#typical british and french tension

[jihef03]

Noses

[publius-library]

I know gwash and lafayette had a close friendship, but were there instances where the two of them had some strong disagreements (like, in almost fighting or just getting displeased with what the other did)?

'Cause while they both had strong opinions on things, lafayette basically workshiped the floor washington walked upon

Hm. That’s a really good question.

There were a few times when there was tension on their relationship. The first I thought of was when Lafayette was stationed in Virginia, and he believed that Washington was planning a big, final battle in New York, since that was what Washington and Rochambeau wanted the British to believe. They couldn’t communicate to Lafayette because of the precariousness of the mission and the distance between them that the final battle would be at Yorktown, and Lafayette would play a vital role. Lafayette got frustrated with Washington during this time, because he felt like he was purposely leaving him out of his dream, which was to play a major role in that final battle.

The second that comes to mind was when Lafayette was in Rhode Island in 1778. There was issues between the American and French officers, namely General Sullivan and Comte d’Estaing. Lafayette was on d’Estaing’s side, and was very angry with Sullivan. Like, really angry. There are only a few times that really stand out of Lafayette getting enraged with the fury of a thousand suns and six European armies, and I would consider this one of them. Washington, who tried to remain unbiased in issues like this, stayed in his typical course of pretty much non-action. And though I can’t exactly recall Lafayette and Washington clashing over this, I do remember Lafayette getting pretty blunt in his communication with Washington at the time.

Other than that, they agreed on almost everything during the war, and when they disagreed, it didn’t have a lasting effect on their relationship; Lafayette was pretty good at getting around disagreements in his friendships.

I say during the war, because afterwards, their correspondence kind of flags, since they both became really busy, one being the President and the other being the head of the National Guard during the French Revolution and then imprisoned for over five years, so they weren’t really bickering much. Though, I will say, it does seem like Lafayette was pretty disappointed in Washington for not doing more to end his imprisonment, but he did understand that Washington’s hands were tied.

So, generally, their relationship was pretty much smooth sailing, and the issues they did have mostly boil down to disagreements on military matters. Lafayette was more of a man of action, whereas Washington had many eyes on him, and therefore couldn’t really take sides as conspicuously. Thank you for the ask

[beardedmrbean]

Berlin's Jewish community has been shaken by two petrol bombs thrown at a synagogue amid a spike in antisemitic incidents in some European countries.

Police said two people threw "burning bottles filled with liquid" in what was described as attempted arson.

"We could feel the tensions more and more," said director Anna Segal. She said the community had felt very threatened in recent days.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed outrage at the attack.

Violence broke out elsewhere in Berlin overnight during anti-Israel protests. Emergency services were pelted with bottles, stones and fireworks. Protesters set barricades alight in a number of streets and one demonstration close to the Brandenburg Gate involved 700 people, police said.

The latest attacks came as Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah, called for a "day of rage" over an explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of people are feared dead.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany said "day of rage" was not just a phrase but "psychological terror that leads to concrete attacks". The synagogue also houses a community centre, a kindergarten and high school for 130 children.

Anna Segal told the BBC that the community felt on edge and needed better protection: "We knew it was only a matter of time and it's not the end."

There was little sign of the petrol bombs that burned out in front of the synagogue and Jewish community centre at around 03:45 (02:45 GMT).

Jewish institutions typically have ongoing police protection in Germany and reports suggest officers were at the scene when the attack happened.

Hours later, police briefly detained a man who approached the building on a scooter and ran towards the synagogue shouting anti-Israel slogans.

Barriers have been set up around the synagogue and Jewish community centre in the centre of Berlin and officers were positioned along the street.

Last week France and parts of Germany banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and Paris police broke up a banned rally in the centre of Paris with tear gas and water cannon.

In a ruling on Wednesday France's Council of State, which advises the government on law, rejected an appeal against the ban.

It said local prefects would have to decide on a case-by-case basis, but could not stop a protest purely because of a note from Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin or because a demonstration was pro-Palestinian.

Responding to a spike in antisemitic incidents on Tuesday night, Mr Darmanin said "nobody will touch a hair of a French Jew without facing a lightning-fast response from the state".

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday that Hamas terror had plunged Israel and the Palestinians into a new spiral of violence.

"We are seeing a rise in antisemitic incidents, including here in Europe. Synagogues have been vandalised. Hate speech and fake news are spreading at worrying speed, and this is something that we simply cannot accept," she said.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the rise in antisemitic incidents in the UK as "disgusting".

The Community Security Trust, a British charity which has the role of protecting the Jewish community, called on universities to act "swiftly and firmly" against antisemitism and protect Jewish students. The CST said 36 antisemitic incidents had been recorded on campuses between 7 and 16 October.

[inkovsky]

The mainland's foreign trade performance last month was worse than market expectations, and Hong Kong stocks further bottomed out in late trading. The Hang Seng Index opened 116 points lower at 16,978 points and continued its decline. It closed at the day's low of 16,721 points, down 373 points or 2.18%, slightly down 2 points for the week; the Technology Index fell 63 points or 1.8% to 3,474 points. Main board transaction volume was HK$106.2 billion.

The market is worried that the mainland will fall into deflation again, and it still needs to wait and see whether the data will improve further. Therefore, although the recent technical trend of Hong Kong stocks has improved, it has still failed to rise above the important resistance of the last high of 17,214 points. After the performance period, the performance of stocks was polarized. Resource stocks, oil stocks and Chinese telecommunications stocks continued to remain strong. Technology and Internet stocks such as Meituan and Tencent also saw improvements. However, some stocks, such as AIA, were relatively weak after performance. With the differentiation between strong and weak stocks, it is difficult for Hong Kong stocks to see a clear direction. You may wish to pick strong stocks for speculation. If the Hang Seng Index rises above the resistance of 17,214 points, I believe that strong stocks will further break through by then, driving the Hang Seng Index to the 250-DMA (17,866) level. According to an earlier forecast by Standard Chartered, Hong Kong stocks may rise to 18,100 points on the Hang Seng Index in the next 12 months.

European stock markets developed individually. Led by oil and mining stocks, British stocks rose 0.91%, while French and German stocks both fell more than 0.1%.

The situation in the Middle East took a turn for the worse. The market was worried about a head-on conflict between Israel and Iran. U.S. stocks came under significant pressure on Friday. After the Dow opened 139 points lower, it then surged 581 points to a low of 37,877 points. The S&P 500 index fell as much as 1.75%, led by technology. The stock-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.93%. , the U.S. stock market closed with the Dow still down 475 points, or 1.24%, at 37,983 points; the S&P Index fell 75 points, or 1.46%, at 5,123 points; the Nasdaq fell 267 points, or 1.62%, at 16,175 points.

All three major U.S. stock indexes posted declines for the second consecutive week. The Dow fell for a fifth straight session. Investors are paying close attention to the outlook for Federal Reserve policy and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The CEOs of JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock both expressed concerns about inflationary pressures in the United States. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), commonly known as the "fear gauge," surged. The VIX typically falls when the broader market rises and spikes when stocks plunge.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.79% to 106.11, and the yen rose 0.44% to 152.59 per dollar. The British economy grew by 0.1% in February, in line with expectations, and has risen for two consecutive months. However, the pound still fell 1% to US$1.2427, and the euro fell by up to 0.96% to US$1.0623, a five-month low.

[lyledebeast]

Patriot adjacent, have you seen The Free State of Jones? There are a lot of parallels in my mind- politically motivated quasi-historical films about swamp based guerilla warfare in the South with strong themes about Christianity and the family and commentary on race (though Free State is much more focused on that, and The Patriot seemingly only includes it to lionize Martin and his family to ensure they'll be seen as "one of the good ones" among Southern plantation owners). I found myself comparing the movies a lot as I watched the Patriot.

Also, there was one scene in particular in The Patriot, that again tricked me into thinking I was watching a more complex film- when after the aunt's plantation is burned, Martin returns to his family and finds his children dressed in rags and playing in the dirt with what I thought were enslaved children (they actually weren't, but that's what I initially thought.) I thought we were about to get a scene where Martin realized just how much his quest for vengeance had cost, that in "enslaving" himself to this cause he'd cost his family almost everything and now his children were in bondage to his sins with him, the whole sins of the father stuff the film had previously touched on. But nope! That was not the message intended, the film explicitly portrayed that situation as fine. IDK, I had Thoughts during that scene. Something something this movie avoids class issues like the plague even when they're showing them on screen. Also, something something parallel with Tavington who is willing to destroy anything (and anyone) to (re)join the landed class (and win the war), while Martin is willing to give up everything he had as a "gentleman farmer", including his children's physical safety, to win the war and avenge the deaths of his sons.

(Also good movie rec, writing this made me remember When The Last Sword Is Drawn, a much better and more thoughtful war movie about the tension between honor, duty, martial glory, and familial love, I think you'd dig it, check it out if you can, it's low-key a perfect movie IMO)

One thing that this video points out is how much The Patriot goes out of its way to not present Martin as a typical gentleman farmer. Not only is he out there with his free farmworkers plowing the field, but he's steering the plow, a physically demanding job, while a worker is leading the ox. He's a working man, but at the same time, he's important enough to get a vote in the South Carolina legislature. He's done all these war crimes and seeks people out to join the militia that he knows are down with committing war crimes, and yet he's familiar with the proper procedures for addressing wartime grievances with the British. Like, he is whatever it's most convenient for the story at any given moment for him to be, and if you try to make sense of it, you'll lose your mind!

One of the most ironic things about the movie, though, is the whole Tavington is doing these awful things to terrorize the population into compliance so he can win the war and gain lands to restore his status, and isn't that just terrible?

Like that's not what the French and Indian War was about, settling the question of who this land belonged to. Like Martin didn't terrorize the Cherokees into compliance and come to be seen as a hero by the White South Carolinians for doing so. It seems like when you take the patriotism blinders off, the only difference between what Martin did and what Tavington is trying to do is that Martin was successful.

Thanks for the movie recs! I haven’t seen either of those, but I’m sure they handle complex issues of war and racism more effectively than The Patriot. That’s a pretty low bar!

[jamieatthebarricade]

Maids to Wives // Chapter 3

An Outlander AU based loosely on the TV Show and real life in the historic Jamestown

In 1619, one hundred and forty-four English women from good families crossed the Atlantic in response to the Virginia Company of London’s call for maids “young and corrupt” to make wives for the planters of it’s new colony in Virginia. One in six of the maids could even claim gentry status. Although promised a free choice of husband, they were in effect being traded into marriage for a bride price of 150 pounds of best leaf tobacco, the profits to flow to individual investors

In 1619, Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp made the voyage to do one thing: marry a man she's never met. But when she arrives, she comes to the startling realization that her heart belongs to someone else, a certain James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser.

Find Maids to Wives on Archive of Our Own!

Chapter 3 : Maids to Wives

“Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

May 16th, 1619, Claire’s POV

The air was crisper in the new world, that was the first thing I noticed. The smell of soft pinewood, salt water, and fresh bodies filled my nose. Around me was open air, no tall buildings or hundreds of people in sight. I don’t remember the air being this clean since I traveled with my uncle.

While the air was clearer, there was also a thick fog of tension within the ship. Since seeing land, many of us women had realized how drastic our lives would change in less than a few hours. Either a woman would meet the love of her life, or she would enter a life of hell. I silently hoped for the first option. It was a new day, and we were nearly to the mainland. ‘You should tidy up’ my brain told me, as I looked around trying to find any reflective surface Managing to borrow a small piece of glass from another woman, my reflection stared back at me. Small bits of hair were falling out of my neat bun I had tried to make earlier in the day. The sailors wouldn’t let us use the water for washing up and such, so I wasn’t doubtful I didn’t smell all that good. I decided to use my remaining water ration to quickly wet my underarms as a sort of rugged wash. I smelt myself quick and didn’t find any odar too terrible. 

