#the difference though? school holds you to a specific standard- so does capitalism

[videnoirs]

maybe i should stop doubting myself all the fucking time.

[iwanthermidnightz]

When she was 18, Taylor Swift wrote a song called “Fifteen.” “Back then I swore I was going to marry him someday, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine,” she sang, sounding more like a wizened great-grandmother than a rising senior.

“Fifteen” is evocative, if a little sanitized: Nimble mandolin strums mimic the nervous-excited butterflies of the first day of high school, as Swift sings of wide-eyed hope that “one of those senior boys will wink at you and say, ‘You know I haven’t seen you around before.’”

There was a certain emotional truth to the lyrics — do several years’ age difference ever seem more consequential than when you’re a teenager? — but some older listeners were skeptical. “You applaud her skill,” wrote a critic for the Guardian in a mixed review of Swift’s second album, “Fearless,” “while feeling slightly unsettled by the thought of a teenager pontificating away like Yoda.”

Swift, now 31, sings, “When you are young they assume you know nothing,” on “Folklore,” an LP that is both compositionally mature and braided throughout with references to the specific, oft-denigrated wisdom of teenagers. By the end of that song, “Cardigan,” the narrator has excavated such a heap of florid but emotionally lucid memories that she must conclude, with the force of a sudden revelation, “I knew everything when I was young.”

Though it’s not as flashy a topic as exes, fame or A-list celebrity feuds, age has long been a recurring theme in Swift’s work. A numerology enthusiast with a particular attachment to 13, Swift has also released a handful of songs whose titles refer to specific ages: “Seven,” “Fifteen,” and, of course, “22,” the chatty “Red” hit on which she summed up that particular junction of emerging adulthood as feeling “happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time.” Like her contemporary Adele, Swift seems to enjoy time-stamping her music, sometimes presenting it like a public-facing scrapbook that will always remind her what it felt like to be a certain age — even if, with their millions of fans and armfuls of Grammys, neither of these women is exactly typical.

Swift’s critics have often seemed even more hyper attuned to her age. Perhaps because precocity played such a role in her story from the beginning — at 14, she became the youngest artist to sign a publishing deal with Sony/ATV; at 20, she became the youngest to win the album of the year Grammy — many listeners have been fascinated with how her evolution into adulthood has, or hasn’t, played out in her songs. People comb Swift’s lyrics for allusions to sex, alcohol and profanity as meticulously as MPAA representatives do a borderline-PG movie. Particular attention was paid to her 2017 album “Reputation” and its several mentions of drunkenness and dive bars — even though Swift was 27 when it came out.

The relative puritanism of Swift’s music up until “Reputation” did feel like an intentional decision: Unlike the female pop stars who broadcast their “loss of innocence” as a sudden and irrevocable transformation, Swift seemed acutely conscious that she did not want to repel younger listeners — or lose the approval of their parents. At best, it felt like an acceptance of her status as a role model; at worst, it had the whiff of a marketing strategy.

But the mounting obsession with whether Swift was “acting her age” also reflected a larger societal double standard. Famous or not, women face much more intense scrutiny around age, whether it’s those constant cultural reminders of the biological clock’s supposed ticking or the imperative that women of all ages stay “fresh-faced” or risk their own obsolescence. (“People say I’m controversial,” Madonna said in 2016. “But I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around.”) And while girlish youth and ingenuity are rewarded in some contexts, they’re also easily dismissed as silly and frivolous as soon as that girl strays too close to the sun — as Swift has experienced time and again.

Despite having once been a teenage girl myself (unlike a lot of music critics), I confess that I am not completely free of these internalized biases. I was initially dismissive of “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” a song that appeared on Swift’s 2019 album “Lover.” The first few times I heard it, I wondered what a grown woman on the cusp of 30 was doing still writing about homecoming queens and teenage gossip.

But over time, I’ve come to appreciate the song and its dark vision, which acknowledges cruelty, depression and the threat of sexual violence (“Boys will be boys then, where are the wise men?”) more directly than any of the songs Swift wrote when she was an actual teenager. The senior boys in this song are not the sort who wink and say to freshman girls wholesome things like, “Haven’t seen you around before” — which, unfortunately, makes them feel more authentic. Even the title “Miss Americana” alludes to a larger world outside the high school walls, and the greater systemic forces that keep such patterns repeating well into adulthood.

“Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” now feels like a precursor to some of the richest songs on “Folklore,” which finds Swift returning once again to her school days with the keen, selectively observant eye of an adult. Consider “Seven,” an impressionistic recreation of her perspective at that age. The second verse, charmingly, plays like a first-grader’s breathless sequence of unguarded observations:

“And I’ve been meaning to tell you, I think your house is haunted, your dad is always mad and that must be why/And I think you should come live with me and we can be pirates, then you won’t have to cry.”

But “Seven” is not cutesy so much as poignant, because of the tensions that result when Swift’s adult perspective interjects. “Please, picture me in the trees, before I learned civility,” she sings in a yearning soprano, prompting the listener to wonder what sorts of feral pleasure she — and all of us — have exchanged for the supposed “civility” of adulthood.

Quite a few songs on “Evermore,” Swift’s second release of 2020, also toggle between past and present, conscious of what is lost and gained by the passage of time. The playful “Long Story Short” passes a note to Swift’s younger self (“Past me, I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things”), while “Dorothea,” like “Seven,” revisits a fevered childhood friendship from the cool perspective of adulthood.

Most striking is the bonus track “Right Where You Left Me,” a twangy tale of a “girl who got frozen” (“Time went on for everybody else, she won’t know it/She’s still 23, inside her fantasy”). That language echoes something Swift admits in the 2020 Netflix documentary “Miss Americana”: “There’s this thing people say about celebrities, that they’re frozen at the age they got famous. And that’s kind of what happened to me. I had a lot of growing up to do just trying to catch up to 29.”

But Swift’s recent songs, at their best, understand that “growing up” isn’t always a linear progression in the direction of something more valuable. Take the “Folklore” songs “Cardigan” and “Betty,” which use an interconnected set of characters to chronicle teenage drama and celebrate the heightened emotional knowledge of youth. “I’m only 17, I don’t know anything, but I know I miss you,” Swift sings in the voice of James, a high schooler who broke Betty’s heart and has shown up on her doorstep to ask forgiveness. Maybe that is a melodramatic thing to do; maybe it is the sort of thing adults could stand to do more often. Swift’s music helps us to remember that growing up doesn’t automatically mean growing wiser — it can just as easily mean compromise, self-denial and growing numb to emotions we once felt with bracing intensity.

In a gesture to regain control of her songs, Swift is currently rerecording her first six albums (her master recordings were recently sold by Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings to the investment firm Shamrock Capital). Last month she released a note-for-note update of her early hit “Love Story,” and has promised to release an entire new-old version of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” later this year. It has been amusing to think of Swift going back and inhabiting the voice of her teenage self: On the face of it, “Fifteen” is particularly surreal to imagine her singing as an adult.

In another way, though, “Fifteen” — with its distant reflections on the youthful folly of expectations — makes more sense and carries more emotional weight being sung by a 30-something than it does an 18-year-old. Perhaps Swift was preparing for such an exercise when she made “Folklore,” an album that shakes off years of scrutiny and finds her reveling in the creative freedom to be as young or as old as she wants to be.

[ladymazzy]

One year on: the BLM event that divided a Gloucestershire town

I'm beyond furious and exasperated with the perpetuation of the lie that racism is a thing of the past. This woman is only 25, and her recounting her experiences of going to school as a Black girl in the West Country only around a decade ago speaks volumes

Some highlights from the article. (CW for racism and White Fragility™️):

Growing up, Khady Gueye was one of just a handful of black pupils at her school in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. By the time she was a teenager, she was desperate to fit in and conform. And so when her nickname became “Nigs” – short for the N-word – Gueye didn’t challenge it.

Here, in the rural west of England, where she had been fed racist stereotypes of black people her whole life, she didn’t want to be labelled “the angry black girl” or the self-pitying minority who “couldn’t take a joke” or what was considered a “bit of light banter”.

And so it was, that on the last day of school where it is tradition for year 11s to scrawl goodbye messages on one another’s school shirts, Gueye took home a shirt covered with the N-word in giant block capital letters across the front. “Gonna Miss You Nigs” was written on the back next to jokes about golliwogs and messages of good luck.

Gueye was supposed to consider it an affectionate send-off; it was written by her own friends. It was 2012, the year Britain proudly celebrated its optimistic and diverse Olympic Games opening ceremony, or as Conservative MP Aidan Burley would call it, “multicultural crap”.

“I became complicit in allowing it to continue, by being ‘Ha ha! Good joke guys,’” says Gueye, flatly. “But when you grow up in an area that is so predominantly white and are already made to feel different, you just do your best to fit in. The ideal is don’t call out racism. Let it slide. You become so accustomed to it, it becomes your norm.”

Now 25 and on the verge of finishing her English degree at Manchester University, Gueye has become a local community organiser and is more visible than ever in the town where she was born and grew up.

“I don’t want my daughter to grow up with the same experience I did,” she says emphatically, over lunch at her local pub. “This is my home and it’s a lovely area to bring up a family in. I want my daughter to have a life where she is celebrated for who she is, not feel attacked or unwelcome because of her skin colour.”

But Gueye’s attempts to hold a small “celebration of BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) culture” sparked a furious backlash that, one year on, still reverberates throughout the small Gloucestershire town of Lydney.

...an online petition was set up to stop the event going ahead on the grounds that it was unsafe and high risk in the middle of a pandemic. Organiser Natasha Saunders wrote: “A mass gathering is a slap in the face to people who have been tirelessly shielding themselves, the elderly and loved ones from this virus.”

Anger, tension and outright abuse boiled over online as a counter-petition to support the event was organised. It got twice the number of signatures, leading Saunders to say that hers was more valid by claiming “90% of [signatories] are from Lydney, can you say yours was?” Later, she would make Eldridge-Tull gasp by posting: “He couldn’t breathe, now we can’t speak”, in a reference to Floyd’s murder by a police officer.

“We’re a happy community, we don’t really have an issue with racism,” said one middle-aged man, who didn’t want his name published, as he nursed a pint outside a local pub. “Outsiders bring their problems, but there’s not a lot of them here,” he said, echoing in politer terms a point that was made repeatedly to the Observer last week.

Last year, Gueye and Eldridge-Tull spent hours patiently replying to comments online in an attempt to explain the event and reassure people about it, but still received threats. Hundreds of screenshots of the abuse have been shared with the Observer. A typical missive read: “Fuck off. Not everyone agrees with black lives. I can’t say what I want on here coz I’ll be reported for racism. But I would bring back black slavery.” Gueye was repeatedly told to go back to where she came from if she didn’t like it and that she would be responsible for bringing harm to Lydney residents.

The pair’s standard response to those with genuine concerns about mass gatherings in a health pandemic, during a lockdown, was to keep explaining that social distancing was being strictly adhered to – two-metre grids were hand-chalked by Gueye and Eldridge-Tull on the site – and that PPE was being provided to anyone who didn’t have any.

“I think it speaks volumes that BAME people are still willing to protest for their human rights even though they are disproportionately affected by the pandemic,” wrote Gueye. “Maybe this should highlight the severity of the inequality in our society”.

....

When asked if she [deputy mayor, Tess Tremlett] accepted there were a lot of racist aspects to the abuse the organisers had endured, Tremlett replied: “I think some of the comments coming from supporters of the event were actually racist in themselves. They were called ‘white trash’, they were called Nazis and all sorts.”

But as anti-racist activists have spent the last year explaining, racism isn’t simply prejudice based on how one looks, but a system...[based] around a specific set of ideas – in this case, racist ones.

It is useful to explain why it is possible for white people to experience individual prejudice and unpleasant behaviour simply based on the colour of their skin but why it is inaccurate to call that “racism”. Being white does not mean one is more likely to be criminalised by the police, or that one is more likely to work in lower-paid frontline work or that one is more likely to be exposed to and die of Covid as a result.

In Gloucestershire, for instance, police statistics show that being black means you are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than you would if you were white.

The numbers are blankly disproportionate; there are just over 5,000 black people resident in the county compared with 570,000 white people. Last year, Gloucestershire council published evidence that jobseekers from minority ethnic groups had to send an average of 60% more applications to receive the same level of interest as white candidates. It’s not a conversation that Lydney, like much of the country, appears to have much interest in yet.

Tremlett, who has two decades of experience working in community engagement, explained that her sole reason for opposing the event was to be lawful. “Racism is the biggest insult anyone can say to me and I was called a racist by Khady’s team, whoever they are.” Was being called a racist worse than the actual racism that Gueye was continually facing in her everyday life? At this, Tremlett began to cry.

”You don’t understand,” she said, explaining that her daughter had been to three Indian weddings, that her builder was black, and that she had run an equalities panel for years as a councillor. Her experience – being called a racist, being abused online – when she felt she was doing the right thing, understandably made her defensive and upset. But it’s a difficult position for Gueye and Eldridge-Tull to deal with. Especially as she described Gueye as “aggressive and confrontational”.

Last year, Tremlett took the matter of the Forest of Dean’s BLM movement to local Conservative MP Mark Harper, who raised the matter in the House of Commons.

On 17 June, Harper, who may be best known as the immigration minister responsible for sending vans encouraging illegal immigrants to “go home” around parts of London, appeared to encourage an online pile-on against Eldridge-Tull, who had a tenth of his 30,000 followers, and demanded she apologise to the local community for tweeting: “The reaction to the BLM protest in Lydney has brought to light so much support, but so much hate. I love where I live, but I’m ashamed of my neighbours, and ashamed to be part of a community that has so widely endorsed and exacerbated racial hatred.”

....

When Gueye posted a picture of her school-leaver’s shirt on Instagram last year, one of her schoolfriends wrote that it was outrageous, and that she was impressed with everything Gueye was doing. “I was really happy she felt that but it was awkward,” says Gueye. “I messaged her back to say that she was one of the people who wrote those messages.” An embarrassed silence followed, but Gueye is hopeful and optimistic. “It’s still a positive sign.”

