#there isn’t usually much variety in suburbia | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mothermaidenclone-blog · 7 years ago

Text

A Wrinkle in Time or Can Giant Oprah Winfrey be my Fairy Godmother Please?

As soon as I heard about A Wrinkle in Time, I was very excited about it. The first ever live action movie with a budget of over $100 million to be directed by a black woman (Ava DuVernay), and it’s a science fantasy adventure starring a black teenage girl who’s a scientist - what more could you want? The costume and set design were both out of this world, pun very much intended, and I thought that most of the characters were three dimensional, well thought out and had meaningful interactions with each other. The plot, however, left something to be desired, as I felt it was a little all over the place and had a tendency to trail off in places. Admittedly, I have not read the novel, so this could be a problem with adaptation rather than writing.

*A Wrinkle In Time spoilers follow*

A Wrinkle in Time is predominantly the story of Meg Murry (Storm Reid), a young, teenage girl who is angry and disillusioned at the mysterious disappearance of her father, Dr. Alexander Murry (Chris Pine). The very first time we see Meg she is a child, enjoying and engaged in a science experiment with her father. She continues to be portrayed as a scientist throughout the film, explaining apparently magical phenomena, such as flying, using scientific terminology, as well as practically employing principles to save herself and her friends; for example, using strong winds to slingshot them to safety. S.T.E.M. fields are still overwhelmingly dominated by men that it’s so important for a children’s film, that many young girls will hopefully watch, to exemplify a black, teenage, female scientist as a role model.

Science aside, Meg sets a good example in a number of other ways. As an understandable consequence of feeling abandoned by her father - as well as being inexplicably bullied by other girls at her school because of his disappearance and a string of awful teachers talking about her behind her back, telling her that she’s not living up to her potential - Meg has very low self esteem at the start of the film. She aggressively rebuffs a compliment about her hair from her friend Calvin (Levi Miller) and she has trouble tessering - the means by which the characters travel instantaneously through the universe - because she does not entirely want to appear as herself again on the other side. Furthermore, Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) constantly and loudly professes her disappointment and lack of faith in Meg. At the end, this is presented as a sort of tough love and that Mrs. Whatsit really did believe in Meg all along, but a grown woman continually putting down an already troubled teenage girl gave parts of the film a weird tone that I did not enjoy.

However, Meg’s character develops, which is crucial for a young, female audience to see. This is partly shown through positive interactions between female characters; for example, Meg tells the Mrs., “The three of you are beautiful,” and one of them replies, “Thank you, and so are you.” This might seem banal, but to just blatantly show women positively supporting each other in a way that children will understand is vital. So often in Hollywood, women are portrayed as rivals, especially where looks and beauty are concerned, so to attempt to normalise women giving each other compliments and accepting them in return is so important. Continuing with this theme, A Wrinkle in Time firmly cements Meg’s rise in self esteem by showing her to accept a compliment about her hair later on in the film - she is beginning to like herself more without having changed how she looks at all.

This isn’t just limited to the physical, Meg comes to terms with her own faults, thanks to the originally seemingly ill-intentioned gift of honest self appraisal from Mrs. Whatsit, and realises that yes, they are a part of her, but they do not define her. Meg’s winning move against the evil entity of the film, the IT (David Oleyowo) is to boldly declare, “You should love me because I deserve to be loved.” She finally appreciates her own self-worth and has confidence in her many abilities. This is finally confirmed by Meg opening the portal that takes her and her brother, Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), safely home - she is content with who she will be on the other side. It is so important to leave the audience with no doubt that Meg is comfortable, confident and happy with herself as a person - whilst not depicting her as being unattainably perfect, she is aware of and at peace with her flaws - because much of that audience will be young girls. I think this film has succeeded by portraying and praising this development and extolling a teenage girl who believes in herself.

Although Meg is the main character in A Wrinkle in Time, she is surrounded by many other wonderful female role models. Most predominant is her mother, Dr. Kate Murry (Gugu Mbatha Raw). Kate is presented as a scientist with equal standing to her husband, which is wonderful in and of itself, seeing as he is a white man and they usually dominate this field. In fact, Kate is seen as more respectable, as Alex is tutted off stage for his wild theories, but the same audience seems more willing to listen to her. When Alex goes off on a tirade after being rejected by the reputable scientific community, Kate offers him some sage advice, “In order to be great, it isn't enough to just be right, you have to actually be great, and we are. So why can’t you just help them along?” Not only is she a rational scientist, but an empathetic and practical person. Furthermore, Alex gives Kate all the credit for the science behind his journey; “Your calculations gave us the universe.” On top of all of this, she copes as a single mother for years and never gives up on her absentee husband, despite all the rumours about him. Kate is a very admirable woman, capable scientist and caring mother who provides a solid, realistic role model amidst all the fantasy.

More ostentatious exemplars take the form of the three Mrs.; the aforementioned Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling). This trio comprises of one white woman, one black woman and one woman of Indian descent, so that’s a move in the right direction as far as representation is concerned. These women are self-proclaimed warriors in the name of light who display a variety of incredible powers such as physical transformation, bestowing magical gifts and being able to traverse the universe using only their own will power. Other than Mrs. Whatsit’s previously stated slights, the three are constantly encouraging, and do everything in their power to help the children on their quest. Even Mrs. Whatsit is positive to other women, declaring Kate as, “dazzling”. Speaking of which, the three women look completely magnificent; they have a variety of costume changes throughout the film, all of which serve to make them look regal, majestic and powerful. Another striking visual choice was to make Mrs. Which massive - I don’t mean fat or muscly, just like three times the size of a normal human. This simple manoeuvre immediately imbues her character with an innate sense of grandeur, prestige and strength. As far as their names are concerned, we never find out who they are married to; no husbands are ever mentioned, so can we infer that they are all married to each other? I hope so, because a triad of resplendent lesbian lovers who are warriors for the forces of good in the universe is just about the coolest role model I can think of for a children’s film.

One final named female character remains, Veronica (Rowan Blanchard). She is maybe the ringleader of the - to it’s credit, surprisingly ethnically diverse - group of girls who are bullying Meg for the baffling reason that her father is missing. Veronica doesn’t factor much into the film, except that she mirrors Meg’s journey of self-love and acceptance. She is a bully at the the beginning, but we gain a glimpse into her personal life and see that this could be because she is self-conscious perhaps to the point of an eating disorder - she has written all of the foods she won’t allow herself to eat on her mirror. However, at the end of the film she is starting to become more friendly towards Meg, and we can only hope towards herself too. Veronica is symptomatic of what I believe to be so important about the female characters in A Wrinkle in Time; she is on a journey of development and self acceptance.

Overall, there is a great variety of wonderful female characters in A Wrinkle in Time. They are diverse not only in looks, but also in personality, and between them display a remarkable list of laudable traits including curiosity, scientific aptitude, bravery, confidence, magical powers, determination and the ability to love - their friends, family and, perhaps most importantly, themselves. What is arguably most crucial about these characters, especially Meg, is that they were not presented as being unbelievably flawless from the start, but as real human women who develop, interact positively with each other and become stronger as the film progresses. It doesn’t matter to me that the story was sort of nonsense, I think A Wrinkle in Time has triumphed if it gets these messages of self-love and belief to a wide audience of children.

And now for some asides:

Wow, Chris Pine can grow a beard really far up his cheeks, that was an important revelation.

Creepy, homogenous suburbia was one of the best portrayals of hell ever.

I think Charles Wallace as a baddie was one of my all-time favourite villains, his fashion was definitely on point at least.

11 notes · View notes

livingcorner · 3 years ago

Text

Keeping Chickens in an Urban Setting – Pets.ie

We’re often asked about keeping chickens in suburbia. Here are some of your top questions answered.

Can we have a coop and two chickens in a town or city garden in Ireland? (Suburbs)

Of course you can! Just two chickens will supply about a dozen tasty eggs each week to a family home. In an urban setting, I’d always recommend starting with two or three hens, it’s a good amount and at the same time enough hens to start with. Remember, it is a lot easier to add extra hens than to take them away, so starting small and seeing how things go is a great way to begin a chicken keeping adventure.

You're reading: Keeping Chickens in an Urban Setting – Pets.ie

Do many people keep chicken’s in the town or city?

Yes, lots of people do. For example, we have customers in almost every part of Dublin. We even have a customer who keeps chickens on a Dublin city centre high rise roof top. As well as supplying tasty eggs, chickens make great pets and are just as easy to keep as any other pet, sometimes even easier.

We have as many customers in towns and cities as we do in countryside settings. Chances are if you live in an older city house, there may even have been chickens in your garden in years gone by when many people routinely kept them for eggs.

We have three garden beds and want to turn the old strawberry patch into the chicken coop patch. We wanted to put down some grass to replace the strawberry patch. Do they need grass as the rest of the back yard is concrete?

This setting is ideal. Chickens don’t necessarily need grass but they do need greenery. A head of cabbage bought weekly from the local green grocer or supermarket is great for this purpose! Apart from the chickens loving it, it will help to achieve a beautiful orange coloured egg yolk! Yummy

Concrete is not an issue for chickens but they do like somewhere to scratch about. An old strawberry patch as you mentioned is ideal!

Read more: How To Make A Beautiful Mini Garden With Recycled Items

Are chickens noisy?

Chickens are not noisy, in fact a close neighbour could currently hens and you would not even know. The loudest noise a chicken makes is when she lays an egg. This typically happens between about 8am and 12am each day and is a clucking sound for about a minute. For the rest of the day, they really make no noise at all. Male chickens or roosters are nosier and are best avoided in an urban setting.

If we save battery hens, have they been vaccinated? Do they cost money? How much are laying hens?

Good on you for considering rescuing battery hens! For those who don’t know what battery hens are let me explain. They are commercial hens that lay the eggs people buy in supermarkets, the non-free-range eggs, the cheap eggs. These hens are about 1 to 1 ½ years old when they leave the battery hen house. Typically, these hens end up going to a mincer and making it into dog food. Very sad and not nice! However, some get a second chance and are rescued, re-homed and go on to lay eggs for another three or four years at least.

So, let me answer your questions. Yes, battery hens are vaccinated. In fact, they are vaccinated for life making them trouble free to keep. They are amazingly resilient and very-very rewarding to re-home. They typically do cost a little, around €5, but this is to help cover the costs of the animal rescues centres, such a Little Hill Animal Rescue in Kildare.

