#the antithesis of irene

[1eos]

im really gonna have to accept that leo's just nice as hell like naurrrrrrrrrrr not mother leoteresa keeping the children fed omg 😭😭😭😭

[randombush3]

my kink is karma

alexia putellas x reader

This is an ode to exes

Which i don’t think is the point of the song but who cares

[...]

Alexia storms into the changing room. It’s not the first time, but it’s the worst strop ever seen, and she might as well have crossed her arms and screamed and cried because her mood is hardly subtle. 

She’s not trying to keep it a secret, though. 

Today is the first day after this season’s transfer window. Namely, the day of awkward set plays and trying to gel a team in far too little time. It’s a busy period for any leader – Alexia, as captain, knows that – and she should be focused. She would be focused, but…

“She’s gone, then?” asks Irene, too respected to be burnt to a crisp by the fire Alexia will roar at any who prod her. Safe and sound, she chances a hand on her teammate’s shoulder. It’s pushed off, searing hot and melted. 

“On the pitches. Now.” 

The team groans in unison. 

…

Tuesday. 

You hate Tuesdays. 

You think you always have. They just suck. 

And it’s worse because this is a foreign country and this is a foreign pitch and this isn’t home; home kicked you out, betrayed and shrieking about it shamelessly. 

Home took advantage of the expensive rent – the price of privacy – to throw your decision at you with nothing but selfishness, personifying herself into the antithesis of ‘supportive girlfriend’. 

Good thing she’s your ex-girlfriend. 

You swallow the lump in your throat. 

…

The first Spain camp since things ended is a shitshow. The team is already a disorientated herd of misled sheep, searching for safety amongst wolves and butchers. World Cup medals now dusted and stored at parents’ houses, it begins to wear off, that bliss, that haze. 

Now it’s all glares across changing rooms and divided friend groups. Whispered questions behind your back run down the muscles – have you gotten more toned since you left?! – like hot water from steaming showers, gossip flowing like an unstoppable river. You let the current take you. You drown in your tears some nights. 

Now it’s Alexia, burning like an inferno, punching holes in pads at the gym. With every hit, she grunts as though loud noises scare off ex-girlfriends (of which, she is afraid she is accumulating). Deceived by the Devil herself, red-hot and ablaze, she watches the past go up in flames. She shoots you more harsh looks. She feels the heat radiating in her throat, in her chest, in the bridges disintegrating before her. And she doesn’t care, no: if Karma’s real, she hopes it’s your turn. 

“Now it’s funny, though,” you insist, sitting with Laia at lunch because it’s hard to face her cronies. You’re a traitor. ��Comical.” 

Laia buys none of your good humour. Laia has watched the obsession crawl into your ears, piercing skin and bone until it plagues your mind. 

“I heard she’s losing it,” she says to make you feel better. Because you’re not finding it funny, not really. “Moved back in with her mum and all.” 

“You know, she struggles to be alone. She’ll have someone new soon – someone younger than me, someone to make her feel like she’s in control.” It’s easy to say things like this now. Easy to scorn and be scorned, easy to hate her and hate that it’s hate you feel. 

But whatever. You have other things to worry about. 

…

She’s mindlessly drunk – there is no other way to cope tonight. There you are in Paris, elegant and poised, amazonian as you stride the green carpet, amicable as you converse with Messi. 

And, well, here she is. 

It’s a tantrum, really. It’s not fair – life’s not fair – and she is belly-up on the floor, arms and legs battering the rug hard enough for clouds of dust to erupt from the fabric. She is aware of her tears, aware of the sheer ridiculousness of her behaviour, too, but she is enraged. Absolutely fucking fuming, even. 

No one else is here, but she feels watched nonetheless. Your eyes are sharp as you stare her down, the screen not enough to make it hurt less, nothing but the meltdown serving to dull whatever it is that’s bubbling up inside her. The Ballon D’or is just as much a traitor as you are.

It can’t just move on like that. It can’t just not be hers. She can’t lose it. 

She knew it was inevitable, but it’s still not right. And it’s not fair. And it’s not supposed to be yours. 

You’re not supposed to be winning. 

Before she knows it, her phone is in her hand and her mouth is running like it has your long, athletic legs and goals aren’t being scored but rather launched like missiles into unsuspecting audience members. 

“Ale, you can’t talk about her like that.” 

Somewhere in England, you are sitting down with a smug smile glossed over your lips. 

Alexia tears at the image in her mind until her eyes are red and your face is too. 

…

Shining and shimmering, you continue to dazzle under the spotlight. The move was a good idea, and the training is paying off. You are finally getting the recognition you were owed.

And you begin to keep score, mentally. 

It’s a competition that Alexia is always going to lose, and you are loving it. 

She’s injured again, her knee giving out after being pushed too far in the Southern Hemisphere (you’d warned her – vindication). 

She dyed her hair back. 

She looks exhausted, she looks like she is ruined, she looks like a building waiting for a wrecking ball to take the final swing. 

God, you are enjoying this. 

A few months go by and you can add crashing her car to the list. 

You’re counting every mistake, every falter, every trip and fall. You’re watching her like a hawk, waiting for it to be enough, for it to be satisfying. You’re addicted to it, to the feeling of justice, of facing consequences that slowly become misfortune. 

It’s… hot. Watching the rug be pulled out from under her feet is weirdly empowering. Lucifer has fallen from Heaven. Finally. 

People say you’re jealous, but your kink is karma. 

[sillybillyguysyall]

I genuinely love Irene, from the little we know about her it paints such an interesting story.

Irene knows no love, and I love that about her.

Love has so far damned her, she was in love with Shad and in turn Shad was in love with her. Despite that, there was no peace for they always fought, Shad being the antithesis to Irene. She tried everything, but nothing worked to stop destruction. Then you had Kul’zak and Esmund who were also in love with, but presumably she didn’t love them back. That probably destroyed her from the inside out. Irene doesn’t love because love is the reason why everything went wrong. Irene most likely genuinely wants to help everyone, that’s what she set out to do in the beginning. Though the care that she displayed is exact reason of her down fall.

The same exact thing is happening with Aphmau in MCD. Aphmau may or may not be in love with Garroth and/or Laurance in the beginning. That isn’t important, what is that this loved caused most of later events of season one to happen. Laurance likely wouldn’t have become a shadow knight ( probably debatable.) Garroth most likely wouldn’t have given into Zane. There is also an argument to be made that he might’ve not stayed behind, but I think he would’ve since he is “the Protector.” Then in season two love costed Aaron’s life, leaving Aphmau alone with their child. Love is costing Aphmau people, and it’s a really just a ticking time bomb until she breaks.

Her conversation with Alexis about love is really telling (I don’t remember the episode, but it’s season two near the beginning.) Its about people loving them, but not knowing what to do. Alexis expresses her feelings and how she fell out of liking Malachi and Levin romantically. Though a reason for this is it becoming too much. This parallels Garroth and Laurance, Aphmau expressing a similar sentiment. Aphmau is overwhelmed with love and it shows. She doesn’t know what to do with it, and lets it run it’s course ( feel free to disagree with me on this, I might’ve missed a lot.)