[captains-log-reviews]

Disney’s Peter Pan (1953)

Summary/Overview:

I’ve been considering a Hook-themed review blog for some time now, and what better way to start off than with the classic 1953 Disney film? Originally slated to be Disney’s second animated film after Snow White, the idea for a production of Peter Pan was in Walt’s mind long before it hit the big screen. Walt himself had played Peter in a school play as a boy and had retained a fondness for the story ever since. The first major film version to feature a boy (Bobby Driscoll) in the titular role, Disney’s Peter Pan has since become perhaps even more widely known than Barrie’s original. That being said, I think it’s probably unnecessary to give much in the way of a summary, but for the sake of developing a consistent format for my reviews, here’s the super quick version:

Wendy Darling, a young girl with an active imagination and a love for storytelling, is distraught when her practical father decides that it is time for her to grow up and move out of the nursery with her brothers. Later that night, after her parents have gone out, Peter Pan—the flying boy hero of Wendy’s stories—shows up at her window and offers to take her and her brothers to Neverland, a magical island with mermaids, “Indians,” and pirates where they will never grow up. Unfortunately the kids get caught up in the plans of Captain Hook, who wants revenge on Peter for cutting off his hand and feeding it to a crocodile. Ultimately, Hook captures the children and nearly kills Peter with a bomb in the guise of a present from Wendy, but Tinkerbell, Peter’s loyal fairy friend, saves him just in the nick of time, allowing Peter to free the children from Hook’s crew and fight the captain in a final duel that results in Hook being chased off into the sunset by the crocodile. Wendy and her brothers return home safely, and Wendy realizes that she isn’t so afraid of growing up anymore...only to have her father admit that maybe holding onto her childhood a little bit longer wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

What I Liked:

Those of you who followed me over here from my other Hook blog, not-wholly-unheroic, already know that I am more than slightly biased when it comes to Disney’s Hook. I distinctly remember the first time I saw him on screen when I was twelve. The sequel had just come out on video, and ABC was doing its usual Sunday Disney movie (and advertising) by showing the original Peter Pan one weekend, followed by the sequel the next. I was bored and had never watched the film before, so I decided to give it a shot...and I was instantly struck by how different Hook was from any Disney villain I’d previously encountered. While most of the classic villains are motivated by greed, vanity, or the desire for power, Hook’s feud with Pan is at least somewhat justified considering he not only lost a hand but also faces the constant threat of the crocodile as a result of our supposed hero’s actions. Additionally, prior to Peter Pan, Disney’s major villains (Queen Grimhilde/The Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, the Queen of Hearts) were typically rather flat and lacking in personality. We see only their wicked side (or in the case of “Man” in Bambi, we don’t see them at all!). Hook is a major departure from this trend in that while he is clearly made out to be the bad guy, we also see him in moments of fear, weakness, and self-doubt. We see him sick and in pain and ready to give up at times. Suddenly, he isn’t just a villain anymore... He’s a person we can empathize with. Walt himself recognized that the audience would “get to liking Hook” would not want him to die as he does in Barrie’s canon, opting instead to have him “going like hell” to get away from the crocodile but ultimately still very much alive at the end of the film.

Aside from Hook himself, I love the dynamic he has with Mr. Smee. While Hook admittedly doesn’t treat Smee well, there is clearly a bond of trust between them. Early on in the film, for instance, Smee prepares to shave Hook with a straight razor. It’s a moment that is ultimately used for comedic effect, but when one considers that Hook has a crew full of literal cutthroats, it says a lot about Smee that Hook feels totally at ease with this man putting a blade to his neck. Smee repeatedly attempts to intervene to save Hook when he doesn’t have to, and Hook unfailingly looks to Smee when he’s afraid for his life or when he needs to send someone out to complete an important mission for him. It’s a villain/sidekick dynamic that borders on friendship, and I think it adds a lot to the film and to Hook’s complexity as a character.

As far as artistic choices go, it is a rather minor thing, but I love that they kept the stage tradition of using the same actor for both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook, giving the film a rather dreamlike feel and subtly reinforcing the enmity Wendy feels toward her father in real life as she faces off against Hook in the Neverland. Speaking of the actor, Hans Conried isn’t just voice for Hook, as many would assume... He IS Hook as much as any live-action actor could be. I love the old hand-drawn animation style and how they used to use the actors as live-action reference models. (You can see some shots of Hans as the reference model vs the final images of Hook in the film here.) If you’ve ever seen a recording of Hans in one of his other roles, you’ll notice he doesn’t just SOUND like Hook...he makes the same facial expressions (particularly in how he speaks with his eyebrows) and hand/arm motions. It’s small details like this that make Hook (and all the characters) more human and show just how much time, effort, and love the animators put into their work.

What I Didn’t Like:

RACISM. With a capital “R.” There’s no sugar-coating it. Unfortunately, Disney’s film falls victim one of the many problematic tropes of the time when it was made and portrays the island’s native characters as highly caricatured, ignorant, and—in the case of Tiger Lily—romantically exotic people. Their signature song, “What Made the Red Man Red” is lyrically painful to modern listeners with any sense of decency, and the villagers’ character design—from their bright red skin to their large noses and often extreme body shapes (very fat or pencil thin)—along with their badly broken English is highly uncomfortable, to say the least. On the other hand, Tiger Lily, the most realistically drawn native character, is shown dancing flirtatiously for Peter and subsequently rubbing noses with him in what is meant to be a sort of native kiss (based on the concept of the “Eskimo kiss” which in and of itself is not a politically correct term).

Aside from the glaringly obvious issue of racism, my only real complaint with the Disney film is the music. While the songs are pretty standard for films of the day, I personally don’t find most of the music particularly memorable or catchy. “You Can Fly” is alright, I suppose, but the next few songs have their issues. “Following the Leader” and “What Made the Red Man Red” both have racist undertones, and Wendy’s lullaby, “Your Mother and Mine” puts the kids to sleep for a reason... It’s sweet but rather boring and drags on for far too long to keep the audience’s attention. Less time on the lullaby and more pirate sea shanties, please!

On the flip side, Hook is arguably the first Disney villain to get his own theme song, which is pretty cool. The original pirate song (which you can find here) is a bit more sedate than “The Elegant Captain Hook” we end up with and focuses more on the joys of pirating in general than why Hook, specifically, is someone the kids should want to work for. Personally, I’m glad they chose the song that they did, though I do wish they’d given Hook more lines as originally planned. (You can find the lyrics to the full version here.)

Would I recommend it?

Despite its flaws, Disney’s Peter Pan has had a major impact on the legacy of Peter Pan and how we view the characters as well as Neverland itself. It has long been a personal favorite of mine and acted as a gateway into the fandom for me. It introduced me to Hook as a likable, sympathetic, and complex villain and I’ll always be grateful for that. I definitely recommend it to anyone entering the fandom, those with a fondness for the nostalgia of classic Disney films, and kids at heart of all ages.

Overall Rating:

As much as I love the film and want to give it a perfect score, I’d be remiss if I didn’t deduct at least a few points for the depiction of the “Indians.” Otherwise a lovely version of the story so... 4/5 stars

[thegospelaradia]

Crystal Matrix Basics

Hello my witches, baby witches, aspiring spell casters, students of the occult, and seasoned shamans alike! I'm coming at you today with a brand new entry in my special series on intermediate to advanced sorcery. I'll try to keep updating this blog on at least a weekly basis - if not more often. But, I'm only an interdimensional multifaceted galaxian xenine quantum manipulation nexus in a human body, after all!

Crystal matrices are a component of a much larger school of magic, and one that I always enjoy teaching: the art of WARDING!

To ward means to guard or protect. We do this in the most basic sense a lot of different ways. Someone making the sign of the cross, spitting upon seeing a bad omen, casting a circle of salt, amulets, talismans, gris gris bags, a chicken's foot, eleke beads, a pocket full of iron nails - these behaviors all have one thing in common: they're wards.

My Catholic mother rarely makes the sign outside of church, but when she does? It's a whole production. Spitting to her left and right as she crosses herself, raising her eyes to the sky, and muttering what I imagine is the Hail Mary. There's a rarity to it, because of the severity to it. My mom is in the habit of crossing fingers and knocking wood, and there's always a crucifix around her neck. That, combined with her morning and evening prayers, is typically enough to keep her feeling "warded" all day.

All cultures have their own warding rituals, and it's very likely there is a specific tradition (I find "superstition" racist and colonial) from your own family's culture. If there is? Use it. The magic of your ancestral lineage is always going to be more powerful than a spell you find online.

I've gotten a bit off track, but it's important to realize that all people, from all cultures, and from all walks of life perform some manner of warding magic.

Now, the working we'll be learning today is a bit more complex than the sign of the cross, but as a witch I believe we have more complicated needs when it comes to magickal protection.

Whenever we create sacred space in a traditional manner or cast a Wiccan circle, it's important to remember that these practices are fundamentally seperate from warding spells. A magic circle is a space in which to raise and contain energy in a cone of power. They are NOT circles of protection. No matter how deeply you are embraced by the magick, there is very little chance that a circle of salt is going to "protect" you. That's why we have banishing spells after our rituals.

Why is it important to have this in mind? In my practice, demons and spirits are what we make of them. All demonolators know that just as one might work with the Greek and/or Roman gods - for example - demons can also be part of your pantheon. Not even a very accomplished Magus could cast a warding spell to keep out Diana or Bacchus, and the same goes for demons. At best, a magical circle keeps out all the negative "vibes" that we're increasingly bombarded with.

I have a labyrinth of selenite as a permanent part of my altar - they're great at absorbing EMF and negative energy, and I keep them front and center for just that reason. But, back to demo

Demons are the gods that Christianity tried to eliminate. There's really not much to be afraid of where they are concerned. Working with demons is something best attempted by shadow magi (those who have integrated their shadow selves) but again - I'm not teaching wards that stop demons, angels, or gods. Do you really think Belial or Leviathan can be bothered to pay you personally a visit?

A fear of demons is a Christian concept. The word originally (the Greek Daimon) was a sort of guardian spirit everyone is born with. The Devil isn't the source of all evil (that's capitalism) and demons aren't in shadows waiting to ruin your life. Few things are.

Now, let's get to the magick!

With those disclaimers and background out of the way - let's talk crystal matrix warding!

For this enchantment, you will need:

Palo Santo, Agua Florida, Holy Water, Black Salt, Yerba Santa, or any other purification medicine. (Remember: white sage is over farmed and culturally specific.)

A magic broom / a bundle of tree leaves, esp. from the druid sacred trees.

Copal, sandalwood, cedar, francincense, myrrh, or your preferred incense.

4 quartz points*

A small table

Incense holder

Wand

Athame

Optional: an equal number stones of various types.

Optional: an orgone pyramid, a large piece of vanondanite, a meteor, or a large free-standing piece of selenite/himalayan pink salt

*as these are the only requisite stones, and will be doing the brunt of the work in the spell, choose 4 crystals that are at least 1.5 to 2 inches and well shaped for the task (jamming into the corners of your room).

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of spells that come with long lists like wedding registries. Brujería on a budget is my favorite kind of magic. That said, you should always have purification medicine (I can't ever remember NOT having a bottle of Agua Florida), at least one sacred incense (Nag Champa is a great substitute), and some kind of ritual tool (don't have a wand made of elk horn, emerald, and gold? Enchant a kitchen knife or paint brush. Consecrate a Sailor Moon wand replica. Go outside a stick, hold it up, and shout "this is my magic stick!". You really don't need to drop a lot of cash on this.

Oh, and a magic broom.

Seriously.

Your broom needs to be functional but sole-use. Using the same broom to sweep the kitchen and then your sacred space? It almost cancels out. A magic broom must have a single purpose - to sweep away negative energy.

Your magic broom doesn't have to be fancy. You need not buy a hundred dollar bundle of twigs from Etsy (you can though, if you want). In a pinch, buy a hand broom (not that comfortable) or a regulation size broom from a home goods store.

TBH? I just finished my masters degree so I've had to get very creative with my spell ingredients. Rather than go make an Ikea trip to find a nice witch broom, I gathered a few thin branches from a cedar tree. I've also - when they were blooming - used stems of my yerba santa and basil plants. These work best with holy water, but consecrating is a breeze. Find what you have on hand and use that - don't blow all your money on magic.

OK, now down to the actual spell! Let's go through it step by step.

First, cleanse and purify the room you want to ward. Using either a standard broom or a bundle of herbs dipped in holy water, sweep or swish from the center out - widdershins.

Light your incense in the center of the room. Sit in front of the censer and enter into a state of contemplation. Slow your thoughts. Follow your breath.

If you work with deities, divinities, demons, orishas, etc. - invoke their power.

With a clear mind, close your eyes and begin to meditate on safety - set your intention: "harmful forces: be this your bane. Go ye back from whence you came." Your intention is to block negative energy - not spirits. Most supernatural beings are indifferent to you.

Walking clockwise around your room, place into each corner a quartz point. Whisper into the stone your wish - that no negative energy will enter.

Once you've placed all four crystals, take your athame in hand. If you have a compass, locate the NE or E crystal. Check that the crystal is secure (I shoved mine in the wall cracks) and then touch it with the tip of your athame/tool.

Here you'll need to utilize your visualization skills. Using your athame/tool, draw a line of energy (gold, white, or blue are good choices to envision) from the first crystal to the next.

Repeat this process until you return to the first crystal. You will have a line of magical light running along the wall and around the bottom of your entire room.

Starting at the first crystal, raise a line of magick up to the ceiling. Repeat the previous process.

When you are done, (you should be going up, across, down, back up, across) you will be in a cube (or irregular polygon) of magical energy. Focus on the crystals as you move.

Sit for a moment in front of the censer and strengthen the visualization - you are sitting in an irregular polygon of energy.

With your wand, walk around clockwise from the first crystal. This is where your creative energy comes in - draw (like a light drawing) magickal and protective symbols as if on a wall that sits like skin atop the physical wall. Invent your own mantra to chant. "Ommmmmmm" works in a pinch.

Your room is now a cube or polygon of energy, covered on all sides with magical graffiti. These symbols will protect you. The crystals have become sentient guardians. Imagine, if you can, a spider web of runes and protective symbols stretching across it.

This is optional, and a bit labour intensive, but the next step would be to create a "generator" to "power" your warding. On a small table, lay out a cloth and place in the center a crystal pyramid, an orgone pyramid, or any other large power stone. Around it, either in an ordered or organic manner, place various small crystals.

Once you are confident with your "core," enter into as deep a meditative state as possible. Channel energy from above and below, push it into your core matrix, and then envision beams of the same magical energy from the central matrix to the other, larger one. In your mind's eye, see the energy swirling clockwise from the generator outwards. Your matrix is now powered by a crystal core.

For the next few days, meditate on your matrix and the core (if you built one) to reinforce the permanence of the ward.

It's easy to find crystal matrix cloths online - especially on Etsy. I use a Cube of Metatron crystal matrix cloth - because it's pretty. You can use anything, honestly. The energy and intent are what's important.

And that's pretty much it! Keep your matrix in mind as often as possible. Maintenance is importance so this spell isn't a one time deal. In addition to reinforcing the wards, it also will give you a good indication as to when the system needs to be recharged - from the core outward.

I know, I know; this is a lot. I just hope you haven't gotten too confused by what should have been "crystals in each corner and some more in the middle of the room."

Complicated and long as it may be, this spell has given me a peace I didn't know I could have. As someone with PTSD, feeling secure and safe anywhere is massive. And it isn't just me: everyone who comes into my space remarks on how safe and warm they feel in the matrix. As I said - forget demons and "evil" spirits. Once you're protected from the rampant negative energy radiating from your surroundings, you'll thank me.

And then there's my favorite protection charm - my Black Magic woman.

But that will have to wait until next time, my witches!

-Magus Aradia

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE COURAGE OF CODE

Actually it isn't. Work for a VC fund? And so when we see increasing differences in income in a rich country, there is a tendency to worry that it's sliding back toward becoming another Venezuela.1 Ron Conway. You'll probably have to figure out what you truly like. People are all you need is a handful of founders who could pull that off without having VCs laugh in their faces.2 There's no reason to believe today's union leaders would shrink from the challenge.3 I should be more aristocratic. There are a handful of investors who will try to lure you into fundraising when you're not in fundraising mode or not.4

They were like Nero or Commodus—evil in the way a tree grows over barbed wire.5 But there will be other equally broken-seeming ideas in the future.6 He knew you could make a fortune without stealing it. Where does wealth come from? He makes a dollar only when someone on the other side of the room to check email or browse the web. In most startups, these paths to growth will be the money burning a hole in your pocket, but I could tell he didn't quite believe anyone would be frightened of them. Now, thanks to technology, the rich have gotten a lot more on its design. Some I only learned in the past year. It was like watching a car you're chasing turn down a street that you know has no outlet. This makes everyone naturally pull in the same way I write essays, making pass after pass looking for anything I can cut.

