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angrylizardjacket · 4 years ago

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Yaaasss!!! Jelous Ben was si cuteee and we love a supportive mother, her mom is fantastic and a savage. I hace a question, how did you come up with reader's character in x-men?? I legit googled it as I thought it was a real character, so welk done.

i love her mum so fuckin much, dude, she’s supportive but can still be embarrassing at times. i wrote her, not like my actual mum, but like my dad now that i think about it. dude literally told me over the phone that he’d physically fight people for shittalking me (not just in general, there’s more context, but the point still stands). idk i think it’s disingenuous to not let parental characters have certain flaws, like they’re allowed to be overprotective and spiteful, as well as caring and supportive. i love her too.

oH SHIT DUDE LEMME TALK ABT MY GIRL CASSIDY TEMPLE I LOVE HER SO FUCKING MUCH AND I”VE PUT SO MUCH THOUGHT INTO HER THAT THIS WILL HAVE A READ MORE

so cassidy’s powers are actually based off of an xmen oc i’ve already written 70k about, Aoibheal Cassidy, younger sister of Banshee, Sean Cassidy, and Cassidy Temple’s name is a reference to her, since originally I was going to essentially have Y/N playing Aoibheal (because it’s my fic and i can include an homage to my xmen oc as a treat). the powers themselves are based loosely on Multiple Man from X-Men: The Last Stand, except Cassidy’s clones can’t live a life of their own like his can. In the xmen fic, aoibheal starts off with having unlimited clones, and they can explode because i thought it was neat tbh.

From the original fic, Molotov Heart, chapter 3, rubatosis:

[Context; humans experimenting on mutants between X-Men First Class and X-Men Days Of Future Past have caught Sean and Aoibheal and they experiment on them even though Aoibheal’s powers have not manifested (she is approximately 13) and they kill her brother in front of her]:

Stunned into silence, she can feel something white-hot building inside of her, all the rage and fear and pain becoming almost tangible.

She mutates.

Copies of Aoibheal, clones, appear around them, filling up the space between the now screaming and bewildered 'doctors'. Aoibheal herself doesn't seem to notice the clones, bawling her eyes out, an action the clones themselves are mirroring, and she thinks of nothing but freedom and escape, focusing on the white-hot feeling inside of her until it overwhelmed her. With the force of a bunker-buster bomb, the clones began to combust, began to explode, first a few, and then all at once. Killing the human personel who had kept her hostage, the blast reduced the warehouse to mere cinders, freed Aoibheal and left her clothing in tatters, but she was alive damn it.

The reason Cassidy has a limited number is because i needed a way to have her powered up as a horseman, like a distinct power up, rather than just something unseen like heightened reflexes and strength.

I would like to point out also, that it’s not stated, but Cassidy’s explosions (NOT AOIBHEAL’s) are never to do with heat, they’re always about force. the explosions themselves are never hot, never have anything to do with fire or anything like that, she builds up force inside of the clones, and lets it tear her apart from the inside out as a wave that destroys the things it comes into contact with.

The scream was originally hereditary, like Banshee, it developed as her secondary mutation.

From the Marvel Wiki:

The Secondary Mutation (or "Second Mutation") is a phenomenon in which an existing mutant undergoes another mutation, gaining additional powers, such as healing, or a change in appearance.

Secondary mutation is noted as the appearance of new powers, or an increase in existing powers.

It was stated by Beast that the secondary mutations usually occurred in the twenties of the subjects, and generally appeared in time of great stress.

From the original fic, chapter 8, nodus tollens:

The appearance of the secondary mutation:

The world falls apart in a blur of movement. The gun goes off just after Raven jumps and makes a break for the window, the bullet curves as she crashes through the glass, following her on the way down. Tackling Erik earns Hank a mean right hook to the jaw, but Aoibheal’s there, looking at Trask like a dear in the headlights, memories whipping through her head like a hurricane - the sick fuck looks pleased to see her – her mouth falls open and she screams. She and the clone scream in tandem, their voices supersonic as the surrounding people clutched their ears for dear life; struggling to keep a hold of the feeling in her chest that caused her to explode, the clone detonates like a firework, scorching the wallpaper while Trask is stumbling to the door. There’s blood leaking from his ears but Aoibheal can’t move, can only scream and relive the memory of her brother’s murder over and over again.

Hank discussing it:

"I've never seen a secondary mutation so vastly different!" No longer blue or furry, [Hank’s] smile is excited as he looks over at her. Sharing the cockpit feels almost familiar by now, with Aoibheal curled up in the passenger seat nursing a glass of water. "It makes sense though, your original mutation – the explosions – would be an extension of your temperature immunity, but your secondary mutation is hereditary."

Cassidy’s scream, however, unlike Banshee’s, only effects things with ears, not inanimate objects like glass. Of course she could learn the right pitch to get glass to shatter like an opera singer, but generally speaking, her scream only effects things that can hear.

OKAY LETS TALK ABT THE STUFF I FABRICATED FOR THE FIC

oh GOD I WANT TO TALK ABOUT HER RELATIONSHIP WITH MAGNETO

not as in romantic, as in he is literally her character’s main inspiration in the films. i’m literally making a fake trailer right now that’s intercut with moments from his DOFP speech that was broadcast to the whole of america.

i love dofp (possibly to my detriment) but i always thought it was weird that no-one was ever like.... magneto has a point. BECAUSE HE HAS A POINT. he’s speaking directly to disenfranchised and SCARED mutants across the nation, and yet everyone’s heralding Mystique as the new face of mutant kind. YES she made a point, but like.... did no-one vibe with magneto when he promised the destruction of mankind? i would. anyways.

so i thought it would be interesting for this character, Cassidy, to have this hero-worship of Magneto, taking his words to heart like scripture, ultimately making her a foil for Phoenix, Xavier’s protege.

it’s why i specifically included this:

“You should be,” you hissed, putting your all into the words as you spoke them, and you hear Ben inhale sharply beside you, “we shall inherit the Earth.”

“What follows is a struggle as Cassidy and the figure – revealed to be her clone – proceed to kill the man. When they’re finished, and the man’s dead on the ground, Cassidy straightens her outfit, and we hear –“ as the director reads, Michael begins to slowly clap, “a slow clap, and it’s revealed that Apocalypse, as well as Storm, Angel, and Magneto, had all witnessed the event.”

“We are the future, we are the ones who shall inherit the Earth,” Michael reads as he stops clapping.

“Magneto,” you breathe reverentially, and when you look to him, you and Michael share a sharp smile.

which is a direct quote from magneto’s speech in Days of Future Past:

You built these weapons to destroy us. Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts. Because we are different. Humanity has always feared that which is different. Well, I'm here to tell you, to tell the world, you're right to fear us. We are the future. We are the ones who will inherit this earth, and anyone who stands in our way will suffer the same fate as these men you see before you. Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours. Let this be a warning to the world. And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there, I say this; no more hiding, no more suffering. You have lived in the shadows in shame and fear for too long. Come out, join me. Fight together in the brotherhood of our kind. A new tomorrow, that starts today.

which ALSO is what turns her into the next big villain for the franchise, because she sees Magneto, the man she kind of thinks of like a god, turn on and help kill Apocalypse, the man who claimed to be an actual god, and side with the people who, ultimately, don’t want to destroy the human race like she does, and also killed the man she loved. she takes Magneto’s ideologies and turns them up to 11. he fucks off to create a mutant paradise away from prying eyes and is happy, she won’t be happy until all humans are punished.

it’s why, in the beginning, she and raven can’t still work together, because raven wants to rescue mutants, but not at the expense of unnecessary human lives, and cassidy sees all humans as complicit in the torture, and therefore deserving of punishment.

she has deemed herself judge, jury, and executioner of human kind, and they have all been found guilty.

i’m so excited to see if i get around to writing some of the next film because i really want to explore the dichotomy of Xavier’s ‘no-one is ever really gone/there’s always hope’ and magneto’s ‘you were right to be afraid of us, we are the ones who shall inherit the earth’. Everyone has given up on Cassidy in one way or another, whether it be by betrayal or death, and so when she finds this symbiote who literally becomes a part of her, makes her stronger, and is happy to kill people with little regard for who they are, she’ll take it.

EDIT: here’s the first 26 seconds of the fake trailer (Y/N here is played by Jurnee Smollett, aka Black Canary from Birds of Prey)

youtube

ANGEL & RIOT

i wanted y/n to kiss ben hardy that’s literally it.

actually no that’s not it 100%, i think it’s super amusing in a kind of bleak way that he got fridged for her, like his death, both in the “””comics””” (as in the comic universe for the fics) and in the film, causes her to seek out a force that would help bring him back to life. in the “””comics””” she originally seeks out a mutant, but when the mutant who can bring people back refuses to help her, she’s told of experiments at The Life Foundation, who are working on engineering the next step in human evolution, and she’s thinking that they’re experimenting on mutants again, like trask, and goes in guns blazing, but instead finds symbiotes. she bonds with a symbiote, thus becoming Riot Control, and the symbiote initially promises her all these things, including being able to find a way to ressurect angel, but eventually (in the “””comics”””) the power he gives her overtakes her need to ressurect her love, and riot ends up using her to try and build a ship to bring more symbiotes to take over earth.

IN THE FILM

okay OKAY okay OKAY so she’s looking for a way to ressurect angel at first, but riot’s in her ear while he’s seeing all her memories, and is convincing her to get revenge on the people who are responsible for his death (nightcrawler, jean, and Magneto specifically) so its not that the xmen are just in the plot by happenstance there’s like actual beef, love it.

I also love that Cassidy’s powers are handicapped when she’s got Riot, since her scream would injure or even possibly kill him. Yes i specifically paired her with a symbiote for that reason, which is also the reason why her clone explosions aren’t heat based.

but anyway, can i spoil the ending? i wanna spoil the ending;

so there’s this big showdown between riot control and the xmen, and jean confronts cassidy, trying to talk her down like ‘what would angel think if he saw you? What you’ve become?’ and Cassidy’s furious, thinking that jean’s trying to guilt her, like, angel would be so ashamed

“Keep his name out of your fucking mouth, you have no idea what he’d think-”

“He’d be terrified of you.” And it’s so fucking like, cruel and cold coming from Jean.

“Shut up.”

“You have become a monster; you have maimed your idol-” [we cut to a shot of magneto looking all fucked up and bloody, watching with anger in his eyes] “and you have left Angel for dead. If you’d really cared about him, you would have already gotten him back. Instead, you come for revenge against the people who could have helped you -”

or something like that, and riot control has a whole breakdown, lashing out, snarling that no-one could help her, and when they tried, they ended up dead (angel, apocalypse) and she starts losing control, and her voice starts to distort in and out of riot’s, making it clear he’s taking control of her completely.

there’s this big, final fight, which culminates with jean grabbing cassidy’s face and trying to burn riot out of her.

“No-one is beyond help.” And Jean’s like, got tears in her eyes, desperate to save this girl who’s caused so much pain, but who sees herself as so wretched and beyond help, and we see the symbiote burning away and screaming, but also the physical signs of cassidy’s mutation as like, peeling away in embers, like the black scales around her eyes, and the way her whole eyes are seen as black is now clearing away, and she takes both of Jean’s hands and forces her to keep holding on, to keep looking in her natural fucking eyes for the first and last time as she burns out too.

“You can’t save everyone.” and then Cassidy’s just ash in the wind.

also this ending, in a meta-sense, makes sense, because after this Disney buys Fox and there’s no more this-universe X-Men films, so they had to do a self-contained story, there couldn’t be things left super unresolved.

OR maybe she’s fine, maybe she gets saved and riot burns out of her (spoilers, he fucks off and doesn’t die, hence, Venom (2018); it takes him about 20 years to recuperate) i haven’t decided.

#the angry lizard speaks #hyniels #dreashappyworld

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tabloidtoc · 4 years ago

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National Enquirer, November 30

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: The Kennedy family torn apart

Page 2: Angry and isolated Caitlyn Jenner is on a downward emotional spiral that some friends believe have left her one step from the psycho ward -- she feels shunned by her own family and can’t find romance and is unhappy with with her looks -- Caitlyn is so tense and insecure and sensitive about everything so she’s diving into more and more prospective projects in a desperate effort to kickstart her flagging career and she’s flying off the handle all the time plus she’s tried to drown her sorrows in a new round of cosmetic improvements including a face-lift and lipo to trim her waist and thighs but she’s horrified she’s still not happy with her looks after all her surgeries

Page 3: Lovestruck Halle Berry has leapt headfirst into a red-hot romance with Van Hunt but the singer is a skirt-chasing cheat -- Van and his ex-wife split in 2007 after she said he abandoned her and their only child to move to L.A. and she claimed the musician admitted adultery shortly before divorce documents were filed -- Halle would be disturbed to hear that Van walked out on his son because she’s a very family-oriented person and she could never imagine living on the other side of the country to her kids -- Van’s grown and matured since the divorce and is sure to have shared all about his situation with Halle and he’s said to be on good terms with his ex-wife but people say once a cheater always a cheater and that’s got to be at the back of Halle’s mind

Page 4: Runaway Prince Harry is reeling after being publicly snubbed by his royal relatives and now he is having second thoughts about ditching his official duties for a glam life in Hollywood; he’s finally realizing just what he gave up when he left England with wife Meghan Markle and their son Archie and he’s wondering if it was worth it -- the simmering rift between Harry and the royals exploded after they refused his request to be part of Britain’s Remembrance Day ceremonies to honor fallen soldiers so Harry retaliated by staging a photo op at Los Angeles National Cemetery with Meghan with his military medals pinned on his navy suit; Harry was banned from wearing his military uniform when he quit royal duties and he also had to give up his military duties which devastated him -- photos from the cemetery released by the couple triggered an immediate backlash and they were accused of being shameless publicity-seekers trying to steal headlines and overshadow the royals doing their duty back home; it was a disaster and Harry was shocked -- he’s reaching out to the palace to make amends but calls to his brother Prince William and father Prince Charles have gone unanswered

* Katie Holmes and Emilio Vitolo Jr.’s hot new romance is in a pressure cooker as their families fight to claim the couple as their guests for the holidays -- things were going great for them but this tug-of-war may tear them apart because Emilio’s folks told him they want him home with them but Katie is desperate to spend Christmas with her relatives in Ohio and they really want to meet her new boyfriend and Katie is feeling guilty because she spends so much time with Emilio’s clan at his dad’s Manhattan eatery so she thinks it’s only fair that he does this for her but Emilio’s never missed a holiday gathering with his own family and there are a lot of them he hasn’t seen because of the pandemic

Page 5: Celine Dion is finally ready to put the past behind her as the fifth anniversary of her beloved husband’s death approaches in January and she is planning to leave Las Vegas with their sons and she is pining to return to her native Quebec and give twins Nelson and Eddy and 19-year-old Rene-Charles a taste of her own childhood -- Celine had been careful to not upset her kids’ lives since the death of their dad from throat cancer but she now believes the boys would benefit from spending time in The Great White North -- she also thinks it might be more likely she’ll find lasting love in her home country

Page 6: Defiantly plump Lizzo has ditched her diet and frightened friends are staging an intervention to get her to a fat farm to save her life -- Lizzo had committed to eating vegan after weighing in at 350 pounds but once on vacation it lasted like two days before she couldn’t take it any longer -- she has anxiety issues and uses food to comfort herself but the stress the weight is putting on her heart and other organs could have a detrimental effect on her health and cut her life short

Page 7: Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette have agreed to meet for peace talks after a long-simmering feud triggered her angry departure from NCIS and Mark reached out to her to invite her back -- Mark feels bad about how Pauley left the show and knows she played a big role in its success and he’s anxious to set things right between them and bring back one of the show’s favorite all-time characters for fans -- Mark also feels he’s been painted unfairly in Pauley’s departure and would like to know he was not behind it but the two clashed for years with Pauley charging Mark’s bullying caused her to quit the show and Pauley even tweeted she is terrified of Harmon and him attacking her -- while Pauley is not saying yes or no to returning to the show she’s definitely willing to sit down and talk

* The drama between sickly Phil Collins and his squatting ex-wife Orianne Cevey is really getting down and dirty with Orianne charging that Phil degenerated into a pill-popping addict who stopped showering and brushing his teeth and was impotent and she also claimed Phil became emotionally and verbally abusive and refused to provide emotional support or love or care for her -- Phil’s lawyers said Orianne’s charges are scandalous and scurrilous and unethical and for the most part patently false or grossly exaggerated

Page 8: Power-hungry host Savannah Guthrie is gunning to be the reigning queen of Today and is willing to walk over anyone to achieve her goal and her blind ambition is ripping the once-invincible morning show apart and she even used Al Roker’s prostate cancer diagnosis to push her own agenda and capitalize on Al’s absence for surgery to demand more airtime for herself -- every meeting starts with the focus on whatever Savannah wants and the staff is far from happy about it and morale has never been worse -- Savannah has constantly pushed the producers for Jenna Bush Hager and herself to take the lead on big news stories and keep Hoda Kotb stuck in the fluffy stuff and Hoda’s completely pissed off -- Savannah’s rising star has come with temper tantrums and diva-like demands -- fed-up Hoda recently met with friends of Gayle King and there is speculation the two women could make a powerful pairing and revitalize third-place CBS This Morning

Page 9: Regis Philbin’s death certificate reveals paramedics waged a desperate 40-minute battle to try to save his life -- he suffered a heart attack just after 3 a.m. on July 24 at his home in Connecticut and he was rushed to the emergency room where medics fought to save his life but he eventually succumbed at 4:18 a.m.