If season three was finished I like to be believe that it would end with Aphmau losing her ability to love just like Irene did. After killing or possibly reincarnating Shad she would lock herself back in the Irene dimension. Explains why she disappeared after awhile as her daughter Aline explained.

All this to say is that I believe that Irene has put herself in a constant loop of falling in and out of love. Then eventually losing all of her emotions in the process. Irene’s origins are already murky to begin with, and I’d like to believe that she had a past before Irene. Perhaps she even had more, which all ended the same way. Everyone around her loving her, but this love causing destruction. It’s a constant cycle as Irene tries to find a time where she can love and it won’t cause destruction. It’s tragic and that’s why I love it, Irene as much as she cannot feel, she desires to.

That’s my silly little interpretation of Irene :) I probably missed a lot of things since it’s been like 3 years since I’ve watched the series, but binge watching will be great. Oh and I also might be wrong on a lot of this. Also second disclaimer I did not watch MyStreet in full.

[consulting-writer]

Alright back to the end of ASiB:

“Jim Moriarty sends his love.”

Sherlock figures it out here, what the password to Irene’s phone is.

Irene scoffs and says “Look at the poor man. You don’t think I was actually interested in you? Why, because you’re the great Sherlock Holmes in the funny hat?

Sherlock says, “No”, it’s because he took her pulse. “Elevated and pupils dilated”. Yet, I know this was comparable to when he checked Mrs. Hudson after she was attacked by the Americans.

But. She and Sherlock both knew she was fine (when John suggested she leave for her wellbeing). And while I know Mrs. Hudson took a hit to the face and was dragged upstairs, maybe she was excited because she knew 1) She had the phone, 2) Sherlock was going to help and, 3) She had to put on her best performance

Let’s not forget how Sherlock met Mrs. Hudson and how her entire character is capable and lenient towards caring for Sherlock and John’s antics—she ain’t normal, she also did donuts in series 4. We don’t mess with Mrs. H.

So it’s possible Sherlock put two and two together and figured, after Irene got cocky and stated “Jim Moriarty sends his love” and continued on about him being the best “consulting criminal” and being her “kind of man”, that Irene was hiding something for Moriarty, something important.

And maybe, just maybe: Irene was to Moriarty what Mrs. Hudson was to Sherlock (the antithesis of consulting detective vs. consulting criminal)

Irene was acting JUST like Mrs. Hudson was.

“I’d imagine John Watson thinks love is a mystery to me but the chemistry is incredibly simple and destructive.”

To me, I believe he’s talking about Moriarty.

Why?

Sherlock also mentions Irene’s measurements again, how when they met she told him a disguise is a self portrait: but she was naked, a blank canvas. She didn’t put her feelings into anything which was why “It wasn’t real”. She was moving exactly as Moriarty wanted her to, which is why Sherlock mentions the intimacy and sentiment of the password:

Irene does not understand because she did not set the password: she allowed someone else control over her life, her heart (the phone) and it ruled her head (the power got to her head, as Sherlock states—she got too excited, moved too far ahead of herself by simply stating Moriarty sent his love, i.e. his obsession of Sherlock, i.e. “Sherlocked”—she is merely a hand to hold the phone, but the phone is her life—that’s where she messed up. She put too much at risk “on the losing side” because Moriarty cares more about Sherlock than Irene ever would.

Just like Mrs. Hudson was a hand to hold the phone and was also Sherlock’s experiment to test her pulse,

Irene becomes the mirror or antithesis to Mrs. Hudson because, unlike Mrs. H, Irene is cocky. Unlike Sherlock, Moriarty’s motivation is excitement and shock and whatever fascination he has for Sherlock.

Sherlock recognizes the same play he did with Mrs. Hudson only 30 minutes before in the episode and reacts accordingly.

“Jim Moriarty sends his love” ≠ Irene loves Sherlock.

P.S: Right after Irene is officially introduced, after she says on the phone “I think it’s time, don’t you?”, Mrs. Hudson is shown in the next scene, if we’re looking for mirrors

[monitionem]

"Do you think in another reality, would we have been lovers then?" Arath questioned with a low voice. He gripped the woman's hand while speaking in a solemn manner. One of the few creatures who resembled him and had transcended beyond death was standing in front of him. Her wings could have blinded him at first sight; they were as white as snow and the void. "No." Without hesitating, she said to him. The response arrived quickly, its words piercing the man's heart. The agony just as unbearable as his desire to get rid of her. "We would have been more than what we are now. You would have been the antithesis of everything I stand for—more than just my other half. In the same way as you, I would have also been."

She said, whispering to him. Granting him the facade of privacy that would be granted to the two of them. She made no move to pry apart his hand from hers, instead she moved the other. Draping the cape she wore over her shoulders to instead don as a veil,The white material that may easily be confused for something else.

"But then if that existence of that universe truly existed." She gave it a thought, "The imbalance of our contradictions would birth something we could never achieve."

Lady Danae = Lady Irene

Shad = Arath

(omg cringe writing )

[theloniousbach]

ALMOST COUCH TOUR: SINGERS’ PIANISTS’ TRIOS AT MEZZROW’S

ALAN BROADBENT with Harvie S and Billy Mintz, 30 JANUARY 2023, 1st set

LAURENCE HOBGOOD with Matt Clohesy and Jared Schonig, 31 JANUARY 2023, 1st set

I caught both of the second sets in real couch tour time, so I was inclined to come back for the rest of the night. ALAN BROADBENT and this trio are Mezzrow’s regulars whom I’m always glad to see; indeed last week I wanted precisely their sophistication and solidity. LAURENCE HOBGOOD was on my radar going back to my first Jazz St Louis season, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw him three weeks ago. The surprise was at his power and drive.

Hobgood was for many years Kurt Elling’s accompanist and, now that I think about it, Broadbent’s work with Irene Kral (on Where is Love?) is singular. Throw in that I saw Mathis Picard with a Jazz from Lincoln Center tour backing up—as he did earlier in the season with Veronica Swift—Shenel John, Brianna Thomas, and Vuyo Shosaste, and I’m of a mind to think about what accompanying the human voice does. Picard was appropriately sensitive but with an air of mischief as he had a whole band to interact with. Broadbent with Kral had more intimate responsibilities to shape and support her interpretations. There’s a freedom in the duo format different from Picard being puckish. Accompanists have a deep deep grasp of all the corners of the Great American Songbook. I haven’t heard Hobgood with Elling (chalk it up to my thing about singers) but what he showed in his trio work was an inventiveness in rearranging things.

In his second set, BROADBENT has ended with a couple of Dizzy Gillespie tunes, but the first one was framed by Charlie Parker blues. In there was Hank Mobley’s This I Dig of You and Tadd Dameron’s If You Could See Me Now as well as two originals. So a set of jazz standards not the GASB, but this band delivers reliably smart, elegant swing. It’s a treat to see them mesh as Billy Mintz is so dry and subtle while Harvie S makes his own rhythmic and harmonic contributions. Broadbent delivers his own intelligence. I’ve written about them often, suffice to say that I’m often enough in the mood for what they do.