Looking into my reflection, I smiled. The curls around my face sprang out like a lion's mane, and thankfully to the sun, my face had a bit of color to it. I was no longer the ghostly pale my uncle lamb used to describe me as. He would call me a ghost, depending on where we were and how much sunlight I got. Around me, other ladies were trying to freshen themselves up as much as they could. Geillis had managed to braid a few strands in her long auburn hair. Mary also used some drinking water to give her hair a quick rinse. We all checked each other and were happy with what we were seeing.

“Are ye ready, Claire?” Geillis smiled at me. In truth I didn’t know if I was ready, but there was no turning back from it now. Weeks of waiting and daydreaming were finally coming true today. I was just happy to be on land, a different land, and start this adventure. “I hope my husband is tall. And fit. And has a nice arse” I threw my rag at Geillis in a joking matter. She rarely held back when it came to matters such as female sexuality. Geillis was truly an open book.

At the mention of arse, Mary flushed a nice shade of ruby. “You shouldn’t be mentioning such things!” She whispered softly under her breath, just loud enough for me and Geillis to hear. Geillis in turn laughed and placed a loving arm around Mary’s shoulders.

“If ye think arse is bad, what do ye think happens on the wedding night?” Mary’s face managed to blush an even deeper shade of red, and she quickly hurried into the line for disembarking the ship. Geillis laughed as she ran away, smiling contentedly to herself. 

“That lass is gonna have an interesting time with her new husband” Geillis and me walked over to where the rest of the women were waiting, including Mary. As Geillis looked on I stared out to the land. Grass was much greener than I remembered, and the sky seemed to shine a brighter shade of blue. It was like stepping through a portal into a strange new world, which is strangely what this is. I’m a stranger in a new world who wasn’t awaiting my arrival. Fear tug at my heart at the possibility of something happening. What if there wasn’t enough food? What if we were attacked by a new settlement? I suddenly felt exposed to danger, and subconsciously wrapped my cloak around my body, like a shield.

‘Whatever happens’ I thought. ‘At least I have Geillis and Mary here’. I was fortunate and grateful to have made such great friends on the voyage. Sure, I was expected to be a new wife, but who knew if a man could fill a hole of loneliness and want for a friendship. If something were to happen and I couldn’t tell my spouse, I knew that Geillis and Mary would be there for me.

“Claire, are ye alright? Ye starin’ at nothing,” Geillis gave me a gentle tap on my shoulder, breaking me from my thought haze. They already started carting women off the ship, and Me and Geillis were next in line. The shouts of multiple crewmen filled my ear, and I heard a man shouting the names of both women and the men who would marry them. 

Me and Geillis made our way onto the long boardwalk, and as we were half way, we heard Mary’s name being called.

“Mary Hawkins, Alex Randall,” A short but handsome young man emerged from the crowd. He looked no older than Mary, and his eyes lit up when he saw her. Anxiously, he walked over to her and held out a hand. I could see the blush from her cheeks as they walked away. ‘They’re going to make a wonderful marriage’.

I smiled internally at the sight of them. It was like seeing a sister finding the love of her life, I had nothing but joy for the 2 of them. I scanned the audience. There were men of all different ages and backgrounds. Tall men, short men. Young men, and old men. Most of the young men were reasonably handsome, handsome enough to tolerate. Many of them looked unwashed, which I figured would be the case as most men typically didn’t care that much about hygiene, which was an unfortunate trait.

When we got down to the land, the minute I put my foot down I felt a sense of calm wash over me. Whatever would happen, I’m here now. The feeling of knowing I couldn’t leave, even if I tried, gave me a sense of home oddly enough.

Geillis stood in front of men, waiting behind 2 more women. Slowly their names were called and met with their respective husbands.

“Suzette Augustin, Murtagh Fraser,” Suzette was french, that was one of the only things I knew about her. She was pretty, with very long black hair and a sweet smile, which lit up brightly as Murtagh stepped from the crowd. He was among the tallest of the group, wearing a tartan wrapped around his middle. His face was dark and aged, but he was still very handsome. Suzette definitely thought so, taking his hand politely, but I could see the excitement bouncing off of her.

They were down to the last person before Geillis. All of a sudden, the nerves came rushing back. I would be meeting my future husband in less than 5 minutes. What if he doesn’t like me? What if I don’t like him? I felt the sudden urge to run and hide from all of this, and I looked around quickly for a route (as if I actually had the nerve to run), when suddenly my eyes met with a man. 

He was probably the tallest, leaving me to wonder why I didn’t notice him before as he stood at least a few inches above the other men. His hair was bright ginger and slightly tostled. When I looked at him, all worries and troubles melted away. ‘Did he see the fear in my eyes?’ I wondered. I thought he would look away or turn his attention to one of the other women but his gaze stared at me. Suddenly the urge to run was gone, as if he was holding me by the shoulders. I felt peaceful, like this whole situation wasn’t that bad. 

Our connection was only broken when I felt a nudge behind me, indicating that I had to move forward. I did, but tried to keep my eyes on him a little longer. I didn’t even know his name, yet he was a familiar face in a sea of strangers. I tried to chase that feeling of serenity in his face just a minute longer.

He seemed like he was following me too, his head turning with my step. ‘Did he feel this same serenity?’ Maybe he was getting a bride today, and was just if not more nervous than I was. Deep down a part of me hoped I was to be the bride, but I tried to shake that thought quickly. I didn’t even know this man, I didn’t need to want him this bad.

I turned my head quickly forward, hoping that he didn’t find the action malicious. Even standing forward I still felt his eyes on me, and tried my best to keep my gaze ahead. Geillis and then me, and Geillis was already telling her name to the man.

“Geillis Edgars, Arthur Duncan” A short, stout man emerged from the crowd. He was at least 20 years her senior, and about 5 inches below her. As I saw Geillis’ face drop, I concealed my hand and tried to reach out for Geillis, but Arthur was already by her side, taking her hand lovingly. She took it hesitantly, and as they walked away, Geillis turned back and gave me a sad look. ‘I needed to see her later’.

“What’s your name?” a thick british accent said in front of me. My attention turned and I saw a man, maybe in his late 40s, and a big book in front of him.

“Claire Beuachamp,” I stammered, trying to keep my voice stable as best I could. I wanted to look into the crowd and find that man again. So far, his gaze was the only thing that brought me peace.

“Claire Beauchamp, Frank Randall” the man shouted. I looked out into the crowd, and the ginger man’s face dropped. It wasn’t the same calming look as before. Was he Frank Randall? Perhaps I mistook our connection before. 

Thankfully, another man emerged behind him. He was around my height and a deep, dark face. His hair was a nice brown, and he seemed to be balding but it didn’t age him any bit. He stood in front of me, and took my right hand, giving it a soft kiss on top. His hands were warm, and gave me a sense of hope. ‘I could build a life with this man’ I thought happily, smiling to him, which caused his face to light up as well. 

We walked away from the ship, right towards the ginger man. As we walked towards him, his gaze fell on me again, but this time it wasn’t a calm feeling that came over me. It was more of a flutter, like I was tongue tied without even talking to him. When we passed him, my shoulder brushed him softly. I quickly turned, causing Frank to stop in his path.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. He opened his mouth to answer but I felt a tug on my hand and before I knew it, our interaction was over. I looked over to Frank, and his kind face from before was changed to slight frustration.

Turning back once more, I caught his eye for only a second, yet I found so much solace in his face. It wasn’t love like you read about in stories, but it was understanding, and for some that’s a start. 

This time he was the one to look away, but quite hesitantly. My gaze shifted as well and and all of a sudden I wondered if I was making the right choice. I hadn’t even met both men yet, but the ginger man looked at me as if he was wrapping himself around me like a blanket, shielding me from any worries to come. I looked back at frank and didn’t find that same warmness. 

Instead, the feeling of fear and the want to run came back, but this time, I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to go back home or back to my friends. I wanted to find out what that man’s name was.

[ashleysitalianlitblog]

My Brilliant Friend (HBO Tie-in Edition): Book 1: Childhood and Adolescence

From the famous Italian author Elena Ferrante, the story is about a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence. This book is now turning into an HBO MAX show and it’s a young adult classic in modern-day Italy

The Story of a New Name (HBO Tie-in Edition): Book 2: Youth

The follow-up to My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name continues the epic New York Times–bestselling literary quartet that has inspired an HBO series and returns us to the world of Lila and Elena, who grew up together in post-WWII Naples, Italy. 

In The Story of a New Name, Lila has recently married and made her entrée into the family business; Elena, meanwhile, continues her studies and her exploration of the world beyond the neighborhood that she so often finds stifling. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila, and the pressure to excel is at times too much for Elena. Yet the two young women share a complex and evolving bond that is central to their emotional lives and a source of strength in the face of life’s challenges. In these Neapolitan Novels, Elena Ferrante, “one of the great novelists of our time” (The New York Times), gives us a poignant and universal story about friendship and belonging, a meditation on love and jealousy, freedom and commitment—at once a masterfully plotted page-turner and an intense, generous-hearted family saga. 

Adua

The book Adua is by lgiaba Scego has historical references and looks into the life of an immigrant. The story is about Adua, an immigrant from Somalia to Italy who has lived in Rome for nearly forty years. She came seeking freedom from a strict father and an oppressive regime, but her dreams of becoming a film star ended in shame. Now that the civil war in Somalia is over, her homeland beckons. Yet Adua has a husband who needs her, a young man, also an immigrant, who braved a dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. When her father, who worked as an interpreter for Mussolini's fascist regime,  dies, Adua inherits the family home. She must decide whether to make the journey back to reclaim her material inheritance, but also how to take charge of her own story and build a future. From the choices of being an adult to a wife, the book gives us a look of the hard choices life gives us in a heartbreaking story. 

100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed

An instant blockbuster in Italy that went on to become an international literary phenomenon, 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed is the fictionalized memoir of Melissa P., a Sicilian teenager whose quest for love rapidly devolves into a shocking journey of sexual discovery.

Melissa begins her diary a virgin, but a stormy affair at the age of fourteen leads her to regard sex as a means of self-discovery, and for the next two years she plunges into a succession of encounters with various partners, male and female, her age and much older, some met through schoolmates, others through newspaper ads and Internet chat rooms. In graphic detail, she describes her journey through a Dante-Esque underworld of eroticism, where she willingly participates in group sex and sadomasochism, as well as casual pickup

The Scent of Your Breath

Melissa P.’s fictionalized memoir, 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed, became an international literary phenomenon, selling over two million copies worldwide and provoking a warning from the pope. The Scent of Your Breath, the second installment in her series of confessions, is a tale of obsessive love and destructive passion.

Melissa is now a successful writer in Rome, living with her new lover, Thomas. With his soft body and feminine eyelashes, he is sensual, patient, and comforting—the antithesis of all the men who came before. But as soon as she meets Viola, a young woman from Thomas’s past, Melissa is consumed with jealousy. Written as a confessional letter to her mother, the story that follows is one of dark obsession, violent lust, and soul-destroying talent, teeming with the ghosts and dragonfly-women Melissa is convinced are trying to steal her man and bring about her ruin. The Scent of Your Breath blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy and delves deep into the disturbing yet strangely familiar mind of a teenage girl terrorized by love.

Three O'Clock in the Morning Is by Italian author Gianrico Carofiglio the contemporary heart-waring piece is about Antonio is eighteen years old and on the cusp of adulthood. His father, a brilliant mathematician, hasn’t played a large part in his life since divorcing Antonio’s mother but when Antonio is diagnosed with epilepsy, they travel to Marseille to visit a doctor who may hold the hope for an effective treatment. It is there, in a foreign city, under strained circumstances, that they will get to know each other and connect for the first time. A beautiful, gritty, and charming port city where French old-world charm meets modern bohemia, father and son stroll the streets sharing strained small talk. But as the hours pass and day give way tonight, the two find themselves caught in a series of caffeine-imbued adventures involving unexpected people (and unforeseen trysts) that connect father and son for the first time. As the two discuss poetry, family, sex, math, death, and dreams, their experience becomes a mesmerizing 48-hour microcosm of a lifetime relationship. Both learn much about illusions and regret, about talent and redemption, and, most of all, about love. This heartwarming story has captured the modern Italian audience. 