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Queen Latifah on the NYC set of The Equalizer, socially distant host Ellen DeGeneres went the extra mile to greet guest Jimmy Kimmel on her talk show, Steve Schirripa and Bridget Moynahan shot Blue Bloods in NYC, Kristen Taekman prettied up her pout in L.A., Tracy Morgan attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new community center at Brooklyn’s Marcy Houses

Page 11: Smitten ‘70s TV stars Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl may owe their late-in-life romance to Zoom but according to the actress the couple didn’t rush their relationship -- the two have been friends for decades but a COVID-19 group video chat helped spark love during lockdown -- after one of their lengthy one-on-one conversations Patrick jumped into his car and drove 20 hours from L.A. to her Colorado home like a lovestruck teenager

* Beloved Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek left behind a final touching message for his fans and it will be extremely moving -- Alex’s final message will follow his last episode of Jeopardy! set to air on Christmas Day

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- Joel Michaely at the opening of The Comeback Trail (picture)

* Kelly Clarkson’s divorce meant she booted ex Brandon Blackstock out of her professional life but he’ll still be in her work life thanks to Blake Shelton -- Brandon might not be Kelly’s manager anymore but he still manages Blake which might get awkward when Kelly runs into him backstage at The Voice

* Keeping Up with the Kardashians is notching all-time low ratings and the family is blaming Kim Kardashian saying she’s lost her sense of humor and she’s too busy trying to be taken seriously

* Nitpicky Ryan Seacrest has ditched celebrity designer Nate Berkus’ husband Jeremiah Brent as his decorator because they had a nasty falling out over the renovation of Ryan’s townhouse in New York City

Page 13: Steve Harvey’s daughter Lori Harvey escaped jail time after cops claimed she fled the scene of a Beverly Hills car crash in 2019 -- she was charged with two misdemeanors for hit-and-run and delaying a police investigation after she walked away from a smashup that damaged her Mercedes G-wagon and nearly destroyed another vehicle but she cut a deal with prosecutors and pleaded no contest to resisting arrest and will serve two years probation -- she reportedly had been texting at the time of the accident

* Reba McEntire confirmed she turned down a regular role on The Voice which left the life-changing gig open for Blake Shelton -- Reba said she didn’t think she could ever tell somebody that they’re terrible

* Cancer warrior Olivia Newton-John revealed she kicked a dependence on morphine with medical marijuana -- to cope with her pain during her third bout with breast cancer that had spread in 2017 doctors put her on mega doses of the highly addictive drug and she weaned herself off the morphine with the cannabis which she thinks is incredible and says people should know that because you’re not going to die from cannabis and you can use it to wean off morphine and she’s continued on a regime with cannabis ever since

Page 14: Crime

Page 15: Los Angeles’ newly elected District Attorney George Gascon has vowed to reopen the probe into actress Natalie Wood’s mysterious drowning and her husband Robert Wagner could finally be dragged before a grand jury -- Gascon said he’ll work with investigators from the L.A. Sheriff’s Department homicide squad to reexamine the case after the previous D.A. refused to present evidence to a grand jury -- Natalie drowned in 1981 while enjoying a holiday with Robert and actor Christopher Walken off Catalina Island

Page 16: The Talk has been thrown into chaos by cast shake-ups and co-host Sharon Osbourne’s power grab and may be on the verge of being silenced forever -- staffers are expecting the worst after popular co-host Eve announced she was splitting after four seasons becoming the latest in a long line of damaging departures and while Eve blamed her exit on COVID-19 travel restrictions from England much of the blame goes to self-promotional Sharon’s relentless efforts to take over the show after former moderator Julie Chen’s departure last year -- Sharon has made it clear she’s in charge now and the other ladies are not thrilled with being reduced to supporting cast and fans have started calling for Sharon’s head

Page 17: John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono has sparked fears she’s nearing the end after handing her business dealings off to their son Sean Lennon -- the wheelchair-bound Yoko had been managing the late Beatle’s vast $800 million holdings since his 1980 shooting death but it’s now beyond her abilities

Page 18: American Life

Page 19: Johnny Depp is writing and planning to star in a tell-all movie about his divorce war with loathed ex-wife Amber Heard -- after a U.K. court ruled he was physically abusive toward Amber during their marriage Johnny wants to tell the world his version of the marriage and he will set people straight about what happened and clear his name to millions to fans and he believes this is a slam dunk once he gets it in front of the right producer especially as he’s more than willing to play himself

* The family of vicious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger has filed a lawsuit against the federal government accusing prison officials of orchestrating the 2018 hit on the Mob boss -- the action accuses the Federal Bureau of Prisons of intentional or deliberately indifferent deeds that led to the murder of the wheelchair-bound mobster just hours after he was inexplicably transferred to the Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia where he was beaten to death by prisoners to keep him from singing about corruption inside the FBI and the Department of Justice -- Whitey was bludgeoned with a padlock stuffed inside a sock and his murderers had enough time to cut out his tongue and eyes to make it seem like a classic Mafia hit

Page 20: Angelina Jolie lives in constant fear one of her six children will be kidnapped and held for ransom according to her former bodyguard -- Angie and her ex Brad Pitt are worth hundreds of millions which Angie feared provided plenty of incentive for criminals to target her offspring

* Hollywood Hookups -- Sofia Richie and Matthew Morton dating, Sabrina Parr and Lamar Odom split, Daniela Rajic and Paul George engaged

Page 21: Justin Bieber’s pastor Carl Lentz lost his job over a steamy affair with an exotic beauty -- Lentz was fired from the megachurch Hillsong and his mistress claimed the two were in love

* Wildlife lover Bindi Irwin has announced 20 weeks into pregnancy her baby is the size of a tiny emu -- she delivered the news flash beneath a photo with her husband Chandler Powell appropriately taken at the Australia Zoo

* Hugh Grant made a bizarre confession admitting his bout with COVID-19 left him wanting to sniff strangers’ armpits -- Hugh revealed he tested positive for coronavirus antibodies and believes he contracted the bug in February and the illness caused a feeling of an enormous man sitting on his chest but Hugh also claimed he was rattled by losing his sense of smell which is a known symptom of the disease and purposely sought out putrid odors to test his useless nose

Page 22: Jailed Ghislaine Maxwell’s latest devastating court defeat has heightened fears that the woman accused of being billionaire sex fiend Jeffrey Epstein’s madam will die behind bars just as he did -- since July Maxwell has been locked up in solitary confinement at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center where her jailers subject her to daily strip and cell searches and is monitored 24 hours a day she doesn’t suffer the same fate as Epstein whose death was officially ruled a suicide -- now the U.S. Court of Appeals has denied her bid to publicly name the women who have come forward in the media and civil actions as Epstein’s alleged victims and implicated the British socialite in his twisted sex ring so the damning decision upheld an earlier ruling and shattered her defense team’s bid to investigate and refute the claims of the unnamed accusers

Page 23: Tom Cruise’s plan to shoot the first movie in space may be in jeopardy after Russia vowed to beat him to it -- Tom has teamed with tech billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX program to film the unnamed project on the International Space Station in October 2021 -- but a rival Russian agency plans to already be in outer space by then and the Russian film is titled Challenge and its team has sent out a casting call for a female lead -- Tom sees this as a gauntlet being thrown down and he always rises to the challenge and he’s told SpaceX they have to get up there before next October

Page 28: Cover Story -- Kennedy curse rips clan apart -- the family takes sides as Michael Skakel skates and William Kennedy Smith stalls $50 million will

Page 32: Ric Ocasek’s oldest son has blasted him as a deadbeat dad who was never there -- Chris Otcasek who uses the original spelling of the family name wrote on Instagram that his father in essence died the day he was born and he was never present and he was never there -- Ric left his mom who was his second wife Suzanne while she was pregnant with their second child

* Lisa Marie Presley has had a medical emergency so severe it brought her bitter custody trial with fourth ex-husband Michael Lockwood to a halt

Page 36: Health, Ask the Vet

Page 38: Pope John Paul II was aware that disgraced and defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was a pedophile but elevated him anyway to the powerful post of Archbishop of Washington D.C. in 2001 -- McCarrick had showered over $600,000 in donations on powerful clerics including Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict while facing allegations of abuse -- Pope Francis finally defrocked McCarrick in 2019

Page 42: Red Carpet -- Mandy Moore

Page 45: Spot the Differences -- Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in The Crown

Page 47: Odd List

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lukeskywaker4ever · 5 years ago

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28th King of Portugal (8th of the Bragança Dynasty): King Pedro IV of Portugal, “The Liberator/The Soldier King”

Reign: 10 March 1826 – 2 May 1826 Predecessor: João VI

Pedro IV (12 October 1798 in Queluz, Portugal – 24 September 1834 in Queluz, Portugal), nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he reigned briefly over Portugal, where he also became known as "the Liberator" as well as "the Soldier King". Born in Lisbon, Pedro IV was the fourth child of King Dom João VI of Portugal and Queen Carlota Joaquina, and thus a member of the House of Bragança. When the country was invaded by French troops in 1807, he and his family fled to Portugal's largest and wealthiest colony, Brazil.

The outbreak of the Liberal Revolution of 1820 in Lisbon compelled Pedro IV's father to return to Portugal in April 1821, leaving him to rule Brazil as regent. He had to deal with threats from revolutionaries and insubordination by Portuguese troops, all of which he subdued. The Portuguese government's threat to revoke the political autonomy that Brazil had enjoyed since 1808 was met with widespread discontent in Brazil. Pedro IV chose the Brazilian side and declared Brazil's independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822. On 12 October, he was acclaimed Brazilian emperor and by March 1824 had defeated all armies loyal to Portugal. A few months later, Pedro IV crushed the short-lived Confederation of the Equator, a failed secession attempt by provincial rebels in Brazil's northeast.

A secessionist rebellion in the southern province of Cisplatina in early 1825, and the subsequent attempt by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata to annex it, led the Empire into the Cisplatine War. In March 1826, Pedro IV briefly became king of Portugal before abdicating in favor of his eldest daughter, Dona Maria II. The situation worsened in 1828 when the war in the south resulted in Brazil's loss of Cisplatina. During the same year in Lisbon, Maria II's throne was usurped by Prince Dom Miguel, Pedro IV's younger brother. The Emperor's concurrent and scandalous sexual affair with a female courtier tarnished his reputation. Other difficulties arose in the Brazilian parliament, where a struggle over whether the government would be chosen by the monarch or by the legislature dominated political debates from 1826 to 1831. Unable to deal with problems in both Brazil and Portugal simultaneously, on 7 April 1831 Pedro IV abdicated in favor of his son Dom Pedro II, and sailed for Europe.

Pedro IV invaded Portugal at the head of an army in July 1832. Faced at first with what seemed a national civil war, he soon became involved in a wider conflict that enveloped the Iberian Peninsula in a struggle between proponents of liberalism and those seeking a return to absolutism. Pedro IV died of tuberculosis on 24 September 1834, just a few months after he and the liberals had emerged victorious. He was hailed by both contemporaries and posterity as a key figure who helped spread the liberal ideals that allowed Brazil and Portugal to move from absolutist regimes to representative forms of government.

Pedro was born at 08:00 on 12 October 1798 in the Queluz Royal Palace near Lisbon, Portugal. He was named after St. Pedro of Alcantara, and his full name was Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim. He was referred to using the honorific "Dom" (Lord) from birth.

Through his father, Prince Dom João (later King Dom João VI), Pedro was a member of the House of Bragança and a grandson of King Dom Pedro III and Queen Dona (Lady) Maria I of Portugal, who were uncle and niece as well as husband and wife. His mother, Doña Carlota Joaquina, was the daughter of King Don Carlos IV of Spain. Pedro's parents had an unhappy marriage. Carlota Joaquina was an ambitious woman, who always sought to advance Spain's interests, even to the detriment of Portugal's. Reputedly unfaithful to her husband, she went as far as to plot his overthrow in league with dissatisfied Portuguese nobles.

As the second eldest son (though the fourth child), Pedro became his father's heir apparent and Prince of Beira upon the death of his elder brother Francisco António in 1801. Prince Dom João had been acting as regent on behalf of his mother, Queen Maria I, after she was declared incurably insane in 1792. By 1802, Pedro's parents were estranged; João lived in the Mafra National Palace and Carlota Joaquina in Ramalhão Palace.

Pedro and his siblings resided in the Queluz Palace with their grandmother Maria I, far from their parents, whom they saw only during state occasions at Queluz.

In late November 1807, when Pedro was nine, the royal family escaped from Portugal as an invading French army sent by Napoleon approached Lisbon. Pedro and his family arrived in Rio de Janeiro, capital of Brazil, then Portugal's largest and wealthiest colony, in March 1808. During the voyage, Pedro read Virgil's Aeneid and conversed with the ship's crew, picking up navigational skills. In Brazil, after a brief stay in the City Palace, Pedro settled with his younger brother Miguel and their father in the Palace of São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher). Although never on intimate terms with his father, Pedro loved him and resented the constant humiliation his father suffered at the hands of Carlota Joaquina due to her extramarital affairs. As an adult, Pedro would openly call his mother, for whom he held only feelings of contempt, a "bitch". The early experiences of betrayal, coldness and neglect had a great impact on the formation of Pedro's character.

A modicum of stability during his childhood was provided by his aia (governess), Maria Genoveva do Rêgo e Matos, whom he loved as a mother, and by his aio (supervisor) friar António de Arrábida, who became his mentor. Both were in charge of Pedro's upbringing and attempted to furnish him with a suitable education. His instruction encompassed a broad array of subjects that included mathematics, political economy, logic, history and geography. He learned to speak and write not only in Portuguese, but also Latin and French. He could translate from English and understood German. Even later on, as an emperor, Pedro would devote at least two hours of each day to study and reading.

Despite the breadth of Pedro's instruction, his education proved lacking. Historian Otávio Tarquínio de Sousa said that Pedro "was without a shadow of doubt intelligent, quick-witted, [and] perspicacious." However, historian Roderick J. Barman relates that he was by nature "too ebullient, too erratic, and too emotional". He remained impulsive and never learned to exercise self-control or to assess the consequences of his decisions and adapt his outlook to changes in situations. His father never allowed anyone to discipline him.While Pedro's schedule dictated two hours of study each day, he sometimes circumvented the routine by dismissing his instructors in favor of activities that he found more interesting

The prince found fulfillment in activities that required physical skills, rather than in the classroom. At his father's Santa Cruz farm, Pedro trained unbroken horses, and became a fine horseman and an excellent farrier. He and his brother Miguel enjoyed mounted hunts over unfamiliar ground, through forests, and even at night or in inclement weather. He displayed a talent for drawing and handicrafts, applying himself to wood carving and furniture making. In addition, he had a taste for music, and under the guidance of Marcos Portugal

the prince became an able composer. He had a good singing voice, and was proficient with several musical instruments (including piano, flute and guitar), playing popular songs and dances. Pedro was a simple man, both in habits and in dealing with others. Except on solemn occasions when he donned court dress, his daily attire consisted of white cotton trousers, striped cotton jacket and a broad-brimmed straw hat, or a frock coat and a top hat in more formal situations. He would frequently take time to engage in conversation with people on the street, noting their concerns.