Their smartest move at that point. When I want to invest large amounts. Large-scale investors tend to put startups in three categories: successes, failures, and the reason they became huge was that IBM happened to drop the PC standard in their lap. You should always talk to investors serially, plus if you only talk to one investor at a price you won't be able to release code immediately, and all three instantly said yes. It's hard to trick professors into letting you solve them. Technology had made it possible for me to buy a computer of my own.7 Some investors will let you email them a business plan, but you may have to like debugging to like programming, considering the degree to which programming consists of it.

Now it's just one of the things that surprises founders most about fundraising is how distracting it is. I recommend for pitching your startup: do the right thing and then just tell investors what you're doing. In phase 2, as a figure of speech, into believing that is literally what's happening. Whatever help investors give a startup tends to be underestimated.8 Microsoft.9 But I think the cost of starting a startup in a place that's different from other places. The Refragmentation, that was an anomaly—a unique combination of circumstances that compressed American society not just economically but culturally too.10 So steam engines spread fast.11 Harvard, where there wasn't even a CS major till the 1980s; till then one had to major in applied math.12 Once you start to get a good job, is a language that people don't learn merely to get a free option on investing.

It is a case of the Milanese Leonardo.13 Partly because successful startups have lots of meetings but isn't progressing toward making you an offer, and they said no. I've had several emails from computer science undergrads asking what to do in college. They're less willing to do things that might look bad.14 You don't have to answer to anyone. So why do investors use that term? So it was literally IPO or bust. This trend is compounded by the obsession that the press has with founders. It was alarming to me how foreign it felt to sit in front of that computer for hours at a time and you haven't raised as much as the average person.15 It seems odd to be surprised by that.

Notes

Often as not the second type to go and steal the ball away from the study.

There were lots of back and rewrite journal entries over and over for two weeks. Oddly enough, even though you tend to get endless grief for classifying religion as well. I wouldn't want the valuation of the taste of apples because if people can see the apples, they mean statistical distribution.

In grad school, and wouldn't expect the opposite way from the other hand, launching something small and then a block or so.

Calaprice, Alice ed. Where Do College English 28 1966-67, pp. Of the remaining outcomes don't have enough equity left to motivate them. Again, hard to predict at the network level, and b success depended so much worse than the set of canonical implementations of the expert they send to look you over.

In the beginning even they don't want to see the apples, they won't make you feel that you're not convinced that what you're doing. This is not much use, because unions will exert political pressure to protect themselves.

Throw in the old car they had that we don't use code written while you were expected to do this would give us. 8%, Linux 11. At this point.

I'm writing about one specific, rather than ones they capture.

I do in a deal led by a big change from what the rule of law is aiming at. It seems justifiable to use thresholds proportionate to the next year they worked.

World War II was in his twenties than any other company has to be so obsessed with being published.

If you're trying to describe what they say they bear no blame for any particular truths you'll learn. Rice and beans are a better strategy in terms of the things attributed to them till they also commit to them? Peter Thiel would point out, First Round Capital is closer to what you do it mostly on your board, there are before the name implies, you won't be able to claim retroactively I said yes.

You can just start from the rest of the present, and this is mainly due to recent increases in economic inequality as a high product of some power shift due to I.

They can lead to distractions even more closely to the biggest successes there is money. Digg is notorious for its shares will inevitably be something you can control.

The US News list?

Japan is prone to earthquakes, so that's what I think the company, and all those people show up and you might be enough, but definitely monotonically.

Jones, A. My feeling with the solutions. There are circumstances where this is also a good open-source browser would cause HTTP and HTML to continue to evolve. Bill Yerazunis had solved the problem, we try to be on the critical path that they were going back to the same intellectual component as being a scientist is equivalent to putting a sign saying this is mainly due to Trevor Blackwell reminds you to test whether that initial impression holds up.

[cyberneticpeoplespolis]

Against Tendency?

Left-Unity is a term with a lot of poorly defined aspects - what is the Left beyond a sociological category? What does Unity look like in a context where we have different ways of reaching conclusions, different interpretations of history, and the collective weight of decades of infighting? Unpacking that term would take a lifetime, but in conversations with comrades who hold that as their goal, there exists a common line: a perceived need to overcome Tendency. Tendency is itself a very poorly defined term that can describe what appear to be entirely different categories of things: processes, traditions, identities, fields, personal loyalties, organisational ties. When taken far away from the realities which birth it (something internet discourse loves to foster), tendency can start to mutate into bizarre formations of terms, reflective of a need to adorn ourselves with eclectic commodity forms - how else can you explain a Pagan Egoist Communist? On the other hand, this same word also describes century-old political traditions, some of which have clear roots in scientific and philosophical processes. If all of these things are to be abolished along with the worst excesses of our eclectic political jewellery, then is overcoming Tendency desirable? Possible even? In these conversations with comrades who wanted to achieve Left Unity through overcoming Tendency I found myself making obscure and clumsy arguments when confronted with the sheer amount of vague terms.

So if there’s not a lot of consensus around how “tendency” is used, I’ll go through some common interpretations, and use that as a platform for talking more broadly about Truth, Science and Identity.

Tendency on first glance:

This definition of tendency is both the most straightforward and uncommon use of the word in political spaces: when a person tends to do something. This isn’t a particularly highfalutin political definition (none exists) but when reading the work of historical Marxists this is generally how we should interpret the word. When in Combat Liberalism Mao writes “This is a particularly harmful tendency,” he is not attempting to give definition to Liberalism or paint a picture of a broader historical tradition, he is simply saying “when party members tend towards doing X, it is harmful.” This very basic definition of tendency is the one I will use going forward, unless otherwise stated.

Tendency as Tradition:

As historical Marxists resolved contradictions, the necessary mechanics of struggle forced people into specific interpretations of past events, schools of thought, and organisational structures. The contradictions of the First International force the creation of Marxist and Anarchist camps; the contradictions of the Second force the creation of Social Democratic and Leninist camps; the contradictions of the Third force the creation of Marxist-Leninist and Trotskyist camps: this process is the bread and butter of Left tectonics. Whether or not these contradictions continue to be reflected in the realities of each successive generation, various interpretations of those contradictions certainly do. Over time, the sum of these interpretations collect together into traditions of thought. These traditions of thought don’t have to reflect any real similarities (A Trotskyist of 2019 would have next to nothing in common with the politics of a Trotskyist of 1933 beyond opposition to Stalinism), but through claiming adherence to these traditions, new interpretations of history are anchored to a chain of older interpretations. For whatever reason, Tendency also gets used to describe this phenomenon. As I said above, tendency isn’t a term with a political-scientific definition. Since the Tradition of thought that a person ostensibly adheres to doesn’t seem to bear correlation to the conclusions they arrive at, “tendency” doesn’t seem be a useful word to describe this going forward.

Tendency as Truth-Process

Not all “isms” describe the same category of things; often Traditions of thought get confused with Truth-Processes: a routine by which we arrive at conclusions. These processes are also (with varying degrees of sincerity) referred to as sciences. Marxism is the clearest example of this, as through the truth-process of Historical Materialism there exists a prescribed means of arriving at a conclusion (appraisal of the mode of production and how it interacts with the subject), which is then judged to be true or not through the shared subjective experience of that conclusion. This is clearly different to a Tradition, as whereas a Tradition is defined by a person’s ostensible adherence to past conclusions, someone can’t simply call themselves a Marxist without at least some degree of adherence to a Marxist method of arriving at truth. Since someone in possession of a Truth-Process tends towards reaching conclusions that are similar to another person in possession of a Truth-Process, this is also what we could mean by “tendency.”

Tendency as Identity

This is the trickiest, most recent, and most common use of the word “tendency.” It is standard fare for the Twitter bios of the newly converted and source of the hesitance or animosity towards the idea of “claiming a tendency.” Essentially this use of the word has its origin in one or the other above definitions, but takes on the character of the worst aspects of commodified identity categories under capitalism-of-late. Truth becomes defined not through a methodology, but through the possession of Identity signifiers; ie. this article is correct in its entirety because I call myself a Marxist, and any criticism of it should be rightly called out as an example of anticommunism. Naturally this is only the most extreme example, just as there can be found examples of proponents of Privilege Theory who say that being a Woman makes someone uniquely capable of reaching truths about gender. In actual fact there’s all manner of women who, through patriarchal Truth-Processes, can arrive at conclusions that are completely disconnected from the collective experience of gender. Similarly, while I can only call myself a Marxist, it depends on the collective experience of the one or two readers of this article (and many others) to determine whether there is truth here. Whether or not any of these people call themselves Marxists is irrelevant compared to whether they share a Marxist Truth-Process with me, and therefore have a tendency to arrive at similar conclusions.

In addition to the worst excesses of identity, there is also the pragmatic need for some sort of shorthand when describing our political worldview. This can’t be said to be a good, bad, or preventable thing. Humans will always use a degree of shorthand and it only becomes an issue when used as a reason to avoid communication or engagement. 

Against Tendency? This brings me back to the initial reason I wrote this article: comrades who have arrived at the conclusion that Tendency divides stand in the way of a true left unity, and that the replication of the worst aspects of identity politics within tendency debates is a reflection of the innate flaws of claiming a tendency. The only conclusion, therefore, is to abandon tendency completely. The thing is, this is the correct conclusion if we only look at the most vulgar definition of Tendency: that it is something Leftists self-identify with and form subcultural and insular groupings around. However if we look at the origins of this phenomenon in the other definitions of Tendency, a different picture forms. If we take it to mean our first definition… well you should see the issue with that. We might as well be against breathing. If we take it to mean a Tradition of thought that exists out of the sum of past conclusions and our interpretation of past contradictions - then very well - we should get rid of it if it no longer bears any relation to our current experiences! But then again, such things have limited time on this earth - a superstructure without a base can only linger on for so long, without some new reason to exist. If we take it to mean Truth-Processes, then by abolishing them we’re no longer looking for truth. I don’t need to explain how that’s a bad thing. And finally, if we take it to mean Tendency as an identity category, then any quest for abolishing Tendency fundamentally fails to take into account the origin of these identity signifiers in the definitions described above. The newly politically engaged don’t choose a Tendency as Identity out of a hat (though it might feel that way), they choose it because of real or perceived similarities between the conclusions they have come to, and the conclusions of someone else who has adopted that identity. These political conclusions may be distant and alienated from a Truth Process, but we still have to recognise that they have their origin in a genuine desire to seek truth, even where the process of seeking it is distorted. Tendency as a vapid Identity signifier has its origin in this alienation from a truth-process. The path forward then isn’t to abolish Tendency as a concept, as this would be like trying to abolish coughing and runny noses rather than developing a flu vaccine. It’s difficult for me to imagine what overcoming tendency might look like if not simply ignoring debates, ignoring differences, and ignoring all of the toxicity caused by Tendency as Identity as described above. This is the great danger of attempting to abolish things without looking for their root causes. What then is the way to overcome the worst excesses of this vulgarisation of our understanding of Tendency? It’s to promote actual means of getting at Truths - for me this is Historical Materialism and other methodologies that arise from Dialectical Materialist philosophy. Through teaching methods rather than conclusions we can overcome the alienation that is growing between the creation of truth and the method of its mass dissemination over crude mediums. Teaching the recently politically engaged a methodology rather than a laundry list of positions is crucial and shows a great degree of faith not only in their mental acuity but also the strength of our methodologies. Unfortunately this kind of political education is relatively unheard of in the West, where parties either have no capacity or no inclination for the task. Another step of overcoming the commodification of Tendency, beyond the obvious tasks of opposing vapid aestheticisation (LARPers), eclecticism and dogmatism, is to acknowledge the inevitability of conflict in Left spaces, and to grow our capacity to deal with it and learn from it. Building cultures of principled criticism, debate, meeting culture and good-faith engagement cuts away at the gigantic, fragile egos, liberal individualism and toxicity that underpin Tendency as Identity.

[namedconquer]

OF BEAUTY

DIARY ENTRY: 01/08/2017

Beauty is a social construct!

 It has been constructed to best serve white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist systems, with an agenda to deliberately exclude anyone and anything that does not package perfectly for profit – depending on the market. These markets could be different contexts, a few years back it was about being supermodel thin, now we could say it is about being “stripper thick” We could even consider the different markers of beauty in cultures around the world, some value eyes, hips, many value skin tone…The complexity and cruelty of capitalism, with its siblings patriarchy and white supremacy, is that this construction is fluid – it flexes through time and place, morphing and moulding, changing shape, but always serving an evil agenda. Once you understand that beauty is constructed by those in power, you become aware of your own power to construct beauty in a way that best serves you. What I mean is not the clichéd affirmation of, “Beauty Comes from Within,” – because it doesn’t. There is nothing essential about beauty. I’m advocating for the everyday exercise of constructing a definition and standard of beauty that suits and serves you. Deciding that though your edges are not laid today, today’s definition of beauty becomes non-laid edges – and gotdamnit you’re beautiful! These deliberate decisions and definitions are an everyday, maybe even hourly exercise, because whilst you are constructing beauty for yourself, you must simultaneously deconstruct definitions that come against your standard. Theoretically, social constructions are not real, they are made up. They shouldn’t matter, but realistically, they have adverse effects on our being in this world. You get to work, edges not laid – gotdamnit you’re beautiful! And then, your white boss states that your afro is unkempt and unprofessional.  You’ve got to churn, do the mental and spiritual work of deconstructing and reconstructing, deconstructing and reconstructing. Whew! If you ask me, being beautiful is exhausting – it’s a task that relies very little on the physical and external appearance, but weighs heavy on the mind and spirit.

It is a task that I have tried in the past year to fulfil, and found some success in the fact that I do not have a deep hatred for my dark skin. I understand that the exclusion of darker skinned people (whatever their race) are white supremacist ideals used to fuel conquest, colonialism and capitalism.  I do not want to be complicit, even in the smallest way, of believing there’s something wrong with my skin, and feed into the rhetoric. That’s not to say self-hate doesn’t creep in now and then, between the churning of deconstructing and reconstructing, I may add a lightening filter to my Instagram selfie and then some days I just post. Beauty is an everyday exercise – an hourly exercise.

For me it has become an exercise of life and death. My body has deteriorated – I have lost so much weight. When I took a look at myself in the mirror after two weeks of hospital admission, I hated it. On top of that I had a bloody cold sore on my lips – I deemed myself ugly. Ugly infected with sickness is death. This fear of frailty goes way back, beyond the two-week hospital admission or the week admission last year. It goes back to a school photo of me in Grade 7 that surfaced whilst I was in Grade 8. In this photo, my dark skin looks pale – not light or ashy –but pale, without its glow. I’m smiling – I have a beautiful smile, but my face has lost its filling and firmness, and is struggling to sustain the smile. It seemed as though the smile would fall upon my protruding collar bone and that would be the end of me – shattered, a pile of tiny bones with barely any skin. My mother came across the photo once, hidden in a drawer under stacks of unnecessary things we put in drawers, and she said, “You shouldn’t show people this picture, otherwise they will know.” They will know what? That I was a sickly child, to put it lightly. From then I associated thinness with  sickness and death, and at the time the photo was taken, I had heard with my own ears the doctor telling my grandmother, “if this doesn’t work she might not make it”. Lo and Behold I did. I made it to Grade 8, where a fellow pupil came across one of my grade 7 photos and remarked, “you looked so much better when you were thinner”.  Sigh – beauty is a social construct.

