#the way he truly helped people build bridges and share their projects and culture and make friends

[cat-mentality]

No one touches me I'm just so utterly emotional about the fact that Quackity invited Cellbit to his passion project and now Cellbit invited Quackity to HIS passion project.

Like holy shit, a few months ago none of those people knew each other and look at them now making fucking international travels to meet and support each other

[vennilavee]

to build a home - ch 1

beyond the drapes

attack on titan masterlist

ch 2 - a girl in a bar

Pairing: levi x reader (attack on titan)

Summary: a modern au where you and levi both work for the Survey Corps, a non-profit organization with a mission to help the youth of the Underground District.

Warnings: cursing, suggestive themes

Word Count: 3787

A/N: im so excited to explore levi’s character in this setting!! this story will be a series of moments in no sequential order. in this modern au, the walls still exist, as does the underground district. the only thing modern about it is the technology and culture lolol ENJOY

*** This day is bound to be a long one- it’s only 10 AM and you’ve already been in back to back meetings with several of donors for the foundation. You’ve been in meetings for the last three and a half hours, your toasted bagel now cold and your second cup of coffee now empty. You sigh and roll your shoulders back, pinching the bridge of your nose in annoyance.

These rich types would be the death of you. But Erwin had specifically asked you to handle the rich donors. As if Hange or Levi would be able to sit through even one of these ass-kissing phone calls. You can hear sugary sweetness dripping off of your tongue with practiced patience and you hardly recognize it. It’s an out of body experience. As words are rolling off your tongue, you wonder how Levi would fare with this responsibility.

He’d complain the whole time and then tell the person on the other end of the video call to fuck off and get their heads out of their asses. The thought makes you scoff and you clear your throat to cover the sound.

Erwin knew your strengths and weaknesses as individuals and a team, and you were grateful for such an insightful boss and friend.

Once you seal the third donation of the morning, you take your headset off and rub your temples. You’re glad you’re free until noon, giving you some time to catch up on emails and catch up with your colleagues and friends. The drapes in your office were drawn back, illuminating your office in a faint sunny glow. Today, the sun was hiding behind the clouds so it wasn’t terribly bright.

And yes, you had drapes in your office. They were a midnight blue with threads of gold embroidered throughout. Everyone else had normal blinds, but you had seen these drapes while window shopping years ago for this new office and you knew it belonged. Something about the blue and gold made you feel royal and regal. As if this was yours and yours only.

That didn’t mean that Levi didn’t tell you how stupid your drapes were and how stupid you were at least once daily- “You think this is a stupid castle or something? You hear yourself?”

To which you would prompt reply, “if this was a castle, you’d be the damn gargoyle in front. The one that scares everyone away.”

And then he’d just ‘tch’ at you and roll his eyes.

What an ass.

You’re growing restless, so you lock your computer and get up to stretch your muscles for a few minutes. Sitting for hours at a time does a number on you in ways that you’d never expect- your shoulders sometimes hurt, your lower back, even your ass.

Maybe you need a better seat and desk setup, you muse. Walking down the hallway with your cold bagel in your left hand, you rotate your right shoulder and wince. You pass several of the new hires, Eren and Jean who seem to be bickering amongst themselves but straighten up and say ‘good morning’ to you as you pass them. You give them a smile and a wave, continuing on your way.

You stop by Hange’s office, where her door is wide open and papers are strewn all over the place. She’s viciously typing on her computer as she pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose in between each word. Her hair is in disarray and you sigh when you knock on her door.

“Hange,” You call, “Did you stay up all night again?”

“Huh? No way,” Hange gasps, looking at the time, “I just got caught up with things! You know- I’m this close to finishing this grant proposal! Look how much money we’re gonna get outta them! They won’t know what hit ‘em-”

“Hange,” You say firmly, “I’m calling you a cab to go home. Go to sleep. I don’t trust you to drive home, considering you’ve been up all night.”

“What?! I can drive-”

“Hange!” You interrupt her, “I’m serious! Come back tomorrow. Take it easy.”

She slumps in her chair in defeat and removes her glasses, rubbing her eyes in fatigue. “Oh alright. I guess I’m a little tired.”

“See you tomorrow, Hange,” You salute and point to your phone, “Cab’s on it’s way.”

With that, you make your way further down the hallway and come to a stop in front of Levi’s office. You knock and immediately open the door without allowing a moment of rest in between.

“What’s the point of knocking if you’re just going to barge in?” Levi asks, eyes still on his computer screen.

“It’s much more dramatic, and we both know you would’ve left me waiting. Because you’re an ass,” You reply good-naturedly, sliding into the seat in front of his desk and propping your legs up on his desk. Your shoes are in his face and he pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

“To what do I owe this most shitty pleasure?” Levi says, eyes narrowed at your bagel, “You here to ruin my office? Last time you were here I had to spend an hour cleaning it-”

You bite your tongue at the response you want to provide to that.

“No reason. Just have been on calls all morning. Was bored,” You shrug and wince at the slight shoulder movement.

Levi quirks an eyebrow at you but says nothing. He continues typing away, seemingly ignoring you as you munch on your half of the bagel. Once you’re finished with it, he throws a banana at you wordlessly. You fail to hide your smile.

“You’ll get hungry in about an hour with that shitty bagel. And then I’ll have to hear about it,” Levi says tonelessly, eyes trained on you. You roll your eyes at him and peel your banana.

“So you gave me this banana to shut me up?”

“Yes, it’s in my own best interest.”

A comfortable silence falls between the both of you. You eye the snow globe that you had gotten him for Christmas and his birthday on his shelf. It looks as if you had purchased it for him yesterday, when in reality it was over five years old. His office is as clean as ever, just like him.

“That’s a nice shirt,” You murmur, eyes raking over him shamelessly,  “Who’s the lucky person who bought it for you?”

And honestly, he wants to do something about the smug smirk on your face. But instead he just stares at you, face as impassive as ever. His hair falls into his eyes with a practiced poise. You see the corners of his lips turn up, nearly daring to give you something resembling a smile.

“What makes you think I didn’t buy it myself?”

“Come on, Levi. You and I both know your sense of style is… questionable most times.”

“My sense of style? You really want to talk about your shitty drapes?” Levi asks, but you sense no malice in his voice.

“My drapes? Wouldn’t you like to know if the curtains match the drapes-”

“I can’t think of anything worse to know.”

You gasp in indignation, hand to your heart. “Don’t be such an ass!”

“Then don’t be such a brat!”

“Ugh,” You groan, standing up from your seat and making sure there are no crumbs falling off of you, “I have actual work to do, Ackerman. Quit wasting my time.”

“Door’s right there, sweetheart,” Levi says nonchalantly, looking back down at his planner and not sparing you a second glance.

“See you soon, handsome,” You call, turning back to wave at him and he gifts you with an upturn of his lips.

***

The Survey Corps was a nonprofit organization run by Erwin Smith and the mission of the organization was to find and provide educational resources and mentoring to the youths in the city. Specifically, the mission was to show kids who grew up in the shadows that they could have a life outside of the shadows and in the light with the help of the Survey Corps.

That’s not to say that the Survey Corps had all of the answers and all of the funds to fix the poverty in the walls. But your team tried their hardest to help the kids. Because the kids were the future.

As an organization, you had done some pretty amazing things and had some pretty amazing connections. The Survey Corps had been successful in launching many partnerships and setting up afterschool programs for the kids to find their interests. It was the kind of work that made you feel fulfilled and driven.

Not to mention, that you worked with some of the best people. Despite everyone’s differences, everyone had a clear shared passion for helping the kids of the city.

You truly loved your job, and everyone around you did as well. Ever since Erwin had promoted you to Director of Impact all those years ago and had seen your capabilities, you had really been able to thrive.

Bringing those new kids on board was your idea for the most part- Levi had complained the whole time, asking why they needed a separate youth outreach group when Erwin’s original team wasn’t even that old.

You had kindly told him that you weren’t teenagers anymore and hadn’t been in two decades. He had glared at you but nodded in agreement.

The rest of your afternoon was relatively free, you were just finishing up a few project ideas for outreach and catching up with some of the new kids.

You should probably stop calling them kids, you think dryly. They’re all in their early twenties, fresh faced and eager. Besides Mikasa- she’s almost as neutral as Levi is, with similar eyes, and you can’t help but wonder if they’re distantly related.

You rotate your shoulder again and massage it lightly with a wince. Damn, your right shoulder has been aching over the last week. Maybe you needed a real massage. Or a new chair.

You send all of your emails out quickly with your shoulder beginning to throb in pain as minutes go by.

Death by the office.

You tell Jean and Connie to meet you in the break-out room for your quick catch-up, unable to take sitting at your desk for much longer. You bring a notebook and a pen with you to the break-out room and wait for them to arrive.

They sit across from you with their stainless steel water bottles in front of them. They’re chatting animatedly, telling you about their ideas and their plans of all the good they can bring to the kids within the walls. Their shared enthusiasm makes you smile.

You start taking notes on their ideas, already thinking of ways to bring them to life. You groan softly as your hand cramps up from the pain in your right shoulder and neck shooting down your arm.

Jean calls your name and you look up.

“Are you okay?” He asks, “You look like you’re in pain.”

“Obviously she’s in pain!” Connie exclaims indignantly, “Sorry about him. He likes to state the obvious.”

“I’ll be alright. My shoulder is just- acting up today…” You trail off and rotate it, “Anyway, I like your ideas. Keep it up, I love the enthusiasm. And don’t try to out maneuver each other either.”

You look pointedly at Jean who gives you a look of innocence.

“We’re a team,” You murmur.

“Captain still calls us interns,” Connie blurts out and you can’t help but let out a laugh. That they still call Levi their Captain, because he’s so rigid with them and that he still calls them interns.

“I’ll talk to Captain grump,” You reassure them, “He calls you interns out of affection.”

“Affection? From Captain Levi? Pff,” Jean scoffs, crossing his arms.

“You’d be surprised, Jean.”

***

Levi catches your soft whistle of pain as you slide the straps of your backpack over your shoulders. He wordlessly stands behind you and pushes the straps of your arm and carries your backpack for you instead. He gives you his phone and keys to hold on to and you give him a smile in return.

He walks you to the car in silence, opening the door for you and waiting for you to get in. Levi catches your grimace and soft exhale once more as you shift in the seat.

“You told Hange to go home?” Levi asks, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” You nod, “She was here all night again. I don’t know how it gets past Erwin, but I told her to come back after she’s rested.”

Levi nods, eyes trained on the road in front of him. One hand on the steering wheel and one on his thigh. After a moment of staring off into the setting sun, you feel Levi’s hand slide into yours and his thumb rub against yours. His gaze hasn’t shifted, but you can see the light in the corner of his eyes.

He has let his hair and his scruff grow out a little longer than he usually likes- is he distracted? You can’t recall the last time his hair has been this long, but you like it. You make a mental note to ask him about it once you get home.

But as always, Levi can feel your eyes on him.

“Why are you staring?” He asks bluntly.

“Just lookin’ at your ugly mug,” You say nonchalantly, not missing the way his lips quirk up.

“You’ve been with this ugly mug for the last six years,” Levi says dryly, “And what does that say about you?”

“That I have good taste,” You beam at him and he rolls his eyes fondly.

“You’re a brat.”

“You’re an ass.”

You squeeze his hand and watch the planes of his face imperceptibly relax. He wonders how long your shoulder has been bothering you like this. You had mentioned a few times over the last week that it was an odd sort of ache, but today, it seemed like you were in a lot of pain. He’ll ask you about it when you get home.

Home. The space he’s shared with you for the last three and a half years. Levi thinks about that often. He thinks about being a rough, underground kid with nothing but dirt and danger to his name. He wonders if that kid would’ve ever dreamed of living a life like this. He often thinks about Erwin finding him so young and pledging to help him and help kids like him.

Levi often thinks about you. You, who had offered him nothing but laughs and coffee when he had nothing to give. You, who offered your shoulder when he didn’t have the strength to ask. You, who found a crack in his armor of steel and buried yourself next to him despite his roughness.

You.

Even now, he still wonders from time to time if you are aware of the extent of his adoration for you. But when you look at him in that soft way of yours, in that way that’s only reserved for him, he thinks you do.

***

Levi hears your pained gasp from the kitchen and then a call of his name. He sees you standing in your underwear, clutching your right shoulder with creased eyebrows.

“Levi,” You murmur, “Will you help me out of this shirt?”

Levi hums and brushes his knuckles over your neck gently.

“Lift your arms up for a second. This would be easier if this shirt was a button up rather than this shitty material,” He mutters, “This might hurt for a sec.”

He hears your sharp inhale and exhale as he pulls your top off. Levi pulls out one of his own shirts that has now become your sleep shirt and a pair of his shorts for you. He’s quick and precise in his movements, unclasping your bra easily and tugging his shirt over your head. He even helps you into his shorts and you press a kiss to his cheek in gratitude.

Levi rubs your shoulder gingerly, eyes cast over you in concern.

“Go sit on the couch,” Levi murmurs, “I think we still have some of that medicinal paste my mom gave us. The one that’s supposed to help with pains like this. Your shoulder is tight.”

“That’s not the only thing that’s tight,” You wink at him and he shakes his head, patting your hair.

You’re tempted to follow Levi to the kitchen but refrain when he shoots you a look. Instead, you settle on the couch, stretching your legs out.

“Took you long enough,” You grumble, scooting up on the couch for him to lay behind you.

“It took me two minutes. Did you lose your sense of time as well?” Levi murmurs, pulling you into his chest.

You hum, already feeling yourself relax and take his hand in yours. Levi pulls the right side of your shirt down a little to examine your shoulder. He presses a finger to your upper neck and you hiss once his fingers press a little lower. He continues his examination, trying to figure out exactly where you’re in pain.

“Gonna give you a massage,” Levi says, “Might hurt at first. It’ll feel nice after. You can hold my hand if it does.”

“Thanks for your permission, honey,” You roll your eyes but clasp his free hand in yours once more.

His fingers are steady, gentle but firm against your skin. Levi whispers words to you, words of his day, words of what he thinks of the new interns. You correct him for the millionth time, reminding him that they’re not interns anymore. They’re employees now, part of the team. He scoffs but it pulls a laugh from you.

And then you gasp sharply when Levi’s hand prods at a knot. You squeeze his hand reflexively but after a few soothing touches, the pain washes away and the knot dissolves. Levi continues to rub your muscles and you lean further into his chest, your eyes closed in bliss.

He maneuvers you so as to not disturb you too much and spreads the topical analgesic on your shoulder, leaving your skin exposed. So that the medicine doesn’t spread on your shirt.

“Good?” Levi asks, rubbing your other shoulder. You nod, peering up at him and pecking his lips in gratitude. You try to deepen the kiss, try to rake your fingers through his hair the way he likes, but he turns his cheek.

“You’re gonna waste the medicine. It’ll stick to your shirt rather than your shoulder.”

“Seriously?” You groan.

“Blame your shitty shoulder,” Levi says and you glare at him.

“Take my shirt off then.”

“It’ll stick to your shirt when I take it off. Don’t be stupid.”

“Wow, you really thought this through,” You grumble, settling back into his chest and hoping the medicine absorbs quickly. He gives you a rare smile and kisses your forehead, his hand snaking under your shirt to rub your belly, his fingertips at your ribcage. The way he knows you like.

It had taken a long time for Levi to touch you like this. But you didn’t mind though. You were patient, and he was worth it. He was an immensely private person and while he was never ashamed of you- the thought had never even struck his mind- he preferred to keep his business within the walls of your home. Even at work, Erwin often teased both of you that he could hardly tell that you were in a long term relationship with the way you two bickered with each other and the general lack of PDA. But Hange, bless her, would scold Erwin for being so dense-

How can you not tell? They argue like a married couple!

It had taken a long time for Levi to touch you like this. He can remember when the mere act of looking at you had proven to be too much sometimes. And somehow, you always knew when he needed space. When it got to be too much. It had even taken you a long time to touch him like this. He was unlike anyone you had ever met in every way. You’re certain from the way you fit within the spaces of his arms that this is where you were meant to be.

Something gentle settles in your cheeks, in the way you blink at him, in the way you’re stroking his undercut. He very nearly purrs at the touch but still-

“What are you thinking about?”

“You,” You reply, not missing his ‘tch’ in response, “Your hair’s getting long…”

You run your fingers through his dark, silky strands and leave a trail of burning embers in your wake. You cup his cheek and he leans into your touch, head tilting into your hand slightly. His grown out stubble prickles your hand and you push yourself closer to him.

“Something on your mind?” You murmur, “You never go this long without a haircut. Or a shave.”

“Testing something out,” Levi says vaguely and you hum.

“Whatever you say, honey,” You reply, pressing a kiss to his neck.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll hurt yourself if you think too much.”

“Noted. Thanks for looking out for me, Levi,” You say dryly, poking his chest.