HOBGOOD does deep rearrangements and there were some songs qua songs in there—Straighten Up and Fly Right, If It’s Magic, and Que Sera Sera. Maybe a singer would take up these versions, but I think they wanted to take these tunes for extended rides. That they also included Hobgood originals including for a mentor who composed New Music and Wayne Shorter put the singer/accompanist dynamic well in the rear view window. But that has to be part of his playing, both thesis and antithesis.

These players’ experiences as accompanists were not to the fore at these gigs, but it is a side of most pianists’ backgrounds. I am very slowly recognizing that side of jazz, so I test it out with these favorites.

[human-antithesis]

Hermit’s Lair - Human Antithesis https://t.me/Human_Antithesis

Déhà - Cruel Words (March 19th, 2019) Country: Belgium Genres: Sludge Metal, Post-Rock Reuploaded: FLAC

Everything composed by Olmo Lipani A.K.A. Déhà

Miscellaneous Staff:

Oana Beatrice Popescu - Artwork

Irene Serrano: Artwork, Photography, Layout

Céline Dejoie - Photography

Reinhard Hirschauer - Lyrics (Track 1)

Label: Musical Excrements

Tracklist:

I Am Mine To Break - 07:32

Pain is a Wasteland - 07:12

Blackness in May - 08:17

Butterflies - 07:31

Dead Butterflies - 12:48

Cruel Words - 10:18

[ofgentleresolve]

1 3 8 for Mana and Lam!

@thegreenswillcome || another munday meme i am late on 😅 ( multimuse opinion corner prompt. )

1. where did you get your idea for them?

mana: hahaha fun story there xia- mana actually started off as a shitty self-insert in the ace attorney rpc + a ton of teenage angst...that being said, over the years, i think one that has remained with her all throughout is the fact that she supposed to be an ordinary human...like, she has no super special powers or destiny tied to her- she's just an ordinary person who was simply given some of the worst hands in life :'D

lam: so actually lam started out as a character for a short story i did for class before i made him mana's high school history teacher. and then about a year later, i thought 'bruh what if i put all of my high school and college anxieties into a muse and the multiplied that by three?' and that's how lam was initially born. robin as always been a huge part of his story too although how she's been incorportated as changed over time!

3. do you have any npcs you’d like to talk about more?

mana: there are quite a few individuals who i could talk about like all the adult figures in her life and how they've all failed her as a child in one capacity or another...however, that's a depressing topic so maybe i'll go with calum's roommate, irene lee. irene is basically mana's antithesis- when they were in college, she was also friends with daniel ( whom she had a crush on ) and calum and more or less wanted to be friends with mana too. the only problem was that to mana, back when they were in college, irene often came off as well-meaning but tone-deaf. like she meant well....but also often failed to take context into account and would say fairly simplistic/blank statements that ultimately wouldn’t help anyone. this is the main reason that both daniel and calum ultimately were more comfortable with confiding in mana.

lam: answered! but also c*ocaine donald and his friendship with lam?? techncially he was robin’s ex at one point, so i’d have to talk about robin too....anyways i feel like most of his development tends to come spontaneously so i’d like to keep it that way for now ^^

8. what songs remind you of your oc?

mana: strangely enough, music isn’t actually something I associate mana with nearly as much as say, her boyfriend or some of my other ocs....that being said, the ost would be more on the softer, resonant side...lots of fruits basket osts ( i don’t want to blame anyone anymore and i will protect you for example ), pleasure by WARPS UP also comes to mind but that’s also for the entire blogs itself. that being said, mana is technically the muse that this blog’s theme was initially based off of :P that and the finale music for legend of korra- it’s got a somber theme BUT there’s a sense of hope. okay yeah, music that is soft, but there’s an undertone of hope and change to it- that’s the kind of music i associate with mana <3

lam: lam, on the other hand, i used music A LOT as inspiration. in particular, porter robinson. basically if it’s more mellow electronic music, again with an undertone of hope, that’s probably gonna remind me of lam....blasting electronic music is usually his way of coping with the bad moments :/ but for specific examples.... mirror, get your wish, and trying to be alive!!

[wolfmage553]

Just saw Fundy's April fool's stream and while I know for sure it will not be considered canon, especially considering that Fundy summoned enough Withers to crash the server, I still want to talk about what happened since it may provide evidence that while Fundy is not completely possessed by that part of Shad that chased him in the last stream it still has a negative influence over him.

To summarize the stream: Fundy logs on late at night, is the only one on the server, and goes on a destructive rampage at spawn. Though considering what c!Fundy has gone through, I don't really blame him for wanting to let off steam via easily reversible griefing.

This culminates in him spawning enough Withers to make Technoblade say "damn!" though this ultimately ends up backfiring as the server crashes and none of Fundy's rampage remains. He ends the stream after that.

Now, if you know anything about Minecraft Diaries, you know that Shad's relic is the antithesis to Irene's relic. Irene is about life, rebirth and growth while Shad is about death and decay. So Fundy's rampage would definitely be up Shad's alley, after since he knows somewhat on a personal level the pain that Fundy has gone through.

The reason I say that he wasn't fully possessed by Shad is that he was still in control of his actions, as demonstrated by his voice being the only voice we heard in the stream. Usually, when someone is possessed in the DreamSMP, another's voice will be heard. This isn't the case with Fundy.

If that stream is considered canon, we might be seeing a similar personality start to form in Fundy as we see in Technoblade, though instead of the voices of the chat it's the voice of a similar broken soul that dictates Fundy's actions.

[thewatsonbeekeepers]

Chapter 10 – Oh No Love, You’re Not Alone [TLD 2/2]

[A line from Rock’n’Roll Suicide, which titles the previous chapter – listen here! X Possibly Bowie’s best song.]

This chapter aims to break down the infamous hug scene step by step – I couldn’t handle this scene for a long time, Mary and Irene seriously breaking with the otherwise reasonably coherent series, but I have a reading. This reading is complicated in that it relies – like this whole meta series – on every character in the scene being a part of Sherlock. This is obviously sad because it means that our boys don’t come together in one of the only moments of physical affection they’ve been allowed in the last ten years, but bear with it. There are three important symbols we need to know going into this scene: our three main characters. The grounding of this meta series is that, within the EMP, Sherlock is our eyes, the part of his brain that is consciously navigating the subconscious and trying to make sense of it. John represents his heart, normally in antithesis with Mycroft as the brain, but in TLD really taking centre stage himself. To get a handle on Mary, I refer you back to my TST metas [XX]; TLDR, at the end of TST Sherlock stages Mary’s assassination attempt on himself via Norbury, only to replace himself with Mary at the last second because he cannot cope with the implication that it is the loss of him that has made John suicidal. To be colloquial, then, Mary is comphet – which is essentially her function in every Sherlock Holmes adaptation anyway, but you know. Thinking about Mary in terms of comphet is useful particularly in terms of her obsession with Sherlock wearing the hat which dogs the end of this episode, and which for many spoiled this scene the first time around (i.e. me). Wearing the hat is a euphemism in tjlc for masking one’s sexuality, drawing on the Victorian phrase ‘a hat of someone else’s choosing’ X – Sherlock’s throwing off of the hat was so momentous in TAB that many of us were reluctant to see it brought up again. However, this all makes sense.