Lost Words

Winner of the Viareggio Prize, a vivid portrait of Italy on the brink of social upheaval in the 1970s.The author Nicola Gardini, writes about the Inside an apartment building on the outskirts of Milan, the working-class residents gossip, quarrel, and conspire against each other. Viewed through the eyes of Chino, an impressionable thirteen-year-old boy whose mother is the doorwoman of the building, the world contained within these walls is tiny, hypocritical, and mean-spirited: a constant struggle. Chino finds escape in reading. One day, a new resident, Amelia Lynd, moves in and quickly becomes an unlikely companion and a formative influence on Chino. Ms. Lynd��an elderly, erudite British woman—comes to nurture his taste in literature, introduces him to the life of the mind, and offers a counterpoint to the only version of reality that he’s known. On one level, Lost Words is an engrossing coming-of-age tale set in the seventies, when Italy was going through tumultuous social changes, and on another, it is a powerful meditation on language, literature, and culture.

Things That Happened Before the Earthquake

The book by Chiara Barzini describes a story about Mere weeks after the 1992 riots that laid waste to Los Angeles, Eugenia, a typical Italian teenager, is rudely yanked from her privileged Roman milieu by her hippie-ish filmmaker parents and transplanted to the strange suburban world of the San Fernando Valley. With only the Virgin Mary to call on for guidance as her parents struggle to make it big, Hollywood fashion, she must navigate her huge new public high school, complete with Crips and Bloods and Persian gang members, and a car-based environment of 99-cent stores and obscure fast-food franchises and all-night raves. She forges friendships with Henry, who runs his mother's movie memorabilia store, and the bewitching Deva, who introduces her to the alternate cultural universe that is Topanga Canyon. And then the 1994 earthquake rocks the foundations not only of Eugenia's home but of the future she'd been imagining for herself.

I'll Steal You Away

Italian literary superstar Niccolò Ammaniti’s novel, I’m Not Scared, prompted gushing praise, hit international bestseller lists, and was made into a smash indie film. In I’ll Steal You Away, Ammaniti takes his unparalleled empathy for children, his scythe-sharp observations, and his knack for building tension to a whole new level. In a tiny Italian village, a young boy named Pietro is growing up tormented by bullies and ignored by his parents. When an aging playboy, Graziano Biglia, returns to town, a change is in the air: Pietro decides to take on the bullies, his lonely teacher Flora finds romance with the town’s prodigal son, and the inept janitor at the school proclaims his love for his favorite prostitute. But the village isn’t ready for such change, and when Graziano seduces and forgets Flora, both she and Pietro’s tentative hopes seem crushed forever. With great tenderness, Ammaniti shines light on the heart-wrenching failures and quiet redemptions of ordinary people trying to live extraordinary lives.

Heaven and Earth: A Novel Every summer Teresa follows her father to his childhood home in Puglia, down in the heel of Italy, a land of relentless, shimmering heat, centuries-old olive groves and families who have lived there for generations. She spends long afternoons enveloped in a sunstruck stupor, reading her grandmother's paperbacks.

Everything changes the summer she meets the three boys who live on the farm next door: Nicola, Tommaso and Bern—the man Teresa will love for the rest of her life. Raised like brothers on a farm that feels to Teresa almost suspended in time, the three boys share a complex, intimate, and seemingly unassailable bond.But no bond is unbreakable and no summer truly endless, as Teresa soon discovers.Because there is resentment underneath the surface of that strange brotherhood, a twisted kind of love that protects a dark secret. And when Bern—the enigmatic, restless gravitational center of the group—commits a brutal act of revenge, not even a final pilgrimage to the edge of the world will be enough to bring back those perfect, golden hours in the shadow of the olive trees.

An unforgettable story of enduring love, the bonds between men, and the all-too-human search for meaning, Heaven and Earth is Paolo Giordano at his best: an author capable of unveiling the depths of the human soul, who has now given us the old-fashioned pleasure of a big, sprawling novel in which to lose ourselves

[aggresivelyfriendly]

Hi guys!

Um-come talk to me(or whatever)!!

Reblogs are love!

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Tag list: @awomanindeniall @mrsfstyles @fullstopsteph @emulateharry​

Day Eight: The One With The Fort

Elise woke up with a hangover, just not the type when you at least have the wild night you may not remember to show for it. She was certainly not in bed naked, with another nude person, surreptitiously checking to see if they used protection.

This was an emotional hangover.

She'd got feelings, for a boy. Man, did she hate those. The last time she had them, it wreaked all kinds of havoc, and that was just her sister's boyfriend not a world famous object of obsession. She should have known how to read the signs, that mistake had gone a similar way. Time spent together in a house, some things in common, a little tension, fear of rejection, a move, sex, secret relationship, discovery, a broken hearted sister, disappointed parents, and a transcontinental move to escape.

Ok, so this one was in a much safer place than that. Harry was a bad choice as a man to have feelings for, but for totally different reasons than Bryce. Her quarantine buddy was a bad idea because of the rejection and/or future rejection.

Did it count as rejection?

Elise felt rejected, but feelings aren't facts, as her dad liked to remind her. She supposed it was a near miss. She had gone the last 10% just like the movie Hitch had taught her. Maybe he would have finished the gap, closed the circuit, and such, and she could have felt those beautiful pink lips on hers.

But he was saved by the bell.

Instead they ate, and sat on opposites ends of the table just like she had set it. Elise liked that it wasn't a ridiculously long ostentatious piece of dead wood before yesterday. She'd even complimented Harry on it. Last night it was unsatisfactory, definitely not as close as she would have liked to be sitting.

And during cake time, which had turned out stellar, he had touched her elbow and the bones in her feet had rattled. His hand hadn't coasted to her palm, nor had he spun her into him and pressed his lips to hers. He'd just told her it looked great and handed her the knife to cut.

Elise couldn't even think about the couch.

He'd insisted that they cuddle, and had lain behind her in the unexpected big spoon position. She'd been very excited when he suggested it, thinking it was a typical boy ploy to feel her up and get to the kissing they'd almost started.

She figured she'd at least get to feel a boner.

That was an atrocious word. But everything else sounded even worse in her head.

She'd felt no erection, just the warm shape and had wanted with all her might to press back against it, but if there was such a thing as a platonic spoon, she'd just experienced it. Then Harry had fallen asleep, his head bookended by hers until his neck relaxed onto the pillow.

Elise threw in the towel then.

The little voice in her head, that sounded suspiciously like her sister, told her that good guys didn't want her, though they'd be bad long enough to take what she was offering.

She was pretty sure she'd called Jessica a jealous bitch over that. The words had stuck in her head though, and not that she was hoping to make a go of things with her sister's ex, but the idea that he was just playing on her dark side to explore his own, it just poisoned their relationship. It certainly contaminated her already fragile relationship with her sister.

Elise had wanted to go away then, needed an escape, if she left it would be better, her parents didn't have to feel disappointed everyday when they looked at her, and Jessica didn't have to feel betrayed. Hence, England, quarantine, Harry Styles.

The first several days she could not figure out how it was karmic in any way that she got to be so close to Harry Styles. Now that he had become just Harry, the lovely rich weirdo with the bad taste in books and great taste in music, she was temporarily living with, she had figured out the catch.

The universe had given her her adolescent fantasy, shown her reality was better, and then snatched it away, like ice cream falling off the cone into sand within the first ten minutes on a boardwalk. Much as she hated it, Elise also felt it was right. She'd snuck around with her sister's boyfriend, it was only right someone she'd fallen for, who was way out of her league anyway, wouldn't want her even if she was literally the only option around.

Why was self loathing so attractive in moments of reflection?

She was going to have to go downstairs soon. She could hear music, a sure sign Harry was up and waiting for company. Maybe she could heat a thermometer under a light bulb and claim sick. Little water on her face to fake clammy skin.

Then he could baby her and she could take the tenderness and not expect the kisses, or boners. Because nobody liked kissing snotty people. Could you fake snottiness? Not without props, Elise decided. Also, faking sick when in quarantine during a pandemic seemed particularly heinous.

Despite her misgivings, she hauled her sad skeleton out of bed and got dressed. When Elise found herself searching for a specific pair of underwear, she realized she was literally planning on wearing her big girl panties. That at least made her chuckle. Whatever got you there she supposed.

Most of her fretting would be for naught. He was just Harry, and he'd acted like nothing happened. She could follow his lead, right? They were forced friends, at least for the next 6 days. May as well make the best of it and not lean in to the awkward.

The stairs made the echoey sound around the bend and she avoided the creaky part and only got a low groan. She'd relaxed a bit by the time she made it downstairs.

What the fuck was his problem? Why was he shirtless? Again! At least he had on more than a towel. Fuck her life, man. Or fuck her man, that'd be the life.

She stood at the end of the stairs and gave herself a moment until he realized she was there. His back was, woah! He was very broad for someone so slim. And his chest was, ugh, and his face. She often felt like she should congratulate him on his visage, especially the way it had leaned out and squared up. He was so manly now.

Dammit, she should have found that thermometer!

"Morning." She heard him say before she had gotten out of her head.

"Good Morning." She smiled back at him. His smile was like the call for a response in songs. You had to answer it.

"Are you hungry? There's leftover food, we could throw eggs over the last couple puddings. Or coffee?" There was a weird current under their conversation. Like he was walking on the shells of the eggs he was planning to cook her.

"Coffee?" She shrugged. "I can't really think about food yet." Elise's nerves were churning her stomach. All she could think of was the near kiss and the heat of his body behind her.

"Done." He headed to the kitchen and she followed, of course. He'd pulled out the French press, something she would purchase for herself after this. And asked, "what do you want to do today?"

Honestly, she wanted to hide out. Was there a book she could fake wanting to read? Elise was sure he had some book of semi terrible prose he would recommend to her. She need but ask. Then she could hold up in her room. The downside was she'd have to see his little sad puppy face when she told him she didn't like what he did. That was one of the downsides. Elise also wanted to be around him, maybe be able to smell him, and to avoid him noticing her avoiding him. But they needed to have something that discouraged talking, or she was gonna wind up asking him what the fuck his problem was. Because, they'd had a couple moments, she was sure of it, when they worked out, when he touched her thigh, and the near KISS, for fuck's sake. There was chemistry.

Or she was going a bit crazy, and it was totally one sided, which, seemed the way it should be.

In any case, she couldn't just ask him. She wasn't usually an asker, she was a guesser. Elise's best friend Niki was direct and wonderful, she asked for what she wanted or asked people what they wanted. When they were teenagers, she'd thought it was so embarrassing sometimes, now she wished she had some of her boldness. If she could just ask it would really simplify things. Harry, do you like me? Are you having any pesky feelings? Do I make your dick hard? Any flavor of honesty would taste better than the uncertainty she was chewing on.

Instead Elise said, "marathon Friends?" She shrugged.

His eyes opened big and she looked down to dodge the power of his pleased crinkles. "Marathon Friends!"

So there they were, three quarters of the way through a series with popcorn between them when Elise said, "I think I need to stand up. My butt is numb."

"I could rub it for you? No, not an option then?" He giggled. "We could make an obstacle course?" Harry suggested gleefully, and she wondered how long he'd been sitting on that one.

"That sounds athletic. As you've seen, I'm no athlete."

"Built like one." He said and before she could really respond he'd launched into a plea. "It'll be fun, then we can build a fort and watch more Friends."

"Are you 7 at heart?" She giggled. His glee was contagious, like Phoebe's wackiness.