Pedro's character was marked by an energetic drive that bordered on hyperactivity. He was impetuous with a tendency to be domineering and short-tempered. Easily bored or distracted, in his personal life he entertained himself with dalliances with women in addition to his hunting and equestrian activities. His restless spirit compelled him to search for adventure, and, sometimes in disguise as a traveler, he frequented taverns in Rio de Janeiro's disreputable districts. He rarely drank alcohol, but was an incorrigible womanizer. His earliest known lasting affair was with a French dancer called Noémi Thierry, who had a stillborn child by him. Pedro's father, who had ascended the throne as João VI, sent Thierry away to avoid jeopardizing the prince's betrothal to Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, daughter of Emperor Franz I of Austria (formerly Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor).

On 13 May 1817, Pedro was married by proxy to Maria Leopoldina. When she arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 5 November, she immediately fell in love with Pedro, who was far more charming and attractive than she had been led to expect. After "years under a tropical sun, his complexion was still light, his cheeks rosy." The 19-year-old prince was handsome and a little above average in height, with bright dark eyes and dark brown hair. "His good appearance", said historian Neill Macaulay, "owed much to his bearing, proud and erect even at an awkward age, and his grooming, which was impeccable. Habitually neat and clean, he had taken to the Brazilian custom of bathing often." The Nuptial Mass, with the ratification of the vows previously taken by proxy, occurred the following day. Seven children resulted from this marriage: Maria (later Queen Dona Maria II of Portugal), Miguel, João, Januária, Paula, Francisca and Pedro (later Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil)

On 17 October 1820, news arrived that the military garrisons in Portugal had mutinied, leading to what became known as the Liberal Revolution of 1820. The military formed a provisional government, supplanting the regency appointed by João VI, and summoned the Cortes—the centuries-old Portuguese parliament, this time democratically elected with the aim of creating a national Constitution. Pedro was surprised when his father not only asked for his advice, but also decided to send him to Portugal to rule as regent on his behalf and to placate the revolutionaries. The prince was never educated to rule and had previously been allowed no participation in state affairs. The role that was his by birthright was instead filled by his elder sister Dona Maria Teresa: João VI had relied on her for advice, and it was she who had been given membership in the Council of State.

Pedro was regarded with suspicion by his father and by the king's close advisers, all of whom clung to the principles of absolute monarchy. By contrast, the prince was a well-known, staunch supporter of liberalism and of constitutional representative monarchy. He had read the works of Voltaire, Benjamin Constant, Gaetano Filangieri and Edmund Burke. Even his wife Maria Leopoldina remarked, "My husband, God help us, loves the new ideas." João VI postponed Pedro's departure for as long as possible, fearing that once he was in Portugal, he would be acclaimed king by the revolutionaries.

On 26 February 1821, Portuguese troops stationed in Rio de Janeiro mutinied. Neither João VI nor his government made any move against the mutinous units. Pedro decided to act on his own and rode to meet the rebels. He negotiated with them and convinced his father to accept their demands, which included naming a new cabinet and making an oath of obedience to the forthcoming Portuguese Constitution. On 21 April, the parish electors of Rio de Janeiro met at the Merchants' Exchange to elect their representatives to the Cortes. A small group of agitators seized the meeting and formed a revolutionary government. Again, João VI and his ministers remained passive, and the monarch was about to accept the revolutionaries' demands when Pedro took the initiative and sent army troops to re-establish order. Under pressure from the Cortes, João VI and his family departed for Portugal on 26 April, leaving behind Pedro and Maria Leopoldina. Two days before he embarked, the King warned his son: "Pedro, if Brazil breaks away, let it rather do so for you, who will respect me, than for one of those adventurers."

At the outset of his regency, Pedro promulgated decrees that guaranteed personal and property rights. He also reduced government expenditure and taxes.Even the revolutionaries arrested in the Merchants' Exchange incident were set free. On 5 June 1821, army troops under Portuguese lieutenant general Jorge Avilez (later Count of Avilez)

mutinied, demanding that Pedro should take an oath to uphold the Portuguese Constitution after it was enacted. The prince rode out alone to intervene with the mutineers. He calmly and resourcefully negotiated, winning the respect of the troops and succeeding in reducing the impact of their more unacceptable demands. The mutiny was a thinly veiled military coup d'état that sought to turn Pedro into a mere figurehead and transfer power to Avilez. The prince accepted the unsatisfactory outcome, but he also warned that it was the last time he would yield under pressure.

The continuing crisis reached a point of no return when the Cortes dissolved the central government in Rio de Janeiro and ordered Pedro's return. This was perceived by Brazilians as an attempt to subordinate their country again to Portugal—Brazil had not been a colony since 1815 and had the status of a kingdom. On 9 January 1822, Pedro was presented with a petition containing 8,000 signatures that begged him not to leave. He replied, "Since it is for the good of all and the general happiness of the Nation, I am willing. Tell the people that I am staying." Avilez again mutinied and tried to force Pedro's return to Portugal. This time the prince fought back, rallying the Brazilian troops (which had not joined the Portuguese in previous mutinies), militia units and armed civilians. Outnumbered, Avilez surrendered and was expelled from Brazil along with his troops.

During the next few months, Pedro attempted to maintain a semblance of unity with Portugal, but the final rupture was impending. Aided by an able minister, José Bonifácio de Andrada,

he searched for support outside Rio de Janeiro. The prince traveled to Minas Gerais in April and on to São Paulo in August. He was welcomed warmly in both Brazilian provinces, and the visits reinforced his authority. While returning from São Paulo, he received news sent on 7 September that the Cortes would not accept self-governance in Brazil and would punish all who disobeyed its orders. "Never one to eschew the most dramatic action on the immediate impulse", said Barman about the prince, he "required no more time for decision than the reading of the letters demanded." Pedro mounted his bay mare and, in front of his entourage and his Guard of Honor, said: "Friends, the Portuguese Cortes wished to enslave and persecute us. As of today our bonds are ended. By my blood, by my honor, by my God, I swear to bring about the independence of Brazil. Brazilians, let our watchword from this day forth be 'Independence or Death!'"

The prince was acclaimed Emperor Dom Pedro I on his 24th birthday, which coincided with the inauguration of the Empire of Brazil on 12 October. He was crowned on 1 December in what is today known as the Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro. His ascendancy did not immediately extend throughout Brazil's territories. He had to force the submission of several provinces in the northern, northeastern and southern regions, and the last Portuguese holdout units only surrendered in early 1824. Meanwhile, Pedro IV's relationship with Bonifácio deteriorated. The situation came to a head when Pedro IV, on the grounds of inappropriate conduct, dismissed Bonifácio. Bonifácio had used his position to harass, prosecute, arrest and even exile his political enemies. For months Bonifácio's enemies had worked to win over the Emperor. While Pedro IV was still Prince Regent, they had given him the title "Perpetual Defender of Brazil" on 13 May 1822. They also inducted him into Freemasonry on 2 August and later made him grand master on 7 October, replacing Bonifácio in that position.

The crisis between the monarch and his former minister was felt immediately within the Constituent and Legislative General Assembly, which had been elected for the purpose of drafting a Constitution. A member of the Constituent Assembly, Bonifácio resorted to demagoguery, alleging the existence of a major Portuguese conspiracy against Brazilian interests—insinuating that Pedro IV, who had been born in Portugal, was implicated. The Emperor became outraged by the invective directed at the loyalty of citizens who were of Portuguese birth and the hints that he was himself conflicted in his allegiance to Brazil. On 12 November 1823, Pedro IV ordered the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and called for new elections. On the following day, he placed a newly established native Council of State in charge of composing a constitutional draft. Copies of the draft were sent to all town councils, and the vast majority voted in favor of its instant adoption as the Constitution of the Empire.

As a result of the highly centralized State created by the Constitution, rebellious elements in Ceará, Paraíba and Pernambuco attempted to secede from Brazil and unite in what became known as the Confederation of the Equator. Pedro IV unsuccessfully sought to avoid bloodshed by offering to placate the rebels. Angry, he said: "What did the insults from Pernambuco require? Surely a punishment, and such a punishment that it will serve as an example for the future." The rebels were never able to secure control over their provinces, and were easily suppressed. By late 1824, the rebellion was over. Sixteen rebels were tried and executed, while all others were pardoned by the Emperor.

After long negotiations, Portugal signed a treaty with Brazil on 29 August 1825 in which it recognized Brazilian independence. Except for the recognition of independence, the treaty provisions were at Brazil's expense, including a demand for reparations to be paid to Portugal, with no other requirements of Portugal. Compensation was to be paid to all Portuguese citizens residing in Brazil for the losses they had experienced, such as properties which had been confiscated. João VI was also given the right to style himself emperor of Brazil. More humiliating was that the treaty implied that independence had been granted as a beneficent act of João VI, rather than having been compelled by the Brazilians through force of arms. Even worse, Great Britain was rewarded for its role in advancing the negotiations by the signing of a separate treaty in which its favorable commercial rights were renewed and by the signing of a convention in which Brazil agreed to abolish slave trade with Africa within four years. Both accords were severely harmful to Brazilian economic interests.

A few months later, the Emperor received word that his father had died on 10 March 1826, and that he had succeeded his father on the Portuguese throne as King Dom Pedro IV. Aware that a reunion of Brazil and Portugal would be unacceptable to the people of both nations, he hastily abdicated the crown of Portugal on 2 May in favor of his eldest daughter, who became Queen Dona Maria II. His abdication was conditional: Portugal was required to accept the Constitution which he had drafted and Maria II was to marry his brother Miguel. Regardless of the abdication, Pedro IV continued to act as an absentee king of Portugal and interceded in its diplomatic matters, as well as in internal affairs, such as making appointments. He found it difficult, at the very least, to keep his position as Brazilian emperor separate from his obligations to protect his daughter's interests in Portugal.

Miguel feigned compliance with Pedro IV's plans. As soon as he was declared regent in early 1828, and backed by Carlota Joaquina, he abrogated the Constitution and, supported by those Portuguese in favor of absolutism, was acclaimed King Dom Miguel I. As painful as was his beloved brother's betrayal, Pedro IV also endured the defection of his surviving sisters, Maria Teresa, Maria Francisca, Isabel Maria and Maria da Assunção, to Miguel I's faction. Only his youngest sister, Ana de Jesus, remained faithful to him, and she later traveled to Rio de Janeiro to be close to him. Consumed by hatred and beginning to believe rumors that Miguel I had murdered their father, Pedro IV turned his focus on Portugal and tried in vain to garner international support for Maria II's rights

Backed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina), a small band declared Brazil's southernmost province of Cisplatina to be independent in April 1825.The Brazilian government at first perceived the secession attempt as a minor uprising. It took months before a greater threat posed by the involvement of the United Provinces, which expected to annex Cisplatina, caused serious concern. In retaliation, the Empire declared war in December, triggering the Cisplatine War. The Emperor traveled to Bahia province (located in northeastern Brazil) in February 1826, taking along his wife and daughter Maria. The Emperor was warmly welcomed by the inhabitants of Bahia.The trip was planned to generate support for the war-effort.

The imperial entourage included Domitila de Castro (then-Viscountess and later Marchioness of Santos),

who had been Pedro IV's mistress since their first meeting in 1822. Although he had never been faithful to Maria Leopoldina, he had previously been careful to conceal his sexual escapades with other women. However, his infatuation for his new lover "had become both blatant and limitless", while his wife endured slights and became the object of gossip. Pedro IV was increasingly rude and mean toward Maria Leopoldina, left her short of funds, prohibited her from leaving the palace and forced her to endure Domitila's presence as her lady-in-waiting. In the meantime, his lover took advantage by advancing her interests, as well as those of her family and friends. Those seeking favors or to promote projects increasingly sought her help, bypassing the normal, legal channels.

On 24 November 1826, Pedro IV sailed from Rio de Janeiro to São José in the province of Santa Catarina. From there he rode to Porto Alegre, capital of the province of Rio Grande do Sul, where the main army was stationed. Upon his arrival on 7 December, the Emperor found the military conditions to be much worse than previous reports had led him to expect. He "reacted with his customary energy: he passed a flurry of orders, fired reputed grafters and incompetents, fraternized with the troops, and generally shook up military and civilian administration." He was already on his way back to Rio de Janeiro when he was told that Maria Leopoldina had died following a miscarriage. Unfounded rumors soon spread that purported that she had died after being physically assaulted by Pedro IV. Meanwhile, the war continued on with no conclusion in sight. Pedro IV relinquished Cisplatina in August 1828, and the province became the independent nation of Uruguay.

After his wife's death, Pedro IV realized how miserably he had treated her, and his relationship with Domitila began to crumble. Maria Leopoldina, unlike his mistress, was popular, honest and loved him without expecting anything in return. The Emperor greatly missed her, and even his obsession with Domitila failed to overcome his sense of loss and regret. One day Domitila found him weeping on the floor and embracing a portrait of his deceased wife, whose sad-looking ghost Pedro IV claimed to have seen. Later on, the Emperor left the bed he shared with Domitila and shouted: "Get off of me! I know I live an unworthy life of a sovereign. The thought of the Empress does not leave me."He did not forget his children, orphaned of their mother, and was observed on more than one occasion holding his son, the young Pedro, in his arms and saying: "Poor boy, you are the most unhappy prince in the world."

At the insistence of Pedro IV, Domitila departed from Rio de Janeiro on 27 June 1828. He had resolved to marry again and to become a better person. He even tried to persuade his father-in-law of his sincerity, by claiming in a letter "that all my wickedness is over, that I shall not again fall into those errors into which I have fallen, which I regret and have asked God for forgiveness".Franz I was less than convinced. The Austrian emperor, deeply offended by the conduct his daughter endured, withdrew his support for Brazilian concerns and frustrated Pedro IV's Portuguese interests. Because of Pedro IV's bad reputation in Europe, owing to his past behavior, princesses from several nations declined his proposals of marriage one after another. His pride thus wounded, he allowed his mistress to return, which she did on 29 April 1829 after having been away nearly a year.

However, once he learned that a betrothal had finally been arranged, the Emperor ended his relationship to Domitila. She returned to her native province of São Paulo on 27 August, where she remained. Days earlier, on 2 August, the Emperor had been married by proxy to Amélie of Leuchtenberg. He was stunned by her beauty after meeting her in person. The vows previously made by proxy were ratified in a Nuptial Mass on 17 October. Amélie was kind and loving to his children and provided a much needed sense of normality to both his family and the general public. After Domitila's banishment from court, the vow the Emperor made to alter his behavior proved to be sincere. He had no more affairs and remained faithful to his spouse. In an attempt to mitigate and move beyond other past misdeeds, he made peace with José Bonifácio, his former minister and mentor.

Since the days of the Constituent Assembly in 1823, and with renewed vigor in 1826 with the opening of the General Assembly (the Brazilian parliament), there had been an ideological struggle over the balance of powers wielded by the emperor and legislature in governance. On one side were those who shared Pedro IV's views, politicians who believed that the monarch should be free to choose ministers, national policies and the direction of government. In opposition were those, then known as the Liberal Party, who believed that cabinets should have the power to set the government's course and should consist of deputies drawn from the majority party who were accountable to the parliament. Strictly speaking, both the party that supported Pedro IV's government and the Liberal Party advocated Liberalism, and thus constitutional monarchy.

Regardless of Pedro IV's failures as a ruler, he respected the Constitution: he did not tamper with elections or countenance vote rigging, refuse to sign acts ratified by the government, or impose any restrictions on freedom of speech. Although within his prerogative, he did not dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and call for new elections when it disagreed with his aims or postpone seating the legislature. Liberal newspapers and pamphlets seized on Pedro IV's Portuguese birth in support of both valid accusations (e.g., that much of his energy was directed toward affairs concerning Portugal) and false charges (e.g., that he was involved in plots to suppress the Constitution and to reunite Brazil and Portugal).To the Liberals, the Emperor's Portuguese-born friends who were part of the Imperial court, including Francisco Gomes da Silva who was nicknamed "the Buffoon", were part of these conspiracies and formed a "secret cabinet". None of these figures exhibited interest in such issues, and whatever interests they may have shared, there was no palace cabal plotting to abrogate the Constitution or to bring Brazil back under Portugal's control.