“Someone has to,” Levi mutters, “Think you need a new chair at work. You’ve always had a shitty chair. Or maybe you need a standing desk. I’ll build you one.”

You’re barely listening, eyes beginning to flutter closed and you hum in agreement. Levi is just so warm, it’s no surprise that you’re asleep in just a few minutes. Your breaths are steady against his arm as you shift a little to turn on your side. You must be tired. Levi grabs the book he’s currently reading from the coffee table, drapes a blanket over you and rubs your back as you fall into a deeper sleep.

As he reads, he can’t really focus on the words on the page. He’s busy thinking about you, and how easily you grew to trust him and to love him. Despite how long it took for him to even realize that what he felt towards you was trust and love. Levi thinks back to the kid from the Underground. That kid is still him, and he remembers the faint desire to have a semblance of this life. To feel the sun against his face, the wind in his hair. To be unabashedly himself.

And somehow, not even the freeing feeling of the sun on his face and the wind in his hair can compare to your velvet touch on his skin.

[mulanxiaojie]

Since the trailer for Disney’s live-action film Mulan was released last weekend, both mainland Chinese in the East and the diaspora in the West have been abuzz about their cultural identity and its representation in Hollywood – albeit for different reasons.

Chinese viewers have, on one hand, been enthusiastic about the casting of Chinese-American actress Crystal Liu Yifei in the lead role and the chance for a seemingly more “authentic” Chinese story to be told on the global stage.

On the other hand, they have pointed out historical inaccuracies – such as the southern Chinese setting when the source material states that Mulan is from the north – and expressed concerns that the plot has been too “Americanised”.

Meanwhile, many Chinese-Americans were surprised to discover upon watching the trailer that the beloved 1998 animation had changed beyond recognition – most notably with the absence of talking dragon Mushu and male love interest Li Shang. Some also felt that the new film pandered too much to a mainland Chinese audience.

“The idea of a mythic mash-up of China [in the new film] … seems to play to the idea of a unified, singular China, an artistic representation of the one-China policy, which is troubling to me,” said Jeannette Ng, a British sci-fi author with Hong Kong heritage.

“A lot of the time, this conversation acts like the only Chinese people who matter are the ones who live in mainland China – that they are the only truly authentic ones and everyone else is too Westernised to count,” she said.

The online discussion indicates the delicate balance Hollywood interpretations of Chinese classics have to strike in portraying Chinese versus American values, as big US-China co-productions try their hardest to integrate the two for bigger global box office takings.

Despite ticket sales in China falling 3.6 per cent in the first half of 2019, owing to tightened government censorship, China is still projected to overtake the US box office next year, according to a recent report by professional services firm PwC.

Disney has tried hard to make the new film more true to its ancient Chinese source material, with a detailed – if inaccurate – historical setting featuring the ancient tulou round houses of the southeastern province of Fujian, and a star-studded, all-Asian cast with several icons of Chinese cinema such as Jet Li, Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen and Gong Li.

“Disney’s tent pole movies are aiming at a global audience. That being said, given that China is the largest international market and the story is based on a Chinese folk tale, Disney will definitely take the Chinese audience’s taste into consideration,” said a Chinese film producer, who asked to remain anonymous, at a major US studio in Beijing.

“However, this is also a double-edged sword, as people tend to be more picky when they see things they are familiar with.”

Indeed, several Chinese media think pieces have questioned whether elements of the original legend had become too Americanised in the film, leading to an inauthentic representation of a beloved Chinese heroine.

For instance, the Disney trailer suggests that Mulan joins the army to escape an arranged marriage, breaking away from family traditions and establishing her independence as a woman unbound by gender roles.

But in the original folk song Ballad of Mulan, on which the film is based, she volunteers to take the place of her ageing father in the army – making her a symbol of filial piety, courage and patriotism in traditional Chinese culture.

In a widely shared analysis discussing whether Disney’s Mulan was a feminist icon, Peking University Press wrote: “Perhaps this is a cross-cultural creative misunderstanding that reflects the core differences between Chinese and Western culture. If Mulan is seen as a feminist symbol, I fear this may be wishful thinking.”

However, both Chinese-Americans and Chinese nationals agree that the film, slated for release in March, is an inspiring tale for young girls.

“I feel like the people who are criticising the film are too attached and focused on the nostalgia factor. They are not seeing the bigger picture and the positive implications of this movie,” said Alex Diep, a 23-year-old American of Vietnamese-Chinese descent.

“They are disregarding that this film gives an opportunity for young Asian girls to look up to Mulan and see her as a role model,” he said.

Some Chinese have interpreted it as an inspiring fable of female strength and liberation, especially when ingrained patriarchal values and government initiatives such as the one-child policy have restricted women’s rights over the years.

“[Mulan] remains one of the very few fighters and not conventionally feminine figures in the Disney princess canon,” Ng said.

“[T]his is some sort of feminism education for a single-child generation in China that girls can fight like men do,” tweeted Chinese journalist Li Jing.

Chinese-Americans are also optimistic that it will be a sure-fire win for Asian representation on the big screen, especially after the success of last year’s romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians.

“[Critics of the trailer] are disregarding the fact that this movie is another opportunity to showcase Asian people in a movie where we are not perceived as a negative stereotype,” Diep said.

Others feel that the film can help build a bridge between East and West.

“Mulan is a Chinese story. It comes from a completely different culture, one which I’m not at all convinced that Hollywood, or the West at large, truly understands yet,” said New Yorker Jonathan Pu, who is of Taiwanese descent. He said he enjoyed the lighthearted animation, but that it did not define his expectations for the remake.

“If Disney can stay true to the source material and convey [filial piety] in a way that even just some of the audience can grasp, then it will go a long way towards building bridges,” Pu said.

Ultimately, the success of this American spin on Chinese culture will rest on box office sales, which Disney hopes will exceed the 1998 animation that flopped in mainland cinemas. Recent Disney live-action remakes have had a mixed reception in China – Dumbo flopped in March, while The Lion King did moderately well on its release last weekend.

“I’m sure there will be a mixed response when the movie is released but it should have enough buzz and do well,” said the Beijing film producer.

“I hope it will be able to convey the spirit of Mulan and inspire millions of young girls.”

[pope-francis-quotes]

7th September >> (@VaticanNews) #PopeFrancis #Pope Francis In an interview with the Italian business newspaper "Il Sole 24 Ore", #PopeFrancis engages with a variety of issues, including economics, the environment, migrants, Europe, and peace.

Pope Francis: Interview with Italian business daily "Il Sole 24 Ore"In a wide-ranging interview with Italian national business newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, Pope Francis engages with a variety of issues, including: economics, the environment, migrants, Europe, and peace.

(By Christopher Wells @vaticannews)

The interview with Il Sole 24 Ore revolves largely around socio-economic issues, with a strong focus on the common good. Without denying the importance of individual effort, Pope Francis emphasizes that a community can only grow as a whole people; “social life,” he says, “is not constituted by the sum of individualities, but by the growth of a people.”

Real growth in the community

He says that real growth can occur in a community when we “make room to welcome everyone’s collaboration.” Real growth, he continues, is result “of relationships sustained by tenderness and mercy,” rather than an exclusive focus on success that can lead to “exclusions and waste.”

Pope Francis takes the opportunity to clarify what he means by waste: “It is not simply a phenomenon recognized as the action of exploitation and oppression, but a truly new phenomenon.” The action of exclusion doesn’t simply deprive people of power or wealth, but actually rejects them, throws them out, casts them out of society.”

A person-friendly ethics

This, he says, is why we need a “person-friendly ethics,” which he says can become a “strong stimulus for conversion.” This kind of “person-friendly ethics” can help bridge the gap between profit driven, and non-profit enterprises.

The Holy Father explains that behind every economic activity lies a human person, and insists that the human person must be at the centre of how we think of the economy. “It is work that gives dignity to man, not money.” He identifies a focus on money and profit as a consequence of an economic system “that is no longer capable of creating jobs.”

The human person at the centre

This economic system, the Pope says, has made an idol of money; but it can be opposed by a system that puts people and family at the centre. He explains that an innovative focus on the greater good, the good of the community as a whole, is ultimately better for companies than an exclusive focus on profit.

In fact, a healthy overall economy, Pope Francis says, “is never disconnected from the meaning of what is produced; and economic activity is always also an ethical fact. He points to the teaching of Pope Leo XIII that free trade is not sufficient of itself to ensure justice; and says that what Leo said of individual contracts is also true of international trade. Quoting Bd Paul VI, Pope Francis says, “Free trade can be called just only when it conforms to the demands of social justice.”

Work and the dignity of the person

Asked about the feeling, experienced by many people, that work is a burden, “an unbearable routine,” Pope Francis says that everyone realizes that it is better to have a job than to not work. Working, he says, “is good because it is linked to the dignity of the person, to his ability to take responsibility for himself and others.” He also describes “the high spiritual meaning” of work, by which, he says, “we give continuity to creation by respecting it and taking care of it.”

Environment

Pope Francis also speaks on a number of other issues in his interview. He calls on Companies to pay more attention to “Working to build the common good”. Noting that most Companies provide professional and technical training, he suggests they do the same with regard to values. “We have reached the limits of what we call our common home”, he says, to the point that we are planning to colonize new planets. “Humanity is no longer the custodian of the earth but a tyrant exploiter.” That is why, whenever we talk about the environment, we are really talking about humanity: “Environmental degradation and human degradation go hand in hand,” says the Pope. “Ecological consciousness needs new ways of living that build a harmonious future, promote integral development, and reduce inequality.” Pope Francis cites his Encyclical Laudato sì, when he confirms that, in order to guarantee resources for future generations, we need to “limit the use of non-renewable resources, moderate consumption, reuse and to recycle.”

Migrants

Pope Francis acknowledges the challenge posed by migrants, especially to those who living in affluent countries: “Yet there is no peaceful future for humanity except in the acceptance of diversity, solidarity, in thinking of humanity as one family.” he states. Hope is what unites those who leave their homes with those who welcome them. Hope is what drives us to “share the journey of life,” he says, encouraging us not to be afraid “to share hope.” We need to stop talking about numbers, and start talking about people.

Europe

“Europe needs hope and a future,” says Pope Francis. “We never stop being witnesses of hope, we widen our horizons without consuming ourselves in the preoccupation of the present.” Returning to the issue of migration, the Pope recalls the importance of migrants being “respectful of the culture and laws of their host country” so as to favor integration and overcome fear and worry. “I also entrust these responsibilities to the prudence of governments,” he says, “so that they may find common ways to give dignified welcome to our many brothers and sisters who call for help.”

Peace

The interview concludes with Pope Francis referencing his Message for the World Day of Peace this year in which he outlines what he calls “four milestones for action: welcome, protect, promote and integrate.” It is always important that our projects and proposals be inspired by “compassion, vision and courage,” he says, “so as to seize every opportunity to advance the construction of peace.” This is the only way to ensure that “the necessary realism of international politics does not surrender itself to disinterest and the globalization of indifference.”

Topics

WORK

ECONOMY

POPE FRANCIS

MEDIA

ENVIRONMENT

INTERVIEW

07 September 2018, 06:49

[beatrixedercoaching]

Your Daily Word Of Inclusiveness | Beatrix Eder Coaching

                      How to speak an inclusive language

Recently I conducted a brief poll on LinkedIn (https://lnkd.in/gTDaKPs) asking the professional community what they experience as their biggest challenge to implementing Inclusive Leadership.

First of all, I want to thank all the people who have taken a moment to participate and many of them continued the conversation in public comments and private messages.

Challenges to practicing Inclusive Leadership

The intention of the poll was to see the overall perception and get a sense of what makes it difficult for people to practice inclusiveness. Most people today are exposed to working with others across differences of gender, race, generation, language, culture, beliefs and personal orientations. Many of the multinational organizations are convinced that diversity is not just political correctness but a business imperative and many have defined concrete goals around diversity such as having more women in leadership positions, reviewing practices around hiring people from a more diverse pool of talent or decrease pay disparities.

The poll gave four options as main obstacles to implementing Inclusive Leadership:

No alignment with business strategy

Not embedded in daily actions

Lacking accountability

Recognizing subtle bias

Embedding inclusive practices in daily actions

The biggest difficulty appears to be around embedding inclusive practices in daily actions followed by recognizing subtle bias.

The reason for this is that among the well-meaning company policies and intentions of creating an inclusive workplace, there is little cohesion on how this should look in daily actions between employees. Taking a closer look, it becomes clear that most people have only a vague idea what inclusiveness means, how we can recognize it and how we experience it.

Having a clear definition around concepts shows what is truly important about the concept and allows for a common understanding by many people. Only when an organization is able to make a statement about the fundamental nature of “inclusiveness”, are they able to measure it, incentivize it and build it into the corporate culture at all hierarchical levels.

How can we expect people to practice something consistently if there are vague or different definitions of what they should be doing?

Inclusiveness: leverage the diversity of the group

Being inclusive means effectively working, communicating and building relationships with people across differences in regards to gender, generation, race, language, religion / beliefs, sexual orientation and abilities. Being inclusive means seeing these differences as valuable qualities of each individual’s identity and giving each individual the same opportunities. Inclusive leadership involves inviting different people, engaging everyone to participate, listening to their views and valuing the differences.

Inclusive leaders direct, guide and influence people in a more curious, collaborative, creative and compassionate way in order to leverage the diversity of the group and achieve a common goal with more creativity and effectiveness.

Diversity is the metric. Inclusion is the mechanism. Engagement is the feeling.

Practicing a few habits consciously, consistently and in a way that is observable to others makes you the inclusive leader that you are and aspire to be. As a general attitude, you can

proactively seek out others different from yourself,

learn about their perspectives with genuine curiosity

value differences and consider how each of these differences help finding better solutions.

Creating such an environment helps that people feel accepted, welcome, heard and valued - and this is the felt experience of inclusion. The result of this felt experience is engagement, which means that people are emotionally connected to the workplace and the coworkers. Engagement is what drives people to give their best and keeps them loyal to the company.

As with most things, being inclusive becomes easier with ongoing practice. For this, people need

Information to continuously educate themselves on notions around their cultural blueprint, their relationship to power / rank / privilege and competencies how these differences can be bridged in a way that is enriching

Awareness of themselves as individuals and as players in their social environment

Commitment to be deliberate in their choices and courageous in their actions.

Acts of micro-inclusion

If you want to bridge the gap between inclusion as rhetoric and concrete actions, you need to open your eyes and ears to situations where differences show up. Each one of us encounters these situations several times a day, so there are plenty of opportunities to practice. When you go about your day with an attitude of curiosity and compassion, observing situations not only from your own perspective but that of people different from you, you will recognize many occasions that wait for you to show up as the inclusive leader you already are and want to be perceived as.

We call these tiny acts of inclusiveness micro-inclusion. Micro-inclusions are the opposite of isolation: they are deliberate acts of connecting with our common humanity, remembering that each one of us has feelings of inadequacy and disappointment. It is the understanding that despite our individual and unique qualities, something connects us and that we all belong to a system that is beyond our individual projects and goals.

6 tips for practicing inclusive language

So what are concrete examples of practicing inclusiveness at work? How can you widen the circle and invite more people inside?

Let’s start with inclusive language. We speak all day and there are several scientific studies that show the impact of the language we use on our thoughts. Words are not just labels but they reveal our perspective. Words have power and they influence our actions – and over time our culture.

Here are 5 tips on how to consciously choose your words to help others feel accepted, welcome, heard and valued.

1) Gender-neutral language

It probably happened at least once or twice that you have addressed your team with “guys”, even though it was a mixed group with women, men and maybe even non-binary people. Using gendered language can exclude those people who do not identify as the gendered expression you have used. A better alternative is to say “Hey, team / everyone / friends / folks”.

2) Alternative pronouns

We tend to use “he /his” as generic pronouns which implicitly tells us that the person referred to is a male. In English, you can use “they / their” as singular generic pronoun to show that all people are included, independently of their gender or identity. Example: Instead of “Each employee is welcome to share his or her thoughts” you can say “Each employee is welcome to share their thoughts”.

3) Simple vocabulary and clear pronunciation when speaking with non-native speakers

When you are a native English speaker and you speak with people whose mother tongue is not English, remember to use common words and avoid idioms or your local slang. I still remember how difficult it was for me the first time I worked with an Australian manager: not only did I have real trouble understanding his accent; he also used words that I had no idea of what they meant. One day he gave me directions to go to a client and said that at a certain street I have to take a “chuck a uey”…. A what? As I learned, “chuck a uey” in Australian means a U-turn!

4) Be conscious about how you qualify people based on their gender

Often, people will attribute different adjectives when they describe the same behavior of a man or a woman. Common examples are being assertive (man) versus bossy (woman), passionate (man) versus hysterical (woman) or empathetic (man) vs emotional (woman), persuasive (man) vs argumentative (woman).

When you describe another person’s behavior or attitude –especially when you perceive it as negative - check in with yourself: Would you use the same word if it was the other gender?

