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iwanthermidnightz · 1 year ago

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When I was 24 I sat in a backstage dressing room in London, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle.Scissors emerged and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does. But I had a secret. For me. It was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24. I decided to completely reinvent myself.

How does a person reinvent herself, you ask? In any way I could think of. Musically, geographically, aesthetically, behaviorally, motivationally. And I did so joyfully. The curiosity I had felt the first murmurs of while making red had amplified into a pulsing heartbeat of restlessness in my bars. The risks I took when I toyed with pop sounds and sensibilities on red? I wanted to push it further. The sense of freedom I felt when traveling to big bustling cities? I wanted to live in one. The voices that had begun to shame me in new ways for dating like a normal young woman? I wanted to silence them.

You see, in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut shaming, the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. The media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth. And my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that, right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in New York and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had Max Martin and Shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. I had a new friend named Jack Antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called 1989. And we would reference big 80's synths and write sky high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith and I ran right toward it, in high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by right kind of naïveté, a hunger for adventure. And a sense of freedom I hadn't tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naïveté, hunger for adventure and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course everyone had something to say. But they always will. I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried to… don't say it don't say it. I'm sorry, I have to say it. Shake it off.

I’ll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zig zag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in "blank space" and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in "Welcome to New York". You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

I was born in 1989. Reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the magic you would sprinkle on my life for so long. This moment is a reflection of the woods we've wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of 1989.

It’s been waiting for you.

#taylor swift #1989 taylor's version #1989 tv #1989 tv prologue

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the-forgotten-lily · 1 year ago

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Why do I have a feeling that this was meant for the fans, all the people who supported her during that time, herself AND for Harry?!

The text:-

Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s version) full prologue on the album booklet:

When I was 24 I sat in a backstage dressing room in london, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle. Scissors emerged and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does.

But I had a secret. For me. It was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24. I decided to completely reinvent myself.

You see-in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut shaming -the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. The media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth. And my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that-right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in new york and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had max martin and shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. had a new friend named jack antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called 1989. And we would reference big 80's synths and write sky high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith and I ran right toward it, in high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by right kind of naiveté, a hunger for adventure. And a sense of freedom I hadn't tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naivete, hunger for adventure and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course everyone had something to say. But they always will.

I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried to...don't say it don't say it. I'm sorry, I have to say it. Shake it off.

I'll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zig zag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in "blank space" and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in "welcome to new york". You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

I was born in 1989. Reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of 1989.

It's been waiting for you.

#taylor swift #harry styles #1989 (taylor's version)#1989 vibes #haylor #i love their dynamic #fandom #swifties assemble

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itmightrain · 1 year ago

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1989 tv Typed Prologue

When I was 24 I sat in a backstage dressing room in London, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle. Scissors emerged and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does. But I had a secret. For me, it was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24, I decided to completely reinvent myself.

How does a person reinvent herself, you ask? In any way I could think of. Musically, geographically, aesthetically, behaviorally, motivationally ... and I did so joyfully. The curiosity I had felt the first murmurs of while making “Red” had amplified into a pulsing heartbeat of restlessness in my ears. The risks I took when I toyed with pop sounds and sensibilities on “Red”? I wanted to push it further. The sense of freedom I felt when traveling to big bustling cities? I wanted to live in one. The voices that had begun to shame me in new ways for dating like a normal young woman? I wanted to silence them.

You see — in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut shaming — the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. The media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian Era.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that — right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in New York and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had Max Martin and Shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. I had a new friend named Jack Antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called "1989," and we would reference big 80's synths and write sky high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith and I ran right toward it. In high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn’t know then, and looking back I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by right kind of naïveté, a hunger for adventure, and a sense of freedom I hadn’t tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naïveté, hunger for adventure and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course everyone had something to say. But they always will. I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried to ... don’t say it ... don’t say it ... I’m sorry, I have to say it ... shake it off.

I’ll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zig zag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in “Blank Space” and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in “Welcome to New York.” You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

I was born in 1989, reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the magic you would sprinkle on my life for so long.

This moment is a reflection of the woods we’ve wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of “1989.”

It’s been waiting for you.

#taylor swift #1989 #1989 taylor's version #1989 tv #1989 prologue #gaylor #<- i hope you hear and believe her even tho i know conspiracy theorists cant be easily reached

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genuinehues · 1 year ago

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Prologue - 1989 Taylor's Version

"When I was 24, I sat in a backstage dressing room in London, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle, scissors emerged, and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button-down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does. But I had a secret. For me, it was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24, I decided to completely reinvent myself.

How does a person reinvent herself, you ask? In any way I could think of. Musically, geographically, aesthetically, behaviorally, motivationally. And I did so joyfully. The curiosity I had felt the first murmurs of while making Red had amplified into a pulsing heartbeat of restlessness in my ears. The risks I took when I toyed with pop sounds and sensibilities on Red? I wanted to push it further. The sense of freedom I felt when traveling to big bustling cities? I wanted to live in one. The voices that had begun to shame me in new ways for dating like a normal young woman? I wanted to silence them.

You see, in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut-shaming—the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends, the trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy-crazy psychopath, the media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

It became clear to me that for me, there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so, I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that, right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in New York, and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had Max Martin and Shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. I had a new friend named Jack Antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called 1989, and we would reference big '80s synths and write sky-high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith, and I ran right toward it, in high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back, I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by the right kind of naiveté, a hunger for adventure, and a sense of freedom I hadn't tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naiveté, hunger for adventure, and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course, everyone had something to say, but they always will. I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried not to say it, don't say it... I'm sorry. I have to say it. Shake it off.

I'll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zigzag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in "Blank Space" and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in "Welcome to New York." You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical bot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

This moment is a reflection of the woods we've wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of 1989.

It's been waiting for you."

— Taylor

#1989 taylor's version

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fuckyeahgoodomens · 5 years ago

Link

Claire Anderson (Costume Designer)

Did you relish the experience of working on Good Omens?

Definitely. It covers so many different eras and so many historic places. There is such a wide area to draw on. It’s been a fantastic drama to work on. It’s been a joyous journey of exploration.

What has been like working with Neil and Douglas?

It’s been great. Neil and Douglas are so collaborative. If I was ever anxious about a look, I asked Neil and Douglas and we’d have a forum. Every time we came up with a solution; one of us would say: “Oh, I know, let’s do it this way”. It was exciting every step of the way.

Was there one sequence in particular that you enjoyed working on?

It’s always terrific collaborating with the production designer to make it all work, and we had great fun doing heaven. It was a big glass, open space occupied by an army of angels. They needed to look angelic, but also military. So I found a soft plaid that worked very well and gave them an air of serenity.

Did you work very closely with Michael and David?

Yes. They were both involved in creating their looks. When you put something very distinctive on them, that helps them find the character. They are more interested in getting the look exactly right, rather than being vain. We had mood boards - light for good, dark for evil. Michael’s costume is ethereal. He wanted something timeless that wouldn’t look out of place now or in Victorian England. He found a way of contemporising his Victorian look. We were able to use aspects of his costume all the way through.

We gave him a tartan bowtie, but all tartans are owned, so we had to design our own specifically, incorporating golden thread and heavenly aspects. He also wears a Victorian waistcoat that is almost bald. We dyed things a lot to get the pale blue on his shirt that would give him serenity and warmth. He wears soft suede shoes and soft light cashmere trousers. It’s about balancing colours with his very white hair to give him the right look. He needs an ethereal aura, and all of the colour palette needs to emphasise his heavenly glow. He’s deliciously cherubic.

How did you go about creating David’s look?

It really started with his 1940s look. The tailoring is very crisp and aligned. It’s hard and sharp. Under the colour of every suit, we put red felt which was like the belly of a snake. Underneath that loucheness, David is slightly rock-starry and Keith Richards-esque. His black leather gloves have a tiny red line to emphasise his snake-like characteristics. We also found a 1980s jacket that had a quilted quality. We worked on it until it had a textured feel to it, like snakeskin. It’s all about semiotics.

Do you have a favourite outfit on Good Omens?

I love Madame Tracy’s. We were allowed to be really off the wall. I would think: “I’ve gone too far now,” but I never had. I loved teaming her orange Welsh tartan cape with sumptuous pink leather gloves. Her look is exotic and intriguing.

What do you hope that viewers will take from your costumes?

I hope the costumes feed people’s imaginations and give the story another layer. At their best, costumes always help tell the story, and I hope that’s what we’ve done here.

Very enjoyed this part :)):

#good omens #claire anderson #costumes #interview #aziraphale #crowley #bts #aziraphale is deliciously cherubic

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purplesurveys · 4 years ago

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1013

surveys by -thoughtlessdork

Have you ever had the chicken pox? No. I’m constantly in a place of waiting for it to pass by, because everyone tells me all people are bound to have it at one point in their lives (idk how true that is, though). I am also told it gets a lot suckier as one gets older, so...not too thrilled about it at all.

how often do you do laundry? I don’t handle that chore myself, but it’s done 1–2 times a week in our house.

Have you ever been evicted? Nopes.

would you grow your own garden? I don’t see that happening. I’m a magnet for killing plants.

do you know anyone who snores? I do.

Trigger warning kinda, by the end.

what is your favorite font? Proxima Nova. It’s the default font that my org used for all documents and works-in-progress, and it ended up becoming my actual real-life favorite. I’ve always picked out that font even outside of org matters.

do you know what a wombat is? Sure.

would you make a good movie critic? Not at all. I don’t know enough about different filmmaking elements to make a reliable critic. I’ve criticized things like acting, plots, and dialogues in the past, of course; but there’s still so many things that go into films that aren’t overtly projected like lighting, symbolism, hidden meanings, etc. I don’t have a very good nose for those.

what goal are you aiming for this year? In the last 8 weeks of the year? Hmm...avoiding corona would be at the top of that list, lmao.

are you currently reading any books at the moment? No. I’ve stopped opening the book I used to constantly mention on here.

when i say foxy lady what comes to mind? Beyoncé’s character in the Austin Powers movie she was in lol; her name was Foxxy.

would you have liked to have lived during the Victorian times? Wasn’t this era like a golden age of sorts for the UK? I’d love to visit for that purpose; but given the still-horrible hygiene and living conditions for most people of the time, I wouldn’t choose to live there.

would you own a Siamese cat? No.

have you ever had an ultimate adrenaline rush? I don’t think so. I’ve had bursts of energy in the past, but I wouldn’t call any of them an ultimate adrenaline rush.

do you like deviled eggs? I’ve never had them; it’s not a common dish here. But they always look so good in the American shows I watch??? I really hope they taste as good as they look.

what tends to upset you? Hearing anything about animal abuse.

what's the farthest you've walked? I can’t give you a distance, but my parents opted for us to walk the whole time we were in Bali (except if we had a tour day which included transportation). Walking in an unfamiliar - and very humid - country and not knowing where anything is (this was before food and travel apps got as detailed as they are today) and ending up walking long stretches because you can’t locate any good local spots is a very easy way to run out of patience, apparently.

what is your favorite horror movie? Carrie was pretty fun.

what does your favorite shirt look like? It’s a twist on the Chicago flag, made black and red and with a raised fist in the middle. At the back it says “CM Punk: Best in the World.” Been my favorite and most overused shirt for the past 9 years. My friends tease me about it sometimes, but I don’t care lol, the shirt is very significant to me.

is your life like a daily routine? It is, but I prefer that it is. I like when things are in my control and, for the most part, predictable. I enjoy spontaneity in short bursts.

were you ever told as a child if you eat carrots you'll have pretty eyes? So many times.

what career are you most interested in? Communications and media, so it’s great that I’m headed there so far.

have you ever seen a rooster? Sure.

what time do you usually wake up? I wake up wake up by 7:30 or 8 AM, but I usually also wake up for a bit any time between 4–6 AM. Sometimes I choose to stay up from then, and sometimes I’d want to go back to sleep.

what do you think about religion? It’s good when people use it for good, or if it has helped save a person’s life. In my own personal experience, though, it’s beenhard to find Christians who aren’t hypocritical. So even though I see religion’s potential, I don’t have a lot of trust in believers themselves.

what made you feel most accomplished in your life so far? Graduating college.

have you ever seen a lunar eclipse? I saw the super blue blood moon two years ago, which according to a quick Google search is a lunar eclipse! So yeah, I’ve seen one.

what are you allergic to? No allergies.

do you ever feel like people hold things you do or say against you? Only my mom does this.

what can't you afford but wish you could? Front-row Wrestlemania tickets. My childhood (and now adulthood) dream is to go to Mania 50 which is only 14 years from now, but at least I still have more than enough time to save up for it.

what is one word that sums up this year so far? Revelatory. ever felt like you were putting your life in danger? [trigger warning] Yes, it’s called suicidal tendencies. what do you like with your eggs? If scrambled, with cheese. If omelette...stuff that crap up with everything lol. Tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, cheese, ham, bacon, and onions are all good in my book. what remedy do you partake when experiencing the common cold? The good ol’ wait-for-it-to-go-away life hack. would you ever spend a weekend in the mountains in a log cabin? That sounds amazing. I sure would. have you ever been called a psycho? No. have you ever taken martial arts? would you? No but I was always a little envious of my cousin who was taken to taekwondo class every weekend when we were kids. Sure, I’d take classes if I had the chance. who is someone you look up to? Nacho, but he’s gone now. is there something you're anxious about? I have work jitters for tomorrow, but they’re manageable for now. Otherwise I’m feeling pretty good. what is the longest you've gone without sleep? A little above 24. what is the longest you've been on the phone? This makes me cringe now, but it was like 8 hours long or something like that. It was still the ~honeymoon phase of that relationship and we were still clingy. We never did it again after that. do you care about calories? No. do you know someone with a really annoying laugh? Nah, can’t think of anyone. what band do you mostly always listen to no matter what mood? Paramore. have you ever been to Indianapolis? Nope.

what type of bread do you like to eat? I eat white bread all the time, but my favorite kind is brioche. do you have any great great grandparents still living? Two greats is a bit too much don’t you think? Lmao. Anyway, my last great-grandparent died in 2010. I never knew my dad’s grandparents, and my great-grandfather on my mom’s side had died all the way back in the 70s. what is one country that you really want to visit someday? India. who usually cooks or what do you usually crave the most? Those are two different questions haha. My parents take turn cooking; and as for my craving, I find myself seeking sushi most of the time. ever been associated in a program that was a complete waste of time? Yep, like that one time I had to attend this 5-hour mandatory program/seminar before my driver’s license could be issued to me; it taught me nothing I didn’t already know about driving, and it used driving tutorials that I’m pretty sure were recorded in the 90s. This seminar took place in 2016. do weird numbers call your phone? Not regularly. Occasionally an unknown number will come in, but I reject all those. where are you right now? Sitting up on my bed. do you tend to care about other people's feelings more than your own? Yes. I really shouldn’t. what type of lifestyle do you want to obtain? if you haven't obtained it [trigger warning] I haven’t even figured out yet if I love life enough to want to stay in it. A type of lifestyle isn’t much of a priority for now. what was something that use to frighten you as a child? Getting lost at the mall. have you ever been on a train? Just once. who's been in your life the longest? did you expect this person to still be around? Apart from family, Angela. Yes, she’s here for the long haul. how do you feel about anatomy? Fascinating. I’d take a class on it. Insert interesting fact here: Read this on Reddit a few days ago, so I’ll just copy-paste the whole thing: “When Jadwiga, the King of Poland (medieval Poland referred to every ruler as King regardless of gender), was considering a marriage proposal from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, a chief concern among her court was that said Duke was rumored to have massive genitals to the point that they would kill his wife on their wedding night. Two of her councilors volunteered to travel to Lithuania to try and discover the truth of these rumors, which naturally meant they would watch the Duke as he bathed. They returned and happily reported that not only weren’t the Duke’s genitals fatally large, they were in fact a tad smaller than average, so nothing to worry about. Thus Poland and Lithuania were united, and the rest is history.” Got a chuckle out of that one when I read it that I just had to scroll through the entire thread again just to be able to share it here lmao.