Before we take this scene from the top, I feel the need to say that someone has brought me tea in a glass, by pure coincidence. I feel this is a good omen.

The scene opens talking about Eurus!Faith, and one of the first possibilities touted is that Sherlock made up a dream woman who gave him all the info he needed. Not subtle – although Eurus has other purposes in the narrative which become very important, she does also kick the narrative along quite nicely here. However, as mentioned in the previous chapter, she’s not the only character who does – think of the random comments that allow Sherlock to piece together ‘everyone’, despite having nothing to do with the case. So what our boys are saying about Eurus!Faith, if we think about it in the context of the episode, instead of just her, points to the artificiality that is casting such a massive shadow right now. John’s ‘magic dream woman’ comment comes straight after Sherlock talking about being able to predict anything – undermining the entire basis of the episode as magic and dreamlike, so we know where we stand. Sherlock is only experiencing all of this semi-lucidly – kind of like TAB – so it’s up to his heart to try to get him to twig it I suppose.

Sherlock then suggests that Eurus!Faith was a hallucination brought on by drugs, in keeping with the theme of the episode, but also with our own themes. Drugs are used to cover up one’s true sexuality, and Eurus up until this point has only been used in her various disguises to veil Sherlock’s desires as heterosexual, so in that sense she is linked to the mirage that drugs can cause. Heart!John’s response is to keep Sherlock off the ‘sweeties’, which is a good sign for us – the more we fixate on the sober region of Sherlock’s brain, the more we’re in the place where he can’t hide from who he is, and his heart is pushing him there.

It seems that comphet!Mary is the one pushing Sherlock to talk to his heart here, which might raise questions, but as we’ll see one of the first things she tells heart!John to do is to ‘make him wear the hat’ – everything she says is fitting in with the paradigm of Sherlock Holmes that the heart cannot cope with and needs to leave behind. Mary also suggests that Sherlock should wear the hat to her as a tribute, because she’s dead. I like to read this as the weird sense that we should be respectful of old classics, as though queering them is somehow disrespectful – this gets thrown up a lot in relation to Sherlock Holmes. One time it really got thrown up though was in the making of TPLoSH – the reason it’s not more explicit is because the Conan Doyle estate didn’t want Wilder to damage ACD’s legacy. The necessity for comphet of the Victorian era is dead and gone, but we still consistently pay tribute to it in our culture.

Sherlock keeps mentioning Culverton’s confessions, which we’ve talked about in the last chapter – but in this world of mirrors, he’s unable to map them onto himself perfectly yet. It’s the same thing as Eurus heterosexualising his interactions – we’re working in a world of mirrors and proxies, because the reality of queerness is so off limits in his mind.

Then we get the text alert. Irene Adler has long been established within the mind palace as a symbol of Sherlock’s sexual desire. So, at the end of this, as Sherlock is about to neglect his heart and let it descend out of Baker Street, we get this sudden cry of sexuality – and the heart turns back. Comphet!Mary, through the hat linked to conventional storytelling metatextually propelling Sherlock’s comphet well into the 21st century, immediately jumps to the conclusion that Sherlock loves Irene Adler. There are several reasons why this is absolutely wrong. Firstly, we are dealing entirely in symbolic people here, so why Irene would suddenly be a real person instead of a metaphor is tonally dubious. Secondly, Irene is a long established metaphor for sexuality anyway. But thirdly, and most importantly – this scene, which revolves around the Irene Adler text alert, is the beating heart of the episode and arguably the entire series. For Irene Adler to be referenced once more in the series, in a minor line, suggests that she is not the actual focus. It’s about what’s going on within Sherlock.

[A side note: Mary’s exposition in this scene makes me cringe – I hope I’m not the only one? But if you will set up a complex network of metaphors and then leave several years between series, maybe you need that.]

John then deduces that it’s Sherlock’s birthday – again, reasonably unbelievable that he wouldn’t know this, given that Mummy and Daddy Holmes would definitely have made a big deal of it. It’s difficult to know for sure what the birthday symbolises, but John saying he has always wanted to know it might make us remember Sherlock actually seeking out John’s birth certificate to find the name Hamish on it. This meta [X] explains why this represents hiding a part of ourselves that is essential – i.e., from birth – which would fit the concept of the birthday. However, this may be tenuous.

Heart!John’s outburst at the discovery of Sherlock’s sexual desire – not necessarily how it is directed, but that it exists – is basically: well, what do you do about it? Why don’t I know about this? It is incredible that Sherlock has managed to compartmentalise this from his heart for so long, but that’s the pro of having an incredibly intricate mind palace I suppose. The Harvester in High Wycombe situation is sex without strings attached – I think the veiled suggestion here is masturbation, because Sherlock has refused the heart any involvement in it, but Sherlock denies the suggestion. The level at which heart!John is losing it is desperate, and the idea that ‘High Wycombe is better than you are currently equipped to understand’ suggests an affection starvation of epic proportions. I had problems with John’s claim that romantic entanglement would complete Sherlock as a human being (Sherlock being ace is a common reading, often touted by the writers themselves, and whilst I don’t subscribe to the theory such a statement plays into a pretty harmful narrative about ace people). The line is still dubious when said by heart!John because of the wider narrative it plays into, but spoken by Sherlock’s heart to himself does suggest that Sherlock’s denial of his sexuality has been crippling him.

The idea that comphet!Mary sent heart!John back to Sherlock is a difficult one – there are two warring versions of Sherlock’s heart here, and comphet!Mary’s idea of heterosexuality (posh boy and dominatrix, even whilst metatextually acknowledging that it’s a boring cliché) does require the unity of Sherlock and his heart, just in a way that isn’t possible. However, another possible reading about letting Sherlock die without comphet!Mary might take us back to TST – the hypothesis assassination when comphet!Mary took the bullet for Sherlock at the last second admittedly slowed down Sherlock’s analytical processes, but it’s quite possible that his heart wasn’t ready for it, that the heart wouldn’t have let him realise it and Sherlock would actually have died in the mind palace. His heart was too afraid to show up – which, true or not, is echoed in the idea that heart!John wasn’t there when Sherlock/Mary were shot by Norbury, but attending to heteronormative domesticity (sorry Rosie). It’s also devastating that the heart wants to be the Sherlock Holmes of the stories still – and we’re breaking through, but it’s TFP which will finally push through that, not this scene.