A non-rescue hen, or point of lay hen costs typically about €10 to €15. These are usually about 16 to 20 weeks old and will begin to lay their first eggs in 2-3 weeks after you get them.

Is there anything that chickens are allergic to or if they eat something that is lethal to them? E.g. plants?

Let me start by saying I am not an expert gardener, growing grass and cutting grass is as far as I go I’m afraid.

Furthermore, I’d like to add that hens are not stupid. I have hatched and reared hundreds of chickens. I have never known one or heard from a customer about them eating a poisonous plant that was just growing in the garden.

It is us humans that need to be careful with what we give the chickens to eat and sometimes we can inadvertently give the chickens something we shouldn’t. For example, grass clippings can cause major issues. If the grass collection box from a lawnmower is emptied into a chicken run it can cause issues as it is very compacted, but chickens nibbling at growing grass won’t cause any issues at all.

All our starter packs come complete with a guide, this guide contains information on what to feed and not feed chickens which can be of help. In short chickens know what to eat themselves and if you are unsure if it is ok, just don’t feed them that. Also, slug pellets and the like should not be used, but chickens like eating slugs so this is a much more organic way of dealing with them than the use of pellets.

Are chicken’s likely to hop over the wall into my neighbours?

Possibly, it really depends on how high the walls are. The good news is they will come back! ‘Home to roost’ as the saying goes.

Read more: Picking An Eggplant – Learn How And When To Harvest Eggplants

It is easy enough to stop them scaling a wall of about 4ft or 1 .25m high, but you would need to clip their wings. This isn’t as bad as it sounds and it really is just like a hair-cut for us humans. It involves cutting a few feathers a little shorter and is painless if done correctly. There is information in the learning section on our website about clipping a chicken’s wing.

6ft walls will most likely keep a chicken in, just don’t have anything near the wall that acts as an improvised stair, i.e. a wheelie bin.

There are cats in the neighbourhood, are they an issue or danger to my hens?

The answer is usually no. I’ve never heard where a cat was an issue to a fully-grown hen. Chicks are a different matter but an egg laying hen is typically too big. We currently have six cats and over the years we have had many more. They all have got on with our flock fantastically, the hens give the cats a harder time to be honest and will gladly eat the cat’s food! It is always a good idea to keep an eye on cats for the first while after the chickens arrive just to be safe side, but as mentioned it is usually not an issue.

What about foxes, there are lots of them in the city?

Yes, you’re right. There are a lot of city foxes and they can be a lot braver than our countryside ones.

Foxes are not an issue, but you must have the right sort of set-up. Foxes are opportunistic and love an easy meal. Choosing the right type of chicken coop is important, one with an enclosed pen can be a good idea.

My garden is small, do hens need much space?

Hen’s will easily swap variety for space and in almost any urban garden this can be achieved. A small chicken run, with heads of cabbage and treats such as grains can easily keep two or three happy hens. They can be in the pen most of the time but it is nice to let them out to wander about the garden at times.

If you have other questions, feel free to drop us a line via the contact us section, we’d love to hear from you.

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/keeping-chickens-in-an-urban-setting-pets-ie/

#livingcornernews

0 notes

douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years ago

Text

UNLESS THEIR WORKING DAY ENDS AT THE SAME TIME

The average 25 year old is no match for companies that have already raised money. But once you've admitted that one high level language can be more powerful than your own. I was still wasting time imitating the wrong things? I first laid out these principles explicitly, I noticed something striking: this is practically a recipe for succeeding just by negating. Productivity varies in any field, but I don't think our competitors understood, and few understand even now: when you're writing software that only has to do something trivially easy. That may be the more important of the two. Certainly not the authors. Whether to do anything hard in. Lexical closures provide a way to get a job. For example, open source software is more reliable precisely because it's open source; anyone can find mistakes. By the end of the scale, nature seems to be more companies like us. This essay is derived from a talk at Oscon 2005.

The people who understood our technology best were the customers. Fortunately you have some control over both how much you make, and you can decrease the amount of bullshit in your life by more than you think. By definition you can't tell from his portfolio. I knew practically nothing about the paths from rich to poor.1 If your terms force startups to do things they never anticipated, rather than a real downtown, Brasilia rather than Rome, Ada rather than C. There's nothing like going to grad school at Harvard to cure you of any illusions you might have about the average Harvard undergrad. What you're doing is business creation. Maybe it would be misleading even to call them centers. And the thing we'd built, as far as they could tell, wasn't even software. Many things people like, especially if they're young and ambitious, they like largely for the feeling of virtue in liking them. A programming language does need a good implementation, of course, but as far as they could tell, wasn't even software.2

Technically the term high-level language, in the long run, of the forces underlying open source and blogs are done for free, but before the Web it was harder than it looked.3 When you choose technology, you have to figure out. It's there to some degree in almost every field, but there aren't enough investors who will give $200k to a startup that was sufficiently successful would never have to move. VCs. So you could say either was the cause. The companies that rule Silicon Valley now are all descended in various ways from Shockley Semiconductor. Hackers like to hack, and hacking means getting inside things and second guessing the original designer. It's basically the diminutive form of belligerent. They switch because it's a better browser.4

It's not simply a matter of writing a lot of the new principles business has to learn it? He suggests starting with Python and Java, because they are easy to learn. That's what you do.5 Does this sound familiar?6 Except books—but books are different. And users don't care where you went to a better college. But if you make a language popular? The language can help here too. Now Palo Alto is suburbia, but then it was a charming college town—a language you should learn as an intellectual exercise, even though the latter depends more on determination than brains. How do you protect yourself from these people?

If you make something users want, then you're dead, whatever else you do or don't do. I bet this isn't true.7 I think the effect of such external factors on the popularity of a programming language rather than, say, making the language strongly typed. People interested in local events that one is solving mostly a single type of problem instead of many different types. Microsoft is remarkable among big companies in that they are able to develop software in house. But Y Combinator runs on the maker's schedule has a meeting, they have to be really good at tricking you. They were not even on a path to anything interesting. By the time you have to design buildings that don't fall down, but the creator is full of soot. If willfulness and discipline are what get you to profitability but you can tell it must be satisfying expectations I didn't know I had. The last one might be the most important.

The Reddits pushed so hard against the current that they reversed it; now it looks like they're merely floating downstream.8 If you throw them out, you find that good products do tend to win in the market. And God help you if you choose them. It seems unlikely this is a sign that something is broken?9 How about writer?10 Our secret weapon was similar. But there's another way of using time that's common among people who make things, like programmers and writers. Revealingly, the same status as what comes with it. What's less often understood is that there are more of them. For I see a painting impressively hung in a museum, I ask myself: how much would I pay for this if I found it at a garage sale, dirty and frameless, and with no idea who painted it?

The reason we tell founders not to worry about and which not to.11 The melon seed model implies it's possible to make yourself into one. My God, it was harder to reach an audience or collaborate on projects. Better to get a lot done. I accumulated all this useless stuff, but that the people pretending to work. There is usually so much demand for custom work that unless you're really incompetent there has to be in the twentieth century.12 Using first and rest instead of car and cdr often are, in successive lines.

And that is just what tends to happen. I cheat by using a very dense language, which shrinks the court. In this particular case there is a way to finesse our way out of lower-level abstractions are built in a very transparent way out of lower-level abstractions, which you can survive.13 And odds are that is in fact the bullshit-minimizing option. There are usually a few people in a company with someone you dislike because they have some skill you need and you worry you won't find anyone else. Note too that determination and talent are not the whole story. That word balance is a significant one.14 I tried my best to imitate them. Often, indeed, it is at least different from when I started. You may have as many as five or ten releases a day.15 So if Lisp makes you a better programmer, like he says, why wouldn't you want to get the most out of them, and lose half a day's work; or we can try to avoid meeting them, and probably offend them.

Notes

For example, understanding French will help dispel the cloud of semi-sacred mystery that surrounds wisdom in ancient philosophy may be some things it's a significant effect on returns, it's easy to believe your whole future depends on where you go to grad school, and the war it was actually a computer.

Investors are professional negotiators, and all the East Coast. In many ways the New Deal but with World War II had disappeared.

Ed. Some of the lies we tell.

When I catch egregiously linkjacked posts I replace the url with that additional constraint, you can't even claim, like indifference to individual users. In Shakespeare's own time in the 1980s was enabled by a central authority according to some abstract notion of fairness or randomly, in the 70s, moving to Monaco would give us. VCs may begin to conserve board seats by switching to what modernist architects meant.

The person who would in 1950. I did when I was a good idea to make money from the truth to say that was actively maintained would be investors who turned them down because investors already owned more than just getting started. 7% of American kids attend private, non-programmers grasped that in the world of the most accurate way to find a broad hard-beaten road to his time was 700,000 per month. But one of few they had in grad school, because they attract so much on luck.

Dealers try to write your thoughts down in, say, recursion, and in fact you're descending in a difficult position. But do you use this route instead.

In principle yes, of S P 500 CEOs in 2002 was 35,560.

Some blue counties are false positives caused by filters will have to want them; you don't see them, but whether it's good enough to convince limited partners. If by cutting the founders' advantage if it were. An accountant might say that IBM makes decent hardware.

This is not a VC who read it ever wished it longer. 'Math for engineers' classes sucked mightily. Even college textbooks is unpleasant work, like warehouses. 5% of Apple now January 2016 would be to say because most of the lawyers they need them to get the people worth impressing already judge you more than investors.

So the most surprising things I've learned about VC inattentiveness. Stone, op. No, we met Aydin Senkut. I overstated the case.

The way to pressure them to ignore investors and instead of just Jews any more than make them want you.

I couldn't convince Fred Wilson for reading drafts of this essay, I preferred to work than stay home with them. I wonder if that means is No, and that modern corporate executives would work. Mayle, Peter, Why Are We Getting a Divorce?

There are people in return for something that would appeal to space aliens, but this would be critical to do something we didn't, they still probably won't invest in so many different schools of thought about how to allocate resources, political deal-making power. There were a variety called Red Delicious that had other meanings. The problem is that you'll expend a lot like meaning.