"Nine!" He danced his eyebrows. "But to adult this party up, let's add alcohol. I feel like I have not given you a proper look at British life and quarantine, as we've not been pissed much at all. We can play a Friends drinking game, bet there are loads on the internet!"

Oh, this was a bad idea. But maybe she'd find some liquid courage.

The obstacle course, well it went better than she anticipated, and he let her win. She cartwheeled, the one thing she had learned in gymnastics, across the finish line. He was way ahead of her when they got to the pillow sack race at the end. The idea had struck her like a lightening bolt. She could not bound like him, all that thigh strength, but she could cover ground quick another way! She managed to keep the high thread count fabric on through her revolutions. She was a little terrified of destroying his nice linen. Harry let her cross ahead of him, and he hoisted her into the air when she exclaimed "YES!"

She expected him to complain about her tactics, instead he jogged her around on a victory lap. "Well done!" He danced in a circle and put her down, his arms wrapped around her, squishing her face into his clavicle.

"But I cheated." She muffled into his body.

"We didn't make rules. You saw an opportunity and took a chance." He shimmied his shoulders, all his bottled up energy from a day on the couch coming out in exuberance. "You gotta take chances in life."

They were close, though he'd let her go. Was she supposed to take the chance now? Was that an invitation? Why did she have to do it? "Yeah, yeah, you're right." She said but didn't act.

A beat passed and he sighed and turned around, moving around exercise equipment. "Let's build this fort, yeah?" His smile wasn't forced, but she noticed he only had two eye crinkles, not the full powered four.

His hand was on her shoulder. The opportunity was still there, but yesterday's rejection still clouded up her head like an unkept pool. "Yeah." She turned around and opened the ornamental blanket storage box he had in his media room.

They worked together with ease, and had a fort that would stay up for days on its own with no roughhousing to show for it. IKEA would be proud, they didn't even need pictorial directions.

"It looks cozy!" She smiled at it.

"It's nearly perfect." He said, before jetting off. "One second." He came back with led lights and used some stylish magic to arrange them high."Now we got it. Just missing one thing."

She couldn't imagine anything missing with the attractive light on his face. This was dreamy, she'd almost forgotten that he seemed to have decided that she had to make the move. Leaving them at an impasse. "What?"

"Tequila!" He danced his eyebrows. "One sec." He jackrabbited off.

Should she tell him tequila made her way too honest, or let him figure it out for himself?

"Alright." He skidded into the tent by her side and she applauded because he managed not to shatter the tequila bottle and glasses. "This is the best tequila." He assured her. "Find a drinking game! Unless you fancy strip scrabble."

That sent her diving for the phone. That was an even worse idea than getting drunk together. It was a quick google search later and they had their marching orders.

Phoebe seemed the most reliable. They both were licking salt and swallowing top shelf shots whenever she appeared. Monica and Joey were making a good showing too.

Her stomach hurt and she was bent sideways making a right angle at his hips from laughing so hard. Elsie had forgotten! This show was so funny, and god! They were both drunk.

Rachel was having a sappy moment and it was bringing out the sap in Elise. Man, tequila also made her emotional, she'd swung like a desktop pendulum from laughing so hard she cried to introspective sadness. It didn't exactly make sense, she was definitely more the Ross in this situation. Though her pining had started much later, precisely 7 days ago.

She giggled, nothing was precise after that much tequila. Call her Tarzan with all that swinging.

"What are you laughing about?" He turned on his side to look at her, his face full of mirth, his eyes at half mast and a little red. Bedroom eyes popped into her head and she had to suck in a breath. This felt very coupley, lying side-by-side in a fort. She would say cuddling, but they weren't touching. They hadn't been, but while she was assessing their postures, she realized he'd tangled their ankles together.

Everything they did felt coupley. Because they wanted to couple up or because they were just a couple in number?

"Um" she croaked. "I was just thinking of something, but then, tequila brain you know!" She flicked her temple lightly.

"Oh, I know!" He was jolly and she thought for a minute of other times she'd seen pictures of him drunk. His arm was around her waist now. He liked drunken cuddles, when he was younger, which was knowledge she maybe had no business possessing but knew nonetheless. His face in her neck a moment later had her closing her eyes and sighing. He smelled good, a little like a bar, but also like cologne, and his hair was so soft. She wanted to touch it.

Maybe she had more in common with Ross than she realized. A seemingly unattainable old crush suddenly in her life, maybe attainable, available.

Her drunken hands had a mind of their own, and she ran them through the silk of his hair. It felt wonderful between her fingers. Elise twirled some curls around her pointers and was rewarded by a groan from her cuddle buddy.

"Mmmmm, feels good!" His ankle tangle had become his calf and at that moment his whole thigh had inserted itself between her legs. She'd been ignoring the dull throb there for most of today, for days. The barest pressure was on her crux and she couldn't take this. She tensed and pulled, he moaned. Her hand dropped.

She felt his breath on her neck and then his head roll back to her shoulder. "Hey! Why'd you stop."

If she turned her head their boozy breaths would mingle and it would be their second almost kiss in as many days, and she couldn't take this.

Elise turned her head.

He blinked at her slow and the tequila sunset of his eyes was intoxicating. She let her eyes come down to his lips, and when his tongue peeped out to wet his mouth, hers moved on its own, "Harry?"

It needed to be asked right? She couldn't just let it happen.

"Elise." He breathed back and moved closer.

Tequila, and mint somewhere underneath, was all she tasted. Teeth and tongue, plump lips moving between and surrounding hers was what she felt, until his larger frame pressed her back onto the floor. She felt the one thigh almost against her center become his pelvis, flush. He pulled back, looked in her eyes and gave her a soft buss, resumed the eye contact. Elise leaned up like he had water and she was thirsty. The way his tongue played along the sides of hers, sliding over the top and out before he changed angles slightly and reinitiated had her lightheaded. Her skin was tight, especially where his hands were. Her clothes were heavy and hot, at her hips, around her rips, the sides of her breasts tingled, her shoulders were his palms held her open beneath him. Elise needed water. Was panting. She wasn't even sure how much the kiss had escalated, until his lips were moving over her neck and onto her collarbone, the thick strap of her top coming down, cold air and warm kisses on the swell of her cleavage. Pressure revolving between her thighs. The well was just ahead and if they kept at it, she'd dive in. Water water everywhere, so much to drink. To drown. She stilled.

"Elise?" Harry asked from where his hands and mouth had almost reached her nipples?

"I think we should stop."

[echoesofscreams-archive]

Basics:

Name: Amity Launier-Padgett Pronunciation: a·muh·tee Meaning: Friendship & Harmony Birthday: 14 May Age: Twenty-Five Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Bisexual Siblings: None that she knows about. Parents: Father Unknown, Ariadne Launier (mother), Other Family: David Padgett (step father) Languages: French, Mandarin, & English  Current Residence: London, England Hometown: Orléans, France

Wizard Fun:

Education: Beauxbatons (1-4) / Hogwarts - Ravenclaw (5-7) Year of Graduation: 1973 Occupation: Cursebreaker  Pet: Steve the Dog, Worm the cat, & Grimm the lizard Blood Status: Halfblood  Species: Witch & 1/8 Veela Patronus: Tiger Boggart: Being dead last on a scoreboard  Amortentia: tbd ! Wand type: Cherry & Veela hair Affiliation: Neutral 

Appearance:

Height: 5′6″ Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Brown Typical Hair Style: Pulled back in a pony tail or straight around her shoulders Fashion Style: Typically pretty sporty, but likes anything flowy for dressy outfits Distinguishing Features: Her nose is slightly crooked from getting it broken during a fight

Personality:

Positive Traits: Curious, Hardworking Negative Traits: Blunt, Insecure Quick Facts: Can also speak Gobbledegook from her time working at Gringotts Theme song: Waterloo by Abba

Biography: 

Amity—a name meaning friendship, harmony. Ariadne Launier named her child hoping she would never have to see the cruelty and wake of destruction that her daughter’s father could bring upon a family. The Launier family used to be a respectable family in the French wizarding world until Ariadne’s husband found out a family secret and announced it to the world. Ariadne’s father hadn’t married a pureblood witch when he spent four years abroad in China with the family business. She was a squib from a family of halfblood wizards. They had hidden the truth from the world and their daughter. Still Ariadne’s husband left her at the age of twenty two, after two years of marriage. He was gone before she found out she was pregnant. Little Amity born to a family with a ruined reputation and a mother who adored her. With the news about the true blood status of the family, Amity’s grandparents went back to China, leaving their daughter and granddaughter to fend for themselves in France. Thankfully, while the news wasn’t received well in some circles, it didn’t close doors for Ariadne. She was always able to make ends meet though, despite working long hours. Amity grew up with the same story about her father: he’s not worth looking into. Except she always hated that her mother had to work such long hours to make ends meet.

From a young age, Amity learned about hard work. Her mother was gone long hours for her job, meaning that she often left her daughter in the care of their neighbor. She grew up being a curious child, liking anything that could make the wheels of her mind turn. Amity loved reading and challenges. She was easy to please, all it took was a book or a game to keep her quiet. While her mother never spoke about her father, Amity was always curious. She would sneak into her mother’s room to look for clues because there had to be something. She never did find anything concrete and she was too young to understand the whispers on the streets about the Launier family not being pure. Instead of continuing to look for information, Amity found other mysteries to solve, new puzzles, read more books, and waited for her chance to get to Beauxbatons to study magic. Her mother didn’t particularly use magic much at home because the two of them lived in a small apartment in the middle of Muggle France and she always said it was too much of a gamble. Amity knew of magic because her mother’s job with the French Ministry meant that occasionally Amity got to meet other people who were magical. On her eleventh birthday, she received her letter to Beauxbatons.

As much as she wanted to, Amity did not fit in at Beauxbatons. She found herself alone more often than she did with a large group of friends. Her peers sneering at her for this or that. They made it clear that Amity was different, for whatever reason. Amity didn’t mind so much though, as most of her time at school was monopolized by learning. If she couldn’t join her peers, then she’d beat them. She did just that too, making it clear to her professors that she was smart and refused to quit. Her ambition made her blind however, so while she did well in school, often she was blind to everything else going on around her. It made her poor at Quidditch and any other team competition. Midway through her first year, her mother met a David Padgett, an English Ambassador with the British Ministry of Magic, and they married that summer. By the time of Amity’s third year, it was clear that with more training, she would be a great asset to whatever career path she decided to go down. Still, as time wore on, she struggled to connect socially with the other students. She preferred to be on her own and had exactly one friend: a boy who didn’t talk to anyone, including her.

The summer between her fourth and fifth year, her step-father was called back to England. She and her mother packed their belongings and headed to England, where Amity was to finish her school off at Hogwarts. Amity always loved her step-father and was excited for the chance to get to explore a new city. While she had been on several trips to China to visit her grandparents, her mother never made enough money for them to have big trips outside France. Amity felt more at home in England than she did in France. Hogwarts seemed like a much better fit for her and she thrived at the new school. She was sorted into Ravenclaw and the house felt like home. The between house competitions were great for her and it was at Hogwarts were Amity finally started to understand that friendship wasn’t a bad thing, nor were people. Three years went by in a very short amount of time. Amity decided to stick around in England after graduating, not keen on going back to France, despite the rising tensions she could feel in the wizarding world.

Amity was not sure what sort of career she wanted, but after careful consideration, decided on Cursebreaker. She got a job at Gringott’s Bank, taking it upon herself to learn Gobbledegook and fit in with the goblins. When the attacks started happening in 1979, Amity’s parents retired and moved to China, though Amity decided to stay behind. She is not keen on leaving the one place that felt like home, regardless of the rising tension. Amity has refused to take a side in the war, feeling like it isn’t her fight to fight. However, not that her parents are out of town, it has given her a chance to start looking into a mystery that she has always wanted to know about: her birth father. Amity might not feel like she needs to get involved with the war, but if there’s one thing she does want, is to feel like she fits in and where better to do that than with family. It is difficult to ignore the world around her and Amity has begun to feel like this place she has always considered her home, might actually be in danger.