Heart!John’s admission of cheating here is vital. Eurus as mirror for John has long been discussed, and as we’ve seen in a previous chapter (X) she takes on a female form to give Sherlock’s desires an acceptable outlet – but here we have an acknowledgement from heart!John that he betrayed comphet!Mary in his texting of Eurus. The texting is made to parallel Sherlock’s own engagement with his sexuality in terms of Irene – he’s later revealed to have texted her too. Whether that just suggests merely thoughts or masturbation (or something else?) I don’t know, but the parallel suggests that such engagement with his sexuality is the same as heart!John’s covert engagement with gay trauma Eurus – in other word, both romantic and sexual illicit desires have been acknowledged, and have existed simultaneously though compartmentalised. We can see the paralleling of heart!John’s romantic desires with Sherlock’s sexual desires in moments like when heart!John admits that he still wants more – the camera focuses on Sherlock, who looks at heart!John like a moment of realisation (possibly because he’s recognising the form his heart has taken – that’s the headcanon).

But this is not a happy scene. Heart!John declares that he has never been capable of comphet, but that he wants it, and comphet!Mary tells him to get the hell on with it – taking special emphasis to call him John Watson. There’s no Hamish here, which in a conversation begun on birthdays might make us worry, but crucially calling him John Watson rather than John is a link back to the original stories, when we know that using just first names is a big indicator of the modernity (read queerness) of the adaptation, not least in the EMP (see TAB). Comphet!Mary’s heterosexual compulsion is thus still going strong based on the historical stories. And what’s sad here is that the impulses are acknowledged! Sherlock not only acknowledges his sexual desire but even that he acts on it (the texts), and heart!John acknowledges his romantic attraction, and where they had been compartmentalised the hug as a moment of unity tells us that Sherlock has joined those dots, acknowledges his existence as a romantic and sexual being. And then – he puts the hat on, he still needs a high of some description to cope with his birthday. I believe that Sherlock’s acknowledgement of Mary’s ghost at the end, previously visible only to John, is a new recognition of the compulsory heterosexuality that his heart has been grappling with – but he puts on that hat in order to capitulate to it. (Never fear, the hat is coming off later).

The hat wearing comes in a separate scene, in terms of framing, to the official hug scene, although logically they must happen within 20 minutes of each other in the same room. [I am resisting the urge to make a crack joke about what happened in the interim. I’m sure there’s something on AO3 about it.] It’s a horrible addendum, because heart!John has just confessed his biggest secret, and Sherlock acknowledges it – but then immediately downplays it. Just texting. In superficial terms, this downplaying is personally not what I would want from a friend – in metaphorical terms, it’s deadly. It’s a subtle undermining of the entire previous scene. We can see that the wall hasn’t been broken through, that he’s still chickened at the last second (much like at the end of TST) in other ways – he still has the appearance of drugged Sherlock, in particular the facial hair, which is used to reference bearding typically in the show. I also maintain – though others may take issue with this – that Cumberbatch’s gait changes when he plays a high Sherlock, and although ostensibly not high here that slightly clumsy gait remains the same. It is not a good vibe. And then, the final shot of this scene isn’t one of acceptance or closure. After Sherlock acknowledges Mary’s presence, the look on Martin Freeman’s face is one of quiet but terrible sadness, as well as anxiety.

A final thought before I leave this scene, having discussed what happens at the end of TLD in a different chapter – it’s worth noting that Sherlock has a mug of an unspecified hot drink throughout this scene, but it’s left ambiguous whether it’s coffee or tea. (Yes, it could be something else, but given the heavy focus on coffee and tea earlier in the episode, along with the pre-established drinks code, we can assume.) This ambiguity, I think, is deliberate – it allows Sherlock to acknowledge desire but still mask it through vagueness and ambiguity. It’s a way of lying to himself – and goodness knows we’re all capable of that, and can probably see how such a fudge might apply to a mental analysis of such a situation. I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on this scene though – do let me know! Until next time.

[insanityclause]

The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing have announced that they will present the 2020 Tony Awards this year after all, in a digital format. Details are scarce, but here's what we know: The newly determined cutoff date will be February 19, and therefore, the last two shows to open before the shutdown, West Side Story and Girl From the North Country, will not be eligible (the reason being they didn't invite enough voters to see them), nor will Six, which was supposed to open the night theaters closed.

Still, there are 18 productions and dozens of worthy actors and designers left to get nominated in 26 categories. Here, we look at the performers from the season, and explain the various Tonys rules for categories that may not seem particularly full. For a look at the eligible shows, click here.

Best Actor in a Musical

Eligible Artists:

Chris McCarrell, The Lightning Thief Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge!

Yup, there are the only two eligible nominees, which is, as far as I can tell, a first for this category. The closest similarity I could find was in 1970, when three actors were nominated. There's more of a precedence in the Best Actress category — back in 1995, Glenn Close and Rebecca Luker were the only two nominees, with Close winning for Sunset Boulevard (it looks like they deliberately chose not to nominate Megan Mullally that year for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), and before that, Gwen Verdon and Miyoshi Umeki went head to head in 1959, with Verdon winning for Redhead.

There are a few options here. They could eliminate the category, which doesn't seem too fair. They could combine it with Best Actress in a Musical and create a nongendered category, which would look admirable and progressive, two qualities that are the complete antithesis of what the Tonys have proved themselves to be year after year, so this probably won't happen.

Or, they could add two more performers who had previously been ruled as featured: Daniel J. Watts, Ike in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, and Sean Allan Krill, Steve in Jagged Little Pill. But are these leading roles? You can make more of a case for Watts than Krill, and that's where problems may arise.

So unless they revise this previous determinations, combine acting categories, or do away with the whole thing altogether, it looks like either McCarrell or Tveit, both first-time nominees, are taking home their first Tony.

Best Actress in a Musical

Eligible Artists:

Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill Kristin Stokes, The Lightning Thief Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

There are a variety of Tonys rules when it comes to the number of slots in a category. If there are nine eligible nominees, there will be five slots. If there are fewer than nine, there will be four slots. But I can find nothing about four or fewer eligible nominees (see above), which leads me to believe that if the Tonys keep everything traditional, this will likely be the lineup.

But even if they do combine the Best Actor and Best Actress category, we all know who's probably going to win.

Best Actor in a Play

Eligible Artists:

Ian Barford, Linda Vista Andrew Burnap, The Inheritance Brian Cox, The Great Society Charlie Cox, Betrayal Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal Samuel H. Levine, The Inheritance Jonathan Pryce, The Height of the Storm Campbell Scott, A Christmas Carol Michael Shannon, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune Kyle Soller, The Inheritance Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life

With more than nine potential nominees, this category will have five slots. It's interesting to note that there are three men from The Inheritance here. Back when that was announced, everyone looked at the ruling askance: in a full season, they would probably cancel each other out. But now, all three actors from The Inheritance actually have a great chance of getting nominated.

Still, determinations for Grand Horizons and A Soldier's Play have not yet been made, and we can assume that James Cromwell (Grand Horizons) and Blair Underwood (A Soldier's Play) will land in the leading category, with David Alan Grier, who was also above the title in the latter, being placed in the featured category.