It's not the shape that matters financially for investors. This plan backfired with the New Deal but with World War II the tax codes were so bad that they probably wouldn't be worth trying to deliver the lines meant for a startup than it was 10 years ago. At the time I thought there wasn't, because they can't afford to. Where Do College English 28 1966-67, pp.

Your user model almost couldn't be perfectly accurate, because the illiquidity of progress puts them at the works of their growth from earnings.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #War #things #field #lies #CEOs #business #technology #school #lawyers #people #ways #codes #sup

0 notes

rheamiller · 8 years ago

Text

John Hughes

John Hughes is a Michigan born man who lived from 1950-2009. As a writer, director, producer and contributor to various soundtracks John has made a mark on film history. He is most known for his classic coming-of-age stories that defined the 80′s. John creates content that relates to the younger generations and their hardships, struggles of growing up and finding yourself. John plays a lot with stereotypes and adds to the depth of the character beyond what society deems they are.

The three media sources that best represent John’s auteur style is Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles.

Sixteen Candles was John’s directorial debut although it wasn’t considered a big hit. The movie came out in 1984 and featured Molly Ringwald, a popular actor for John’s films. This story is about Samantha whose family forgets her 16th birthday due to her sister’s wedding being the next day. She pines for Jake the school hottie but believes her virgins status will turn him away. Meanwhile she must also avoid the affections of freshman nerd Ted.

youtube

The next film that clearly displays his auteur style is the 80′s classic is The Breakfast Club. The film came out in 1985 and is considered the biggest film of the decade. The movie features five teenagers from different social groups who are all put in Saturday detention for various reasons. Throughout the day that have to deal with the power-hungry principal and attempt to write an essay explaining “who do you think you are”. The soundtrack of the film was also just as iconic. The song Don’t You (forget about me) became the only number one song (of the US) Simple Plan ever released.

youtube

Pretty In Pink is another classic coming-of-age story John directed. This story is about the outsider Andie and her quirky best friend Duckie who’s been in love wth her for years. Blaine the popular rich boy sparks a romantic interest in Andie and it quickly causes issues. The movie came out in 1986 and has been a classic ever since.

youtube

Playing Off Stereotypes

John was very well known for his use of stereotypes in his characters. What made them so iconic was the fact that they had more depth than society’s usual depiction of them.

Sixteen Candles had a variety of stereotypes that showed the truth to people. Jake (the jock) shows that despite what seems to be a perfect life he is unhappy and struggling just like everyone else. He isn’t the happiest with his friends and his romantic life. Caroline (the popular party girl) is actually very sweet and means well but feels peer pressure just like everyone else. Ted (the nerd) shows that despite that he is a “nerd” he’s really nice and just wants to fit in during his first year of high school. Lastly, there is Andie. Although Andie is the outcast it is shown that she has depth and personality throughout the movie.

The Breakfast Club contains several stereotypes as it is known for showing the commonality between all the characters. We have the brain, the athlete, princess, criminal and the basket case. The whole basis of the film is that we find out that each character has their own issues and can find common ground despite such a difference in lifestyle. We find out they each have issues with their parents, self-esteem, peer pressure etc. At the end of the movie they read out the essay and I think it sums up how John plays off the stereotypes so well.

Pretty In Pink is the last movie that plays off stereotypes quite well. Duckie and Andie are both outcasts and Andie sometimes feels like she isn’t rich enough for the people at her school. The biggest stereotype that gets broken down is that of Blaine. He is the rich, popular kid with a huge group of friends that just like to party and don’t always care too much about others. Due to this facade Andie has a hard time believing in his affections and letting him in. Throughout the movie we learn that he doesn’t agree with everything his friends but goes along with it because he feels a lot of pressure from them to act a certain way. Blaine is actually a very compassionate person but his label of the rich popular boy stops him from being who he wants to be.

The Relatable Setting

John’s movies are mostly set in relatable settings. They are set in everyday suburbia that allows the viewer to connect with the content. This element made the viewer feel like the story could happen to them and ultimately more life-like. There is also the factor of increasing audience viewing. Having a more relatable setting/story may encourage more people to watch the movie. John was known for filming in and around the suburbs of Illinois. Movies such as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club was filmed at Maine North High school (the same school as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). Although Pretty In Pink was filmed in Los Angeles it still posses the suburban life all the other movies have just with a touch of city life.

Using the Same Cast

John Hughes had iconic casts throughout al of his films. He has attributed to the launching of several actors careers and made them a legend in some his movies. One actor that stands out is Anthony Michael Hall. Anthony was in several of John’s movies such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science. He was asked to do two other of John’s films (such as Pretty In Pink) but turned them down in fear of being typecast.

Another actor that most people know for being in John’s films is Molly Ringwald. She was in films such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty In Pink. Pretty In Pink was actually written for her after her role in The Breakfast Club. She was a staple to John’s films from playing the outcast to the princess Molly played a variety of roles.

These two aren’t the only ones that owe their careers to John. Actors like Robert Downy Jr. and John Cusack (the lead of Say Anything) got some of their earliest roles in a John Hughes film.

The Brat Pack

Although John didn’t create the concept of the brat pack he utilized to it’s advantage and made it quite popular. Audiences loved that they could see a coming-of-age story where they could relate to at least one character. By having every type of person, like in the brat pack, there was something for everyone. It became so popular that many of John’s cast kept getting cast together such as Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall as discussed earlier.

John left a mark on movie making history. Having written 47 movies, directed 8, acted in 3, produced 23, and worked on 2 soundtracks, it is easy to tell he has done a lot with his career in film. His coming-of-age stories left a mark on the teenagers of the 80′s and still is today as it gets passed down through generations.

Citations

1 note · View note

yeskhanzadame11 · 5 years ago

Text

Choosing A CRAM System Is Like Buying A Garden Hose

The different day I went into Home Depot to buy a lawn hose. Ever do this? All I wanted was a easy garden hose. Except it wasn't so simple. I found that Home Depot truly sold dozens of different kinds of lawn hoses. There are fifty foot hoses and hundred foot hoses. There are hoses on wheels. There are vinyl hoses and rubber hoses. There are hoses made by way of Exogenous, Craftsmen and Tenor. And the prices variety from $eleven to $eighty two. This is the hassle with our society. There are too many lawn hoses to pick from.

This enjoy taught me what it looks like base camp alternative while a small commercial enterprise owner is searching out the right hosted Customer Relationship Management (CRAM) device for his commercial enterprise. There are dozens of correct CRAM programs available on the market today. Just like there are dozens of suitable hoses to be had for sale at Home Depot. Unless you're a complete time gardener you're actually not going to recognize that is the best hose for your needs. And until you're in the CRAM enterprise you will be just as clueless when it comes time to investigate CRAM applications.

What is a CRAM software, you ask? That's the smooth element. It's a database. Of people and businesses that do business along with your corporation. A exact CRAM database guarantees that nothing falls through the cracks and you do not look like a dope.

By not falling thru cracks, I mean that the database continues music of some thing pending for a consumer, dealer or partner. Calls to be made. Appointments scheduled. Forecaster sales. Potential opportunities. Outstanding fees. Open carrier troubles. A precise CRAM system has calendars, interest lists and paperwork in order that this type of information would not fall thru the cracks. It has reminders and automated emails. It has the capacity to agenda follow-united states for others to your corporation. And all this facts should be shared among your personnel. Nothing receives forgotten. Nothing receives omitted.

And you should not look like a dope either. Because there may be nothing worse than when a salesman innocently calls a purchaser to promote your new product but he would not know that the same client is livid with an ongoing carrier difficulty. So your RM system must be capable of song a history of smartphone calls, appointments, emails and other sports with each and all people who does commercial enterprise together with your organization. You have to be capable of run reviews on those sports. You should be capable of speak by means of mass letters or emails to a group of clients all sharing not unusual information so you can ship them an alert when there may be a protection issue approximately a product they bought or a collection message to anybody who has blue eyes, green hair and lives in Michigan if that's the type of factor you like to tune.

That's what a terrific CRAM device does. And in case you're seeking out a CRAM utility to your organization, permit me be your gardener right here. So you may not get hosed. I'm going to propose my favorite hosted CRAM applications.

Please understand that selecting a hosted CRAM gadget is a cultural choice. The blessings of a hosted system are many: they are usually brief to stand up and jogging, can be accessed from everywhere and require less cash up the front to get began. But be cautious - a number of the commercial enterprise owners I know are worried approximately the downsides: among them is that your records is hosted by using a person else out of doors of your business and the long time price (which generally involves paying month-to-month expenses in step with consumer) has a tendency to be notably better than simply buying a machine outright.

Hosted applications have grown in reputation over the years. I suggest five. They are, Sugarcoat, Microsoft Dynamics - CRAM, High rise and ZohoCRM. Of these, my company sells Microsoft CM and ZohoCRM. But I love the others too - I simply don't have enough assets that allows you to carrier them. All of these applications have the features mentioned above that guarantees not anything will fall the cracks and you may not be searching like a dope.

base camp alternative is the most widely recognized of the organization - it is mature, well written, clean to use and extremely popular. I like the fact that they've their own passionate developer network and platform and its discern enterprise is publicly held and a thought chief inside the industry. Reporting is exquisite and its provider and collaboration equipment are most of the quality in the business. But be careful - there are small business services but to get the whole advantages you could spend as a good deal as $125 in step with month consistent with user for the product which may be prohibitive for a whole lot of businesses.

Sugarcoat could be very similar to Sales force. Com however it's priced a whole lot lower at handiest about $50 consistent with month according to person. There are three huge blessings to shopping for Sugarcoat. For starters, the organization is attempting difficult to construct a companion channel so give up users will have neighborhood support and schooling. By assessment, most of the hosted programs I've come upon are offered and serviced at once by the software program maker. Sugarcoat gives both a hosted and an in-house product for people who need to pick. So if you're now not satisfied with the hosted surroundings you are no longer stuck. But the largest benefit to Sugarcoat? They provide source code with their product. This way that if you need to combine your gadget with other structures, like your website or accounting database or in case you want to carry out complex customization (and have the expertise to achieve this) you could dig into the entrails of Sugarcoat to make it do precisely what you need it to do.