Another source of criticism by the Liberals involved Pedro IV's abolitionist views. The Emperor had indeed conceived a gradual process for eliminating slavery. However, the constitutional power to enact legislation was in the hands of the Assembly, which was dominated by slave-owning landholders who could thus thwart any attempt at abolition.The Emperor opted to try persuasion by moral example, setting up his estate at Santa Cruz as a model by granting land to his freed slaves there. Pedro IV also professed other advanced ideas. When he declared his intention to remain in Brazil on 9 January 1822 and the populace sought to accord him the honor of unhitching the horses and pulling his carriage themselves, the then-Prince Regent refused. His reply was a simultaneous denunciation of the divine right of kings, of nobility's supposedly superior blood and of racism: "It grieves me to see my fellow humans giving a man tributes appropriate for the divinity, I know that my blood is the same color as that of the Negroes."

The Emperor's efforts to appease the Liberal Party resulted in very important changes. He supported an 1827 law that established ministerial responsibility. On 19 March 1831, he named a cabinet formed by politicians drawn from the opposition, allowing a greater role for the parliament in the government. Lastly, he offered positions in Europe to Francisco Gomes and another Portuguese-born friend to extinguish rumors of a "secret cabinet".To his dismay, his palliative measures did not stop the continuous attacks from the Liberal side upon his government and his foreign birth. Frustrated by their intransigence, he became unwilling to deal with his deteriorating political situation.

Meanwhile, Portuguese exiles campaigned to convince him to give up on Brazil and instead devote his energies to the fight for his daughter's claim to Portugal's crown. According to Roderick J. Barman, "[in] an emergency the Emperor's abilities shone forth—he became cool in nerve, resourceful and steadfast in action. Life as a constitutional monarch, full of tedium, caution, and conciliation, ran against the essence of his character." On the other hand, the historian remarked, he "found in his daughter's case everything that appealed most to his character. By going to Portugal he could champion the oppressed, display his chivalry and self-denial, uphold constitutional rule, and enjoy the freedom of action he craved."

The idea of abdicating and returning to Portugal took root in his mind, and, beginning in early 1829, he talked about it frequently. An opportunity soon appeared to act upon the notion. Radicals within the Liberal Party rallied street gangs to harass the Portuguese community in Rio de Janeiro. On 11 March 1831, in what became known as the "noite das garrafadas" (night of the broken bottles), the Portuguese retaliated and turmoil gripped the streets of the national capital. On 5 April, Pedro IV fired the Liberal cabinet, which had only been in power since 19 March, for its incompetence in restoring order. A large crowd, incited by the radicals, gathered in Rio de Janeiro downtown on the afternoon of 6 April and demanded the immediate restoration of the fallen cabinet. The Emperor's reply was: "I will do everything for the people and nothing [compelled] by the people." Sometime after nightfall, army troops, including his guard, deserted him and joined the protests. Only then did he realize how isolated and detached from Brazilian affairs he had become, and to everyone's surprise, he abdicated at approximately 03:00 on 7 April. Upon delivering the abdication document to a messenger, he said: "Here you have my act of abdication, I'm returning to Europe and leaving a country that I loved very much, and still love."

At dawn on the morning of 7 April, Pedro, his wife, and others, including his daughter Maria II and his sister Ana de Jesus, were taken on board the British warship HMS Warspite.

The vessel remained at anchor off Rio de Janeiro, and, on 13 April, the former emperor transferred to and departed for Europe aboard HMS Volage. He arrived in Cherbourg-Octeville, France, on 10 June. During the next few months, he shuttled between France and Great Britain. He was warmly welcomed, but received no actual support from either government to restore his daughter's throne. Finding himself in an awkward situation because he held no official status in either the Brazilian Imperial House or in the Portuguese Royal House, Pedro assumed the title of Duke of Bragança on 15 June, a position that once had been his as heir to Portugal's crown. Although the title should have belonged to Maria II's heir, which he certainly was not, his claim was met with general recognition. On 1 December, his only daughter by Amélie, Maria Amélia, was born in Paris.

He did not forget his children left in Brazil. He wrote poignant letters to each of them, conveying how greatly he missed them and repeatedly asking them to seriously attend to their educations. Shortly before his abdication, Pedro had told his son and successor: "I intend that my brother Miguel and I will be the last badly educated of the Bragança family". Charles Napier, a naval commander who fought under Pedro's banner in the 1830′s, remarked that "his good qualities were his own; his bad owing to want of education; and no man was more sensible of that defect than himself." His letters to Pedro II were often couched in language beyond the boy's reading level, and historians have assumed such passages were chiefly intended as advice that the young monarch might eventually consult upon reaching adulthood.

While in Paris, the Duke of Bragança met and befriended Gilbert du Motier, Marquis of Lafayette,

a veteran of the American Revolutionary War who became one of his staunchest supporters. With limited funds, Pedro organized a small army composed of Portuguese liberals, like Almeida Garrett

and Alexandre Herculano,

foreign mercenaries and volunteers such as Lafayette's grandson, Adrien Jules de Lasteyrie. On 25 January 1832, Pedro bade farewell to his family, Lafayette and around two hundred well-wishers. He knelt before Maria II and said: "My lady, here is a Portuguese general who will uphold your rights and restore your crown." In tears, his daughter embraced him. Pedro and his army sailed to the Atlantic archipelago of the Azores, the only Portuguese territory that had remained loyal to his daughter. After a few months of final preparations they embarked for mainland Portugal, entering the city of Porto unopposed on 9 July. His brother's troops moved to encircle the city, beginning a siege that lasted for more than a year.

In early 1833, while besieged in Porto, Pedro received news from Brazil of his daughter Paula's impending death. Months later, in September, he met with Antônio Carlos de Andrada, a brother of Bonifácio who had come from Brazil. As a representative of the Restorationist Party, Antônio Carlos asked the Duke of Bragança to return to Brazil and rule his former empire as regent during his son's minority. Pedro realized that the Restorationists wanted to use him as a tool to facilitate their own rise to power, and frustrated Antônio Carlos by making several demands, to ascertain whether the Brazilian people, and not merely a faction, truly wanted him back. He insisted that any request to return as regent be constitutionally valid. The people's will would have to be conveyed through their local representatives and his appointment approved by the General Assembly. Only then, and "upon the presentation of a petition to him in Portugal by an official delegation of the Brazilian parliament" would he consider accepting.

During the war, the Duke of Bragança mounted cannons, dug trenches, tended the wounded, ate among the rank and file and fought under heavy fire as men next to him were shot or blown to pieces. His cause was nearly lost until he took the risky step of dividing his forces and sending a portion to launch an amphibious attack on southern Portugal. The Algarve region fell to the expedition, which then marched north straight for Lisbon, which capitulated on 24 July. Pedro proceeded to subdue the remainder of the country, but just when the conflict looked to be winding down to a conclusion, his Spanish uncle Don Carlos, who was attempting to seize the crown of his niece Doña Isabel II,

intervened. In this wider conflict that engulfed the entire Iberian Peninsula, the First Carlist War, the Duke of Bragança allied with liberal Spanish armies loyal to Isabel II and defeated both Miguel I and Carlos. A peace accord was reached on 26 May 1834.

Except for bouts of epilepsy that manifested in seizures every few years, Pedro had always enjoyed robust health. The war, however, undermined his constitution and by 1834 he was dying of tuberculosis. He was confined to his bed in Queluz Royal Palace from 10 September. Pedro dictated an open letter to the Brazilians, in which he begged that a gradual abolition of slavery be adopted. He warned them: "Slavery is an evil, and an attack against the rights and dignity of the human species, but its consequences are less harmful to those who suffer in captivity than to the Nation whose laws allow slavery. It is a cancer that devours its morality." After a long and painful illness, Pedro died at 14:30 on 24 September 1834.

As he had requested, his heart was placed in Porto's Lapa Church and his body was interred in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza.

The news of his death arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 20 November, but his children were informed only after 2 December. Bonifácio, who had been removed from his position as their guardian, wrote to Pedro II and his sisters: "Dom Pedro did not die. Only ordinary men die, not heroes."

Upon the death of Pedro IV, the then-powerful Restorationist Party vanished overnight. A fair assessment of the former monarch became possible once the threat of his return to power was removed. Evaristo da Veiga, one of his worst critics as well as a leader in the Liberal Party, left a statement which, according to historian Otávio Tarquínio de Sousa, became the prevailing view thereafter: "the former emperor of Brazil was not a prince of ordinary measure ... and Providence has made him a powerful instrument of liberation, both in Brazil and in Portugal. If we [Brazilians] exist as a body in a free Nation, if our land was not ripped apart into small enemy republics, where only anarchy and military spirit predominated, we owe much to the resolution he took in remaining among us, in making the first shout for our Independence." He continued: "Portugal, if it was freed from the darkest and demeaning tyranny ... if it enjoys the benefits brought by representative government to learned peoples, it owes it to D[om]. Pedro de Alcântara, whose fatigues, sufferings and sacrifices for the Portuguese cause has earned him in high degree the tribute of national gratitude."

John Armitage, who lived in Brazil during the latter half of Pedro IV's reign, remarked that "even the errors of the Monarch have been attended with great benefit through their influence on the affairs of the mother country. Had he governed with more wisdom it would have been well for the land of his adoption, yet, perhaps, unfortunate for humanity." Armitage added that like "the late Emperor of the French, he was also a child of destiny, or rather, an instrument in the hands of an all-seeing and beneficent Providence for the furtherance of great and inscrutable ends. In the old as in the new world he was henceforth fated to become the instrument of further revolutions, and ere the close of his brilliant but ephemeral career in the land of his fathers, to atone amply for the errors and follies of his former life, by his chivalrous and heroic devotion in the cause of civil and religious freedom."

In 1972, on the 150th anniversary of Brazilian independence, Pedro IV's remains (though not his heart) were brought to Brazil—as he had requested in his will—accompanied by much fanfare and with honors due to a head of state. His remains were reinterred in the Monument to the Independence of Brazil, along with those of Maria Leopoldina and Amélie, in the city of São Paulo.

Years later, Neill Macaulay said that "[c]riticism of Dom Pedro was freely expressed and often vehement; it prompted him to abdicate two thrones. His tolerance of public criticism and his willingness to relinquish power set Dom Pedro apart from his absolutist predecessors and from the rulers of today's coercive states, whose lifetime tenure is as secure as that of the kings of old." Macaulay affirmed that "[s]uccessful liberal leaders like Dom Pedro may be honored with an occasional stone or bronze monument, but their portraits, four stories high, do not shape public buildings; their pictures are not borne in parades of hundreds of thousands of uniformed marchers; no '-isms' attach to their names.”

King Pedro IV had several children:

By Maria Leopoldina of Austria (22 January 1797 – 11 December 1826; married by proxy on 13 May 1817):

Maria II of Portugal (4 April 1819 –15 November 1853) Queen of Portugal from 1826 until 1853. Maria II's first husband, Auguste de Beauharnais, 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg, died a few months after the marriage. Her second husband was Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who became King Dom Fernando II after the birth of their first child. She had eleven children from this marriage. Maria II was heir to her brother Pedro II as Princess Imperial until her exclusion from the Brazilian line of succession by law no. 91 of 30 October 1835.

Miguel, Prince of Beira (26 April 1820) Prince of Beira from birth to his death.

João Carlos, Prince of Beira (6 March 1821 – 4 February 1822) Prince of Beira from birth to his death.

Princess Januária of Brazil (11 March 1822 – 13 March 1901) Married Prince Luigi, Count of Aquila, son of Don Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies. She had four children from this marriage. Officially recognized as an Infanta of Portugal on 4 June 1822, she was later considered excluded from the Portuguese line of succession after Brazil became independent.

Princess Paula of Brazil (17 February 1823 – 16 January 1833) She died age 9, probably of meningitis. Born in Brazil after its independence, Paula was excluded from the Portuguese line of succession.

Princess Francisca of Brazil (2 August 1824 – 27 March 1898) Married Prince François, Prince of Joinville, son of Louis Philippe I, King of the French. She had three children from this marriage. Born in Brazil after its independence, Francisca was excluded from the Portuguese line of succession.

Pedro II of Brazil (2 December 1825 –5 December 1891) Emperor of Brazil from 1831 until 1889. He was married to Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, daughter of Don Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies. He had four children from this marriage. Born in Brazil after its independence, Pedro II was excluded from the Portuguese line of succession and did not become King Dom Pedro V of Portugal upon his father's abdication.

By Amélie of Leuchtenberg (31 July 1812 – 26 January 1873; married by proxy on 2 August 1829):

Princess Maria Amélia of Brazil (1 December 1831 – 4 February 1853) She lived her entire life in Europe and never visited Brazil. Maria Amélia was betrothed to Archduke Maximilian, later Emperor Don Maximiliano I of Mexico, but died before her marriage. Born years after her father abdicated the Portuguese crown, Maria Amélia was never in the line of succession to the Portuguese throne.

By Domitila de Castro, Marchioness of Santos (27 December 1797 – 3 November 1867):

Isabel Maria de Alcântara Brasileira (23 May 1824 – 3 November 1898) She was the only child of Pedro IV born out of wedlock who was officially legitimized by him. On 24 May 1826, Isabel Maria was given the title of "Duchess of Goiás", the style of Highness and the right to use the honorific "Dona" (Lady). She was the first person to hold the rank of duke in the Empire of Brazil. These honors did not confer on her the status of Brazilian princess or place her in the line of succession. In his will, Pedro IV gave her a share of his estate. She later lost her Brazilian title and honors upon her 17 April 1843 marriage to a foreigner, Ernst Fischler von Treuberg, Count of Treuberg.

Pedro de Alcântara Brasileiro (7 December 1825 – 27 December 1825) Pedro IV seems to have considered giving him the title of "Duke of São Paulo", which was never realized due to the child's early death.

Maria Isabel de Alcântara Brasileira (13 August 1827 – 25 October 1828) Pedro IV considered giving her the title of "Duchess of Ceará", the style of Highness and the right to use the honorific "Dona" (Lady). This was never put into effect due to her early death. Nonetheless, it is quite common to see many sources calling her "Duchess of Ceará", even though "there is no record of the registry of her title in official books, which is also not mentioned in papers related to her funeral".

Maria Isabel de Alcântara Brasileira (28 February 1830 – 13 September 1896) Countess of Iguaçu through marriage in 1848 to Pedro Caldeira Brant, son of Felisberto Caldeira Brant, Marquis of Barbacena. She was never given any titles by her father due to his marriage to Amélie. However, Pedro IV acknowledged her as his daughter in his will, but gave her no share of his estate, except for a request that his widow aid in her education and upbringing.

By Maria Benedita, Baroness of Sorocaba (18 December 1792 – 5 March 1857):

Rodrigo Delfim Pereira (4 November 1823 –31 January 1891) In his will, Pedro IV acknowledged him as his son and gave him a share of his estate. Rodrigo Delfim Pereira became a Brazilian diplomat and lived most of his life in Europe.

By Henriette Josephine Clemence Saisset:

Pedro de Alcântara Brasileiro born 28 August 1829. In his will, Pedro IV acknowledged him as his son and gave him a share of his estate. Pedro de Alcântara Brasileiro had a son, a French navy officer, among other descendants.

#king pedro iv of portugal #kings of portugal #bragança dynasty #portugal history

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katrinapavela · 7 years ago

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#Black Panther Themes Applied to #Scandal (#ICMABAS)

Black Panther gives us an opportunity to watch a film by and about black people, enveloping ourselves in the warm fibres of its tapestry of topics. Needless to say, the conversations go well beyond the usual fodder about representation and its attending anxieties about the white gaze on black work. I’ve heard a few discussions on the topics of black feminism, black radicalism, hair, fashion, cinematography, joy and pain—all inspired by this one film. I’ve tried to keep my thoughts to myself, or to the group chat, but I can’t anymore. I’m making the time today to touch on a few of Black Panther’s themes that made me draw some (clear) parallels with Scandal. Some of them are ones that I have talked about before. But because Black Panther is a rare, internationally shared moment that distills the themes so clearly, I just have to do a Wakanda edition of I Can Make Anything Be About Scandal (#ICMABAS). This is super spoilerific, so I don’t wanna hear from you if you get spoiled.

A Nation and a People Come to Understand their Place in the World:

In Black Panther, the proud people of Wakanda begin their journey, in the film, with a strong national presence, but it is an insular one. They believe their greatest resource is vibranium, the strongest substance known to man. Sitting on this wealth causes them to hide in plain sight from the outside world, as a form of protection. In the words of Olivia Pope, a woman who falters in living up to the values she implores others to follow: “Sometimes fear keeps us safe; but sometimes it holds us back” (416). By the end of Black Panther, the Wakandans come to understand that they are not just an African nation, but they are part of the African Diaspora. They become black people. And as Black people, free from the scars of colonialism they never experienced, they take up the responsibility of alleviating the pain and suffering of Black people who do have those scars. The film’s end shows us the declaration of this and that they start where one of their own (Killmonger) was deeply emotionally wounded: Oakland, California.