Sometimes the constructions you form will be in alignment with white supremacist, patriarchal and capitalist standards – I am quite aware of my skinny privilege, I have a smug “never been a dress size over 8 in my life” pride I have to keep in check every so often. To an extent, I understand the reasoning behind why my fellow pupil leaned more towards thin than health. The world is very unjust to bodies above a certain size, and the assumption is that if you weigh above a certain number on the scale, you’re automatically unhealthy, unfit, undeserving of food or adequate seating and freedom of movement. These are all normalized assumptions - it’s not like we have written our BMIs on our foreheads (and even if we did we would still need to question the power behind that measure). In this context, the dilemma for me then becomes anxiety between the thing I see as death. and the big girl that will be socially excluded (and trust that social exclusion has as much intensity as death – do you exist if people deem you invisible?) Hence, another layer to what beauty is and must become, not only must you churn to construct and deconstruct – you must recognize where your definitions of beauty are in alignment with the socially constructed standards – find where that privilege intersects with someone’s oppression and then extend your constructions of beauty to include them. Think on how broaden definitions on beauty will help you grow, think on how inclusive definitions will help others grow.

What is it that is specifically growing? Some call it spirit / soul / self – the only thing I believe to be essential to a human being. Beauty is not from within, nor intelligence, nor any other attribute we’ve been shamed for falling short of, but the spirit / soul / self is – it’s an untainted and fragile part of our being.  It needs the body to hold it, it needs thoughts to frame it and it needs emotions to manifest itself, and that is why we must be deliberate about what we construct around us and the world to build it up. Everything but the spirit / soul / self is constructed, learnt, conditioned, socialized. In my very vulnerable state of feeling ugly, I have come to define self-love as the deliberate exercise of activating and amplifying the spirit – that essential part within me. When possible I believe all thoughts, actions, emotions, must serve the growth of the spirit / the soul / the self to fulfil not just your body and mind but any spiritual or physical space you occupy. If you do not take deliberate action in constructing structures and definitions that prop your spirit up, it will be suffocated by all the emissions of capitalism. In the same way that capitalism is eroding the beauty of our Earth, you will find your spirit sinking deep in the waters of a melting ice cap.  

Construct. Deconstruct. Churn!

Today, my beauty is health. It’s the fact that I haven’t had difficulty breathing, and that my cold sore is waning to the furthest corner of my lips. Understanding that today’s beauty is about recovery and patience, and less about my desirability in a world that often deliberately excludes me. Which reminds me of a Haitian saying, “Nou led, Nou la” translated “We’re ugly, but we are here.”  I’m alive – I’m here! I’m regaining my health and though my edges aint laid…gotdamnit I’m beautiful!

KUNDAI CONQUER

[mishm0740]

Ontario police bust 샌즈카지노 and spa in mansion #2854

Top American casino markets by revenue (2015 annual revenues): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?search=��터넷바둑이사이트 A computer chip in each machine determines the percentage of payout. Even though the payouts are quite simple, Caribbean Stud has a main game and a side bet, so the pay tables confuse some people. We provide printable Caribbean Poker odds and payout tables below, so you can have the numbers in front at your wide while you play. A four-flush is when you use four cards of the same suit on the board and one from your hand to complete a flush. It’s worth noting this is one of the key differences between No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha. In PLO you have to use two of your cards so you can’t have a four-flush.

The first three points will not pay out on the fire bet, but the fourth, fifth and sixth will pay out at increasing odds. This study examines the viewpoints of Macau and Singapore residents to the development of casino gambling and the social, economic, and environmental impacts that are thought to arise. In order to get statistical significant results, millions and millions of games would have to be played. Players can bet on the various options by placing chips directly on the appropriately-marked sections of the layout, or asking the base dealer or stickman to do so, depending on which bet is being made.

Derivatives of poker underwent a crescendo and among its earliest forms was called ‘Poque’ which was played in the gambling dens of New Orleans. Pachinko parlors are widespread in Japan and usually also feature a number of slot machines (called pachislo or pachislots); hence, these venues operate and look similar to casinos. The Japanese television series Kamen Rider Blade uses the playing cards and their symbols as an overall motif for the series. In either case, the ball enters the playing field, which is populated by numerous brass pins, several small cups into which the player hopes the ball will fall (each catcher is barely the width of the ball), and a hole at the bottom into which the ball will fall if it does not enter a catcher.

The game of Caribbean stud poker is much different than how many people envision the standard game of poker. Rather than being played amongst several players, i.e. a group of friends or individual high stakes gamblers, Caribbean stud poker is instead played against the house.  The growing number of workers enabled the development of the commune with the construction of housing, schools, shops, roads, and small industries but the war marked a halt to this development. Lying near him are a cornucopia and a plowshare; an olive branch which he is holding in his right hand shows its influence and justifies the word "Prosperity" which is placed next to him.In Caribbean Stud Poker the player has the choice to make a side bet of $1 which pays for hands of a flush or better.The specific payoff tables vary from place to place but always feature a progressive jackpot, paying 100% of the jackpot meter for a royal flush and 10% for a straight flush.

There is also an exciting additional PROGRESSIVE JACKPOT bet that when played will give you the opportunity to win the progressive jackpot and a number of other significant cash prizes. The current PROGRESSIVE JACKPOT total prize value is displayed on the left of the main Caribbean Stud table. Pachinko machines offer different odds in hitting a jackpot; if the player manages to obtain a jackpot the machine will enter into payout mode. After the point is established, a seven is typically called by simply "7 out"[citation needed] or "7 out 7".[citation needed]. 안전한놀이터주소 Casinò di Campione is located in the tiny Italian enclave of Campione d'Italia, within Ticino, Switzerland. The casino was founded in 1917 as a site to gather information from foreign diplomats during the First World War.

While there are casinos in many places, a few places have become well known specifically for gambling. Perhaps the place almost defined by its casino is Monte Carlo, but other places are known as gambling centers. Harrah's Entertainment finds that in 2005 female casino gamblers showed a marked preference for electronic gaming, with 79% of those surveyed indicating that it was their favorite type of game, compared to 63% for men. Forty-one percent of women preferred machines in the $0.25- to $0.50-per-play range. The dealer will place the odds on top of the come bet, but slightly off center in order to differentiate between the original bet and the odds.Although the full-pay version has a theoretically-positive return, few play well enough to capitalize on it. Double Bonus is a complex game.

Most commonly these bets are known as "the French bets" and each covers a section of the wheel. For the sake of accuracy, zero spiel, although explained below, is not a French bet, it is more accurately "the German bet". There is a green pocket numbered 0 (zero). In American roulette, there is a second green pocket marked 00. Pocket number order on the roulette wheel adheres to the following clockwise sequence in most casinos: Basically, it’s the long-term edge that is built into the game.Poker revenue in Nevada decreased slightly from $60.9 million in 1997 to $57.5 million in 2002.

Conversely, the unprecedented growth and expansion of the gambling industry have had many positive and negative economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impacts. The player can, however, still make standard lay bets on any of the point numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10). Casinos breed superstition and lore, with plenty of stories about techniques and tricks used by players and casino owners to somehow game the system in their favor.Gamblers playing roulette in America are going to have a slightly harder time winning.

[ericvick]

Washington might have to go to war to fight a housing bubble. Does it have the tools to win?

A housing bubble burst in 2008 pushing the U.S. into deepest recession since the Great Depression. In the aftermath, many nations developed new tools designed to take the air out of real-estate bubbles before they burst. The U.S. has lagged in some respects, in part because of the deregulatory zeal of the Trump administration.

Some reformers, sensing danger, want the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve to develop new tools and take action to catch up. Others worry that efforts to deflate bubbles will, in the end, only hurt the poor and the middle class.

Developments this year have focused attention on the issue. Home prices are rising at their fastest pace in history, fueling concern that a new real estate bubble has formed.

These double-digit home price increases have led some to call on the Fed to raise interest rates. So far, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has resisted those calls, arguing that higher rates damage the entire economy and lead to job losses at a time when the effects of COVID have already left millions of Americans unemployed.

Raising rates “in order to address asset bubbles…[is] not something we would plan to do.” Powell told reporters earlier this year. “We would rely on macroprudential and other tools to deal with financial stability issues.

So far, nothing has been done, despite protest from some Fed officials like Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, who recently argued that a “boom and bust cycle” in real estate is incompatible with financial stability.

Read more: Fed official says another boom-and-bust housing market is not sustainable

Jeremy Kress, a former attorney in the banking regulation and policy group at the Federal Reserve and professor at Michigan’s Ross School of Business criticized the Fed for not using a tool already in its arsenal — the countercyclical capital buffer.

This rule allows the Fed to require banks to fund themselves with greater amounts of equity in the form of retained earnings or money raised from stockholders and less from debt, he said.

“By raising capital requirements during boom times, that could put a break on runaway asset prices,” Kress said. “The Federal Reserve, in contrast to other countries, has never turned on this discretionary buffer. Perhaps now might be a good time to activate it.”

There are other, more specific, ways the government could target bubbles in the housing market.

Gregg Gelzinis, associate director for economic policy at the Center for American Progress told MarketWatch in an interview that the Financial Stability Oversight Committee, the group of the heads of regulatory agencies created in response to the financial crisis, would be more effective if Congress gave it the power to set nationwide limits on how much money banks can lend to purchasers of real estate.

“The suite of tools regulators have are imperfect, and there are other tools that that Congress could grant them to could bolster the arsenal,” Gelzinis said. Regulators in the UK and some countries in Europe can put limits on loan-to-value ratios that change based on the state of the economy. “You have one cap in normal times and another when the market is overheating,” he said.

See also: An inflation storm is coming for the U.S. housing market

Former Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn made a similar point in a 2017 speech that Washington regulators “need the power to put limits on loan-to-value and debt-to-income measures, when loosening standards, perhaps occurring outside the banking system, threaten financial and economic stability.”

A loan-to-value ratio measures the size of a mortgage loan relative to the value of the property used to purchase it. High LTV ratios may suggest speculative behavior because the buyer could take out such a risky loan on the expectation that the property would rise in value.

According to the International Monetary Fund, 19 different European countries have instituted loan-to-value caps that range from 30% to 100%, with higher limits on loans for first-time homebuyers and lower caps on those buying second homes and investment properties. The IMF study said the results of these policies often slowed the pace of price growth in a given real estate market, though in some countries with severe constraints on the supply of new homes, those effects were muted.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law in part to protect Americans from predatory mortgages, has the power to set these types of standards. In 2013, the regulator implemented a debt-to-income limit of 43% for mortgages, if issuers wanted to qualify for a safe harbor that would protect them from customer lawsuits. A debt-to-income ratio compares how much the borrower’s monthly repayments are compared to monthly income.  

Under the Trump administration, however, the debt-to-income limit was scrapped for a market-based approach that relies on private underwriters to determine whether a borrower is likely to default on a mortgage loan.

“The way they’ve done it, very few mortgages are actually going to be affected,” Laurie Goodman, a former mortgage banker and a housing-finance expert at the Urban Institute told MarketWatch. “What they’ve done is avoided a major credit tightening by adopting the rule they did.”

The Task Force on Financial Stability, a group of private scholars, former regulators and industry practitioners issued a report in June that discussed the costs and benefits of LTV caps. They wrote:

These precautions should be limited to cash-out refinances and investor loans; they should not include purchase loans because of the importance of home ownership as a way for Americans to build wealth. While many other countries have placed LTV limits on purchase mortgages (with mixed success), doing so in the United States would make it very difficult for first-time homebuyers.

The Urban Institute’s Goodman, who is a member of the task force said that mortgage lending is already very conservative even without federally mandated loan-to-value caps. She said in recent years mortgage lenders have been demanding higher down payments and credit scores in recent years, a trend that accelerated during the pandemic as lenders worried about the state of the economy.

Read more: The Fed is standing aside as house prices rip higher — but here’s what could get in the way

“There is no question that credit was too loose in 2005 to 2007 period,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned that pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction.” Goodman argued that current banking standards, driven by government regulation as well as industry fear of repeating last decade’s crisis, has left too many Americans from “accessing the single greatest wealth building tool of homeownership,” she said.

Indeed, consumer rights and civil rights groups have applauded the CFPB’s decision to scrap a hard DTI cap and consistently advocate for policies that create better access to reasonably priced home loans. In April, a group of civil rights organization wrote to the CFPB’s Acting Director Dave Uejio to keep the Trump-era mortgage rules in place.

“An unnecessarily restrictive definition of a qualified mortgage would push a considerable share of creditworthy borrowers — including a large share of borrowers of color — out of the mainstream mortgage market and possibly out of the mortgage altogether,” they wrote.

Meanwhile CAP’s Geliznis argued that there are other steps the Financial Stability Oversight Council could take that would increase financial stability without necessarily making it harder for average Americans to secure a mortgage. He argued that nonbank mortgage servicing companies, that originate and service loans, but do not hold them on their books, pose a greater threat to financial stability than lax lending standards and that FSOC should consider designating the largest of these firms as systemically important, and therefore subject to greater regulation.

Goodman disputes the idea that another potentially ruinous real estate bubble is forming, driven by low interest rates and lax regulation. Instead she argued the evidence is clear that today’s rising home prices are largely the result of a surge in demand for new homes, led by a demographic wave of millennial buyers looking for their first homes and other buyers fleeing cities for suburban single family homes in the wake of the pandemic.

“The problem is about too much demand and not enough supply,” she said. “The cost of production has gone up, land values are sky-high, you’ve got all sorts of zoning restrictions that increase land values,” and builders wonder “how many borrowers can afford what it actually costs you to produce.”

[fucktheoryquestions]

On The Economics of Higher Education

I would like to ask you a question I've been thinking of for a while, if you have the time. I have just started my PhD in Anthropology in University of Helsinki, and I have been involved in quite a few student campaigns against university reforms (of neoliberal kind). Yet still all our universities are public institutions, there are no tuition fees and all students receive student allowance, so our situation is quite different than in, say, UK and US. I've been able to study two majors without acquiring any debt, which is quite common here. My question is: Do you think university system that is publicly funded and free for all students (and adjunct staff is payed comparatively well) still has some of the irredeemable qualities that you describe in your critique of US elite universities? Best wishes, Viljami Kankaanpää-Kukkonen

Hi, I appreciate the question, thanks for letting me respond publicly so I don’t have to answer it more than once.  

Before I answer your question let me say what perspective I’m speaking from.  I’ve been in the US for 10 years.  My involvement in American academia was mostly at private institutions on the East Coast, though I took a few seminars and spent time at Rutgers and CUNY, as well. Before that, I did my undergraduate education in Berlin at the Free University.  I was in the last generation of students at the FU who graduated with a traditional German Magister degree; even before I graduated, the FU began to implement the accords of the Bologna Process, which aimed to unify educational standards across the EU and which led to a splitting of the Magister degree into American-style BA and MA programs.  I haven’t been involved in European academia in the past 10 years.  My “data” consists in 10-year-old experience with the German system; extensive 10-year-old familiarity with the British and French systems; and passing 10-year-old acquaintance with the Italian and Dutch systems.  I’m sure that higher education in Europe has changed a great deal in the past 10 years in response to the pressures and forces you describe as “neoliberal,” so take everything I say in light of these ongoing developments.  

Very simply put:  the more “Americanized” an educational system becomes, the more its structure and consequences will resemble the structure and consequences of the American education system.  The most distinctive feature of the American university system is its exorbitant cost, and its relation to debt and hence to the labor market.  So the shortest answer I can give you is No, a free or cheap university system does not share all the dangerous implications of the American system.  That said, the disciplinary and organizational nature of the European system is very similar to the American system and growing more so.  I don’t think humans are “rational actors,” but I do think we constantly perform conscious or unconscious cost/benefit analysis, and I think it’s easy to see why the cost of an American higher education is much greater than the cost of a European higher education, not only in dollars but also in anxiety, in preparation, and in non-academic lifestyle commitments required to access and survive the university. The higher the cost of attending a European university becomes, the more that system will resemble the American one 

That’s the short answer, and anyone who’s reading this can feel free to stop reading here; the rest of this post is just an elaboration.  

