#this angry indigenous boy who just wants to protect his family

[arriettyspin]

I appreciate Mockingjay as a conclusion a lot more now than I did at fourteen, but I maintain that it could've been the perfect final book in the trilogy had it tied up the ridiculous love triangle subplot earlier and Gale's character was utilised more outside of his feelings for Katniss.

[chronicparagon]

Headcanon: Micheal Lone Bear Halcyon

Note: I debated on posting this for a while now. I worry that posting this would not be a good idea. I’ll be frank, this headcanon is pretty trigger heavy. It tells the story of the damages done many years ago.

 Some of this hits close to home for me as it’s based on US history and what my family experienced, but I feel I should write this. It is important to carry the true history for the consequences of the government’s action exists today. It is also why I am doing my job and getting my doctorate. Perhaps it’s a way to mourn and heal from the ugly past. This will be under the cut and tagged. 

I understand if you wish to skip this headcanon as it is a rather dark one. I don’t know if it is appropriate, honestly, but I felt it’s necessary for some reason.  So I’ll see what you guys think and what I should do. 

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Harmony comes from a large family headed by her grandfather’s sisters. The entire family is pretty close and always help each other. However, there are a few members who were not recognized as part of the family. 

One of them is Harmony’s direct ancestors from seven generations ago. He was called Micheal Lone Bear Halcyon. He grew up during a difficult time.

Micheal was called Lone Bear at birth. He was born in what is now the Black Hawk Reservation and he was the son of a traditional Lakota couple who came from a long line of warriors who fought for their people since the beginning of time. His mother did not survive the birth, a consequence caused by the poor living conditions they lived in. Micheal’s father swore to his late wife that he would do everything he could to protect their son and not give up the old way of life. 

Sadly, fate had other plans.

Lone Bear was only eight years old when he was taken away from his father. By the orders of the government, they forcibly took many Indigenous children from their families and put in boarding schools where they were taught to be ashamed of who they are.

Micheal would never see his father again for he lost his life when he ambushed a military camp, demanding to have their children back and chase the soldiers off their land. That bloody night was their last stand.  They were given American names with the boys' long hair cut short, and forbid the children to speak their languages or practice their cultures. There was severe punishment for violations of these strict rules, sometimes having fatal consequences. 

After all, the boarding schools are made with this motto in mind: “Kill the Indian, save the man.” A saying that sparked genocide committed on the most innocent victims.

This is how Lone Bear became Micheal, and it is in this school that he and many of his classmates faced relentless abuse. Physical abuse, mental abuse, and other despicable acts occurred within these blood stained walls. 

 He was one of the lucky survivors from these schools, but he was never the same. He became a bitter young man who hated his heritage. Micheal was envious of wealthy white people, wishing he was just like them. It was this dream and the shame from the abuse and hatred for his identity that drove Micheal to seek a life far different from the old ways, and nothing like the impoverished lifestyle he’s damned to live. Forced to live on poor land that became reservations, commodity foods, and housing that were not sufficient for large families. 

Micheal took up drinking and became a heavy alcoholic with a severe addiction to gambling. He always thought he could win big and he can live with a large fortune. He married a Lakota woman who was also a boarding school survivor. Emma Little Feather was her name. They had five children together, but Micheal struggled to make ends meet with little opportunity for jobs. Two of his children passed on from malnutrition caused by little access to food.

“Who wants to hire an Indian?” A very common phrase spoken by people in nearby town

“Back off, savage! We don’t want your kind here!” 

“How can I trust you in my business when your people are thieves?” Spiteful words dripping with venom from employers who had no interest in taking Indigenous people in their workforce. 

Things were darker by the day for Micheal and his people. It further fueled his self-hatred and the anger, now hardly finding comfort in liquor. He soon became resentful toward his wife and children for they tried to rekindle the Lakota way. The threats and violence did little to quell his anger and further added to his shame.  Guilt weighed heavier and heavier until he couldn’t take it anymore. 

One night, Micheal Lone Bear Halcyon ran. He ran away from home, away from the land his ancestors once thought, the land stained by the blood of his forefathers. He ran away, determined to become wealthy and finally loved by all. It was what he wanted to fill the void in his heart caused by hate and losing the Lakota way of life. He does not know that he is ill, an ill man who’s heart is sick and his spirit was hungry for acceptance which he never had since he was kidnapped and sent to the boarding school.  His heart was ill, never allowed to mourn for losing his father, family, and his pride to be a Lakota. He never healed from these tragedies, which remains strong to this day. 

Micheal ran and never returned to the Black Hawk Reservation. 

 Emma and her children did not know what became of Micheal. She struggled to support her remaining children, but the children grew up resenting their father. The man who ran from his family and his people in favor for gambling and drink. That was how they saw it and perhaps there may be some truth. Micheal’s children told stories of their father to their own children, for he was an angry man who never bridled his rage. An angry and abusive man who abandoned his family for wealth. This was a cardinal sin for the Lakota favored family and their heritage over material possessions. 

  These stories passed between generations in the Halcyon family who called Micheal Lone Bear a black sheep. Though he suffered and had no way to mourn for his losses and recover, they do not excuse his choices for he ultimately decided to abandoned his family and tribe for his dreams to be rich and famous, and become the white man he longed to be. 

His life was a story of hurt, anger, shame, and spite, which poisoned him and haunted him in his remaining days.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 12, 2020

Heather Cox Richardson

According to a proclamation from the president, today is officially “Columbus Day,” when we honor the “many immeasurable contributions of Italy to American history.” The president’s proclamation goes on to complain that “in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy” by replacing a recognition of his “vast contributions” with talk of failings, atrocities, and transgressions.

Trump’s proclamation goes on: “Rather than learn from our history, this radical ideology and its adherents seek to revise it, deprive it of any splendor, and mark it as inherently sinister. They seek to squash any dissent from their orthodoxy.” He notes the steps he has taken to “promote patriotic education:” he signed an Executive Order to create a National Garden of American Heroes, set up “the 1776 Commission, which will encourage our educators to teach our children about the miracle of American history and honor our founding,” and signed an Executive Order “to root out the teaching of racially divisive concepts from the Federal workplace.”

For all of Trump’s attention to patriotic education, his proclamation is quite bad history. Aside from its whitewashing of the effects of Columbus’s voyage of “discovery,” the proclamation misrepresents the original point of Columbus Day, which had a lot more to do with putting down white supremacy than celebrating the “enduring significance” of Columbus in opening “a new chapter in world history.”

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt officially instituted Columbus Day in 1934, but the idea for the holiday rose in the 1920s, when the Knights of Columbus tried to undercut the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan by emphasizing the role minorities had played in America. In the early 1920s, the organization published three books in a “Knights of Columbus Racial Contributions” series, including The Gift of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois. They celebrated the contributions of immigrants, especially Catholic immigrants, to America with parades honoring Christopher Columbus. The Knights of Columbus were determined to reinforce the idea that America must not be a land of white Protestant supremacy.

Trump’s words about patriotic education also ring hollow when the news of the day makes it seem that the administration is more interested in staying in power than in protecting our democratic government.

Today was the first day of early voting in Georgia, and a record 126,876 voters cast ballots. In the state’s Democratic areas some people had to wait in line for as long as ten hours to vote.

Trump’s contribution to early voting today was to tweet “California is going to hell. Vote Trump!” and “New York has gone to hell. Vote Trump!” and “Illinois has no place to go. Sad, isn’t it? Vote Trump!” Once again, he insisted that he has a healthcare plan, although he has been promising such a plan since before his inauguration and none has ever materialized. “We will have Healthcare which is FAR BETTER than ObamaCare, at a FAR LOWER COST - BIG PREMIUM REDUCTION. PEOPLE WITH PRE EXISTING CONDITIONS WILL BE PROTECTED AT AN EVEN HIGHER LEVEL THAN NOW. HIGHLY UNPOPULAR AND UNFAIR INDIVIDUAL MANDATE ALREADY TERMINATED. YOU’RE WELCOME!”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation's top infectious disease specialists who is advising the White House, is openly angry that the Trump campaign took his words out of context to make it seem like he was applauding the administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He said that, by using his words misleadingly and against his will, the Trump campaign is “in effect harassing me.” Fauci’s anger hasn’t stopped the campaign, which today broke precedent to use an image of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley in a campaign ad. The image was used without Milley’s knowledge or consent, and violates the military’s strict policies against participation in political campaigns.

An article in the New York Times today outlines how the administration appears to be trying to buy votes by funneling money to key constituencies before the election. Trump has said he is sending $200 cards to seniors to help them pay for drug prescriptions. He approved $13 billion in aid to Puerto Rico, which could help win him votes in Florida (politicians often campaign in territories or even foreign countries from which immigrants come because it helps them win votes at home). He has required the Agriculture Department to enclose letters in both English and Spanish in its food distributions to families giving Trump credit for both “sending nutritious food” and “safeguarding the health and well-being of our citizens.”

The administration will also distribute $46 billion (not a typo) to farmers in the South and Midwest who have been whacked by Trump’s trade war with China and coronavirus, to try to offset the record farm debt accumulating and the rise in farm bankruptcies, although it appears the money goes primarily to big operations.