Sometimes we begin to understand who we are by seeing those who so distinctly represent who we are not; or who we do not wish to be. The gap between where we are and where we want to be is more easily traversed when we understand who we are. Without that latter piece, the journey seems meandering and purposeless. The tragic figure of Eric Killmonger evidenced for King T’Challa and Wakandans that they were connected to a Black world outside of their nation, and that true freedom means being able to serve your people to the best of your abilities. This very idea came not from Killmonger, but from Nakia—Wakandan international spy and T’Challa’s person/trusted advisor.

As a friend (@yrisaacs) recently said to me: knowing who you are is the place from which you can do the most good. That applies to yourself and others. Nakia understood this, and T’Challa, being the baby kind that he was, took time to come to see Nakia was right. Two things here: I am reminded of my Fitzgerald and Olivia. Fitz now knows who he is and his (privileged) place in the world. And what is he doing with that? He’s putting it to use to help people—namely Black people (finding missing Black girls, and tackling the criminal (in)justice system which is disproportionately cruel to Black people). Olivia Pope has accomplished great things in deceptive and untruthful ways because, ultimately, she doesn’t know where she’s going in life, because she doesn’t know who she is yet. In my preamble to S7, I remarked that the poster of Olivia Pope on a bench, overlooking Washington, DC gave me the impression of Olivia searching for her proper place as a Black woman in the nation. Olivia has sided with the Republic, again and again, to her own detriment and disengagement precisely because she does not know who she is, and is probably afraid to uncover. She is lost and can’t admit it. And in the gap of a loss not dissimilar to Eric Killmonger’s, an overzealous dedication to an abusive nation becomes a stand in for what is actually missing: a grounded sense of self. The identity, which Olivia’s father, Rowan, has emphasized, has failed her. Killmonger, too, was failed by fathers—both N’Jobu and T’Chaka. Olivia will not understand her place in the nation until she reconciles with the black feminine presence (preferably her own mother, Maya), perhaps starting in the upcoming HTGAWM crossover wherein she will interact with three generations of Black women: Analise Keating, AK’s mother, and Michaela. In both Black Panther and Scandal, the absence of the black maternal figure is strategic narration.

Disappointing Fathers & Absent Mothers

Another theme that looms large in both Black Panther and Scandal is the failure of fathers and the absence of mothers. These related issues produce lost children whose disengagement masks a profound search for true connection. My dear friend and scholar, Schuyler Esprit (@thatmaroongirl ) introduced me to Pauline Hopkins’ work in 2013, noting her influence in Shonda Rhymes’ style of drama. In Jill Bergman’s treatment on the trope of the motherless African American child in the novels of Pauline Hopkins (1859-1930), she notes that motherlessness is a motif that runs through all of Hopkin’s novels. Bergman (2012) asserts that the motherless trope resonates for African Americans dealing with the profound loss of having been abducted from a motherland, and the ensuing familial fragmentation that occurs as a result of slavery. For African Americans, post-Reconstruction, this results in alienation from a country in which they reside, but are not loved. Furthermore, it produces a profound longing for the missing maternal figure, which can manifest as a desire to connect with a literal lost parent or heritage (of the motherland).

Both Olivia and Eric Killmonger are left motherless, as children, and in the care of their fathers. We do not know the circumstance under which leaves Killmonger motherless. Olivia, however, is lied to by her father, at the age of 12 that her mother is dead, when in fact she is taken prisoner by her father as punishment for betrayal (308). Olivia is soon sent off to an expensive European boarding school and never lives with her father again (301, 306). This is effectively a double abandonment. Eric Killmonger, too, is abandoned by his father (N’Jobu) through his murder at the hands his brother, King T’Chaka. The reason for N’Jobu and Maya’s death/”death” are ostensibly the same: protecting a nation by punishing the individual betraying it. In the case of both children, their own family members are to blame for their abandonment. Neither family provides any true consolation for the loss these children experience.

The Scars of Disengagement

The childhood abandonment increases the sense of alienation for both Killmonger and Olivia well-into adulthood, where it has metastasized. Born N’Jadaku, he becomes Eric Killmonger, and wears the evidence of his scarred childhood on his literal body. The scars are supposed to resemble tribal markings, but they are effectively empty in Killmonger’s case, as each represents the death of someone at his hands. All of it done to reach Wakanda to exact revenge for his father’s death. In Olivia’s case, as is for many women, the scars of her childhood pain are all internal. On the outside she radiates ‘bad bitch’, but that flawlessness has always been a deflection. The disengagement comes off as aloof coolness, but that too is armor. It keeps people from getting too close.

But T’Challa does eventually get close enough to see Killmonger. Having defeated Killmonger for the soul of Wakanda and path to freedom for the rest of the diaspora (the battle takes place in a futuristic, underground railway!), T’Challa sees the extent to which Killmonger is damaged by what his father, King T’Chaka did. T’Challa tries to save Killmonger, but he baselessly assumes that this help comes in the form of bondage, and instead chooses death, citing his kidnapped ancestors who jumped overboard instead of facing a lifetime of bondage. I wondered if he chose to stick with the dependable pain that he knew, rather than being made vulnerable, which accepting help requires.

Death is a way out of bondage—a fate seen as worse than death. This theme has popped up on Scandal repeatedly since Olivia was kidnapped in the 4th season. At that time, one of her captors told her “There are many things far worse than death” (410). The time in bondage, however brief, has returned an Olivia who has become increasingly alienated from the people and relationships around her. Each ensuing season has seen this compounded. She, like Killmonger, mistook help as a form of bondage (509), choosing instead to hold on to the familiarity of her fears through the death of a relationship. Both these characters see vulnerability as a kind of bondage.

Black Feminism as a Check on Toxic Masculinity:

One of my favourite things about Black Panther is the balance of the masculine and feminine. Perhaps because of the absence of colonialism, and the European Enlightenment ideas upon which it operated, Wakanda is not a society dominated by patriarchy. There is a king, but T’Challa’s visit to the spirit world to reunite with T’Chaka revealed there were female Black Panthers, too. There’s also Okoye, the General of the Dora Milaje—the best warriors in the land. And there are female members of the king’s counsel, including the Queen mother, Ramonda. Female leaders of tribes. The best engineer in the land is a 16 year old princess, Shuri. And the person who shows the king the future of Wakandan leadership is Nakia. Every single one of these women is different, and what’s more none of them believe in a self-reliance that alienates love or other relationships. Community and country are important to them, but so are individuals. Black women play pivotal roles as fully formed humans who lead. It’s a film white feminists should study.

I bring up the role of Wakandan women not just because they are sovereign beings and equal citizens, but because there is a clear point being made in the film with regard to how T’Challa and Killmonger treat these women. The contrast in treatment aligns seamlessly with each man’s political philosophy on the liberation of Black people. Earlier I wrote about the strategic absence of Black femininity in both Olivia and Killmonger’s life. T’Challa, by contrast, is surrounded by women (his mother, sister, Okoye, Nakia, etc). He loves, respects and values their counsel, especially as he is finding his footing as a new king in the wake of his father’s death. Meanwhile, Killmonger, who doesn’t grow up with that influence, is seen with a girlfriend, whom he soon kills when she stands in the way of his mission. Having arrived in Wakanda, he disrespects, chokes, or kills Wakandan women. Killmonger may have had a point, but his overall philosophy of liberation was fucked up. Killmonger’s was a toxic masculinity that ultimately consumed him and obviously harmed those around him.

“Masculinity without the combination of the feminine is weak. It is all bravado. It is not true power. It is anger without control. That’s the message [of Black Panther] to me”–@rodimusprime, TBGWT

Toxic masculinity has all but consumed and ruined the life of Olivia Pope, too. Olivia has been questing to find out what true power is, and along with the way she has increasingly adopted the primary model of power in her life: that of her father, Rowan. His is a toxic masculinity that reads power in terms of domination and violence, particularly toward black women. Black women whose names end the letter ‘a’ have had their lives ruined by Rowan. He separated is wife Maya from Olivia for over twenty years. Before Maya, we learn he had a paleontologist girlfriend who he seemed to love. Her name was Sandra. She ended up dead, shot in the head by Rowan. And now Olivia has adopted so many of her father’s traits, including a disregard for things deemed ‘weak’ or ‘feminine’, except the cut of her clothing. She threatens people’s children to get what she wants. She kills lovers to teach a lesson and maintain her power. She lies to the people who, somehow, still love and care for her, to prove she can outsmart anyone. The adage ‘hurt people hurt people’ is completely true in this portrait of generational abuse in the Pope family. And the absence of the Black mother (as well as any black female friends) is a key to understanding how the toxicity of this type of masculinity, which masquerades as Black power, is ultimately weak and unsustainable. It is disengaged and alienated. It has no friends or intimate relationships, even of the non-romantic kind. It is lonely and fragile.

What will save Olivia from becoming Killmonger (because Rowan is already Killmonger and can’t be saved. I feel this in my bones.), is a change in her understanding of her own power. She will have to draw on a feminine source for that. The relationship with Fitzgerald is a source of feminine power, as Fitz himself represents masculinity that embraces the feminine . That is the balance that attracts Olivia to him, but that relationship will not succeed until Olivia sees possibility and power in the black feminine presence—in someone who mirrors that for her so that she can see it in herself. The Olivia we have at present is someone stomping around with a lot of hurt and insecurity inside. She has not truly embraced her inner ‘bad bitch’ because that comes with understanding vulnerability as a necessary part of life and love.

The Master’s Tools

“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”—Audre Lorde (1979)

Olivia is not Killmonger, but I see some of the same pain inside them, and the same misguided ideas about power, which are aligned with the masculine. Killmonger’s plan to fight oppression by arming Black people around the world was untenable and dripping in the same violent domination colonizers use to put people in bondage. But, you know, it sounded cool. I guess. When was the violence supposed to end? When the oppressors were overthrown, then what? Killmonger is an extreme example of Black patriarchy-masquerading-as-black-radicalism. And it’s why it cannot lead us into the future.

The true radical, to me, in Black Panther was Nakia. She is the one who thought that Wakanda could show the rest of the world what it meant to provide aide. After all, Wakanda was not a nation which had made itself rich off the backs of oppressing people and stealing the resources of their countries, only to turn around to offer pitiable aide and blame them for their own poverty. So, for Wakanda to help Black people around the world, from a position of love for those people would be radical indeed. In a white supremacist world, loving black people is a radical concept.

Vulnerability as True Power: The Importance of the Heart & Governing

Speaking of loving black people as a radical act, I want to conclude by talking about the heart shaped herb and its relationship to strength and power. When T’Challa undergoes the ritual to become king, the other tribes are entitled to challenge him. He has to prove he is worthy of the crown, through their agreement. T’Challa is stripped of his Black Panther power before he fights for the crown. This means he has to make himself vulnerable as a man (not a super hero) to prove his worthiness as leader. This is a contrast to how Killmonger conceives of leadership and power. Later this idea reinforced when the heart-shaped herb restores T’Challa’s panther powers. When he enters the spirit plane to consult his dead father, T’Challa asks T’Chaka if he will make a good king. T’Chaka tells him that he will be challenged because “you are a good man, with a good heart. And it’s hard for a good man to be king”. It was then that I understood why the flower, which provides strength, is shaped like a heart. The combination of the delicacy of the flower and the heart shape, both associated with the feminine, are conveyed as sources of strength and power. It reminded me of another character who’s a good man with a good heart:

“Weakness is our strength. It’s what makes us human. It’s where our compassion lies.”—Fitzgerald Grant (211)

The ‘bit of sweetness’ Maya saw in her daughter, Olivia, is something the daughter sought to eradicate, thinking doing so would make it easier to rule her “empire”. But to eliminate vulnerability makes one a tyrant. It makes one less of a human. Wakandans understood that. At one point Okoye tells Killmonger that his heart is full of hate, and so he cannot be an effective leader. A good leader needs heart because they must understand the struggles of the people they are leading. I think Olivia is, underneath it all, a good woman with a good heart. Someone emotionally browbeaten by fear, trauma and years of emotional abuse that have led her to cope through addiction. Unlike Killmonger, I don’t think she’s given up on life or love. She just has to work at embracing vulnerability and her full potential as a black woman. It’s the key to seeing new possibilities in life, as the Wakandans did.

What themes did you guys see?

#Black Panther #black panther review #scandal #i can make anything be about scandal #olivia pope #icmabas

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analysisofavatar · 3 years ago

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Having a compatible relationship where the two work together in harmony is key. It can be so easy to some to jump on the opposites attract train because it can seem more appealing, but it can be even more misleading. Compatibility is so important, and Kataang perfectly mirrors what a compatible friendship AND relationship looks like, and why it’s more beneficial.

Something to always admire about Kataang is how their relationship consists of both of them giving what the other does not have. They balance each other outside of just their personalities and this gives them a stable and healthy partnership.

Katara, the only and last water bender in her tribe, with no master, and no one willing to let her expand on her gifts and abilities. She was constantly shown that her abilities aggravated her brother, didn’t appeal too highly to her grandmother, or anyone else really. The problem throughout the first part of the show that we witness with Katara’s waterbending is that she never had someone who truly (outwardly showed) that they believed in her. That was until she met Aang. Aang gave her a chance, gave her hope- something she has stated that he has brought into her life, along with fun and joy.

Aang has probably the saddest story and background we ever witnessed in the show. Coming from his home, where he was first placed the balance of the entire world’s fate on his shoulders, rejected by his peers, and treated differently because of his new status, led to run away from home, and the people he loved most, just to be trapped in an iceberg for a century and miss a detrimental war that left a scar on the world which he felt responsible for. Aang was put through a lot at such a young age, and was expected much from. But Aang had fear. Fear of facing his problems, his obstacles. Aang had been dug so deep in his hole (most of it not self inflicted) that he believed he was as useless as the Avatar could get. Until he was reminded of the hope he gave people. People like Katara. And Katara reminded him of that. Not only did Aang find a waterbending teacher in Katara... he found a friend, his stronghold, the one person who never gave up on him, and soon his lover.

Katara and Aang are many things for one another. They have both filled the void left in the others heart, some might say to an extent, and others will say over that extent.

The two each separately lost the most important people in their lives, their mentors/friends/parents. As we know, for Katara that was her mother, and for Aang that was Gyatso (and his nation). Both suffered a great loss in losing the ones they cherished most. But in finding one another, there sprouted a love that was a rebirth of the love kept for their lost loved ones. They filled the whole left in the others heart by being reincarnated into the love the other felt.

A major point in how compatible Kataang is, is because of their foundational friendship in which they built their relationship off of. Them becoming friends was no mistake, because it allowed them to open up to, confide, and trust one another better and that set the stage for the beginnings of their romance.

The thing with Katara and Aang is they are much more complex than people see them to be in terms of their relationship and how they grew is so much more than it seems. There is a subtle yet intense build up of their love throughout the series, and that’s the result of the way they meld so well together.

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thewahookid · 3 years ago

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We sat down [a few years back] with Mirjana Dragicevic Soldo, one of the seers at the apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina and the first to receive all ten secrets. We covered a number of issues with Mirjana — a humble, gracious woman whose daily apparitions ended in December of 1982 but who still sees the Blessed Mother once a month (as well as on her birthday).

Before we start, a caveat: we are at the mercy of translation. Sometimes, even with the best interpreter (and ours was excellent), there are miscommunications. Remember also that each seer has different experiences and secrets. With Mirjana, we covered both old and new ground.

For years it has been claimed that the Pope once described Medjugorje as the “fulfillment and continuation of Fatima.” Have the seers ever been told anything like that, we asked? (For two best books of seer interviews, see bottom.)

Yes, replied Mirjana. “It was said to Marija [another seer]. Our Lady told her, ‘What I have started at Fatima I will finish at Medjugorje.’” In fact if she ever visits another major Marian shrine, said Mirjana, it will be Fatima because “it is so simple.”

We asked her about Church approval for Medjugorje. Right now, such is in limbo, with the matter in the hands of a national commission of bishops headed by Sarajevo Cardinal Vinko Puljic — whose vicar said earlier this year that the matter will not be decided until the apparitions conclude. In 1986 the local bishop attempted to reject the apparitions, but the Vatican, in the form of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, intervened and took away the local bishop’s authority to do so. Since then the national commission has stated only that thus far it has no proof of the supernatural and will further investigate.