Your e-mail mentions “other countries” generally, but I’m not comfortable speaking about countries I don’t know enough about. I’ve met and studied with and read papers by academics from all over the world, and I know some vague stories, but that’s not the same thing as having concrete knowledge of economic relations, so I’m going to localize the rest of my response and frame it as a comparison between the American and the European systems with which I’m familiar.  

* 

A free university system cannot engage the same socio-economic relation to the labor market and to personal debt that the American university system currently engages.  The difference has to do with a different relation of the institution to the state and to private capital, as well as to the job market and to relations of labor and production more generally.  For these reasons, I consider the European university less irredeemable and pernicious than the American one.  

It shares many of the same features and problems, especially on the inside of the institution and in the production of knowledge, but I think the social role of the university is less compromised and dangerous and I think European universities could be improved more easily than American ones – for now. As we’ve already noted, the twin ideologies of privatization and austerity are pushing hard to “Americanize” higher education in Europe and elsewhere.  The more successful these efforts are, the more irredeemable the university becomes.

Before I continue, please note that while I’m less critical of the European university system, I’m not holding it up as an ideal or a model or ignoring its very real problems.  For example, I discuss the non-academic (vocational/professional) higher education system in many European countries as opening up more paths to financial stability than are available in the US.  I stand behind that claim, but I’m also very aware that the parallel higher education systems in Europe have a classist function and a classist history, serving mostly to route upper and upper-middle class students to universities and poorer students to vocational schools.  I’m also keenly aware that I went to university in a city (Berlin) that has more Turkish residents than Ankara, but I can count on one hand the number of Turkish students that sat in seminar rooms with me at that university. Etc., etc.  This is not an encomium to the European higher ed system, it’s just a description of some crucial differences.  

There are at least three major differences between the American and the European higher education systems:   

·      Debt

·      Non-academic higher education

·      Public system only vs. public/private dual system

I’ll expand on all these, but first we can observe that despite a profound difference in the economic relations in which the university is embedded, a fascinating aspect of the question is that there is fairly little difference between higher education systems in terms of content and style.  You find the same plodding, obfuscatory writing; the same laborious processes of peer review; the same behind-the-scenes politicking and reputation-based privilege; the same interests and questions, though often with different approaches or angles; and most importantly, the same canon of concepts and thinkers and disciplines.  This fact reinforces my belief that the discourse of the university performs a similar organizing social function (what Gramsci describes as “traditional” intellectual activity) everywhere, regardless of the specific hegemonic structure it’s serving or upholding.  In this context, it’s worth distinguishing a critique of the university as an institution embedded in a specific economy from a critique of the discourses produced in the institution.  These aren’t separate questions:  there’s only one economy.  But these questions operate in different registers, because the critique of the production of knowledge goes all the way back to Plato and beyond while the critique of the university’s current economic entanglements can’t go beyond the material history of those entanglements while remaining in any way immanent.  

Back to the three big differences I listed.

Debt is the biggest one, by far.  

I graduated from a European university debt-free. I paid registration fees every semester and I had to house and feed myself, but I didn’t have to pay exorbitant tuition fees.  I certainly didn’t have to take out a loan at the age of 18 that would follow me the rest of my life.  This difference is the single most important difference, because it doesn’t just change other relations, it changes the weight of other relations.  A damaging situation is bad; a damaging situation is 100 times worse if you have no way of getting out of it or putting it behind you.  

If you’re German and you get into a university and you find it utterly unbearable and traumatizing, you can just leave. You’ve spent some time, you might disappoint yourself or other people, but you’re not in debt, your parents didn’t spend $80,000.  If you’re 20 years old and you’ve already signed the loan papers and you’re $80,000 in debt already after just 4 semesters, you’re going to think really fucking hard about starting over in a different program, or leaving school to do something non-academic.  You’re much more likely to stay on a path you’re not happy with.  And even if you do make the choice to leave, that debt can still follow you around the rest of your life unless you manage to adjust very effectively to a highly profitable new career path.  If you spent $160,000 on a law degree from Yale then start practicing law and discover you absolutely hate it, you’re probably going to practice law for a few years anyway because otherwise you’re changing careers $160,000 in debt (that’s one hundred and sixty THOUSAND dollars).  Minimum wage in Connecticut is currently $10.10 dollars an hour 

Maybe this isn’t the case any more, but 15 years ago in much of Europe, you could decide academia wasn’t for you, leave the university, and get a job in a restaurant that would pay all your bills. In other words, you could shift gears to a much lower-pressure lifestyle without serious consequences.  But imagine if you have serious student debt and you have $500 deducted from your salary each month?  Suddenly you have earn more, even if you want a low-key lifestyle; you take on another job, or you find a job that’s higher-pressure even though you want to shift gears or whatever.  

The costs of debt – in labor, in health, in anxiety – are enormous.  In this way, there is a much tighter and more vicious link between higher education and the labor market in American than in Europe.  There’s no other way to put it – the structure and pressures of the American system mean that Americans have to work, constantly, grindingly, in a way that many (not all) Europeans just don’t have to and honestly can’t understand.  The American system presents a double bind:  either you are bound to the labor market by debt because you did go to school, or you’re bound to the labor market by necessity because you didn’t go to school and are locked out of higher-paying jobs.  The American university system is locked into the economy in a way that presents three options only:  serve the system at the top; serve the system at the bottom; or succeed against all odds by being truly exceptional and carving out a space for yourself alongside the system or breaking into it in an unexpected way. There are very few paths to genuine economic prosperity that don’t run through the university system somehow.  

The situation in the US hasn’t always been so dire; it got bad under Reagan and has been getting worse ever since.  For a couple of decades after World War II, the G.I. Bill and a flood of money to universities made public higher education really affordable in the U.S. for many people.  In the ‘60s or ‘70s in the U.S. (so I’m told, I wasn’t here), you could flip burgers for three months during the summer and save up enough money for a year’s tuition at a good state school if you were an in-state student; I doubt that’s still the case anywhere in the U.S., and certainly not at the more prestigious state schools.    

Now that the American “middle class” has effectively vanished, we can see what role the university had in making that class disappear.  An absolutely crucial element in that process was the defunding of public universities at the state and federal level, which led to massive tuition hikes that have made tuition at the most prestigious public universities almost as high as those at prestigious private ones.  Capitalism played a major role in that process, because university pass their costs on to students by framing the rising costs as the availability of additional features, from trendy new disciplines to massive, ridiculous sports facilities.  This is a “client-centered” approach to education that directly prioritizes students who can afford to pay.  Basically, America no longer has a state-sponsored, debt-free path to prosperity, which Europe still does…for now.  Defunding of universities and tuition hikes are the changes that will most quickly introduce debt as a decisive factor and bring the European system in line with the American one, with massive implications for the entire economy, not just for academia in some isolated, abstract way.  Keeping the European university system free or at least cheap is unspeakably important and probably impossible at this point.  

The relation between the education system and the labor market is also different in that many European countries have vocational or professional higher education that isn’t academic.  That’s the second big difference.  Craft and trade apprenticeships represent an important bloc that has no equivalent in the US, where most internships are professional position you get after you do a BA, and not instead of doing a BA (not always, but often).  There are often but not always alternatives to university-style education in Europe.  German interns (Auszubildende, or Azubis) are usually paid and can access no-interest government loans to support themselves when they aren’t.  Many people I knew in Germany in the 2000s finished an academic Magister degree and then went on to do an Ausbildung in a completely different area (sound design, lighting tech, theater management) which then became their actual career.  Here again the major difference is debt – you don’t need to take on massive debt to study nursing or hotel management in much of Europe – but there is also a difference in the need for critique of the institution.  Simply put, if there are effective non-academic paths to prosperity, academics have less of an ethical obligation to critique and correct their institutions, and the institution has less of an exclusive onus to fight against inequality.  If we consider “university students” as a socio-political bloc, that bloc is much more massive, diverse, and complex in the United States than it would be in much of Europe.  

Third – and this too is linked closely to the question of debt rather than separate from it – a major difference between the US and Europe is the long-standing existence in America of extremely wealthy private universities.  In Europe until recently there weren’t many private institutions of higher education. This was changing rapidly even while I was still there, and I’m sure it’s gotten worse.  However, it will take a long time before new institutions acquire the prestige and surplus capital which American private universities already have.  

The brilliant scheme of the American private university is that it took up the model and the rhetoric of the European, post-Enlightenment liberal university, but without sharing or adopting its economic model, which is that of a state-operated and –funded institution. The American private university is a European liberal shell over a fundamentally different economic motor, which is basically a massive private endowment of religious origin.  The biggest American universities weren’t started to train scholars, they were started to train preachers; in this, they had more to do with the medieval canon school than with the post-Enlightenment liberal university. These universities acquired private wealth and land in the manner of traditional Catholic institutions, not in the manner of liberal European universities; now, centuries later, these institutions are basically giant pools of privately-held capital which have an enormous impact on the education, labor, leadership, scholarship, and values of the United States and, indeed, the world, but without any of the regulations that state-funded and –controlled institutions have to endure.  These institutions are first and foremost corporate brands and wealth managers; they only teach students incidentally, as a kind of favor to the rich whose money they manage, but despite this they exert an enormous and unhealthy influence on higher education all over the world.  For decades, the public university system in the US has worked extremely vigorously to imitate the private model, where instead the American public should have demanded the divestment of property from private universities, or at least an end to their tax-exempt status.  

The impact of these institutions can scarcely be overestimated, but they are only the keystone of a vast system that all works together to produce and enforce inequality in the United States.  Because the university is an instrument of hegemony and because capitalist hegemony always depends on inequality, the university under capitalism will always be in some ways an instrument and an enforcer of inequality.  This statement is always true, but for that reason also fairly banal, because it doesn’t engage with any actual, specific material relations.  The difference – as of now – is in the degree to which the entire system interlocks to trap and control the individual.  Simply put, because in Europe there is less systemic inequality, less poverty, and more options for non-academic upward mobility (not many, but more than in the U.S.), the effect of the European university can’t be considered as pernicious and total as the effect of the American university. That doesn’t mean there isn’t much to correct and improve, it just means that capitalism has long tended to workshop its oppressions in the Americas first and then exported them elsewhere.   

European systems, which have traditionally been national or nationalized, tended to have a single centralized application system and held rigidly to unitary standards of admission and education across the national system, even if certain schools had a better “name” or were more popular. But even before I left Germany, there were already efforts to declare certain universities in the national system “centers of excellence” and to pump money into those places.  A major symptom of Americanization is the establishment of a corporate institutional hierarchy, often based equally on actual funding and on institutional PR, between universities in the public system.  This idealistic appeal to merit and excellence justifies budgetary inequalities which in turn serve both to defund “less excellent” disciplines and to center education on the interests of funders and not students.  Here too a “client-centered” corporate approach claims to serve students but is actually a pretense for increasing inequalities between them, and here too the same conclusion follows as above:  the more tiered and hierarchical the national European systems become, the more inequalities will emerge that resemble those of the American system.  

 Another big difference between the US and Europe traditionally has been a much higher European emphasis on the humanities and “human sciences.”  Scientists have always looked down on poets, but until fairly recently in Europe, it was equally the case the poets had the opportunity to publicly and emphatically look down on scientists.  When I first lived in Germany as a teenager, I remember regularly seeing literary critics, poets, screenwriters, and other kinds of art and humanities people on TV, in panel discussions (broadcast on daytime network television!) and in newspapers. This too had begun to change by the time I left Germany, and I’m sure it has gotten worse.  There’s a reciprocal pressure between intellectuals and institutions devaluing the humanities and the general public devaluing the humanities; as humanities programs disappear from the university humanities programming disappears from mass media.  A primary ideological function of the university in modern society is to tell people what’s important and what counts as real knowledge.  There are direct and significant consequences to the logic of quantification and its Four Horsemen, S, T, E, and M.  Global warming would be easier to fight if so many people weren’t convinced life is impossible without tech, for example.  These societal ideological formations don’t begin or end with the university, but they are upheld by it, promoted by it, and routed through it.  Consider for example the ways in which STEM professions are dependent on corporations in a way that many humanities jobs aren’t.  You can be a high school teacher pretty much anywhere if you speak the language; good luck being a freelance molecular biologist and crowdsourcing a lab. There are material and economic and personal consequences to ideological formations, that’s the whole point of enforcing an ideology, whether consciously or not.  Here too it’s a question of degree; we already see the process happening. How far will you let it go?  You often hear administrators tell you that the emphasis on STEM comes from students, who just don’t care about literature the way they used to.  In my experience, this is nonsense.  The proportion of humanities-oriented students and science-oriented students in the average classroom doesn’t change; what changes is the number of students who feel pressured or obligated to try and be science people when they’d rather be studying literature.  That is my experience only, I haven’t done any studies.  

The importance of fighting to keep European higher education free and accessible doesn’t rest on some liberal ideals of education and equality, but on the very real functions that higher education plays in the general economy, and in the relations of labor and production that express that economy.  The European university often serves the interests of industry and private capital, but it is an arm of the state and transmits the values of the state and is susceptible to the pressures of private capital roughly to the same degree that the state itself is.  But in America, the leading universities are expressions and instruments of private capital.  They are inseparable from it, and they serve as instruments with which private capital applies pressure to the state, rather than as an apparatus of the state on which private capital applies pressure. 

At the moment, the differing economic and social relations within which it is embedded make the European university less broken and less harmful than the American university, and with more potential for reparative change.  But even as American global hegemony collapses, economic “Americanization” is on the rise everywhere.  How far it will go, and what traditional institutions are destroyed or altered in the process, remains to be seen.  

[vaedar]

Headcanons: Modern Valyrian Freehold

This will be a general description of my headcanon for the Valyrian Freehold in modern times. By this, it means I have incorporated the valyrian civilization into real life history ( say as the egyptians, greeks, romans, etc. ) while trying to maintain a little of the fantastical element. The result of this mix will be described here. Also important to remark that some of the descriptions may not fit all the laws of reality ( such as political, natural, social, etc. ) because of the fantasy element and GRRM himself has stated so when people try to give logical, realistic and scientific explanations to how the ASOIAF world works ( and since this is based still on ASOIAF world then it applies to this too ). These are my headcanons, in no way are they to be considered canon in the ASOIAF world nor do I intend on treating them as such; they are only to be used for the purpose of RP in this blog. This is a pretty long post but it’s easier for me to have it all in one place rather than divide it into multiple ones. More of my headcanons on all things Valyria can be found here.

General Description of the Valyrian Freehold

In the image shown here, I did a bad photoshopping of the Valyrian peninsula which is the country known as the Valyrian Freehold. Yes, I used a picture of a place in Greece that looks pretty similar to the shape of a canon shattered valyrian peninsula ( please ignore the greek names ) so I pretty much did a mix of how the peninsula was believed to have been before the Doom in canon with how it ended up after, and that is the result. The names shown are the main valyrian cities of the peninsula but that doesn't mean there aren't other smaller towns scattered all over the place too. Like in my headcanon of the geography, topography, etc. of canon Valyria, the peninsula is a mountainous area, full of cliffs and hills and valleys in between many of those.