5) Avoid stereotypes, even positive ones

Sometimes people think they are saying a compliment and forget that what they actually voice is a stereotype, generalizing a group of people.

Common examples:

“Women have a natural mothering instinct and are more caring”

“Asians are good at math and science”

“Gay people are generally more sensitive, open-minded and creative”

All these expressions paint a caricature of the person to whom we are referring. When you speak, check-in with yourself if the words you are using have an “all” or “no one” perspective.

6) Avoid words with a negative or passive meaning

Sometimes we use unconsciously words that describe another person as weak. Sometimes we use these expressions to show our compassion. And yet, it is more inclusive and respectful to use neutral or positive words.

Examples:

Instead of “X is suffering from [illness]” say “X has [illness]”

Saying that “X is fighting [illness]” implies that the illness is something that has to conquered and annihilated and people having a specific illness might hear an underlying opinion that they have the illness because they did not fight hard enough / were not strong enough.

Instead of “X was victim of an accident” say “X had an accident”

Use language to include and empower others

The language we speak will give cues about our perspectives and opinions and will influence our relationships with others. Furthermore, using an inclusive language shows our willingness to connect with others on a human level, understand their individual situation and feel for them.

Speaking an inclusive language is an ongoing journey with situations in which we will all make mistakes. As an inclusive leader, own your mistakes and commit to understanding how the background of another person shapes their experience and that we can have a very different interpretation of the same situation.

Will you consciously choose your words to include and empower others?

Will you use at least three times inclusive language at your workplace today?

[notsoivorytower]

This month, we spoke with Ph.D. candidate and Anzaldúing It podcaster Jackie Cáraves. An L.A. native, Jackie talked to us about navigating life and the ivory tower as a QWOC, first-yen college student, and first-gen grad student in the borderlands. She shares her insights on the LGBTQ Latinx Community, impostor syndrome, code-switiching, and QWOC survival. Follow Jackie on IG @getitgirrl and @anzalduingit !

Hey Jackie! Tell us a bit about yourself and your academic journey. What is your field of study and what does your current research focus on?

I grew up in East Hollywood in Los Angeles with a single mother on welfare and two older brothers. My dad left when I was 18 months old and I’ve only seen him a handful of times throughout my life. As a unit, my mom and my older brothers Martin and Rudy are extremely close. We went through a lot together. My brothers really influenced my journey to academia. Martin showed me that it was possible to go to college by attending UC Berkeley after high school. My brother Rudy tried to provide for us by joining a gang, which really made me question why he had to go through that trauma as a necessary part of our racialized poverty. It made me want to understand the systems that put us all in those really difficult situations. When I went to UC Santa Cruz, I was inspired by my feminist studies classes and latino studies classes. In those classes, I learned about intersectionality and about my own family’s experiences in a systemic way. When I read the works of these chicana feminist scholars, I saw myself and I wanted to be just like them. I wanted to create knowledge and bridge academia and community.

I am currently a PhD Candidate in Chicana/o Studies at UCLA. My research focuses on the experiences of Trans and Gender Non Conforming (GNC) Latina/o/xs. My work really aims to highlight the ways in which Trans and GNC Latina/o/xs embody resilience and so my dissertation will mainly focus on family, chosen family, and spirituality as sources of resilience. I was connected to Bamby Salcedo, the president and CEO of Trans Latin@ Coalition, through a friend. After Bamby and I had developed a repoire, Bamby asked me to work in community with Trans Latin@ Coalition to co-produce the first report about health in the Trans Latinx community. Our report, The State of Trans Health, was published by Trans Latin@ Coalition last year and involved surveying 129 members of the Trans Latinx community all over Southern California. Based off of the work that Bamby and I did, I am conducting more in depth interviews with Trans community members about their methods of resilience.

Can you speak to your experiences as a QWOC in academia? You certainly seem to be vocal about attempting to break down the Ivory Tower. What are some obstacles / inequalities / disadvantages you've encountered and how did you deal with them?

For me being a QWOC in academia has come with imposter syndrome. My mom was only able to obtain an elementary school education. I am a first generation college student and a first generation grad student. So, my background only fills me with doubts about whether I can be an academic and a scholar. As I entered the MA and PhD, I became very uncomfortable being in those spaces, often feeling like I didn't belong or that I wasn't supposed to be there because I somehow felt I wasn't qualified to be there. I felt like someone was going to find out I was truly unqualified and kick me out of the program altogether. Even being in a program like Chicana/o Studies where my peers and professors are all People of Color didn't make it easier. Because ultimately academia is still academia and there is a culture of competition and performance that exists.

Academia is isolating, competitive, and based on production. My cohort is the first Chicana/o Studies Cohort at UCLA and I think we are keenly aware that we are the first. Being the first cohort is special because we are really building the culture of our program. We have tried together to build community, mentorship, and support each other. However, building this culture took time, so the first few years were especially difficult. Now, however, I think my main sources of affirmation and validation are my cohort members and my adviser. We are trying to break down, as much as we can, the sense of competitiveness and alienation that academia puts on grad students.

I also want to use academia to do community work. It is really hard to be authentic in a place that is so competitive and so based in what you “produce.” The ways in which I try to break that is through my scholarship and through my teaching.  

You focus on Latin American Studies and have been a big advocate for LGBTQ visibility. Can you tell us more about your goals for implementing your studies within the larger LGBTQ Latinx community?

Being in Chicana/o Studies and Latino Studies, I’ve learned a lot about race, class, and even gender. However, there is a dearth of social science literature that focuses on queer Latinx experiences. We see a lot of that scholarship, specifically chicana lesbian feminist scholarship, be relegated to the humanities. My goal is to bridge the literature and center current Latinx struggles. We have a lot of conversations now about intersectionality but a lot of our conversations have only one or two dimensions and we don’t include queer or trans identities in those conversations. They should. Centering the queer and trans community can help us understand heteronormativity, another structure that oppresses all of us. At least that’s what I want to bring to a university and academic setting.

In terms of the larger Latinx community, I want to use the resources of a university and my own social capital to collect information and make it useful for community members who are trying to empower and elevate themselves. For example, when Bamby and I did this study together last year, we knew what kind of data the study would produce because of our lived experiences. But we wanted to show the results in a printed, digestible way for grassroots organizations to bring to funders, politicians, and community organizers.

After listening to your recently launched podcast, "Anzaldúing It," we knew we had to feature you on Not So Ivory Tower. We appreciate you speaking on your experiences as a QWOC in L.A., touching on issues like being a child of immigrants, welfare, toxic relationships, and self-care. Can you tell us more about this project?

Thank you for listening to the podcast! It brings me so much joy to be talking about the podcast and to be in a place where we are now putting together the 10th episode! The idea of a podcast started with a conversation I was having with my best friend, Angelica Becerra. Earlier this year, I brought up the idea of doing a podcast to Angelica. I suggested it to her because we always come together and have these conversations on our own. What we talk about on the podcast is really how we talk to each other in real life and how we heal and bring joy to our lives. We learn a lot from each other and I just wanted to start recording these moments of our lives that have really felt cleansing and soothing for both of us.

In the podcast we talk about our personal lives, academia, and those things that help us get through: spirituality, astrology, our families (both chosen and not) and food! We never thought that we would have so much interest, but we are so happy and excited that people are listening and that people seem to be taking joy in listening. This podcast is a way for us to stay connected to the world, ourselves, and our community. Especially in times like these, I think we need these brief moments of laughter, love, and honesty, almost as a respite from the news. We are super excited about sharing with you!

In one episode, you talk the roles code-switching and accents play in academia. This seemed like a perfect reflection of Gloria Anzaldúa's writings on performing multiple identities to survive. Can you speak more on your experiences with this?

As I’ve mentioned in the podcast, code switching is something that I have had to learn since I was little. As first generation students, child of immigrants, we learn this from a really early age. We switch from English to Spanish whether we are at school or at home. I also was in very white spaces from middle school and onwards and I learned the different borders I had to cross with my language whether it was with friends, teachers, or at home.

In academia I’ve had to learn a new language. I’ve had to try to find an academic voice that still remains true to who I am. I’ve tried to hold on to the way I speak and not assimilate. I try to keep the way that I speak from growing up in the hood and not try to erase where I come from.

Even though we are talking about language, I’ve also “code-switched” with my gender presentation and with my queerness. Code-switching is often about performance of your different identities and for a long time, I performed femininity because I thought that was what was expected of me. I’ve learned to live more authentically in the last 2 years too in my gender presentation. So in that regard I’m trying not to code-switch in my queerness.

What advice would you give a young QWOC just starting out on her academic journey? Are there any strategies, support systems, or tools that you think would help them navigate academic spaces better?

I would say, find those people that you feel safe with, share with them what you’re going through, and know that you’re going to have to be vulnerable. Community, friends, and family are essential for productivity. Also, don’t look for academia to validate you. It is important to remember that you are not a machine and productivity is not the only marker of your worth. Mental health is a real thing! Go to therapy, ground yourself in spirituality, get the support and help you need. It is important to laugh, love, and heal and try your best to remain true to yourself through this process.

[cecillewhite]

Talented Learning’s Greatest Hits – 2019 Edition

It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, let alone another decade!

I’m not one to dwell on the past. But I do believe the past can inform the future. So before we move on, I invite you to join me in revisiting this year’s most popular topics in extended enterprise learning.

What Topics Were Most Popular in Extended Enterprise Learning?

The world is likely to remember 2019 for dramatic political plot twists, news headlines and cultural trends. But I’m more interested in top takeaways from business-minded learning professionals.

What mattered most to you? We think your content choices are excellent indicators.

If you follow Talented Learning, you know we share information and advice through multiple channels. In addition to publishing weekly blog posts, we also produce monthly webinars and regular podcast interviews with experts from across the extended enterprise learning realm.

RSVP FOR OUR JANUARY WEBINAR!

Which topics drew the most attention this year? Below, we’ve listed top contenders from each of our three content channels. There’s also a bonus section featuring our all-time most popular posts.

We hope you’ll find this “greatest hits” list useful as you frame next-steps in your organization’s learning strategy.

And as you look for forward-thinking guidance in 2020, stay tuned for more from us in the coming weeks and months!

  Top 3 Podcasts of 2019

Two years ago, we launched our podcast series, “The Talented Learning Show“ for convenient access to one-on-one conversations with leading learning technology innovators and practitioners. Of the 15 episodes we produced this year, these three sessions attracted the most listeners:

#3  Interpreting Global eLearning Trends – with Donald H. Taylor

Every year, one of the world’s best-known organizational learning experts, Donald H. Taylor publishes an analysis of his Global L&D Sentiment Survey – a must-read for anyone who cares about the direction of corporate learning technology adoption.

In this interview, Don drills down on highlights from the 2019 results. He also looks at key trends revealed by this research and discusses the implications for learning organizations around the world.

#2  Why Corporations Choose Open Source Learning Systems – with Brian Carlson

Numbers don’t lie. And they’re definitely telling us that open source learning platforms like Moodle and Totara are wildly popular, compared to commercial solutions. But what exactly is driving this success? And why is open source gaining momentum as a foundation for extended enterprise learning?

Listen as Brian Carlson, CEO of eThink Education, explains. Brian is a pioneer in open source learning solutions who has been involved with this movement almost from its inception nearly 20 years ago.

#1  What Makes Microlearning Work – with Karl Kapp

Microlearning is a popular buzzword. But what exactly does it mean? Why is it a valuable methodology? And how can learning professionals develop truly effective microlearning experiences?

Author, professor and perpetual fan favorite, Dr. Karl Kapp, makes it easy to understand in this free-wheeling Q&A session.

  Top 3 Webinars of 2019

SEE THE WINNERS NOW!

As soon as we finish our monthly live webinar events, we post the recordings in the Talented Learning Center – a free library of low-hype, high-value, on-demand resources.

All sessions are designed for business-minded training professionals who want to use learning systems more effectively.

To sample our webinars, try three of this year’s most popular sessions:

#3  How to Spark High-Impact Skills Development

In today’s economy, how can organizations attract and retain the best talent? Find out how to build a competitive edge with a culture of continuous learning that lasts. Join skills development experts as they share proven methodologies and discuss real-world successes.

#2  Association Learning Tech Innovation: Reality vs. Hype

Digital breakthroughs like AI, VR and AR are capturing headlines and imaginations everywhere. But what do innovative technologies mean for continuing education providers operating in the real world? Take a closer look from the front lines of the association learning solutions space.

#1  Bridging the Learning Analytics Gap

Educational content providers have long sought better ways to link learning behavior with business performance. But even with today’s most innovative measurement tools, decision-makers struggle to find enough time and expertise to generate useful insights.

How can you bridge this critical gap? Learn how a guided services approach is making a measurable difference.

  Top 3 Blog Posts of 2019

Blogging was our first form of outreach – and our commitment to this blog remains stronger than ever. When people like you take time to read and respond to our posts, it helps us better understand how learning technology actually fits into the business world. Interestingly, two of these posts were actually published before 2019. Regardless, here are this year’s most popular topics:

#3  Best Customer Education Blogs – 25 Must-Reads for Learning Professionals

Companies everywhere are striving to gain a competitive edge by improving their customer experience. As a result, interest in customer education is skyrocketing.

But with so many voices in the burgeoning customer learning space, where should you look for credible advice about strategies, technologies and business practices? Check our collection of resources from some of the best minds in the industry!

#2  Customer Training Pricing and Packaging – What’s the Best Strategy?

Customer education is all the rage – and with good reason. But successful programs depend on effective pricing and packaging.

What kind of model works best with your particular product or service? And how much should you charge for optimal results? Read this post to understand and compare popular approaches.

#1  Top Learning Systems Trends 2019 – An Extended Enterprise Market Guide

SEE THE WINNERS NOW!

Hands-down, every year our most popular posts focus on top learning technology trends.

Although we don’t pretend to forecast the future, we do share first-hand observations about factors that are shaping the extended enterprise learning market. And we do it with a fiercely independent perspective.

As you prepare for the year ahead, consider the key trends we outlined early in 2019. How many of these are already influencing the learning experiences you offer? And going forward, what kind of role should they play?

  BONUS: Top Blog Posts of All Time

With 6 years of blogging under our belts, which posts have attracted the most attention? These are our readers’ perennial favorites:

#3  Will You Sell More Continuing Education With an LMS?

With today’s red-hot employment market driving demand for reskilling and upskilling, continuing education is on fire. But what kind of systems should continuing education providers choose to support lifelong skills development?

Find out what you should expect in a CEU-focused LMS, and why an employee-oriented learning platform isn’t likely to be your best bet.

#2  Define Your LMS Requirements Like a Pro

The best way to find a learning system that works for your organization is to start with a strong set of requirements. As consultants, we’ve seen far too many situations where buyers neglected this step, with disastrous results.

Requirements definition isn’t complex, but it does take a desire to understand your learning audiences and related use cases. This guide walks you through each phase in the process.

#1  The 3 Licensing Models of an LMS (or Any Enterprise Software)

Interestingly, our most popular post of all time was a smash hit right out of the gate in April of 2014. Since then, it has continued to attract more daily activity than any other post we’ve published.

Why has software licensing intelligence attracted so much attention? Here’s our theory:  We were among the first independent sources of information about learning systems pricing issues and trends, and six years later we remain committed to that agenda.

We believe it’s important to educate the market about how to make informed technology choices, and pricing transparency is key to software selection success. Readers seem to agree.

  Conclusion

The first 6 years at Talented Learning have coincided with an exciting and eventful phase in the evolution of learning systems. But as 2020 begins, we feel like we’re only getting started!

We hope you’re as eager as we are to explore these popular topics in extended enterprise learning even more deeply in the future. We promise to show up with more boots-on-the-ground blogs, webinars, product reviews, podcasts and reports to help you create business value from extended enterprise learning.

If you want to see us cover additional topics, contact us anytime with suggestions or feedback. We’re always interested in ideas that help us serve you better.

Thanks for reading!

  WANT TO LEARN MORE? JOIN THIS ON-DEMAND WEBINAR!

LMS Selection Step-by-Step

REPLAY THIS WEBINAR

With hundreds of learning systems available today, finding the right LMS for your unique extended enterprise needs can be tricky. But with so much at stake for, it’s worth the extra effort.

What exactly should you do to choose the best solution?

Walk step-by-step through a real-world example with John Leh, CEO and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning. You’ll learn:

How to develop a relevant business case and success metrics

Methods for researching and defining use cases and requirements

When to issue an RFP (or not)

Tips for creating a viable LMS shortlist

How to make the most of vendor demos and proof-of-concept projects

REPLAY THE WEBINAR NOW!

  Need Proven LMS Selection Guidance?

Looking for a learning platform that truly fits your organization’s needs?  We’re here to help!  Submit the form below to schedule a free preliminary consultation at your convenience.

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The post Talented Learning’s Greatest Hits – 2019 Edition appeared first on Talented Learning.