One of the reasons Medjugorje has survived is the strong support of John Paul II, and Mirjana is the only seer who met with him privately. That was in 1987, and she reports that he told her he had read the messages from Medjugorje as well as a book about the apparitions. During a ten-minute session the Pope never inquired about the secrets but asked how the Blessed Mother appeared. He also said that if he was not Pope, he would have visited there already.

If John Paul leaves, we asked, did Mirjana think Medjugorje would risk Church rejection?

“I really can’t say anything about it,” answered the seer. “All I can say is that I really have great faith in Our Lady, and I know that she will fix it all.”

Did she have contact with the Sarajevo Cardinal’s office?

“I’ve never had any contact with the Bishop or the Cardinal,” replied Mirjana. “They have never asked that. If they did ask that, we would respond immediately. We learned from both Our Lady and our own parents to respect the priests.”

The last time we spoke to Mirjana she revealed that in 1999 she had taken and passed a lie-detector test administered by Italian and Austrian scientists. What is it like to be a seer from a site that is now ranked by many alongside Lourdes? What about the many who flock to seers, who gather by the hundreds at her gate, who ask for prayers?

“A visionary is not special,” said the seer. “We can make mistakes like all of you. Blessed Mary reads our hearts and knows all these things that we want. If you pray, she is reading your hearts and knows all these things.”

Like other visionaries, Mirjana has emphasized that no picture, however beautiful, captures the way the Blessed Mother — known here as Gospa — actually appears. What about a large painting in her basement that shows the Blessed Mother in flowing blue robes? “It is a beautiful painting,” said Mirjana, “but we never saw any painting, any picture, that even came close to the way Our Lady looks. She has dark hair and you can see it down low, so it is long.”

Such pictures capture essential qualities, says the seer, but do not really look like her. Nothing earthly, not even miraculous pictures, can. The seer says that she is especially drawn, however, to the Shroud of Turin.

Did Mirjana, who is now 37 and the mother of two girls, ever contemplate becoming a nun?

“For seven days I sat in my room in prayer and fasting, and finally I realized that I really wasn’t invited to become a nun, and then I felt peace in my heart. When you feel that peace, then you will know that you made a good decision.”

I asked about other seers. “As you know, there are countless others,” I said. “We have the website and we look at information about many seers and sometimes we find out certain things that prove certain ones are probably not real. Our policy is not to besmirch any of them, if we can avoid it. When the Church speaks or rules, we post that. Do you think we should continue that policy, that when we know something we should just say nothing, or that with charity and love we should print what the facts are?”

“We need to love them and feel about them as brothers and sisters,” replied Mirjana adroitly, “and only then can we pray for them.”

I mentioned that my concern was for people who go to such seers and may suffer detrimental effects.

“I’m concerned about them as well,” said Mirjana, “and every day an Our Father Hail Mary and Glory Be is for that intention, so that people are able to differentiate between true and false apparitions. But they are our brothers and sisters. I would never say that somebody lies. Many times we have had the chance to meet some of those so-called visionaries, and I knew that the person lied, but I never showed it from any gesture. I prayed for that person to be able to realize in his or her own mind that it is coming from Satan and that he or she is committing a big sin.”

Has the Blessed Mother said anything about our priests?

“They need your prayers and your love. We have such great respect for our priests in Medjugorje. If a priest enters your house, no one will sit down before he sits down. Our task is not to judge whether he really represents Jesus or not. God will judge that. But at the same time God will judge us according to our attitude toward priests. We should go back to our parishes and show the people how much and how we should respect and love our priests. This is very important in this time we are living in.”

We hear many prophecies. At Medjugorje, there is firm mention that we face major events, including chastisements. We asked: what about the prophecy of three days of darkness?

“That’s not all true,” said Mirjana. “To me it is just to frighten the people, to make them look for something that is not real. ”

September 11?

Mirjana said that was not from God, but due to those who do not know the love of God, although she conceded that it was allowed by the Lord to happen, as would be the case with future chastisements. Is the Blessed Mother ever upset? “I never saw Our Lady angry or nervous,” said Mirjana (although the Blessed Mother does weep, she says — and wept much during the most recent apparition, due to all the unbelievers in the world).

“She said to first pray for unbelievers, because many of the bad things in the world, wars and abortion, all of these things are coming from unbelievers. She said, ‘If you pray for them you are praying for yourselves.’ If only you could see the tears that Blessed Mary has on her face because of unbelievers, I’m sure you would pray with all your heart, because this is the time of decision.”

When asked about the spiritual standing of the United States, Mirjana said the Blessed Mother “never mentions any specific country.”

When asked if the current Pope is the last one, she responded, “Why would that be?”

As far as her secrets:

Often the Blessed Mother comes to discuss them with Mirjana — and to lighten the load. If this were not so, Mirjana has said, she would buckle under the pressure of knowing what she knows — world events that are coming, along with events affecting Medjugorje and the Church. Of all the six Medjugorje seers, indications are that Mirjana has among the weightiest of secrets, including events that will come as warnings to the world, followed by a great sign and chastisements. These, of course, the seer does not discuss. They are secrets. Even a woman, she jokes, can keep a secret.

She will inform a priest before the first one. “I have to tell him ten days before what will happen and where.” She says there will then be seven days fasting and prayer and then “he will reveal that to the world– he does not have a choice whether to tell.” Of a permanent sign prophesied to appear on Apparition Hill, she noted, “Everybody will be able to see that it’s coming from God, that human hands could not make it.”

Why secrets?

“It’s God’s will.”

Of chastisements prophesied in her secrets, she said, “It will be visible when it starts developing.”

Mirjana said the Blessed Mother has instructed them not to talk about secrets but to pray. She emphasized that she could probably not reveal the secrets even if she wanted to. “If a person has Our Lady as a mother and God as a Father, that person has no fear,” says Mirjana. “Our Lady says fear is only those who don’t believe. Our job is to wait for that moment and pray.”

[resources: Visions of the Children and Queen of the Cosmos]

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dreamsofthescreen · 4 years ago

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The BBC’s Take On Greta Thunberg - A Year To Change The World Review & Analysis

“I don’t want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the science”.

Where the world needs a leader, the general image is not an introverted 18 year old Swedish girl discussing the burning topic of climate change. Yet internationally known environmental activist Greta Thunberg has taken the world by storm, her recent journey being followed on BBC’s ‘A Year To Change The World’. With Thunberg as the star, we follow more than just her life in the limelight, but the grand science behind the work that she so elegantly does. Speaking on the devastating effects that climate change has, we are not only given valuable information, we are so emotionally moved by the composition of and meaning behind Thunberg’s gruelling fight for climate justice. As an audience, we are presented with facts that have us question our place and responsibility as human beings in our ever-changing, endangered world. Where documentaries give insight into an icon’s life and legacy, Greta Thunberg’s ‘A Year To Change The World’, gives us an outstanding message on the urgency of the present moment that we have to protect this earth, making it all the more beautifully affecting and involved with our society.

‘Greta Thunberg: A Year To Change The World’ has the BBC follow Greta’s ventures over the last couple of years across three episodes. Filmed on location across North America & Europe, we see Thunberg walking across glaciers, through Canadian rockies, into power plants and climate conferences. The BBC so greatly touch on events that show such great relevance to popular society today. What makes a documentary so great is it’s ability to educate and change it’s viewers. And change is the goal with the showing of this series. We are given insight into the personal affects of natural disasters, like the 2018 Californian Wildfires that killed 85, not only hearing from the victims themselves, but hearing Thunberg explain the heartbreaking science behind an event that is usually just seen as another news item. To see the upfront, raw emotion from a resident from Paradise conveys how serious matters were. The facts that go along with the devastation of the wildfire pushes us as an audience to look at where we stand. As in scenes like this accompanied by Greta, we see just how many lost everything & really had been driven to the point of suicide due to the fires, creating a personal moment. Yet, where there is this truth and emotion, there is a snarky politician, in this case 45th President Donald Trump who brushed the fires off as a result of ‘poor forest management’. These comparisons have the impact to frustrate audiences, getting them to so clearly form an understanding of the severity of our world at threat, rather than just showing the glorified version of Greta’s work or fame. It is raw. And Thunberg says it herself best, touching on natural disasters by stating, “we see all these things repeating themselves over and over again, people die and people suffer from it, but we completely fail to connect the dots”.

Greta again and again speaks with countless scientists, workers and politicians across the globe on the climate crisis. From meeting them at power plants to Scandinavian border crossings, parliament houses and national parks, we are endlessly thrown pieces of information that we cannot miss or deny. We so easily see the scale of the problem at hand in dire need of assistance today. The series itself is a bit predictable at times, with Thunberg sat in a warehouse-like studio, explaining her mission & meaning behind her work. Unless you are a complete novice to ever having heard of the name Greta Thunberg, then a fair bit of what she speaks about has been said before on most news items on her. Yet it hardly lessens the impact of the series, as it still stands strong, due to the fact that it is the science that is the key focus, rather than only Greta herself. Something that makes this series less self indulged & more for the audience to be educated is this matter. But this gives it such quality, instead of a glossed over narrative of a celebrities life.

Greta herself had stated that the motivation behind the project was to “give science a voice and to really go more in depth” and for the series to “make a lasting impact”. And indeed it mostly does, the camera following Greta not only just documents her ventures, but delves into the emotional impact that her work has on the world and herself. This is what makes a strong feature - one that so surely impacts an audience. As we are shown images of the worldwide protests that Thunberg’s ‘Friday’s For Future’ sparked enormously, we are all the more inspired. She speaks on her childhood and how, through discovering the disastrous affects of climate change, she was severely depressed. Yet her ambition to fight climate justice, and succeeding to the greatest amount is another element the documentary that shows Thunberg’s ambition and beautiful determination to fearlessly continue fighting for the one thing she believes is so paramountly right. No doubt that Thunberg does not enjoy the spotlight put on her, but it is her mission at hand that she is focusing on, despite the load of hate and discrimination thrown at her. Cameras click and Thunberg is almost worshipped by her followers, yet this is not what she is about. She makes it clear that it isn’t about her, the opening of each episode showing Thunberg stating, “I don’t want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the science”.

And the science is right. The BBC so eloquently explores many facets of the areas in our world that impact the climate the most, showing Thunberg touching on the impact of flying, materialism and the food industry. As a former vegan, I remember it was the documentaries that changed my life. Watching features like Earthlings and Cowspiracy completely shifted my view on our world. Not only Thunberg’s mentioning of things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint, but how important it is to do so is what packs such a punch. We see the reasons behind why Thunberg has chosen to stop shopping, take up a meat & dairy free diet, as well as suspending all air travel, as they all amount to the toxic pollution and mass-consumerism that our society emits. Greta focuses on these topics & asks familiar faces how things may have changed throughout the years. One of these familiar faces was Sir David Attenborough. As he and Greta meet in the London, it is this touching moment that we see two icons discuss something so topical that grabs audiences attention easily. It is clear how important this issue is to the both of them, Thunberg’s twisting facial expressions already telling us so much. These moments do make ‘A Year To Change The World’ so very provoking, as viewers do know and love popular personalities. Emotional moments are conveyed strongly, as Episode 1 ends with Greta returning home to Stockholm for Christmas after 134 days of travel and campaigning. Backed by a celestial rendition of ‘Silent Night’, Thunberg speaks on the grand importance of hope, whilst she is captured emotionally returning home to her dogs and familiarity, showing a sense of her normality. It is in these moments that we too see another side to Thunberg.

While we don’t learn entirely new things about Gretas fight for the climate, we do somewhat delve into her as a person, not only seeing just how iconic she has become, but why she needed to be a voice for our generation. Thunberg states that “my favourite story growing up was the emperors new clothes. the emperor is naked & everyone just pretends he isn’t. the only one who dares to question this collective lie is a child.” Thunberg’s young age is something that has been attacked tirelessly, news reporters labelling her as ‘naive’. But her ambition and blunt passion for her work makes he soar above others at times. Where many are afraid to speak out, Thunberg is known for doing just that. Some paint a picture of Greta as a youngster who battles it out with politicians in heated debates on the climate crisis. But it is hardly that, as her wisdom and emotional maturity has her soaring over politicians in terms of the ambition to just get things done. Thunberg has no fear in revealing that politicians like prime-minister Angela Merkel has summarised the fact that the German government’s ideals weren’t lining up with the Paris Agreement, as they were supposedly assured to be. Any opportunity she can, she shuts down any politicians’ misleading promises and repetitive rhetoric. Thunberg’s strong-willed nature contrasts many world leaders, showcasing her growing power, making her character and work simply inspiring across all generations. Her resilience and devotion to her craft is gracefully documented, making ‘A Year To Change The World’ a feature that does mostly delve into parts of Greta’s psyche.

As the BBC closes out the 3 episode journey of the most distinguished climate activist with a roar of stringed instruments and comments from scientists on the urgency of our moment now and to stop ignoring the facts, we see the numbers firsthand. As global temperatures are to rise by 2-3 degrees celcius by the end of this century, this may not seem like a lot to us now, but with empathy, we must see how detrimental it is to the future. As Thunberg time and time again sounds the alarm in an attempt to wake up our society on the pressing need for us to change our ways in order to save our only home - earth. ‘Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change The World’ is one of those features that has great potential, which it successfully meets. Sure, there is always room for improvement and further depth, but if we take a look at a single series and are able to step back & see ourselves in the grand scheme of things, amongst all the noise, then a great documentary-series has been made.

Stars Out of Five: 4/5

visit at: dreamsofthescreen.com

#gretathunberg #writer #writersoftumblr #bbcearth #writing #documentary #climatechangeisreal #climatechange #environmentalism #2021

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pintsizeddeepthoughts · 4 years ago

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Grab the Popcorn – Film Reviews: Wonder Woman 1984

Directed by: Patty Jenkins

Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright

Year: 2021

Country: United States

One thing that’s bugged me as I’ve watched more and more superhero films, be the Marvel Cinematic Universe, D.C Extended Universe, or the MonsterVerse, is for the amount of money that’s being spent on these films (reportedly $200 million for WW84) the stories they tell are so…bad. Don’t get me wrong, there’s quite a bit I enjoy with this film. Patty Jenkins and crew do an amazing job immersing the audience in the world of the 1980s, right down the nitty gritty of the technology, fashion, etc. The performances of the cast are uniformly good (Chris Pine in particular seems to be having the most fun), Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince is an admirable paragon of moral certainty and dignity, and with the exception of one fight scene, the action sequences are done with clarity. There’s even a great sub plot of a male cat caller getting what he deserves. However, for me, it’s overshadowed by the glaring holes in the plot and the message, intended or not, they story conveys.

The concept of the Dreamstone (or “Monkey’s Paw”, to borrow from W.W. Jacobs) is a sturdy, even rich story trope. Many superhero storylines are born from unintended consequences, but the storyteller gets to choose the cost. In the case of Wonder Woman 1984 it’s worth examining what each wish costs the trio of main characters. For newcomer Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), who wishes for Diana’s power, grace, and confidence, the cost is her humanity – quite literally in the end. In order for her to regain it, she must renounce her newfound strength. For Diana, aka Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), her wish is for her love to return. What must she lose in order to regain it? Her strength. In order to get her strength back she must renounce love. There’s a subtle message going on here that is deeply troubling. Whether they know it or not, writers Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, and Dave Callaham are saying you can have love and humanity or you can have strength and power – there is no blending of the two.

What of the villain, Max Lorenzano? The cost of his decision to become the Dreamstone grows evident in his increasingly haggard appearance. He may grant wishes, but its costs him his strength. This sets him on the path of searching for a sense of power that will shield him from the Dreamstone’s detrimental effects. This leads to the climax of the film – which I simply do not buy, mainly because it does not fit in with all his previous actions. Pedro Pascal goes full Nicholas Cage in portraying Max’s lust for power and success, alluding to 80s icon Gordon Gecko without the screenwriters understanding the warning Gecko was. Max is incredibly unaware of those around him, even the son he professes to love but sets aside every chance he gets. To the credit of Jenkins, Johns, and Callaham, the choice he’s given is the same one given to Barbara and Diana. His decision, based on everything we’ve seen from Max, simply does not fit.