My company sells Microsoft CRAM Online so we recognize all about the good, awful and unsightly about this presenting. What's good? The $forty four in step with month per person charge, its Microsoft Outlook interface, Microsoft's massive channel of Certified Advisers like (ahem) ourselves and its complete CRAM function set makes it a mature desire for every person seeking out a Microsoft-based solution. What's terrible? Microsoft has been gambling catch-up with this product and seeking to position it as a better opportunity to Sales force. Com, its archival in this area. So even though the capabilities are quality for a small enterprise, its customization is lacking. But that is about to change - Microsoft is releasing its 2011 model rapidly that allows you to be as customization as its on premise solution and, extra importantly as Sales force. Com. They'll additionally lower back it with a big marketing and aid attempt. As a (ahem) Certified Advisory of Microsoft CM on account that 2005 I can attest that the community round this product has grown a ton during the last few years. I'm a fan.

The final two hosted packages are notable for small work groups (much less than ten human beings) who need to get a simple however powerful CM up and walking quickly.

ZohoCRM is most effective $25 in keeping with month in step with person (it is loose for the first three customers with some much less functions) and, to me, is a negative man's Sales force. Com. That's why my business enterprise offers this product: our customers tend to be in the main negative, especially across the time our payments come due. Oho has received many awards in the industry and has a full set of functions to ensure nothing falls thru the cracks and nobody looks as if a dope. It integrates with Outlook and Google Apps. And it is a part of a collection of Oho products for doing tasks, documents, billing and different tasks. Oho isn't always as customization as a number of the opposite programs discussed above. And its determine draws maximum of its control and all of its support from India that may on occasion be a bit frustrating. But our clients using it are not complaining. The charge is proper and the software works well.

High rise is a candy, little CM software made via the best human beings at 37 Signals. High rise is awesome low-cost, costing handiest $24 in line with month for six customers and as much as $149 per month for limitless customers. I like High rise as it's a simple touch supervisor that works with a bunch of different hosted programs for customer support, sales and advertising and marketing and business productivity. There's a programming interface for in addition customization, and great little iPhone app too. Plus I'm a massive fan of 37 Signals' base camp alternative software for dealing with projects which may be very much like High rise. The downsides? High rise is at its heart only a contact supervisor and it's nonetheless in its early days as compared to a number of the others products I discussed. It's a work in development. But I have faith in the enterprise who makes it.

See? Now you recognize which hosted CM packages to have a look at and now you have an excellent idea that is pleasant on your enterprise too. But right here's a few more excellent news for you. I'm not that pimply child from the hardware segment who'd as an alternative be home listening to Jay-Z then supporting a customer choose the proper garden hose. I'm the quick little bald man from suburbia who IS supporting you select the proper hosted CM machine for your enterprise. I desire I had this type of advice after I turned into seeking out that lawn hose! And I want I had a few Purcell after shaking palms with that kid at Home Depot too.

0 notes

petsupplyandmore · 6 years ago

Text

The 10 Finest House Canines May Shock You

As we speak, let’s speak about one of the best condo canine. First off, many canine house owners will let you know that canine and condo dwelling don’t go collectively. However you don’t want an enormous yard in suburbia in your canine to be blissful. For those who reside in an condo and also you desire a canine, there’s all kinds of breeds that make good condo canine. For those who haven’t already acquired a canine, try our listing of breeds (or mixture of breeds; we LOVE mutts) under that make one of the best condo canine.

First, Dimension Doesn’t All the time Matter When it Involves Selecting the Finest House Canines

Greyhounds are, surprisingly to some, among the many finest condo canine. Pictures by krushelss / Shutterstock.

Simply because a canine is small doesn’t imply he’ll make the reduce for good condo canine. Some small-breed canine are far too vocal to satisfy the necessities of one of the best condo canine. Others are too antsy and have an excessive amount of power to be cooped up, even when their smaller measurement makes the house appear larger. For instance, although he’s among the many smallest canine breeds, the Chihuahua doesn’t make our listing of prime condo canine due to the breed’s tendency to bark, in addition to his energetic, nervous demeanor. Nonetheless, many Terriers, although they’re excessive power, are inclined to make one of the best condo canine so long as they get sufficient train.

Some massive breeds additionally make glorious canine for residences. For instance, the Greyhound is usually thought to want room to run as a result of he was bred to do exactly that. However many rescued Greyhounds are retired racers and are way more inclined to lie round with that attractive, languid look than to chase bunnies on sticks. And, once more, so long as train necessities are met, many massive canine can reside comfortably in an condo or a small home.

10 Finest House Canines (Small to Massive)

Yorkshire Terriers make our listing of finest canine for residences. Pictures by Yazmin Mellado / Shutterstock.

1. Yorkshire Terrier:

At round 7 kilos, this extra-small surprise makes the listing of finest condo canine not solely as a result of he takes up little house but in addition as a result of he isn’t a barker. He’s additionally pleasant with folks and different pets and really adaptable to new experiences.

2. Maltese:

The marginally bigger Maltese (round 9 kilos) has a silky coat with no undercoat that sheds little or no, making cleansing in a small house simpler. He’s additionally a quiet canine who largely needs to be the place his proprietor is, incomes him a stable spot on this roundup of fine condo canine.

three. Boston Terrier:

At 12 to 18 kilos, this breed can be very hooked up to his proprietor, which suggests he doesn’t thoughts being indoors in a small house so long as his proprietor is attentive. He’s additionally an simply trainable canine.

four. French Bulldog:

A smallish canine (round 20 kilos) with the traits of a bigger canine. He’s calm and quiet, typically enjoyable on essentially the most comfy seat within the place. His sensible demeanor makes him appropriate for any dwelling house, together with an condo.

5. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel:

This is without doubt one of the friendliest breeds, making it simple to take care of different tenants and their canine. At 13 to 18 kilos, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel can be calm and really adaptable.

6. English Bulldog:

That is the bigger cousin of the French Bulldog who weighs 49 to 55 kilos, a steady canine who’s comfy in small areas. Certainly, most appear to desire the sofa to the canine park.

7. Basset Hound:

This breed may not appear more likely to land on the listing of finest condo canine along with his cumbersome stature (round 60 kilos), however just like the Bulldog, he’s a really calm canine who is definitely saved busy with deal with toys and plenty of petting.

eight. American Staffordshire Terrier:

The present canine model of the American Pit Bull Terrier is extra dog-friendly than his cousin. He’s simply educated and kinds a good bond along with his proprietor. So long as he will get satisfactory train, he’s a good condo canine. He weighs 55 to 65 kilos.

9. Greyhound:

This racing canine (60 to 80 kilos) may appear an odd alternative for a listing of finest condo canine, however retired Greyhounds are a few of the largest canine sofa potatoes. They’re very trainable and adaptable. They appear to understand a extra sedentary way of life.

10. Nice Dane:

“Enormous canine” don’t appear to be good candidates for “nice condo canine,” however the Nice Dane (at an imposing 100 to 130 kilos) is such a pure idler that, although your sofa will most likely be totally occupied, he’ll take up far much less house than you would possibly assume. Add to that his calm demeanor, friendliness, trainability and quiet nature, and the Nice Dane makes a wonderful alternative amongst finest condo canine.

For those who reside in or are transferring to an condo or small home and have already got a canine, don’t fear. The next ideas may help you all reside fortunately in a small house.

10 Suggestions for Having the Finest House Canines — No Matter What Breed(s) Your Canines Is

Regardless of which breed, or mixture of breeds, you select to convey into your condo, listed here are a number of ideas! Pictures by Patryk Kosmider / Shutterstock.

1. Acclimate:

For those who’ve adopted a brand new pet or grownup canine, or in the event you’re transferring your present canine right into a small house, attempt to acclimate him slowly by visiting for shorter after which longer durations.

2. Be current:

Once more, if an condo or small home is a brand new surroundings in your canine, strive to stick with him as a lot as potential. Exit for brief durations alone at first, after which lengthen them.

three. Create house:

Assume storage, storage, storage with regards to furnishings. Something that takes up house ought to function storage as properly. Attempt to hold as a lot ground house open as potential.

four. Darken and lighten:

Residences will be very darkish due to the encircling buildings. They will additionally get an excessive amount of gentle in the event that they’re excessive up. Drapes and particular bulbs may help hold the lighting pure.

5. Set up a routine:

That is very important for canine who’ve to attend to go outdoors. Feeding and strolling instances must be constant.

6. Discover a good coach:

One trait that each one good condo canine have — they’re not liable to be excessively vocal. For those who’re having behavioral points equivalent to a canine who gained’t cease barking, discover a coach in your space who focuses on that difficulty.

7. Get a bench:

A small or massive bench towards a windowsill offers your canine a spot to leap up and observe the world — and in addition makes the house appear bigger.

eight. Rent a canine walker:

The most effective condo canine are the canine who get satisfactory train and enrichment. For the instances when you possibly can’t get your canine out for further train, a trusted canine walker is a necessity.

9. Put money into a gate:

When you’ve got a studio or open ground plan, ensure you can put a gate as much as hold your canine separated from others. Utilizing the kitchen or rest room typically works. Additionally, make that house your canine’s haven along with his mattress and toys.

10. Juggle these balls:

It’s completely tremendous to play fetch in your condo, so long as it’s not too early or too late. Putting in rugs helps soak up the noise of canine nails. You don’t should be on the canine park to have enjoyable together with your canine.

Get extra ideas for dwelling together with your canine in a metropolis right here >>

A couple of last ideas on one of the best condo canine

It’s simple to discover a canine who will reside properly in an condo or small-house setting. Dimension isn’t all the things — quiet, lower-energy, non-working canine are actually what make one of the best condo canine. And if you have already got a canine who must adapt to a small house, keep in mind: If our canine are with us and we’re blissful, they’re blissful, too. Relatively than fretting over sharing a small house, have a look at it as a bonding expertise. In spite of everything, tripping over one another is only a recreation of tag, in the event you have a look at it that manner.

Inform us: Do you reside in an condo with a canine? What do you consider our ideas? What different breeds — or mixes — must be on one of the best condo canine listing? Tell us within the feedback!

Plus, what do the kinds of canine in your neighborhood say about the place you reside? >>

Thumbnail: Pictures by berndstuhlmann/Thinkstock.

This piece was initially revealed in 2015.

Why learn breed profiles?