Instead of using the presidency to protect the interests of the nation, Trump appears to be using it as a money-making operation for his family. The New York Times on Saturday continued its series on Trump’s taxes, showing how he turned his hotels and resorts into “a system of direct presidential influence-peddling unrivaled in modern American politics.” Under terrible financial stress, the president used his office to line his pockets. Foreign politicians, businessmen, and contractors who wanted federal contracts, would throw pricey events, donate to Trump’s campaign, or buy memberships at Trump’s properties—he raised the membership fee at Mar-a-Lago to $250,000-- where Trump would often be there to help them get what they wanted.

Looking at Trump’s record undercutting our democracy, even just for today alone, makes you wonder just what he means by “patriotic education,” and who, exactly, are the “radical activists” he attacks for not honoring “the miracle of our founding.”

Here's the story: historians are not denigrating the nation when they uncover sordid parts of our past. Historians study how and why societies change. As we dig into the past we see patterns that never entirely foreshadow the present, but that give us ideas about how people have dealt with circumstances in the past that look similar to circumstances today. With luck, seeing those patterns will help us make better decisions about our own lives, our communities, and our nation in the present. As they say, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

If we are going to get an accurate picture of how a society works, historians must examine it honestly. That means seeing the bad as well as the good, because, after all, any human society is going to have both. Sometimes good human actions change society; sometimes bad ones do. George Washington’s heroic refusal to be a king is no truer than his enslavement of other human beings, and both changed our nation in ways that we need to understand if we are to make good decisions about how to take care of our own society.

History, though, is different than commemoration. History is about what happened in the past while commemoration is about the present. We put up statues and celebrate holidays to honor figures from the past who embody some quality we admire. But as society changes, the qualities we care about shift. In the 1920s, Columbus mattered to Americans who opposed the Ku Klux Klan because he represented a multicultural society. Now, though, he represents the devastation of America’s indigenous people at the hands of European colonists who brought to North America and South America germs and a fever for gold and God. It is not “radical activism” to want to commemorate a different set of values than we held in the 1920s.

What is radical activism, though, is the attempt to skew history to serve a modern-day political narrative. Rejecting an honest account of the past makes it impossible to see accurate patterns. The lessons we learn about how society changes will be false, and the decisions we make based on those false patterns will not be grounded in reality.

And a nation grounded in fiction, rather than reality, cannot function.

——

LETTERS FROM AN AMERiCAN

Heather Cox Richardson

[bountyofbeads]

Nestlé plan to take 1.1m gallons of water a day from natural springs sparks outcry

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/26/nestle-suwannee-river-ginnie-springs-plan-permit?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Post_to_Tumblr

PLEASE STOP BUYING BOTTLED WATER!!! It's bad for the oceans, our health and the environment. Invest in a water filter, it's cheaper in the long run and better for the planet 🌏.

Nestlé plan to take 1.1m gallons of water a day from natural springs sparks outcry

Opponents fighting to stop the project say the fragile river cannot sustain such a large draw

Richard Luscombe in Miami |

Published:01:00 Mon August 26, 2019 | The Guardian | Posted August 26, 2019

The crystal blue waters of Ginnie Springs have long been treasured among the string of pearls that line Florida’s picturesque Santa Fe River, a playground for water sports enthusiasts and an ecologically critical haven for the numerous species of turtles that nest on its banks.

Soon, however, it is feared there could be substantially less water flowing through, if a plan by the food and beverage giant Nestlé wins approval.

In a controversial move that has outraged environmentalists and also raised questions with authorities responsible for the health and vitality of the river, the company is seeking permission to take more than 1.1m gallons a day from the natural springs to sell back to the public as bottled water.

Opponents say the fragile river, which is already officially deemed to be “in recovery” by the Suwannee River water management district after years of earlier overpumping, cannot sustain such a large draw – a claim Nestlé vehemently denies. Critics are fighting to stop the project as environmentally harmful and against the public interest.

Meanwhile, Nestlé, which produces its popular Zephyrhills and Pure Life brands with water extracted from similar natural springs in Florida, has spent millions of dollars this year buying and upgrading a water bottling plant at nearby High Springs in expectation of permission being granted.

The company needs the Suwannee River water management district to renew an expired water use permit held by a local company, Seven Springs, from which it plans to buy the water at undisclosed cost. Nestlé insists spring water is a rapidly renewable resource and promises a “robust” management plan in partnership with its local agents for long-term sustainability of its water sources.

Yet company officials concede in letters to water managers supporting the permit request that its plans would result in four times more water being taken daily than Seven Springs’ previously recorded high of 0.26m gallons for its customers before Nestlé.

“The facility is in process of adding bottling capacity and expects significant increase in production volumes equal to the requested annual average daily withdrawal volume of approximately 1.152m gallons,” George Ring, natural resources manager for Nestlé Waters North America, wrote in a June letter to the Suwannee district engineers.

Campaigners against Nestlé’s plan, who have set up an online forum and petition and submitted dozens of letters of opposition ahead of a decision that could come as early as November, say that environmental grounds alone should be enough to disqualify the plan.

“The question is how much harm is it going to cause the spring, what kind of change is going to be made in that water system?” said Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, a director of the not-for-profit Our Santa Fe River.

“The Santa Fe River is already in decline [and] there’s not enough water coming out of the aquifer itself to recharge these lovely, amazing springs that are iconic and culturally valued and important for natural systems and habitats.

“It’s impossible to withdraw millions of gallons of water and not have an impact. If you take any amount of water out of a glass you will always have less.”

It’s impossible to withdraw millions of gallons of water and not have an impact

Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson

Additionally, Malwitz-Jipson said, the Santa Fe River and its associated spring habitats are home to 11 native turtle species and four non-native species, which rely on a vigorous water flow and river levels.

“Few places on Earth have as many turtle species living together and about a quarter of all North American freshwater turtle species inhabit this small river system. A big threat to this diversity is habitat degradation, which will happen with reduced flows.”

Stefani Weeks, program engineer with the Suwannee River water management district, said that because Seven Springs was seeking a five-year renewal of an existing permit instead of making a new application. Board members could not consider in their final decision the Santa Fe River’s protected designation and a recovery strategy implemented in 2014 to restore reduced water flows and levels.

But the district has its own questions, and wrote to Seven Springs in July for a second time to request answers. “Their first response we didn’t feel was complete, so we asked for them to go into more detail,” she said. “Once they respond we will review that information.”

Among the items the district wants are an evaluation report of any harm that the project might cause to wetlands, and a documented impact study of Ginnie Springs. The permit cannot be granted, the district says, unless Seven Springs can show that there would be no change in “water levels or flows of the source spring from the normal rate and range of function” and “no adverse impacts to water quality, vegetation or animal population”.

Nestlé is no stranger to controversy over its water extraction activities. In 2017, the state water resources control board of California issued a report of investigation concluding that the company appeared to be diverting water “without a valid basis of right” from Strawberry Canyon in the San Bernardino national forest for use in its Arrowhead brand of bottled water.

Nestlé continues to dispute the finding and is still pumping water there – 45m gallons last year, according to published reports. But in the tussle over whether the company had historic rights to all the water it was taking from the creek, groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters and the Save Our Forest Association were critical of Nestlé and its operations.

In a written statement Nestlé, which employs 800 people in Florida, said it wanted to address “misconceptions” about its plans.

“We adhere to all relevant regulatory and state standards. Just like all the previous owners of the High Springs factory which manufactured bottled water and other beverages, we are not taking water from a publicly owned source. Instead we are buying water from a private company which holds the valid water use permit,” spokesman Adam Gaber said, adding that Nestlé’s water use “will always remain strictly within the limit set by the permit”.

He said that Nestlé was also a responsible steward of the environment. “Our business depends on the quality and sustainability of the water we are collecting,” he said.

“It would make no sense to invest millions of dollars into local operations just to deplete the natural resources on which our business relies. It would undermine the success of our business and go against every value we hold as people and as a company.”

While Nestlé extracts millions of litres from their land, residents have no drinking water

Just 90 minutes from Toronto, residents of a First Nations community try to improve the water situation as the beverage company extracts from their land

By Alexandra Shimo | Published:05:00 Thu October 4, 2018 | The Guardian | Posted August 26, 8:00 PM ET |

The mysterious rash on the arm of six-year-old Theron wouldn’t heal. For almost a year, his mother, Iokarenhtha Thomas, who lives in the Six Nations of the Grand River indigenous reserve in Ontario, went to the local doctor for lotions for the boy. It worked, for a time. But the itchy red rash always returned. Thomas came to suspect the culprit behind the rash: water – or, rather, the lack of it.

Thomas, a university student and mother of five, has lived without running tap water since the age of 16. Her children lack access to things commonplace elsewhere, like toilets, showers and baths. For washing and toilet usage, they use a bucket.

It is a challenging existence, full of frustration, exhaustion and health problems, and reminiscent of life in some developing countries. But this is not the “third world”. It is Canada, which regularly ranks as one of the United Nations’ top places in the world to live. Moreover, this Native community is located in prosperous southern Ontario, 90 minutes from Canada’s largest and richest city, Toronto.

Meanwhile, while Thomas and her family do without water, the beverage company Nestlé extracts millions of litres of water daily from Six Nations treaty land.