Wanted Connections: 

friends, coworkers, people she feeds information to (order/de both welcome),  mentor, people she trains in self defense, exes. 

[androgynousblackbox]

Rating the cooking shows I have watched while doing chores

For personal reasons I have been doing a lot of chores lately and I refuse to them without something to entertain me, but because I couldn’t bring the TV with me I had my phone. I could have listened to a podcast, but knowing how no one on my home knows the “don’t talk to me while I am wearing earphones because I won’t hear shit” rule, I had to have something I didn’t need to pay extremely close attention to and could miss words of without worrying. Somehow I ended up watching a lot of competition shows, mostly cooking. My rating is completely based on the entertainment I got from them. I know fuck all about anything else. 1. Nailed It. I don’t know how to bake for shit (one time tried to do cupcakes, turned out tasting like vomit) and these people either, so there is already a strong kinship there. I feel their confusion when they don’t know a baking term or how something it’s supposed to look like to know that it’s actually good or not. Also I really like the hosts and their dinamic. Nicole is really fun. The chocolate french expert they bring on looks like a genuelly sweet guy who has a lot of patience with all these poor motherfuckers who are literally ruining the thing he has worked so hard to perfect for years, and are stumbling through the kitchen without a single clue. He actually wants them to learn and do better, and even tries to find the good on the more than less perfect products he has to eat, which is very commendable on itself. West is a fun addition as the serious straight man who never smiles but still comes out doing ridiculous shit to deliver the trophies at the end.  I like that they bring new contestant to each new episodes, all of them with their own stories, personalities and varying levels of sucking, so that makes it more interesting and it’s like watching a mini story arc on a quick and easy format. I have the people I root for and I am glad when they win or sad when they lose. Very binge watching worthy. They always make a big deal at the end when a person wins and, like, fuck yeah, they deserved it. They made the less shitty shit on this shit town and they deserve the celebration, so I enjoyed their fun even if the winner wasn’t my favourite. 2. Best Leftover Ever! This is a show about bringing cooks with some experiences to come grab some leftovers in order to turn them into new meals. As someone that hates wasting food, I really liked the concept itself but it’s also very bright, the set is really fun, the hosts are funny and sometimes they put little tips about what you can do with some meals to use them again and, overall, entertaining and educational on a way. The food many times looks so amazing you wouldn’t have ever imagine what started as before, so outgha teach you some major respect for these cooks and their creativity. They also seem to have a lot of fun when announcing the winner and it’s cheesy, but I will never get tired of “I made you some cashrola” joke at the end.  The hosts have a great dynamic and they are all funny people on their own right, but together they are unstoppable. I am sad that it doesn’t have more seasons. 3. The Final Table. A show about inviting a bunch of big shot cooks around the world to compete to be able to be counted among a bunch of other of big shots cooks around the world. The thing about it is that each episode they concentrate on a specific country so they need to make a food that is typical from that country and later use an ingredient native to it. I love that they always bring a food critic and celebrities from those countries, letting them be the judges and decide if what they are served actually represents them or not. You learn a lot about how they value different things on food according to each country and what distinguish them one from another. Really interesting stuff! Also, to learn that the biggest shot cookers all took the influences of their upbringing to make their own, unique things is legit inspiring. I am not particularly in love with the host, though. Like I am sure he is a good guy, but it kinda gets on my nerves he is “oh yeah?”, “yes?” and making other kind of interjection while people are trying to talk, like he will lose control of the conversation otherwise. Just let people talk, man. But it has great editing and it’s big and dramatic enough that I can forgive that. 4. Sugar Rush. This was actually the first cooking show I finished through all it’s seasons. It’s a time management game in which experienced bakers who are owners of their own business come to fulfill each challenge on a given time frame and the more they take to do the first challenge, that takes time away from the minutes they can use for the second and the third one, so there is already an extra element of tension to see who can finish first, who is taking the longest and how they are going to curve their shortcomings when the time is not enough for something else. The desserts look so fucking good always, even if they didn’t turn out perfect, so it’s obvious these are talented people. I might not understand shit of what are the techniques or some of the ingredients they use or how it works, but it’s fascinating seeing capable people doing their best and using their own creativity when things go wrong. The host aren’t terribly funny, but I can see them being the kind of teacher who will point out when you fucked up but ultimately just encourages you to do better. Just nice people being nice and professional and, you know, I am very fine with that. 5. Crazy Delicious I get the whole aesthetic is about how do you have these “gods of food” who will judge cooks on each round and the set is decorated like a forest where everything is edible, so it makes sense that the prize would be a golden apple that the gods themselves give to the mortal, the competitors. Aesthetically speaking, it makes sense. But that is all they win. There is no money, there is no deal, there is no contract, nothing. Just this one golden apple that I don’t even know what is made of. Like it could be literally the cheapest thing in the world or made of actual gold, I have no clue. And like, it’s not like I don’t get that some cooks literally just want to compete, test themselves and prove themselves and other what they are capable in front of other cooks they respect. I get that. But the delivering of the golden apple itself is kinda anticlimatic every time. You could have made it really fucking cool with some lighting effect, some confetti flying on the air, something. The first episode I watched I felt like I just missed the ending because I didn’t grasped that it was just over. Like the gods come out, give a speech and give the apple. There is no special music even to indicate “hey, this is a big important thing, pay attention!!” and so I didn’t paid attention. Also, I get that the gods have to use their all white uniforms for each episode because that is their godly outfit, fine. But why the host lady also only had one single dress for the entire season, I really don’t understand that. Did they want me to think that they filmed everything on one day or what. Like come on, have her on all sorts of cute sparkly dresses, why not.   Also, she’s an adorable woman but sometimes she would make these fat jokes at her own expense that looked really awkward and out of place. I get it, she is fat, she is allowed to make those jokes if that is her kind of humour, and maybe this is just my impression, but it does feel like they always fall flat because nobody is shown laughing or even enjoying her input. It could have been editing, it could be the fact I am not that used to british humour or what, but it just feels akward. I do like the concept, though, and all the challenges are fun to watch, especially when people have to reinvent a classic dish and they come out with all kinds of different interpretations that I would die to try. Reading different reviews, it might just be me not being used to british competition shows so don’t take this opinion of mine as anything but that, just some random fuck who watched some shows while doing the dishes and enjoyed them overall. I do recommend all these shows, even if just to have some background noise while doing something else.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

There’s a loophole along the closed U.S.-Canada border. Couples are getting married there. (Washington Post) Nick Smith and Leah Bosello were desperate to see each other. Ever since the border between the United States and Canada closed to nonessential travel in mid-March because of the novel coronavirus, cross-border couples like them were blocked from being together. So the pair found a workaround: They started meeting at a ditch just off 0 Avenue, a heavily patrolled road in British Columbia that divides the two countries. As the weather warmed and shutdowns lifted, a superior reunion spot emerged in mid-May: Peace Arch Park. There, cross-national couples and families could actually embrace—at long last. On June 6, the couple got married there. Other marriages have followed. The park is considered equal parts American and Canadian—a shared territory for citizens of both countries to visit. The southern half is owned by Washington State Parks, while the northern half is owned by British Columbia Provincial Parks. Entryways from both the American and Canadian sides are patrolled, and the park itself is surveilled to ensure no one exits the wrong side. But as long as visitors stay within the 42-acre area, they are permitted to roam freely throughout the grounds. According to the park’s website, it is a space that is “devoted to peace and serenity.”

Reconsidering the Past, One Statue at a Time (NYT) The boiling anger that exploded in the days after George Floyd gasped his final breaths is now fueling a national movement to topple perceived symbols of racism and oppression in the United States, as protests over police brutality against African-Americans expand to include demands for a more honest accounting of American history. Across the country, monuments criticized as symbols of historical oppression have been defaced and brought down at warp speed in recent days. The movement initially set its sights on Confederate symbols and examples of racism against African-Americans, but has since exploded into a broader cultural moment, forcing a reckoning over such issues as European colonization and the oppression of Native Americans. The debate over how to represent the uncomfortable parts of American history has been going on for decades, but the traction for knocking down monuments seen in recent days raises new questions about whether it will result in a fundamental shift in how history is taught to new generations.

Why People Are Still Avoiding the Doctor (It’s Not the Virus) (NYT) While hospitals and doctors across the country say many patients are still shunning their services out of fear of contagion—especially with new cases spiking—Americans who lost their jobs or have a significant drop in income during the pandemic are now citing costs as the overriding reason they do not seek the health care they need. “We are seeing the financial pressure hit,” said Dr. Bijoy Telivala, a cancer specialist in Jacksonville, Fla. “This is a real worry,” he added, explaining that people are weighing putting food on the table against their need for care. “You don’t want a 5-year-old going hungry.” The twin risks in this crisis—potential infection and the cost of medical care—have become daunting realities for the millions of workers who were furloughed, laid off or caught in the economic downturn. It echoes the scenarios that played out after the 2008 recession, when millions of Americans were unemployed and unable to afford even routine visits to the doctor for themselves or their children.

Children are only half as likely to get infected by the coronavirus, study finds (Washington Post) Children and teenagers are only half as likely to get infected with the coronavirus as adults age 20 and older, and they usually don’t develop clinical symptoms of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, according to a study published Tuesday. The findings could influence policymakers who are facing tough decisions about when and how to reopen schools and day-care centers. Distance learning has been challenging for teachers, students and parents, and there is pressure on officials to restart in-person schooling and day care to free up parents who have been juggling work and child care. From the start of the pandemic, it has been known that children are typically spared the worst effects of the disease. They rarely die of it. But they can still get sick and can spread the virus, including to older family members who are more likely to have a severe illness. The reasons for the apparent protective effect of youth are not clearly understood.

The hack of CIA hackers (WSJ) A “woefully lax” security culture within the Central Intelligence Agency’s elite hacking unit that favored building cyber weapons over protecting its own computer systems from intrusion allowed for the 2016 theft of top-secret hacking tools, according to an internal report written by the spy agency disclosed on Tuesday. The hacking tools were published by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks in early 2017, a disclosure totaling more than 8,000 pages. The leak of the so-called Vault 7 documents was widely viewed as one of the most devastating security breaches in the CIA’s history. It included details about the agency’s playbook for hacking smartphones, computer operating systems, messaging applications and internet-connected televisions. The internal audit, published in October 2017 by CIA’s WikiLeaks Task Force, described the theft as the “largest data loss in CIA history.” It said an employee stole anywhere from 180 gigabytes to 34 terabytes of information, a haul roughly equivalent to 11.6 million to 2.2 billion pages in Microsoft Word. The report said it was possible the CIA may have never learned of the theft had the trove not been published by WikiLeaks.

Trump signs police reform executive order that focuses on training (Washington Post) President Trump on Tuesday addressed the issue of police brutality by taking executive action that would provide incentives for police departments to increase training about the use of force and to strengthen a national database to track misconduct. The executive order falls short of the more sweeping policy changes activists have called for following the death of a black man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minneapolis last month. Trump’s executive order comes as the prospects for police reform legislation on Capitol Hill remain unsettled. House Democrats are moving forward with a sweeping package that would ban police chokeholds, make it easier for victims of police violence to sue officers and departments and create a national database of police misconduct, among other measures. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that the House legislation “is going nowhere in the Senate,” blasting the measure as “typical Democratic overreach.” Republicans in the Senate are assembling a package of their own, one that may have some overlap with the Democratic proposal but will likely take a far less aggressive approach.

Scientists made 1 small edit to human embryos. It had a lot of unintended consequences. (The Week) A human embryo editing experiment gone wrong has scientists warning against treading into the field altogether. To understand the role of a single gene in early human development, a team of scientists at the London-based Francis Crick Institute removed it from a set of 18 donated embryos. Even though the embryos were destroyed after just 14 days, that was enough time for the single edit to transform into “major unintended edits,” OneZero reports. The unintended edits exemplify the single biggest concern of gene editing, especially when it involves humans. And to Fyodor Urnov, a gene-editing expert and professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, it sends a clear message: “This is a restraining order for all genome editors to stay the living daylights away from embryo editing.”