Best Actress in a Play

Eligible Artists:

Zawe Ashton, Betrayal Eileen Atkins, The Height of the Storm Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play Audra McDonald, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside Marisa Tomei, The Rose Tattoo

Determinations have not been made for Grand Horizons and My Name Is Lucy Barton, but we can assume that Jane Alexander (Grand Horizons) will be placed in this category, as will Lucy Barton's sole performer, Laura Linney. Even with those two additions, this category only has eight eligible nominees, so there will only be four available slots.

The featured acting categories are where it gets dicey every year, since anyone who's not ruled as a lead can be featured. Therefore, all four featured acting categories have more than 9 potential nominees, so they will each have at least five slots (more if there are ties). Here are many of the options.

Best Featured Actor in a Musical

Eligible Artists:

Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! Antonio Cipriano, Jagged Little Pill Jorrel Javier, The Lightning Thief Derek Klena, Jagged Little Pill Ryan Knowles, The Lightning Thief Sean Allan Krill, Jagged Little Pill Tam Mutu, Moulin Rouge! Sahr Ngaujah, Moulin Rouge! James Hayden Rodriguez, The Lightning Thief Ricky Rojas, Moulin Rouge! Daniel J. Watts, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

As mentioned above, Krill and Watts landed in this category automatically because they're listed below the title. Their respective producers can repetition to have them considered as lead. Without them, it's going to be a Moulin Rouge!-heavy category.

Best Featured Actress in a Musical

Eligible Artists:

Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill Celia Rose Gooding, Jagged Little Pill Robyn Hurder, Moulin Rouge! Dawnn Lewis, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill Sarah Beth Pfeifer, The Lightning Thief Jalynn Steele, The Lightning Thief Myra Lucretia Taylor, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Skye Turner, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

We can see three Jagged nominees and two from Tina to round out the category. Tough call.

Best Featured Actor in a Play

Eligible Artists:

Eddie Arnold, Betrayal Ato Blankson-Wood, Slave Play Grantham Colman, The Great Society James Cusati-Moyer, Slave Play' Emun Elliott, The Rose Tattoo Sullivan Jones, Slave Play John Benjamin Hickey, The Inheritance Paul Hilton, The Inheritance Paul Alexander Nolan, Slave Play Jim True-Frost, Linda Vista Troy West, Linda Vista

This list will exponentially grow when they make determinations for A Soldier's Play and Grand Horizons. We can expect that actors like David Alan Grier, Jerry O'Connell, Nnamdi Asomugha, Billy Eugene Jones, and McKinley Belcher III (A Soldier's Play) and Michael Urie, Maulik Pancholy, and Ben McKenzie (Grand Horizons) will fit in here. Not to mention the remaining male ensemble members of The Inheritance, The Rose Tattoo, and The Great Society.

Best Featured Actress in a Play

Eligible Artists:

LaChanze, A Christmas Carol Chalia La Tour, Slave Play Irene Sofia Lucio, Slave Play Andrea Martin, A Christmas Carol Annie McNamara, Slave Play Sally Murphy, Linda Vista Caroline Neff, Linda Vista Lois Smith, The Inheritance Chantal Thuy, Linda Vista Cora Vander Broek, Linda Vista

This category will also probably include Priscilla Lopez and Ashley Park from Grand Horizons. The nominees can go in any direction, but I'm fully expecting the legendary Lois Smith, who could very well turn 90 before these awards are actually presented (her birthday is November 3), to take home her first-ever, long-overdue Tony.

[art-now-italy]

Shadows, Giuseppina Irene Groccia - GiGro

The contrast and the difference between dark and the light in the art of Giuseppina Irene Groccia, not only represents the extreme shades of color, but as the artist herself says, the difference, the opposition and the antithesis that dwell often as every woman's joy and sorrow, courage and fear, good and evil, love and hate. Her recent works shows the result of a long and arduosus search to express fully these concepts. Her works, in fact, involve the viewer emotionally because you clearly perceive the feelings that the artist herself has tried in the moment of creation and that so strongly is able to convey. Excellent design, fine execution, the care and love of detail, her efforts are certainly acknowledged and understood, perhaps unconsciously, to the observer's eye.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Shadows/460408/3457204/view

[tiger-moran]

I have been reading The House at Baker Street and it’s one of those books where there are lots of things that are really well done but then other things that just feel really

off

[Possible spoilers ahead]

Things I liked: 

Mary Watson as a main character who is kind and compassionate and brave and intelligent and sometimes also really fierce.

Irene Norton. As in she’s still married to Godfrey and even though he isn’t in it, it’s clear they genuinely love each other and have a happy and sound marriage. Also Irene getting to disguise herself as a man and generally being great when she does appear in it (though I’d have preferred more of her really. In fact I could have done without the Irregulars entirely and just had more of her).

Langdale Pike, and not only him being referred to but him being emphasised to be a sort of antithesis of a blackmailer, someone who collects secrets but not for malicious reasons and is someone who can be genuinely helpful.

Holmes being portrayed as just not very good at understanding people sometimes and dismissing some potential clients for that reason, rather than making out he’s just cruel or an asshole who doesn’t care.

Things that I found off:

there were a few vague implications of what would seem to be most likely referring to Mary dying tragically at some point (outside of the particular story but in the past from when Mrs Hudson is supposed to be recounting everything) and I’m just like... can you not. For one I hate the whole idea that Mary HAS to die in anything to be canonically faithful cos that’s bullshit but this book definitely seemed to be hinting at that happening, and two, foreshadowing stuff that happens way outside the actual story is annoying.

Tied to that, there were a lot of references to things that happened prior to the main story as well as after it and it made it sound too rambly and hard to follow sometimes, when you’re in the main story and then suddenly you’re getting told stuff that happened ages ago.

Moriarty is not the villain in this but it is implied several times throughout and heavily suggested at the end that he has been manipulating the villain in it and that just feels really off to me, that he would manipulate someone who is so unstable and reckless and not that predictable and he would use his own name in doing so, and this is sort of implied to be just so he can get Holmes’s attention. I mean I couldn’t care less about the idea of Moriarty doing stupid shit just to get Holmes’s attention anyway, I don’t care about the whole Moriarty/Holmes relationship, but it seems absurd to me that Moriarty would do that, manipulate someone who is too unstable to properly control and who knows his name.

(Also there are things that probably are well done but I don’t actually care about them. I mean like, Mrs Hudson probably is well portrayed in it but... I still don’t find her interesting or engaging in it, and the Irregulars are probably all right if you like that kind of character but mostly I just found them annoying as child characters frequently are in things. And the Watsons marriage probably is pretty well portrayed too but I just don’t care about that relationship and never found it convincing in the canon and this book still can’t manage to make it interesting to me.)