#survey #surveys

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hello-robin-goodfellow · 5 years ago

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THE DIFERENT CYCLES OF NOSTALGIA FILTER

Most of the nostalgia towards the past is based on Nostalgia Filter. The good stuff is remembered and the bad stuff ignored, forgotten or not even taken in account. When it's about a time period Two Decades Behind people will be nostalgic for it because they experienced it themselves, but from the viewpoint of a child or a teenager, when they didn't have to worry about all the adult stuff that depresses them nowadays, because the grownups took care of all that: taxes, work, bills, tragic news events,... If the nostalgia is about a time period people didn't directly experience themselves the romanticism is even more rampant. People will base their rosy posy image of that time period on stuff they have seen and read in books, comic strips, cartoons, TV series, films, old photos and/or fond memories of older family members. Usually they aren't aware that many things they now take for granted didn't always exist back then or were still considered highly controversial.

The glories of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome where the cradle of philosophy and science started, everyone is able to enlist in the army (well, if you weren't a woman or a slave, of course) and see the world while doing so. You can go and enjoy watching Olympic Games, a play in the theater or watch exciting gladiator battles in the arena, philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Virgil are respected as pillars of their societies, and people were opened to sex and LGBT as opposed to the close-minded Christians in later centuries. Not taken in account: class systems, people dying early of diseases we nowadays have proper treatment for, slavery, democracy only for rich upperclass males citizens, bloody battles, Roman military service had to be fulfilled several years! before you could retire and start a civilian life, women having no rights, not even allowed to watch sporting games, xenophobia was so prevalent that would make modern prejudices and bigotry look tame, scientific contributions were more based on superstitions and empirical and weren't always based on logic (see Plato's and Aristotle's works), pederasty was the only accepted form of homosexuality and it was punishable if a relationship did not fit in those criteria (also it was only tolerated in some city and states), Roman sexuality was still arguably patriarchal and not all sexual taboo was acceptable (ie. a wealthy man get away with his slaves while married women were expected to be faithful, oral sex was considered shameful).

The thousand years of Chinese dynasties up until Republic was the time where people dressed in beautiful colorful haifu with good etiquette and manners, scholars were appreciated, education was valued as opposed during the Cultural Revolution, the Tang Dynasty was the golden age of prosperity and where women has more rights than any other periods. Not taken in account: the Confucians were oppressive against the lower social classes, the caste system, education systems were corrupted with many scholars and students were promoted based on bribes rather than actual skills, women were still considered inferior in the Tang Dynasty, the royal court were so deadly and decadent that would make the place in wuxia media look tame, slavery, the rebellions and civil wars (ie. The Three Kingdoms, An Lushan Rebellion, Taiping Rebellion) that were very common that cost million of lives that went unheard of and resulted in many famine and diseases that led to cannibalism, footbinding was practiced since the Song Dynasty, xenophobia was prevalent including against their sister countries like Japan and Korea.

The Middle Ages are usually romanticized as a glorious past with chivalrous knights fighting for the honor of beautiful princesses, proving their worth in tournaments, stuffing themselves at royal buffets with the kind old king, and defending castles against malevolent invaders. Not taken in account: The Plague, wars, mercenaries and soldiers plundering farms and villages, filthy streets, people dying at a young age because of insufficient knowledge of diseases, the injustice of the feudal system, monarchs and the Catholic Church being oppressive towards people with other viewpoints, high illiteracy, people executed and tortured for audience's pleasure and often without anything resembling a fair trial, women considered being lesser in status than men, famine whenever harvests failed... Ironically, the part that was arguably good, the Byzantine Empire (with its extremely high literacy and such luxuries as running water) is usually overlooked or completely ignored.

The Renaissance and The Enlightenment are the time when society finally got out of the bleak, primitive and God fearing Dark Middle Ages and gained wisdom by discovering a lot of stuff. Kings and queens never looked more magnificent. Artists and sculptors painted the finest works and humanists, philosophers and Protestants learned humanity to think for themselves. You could enjoy a Shakespeare play, listen to baroque classical music or have a swashbuckling duel. Not taken in account: A lot of new thought and discoveries in the field of science were very slowly adapted into society. Mostly because a lot of royals, religious authorities and other government officials suppressed these "dangerous" new ideas. Compared to those "primitive" Middle Ages more people have been hanged or burned on the stake for their beliefs and/or on the assumption that they were witches during the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s than in the centuries before! The Reformation and Counter-Reformation divided Europe and caused many casualties. All the great books and art works created during this era were only enjoyed or experienced by the very rich. Wars still ravaged Europe, colonization exploited other continents, slavery became a real industry and absolutism made the monarchy and nobility so powerful and decadent that they didn't care about the lower classes. Duels weren't glorious at all, just a matter of killing off your opponent.

The Golden Age of Piracy is one big adventure where you could go on a boat trip with pirates and have fun attacking other ships, taking gold and bury or search for treasure on some Deserted Island. Men were real men with a Badass Beard and cool looking eye patches, hooks for hands and wooden legs. Not taken in account: scurvy, people forced to do what their captain told them, your ship being attacked by other ships and losing, keelhauling, loot just being spent instead of buried, anti-piracy laws could get you arrested and hanged, storms could destroy your ship, all the cool looking eye patches, hooks for hands and wooden legs were just practical solutions for grievous injuries suffered during fights, and the fact that most of the Caribbean economy was reliant on the slave trade. There were also plenty of brutal attacks on helpless villages, indigenous communities, plantations, civilian ships, and even colonial settlements. In addition to helping themselves to everything that wasn't tied down, pirates would also torture, murder, enslave, and/or rape men, women, and children indiscriminately just for their own sick pleasure.

America's Wild West is a fun era where you could roam the prairie on a horse, visit saloons and shoot outlaws and Indians. Not taken in account: slavery was not abolished until deep in the 19th century and still going on in many colonies or remote place in the American South, cowboys took care of cattle and didn't engage in gun fights, gun violence was just as illegal as it is nowadays and could get you arrested by local sheriffs, outlaws could actually remain on the loose for several years, Native Americans being massacred by white settlers and armies, black people having no basic human rights, The Ku Klux Klan was a respected organization...)

The mid-to-late 19th century and early 20th century were a classy time period where everybody was impeccably dressed and had good manners. You could take a coach ride or (later on) test the "horseless carriage", read some of the greatest novels in history, listen to the first records or even the great Caruso in person, admire the wonders of electricity and enjoy a world still untouched by modern industry. Life in the colonies was even more fun because you so many countries were still unexplored territory and the ideal place for adventure. Not taken in account: Victorian values were dominant, women couldn't vote, poor people couldn't vote, industrialization didn't have any health, safety or ethical rules to obey, child labor was rampant, workers had no rights, factories were very harmful to people's health and the environment, city rivers were open sewers, upper class had all the advantages upon the lower class, people could be sent to the poor house when they couldn't pay their debts, many novels were just pulp (think of it as the 19th century version of Internet) and music was strictly symphonic, the first automobiles were as dangerous as electricity, colonization was great for white Europeans but not as much for the oppressed native populations of Africa and Asia, animals were still hunted down as trophies, people who looked different were exploited in freak shows and circuses for spectators to Come to Gawk.

The Interbellum (1920s and 1930s): Between the two world wars, life was great. Everybody went to night clubs and/or revue theaters where they could enjoy great jazz music, girls and comedians. Movie theaters were a great place to be, because fantastic cinematic masterpieces were made. On the radio you could great music and serials, and newspapers published the best and most engaging comic strips ever printed. Not taken in account: From 1920 until 1933 alcohol was prohibited in the USA, so having an alcoholic drink was impossible without getting arrested or dying because of bad homemade brew. Crime was able to organize itself in a way that will probably never get untangled again. Many people got murdered in gangster violence. Jazz music was initially seen as "barbaric" just because it was made by blacks, and it had to be adapted to symphonic music to make it well-known. Hollywood in its early years was subject to more scandals than ever since, leading to a industry-wide censorship that lasted until the 1960s. The Great Depression between 1929 and 1940 caused major unemployment and poverty in many civilized countries, also forcing quite some people to start a life in crime. The "Dust Bowl" generated a desertification of the Midwest. Germany was particularly struck hard, because the country was still paying huge war debts to other countries, causing mass poverty and the ideal atmosphere for Nazism to gain voters. Many countries during this time period suffered under either Nazism, Fascism or Communism. From 1933 on Jewish, homosexual, Romani and left wing people were already persecuted in Nazi Germany, at the same time disagreeing in anything with Stalin meant a one-way ticket to Siberia. War was already brewing in Europe and the Far East, when Japan invaded China and South East Asia. Many countries were still colonies, which wasn't a great deal for the natives there. Afro-Americans were still second class citizens and the Ku Klux Klan was still quite powerful in many political circles.

The '40s and World War II, the time where the entire world was united against a common evil foe and soldiers could still fight a just cause. Everybody worked together to defeat the Nazis or Japanese, while enjoying great Hollywood films and jazz and big band records on the radio. Not taken in account: Not everyone was united against the Axis. Numerous people (even Lindbergh and Ford) didn't consider Nazism or Fascism anything bad or felt their country should stay neutral in the war. During the occupations many people on both sides were arrested, deported, and/or murdered. People couldn't trust anyone, because your neighbor might be a Nazi collaborator or a spy who would turn you in to the authorities. The Nazis banned American and English music and films in Europe, so you could get in big trouble if you tried. Also, you know, there was a big war on. Millions of young soldiers were drafted and died on the battlefield, cities were bombed and occupied by enemy armies, you could die any day, shortages were rife.

The '50s: The last truly great time period in history. Music, films, politicians were nice, clean and decent. There was a general optimistic feeling about the future, exemplified in sunny fashions, interiors and technology. The youth enjoyed some great rock 'n' roll on their transistor radios and the early TV shows show how happy and pleased everybody was. Not taken in account: the Cold War, the Red Scare, anti-communist witch hunts, the Korean War, the French Indochina War, many European countries tried violently oppressing the inevitable independence of their colonies, Afro-Americans were still second-rate citizens in the USA and had to fight for human rights, homosexuals were forced to keep their sexual identity silent in many countries, the traditional role of women as housewives was still encouraged in many Western countries, a lot of music in the hit parade was still the bland, square, formulaic and sappy crooner music popular since the 20s, adults were scared of early rock 'n' roll and actually did everything to suppress the youth from listening to it and becoming teenage delinquents, the TV shows and films of that decade were so escapist that they ignored every controversial element.

The '60s and The '70s, a great time when everybody was a beatnik or a hippie and enjoyed fantastic rock music, marijuana, LSD and free love. People chased bad guys with their own hands with cool funk and disco music playing in the background. The young demonstrated for more democratic rights and everything changed for the better. Not taken in account: the older generation looked down upon hippies, the Vietnam War cost many lives, The Cuba Missile Crisis nearly caused a nuclear war between the USA and USSR, Afro-Americans still had to fight for civil rights, just like today there were just as much idealistic but naïve demonstrators who merely wasted time smoking pot instead of actually doing something, drug casualties were just as rampant back then as they are today, people took the law on their hands because of the alarming crime rates, not helped by the extreme corruption of police forces, psychedelic rock, funk and disco are now confined to sit in the shadow of both rock-and-roll and modern pop music, to the point that for decades, these were considered as the most cheesy genres created by man, [[not all demonstrators were pacifistic in their approach and it's an open question whether everything actually changed for the better.

The '80s: Oh yes. A great decade for pop culture after the sordid '70s and before everything went to the gutter in the '90s: Everybody felt a bright future coming along, as demonstrated by good TV shows, groundbreaking technology, computers and videogames, colorful clothing, simple yet catchy pop music and finally a TV channel that showed your favorite bands 24/7. The Cold War came to an end, the Berlin Wall and Apartheid fell. Not taken in account: The early 1980s had many people fear the Cold War wasn't going to end well. The Latin American debt crisis. President Reagan wanted more nuclear missiles in Europe, envisioned the Star Wars defense system and the "Evil Empire" speech reflected the "Red Scare" at a time "the Bomb" was still making everybody nervous. The Cold War, Berlin Wall and Apartheid did fall, but only near the end of the decade. Unemployment and economic crisis were a huge problem in many Western countries in the early years of the decade and the high speculation led to a bubble which fatigued in 1987 and burst in 1989. AIDS caused many victims because governments were slow to inform the general public on this disease as most people at first dismissed as just a problem for blacks, gays and drug users. TV shows and movies were extremely escapist and PCs and video games were prohibitively expensive. MTV did bring music videos on TV, but the downside was that how a pop star looked and danced became more important than the music, which was now created by computers, becoming increasingly sappy and repetitive as samples became the norm, becoming a disadvantage for those who still wanted to use actual instruments, chords and tunes. Metal and rap were seen as crime-mongering and even "satanic" as a whole. Also drugs went artificial during this time, turning Florida into a Crapsaccharine World. The nuclear power plant explosion in Chernobyl caused another major fear among people about the dangers of nuclear power.

The '90s and The Aughts: Dude. The Cold War has ended, and though some pesky Arabs (and some nutcases in the West) will try to blow people up and some Central European countries will be at each other's throats, there is peace at last! Outsourcing has lifted the West from the heavy load of manual work for good and turn to technology, and anyways, isn't the Internet wonderful? Society and culture are now free to break all imposed boundaries: Music has become more authentic with the arrival of rap, hip-hop, grunge and pop-punk. TV and movies now address modern issues instead of being stuck in those stodgy 50s and 60s. Politicians at last agree on stuff and generally get along. Whatever. Not taken in account: While a couple of years in the late 1990s were quite peaceful, the years before were marked by the extremely chaotic rearrangement of the former Warsaw Pact nations and the decade after was dominated by the Iraq War and memories of 9/11. The "technological revolution" ultimately never became the boon it was supposed to be: Economically, the exodus of manufacturing jobs forced the middle class to live on debt, which would give way to an economic meltdown by the end of the 2000s while privacy would gradually become a major source of concern as personal data became readily accessible. During the 1990s, the Internet was very expensive and was the province of businessmen and geeks while during the following decade, online downloads and chatrooms became incendiary topics. Grunge and "gangsta rap" were better known at their peak for the demise of several of their stars than for the music while hip-hop and pop-punk would be regarded in retrospective as trashy as the bubblegum pop that dominated the late 90s. By increasingly appealing to the trendy set, TV and film became increasingly shallow. While ideological differences became a thing of the past, politics became more self-serving and conflicts became pettier. As a result, people began to feel a sense of disconnection, which eventually led to the rise of strongly ideological populist movements.