Twice a week, Thomas and her husband grab jugs, pails and whatever else they have in the house, and drive 8km to a public tap to fill up. The water isn’t drinkable, however, so once a week they also drive 10km to the nearest town, Caledonia, to buy bottled water to drink.

“When my husband isn’t here, it makes it difficult to do the dishes or anything because I don’t have the strength to carry all the jugs of water,” Thomas said.

“When I start to compare my life to someone who isn’t living on reserve, I start feeling angry at the government,” she said. “Because our people don’t have running water. But that’s just the reality of living on reserve. You grow up being treated unfairly.”

Each container of the store-bought bottled water weighs more than 40lb, so a little over a year ago, Thomas, a slight, willowy woman, began supplementing them with rainwater collected from her rooftop gutters. She would have continued had it not been for her son’s rashes, later diagnosed as impetigo, which she believes came from bacteria on the roof’s shingles. “It made me feel like a bad mother to know that he had all these skin issues from washing with [rain] water.”

That’s just the reality of living on reserve. You grow up being treated unfairly

Ninety-one percent of the homes in this community aren’t connected to the water treatment plant, says Michael Montour, director of public works for Six Nations. Some, like the Thomas home, have no water at all. Others have water in their taps, but it is too polluted to drink.

The Six Nations are not the only First Nations community in Canada with a water crisis. There are currently 50 indigenous communities with long-term boil water advisories, which means an estimated 63,000 people haven’t had drinkable water for at least a year – and some for decades. But this may underestimate the size of the problem, since some indigenous communities, such as Six Nations, have a functional water plant but no workable plumbing. The lack of water has been linked to health issues in indigenous communities including hepatitis A, gastroenteritis, giardia lamblia (“beaver fever”), scabies, ringworm and acne.

“Why do white people live with water and we don’t?” said Dawn Martin-Hill, a Six Nations local and professor of indigenous studies at McMaster University. “They don’t have to live like we live. There’s a lot of environmental racism.”

It seems difficult to believe that anyone in Canada, a large, sparsely populated country home to 60% of the world’s lakes and one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, could be without clean water.

Canada’s bounty has made it an attractive destination for beverage brands such as Aquafina and Dasani, which pump and bottle the abundant freshwater. But the distribution is rarely according to need. Nestlé, the world’s biggest bottler, is extracting up to 3.6m litres of water daily from nearby Six Nations treaty land.

“Six Nations did not approve [of Nestlé pumping],” Martin-Hill said. “They told Nestlé that they wanted them to stop. Of course, they are still pumping as we speak.”

Nestlé pumps springwater from the nearby Erin well, which sits on a tract of land given to the Six Nations under the 1701 Nanfan Treaty and the 1784 Haldimand Tract, said Lonny Bomberry, Six Nations lands and resources director.

The Six Nations – Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora – sided with the British during the American revolution; as a reward they were given an area of approximately 3,845 sq km around the Grand River. Later, Ontario broke the treaty, reducing it to the current 194 sq km.

The land’s legacy may be 300 years old, but for Six Nations residents, it is alive and present. Many are outraged at Nestlé’s practices, including JD Sault, a self-employed mother of two. Like the Thomases, she lacks drinking water in her home. She paid several thousand dollars for her house to be connected to a nearby well – then found the water too polluted to drink. There is probably sewage contamination from her neighbours’ septic beds, she said. She worries about E coli and other bacteria.

“Nestlé are taking out water for free, so why don’t they dispense it to people?” Sault said. “It’s the indigenous resources they are taking. It’s unreal what [Nestlé] are doing. It’s unreal the way they operate.”

No one disputes the existence or legality of the Haldiman or Nanfan treaties. If anything, their legality is finally being taken seriously, thanks to a shift in the national political climate toward greater recognition of indigenous rights, including several wins in the supreme and lower courts.

But the question of who owns Canadian water is as murky as the water on many First Nations lands. In theory, the provinces have owned the water since 1930, when the federal government delegated ownership with the Natural Resources Transfer Act. According to that act, the provinces have the right to sell their water to whomever they want, including companies like Nestlé.

But water is also supposed to be regulated by the federal government, which is responsible for the natural environment and Canada’s waterways. And, according to the Canadian constitution, the federal government has a “duty to accommodate and consult” First Nations and to make sure other parties do the same when extracting any natural resource, including water, from indigenous land.

This legal ambiguity has allowed Nestlé to move in and extract precious water on expired permits for next to nothing. Nestlé pays the province of Ontario $503.71 (US$390.38) per million litres. But they pay the Six Nations nothing.

In response, the Six Nations are suing the province, in a case before the superior court of Ontario.

“We are working hard on developing our relationships with local First Nations communities, and look forward to working together,” Jennifer Kerr, director of corporate affairs for Nestlé Waters Canada, wrote in an email to the Guardian.

“Everything has to do with the water,” explained Ken Greene, 53, who lives with his wife in a one-bedroom trailer without running water. “Because it has to do with the land. Land needs water. We need water. We can’t survive without it.”

The disputed Erin well is located in a drought-stricken area, explained Emma Lui, a water campaigner with the Council of Canadians, a progressive not-for-profit that works on environmental causes. The drought has dried the wetlands surrounding Greene’s 10-acre property. It has also decimated the local populations of salmon, trout, pike and pickerel, Greene said.

Martin-Hill told me that indigenous leaders can do little to address the drought because they are caught in a legal trap. Drought and other environmental problems are supposed to be addressed during the granting of new water permits. That’s when scientific and legal experts examine fish populations, vegetation and aquifer levels to decide how much well water can be safely extracted.

It’s not happening. There’s been a moratorium on new permits since 2016 – yet, paradoxically, the Ontario government has also given companies the right to pump water on expired permits until 2019. (The permit for the Erin site expired in 2017.)

Makaśa Looking Horse, 21, a student in indigenous studies at McMaster University, has organized a community-wide march for this fall. She has also organized a boycott of Nestlé’s products. “It’s hard to boycott Nestlé because they own so many companies that sell so many products,” she said. “It’s hard to pick and choose. You don’t always know what’s Nestlé and what’s not because they own so much.”

This is not the first time Nestlé has found itself in such difficulties. In fact, numerous conflicts have surfaced related to their business model, according to Peter Gleick, co-founder and president emeritus of the Pacific Institute, a global water thinktank, and author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water.

Many of Nestlé’s competitors, such as Aquafina and Dasani, don’t use spring water, but filter and treat tap water, Gleick said. But Nestlé was founded in the 19th century on the idea that spring water might have incredible health benefits. Nestlé bottles its brands – including Arrowhead, Poland Spring, Deer Park, Ozarka, Zephyrhills, Acqua Panna, San Pellegrino, Perrier, Vittel and Buxton – from deep aquifers and natural springs, which can take decades or longer to replenish.

For the past century, demand for freshwater has grown twice as fast as population growth, explained Steven Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization. The United Nations predicts that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will live with dire water shortages, and two-thirds of the world’s population could be living under stressed water conditions. That means a race to find untapped springs.

Anticipating shortages, companies like Nestlé are trying to lock in as much of the world’s water as possible, explained Solomon. Bottled water is the world’s most popular drink, and its sales recently outstripped soft drinks, according to a study by Beverage Marketing Corp. The trend is expected to intensify. The higher temperatures predicted with climate change will lead to less water and more thirst. “Demand is rising,” Solomon said. “The curve is rising a lot. And they are trying to tie up supply.”

“The fact that Nestlé is commercializing these natural resources in a community that doesn’t have access to reliable safe, affordable drinking water is a stunning example of the disparities we see around the world in access to safe water,” Gleick said. “The rich can pay for water and the poor get shortchanged over and over again.”

The former CEO of Nestlé, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, caused an international furor when he praised the commodification of water in a 2005 documentary, saying: “One perspective held by various NGOs – which I would call extreme – is that water should be declared a human right … The other view is that water is a grocery product. And just as every other product, it should have a market value.”

While the lack of water in indigenous communities has been carefully documented, the full impact on the health and mental wellbeing of indigenous residents has not.

Eager for answers, McMaster University professor Martin-Hill is conducting a three-year interdisciplinary study examining the impact of contaminated water and lack of water on humans, as well as fish and wildlife. “We need to know what is going on. Because what is happening with our water is a systemic, institutional assault on indigenous people’s lands and rights over those lands to protect and preserve them.”

Martin-Hill believes that the exorbitant suicide rate among First Nations youth – five to seven times that of other Canadians, according to the federal government – is directly related to the lack of drinkable water. For a Six Nations person, water is sacred and a symbol of life. But the lack also has metaphorical significance, as it becomes representative of the myriad ways that indigenous Canadians are treated as second-class citizens.

“The young people are upset, pissed and demoralized,” Martin-Hill said. “There’s a strong element of depression, sadness and hopelessness because it’s been going on for so long. Young people don’t see a future.”

At Six Nations, the water situation is improving, albeit slowly. In 2013, the community received a $41m grant to build a state-of-the-art water treatment plant. Unfortunately, the grant did not cover the cost of plumbing, so it serves only 9% of homes.

“We had to take out a loan for $12m to come up with the final dollars needed,” Chief Ava Hill said. “In addition, they have not provided sufficient operation and maintenance dollars for us to run the plant. The challenges of gaining money for infrastructure on reserves is that the federal government simply does not provide enough dollars even though they have the fiduciary responsibility to do so.”