[oneironauto233-blog]

American Prayer Two

Fragile egg-shell mind on dawn’s highway bleeding the segue between times traversed only in momentary dreams or in enduring excursions We drag our droll and quaint 60s baggage like the luggage of a safari made of concrete girding a cavernous expanse of unheralded ground With our ears oriented to the floor, we leap out of body never to deplore….never to ignore….never to miss the blue bus of our drafted imaginations, so carefully culled from brash elitism I trounce the intervening time between being friendless and an ironic end, and an irenic comrade becoming the dearest amazed but always aplomb friend We simper in our glorious traversal, and though bedraggled through an ornamented cavern we linger just long enough to be celebrated Then a blues riff emanates from a vapid bar, and finally someone heralds my exhumed memory still rusty with the pavement of encased concrete on an empty or full tomb So I wander in my mind to that roughshod Paris glassy tincture a romanticized gild of proper sensibility crafted in the tongues of lizards emulating the tongues of serpentine Anglicans As the power of love transcends the love of power, both are afforded serendipitously upon the stately occasion of a fitful revolt where heads literally rolled and deaths still unfurl from the slippage of a violent malevolent eternity, crafting a new creative way to expedite the smite of preventable scourge So Jim, I see your picaresque side and your wide-eyed love for a listless ship anointed of a crystal blip just detectable long enough on RADAR to become the statistic to crack the slim WHIP No wigs are needed at this formality, no figs grow from trees forty-five years buried and almost a full month unsung Pitiable cretins of an invented insanity, they scoff at my ravenous and portentous heart for its excess and for aligning with an upstart verging on only a specious insanity Why in all humanity could a month be mustered with every defense of history and yet for it to be so widely flouted as a risible exercise in futility The irony that the artistic glamor of a past vogue becoming a revival that is often toked only to one song but never to the memorial of great cavernous and commodious imaginations, staggers with dismay where otherwise the mayday would be a disaster but still a great day Then I look at a triggered-fingered omen of a death so ominous yet so brazenly confronted as the ambassadors of time provide plaudits to a fearless martyrdom Why such a sad spate, why such a stringent but malevolent fate a malediction on a family whose crest is not crestfallen like rolling waves but ornamented with gravity impounding its own weight A fugacious tomb, an eternal flame, a swan song announcing an independent authority on a prescient demise mashed and deprived A single shot rippling through the broadened space between clasped eternity and a histrionic disgrace as a psychological confederate pays lip service to a reiterative applause A cousin hardly American in a defected record of incendiary plumes of a hoarse hatred of waxen discs and flying discs alike,  climbs out of a bonfire mounted purely out of vindictive spite Then upon a great white buffalo a wrapped package of Californian love before California ever alighted like something beyond an avaricious dove, saw a rocky park and a hearth of illuminated darkness the singular spark Captain Morgan knows the jackknife applause of a botched deal morphing into a disbelieved spiel. A shibboleth of enormous mystical weight crashing down from an ethereal abode and heaven heavily saddened cannot hardly appeal Then a loving spoonful of crystal blue persuasion led me to Ethel’s regimented keepsake and for once in my life nobility and I became a grateful waif. But temerity laughed, splintered spacecraft, and the wooden paws of a bearish applause led to resurgent clarity Blinking stars shattered by knighted and raw applause punctured the liberated might of a sentient hortatory savior grasped by the internecine wrench of a waxen time An indie track slides by unnoticed in an aleatory time, and the threadbare whine of centuries of lament becomes a dastardly barn set ablaze with the fury of ancients and the scurry of faineant patents Perfidy slides in recess, and in gentle forbearance the winged angel lingers like a halo on conifer and spring above a remedial ring I dial frisky celerity tingling the dangling claws of a raven’s screed and in plunder of all history’s pilfer secrets I eagerly weave a tapestry Indiana Jones himself would be proud to watch Not the riotous ruin of a mystery tour of verdure crippled by genocide but overcome by the revived life of raised rain razing the moments of indelible pain But the culmination of a proffered time taken at its word for its every careened bird, for its every brazen gird. The manger of proctored stars calls us home tonight and home forever. Life in quaked timorous stumbles suddenly no longer so fitfully absurd. The quixotic plundered of pirates and emperors in direct emulation of some crooned pastiche of whittled integrity, surges above any encased blurb and any vain testament to a pyramid rigid in destiny and ragged in desultory and sturdy sincerity Multiplying the ineffable by the division of arable divorced from edible is too creative to be eaten as pabulum when sparks curdle flickered moonlight crimson and that become golden only to the last laugh of ennobled ragamuffins Frankly the desert of melliferous gorillas abetting the lark of a heavily vetted camarilla engaged in the sinecure of a rigged wall on a main street to block the tall from the lame bleat. Stocks grazed, costs engaged on a littoral beach at the end of a Bossy promenade This prayer is a cutthroat collapse of a merry spare, a ribbed condom waiting to plunge into the antithesis of female despair, but sincere in its restraint that vixens courted in love aren’t courted in litigation of a wagered dare Ambulances chase Deloreans through the desolate moon-stricken skies of a time agape with fleets of phantasmagoria on a Cliffside too wise to ever mince words or excise cries Skulking the red-teared caverns of entombed films and lampooned tinctures on a passion vetted only for certain and utter deracinated disguise, I wallop with winged men in a single soul armed to the teeth with inveterate tithes to eternal internments of poached and endangered gazettes As growth older in wizened skin bets on epithets rather than epitaphs for rinsed peace and triumphant clefts we leap above in orbit of only the bellowing nether of blown tolls and untold souls aggregating the esoteric grasp of Alexandrian tomes The denumeration of certainty is a carousel of wonder, a splurge of time ripped asunder with majesties of paparazzi scuttled impacts a throttled iniquity of regalia’s indicted blunder frenchified but still clean with inestimable sheens With twenty-five dollars, a dime an assist and a nickeled reiteration of currency already so personable it is divine and sublime in crazed desist I watch the embroiled natives clash in denatured violence with the warriors of a crossed repast hearkening to an old land much of ire but too much of grandstand to ultimately last Itching for a holy field husk of peerless ties listed as rumpus and beer, a two-packed smoked by bludgeoned blokes careless in irascible sputters of a muffled doom, a Vegan becomes the author of too many sacrosanct homilies becoming defiled witchcraft brooms dead on arrival too many lionized tombs In plaudits and the scause of an amplified “what if?” of an olfactory nightmare of petrified fog of effluvium bogged in Wade and in heat it is always clogged, sinewy libations of toasted preemptive revenge become a powerballed hog A castle in the sky founded on Franklin but scourged of wineskins brimming with a distilled time, a swift repartee becomes the whispered ladder of saints blather becoming not rather other than a Dan Rather spatter A door breeched by a broached inconvenience of amphigory beyond common reach, I clamber excess and whisk the lingered love into destiny beyond any word other than a beseeched preach of nothing tired but everything inspired of noble love with abundance often to teach Fireworks of turned tides of fallow tithes to aliens beyond any conceivable bribe the bushwhacker writhes but survives staying alive without even a hint of garbled jive a 27th floor glass elevator is quite a resplendent ride Wellsprings knowing radical rolled tides of errant dice also themselves guilty of confessional tithes to the monolith of avarice at the nooked cranny of an evaporated time we whine as the police sting the album rained with songs too lugubrious to sing but in their elegy every lonely heart has a propinquity phone of souled resonance ring Iterative mastery of a mathematics of love, loss decay and the dross of a dental Occidental floss, the sweep of screened queues become questions of inestimable importance to foreign dues on a horse with no name but so consumed with fumes A fright occultist thriller prowls in a waylaying daylight, masquerading an innocent confection for a rescued triage of a dawn stabbed with knives in our last dying days of trembled plight He resurrects only the wraiths of detest, squinted at by the putrefaction of summoned cardiac arrest and littered with bullets that somehow can penetrate even impregnable bullet proof vests the wrapped carcass of the mummified husk of ready despair offers itself a ghoulish and raspy prayer Synchronized in a low roaring swathe of rollercoasters too immersive to ride, the terpsichorean obscurantism of deliberately shattered fragments becoming blurbs dismissed with hijacked deride the carnival of a summer sun becomes the ocean of limitless love becoming endless fun We forget the drawl of the droll old tales that haunt like specters in the closet and beneath the bedridden valetudinarian of an effrontery of shackled fright, we sprawl the innumerable caverns of prophetic insight afforded by the pantheon of history enter stage left, depart stage right And with their insight I write and write, I grasp the tusk of democracy and wage an insurrection against the doubt of plodding limitations in otherwise immaculate sight Sex and tyrannosaurus rex, of litigable offenses leading to pardonable arrests, the gated entryway of a poetic splurge leads to the demiurge of a demotic enlightenment and suddenly the frank becomes the frazzled retirement and that haunting hounding bunny transmogrified by a shattered eye averts the car crash that careens ponderous engines out of limitless twilight blue skies. Diamond lightning in pristine skies escorts the telegraphic totems of riddled modems from 1967 to 2016 and suddenly all venerable personages converge on a teeming scene of a union unified by a universal dream. To become everything and yet nothing and out of light and darkness to become a beatific beam