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández tests positive for coronavirus (Washington Post) President Juan Orlando Hernández said late Tuesday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus but was suffering only mild symptoms and would continue in his job. He plans to isolate himself but continue running the government, he said in a statement. The president said two of his aides and his wife, Ana García, have also tested positive for the virus.

Suriname president loses (Foreign Policy) Suriname’s electoral authority has now verified that President Desi Bouterse lost in the country’s national elections last month, paving the way for his exit after almost 40 years at the center of Surinamese politics. Bouterse was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in November for ordering the execution of 15 of his political rivals. Until now, presidential immunity had kept him out of prison.

Trouble in Dijon (Times of London) Three Chechen men were shot and injured on the French Riviera in the latest clash between migrants from the Caucasian republic and local drug dealers. The violence has thrown President Macron’s government onto the defensive amid claims that police have done little to defuse tensions between Chechens and French people of north African origin. The shootings followed chaotic scenes in Dijon, Burgundy, as dozens of Chechens with firearms and baseball bats occupied swathes of the city for three nights. When they had left, local youths responded by firing shots into the air, burning cars and attacking journalists. Six people were injured, including a pizza restaurant owner who was shot in the back. As 147 riot police were dispatched to Burgundy on Monday in an attempt to restore peace, a gunfight erupted on a council estate in Nice. Three Chechen men were hospitalized and one was in a critical condition yesterday. France Bleu Alpes Maritimes, a local radio station, said the latest shootings came amid “high tensions” between Chechens on the one hand and north Africans and Cape Verdeans on the other, “against a backdrop of provocations, score-settling and drug dealing.”

Amid Brexit impasse, Germany urges no-deal preparations (Reuters) The German government is urging other EU states to prepare for a no deal Brexit, according an internal document that casts doubt on Britain’s optimism over chances of an early agreement on its future ties with the bloc. Britain left the European Union on Jan. 31 and their relationship is governed by a transition arrangement that keeps previous rules in place while new terms are negotiated. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who confirmed last week that Britain has no intention of extending that transition beyond 2020, wants to strike a free trade deal quickly. But the German government document, dated June 15 and seen by Reuters, shows Berlin expects the negotiations to take longer. “From September, the negotiations enter a hot phase,” it read. “Britain is already escalating threats in Brussels, wants to settle as much as possible in the shortest possible time and hopes to achieve last-minute success in the negotiations.” ��It is therefore important to preserve the unity of the 27, to continue to insist on parallel progress in all areas (overall package) and to make it clear that there will be no agreement at any price,” the document read.

China and India Point Fingers After Deadly Clash (Foreign Policy) A picturesque Himalayan border region between India and China became the site of military conflict on Monday, as tensions that had been building between the nations for the past few months finally led to deadly hand-to-hand clashes. The Indian army initially said three of their soldiers had been killed, but this figure was later revised to 20, after adding that an additional 17 had died from their injuries. Although it’s likely China also suffered casualties, Chinese authorities have yet to release any figures. An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said the clash arose from “an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo.” His Chinese counterpart laid the blame on India for “provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides.” The skirmish comes at a time when Chinese officials are under increasing pressure to be “performatively nationalist,” leading to concerns that this won’t wind down quickly. If cooler heads do not prevail, the mountainous region may prove to be a brake on any quick escalation. “The conditions in the Himalayas themselves severely limit military action; it takes up to two weeks for troops to acclimate to the altitude, logistics and provisioning are extremely limited, and air power is severely restrained.”

Beijing faces new coronavirus outbreak (AFP, Yahoo) Beijing on Tuesday urged its residents to not leave the city and closed schools again as authorities scramble to contain a “severe” new coronavirus outbreak in the city of 21 million people. The coronavirus resurgence—believed to have started in the capital’s sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market—has prompted alarm as China had largely brought its outbreak under control through mass testing and draconian lockdowns. “Anyone leaving Beijing must have a negative reading on a nucleic acid test taken within seven days (prior to departure),” Chen Bei, deputy secretary general of Beijing municipal government, said at a press conference. Residents of “medium- or high-risk” areas of infection are completely banned from leaving. Non-residents and outside vehicles are prohibited from entering communities and villages in medium and high risk areas, Chen said. He added that the higher risk residential areas are “fully enclosed and controlled”—similar to strict local measures imposed in Wuhan at the height of the pandemic. The local education commission announced that all schools, which had mostly reopened, would close again and return to online classes. Universities were told to suspend the return of students. “The epidemic situation in the capital is extremely severe,” Beijing city spokesman Xu Hejian warned at a press conference.

Korean peace process explodes (Foreign Policy) There is private despair among Chinese diplomats following Pyongyang’s explosive provocations this week, including the destruction of the inter-liaison office with South Korea. Pyongyang’s recalcitrance about economic and social reform has long baffled Chinese counterparts, who point to their own economic success as an example of what the country could achieve if it followed in China’s footsteps. “I don’t know what they’re thinking,” one Chinese academic who has had frequent contact with North Korean diplomatic delegations said.

[exploring-caribbean-civiliz-blog]

          The Caribbean is a diverse and complex region and as a result, it has been perceived in many ways by researchers. Geographically it is defined as the islands washed by the Caribbean Sea, often described as the Caribbean basin. However, this definition fails to encompass the intricate historical, social and political factors which have significantly shaped the perception of both Caribbean society and culture throughout the years. The modern-day Caribbean is a “melting pot” of culture due to the various waves of people brought into the region, as well as the land���s natives. This along with the proximity of the islands has led to the creolisation and hybridisation of culture in the region and as a result, the Caribbean is a plural society with varying traditions, religions, foods and festivals. While cultural diversity has been a challenge to unity, the people of the Caribbean all share a similar sense of solidarity, loyalty and belongingness due to the common historical legacy of European colonization, social institutions and regional integration movements. Therefore, in the Caribbean “all ah we is one”.

         Image 1

          To begin, historical factors have hindered the development of a single unified Caribbean identity. History contributed to the development of the race and class divisions found today, stemming from the 17th-century trans-Atlantic slave trade. This was an operation founded entirely on racial discrimination against the African people, leading to the creation of a rigid social stratification system where the population was divided based on the complexion of their skin, where those with lighter skin tones were favoured over those with darker ones. Consequently, the pigmentocracy was formed where the white planter class was perceived as the highest class in society while the enslaved Africans were the lower class (Giovannetti). Racial tension expanded with the introduction of indentureship. Here the East Indians were introduced and due to the stark differences between slavery and indentureship, the East Indians and the Africans failed integrate as one in society, instead identifying with their own race. For example, in Guyana and Trinidad where the majority of the population consists of Africans and East Indians, there were many political clashes between the races which resulted in ethnocentrism and even ethnic cleansing as one race attempted to suppress the other. Also, the East Indians who were familiar with living in poverty, were willing to work for small wages in poor working conditions and this prevented the Africans from making wage demands, increasing the alienation of the races. In addition to racism, colourism persists in the modern day as a remnant of plantation society, resulting in class divisions. Therefore, even in the years following the abolition of slavery, the history of the Caribbean has hampered regional unity and the development of one single Caribbean identity.

         However, while Caribbean society is negatively affected by the history of the region, it has also promoted unification. Firstly, all the Caribbean territories share a similar historical legacy of European colonization including genocide, slavery and indentureship and this past, though unpleasant, acts as a foundational link. The history of the Caribbean has also created links based on the colonizers themselves, such as the unity found in the islands previously ruled by the British, known as the Commonwealth Caribbean. These islands are also known as the anglophone, as they all share the common language of English and this has greatly fostered communication and cooperation amongst them. Another historical similarity amongst the islands were the colonial policies which universally focused on the control and cultural transformation of the different territories through conquest, settlement, the plantation system and colonial laws. This resulted in the islands today all inheriting common norms and values stemming from plantation society, such as the preference for foreign goods, the social stratification system and the pigmentocracy. Also, the people of the Caribbean, with the exception of the Amerindians, share the connection of all being transplanted into the region, arriving initially as a labour supply. While there is a great variety of transplanted Africans, Indians, Chinese, Portuguese, Madeirans and Javanese, almost 75% of the Caribbean population is of African descent, therefore the majority of the Caribbean share a bond based on ethnic ties alone (Mohammed). Thus, while history has created divisions in Caribbean society due to race and colour, the effects of the past have also fostered the creation and growth of a single identity based on the similarities shared amongst the islands and the people themselves.

          Image 2

          Additionally, social institutions have obstructed the formation of a unified identity in the Caribbean. The diversity of the region has led it to be called a plural society, a term coined by M.G Smith, where there exists a variety cultures which interact but do not combine and all maintain their distinct characteristics (Thompson). In a plural society their exists the social institutions of family, education and religion in each group which have contributed to the isolation of the cultures in the Caribbean. For instance, family structures in the Caribbean are often divided based on culture, as the typical African household is matriarchal, and the Indian household is patriarchal. Not only are they distinct from each other but ethnic prejudices may be perpetuated through socialization, and the differences may seem so profound that myths and misconceptions of other races are interpreted as fact. As a result, a ‘them versus us’ syndrome can develop, as ‘no one can really understand a culture if she or he does not belong to it’ (Mohammed). Furthermore, religion has separated the cultures as communities like Hindus, Muslims and Christians each have a unique place of worship. This is further perpetuated through education due to the history of denominational schools in the Caribbean, where at a young age the population is isolated based on cultural differences. This practice has facilitated instances of religious discrimination up to today, where in many schools the Muslim practise of wearing hijabs and the Rastafarian “dreadlocks” hairstyle are prohibited or discouraged (Antione). Thus, the fragile nature of plural societies teaches us that the possibility of ethnic conflict is an ever-present reality. Therefore, the social institutions which make-up the Caribbean has been a pervading obstacle to the creation of one Caribbean identity.

             However, social institutions in the Caribbean have also facilitated the development of a united identity. Society is not static, and the plural society model does not reflect the level of creolisation and hybridisation which has taken place due to the interactions of people in the Caribbean. This has led to the formation of a new, unique Caribbean identity and encouraged unity between the different groups. Racial hybridisation, known as miscegenation, has contributed to the wide variety of mixed-race people such as mulattoes, mestizos, and douglas which makes up a large portion of the islands’ populations and grow ever larger while cultural hybridisation has influenced Caribbean identity in the form of religion, language, culinary arts and music (Jones). Due to the history of the Caribbean, new family types have emerged such as common-law unions, based on the similarities in circumstance between the various groups. Furthermore, with the advancements in education, racial and cultural discrimination are being reduced as the public is taught the importance of tolerance of different beliefs. By looking at the various religions found in the region, syncretism is prevalent such as in orisha and santeria where both the African and Christian elements are present, manifesting in the form of recognition of the holy spirit and the use of drums as a form of worship. Another example can be seen in from the hybrid forms of languages which have emerged over the years, for instance, patois which was produced from a mixture of African and French dialect. As these cultures combine through acceptance and tolerance of diversity it proves the notion “all ah we is one” as we all experience creolized culture. Therefore, while cultural diversity amongst the islands may have created boundaries and polarization, it has also led to the creation of an entirely new culture, which can be recognized as distinctly and purely, Caribbean.