SOURCE:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe

EXTRA: IN THE DISTANT YEAR OF 2045.

The New '10s and New '20s : Remember that meme? Do you have a Harriet doll? I need her to complet my My Little Poney: Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls collection. Do you want to exchange her for my Fluttershy doll? Oh, do you like Lady Gaga? Her music was so deep. “Oppan Gangnam style. Gangnam style. Op, op, op, op oppan Gangnam style. Gangnam style. Op, op, op, op oppan Gangnam style. Eh sexy lady. Op, op, op, op oppan Gangnam style. Ehh sexy lady, oh, oh. Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh”. Oh, i love your funko pop of Baby Groot! “ Gotta get that. Gotta get that. Gotta get that. Gotta get that that that. Boom boom boom (Gotta get that). Boom boom boom (Gotta get that). Boom boom boom (Gotta get that). Boom boom boom. (Gotta get that) Boom boom boom. That boom boom boom. That boom boom boom. Boom boom boom”. Avengers Assemble!

Not taken in account: The Syrian refugee crisis. The burning of the Amazon jungle. Donald Trump as the american president. Jair Bolsonaro as the brazilian president. The Covid-19 Pandemic. Navy oil in the beachs of the brazilian north east. The Brazilian Cinematheque getting closed. Height of murders of LGBTQ in Brazil. Disney monopolizing the american TV an Movie Industry.

@theroguefeminist @ardenrosegarden @witches-ofcolor @mademoiselle-princesse @butterflyslinky @anghraine @notangryenough @musicalhell @rollingthunder06 @graf-edel-weiss @princesssarisa @culturalrebel @irreplaceable-ecstasyy @im-captain-basch @iphisquandary @jonpertwee

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recklesswiz98 · 5 years ago

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https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/07/lsd-drugs-summer-of-love-sixties

Summer Of Love

BY SHEILA WELLER

JUNE 14, 2012

In a 25-square-block area of San Francisco, in the summer of 1967, an ecstatic, Dionysian mini-world sprang up like a mushroom, dividing American culture into a Before and After unparalleled since World War II. If you were between 15 and 30 that year, it was almost impossible to resist the lure of that transcendent, peer-driven season of glamour, ecstasy, and Utopianism.

It was billed as the Summer of Love, and its creators did not employ a single publicist or craft a media plan. Yet the phenomenon washed over America like a tidal wave, erasing the last dregs of the martini-sipping Mad Men era and ushering in a series of liberations and awakenings that irreversibly changed our way of life.

The Summer of Love also thrust a new kind of music—acid rock—across the airwaves, nearly put barbers out of business, traded clothes for costumes, turned psychedelic drugs into sacred door keys, and revived the outdoor gatherings of the Messianic Age, making everyone an acolyte and a priest.

It turned sex with strangers into a mode of generosity, made “uptight” an epithet on a par with “racist,” refashioned the notion of earnest Peace Corps idealism into a bacchanalian rhapsody, and set that favourite American adjective, “free,” on a fresh altar.

“It was this magical moment … this liberation movement, a time of sharing that was very special,” with “a lot of trust going around,” says Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, who had a baby with Ken Kesey, the man who helped kick off that season, and who then married Jerry Garcia, the man who epitomized its fruition.

“The Summer of Love became the template: the Arab Spring is related to the Summer of Love; Occupy Wall Street is related to the Summer of Love,” says Joe McDonald, the creator and lead singer of Country Joe and the Fish and a boyfriend of one of that summer’s two queens, Janis Joplin. “And it became the new status quo,” he continues.

“The Aquarian Age! They all want sex. They all want to have fun. Everyone wants hope. We opened the door, and everybody went through it, and everything changed after that. Sir Edward Cook, the biographer of Florence Nightingale, said that when the success of an idea of past generations is ingrained in the public and taken for granted the source is forgotten.”

Certain places, for unknowable reasons, become socio-cultural petri dishes, and between 1960 and 1964 the area of Northern California extending from San Francisco to Palo Alto was one of them.

San Francisco’s official bohemia was North Beach, where the Beats hung out at Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights bookstore, and where espresso was sipped, jazz was worshipped, and hipsters did not dance. North Beach was not unique, however; it had strong counterparts, for example, in New York’s Greenwich Village, L.A.’s Venice Beach and Sunset Strip, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

What was unique was happening across town, where a group of young artists, musicians, and San Francisco State College students became besotted with the city’s past. “There was a huge romanticism around the idea of the Barbary Coast, about San Francisco as a lawless, vigilante, late-19th-century town,” says Rock Scully, one of those who rented cheap Victorian houses in a run-down neighborhood called Haight-Ashbury. They dressed, he says, “in old, stiff-collared shirts with pins, and riding coats and long jackets.”

“Old-timey” became the shibboleth. Guys wore their hair long under Western-style hats, and young people decorated their apartments in old-fashioned castoffs. Scully recalls, “Michael Ferguson [an S.F. State art student] was wearing and living Victoriana in 1963”—a year before the Beatles came to America, and before costuming-as-rebellion existed in England.

They were not aping the British. “We were Americans!,” insists musician Michael Wilhelm. Architecture student George Hunter was yet another in the crowd, and then there were the artists Wes Wilson and Alton Kelley, the latter an émigré from New England who frequently wore a top hat.

“Kelley wanted to be freeze-dried and set on his Victorian couch behind glass,” says his friend Luria Castell (now Luria Dickson), a politically active S.F. State student and the daughter of a waitress. Castell and her friends wore long velvet gowns and lace-up boots—a far cry from the Beatnik outfits of the early 60s.

Chet Helms, a University of Texas at Austin dropout who had hitchhiked to San Francisco, also joined the group and dressed old-timey. He had come to San Francisco with a friend, a nice, middle-class girl who had been a member of her high school’s Slide Rule Club and who had also left the university, hoping to become a singer. Her name was Janis Joplin.

Helms, Castell, Scully, Kelley, and a few others lived semi-communally. “We were purists,” says Castell, “snooty” about their left-wing politics and esoteric aesthetic. All their houses had dogs, so they called themselves the Family Dog. As for Wilhelm, Hunter, Ferguson, and their friends Dan Hicks and Richie Olsen, they took up instruments that most of them could barely play and formed the Charlatans, which became the first San Francisco band of the era. Wes Wilson, distinct for keeping his hair short, became the eventual scene’s first poster artist, creating a style that would be epoch-defining.

Soon they came to share something else: LSD. It had been more than a decade since Sandoz Laboratories made the first batches of lysergic acid diethylamide, the high-octane synthetic version of two natural consciousness-altering compounds, psilocybin and mescaline.

When in 1961, the Harvard psychology professor Timothy Leary had his life-changing experience with psilocybin mushrooms, in Mexico. Leary, a charismatic womaniser , and Richard Alpert, a colleague at Harvard and a closeted bisexual, would invite friends and a few grad students to drop acid with them off campus. and they endeavour d to apply scholarly methodology to the sense-enhancing, cosmic-love-stimulating, and sometimes psychosis-abetting properties of LSD.

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not-terezi-pyrope · 6 years ago

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TERFs: What you (don’t) want to know

CW: Overt discussion of transphobia, homophobia, racism, and acknowledgement of sexual topics.

So, for better or worse, I’ve found myself spending a lot of time observing (through chance encounter of via indirect commentary) TERF communities. TERF communities and rhetoric are something of a problem in-vogue right now, as, while TERF communities are generally fairly small, they are very vocal, and have managed to insidiously insert themselves into mainstream queer and feminist discourse through surface-level mimicry of progressive rhetoric. This is especially becoming an issue in my country, the UK, which is unfortunately now garnering a reputation as a hive-bed for TERF groups, something which has attracted some media attention as of late.

Given this, and because terfs thrive on misinformation campaigns, I thought I’d write up a sort of Q&A cheatsheet breaking down ideas about the “terf” movement and dispelling myths, malicious or otherwise. I think that confronting these people for what they are, and not letting them control the terms of the conversation by misrepresenting themselves and their opponents, is important as we strive for trans equality, and as a trans woman it’s a cause fairly close to my own chest. I may be putting a target on my chest a little by making a post like this, but then that’s par for the course. Also, keep in mind that this is all based solely on my own observations, experiences and reading, and you should probably seek out perspectives from other trans, feminist and queer people for a more diverse set of views. I am not an expert, and have probably made at least some mistakes as I’m not super knowledgeable in all these areas, so keep that in mind (and feel free to message me if I’ve made any really glaring errors).

So, here’s what you (don’t) want to know about The TERFs. (Long post under the cut: be forewarned).

What is a “TERF”?

TERF is a term used to describe a loose collective of conservative-leaning transphobes who couch their transphobic ideas within the framework of radical feminist rhetoric. The term “TERF” stands for “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist”, and was popularized over a decade ago by a cis feminist to distinguish these transphobic individuals from more mainstream and intersectional feminists and radical feminists (a common lie spread by TERFs is that the term was create by trans women to attack them - this is not the case). TERFs often self-term themselves “gender critical feminists” as a euphamism for their particular brand of transphobic ideology.

TERF ideology has its roots in second-wave feminism, including the writings of people like Germaine Greer (now fairly infamous for her transphobic views), and the work of long-since discredited pseudoscientist Ray Blanchard, known for his characterization of transgender people as motivated by sexual perversion in the 80s and 90s (and who now spends his time complaining about trans people watching anime on twitter).

The core tenets of TERF ideology are that gender is synonymous with gender assigned at birth, chromosomal type, and one’s physical genitalia. TERFs believe that sex is a strict binary, and that the role of women in society and the origins of misogyny are defined by one’s genitalia, and/or one’s capacity to reproduce. As such, TERFs believe that trans women are men who are “appropriating” the experiences of “real women”. This is a view fundamentally incompatible with the consensus in the scientific fields of genetics, reproductive biology, gender studies, and with almost all mainstream intersectional feminist discourse. Despite this, TERFs tend to ignore all evidence that contradicts their claims, as their primary motivation (as with most bigots) is to justify their pre-existing prejudices and avoid self-examination that contradicts their prior beliefs and assumptions. As well as transphobia, the implications of terf rhetoric are frequently variously misogynistic, homophobic, and racist, despite attempts by terfs to decry this (more below).

While gender roles are a social construct, and gender is definitely informed by societal context, the nature and expression of gender is in reality unique psychological experience and identity that may be related to one’s sexual characteristics but is not defined by it. The human experience of gender is a broad spectrum, with different ideas and experiences of gender existing in different cultures and communities across the globe.

Are TERFs feminists?

“No” would be a simple answer, but at the risk of falling prey to “No True Scotsman”, I will say that it depends on how you want to define the term. TERFs justify their ideology with the rhetoric of feminism, and claim that their perspective is based in a radical feminist deconstruction of gender. Their basic logic can be boiled down as such; “1. Gender, as a psychological experience, does not exist. 2. As such, the terms “man” and “woman” derive solely from one’s genitalia (or, depending on the context of the argument, chromosomes), and the axis of misogynistic oppression solely derives from one’s genitalia. 3. As such, trans women are not “true” women, and claiming that they are is misogyny and/or erasure of women”.

While this breakdown may entice cis people who haven’t examined concepts of sex and gender any more deeply than they did in their school biology lessons, this definition of manhood and womanhood is deeply reductive and is in and of itself misogynistic. Particularly concerning is the insistence of TERFs that womanhood is defined solely by one’s genitalia, or, as it is sometimes framed, one’s possession of a womb or ability to bear children. TERFs will often complain that describing people’s bodies in neutral, ungendered terms (e.g. “a person with a vagina”) is somehow objectifying, yet one of their core beliefs is fairly degrading idea that the be-all and end-all of womanhood is one’s genitalia, and one’s “role” in the reproductive cycle. This sort of Victorian era conception of gender is deeply rooted in misogynistic ideas about the role of women in society, and it is the sort of rhetoric responsible for legislation such as the recent horrific bill introduced in Utah which defines a woman as somebody with ovaries and who have “external anatomical characteristics that appear to have the purpose of performing the natural reproductive function of providing eggs and receiving sperm from a male donor.” It should be fairly clear that this sort of definition of womanhood as being defined by one’s “purpose” to reproduce is deeply reductive, sexist, and would be harmful (and erasing of) intersex people and cis women who are infertile or who have surgeries such as hysterectomy, even prior to considering the impact of these ideas on trans people.

On the topic of intersex people, it should be noted that their mere existence is a refutation to the TERF conception of gender as an absolute binary set before birth and static throughout life. TERFs tend to reject intersex people as “outliers” or aberrations when this point have brought up, and more recently have switched to the tactic of claiming that any trans person who tries to discuss intersex people during debates about sex and gender is “co-opting intersex narratives”, which is in essence an excuse used to stall debate on the subject and avoid addressing it.

More broadly with respect to feminism, in addition to the misogynistic implications of the TERF worldview, their brand of feminism is widely denounced by more mainstream feminists as being outdated, offensive and non-intersectional, as well as harmful to feminism as a whole. Here are a few articles talking about this; 1 2 3.

Is “TERF” a slur?

This is one of the most widespread myths spread by TERFs in order to delegitimize criticism, and to provide a pretext upon which to report and silence people who are attempting to discuss TERFs and their ideology. TERFs will claim that the word “TERF” is a slur created by trans women to persecute them. Usually, they will claim that the word is a derogatory term for women in general, or sometimes for lesbians.

This is blatantly false. Firstly, TERF is a neutral acronym that was popularized by a cis feminist to distinguish TERFs from other, non-transphobic feminists. It is an abbreviation of a description of their movement; self-described radical feminists who campaign for trans exclusion from women’s spaces and womenhood as a whole, as such, they are “trans exclusionary radical feminists”. TERF is often an insulting term, but it is such in the same way that being called a homophobe or a racist is “insulting”; it is insulting because it has accurately descriptive negative connotations.

The insistence that TERF is a slur, that TERF just means “lesbian” or “woman”, is a weapon used to shut down discussion, and a shield used to hide the fringe nature of their views. TERFs will often claim that all women are terfs, or that all “real” lesbians are terfs, and so that people using the term TERF are using it as a general slur for lesbians or women. This ignores the meaning of the word, and the reality at whom it is aimed. Not all women are terfs, not all lesbians are terfs, not even all transphobes are terfs. TERF describes a very specific subset of anti-trans activist, and the idea that it is a slur against other marginalized groups is to terfs simultaneously a useful lie and also a comforting self-deception that allows them to believe that their beliefs and community is far more widespread than it is, and that criticism of their ideas is rooted in some external bigotry rather than in the flaws in their own rhetoric.