With the election of Justin Trudeau, the tide seemed to shift somewhat. The prime minister promised to improve First Nations prosperity and solve the bad water issue on indigenous reserves by March 2021.

While there has been some progress, there aren’t sufficient funds. The Liberal government earmarked $1.8bn over five years to solve the water issue. But the real cost is estimated at $3.2bn, leaving the government more than $1bn short.

For Thomas, the inequality between indigenous people’s access to drinking water and everyone else didn’t start with water, but far earlier, with land displacement and colonialism. For her, it is the latest example of an ongoing cultural genocide. When thinking about how she will survive another day without drinking water, she remembers how her family has survived in the past.

“We are taught to be resilient,” she said. “It’s not right, but it’s just a reality. You have to tell yourself: ‘This is just the way it is.’ Otherwise you become angry and bitter.”

[loudlytransparenttrash]

This Week Within Our Colleges: Part 20

Evergreen State College held another celebration of racial segregation. Last year the school created a shitstorm after they asked white students and staff to stay away from campus for the day so the non-whites can “heal.” This time around it was a three-day “Day of Absence” which asked students to RSVP at a URL named ‘No Nazis Allowed’ where no-whites-allowed meet-ups were held off campus. But don’t worry, they didn’t entirely exclude whites, as they state in their advertisement: “In addition to POC centered events there will be anti-racist workshops for white folks.” 

University of Chicago socialist and black lives matter student groups demanded their school pays not only its black students reparations but local black residents too. They claim the original University of Chicago, a completely different entity from today’s, had its original land donated by Stephen Douglas who purchased the property using profits from his wife’s family’s plantation in 1856, so all black people in the area today are owed “damages.” 

Howard University student protesters occupied an administrative building for over a week with a list of demands which the school has ultimately caved to. The demands include fighting rape culture on campus, disarming campus police out of “respect for Black life,” implementing a system that can track and discipline faculty who use classist, ableist, colorist, queerphobic language, hiring more counselors to “cater to the traumas of systemic oppression,” and the resignation of Howard’s president along with the school’s Board of Trustees. 

A group of black students at Oklahoma State University created a list of demands which include punishing students or faculty who use “racially insensitive” rhetoric, creating a minority history and diversity lounge, hiring more faulty of color and for the school to rename its buildings after “prominent social activists of color.” They’re called the ‘Four Percent’ and from the look of their meetings posted on Twitter, it appears their name reflects their four-person membership.

St. Catherine University canceled a one-day conference designed to equip and empower women for leadership roles because too many of the female speakers scheduled to appear were white. “The lineup did not reflect the diverse St. Kate’s community of today nor the world of tomorrow we are committed to creating.” Last year at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, a conference on writing for children and young adults was also canceled, calling it a “mistake” that too many white speakers were going to be there.

Duke University hosted a workshop titled “Confronting White Fragility” that explores the topics of “whiteness and racism” with the goal of addressing the supposed problems that white people have with discussing racism. It serves as an introduction to the work of Robin DiAngelo, the inventor of ‘White Fragility.’ According to DiAngelo, white fragility is the defensive moves that white people make when spoken to about their privilege and many forms of racism, all which ultimately protects white supremacy and racial inequalities. 

Stanford University intended to offer a workshop called “Confronting Whiteness” which aimed to provide students an opportunity to understand problems associated with white privilege and learn ways they could lessen the pain white privilege creates, according to the online description. “Learn tools to mitigate the harms of white privilege in daily life. We will work through real-life examples together.” 

Stanford Law School student activists created a campaign to expose the “racism, bigotry and the forces of white supremacy” pervading the school. The group claim racism runs rampant and minority students suffer “death by a thousand proverbial paper-cuts,” pointing to microaggressions they say they are constantly bombarded with. They also complain how “it’s stunning that you can graduate with a Stanford Law degree and completely avoid discussions of race and structural inequalities in your three years here.”

University of Akron thankfully squashed a professor’s plans to boost the grades of his female students in an attempt to “correct gender imbalances” as part of a “national movement.” The professor admitted that his female students were “not doing well” and they would have to repeat the course if he did not boost their scores. It appears he got the idea from the plan of action by Microsoft which encourages teachers to reward female students for effort rather than for knowing the right answers. 

Schulich School of Law first-year students receive a two-sided card in their mandatory Aboriginal & Indigenous class suggesting 50 ways they can acknowledge and act on their complicity in the mistreatment of Indigenous people. Ways for students to pay their reparations include adding land acknowledgment in their email signatures, buying dreamcatchers, learning “why sexy Pocahontas is just wrong,” and when discussing LGBTQ issues, always including two-spirited peoples (LGBTQ2S*)

Humboldt State University offers a lengthy online resource guide to address a wide variety of issues dealing with whiteness, including white privilege, white fragility, white spaces and seeing white. It offers more than a dozen different articles on white privilege, defined as having ��unearned entitlements” such as feeling safe in public. The “Seeing White” section showcases a weekly podcast on “the historical origins of whiteness and its racism in the U.S.” The guide also suggests reading “The scientific way to train white people to stop being racist.”

An educational session called “The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys” has been embraced by universities such as North Carolina-Charlotte, University of Iowa, Grand Valley State and Metropolitan Community College. Better connecting with black youth and their education seems like quite a reasonable conversation, until you learn the sessions are based off a book with the same title, where the author writes, “Given that whites come to the teaching profession with ingrained and implicit bias simply because they live in a white supremacist country, their whiteness impacts their classrooms and especially those black males who exist in their space for the school year.” 

George Washington University hosted a training session for students and faculty that teaches that white Christians “receive unmerited perks" and are the beneficiaries of a combined “Christian Privilege and White Privilege.” The event also aims to educate those of the “role of denial when it comes to white privilege.” By the end of the training, the organizers want participants to be able to name at least three examples of Christian privilege and at least three ways to be a good ally for those of a different religion. 

Yale University is offering a course which aims to help students understand and counteract “whiteness,” exploring such topics as white spaces, white masculinity and white speech. Students in the course are asked to read books such as Angry White Men, White Woman, Listen! and My White Feminism. The professor is active in the theater community and has produced the play “The White Card” which centers around a conversation at a dinner party focusing on the question: “Can American society progress if whiteness stays invisible?”

University of Wisconsin-Madison have created a class that teaches students the relationship between social justice and hip-hop. It will be taught by the professor who is best known for his “The Problem of Whiteness” course, and will involve reading race theory and listening to hip-hop music. It will also delve into colonialism, blackness, cultural appropriation, white rappers, black power, and black feminism. The funniest part about it all? The teacher is white and enjoys performing hip-hop on his weekends under the moniker ‘ProfessorD.us’ 

Columbia University is not to be outdone, creating a class about pop and social justice to teach students how to write music addressing “LGBTQIA rights,” mass incarceration and “gender and racial equality.” According to the program coordinator, the workshop will teach students how to “harness music to advance social justice narratives” as “it’s a university’s role to enact social change.” 

California Institute of Integral Studies held a “Making Whiteness Conscious” workshop to discuss how “racial privilege is often unconscious for white people,” especially “in this time when the rise of white supremacy is hypervisible.” Participants took part in “theatre of the oppressed” exercises and reflected on the often invisible negative impacts of whiteness. By end of the workshop, attendees were expected to have a better understanding of “white racial identity” and how to “cultivate racial justice orientation.” 

At Santa Clara University, a “Know Your Whiteness” display was created on a bulletin board which claims white people have to acknowledge their privilege "for the greater good.” “Understanding our privilege is the first step to addressing the problem which will improve everyone’s quality of life.” In the same area it displays a list of boxes to check your privilege, but the only options are if you are white, male, Christian, able-bodied, heterosexual and cisgender. The board shows an image of a white male that has a green check mark and a black man, a Muslim woman and person in a wheelchair who all bear red crosses. It recommends white people be “an ally at movements and events BUT don’t speak over others.” 

Penn State has become the latest university to abolish the king and queen homecoming titles, replacing it with the unsexed “Guide State Forward Award” in an attempt to advance “diversity and gender inclusivity” and “foster a welcoming and equitable environment.” They have also abandoned the male-to-female ratio of Homecoming, allowing one sex to be given both of the new gender neutral awards. 

Mount Holyoke, a women’s liberal arts college, has updated its Advanced Topics in Italian course that studies fascism with a particular focus on the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini to include President Donald Trump. Taught in Italian, the course description tells students that it plans to discuss the Trump administration as it follow the development of fascisms.

A New York University music technology professor claims it’s part of white supremacy when teachers trained in classical music teach classical music. Professors who teach their students about Beethoven and Mozart is a product of “a racist patriarchy” and a “preservation of whiteness.” He says the problem with teaching classical music is not a case of boring or alienating students of color, but it’s an “attack on their sense of belonging to the school community" and even more criminal, “it fails to advance social justice.”

Ohio State University’s Young Democratic Socialists hosted a “deportation defense training workshop” that hoped to teach students the “best ways to prevent deportations, protect the undocumented and resist ICE.” According to the event’s online description, “this is an opportunity for us to get involved in the immigrant’s struggle on campus.” Wait, immigrant or illegal immigrant? 

