a shootout at high noon if you take to heart the information explored in this article.

[bctt tweet="“Reddit has also been a popular platform for hosting ask-me-anything (AMA) events, which can be a good way for B2B firms to begin utilizing the service if the interviewee is especially relevant to a particular topic.” @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

8. Our 10 Top Social Media Marketing Posts of 2019 — Lane R. Ellis

In our eighth most popular social media marketing article of the year, I examine some of the writing that resonated with B2B marketers over the year, offering a variety of approaches to social media marketing success. From top-notch B2B marketers to follow lists, under-the-radar LinkedIn* features, social media statistics to the subtleties of Twitter lists and B2B social video, these practical and helpful posts offer a glimpse at many aspects of successful social strategy. [bctt tweet="“It’s clear that B2B social media marketing is strong and growing stronger, and it’s also apparent that direction and guidance in where to focus your B2B social efforts is needed now more than ever.” @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

9. 5 Ways to Make Brand Social Media Profiles More Compelling — Joshua Nite

In our ninth most-popular B2B social media marketing post of the year, our senior content marketing manager Joshua Nite shares five ways to make brand social media profiles more compelling. "Brands have never had such rich opportunities to interact with customers and potential customers. They’ve never been able to so easily display what the brand is about, what it stands for, and how it can bring value to people," Josh noted in this insightful and popular piece, in which he shows how savvy B2B marketers can:

Ditch the Corporate-Speak

Eliminate Problematic Language

Say Why You’re Here

Focus on What You Do for Your Audience

Include a Call to Action

You can check out all of Josh's posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“There’s still a real possibility to engage with your audience on social, start conversations, and build relationships. And it all starts with making sure your profile invites people in and gives them a next step to take.” @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

10. 5 Case Studies on How to Optimize B2B Influencer Engagement on LinkedIn — Lee Odden

How are B2B brands successfully working with influencers to achieve marketing goals using professional social media platform LinkedIn? In the tenth most popular social media marketing article of the year, our CEO Lee Odden shares five helpful case studies showing how to successfully engage B2B influencers on LinkedIn. "While there are robust opportunities to connect with potential customers on LinkedIn, the platform is busier than ever, making it hard to stand out," Lee noted. "There are also challenges in terms of reduced organic visibility and the trend towards distrust of sales outreach and what brands publish directly. With so much information, many buyers are suffering what I call Content Attention Deficit," Lee explained — a deficit he explores in detail in this insight-filled article. You can check out all of Lee's 2,600+ posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“Before you get started with B2B influencer engagement on LinkedIn, it’s essential that you have a documented influencer marketing strategy.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

Thanks TopRank Marketing Writers & Readers

There you have it — an especially strong array of our 10 most popular social media marketing posts from the particularly unusual year of 2020. Additionally, we publish several social media influencer lists every year, and we wanted to share them here as a helpful way to find and follow some of the leading digital marketing influencers:

25 Top B2B Marketing Influencers To Follow In 2021 #MPB2B

50 Top B2B Content Marketing Influencers To Follow in 2021 #CMWorld

20 B2B Influencer Marketing Pros to Follow from Top Brands

32 Top Social Media Marketing Influencers To Follow

Another helpful resource for B2B marketers to learn about crafting a successful B2B influencer marketing program is our recently-launched Inside Influence series, featuring interviews with top industry experts such as the latest episode with Marshall Kirkpatrick of Sprinklr. We published dozens of posts this year specifically about social media marketing, a tradition we'll continue in 2021, so stay tuned. Please let us know which social media marketing topics and ideas you'd like to see us focus on for 2021 — we'd love to hear your suggestions. Many thanks to each of you who read our blog regularly, and to all of you who comment on and share our posts on the TopRank Marketing social media channels at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. *Dell, RateLinx, Adobe, and LinkedIn are TopRank Marketing clients.

The post Best Of Social Media Marketing: Fuel Your 2021 With Our Top 10 SMM Posts appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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