Does “TERF” mean lesbian?

No. As explained above, this is an offensive lie spread by TERFs to further their own ends. Lesbians who I have talked to about this are generally disgusted with TERFs trying to associate themselves with them and misrepresent their community as being transphobic. While some TERFs may be lesbians (although they far from all are), they do not speak in any capacity for the lesbian community, no matter how much they may pretend to.

It is worth noting that TERFs have a history of erasing lesbians. TERFs claim that the only “true” lesbians are cis women who are solely attracted to women who were assigned female at birth. As well as (inevitably) denying the identity of trans lesbians, they erase the identity of cis women who identify as lesbian by claiming that any lesbian who is attracted to any trans woman is not a “real” lesbian and is instead bisexual. This, once again, is a nonsensical and abhorrent attempt to redefine terms to fit their own worldview.

Are TERFs conservative?

TERF rhetoric aligns very closely with conservative ideology regarding sex and gender. Although TERFs describe themselves as as feminists and as such see themselves as being “progressives” in a sense, they tend to have a distaste for the left as generally rejecting of their views, and ally themselves with right-wing conservatives in order to pursue their goal of marginalizing the trans people and seeking rollbacks of trans rights and equality. It is common to see TERFs “lament” that far right figures with deeply misogynistic perspectives on gender equality and other social causes are “the only ones” who agree with them, without stopping to reflect upon what implications this may have for the nature of their own beliefs.

As right wing sources and media are usually the only sources which backup their views on trans people, TERFs frequently share right wing or even far-right articles and writers to fuel their transphobia or to be used as “evidence” when arguing against trans rights. TERFs will often collaborate with right wing groups in order to further their fight against trans rights, even when such groups also pursue agendas contrary to the causes of gender equality, body autonomy and LGBT+ rights that they claim to support. A prominent example of this was exposed recently wherein a major TERF group was found to be engaging in legal action in partnership with ultra-conservative evangelical Christian group “Focus on the Family”, known for their opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion access, and women’s equality, in order to lobby against legal protections for trans people in the US. In another recent example, conservative group the Heritage Foundation paid for two prominent British TERF “activists” to be flown to America in order to interrupt a meeting between Sarah McBride, national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign, and a colleague, in order to harass McBride for being transgender.

The nature of this relationship, wherein TERFs collaborate with, exchange funding with, and base their ideology on the publication of right-wing figures and groups, means that despite their cries to the contrary, TERFs as a movement should for all intents and purposes be considered right wing.

Are TERFs racist?

Writing this, I am a white trans woman and as such do not want to speak over trans women of colour who will have more nuanced and better informed perspectives on the links between TERF ideology and racism/white supremacy. You should definitely seek out the views and writings of trans people of colour who will be far more qualified to talk about and knowledgeable about racism in TERF circles than this one white trans girl. However, for the sake of this post I will provide a brief overview of some of the trends I have seen both in person and pointed out by others.

TERF’s feminism is by definition non-intersectional and tends to have a poor relationship with and understanding of how racial oppression intersects with feminist issues. A recurring theme in TERF politics is a condescension towards Muslim women and the stereotyping of actions of men of colour. TERFs also erase the particular intersection of transmisogyny and racism that trans women of colour experience by merely blaming their oppression on their actions as “men”. Moreover, TERF views about the gender binary are also ignorant of the diverse cultural conceptions of gender that have existed and continue to exist around the world that do not fall into their narrow binary. As did their colonial cultures before them, TERFs seek to apply their own binary conceptualization of gender to anyone and everyone they come into contact with. TERF-brand feminism is conceived therefore from a white, Western perspective and makes little effort to break free of this.

It is difficult to find articles discussing this aspect of TERF ideology specifically, but here are a few links in which instances of this are discussed. Examples are not difficult to find in documentation of activities undertaken by TERFs. I will also link this twitter thread that discusses TERFism as a gateway to white supremacy via the entry-point of transphobia.

What do TERFs think about trans men?

While a lot of discussion of TERF viewpoints centers their transmisogyny as the most visible manifestation of their transphobia, TERF ideology is also hostile towards transgender men, albeit in different ways to their hostility towards trans women.

A common TERF myth is that trans “genderists” are seeking to forcibly turn gender nonconforming cis people trans by “convincing them” (sometimes termed “brainwashing them”) into believing that they are of a different gender. As such, a common TERF belief about trans men is that they are simply GNC cis women, often characterized as “butch lesbians”, who have been “tricked” into thinking they are men by “transgender ideology”, or who seek to become men because they seek to escape misogyny. As such, a TERFs are often condescending towards trans men, pretending to empathize with an imagined plight of a “deluded woman”, while at the same time aggressively misgendering them and erasing their identities as trans men. While this idea bears no resemblance to the actual experiences of trans men, TERFs tend to have very little exposure to trans masculine people in general, and so, much like their conception of trans women, their ideas about the issues trans men face are largely based in a collection of myths that they themselves have invented.

This is not to say that TERFs will not be more overtly aggressive towards trans men; an alternative narrative peddled by TERFs about gay trans men in particular is that they are “fujoshis” who are obsessed with fictional gay couples to such an extent that they are compelled to try to become gay men. This idea is so blatantly absurd that it practically denies any sensible analysis even from a critical perspective, so I will leave it at that, however in this manner TERFs characterize trans men who they wish to attack with their more traditional aggressive, sneering countenance.

What do TERFs think about non-binary people (and queer people)?

TERFs do not believe that non-binary people exist. TERFs believe in a strict, immutable gender binary, and similarly to many people on the right and the “anti-SJW” crowd, they tend to characterize nonbinary people as all being teenagers who have been “deluded” by platforms such as Tumblr, and by progressive leftist spaces in general.

More broadly, TERFs have a narrow and regressive conception of sexuality and gender identity, and do not generally accept the existence of LGBTQ+ identities beyond Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual, which they view as being “rooted in biology”. Asexuality and pansexuality, as well as other identity labels and any non-binary gender descriptors, are dismissed offhandedly as being fads.

TERFs seek to gatekeep membership of the LGBTQ+ community by erasing the existence of people who do not conform to their strict definitions of “Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual”. This includes reclassifying gay and lesbian people as bisexual if they have any sort of attraction to trans people, and a broader attempt to expunge any terms that might allow people wiggleroom within this rigid categorization. The push to reject the reclaimed term “queer” in LGBT+ communities of late has been largely fueled by TERFs, who ridicule queer people (see this post for a relevant discussion) and try to repopularize the characterization of “queer” as a slur as a tactic to drive out non-cis people and those who identify with sexualities that they do not recognize. This is part of the overarching TERF strategy of attempting to control language and narrative to further their ideas.

How can I recognize a TERF?

Many TERFs advertise themselves as such and can therefore be avoided fairly easily. Common themes found on dedicated TERF blogs include usernames and bios with references to radical feminism (which, while not being synonymous with TERF, is a label that they have heavily co-opted), references to XX chromosomes or genitalia, or even straight up declaration of their own “terf status” in their sidebars or blog descriptions.

That said, there has recently been recognition of the fact that TERFs are actively pushing their viewpoints on “secret” blogs without any overt references to their TERF ideology in order to spread their ideas and draw people who don’t know better into their toxic rhetoric and movement. However, even then TERFs can often be recognized through the collection of specific terms and dogwhistles that they favour in their rhetoric. Here are some examples of red flags to watch out for in discourse:

Trans women/men being referred to as TIMs or TIFs (trans-identified males/females), also sometimes as “Timothies” and “Tiffanies”.

The term “Gender Critical” or “Gender Critical Feminism”. This is a euphemism synonymous with TERF favoured by members of their own community.

Reference to Trans-Rights Activists (TRAs, designed to sound like “MRA”).

Loaded references to “trans ideology”.

References to “genderism”.

A particular focus on crimes committed by a few selected trans people used to smear the entire community.

Discussion of “men trying to enter women’s/lesbian spaces” is often a euphemistic reference to trans women as the “men”.

The same can often go for broad declarations that lesbians “should not let people tell them that they should be attracted to men”. While this is of course true, I’ve seen this in many instances be said specifically with the undertone of excluding trans women as the “men”.

The term “womyn” or “wombyn”, used by TERFs to differentiate their concept of a “real woman” from women including trans women.

Radical feminism being discussed in relation to any of the above points is a dead ringer for a TERF.

This is of course far from comprehensive, and TERFs have become good at hiding their ideas within the wrapping paper of feminist rhetoric and the language surrounding other types of progressive activism. The best policy is just to be sure to pay attention to how people discuss gender identity and transgender people, or perhaps how they pointedly don’t discuss them when they are expressing their ideology. Keep in mind to watch out for ideas that seem to stem from the above arguments.

Anything else I should know (and what can I do)?

I am going to stop here to avoid this post becoming even more excessively long than it already is, but it should be kept in mind that this is a far from comprehensive examination of TERF ideologies and rhetoric. I have, for instance, not touched on SWERFs and the attitudes of these communities towards sex workers, which is an ideology that often goes hand-in-hand with TERF ideas, nor the extent of the TERF communities on platforms such as reddit or Mumsnet, not the prevalence of TERF writers and thinkers in some parts of the news media, nor the actual members of TERF groups themselves, nor have I done anything more than scrape the surface of the extent or implications of TERF beliefs and activism. Others have written at greater length, in more detail, and far more eloquently than I ever could on these subjects and more besides, and I will link some additional resources below for people who want to investigate some of these things in more detail, and get perspectives more diverse than mine (I am only one person, and I am far from an expert on all this!).

Overall, though, the key takeaway from all this should be to spread awareness in the public sphere of the nature of TERF beliefs, the form that their “activism” takes, and the consequences for trans people and other marginalized groups. TERFs thrive on misinformation and control of the narrative, and add to their movement by preying on the lack of knowledge of easily influenced young newcomers to feminist and LGB movements. The best way to combat this is to spread awareness and knowledge, which is especially important as TERF perspectives gain more traction in the public sphere. Transphobia is above all things fueled by prejudice, fear of the other, and ignorance, and all of this can be countered by spreading trans narratives, boosting the voices of trans people and sharing truths about trans lives and trans experiences.

Some more good resources about TERFs and their transphobic activities/movements:

The TERFs

TERF on GeekFeminism

GenderCynical (cw: analysis of some distressing content)

TERFs on the Transadvocate

Trans-exclusionary radical feminism on RationalWiki

#not-terezi-speaks #terfs cw #discourse cw #long post #wowee #this took a while

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televisedbirdwatching · 6 years ago

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Art, Design, and Craft in the Age of Machine Manufacture.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, the German Art and Architecture school famous for all your favorite architects and artists. Graham McKay at Misfits Architecture puts it this way: “The architectural media likes an anniversary and 2019 is the year we’re meant to be grateful for The Bauhaus and all it did for us.” Over two blog posts, he argues that the real legacy of the Bauhaus is in “formalizing and institutionalizing the divide between design and production.” Design, he says, “is a separate activity, isolated from manufacture, and isolated from craft.”

The Bauhaus was founded at a unique time in the history of large scale industrial manufacture. Here’s a picture of Ford Automotive’s River Rouge facility in Dearborn, Michigan. It was designed by Albert Kahn in 1917, and visited by Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius in 1928. McKay also points out that in the Victorian era, “industry became alert to the growing consumer market and began to produce all manner of household goods such as chairs, table lamps and bathtubs that previously would have been fabricated by hand.” Cars, household goods, and building materials were increasingly produced by machines in factories.

Ford’s River Rouge Plant. Built 1917.

McKay’s argument here is that the Bauhaus, capitalizing on this moment in industrial history, figured out how to “fuse the value-adding process of art with the cost-reducing process of machine manufacture:”

“Manufacturing was never the problem as that’s what factories were for. And nor was the problem one of design as people tend to buy what they’re told to. The problem was that there weren’t enough people wanting enough stuff to achieve the ‘economies of scale’ [a.k.a. profits] machine manufacture promised. The industrial world knew it wanted a direct link between industry and design and for us to accept it. All that was missing was people to design things and to tell us we needed them. And we’ve been being told ever since.”

You can buy a new Wassily Chair from Design Within Reach for $2782.00

More than just creating a market for designed goods, the Bauhaus also solidified the idea of what “modern architecture” was supposed to look like. When you think of modern architecture, something like Van Der Rohe’s Lake Shore Drive buildings come to mind.

These are buildings that are anti-craft. The point is not to highlight the unique human touch present in their manufacture. The idea is to mechanize the design, construction, and lived experience of buildings, to create “a machine for living in.”

Living in Portland, I walk through the Buckman/Sunnyside neighborhood a lot. These neighborhoods have lots of old Victorian and Queen Anne homes that were originally built in the early 1900’s (before even the first whisperings of the Bauhaus). Walking by, I am always amazed by the level of ornament and detail that went into the construction of these homes (and the upkeep required to keep them looking nice). These must be more than just mere machines for living in. Why else go to the trouble?

Not just a machine for living in.

And yet, one of the reasons that this style became popular in Portland (and other cities that experienced a population boom in the early 1900’s,) was the increased availability of ornamental wooden trim pieces thanks to machine manufacture. They also often built these houses in twos or threes to save on costs. It’s fun to imagine that each railing and trim piece on the front porch was turned on a lathe or carved by hand. This simply isn’t the case.

Further, the homes were filled with “technological kitchens, three-fixture baths (sink, toilet and bathtub), public utilities (electricity and sewers), dining rooms and closets...” all features of homes that became economically accessible to a wider group of people in the early 20th century, thanks to industrial manufacture.

Contemporarily, it seems that there’s a resurgence in handmade, small-batch items. Designers of today seem like folks who learned from the Bauhaus in school, but set out today to create homegoods with softer edges. The world is a difficult enough place to live as it is. Why not fill our millennial households with vintage southwestern prints and handmade clay pieces. Crystals. Houseplants. Bold, bright patterns.

Artifact is a lovely vintage store in Portland.

And yet, the allure of industrial, machine manufacture is apparently too much to resist. Take this pillow from Dusen Dusen, for example; sold at Portland’s WoonWinkel. The value ($110) isn’t derived from the craft involved in its manufacture. It is almost definitely made overseas- or if not, a factory in Mexico. Paraphrasing McKay here: the value is added at a later phase in the process, separate from value in materials or value in manufacture. The design is the value added that shows up in the price.

Dusen Dusen’s Arc Pillow, Small. $110 at WoonWinkel.

Hay Design’s Coffee Pot. Designed by George Sowden, available at WoonWinkel for $95. Manufactured wherever.

Recently, design firm Good Thing announced that it would be ceasing operations as an independent firm and partnering with West Elm. In this transition, head designer Jamie Wolfond has been posting on social media about this process and decision. Earlier today he posted an instagram story about the first shipping container of goods he received from China. Here’s the text of the post:

“When I started Good Thing, we were dead set of figuring out how to manufacture in the U.S. But eventually we had to decide between making the products affordable and making them domestically, and we chose the former. There were quite a few challenges in sourcing mass-produced items from China, so when we saw out first 40-foot shipping container parked outside our Brooklyn studio, it was a real relief.