A Columbia University lecturer recently explained how veganism can help “resist the violence associated with the subjugation and oppression of nonwhite groups.” “What we do to other animals informs how we treat one another on this planet, and it is someone who doesn’t have institutional power, and they’re usually brown” he told the attendees. A proud “social justice advocate,” he teaches a graduate course called “POP! Power, Oppression, and Privilege” where he argues the parallels between eating meat and racism and sexism. 

[real-words-from-rahema]

An Analysis of Black Panther: The Amazingly Good and the Extremely Problematic

After traveling around the world, primarily in Africa for the last six months, I enjoyed seeing the aspects of East African, South African and West African culture featured in the film. Representations of their clothing, their landscapes, their ways of being, their connection to the land. I was especially hyped about the Gqom song played near the beginning of the film in the lab, as well as the use of isiXhosa language. I did though wonder what someone living in Africa would think about these elements being thrown together as part of one country. But since Wakanda is a fictional place, I decided that this approach made sense as a way to make Wakanda more ambiguous, though the accents and use of Xhosa made it seem South African.

And then, of course, there are the women in the movie. They were strong, they were intelligent, they were beautiful AND they were main characters. They were not last minute additions simply brought on to add sex appeal; they made the movie. I don’t remember the last time I��ve seen this level of Black female grandeur in a film...have I ever seen this level of Black female grandeur in a film? I’m not sure if “Set It Off” counts…”Waiting to Exhale” maybe? Anyway, the essence of women in the film was one of my favorite aspects. I'm also hyped that Letitia Wright, who played Shuri, is Guyanese, because yes, Black people come from South America too! And we can't forget Winston Duke from Tobago! (All my Caribbeans stand up!)

My second favorite element in the film is how it addressed the micro-aggressions of well-meaning white folks. Let’s look at CIA agent Ross, played by Martin Freeman. I didn’t trust Ross at first because, well... he was weird. He assured T’Challa that he had everything under control with Klaw, when, well...he didn’t. He made cultural offences such as patting T’Challa’s arm as if he was a boy, looking at traditional rituals and speaking directly to the leader of the Jabari people as if he had any type of say so on what should happen next in the serious matter at hand (he was shut up rather quickly there wasn’t he). Now to be honest I thought Ross was going to snitch and get all the Vibraniam taken away from Wakanda, and I was super surprised when he demonstrated loyalty and made himself useful. Of course, the movie had to include a half cool white dude.

And there was more "checking of white folk" in the museum scene in which the art curator is reminded that everything on display was stolen from Africa, and her lack of knowledge about the objects is highlighted when she doesn't know the true origin of the objects on display. I'm obviously always here for striking down White arrogance.

On a completely different note, I deeply appreciated what I deemed a metaphor for Africans’ role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade through T’Chaka’s actions. We see that T’Challa is disappointed when he learns that his father T’Chaka did nothing to help the child left behind after T'Chaka killed his father. He had a hand in that child’s situation but did nothing so that he could save face in his kingdom. And we all know that at least in some countries there were agreements between Europeans and African rulers during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which are more often than not ignored. T’Chaka did not see the child as one of Wakanda’s, in his eyes, he was something else entirely. Which is in many ways how the Black American is viewed today. I appreciated that inclusion so much as it’s often overlooked.

And then Black Panther sheds light on the judgment and policing of Black actions. When Black Panther gets Klaw in his hands he is ready to murk him for killing his father, reeking havoc on Wakanda and the rest of the world for 30 years. But the cameras are out and no one is going to give that explanation on CNN if he goes through with it. He is told by his general that the world is watching and thus he knows what he must do, let the crazy, racist, white dude go into custody to get questioned and treated like a human though his job in life has been to dehumanize others. We see this in society everytime a White male shoots up a school and murders numerous people. He gets out alive somehow (unless he commits suicide) while Black men don’t know if they will make it through a traffic stop.

So yeah, I dug all of the elements highlighted above. Now here comes the parts I didn’t dig so much.

Let’s look at the role of the Black American in the movie. Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Wakandan name N’Jadaka) was left fatherless after his father was murdered in Oakland. Hmmm…interesting. Stevens grows up angry, joins the military, and becomes a top killer in that institution. Okay, okay, better than a street thug killer, he went the classy route. He teams up with a filthy, ghetto, White dude named Klaw and tricks him into helping him find Wakanda. Hmm, I’m sure there was a better way to go back to the motherland but okay. When Stevens gets to Wakanda, things start to get real 1800s Liberia. For those that don’t know, in the early 1800s freed American slaves - with the support of the American Colonization Society - emigrated to Liberia and…well…did their part to colonize the indigenous Liberian people into their American way of life. This as I’m sure you guessed, turned out horribly and lent to the chaos that we see in Liberia today. And back to Black Panther in which we see Stevens come to claim his long-lost seat in the royal family and once he gains that seat in a traditional battle, makes orders that don’t align with Wakandan culture, deeming their way of life as weak. This leads to rifts within Wakanda, hence big fight scene at the end of the film.

Okay so, if this was put in there for historical purposes, like to remind us of Liberia and what can happen when we try to use colonizing ways (whether knowingly or unknowingly) when relating to and working with each other as a Black people, okay. But I can’t ignore the divisive notions here and the jab the movie seems to take at the Black Panther Movement in the United States.

Stevens is from Oakland (where the Black Panther Movement started) and lived with a father that had an idea of liberating his people from poverty, police brutality, etc. At the beginning of the movie, we see the father and his friend making some type of plan to push that resolve with weapons. Here is where I’m going to stop the tape. The Black Panther Movement in the United States is deemed by the larger white society as a terrorist group, with the sole purpose of attacking White people - which is not true at all. Black Panthers were armed in their communities as protective measures against police brutality, and they may have engaged in attacks on empty buildings to get attention to help solve issues in their communities since the voting polls were doing nothing, though due to all the FBI corruption that came into play while trying to silence Black Panther members, I’m not sure if these “attacks” were really originated by Black Panthers or were staged to justify arrests and exiles. We also can’t forget all the health care, food, and educational support that Black Panthers provided in their communities

So with that view in mind Stevens wanting to have his wardogs and spies armed isn’t such insane idea. They are a trained group of people that know how and when to use weapons. Now I may need to see the movie again, but I thought that he wanted those in need around the world, those under attack right now to be able to defend themselves. It seems like other people heard something different. At no point did I hear him say, “Go KILL THEM ALL!” Now obviously Stevens' approach was one of arrogance and ignorance and thus even if protection was the message he went about it the wrong way, but again there you have it - Angry, lost, Black man, on a rampage. Stevens was literally all of White fear wrapped up in a f*ck boi bow. Like, it kind of hurt to see my brethren portrayed as that because that’s not who we are and revenge is not what most people want. We just don’t want to die at the hands of the police twice a day or something like that.

And then we have the really weird White people approved ending in which Black Panther’s answer to all this injustice is to do what? Open a community center y’all! Well hot damn that’s an advanced idea, right? And oh wait, he also decided to share his technology with nations all over the world! Does that include nations that colonized others? Oh, yes! Yes, it does! Like really? Black Panther doesn’t understand that colonizers are just going to steal their ideas and use it as theirs, like they’ve done for...like...ever?? I mean that ending was I’m sorry, don’t take my Black card, but it was trash. They can attack Boko Haram at the beginning of the movie (which makes sense) but not do anything about violent white supremacy. SMDH. I got questions.

I just want to say again, I loved the beauty and vibrancy of the people, land, the music. I get the impact it’s having on the film industry, and I understand what the film was going for. I also can’t expect for a Marvel film to answer every political question that exists today. But I can’t let my fictional (not really fictional) African American brother get dragged like that on the big screen. And I’m going to ask that Black American and African beef be squashed next movie, mmmhhh k? Thanks.

[camryndaytona]

Books with Queer Happiness

Since today marks the last day of Pride Month, I thought it might be fitting to share a list of LGBT books that have happy endings.

Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Barzak Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on September 8, 2015 Pages: 352

Seventeen-year-old Aidan Lockwood lives in the sleepy farming community of Temperance, Ohio—known for its cattle ranches and not much else. That is until Jarrod, a friend he hasn't seen in five years, moves back to town and opens Aidan's eyes in startling ways: to Aidan's ability to see the spirit world; to the red-bearded specter of Death; to a family curse that has claimed the lives of the Lockwood men one by one…and to the new feelings he has developed for Jarrod.

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Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour Published by Dutton Books for Young Readers on May 15, 2014 Pages: 307

A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.   A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.   Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.  

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Not Your Sidekick (Sidekick Squad, #1) by C.B. Lee Published by Duet Books on September 8, 2016 Pages: 283

Welcome to Andover… where superpowers are common, but internships are complicated. Just ask high school nobody, Jessica Tran. Despite her heroic lineage, Jess is resigned to a life without superpowers and is merely looking to beef-up her college applications when she stumbles upon the perfect (paid!) internship—only it turns out to be for the town’s most heinous supervillain. On the upside, she gets to work with her longtime secret crush, Abby, who Jess thinks may have a secret of her own. Then there’s the budding attraction to her fellow intern, the mysterious “M,” who never seems to be in the same place as Abby. But what starts as a fun way to spite her superhero parents takes a sudden and dangerous turn when she uncovers a plot larger than heroes and villains altogether.