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2020/12/26/we-need-to-prioritize-incarcerated-people-as-the-covid-vaccine-is-distributed/

We need to prioritize incarcerated people as the COVID vaccine is distributed

Prisons are some of the most dangerous places for spread of COVID-19.

COVID outbreaks in prisons can also endanger the surrounding communities.

Incarcerated people are also part of our society and deserve to be kept safe, despite terrible conditions during the pandemic. 

We should follow the advice of health experts and distribute the vaccine to incarcerated individuals soon.

Ashish Prashar is the Sr. Director of Global Communications for Publicis Sapient.

This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.

Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Incarcerated people are deliberately overlooked and treated as disposable, so it’s not surprising to see the COVID-19 pandemic further expose systemic inequities and racism in the US incarceration and detention policies. 

As we approach 300,000 pandemic-related deaths in the US, remember that the six largest COVID-19 clusters are in prisons. The government has a responsibility to protect everyone, and failing to help those in correctional facilities is an abdication of that responsibility. 

Federal officials insist that corrections staff should receive high priority for a vaccine, but they have not advocated for the 2.2 million individuals in their care. Meanwhile, many major health organizations, like the American Medical Association and The John Hopkins Center for Health Security argue for vaccinating incarcerated and detained persons. Congregant settings, like assisted living and nursing home facilities are already top of the list, so logic would dictate that detention centers and prisons be included.

It is immoral to promote any plan that doesn’t mitigate the risk for all affected groups. It’s not the government’s job to say who is more “valued.” 

Allocating precious medical resources to people who are serving time may be anathema to much of the public, but elected officials must find their backbones and listen to medical experts. 

Incarcerated people are members of our society

Incarcerated people are frequently at risk during crises. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico in 2005, incarcerated people around New Orleans suffered for days without food, water, or adequate ventilation. They were left to die on top of a bridge while floodwaters rose around them. In New York during Hurricane Irene in 2011, there was no evacuation plan for those on Rikers Island, and the lack of care and planning for prisoners happened again the next year during Hurricane Sandy.

Incarcerated populations are uniquely vulnerable to the virus. They are four times more likely to be infected than people in the general population, according to a study by the criminal justice commission. Overall, COVID-19 mortality rates among prisoners are higher than in the general population. Outbreaks that start in prisons and jails may spread to the surrounding communities. 

Because incarceration is a practice that grew out of slavery’s legacy, in our criminal justice system COVID-19 disproportionately infects and kills Black and brown people. If the US cares about the safety and human dignity of our most marginalized people, then our incarcerated brothers and sisters must receive the care and basic human respect that they deserve.

There is also a powerful public health argument for prison vaccination. Confinement is the antithesis of social distancing. Cells are small, supplies like soap and masks are scarce, testing is inadequate shared showers and common areas are natural COVID incubators. If all of that isn’t bad enough, those who contract the virus often land in solitary confinement because prisons have nowhere else to quarantine them. 

The vaccine

Vaccines need to reach people in ways that uplifts the common dignity and humanity of those trapped within the prison and jail systems.

In Texas jails, 80% of the incarcerated people who have died from COVID-19 were never convicted of a crime. Failure to prevent avoidable deaths during these inevitable moments simply repeats the thoughtless action of previous natural disasters.

Federal incentives for states and local governments to adopt emergency management policies and will help save lives.

President-elect Biden, it’s time to protect Black Lives  

We should be ashamed that fellow Americans have suffered and died needlessly because the Federal government failed to act on the advice of national health and medical organizations. 

Joe Biden throughout this pandemic has modeled his behavior and policy on COVID-19 according to health and medical experts at organizations, like the AMA and the CDC,  that have traditionally operated as a civil service to the government. He should continue to do so. Many of these same organizations are recommending that incarcerated people be vaccinated earlier than other groups because they are housed in congregate facilities that don’t allow for proper social distancing, cleanliness or adequate medical care.

President-elect Biden’s administration should continue listening to the AMA and the like, and enact federal incentives for states and local governments that protect the health of all their citizens, including incarcerated people.

All people are worthy of care. It is well beyond the time to act. New policies must be truly equitable and ensure everyone’s human rights and dignities are protected.

Ashish Prashar is a justice reform activist, who is on the Board of Exodus Transitional Community, Getting Out and Staying Out, Leap Confronting Conflict, and the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice.

Source

[human-antithesis]

Hermit’s Lair - Human Antithesis https://t.me/Human_Antithesis

Déhà - Blackness In May (EP) [December 22nd, 2018] Country: Belgium Genre: Atmospheric Sludge Doom Metal Reuploaded: FLAC

Everything composed by Déhà

Miscellaneous Staff:

Oana Beatrice Popescu - Artwork

Irene Serrano - Cover Art, Layout

Déhà - Calligraphy, Art Direction

Tracklist:

Blackness in May - 08:17

I Am Mine To Break (Acoustic Reprise) - 08:13

Saturnine (The Gathering Cover) - 08:09

Comfort Me II - 04:57

Label: Musical Excrements