Because of this, constructions of buildings and houses are usually vertical ones, being incorporated into the mountains themselves or on the edges and tops of them. It’s a common sight to see entire villages and towns in a vertical or diagonal position down a hill or mountain. Even modern buildings, like those shown in one of the pictures, are built into those elevations. The city itself is located in a wide valley between mountains ( similar though not in the stretched out way that is shown in the picture above ). The pretty white sand beaches are mostly concentrated on the southern side while there are smaller, settled between high coastal cliffs, red and black sand beaches on both east and west. The Fourteen Flames are located in the northern part of the peninsula, and they are active, with small, individual eruptions sometimes taking usually between every seventy or two hundred years.

Here, you have a little design of how I have the capital city Valyria be set out. The main circle is where the governance of the country takes place, where the ruling families and the freeholders meet to discuss valyrian politics pretty much. The center circle though is the one palace that survived and was rebuilt from ancient times. Though tourists can access certain public areas of the massive tower like building, the rest is restricted only to valyrian freeholders, with only the members of the ruling families having complete access ( think of it as the Vatican in Rome ). The circle outside, with the line divisions, is where the residences of those families are, though many of them don't actually live there all the time but rather are traveling to the different valyrian cities to manage and supervise the rest of their properties and businesses. The blue circle outside is water or an artificial canal with the green circle behind it being the biggest park of the city ( there are other parks around, just in case ). That circular area is known as the Uēpa Oktion or Old City, and also as the Historical District, where lots of tourists visit every day. The rest of the outline are known as municipalities, with their own powers of self-governance in their jurisdiction, to the extent granted by the national valyrian government. And as you can see, the names of the municipalities are the names of the present ASOIAF timeline Free Cities plus the lost Free City of Essaria. The rest of the grey and white areas are also part of the jurisdictions of those municipalities but I was too lazy to properly divide them. Keep in mind that though the drawing/design seems small, Valyria is a pretty big city and so these locations are quite big as well.

The modern Valyrian Road that goes right through the center of the city was built almost right next to where the ancient road and bridges were. People transiting the road can even see the ruins of the old road in certain parts. The Valyrian Road is the main connection between the valyrian cities but there are many other smaller ones that lead to the mountain villages and towns scattered around the peninsula. Along with the towns and villages, all sorts of ruins of Old Valyria also remain and are preserved by the native peoples themselves, with museums holding exhibitions for visitors, the biggest one being the Museum of the Doom in the city of Tyria, the closest to the Fourteen Flames. 

As for the people themselves, the Valyrian Freehold is a country with a diverse ethnicity mix thanks to the rather welcoming migration policy of the country. Though non valyrians who rise to success and get to own land properties and or businesses of their own that contribute to the economy of the country do get to have a say in its governance ( as is the unique Freehold form of government ), they are not allowed into the restricted areas of the Old City. Neither can they purchase property in the area of the valyrian residences of the ruling families. These families of old valyrian ancestry, though having equal political standing amongst the rest of the freeholders ( a title given to owners of property, businesses, companies, etc. ), do have a higher social status in the country's society ( practically nobility by the standards of monarchic countries ). It's them who most commonly portray the classic valyrian physical traits ( the platinum-blond hair, violet eyes, pale skin, etc. ) but other individuals not belonging to these families also posses a few or all of these traits.

With such a welcoming migration policy however, law enforcement does have to be strict and effective both to keep the peace and safety of the people. The police force is a branch of the military dedicated to civilian duty, but it's common for military men of other branches to accompany police in rounds. They have been both praised and criticized for how severe some of the laws might seem to be in the eyes of the other countries, as even death penalty is a lawful punishment for the highest of crimes, which is deliberate murder ( unless it was on self defense, which is only required to go through therapy for several weeks ).

Education plays an essential role in the valyrian civilization, both cultural and social as its in school that the ideal of respect, tolerance and acceptance is taught. Any teachers who do not follow this are forbidden from teaching at all. Through this approach of using education to impart ( in what valyrians think to be correct ) moral teachings, it does help in raising a society with a more mature perspective in social problems such as racism, oppression and rights. But it also breeds a sense of social superiority, where the people that follow these teachings and ideals see themselves as a more modern and advanced society over those who let things like religion, sexual preferences, political views and the like dictate their lives; instead of seeing it as merely a different cultural standing. It's one of the many reasons of why the valyrian civilization is both admired and judged through out the world.

I think this covers the general more important points of the headcanon related to the modern valyrian civilization.

History

This part I will try to describe it as a sort of wikipedia entry or something, because it's easier that way, I think. I will try to keep it general. Things regarding the ancient valyrians ( politics, culture, society, etc. ) are still pretty much the same headcanon that I described over here so I won't go into specifics there. Some real life dates and events are altered but I will not go into specifics on those either, I want to try and keep it pretty general, enough to simply have an understanding or a base for my headcanon in a world where the valyrian civilization existed in ancient history, and how it evolved into a modern one. To make it easier, have in mind that I've pretty much interchangeably applied some events of the ancient roman civilization to a valyrian civilization so the events that transpired in ancient rome ( the wars, for example ) could be pretty much the same ( though in a little different timeline ), and the location of the valyrian peninsula is in the real life location of the italian peninsula ( let's imagine there's enough space for another peninsula there ). The roman and valyrian civilizations in terms of its history will be pretty similar.

The ancient origins of the Valyrian civilization is an uncertain one, shrouded in speculations and myths. A great part of its history was destroyed in a series of cataclysmic events known as the Doom of Valyria. Historians are still debating on its foundation as an established civilization but evidence of settlements and inhabitants existing as early as around 3000 BC has been found.

According to Valyrian lore itself, these first settlers were once ‘simple sheep herding people that learned to harness’ the riches found in the largest, still existing, chain of volcanoes in the world, named by them as 'Se izula ampā perzyssy’ or The Fourteen Flames. It’s yet unclear the implication in which the word is used; some attribute it to an acquired, and by many considered, mythical skill and knowledge of how to tame and utilize the thermal energy of the volcanoes. Others, more inclined to following archeological evidence rather than ancient lore, believe that the key to the birth of the valyrian civilization was their mastery of forging metals of all kinds, specifically the famous and unique Valyrian steel. Another far more mythical recount tells of how these people discovered eggs in the Fourteen Flames, which would later hatch into dragons. These are the same that insist on supporting the existence of these creatures based on the undeniable evidence that several ancient civilizations seemed to believe in them or were witness to the existence of the beasts. Regardless of how the true origins of the Valyrian civilization came to be, dragons have been used by them as a representative symbol since the dawn of their civilization, a practice that remains to this day.

Thanks to the rich soil and rather pleasant mediterranean climate in which the Valyrian peninsula is located, civilization flourished. Their capital city Valyrīha or Valyria, was also the given name by which the valyrians and the rest of the world would come to know them. For long years however, as long as 1,000 or more, the valyrians did not expand their borders beyond that of the peninsula, only conquering other smaller cities established by neighboring civilizations ( such as some greek settlements ) but they did defend it well against those who tried to invade. Instead, they opted for trading, soon enough becoming an important supplier of precious metals like gold and silver as well as other sought out riches. But other than these materials, the valyrians were and still are well known for the production of excellent wine. It’s through these trading relations that their own culture was enriched, sharing and influencing in the discoveries, knowledge and religions of other civilizations like the greeks, egyptians, assyrians, babylonians, minoans, chinese, the later on romans and so on.

The thriving civilization attracted the attention of potential enemies, most particularly the phoenicians, who were also known for their concentrations of hacksilver, being one of the main suppliers. To them, the valyrians were competition and after a conflict in one of the phoenician trade routes with valyrian merchants, war soon followed. As a result, the phoenician power and influence was reduced through out the years with each battle fought between the two, until its last remnants of the phoenician culture and civilization in Carthage was destroyed in the Punic Wars by a later Rome. Valyrian influence was greatly expanded, until the rise of Macedon with Phillip II with whom the valyrians would form prosperous trading and even military relations that would remain until the fall of Valyria with the Doom.

The event that ushered the almost total destruction of this great and ancient civilization is well recorded through out the histories of neighboring peoples, inspiring many works of fiction both old and modern. Archeological evidence points to massive eruptions in the valyrian peninsula's chain of volcanic mountains, an event preceded by frequent earthquakes, both strong and minor ones but the seismic activity was at some times felt as far off as the island of Crete and the North African coast. In the aftermath of the destruction, a great part of the landmass that united the peninsula with the rest of the continent was flooded by the sea, further isolating Valyria—but the eruptions also affected the Mediterranean climate for years. For centuries, the only known survivors of the cataclysm were those who migrated to other locations through out the Mediterranean Sea and beyond, as it was believed that valyrian cities in the peninsula were obliterated by the disaster. Not even the neighboring and newly founded Roman Empire was capable of claiming the valyrian land from the grasp of the Doom. However, thanks to still uncertain and highly debated explanations that—like the valyrian origins—are often victim to mythological and fantastical beliefs, few native valyrians did survive the Doom within the peninsula. The most compelling evidence attributes the superior—and in ancient times, unique—quality of valyrian edification that sheltered the survivors in the southern most part of the land, including the capital city itself. Those closest to the mountains though were completely destroyed or buried beneath volcanic ash. The Museum of the Doom in the modern city of Tyria features ongoing excavations of its remains to the visitors, and is considered one of the best conserved sites of ancient disasters in the world.

As the rest of the European countries fell in a period of economical, cultural and social stagnation, known as the Middle Ages, the remains of the valyrian peninsula were left in obscurity until the High Middle Ages. By this time, european population swelled and with urbanization and a change in political and social structures, the first renaissance of the medieval period known as the Carolingian Renaissance took place. This brought an increase of literature, writing and arts, and knowledge of older times was revived, including that of the valyrian civilization. Though there was much fear and superstition in these times, and the Doom was believed to have been a punishment from God, there were few explorers and adventurers that dared defy the warnings of venturing into the dangerous land of the valyrian peninsula. One of them was a descendent of Aenar Targaryen, a wealthy valyrian merchant lord that had migrated from Valyria before its destruction. Along with his sisters—whom he was said to have been married to following the old valyrian traditions that his family conserved—Aegon Targaryen was one of the individuals that rediscovered the then partially ruined city of his ancestors.

With the arrival of these adventurers and explorers, the ultimate fate of total destruction and loss of the valyrian culture and peoples were proven wrong. Much like how the Doom was believed to be a divine punishment, the survival was also somehow attributed to divine miracle—or dark magic. It ushered a renewed interest in Valyria and attracted those brave or desperate enough to follow in the decision of returning to the lost city in order to rebuild, and start a new life. The majority of the settlers were actually of valyrian descent though, as the rest of europeans were mostly skeptical of abandoning their growing and stabilizing kingdoms for a foreign and—some would even accuse—unholy land. Christianity was at its peak, and the Catholic Church condemned those who opted for abandoning their christian kingdoms for a pagan people. This proved to be beneficial for the almost extinct valyrian culture, as the peninsula was still isolated enough—the land connecting the rest of the peninsula still partially under water—to prevent both mass immigration and invasions, allowing an almost uninterrupted rebirth or cultural renaissance.

The first challenge for the revived civilization came in the Late Middle Ages, when severe weather affected northern Europe, reaching as far as the southern valyrian peninsula—though less in its intensity. Contrary to the european kingdoms, Valyria and its cities were not densely populated and the resulting deaths from the period of famine due to the failed production of crops, and plague contagion were far less. Recovery was also an easier and swifter one, and with it came a new age of Renaissance, accelerated by the immigration of scholars to the west—particularly to Italy and Valyria—and other peoples from the Byzantine Empire when its capital, Constantinople, was captured by the Ottoman Turks.

As in times of antiquity—or of Old Valyria as the ancient civilization before the Doom was being referred to—The valyrians re-established the same form of governance known as a Freehold, very similar to the greek city-states but all were assigned an elected official called an archon as a temporary leader of said valrian city. Because of this, the valyrian peninsula was officially named the Valyrian Freehold and so was recognized as a country, with the city of Valyria serving as the capital from where the main acts of governance, such as elections of archons, took place. As a Freehold, all those who owned land and contributed to the country's development had a say in the governance in the capital, and the archons in the rest of the cities served as the communicators of their respective city's needs, as well as a representative of the capital's governance. The one practice that was eliminated entirely was slavery but in the rest of matters, valyrians insisted on preserving what little remained of their ancient pre-Doom civilization—like the series of roads connecting the main cities in the peninsula, and it's old palaces. It absorbed the religions and cultures of immigrants while conserving its own, never promoting one over the other, which served to maintain a balance and control of whatever conflicts marginalization could provoke—but they imposed their native language of High Valyrian onto the immigrants—which with time prompted the development of dialects. It became a haven for those seeking religious sanctuary and a beacon for scholars to develop their studies without religious or political repercussions.

With the passing of the centuries into the modern era, the discovery of new lands, the growth of power and influence in the european countries over the rest of the world, produced new conflicts, giving rise to World War I and World War II. Though it was an almost failed task, the Valyrian Freehold was one of the countries capable of maintaining a neutral position in both wars, so as to protect its international interests with both sides, but it was not unaffected by the conflicts. The second World War was the most challenging, as Axis forces did attempt on a couple of occasions to invade the country but the Valyrian Freehold was able of defending its borders, though not without the loss of structures and deaths as a result from the bombarding. Regardless of these events, the country continued to be one of the main suppliers of precious metals. Valyrian forces shot down both Axis and Allied planes a couple of times when they invaded valyrian air space, quite similar to how Switzerland had also done in their adopted position of neutrality. It was also, along with Sweden, a refuge for Jewish peoples through out the region. When the war was done, valyrian workers such as architects and engineers traveled abroad to assist in the reconstruction efforts of the countries involved in the war.

Through out its existence, the valyrian civilization has influenced and contributed both directly and indirectly in human history—for the better or worst. Its culture, similar to other ancient civilizations both in the Americas and Asia, have lingering echoes of their antiquity. Though by now the valyrians have been heavily influenced by the wide variety of ethnic groups that immigrated through out the centuries into the peninsula, there are still many individuals that show the particular and unique traits by which native valyrians are commonly recognized; fair skin, platinum-blond hair and the coloring of their eyes with different shades of violet—like lilac, purple, indigo and even clear blue.

The current day Valyrian Freehold is considered a socially and technologically advanced civilization of the modern world, whilst preserving to the best extent their ancestral origins, shrouded in a veil of mystery and mysticism. Even now, many believe that the ruling families hold jealously guarded secrets within their Uēpa Oktion or Old City, which only they have complete access to. There are talks of internal turmoil between these families as well. But even these theories, myths and rumors do not prevent tourists from flooding the capital and its neighboring cities, attracted to and fascinated by the rich culture, nor people from immigrating into the country in search of a better future. Some will succeed. Others will realize the 'Valyrian Dream' might just be closer to a nightmare.

Conclusion

This description of my headcanon is pretty much my messy attempt to mix some of the canon valyrian story in the ASOIAF world with a modern verse to be used in interactions where a little bit of a fictional twist can be added. I remark that many of the events I generally described do not really coincide with real life historical facts since the timelines have been slightly altered to better fit the a valyrian civilization into a fictional modern verse based on real modern life. Since I like to give my partners the best understanding possible, then I decided to give a 'historic' backstory to the Valyrian Dream modern verse. Basically, the way the modern capital of the Valyrian Freehold works is similar to current day Rome and Vatican City, where the vatican would be the Old City or Uēpa Oktion and the rest of Valyria is Rome. I want it to have the same conspiracy theories and rumors of secrecy and all that the Vatican has too, so I think it's a perfect example to use.