Talented Learning’s Greatest Hits – 2019 Edition original post at Talented Learning

[shanedakotamuir]

Watchmen wants us to know one thing: We’re all being used by those with power

Looking Glass seems to have a very full life. | HBO

The show delves into Looking Glass’s past — and revisits one of the most memorable moments from the comic.

After playing footsie with the original Watchmen comic for four weeks, the new TV show’s fifth episode — “Little Fear of Lightning” — dumps us straight into one of the comic’s most famous moments: the “interdimensional” squid attack on New York that kills 3 million people and does grave psychic damage to even more.

The event, as those who’ve read the comic know, is a plot cooked up by Ozymandias to avoid nuclear war and maybe bring about world peace. Known to the public as an “attack” by beings from another dimension, it manages to bring the US and USSR closer together, leading to the version of America we see in the series, where the Robert Redford administration is nearing its 30-year anniversary but where the tensions of the Cold War no longer seem relevant to the world at large.

As we learn in “Little Fear of Lightning,” it’s a deep, dark secret, held closely by a very small few, that the squid didn’t come from another dimension but was instead manifested right here on Earth. And among the people who were affected by its arrival are Steven Spielberg (who made a very Schindler’s List-esque movie about the squid) and our own Looking Glass, who narrowly escaped death at the squid’s nasty tentacles as a teen, then saw his life scarred by having been so close to such a devastating occurrence.

Just like Watchmen’s third episode, “Little Fear of Lightning” is a character showcase, following Looking Glass for nearly its entire running time. (We check in on Adrian Veidt briefly, and he does seem to be in space, spelling out a message using all of the corpses he’s been generating. This show!) But “Lightning” tells a darker and sadder story about what it means to live in a world where you survived an experience that’s roughly as rare — and even more likely to kill you — as being struck by lightning. It’s about survivor’s guilt. But it’s also about realizing that the world is built atop a lie.

To dig further into that theme, I (Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff) am joined by Vox associate culture editor Allegra Frank and culture writer Constance Grady to break down “Little Fear of Lightning,” from the Seventh Kavalry to James Wolk’s inherent shiftiness to squids galore.

Times Square: Now with 100 percent more squid

HBO

Looking Glass takes off his mask for a bit.

Emily: In the build-up to director Zack Snyder’s 2009 adaptation of Watchmen for the big screen, all involved agreed to change the ending of the original comic. Despite a slavish faithfulness to the comic’s images (if not exactly its themes) in the rest of the film, it was thought that a giant squid landing in Times Square would be too much for people to process. Instead, the movie suggested that Doctor Manhattan had created some sort of energy pulse that leveled much of Manhattan, thus necessitating his move to Mars.

It honestly wasn’t a bad story shift — it gave Doctor Manhattan a more easily understandable motivation to bail on Earth, at least (if you, for some reason, believe a godlike blue man would have understandable motivations, which I might quibble with). But I’m so, so happy the squid (Squidley? Squidward? Squidbert?) exists in the world of HBO’s Watchmen to destroy this fictional version of New York. True to the spirit of this project, “Little Fear of Lightning” writers Damon Lindelof and Carly Wray (another The Leftovers alum) and director Steph Green pull out resonances with the 9/11 attacks but also the ways we use pop culture to process these sorts of horrors.

What’s most notable, however, is how the opening flashback makes viewers feel the sheer gutting horror of that moment and how it would have reverberated in the decades to come. Allegra: I don’t know how spoiled you are on the comic, but how did you feel about the squid? Was it a bridge too far for you, as the movie’s creative team feared it would be for their 2009 audience? Or are you going to share a recipe for delicious calamari with me, so excited are you by the prospects of a giant cephalopod?

Allegra: I’ve become increasingly “spoiled” on the original Watchmen comic in my weeks-long quest to grasp what’s happening on the TV show. So I was aware of the squid attack — but only in the abstract. This week’s episode visualized what I interpreted as a very bizarre method of mass destruction and proved how terrifying that kind of experience could be.

The cold open rendered a young Looking Glass the equivalent of that classic horror movie trope, the Final Girl: He’s a teenage boy thrust into a situation where he could possibly lose his virginity, but the moment never comes to bear. His sexual anxiety, and the virginal purity that, in horror movies at least, establishes him as a rare moralist, ends up saving his life in the end. Looking Glass finds himself alone after a devastating, sudden, inexplicable mass casualty.

This scene helped to ease me, the sensitive viewer, into the idea of the squid attack because we saw only the aftermath and not the act of the killing itself. It’s still a shocking moment and a horrifying image to see hundreds of dead bodies lying on the ground, but I don’t think the scene veered too far into the ostentatious, as HBO has made no effort to hide how disturbed the show’s version of 2019 Tulsa is.

And on a plausibility level, that all those deaths were the effect of a squid that apparently came from another dimension doesn’t quite phase me — five episodes in, a squid attack feels normal enough for Watchmen, despite its inherent absurdity. It’s the impact of the attack that is meaningful, sculpting Looking Glass into the lonely, sexually repressed man we’ve come to know in the episode’s contemporary storyline.

On the inherent shiftiness of James Wolk

HBO

Yes, we’re aware this is technically Jeremy Irons right beneath a subhead about James Wolk.

Constance: I’m coming into this show pretty unspoiled. All of my knowledge of the comic comes from the time a friend who read it 10 years ago summarized it for me, and I came away with a vague understanding of something something giant squid, something something blue penis. But even with minimal knowledge of the comic, the squid attack still lands; it’s a moment of pure Lovecraftian horror, and I absolutely buy that it would traumatize Looking Glass forever. Which only makes it all the more heartbreaking when he realizes that this horrific event that has shaped his life forever was a lie.

The other big reveal this episode comes when we find out that James Wolk’s affable gentleman senator Joe Keane is the leader of the Seventh Kavalry, and that he apparently saw his leadership as half of a partnership with the now-dead Judd as the chief of the police. For me, that twist wasn’t exactly surprising, but it was immensely satisfying, because it’s such a good use of Wolk’s inherent shiftiness.

Maybe it’s because I’m most familiar with Wolk from his role as Mad Men’s Bob “NOT GREAT” Benson, but anytime I see him onscreen, I feel incapable of trusting him. (Well, I trust him to inspire some truly iconic gifs, but that’s it.) Or maybe it’s because he’s so handsome: it only stands to reason that anyone with a face that symmetrical has to be hiding something. (Incidentally, this is why I think Armie Hammer is going to be great as Maxim De Winter in the forthcoming Rebecca. Obviously he has something to hide, because why else would he be so tall?) Regardless, I’ve been slowly going insane watching him slither around the sidelines of every Watchmen scene with his good ol’ boy accent and his Kennedy-lite posture, so the reveal that he is the man behind the curtains of the Seventh Kavalry is fantastically gratifying.

But the reveal is also thematically compelling, because it gets at an idea that seems fundamental to the Watchmen universe: The state and the terrorists are in on everything together. They are run by the same self-interested billionaires who think of the rest of us as their pawns and turn us against each other for their own purposes. All of the systems are corrupt, and escaping them is nearly impossible. All we’re left with is individuals trying to do their best to survive in a broken world.

Allegra, how did the Seventh Kavalry reveal work for you? Do you think there’s any possibility for hope left in the Watchmen world?

Allegra: Before I answer your question, I have to say your read on James Wolk (and Armie Hammer!) has deeply wounded me. But maybe that’s because you’re right about him — I can’t help but trust a beautiful man like Wolk’s Senator Keene when he wants me to believe he’s on the side of justice. That smile! That perfectly combed hair! Those bright, twinkling eyes! I’m a superficial goon, is what I’m saying, easily manipulated by pretty boys.

As such, Keene’s connection to the Seventh Kavalry gutted me. I yelled at my screen as he and other men and women we’d thought were good guys pulled off their Rorschach masks. How is it that so many of the people we’ve gotten to know in Tulsa deceived Angela, Laurie, and Looking Glass so easily and so totally? Their involvement is evidence that Adrian Veidt’s giant squid attack was not an end-all, be-all, but instead the impetus for decades of selfish behavior on the part of uncaring rich men looking to gain control over an unsuspecting public with dwindling resources.

But I don’t think that necessarily dictates a hopeless situation going forward. For starters, tying the Seventh Kavalry reveal to Looking Glass’s storyline — he being a survivor of this sort of selfish behavior in the truest sense — offers the kind of motivation that should undoubtedly empower those who do remain on the side of good.

This mass destruction via cephalopod, whether or not it was justified in the service of preventing a nuclear war, has all kinds of ramifications — from Looking Glass walking out of that carnival hall of mirrors to find hundreds of dead bodies, to Angela learning that her closest friend and mentor was never supporting her cause in the first place. These are devastating truths, but they’re also ones that I very much expect to embolden our heroes in this otherwise nihilistic world.

What about you, Emily? Do you think Looking Glass will find he power within him to share Veidt’s secret about the squid attack with Angela and company?

Will Looking Glass even survive, tho?

HBO

Laurie and Looking Glass have a chat.

Emily: Before this episode, I wasn’t sure if Looking Glass was one of my favorite characters because he was so inherently compelling, or because Tim Blake Nelson is such a terrific actor. After this episode, I feel comfortable saying: It’s both.

The shattered quality that young Looking Glass carries out of that hall of mirrors moves forward with him into the current Tulsa timeline, and it’s the same shattered quality that is a major part of why he betrays Angela at episode’s end. To be sure, the Seventh Kavalry has revealed to him that much of his life has been based on a lie. But instead of telling his friend about this lie, he betrays her.

Before this episode aired, one of our colleagues was talking about how they didn’t want to see Looking Glass revealed as a secret racist. But what “Little Fear of Lightning” does with the character is almost sadder. Looking Glass isn’t an overt racist. He knows enough to say “woke” things like “He was a white man in Oklahoma” when Angela finds that KKK hood in Judd’s closet. But he’s also bound to something terrible by dint of who he is. In the complicated logistics of Watchmen’s plot, that terrible something is a conspiracy to keep the wool pulled over the world’s eyes.

But on a metaphorical level, the story plays as a muted horror movie about trying to do the right thing and still being roped in with the worst kinds of people because of how structural power works. Which is to say: Watchmen remains a show about whiteness, and Looking Glass is perhaps the most potent example of how you can be a truly kind and compassionate human being and still have a lot to answer for, including stuff that you maybe weren’t even aware of.

That’s what’s so provocative about the Seventh Kavalry being rooted in a truth. One of the details of the original Watchmen that makes me so uncomfortable is that Rorschach — the violent sadist and borderline fascist — is ultimately right about a lot of what he’s saying. It’s just that his methods (secrecy and paranoia) distort the narrative so much that he ceases to be someone worth emulating. He even ceases to be a reliable narrator, despite the fact that he’s often telling the truth.

But this season has revolved around twin secrets buried and kept away from those who most need to know them. The Seventh Kavalry revelation has the most immediate bearing on the plot — in that yes, other characters should probably know who was responsible for that squid attack — but the Tulsa massacre has the most immediate bearing on us in the audience, where words like “massacre” have only recently been applied to what history has often dubbed as a “race riot.” Buried secrets fester and become infected. But we can’t help but bury secrets.

At any rate, maybe Looking Glass won’t have to worry about any of the above much longer. As “Little Fear of Lightning” ends, a whole host of Seventh Kavalry gunmen are entering his house, seemingly to kill him. I hope he makes it through. After all: He’s played by Tim Blake Nelson, and it’s a delight to see him on our screens every week.

Constance: Looking Glass really is a fantastic character because he’s such a good example of how you can be both complicit in oppressive systems, and also the pawn of people with a lot more power than you have.

Looking Glass is obviously being used, and he knows it. He’s been used his whole life, arguably first by the church that sent him out into the world as a teen missionary, then by Adrian Veidt and his squid, then by Judd and the Tulsa police force, and now by Keane and the Seventh Kavalry. He’s a man whose superpower is being able to tell when someone is lying to him, but he has still spent his life being lied to and manipulated by all the people and all the systems that he trusted in.

And by extension, so have most of the other people in the Watchmen universe, including Angela and Laurie. And by further extension, so have we. So the question then becomes: What do we do when we learn that we are being used?

Looking Glass responds by deciding to let Keane and the Seventh Kavalry use him. He doubles down on his complicity. What we have yet to see is how the rest of the characters in this world will react to the idea that the people they trust are using them as pawns — and whether this world allows for the possibility of breaking free of your complicity all together.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2Ol79dB

[corneliusreignallen]

Watchmen wants us to know one thing: We’re all being used by those with power

Looking Glass seems to have a very full life. | HBO

The show delves into Looking Glass’s past — and revisits one of the most memorable moments from the comic.

After playing footsie with the original Watchmen comic for four weeks, the new TV show’s fifth episode — “Little Fear of Lightning” — dumps us straight into one of the comic’s most famous moments: the “interdimensional” squid attack on New York that kills 3 million people and does grave psychic damage to even more.

The event, as those who’ve read the comic know, is a plot cooked up by Ozymandias to avoid nuclear war and maybe bring about world peace. Known to the public as an “attack” by beings from another dimension, it manages to bring the US and USSR closer together, leading to the version of America we see in the series, where the Robert Redford administration is nearing its 30-year anniversary but where the tensions of the Cold War no longer seem relevant to the world at large.

As we learn in “Little Fear of Lightning,” it’s a deep, dark secret, held closely by a very small few, that the squid didn’t come from another dimension but was instead manifested right here on Earth. And among the people who were affected by its arrival are Steven Spielberg (who made a very Schindler’s List-esque movie about the squid) and our own Looking Glass, who narrowly escaped death at the squid’s nasty tentacles as a teen, then saw his life scarred by having been so close to such a devastating occurrence.

Just like Watchmen’s third episode, “Little Fear of Lightning” is a character showcase, following Looking Glass for nearly its entire running time. (We check in on Adrian Veidt briefly, and he does seem to be in space, spelling out a message using all of the corpses he’s been generating. This show!) But “Lightning” tells a darker and sadder story about what it means to live in a world where you survived an experience that’s roughly as rare — and even more likely to kill you — as being struck by lightning. It’s about survivor’s guilt. But it’s also about realizing that the world is built atop a lie.

To dig further into that theme, I (Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff) am joined by Vox associate culture editor Allegra Frank and culture writer Constance Grady to break down “Little Fear of Lightning,” from the Seventh Kavalry to James Wolk’s inherent shiftiness to squids galore.

Times Square: Now with 100 percent more squid

HBO

Looking Glass takes off his mask for a bit.

Emily: In the build-up to director Zack Snyder’s 2009 adaptation of Watchmen for the big screen, all involved agreed to change the ending of the original comic. Despite a slavish faithfulness to the comic’s images (if not exactly its themes) in the rest of the film, it was thought that a giant squid landing in Times Square would be too much for people to process. Instead, the movie suggested that Doctor Manhattan had created some sort of energy pulse that leveled much of Manhattan, thus necessitating his move to Mars.

It honestly wasn’t a bad story shift — it gave Doctor Manhattan a more easily understandable motivation to bail on Earth, at least (if you, for some reason, believe a godlike blue man would have understandable motivations, which I might quibble with). But I’m so, so happy the squid (Squidley? Squidward? Squidbert?) exists in the world of HBO’s Watchmen to destroy this fictional version of New York. True to the spirit of this project, “Little Fear of Lightning” writers Damon Lindelof and Carly Wray (another The Leftovers alum) and director Steph Green pull out resonances with the 9/11 attacks but also the ways we use pop culture to process these sorts of horrors.

What’s most notable, however, is how the opening flashback makes viewers feel the sheer gutting horror of that moment and how it would have reverberated in the decades to come. Allegra: I don’t know how spoiled you are on the comic, but how did you feel about the squid? Was it a bridge too far for you, as the movie’s creative team feared it would be for their 2009 audience? Or are you going to share a recipe for delicious calamari with me, so excited are you by the prospects of a giant cephalopod?

Allegra: I’ve become increasingly “spoiled” on the original Watchmen comic in my weeks-long quest to grasp what’s happening on the TV show. So I was aware of the squid attack — but only in the abstract. This week’s episode visualized what I interpreted as a very bizarre method of mass destruction and proved how terrifying that kind of experience could be.

The cold open rendered a young Looking Glass the equivalent of that classic horror movie trope, the Final Girl: He’s a teenage boy thrust into a situation where he could possibly lose his virginity, but the moment never comes to bear. His sexual anxiety, and the virginal purity that, in horror movies at least, establishes him as a rare moralist, ends up saving his life in the end. Looking Glass finds himself alone after a devastating, sudden, inexplicable mass casualty.

This scene helped to ease me, the sensitive viewer, into the idea of the squid attack because we saw only the aftermath and not the act of the killing itself. It’s still a shocking moment and a horrifying image to see hundreds of dead bodies lying on the ground, but I don’t think the scene veered too far into the ostentatious, as HBO has made no effort to hide how disturbed the show’s version of 2019 Tulsa is.