Canine breed profiles assist everybody, whether or not you will have a combined breed or purebred canine, to higher perceive and enhance the standard of your canine’s life. When you’ve got a combined breed canine, learn up on the entire breed profiles that make up your canine. Unsure what breed your canine is? There are a variety of simple DNA assessments on the market to assist your discover out.

Learn extra about canine and condo dwelling on petsupplyandmore.com:

from Pet Supply and More http://petsupplyandmore.com/index.php/2019/02/19/the-10-finest-house-canines-may-shock-you/

0 notes

alexdmorgan30 · 6 years ago

Text

Addiction as a Metaphor for the Climate Crisis: An Interview with Charles Eisenstein

In the fall of 2011, a small protest began in New York City that would later become known as the “Occupy Wall Street” movement; it later emerged in major cities around the world. Among the many leading voices to provide an analysis of the economic crisis that preceded the movement was author Charles Eisenstein.Eisenstein had been writing about a variety of crises afflicting postmodern society for years, but his views on the perils of capitalism and the growing ecological and climate issues resonated strongly with the people involved with the Occupy movement.Perhaps to humanize, or just to make sense of many of the complex, broad, and intertwining topics he writes about, Eisenstein relies heavily on the power of storytelling, and often uses analogies. One analogy he regularly comes back to is the phenomenology of addiction. Though he does not personally identify as having an addiction (at least in the conventional, pathologized sense), his writing indicates his deep understanding of the myriad ways that addiction may be the best metaphor we have for understanding some of society’s greatest ills.Eisenstein recently published his sixth book, Climate: A New Story, and agreed to an interview with The Fix: The Fix: Your writing has often relied on the phenomenology of addiction as a metaphor for the harms of capitalism, and now in Climate: A New Story you rely on the metaphor again to help explain the global climate crisis. Why do you often come back to the metaphor of addiction?Charles Eisenstein: In the popular media, we hear things like “our addiction to fossil fuels,” and it's usually used in disparaging terms, which taps into the general prejudice people often use against addicts, too. But I like to take the metaphor seriously – if we are addicted to fossil fuels, what is the underlying need that drives the addiction that the fossil fuels aren't actually meeting? Fossil fuel consumption, of course, is a symptom of the addiction to economic growth. Or the addiction to consumption; accumulating more and more stuff – bigger and bigger houses, and so on.What is addiction, in your view?Addiction, in my view, is the result of an attempt to meet a genuine need with something that does not actually meet the need. You're using a substitute for what you really want, so no amount of it will be enough to meet the real need.One should ask then, what drives such an addiction? Well, we have to look at the unmet needs of our society. One of those is certainly the need for community, which has broken down even in the course of my lifetime, but especially in the last century or two. When I was a kid growing up in a suburban neighborhood, we had community. Everybody on the street knew everybody else, and all the kids knew each other, and we all pretty much knew what was going on in everyone’s lives. All the families talked with each other, and we had neighborhood volleyball games, and all the kids were playing stickball in the church parking lot.Years later, when I resettled in suburbia for a brief time, after I started having kids, it was a totally different scene. You didn't see packs of kids roaming around on bikes. The playground in the park, in the middle of the sub-development, was empty most of the time. The neighbors didn't really know each other. I remember when one neighbor got a divorce and no one even knew about it until six months later. We had no community. We were simply living in proximity to each other.How did you first come to learn about addiction, and what perspective are you hoping to bring through your writing?I guess I just picked up little bits and pieces of it from the popular culture. I came of age in the mid-eighties/early-nineties, and at that time, there was certainly mention of addiction as a disease in the media. I read some books that had an impact, like Whiskey Children, which was a really beautiful book, but really, my understanding of addiction is part of a more comprehensive worldview.I'm looking at the ways in which we are at war with nature, and at war with each other, and at war with parts of ourselves, and how addiction fits into that pattern. I’ve never identified as an addict; I don't have that kind of story. But, like most people, I saw people around me suffering from addiction and what it did to their lives. My views on addiction are part of a larger program of ending the war against the self, which is a reflection of the war on nature. And that's why I'm attracted to using addiction as a metaphor.Our society likes to wage war on problematic areas – the “War on Drugs” is an obvious one, but we’ve also had the “War on Poverty,” the “War on Terror,” and so on.Dealing with an addiction is not about fighting yourself – [it’s] finding an enemy and overcoming that enemy. That is the near universal template of problem-solving in our culture. Find the disease. Find the germ. Find the weed. Find the bug. Find the criminal. Find the bad guy. Find the terrorist – kill him. Find a bad thing in yourself. Destroy it, overcome it. That's a recipe for endless war. If the conditions that breed disease, weeds, terrorism, crime, and addiction remain present, then fighting the symptom while leaving the cause untouched is a recipe for endless war. I am a peace worker. I want the war to end.The first step in 12-step programs is to admit powerlessness over addiction. Another way of viewing this in terms of “internal warfare” is the paradox of “surrendering to win.”I have a soft spot in my heart for 12-step programs. My ex-wife had been an addict, and she got tremendous value from being a member. She had this book of daily meditations called Just for Today that she would read. For her it was a source of not only comfort, but also inspiration and strength.The principle of the first step is one that I find most aligned with my understanding of addiction. “We realized we were powerless over our addiction.” That's a key insight. Because in the mindset of fighting the addiction, the implicit solution is, “My willpower will overcome my desire. My willpower will overcome my craving.” The problem with that is that willpower is finite, and the unmet need is an infinite generator of craving. You can resist it for a while, but then you're going to have that moment of weakness and the willpower disintegrates. And you have a binge, because the unmet desire isn’t met.How does the climate crisis resemble this paradox of the failure of willpower to overcome addiction?This is obviously a society in pain. When looking at climate change, the conventional response to it looks a lot like the kind of ignorant conventional response to addiction, which essentially is, “Well, you're just going to have to try harder to stop.” But it doesn't look at the underlying causes. I understand climate change as a symptom of a much deeper malady that is inherent to civilization as we know it.What are the underlying causes?The idea that there is a linear direction of our ascent to dominance over nature. That is what needs to change. In my new book, I weave different threads of that narrative. One is our perspective of nature as an instrument for human utility, as a resource. This view might compel us to do something about climate change, because otherwise bad things will happen to us. But that separation from nature is part of the problem; that kind of relationship to nature, where it is an object for our use. That is part of what has distanced us, and isolated us, and cut off our intimate connections with the soil, and water, and plants and animals around us, that makes us feel so lonely and so in need of compensating for that lost connection with more and more stuff.And yet it is often said that in order to surrender, one must hit “rock bottom.”What “rock bottom” is varies from person to person, and the more love that someone has had in their life, the higher their bottom is going to be. One way to look at it is then, of course, how do we raise the bottom for the people and the planet that we love? Why is it that for one person, rock bottom is when their spouse walks out for a day, or they go to jail for a night? Yet, for another person it’s smoking their last cigarette through their tracheostomy hole after they've already gotten lung cancer and emphysema.That's a really important question, which I look at in my Sacred Economics. I look at the question of how do we get out of our addiction to debt? How do we raise the bottom before everything is consumed in order to service the debt? Which is what's happening. That's what drives the entire world destroying machine – the debt-based financial system. So how do we raise bottom? In the economic context, the question becomes, “What functions can we reclaim that have been lost to the money economy?”What have we as a society lost because of our economic pursuits?We are not separate individuals that can thrive as long as our quantifiable needs are met. We are in relation to all beings. As our relationships to other people and to nature are truncated, we suffer a hunger, a loss of our “being-ness,” if you will. We then seek to compensate for that loss through many addictions, but especially through acquisition – adding more and more onto this narrow, cramped, separate self in futile compensation for the loss of connections to people and to nature.To make matters worse, the growth economy destroys community, because with economic growth we meet more and more of our needs through the money economy – we purchase more like that's what economic growth is. It's the expansion of the realm of monetized interests, and that expansion comes at the expense of the gift realm, the realm of reciprocity, of people helping each other, taking care of each other's kids, sharing, sharing meals, creating our own fun instead of purchasing fun, creating our own entertainment, our own recreation. Helping each other out with projects, borrowing things from each other instead of renting them.When all of those communal functions are converted into owning, or renting it, or hiring someone to do it, the economy grows. But our connectedness withers and our felt connectedness to each other disappears, and we're left even more lonely. So that's maybe another hallmark of an addiction, is that the results of the addictive habit strengthen the wound from which the addiction is coming. They make your life worse so then you need even more of the things that fuel the addiction.How do we stop fueling the addiction then?Our story of the world that told us who we were – how to live life, how to be human, what was important, and what we served – is falling apart. And not only our story, but the systems that are built on that story are not working very well anymore, either. We have a crisis – not only is it a crisis of meaning, but it’s also a crisis of our being, because we are storytelling creatures, and our weave of stories is also a weave of our identity. Until we emerge with a new story, and regain our relational identification with all beings, we will remain stuck in the downward spiral of addiction.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241841 http://bit.ly/2TxcT52

0 notes

pitz182 · 6 years ago

Text

Addiction as a Metaphor for the Climate Crisis: An Interview with Charles Eisenstein

0 notes

emlydunstan · 6 years ago

Text

Addiction as a Metaphor for the Climate Crisis: An Interview with Charles Eisenstein

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8241841 https://www.thefix.com/addiction-metaphor-climate-crisis-interview-charles-eisenstein

0 notes

ethelbertpaul444-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Photographer Revisits American Suburban Families 20 Years Later To See How The American Dream Has Changed