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Ash by Malinda Lo on September 1, 2009 Pages: 264

Cinderella retold In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted. The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash's capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love. Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

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Love: Beyond Body, Space & Time by Hope Nicholson, David Alexander Robertson Published by Bedside Press on September 30, 2016 Pages: 125

"Love Beyond, Body, Space, and Time" is a collection of indigenous science fiction and urban fantasy focusing on LGBT and two-spirit characters. These stories range from a transgender woman trying an experimental transition medication to young lovers separated through decades and meeting far in their own future. These are stories of machines and magic, love, and self-love. This collection features prose stories by:Cherie Dimaline "The Girl Who Grew a Galaxy," "Red Rooms"Gwen Benaway "Ceremonies for the Dead"David Robertson "Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story," Tales From Big Spirit seriesRichard Van Camp "The Lesser Blessed," "Three Feathers"Mari Kurisato "Celia’s Song," "Bent Box"Nathan Adler "Wrist"Daniel Heath Justice "The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kynship Chronicles"Darcie Little Badger "Nkásht íí, The Sea Under Texas"Cleo KeahnaAnd an introduction by Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair "Manitowapow," with a foreword by Grace Dillon "Walking the Clouds".Edited by Hope Nicholson "Moonshot," "The Secret Loves of Geek Girls"

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Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig Published by Feiwel & Friends on October 4, 2016 Pages: 336

Flynn's girlfriend has disappeared. How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own? Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January's boyfriend, he must know something. But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.

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Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde Published by Swoon Reads on March 14, 2017 Pages: 262

Three friends, two love stories, one convention: this fun, feminist love letter to geek culture is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself. Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought. Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe. Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, is an empowering novel for anyone who has ever felt that fandom is family.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, #1) by Benjamin Alire Sáenz Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on February 21, 2012 Pages: 359

A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship--the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Simonverse, #1) by Becky Albertalli, Mathilde Tamae-Bouhon Published by Balzer + Bray on April 7, 2015 Pages: 303

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised. With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon on February 26, 2019 Pages: 848

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel. Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

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Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O'Neill Published by Oni Press on September 6, 2016 Pages: 53

"I am no prince!" When the heroic princess Amira rescues the kind-hearted princess Sadie from her tower prison, neither expects to find a true friend in the bargain. Yet as they adventure across the kingdom, they discover that they bring out the very best in the other person. They'll need to join forces and use all the know-how, kindness, and bravery they have in order to defeat their greatest foe yet: a jealous sorceress, who wants to get rid of Sadie once and for all. Join Sadie and Amira, two very different princesses with very different strengths, on their journey to figure out what happily ever after really means -- and how they can find it with each other.

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Check, Please! Book 1: # Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu Published by First Second on September 18, 2018 Pages: 288

Helloooo, Internet Land. Bitty here! Y’all... I might not be ready for this. I may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It’s nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking. And then, there is Jack—our very attractive but moody captain. A collection of the first half of the megapopular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: #Hockey is the first book of a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life.

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The Color Thief (The Color Thief, #1) by Emily Poirier on December 10, 2018 Pages: 420

The King and Queen of Teqell have kept a terrible secret for twenty-seven years. Now, it's killing them. Magic is draining them of their color, and they are dying. Princess Helena is obligated to marry and ascend to the throne, told to ignore what she has learned and accept their fate, but she cannot. Instead, she hatches a flimsy plan with Dresden, one of her Royal Guards, to right this wrong. They must help each other travel across the kingdom that she helps rule but has largely never seen while evading other Guards who would bring them back to the castle and stop short their quest. On the way, Helena must also struggle with her changing and complicated feelings about her own family, keep her first and only friend, and reevaluate magic's role in her kingdom.

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Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan

Ever wondered what lesbian love between two teenage girls feel like? Read the story of Lena and Juliet. Lena Newman is 17 years old and pretty satisfied with her life. Until her world is turned upside down. Juliet James is the new girl at school and very quickly manages to send Lena’s heart wild. Juliet introduced Lena to a part of herself she didn’t know was there, taking her on an emotional journey where loyalty, friendships and family relationships are tested. Juliet represents the road less traveled. Will Lena take it?

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I Can't Think Straight by Shamim Sarif Published by Enlightenment Press on November 11, 2008 Pages: 216

Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. As Tala’s wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself. Moving between the vast enclaves of Middle Eastern high society and the stunning backdrop of London’s West End, I Can’t Think Straight explores the clashes between East and West, love and marriage, conventions and individuality, creating a humorous and tender story of unexpected love and unusual freedoms.

Amazon The Book Depository Barnes & Noble Barnes and Noble Target If you purchase through these links, CamrynDaytona recieves a small commission.

Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) by Rainbow Rowell Published by Wednesday Books on May 9, 2017 Pages: 522

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen. That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right. Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up. Carry On - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.

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Of Fire and Stars (Of Fire and Stars, #1) by Audrey Coulthurst Published by Balzer + Bray on November 22, 2016 Pages: 389

Betrothed since childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting her people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire—a dangerous gift for the future queen of a kingdom where magic is forbidden. Now, Denna must learn the ways of her new home while trying to hide her growing magic. To make matters worse, she must learn to ride Mynaria’s formidable warhorses—and her teacher is the person who intimidates her most, the prickly and unconventional Princess Amaranthine—called Mare—the sister of her betrothed. When a shocking assassination leaves the kingdom reeling, Mare and Denna reluctantly join forces to search for the culprit. As the two become closer, Mare is surprised by Denna’s intelligence and bravery, while Denna is drawn to Mare’s independent streak. And soon their friendship is threatening to blossom into something more. But with dangerous conflict brewing that makes the alliance more important than ever, acting on their feelings could be deadly. Forced to choose between their duty and their hearts, Mare and Denna must find a way to save their kingdoms—and each other.

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source http://camryndaytona.com/2020/06/books-with-queer-happiness?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=books-with-queer-happiness

[advotproject]

Victorious

April 14, 2016

 A woman sat on the stage.

 She was rocking back and forth.

 She was holding back her tears as she tells the story of her son, a good boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 She tells the all too common story of a bad neighborhood and death, a story we all know, but walk by without really looking or listening.

 She tells of isolation. She tells of a family torn to pieces by an untimely death, a death that went unnoticed but yet ripped this woman’s heart out.

��“I am not a victim,” she says.

 “I am victorious!”

 “I am victorious!”

 The audience cheers.

 I spent the past two days at the Californians for Safety and Justice Survivors Speak conference.

 I spoke. I listened. I did indigenous rituals.

 I looked. I met amazing people. I took it in all in. I cried.

 “Telling my story is my therapy,” I hear again and again.

 This is about the survivors speaking and us listening.

 I led a circle in that circle. A woman who works in a correction facility speaks. She wants change. She wants things to be different. She has seen pain. She is about to retire and wants to work in the community.

 “We have all these different programs inside the walls,” she says.

 “I try to do my best. I created a running program. I brought in volunteers and had them teach track to the inmates to get them moving to a better place.”

 And then a shy sweet man speaks up, “I was a lifer (had a life sentence). I am sorry for the pain I have caused. I am grateful.”

 And he looks at the woman.

 “I want to thank you. I am sure you don’t remember me. I was very quiet. But I did your program. I ran in that program. I ran like fucking Forest Gump. I ran and ran to who I was meant to be. I ran to my freedom…and here we are.”

 It is silent

 We all hold our breaths, because that is what you do when change is right in front of you saying “Hey, it is possible.“

   Horrible things happen in this world. We can choose to be angry and hopeless, or we can believe in the possibility of change. And when it is standing right in front of you there are truly no words.

 I brought two graduates of my program with me. I watch them. I try to protect them. I hover a little. I am so proud. They are finding their voice. They are a little overwhelmed as am I. But they now have a community that knows about things in their life that I cannot possibly begin to understand.

 I am beyond grateful to ARC, (The Anti-Recidivism Coalition) that took The Advot Project in as part of the family, and a brilliant family it is, kind, warm and inclusive.

 It is exactly what my exhausted organization needed right now.

  I learned a few important things these past few days.

 Sometimes you must scream, scream from your soul, scream out loud to the world for you to then go and begin to heal.

 Tears of sorrow have potential to grow magnificent flowers even in the driest of drought, if you let them.

 You do not always need words. You just need to look into another’s eyes, see them. Dare yourself not to walk away. Stay and exhale together.

 There is great good in the world, good people, good intentions, and good vibrations.

 We should all strive to be those good people.

 All lives matter. My God! They matter so incredibly much.

 The answers are in the wind, in the soil, in our hearts. We just need to be still and honor our senses and our ancestors’ ways.

 Our inner struggles, the fights we have with our self, inside, can end in dance, if we let go and allow the broken to be our whole.

 The two days seemed like a few years. They are full, filling, thought provoking, and profoundly deep.

 I fly home and go to pick up my children from school.

 Even after these crazy deep experiences, you still need to simply pick up your kids.

 My children. My happy children.

 My privileged children who do not even know how lucky they are.

 My children who I want to shelter from all harm, especially all the things I just heard.

 We listen to the cast recording of the musical Hamilton in my car.

 We are all singing. And then it gets quiet.

 The song that comes on is the one after Hamilton’s son is killed.