          Image 3

          Furthermore, the political structures found in the Caribbean are diverse and have caused disunity throughout the region. These systems emerged due to the islands’ colonial history, where they reflect the legal structure of the varying powers during colonialism at the time. This has influenced the political and legal systems today, with most of the Caribbean following democracy. This system, due to its prevalence and high regard, has fostered insularity and resentment towards islands which differ from this norm such as Cuba which follows a communist regime. There are also several variations of legal systems found throughout the region such as Haiti which follows a civil law approach, St. Lucia which has a hybrid system, Guyana which has a socialist system and common law which is followed by most of the islands (Antoine). The lack of a unanimous court of appeal has also limited legal cohesion between territories, with most islands utilizing the privy council as the final court of appeal and others the Caribbean Court of Justice. To break down these deep-rooted political barriers, there have been several integration movements, however many of these attempts have been unsuccessful and created deeper isolation. One of the first major attempts was the West Indian Federation of 1958, which failed due to insularity, distrust of the larger islands, jealousy and political rivalry. It met its ultimate end when Jamaica, who shouldered 43% of the financial responsibility decided to leave, leading to Eric William’s famous response “One from ten leaves zero” (Mohammed). Thus, these political differences have historically led to disharmony amongst the islands.

          However, there have been several attempts to remove the barriers which prevent the Caribbean from forming a unified identity. In the movements towards independence, the Caribbean began to develop a distinct identity from that of the mother countries. This began through political enfranchisement, which granted Caribbean people the right to vote. This was achieved through the labour riots of the 1930s, stemming from the trade union movements which advocated for the working-class population and encouraged togetherness as there is “power in numbers” (Padmore). Here the people of the Caribbean made a stand for their universal desire for adult suffrage, and the success of this rebellion had a ripple effect throughout the region, displaying the great strength to be found in unity and cooperation. This is what paved the way for the creation of the West Indian Federation and though it failed, soon after Jamaica and Trinidad achieved independence (1962) and by the end of the 1960s very few islands remained dependent, allowing them to further develop a unique Caribbean identity. Moreover, with globalization increasing, organizations such as CARIFTA and CARICOM have been active in removing trade barriers between the territories and establishing a common market in the Caribbean. Further attempts toward integration include the OECS, which unified its members through the creation of the Eastern Caribbean Dollar (Thompson). Thus, through these efforts it is clear that the Caribbean has made significant progress towards the unification of the region, fostering the mentality that “all ah we is one”.

          Image 4

          In conclusion, the Caribbean has been difficult to define due to its intricate history of diverse colonial influences such as the Spanish, British, French and Dutch. However, over the years the Caribbean has made great strides towards forming a unique identity which fosters harmony and a sense of belongingness throughout the region. This has manifested in the form of historical influences since the end of slavery to modern-day, social institutions which have shaped the minds of the people and political movements which have fostered regional integration. While each of these factors has had challenges and limitations such as insularity, the barriers between the nations have been breaking down as many see the benefits of tolerance and cooperation. This indicates the great role each factor has played towards the common goal of unification and without them, the Caribbean would not possess the distinct identity and culture found today. Therefore, despite all differences found in Caribbean society, comfort and solidarity can be found in the sentiment “all ah we is one”.

Photos

Image 1

https://adventugo.com/how-to-survive-a-caribbean-market-caribbean-shopping/

Image 2

http://deltaskymag.com/Destinations/Jamaica/Destination-Posts/An-Island-Apart.aspx

Image 3

https://www.kimkim.com/c/best-of-cartagena-5-day-itinerary

Image 4

https://www.deviantart.com/shawnbrown/art/Caribbean-Nautical-Chart-5634462

[writings-of-a-hufflepuff]

Requested by @lycanqueen​: 100% if you have the time and access to articles and academic books on the topic of interracial relationships such as Lucy Bland’s White Women and Men of Colour: Miscegenation Fears in Britain after the Great War then do because while its upsetting and angering its also informative and interesting stuff. We can see how those ideas and fears tie into modern day issues with interracial relationships as well!  Also interracial relationship fears, do not just tell us about racism but also about gender relations. It was typically more acceptable especially in the 1800s for white men to have relationships with non-white women than for white women to have relationship with non-white men. We see how race ties into supposed lack of self-control for non-white men and a whole number of issues and some of the things are so strikingly similar to today that its helpful to be aware of them.

Interracial relationships, race relations, and gender relations are something i’ve covered repeatedly during my degree and it really is interesting to see especially when you considered in WW1 that French white women were more than happy marrying say a North African soldier because they treated them infinitely better than French white men. Also there’s a lot of stuff on French Indochina or what we’d call Vietnam and interracial relationships and children from those relationships and their social status etc. 

Relevant to this while there would definitely have been a stigma in Britain at this sort of thing, not just because of race, but also because of open and active displays of affection, it wouldn’t probably have gotten more than disapproval. Seeing as segregation was not apart of the British system at this point, although American GIs in Britain would have had a different reaction more than likely. Due to racial tensions with Americans still having Jim Crow laws and a segregated Army. 

[canchewread]

Editor’s note: I’m still feeling pretty under the weather and struggling to get my nose to the grindstone and force myself to write, so today I picked a quote that stands on its own, without needing a whole lot of context.

Today’s quotation comes from Assata Shakur’s highly-readable “Assata: An Autobiography.” While as a general rule, I’m not typically a big fan of autobiographies, in light of the now 40 some odd year US federal law enforcement campaign to portray Shakur as a murderous terrorist, I decided to make an exception when I purchased “Assata.” If nothing else, I figured it would be useful to have around as a legal record of US state abuses toward liberation activists - I knew the US government had lied about Shakur’s “crimes” and I wanted to know more about precisely what was true and what was false. It’s certainly fair to say my expectations were modest, in light of my general disinterest in the autobiographical format.

When I started reading the book however, I was both surprised and delighted by Shakur’s work; brimming with personal observations, breathtaking poetry and that rarest of treats, dialogue that rings true like an exact memory (as opposed to dramatization) - “Assata: an Autobiography” remains one of my most cherished books to this day.

So what about the US government’s charges? As it turns out, pretty much everything was false; to quote a 2014 Guardian profile about the longstanding and ongoing plot to convict Shakur:

“From 1971 to 1973, Shakur was alleged to have committed a series of audacious crimes (six cases in total), sometimes alongside other members of the BLA: two bank robberies in New York, the kidnap and murder of a drug dealer, armed robbery (during which she was shot), and the attempted murder of policemen in an ambush. She was either acquitted or the cases dismissed. Then came the events of 2 May 1973, in which Trooper Foerster and Zayd Malik Shakur were killed...

In January 1977, after years of incarceration, the case was brought before a judge and jury in New Jersey. There is much evidence to suggest the trial was not fair: transcripts of the jury selection show at least two of the jurors expressed prejudice before the start of the trial. There was evidence that the offices of the defence team were being bugged, and materials relating to her case that went missing from the home of her late lawyer Stanley Cohen were later found with the New York City police. Hinds called the trial "a legal lynching and a kangaroo court". The defence could not get an expert witness to testify. As Shakur noted: "It was obvious I didn't have one chance in a million of receiving any kind of justice." She testified holding on to a photo of her daughter (conceived with fellow BLA member Kamau Sadiki while they were both in jail, and born in 1974). The jury reached a verdict after 24 hours – she was found guilty on all seven counts.”

While there are many (including US law enforcement) who choose to ignore the staggering amount of evidence (from COINTELPRO to FBI forensics and police ballistics reports) proving definitively that Shakur was framed, the totality of evidence makes it clear that Assata is innocent.

All of which brings us back to the above quotation and Shakur’s (justifiably) dim view of the constantly-shifting chimera that is American liberalism. Sharp-eyed readers will immediately notice that Shakur’s criticism (published in 1987) strongly echoes the thoughts of radical, left wing Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in his now-famous rebuke of the “white moderate” in 1960′s America:

“...I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

While Dr. King’s admonishment (naturally) focused on racial injustice, and Shakur’s critique implied a broader view that integrated economic questions, it’s important to understand that both of these (highly interrelated) discussions tackle a lack of solidarity with marginalized peoples among liberals (moderates, as opposed to the radical left) whose focus on maintaining the status quo is rooted in self interest. 

While the ideological chasm between mainstream liberals and the American left (such as it is) will come as no surprise to most of the people reading this, the objective truth is that this gap is not acknowledged in mainstream media and political discourse. This is naturally because the elite “liberal” establishment in the west has a vested interest in portraying politics and policies to their left as extreme, hopelessly idealistic or in some cases, reactionary (see “horseshoe theory” or the ongoing smear campaign in the “liberal” media to imply that leftists dissidents are somehow “the same” as fascists.)

This phenomenon, when combined together with the staggering success  enjoyed by conservative think tanks and billionaire Republican donors in their never-ending quest to shift the US political Overton window to the right, helps explain why there really is no “left wing” political party in America’s two-party system - just as it helps explain why the increasingly unhinged US “conservative movement” could describe a milquetoast, center-right imperialist like former US President Barack Obama as a socialist, or even in some extreme cases, as a communist.    

Furthermore, while Shakur is obviously discussing American liberalism, this same “center-right” political ideology that self identifies as “liberal” can be found in dominant or at least influential factions in Canadian, British, French and German politics as well.

Perhaps this is because western liberalism is largely a child of the vaunted Enlightenment and in many ways represented a civil rights movement for the petite-bourgeois against the upper classes in Europe: the bourgeois, the aristocracy and ultimately, the crown. Having obtained the right to their own portion of the national franchise, liberalism in the west has since that time shifted towards a conservative philosophy designed to protect the gains of the affluent petite-bourgeois from the demands of the true proletariat. This would then in turn explain why despite its portrayal as a pro-middle class ideology, liberalism has always struggled to maintain the support of western labor - as the working class (of all races, genders and creeds) has always tended to be both more radical and more unabashedly left wing than the merchant or professional class that forms the backbone of liberal support in western democracies.

- nina illingworth   

[xtruss]

Analysis

The West Must Stay Out of Ukraine! It's Time For NATO (North Atlantic Terrorist Organization) to Disband

“Those Who Are Arguing to Bring Ukraine Into NATO Are Arguing for Its Destruction”

— By Marshall Auerback | UnHerd.Com

Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, Nato’s first Secretary General, famously said that the organisation was created to “keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”. Given the demise of the Soviet Union, and the reunification of Germany, Nato has long outlived this raison d’etre. Even committed Atlanticists, such as Senator Richard Lugar, concluded as early as 1993 that Nato must go “out of area or out of business”.

But rather than go out of business, Nato has ramped up its operations. And as a result, what was once a major contributor to global security has increasingly become an instrument of global instability.

Nato’s mission creep started almost immediately in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union with its decision to expand into the newly configured Russian Federation’s borders in the early Nineties. This was followed by repeated bombing campaigns in the former Federation of Yugoslavia (a Russian ally), and the 2011 military intervention in Libya. It is worth noting that, with Libya, Putin’s stance was not one of unremitting hostility to the West. Russia did not exercise its UN Security Council veto, despite opposing the bombing. Moscow also initially supported the United States’ War on Terror, going as far as providing logistic support for the US forces in Afghanistan.

Yet Nato’s activities have become increasingly adversarial. Largely through Washington’s control, Nato has heightened tensions on Russia’s doorstep in Ukraine, a slowly percolating war threat that could well lead to destruction of Nato itself in the process.

To read Western commentary, one would be led to believe that the root cause of today’s current tension in Ukraine comes from Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Ominously, there appears to be a mounting bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill on how we must defend Ukraine, rather than tamping down the inexorable march to war. As one would expect from the New York Times and Washington Post, the prevailing consensus is that only the political, economic, and military strength of the United States can facilitate a diplomatic solution to a crisis engineered by an increasingly corrupt and autocratic Putin regime.

But as is so typical of most American commentary on Russia, the charges against Moscow lack historic context and continue to mix up cause and effect. As the Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently indicated to Russia’s TV Channel One in advance of last week’s video meeting between Presidents Putin and Biden: “The Augean stables in our bilateral relations can hardly be cleaned out over several hours of negotiations”.