Back in 1997, photographer Beth Yarnelle Edwards inaugurated a project in her regional field of San Carlos, California, with the aim of documenting the everyday lives of families in suburban America. The project started as a response to her own frustration with suburban life, so she set about detecting what draws it appealing to so many people. “I seemed isolated and trapped, but I realized that the people around me really loved being there, ” she told TIME magazine. As she once knew her topics, she was able to get an genuine view of their home-life and daily procedures and wonts, their hopes, illusions and panics. She interviewed beings extensively to create a full picture of their own lives that is so often ignored, the gentle gratification of suburbia. Is this what they conveyed by “The American Dream? ” 20 years later, after numerous changes in her own life, she returned to her old-time vicinity to revisit some of her original subjects, and revive the project. It is fascinating to see how people have changed physically, extremely the children who have grown into adults. But Beth was surprised by how stable the lives of some suburban pedigrees can be, with many aspects persisting unchanged. “This population is kind of ordained, ” she told. “This isn’t how “the worlds largest” population lives.” Scroll down to check out some photographs from Beth’s project below, and give us know what you think in the comments! div > Photographer Beth Yarnelle Edwards, notorious for her Suburban Dreams series, is now on a mission to recreate pics with the same households 20 years later Lilah In 2004 And 2016 div > div > “A year after the second largest photo, I am a elderly in high school. It’s my first year at an online institution because my ballet schedule doesn’t allow me the time to attend a brick-and-mortar institution. I do ballet from 8 a. m. to 4 p. m. I “ve got a lot” of schoolwork. I spend very little time in Brisbane, where my mother lives and where both photos were taken, because my mothers are divorced and my dad lives in San Francisco, and likewise because the San Francisco Ballet is located in San Francisco, and because all your best friend live in San Francisco.I still affection robes and way. I also desire cooking. I still invest lots of epoch at my mom’s art gallery, but now I work for her on the weekends. I too still expend almost every weekend with my grandparents, prepare, float, and speak. Life is crazy and hectic and staggering, but also exciting.Deciding I wanted to become a professional ballerina is probably the most difficult altered in my life since the first photo was cleared. Likewise, my parents’ divorce is something that I emphatically didn’t see coming in 2004 and that drastically changed my life. For smaller situations, your best friend have changed, I have my driver’s license, and I can, sort of, pronounce Spanish! ” — Lilah Niki, Rita, And Lucia In 2000 And 2017 div > div > “My sisters and I grew up with mothers who prioritized family and working who procreated sure that we maintained a caring liaison with one another. Our mummy used to say,’ You can hate me, but you can’t detest your sister. You’ll necessary her. She’ll be your best friend someday.’ It’s true-life! We share a sense of humor that can usually get me out of a bad sit in a matter of seconds. Our mothers still live in the house they got married in 1975. They remodeled it a couple experiences, from a small bungalow to a larger but simple-minded home to fit their family of five working more comfortably. Even after they remodeled, and we each had our own chamber, we are continuing chose to sleep in the same bedroom together for the first few years. And dinner was like a sacred number. Every single darknes we sat down as their own families, 99% of the time made from scratch by our cultivating mommy, and often with creates that our dad flourished in the plot. Dinnertime was when we talked about school or labor, complained, chortled, cried, shared advice, and got into fights.” — Lucia “We are beyond lucky to have our mothers. They collected us to be close, to look after one another, to be honest with one another, and I think that gave us a really strong foundation for our relationships with each other. We grew up in an environment where the truth — whether it was difficult, uncomfortable, or ugly — was quality, along with education, society and family, above all else.” — Niki Erin In 1997 And 2017 div > div > “In the first photo, I had an average life for that time. It was all about acquaintances and institution. Now my life is all about the children. Having two boys under two takes over in a good way. Our lives genuinely revolve around menu and eating. The boys and Joe and I love to eat, and we are all good at it. The weekend is about farmer’s markets and Costco, and then barbecuing or cooking large-hearted dinners or eating at our favorite Chinese or Vietnamese sits. And music.There isn’t genuinely anything I care I’d known before. I ponder everything turned out the lane it did for a reasonablenes. Maybe exactly don’t sweat the small stuff. Repute big picture.” — Erin Lisette In 2002 And 2017 div > div > “The first photo was almost fifteen years ago. My babies were six and nine. I was a single mummy, widowed at thirty years old. Today I’m living in the same house in San Carlos with their own children, 21 and 24, and two pups. I have a career in arts and teaching, which has prospered after going back to college for the purposes of an MFA. I’ve worked with a great variety of beings, including the elderly, children around cancer, parties with autism, and young people in children and juveniles corridor. I’m likewise a scuba diver now. I please then I had known that I was capable of taking care of myself and had felt less anxious” — Lisette Antonette And James In 2002 And 2017 div > div > “In the 2002 photo, “were in” first-time parents who had just purchased a home in the Hayward Hills. We were a young and hard-working marry with fantasies. We wanted to give our daughter, Danielle, the best life possible. Before the second largest photo, we had added a son, Darien, who is now fourteen. Danielle is now a rookie in college. She did extremely well in senior high school and was accepted into numerous esteemed universities. We have done some dwelling increases. I lost my mom, and James lost his pa. I grew up in Oakland, and James grew up in Richmond, California. We both lived in the inner city in blue-collar parishes with meagre single-family dwellings. We now live in a larger home in a middle-class suburban community. It’s a most affluent neighborhood than the ones we grew up in. Like us, our children have just been known one home from the time they were born.Time flies by rapidly, so you have to enjoy your children at each stage in “peoples lives”. Too, spend more time with your aging mothers, as they may not be with you for much longer”- Antonette Marg And John In 2000 And 2017 div > div > “2 000 was a frantic time in our lives. John was use long hours at a Silicon Valley startup, I was driving as an deputy grade school teacher, and Rachel was an active adolescent involved with numerous sports, extra-curricular tasks, and a thick-skulled entanglement of friends. We live in the same house today in San Carlos, California. Between the first and final photos, both of our children have moved out on their own, and our oldest, Sara, got married. John retired from full-time conduct pleasures, and both of us have had to deal with some important’ medical undertakings, ’ which we freely have gotten through. We’ve done significant remodel of our residence and continue providing improvements.We both grew up in the East. John in Wisconsin and Marg in upstate New York. We are third-generation Americans, whose grandparents were born in Europe. We retain some of the traditions from the’ old country’ and try to incorporate them in small-time access, especially during the holidays” — John& Marg Kyle In 1997 And 2016 div > div > “In 1997 “peoples lives” was enjoyable and free, living by the moment. Now it’s more structured. I’ve graduated college and am working as an IT engineer while I try to get my startup, which I’ve been working on a little over a year, guiding. In addition to being able to my startup, my goals are to travel the world making photographs and to buy my own plaza. I’m currently living with my mothers in Hillsborough, where I grew up. If I had known then what I know now I would have invested in Google and other tech companies” — Kyle Rita In 1997 And 2016 div > div > Here are some of her other pics from the same job we’re hoping she’ll are to be able to recreate too: div > div > div > Almost finished… To complete the due process, please click the link in the email we just sent you. Read more: http :// www.boredpanda.com/ family-changed-2 0-years-suburban-dreams-beth-yarnelle-edwards / http://dailybuzznetwork.com/index.php/2018/06/02/photographer-revisits-american-suburban-families-20-years-later-to-see-how-the-american-dream-has-changed/

0 notes

trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

Text

Photographer Revisits American Suburban Families 20 Years Later To See How The American Dream Has Changed

Back in 1997, photographer Beth Yarnelle Edwards began a project in her local area of San Carlos, California, with the aim of documenting the everyday lives of families in suburban America.

The project started as a response to her own dissatisfaction with suburban life, so she set about discovering what makes it appealing to so many people. “I felt isolated and trapped, but I realized that the people around me really loved being there,” she told TIME magazine.

As she already knew her subjects, she was able to get an authentic glimpse of their home-life and everyday routines and habits, their hopes, dreams and fears. She interviewed people extensively to create a full picture of a life that is so often overlooked, the quiet contentment of suburbia. Is this what they meant by “The American Dream?”

20 years later, after many changes in her own life, she returned to her old neighborhood to revisit some of her original subjects, and revive the project. It is fascinating to see how people have changed physically, especially the children who have grown into adults. But Beth was surprised by how stable the lives of some suburban families can be, with many aspects remaining unchanged. “This population is kind of blessed,” she said. “This isn’t how the larger population lives.”

Scroll down to check out some photographs from Beth’s project below, and let us know what you think in the comments!

More info: Website | Instagram

Photographer Beth Yarnelle Edwards, famous for her Suburban Dreams series, is now on a mission to recreate pics with the same families 20 years later

Lilah In 2004 And 2016

“A year after the second photo, I am a senior in high school. It’s my first year at an online school because my ballet schedule doesn’t allow me the time to attend a brick-and-mortar school. I do ballet from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. I have a lot of schoolwork. I spend very little time in Brisbane, where my mother lives and where both photos were taken, because my parents are divorced and my dad lives in San Francisco, and also because the San Francisco Ballet is located in San Francisco, and because all my friends live in San Francisco. I still love clothes and fashion. I also love cooking. I still spend lots of time at my mom’s art gallery, but now I work for her on the weekends. I also still spend almost every weekend with my grandparents, cooking, swimming, and reading. Life is crazy and busy and overwhelming, but also exciting. Deciding I wanted to become a professional ballerina is probably the biggest change in my life since the first photo was made. Also, my parents’ divorce is something that I definitely didn’t see coming in 2004 and that drastically changed my life. For smaller things, my friends have changed, I have my driver’s license, and I can, sort of, speak Spanish!” — Lilah

Niki, Rita, And Lucia In 2000 And 2017

“My sisters and I grew up with parents who prioritized family and who made sure that we maintained a loving relationship with one another. Our mom used to say, ‘You can hate me, but you can’t hate your sister. You’ll need her. She’ll be your best friend someday.’ It’s true! We share a sense of humor that can usually get me out of a bad place in a matter of seconds. Our parents still live in the house they got married in 1975. They remodeled it a couple times, from a small bungalow to a larger but simple home to fit their family of five more comfortably. Even after they remodeled, and we each had our own room, we still chose to sleep in the same bedroom together for the first few years. And dinner was like a sacred act. Every single night we sat down as a family, 99% of the time made from scratch by our working mom, and often with produce that our dad grew in the garden. Dinnertime was when we talked about school or work, complained, laughed, cried, shared advice, and got into fights.” — Lucia

“We are beyond lucky to have our parents. They raised us to be close, to look after each other, to be honest with each other, and I think that gave us a really strong foundation for our relationships with each other. We grew up in an environment where the truth — whether it was difficult, uncomfortable, or ugly — was valued, along with education, community and family, above all else.” — Niki

Erin In 1997 And 2017

“In the first photo, I had an average life for that time. It was all about friends and school. Now my life is all about the children. Having two kids under two takes over in a good way. Our lives really revolve around food and eating. The kids and Joe and I love to eat, and we are all good at it. The weekend is about farmer’s markets and Costco, and then barbecuing or cooking big dinners or eating at our favorite Chinese or Vietnamese places. And music. There isn’t really anything I wish I’d known before. I think everything turned out the way it did for a reason. Maybe just don’t sweat the small stuff. Think big picture.” — Erin

Lisette In 2002 And 2017

“The first photo was almost fifteen years ago. My kids were six and nine. I was a single mom, widowed at thirty years old. Today I’m living in the same house in San Carlos with my children, 21 and 24, and two dogs. I have a career in art and teaching, which has flourished after going back to college for an MFA. I’ve worked with a wide variety of people, including the elderly, children with cancer, people with autism, and young people in a juvenile hall. I’m also a scuba diver now. I wish then I had known that I was capable of taking care of myself and had felt less anxious”— Lisette

Antonette And James In 2002 And 2017

“In the 2002 photo, we were first-time parents who had just purchased a home in the Hayward Hills. We were a young and hard-working couple with dreams. We wanted to give our daughter, Danielle, the best life possible. Before the second photo, we had added a son, Darien, who is now fourteen. Danielle is now a freshman in college. She did extremely well in high school and was accepted into many prestigious universities. We have done some home improvements. I lost my mom, and James lost his dad. I grew up in Oakland, and James grew up in Richmond, California. We both lived in the inner city in blue-collar communities with modest single-family homes. We now live in a larger home in a middle-class suburban community. It’s a more affluent neighborhood than the ones we grew up in. Like us, our children have only known one home from the time they were born. Time flies by quickly, so you have to enjoy your children at each stage in their lives. Also, spend more time with your aging parents, as they may not be with you for much longer” – Antonette

Marg And John In 2000 And 2017

“2000 was a hectic time in our lives. John was working long hours at a Silicon Valley startup, I was working as an assistant grade school teacher, and Rachel was an active teenager involved with many sports, extra-curricular activities, and a thick web of friends. We live in the same house today in San Carlos, California. Between the first and last photos, both of our children have moved out on their own, and our oldest, Sara, got married. John retired from full-time management activities, and both of us have had to deal with some significant ‘medical adventures,’ which we happily have gotten through. We’ve done significant remodeling of our home and continue with improvements. We both grew up in the East. John in Wisconsin and Marg in upstate New York. We are third-generation Americans, whose grandparents were born in Europe. We remember some of the traditions from the ‘old country’ and try to incorporate them in small ways, especially during the holidays” — John & Marg

Kyle In 1997 And 2016

“In 1997 my life was fun and free, living by the moment. Now it’s more structured. I’ve graduated college and am working as an IT engineer while I try to get my startup, which I’ve been working on a little over a year, running. In addition to my startup, my goals are to travel the world taking photos and to buy my own place. I’m currently living with my parents in Hillsborough, where I grew up. If I had known then what I know now I would have invested in Google and other tech companies” — Kyle

Rita In 1997 And 2016

Here are some of her other pics from the same project we’re hoping she’ll manage to recreate too:

from Viral News HQ https://ift.tt/2E5dZg1 via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

0 notes

nosferatumouse-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Haunted House.

You didn’t know what to expect. What is a haunted house supposed to look like, after all? A gloomy, dilapidated Gothic manor looming on a hill? Some ancient, half remembered ruin at the end of the street? It was an empty house. No more, no less. It’s window’s still intact, it’s pale yellow paint job weathered, but prominent. Two stories, and it’s design was rather blandly modern, one you wouldn’t look twice at as you passed by on the street. The neighborhood in general felt run down, lower middle class people huddled together, all mostly keeping to themselves, venturing out only to work their menial jobs to earn their money to pay off their bills and stave off madness and boredom with a diet of alcohol and whatever their drug of choice may be. They could all be haunted, really. If the only thing that possesses a home is bitter memories, perhaps all houses are indeed, haunted. They only thing that separated The House from its neighbors was that it had the honor of being empty. It’s occupants shrouded in some mystery, long since abandoning this home stead.

The yard was wild and unkempt, the usually mellow yard of Suburbia having overtaken much of the chain link fence in front of it, it’s weeds even creeping up on the spacious concrete porch, cracked and gray. The entrance to The House was a screen door, and a traditional wooden one. The mesh screen had been ripped, but opened and closed just fine. The actual door could shut, but a previous adventurer seemed to have broken the lock rather forcefully in their entry. It creaks open, the only resistance it offered being the ominous sound of it’s hinges bidding you welcome.

The ground floor opens to a large room. A table sits against a wall, with a lawn chair near it. Playing cards and some empty bottles decorate the table, the leavings of the Guests before you. The actual reminders from the enigmatic missing owners is curiously absent, save for some crippled papers and discarded coins that littered the floor; things that could easily have been from scavengers rather than occupants. It’s walls were wood paneled, and seemed in fair condition, though it made the whole room darker. From there, it splits off to three areas. A stair case, to the back, where the kitchen would be, and a large room in the front. If this first room was a living room, what made this area? It was the front of The House, with three large windows letting the world spill in and play out to the presumed delight of its occupants. It’s walls were smooth and white, as if to absorb even more of the light. A sitting room? Well. What’s wrong with two living rooms, really?

Back in the gloom of the parlor, the stairs share it’s rustic, wooden layered walls, the tan carpet covering the steps which groan with every step. Upstairs is three rooms, all spacious, but otherwise unremarkable at passing glance. No beds, no messages in blood. The first room is painted white again, with two windows, one of which is broken out; glass lays scattered at the floor beneath it, the carpet discolored. There didn’t appear to be anything thrown in...But the window was clearly broken from the outside. Perhaps a storm shattered it, or maybe whatever smashed it had been collected. There’s always answers for these things. The next room has only one window, allowing for a gaze to the neighboring house. A single chair was propped near it, one that looked like it actually belonged with the table downstairs. More noteworthy was the room’s paint job; one side painted red, the other purple. The clashed, certainly, but the paint job was well done, all the same. Something a child (children?) would have wanted, a silly desire that was easy enough to cater to. But there were no forgotten toys, no discarded box of crayons. Nothing to see here. The final upstairs room was the strangest. The largest of the rooms, someone had tried building a wall to split the area, it seemed...but seeing the progress, whatever was going to be left was little more than a narrow passage. A frame had been constructed, and against the far side wall was some insulation, that familiar pink fiberglass peeking out of the bag, as well as plywood. Perhaps they were constructing a closet? That seems reasonable. The room had other bits of trash, old candy bars, a notepad with most of the paper ripped out. Still, a far cry from anything sinister.

Heading back down the stairs, you admit that while this was a waste of time, you had to concede that The House had an atmosphere to it; a thin mist of invisible and unexplainable dread. People had lives here. A family, most likely. What had prompted their flight? Nothing awful, it seems. The House was mostly empty, after all. They clearly weren’t in a rush. So was it something good that happened to them, perhaps? A great opportunity rather than crippling tragedy? And would make it any less haunted? Rather than re-living some nightmarish horror movie scenario over and over, could a house be haunted be all the warmth and love that it was now depraved of? Could The House feel neglect? Scorn? Or does The House see behind all the good memories and happy times and see something darker? Home is where the heart is, but you can’t go back once you leave. Our homes have secrets, even after we long forget them, suppress them. A Home Never Forgets. Every action bleeds into the foundation. The carpet is stained with every tragedy. The walls discolored from the isolation only children can feel. The windows cracked with the seething, low key hatred that comes from realizing that your life isn’t what you thought it would be.

Finally, the kitchen. Crushing horror was what one expects to feel in a haunted house, but here in this place, you only feel a sorrow that’s not quite your own. Hopefully this tour would be over soon. The bar which contained the sink was dusty, a couple of plates lay about, forgotten. The sink itself had a rather bad smell, but nothing that was too disturbing. Along the back of The House here in the kitchen was also a long, sliding glass door, showing off the back yard. It was ‘locked’ thanks to a piece of 2x4 wedged into its track. The view showed off the garage, in a much worse state than the house itself; the white paint job looked particularly slap dash, and was long since chipped and faded. Daring teens and bored youngsters had a go at it with spray cans, leaving a variety of messages behind. The grass here was more overgrown here than the front, save for one patch in the center, a circle where the grass remained dead and yellow, slightly muddy. A pool must have been there, and for a while too. One of those cheap, waist high family pleasers. More notable, however, was the deck the backdoor lead to; it’s wood looking dangerous with rot and lack of care...Yet, all around the back, was a privacy fence. Its wood looking more recent, standing at perfect attention as it guarded whatever secrets it had. Had the neighbors put it up? Whatever bank that probably actually owned the property now? Or had it simply fared better than the garage and the deck? With more kitchen to explore, you get to it. Two doors to the farthest wall reveal a small pantry, it’s selves cleared out save for some plastic bags, and a small bathroom. What an odd place for it, you can’t help but to think. It was a cramped little area, its sink missing, leaving behind a small slot with some pipes leading up to nothing. The toilet was missing its seat, and there was a torn curtain which hung glumly by a shower head. There was no tub. The floor was a little lower, the space around the drain slick and plastic like rather than the firm tile around it. Exiting the bare bones wash closet, you feel your voyeuristic visit has reached its end...When something catches your eye.

The doorway leading to the rest of the house had an easy to miss door right next to it. If you had turned your head directly to the left, you might have saw it. Odd as that is, what’s more eye catching was the space of wall between the mystery closet and the doorway. It contained lines. Drawn in maker, faded crayon, all of which it had been gone through a few times to make it stick. At first you draw a blank, but then it hits you. Measuring a child. There were no dates, or if there had been, they had not persisted as well as the lines itself. The lines were fairly consistent, to boot. When they started, they kept on it. Reaching what seems like the height of a six or seven year old before it stopped for a while. And then it was strange. Your brain was still trying to piece it together as you look over it. A pause. A significant one. Before another line. At about 5′10. And they keep going. Past any child’s height. But that wasn’t the truly confusing thing. These marks were much neater, a straight, black line, as opposed to the scratchy, whatever-pen-marker-crayon-we-had lines below. Had the parent, maybe, measured with the child? That’s not so weird, is it? Maybe it only looked fresh. Maybe you’re just really rattled. God knows why. You’ve come this far. Whatever’s in this closet is the end of the line. No sense letting a rock go unturned. This door requires some effort. It seems loose, but it makes you work for every inch you manage to pry it open. Finally, it yields to you as you brace yourself. You nearly fell. And it would have been a bad fall. It’s not a closet. It’s a basement. The stairs lead down to darkness. Pure Nothing. No light for your eyes to hungrily absorb and imagine a way. Just dark nothing. A coolness rushes up to meet you. Goose pimples light up your skin. You’re not going down here. Ignoring the fact you don’t have a light source you’re wholly comfortable would guide you, ignoring the fact that these stairs could go at any minute...You were afraid. With the darkness...With This darkness...Every rational and irrational fear rushed about your head. Crazy homeless people. Demons from Hell. Spiders. Breaking a leg and no one ever finding you. The House Eating you. Dying alone. No, this is where the fun ends. You’ve done more than enough. And then, all your fears seemed answered at once. From out of the infinite nothing came the worst possible thing. Something. Something glimmering in the dark. Shining. Oh God. It’s eyes. You’re immediately reminded of night animals, their eyes long since resigned and accepting of the dark. These eyes first take vague form at the far corner of the room, before moving. Lumbering slowly into focus. Stopping at the end of the stairs. Far enough away to still be shielded by the nothing, but there was no hiding those shimmering rims in the black pool around it. It’s an animal. It has to be. It’s an animal. It’s the only thing that makes sense. It’s an animal. It says your name. A voice, cracked, whiny yet low. You heard it. It said your name. God help you it knows your name. You scream and run. The rational mind can only handle so much. How and when you got home is a mystery to you. All that mattered was running till you were out. Out of the house, out of breath...then running more.

As time went on, the neighbors and the bank would be rather generous with your personal inquiries. Neighbors love to recite gossip, and the bank had nothing to hide. The block surrounding The House was bad neighborhood, but not obviously so. It’s seediness was under the surface. Molestation, rapid drug use, domestic abuse. It was traditional American seediness. But there was nothing to be said about The House. Its unremarkableness was, in it of itself, rather remarkable. No one could recall a Nasty this or that about it. The accounts of who actually was there were wildly inconsistent to boot. A man who lived there all his life with his family, whom he outlived; A man who inherited the place from his parents; One man claimed that lesbian witch sisters were the last residence, and he also went on to explain why ‘the blacks’ are ruining his street. It’s worth noting you only recall one black family, and they had only moved in some 3 months ago, so the point seems moot. The Bank, meanwhile, while more concise, provided rather limited answers as well. They obtained The House after the previous owner failed to pay property taxes. That owner being a man who stopped living in the residence after a year, complaining about rats in the walls and not being able to keep out the chill. And that was about a decade ago, according to them. In the end, your best resource proved to be a rather elderly woman who claimed that a family had, indeed, resided there prior to selling off to the man who would eventually lose it to the bank. According to her, the family lived there a long time before the wife passed. The family struggled for awhile, but ultimately couldn’t handle living there anymore. Of course, there’s no real proof, as believable as that tale is. But Ghost Mom was not the answer you wanted, either. Maybe it wasn’t The House. Maybe it was everything else. Maybe it was the fact that the house next door had young girls in it that wouldn’t look you in the eye while you talked with the parents. Maybe it was the house down the street with the wife who refused to leave the kitchen while her sister explained that her husband threatened to kill her earlier today and they were waiting for either him or the police. Maybe it was the house across the street where a man killed his brother over 40 dollars. Maybe all that pain and anguish needed a place to live, too. Maybe everyone wanting it to have a history, wanting it to be haunted...Made it haunted. Of course...It was probably nothing. Our minds like to fill in the dark edges with ghosts and ghouls. And in the daylight, you know that nothing really happened in The House. No ghostly cries, no chain rattling specters. What little you choose to recall, you know it’s very possible you imagined. But in the night time...In the dark of your room, snug in your bed, alone with your thoughts... You Know Better.

You never returned to The House again.

0 notes

pcurrytravels · 7 years ago

Text

Thoughts: Los Angeles (Part II)

So, it was another day, and it was time to run some errands.

Well, the only real errand was buying some Metro TAP cards. The other “errand” was stocking up on junk food. The sun had just begun to rise as me and my mom took a walk down Pico Blvd.

As I wasn’t in any rush, I took my sweet time looking in the windows of the various businesses that dotted the street, only to get winded as I noticed I was slowly going up a hill as I approached Ralph’s Supermarket. It was then I looked back in awe at the gorgeous (well, eschewing the permanent haze of smog of course) view of the city. With Beverly Hills to the north, Hollywood to the east, and Downtown L.A. to the south, in that moment I really did feel as if I were in the center of it all.

Anyhow, Ralph’s Supermarket, which happens to be owned by Kroger, so it was pretty much exactly the same as Smith’s back home, we went inside to pick up a couple of things and also get our Metro TAP cards. And just our luck! There was a bus stop right next to the store and a bus was pulling up right as we walked out!

.......................except it wasn’t the right bus. Apparently, Los Angeles has several different transit operators within city limits, the reasoning being that the origin point for said transit operator resides in a nearby city/suburb such as Santa Monica. Cue confusion (even more confusing was how this appeared to be the only bus that ran on Pico Blvd. despite the fact it appeared to be a pretty major street. You’d think LA Metro would also have one of their buses running along it as well, right?)

So we hopped on the bus, and immediately freaked out when we saw the cards weren’t working when we tapped them. The bus driver was thankfully nice enough to just let us ride so we figured there must have been an error with the tap box. It turned out however, that we hadn’t loaded enough on the cards or something for it to work on this bus (don’t quote me on that however, as I’m reading the website right now as we speak and the information I’m finding is contradicting what I was told previously).

Anyhow, after this mishap, we had breakfast....at Jack In The Box. Usually, when travelling I try not to eat at places I can easily find at home but seeing that this was just breakfast I didn’t really care. The hotel did offer free breakfast but it was of the boring ~continental~ variety. After breakfast, we relaxed in the room for a little bit, before heading out to one of my favorite places in the world: Venice Beach.

Let’s see now, Mediterranean/Spanish-style architecture painted in vibrant colors? Check. Street art galore (including a hilarious reproduction of The Birth of Venus)? Check. Loads and loads of counterculture people and businesses? Check. Photogenic AF? Check. Yeah, I’m in heaven alright.

Venice, California is a neighborhood that’s just....so ideal to me in a number of ways. The portraits it paints. The stories it tells. It really does say something how on my prior trip seven years ago, I spent literally all of my time there.

Unfortunately, the surrounding area is a tad rough which is a shame as the houses and canals are so lovely (an early example of New Urbanist-style development). I’ve also had numerous people tell me that it’s a hotspot for Neo-Nazi activity, which is curious because it appears to be so diverse that I can’t imagine any white supremacist touching the place with a ten foot pole. (Especially when you consider two large portions of it, named Oakwood and East Venice respectively, have large and longstanding communities of African-Americans and Mexicans/Chicanos. Just saying.)

Of course, no trip to Venice is complete without taking a stroll along the canals. After poking in and out of various shops and tattoo parlors, observing the storied surfers, skaters and b-ball players of Dogtown as they call it, buying souvenirs, and grabbing me a snowcone, I absolutely had to stop by it.

Like Italy during the Renaissance, meets 1920s-style American suburbia, taking a walk in the Venice Canal Historic District as it’s officially called is a serene, relaxing and, well for me at least, inspiring experience. I even made a wish as I tossed a quarter in the water. Of course I’m not going to tell you what it was for.

Anyways, we were hungry and it was time to leave.....for Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles.

Ok, another tangent: Remember how I said not really anywhere in L.A. is convenient to anything in Part I? Well, I wasn’t lying. The bus ride from the hotel to Venice was nearly two hours (!!!!), and we had to do it all again going back. I mean, I guess a positive to this would be that L.A. is such a large place that it offers endless exploring opportunities (and I do love me some exploring) and tons and tons of sightseeing, but when you just wanna go from point A to point B? Oh boy. Thankfully, the Mid-City location of Roscoe’s was literally a mile down the street from our hotel.

Chicken and waffles is possibly the O.G. strange and unusual food combination. The exact origin of it is a bit of a mystery; no one seems to have a concrete answer for when, where or how it came about, nor is there a single agreed upon way of eating it, but there are many people who still love the dish either way, including yours truly. As it’s popularity has steadily increased over the years, numerous restaurants specializing in the dish have opened up all over the country, but Roscoe’s is the most famous.

The menu can be a bit confusing to a person who’s never paid much mind to how pieces of meat are cut. The whole 1/4 and 1/2 “chix” thing didn’t make any sense to me initially but thankfully the hostess explained it to me. I went on ahead and just ordered the #1, or “Scoe’s” if you will.

Now remember what I said about there being no right way to eat Chicken and Waffles? Well, there isn’t! You can be boring like my mom and eat them completely separate (LOL) or you can go all out by placing the chicken on top of the waffle and then pouring the syrup all over it. As for me? I prefer to overlap the two if you will. I place them very close on the plate, leaning the pieces of chicken on the waffles just a little bit, before I then put hot sauce on the chicken, and smother the butter and syrup on the waffles. As this is done with the two items touching, the flavors of everything combine without being totally overwhelming.

The food was delicious. The chicken was crispy and well seasoned, and the waffles......well, I was in buttermilk heaven with them. The flavor combination just heightened the experience. Alas, as far as the experience at the restaurant itself was concerned, suffice to say, I was a bit disappointed. The service was inattentive at best; the table next to us was seated after we were and their orders were taken and even served before ours. We also asked for sweet tea and sweet potato pie, both of which they were out of so we settled on two glasses of Coca-Cola which tasted very funny. As if the nozzles hadn’t been cleaned out in months or something. So ultimately, yes, I would definitely suggest a visit to Roscoe’s, but don’t go to the one on Pico, especially since there’s six other locations.

Anyways, after doing some more neighborhood wandering and window shopping in the eclectic Mid-City area, we went back to the hotel, where I enjoyed a free beer before going in for the night. The next day, we ventured to Fairfax and Hollywood. Stay tuned.

#los angeles #thoughts and experiences #california #food #exploration #roscoe's chicken and waffles #venice beach #pico blvd #mid-city #west l.a.

0 notes