This tasty-looking piece of hardware used to seal the container was the icing on the cake. The rubber-covered steel bolt had a thick head on both ends, making it impossible to remove without destroying it- a beautifully analog system for ensuring that cargo cannot be tampered with or stolen in transit. We were a bit terrified about what we’d find inside, but save for a few free lipstick-covered cigarette butts, we got what we expected.”

Sometimes the connections I’m trying to make on this blog just make themselves.

Wolfond certainly has designer-vision, seeing the beauty in this everyday object, an ‘analog’ tamper-evident seal. And yet, it seems strange to me that he is writing about the first run of goods he chose to have manufactured in China.

Maybe that’s not strange. Maybe Wolfond is right. If we want to make good design accessible, made in China becomes a necessary outcome of that objective. Perhaps partnering with a large firm like West Elm is also a necessary outcome.

The name of McKay’s blog- Misfits Architecture- comes from his focus on misfits in the architectural world: mostly, sole practitioners (v. Starchitects) who create real things that exist in the real world. Perhaps another kind of misfit, the artist-as-craftsman-and-manufacturer, simply doesn’t exist anymore. But also, maybe they never really did.

Designers have always made use of the manufacturing systems available to them. I won’t blame anybody for trying to make a profit. And yet: this is what makes the truly handmade, the truly small-batch, the truly artist-designer-craftsperson-manufacturer misfits so much more special.

Note: This week, I piggybacked quite heavily on McKay’s writings. His blog is well worth your time if you’re looking for a more strictly Architecture and Design oriented blog. More here: https://misfitsarchitecture.com/

#writing

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delamitrinews · 7 years ago

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From Changing Everything To The Here And Now - an Interview with Del Amitri

Last November Del Amitri surprised fans with the announcement of their long-awaited return to the stage - four years after their first UK dates for more than a decade. A hint about new material has appeared on their blog, but since they put the band on ice in 2002 the music industry has gone through drastic changes that have had huge repercussions for how music is now recorded and consumed.

In this exclusive interview for the Del Amitri Fans Facebook account and Twitter feed - run for the fans by fans - Justin Currie and Iain Harvie tell Rhiannon Law about the past, present and future of the band.

It’s an uncharacteristically balmy afternoon when I sit down with the two founding members of Del Amitri at Justin Currie’s Glasgow home. As both men get themselves settled - facing each other across a coffee table with mugs of coffee and a plate of rather delicious ginger biscuits - the beginning feels like the best place to start. So, what are their earliest memories of meeting each other? “The first two guitar players that I’d gone to school with had buggered off to university” explains Currie, recalling the need to recruit new members to the band, which had already played a dozen or more gigs by that point. That incarnation of Del Amitri had also put out the ‘Happy Birthday/What She Calls It’ flexi-disc (alongside The Bluebells). Following an advert placed in McCormack’s music shop, the interview process began for anyone who could play anything.

“So for two weeks we just met all these really rubbish people,” says Currie of the many “deeply insecure” wannabe lead singers that approached him. “And then Iain came in and it was just a completely different ballgame - a proper person who was interested in music and really into writing as well.”

“I’d only been in school bands and bands that had played covers in social clubs,” recalls Harvie. “So I just had this perception that there was no way I was gonna get into this band because they were just so successful...but it was quite quickly shattered!”

Once the two bandmates have stopped laughing, Currie explains that the Del Amitri rehearsal space at the time was a small janitor’s flat in the basement of a Victorian school. They then moved into an even smaller room next door on the basis that they didn’t have to share it with anyone and could lock their gear up. Despite being the size of a toilet, it proved to be enough space to do the rehearsals for their first album.

“It was always key to us to have our own space because none of us really wrote songs separately,” says Currie. “We all wrote collectively and that was very time inefficient. There was a lot of time spent in rehearsal rooms just staring at each other going ‘do something!’ So, it was really important to have your own space rather than just renting a room once a week.”

Following the release of the first album - and due in some part to some arrested funds - the band took off on a self-funded tour of America. This is a concept that many young bands would be familiar with today, but something that was quite radical for the late 1980s. “The last money we had we spent on the air tickets, so we had no money in our pockets when we got there” recalls Currie.

I’m told that the plan was to become pen pals with fans in America and then enlist their help to put on gigs and to crash on their floors. “It was a kind of pre-internet social networking,” says Harvie. However, despite the best-laid plans of their manager at the time, the tour didn’t go quite to plan. “The first gig was a financial disaster” Currie admits, “we did the whole thing and we got round by basically begging and borrowing.”

Luckily that initial experience of touring didn’t put them off for life and our conversation quickly shifts from the past to the present. Del Amitri will shortly be heading out on their first UK tour since ‘The A-Z of Us’ tour in 2014. “We really enjoyed 2014,” says Currie. “We didn’t know if we would enjoy it or not. We were very apprehensive about it, but we loved doing it. So we thought we’ll probably end up doing this again at some point and it just seemed like the right time. And we got offered the [Edinburgh] Castle again and we thought that’s quite tempting.”

The lack of an album to plug offered the band the chance to go on the road for the first time without the pressure of doing additional promotional work. Although Currie is quick to point out that promotion was always part of the job and something they were happy to do in the most part, he adds that the lack of this in 2014 was refreshing. “We’re getting paid to eat nicely catered food every day and play to really enthusiastic audiences and we don’t have to do anything else, we’re just doing the gigs. So that was a bit of a revelation, that this is great fun.”

When I ask if they still get nervous, or at least apprehensive, before shows, Currie responds almost instantly with an emphatic nod “yeah”, whereas Harvie smiles. “I never really got nervous particularly,” he says. “Even if things were going colossally wrong on stage, I’ve never really suffered from nerves. But maybe at The Hydro I was expecting to be quaking in my boots before we went on stage.”

Both bandmates concede that the size of the Glasgow venue, which has a 13,000 capacity, had potentially caused a few jitters. “I remember clearly going behind the stage at The Hydro and just thinking ‘who are all these people’?” exclaims Harvie. “There’s like hundreds of people. There are ambulance guys at these stadium shows and then there’s all the local crew and there might be like twenty of them all waiting to get the support band’s gear and then there are TV guys. So you come out of the dressing room and there are fifty people you’ve never seen before hanging around - all working. And they all kind of defer to you. They all just get out of your way and don’t make eye contact with you and you think ‘oh god this is weird’.”

But it was the response of the crowd at The Hydro that helped to calm any unease at the situation. “The audience all got up on their feet and they didn’t sit down,” says Currie “and that really helped us because we didn’t feel like we had to get them. They were just all over us from the start.”

Despite audiences clamouring for more after the 2014 tour, the band still express surprise at the reaction to the 2018 dates. “Oh, they’re still there!” Currie gives a little laugh but there is a hint of relief in his voice. The response from the fanbase to the tour announcement was to turn-out en masse, with many Edinburgh Castle tickets being sold on the first day of release.

“The weird thing is that people are so into going to these sorts of concerts now and we’re basically selling more tickets than we ever did really, it’s quite bizarre,” says Harvie. “We’re not going to do so many shows, but the venues that we’re playing at are big, if not bigger, than the venues we’d been to in 2002 when we stopped. It’s quite mad.”

I wonder aloud if this could be put down to the fact that fans are concerned that each tour may be their last opportunity to see Del Amitri live? “We never suggested in 2014 that we wouldn’t do it again because we didn’t really know” asserts Currie. “I mean it’s a possibility that we won’t do this again - it might not be feasible, we might not want to do it. For us, four years seemed like kinda the right amount of time. If it had been two years since The Hydro and all that sort of stuff it would have just felt a bit like we were trying to milk it.” He pauses for a few seconds before adding “Who knows what we’ll be doing in 5 or 10 years? Maybe we’ll all be dead!”

I mention that there has been a bit of criticism on social media regarding the prices for this tour, with some tickets costing £75. “Personally, I think that’s too much,” says Currie. “We don’t put on our own shows, we don’t have that kind of manpower. If we did we could control ticket prices. With the dawn of the music-is-free era, most bands main, or only, income is from live performance. I’ve watched ticket prices creep up, seemingly inexorably. I think that’s really unfair on those fans, like me, who still pay for their recorded music rather than streaming it all on YouTube. The most galling thing for me is the insultingly low fees that opening bands receive on my solo gigs especially. We will often subsidise that on a small scale to ensure we get the acts we want. That needs to change.”

So, will we get to hear any new Del Amitri material on this year's tour? Currie sounds positive in his response. “We’re thinking about doing new songs, like maybe one or two, on the tour.” However, he is more uncertain when it comes to the question of whether an album will follow. “We were sort of thinking about doing a record...we’re just humming and hawing about I guess.”

“We need to get back into the rehearsal room and get things moving again and see where that takes us” Harvie agrees.

There nearly was a new record a while back, as it turns out. Harvie went to Currie with some ideas for an electronic album - something radically different to anything they had released before. “Iain at that time was into programming stuff and writing things on the computer and I thought it was a great idea,” says Currie. “We did a few writing trips and wrote a ton of stuff that we really liked, but there was never any great impetus behind it. Our manager didn’t particularly like it. It didn’t sound like anything Del Amitri had done before, but we thought it was Del Amitri because it was me and Iain writing all the tunes and it was all quite melodic.”

However, they were advised not to release it as a Del Amitri album and it is apparent that this caused them concern. “We just couldn’t see a way for Justin and I to release a record that wasn’t going to be a Del Amitri record” explains Harvie. Hearing them reflect on it now, it seems like the advice from their manager, John Reid, was sound. “I don’t think I was aware until after we stopped touring that Del Amitri had acquired a kind of identity that wasn’t necessarily my identity, or even our identity.” Harvie continues.

The electronic album would not only have potentially been a step too far away from the Del Amitri identity, but it would also have been released at a time when the music industry was in complete turmoil. Both agree that it would have been a crazy time to reinvent the band. However, it’s clear that they loved the material and when they talk about this unreleased music it’s as though they are still coming to terms with the fact it didn’t happen. “We really liked it. We were dead into it, you know.” Currie enthuses.

It’s Harvie that notes the difficulties it would have caused for future tours. “I think it would have been odd to do these shows now if we had gone off in another direction, which is why I think John was maybe quite astute.”

I note that adding an electro section to a Del Amitri set would be a tricky proposition from a practical point of view and Harvie agrees. “That would have been a bit rubbish,” he says, “as if we’re like Spinal Tap on a sort of jazz odyssey.”

So, they’ve avoided the potential pitfalls of releasing something radical at a time when they would have needed a big promotional machine working for them, but what do they think about the current trend of releasing crowdfunded music? “I’ve avoided raising money from a fanbase because to me that makes you, psychologically at least, beholden to their expectations and I think that’s quite dangerous,” explains Currie. “When Del Amitri made ‘Change Everything’ I found it quite odd because for the first time ever we were making a record that had an audience expecting it out there. For me, that was a completely different way of thinking about what we were doing and I found that quite confusing. And I think I would find it quite confusing if a hundred people gave us an amount of money to make an album. I would be pretty sure what those hundred people would be expecting and I think that would limit us in where we felt like we could go.”

Harvie agrees “It seems a bit cheeky from our perspective to crowdfund a record. If you want to make a record, go and make a record and then sell it to me”. That said, both are quick to acknowledge that it can be a useful way for those starting out to get a project off the ground in this way.

Currie and Harvie have both had their own projects in the years between the pause button being pressed on Del Amitri and the 2014 and current tours. Currie has been making solo records for more than ten years, with his fourth album ‘This Is My Kingdom Now’ released last year.

Harvie’s most public-facing work was a project called ‘Aliens’ that he explains was done with a neighbour. However, what many people may be unaware of is that the majority of his time has been - and is being - spent on scored music. He did a masters in composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and is now in the middle of doing a three-year doctoral level composition project at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. “I think it has given me quite a lot of insight into what we did in the past,” he says before Currie interjects with “Yeah, you don’t want that, insight” and laughs.

I’m keen to understand how they know when a song, or a riff, or just the seed of an idea is for Del Amitri or for something else. “Recently I went away on a wee writing trip on my own with a sort of Del Amitri head on, rather than a Justin Currie solo head on and it’s definitely really different,” says Currie “If you put yourself in the headspace of writing for a specific thing you will write different things. It’s quite odd.”

Harvie goes back to the idea of an identity that has been created. “It’s quite a coherent body of work and that’s kind of how people recognise the identity,” he says. “There is something in there that you can tune back into and refocus. We were probably doing it sort of subconsciously at the time.” Currie agrees, saying “We did try and do something different on every record but, as Iain’s saying, there was a sort of cultural expectation or framework around the band that we probably didn’t go outside of.”

With the tour fast approaching, I ask how they choose a set list from the substantial Del Amitri back catalogue. “It was kind of easy last time because the concept was ‘The A-Z of Us’, so we knew we were going to do at least something from the Chrysalis album and try to cover all bases. We don’t really have a concept this time.” Currie confesses.

“You can’t really get away with leaving certain things out,” Harvie acknowledges. ”And from our perspective, you might think ‘well nobody wants to hear that again’, but that’s not really the case. But that’s going back to that identity thing. Would it be Del Amitri if you didn’t do ‘Kiss This Thing Goodbye’ or ‘Always The Last To Know’ or ‘Roll To Me’ or ‘Nothing Ever Happens’ or ‘Be My Downfall’?”

There’s a bit of nervous laughter as they realise just how close the tour is and that the set list will soon have to be confirmed. “We’re feeling our way into how we make it different from 2014, but it is essentially still the same thing because we’re not selling a new record,” confirms Currie.

“There’s a few wacky ideas going around, but we can’t share them with you yet,” says Harvie, despite my best efforts to get some more detail. “Actually it did cross my mind that we could cover the new Abba song that nobody’s heard yet.” From the raucous laughter that follows his comment, I gather that an Abba medley is off the list.

There are many fans who will be hoping to hear some of their less well-known album tracks and b-sides on this tour. However, Currie is quick to note that they have a varied audience - many people may be coming to see them because they’ve got the greatest hits album or because they saw them once years ago and just fancy seeing them again. “You’ve just got to be aware that you don’t want to be being too specialist,” he says. “Commercial success creates expectations and you need to be really smart to subvert them and get away with it.” Both agree that a venue like Edinburgh Castle would not be the place to try to do that, although there is a hint that the Barrowlands dates may provide the opportunity to do something a bit different.

Despite their achievements, Del Amitri have always maintained they were “never hip”. I’m interested to know if that has helped them to return to the stage. “If you’re never relevant, you can’t suddenly become irrelevant! Yeah, I think that’s absolutely true” Currie agrees. “And also, if you’re not selling yourself on some sort of cutting edge hip thing then age is slightly kinder on you as well, to a certain extent.”

“It sounds an odd thing to say but we did want to make timeless rock and roll,” says Harvie. “What a dreadful cliché, but we were very much in that idiom where it was two guitars, bass and drums. It was a totally classic format. We were deliberately trying to be not of the time. We didn’t perceive it necessarily as being retro or being timeless...I wish I hadn’t used that word, but I think it’s probably the right word.”