There’s always been something elitist about comic book superheroes; tremendous power is rested in a few individuals who receive special physical and moral training in order to handle that power. Wonder Woman 1984 posits this as a good thing, based on what happens when everyone is given access to the Dreamstone’s power. Jenkins, Johns, and Callaham, however, do not do justice to these people because the power is given by a duplicitous individual. The idea is not explored honestly and the message it subsequently sends is just as troubling as the choice they give their main characters.

Part of what was so refreshing about the first Wonder Woman movie in 2017 was that it questioned the cruelty of men (not people, men). In her dance scene with General Erich Ludendorff, Diana Prince gets a crash course in an early 20thcentury worldview that posited that war was the national equivalent of going to the gym. In this worldview suffering and death are Darwinian necessities in order gain strength and Wonder Woman’s victory over the god of war, Ares, was a symbolic repudiation of this worldview and a manifestation of everything she stands for. The point of Wonder Woman 1984 is much less optimistic, even though (in Jenkins’s words) it takes place at the height of civilization. Despite peace and prosperity, the cruelty of men still abounds and, according to this film, if you’re going to survive and succeed you must give up on love to stay powerful.

#grab the popcorn #movie review #wonder woman 1984 #patty jenkins #gal gadot #chris pine #pedro pascal

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altmediabuzz · 6 years ago

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' When Prayer, Love And Light Aren't Enough'

💫New Age Passiveness

Recently a friend asked how to deal with one of his friends who he felt was displaying Cognitive Dissonance while discussing many of the harsh truths about the world we are living in today. His intentions were good, but being the empath that he is , he realized discussing these topics was quite difficult for her, and they in fact made her so uncomfortable that she didnt want to discuss them at all.

While dialogue and communication are key elements in any friendship/ relationship, it is important to understand timing and when, where and how some of the tougher topics should be discussed. Please dont let this deter you though.Some people swallow red pills easily, while for others they may be a little bit more hard to swallow.There are many different reasons people choose to deny harsh truths, or even better yet accept them and express ambivalence towards them. It seems however their are some personality types within two particular Spiritual Beleifs that are more likely to do so. In my experience those two beleifs are 'Christianity' and ' New Age' Spirituality

I suggested he send his friend prayers positive vibes and uplifting energy( ofcourse, right?) But....to also give her her space..still making it clear that he was there for her if she needed him...to not push discussing the topics they disagreed on as much for awhile and focus on the ones they did . to work on strengthening their friendship bond , and remember that they are on the same team. To try to have empathy..but not to be swayed. To discern and decipher if there is any truth in her opinions through her feelings, words and actions and what the universe might be trying to teach him through her apprehension.

As one of my favorite motivational speakers Teal Swan says ' a lot of these 'love and light ' ' kumbya' 'que cera cera' , ' whatever will be will be' ' live and let live' 'New Agers ' who were previously just sitting back and 'letting be what will be ' are realizing that in this season,they have to take a little bit more of an affirmative and active stance in order to help change the world for the better .

This is the Age of Aquarius .The dawning of a new day .Lies to be exposed, truths to be revealed and justice to be served. The collective consience is truly being stirred. Some new agers are not used to this concept and this is a rude awakening for many of them.Some ,after being awakened to many of these harsh realities that have been kept clandestine from the population at large ,even feel extreme levels of guilt for' turning a blind eye' to the injustices of others for so long.

Many of the ' New Age ' spiritualists I know have suffered some kind of trauma which caused them in many ways to dissassociate from society ( similar to abused children who develop dissosiative identity disorder to cope with the anger, pain and confusion their abuse leaves them with). Sometimes the fear/ pain of the darkness is just too much for them to handle until theyve healed enough.Then will they realize by conquering that fear and having the courage to fight back, that they have actually taken the first step toward victory in the battle of spiritual warfare.

Some say there has to be negativity in the world because there needs to be balance in the universe and both darkness and light must be present for balance to be acheived ( yin-yang energy). Others are all about combating it outright ( doing more than just trying to balance out the negative energy in the universe by doing positive deeds). But a lot of this is new for many of them. They have no idea the depths of the evil that exist in this universe and the IMBALANCE and abuse of power that goes on in higher realms. And the ones that do realize might be too intimidated to fight or address it.( Again , many , likely due to previous trauma). Doing this would actually increase the positivity and love and light within them and help them to strengthen their spirit to face these dark entities and forces and tackle them head on, thus helping fight the good fight along with the rest of us .

However doing this before its ' proper' timing can be just as detrimental as fearing the fight against evil itself. Let these people get their strength ,courage and wisdom up . And again focus on discussing positive topics for a while if you can unless it's something extremely detrimental to their immediate health of course . Try to honestly understand their perspectives and points of view as well as the reasonings behind them. Be patient, Be nurturing, Be understanding Be the light you want to see 💙💫✨

🙏Christian Passiveness

When addressing Christians ( I myself being one) I get the sense from many of them that their stance is to ' let the Lords will be done' ' let go and let god' , and ' give it to god' etc. Which is a comforting concept when being overwhelmed with circumstances such as stress, general day to day anxiety or a physical illness. But once a relationship with God has reached a level of maturity and acheived enough strength for that person to withstand their own personal battles, it is then they should be ready and willing to step in and help fight the good fight as intercessors for others who cannot or simply refuse to do so.Ofcourse never alone, but with the courage to know that the Holy spirit isnt only BESIDE them ,leading and guiding their words and actions.But also INSIDE of them.

Many say with their mouths they beleive in a higher power but dont express those sentiments through actions. Yes there is only so much a mere mortal can do.But with meditation and prayer ask God/ the Universe just what your role should be to help the healing of our earth in this particularly tumultuous era and season. Realize that you are not alone and have your spiritual brothers and sisters fighting the battle of good vs evil along with you.Realize what an integral peice of the puzzle you are due to your unique God given talents, skills abilities, and experiences. Know that while communing with the Most High Infinite Creator ( through prayer, meditation, song, dance, whathaveyou) you are doing in fact one of the most powerful and effective actions possible to fight the dark and evil forces running rampant in this world. However ask for the discernment on just how much you could and should do in ADDITION to prayer.

Prayer is seen by many as passive and cowardice.( and many scoff at the mention of being in somebodies' thoughts and prayers') however taking the time out of your busy schedule to think of someone and wish well for them while sending them positive energy and reminding them of their value and worth is one of the most effective ways one can show another humanity and compassion.

This however, should preferably be balanced with action. The bible states that ' faith without works is dead' and that we are to be the ' hands and feet ' of Jesus on this earth. What are we doing to edify this concept? Are we sitting back, while this world is going to Hell in a Handbasket? Comfortable in the notion that as a Christian at least we are 'lucky enough to be chosen to spend eternity in heaven' and passively waiting for what many people refer to as Christs second return? Or are we actively out in our neighborhoods, communities and even online reaching out to those left broken and beaten down by the ways of this world as we await? Are we as the book of Exodus advises us to do combating evil by exposing it so that justice can be served? And by that contributing to the freedom of those afflicted by this worlds suppresion?

Yes no matter what the ' Lord's Will will be done'. But dont underestimate the power of 'free will'. The gift God has given us from the beginning of time. We aren't puppets being controlled by strings or mind controlled brainwashed zombies tricked or otherwise manipulated into believing our spiritual beliefs . You make a CHOICE to believe or not to believe them .( At least most of us do, unless we were raised in a Religious cult or suffered some sort of Satanic Ritual Abuse since the day we were born...but that is another blog entry for another day).Dont think of your life as simply a movie you are watching on a screen or play you are seeing on a stage with God acting as the director. Realize that you are the main character and how much of an active role you play in directing your own life as well as influencing and impacting others around you.

During this season of ' Great Awakening,many all over the globe fortunately are coming together, being brought together by a common interest, to fight the good fight in this spiritual battle of GO(O)D vs. (D)EVIL.

No matter our gender, race, nationality, religion or socio-economic status , people are coming together to help spread the great awakening. Knowledge that will be difficult to hear, but once truley understood, cannot only provide healing for us individualy, but as a collective as well.

Bottom line, know the power and authority that lies within you. Acknowledging it while determing to remain passive is the oposite of ' love and light' its actualy continuing to contribute to the pain and darkness that exists in this world. Instead Pray and ask the Most High God/ the Universe what you can do PHYSICALLY to help spread love and light not just ' send' it. Pray and meditate on when and how to begin doing so.Dont let negative energies and dark forces rob you of your desire to help change the world we live in for the better and to realize the power and ability you have to do so.

💫💙✨

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newstfionline · 8 years ago

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Turning Negative Thinkers Into Positive Ones

By Jane E. Brody, NY Times, April 3, 2017

Most mornings as I leave the Y after my swim and shower, I cross paths with a coterie of toddlers entering with their caregivers for a kid-oriented activity. I can’t resist saying hello, requesting a high-five, and wishing them a fun time. I leave the Y grinning from ear to ear, uplifted not just by my own workout but even more so by my interaction with these darling representatives of the next generation.

What a great way to start the day!

When I told a fellow swimmer about this experience and mentioned that I was writing a column on the health benefits of positive emotions, she asked, “What do you do about people who are always negative?” She was referring to her parents, whose chronic negativity seems to drag everyone down and make family visits extremely unpleasant.

I lived for half a century with a man who suffered from periodic bouts of depression, so I understand how challenging negativism can be. I wish I had known years ago about the work Barbara Fredrickson, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina, has done on fostering positive emotions, in particular her theory that accumulating “micro-moments of positivity,” like my daily interaction with children, can, over time, result in greater overall well-being.

The research that Dr. Fredrickson and others have done demonstrates that the extent to which we can generate positive emotions from even everyday activities can determine who flourishes and who doesn’t. More than a sudden bonanza of good fortune, repeated brief moments of positive feelings can provide a buffer against stress and depression and foster both physical and mental health, their studies show.

This is not to say that one must always be positive to be healthy and happy. Clearly, there are times and situations that naturally result in negative feelings in the most upbeat of individuals. Worry, sadness, anger and other such “downers” have their place in any normal life. But chronically viewing the glass as half-empty is detrimental both mentally and physically and inhibits one’s ability to bounce back from life’s inevitable stresses.

Negative feelings activate a region of the brain called the amygdala, which is involved in processing fear and anxiety and other emotions. Dr. Richard J. Davidson, a neuroscientist and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, has shown that people in whom the amygdala recovers slowly from a threat are at greater risk for a variety of health problems than those in whom it recovers quickly.

Both he and Dr. Fredrickson and their colleagues have demonstrated that the brain is “plastic,” or capable of generating new cells and pathways, and it is possible to train the circuitry in the brain to promote more positive responses. That is, a person can learn to be more positive by practicing certain skills that foster positivity.

For example, Dr. Fredrickson’s team found that six weeks of training in a form of meditation focused on compassion and kindness resulted in an increase in positive emotions and social connectedness and improved function of one of the main nerves that helps to control heart rate. The result is a more variable heart rate that, she said in an interview, is associated with objective health benefits like better control of blood glucose, less inflammation and faster recovery from a heart attack.

Dr. Davidson’s team showed that as little as two weeks’ training in compassion and kindness meditation generated changes in brain circuitry linked to an increase in positive social behaviors like generosity.

“The results suggest that taking time to learn the skills to self-generate positive emotions can help us become healthier, more social, more resilient versions of ourselves,” Dr. Fredrickson reported in the National Institutes of Health monthly newsletter in 2015.

In other words, Dr. Davidson said, “well-being can be considered a life skill. If you practice, you can actually get better at it.” By learning and regularly practicing skills that promote positive emotions, you can become a happier and healthier person. Thus, there is hope for people like my friend’s parents should they choose to take steps to develop and reinforce positivity.

In her newest book, “Love 2.0,” Dr. Fredrickson reports that “shared positivity--having two people caught up in the same emotion--may have even a greater impact on health than something positive experienced by oneself.” Consider watching a funny play or movie or TV show with a friend of similar tastes, or sharing good news, a joke or amusing incidents with others. Dr. Fredrickson also teaches “loving-kindness meditation” focused on directing good-hearted wishes to others. This can result in people “feeling more in tune with other people at the end of the day,” she said.

Activities Dr. Fredrickson and others endorse to foster positive emotions include:

Do good things for other people. In addition to making others happier, this enhances your own positive feelings. It can be something as simple as helping someone carry heavy packages or providing directions for a stranger.

Appreciate the world around you. It could be a bird, a tree, a beautiful sunrise or sunset or even an article of clothing someone is wearing. I met a man recently who was reveling in the architectural details of the 19th-century houses in my neighborhood.

Develop and bolster relationships. Building strong social connections with friends or family members enhances feelings of self-worth and, long-term studies have shown, is associated with better health and a longer life.

Establish goals that can be accomplished. Perhaps you want to improve your tennis or read more books. But be realistic; a goal that is impractical or too challenging can create unnecessary stress.

Learn something new. It can be a sport, a language, an instrument or a game that instills a sense of achievement, self-confidence and resilience. But here, too, be realistic about how long this may take and be sure you have the time needed.

Choose to accept yourself, flaws and all. Rather than imperfections and failures, focus on your positive attributes and achievements. The loveliest people I know have none of the external features of loveliness but shine with the internal beauty of caring, compassion and consideration of others.

Practice resilience. Rather than let loss, stress, failure or trauma overwhelm you, use them as learning experiences and steppingstones to a better future. Remember the expression: When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.

Practice mindfulness. Ruminating on past problems or future difficulties drains mental resources and steals attention from current pleasures. Let go of things you can’t control and focus on the here-and-now.

#negative thinkers #negativity #positive emotions #positivity #Love 2.0

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jessicakehoe · 5 years ago

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From the Archives: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau on the March 2017 Cover of FASHION

“If you were a yoga pose, which one would you be?” I ask Sophie Grégoire Trudeau. We’re midway into our second interview for this feature, and she has just finished describing the thrill of barefooting—which is waterskiing without skis. “You have to be at high speeds, and when you fall, it’s like falling on cement,” she says. “It’s rough, but the sensation is amazing when you’re on your feet.” She tells me that her other athletic pursuits venture from fairly calm (cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and tennis) to borderline extreme (skydiving, ice climbing and underwater diving with her husband, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau). Her less extreme adventures include yoga and pranayama (controlling the breath). So, back to the pose that best describes this certified hatha yoga instructor’s character. “That’s a funny question!” she says, laughing. “It’s tempting to say the wheel with one leg up [Eka Pada Chakrasana] because it’s just so heart opening, but I think the Baddha Konasana, or sitting pose, is the most challenging one for me because I have to be seated, calm, relaxed and focused.”

I’m not sure whether asanas, or poses, reveal one’s character, but it’s not surprising to me that Grégoire Trudeau would excel at the one-legged wheel pose. I imagine there’s a certain extroverted rush from mastering that move, and I’m getting the sense that Grégoire Trudeau embraces her extroversion like metal shavings to a magnet.

“I’m an only child,” she explains. “I was taught to go toward other people because I felt lonely. My father would tell me to go up to someone and say ‘Hello, my name is Sophie. Would you like to play with me?’ I swear to you sometimes even at 41 I’m like, ‘Hi, I’m Sophie. You look fun. Do you want to play with me?’ I’m curious.”

During our photo shoot at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa two days earlier, Grégoire Trudeau told me that she considers her curiosity, courage and capacity for love to be her best qualities. A lack of patience, however, is one of the imperfections she’s working on. “Patience for me is a big thing,” she said. “Patience with others. Patience with the way the world is evolving. I have a sense of urgency because I want to help out so much.”

When you’re in her presence, you feel that charismatic urgency. She speaks quickly, enunciating her words with authority and energy. Her face is animated, her cheeks are slightly flushed and her eye contact is intense but not intimidating. When she’s not talking, she leans in to listen, often reaching out her hand to touch whomever she’s engaged with. And tears are not uncommon. On set, her eyes teared up when she saw the cover images and later when she spoke of her love for her husband (“I partnered with a man who also strives for authenticity and connection”), her children, Xavier, Ella-Grace and Hadrien (“I feel so blessed and happy [to have them]”), and her mother, Estelle Blais (“[for] her energy of purity and goodness”).