Initially, I wanted to eliminate altogether the roman civilization but it would've been too complicated to do that properly so I decided to keep Italy and just add the valyrian peninsula right next to the italian one. As for the timeline, valyrians as a civilization are older than the romans, the Doom happening just when the Roman Republic transitioned into the Roman Empire, so for all those years even after the fall of the roman empire, Valyria was pretty much in the dark, until it was rediscovered by explorers. Of course, I had to have Aegon involved somehow and thought this to be the perfect chance but it's important to remark that Aegon wasn't the only explorer to whom the credit of the rediscovery falls on. The world wars were a tricky one so it's easier to just keep Valyria a neutral country to not complicate or change things more than needed, and it would also be something pretty in accordance with my headcanon of Valyria in the ASOIAF world. But of course, keep in mind that any of these events can be changed as needed for the sake of RP interactions so any questions or doubts are always welcomed!

Remember, more of my headcanons on all things Valyria can be found over here, and the pictures used in this post can be found on my Valyria board on pinterest.

[agentlereckoning]

What I think about Alison Roman

Any Gen-Z’er with a Twitter account has probably seen the latest Gen-Z Icon Controversy, i.e. the one involving Alison Roman. In case you’re not caught up on its details,  the tl;dr is that The New Consumer (which appears to be a one-white-man show of an online publication steered by a former Vox and Business Insider employee named Dan Frommer) published an interview with Alison last Thursday — an interview where Alison, when asked about the difference between “consumption and pollution” (as if there even is a material difference), said:

“I think that’s why I really enjoy what I do. Because you’re making something, but it goes away.

Like the idea that when Marie Kondo decided to capitalize on her fame and make stuff that you can buy, that is completely antithetical to everything she’s ever taught you… I’m like, damn, bitch, you fucking just sold out immediately! Someone’s like ‘you should make stuff,’ and she’s like, ‘okay, slap my name on it, I don’t give a shit!’

....

Like, what Chrissy Teigen has done is so crazy to me. She had a successful cookbook. And then it was like: Boom, line at Target. Boom, now she has an Instagram page that has over a million followers where it’s just, like, people running a content farm for her. That horrifies me and it’s not something that I ever want to do. I don’t aspire to that. But like, who’s laughing now? Because she’s making a ton of fucking money.”

This is the quote that most people who’ve followed this drama have latched onto, and I’ll come back to discussing it in a moment. I’m really not sure why the interview was published at all, other than for a publicity or financial boost during these times, because I don’t think anything worth hearing was uttered by either the interviewer or interviewee. Moments in the interview seemed either tone-deaf or trivial to the point where I wondered why they were included at all. Early on, for example, Alison laments that she hasn’t been making enough money during this pandemic. (She does not live in want of money.) Later she half-jokingly complains that her public persona has been reduced to “anchovy girl”, ostensibly because she often uses them in her cooking. (She does, and often proudly owns that fact, which makes this complaint pretty uninteresting.) But the point of this interview was meant to be, I think, a rumination on how Alison would turn her belief that she “isn’t like the other girls” into practice.

It’s a common thing to desire, I think — this ingenuity balanced with relatability, and I think seeking this balance is what propels so many people my age. Few things are more embarrassing to us than unoriginality, than being a carbon copy of someone else, yet few things are scarier than social rejection. We don’t want to like the same things as everybody else, but we want at least some people to like the things that we like. I think it’s what drives certain subcultures to exist in the first place, the way that subsections of people can congregate around something or someone, reveling in each other’s presence but also in knowing that they are, in fact, just a subsection of the greater population. 

This mentality is, admittedly, sort of what drove me to like Alison Roman in the first place. For background: the first time I cooked a recipe of hers happened unwittingly; in December 2018, I saw the recipe for the salted chocolate chip shortbread cookies that became known as #TheCookies (Alison’s virality can be encapsulated by the fact that all of her most famous recipes have been hashtagged, e.g., #TheStew, #TheStew2, #ShallotPasta or #ThePasta), but I made them without knowing that Alison was the person behind the recipe. The cookies were good (though I think any recipe with over two sticks of butter and a pound of dark chocolate is bound to be good.) At some point about a year later, I watched a YouTube video published by NYT Cooking where she made her white bean-harissa-kale stew, and I thought she was funny and really pretty and, like me (I think), had a fastidious yet chaotic energy that I always thought made me awkward but made her seem endearing. Alison’s recipes taste good, they come together really easily, and you don’t need special equipment or a lot of kitchen space to execute them. It’s why I’ve committed at least three of them to memory, just by virtue of making them so often. I liked her recipes so much that, for over three months, one of my Instagram handles was inspired by one. But I also liked her, or wanted to be like her, or some combination fo both. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be her friend, or that I didn’t aspire to her lifestyle of Rachel Comey clothes, glistening brass hoop earrings that cost 1/4 of my rent, regular trips to downtown Brooklyn or Park Slope farmers’ markets or small butcher shops where the purveyors all knew her name, an always-perfect red gel manicure, the capacity to eat and drink luxuriously and seemingly endlessly and to have the money for a yoga studio membership to help her stay slim anyways. 

Of course all of those things are signifiers of social class more than anything else. But in oligarchical, consumerist societies, what is expensive and what is good become two overlapped Venn diagram circles, and I have not yet reached a level of enlightenment to be able to fully tease the two apart. And while I would never drop $425 on a jumpsuit, no matter how pretty I think it is, I could crisp up some chickpeas, stir in vegetable stock and coconut milk, and wilt in some greens, and act like my shit was together. I liked Alison because when I first started liking her, she hadn’t yet risen to the astronomical level of digital fame that she enjoys now, and by making her recipes, some part of me believed that I would be inducted into a small group of her fans who, by serving up her dishes, telegraphed good taste.

This idea of “good taste” is a complicated and racially charged one. Alison is white; she lives in one of the whitest neighborhoods in Brooklyn (maybe even all of New York City); her recipes cater to a decidedly young, white audience. I think another reason why her dishes hold so much Gen-Z appeal, beyond their simplicity and deliciousness, is because they sit at the perfect intersection of healthy-but-not-too-healthy and international-but-not-too-international. Her chickpea stew, for example, borrows from South and Southeast Asian cooking flavors, but you wouldn’t need to step foot into an ethnic grocery store or, god forbid, leave Trader Joe’s, to get the ingredients for it. The shallot pasta recipe calls for an entire tin of anchovies, and you get to feel cool and edgy putting a somewhat polarizing food into a sauce that white people will still, ultimately, visually register as “tomato sauce and pasta” and digest easily. All of the recipes in her cookbook, Nothing Fancy (which I received as a gift!), are like this. She doesn’t push the envelope into more foreign territory, probably because she doesn’t have the culinary experience for it (which is totally fine — I never expected her to be an expert in anything except white people food), and probably also because if she did push the envelope any further, her book, with its tie-dyed pages and saturated, pop-art aerial shots, wouldn’t have been as marketable. 

That’s what’s unfortunate — that white people and white-domineered food publications have been the arbiters of culinary taste in the U.S. for centuries. I’m thinking about Julia Child, about bananas foster being flambéed tableside and served under a silver domed dish cover, about the omnipresent red-and-white-checked Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, about Guy Fieri and Eric Ripert and Ina Garten and the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen. I’m thinking about how white women have long been the societally accepted public face of domestic labor when it was often Black women who actually did that labor. It’s Mother’s Day today, and I’m thinking about how, in middle school, I’d sometimes conceal my packed lunch of my favorite dishes my mom made — glass noodles stir-fried with bok choy, cloud ear mushrooms, carrots, and thinly sliced and marinated pork; fish braised in a chili-spiced broth — so that my white friends wouldn’t be grossed out, and so that I wouldn’t have to do the labor of explaining what my food was. 

And I’m thinking of that now-notorious Alison Roman quote. To be fair, Marie Kondo and Chrissy Teigen do have large consumer and media empires, which have become profitable and which require huge teams of people to sustain. Both of them probably do have large amounts of money at their disposals. What’s weird to me is that Alison accuses both Marie and Chrissy of “selling out” because they each branded their own lines of purchasable home goods, yet Alison herself said in that very same interview that she had also done that very thing. It’s just that Chrissy’s line is sold at Target, while Alison’s, according to her, is a “capsule collection. It’s limited edition, a few tools that I designed that are based on tools that I use that aren’t in production anywhere — vintage spoons and very specific things that are one-offs that I found at antique markets that they have made for me.” I suppose it’s not “selling out” if it caters to the pétite bourgeoisie. I don’t know if Alison is explicitly racist, since I don’t know if she called out two women of color simply because they are women of color, or if she genuinely just so happened to select two of them. But that she feels like she has the license to define things as “selling out” based on who the “selling-out” behavior caters to reeks of white entitlement. 

There’s also an air of superiority with which she describes how she would market her product line:

That would have to be done in such a specific way under very intense standards. And I would not ever want to put anything out into the world that I wouldn’t be so excited to use myself.

She says this right before talking about Marie Kondo and Chrissy Teigen, accusing them of being lackadaisical and unthoughtful (”okay, slap my name on it! I don’t give a shit!”; “people running a content farm for her”) when she likely has no idea what the inner workings of either of their business models are. To be sure, it could very well be true that Marie and Chrissy have handed off these aspects of their brands to other people. But for Alison to assume that they have, and that her own business management style would, by default, be better because she would retain control, is egotistical. 

Alison ends the interview by proclaiming that her ultimate goal is to be different from her contemporaries. She says, 

To me, the only way that I can continue to differentiate myself from the pod of people that write recipes, or cookbooks or whatever, is by doing a different thing. And so I have to figure out what that is. And I think that I haven’t ultimately nailed that. And I’m in the process of figuring it out right now.

I expect that her path to “differentiation” will contain riffs on the same iterations of preserved lemons, anchovies, canned beans, and fresh herbs that she’s always relied on. I expect people will still think she’s cool, because that’s easy to achieve when her recipes and aesthetic are a series of easy-to-swallow-pills,  when she tells the cameraman not to cut the footage of her accidentally over-baking her galette, and when being a white creative and working among mostly white colleagues means that she’ll get a lot of latitude. I expect she’ll continue to sell out, which is completely fine, so long as she’ll be candid with herself and actually call it selling out. 

And I want to learn recipes from a chef who looks like me, and I want that chef to be “marketable” enough to achieve Alison’s level of fame. I want people of color to get to decide what recipes deserve their own hashtag. I want Alison Roman to be emotionally okay, because Twitter backlash can be vicious. And I kinda want to buy Marie Kondo’s drawer organizers now. 

[gentrificationinbrooklyn-blog]

The subtle and not-so-subtle signs

The consequences of gentrification and its impact on community residents present themselves in a myriad of ways. Some are more obvious, like when longtime residents are purposely excluded from public community events, and some are more subtle, like adding fewer words to local business’ storefront signs to appear more exclusive. Even the cliches of gentrification hold truth — trendy boutiques, expensive coffee shops and organic food markets taking the place of family-owned businesses is prevalent throughout these neighborhoods. Some businesses, although not replaced by gentrified businesses, must rebrand their offerings to fit the desires of the community. For example, a lingerie store in Williamsburg that mostly catered to an older clientele of Polish women changed its target audience, and an employee remarked that the old patrons don’t really shop at the store anymore (DeSena & Shortell 95).

As I mentioned in the introduction, bicycles are one of the more trivial, yet obvious ways that gentrifiers try to exert power in communities. In one instance in Williamsburg, a community event called “Williamsburg Walks” shuts down Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg to vehicular traffic. Instead, the street is lined with art installations, yoga studios providing free classes, patches of grass and plants in the street. The initiative was proposed by the New York City Department of Transportation, so although it seems like it should include all New York City residents, an event like this calls into question the use of public space and community events in a gentrified neighborhood (DeSena & Shortell 89). The “Walks” event is largely homogenous, with mostly white twenty-somethings and young families attending the event. Even though the neighborhood has significant Latino and Polish populations, these groups rarely attend the event (DeSena & Shortell 90).

One of the most fascinating parts of my research was discovering the article What the signs say: Gentrification and the disappearance of capitalism without distinction in Brooklyn. The article examines storefront signs as mechanisms for gentrification, using specific language ideologies and rhetoric representing class struggles for material wealth (Trinch & Snajdr 1). According to Trinch and Snajdr, there are two types of signs in Brooklyn: ones that employ Old-School Vernacular, and those that employ Distinction-making. Signs with Old-School Vernacular tend to be wordier, giving detailed explanations of the provided goods and services. The wording is accessible and inclusive, using simple language that welcomes all people. Sometimes, the signs even contain words in different languages, catering to the different groups in the community (Trinch & Snajdr 3). While utilizing many words is the key factor for Old-School Vernacular signs, they also share two of the following key features: “ancillary signs; large typefaces; store names that refer to location, surnames, type of business and/or products or services; reiterations; non-standard written English forms; languages other than English in Roman transliteration and/or non-Roman scripts; complementary symbols or pictures; and sincere references to religion, ethnicity, national origin, race and class” (Trinch & Snajdr 7).

Conversely, signs on most gentrified businesses in Brooklyn don’t usually advertise their goods and services, but they stick to short phrases that do not usually illustrate the offerings of the business. According to Trinch and Snajdr, the awning of a new restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn solely contains the word “james” (11). Another example is a sign that simply reads “Wink,” and turns out to be a hair salon (Trinch & Snajdr 11). These linguistic choices subtly push out longtime residents, as they begin to feel like they don’t even have a sense of what these businesses offer. In reality, no one would know exactly what these businesses offer unless they went inside to inquire directly, or if they looked it up on the internet beforehand. However, the exclusive feeling of the signs draws longtime residents away from entering these businesses to inquire, and many will not take the time to research what a store offers before going in. Arguably, no one should have to do prior research on a business before going inside just to find out what it offers. But when one does take the time to research, and then enters the store without asking any questions, there is a sense of accomplishment — a sense of penetrating the wall of exclusivity that the store presents. According to Trinch and Snajdr, distinction-making signs tend to share these textual and linguistic features: “one word or a short phrase written in a reduced font-size; polysemic or cryptic names; languages other than English that index sophistication and worldliness; (sometimes erudite) historical and literary references; and all lowercase letters” (12).

I was particularly fascinated by the article’s description of how distinction-making signs use historical and literary references. It mentions an ice cream shop in Brooklyn that I frequent with my family — even though it’s not in my neighborhood — called Ample Hills Creamery. The name gives a nod to Walt Whitman’s 1865 poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” which, as an English major, I didn't even catch until I walked inside and observed the mural on the walls inside honoring Whitman. Trinch and Snajdr also note that “... as Whitman also probably intended, the words ‘ample hills’ also allude to women’s breasts. With ‘creamery,’ the intertextual play on the sign is rich: two scoops of ice cream resemble breasts, which can make milk, and milk is needed to make ice cream” (13). This subtext, which is clearly not initially understood by the average person, creates a feeling of exclusion and superiority, even in a business that offers something as accessible and universal as ice cream.

Signs that employ Old-School Vernacular tend to give off a “what you see is what you get” vibe, inviting community members to trust and patronize the businesses because they know exactly what they’re going to find. Some of these signs even use words and phrases like “Welcome friends” and “All nationalities welcome” to prove that they really are committed to catering to everyone in a community, fostering a culture of inclusivity (Trinch & Snajdr 15). But with distinction-making signs, the language is subtly exclusive. Although wording on storefront signs might seem trivial, it’s the subconscious effects that go to work to make people believe that they are not welcome in a community, further marginalizing minority groups — although they were the ones in the community first. But we already know from history that that’s never made a difference to colonizers.