The reference to the labours of Hercules should not be dismissed as Moscow’s fanciful indulgence in Greek mythology. Rather, it reflects legitimate longstanding Russian grievances pertaining to Nato’s broken promises about not expanding eastwardly. These assertions have been vigorously contested by various American government officials, who firmly denied that the topic of extending Nato membership to former Warsaw Pact countries was raised during the negotiations with Moscow on German reunification, much less that the United States made a “pledge” not to pursue eastward expansion.

Declassified US, Soviet, German, British and French documents from the national security archives, however, provide conclusive evidence of breached promises made to President Mikhail Gorbachev by President George H. W. Bush, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, President Francois Mitterrand, Chancellor Helmut Kohl and their foreign ministers in 1990: not to expand NATO eastward, and not to extend membership in the Nato alliance to former member states of the Warsaw Pact. As Professor Melvin Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University, recently argued, absent these pledges, the reunification of Germany could well have marked a dangerous new escalation of the Cold War between the West and Moscow, rather than bringing about its cessation.

The end of the Cold War could well have ushered in a new partnership between Washington, the EU and Moscow. Instead, the expansion of activities into areas where the West has had no compelling strategic interest has brought forth renewed conflict. Of particular note was the mooted promise to extend Nato membership to Ukraine in 2013, along with the European Union’s offer of a formal economic association to then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych hesitated to sign when he saw that the exorbitant terms resembled less a partnership, more an attempt at economic colonisation. In the wake of Yanukovych’s prevarication, protests erupted in Kyiv, centered on Maidan Square, which in turn led to the overthrow of the Ukraine government. The Ukrainian president was then replaced by a pro-Western coalition government made up of his political opponents.

Supporters of the uprising argue that the protests, and the corresponding offer of associate membership in the EU, offered a way out of the corruption and kleptocracy allegedly brought about by the Yanukovych administration. Of course, this version of events conveniently ignores the role played by US government officials in shaping the ultimate outcome, as well as ignoring the fact that Viktor Yanukovych himself had become Ukraine’s democratically elected president in response to the corruption of previous administrations (even if he did little himself to alleviate the same problem, sadly a longstanding feature of post-independence Ukrainian politics). In any event, what has since been termed the “Maidan coup” almost certainly induced Putin to annex Crimea, which in turn has led to today’s low intensity civil war between Russian and Ukrainian nationalists, backed by Moscow and Washington respectively.

The Western media has rendered judgment: their accounts warn that Putin is laying the groundwork for an imminent Russian military invasion. The tabloid-like reporting of the Sunday Times confidently asserts that Putin’s ultimate goal is no less than the reclamation of the old Soviet empire, conveniently ignoring Nato’s ongoing attempts to expand its own force projection to Russia’s borders. Meanwhile in the US press, there has been much approving commentary for the Biden administration’s tough talk with Moscow last Tuesday, even from his traditional media opponents.

In response, Putin has demanded explicit guarantees that Nato will not continue to expand further eastward or put missiles in Ukraine that could target Russia. The Western press seems shocked that Moscow isn’t simply passively accepting what it perceives to be existential threats to its own national security. Given the conflicting claims surrounding previous Nato pledges, Putin understandably wishes to avoid any future ambiguity regarding the West’s future intentions toward Russia and the Ukraine, which seems like a reasonable means of de-escalating the conflict, as well as addressing Moscow’s legitimate security concerns.

The counterargument to Putin’s demand is that a genuinely sovereign and independent Ukraine should be able to establish its own defence and national security arrangements; in any case, goes the argument, responding in the affirmative to such a request in the face of a major troop build-up on Ukraine’s borders would be tantamount to acquiescing to extortion, thereby encouraging further aggression on the part of Moscow.

But these arguments are somewhat undermined by the actions of the Biden Administration, which has reportedly told the Ukrainian government that a Nato membership is unlikely to be approved within the next decade. This concession implicitly concedes legitimacy to Putin’s demands, but does beget the question: why restrict the pledge to ten years, given that this encroachment represents an ongoing existential threat to Russia? Do we seriously believe that Washington would have accepted a time-limited constraint by Moscow on putting offensive missiles in Cuba to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962?

Looming over all these considerations stands one crucial fact: that Nato is a collective defence pact, and membership carries with it reciprocal obligations that go well beyond the aspirations of the Ukrainian government. Being drawn into a Russo-Ukrainian conflict has implications for all Nato members. This is not merely a decision for Kyiv to make on its own.

Article 5 of Nato’s founding treaty states that an attack against one ally is considered as an attack against all its members. Is the US (or Nato’s European members) seriously prepared to risk thousands of lives to defend Ukraine as a newly enshrined member of this club? If the answer is no, then why perpetuate this unnecessarily provocative situation with Moscow?

It is also worth noting that Ukraine is far more profoundly divided than any of its Nato counterparts. It has a substantial Russian population, especially in the east, many of whom wish to retain close ties to Russia. Accession to Nato, therefore, could well create the conditions for civil war, as the recent conflict in the Donetsk Region of eastern Ukraine has illustrated.

And then there’s the problem of Crimea. According to every Nato member, as well as the current government of Ukraine, Crimea is still part of Ukraine. Therefore, if Ukraine joins Nato, one of three possibilities must follow: Nato goes to war with Russia over Crimea; or Nato recognises the Russian annexation of Crimea; or Article 5 is a dead letter.

Which will it be? No other alternatives exist. Given that an activation of all-out warfare versus Russia would certainly create the conditions for World War Three (featuring several nuclear armed powers), it is most probably that Article 5 would not be invoked. In which case, Nato as a collective defence treaty would be dead. In effect, those who are arguing to bring Ukraine into Nato are arguing for its destruction.

Senator Lugar’s old observation about Nato has never seemed so prescient. For Nato to remain true to its goal of promoting peace and international security, it is time to put it out of business once and for all.

— Marshall Auerback is a market commentator and a research associate for the Levy Institute at Bard College.

[giancarlonicoli]

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Salo News Day

Regular readers will know I am a cynic. Try writing a Daily for over two decades and not be – and events over the last 24 hours underline that fact. Indeed, you could call it a “Salo News Day” in reference to the controversial Italian film “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom”, a loose adaptation of the 1785 novel by the Marquis de Sade. As Wikipedia puts it: “The film explores themes of political corruption, consumerism, authoritarianism, nihilism, morality, capitalism, totalitarianism, sadism, sexuality, and fascism.” In other words, a typical day at work in the markets of 2021.

After all, the Wall Street Journal reports “World Bank Cancels Flagship ‘Doing Business’ Report After Investigation”, frustrating to economists who rely on it. The rub is: “Chinese officials in 2018 were eager to see their ranking improve, and so Mr. Kim and Ms. Georgieva and their staff held a series of meetings to discuss ways that the report’s methodology could be altered to improve China’s rankings.” So untrustworthy World Bank data – and no consequences; a World Bank boss with a stained reputation – and no consequences; and an IMF boss with a stained reputation – and no consequences. That makes it two in a row for the IMF, with the previous one now running the ECB.

At the Fed, “Powell orders ethics review after Fed presidents disclosed multimillion-dollar investments”. Somehow this ethical violation on the part of the people running the global financial system passed them by until now. Yet is this really rare? How about if a rate-setter at a central bank told you over lunch about the land their company was snapping up for development? That happens - just not at the Fed. (As far as I know.)

One can openly trade stocks based on legislation one writes if a member of Congress: House speaker Pelosi is just one example of many. How about the swirls of corruption around the Trump administration, or Hunter Biden’s “Mr 10%” emails subject to an FBI investigation? A grand jury just indicted Michael Sussmann, the lawyer accused of making false statements during the 2016 presidential campaign to slander then-candidate Trump; and as Glenn Greenwald notes, this key story was then sugar-coated at the New York Times by the journalist whose ‘Russiagate’ book Sussmann helped to sell. Moreover, this is hardly just an American problem. What about the scandals around the revolving door, and wallpaper, of the British BoJo administration, former French president Sarkozy, or former German chancellors working for Russia? And have you ever been to an emerging market?

Even in terms of the most existential issues, the same selfishness prevails. We are seeing a flood of money into ESG funds, but Morningstar data published in February shows 256 funds repurposed or rebranded as sustainable in 2020, up from 179 the year before. In Q1 2021, it was 127. Morningstar states: “Transforming existing funds into sustainable strategies is a way for asset managers to leverage existing assets to build their sustainable-funds business, thereby avoiding having to create funds from scratch.” Repurposed funds typically just add terms such as ‘sustainable’, ‘ESG’, ‘green’, or ‘SRI’ to their names. Yet 40-years of the same neoliberalism, then a burst of idealism and Covid-19, have also seen energy prices exploding towards recessionary levels, matched by worries over food prices. The energy spike is likely to force the dirtiest of fuels to be used again, and the economic domino effects are just starting to be felt in an already-unhappy populace as we move towards winter (and more lockdowns?). Keep your fingers crossed for mild weather and Russian generosity on EU gas supply. Maybe Mr Schroeder can put in a good word?

Overall, we may need to coin a new markets term. “Immoral hazard”. Indeed, if 40 years of neoliberalism has rotted everything away, how exactly is liberal democracy not to fail, as some fear? The ancient Greeks, no longer taught in the West, argued government moves in cycles: aristocracy > timocracy > oligarchy > democracy > tyranny (Plato); monarchy > anarchy (Aristotle); democracy > aristocracy > monarchy, and their degenerate forms of ochlocracy > oligarchy > tyranny (Polybius), which seems to fit better.

Of course, that’s why we now have ‘Build Back Better’. However, it needs to get a move on - winter is coming. Years ago, I posited it would be far easier to sell ‘Build Bombs Better’ (i.e., national-security mercantilism) than social welfare. That fits the bill given AUKUS and military-industrial policy is now in play. Which has upsides and downsides. More jobs: but China now says Australia will be targeted in a nuclear war even if it does not have nukes. This morning, both the US and Australia underlined their commitment to strengthen ties with Taiwan, raising tensions further.

AUKUS also eclipsed yesterday’s launch of the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which appears to revolve around trade deals as if we are back in 1995 or 2005. Relatedly, I pronounce AUKUS as “Orcs”, as in Lord of the Rings. Some might see this as a contrast to the perceived ‘Elves’ in Europe. Unfortunately, it is more a case of ‘Hobbits’, the French Bagginses aside. Notably, if not by German leadership, the EU parliament yesterday adopted by a 570-61 vote a new position paper on China, concluding: “We must not be naive when dealing with China. Whilst China is an important trading partner, it is also a systemic rival that poses a challenge to our way of life and the liberal world order. Economic gains should not make us blind to the Chinese Communist Party's ambitious political agenda…”  

China also reacted to the ‘Orcs’ by officially applying to join CPTPP, the trade pact Australia is in: on the same day their press talked about nuking it. There are various takes on this latest move in our Great Game, but here is one more to note. The NAFTA 2.0 deal the US struck with Canada and Mexico gives the US veto rights over either country’s entry into a trade deal with a non-market economy: guess what China is in US eyes? Guess which trade pact Canada and Mexico are members of? And guess who therefore gets veto on Chinese entry into it?

Meanwhile, China, which still teaches the ancient Greeks in ancient Greek, and is very aware of the cycles of government, faces up to, as Bloomberg puts it, the “Nightmare Scenario” of an “Uncontrolled Crash” at Evergrande. The property behemoth is now to hold an auction 30 September to raise funds for investors who bought its wealth management products (paying 13%!), effectively offering cheap apartments in lieu of cash. Yet this is exactly the kind of forced margin-sales that can drag down prices in the whole property market. Things clearly can’t carry on like this; and a crash surely cannot be allowed to happen; and yet a Western-style ‘rich-first’ bailout looks incompatible with Common Prosperity. Build Back, yes - but how, exactly?

In more traditional market terms we also have the traditional looming US debt-ceiling Kabuki; triple-witching of US equity options today; and a backdrop of slightly higher US Treasury yields and a stronger USD due to a US retail sales beat helped by a downwards revision to the previous month’s data.

Now go enjoy another Salo news day. Happy Friday.