Anyone who spends a moment in Grégoire Trudeau’s grounded but ethereal orbit can’t help but be charmed by the way she expresses the most earnest-sounding dreams. Case in point: When I ask her who has inspired her the most over the past year, you’d think that Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton or Michelle Obama might top the list. Instead, she tells me she doesn’t believe in celebrity, even though, she concedes, much of our culture and media are based on it. She says that she and Obama had a great connection when they met during a state visit last March in Washington but adds that she’s drawn to anyone who wants to shape the world and is ready to listen. “People who are open-hearted and open-minded touch me deeply,” says Grégoire Trudeau. “I feel that we have a common goal. Even if you look at the planet, and you think it’s easy to be distraught and depressed, common goodness—human goodness—is very much alive, and it needs to thrive even more amid the chaos. We’re being called to rise up and raise our level of consciousness and connect with other human beings. The level of opportunity that we’re sitting on right now as a country and a generation is immense.”

It’s a cynicism-free manifesto that you typically don’t expect from a 41-year-old mother of three. It’s also not based on the naive reflections of a woman who hasn’t endured her own struggles. In her late teens and into her 20s, Grégoire Trudeau suffered from bulimia. She has spoken about this often and has done advocacy work for agencies, such as the Clinique des troubles alimentaires BACA and the Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa Association (BANA), both of which offer support to people suffering from eating disorders.

“The level of opportunity that we’re sitting on right now as a country and a generation is immense.”

In her own case she says that yoga, therapy and time healed her from what she describes as an incentive/reward-driven addiction. “My awareness of what I was suffering was major, but I just didn’t know how to get out of it,” she recalls. “I kept thinking ‘Why me? I have everything. Why am I suffering from this?’ The stigma is less and less, because we talk about it more. When I was suffering, it was much more taboo. Today there is treatment, but there are not enough beds and not enough tools to help those who are suffering.” Grégoire Trudeau explains that fear and anxiety are at the core of the disorder; the sufferers don’t know who they are and where they stand in the world.

The former cultural reporter later talks about being troubled by our culture’s emphasis on youth and the fact that as a society we are asking mature or aging women to disappear. She suggests that this speaks to a lack of depth in our spirituality and a lack of self-love. As national ambassador for Plan Canada’s Because I Am a Girl initiative, Grégoire Trudeau spends time speaking with girls and says that they are very much aware of our culture’s obsession with youth.

“They feel the fakeness—from fake nails to fake hair to fake breasts,” she says. “We tell girls to be themselves, but then they have role models—sometimes too many role models—in popular culture who incarnate that kind of disconnectedness from oneself. We are taught to self-hate; we are taught to doubt. Our culture doesn’t help us recognize ourselves as amazing beings without changing ourselves.”

As for her achieving her own self-love—and eventual recovery—Grégoire Trudeau says she can recall at least one key turning point. She was in her late teens and living in Montreal with her family. One night, while she was alone in her bedroom, she called out to her mom (who—as if on cue—has just entered the room where Grégoire Trudeau is chatting with me on the phone). “I said, ‘Mom, I’m sick and I’m suffering and I need help.’ We bawled and bawled and bawled.” She says that having bulimia was a kind of blessing as it allowed her to rise above it and find out who she really was.

It’s a subject—and a time in their lives—that still brings tears to them both. Earlier I had asked Grégoire Trudeau who was the one woman who shaped her most; with tear-filled eyes she answered, “My mom.” She says she now tries to bring the same unconditional love to her own children. “I see how my kids receive it. It’s clear when we look at each other or when I’m breastfeeding or playing with them, or when we’re in the bath together. Even when we have arguments—I mean, they drive me crazy sometimes; don’t get me wrong!”

Grégoire Trudeau credits her stockbroker father, Jean Grégoire, with influencing her early understanding of what it means to be a feminist. She says he instilled in her a confidence in her body’s physical strength and stamina. The pair, along with her uncle, spent a great deal of time in the woods hiking and camping. “I was one of the boys, and I think that I had to take my place and my space as a young girl.”

She says that those early years spending time outdoors with her father and uncle were also responsible for positively shaping the relationships she has with men. “I have amazing, beautiful friendships with my girlfriends, but I also get along well with boys and men now,” she says. “I think that having that balance between the two allowed me to see the reality of the interactions and how dynamics can be a little bit different.”

Grégoire Trudeau has one of the purest and most pointed descriptions of feminism I’ve ever encountered. For her, feminism is about one thing: knowing the facts and wanting to do something about it. “The fact is that half of the world’s population is still suffering and not being allowed their most basic rights to fully participate in society,” she says. “Economists and behavioural psychologists will tell you that this is to the detriment of women but also to men, because men are wonderful creatures and we are undermining their spirit when women are not part of the equation.”

We are taught to self-hate. We are taught to doubt. Our culture doesn’t help us recognize ourselves as amazing beings without changing ourselves.

Earlier this year, we posted an online “State of the Sisterhood” survey and asked readers to share their thoughts on feminism and what they think are the most pressing issues for women in Canada. Seventy-one per cent of the more than 1,100 respondents said that feminism is more relevant now than it was before Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Grégoire Trudeau diplomatically avoids commenting on this statistic, saying that she has been feeling a sense of urgency for 30 years and that progress—at least in Canada—is being made.

When I relay some of the feedback on her husband’s performance, she is surprised; for a fleeting moment, I spot that protective fire that hides just below the surface of her sunny demeanour. Twenty-three per cent of our respondents felt he is definitely doing enough to support feminism, 42 per cent thought he is doing somewhat enough, 15 per cent said not really enough, 5 per cent said not at all and 15 per cent weren’t sure. Their praise for Trudeau’s 50/50 gender parity in the cabinet was surprisingly muted. Only 19 per cent thought it definitely brought about a significant change in advancing feminist issues. That generates a “Wow!” from Grégoire Trudeau. Another 40 per cent thought it was somewhat significant, 23 per cent said not really, 8 per cent said not at all and 10 per cent weren’t sure. “Give us ideas!” she responds. Of note, 67 per cent of respondents said they would never go into politics. She concedes that that’s a problem, adding that the government is trying to make it easier for female politicians to balance their need to be with their families.

Grégoire Trudeau agrees with the respondents who felt that wage inequality, unaffordable daycare and the crisis around missing Indigenous women and girls are the most pressing issues. The latter is of particular interest to Grégoire Trudeau. She recalls reading a newspaper story about a young Indigenous woman who had been raped.

“I couldn’t take it,” she says. “I screamed. I let all my emotions out. I was so angry. I said to my husband, ‘Where do we start? What do we do?’ And he said, ‘Oh, we’re going to do something about this. We’re starting with the Truth and Reconciliation [Commission].’” (The Government of Canada also launched a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.)

In addition to her volunteer work at Plan Canada and Fillactive (an organization that encourages young women’s healthy self-esteem through a balanced lifestyle), Grégoire Trudeau has been working with the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health in Ottawa. “I’ve been trying to learn more about native culture,” she says. “When you meet the leaders of the different communities, it’s tough because you want to bring change now, but change doesn’t happen like this, so we have to be patient.”

But, as we now know, patience is the one thing that this intelligent, spirited woman struggles with. Sophie, please don’t get too comfortable in your Baddha Konasana pose. We need you—and your fiery impatience and optimism—to help create a better world.

Photography by Max Abadian. Styling by George Antonopoulos. Hair and makeup, Sabrina Rinaldi for P1M.ca/M.A.C/Oribe. Fashion assistant, Lucia Perna. Shot on location at the National Gallery of Canada, in Ottawa.

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FASHION March 2017 Cover: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau

Lucian Matis Jumpsuit ($1,295). Dean Davidson Earrings ($355).

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FASHION March 2017 Cover: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau

Sid Neigum Dress ($650)

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FASHION March 2017 Cover: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau

Markoo Jacket ($1,150). Caroline Constas Top ($520). Greta Constantine Pants ($945). Lauren Klassen Earring ($160). Dean Davidson Ring ()$205).

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FASHION March 2017 Cover: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau

Sid Neigum Dress ($650). Sophie’s Own Ring

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thebeautyoftorah · 5 years ago

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TOLDOT

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Shalom. The thought of this week of my book Healing Anger is "Our thoughts are so powerful that they define our state of mind and our present and future actions. We must be aware of what we tell ourselves when we start to become angry.” Buy my book at http://www.feldheim.com/healing-anger.html If you want to buy it from me in Israel let me know.

This article is based on the teachings of R' Yissachar Frand. You have the opportunity to share in the mitzvah to honor a loved one by sponsoring my weekly review, or refua shelema (healing), shiduch, Atzlacha (success). To join the over 4,000 recipients in English and Spanish and receive these insights free on a weekly email, feedback, comments, which has been all around the world, or if you know any other Jew who is interested in receiving these insights weekly, contact me. Shabbat Shalom. TOLDOT-What is the Secret to Raising Good Children? The pasuk at the beginning of this parsha says, “Yitzchak entreated Hashem opposite his wife, because she was barren.”[1] We see a trend about our Forefathers; Avraham was married to a woman who was barren. Now we find that his son Yitzchak was also married to a barren woman. [Rashi points out that Yitzchak himself was also sterile]. Next week we will see that Yaakov also followed this phenomenon of sterility, since Rachel, his chosen wife, could not conceive.

It is not a coincidence that Sarah, Yitzchak, Rivkah and Rachel were all barren. In each generation, a miracle was required to allow them to conceive, allowing the Jewish nation to come into existence.

The Gemara [2] says: "Why were our Forefathers infertile? Because Hashem craves the prayers of the righteous". This Gemara seems to imply that G-d somewhat can be cruel and even sadistic. He desires the prayers of the righteous, so He puts them in a terrible situation, forcing them to pour their hearts out to Him; all because He strongly desires hearing those prayers?! This cannot be true. Hashem is the Source of all good and kindness, and He does no evil. He defines good. Every act of Hashem contains the most pure good that can exist. Sadism plays no role in how He conducts the world!

What then is the meaning of the Gemara that says “Hashem craves the prayers of the righteous?” Rav Pam points out that we have no comprehension of the prayer of the righteous. When a real tzadik prays, his transformation is almost beyond our understanding. He enters a different world. The Zohar refers to it as “hitpashtut haguf”. Praying becomes such a transcendental experience that the person has a type of “out of body experience” whereby his soul clings to the Almighty.

We who complete the entire morning service in 30 minutes, cannot easily relate to the concept of “hitpashtut haguf". We do not really understand what this term mean. Most of us have never experienced such prayers.

Such prayers allow the Tzadik to escape the mundane bonds and mortal existence, reaching a level of spirituality that transcends and takes him into another world. That is why the Gemara mentions [3] that the pious men of earlier generations (Chasidim Rishonim) spent 3 hours completing a single prayer. They prepared for an hour before davening, davened for an hour, and a third hour after davening.

We can understand why it would be appropriate to spend an hour on davening. We can even relate to the fact that it would be appropriate to spend an hour of preparation time before davening. But we don’t begin to understand what these pious individuals did during the hour after davening.

Let us try to explain this phenomena of the hour after davening as a decompression state. If one dives under water for some time, depending on how deep one goes, he cannot come up to the surface suddenly [this can also happen to aviators flying at high altitudes]. If he tries to do so, he will suffer from a condition known as the bends. Divers must enter a decompression chamber upon resurfacing too quickly, because they cannot transition from the underwater world into our world without an adjustment. They have been in a 'different' world.

The “hour after prayer” is the decompression that the pious of earlier generations needed in order to get back to this world after being literally in another world. Once one has been in Heaven, he cannot run to earth in an instant. The “Chasidim Rishonim” achieved such a lofty level of spirituality that it literally took them an hour to descend back here.

This, Rav Pam said, is why G-d wanted the Patriarchs and Matriarchs to pray as they did to achieve children. Hashem was not interested in merely producing offspring. These Patriarchs gave birth to other Patriarchs. In order to have a child that is worthy of being a Yitzchak or a Yaakov or worthy of being one of the Tribes of G-d, those children need to be conceived in an atmosphere of tremendous kedusha [sanctity].

One cannot merely occupy himself in the physical realm of this world and conceive a child, and expect that child become a Yaakov Avinu. We can relate to the fact that when children are conceived, if the parents are physically healthy, the children have a much better chance of being physically healthy. We also know that if a woman is on alcohol or drug dependent, it will definitely have a negative effect on her child when she conceives.

So too, in a spiritual sense, parents who want to produce a Yitzchak or a Yaakov or a founder of a Tribe of G-d must themselves be in a realm of utmost spirituality. The way to achieve that realm of utmost spirituality is to have them daven. Hashem does not seek the prayers of the righteous in any sadistic sense, Heaven forbid. He does not need their prayers. However, G-d does need to ensure that Sarah Yitzchak, Rivka, and Rachel will be on a level where they can conceive children who will be righteous. The best way of doing that is by making these parents daven intensely so that they may ascend into the world of the spiritual and under those circumstances, conceive and give birth to children.

These are very lofty concepts that are beyond most of us. But there is a practical implication to these ideas that is relevant to us. The lesson that the atmosphere, the climate in which children are conceived makes a difference is readily transferable to the lesson that the atmosphere and climate in which children are raised also has a profound effect on how they ultimately turn out.

Not everything is achieved at conception. There is nature. But there is nurture as well. A child who is raised in an atmosphere of holiness and purity is a different child than a child who is raised on the streets, a fact we can readily attest to from merely looking around. How does one achieve an atmosphere of kedusha? We try so hard to provide a physically safe environment for our children. What can we do to provide a spiritual haven in which children can grow up and prosper?

Rav Pam quoted the words of the Steipler Rav, zt”l. He said that raising good children depends on two factors. Fifty percent of the success is prayer. If there is one thing worth davening for and worth pouring out one’s heart for, it is that one should merit having good children[5]. The other fifty percent, the Steipler Rav said, is Shalom Bayit [domestic tranquility]. When children see parents living together with love, respect and cooperation for one another in a serene environment, it profoundly affects the type of person they will become. Conversely, raising children in a house where there is fighting, back-biting and other unfortunate things that sometimes go on among parents has an extremely detrimental effect on them.

Rav Pam quoted a famous Gemara [4] that when two people divorce, even the mizbeach [Altar in the Temple] sheds tears. All the commentaries try to explain the analogy. What does it mean “the mizbeach sheds tears when a person divorces his first wife?” Rav Pam explained that a mizbeach sees sacrifices every day. However there is one sacrifice that even the mizbeach cannot see, the sacrifice of children trapped in a household that is fraught with dissension.

The lesson of “And Yitzchak prayed opposite his wife” is that the spiritual level of the parents and the domestic tranquility that exists among the parents has a profound effect on the offspring that we hope to produce.

___________________________________

[1] Bereshit 25:21

[2] Yevamot 64a-b

[3] Berachot 32b

[4] Gittin 90b

[5] Alternatively, when someone sincerely pours his heart to Hashem and relies on Him with complete faith, the merit of these prayers are so great that G-d feels as if He “needs” to fulfill them. He will even be willing to perform an open miracle to change the laws of nature. The natural consequence of a complete connection to Hashem is that the laws of nature become non-existent. Heartfelt prayers can bring forth open miracles and change the world.

Le Iluy nishmat Eliahu ben Simcha, Mordechai ben Shlomo, Perla bat Simcha, Abraham Meir ben Leah, Moshe ben Gila,Yaakov ben Gila, Sara bat Gila, Yitzchak ben Perla, Leah bat Chavah, Abraham Meir ben Leah,Itamar Ben Reb Yehuda, Yehuda Ben Shmuel Tzvi, Tova Chaya bat Dovid. Refua Shelema of Mazal Tov bat Gila, Zahav Reuben ben Keyla, Yitzchak ben Mazal Tov, Chana bat Ester Beyla, Mattitiahu Yered ben Miriam, Yaacov ben Miriam, Yehuda ben Simcha, Menachem Chaim ben Malka, Naftali Dovid ben Naomi Tzipora, Nechemia Efraim ben Beyla Mina, Mazal Tov Rifka bat Yitzchak, Rachel Simcha bat Yitzchak, Dvir ben Leah, Sender ben Sara, Eliezer Chaim ben Chaya Batya, Shlomo Yoel ben Chaya Leah, Dovid Yehoshua ben Leba, Shmuel ben Mazal Tov, Malka, Yosef Yitzchack ben Bracha.

Atzlacha and parnasa tova to Daniel ben Mazal Tov, Debora Leah Bat Henshe Rachel, Shmuel ben Mazal tov, Yitzchak ben Mazal Tov, Yehuda ben Mazal Sara and Zivug agun to Gila bat Mazal Tov, Naftali Dovid ben Naomi Tzipora, Yehudit bat Malka, Elisheva bat Malka. For pidyon hanefesh & yeshua of Yosef Itai ben Eliana Shufra.

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