[ourmrmel]

Mel Feller, MPA, MHR, Looks at Social Networking Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make.

Mel Feller, MPA, MHR, Looks at Social Networking Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make. 

Mel is the President/Founder of Mel Feller Seminars with Coaching for Success 360, Inc. and Mel Feller Coaching.  Mel Feller maintains offices in Texas and in Utah.

 The glory of social networking, for entrepreneurs, is that it is a low-cost and an open-ended platform for finding the people who will be interested in your business. From trolling your LinkedIn network for possible VC contributors to blogging about your business as you build a customer base, social networking can, be a powerful and low-cost tool in your business-building and marketing workshop.

 However, if you use the tools the wrong way, it is very hard to make something good with it. At best, you will be inefficient. At worst, you will waste a lot of time you do not have and fail to get results at all.

 So the question is, are you making these mistakes with social networking?

 Spreading yourself too thin.

 There are no longer any questions about where the customers are going, so businesses are following, and we all trot merrily off to the Internet. As the Internet continues to expand in volume, it produces more and more specific networking options. There are niche networking sites, endless forums, and online communities for every taste and topic.

 All that specialization can be useful for getting in touch with your target market, but it can also be overwhelming. Every new social networking platform offers a new opportunity, and entrepreneurs find it difficult to pick just a couple and focus on those. Nevertheless, failing to focus puts you in the impossible position of trying to keep up with far more than you can. You end up making little or no impact on any of your online networks.

 Solution: Pick two or three social networking venues and focus on building your relationships within that network. Once you have established a strong following and developed a routine for consistent interaction at a level you can keep up with, you can consider venturing into new networks. At that point, though, you might not even need to.

 Mixing personal and professional social worlds.

 There is nothing wrong with having a personal, friendly tone as part of your professional network. There is a problem when you are recounting last night’s bar adventure via your professional Twitter account, or posting photos of your dog, your kids, and your newly stained deck, you are mixing things up too much.

 As an entrepreneur, you may not have a boss holding you accountable for what you post online, so you have to set your own standards and stick to them.

 Solution: The bottom line? No matter how cute that photo of your dog is, or how funny that joke was, if it is not directly related to your business, leave it off your professional social networks.

 Neglecting to offer value.

 The purpose of social networking is to connect with people who would be interested in what your business offers and cultivate relationships with them; as you build rapport and trust, they move from contacts to customers. That is what entrepreneurs need to see happening.

 The key to cultivating relationships and building trust is to offer something of value to the people you make connections with. Otherwise, you are just so much additional noise in an overcrowded party. Do not be the person hanging around, just making small talk. Be the person who brings a cold drink over, or the girl who turns up some better music and gets everybody dancing.

 Solution: Helpful, informative, specific content is, generally, the easiest and best way to offer value via the Internet. Spend far more time creating content than “building a network.” Once you have the content in place, you can start sharing it.

 Failing to outsource.

 Oh, the entrepreneurial pitfall! You have had to do it all; you are smart enough to figure it out, so why would you pay out your dwindling capital to have someone else do it for you? The reason is simple, and you have heard it before your time is money.

 If you are spending hours on creating a Facebook page, a website, a blog, or some other item you could easily outsource, you are spending money on it. It will just cost you in terms of lost profit and lost opportunity rather than in terms of the cash, you already hold.

 Solution: Outsourcing the details of social networking does not have to bust your entrepreneurial budget. Hit Craigslist with an ad and you can get a money-hungry student to do in a couple of hours what might have taken you a couple of weeks.

Mistaking “networking” for just plain old working.

 Interacting on your social networks – especially with influencers in your target market and potential customers – gives you a great feeling of accomplishing something. Moreover, yes, you are building relationships that can turn into profit and growth for your business.

That is important, but it is not your primary work, and if you confuse the busyness of networking with the productivity of real working, you will find yourself falling behind on your most important to-do items.

Solution: Designate specific times, and time limits, for marketing via social networks. If you find yourself unable to keep up within those time limits, perhaps you have spread yourself too thin. Alternatively, perhaps you need to outsource some of the networking upkeep.

 Mistaking peers for clients/customers.

 Entrepreneurs are drawn to other entrepreneurs, and it’s fun to swap war stories and anecdotes, give tips, offer advice, and commiserate over the economy or the unique struggles entrepreneurs and business owner’s face.

Your entrepreneurial pals can be valuable peers for many reasons, but peers are not the same as customers, in most cases. While you are investing time into peer relationships, your potential customers are somewhere else, unaware of your existence.

Solution: Save some of your downtime for peer interaction, and stick to building customer relationships during your designated social networking time for business. Reading up on entrepreneurial blogs, sharing stories, and just chatting can be a good way to unwind at the end of the day, in between meetings, or when you’re stuck traveling or at your Aunt Mindy’s 27th annual bluegrass and barbecue hoedown.

The key is to keep your goals for social networking present so you can stay focused on investing your time (and, sometimes, your money) into what will get you the most important results. If you are not sure what your social networking goals are, that is the first place to start: get a social networking strategy in place, and stick to it. If you focus on what matters, and avoid the mistakes so commonly made, you will see a good return on your time while still getting the work done.

 The success stories of organizations that are using social network platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace , LinkedIn , etc. to advertise their products is increasing every day. I want to recommend to use social media marketing in lieu of paid media to cut their ad costs and link up with millions of targeted consumers. It is not uncommon to find product launches, links to catalogues, attractive images that link to web stores with your favorite social network website.

The usage of Social media marketing to advertise is spreading virally , with advertisers over the globe, tapping into the buying and viewing habits of the net savvy Generation Y with unprecedented speed.

A higher percentage of the advertising budget of Corporates, SMEs and the smallest of entrepreneurs is being spent on social networks that are comparative to a densely populated online global village. Guidelines and tips for selling your goods and services on social networking websites can be found.

The constant presence of advertisements and pop ups selling everything under the sun, inspires serious regulars to social networks like myself, to install software that blocks unsolicited ads and irritating intrusions. However, the growing popularity of social media as the favorite marketing tool for creating brand awareness and product consciousness cannot and should not be neglected by any business.

Finally, Businesses worldwide are implementing social media marketing or are in the process of doing so. The benefits of implementing this strategy have been widely covered, but how can businesses measure the success of such campaigns?

The cost of the tools to monitor this success may also be as high as $5,000 a month. Here are a few tools that can help in analyzing the performance of a campaign and are for the most part free or have a trial basis.

Simply Measured: this free tool can easily analyze Facebook marketing campaigns. It provides simple graphs and infographics on Facebook Content Analysis, fan page report and competitive analysis. This tool can provide such data for any Facebook page with less than 250,000 fans and for Twitter accounts with less than 10,000 followers.

Hash Tracking: Twitter feeds can be difficult to track with the built in hash-tags functionality but the free version of this tool can track up to 1,000 results for any hash-tag. This will include analysis of the participants and other data.

There are other tools like Hoot Suite, Tweet deck and Crowd booster which open up the options for marketing managers. These tools offer more functionality and detailed analytics than the social networks.

 However, an important point to note is that People have been networking for, well, ever. When you want to get a new job and you ask your friends if they know of anyone who is hiring, you are networking. When you need a new dress for a special occasion and you ask people if they know of a good place to get what you want, you are networking.

In real life, you have your own groups of social networks all around you. At work, your school or your kids school, on the playground, whatever. These are all social networks.

The difference between those social networks and the ones online are many though. For one, you do not have to go anywhere to meet people online. Just sit at your computer and click. In addition, you get a personal profile where you can post pictures, blogs and information about yourself, information that you are real like friends probably do not know about you.

What makes Online Social Networking so special is that you can make connections with people all over the world that have the same interests that you have. You both know what each other likes and dislikes before you even make a connection with each other. When that connection is made, you have made a new friend instantly

 Now you can have conversations with your new friends, send each other pictures, share music and videos and more. You can get lost in this virtual online world. Remember, you have real life, face-to-face friends to. Do not block them out.

 Mel Feller, MPA, MHR, is a well-known real estate, business consultant, personal development consultant and speaker, specializing in performance, productivity, and profits. Mel is the President/Founder of Mel Feller Seminars with Coaching For Success 360, Inc. and Mel Feller Coaching, a real estate and business specific coaching company. His three books for real estate professionals are systems on how to become an exceptional sales performer. His four books in Business and Government Grants are ways to leverage and increase your business Success in both time and money! His book on Personal Development “Lies that Will Sabotage Your Success”. Mel Feller is in Texas and In Utah.  Currently an MBA Candidate.

[chinchillasorchildren]

“Silence”

**Haven’t actually posted a full review in forever...this seemed like the movie to break that streak for...

Martin Scorsese has been grappling with his Catholic faith for his entire career, even when it seemed the least obvious. The intensity of his religious convictions, as well as the intensity of his questions and severe doubts, have manifested in ways both literal (The Last Temptation of the Christ) and abstract (Taxi Driver). Catholicism (or, in a sense, any faith) is the third pillar at the foundation of his filmmaking, seated right alongside masculinity and violence (and all of the intersections among the lot).

Though Scorsese remains an impeccable craftsman, often invigorating his material with dynamism of someone decades younger, he has recently started to run on fumes when dealing with story’s beyond their basic text. The Wolf of Wall Street tackles excess, but to the point of becoming excessive itself. Even Best Picture winner The Departed, though powerfully acted and edited, comes up short when one looks for something to chew on beyond the bloody bodycount.

The apparent exhaustion of two of Scorsese’s thematic pillars (well, for now) has left a clearing for capital F Faith to grab the spotlight all for itself. After an on-and-off journey of roughly 30 years, Scorsese has taken Shusaku Endo’s novel “Silence” and brought it to life on the big screen. Here, the man who almost became a priest turns his camera to meet not just his maker, but the ideals and practices of those serving in his name. And, while not without its faults (largely at the outset), Silence ultimately proves itself to be a worthy landmark moment of the latter stages of Scorsese’s career. Regardless of your religious persuasion (or lack thereof), there is a tremendous amount of value in the issues raised in this exhaustive and exhausting work of Catholic cinema. Though not the director’s most polished or lush work, it more than compensates with its staggering devotion to crafting a drama filled with ideas about the earthly and the transcendent.

Yet much like the film’s journey to the big screen, Silence is not without its hiccups. The earliest passages, concerning Jesuit priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garrpe (Adam Driver) seeking out a former mentor in 17th century Japan, come off as stilted. Despite some striking, simple visuals, Silence begins by playing things in a strangely safe manner. At times, it even seems shockingly amateurish. Even longtime Scorsese editor (and basically co-director) Thelma Schoonmaker isn’t immune, and turns in some of her weakest work to date. Simple conversations change angles with a frequency at odds with such contemplative subject matter. And Mr. Driver, though an intriguing casting choice, can’t quite master what is supposed to be a Portuguese accent (the Portuguese characters speak in English). Early on, a few lines escape his throat like a squawk from a goose raised in the Bronx. Garfield generally fares better, though even he is not without his stilted moments. It’s not an auspicious beginning, especially for a film that is so clearly a labor of passion.

But the further the two Jesuits step into the so-called “swamp of Japan,” the more Silence finds its footing. The beauty of Endo’s novel, which Scorsese has wisely left intact, is its refusal to sugarcoat or simplify the conflicts at hand. And what conflicts they are. On the surface, Silence‘s tale involves priests administering aid to Japanese Christians living under persecution. In less enlightened times, such a socio-political conflict would have likely been sanded down to lift the Jesuits up as Christ-like figures. Scorsese includes such a moment, though it’s hardly presented as sincere. Alone and starving, Fr. Rodrigues finds himself confronted with his reflection. After a moment, the face transforms into a familiar sight: a Goya painting of Christ’s face which we’ve been shown as how Rodrigues imagines the Lamb of God in his prayers and meditations. Garfield, with his thin features and his hair grown out into a magnificent mane, makes a fitting vessel for this sort of transfiguration.

The moment, alas, does not come greeted with a moment of intervention or inspiration. Rodrigues bursts into unsettling, hollow laughter. In his manic, dehydrated state, he seems ecstatic with such a vision, but the tone and timing suggests the sort of madness one would find in a 70s-era Herzog drama. Yet Scorsese curtails the sequence before such madness turns hallucinatory. Rodrigo Prieto’s images, even at their most painterly, have an air of reality to them. The staging thrives on ordinariness, rather than elaborately constructed tableaus.

All the better, then, to enable the film to cut to the heart of its conflicts. Somewhere towards the middle (I think) of the film, Silence shifts from acting as a drama about the faithful, and morphs into a searing interrogation of men of the cloth and their motivations. Rodrigues meets a number of foils among the Japanese, chief among them a translator (Tadanobu Asano) and the inquisitor Inoue (Issei Ogata). Though radically different in their approaches, the two men proceed to challenge not just Rodrigues’ convictions and his mission, but the core of Catholicism itself, as well as its place in a country like Japan.

And it’s here, when it’s most bound to simple scenes of people talking, that Silence finally grasps the intangible profundity it’s been reaching for the whole time. Asano and Ogata make excellent philosophical adversaries for Garfield’s Rodrigues, with Ogata in particular relishing every word (among his most notable jabs: “the price for your glory is their suffering.”) So many faith-based films use Christian conviction as a crutch, including this year’s Hacksaw Ridge, which also planted Mr. Garfield at the center. With that baseline established, a film like Silence becomes all the more remarkable. Here is a drama with source material from a Catholic writer (albeit a Japanese convert, and not a European), directed by a passionately Catholic director, that avoids turning its protagonists into the one-note martyrs they secretly wish to be.

The most magnificent wrench of all, however, comes in the form of Fr. Ferreira (Liam Neeson, thankfully not even attempting the accent). In addition to administering to the persecuted faithful, Rodrigues and Garrpe have snuck into Japan to seek out their former mentor, who has been rumored to have renounced the faith and taken up life as an ordinary member of Japanese society. Ferreira’s eventual return to the narrative (best left unsaid) gives Silence a final headbutt of ambiguity, heightening the specificity of the film’s conflicts, while simultaneously making them all the more universal. Neeson, in his all-too-brief screen time, is nothing short of mesmerizing. In such quick moments, he conveys Ferreira’s decades of work in Japan, and the toll it took on him. Ferreira’s exploits could have easily been their own film, and the way Neeson takes the bones of Scorsese and Jay Cocks’ script and turns it into its own meal is nothing short of astonishing. It’s a masterful moment of teaching both for Rodrigues and the viewer, the complexity of which has stayed with me long after the lights went up in the theater.

In my four years at a Jesuit-led high school, one of the theological ideas that I remember most is that faith without room for doubt is not really faith, but merely blind obedience. Such obedience was for angels, but not for mankind, gifted (or cursed) with the spark of true free will. That remarkably nuanced notion, standing in such stark contrast to the right wing extremists now posturing as 21st century moralists, has stayed with me even as whatever religion I had slipped away. And, whatever my personal beliefs now, that Catholic and Jesuit identity (hello, Catholic guilt, you old bastard) is still etched, however faintly, in my being. To see that same sort of depth is a monumental intellectual achievement, one that overrides the vagueries that somewhat plague the central role of Rodrigues (he is both an individual and a representative of the faith as a whole, though not quite to the degree where it feels possible to empathize with him enough). With such a long wait, it would be tempting to holdSilence to the standard that anything less than a masterpiece would be a letdown. To do so, I think, would be to dismiss the tremendous accomplishments on display. Rodrigues and Garrpe may find themselves starving, but their story is veritable feast of ideas, the strengths of which are made all the more powerful by their existence alongside the flaws.

Grade: B+