 It is beautiful and we listen.

 “There are moments that the words don’t reach

 There is suffering too terrible to name

 You hold your child as tight as you can

 And push away the unimaginable

 There are moments that the words don’t reach

 There is a grace too powerful to name

 We push away what we can never understand

 We push away the unimaginable

 They are standing in the garden

 Alexander by Eliza’s side

 She takes his hand

 Forgiveness. Can you imagine?

 Forgiveness. Can you imagine?”

 Tears are streaming down my cheeks. The sun is so intensely bright outside.

 My youngest says, “That was nice that she forgives him.”

 “What else can she do?” my middle one answers.

 “Well, she can hate him.”

 “What would that give her?”

 “Yeah, I guess you are right.”

 “What happens after that Mommy?”

 “Listen to the next song,” I say, trying to hide how emotional I am.

 I think of the beautiful woman who told the story of her son who was shot.

 I hear the voices of the courageous victims I had the opportunity to listen to. Voices who decided to speak.

 Trying to make good out of the imaginable.

 And I see the victory.

 I see clearly the victorious she claims she is.

 And I know that our job is to take their hand and stand with the victims, holding our heads high, changing policy, advocating, writing letters to the Assembly, to our Senators urging them to act, to fight for what is right.

 So this world will be a better place.

  Can you imagine?

[wavenetinfo]

Updated June 03, 2017 08:35:30

Photo: Michael Mansell asks: “How can this work for us all?” (ABC News: Kylie Rollins)

Related Story: Mabo legacy remains incomplete 25 years on

I took Michael Mansell onto the streets of western Sydney this week. I wanted to test public support for his ideas about giving Indigenous people a political voice in Australia.

Most people recognised him as “that Aboriginal bloke from Tasmania”.

For many people Mansell remains fixed in their minds as a black radical voice. He is the activist who, in the 1980s, headed off to Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya to win support for the Aboriginal cause.

But Mansell is a disarming presence. He has the demeanour of an old-school gentleman, capped off with a shock of grey hair and a debonair moustache.

He is unfailingly polite and patient with people who — often out of ignorance — can ask impertinent if not rude questions about Indigenous people.

It comes, I suppose, from having been told throughout his life that he did not exist.

Australian Aboriginals or Aboriginal Australians?

Photo: The Australian and Aboriginal flags fly on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. (AAP: Joel Carrett)

The myth of the “last Tasmanian” runs deep in our national story. Trugannini is remembered as the “last of her race”.

Yet, Aboriginal people did not die out. Black women had children with sealers and whalers in the 19th century.

Aboriginal populations regrouped on islands in the Bass Strait, forming thriving communities with their own unique culture and social structures.

Their descendants today live on, never ceding their rightful place on the island of their ancestors.

These are Michael Mansell’s people.

A lawyer, Mansell has devoted his life to challenging Australia; to asking the hard questions of a country that was founded on a belief that the first peoples of this land had no right to it.

He has thought hard about the plight of Indigenous people.

To Mansell, Indigenous people face a fundamental question — are they “Australian Aboriginals” or “Aboriginal Australians”?

It is a question I have wrestled with all my life.

I recall as a boy at school in the early 1970’s, how uncomfortable I felt reciting the oath: I honour my god, I serve my Queen, I salute the flag.

Australia did not feel like mine — from where my family lived on the margins, clinging to the fringes of town, Australia was for other people.

Treaty and Statehood

Photo: The self-declared Aboriginal Provisional Government says Aboriginal people have always been sovereign. (Aboriginal Provisional Government)

That question sits at the heart of Mansell’s recently-released book, Treaty and Statehood: Aboriginal Self-Determination.

“Australian Aboriginals” or “Aboriginal Australians”?

“Both groups are proud of being Aboriginal but one gives loyalty and allegiance to Australia while the other retains its loyalty and allegiance solely to Aboriginal people,” Mansell writes.

Line by line, Mansell seeks to unpack that dilemma.

Those expecting an angry polemic, a screed of misery, will be surprised.

He disavows the fear-mongering that infuses too much contemporary public debate.

Not for Mansell, the talk of divisions from the right or the name-calling from the permanently aggrieved of the left.

This is not a tirade against Australia, it is not a book of blame. Mansell does not seek to make Australians feel guilty.

It is an intricately-researched, lucid and dispassionate examination of the still unresolved tensions that lie at the heart of the Australian settlement.

The old radical Mansell is revealed as a conservative thinker, seeking to place Indigenous people at the heart of Australian democracy.

Mansell asks: how can this work for us all?

Very early in his book, Mansell says his suggested reforms “assume that Aboriginals accept Australian sovereignty as legitimate”.

That is not an easy concession, but one born of a grudging political reality.

Mansell holds resolutely to the principle of Aboriginal sovereignty.

“The people of invaded countries do not lose their sovereign rights; at best they temporarily lose their ability to exercise their rights,” he says.

Aboriginal sovereignty, he writes, challenges Australia’s legitimacy. Takeover was “acquired by force, not consent”, and it is time for Australia to “wind back its domination, where domination is neither necessary nor justified”.

Mansell accepts that Indigenous sovereignty may not look as it did in 1788. He says he does not seek to wind back the clock but to reach a just settlement that meets the conditions that exist today.

But how to do that?

Working within the constitution

Photo: Mansell says acknowledging Aboriginal sovereignty will not upend the constitution. (Supplied: National Archives of Australia)

Mansell looks to Australian democracy and its foundation document, the constitution. he acknowledges the reality of these institutions even as he challenges their legitimacy.

Democracy works best, he says, when “majority rule accommodates the aspirations of the minority”.

Mansell seeks to find faith in the system. In this way he aligns himself with a classic liberal democratic tradition.

Philosopher John Rawls spoke about the idea of mutuality and co-operation to achieve justice and fairness.

Society he said, was a “fair system of cooperation over time, from one generation to the next”.

The problem of political liberalism is to define this idea of political justice in our constitutional democracy — where minorities demand to be heard.

For Mansell, representation in this democracy is critical.

He quotes Canadian philosopher Will Kymlicka, who says, “citizens who do not see themselves reflected in the legislature may become alienated from the political process”.

Mansell identifies three main issues in his book: identity, treaty, and Indigenous statehood.

He seeks to put fearful minds at ease:

“Acknowledging Aboriginal sovereignty will not harm Australia. It will not upend the constitution … it will not overturn the legal system. It will not take houses or farms away.”

Mansell cites several international examples of treaties with Indigenous peoples, notably in North America and New Zealand.

It is second nature, he says, to the Americans. Mansell even quotes former US president George W Bush, who told Native Americans that he would “protect and honour tribal sovereignty”.

Mansell says treaties are not about “past problems” but “future relationships”.

A modern treaty with Indigenous peoples in Australia, he says, could be based on “first, restoring all that which Indigenous peoples had in 1788; second, exclude from that list all that is impractical today and third, accommodate the remainder”.

This, Mansell says, will ensure that governments are free to govern, the constitution and legal systems remain intact, private land ownership is not disturbed, and the lifestyle of Australians is left alone.

An Indigenous seventh Australian state

Video: Michael Mansell proposes a seventh state run by Indigenous people

(ABC News)

What would Indigenous people get? Return of lands, compensation, and more control over their affairs.

Opponents maintain that a treaty divides Australia, creates an us-and-them. As former prime minister John Howard used to say, a nation can’t have a treaty with itself.

Mansell acknowledges this is a big stumbling block to winning political support. Australians, he says, think “just as immigrants want to be absorbed within Australian society, so too should Aboriginals”.

But Mansell resists assimilation. He is wary of efforts to recognise Indigenous people within the constitution, because it accepts that “whites have a right to govern, and Aboriginals a right to be governed”.

Mansell sees Australian democracy as one where we all contest power and Indigenous peoples have a voice that protects their unique position and rights.

“If Australia is to be a country of peoples of many backgrounds sharing a vision of living together in peace and prosperity, then a treaty is a mechanism for achieving it,” he writes.

Video: Megan Davis from the Referendum Council says constitutional reform is needed to empower indigenous people

(ABC News)

Mansell’s call for an Indigenous “seventh state” would on face-value appear the most provocative.

He says it is founded on the idea that “every people has a right to live within its own territory in external freedom and liberty”.

Again, he grounds his argument in the constitution.

The founding fathers certainly anticipated the creation of new states. The constitution provides the Federal Parliament with the power to establish new states out of territory belonging to existing states.

Mansell says Indigenous people hold large tracts of land within central Australia.

Why, he argues should they not have responsibility for administering their affairs and, like other states, drawing on Commonwealth revenue?

Opponents would suspect apartheid, but Mansell says the constitution ensures free passage of people in Australia. Non-Indigenous people could live there and participate fully as they currently do elsewhere in Australia.

“Providing for a predominantly Aboriginal inhabited or dominated state would not alter the rules. It is applying the rules,” he says.

Mansell makes similar constitutional and legal arguments for parliamentary seats to be reserved for Indigenous people.

Sections 24 and 7 of the constitution speak of parliament being chosen directly by the people. It is up to parliament to fill in the detail of electoral matters.

Mansell argues that designated Indigenous electorates could not only comply with the constitution but “enhance representative democracy”.