And on a plausibility level, that all those deaths were the effect of a squid that apparently came from another dimension doesn’t quite phase me — five episodes in, a squid attack feels normal enough for Watchmen, despite its inherent absurdity. It’s the impact of the attack that is meaningful, sculpting Looking Glass into the lonely, sexually repressed man we’ve come to know in the episode’s contemporary storyline.

On the inherent shiftiness of James Wolk

HBO

Yes, we’re aware this is technically Jeremy Irons right beneath a subhead about James Wolk.

Constance: I’m coming into this show pretty unspoiled. All of my knowledge of the comic comes from the time a friend who read it 10 years ago summarized it for me, and I came away with a vague understanding of something something giant squid, something something blue penis. But even with minimal knowledge of the comic, the squid attack still lands; it’s a moment of pure Lovecraftian horror, and I absolutely buy that it would traumatize Looking Glass forever. Which only makes it all the more heartbreaking when he realizes that this horrific event that has shaped his life forever was a lie.

The other big reveal this episode comes when we find out that James Wolk’s affable gentleman senator Joe Keane is the leader of the Seventh Kavalry, and that he apparently saw his leadership as half of a partnership with the now-dead Judd as the chief of the police. For me, that twist wasn’t exactly surprising, but it was immensely satisfying, because it’s such a good use of Wolk’s inherent shiftiness.

Maybe it’s because I’m most familiar with Wolk from his role as Mad Men’s Bob “NOT GREAT” Benson, but anytime I see him onscreen, I feel incapable of trusting him. (Well, I trust him to inspire some truly iconic gifs, but that’s it.) Or maybe it’s because he’s so handsome: it only stands to reason that anyone with a face that symmetrical has to be hiding something. (Incidentally, this is why I think Armie Hammer is going to be great as Maxim De Winter in the forthcoming Rebecca. Obviously he has something to hide, because why else would he be so tall?) Regardless, I’ve been slowly going insane watching him slither around the sidelines of every Watchmen scene with his good ol’ boy accent and his Kennedy-lite posture, so the reveal that he is the man behind the curtains of the Seventh Kavalry is fantastically gratifying.

But the reveal is also thematically compelling, because it gets at an idea that seems fundamental to the Watchmen universe: The state and the terrorists are in on everything together. They are run by the same self-interested billionaires who think of the rest of us as their pawns and turn us against each other for their own purposes. All of the systems are corrupt, and escaping them is nearly impossible. All we’re left with is individuals trying to do their best to survive in a broken world.

Allegra, how did the Seventh Kavalry reveal work for you? Do you think there’s any possibility for hope left in the Watchmen world?

Allegra: Before I answer your question, I have to say your read on James Wolk (and Armie Hammer!) has deeply wounded me. But maybe that’s because you’re right about him — I can’t help but trust a beautiful man like Wolk’s Senator Keene when he wants me to believe he’s on the side of justice. That smile! That perfectly combed hair! Those bright, twinkling eyes! I’m a superficial goon, is what I’m saying, easily manipulated by pretty boys.

As such, Keene’s connection to the Seventh Kavalry gutted me. I yelled at my screen as he and other men and women we’d thought were good guys pulled off their Rorschach masks. How is it that so many of the people we’ve gotten to know in Tulsa deceived Angela, Laurie, and Looking Glass so easily and so totally? Their involvement is evidence that Adrian Veidt’s giant squid attack was not an end-all, be-all, but instead the impetus for decades of selfish behavior on the part of uncaring rich men looking to gain control over an unsuspecting public with dwindling resources.

But I don’t think that necessarily dictates a hopeless situation going forward. For starters, tying the Seventh Kavalry reveal to Looking Glass’s storyline — he being a survivor of this sort of selfish behavior in the truest sense — offers the kind of motivation that should undoubtedly empower those who do remain on the side of good.

This mass destruction via cephalopod, whether or not it was justified in the service of preventing a nuclear war, has all kinds of ramifications — from Looking Glass walking out of that carnival hall of mirrors to find hundreds of dead bodies, to Angela learning that her closest friend and mentor was never supporting her cause in the first place. These are devastating truths, but they’re also ones that I very much expect to embolden our heroes in this otherwise nihilistic world.

What about you, Emily? Do you think Looking Glass will find he power within him to share Veidt’s secret about the squid attack with Angela and company?

Will Looking Glass even survive, tho?

HBO

Laurie and Looking Glass have a chat.

Emily: Before this episode, I wasn’t sure if Looking Glass was one of my favorite characters because he was so inherently compelling, or because Tim Blake Nelson is such a terrific actor. After this episode, I feel comfortable saying: It’s both.

The shattered quality that young Looking Glass carries out of that hall of mirrors moves forward with him into the current Tulsa timeline, and it’s the same shattered quality that is a major part of why he betrays Angela at episode’s end. To be sure, the Seventh Kavalry has revealed to him that much of his life has been based on a lie. But instead of telling his friend about this lie, he betrays her.

Before this episode aired, one of our colleagues was talking about how they didn’t want to see Looking Glass revealed as a secret racist. But what “Little Fear of Lightning” does with the character is almost sadder. Looking Glass isn’t an overt racist. He knows enough to say “woke” things like “He was a white man in Oklahoma” when Angela finds that KKK hood in Judd’s closet. But he’s also bound to something terrible by dint of who he is. In the complicated logistics of Watchmen’s plot, that terrible something is a conspiracy to keep the wool pulled over the world’s eyes.

But on a metaphorical level, the story plays as a muted horror movie about trying to do the right thing and still being roped in with the worst kinds of people because of how structural power works. Which is to say: Watchmen remains a show about whiteness, and Looking Glass is perhaps the most potent example of how you can be a truly kind and compassionate human being and still have a lot to answer for, including stuff that you maybe weren’t even aware of.

That’s what’s so provocative about the Seventh Kavalry being rooted in a truth. One of the details of the original Watchmen that makes me so uncomfortable is that Rorschach — the violent sadist and borderline fascist — is ultimately right about a lot of what he’s saying. It’s just that his methods (secrecy and paranoia) distort the narrative so much that he ceases to be someone worth emulating. He even ceases to be a reliable narrator, despite the fact that he’s often telling the truth.

But this season has revolved around twin secrets buried and kept away from those who most need to know them. The Seventh Kavalry revelation has the most immediate bearing on the plot — in that yes, other characters should probably know who was responsible for that squid attack — but the Tulsa massacre has the most immediate bearing on us in the audience, where words like “massacre” have only recently been applied to what history has often dubbed as a “race riot.” Buried secrets fester and become infected. But we can’t help but bury secrets.

At any rate, maybe Looking Glass won’t have to worry about any of the above much longer. As “Little Fear of Lightning” ends, a whole host of Seventh Kavalry gunmen are entering his house, seemingly to kill him. I hope he makes it through. After all: He’s played by Tim Blake Nelson, and it’s a delight to see him on our screens every week.

Constance: Looking Glass really is a fantastic character because he’s such a good example of how you can be both complicit in oppressive systems, and also the pawn of people with a lot more power than you have.

Looking Glass is obviously being used, and he knows it. He’s been used his whole life, arguably first by the church that sent him out into the world as a teen missionary, then by Adrian Veidt and his squid, then by Judd and the Tulsa police force, and now by Keane and the Seventh Kavalry. He’s a man whose superpower is being able to tell when someone is lying to him, but he has still spent his life being lied to and manipulated by all the people and all the systems that he trusted in.

And by extension, so have most of the other people in the Watchmen universe, including Angela and Laurie. And by further extension, so have we. So the question then becomes: What do we do when we learn that we are being used?

Looking Glass responds by deciding to let Keane and the Seventh Kavalry use him. He doubles down on his complicity. What we have yet to see is how the rest of the characters in this world will react to the idea that the people they trust are using them as pawns — and whether this world allows for the possibility of breaking free of your complicity all together.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2Ol79dB

[timalexanderdollery]

Watchmen wants us to know one thing: We’re all being used by those with power

Looking Glass seems to have a very full life. | HBO

The show delves into Looking Glass’s past — and revisits one of the most memorable moments from the comic.

After playing footsie with the original Watchmen comic for four weeks, the new TV show’s fifth episode — “Little Fear of Lightning” — dumps us straight into one of the comic’s most famous moments: the “interdimensional” squid attack on New York that kills 3 million people and does grave psychic damage to even more.

The event, as those who’ve read the comic know, is a plot cooked up by Ozymandias to avoid nuclear war and maybe bring about world peace. Known to the public as an “attack” by beings from another dimension, it manages to bring the US and USSR closer together, leading to the version of America we see in the series, where the Robert Redford administration is nearing its 30-year anniversary but where the tensions of the Cold War no longer seem relevant to the world at large.

As we learn in “Little Fear of Lightning,” it’s a deep, dark secret, held closely by a very small few, that the squid didn’t come from another dimension but was instead manifested right here on Earth. And among the people who were affected by its arrival are Steven Spielberg (who made a very Schindler’s List-esque movie about the squid) and our own Looking Glass, who narrowly escaped death at the squid’s nasty tentacles as a teen, then saw his life scarred by having been so close to such a devastating occurrence.

Just like Watchmen’s third episode, “Little Fear of Lightning” is a character showcase, following Looking Glass for nearly its entire running time. (We check in on Adrian Veidt briefly, and he does seem to be in space, spelling out a message using all of the corpses he’s been generating. This show!) But “Lightning” tells a darker and sadder story about what it means to live in a world where you survived an experience that’s roughly as rare — and even more likely to kill you — as being struck by lightning. It’s about survivor’s guilt. But it’s also about realizing that the world is built atop a lie.

To dig further into that theme, I (Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff) am joined by Vox associate culture editor Allegra Frank and culture writer Constance Grady to break down “Little Fear of Lightning,” from the Seventh Kavalry to James Wolk’s inherent shiftiness to squids galore.

Times Square: Now with 100 percent more squid

HBO

Looking Glass takes off his mask for a bit.

Emily: In the build-up to director Zack Snyder’s 2009 adaptation of Watchmen for the big screen, all involved agreed to change the ending of the original comic. Despite a slavish faithfulness to the comic’s images (if not exactly its themes) in the rest of the film, it was thought that a giant squid landing in Times Square would be too much for people to process. Instead, the movie suggested that Doctor Manhattan had created some sort of energy pulse that leveled much of Manhattan, thus necessitating his move to Mars.

It honestly wasn’t a bad story shift — it gave Doctor Manhattan a more easily understandable motivation to bail on Earth, at least (if you, for some reason, believe a godlike blue man would have understandable motivations, which I might quibble with). But I’m so, so happy the squid (Squidley? Squidward? Squidbert?) exists in the world of HBO’s Watchmen to destroy this fictional version of New York. True to the spirit of this project, “Little Fear of Lightning” writers Damon Lindelof and Carly Wray (another The Leftovers alum) and director Steph Green pull out resonances with the 9/11 attacks but also the ways we use pop culture to process these sorts of horrors.

What’s most notable, however, is how the opening flashback makes viewers feel the sheer gutting horror of that moment and how it would have reverberated in the decades to come. Allegra: I don’t know how spoiled you are on the comic, but how did you feel about the squid? Was it a bridge too far for you, as the movie’s creative team feared it would be for their 2009 audience? Or are you going to share a recipe for delicious calamari with me, so excited are you by the prospects of a giant cephalopod?

Allegra: I’ve become increasingly “spoiled” on the original Watchmen comic in my weeks-long quest to grasp what’s happening on the TV show. So I was aware of the squid attack — but only in the abstract. This week’s episode visualized what I interpreted as a very bizarre method of mass destruction and proved how terrifying that kind of experience could be.

The cold open rendered a young Looking Glass the equivalent of that classic horror movie trope, the Final Girl: He’s a teenage boy thrust into a situation where he could possibly lose his virginity, but the moment never comes to bear. His sexual anxiety, and the virginal purity that, in horror movies at least, establishes him as a rare moralist, ends up saving his life in the end. Looking Glass finds himself alone after a devastating, sudden, inexplicable mass casualty.

This scene helped to ease me, the sensitive viewer, into the idea of the squid attack because we saw only the aftermath and not the act of the killing itself. It’s still a shocking moment and a horrifying image to see hundreds of dead bodies lying on the ground, but I don’t think the scene veered too far into the ostentatious, as HBO has made no effort to hide how disturbed the show’s version of 2019 Tulsa is.

And on a plausibility level, that all those deaths were the effect of a squid that apparently came from another dimension doesn’t quite phase me — five episodes in, a squid attack feels normal enough for Watchmen, despite its inherent absurdity. It’s the impact of the attack that is meaningful, sculpting Looking Glass into the lonely, sexually repressed man we’ve come to know in the episode’s contemporary storyline.

On the inherent shiftiness of James Wolk

HBO

Yes, we’re aware this is technically Jeremy Irons right beneath a subhead about James Wolk.

Constance: I’m coming into this show pretty unspoiled. All of my knowledge of the comic comes from the time a friend who read it 10 years ago summarized it for me, and I came away with a vague understanding of something something giant squid, something something blue penis. But even with minimal knowledge of the comic, the squid attack still lands; it’s a moment of pure Lovecraftian horror, and I absolutely buy that it would traumatize Looking Glass forever. Which only makes it all the more heartbreaking when he realizes that this horrific event that has shaped his life forever was a lie.

The other big reveal this episode comes when we find out that James Wolk’s affable gentleman senator Joe Keane is the leader of the Seventh Kavalry, and that he apparently saw his leadership as half of a partnership with the now-dead Judd as the chief of the police. For me, that twist wasn’t exactly surprising, but it was immensely satisfying, because it’s such a good use of Wolk’s inherent shiftiness.

Maybe it’s because I’m most familiar with Wolk from his role as Mad Men’s Bob “NOT GREAT” Benson, but anytime I see him onscreen, I feel incapable of trusting him. (Well, I trust him to inspire some truly iconic gifs, but that’s it.) Or maybe it’s because he’s so handsome: it only stands to reason that anyone with a face that symmetrical has to be hiding something. (Incidentally, this is why I think Armie Hammer is going to be great as Maxim De Winter in the forthcoming Rebecca. Obviously he has something to hide, because why else would he be so tall?) Regardless, I’ve been slowly going insane watching him slither around the sidelines of every Watchmen scene with his good ol’ boy accent and his Kennedy-lite posture, so the reveal that he is the man behind the curtains of the Seventh Kavalry is fantastically gratifying.

But the reveal is also thematically compelling, because it gets at an idea that seems fundamental to the Watchmen universe: The state and the terrorists are in on everything together. They are run by the same self-interested billionaires who think of the rest of us as their pawns and turn us against each other for their own purposes. All of the systems are corrupt, and escaping them is nearly impossible. All we’re left with is individuals trying to do their best to survive in a broken world.

Allegra, how did the Seventh Kavalry reveal work for you? Do you think there’s any possibility for hope left in the Watchmen world?

Allegra: Before I answer your question, I have to say your read on James Wolk (and Armie Hammer!) has deeply wounded me. But maybe that’s because you’re right about him — I can’t help but trust a beautiful man like Wolk’s Senator Keene when he wants me to believe he’s on the side of justice. That smile! That perfectly combed hair! Those bright, twinkling eyes! I’m a superficial goon, is what I’m saying, easily manipulated by pretty boys.

As such, Keene’s connection to the Seventh Kavalry gutted me. I yelled at my screen as he and other men and women we’d thought were good guys pulled off their Rorschach masks. How is it that so many of the people we’ve gotten to know in Tulsa deceived Angela, Laurie, and Looking Glass so easily and so totally? Their involvement is evidence that Adrian Veidt’s giant squid attack was not an end-all, be-all, but instead the impetus for decades of selfish behavior on the part of uncaring rich men looking to gain control over an unsuspecting public with dwindling resources.

But I don’t think that necessarily dictates a hopeless situation going forward. For starters, tying the Seventh Kavalry reveal to Looking Glass’s storyline — he being a survivor of this sort of selfish behavior in the truest sense — offers the kind of motivation that should undoubtedly empower those who do remain on the side of good.

This mass destruction via cephalopod, whether or not it was justified in the service of preventing a nuclear war, has all kinds of ramifications — from Looking Glass walking out of that carnival hall of mirrors to find hundreds of dead bodies, to Angela learning that her closest friend and mentor was never supporting her cause in the first place. These are devastating truths, but they’re also ones that I very much expect to embolden our heroes in this otherwise nihilistic world.

What about you, Emily? Do you think Looking Glass will find he power within him to share Veidt’s secret about the squid attack with Angela and company?

Will Looking Glass even survive, tho?

HBO

Laurie and Looking Glass have a chat.

Emily: Before this episode, I wasn’t sure if Looking Glass was one of my favorite characters because he was so inherently compelling, or because Tim Blake Nelson is such a terrific actor. After this episode, I feel comfortable saying: It’s both.

The shattered quality that young Looking Glass carries out of that hall of mirrors moves forward with him into the current Tulsa timeline, and it’s the same shattered quality that is a major part of why he betrays Angela at episode’s end. To be sure, the Seventh Kavalry has revealed to him that much of his life has been based on a lie. But instead of telling his friend about this lie, he betrays her.

Before this episode aired, one of our colleagues was talking about how they didn’t want to see Looking Glass revealed as a secret racist. But what “Little Fear of Lightning” does with the character is almost sadder. Looking Glass isn’t an overt racist. He knows enough to say “woke” things like “He was a white man in Oklahoma” when Angela finds that KKK hood in Judd’s closet. But he’s also bound to something terrible by dint of who he is. In the complicated logistics of Watchmen’s plot, that terrible something is a conspiracy to keep the wool pulled over the world’s eyes.

But on a metaphorical level, the story plays as a muted horror movie about trying to do the right thing and still being roped in with the worst kinds of people because of how structural power works. Which is to say: Watchmen remains a show about whiteness, and Looking Glass is perhaps the most potent example of how you can be a truly kind and compassionate human being and still have a lot to answer for, including stuff that you maybe weren’t even aware of.

That’s what’s so provocative about the Seventh Kavalry being rooted in a truth. One of the details of the original Watchmen that makes me so uncomfortable is that Rorschach — the violent sadist and borderline fascist — is ultimately right about a lot of what he’s saying. It’s just that his methods (secrecy and paranoia) distort the narrative so much that he ceases to be someone worth emulating. He even ceases to be a reliable narrator, despite the fact that he’s often telling the truth.

But this season has revolved around twin secrets buried and kept away from those who most need to know them. The Seventh Kavalry revelation has the most immediate bearing on the plot — in that yes, other characters should probably know who was responsible for that squid attack — but the Tulsa massacre has the most immediate bearing on us in the audience, where words like “massacre” have only recently been applied to what history has often dubbed as a “race riot.” Buried secrets fester and become infected. But we can’t help but bury secrets.

At any rate, maybe Looking Glass won’t have to worry about any of the above much longer. As “Little Fear of Lightning” ends, a whole host of Seventh Kavalry gunmen are entering his house, seemingly to kill him. I hope he makes it through. After all: He’s played by Tim Blake Nelson, and it’s a delight to see him on our screens every week.

Constance: Looking Glass really is a fantastic character because he’s such a good example of how you can be both complicit in oppressive systems, and also the pawn of people with a lot more power than you have.

Looking Glass is obviously being used, and he knows it. He’s been used his whole life, arguably first by the church that sent him out into the world as a teen missionary, then by Adrian Veidt and his squid, then by Judd and the Tulsa police force, and now by Keane and the Seventh Kavalry. He’s a man whose superpower is being able to tell when someone is lying to him, but he has still spent his life being lied to and manipulated by all the people and all the systems that he trusted in.

And by extension, so have most of the other people in the Watchmen universe, including Angela and Laurie. And by further extension, so have we. So the question then becomes: What do we do when we learn that we are being used?

Looking Glass responds by deciding to let Keane and the Seventh Kavalry use him. He doubles down on his complicity. What we have yet to see is how the rest of the characters in this world will react to the idea that the people they trust are using them as pawns — and whether this world allows for the possibility of breaking free of your complicity all together.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2Ol79dB

[gracieyvonnehunter]

Watchmen wants us to know one thing: We’re all being used by those with power

Looking Glass seems to have a very full life. | HBO

The show delves into Looking Glass’s past — and revisits one of the most memorable moments from the comic.

After playing footsie with the original Watchmen comic for four weeks, the new TV show’s fifth episode — “Little Fear of Lightning” — dumps us straight into one of the comic’s most famous moments: the “interdimensional” squid attack on New York that kills 3 million people and does grave psychic damage to even more.

The event, as those who’ve read the comic know, is a plot cooked up by Ozymandias to avoid nuclear war and maybe bring about world peace. Known to the public as an “attack” by beings from another dimension, it manages to bring the US and USSR closer together, leading to the version of America we see in the series, where the Robert Redford administration is nearing its 30-year anniversary but where the tensions of the Cold War no longer seem relevant to the world at large.

As we learn in “Little Fear of Lightning,” it’s a deep, dark secret, held closely by a very small few, that the squid didn’t come from another dimension but was instead manifested right here on Earth. And among the people who were affected by its arrival are Steven Spielberg (who made a very Schindler’s List-esque movie about the squid) and our own Looking Glass, who narrowly escaped death at the squid’s nasty tentacles as a teen, then saw his life scarred by having been so close to such a devastating occurrence.

Just like Watchmen’s third episode, “Little Fear of Lightning” is a character showcase, following Looking Glass for nearly its entire running time. (We check in on Adrian Veidt briefly, and he does seem to be in space, spelling out a message using all of the corpses he’s been generating. This show!) But “Lightning” tells a darker and sadder story about what it means to live in a world where you survived an experience that’s roughly as rare — and even more likely to kill you — as being struck by lightning. It’s about survivor’s guilt. But it’s also about realizing that the world is built atop a lie.

To dig further into that theme, I (Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff) am joined by Vox associate culture editor Allegra Frank and culture writer Constance Grady to break down “Little Fear of Lightning,” from the Seventh Kavalry to James Wolk’s inherent shiftiness to squids galore.

Times Square: Now with 100 percent more squid

HBO

Looking Glass takes off his mask for a bit.

Emily: In the build-up to director Zack Snyder’s 2009 adaptation of Watchmen for the big screen, all involved agreed to change the ending of the original comic. Despite a slavish faithfulness to the comic’s images (if not exactly its themes) in the rest of the film, it was thought that a giant squid landing in Times Square would be too much for people to process. Instead, the movie suggested that Doctor Manhattan had created some sort of energy pulse that leveled much of Manhattan, thus necessitating his move to Mars.

It honestly wasn’t a bad story shift — it gave Doctor Manhattan a more easily understandable motivation to bail on Earth, at least (if you, for some reason, believe a godlike blue man would have understandable motivations, which I might quibble with). But I’m so, so happy the squid (Squidley? Squidward? Squidbert?) exists in the world of HBO’s Watchmen to destroy this fictional version of New York. True to the spirit of this project, “Little Fear of Lightning” writers Damon Lindelof and Carly Wray (another The Leftovers alum) and director Steph Green pull out resonances with the 9/11 attacks but also the ways we use pop culture to process these sorts of horrors.

What’s most notable, however, is how the opening flashback makes viewers feel the sheer gutting horror of that moment and how it would have reverberated in the decades to come. Allegra: I don’t know how spoiled you are on the comic, but how did you feel about the squid? Was it a bridge too far for you, as the movie’s creative team feared it would be for their 2009 audience? Or are you going to share a recipe for delicious calamari with me, so excited are you by the prospects of a giant cephalopod?

Allegra: I’ve become increasingly “spoiled” on the original Watchmen comic in my weeks-long quest to grasp what’s happening on the TV show. So I was aware of the squid attack — but only in the abstract. This week’s episode visualized what I interpreted as a very bizarre method of mass destruction and proved how terrifying that kind of experience could be.

The cold open rendered a young Looking Glass the equivalent of that classic horror movie trope, the Final Girl: He’s a teenage boy thrust into a situation where he could possibly lose his virginity, but the moment never comes to bear. His sexual anxiety, and the virginal purity that, in horror movies at least, establishes him as a rare moralist, ends up saving his life in the end. Looking Glass finds himself alone after a devastating, sudden, inexplicable mass casualty.

This scene helped to ease me, the sensitive viewer, into the idea of the squid attack because we saw only the aftermath and not the act of the killing itself. It’s still a shocking moment and a horrifying image to see hundreds of dead bodies lying on the ground, but I don’t think the scene veered too far into the ostentatious, as HBO has made no effort to hide how disturbed the show’s version of 2019 Tulsa is.

And on a plausibility level, that all those deaths were the effect of a squid that apparently came from another dimension doesn’t quite phase me — five episodes in, a squid attack feels normal enough for Watchmen, despite its inherent absurdity. It’s the impact of the attack that is meaningful, sculpting Looking Glass into the lonely, sexually repressed man we’ve come to know in the episode’s contemporary storyline.

On the inherent shiftiness of James Wolk

HBO

Yes, we’re aware this is technically Jeremy Irons right beneath a subhead about James Wolk.

Constance: I’m coming into this show pretty unspoiled. All of my knowledge of the comic comes from the time a friend who read it 10 years ago summarized it for me, and I came away with a vague understanding of something something giant squid, something something blue penis. But even with minimal knowledge of the comic, the squid attack still lands; it’s a moment of pure Lovecraftian horror, and I absolutely buy that it would traumatize Looking Glass forever. Which only makes it all the more heartbreaking when he realizes that this horrific event that has shaped his life forever was a lie.

The other big reveal this episode comes when we find out that James Wolk’s affable gentleman senator Joe Keane is the leader of the Seventh Kavalry, and that he apparently saw his leadership as half of a partnership with the now-dead Judd as the chief of the police. For me, that twist wasn’t exactly surprising, but it was immensely satisfying, because it’s such a good use of Wolk’s inherent shiftiness.

Maybe it’s because I’m most familiar with Wolk from his role as Mad Men’s Bob “NOT GREAT” Benson, but anytime I see him onscreen, I feel incapable of trusting him. (Well, I trust him to inspire some truly iconic gifs, but that’s it.) Or maybe it’s because he’s so handsome: it only stands to reason that anyone with a face that symmetrical has to be hiding something. (Incidentally, this is why I think Armie Hammer is going to be great as Maxim De Winter in the forthcoming Rebecca. Obviously he has something to hide, because why else would he be so tall?) Regardless, I’ve been slowly going insane watching him slither around the sidelines of every Watchmen scene with his good ol’ boy accent and his Kennedy-lite posture, so the reveal that he is the man behind the curtains of the Seventh Kavalry is fantastically gratifying.

But the reveal is also thematically compelling, because it gets at an idea that seems fundamental to the Watchmen universe: The state and the terrorists are in on everything together. They are run by the same self-interested billionaires who think of the rest of us as their pawns and turn us against each other for their own purposes. All of the systems are corrupt, and escaping them is nearly impossible. All we’re left with is individuals trying to do their best to survive in a broken world.

Allegra, how did the Seventh Kavalry reveal work for you? Do you think there’s any possibility for hope left in the Watchmen world?

Allegra: Before I answer your question, I have to say your read on James Wolk (and Armie Hammer!) has deeply wounded me. But maybe that’s because you’re right about him — I can’t help but trust a beautiful man like Wolk’s Senator Keene when he wants me to believe he’s on the side of justice. That smile! That perfectly combed hair! Those bright, twinkling eyes! I’m a superficial goon, is what I’m saying, easily manipulated by pretty boys.

As such, Keene’s connection to the Seventh Kavalry gutted me. I yelled at my screen as he and other men and women we’d thought were good guys pulled off their Rorschach masks. How is it that so many of the people we’ve gotten to know in Tulsa deceived Angela, Laurie, and Looking Glass so easily and so totally? Their involvement is evidence that Adrian Veidt’s giant squid attack was not an end-all, be-all, but instead the impetus for decades of selfish behavior on the part of uncaring rich men looking to gain control over an unsuspecting public with dwindling resources.

But I don’t think that necessarily dictates a hopeless situation going forward. For starters, tying the Seventh Kavalry reveal to Looking Glass’s storyline — he being a survivor of this sort of selfish behavior in the truest sense — offers the kind of motivation that should undoubtedly empower those who do remain on the side of good.

This mass destruction via cephalopod, whether or not it was justified in the service of preventing a nuclear war, has all kinds of ramifications — from Looking Glass walking out of that carnival hall of mirrors to find hundreds of dead bodies, to Angela learning that her closest friend and mentor was never supporting her cause in the first place. These are devastating truths, but they’re also ones that I very much expect to embolden our heroes in this otherwise nihilistic world.

What about you, Emily? Do you think Looking Glass will find he power within him to share Veidt’s secret about the squid attack with Angela and company?

Will Looking Glass even survive, tho?

HBO

Laurie and Looking Glass have a chat.

Emily: Before this episode, I wasn’t sure if Looking Glass was one of my favorite characters because he was so inherently compelling, or because Tim Blake Nelson is such a terrific actor. After this episode, I feel comfortable saying: It’s both.

The shattered quality that young Looking Glass carries out of that hall of mirrors moves forward with him into the current Tulsa timeline, and it’s the same shattered quality that is a major part of why he betrays Angela at episode’s end. To be sure, the Seventh Kavalry has revealed to him that much of his life has been based on a lie. But instead of telling his friend about this lie, he betrays her.

Before this episode aired, one of our colleagues was talking about how they didn’t want to see Looking Glass revealed as a secret racist. But what “Little Fear of Lightning” does with the character is almost sadder. Looking Glass isn’t an overt racist. He knows enough to say “woke” things like “He was a white man in Oklahoma” when Angela finds that KKK hood in Judd’s closet. But he’s also bound to something terrible by dint of who he is. In the complicated logistics of Watchmen’s plot, that terrible something is a conspiracy to keep the wool pulled over the world’s eyes.

But on a metaphorical level, the story plays as a muted horror movie about trying to do the right thing and still being roped in with the worst kinds of people because of how structural power works. Which is to say: Watchmen remains a show about whiteness, and Looking Glass is perhaps the most potent example of how you can be a truly kind and compassionate human being and still have a lot to answer for, including stuff that you maybe weren’t even aware of.

That’s what’s so provocative about the Seventh Kavalry being rooted in a truth. One of the details of the original Watchmen that makes me so uncomfortable is that Rorschach — the violent sadist and borderline fascist — is ultimately right about a lot of what he’s saying. It’s just that his methods (secrecy and paranoia) distort the narrative so much that he ceases to be someone worth emulating. He even ceases to be a reliable narrator, despite the fact that he’s often telling the truth.

But this season has revolved around twin secrets buried and kept away from those who most need to know them. The Seventh Kavalry revelation has the most immediate bearing on the plot — in that yes, other characters should probably know who was responsible for that squid attack — but the Tulsa massacre has the most immediate bearing on us in the audience, where words like “massacre” have only recently been applied to what history has often dubbed as a “race riot.” Buried secrets fester and become infected. But we can’t help but bury secrets.

At any rate, maybe Looking Glass won’t have to worry about any of the above much longer. As “Little Fear of Lightning” ends, a whole host of Seventh Kavalry gunmen are entering his house, seemingly to kill him. I hope he makes it through. After all: He’s played by Tim Blake Nelson, and it’s a delight to see him on our screens every week.

Constance: Looking Glass really is a fantastic character because he’s such a good example of how you can be both complicit in oppressive systems, and also the pawn of people with a lot more power than you have.

Looking Glass is obviously being used, and he knows it. He’s been used his whole life, arguably first by the church that sent him out into the world as a teen missionary, then by Adrian Veidt and his squid, then by Judd and the Tulsa police force, and now by Keane and the Seventh Kavalry. He’s a man whose superpower is being able to tell when someone is lying to him, but he has still spent his life being lied to and manipulated by all the people and all the systems that he trusted in.

And by extension, so have most of the other people in the Watchmen universe, including Angela and Laurie. And by further extension, so have we. So the question then becomes: What do we do when we learn that we are being used?

Looking Glass responds by deciding to let Keane and the Seventh Kavalry use him. He doubles down on his complicity. What we have yet to see is how the rest of the characters in this world will react to the idea that the people they trust are using them as pawns — and whether this world allows for the possibility of breaking free of your complicity all together.

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2Ol79dB

[melissagarcia8]

The Havana Jazz Festival – An Incomparable Celebration

Jazz and Cuba are as interwoven as any genre of music and country can possibly be. The centuries-old form of expression is forever linked to the soul of this nation. For jazz fans and aficionados, no better time exists to experience this intoxicating art form than the Havana Jazz Festival, happening January of 2020. This month will mark a weighty milestone in the history of the festival as it celebrates its 35th year.

If prior occasions are any indication, the festivities are sure to be filled with the same energy and excitement that jazz regularly releases on Cuban airwaves. Allow us to take you inside the happenings of this incomparable celebration to discover what makes the event such a sublime experience and why you simply must be there:

Havana Jazz Festival Details:

First, let’s cut right to the chase with important event details:

Location:  Havana, Cuba

Dates:  January 15th-19th, 2020

Visitors:  It’s difficult to put an exact annual number on the amount of attendees for the festival, but a few things are certain: the crowd is a large international mix, there are many different jazz options for all tastes, and families are warmly welcomed by the Cuban people.

Performers:  The 2020 lineup has yet to be announced, but past performers include popular artists Chucho Valdés, Daymé, Joe Lovano, Snarky Puppy, Charlie Haden, Roy Hargrove, and Telmary. Check back with us for the full lineup!

How to Buy Tickets:  Not yet announced – check back for updates!

Where to stay:  No matter where you stay, we recommend booking in advance as there will be a high demand. Hotels are always an option, but if you desire a more authentic experience casa particulares (local homes) is your best bet. Discover Corps is an expert on this type of accommodation.

La TRADICIÓN

The humble beginnings of the Havana Jazz Festival date back to 1979 when the event was first formed. But for the star of the show, the music itself, its roots can be traced back much further. Jazz is an unscripted blend of African and Spanish influence, with dashes of inspiration from Latin America, Europe and more recently, the United States. The unencumbered music has gained worldwide recognition for its creative flow and romanticized allure. It’s popularity boomed in the late 19th century when US-Cuban relations sparked a sharing of the unique outlet – with New Orleans benefiting greatly from the exchange. Today, jazz transcends the boundaries of young and old, and elicits a revering smile and a timeless tap of the foot. This creates a magnetic pull with global reach – on musical artists and fans alike – to converge on this small Caribbean island to honor the music.

From the Teatro Nacional to the streets of Havana, jazz is a way of life

La MUSICA

It goes without saying, some of jazz’s top musicians will make appearances during Havana’s festival. Half the fun of the experience, however, is seeing the young up-and-coming talent take the stage. Their songs will surely be lesser known compared to the hits from established jazz veterans, but you may be witnessing the next Dizzy Gillespie, before he was Dizzy Gillespie. For those truly interested in seeing the next wave of great jazz musicians, the Joven Jazz (Young Jazz) Festival, a competition between young artists takes place just days before the better known event. Either way, you will be directly supporting the continuation of a classic form of music. One that, with events like this, is sure to be passed on to the next generation.  

La EXPERIENCIA

Venue-wise jazz can certainly be enjoyed in large concert halls or amphitheatres, but many would argue it is best appreciated in intimate haunts accompanied by a cold drink. The same thinking applies to where, location-wise, the music can be best admired. However the question is posed, Havana, Cuba is always the answer. Just as opera is best in Italy or a hotdog is most thoroughly enjoyed at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Cuba is synonymous with jazz. This is never more evident than during the Jazz Festival as the music dominates Havana from Teatro Nacional to the smoky bar just down alley. The beauty of the five day event lies in the fact that the music is everywhere – creating the sense of one continuous song – as the notes blend together near seamlessly while you meander through the city.

An Easy Way to Enjoy the Festival

As any quick internet search will show, many tour operators exist as options for the Havana Jazz Festival. Our team at Discover Corps would like to humbly present you with a different option. When traveling to Cuba with us, you will stay with a Cuban family, our local guide will take you to authentic restaurants and sights away from the typical tourist places, and you will have the opportunity to interact with and even help locals in meaningful projects – all while enjoying great jazz. Your vacation with Discover Corps during the festival will be completely organized, so at the end of the day you can sit back and soak in the smooth tunes. Below are the trips we offer that coincide with the festival:

Cuba: Building Bridges

Cuba: Celebration of Arts & Culture

Cuba: Havana Weekend Getaway

Cuba: Preserving Nature’s Wonders

Have you ever been to this festival? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below!

Any questions? Just give us a call at +1.619.758.3030 or email us at info@discovercorps.com for more information.

The post The Havana Jazz Festival – An Incomparable Celebration appeared first on Volunteer Vacations | Discover Corps.

from Traveling News https://discovercorps.com/blog/the-havana-jazz-festival-an-incomparable-celebration%ef%bb%bf/

[ktrsss1fics]

AU Art School One Shot Series

Do you know what’s more fun than sitting through a lecture about Cubism?

Just about anything. Actually I take that back. Sitting in a crowded lecture hall while some middle-aged art history professor drones on and on about the stylistic differences between Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso is more fun than any course involving letters disguised as numbers. I don’t understand why anyone would want to pursue studies in maths. Another thing I don’t understand is why in the hell Harry Styles is so keen on being my friend. We first met in our First Year Drawing course. He made some idiotic joke about pencils and I unfortunately laughed at it. It’s been two years and I still can’t go anywhere art related without his stupid face popping up. It’s ridiculous. Harry is the type of guy that probably should be down in the liberal arts wing studying literature or psychology. He should be the leader of the decathlon team and president of the anti-bullying club. He should be spending his weekends hanging out by the pool before doing a pub crawl. He shouldn’t be buried knee deep in plaster gabbing on about how fantastic the Italian Renaissance actually was. He shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor of the printmaking building on a Friday night because his orange just isn’t right. He shouldn’t be walking in the door of this overstuffed lecture hall with his perfectly sculpted man-bun and a spool of chicken wire under his arm. But he was. “Hey Huckleberry.” He chirped slipping into the empty seat beside me. “That’s not my name Harry.” I mumbled annoyed. “For me it is.” He laughed grabbing his notebook from his bag. “Did you do the reading last night?” I shook my head before yawning, “Spent the entire night planning out my piece for Davidson’s final.” “You haven’t done that yet?” He asked shocked. Harry and I were taking an intermedia course that attempted to bridge the gap between various mediums. For our final project, we had to do some sort of performance piece around campus. Performance art might seem easy but it’s the real deal. Every ounce of energy in your body is poured into performing your piece. The projects performed so far had been brilliant. “I had the gist down but after yesterday I feel like I’m not doing enough.” I explained. “When’s your performance date?” He asked searching for a pen. “Next week.” “Lucky.” He sighed. “When’s yours?” “Uh an hour after this lecture.” Harry stated. “It’ll be out in front of The Hub.” I turned my full attention to him. “Well shit that’s quick.” “Tell me about it.” He smiled. I couldn’t imagine having to perform today. I still hadn’t truly finalised mine yet. Or gotten it approved for that matter. “What are you doing for it?” I asked throwing an extra pen at him. “I can’t tell you.” He smiled graciously. “You know the rules.” “I didn’t think Harry Styles played by the rules.” I smirked. His smile grew. “He doesn’t… usually. Davidson is making me.” “Oh right.” I nod. “ Blame it on him.” “Its true. He said its a genius plan and he doesn’t want any of you procrastinators to steal it.” Harry teased earning himself a dirty look. “I’m only joking Huck.” “All I can really say is that it’s going to make me look like a modern day Abramović.” He shrugged. I couldn’t fight the urge to roll my eyes. There was no way in hell this guy was going to create something that could even be compared to Marina Abramović. No offence to him but she is like the queen of performance art and Harry, well, doesn’t like doing Davidson’s warm up exercises. “I can already see the judgement in your eyes Sawyer Smith.” He smiled. “Go ahead and judge me.” “I’m not judging you Harry. That’s just a bold statement.” I explained. “Well I’m a bold lad.” He winked. I groaned. “Oh gag me.” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully. “If you come to it, maybe I will.” “Why do you keep trying to make this happen?” He looked confused. “What?” “Us.” I said pointing between us. “Being friends.” Before he could reply, the lights dimmed and our professor started to speak. I readjusted myself in my seat and prepared for what was going to be another hour of boredom. The TA started up a discussion about the reading assignment from the night before and as usual, the three aggressively opinionated kiss asses of our class fought for the spotlight. A battle of the pretentious perspectives had begun. Harry fidgeted in his seat. I could tell he wanted to say something. I did my best to focus all of my attention on the screen in the front of the room. I hadn’t meant to be offensive or rude but it was true. He was constantly making an effort to form some type of friendship with me and I never understood why. We were two different people. He was loud and friendly and I just wasn’t. I kept to myself and got my work done. I didn’t see how we could make it work so I always kept my distance. Apparently that didn’t sit well with him. A pause in the conversation came and I felt the boy beside me start to move closer. His arm rested on the back of my chair as his mouth moved towards my ear. “Sawyer, you know I like you right?” His husky voice whispered softly. “Like you are really really cool.” “Harry…” I sighed. “No don’t ‘Harry’ me. I’m trying to explain myself because obviously me wanting to be friends is such a horrible concept.” He stayed annoyed. “I never said that.” I glanced at him. “Well I’m pretty sure it’s been painted across your fucking forehead for years.” He said frustrated. “Look I’m not really asking for much. I just want to be friends with you. I want to be able to make late night coffee runs with you while we are waiting for our canvases to dry.” “That’s oddly specific.” I replied dryly. “Will you please just stop? This is hard enough for me. You already are the most intimidating girl in this entire department.” He blushed. “What?” “You’re scary.” “No I’m not.” “Yes you are. You always have been.” I could feel my cheeks starting to grow warm. Was I really that scary? “It’s because you are quiet but have a really profound opinion. Don’t try to fight me on that because its true. You have one of the most unique perspectives on life and um I just want to pick your brain sometimes because I think it’d help me grow as an artist and a person for that matter.” He admitted shyly. “You know that human form sculpture we had to do for Kinney’s class? I still can’t get over how you made it.” A full fledged blush attacked my face. I wasn’t one who took compliments well especially from guys like him. “It wasn’t that tough to make.” “Yeah because you’re the one making it. I’ve attempted it three times since then and it’s never worked out.” He laughed. “You’re something else, Sawyer.” “I’m really not.” I shook my head. “And I’m not intimidating either.” “And I’m not the funniest person you’ve ever met.” He said crossing his arms over his chest. “You aren’t.” “Funny you should say that because if my memory is correct you were the one dying from laughter at my hilarious pencil joke way back when.” “Oh fuck off.” I said fighting back a smile. He leaned in close once more, “Hour after class. The Hub. Be there.”

++

The hour long lecture flew by. As I left the building, I realized I had two options. The first being a selfish decision to head home and sleep. The second being the more obvious choice. I grabbed myself a warm coffee and a muffin before searching for a seat outside The Hub.

I wasn’t here because I wanted to be friends with Harry Styles.

I was here because I appreciated art and, as much as I hated to admit it, Harry was a great artist. I don’t know how he did it but he always seemed to put a quirky spin on things.

And that was admirable.

I bit into my muffin and scanned the quad. Familiar faces started to appear as the anticipation started to build. For many of us art students, this was the equivalent to a football match. All of our energy and spirit was poured into watching whomever was performing.

It wasn’t long before a sign appeared. The message was simple, “Pick your weapon and induce war.”

Piles of pens, tubes of paint, and mounds of markers lay at the feet of a man who was Manchester’s version of Christ the Redeemer. With arms outstretched, he was dressed in white from head to toe. His hair was pulled into a perfectly sculpted bun and a blank stare adorned his features.

It was game time.

A few of our classmates were the first to make their move. It wasn’t long before random people passing by stopped to contribute to the chaos. They gathered round Harry with pens and markers hoping to create something great. They didn’t though because that wasn’t the point.

This wasn’t about the things that were created or the way his clothes looked in the end. This was more than that. Harry was the Messiah bringing modern art to the masses. He was educating a stubborn class of people on the beauty of creation and that was nearly mindblowing.

The boy who made a lousy joke about pencils first term had assembled one of the most thought provoking pieces in our entire class and I really couldn’t believe it.

The pain in the ass who always tried to get my attention finally had in the best way possible.

A good hour into the piece, there was a lull in the activity. No one had come up and scribbled something on him in a while. Everyone just sat watching and waiting. Waiting for him to move or speak or breathe wrongly.

The size of the crowd that had formed and the amount of whispers being shared throughout the quad really said something about the way our culture was. As people, we rarely investigate things on our own. If something abnormal is taking place, we don’t try to find out what it is. We stand back and gossip about what we think is going on.

And I think that was one of things Harry was trying to talk about.

Our ancestors were adventurers and thinkers and doers. They didn’t sit around waiting for things to be explained to them. They went out and sought answers. They dug in the dirt until artifacts were found. They swam in the sea until things made sense. They went into the world and thought for themselves.

They weren’t glued to their computers or mobiles or trashy magazines. They were glued to their imagination and life and curiosity.

At the end of it, isn’t that really what art is? Life, imagination, and curiosity wrapped into a single piece. It’s doing something to make others think. It’s getting a reaction from a planned out action. It’s standing in front of the busiest building on campus with your arms outstretched while people attack you with words and actions. It’s attempting to befriend the one girl in class that everyone’s afraid of. It’s proving that you’re worth it.

And after seeing the concentration on his face, I had a feeling that Harry was. Being his friend wouldn’t be as horrible as I originally intended. He wasn’t just that annoying guy in all of my classes. He wasn’t the know-it-all with the obnoxiously perfect hair. He was a serious artist trying to make the world a little less shitty and that in itself was somewhat appealing.

He closed his eyes. The pain of keeping still was obviously started to set in. This was the perfect time to make my move. I threw away my trash before heading towards the table to find a tool to use. I settled on an orange calligraphy marker and walked towards Harry’s back. After a few moments of planning, I decided on what I was going leave scrawled on his body. A simple “Huck” and a string of numbers that I knew Harry would appreciate took up the space between his shoulder blades.

I dropped the pen off at the table, sent the focused boy a nod, and was on my way.

++

My phone buzzed loudly on my desk. A text message from an unknown number appeared across the screen. A tiny smile formed as I read what it had said.

I knew you’d come around Huck x

[lyshui]

JIDENNA - THE CHIEF: REVIEW

When I initially listened to this album, I had my reservations about it because this song was not on it but after fully giving it a chance, I was truly blown away by Jidenna’s artistry on this record. It takes influences from his Nigerian heritage and pays homage to many different aspects of hip-hop that truly make this album live up to all of it’s hype. He burst onto the scene in 2015 with the Grammy-Nominated single “Classic Man” and this album proves that he’s so much more than the classic man we’ve all grown to know and adore.  

1 . A Bull’s Tale

“Jidenna…you are a stubborn bull!” The album opens up and this song on my first listen easily became one of my favorites on the record. The beat is absolute fire and it feels as if Jidenna is leading us through the jungle of his homeland. The track is absolutely infectious and I honestly can’t say enough good things about it. From the way he spits bars so prophetically and the way his voice reminds me of a young Busta Rhymes towards the end of the song, I can truly see why Jidenna chose this song to come first as it truly sets the tone for what’s yet to come.

2. Chief Don’t Run (feat. Roman GianArthur)

When I first heard this song as a single, it initially was not one of my favorites but upon hearing it on the album my opinion on it has changed. When Jidenna raps he says a lot of things that if you’re not really paying attention they’ll go right over your head, making you have to listen twice and that’s exactly what this song does. It speaks about his early upbringings in Nigeria and about paving your own way in a world where everyone expects you to do what’s considered normal. One of the lines that really caught my attention was when he said, “They say a prophet never honored in his homeland, that’s fine I’d rather have my own land.” Which says that he’ll still find a way to shine regardless which is exactly what he’s done.

 3. Trampoline

Another one of my favorites on the record. It gives me a very old school feel yet it’s metaphors are very up to date with today’s times. This song makes its understandable why Janelle Monae signed this guy to her label because they clearly share some of the same views on women. Just like on Janelle’s song “Q.U.E.E.N” this song spreads the message that a lady can be as sexy as she wants to be without having to be called a slut or as the song says, “a tramp” just because she may like to twerk which I’m sure many of women are going to appreciate.

 4. Bambi

I first heard this song when I saw him live and I adored it. It tells the story of a man loving a woman who he’s afraid to hurt due to his nature of being a playboy and even being raised as one, only to lose her to someone else in the end. I love the metaphors and the playful use of animal names in this song as it ties back into Jidenna’s Nigerian roots that all work together to build this song into a classic.

5. Helicopters / Beware

Another song I initially heard when I saw him perform it live and after hearing it on the album I love it even more, especially after The Lion King reference as that stuck out to me the most. I like to call Jidenna’s music trap music for the conscious and that’s exactly what this song is. It gives you the same feeling of trap music but with lyrics that actually mean something and even though I still listen to trap music, this is something I don’t mind playing every single day.

6. Long Live The Chief

Now I don’t have to say much about this song because I loved this from the very first moment I saw him perform it on Vevo Live a few years back. Jidenna spits so many bars in this song that it’s almost impossible to pick a favorite line without reciting the whole song word for word. My only gripe about the song is that it’s just barely three minutes but with how many things Jidenna is able to get out of his mouth in that time, it clearly proves that’s all he needs.

7. 2 Points

Following after “Long Live The Chief”, Jidenna continues spitting bars as he opens up the second half of the album. In this song Jidenna addresses a person who’s stabbed him in the back, stating that true friends stab you in the front. I don’t know who exactly Jidenna’s addressing in this song but if I was this person, I’d just gon’ head and give Jidenna his two points because Jidenna clearly kept it 100.

8. The Let Out (feat. Nana Kwabena)

I originally heard the version with Quavo first but after hearing this one, I like this one so much better. As I stated earlier on “Helicopters / Beware”, this is another addition to Jidenna’s trap music for the conscious. It takes a lot of influence from modern day hip hop making this song another one of my favorites.  

9. Safari (feat. Janelle Monáe, St. Beauty & Nana Kwabena)

Again digging into his roots, this song like some of the others also makes many comparisons and similes to wildlife and nature making this song another one of my favorites. The melodies are incredible and tith the added help of Janelle Monáe, St. Beauty, & Nana Kwabena, who also is a main producer on the album, it definitely helps to make this song a true masterpiece.

10. Adaora

Before I even heard this song, I looked of the meaning of this word and it is an African name meaning ‘the first daughter of the people’. In this song, Jidenna sings of his adoration for this woman and how he plans to give her his heart. It’s a song that’s very reminiscent of Spanish culture and almost sounds like a song Marc Anthony would sing which I mean in the most complimentary way possible. I’m even almost curious to hear what this song would sound in like in Spanish because of that.

 11. Little Bit More

The lead single from the album and I already loved this song when I first saw him perform it at the BET awards pre-show last year and everywhere else thereafter but after hearing on the full project of this album, I love it even more. Its infectious dancehall rhythms and the Nigerian language spoken throughout the song made this song an instant favorite for me.

12. Some Kind of Way

With everything going on in the world right now, from the immigration ban, to the assault on human rights from Black lives, to women’s choice and even the LGBTQ community, this song couldn’t have been any more relevant. Another song I fell in love with when I saw him perform it live and this song is in competition for my absolute favorite song on the record. This song says in a nut shell that no matter how we live, somebody is always going to find something to say about it so we might as well just enjoy being who we are. It’s a very meaningful message that no matter who you are or what you believe in can all in some way all relate to. My favorite part of the song is the bridge where he says “I don’t wanna be like you, I don’t wanna be like you! Ugh!” over and over again. It’s very childlike but in a good way, like how when you were little and you used to get teased but instead it’s reversing the roles a bit and that’s exactly why I love it.

13. White Niggas

Another very relevant song to today’s time that talks about the roles of white people being reversed and if they had to live their lives as Black people. It spreads the message that if the roles were reversed would they then be able to understand what it’s like and have compassion for their fellow man instead of constantly criticizing them for what they don’t understand. After all the frustration I’ve had these days as a Black man in society, this song definitely hits home as I’m sure it will for many others who have felt the same anger that I’ve felt.

14. Bully Of The Earth

The closer of the album that asks the question ‘are you the bully of the earth or are you just a man?’ while sporting a reggae bassline with nods to modern day hip hop at the same time. If you really listen to the lyrics of this song you will hear little references to earlier songs on the album, such as Bambi, that tie the whole album together. As this song grows and builds, it truly becomes something that even I was expecting as it almost sounds like two different songs as it builds into this second part with strings that is an absolute pleasure to listen to. It’s extremely disappointing hearing this album end but at the same time it makes me very excited for what Jidenna does next.

All in all this album was truly amazing and I don’t have enough good things to say about it. With this only being Jidenna’s first full album there’s so much more room for him to grow and improve as an artist and it’s a growth I look forward to witnessing. I’m still partially disappointed that the song I was looking forward to most is not on this record but after listening to it in full, I can see why he may have chosen not to. If you’re like me, this album will take a few listens for you to really see it in all of its glory but once you open your eyes to see it, you won’t want to look at anything else for a long time. Jidenna has made it clear that the chief is here and he is here to say and I have nothing else further to say other than, long live The Chief.

[khalilhumam]

Nneka Jones, the Trinidadian artist catapulted into limelight after TIME magazine cover, talks more about her work

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/nneka-jones-the-trinidadian-artist-catapulted-into-limelight-after-time-magazine-cover-talks-more-about-her-work/

Nneka Jones, the Trinidadian artist catapulted into limelight after TIME magazine cover, talks more about her work

‘Look closer and pay attention': Part II

Artist Nneka Jones working on the commissioned cover for TIME magazine's “The New American Revolution” issue. Image courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.

The cover of TIME magazine's August 31-September 7 issue, titled “The New American Revolution,” boasts an embroidered image of the American flag, with a needle stuck into the thread of one unfinished end — a story that is still unfolding, especially for people of colour in the “land of the free.” The cover art was designed by 23-year-old Trinidadian Nneka Jones. TIME's art director, Victor Williams, was impressed by her photorealistic painting of George Floyd, which he spotted on Instagram, and invited her to create the cover for this special issue. The project fits perfectly into Jones’ creative identity as an “activist-artist.” In this, the second part of my interview with Jones, we discuss that identity, as well as other difficult issues she has tackled as she strives to use her art as a bridge to understanding.

Trinidadian artist, Nneka Jones. Photo courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.

Janine Mendes-Franco (JMF): It’s so fitting that an image created by a “foreigner” is the symbol for TIME magazine’s exploration of America’s current reality: fierce nationalism in a country built by immigrants, unresolved issues around race, exploding gun violence, vast inequity. What did your reassembly of the US flag strive to accomplish?

Nneka Jones (NJ): This hand-embroidered flag was created with the intention of signifying optimism and hopes that we can all work together to build a brighter future. This nation has a great impact on many other countries around the world, and so it is important that we understand the importance of equality. Currently, Black people and people of color are calling for the opportunity to excel in higher level positions and with the push to elevate the Black entrepreneurs, visionaries and creatives like myself, it allows for inclusivity and can hopefully bring about a better America and better world.

JMF: How difficult was the ombré effect to achieve and what was the significance of blending the colours in that way?

NJ: Given that I was limited to 24-hours to complete this piece, it was definitely a challenge to ensure that the ombré effect was up to my standard of work. It was also important as this effect was particularly symbolic of a more hopeful future and the shift and transition to allowing black people and people of color a voice, a space, and a chance at achieving greatness.

JMF: You’ve been living outside of Trinidad for some time now, yet the visual language of T&T is strong — almost defiantly so — in your work. Tell me about the impact of those beginnings and that identity on your art. It’s like you’ve turned Granny’s familiar, comforting embroidery on its head and repurposed it for the frontlines of battle.

NJ: While living in Trinidad, I was always influenced by the flamboyant colors and vibrant culture that we have, and had always incorporated this in my work as it was a reflection of the Trinbagonian spirit. However, as I have grown into my artistic skin, I am able to use these same colors to draw attention, as well as communicate symbolic meaning in my pieces. The colors that I use now are very intentional especially as seen in my most recent series, ‘Targets Variegated,’ where I use the colors of a traffic light to tell a story of Black women and children reclaiming their rights.

A piece from Nneka Jones’ ‘Targets Variegated’ series. Image courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.

JMF: That ‘Target’ series is one of your most startling pieces of work. It's aimed at raising awareness about sexual abuse and human trafficking. The use of condoms around the images of these girls and women is disturbingly provocative. Tell me about the ways in which you use your art to engage in discussion and effect change.

NJ: [The] series is a call to everyone to look closer and pay attention to what is currently happening in society. It highlights the statistics where [most] sex trafficking victims are young, beautiful, innocent girls of color. Hence, the series features hundreds of condoms on each canvas, layered in a ‘target’ pattern, drawing the viewer’s eyes to the eyes of the victim. It is a very striking image, one that forces you to realize the harsh reality and help speak out against it so that this ends, and other young girls and women are not targeted.

JMF: Do you have a particular piece that’s close to your heart?

NJ: Right now, I do not have a favorite piece; however, the piece that has been a huge milestone so far in my art career would be the TIME magazine cover. Not only did I get to produce hand embroidered artwork, but I was also able to create as an activist artist in under 24 hours and it is a piece that has changed my life.

JMF: Who has inspired you as an artist?

NJ: My high school art teachers and professors continue to be huge inspirations and influencers in my life. A lot of people make fun of art teachers or joke that most art majors don’t ever really become an ‘artist.’ However, my art teachers have brought me to where I am today; without their guidance and support, it would take me a much longer time to realize my potential and act on it, and I am truly grateful to have had them for my foundation.

Another piece from Nneka Jones’ ‘Target’ series. Image courtesy @artyouhungry, used with permission.

JMF: How has the internet and social media helped you?

NJ: In 2017, I decided to start my art blog on Instagram and named it @artyouhungry. People often found it difficult to pronounce my name and so I wanted something that was easy to pronounce, remember and fun! I did not know where this blog journey would lead, but I am so happy that I stuck to it as I am able to share the process of my work with hundreds of people, and also get feedback when needed. This has allowed me to make connections with other artists and even galleries, and I look forward to developing my brand on social media as I elevate in my art career.

JMF: You’re still so young and have your whole career ahead of you, with all its inherent dynamism and change — but right now, in this weighty moment, if your art could accomplish one thing, what would you want that to be?

NJ: I would hope that my art could cause someone to reflect within themselves — almost like a mirror to society — and truly ask how they are contributing to what is currently taking place, and what they can do better to improve the world we live in.

Part I of this post is here.

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco

[cryptoveins]

Bybit CEO talks challenges of building a derivatives exchange and why Singapore is the blockchain hub of Southeast Asia

CryptoSlate recently had the chance to interview Ben Zhou, the CEO and co-founder of Bybit, a crypto derivates exchange platform located in Singapore. In the interview, Ben shares how he got started in crypto, what led him to start Bybit and his crypto predictions for 2020 and beyond.

What is your professional background and how/when did you get into crypto?

Ben Zhou (BZ): I ran a forex brokerage for eight years before founding Bybit. My time there helped me develop a deeper insight into what traders expect from a trading platform. It was sometime in mid-2016, that I really started to take a keen interest in the budding and vibrant crypto scene. It was the limitless potential of the technology and the numerous possibilities for development and growth within the crypto space that truly caught my attention.

It was an industry in its relative infancy, that could potentially revolutionize how we distribute data, trade and transact in a way that was previously not thought possible. I actively read up and educated myself on blockchain and cryptocurrency. Eventually, I got so into it, that I even started a YouTube channel! I was a relatively small-time KOL with a following of about 20K, focusing on project analysis to bridge the knowledge gap between the Asian and Western markets, before starting Bybit in early 2018.

Tell us about why you decided to start Bybit?

BZ: Bybit’s genesis stemmed from how I perceived the crypto space in 2016/2017 — an intriguing, fast-growing scene, with boundless potential and possibilities! However, I did observe many glaring inefficiencies in the way crypto exchanges operate. Honestly, I saw so many gaps in the market and truly felt that traders deserved better than what they were getting at the time.

When my co-founders and I started Bybit in early 2018, our mission was to develop a streamlined trading environment for all traders whilst ensuring an overall better trading experience. The first problem I wanted to tackle was order execution or matching as there were far too many order rejections or overloads. When these exist, the clients’ basic trading needs are not fulfilled. We made it our priority to ensure that we had 99.99% platform availability and no overloads. 

Secondly, I found that most exchanges were perceived as cold and almost robotic in their eventual responses if any. Traders rarely got to connect with or interact with the people behind the exchange. They rarely got the human interactions that are the foundation of building relationships and trust. Coming from the forex industry, I knew all too well that clients were always the top priority. I wanted to make an exchange where clients could reach our customer support at any time of the day, 24/7-365. I also wanted our users to be able to reach out to me directly on Twitter or Telegram at any time to chat or even provide valued feedback. 

Where is your team located and why did you choose that jurisdiction?

BZ: We are headquartered in Singapore, now known popularly as the blockchain and crypto hub of Southeast Asia, with tech developers in China and local teams in Taiwan and the Philippines. Singapore is consistently ranked as the world’s best place to do business and it has witnessed a massive growth in the number of businesses using Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. It also helps that Singaporean authorities encourage innovation and are open to discussions on key industry issues by industry experts. I like that Singapore is well ahead of the game in contrast to other regulatory authorities globally and willing to embrace this new industry and technology.

What are some of Bybit’s notable achievements or milestones? 

BZ: Bybit’s biggest accomplishment is first and foremost our team, the heartbeat of our operation. We are blessed with an internationally diverse team that is highly adaptable and is constantly improving. Our amazing company culture is such all of our employees treat Bybit like their own and vice-versa. 

Another notable achievement was when our trading volume hit 1 billion and 2 billion USD on consecutive days in late June 2019 after being in operation as a platform for just over six months. And in September 2019, we hit the 4 billion trading volume mark in 24 hours.

What are the benefits of using Bybit as opposed to other derivatives trading platforms? 

BZ: In the current ecosystem, I believe we have many players but the standards have not yet been set. Traders overall are not getting the best trading experience compared to traditional markets. Our goal is to raise and set the industry standard for the best execution, most responsive customer support, and a simply great overall trading experience.

What makes us stand out from our competitors in the current market is our iron resolve to stand by our principle of putting the trader first and providing a trusted platform to suit their needs. As I mentioned earlier, the constant overloads on exchanges are definitely not ideal when you want to make a quick trade especially considering how volatile the crypto markets are. That is why we made it a priority from the get-go to equip our platform with the capability of handling 100,000 TPS, with a match taking just 10 microseconds. 

Secondly, we provide unparalleled 24/7 live customer service in four languages, which is another thing that our competitors do not provide. Feedback of our traders is valued and helps us tremendously in improving the trading experience on our platform and implementing new features.

A recent example of a feature introduced based on feedback would be “Coin Swap”, which allows our traders to convert supported cryptocurrencies on our platform seamlessly – for example BTC to ETH – all with just a few clicks. This allows our traders to take advantage if there are any quick price changes in the market, or to stock up on another cryptocurrency if they wish.  

What can you tell us about the Bybit product roadmap? What upcoming features are you most excited about rolling out? 

BZ: Our much anticipated Bybit app is currently being tested by a specially selected pool of our users and the official release is expected to be announced very soon. We will also be offering a stablecoin solution as well as linear contract settlements within the stablecoin. This is yet another feature that our traders have been requesting for quite frequently, and it’s something our developers have been hard at work on for the past few months.

We have a host of other new features in the pipeline that I won’t go into too much detail about, but our users can expect features such as portfolio margin, hedging of positions, a host of educational content and even a trollbox for traders to chat with each other on our platform.  

We also have the Bybit Games – BTC Brawl 2019, a very exciting global team trading competition that will be kicking off really soon. We threw a launch party recently in Las Vegas that was a knockout success and I can’t wait to see what happens once the competition begins. Be sure to look out for details and updates on our social media channels!

What are the biggest challenges of building a crypto derivatives trading platform for crypto users? 

BZ: In light of the unfortunate trend of exchange hacking that shrouded the industry in 2018, I feel that trust has become the biggest issue that trading platforms face. Traders have trust issues due to either fund safety issues or conflicts of interest with the exchange they trade on. As with anything unregulated, we know that it is a huge challenge to earn the trust of our clients if we are not transparent and accessible to our clients all the time.

Another notable challenge for Bybit or any other exchange is the unpredictability and volatility of the crypto industry. That is why we spend a huge amount of resources on building up our platform with the necessary security features whilst remaining reliable and free of overloads in times of a sudden market crash or boom.

What other projects and/or blockchain developments are you most excited about?

BZ: I am really excited about the prospect of major financial institutions releasing their own crypto wallets. It may happen overnight, but I see JP Morgan’s recent announcement of their very own e-wallet that integrates their services into the digital commerce world, as a huge step in the right direction. This is especially so since their eventual goal is to make the service readily accessible to retail users. This means that cryptocurrencies could possibly be included in the future. Such a development would be a major game-changer as other major banks are bound to follow suit and launch their own version of such e-wallets. Having major banks develop blockchain-based e-wallets would really help ease the trust issues that mainstream adopters have with our industry.

Do you have any blockchain and/or crypto predictions for 2020 and beyond?

BZ: The blockchain and crypto markets are very closely interlinked and with the growing acceptance from both the regulatory bodies and the masses, I foresee both getting bigger and bigger in the not-too-distant future. Blockchain technology has affected my life in a way I never predicted, especially with the rapid growth of Bybit. Some might not see or realize it yet, but it’s positively affecting all our lives. The widespread application of blockchain technology has led to improved development and advancement across industries ranging from energy, financial services, and healthcare.

This trend shows no sign of slowing down and I am certain it will only accelerate in the next few years. As always, crypto remains a highly competitive market. I enjoy the constant competition as it reminds us to never rest on our laurels. However, we do not want to get too wrapped up in competing that we lose sight of our own goals. As Edward de Bono once said:

“Companies that solely focus on competition will die. Those that focus on value creation will thrive.” 

What are the biggest obstacles for the mainstream adoption of crypto?

BZ: I feel that the regulatory uncertainties and market volatility are two of the biggest obstacles that are hindering mainstream adoption. A significant number of large financial institutions are still wary with some even lobbying against digital currencies as they remain firm believers in traditional fiat currencies that are regulated. We still have governments clamping down on exchanges and ICO projects which hinders progression and instills further doubt and uncertainty among the masses. I believe that blockchain/crypto firms should collaborate to educate and inform the masses about the benefits and infinite possibilities of cryptocurrency.

Disclosure: Bybit is an advertiser on CryptoSlate but this is not a sponsored story.

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https://cryptoveins.com/bybit-ceo-talks-challenges-of-building-a-derivatives-exchange-and-why-singapore-is-the-blockchain-hub-of-southeast-asia/