Staying true to this format has meant that the band has had to stick to their guns over the years, particularly during the making of ‘Waking Hours’ when there was pressure to go against their ethos and use lots of shiny new production techniques. “It was quite a brave thing to do at the time,” Harvie says. “It does put us in a position now where we can do exactly the same thing and it still sounds right, which isn’t the case if you’d got into that whole 80s production thing.”

While the band has been away there has been plenty of Del Amitri related activity - organised, mostly, by the fanbase. The ‘Pasted Beyond Recognition’ Del Amitri covers album and concert raised thousands of pounds for Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland. Harvie notes that he really enjoyed the concert and “found the whole thing quite touching.”

There is also the forthcoming book ‘These Are Such Perfect Days: The Del Amitri Story’ by Charles Rawlings-Way. “We gave him as many contacts as we could and then electronically introduced him to people that would be relevant, to be part of the story,” says Currie. “I’m really chuffed that he’s done it and it feels like all that information is of no great import and the story is of no great import, but at least it’s all in one place and, having read it, it’s all true”.

“It’s interesting in that he started off with a specific thesis about the band that he thought would make a good book but in the process of talking to everybody that thesis sort of reversed” Currie continues. “I like that. I like that we confounded him.”

Currie also notes that, coincidentally, the ‘Rip It Up’ exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh is also opening on the 22nd June and some Del Amitri memorabilia will feature, including a tartan guitar. “We don’t have a record and we’ve never intended on having a record, but there’s other things happening so it makes you feel like there’s a reason to be doing everything this year,” he says.

To conclude our conversation before the coffee runs dry and the biscuits are just crumbs, I ask the question that I know they will be dreading: what does the future hold for Del Amitri? “We’re trying to write new songs and we’ll see where that goes,” Currie confirms. “I don’t think we ever thought we made a killer album. There was always something slightly wrong with every album, in some cases more than others. There were better songs on albums that didn’t sound as good as other albums that had worse songs on them and that kind of thing. So there’s an opportunity there to try and rectify that, but if we didn’t feel like we were getting close to rectifying that I don’t think we would put anything out.”

“We’ve never had to do anything in a world where people don’t actually buy music!” Harvie exclaims. “But that’s quite interesting because it changes things. In 2002 the change [in the music industry] was perceived as being brutal and negative, but I don’t know if it necessarily has been in the long run. In a sense, we’re kind of feeling our way back into that and seeing if we might be able to do something useful.”

The music industry has changed. The way people consume music has changed. The concept of an album has changed - Harvie calls it a “romantic idea” and “slightly ludicrous” in the current climate. So what does the future hold for Del Amitri beyond the tour? “We’re going to reinvent the music business in our own image in an effort to preserve the identity of Del Amitri,” says Harvie with a playful smile.

A lot may have changed since the band took their extended break, but talking with them today the enthusiasm for playing their music obviously remains and the excitement for the forthcoming tour is clear. Whatever the future may hold, for the time being, Del Amitri are a band very much focussed on the here and now.

(Words: Rhiannon Law)

Del Amitri 2018 UK tour dates

July 20 - Newcastle City Hall July 21 - Edinburgh Castle July 22 - Manchester Apollo July 23 - Birmingham Symphony Hall July 25 - Nottingham Royal Concert Hall July 26 - London Hammersmith Apollo July 28 - Glasgow Barrowlands July 29 - Glasgow Barrowlands

#delamitri #justincurrie #iainharvie #interview

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supershylockfandom-blog · 8 years ago

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The Whirligig of Gender Will Have Its Revenges

Over the course of our trip, I was very vocal (perhaps too vocal) about two things in particular:

1) Twelfth Night is my favorite Shakespearean play (save for the possible exception of Hamlet, but lately the odds have tipped from his favor to Viola’s).

2) I absolutely loathed the Globe production that we attended.

By the end of the play, I was deeply incensed (not to mention a few drinks in)-- so much so that I couldn’t stand to stay for the triumphant finale jig and left early. After that, I called home and ranted to my younger sister until I felt calm again and went back to my flat. To be clear, I have never been so emotional about disliking a theatrical (or cinematic) production of anything to this day. I’ve even seen Twelfth Nights I’ve liked less than the one we saw as a class without being half as disturbed or upset by them. “Why then, did this particular version have such an effect on you?” You are not asking yourself this question, because my opinion is neither here nor there to anyone but myself; I wondered this while half-drunk, actually, and later, once sober again, came upon the answer:

As a preface, I would like to point out that, in the 21st Century, there is no wrong way to interpret Shakespeare, so long as you have a particular vision in mind and follow through on your plans. There are, of course, inadequate methods of performing and staging (for the record, I thought that the blacking and acting we saw was effective and skilled), and some Shakespeareans-- particularly those at The Globe-- are especially staunch about leaning into “original practices,” but theater has evolved so much in the last 400 years that even productions that call themselves traditional Elizabethan stagings are not that (consider the Tim Carroll Twelfth Night: where are the prepubescent boys meant to be playing the Viola, Olivia, and Maria? Why is the blocking so modern?) All that is left is the text and its sparse stage directions. I am aware that my disdain for the Emma Rice production is based mainly upon personal preference. However, I like to believe that my opinions hold enough water to be worth the attention and respect of others.

(Under the cut for length.)

My two favorite things about Twelfth Night are, in order, its inherent queerness and bitterness. Make no mistake, being an Elizabethan comedy, it can just as easily be light, frothy, and straight (as evidenced by what we witnessed last week) and even the darkest versions thereof must make room for fun potty humor and slapstick and heterosexual, cisgendered couplings (as those too, are in the text). Those things, as much as any present queerness or anger, are part of the fun of Twelfth Night, and the former is where most of the comedy comes from. But the genderqueer, non-straight, and angry undercurrents that can be detected in this play (whether placed there by its author knowingly or not) go oft ignored. I am disappointed by this, naturally, but never before have I had it thrown in my face this way by a company so prestigious as the Globe.

I think my central problem with the Rice staging was her Feste.

Yes, I did notice that Feste was portrayed by a very talented and engaging drag queen. No, that did not help. But did it make my experience worse? Absolutely, 100%, yes. Feste is perhaps the pettiest, most resentful character in the text. He cares not for the emotions of others, particularly not that of his Lady Olivia, who’s grief he mocks and belittles (granted, this is his job, and at his kindest, he has been portrayed as genuinely fond of her, but more often than not, he is a punch-clock entertainer, who cares only for the emotions of others as long as they will pay him for what he elicits) in his first appearance, after being absent from her court for an extended period of time.

Feste. Good madonna, why mournest thou? Olivia. Good fool, for my brother's death. Feste. I think his soul is in hell, madonna. Olivia. I know his soul is in heaven, fool. Feste. The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen (5.1. 357-362).

His only real interests throughout the play appeared to be song, logical wordplay (”simple syllogism[s]”), crude jokes (”many a good hanging prevented a bad marriage”), weaseling pocket change away from the rich, and enacting petty revenge. At his best, he’s a puckish partygoer and delightful busker, at his worst, he is apart from all other social groups in the play and cruel to at least the same degree as the bear-baiting merrymakers.

“Earlier, Malvolio had mocked Feste for his dependence on others... But [Feste] also mirrors Malvolio specifically as a dependent in a court and as one the play most clearly shows as a solitary character. He is the one who echoes Malvolio’s words about dependency on approval in shortened form, ‘An you smile not, he’s gagged’ (5.1.363-4), back to him at the end. And after he exults ‘Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges’ (364), Malvolio in turn mirrors him, promising his own revenge” (66 Novy).

Feste is at his most useful when existing as a mirror for other characters-- he contextualizes his lady’s grief with cruel mockery, challenges Viola’s wits and disguise, and most importantly, shows Malvolio the cruelty that he callously doles out. When his dialogue is chopped up into saintly wisdom from a loving goddess in the Heavens, his status as a dynamic character and device is stripped from him. When Feste is robbed of his archetypal trickster-status, it weakens the core themes of the play which are written into the very title (as Twelfth Night and the Feast of Fools were, of course, traditionally a day of opposites, much as Feste the wise fool is a natural mirror and walking contradiction). When he is robbed of his anger towards his social betters (Olivia and Malvolio), this is further weakened.

My qualms with making Feste a benevolent Goddess are based entirely upon the text; my problems with casting said benevolent goddess as a drag queen are two fold. My first is in the broader scope of media representation of drag queens, trans women, and feminine genderqueer persons. Most often, the cinematic and theatrical tradition is to demonize such individuals as lascivious perverts, which is obviously dehumanizing. As well-intended backlash, many younger content creators have thus spun around done the patent opposite by deifying them (this is also, notably, a dichotomy experienced by black women/femmes, be they cisgender, trans, or otherwise gender nonconforming). Deification is in its own way a subtler form of dehumanization. Much like the treatment of so-called virtuous women in the Victorian era, the representation of any group as somehow morally superior or “above” the rest of the rest is restricting. An anti-Semite might do well to wonder: “Hath a Jew not eyes?... If you prick us, do we not bleed?” but any white, cisgendered woman who routinely refers to black women and femme queers as “black goddesses” (which is absolutely a thing, as those of you who frequent tumblr, twitter, pintrest, or instagram most likely know) should be reminded that, just like all people, black queer femmes fart and defecate regularly, and they, like all other members of the human race, run on a sliding scale of morality, wisdom, and grace, depending on the individual. The archetypal example of this “heavenly body” trope is Angel of Rent, being a Latina trans-woman (or gender-fluid person, or drag queen, depending on the interpretation) who is always given the moral high ground, dies a tragically noble death, always has resources to bestow upon the less fortunate, and is literally called “Angel.” Much like Feste, she is the only gender non-conforming femme poc in her cannon, and that, paired with the erasure and demonization of this particular group that has been so common in Western art and media, leaves them as the sole representation of said group to be found in fiction. Each time a character of a group so mishandled as that is brought into play, that character becomes a mouthpiece for the entire population of such individuals that exist in reality. The trope of the black, femme goddess is much kinder than the demonization and willful ignorance of old, but in 2017, we should be beyond this refusal to portray those who exist outside of the white, straight, cis hegemony as anything other than individuals as complex as everyone else in their canon. Anyone who is tempted to bring up the “Sister Topas” scene as a counter-argument is welcome to it, but this derives from a halfhearted attempt to recast Feste as a personification of fate after four acts of being nothing but sage and understanding. It is not deeper characterization, as it is not played as either vengeance or cruelty-- at best, it is a twist of fate personified, at worst, it is whoever doctored the script backing themselves into a character-writing corner by striping Feste of his humanity.

My second challenge to the choice of La Gateau Chocolat as Feste is that her place in the cast is by its very nature misleading. Twelfth Night is well known among Shakespeare fans as one of the (if not the) queerest Shakespearean plays. It is well-known for featuring one of several Shakespearean Antonios, all of whom are noted for their non-explicit homosexual passion (Twelfth Night’s Antonio’s love for Sebastian is second only to the Antonio of Merchant of Venice and his suicidal devotion to Bessanio, and the villainous Antonio of The Tempest finds his match and constant companion in an equally rotten Sebastian.) Also present is the wooing that takes place between two women, and the Duke Orsino’s apparent attraction to one who is “both man and maid,” whom he never ceases to refer to as “boy” or “Cesario,” even after learning “his” true name and gender. Moreover, of all of Shakespeare’s cross-dressing Paige Boys, Viola spends the most time as her male counterpart, who’s name, as we discussed in class, translates roughly to “rebirth” by way of “cesarean section.” I bring these up because each of these characters have been stripped of their queerness systematically. Cesario/Viola is often played as not just a cross-dresser for strategy’s sake but a genderqueer individual in earnest; Olivia’s realization that Sebastian is not his sister has been played as a horrible, sinking realization; Antonio is often left on stage alone to highlight his loss of Sebastian to heterosexual tradition. I am by no means saying that stagings must be this way or that they must reflect this queer undercurrent, and I have liked versions of the play that exemplify few or none of these choices. My problem with Rice’s Twelfth Night is that, not only does it ignore the inherent discomfort that Feste and each of these queer characters experiences when played as such, but she has dressed her staging up as a celebration of queerness and diversity when that diversity only runs skin-deep (at least, in terms of the aforementioned and belabored queerness.)

I have already explained my problems with Rice’s Feste, so I will now move on to two new subjects: Malvolio and Sir Andrew. These characters are blatantly coded as queer in that Malvolio is played by a cross-dressing woman and Andrew is played as camp gay. However, that is as deep as the queer vein in this staging runs. Malvolio is not traditionally a queer character (although he is often the subject of “genderbending” to varying degrees of success), nor is he played as queer on stage. He is only branded as such due to being played by a woman, despite being played as a man. Andrew’s status is particularly egregious, as-- in being both comically stupid and violently mean-- he is the most difficult to sympathize with of any character; he has no compelling emotional core written into the text, nor is any planted into Marc Antolin’s portrayal of him. He is also a wooer of Olivia’s and, as far as the text and blocking is concerned, more “metrosexual” than homosexual in earnest. What this does is play all stereotypically gay mannerisms (those that he possesses which Antonio, Sebastian, and even the preening Duke evade whether they are played as queer men or not) for laughs and nothing else. “It’s funny,” the audience says, “because he’s in a pink sweater and he’s got a funny lisp.” Meanwhile, Olivia never notices her very real attraction towards another woman, the Duke Orsino’s sexual identity crisis is just barely hinted at, and most questionable of all, Antonio is played as a father figure to Sebastian. Lawman’s Antonio’s body language is neutral and distant, not half as wracked with passions as his lines:“If you will not murder me for my love//Let me be your servant” (1.2.642-3) and “ I could not stay behind you: my desire//More sharp than filed steel, did spur me forth” (3.3.1492-3).

In conclusion: Rice’s staging of Twelfth Night may be good for a laugh, but it robs the text of its philosophical weight, its bitterness, and its genuine queer discomfort, thus replacing these things with a light gloss of queer acceptance by playing “We Are Family” at the beginning and giving Sir Andrew a pencil mustache. I am not upset that Rice’s staging was not queer or angry enough for my liking; I am upset because her staging insisted (whether she wanted it to or not) that a wave of sequins and a disco chorus should be queer enough for me, and I ought to stop being so angry all the time and accept what I’ve been given.

SOURCES:

Novy, Marianne. “Outsiders and the Festive Community in Twelfth Night.” Shakespeare & Outsiders. Oxford University Press, 2013.

Shakespeare, William. "Twelfth Night, or What You Will." Open Source Shakespeare. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2017.

#twelfth night #the globe #twelfth night or what you most definitely won't

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aurelliocheek · 5 years ago

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The Sound of Hunt Showdown

Hunt: Showdown won the award for best sound at the German Developer Award 2018. We spoke to Audio Director Florian Füsslin about his team’s work on Crytek’s visually and acoustically impressive first-person shooter.

Hunt: Showdown is Crytek’s competitive first-person PvP bounty hunting game with strong PvE elements. Set in the darkest corners of the world, it packs the thrill of survival games into a match-based format. Built on CRYENGINE, the game was recently awarded Best Graphics at the German Developer Awards, but Hunt: Showdown has also been recognized for its sound design. We caught up with Audio Director Florian Füsslin to find out more about how the team approaches the task of creating a genuinely tense audio experience.

Making Games: How does it feel for Hunt: Showdown to win “Best Audio” at the German Developer Awards? Florian Füsslin: Great! I was surprised when we were nominated, and even more when we actually won. Maybe I was surprised because audio is rarely mentioned in reviews, outside of the music or when outstanding acting receives individual attention. Usually not reading or hearing about audio in a review means that the audio was just right and supported the whole game experience, which tells us we did a fantastic job!

Making Games: How did you get into game audio? What was your journey to Audio Director? Florian Füsslin: Initially, my focus was more on music. I had spent more than 10 years playing drums and piano, as well as recording and producing various bands. While I was studying audio engineering, I was looking for an internship to widen my experience. When Crytek replied to my application positively, it was an excellent opportunity to combine my audio expertise with my near lifelong passion for gaming. I entered the gaming industry 13 years ago as Audio Intern and went through all the career steps up to Audio Director. It would not have been possible without great mentors, colleagues, and friends. I had the pleasure to work with Audio Directors who are industry-leading audio experts with over 20 years of experience, Audio Engineers who helped me to understand the technical side of things, and great colleagues who never tired of pushing the boundaries to take audio in games to the next level as a group.

Making Games: What are you responsible for in your role as Audio Director? Florian Füsslin: I am responsible for everything related to audio design at Crytek. We have a great team, and together we support three main pillars. First, supporting CRYENGINE technology with pipeline improvements, tutorials, and documentation. Secondly, we assist with marketing requirements such as trailers, streams, and development diaries. Last, but not least creating sound effects, music, and dialog for our games, such as Hunt: Showdown.

Making Games: How do you approach the design of audio in general? Florian Füsslin: You perceive audio as one experience, and there is only one mix coming out of your speakers or headphones. To achieve this, we combine three layers which are feedback, immersion, and emotion. Feedback describes the acoustic information we give the player. Where is it? What is it? Is it relevant? Immersion means an accurate and believable representation of the game world. If I am a Hunter in the Victorian Era in the Louisiana Swamp chasing a monster, it must sound like I am really there! Emotion is the enhancing of sound to create a special feeling. The player‘s weapon needs to sound powerful, while the same weapon for the enemies needs to sound dangerous. To be able to handle the workload of a production we usually split it into three pillars: sound effects, music, and dialog. During development, we go through various phases. When we are in pre-production, we build sound libraries and design small audio plays to experiment with different parts of the game. During this phase, we lay the technical foundations for how we want to structure the project. That means ensuring multiple people can work simultaneously, and we can handle hundreds of audio triggers and parameters, and easily more than twenty thousand assets. We usually end pre-production when we have built at least one rough prototype of all the core features, like the game world environment and player actions like movement, gunfire or physic interactions. Once we have a working prototype, we build the actual content. That means populating the game world and beginning to fine tune the real-time parameters like attenuation, time of day, player speed, player health, and more. The goal is to have everything designed, implemented, and working by the end of the production cycle so we can enter our final phase: post-production. During this phase, we focus on the final mix of the game in addition to fixing smaller bugs and polishing assets.

Firing a weapon in Hunt: Showdown can be heard across the whole map and therefore reveals your position to other players.

Making Games: What mistakes do you see most commonly made in audio by new audio dev teams? Florian Füsslin: Underestimating the task ahead. Making games, and especially audio, is a very complex task. It requires proper planning, a creative mindset, technical excellence, teamwork between different disciplines, and constant iteration on the results. As your experience grows, you can sharpen your focus towards what is essential and required for each stage of production. You’ll develop a calmer attitude towards change too. I’m glad we had so many veterans here at Crytek when I started in the industry!

Making Games: What was the aesthetic that you wanted to create for Hunt: Showdown? Florian Füsslin: Looking at the game concept, we felt that Hunt has three strong pillars: realism, decay, and the supernatural. Realism comes from the equipment and weapons of the Victorian Era and the region of the Louisiana Bayou. We want you to feel the grittiness of operating a weapon and the heat of the swamp. Decay represents the gruesome and twisted inhabitants of the world. It is a rotten place where terrible things have happened. Supernatural stands for the myth around the world we are creating, the banishing of monsters to the other realm and the dark sight.

Making Games: How did you go about designing the audio experience for the player? Florian Füsslin: We started by looking at elements from familiar genres, mainly horror, and experimented with different ways to make the player scared! The usual approach is to play audio which is hyper-realistic but only happening in the player‘s head or location. While this was quite successful in a small linear scenario like a house, we realized that this wouldn’t work in a cooperative, open-world sandbox environment. We shifted away from this scary “fake” audio to take the approach that every sound needs an origin in the game world. Our designers loved the idea and were super-helpful in coming up with loads of different audio features. For instance, we have dog cages which can be triggered by the player, or we have flocks of crows which fly off if you get too close. Then there are sound traps like glass shards, hanging chains, and cans you can bump into as well as pianos, gramophones, squeaky doors and generators you can activate. We were impressed by how much tension it can cause if you sneak through a barn when there is nothing but the wind, and then suddenly you step on glass shards. It‘s a similar feeling when you hear a distant gunshot, reminding you that you are not alone out there…

Making Games: What challenges does interactivity bring to audio design? Florian Füsslin: It is an entirely different mindset. In linear audio design, you are thinking in scenes. Everything is pre-determined, so it plays out exactly the same way every single time, which makes it very easy to create drama, tension, and emotion. You only have to create sound for the things you want, you can place music, so it perfectly ramps up to the emotional moment, and you can mix the piece to precisely what you want to achieve. For example, let’s say there is an ambush of two hunters who are waiting for another team. You would probably start with just the wind. Then the other hunters approach. You hear their steps, maybe they talk. Then the ambushing team would get ready, quietly loading their weapons while the music starts to build. The enemy team hears the weapons being loaded and they suddenly realize the situation and draw their weapons, but they are shot before they can react. The gunshot would ring out for a long time, and the wind would take over again. In interactive media, there is constant change and input which rarely follows your direction of drama. Therefore, you need to think about audio sources which will create your scene in real-time. The number of assets, conditions, and events can vary based on the development time, budget and requirements such as genre, style, and platform. Hunt, for example, has more than 13,000 individual sound files, grouped into more than 2000 audio triggers supporting over 80 conditions and events.

There are many audio traps spread across the map. Audio traps are sources that will make noise if the player doesn’t threat carefully and might reveal their position to potential enemies. Pictured are ducks in the water who will take off quacking and flapping if you come too close.

Making Games: What is the concept of thinking in sources when it comes to audio design? Florian Füsslin: It means you always have to consider that every sound is equally important, as it might be the only sound playing at that particular moment. Each sound could also trigger more than once in that scene, so you need to avoid repetition. You also need a lot more sound sources because we don’t know where the players might be, as even the same scenario can play out differently every time. Let’s take our ambush scenario again. You start again with the wind. The other team approaches. You hear their footsteps, and suddenly the enemy team throws a stick of dynamite killing the ambushing team with one big boom. Another playthrough of the same scene could see the enemy team run away. The unpredictable nature of player agency, and what we have to do to ensure a consistently impactful sound design in a world where we don‘t have control, would freak out pretty much every movie director!

Making Games: Hunt uses object-based creation for audio. What’s the process there? Florian Füsslin: Object-based creation means populating the game world with sounds where they are actually happening. So, the footsteps of our hunters are coming from their feet, the tree leaves are rustling from the treetops, and the river emits sound from its ravines. It‘s all accurate. All of these emitters change their volume and position in relation to the player in real-time. The closer I get to the river, the louder it gets. If I am standing in front of it and turn to the left, the river will be louder in my right ear. The scene basically mixes itself in real-time. We also want to influence the game world based on predefined conditions. The tree should rustle louder based on the amount of wind. The river should sound different depending on the time of the year. My footsteps should sound heavier when I am low on health. The game continually outputs these conditions, which we can use in the form of parameters. We can use the parameter “wind_intensity” to drive the rustling of our tree, the parameter “seasons” to alter our existing river sound, or play a completely different sound when it is winter. If my “health” is below a certain threshold, my footsteps will have more bass and sound louder.

Making Games: What workflow did the audio team adopt for Hunt Showdown? Florian Füsslin: We are using the latest version of CRYENGINE in combination with the audio middleware Wwise. We input all the triggers and parameters from the engine and game world into the audio middleware so we can quickly iterate, adapt, and change the audio design in real-time. The beauty of this is that once you have established a condition or parameter, every sound can theoretically use it to alter its behavior. So “time_of_day” can change the sound of the ambiance but could also influence how loudly you move through vegetation. The same applies to audio triggers. Once connected, you don’t need to touch it anymore as all the changes from there on are done within the audio middleware.

Making Games: How do you use CRYENGINE to populate scenes with audio in the editor? Florian Füsslin: CRYENGINE offers various audio tools to populate the game world. Features range from area shapes to mark where a river is, to audio trigger spots to make a tree rustle. We have animation effects that allow animations to play your footsteps synchronously to particle effects which animate a campfire sound. As the engine and game triggers/parameters are all available in the AudioControlsEditor, the audio team is flexible in choosing which audio middleware to connect. You can technically switch the audio middleware in runtime, which means you can switch between Wwise, Fmod Studio, and SDL Mixer.

Hunt: Showdown features a variety of tools and equipment, such as firebombs or dynamites, to deal with the enemy inhabitants of the Louisiana Bayou, such as the Hive; a monster which hosts a colony of bees inside its body to attack from a distance.

Making Games: CRYENGINE has been pouring resources into learning materials. Where would you advise people to start if they want to expand their audio skills and see what CRYENGINE can do from an audio perspective? Florian Füsslin: CRYENGINE and all our supported audio middlewares are free to download and use. All of them have plenty of YouTube tutorials, full documentation, and example projects which make your first steps into this world very easy. Also, the forums and communities associated with both CRYENGINE and those middlewares are very helpful and happy to share best practice, tips, and tricks. Definitely check out CRYENGINE’s Discord channel. Don‘t hesitate to play around with the tools, join the communities, ask for advice, and get familiar with interactive audio. We are also currently working on a showcase level for CRYENGINE which shows you step-by-step how to implement audio into a game world, from level implementation over particles up to animation. It will be available on the CRYENGINE Marketplace soon, including all required assets and documentation. Whether you use CRYENGINE or not, we think it will be a useful guide for anyone who wants to maximize the impact of audio in their game. I will never forget that I started in the industry as a complete newbie, and even after all these years of making original games, audio remains a challenge. However, there is no greater satisfaction than succeeding and bringing your idea to life, seeing other people enjoying your product and using the technology to build their own gaming experiences. Whether you want to explore audio as a career path, want to gain an understanding of what audio can do for your game from an associated discipline, or even if you’re a solo dev wanting to maximize the impact of your title, it’s worth checking out the available learning materials and just having a play around.

Before joining Crytek in 2006, Florian Füsslin had a ten year music background. At Crytek he has contributed to the audio pipeline of CRYENGINE, and shipped all major Crytek titles including the Crysis Franchise, Ryse: Son of Rome, the VR titles, and the Early Access title Hunt: Showdown. He is leading the Audio team in the role of an Audio Director as well as teaching Game Audio at the Hochschule Darmstadt (h_da) and School of Audio Engineering in Frankfurt (SAE).

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The Sound of Hunt Showdown published first on https://leolarsonblog.tumblr.com/

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dippedanddripped · 5 years ago

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A billionaire walks into a vintage clothing showroom. Usually this space, tucked down an unassuming avenue in Paris’ chic 16th arrondissement, is off limits to the general public, but being a part of the global 0.001 per cent opens doors that would otherwise remain closed.

“He was a friend of a friend so I agreed,” says Gauthier Borsarello, a former classical musician and the owner of the showroom. A smooth-headed and smoother-mannered 30-year-old Parisian, Borsarello’s name alone feels tailor-made for a collector and purveyor of rare and exquisite vintage clothing. Jackets from WWII, Fifties collegiate sweatshirts and Levi’s 501s line the walls and shelves. There’s an original Abercrombie & Fitch hunting jacket the brand desperately wants to buy for its archive, but Borsarello can’t — won’t — part with it.

“He [the aformentioned billionaire] showed me his credit card,” Borsarello adds, “and said, ‘With this I can buy anything in the world, but what I’m looking for is an experience, something that not just anyone can get’. Guys like him are looking for something that is really exclusive. That’s why I think people are interested in vintage. This kind of clientele is growing and growing.”

Borsarello opened his showroom in 2016 and, unless you’re a billionaire yourself, access is reserved strictly for designers and fashion insiders. His clothes are bought or rented by brands and used as inspiration and reference for collections that will hit the shelves two or three years from now. “Designers come to see something they’ve never seen before: a patch, a button, a piece of fabric,” he says.

Part of a young, dynamic and multi-hyphenated group of second-hand aficionados who combine new-school social media fluency with old-fashioned, on-the-ground scouring ability, Borsarello also owns Le Vif — a vintage store which is open to the general public — across the road from his eponymous showroom. He is also the creative director of retro-inspired label Holiday Boileau and editor-in-chief of L’Etiquette magazine. He posts regular updates of his best finds and vintage “inspo” to his 32,200 Instagram followers. “Instagram made my business really,” he says. Via WhatsApp he connects with a global network of “pickers”, people who trawl through warehouses of vintage clothing, on the hunt for the kind of rare and interesting pieces that clients like Borsarello will part with big money to acquire.

“In the past, people would go to their tailor and have two suits made for the year,” Borsarello says. “Ten shirts, a coat, a couple of pairs of shoes and that was it. I think people are coming back to this way of thinking and consuming, whether they’re buying new or vintage. I think, to be honest, people are tired of all the shit out there.”

The statistics support this claim. According to a joint report by fashion platform ThredUp and analytics firm GlobalData, the resale market has grown 21 times faster than apparel retail over the last three years, and the global secondhand clothing industry is set to be 50 per cent larger than the fast fashion sector within 10 years. By 2028, it’s predicted to be a £50bn entity. On average, consumers own 28 fewer items than they did two years ago. H&M is rushing to join in; the Swedish company recently piloted a “vintage” programme that will allow the re-sale of secondhand garments on its websites.

Farfetch, the £4.6bn-valued e-commerce platform, already has a pre-owned section where it works with vintage boutiques around the world. “I think our customers recognise that these are pieces that don’t really exist anymore, and that they can’t find anywhere else,” says the website’s deputy editor, Rob Nowill. “We’ve seen an incredible reaction to it.”

“Secondhand shopping has recently become quite popular among millennials,” adds Morgane Le Caer, a reporter at Lyst, a fashion search engine that saw a 329 per cent increase in traffic to luxury re-sale products last year. “The thrill of finding something special hidden among hundreds of other pieces is inspiring people to give vintage clothes a second chance.”

Not just clothes: StockX, the trainers and streetwear re-sale marketplace launched in 2016, was in an April funding round which would value it in excess of $1bn (it claims more than $2m a day in gross sales). Cool-hunting men and women are equally likely to shop online at Vestiaire Collective, the Paris-based “authenticated pre-owned luxury fashion” retailer, as they are at Net-a-Porter or Matches Fashion.

Those who still associate vintage clothing with pokey thrift stores, empty charity shops and church hall jumble sales might do well to check out the website of Grailed, a New York-based start-up that launched in 2015 and now boasts 3.2m registered users and a team of 50. It is, according to brand director Lawrence Schlossman, a “men’s fashion community marketplace”. Basically, whatever your personal “grail” (streetwear parlance for a dream item of clothing) chances are someone on Grailed is selling it… for a price. Last year, news broke of a Raf Simons “Riot” camo bomber jacket from the Belgian designer’s autumn/winter 2001 collection selling for $47,000 (£37,000), a site record.

With 440,000 followers on Instagram, Grailed also has an influence on what is and isn’t hot in the online world of men’s streetwear and fashion. Its memes and original content have contributed to the proliferation of recent, wide-spreading trends and talking points such as Patagonia fleeces, Blundstone work boots, teens’ obsession with archival Helmut Lang, tie-dye and a rising US interest in Stone Island.

“Not to fire any shots,” says Schlossman, “but think of eBay. Yes, I can buy a vintage T-shirt and a new pair of Balenciaga sneakers that have sold out, but I can also buy a washing machine — eBay wants to be, and is, everything to everyone regardless of what you’re looking for. We take pride in being laser- specific to men’s clothing.

“When we launched, there was a pervasive idea that ‘vintage’ or ‘used’ had negative connotations,” says Schlossman. “The idea that someone is trying to sell an old, shitty thing they don’t care about or have any need for. I think there’s a whole generation realising authenticity is important, and I think they relish the opportunity to tell people, ‘I’ve been looking for this thing for a year and I found it!’ That’s an important signifier that shows you really care and have great taste, rather than walking into a generic fast fashion outlet and buying their version of whatever a trendy pant is.”

Emily Bode (pictured) has found success re-purposing vintage fabrics into one-of-a-kind clothing

Where once “box fresh” was a vital component of a purchase, today having an item with signs of wear is a key element of cool. Brands like Bode, started by New York designer Emily Bode, are testament to that. She takes dead-stock cloth, old and rare fabrics, and reimagines them as beautiful work jackets or hand-embroidered trousers. Something that began life as a quilt or a curtain is transformed into a one-off item. Brand new is retro: retro is brand new. Kids that are two generations too young to have heard the band play live in its heyday are now obsessed with The Grateful Dead’s merchandise: the wild tie-dyed T-shirts are mysterious and appealing. Some luxury trainers, such as those by Gucci, come “pre-worn” for your aesthetic convenience.

The entrance to Cassie Mercantile, the by appointment only vintage experts whose clothes have inspired some of the biggest brands in the world

On a heavy spring day in Holland Park, I find the hidden entrance to Cassie Mercantile. A gate leads into a garden with the kind of greenery that is rare — and comes at a premium — in London. Leaves hang low and birds sing freely. If this was an episode of Grand Designs, Kevin McCloud might describe it as an “urban sanctuary”.

Gauthier Borsarello told me about Graham Cassie, speaking his name in hushed tones when we talked on the phone. “He’s someone I really admire. I would like to be like him,” he said. “He has something like 600 Instagram followers [it’s actually 1,176], but he’s a legend in the industry and his showroom is amazing.”

Cassie, 59, wears strong black glasses and his beanie like a Brooklyn barista, his Scottish accent worn down by decades in London. He’s been in vintage his whole life, having owned a shop, Eat Your Heart Out, on the King’s Road in the Eighties. “I don’t want to deal with the general public anymore,” he says with a chuckle. Cassie Mercantile opened here 16 years ago. He was, he claims, the first to open a vintage showroom (designers only) in Europe. “If I showed you my client list, the brands I work with, you’d say, ‘Woah!’” he says without pretence. They are indeed woah.

In one photo on his Instagram feed, Cassie poses next to David Beckham, in another with Kanye West. He’s not sure how West found him. “People seem to hear about me,” he says. “He was very nice, though, very thorough. He came in with just one other person and is the first and only client to go through every single item of clothing we have. You can see why he’s so successful, the attention to detail was obvious.”

What immediately stands out is how modern everything feels despite, in many cases, some items being more than a century old. Bucket hats, printed open-collar shirts, bright and battered Nike running shoes, and stacks of Victorian rugby jerseys, Thirties T-shirts and slouchy Vivienne Westwood knitwear from her punk era. The new wave of colourful sportswear and prep could well have been born from this little showroom. Undoubtedly some was.

Finlay Renwick

“I like to think we’re a fashion forecasting company more than a vintage clothes company,” Cassie says. “I’ve always loved the mix of fashion and vintage with a modern outlook. Often there’s this anorak mentality in the vintage business, people love to be able to quote what number a military jacket is or the year it was made. I’ll always remember Ralph Lauren saying, ‘I don’t care what number the jacket is — is it a cool jacket?’ That’s always been my philosophy.”

#menswear blog #vintage #vintage fashion #vintage menswear

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personalcoachingcenter · 6 years ago

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The Beautiful Truths About Being a Highly Sensitive Human

New Post has been published on https://personalcoachingcenter.com/the-beautiful-truths-about-being-a-highly-sensitive-human/

The Beautiful Truths About Being a Highly Sensitive Human

Being intense and sensitive—seeing the world through different eyes and feeling the world on a distinctive wavelength—does not lay an easy path.

You are most likely a deep thinker, an intuitive feeler, and an extraordinary observer. You are prone to existential depression and anxiety, but you also know beauty and rapture. When art or music moves you, you are flooded with waves of joy and ecstasy. As a natural empathiser, you have a gift; yet you are also overwhelmed by the constant waves of social nuances and others’ psychic energies.

You might have spent your whole life trying to fit in with the cultural “shoulds” and “musts In school, you wanted to be in the clique, but you were unable to make small talks or have shallow relationships.

At work, you want the authorities to recognise you, but your soul does not compromise on depth, authenticity and connections.

You feel hurt for being the black sheep in the family, but your success is not recognised in a conventional way.

In these following paragraphs, I want to remind you how precious your unique life path is. Rather than pretending to be who you are not, you only do yourself and the world justice by celebrating your sensitivity and intensity.

(Please click here for a full definition of what it means to be emotionally intense and sensitive)

SENSITIVITY AS A FORM OF BRAIN DIFFERENCE

Emotional sensitivity is a brain difference—an innate trait that makes one different from the normative way of functioning.

While the mass media and medical professionals are eager to use labels to diagnose people with a way of being that is different from the norm, findings in neuroscience are going in the opposite direction. More and more, the scientific community acknowledges “neurodiversity”—the biological reality that we are all wired differently. Rather than being an inconvenience to be eliminated, neurodiversity is an evolutionary advantage, something that is essential if we were to flourish as a species.

Like many brain differences, it is misunderstood. As people naturally reject what they do not understand, the emotionally sensitive ones are being pushed to the margin. Those who feel more, and seem to have a mind that operates outside of society’s norm are often outcasted. In the Victorian era, women who appeared emotional were given the humiliating label of “hysteria.” Even today, emotional people tend to be looked down upon, and sometimes criticised and shunned.

The stigma attached to sensitivity is made worse by trends in the mass media. In 2014, author Bret Easton Ellis branded Millennials as narcissistic, over-sensitive and sheltered; from there, the disparaging term “generation snowflake” went viral. The right-wing media ran with the insult. Last year, a Daily Mail article described young people as “a fragile, thin-skinned younger generation.” This notion is not only unfounded but also unjust and damaging.

The sensitive male is also misjudged and marginalised. Under the ”boys don’t cry!” macho culture, those who feel more are called “weak” or “sissies,” with little acknowledgement of their unique strengths. Many sensitive boys and men live lives of quiet suffering and have opted to numb their emotional pain of not fitting the male ideal with alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, or other addictions.

Being sensitive and intense is not an illness—in fact, it often points to intelligence, talents or creativity. However, after years of being misdiagnosed by health professionals, criticised by schools or workplace authority, and misunderstood by even those who are close to them, many sensitive people start to believe there is something wrong with them. Ironically, low self-esteem and loneliness make them more susceptible to having an actual mental disorder.

SOME OF US ARE BORN SENSITIVE

Since the 1990s, various scientific frameworks have emerged to explain our differences in sensitivity. Some of the most prominent being sensory processing sensitivity, “differential susceptibility theory,” and “biological sensitivity to context” (Lionetti et al., 2018).

From birth, we differ in our neurological makeup. Each baby has their style based on how well they react to external stimuli and how they organises sensation. Medical professionals use tools like the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) to measure such differences.

Harvard developmental psychologist Jerome Kagan was amongst the first scholars to examine sensitivity as a brain difference. In Kagan’s studies of infants, he found that a group of infants are more aroused and distressed by novel stimuli—a stranger coming into the room, a noxious smell. To these cautious infants, any new situation is a potential threat.

On closer examination, sensitive infants have different biochemical reactions when exposed to stress. Their system secrets higher levels of norepinephrine (our brain’s version of adrenaline) and stress hormones like cortisol. In other words, they have a fear system that is more active than most.

Since the regions of the brain that receive signals for potential threats are extra reactive, these children are not geared to process a wide range of sensations at a single moment. Even as adults, they are more vulnerable to stress-related disease, chronic pain and fatigue, migraine headaches, and environmental stimuli ranging from smell, sight, sound to electromagnetic influences.

In 1995, Elaine Aron published her book Highly Sensitive People, bringing the idea into the mainstream. Aron defines high sensitivity as a distinct personality trait that affects as many as 15-20 percent of the population—too many to be a disorder, but not enough to be well understood by the majority.

Here are a set of HSP traits in Aron’s original conception:

Noticing sounds, sensations and smells that others miss (e.g. clock ticking, the humming noise from a refrigerator, uncomfortable clothing)

Feeling moved on a visceral level by things like art, music and performance, or nature

“Pick up” others moods or have them affect you more than most

Being sensitive to pain or other physical sensations

A quiet environment is essential to you

Feel uneasy or overwhelmed in a busy and crowded environment

Sensitivity to caffeine

Startle/ blush easily

Dramatic impact on your mood

Having food sensitivities, allergies, asthma

THE ORCHIDS AND THE DANDELIONS

But does being born sensitive destine one to lifelong unhappiness and turmoil? To answer this question, Thomas Boyce, M.D., founded the “Orchid and Dandelion” theory.

Combining years of experience as a paediatrician, and results from empirical studies, Dr. Boyce and his team found that most children, approximately 80 percent of the population, are like dandelions—they can survive almost every environmental circumstances. The remaining 20 percent are like orchids; they are exquisitely sensitive to their environment and vulnerable under conditions of adversity. This theory explains why siblings brought up in the same family might respond differently to family stress. While orchid children are affected by even the most subtle differences in their parents’ feelings and behaviours, dandelion children are unperturbed.

But sensitivity does not equal vulnerability. Many of Dr. Boyce’s orchid children patients have grown up to become eminent adults, magnificent parents, intelligent and generous citizens of the world. As it turns out; sensitive children respond to not just the negative but also the positive. Their receptivity to the environment can also bring a reversal of fortune.

Orchid children’s receptivity applies to not just physical sensations, but also relational experiences such as warmth or indifference. In critical, undermining setting, they may devolve into despair, but in a supportive and nurturing environment, they thrive even further more than the dandelions.

The Orchid and Dandelion theory holds a provocative view of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most challenges also underlie the most remarkable qualities. Sensitivity is like a “highly leveraged evolutionary bets” that carry both high risks and potential rewards (Dobbs, 2009). The very sensitive children that suffer in a precarious childhood environment are the same children most likely to flourish and prosper. They may be more prone to upsets and physical sensitivities, but they also possess the most capacity to be unusually vital, creative, and successful.

In other words, the sensitive ones are not born “vulnerable”; they are simply more responsive to their surrounding system. With the right kind of knowledge, support and nurture—even if this means replenishing what one did not get in childhood in adulthood—they can thrive like no others.

THRIVING IN A NEW WORLD

Our world is changing. Qualities such as sensitivity, empathy, high perceptiveness—what the sensitive person excel at, are needed and celebrated.

In Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future, he pointed out that our society has arrived at a point in which systematisation, computerisation, and automation are giving way to new skills such as intuition, creativity, and empathy. For more than 100 years, the sequential, linear, and logical were praised. As we move towards a different economic era, the world’s leaders will need to be creators and empathisers. As Pink quoted: “I say, ‘Get me some poets as managers.’ Poets are our original systems thinkers. They contemplate the world in which we live and feel obligated to interpret and give expression to it in a way that makes the reader understand how that world runs. Poets, those unheralded systems thinkers, are our true digital thinkers. It is from their midst that I believe we will draw tomorrow’s new business leaders.”

It is clear that humanity is calling for a different way of being, and a redefinition of power. In today’s world, people yearn to be led by empathy, rather than force. Even in the most ego-driven corporate space, we hear people saying things like “trust your gut instinct,” “follow your intuition,” or “watch the energy in the room.” Sensitivity, emotional intensity, deep empathy—what were previously thought as weaknesses—are now much-valued qualities that make you stand out.

We are in a time where the previously highly sensitive and empathic misfits rise to become the leaders. Therefore, embracing your gift of sensitivity is not just something you do for yourself, but also those around you. If you can summon the courage to stand out as a sensitive leader, you set a solid example for all others like you. The more you can free yourself from the childlike need to trade “fitting in” for authenticity, the more you can channel your gifts and serve the world.

TRUE BELONGING

For years, you have desperately wanted to “fit in.”

But at times, you hear a tiny whispering voice that champions the truth. It asks:

What if what your inner self needs is to be allowed just to be you, even when it means not fitting in the crowd?

What if what your soul is destined to be different, like many rebels, the artists, and visionaries in history?

What if like all the honourable trailblazers and truth tellers, your seat in this world is indeed on the fringe?

Coming to terms with your authentic place in the world might mean accepting the reality that you will never “fit in” the conventional way.

This is not immediately easy.

After all, you want to belong, to be part of a tribe, to feel like a wider part of humanity.

But once you have released the old idea of what “fitting in” meant, you could make room for a new meaning of belongingness.

In true belongingness, fitting in means something different.

It means you have made a home for yourself.

It means you have committed never to reject yourself, even when the world says otherwise.

It means you have asserted your boundaries, and you honour only the opinions of those who have earned your respect.

It means you drop the task of peacemaking and align with the mission of truth-telling.

It means you stop buying membership with the cost of your true self, but instead create membership by making your mark in the world.

With the courageous acceptance of your authentic place in the world comes both beauty and terror, excitement and fear.

See if you can embrace both, but keep your eyes on the prize.

Soon, your courage will bring you what your deepest self have longed a lifetime for—a true sense of belonging.

(Original Post)

Source, N;

#Coaching from around the web

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