A robust place, capable of change

Photo: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders exchange gifts at the opening ceremony of the Uluru summit. (ABC News: Stephanie Zillman)

This is challenging stuff. It is thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Mansell is arguing from the centre for the rights of those still on the fringe.

Politics being the art of the possible, much of this remains beyond reach but it does not mean we should not talk about it.

Many an idea waits for time to find it.

This week we mark 25 years since a Torres Strait island man, Eddie Mabo, won an historic High Court case that overturned the doctrine of Terra Nullius — that this was an empty land free for the British to claim.

It took 200 years but the highest court in the land acknowledged what indigenous peoples had always known: this is our place.

After last week’s Uluru Statement (which Mansell was a signatory to) the country has turned its mind again to the place and future of its first peoples.

Already forces opposed are marshalling their troops. Commentary after commentary this week has warned of divisions and damage to the constitution.

They speak of “one-nation” yet ignore the fact that for most of our history Indigenous people were denied a place in it.

They imagine Australia and its democratic traditions as a fragile thing that could not withstand challenge.

Mansell sees it as a robust place, capable of change.

It seems Michael Mansell, a man whose very existence Australia denied, has more faith in this country and its institutions than his critics do.

Topics:

indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander,

indigenous-policy,

constitution,

australia

First posted June 03, 2017 07:38:38

2 June 2017 | 9:38 pm

Stan Grant

Source : ABC News

>>>Click Here To View Original Press Release>>>

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); June 03, 2017 at 04:08AM

[robertmcangusgroup]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – International News From Around The World

Sunday 28th May 2017

Good Morning Gentle Reader…. An amazing sky greats Bella and I this early Sunday morning.. it looks as if I can see every star in the northern sky it’s so clear… the moon is just a slim sliver of its fullness and I can see the “Dark Side” in all its blackness… we walk down to the ocean and watch as far out to sea in the Straights of Gibraltar lights from a cruise ship draw my attention as it sails towards France and Italy in the east, we in turn, head towards the house and Colombia, coffee and the wife that is…..

KENYANS QUERY MAIZE IMPORTS AMID PRICE HIKES…. The rising cost of maize has been prompting jokes about how the food staple is now a luxury in Kenya. Kenyans have been facing shortages of basic foods following a drought last year that affected the country's food stocks. The shortage is such that the price of maize flour, with which people make the staple ugali, is currently twice its usual level, and people living close to the border with neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania have taken to shopping there. One man is even reported to have killed his wife over a portion of ugali that was too small, The Star website reports. The government last week imported 30,000 tonnes of maize flour, but Kenyans have been eyeing the shipment of food with suspicion, the Standard Digital website says. Questions have been raised as to whether the government is colluding with companies to take advantage of the shortage, and suspicions have been exacerbated by pointed questions as to how long the government took to import the maize, and initial uncertainty over where it came from. The government first said it was from Mexico. When this raised questions about how the shipment could have arrived in the six days that it did, the government clarified it had been imported into South Africa last year but not used, Capital FM reports. Deputy President William Ruto has called the questions "unfair", asking, on Citizen TV: "Do you sincerely believe that we can play that kind of game with a very serious issue like the lives of people? The food of the people. Don't you think that is dangerous?" The government has also since announced it will subsidise the import of maize to enable the price of a 2kg bag of flour to return to its usual price of about 90 shillings ($0.87, £0.67).

AUSTRALIANS SIZZLE OVER VEGAN SAUSAGE OFFER….  One of the great Australian traditions, the community event known as the sausage sizzle, became a bone of contention this weekend after customers of a well-known DIY chain store were offered only vegan sausages. The charity event, held at a Melbourne branch of the home improvement store Bunnings, was organised by a cat protection organisation last Sunday, Mother's Day in Australia. But, as the Herald Sun newspaper reported, there were "a few tantrums" as customers realised that the "snags" - slang for a barbecued sausage - were meat-free. Speaking to 3AW radio, one customer said "We were a little shocked, considering it's probably one of the most male-dominated destinations in the country. We were like ... thank you, but no thank you." But Natasha Reus of Cheltenham Cat Rescue said it wasn't the first time they'd held a vegan sizzle, and that they had sold 550 snags on the day. "Some people were a bit angry, we had the odd Oscar-winning performance but most people asked questions and many gave them a try," she told the Herald Sun. "One woman in particular was very upset and very rude. I think she complained," she continued. Bunnings agreed that times are changing, even among meat-loving Australians, with manager Tony Manzone saying "Since their inception the guidelines have been consistent. Meat sausages, onions and bread. This has not changed. "However, in recent years, and on a case-by-case basis, we also allow community groups to have a vegan fundraising sausage sizzle if that is their preference," he said, pointing out that their in-store cafes already promote meat-free options. The Australian sausage sizzle is an event where sausages are barbecued and given away or sold, often to raise funds for charity. They've become a fixture on election days, with sizzles held outside polling stations, and the #democracysausage hashtag trending on Twitter. Bunnings is known for renting space outside its stores to community groups for fundraising sizzles. Revealing that the vegan sizzle had raised $1,300 (US$962, £747) for the cat rescue charity, Ms Reus said "We explained we were an animal rescue group so couldn't sell animals to eat and so people had to think about that. At least we've got people talking about the issue."

SAUDI AUTHORITIES SAY NO ROMANCE IN THE STAFF ROOM…. A principal at a girls' school in Saudi Arabia was perplexed this week to open the door to her staff room one morning and find it covered in elaborate declarations of love. Rose petals and bank notes were strewn over the floor and furniture, large helium balloons lined one wall and on a table in the middle of the room were several cakes, the largest several-tiered and covered in white royal icing. In one corner of the room, a gold necklace was displayed in the middle of several great bunches of roses. Next to it was a note lit with flashing lights. All this turned out to be the elaborate work of the husband of one of the staff, who had apparently fought with his wife and wished to make up with her, the Gulf News website reported. A video of the gesture was posted on social media, where it has been viewed tens of thousands of times. Amid the responses to it, however, were several angry questions as to how a man had managed to get into a girls' school. "It is the height of goodness and loyalty for a man to honour his wife but not in this reckless manner. If he wanted to do this he could have done so at his or his family's home," sniffed one such response. Local education authorities investigated and found the man was a member of their own security and safety department, and had let himself into the school after it was closed. Boys and girls do not mix in schools in Saudi Arabia's conservative society, just as men and women are not expected to mingle in public spaces. The government is moving to relax some of its restrictions on women, however, in the hope of enabling more of them to work.

SYLVESTER STALLONE GIVES BOLLYWOOD RAMBO THE THUMBS-UP….  Sylvester Stallone sent a message of support to the remake's Indian director… Getting a message from Sylvester Stallone about a Bollywood Rambo remake was like "an endorsement from God", the film's director has said. Sid Anand told fans there would be none of the singing and dancing often associated with Bollywood however. "I wouldn't do that to Rambo," he told the BBC. "That's like blasphemy." The movie is being launched at the Cannes Film Festival - though filming doesn't start until later this year.On his decision to launch the project in Cannes, Anand said: "Rambo is a global icon. He resonates in every part of the world, so it's important to start our campaign at the Mecca of film-making." He said he was driven to remake the movie because of the strength of the character of the "true blue action hero with a heart", immortalised by Stallone. Anand said he had a script which will "resonate in India" - but warned: "It could be controversial like Rambo First Blood was in the 80s. "It makes you think, and is about a situation that's prevailing in India and is unique in that way."

AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS LEADERS MEET FOR HISTORIC SUMMIT…. Hundreds of indigenous leaders have gathered in central Australia for a historic summit on formally recognising the country's first inhabitants. The three-day summit at Uluru coincides with the 50th anniversary of a vote that allowed indigenous Australians to be included on a national census. Australia does not mention Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in its constitution. The summit aims to reach consensus on the best method of recognition. More than 200 delegates from indigenous groups around Australia are attending the First Nations Convention, which will form the basis of a report to be delivered to the nation's political leaders in June. The recommendations may result in a referendum to be voted on by all Australians.

SOUTH AFRICA'S WESTERN CAPE DECLARES DROUGHT DISASTER….  South Africa's Western Cape province has declared a drought disaster as it faces its worst water shortage in 113 years. Provincial leader Helen Zille said water will be harvested by drilling boreholes to serve key points like hospitals in Cape Town. The alert will last for three months but could be extended if the crisis persists, she said in a statement. Southern African nations are reeling from a two-year drought. The UN estimates that over 40 million people have been affected by the drought that was caused by the El Nino climate phenomenon. "The disaster declaration will accelerate... the province's strategy to ensure that taps do not run dry," Ms Zille said. She also announced plans to use a mobile desalination plant and tap the natural aquifer under Cape Town's Table Mountain. Residents have also been urged to use no more than 100 litres (22 gallons) of water a day. Ms Zille said the disaster declaration will mean that authorities in the province can prioritise public funds for drought relief operations. Two reservoirs in the Western Cape region are already completely dry according to official statistics. The Karoo and West Coast areas of the Western Cape previously declared drought disasters in 2016, but Monday's announcement extends the scope of those emergency measures to the entire province, the AFP news agency reports.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, Sunday morning…

Our Tulips today is another blooming tulip... this time close up..

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Sunday 28th May 2017 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus