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1962dude420-blog · 3 years

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Today we remember the passing of James Garner who Died: July 19, 2014 in Los Angeles, California

Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928 in Denver, Oklahoma (now a part of Norman, Oklahoma). His parents were Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a widower, and Mildred Scott (Meek), who died five years after his birth. His older brothers were Jack Garner (1926–2011) and Charles Bumgarner (1924-1984), a school administrator. His family was Methodist. After their mother's death, Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives. Garner was reunited with his family in 1934, when Weldon remarried.

Garner's father remarried several times. Garner came to hate one of his stepmothers, Wilma, who beat all three boys (especially him). He said that his stepmother also punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in public. When he was 14 years old, he fought with her, knocking her down and choking her to keep her from killing him in retaliation. She left the family and never returned. His brother Jack later commented, "She was a damn no-good woman". Garner's last stepmother was Grace, whom he said he loved and called "Mama Grace", and felt that she was more of a mother to him than anyone else had been.

After the war, Garner joined his father in Los Angeles and enrolled at Hollywood High School, where he was voted the most popular student. A high school gym teacher recommended him for a job modeling Jantzen bathing suits. It paid well ($25 an hour), but in his first interview for the Archives of American Television, he said he hated modeling; he soon quit and returned to Norman. He played football and basketball at Norman High School, and competed on the track and golf teams. However, he dropped out in his senior year. In a 1976 Good Housekeeping magazine interview, he admitted, "I was a terrible student and I never actually graduated from high school, but I got my diploma in the Army."

Shortly after his father's marriage to Wilma broke up, his father moved to Los Angeles, leaving Garner and his brothers in Norman. After working at several jobs he disliked, Garner worked as a merchant mariner in the United States Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end of World War II. He liked the work and his shipmates, but he suffered from chronic seasickness.

Garner enlisted in the California Army National Guard, serving his first 7 months in California. He then went to Korea for 14 months, as a rifleman in the 5th Regimental Combat Team during the Korean War, then part of the 24th Infantry Division. He was wounded twice, first in the face and hand by shrapnel from a mortar round, and the second time in the buttocks from friendly fire from U.S. fighter jets as he dived into a foxhole. Garner received the Purple Heart in Korea for the first wound. He qualified for a second Purple Heart (eligibility requirement: "As the result of friendly fire while actively engaging the enemy"), but he did not actually receive it until 1983, 32 years after the event.

In 1954, Paul Gregory, a friend whom Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded Garner to take a nonspeaking role in the Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, where he was able to study Henry Fonda night after night. During the week of Garner's death, TCM broadcast most of his movies, introduced by Robert Osborne, who said that Fonda's gentle, sincere persona rubbed off on Garner, greatly to Garner's benefit.

Garner subsequently moved to television commercials and eventually to television roles. In 1955, Garner was considered for the lead role in the Western series Cheyenne, but that role went to Clint Walker because the casting director could not reach Garner in time (according to Garner's autobiography). Garner wound up playing an Army officer in the 1955 Cheyenne pilot titled "Mountain Fortress." His first film appearances were in The Girl He Left Behind and Toward the Unknown in 1956.

In 1957, he had a supporting role in the TV anthology series episode on Conflict entitled "Man from 1997," portraying Maureen (Gloria Talbott)'s brother "Red"; the show stars Jacques Sernas as Johnny Vlakos and Charlie Ruggles as elderly Mr. Boyne, a librarian from 1997, and involved a 1997 Almanac that was mistakenly left in the past by Boyne and found by Johnny in a bookstore. The series' producer Roy Huggins noted in his Archive of American Television interview that he subsequently cast Garner as the lead in Maverick due to his comedic facial expressions while playing scenes in "Man from 1997" that were not originally written to be comical. He changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner after the studio had credited him as "James Garner" without permission. He then legally changed it upon the birth of his first child, when he decided she had too many names.

Nominated for 15 Emmy Awards during his television career, Garner received the award in 1977 as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (The Rockford Files) and in 1987 as executive producer of Promise. For his contribution to the film and television industry, Garner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1990, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was also inducted into the Television Hall of Fame that same year. In February 2005, he received the Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role that year, for The Notebook. When Morgan Freeman won that prize for his work in Million Dollar Baby, Freeman led the audience in a sing-along of the original Maverick theme song, written by David Buttolph and Paul Francis Webster.

Garner was a strong Democratic Party supporter. From 1982, Garner gave at least $29,000 to Federal campaigns, of which over $24,000 was to Democratic Party candidates, including Dennis Kucinich (for Congress in 2002), Dick Gephardt, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, and various Democratic committees and groups.

On August 28, 1963, Garner was one of several celebrities to join Martin Luther King Jr. in the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom". In his autobiography, Garner recalled sitting in the third row listening to King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

For his role in the 1985 CBS miniseries Space, the character's party affiliation was changed from Republican as in the book to reflect Garner's personal views. Garner said, "My wife would leave me if I played a Republican."

There was an effort by California Democratic party leaders, led by state Senator Herschel Rosenthal, to persuade Garner to seek the Democratic nomination for Governor of California in the 1990 election. However, future United States Senator and former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein received the nomination instead, losing to Republican Pete Wilson in the election

Garner was married to Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke, whom he met at a party in 1956. They married 14 days later on August 17, 1956. "We went to dinner every night for 14 nights. I was just absolutely nuts about her. I spent $77 on our honeymoon, and it about broke me." According to Garner, "Marriage is like the Army; everyone complains, but you'd be surprised at the large number of people who re-enlist." His wife was Jewish.

When Garner and Clarke married, her daughter Kim from a previous marriage was seven years old and recovering from polio. Garner had one daughter with Lois: Greta "Gigi" Garner. In an interview in Good Housekeeping with Garner, his wife, and two daughters, conducted at their home, and published in March 1976, Gigi's age was given as 18 and Kim's as 27.

In 1970, Garner and his wife briefly lived separately for three months. In late 1979, Garner again separated from his wife (around the time The Rockford Files stopped filming), splitting his time between living in Canada and "a rented house in the Valley". The two resumed living together in September 1981, and remained married for the rest of his life. Garner said that the separations were not caused by marital problems, instead stating that he simply needed to spend time alone in order to recover from the stress of acting. Garner died less than a month before their 58th wedding anniversary.

Garner's knees became a chronic problem during the filming of The Rockford Files in the 1970s, with "six or seven knee operations during that time". In 2000, he underwent knee replacement surgery for both of them.

On April 22, 1988, Garner had quintuple bypass heart surgery. Though he recovered rapidly, he was advised to stop smoking. Garner quit smoking 17 years later.

Garner underwent surgery on May 11, 2008, following a severe stroke he had suffered two days earlier. His prognosis was reported to be "very positive". Garner was a private and introverted man, according to family and friends, On July 19, 2014, police and rescue personnel were summoned to Garner's Los Angeles-area home, where they found the actor dead at the age of 86. He had suffered a "massive" heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. He had been in poor health since his stroke in 2008.

Longtime friends Tom Selleck (who worked with Garner on The Rockford Files), Sally Field (who worked with Garner in Murphy's Romance) and Clint Eastwood (who guest-starred with Garner on Maverick and starred in Space Cowboys) reflected on his death. Selleck said, "Jim was a mentor to me and a friend, and I will miss him." Field said, "My heart just broke. There are few people on this planet I have adored as much as Jimmy Garner. I cherish every moment I spent with him and relive them over and over in my head. He was a diamond." Eastwood said, "Garner opened the door for people like Steve McQueen and myself."

#July 19 #2014 #R.I.P.#James Garner #Hollywood Legend #James Rockford #Rockford Files

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ms-m-astrologer · 4 years

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Transiting Mercury enters pre-retrograde shadow

Timeline (current events in BOLD)

Wednesday, September 23, 20:55 UT - transiting Mercury enters Rx shadow, 25:54 Libra

Sunday, September 27, 07:41 UT - transiting Mercury enters Scorpio

Thursday, October 1, 15:49 UT - Mercury’s greatest eastern elongation, 4:36 Scorpio

Wednesday, October 14, 01:05 UT - transiting Mercury stations retrograde, 11:40 Scorpio

Sunday, October 25, 18:23 UT - Sun-Mercury inferior conjunction, 2:47 Scorpio

Wednesday, October 28, 01:33 UT - transiting Mercury retrogrades back into Libra

Tuesday, November 3, 17:50 UT - transiting Mercury stations direct, 25:54 Libra

Tuesday, November 10, 17:00 UT - Mercury’s greatest western elongation, 29:47 Libra

Tuesday, November 10, 21:55 UT - transiting Mercury re-enters Scorpio

Thursday, November 19, 21:04 UT - transiting Mercury exits post-retrograde shadow, 11:40 Scorpio

I know, I know, it royally sucks that Mercury stations direct on the US’s election day. It did the same thing back on November 7, 2000: Mercury started the day retrograde, then changed signs (from Scorpio to Libra), before stationing direct very late (US time) that night. If you weren’t born yet, can’t remember what happened, or have blocked that unpleasantness out of your memory - there was much angst involving vote counts and recounts in Florida, and the election wasn’t officially decided until December 12, 2000. So, gang, don’t expect any instant results on November 3, 2020, either. Brace yourselves now.

Anyway. I really loathe these multi-sign retrogrades, because there’s twice as much work to do. What essentially happens, is that we somehow muff the final passage of the planet through the first sign, which makes it impossible to “do” the next sign well (or at all).

Especially given the Capricorn pile-up of unpalatable realities, the trouble with Mercury/Libra is a failure or refusal to admit the truth. We have our rose-colored glasses practically welded to our eyes, and we aren’t going to take them off. Our current situation is described in an uncannily prescient way by Chrissie Blaze, in her book Mercury Retrograde. About “Mercury Retrograde in Libra,” she wrote:

Your sense of justice and equality may be challenged through apparently unfair events that are out of your control. Actually, life is now compelling you to view things from a perspective other than your own. Try walking in someone else’s shoes and see how it feels.

I’m personally not sure how far I want to walk in racists’ shoes - but understanding how racists got that way (e.g., susceptibility to being “played” by monied elites) can help me fix the problem.

The main thing you should do for now, is to identify which of your natal houses contain the span of 25:54 Libra through 11:40 Scorpio. (That’s tucked away in Ms M’s 12th House.) Next, see if this is going to trigger anything in your chart. Will there be aspects to the Sun, Moon, angles, Nodes, important planets? (Quite a few things for Ms M, with the main one being a three-peat conjunction to her natal North Node.)

I’m going to limit myself to the first Merc/Libra part of the proceedings. That’s enough for starters.

Wednesday, September 23, 10:38 UT - Saturn Rx/Capricorn square Mercury/Libra, 25:21 (25 degrees 21 minutes); Thursday, September 24, 09:53 UT - transiting Mercury opposite Mars Rx/Aries, 26:36 (26 degrees 36 minutes)

Technically, that Saturn square happens about 10 hours before Mercury enters its retrograde shadow. I’m including it here because it’s the first of three squares between them. And although Mercury’s opposition to Mars happens after the shadow begins, we lucked out - this is a one-and-done situation. All together, though, it sets the unsettling tone for the entire Mercury Retrograde period.

Saturn Rx/Capricorn and Mars Rx/Aries are both very stubborn and difficult. “Intractable” and “implacable” come to mind. This isn’t a new situation (cardinal sign affliction), but rather something we have as yet failed to deal with properly, or healthily. Remember the Lennon lyric: “I couldn’t walk, but I tried to run”? Another way to look at it is an angry populace (Mars of course) versus a shady power structure (Saturn of course).

My thought is that this Merc Rx may start out as some kind of argument - bearing in mind that oppositions work through other people. Someone (perhaps a partner or an “authority”) says something extremely outrageous, offensive, inflammatory, etc. Maybe we hear it when watching the news, maybe while in the store, at work, on the bus. But those angry words set off the Merc Rx process for us. Do we try to understand it from the person’s point of view? Do we clasp our rose-colored glasses even tighter? Do we ignore it and hope it goes away? It’s impossible to mediate between two sides that want to obliterate each other - perhaps that’s the lesson we need to grasp.

For another take: Cam White, a YouTube (and other places) astrologer, mentioned this gnarly start. He thinks it’s going to manifest as Merc/Libra trying to harmonize everything, and Saturn/Cap just saying, “Nope. I’m not going to do that.” What does a peacemaking Mercury/Libra do, in the face of evil?

Placements lie between 24:21 and 27:36 of the cardinal signs Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn; and between 9:21 and 12:36 of the mutable signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Aquarius.

Sunday, September 27, 07:38 UT - Ceres Rx/Aquarius trine Mercury/Libra, 29:59

Interesting “blink and you miss it” set up here. At 07:20 UT, Ceres retrogrades back into Aquarius; Ceres trines Mercury at 07:38 UT; Mercury enters Scorpio at 07:41 UT. Twenty-one minutes total, and most of us in the US will sleep right through it. (Aussies, will you please tell us what we missed??)

Fortunately, this is also the first of three trines between Mercury and Ceres. The second one, on October 28, is also in Libra/Aquarius; but the third one, on November 10, sees Mercury moved back into Scorpio and Ceres back into Pisces.

Demetra George (in Asteroid Goddesses) wrote that flowing aspects between Mercury and Ceres “signify the ability to communicate empathetically with others and have rapport with beings who exhibit various levels of intelligence: children, the mentally disabled, plants, and animals.” In a natal chart this helps us develop “new communication skills that enable (us) to clearly articulate (our) needs and actively listen to and receive the response of others.”

So, yes, it’s a good thing that we’re going to have three tries! I’m still blown away by the brevity of this first pass, though. Those of us who won’t be awake, can ask for some dream guidance.

Placements affected lie between 28:59 and 29:59 of the yang signs Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius.

#Astrology #Transiting Mercury enters pre-Rx shadow #Ms M astrologer

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1053

1. What did you do in 2020 that you'd never done before? Other than the obvious getting-a-job and other adulting stuff, 2020 was the year of my first cigarette, the first time I had to use eye drops, the first time I got sick for longer than a day, and the first time I tried my hand in embroidery.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t make any because I usually get tired of maintaining them after a few weeks. But idk, last night I had an idea that I want to try a new restaurant by myself every weekend in 2021. It’s very self-care-y which is what I need these days, and it’s definitely feasible now that I have my own money. Given my track record with resolutions I’m not expecting too much, but I still hope I’m able to hold out for as long as I can.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? I know a co-worker became a mom this year, but I don’t consider myself close to her. We’re cool with each other, but that’s about it. Her baby is the cutest though.

4. Did anyone close to you die? One of my great-aunts passed away in April.

5. What countries did you visit? I stayed put here. It wasn’t like I could get on an airplane this year anyway. The Thailand and Vietnam trips are going to have to wait.

6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020? Me back.

7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? March 10 (the start of the lockdown); August 2 (my university graduation); September 15 (the breakup and Angela’s birthday); November 9 (my first day as an employee).

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Being able to be strong enough to stay.

9. What was your biggest failure? Self-harm, or blaming myself.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Yeah I got a UTI early in the year, which gave me a week-long fever. I’ve also gotten hundreds of scratches and play bite marks from Cooper since we got him in June.

11. What was the best thing you bought? My embroidery kits! I bought them on a whim and seriously doubting if I’ll ever enjoy it given my previous hatred for anything sewing/knitting; but I’ve already done two templates and I just ordered two more to do during the holiday break. I haven’t gotten much for myself yet because my first paychecks coincide with Christmas lol, but once the gift-giving is out of the way I want to get myself games on the Nintendo Switch, Airpods, and candles.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Andrew has been incredibly supportive and patient, and has stuck by me through the whole year whether I was on top of the world, stressing out over our thesis, or in my inconsolable black hole of sadness. No clue where I’d be without them.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Gabie, at least by August. I don’t know anyone who consistently let me down in the last 12 months.

14. Where did most of your money go? Christmas gifts for others; for myself, Starbucks coffee and pastries.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Graduating college and sharing my graduation photo with everyone. I remember also having been super excited to work on my birthday gift for Gab, which was to make a short video for her using iMovie (which I had never touched before until then). I was the best fucking girlfriend. Also, getting Cooper!!

16. What song will always remind you of 2020? Not sure. Music wasn’t a big part of my life this year. Maybe Why We Ever by Hayley Williams? I put it on repeat too many times in 2020.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. Happier or sadder? A lot sadder.

ii. Thinner or fatter? Said sadness made me lose my appetite and a whole bunch of weight by the latter part of the year. All of my shorts and jeans have gotten loose around my waist, so I’ve definitely felt the weight loss.

iii. Richer or poorer? I’m richer now, but only because I didn’t have a job before and I do now. My family’s finances have taken a blow due to the pandemic, though. I try to help by chipping in for the electricity bill, and buying my family nice food every now and then.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Love myself, appreciate myself, thank myself. All the self-love crap I didn’t think I deserve.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Tolerating bullshit I knew I didn’t deserve but kept going with anyway.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? We’ll be with my mom’s side on the 24th; having family come over to our place on the 25th; and will be going to my dad’s side on the 26th. Gonna be the most hectic three days ever and I’m PUMPED tbh lol. It’ll be the busiest we’ve been all year.

21. What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2020? Meh, I just hated the times I made mistakes at work as I hate fucking up in general and looking bad in front of colleagues.

22. Did you fall in love in 2020? I stayed in it.

23. How many one-night stands? No thanks.

24. What was your favorite TV program? The Crown was, until it got associated with painful memories and I had to put my viewing indefinitely on hold. My favorite show this year would be either Descendants of the Sun or Start Up; both are amazingly good.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don’t think so. I don’t throw that word around a lot anyway.

26. What was the best book you read? Bret Hart’s memoir was a fun read.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Beach House and Chase Atlantic. ALSO, Twice lolololol

28. What did you want and get? My first job.

29. What did you want and not get? Commitment from the one person I asked it from.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? I didn’t watch a lot of movies this year. I actually think I just saw one?? which is really unlike me; but it wasn’t a big year for film anyway. I have yet to see Ammonite, which I already think I’ll love.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 22 and I just stayed at home with family while my best friend and her boyfriend sent over sushi for me.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If I got to keep my relationship, which I thought had been faring well until she abruptly pulled the plug on everything.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020? Casual and didn’t really evolve too much considering I didn’t go out a lot.

34. What kept you sane? Good Mythical Morning. I owe my life to them. And embroidery.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I didn’t develop a crush on him until this month lmaaaaaaao but Kim Seon Ho is so so so so so dreamy.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? The shutdown of ABS-CBN early in the year and the US elections.

37. Who did you miss? My friends in my org.

38. Who was the best new person you met? The people at my workplace that I ended up having a great rapport with.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020: From a tweet I retweeted: “You keep bad people around you and make excuses for their behavior because if you decided to hold even one person accountable, you’d have to recognize the offenses you’ve ignored and accepted. You’ll realize how much you’ve invalidated your own pain to ensure the comfort of others.” It was a harsh slap in the face, but I needed to hear it.

#survey #surveys #yeah i'm angry in this one lol

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saleintothe90s · 5 years

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337. 88 Things about 1988, part 9 the last part

(part 8)

71. Koosh Balls

72. USA Today tries a TV Show (9/12)

It only lasted until January of 1990. Wow did they waste a lot of money on it:

Bureaus for the daily half-hour satellite show (there will also be a one- hour weekend edition) are being set up in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., London (where British politician/fiction writer Jeffrey Archer has just been signed as correspondent), and in Roslyn, Va., where USA Today (the newspaper) is headquartered.

It`s costing plenty.

''We`re budgeting $100 million for three years,'' said Steve Friedman. ''You might as well do it right or not at all.'' 1

Wasted 40 million for a show that aired in the middle of the night in some markets:

The magazine-format program, originally titled "USA Today: The Television Show," debuted in September, 1988, on 156 stations, many of them running it in the coveted slot just before prime time. But now, the number of stations has dwindled to 84, with many airing the 30-minute show during hours only insomniacs could appreciate. 2

I found one episode from June 28, 1988.

73. Dale Earnhardt becomes the Intimidator with his black, red and grey #3 car

Before 1988, he drove a blue and yellow #15 Wrangler car.

[I love that apparently there is Dale glitch art gifs on Tumblr]

74. The “Geraldo Fight” (11/3)

This is the only thing I remember about Geraldo’s talk show from the late 80s and early 90s, and seeing the footage always scared me, because to five year old me it was like, “oh no, the man from the TV is hurt.”

Geraldo Rivera's nose was broken and his face cut during a skirmish yesterday midway through the taping of a program entitled ''Teen Hatemongers'' on his television talk show.

The violence broke out after John Metzger, a 20-year-old guest representing the White Aryan Resistance Youth, insulted a black guest, Roy Innis, calling him an ''Uncle Tom.''

''I'm sick and tired of Uncle Tom here, sucking up and trying to be a white man,'' Mr. Metzger said of Mr. Innis, the national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality. Mr. Innis stood up and began choking the white youth and Mr. Rivera and audience members joined the scuffle, hurling chairs, throwing punches and shouting epithets. 3

The Beastie Boys even referenced it in the song “What Comes Around.”

75. B.D. Wong raps about Driving School in Crash Course (made for TV movie)

I only just learned about this clip from the ThirtyTwentyTen Podcast. I just know for a fact that the lyrics are laughably lame:

“...going to Michigan state to be a football player, we can hardly wait! Make us proud Dr. J.J., we will watch you on TV scoring touchdowns on Saturday, or saying ‘to be or not to be’!”

(and yes that is Mac from Night Court, Charles Robinson!)

( Newsweek, December 26, 1988)

76. Massive 6.8 Earthquake hits Armenia (12/7).

It is unknown how many people died in the quake, some estimates are around 25,000+ people.

77. Governor Bill Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Convention

Bill was just supposed to speak for 15 minutes and endorse candidate Michael Dukakis. He spoke for 33 minutes! People booed! People cheered when he said “in conclusion”!

78. Duncan Hines Tiara Cakes

A dessert you had to buy a special pan for just to make it. Once they were discontinued, what were you gonna do with that shallow fluted pan?

79. Oprah’s Lil’ Red Wagon of Fat

Oprah regrets it now, but back in 1988 she lost a sloo of weight by starving herself for four months. So on her show she wheeled out 68 pounds of animal fat in a wagon.

80. These amazing carousel stamps

81. Holidays at the World Trade Center

82. The troubled Forest Fair Mall opens in Fairfield, Ohio (7/11)

[this is what the movie theater looked like a year after opening, source]

(Shopping Mall Museum)

As some know, I was the assistant editor at deadmalls.com for years. So I tried my best to find a dead mall that opened 30 years ago--and boy did I find one, one of the most amazing lookin’ ones. (Here’s my ex friends at deadmalls walkin’ though it in 2017)

But yes, this dead mall has flying pigs as decorations! They look like they were added sometime in the late 90s/early 00s? This mall was struggling just two years into operation, and was under redevelopment in 1992. The history of the mall was like, down, up, down, DOWN, nearly abandoned. The Wikipedia is actually pretty good.

83. Michael Dukakis and his tank (9/13)

Okay, so it wasn’t HIS tank, he was just there for a photo op during the presidential election. Boy looked redic!

I’m going to let Josh King, the author of Off Script: An Advance Man’s Guide to White House Stagecraft, Campaign Spectacle, and Political Suicide handle the summary for this, because it's great:

(more info from Josh here)

84. Chevy Chase hosts the Oscars (4/11)

...and it was his second time hosting! I know.

85. “Let the River Run” from Working Girl

Wow, lots to unpack here with this music video.

The Reebok Freestyle Hi-tops with the big white scrunchy socks! I’m so mad that these shoes don’t come in wide width. They’re soo narrow.

This. outfit. I want it. I tried to find a similar one to wear this holiday season but came up with zilch. Couldn’t find a white skirt on time, or a blouse like that.

Nora Dunn looks 20 years older than she was in this movie. Joan Cusack’s hair is my dream big 80s hair.

Melanie Griffith clearly does not want to be there.

The women in the office after the “bony ass” scene.

86. Santa’s Car

Who knew that Santa drove a hatch and lived in Maine.

87. Max Robinson Dies (12/20)

Robinson was the first African American to anchor network news in the United States. He shared hosting duties on the ABC Nighty News with Peter Jennings and Frank Reynolds in the early 1980s. Sadly alcoholism derailed his career, and he passed away from AIDS.

88. 35 Students from Syracuse University die on Pan Am Flight 103

(news coverage 1 , 2)

To this day, Syracuse University has an extensive collection and memorial dedicated to these students. There is also a heartbreaking .pdf titled “On Eagles Wings” that profiles every passenger and Lockerbie resident who died that night.

1. Beck, Marylin, “USA TODAY SET TO MAKE TV NEWS,” Chicago Tribune, une 25, 1988. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-06-25-8801100627-story.html

2. Kaye, Jeff, “Why There's No Tomorrow for 'USA Today' : Television: The cancellation marks another setback for GTG Entertainment, which had three programs dropped last year,” Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1989. http://articles.latimes.com/1989-11-24/entertainment/ca-215_1_usa-today

4. “Geraldo Rivera's Nose Broken In Scuffle on His Talk Show,” New York Times, November 4, 1988. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/04/nyregion/geraldo-rivera-s-nose-broken-in-scuffle-on-his-talk-show.html

#88 things about 1988 #1988 #pan am 103 #max robinson #working girl #carly simon #let the river run #joan cusack #chevy chase #reebok freestyle #santa claus #michael dukakis #forest fair mall #world trade center #stamps #oprah

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Thursday, October 29, 2020

Rent and debt problems (WSJ) A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that outstanding rent debt in the United States will hit $7.2 billion by the end of 2020, and without additional stimulus spending Moody’s estimates that it could hit $70 billion. They estimate that 12.8 million people will owe an average $5,400 from missed payments, which is significantly higher than the 3.8 million homeowners foreclosed on from 2007 to 2010. Across the U.S., 30 million to 40 million people face possible eviction once moratoriums expire.

A Divided Nation Agrees on One Thing: Many People Want a Gun (NYT) In America, spikes in gun purchases are often driven by fear. But in past years that anxiety has centered on concerns that politicians will pass stricter gun controls. Mass shootings often prompt more gun sales for that reason, as do elections of liberal Democrats. Many gun buyers now are saying they are motivated by a new destabilizing sense that is pushing even people who had considered themselves anti-gun to buy weapons for the first time—and people who already have them to buy more. The nation is on track in 2020 to stockpile at record rates, according to groups that track background checks from FBI data. Across the country, Americans bought 15.1 million guns in the seven months this year from March through September, a 91 percent leap from the same period in 2019, according to seasonally adjusted firearms sales estimates from The Trace, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on gun issues. The FBI has also processed more background checks for gun purchases in just the first nine months of 2020 than it has for any previous full year, FBI data show. “The year 2020 has been just one long advertisement for why someone may want to have a firearm to defend themselves,” said Douglas Jefferson, the vice president for the National African American Gun Association, which has seen the biggest increase in membership this year since the group was formed in 2015.

The ‘Right to Repair’ Movement Gains Ground (NYT) If you buy a product—a car, a smartphone, or even a tractor—and it breaks, should it be easier for you to fix it yourself? Manufacturers of a wide range of products have made it increasingly difficult over the years to repair things, for instance by limiting availability of parts or by putting prohibitions on who gets to tinker with them. It affects not only game consoles or farm equipment, but cellphones, military gear, refrigerators, automobiles and even hospital ventilators, the lifesaving devices that have proven crucial this year in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, a movement known as “right to repair” is starting to make progress in pushing for laws that prohibit restrictions like these. The goal of right-to-repair rules, advocates say, is to require companies to make their parts, tools and information available to consumers and repair shops in order to keep devices from ending up in the scrap heap. They argue that the rules restrict people’s use of devices that they own and encourage a throwaway culture by making repairs too difficult. They also argue that it’s part of a culture of planned obsolescence—the idea that products are designed to be short-lived in order to encourage people to buy more stuff. That contributes to wasted natural resources and energy use at a time when climate change requires movement in the opposite direction.

Peru’s Machu Picchu reopening Sunday after pandemic closure (AP) Except workers repairing roads and signs, Peru’s majestic Incan citadel of Machu Picchu is eerily empty ahead of its reopening Sunday after seven months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. The long closure of Peru’s No. 1 tourist draw, which has hammered the local economy, marks the second time it has been shut down since it opened its doors to tourism in 1948. The stone complex built in the 15th century will receive 675 visitors a day starting Sunday, the director of Machu Picchu archaeological park, José Bastante, told The Associated Press. The site is accustomed to receiving 3,000 tourists a day, though it recently passed regulations limiting visitors to 2,244 visitors a day to protect the ruins. Still a large number given experts belief that in the 15th century a maximum of 410 people lived in the citadel on the limits of the Andes mountains and the Amazon.

Evo’s return (Foreign Policy) Evo Morales will return to Bolivia on Nov. 9, the day after President-elect Luis Arce is sworn in. Morales’s return will come just over a year after he was forced out of the country. An outstanding arrest warrant for sedition and terrorism issued for Morales was annulled on Tuesday, paving the way for his return. Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of the right-wing opposition marched on a military barracks on Tuesday asking for “military help” to stop the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party from regaining power.

New protests loom as Europeans tire of virus restrictions (AP) Protesters set trash bins afire and police responded with hydrant sprays in downtown Rome Tuesday night, part of a day of public outpouring of anger against virus-fighting measures like evening shutdowns for restaurants and bars and the closures of gyms and theaters—a sign of growing discontent across Europe with renewed coronavirus restrictions. It was a fifth straight night of violent protest in Italy, following recent local overnight curfews in metropolises including Naples and Rome. All of Europe is grappling with how to halt a fall resurgence of the virus before its hospitals become overwhelmed again. Nightly curfews have been implemented in French cities. Schools must close at 6 p.m. Schools have been closed in Northern Ireland and the Czech Republic. German officials have ordered de-facto lockdowns in some areas near the Austrian border and new mask-wearing requirements are popping up weekly across the continent, including a nationwide requirement in Russia. Yet in this new round of restrictions, governments are finding a less compliant public. Over the weekend, police used pepper spray against protesters angry over new virus restrictions in Poland. Spanish doctors staged their first national walkout in 25 years on Tuesday to protest poor working conditions. In Britain, anger and frustration at the government’s uneven handling of the pandemic has erupted into a political crisis over the issue of hungry children.

Cake Lady helps wounded soldiers heal, one treat at a time LONDON (AP)—David Wiseman heard Kath Ryan before he met her. He was at the far end of Ward S-4 at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham when shouts of “Cake Lady’s here! Cake Lady’s here!” began rolling through the room full of wounded soldiers, bed by bed. Who was this Cake Lady, he wondered, until he saw a middle-aged woman in a “strange dress” pushing a trolley and handing out cake. “When all you’ve seen is doctors and nurses and the odd relative, it was just a bit of an assault on the senses,” Wiseman remembered. “And she was doling out hugs and, you know, cakes. … She just brought joy into that place.” Since 2009, retired nurse Ryan, 59, has made some 1,260 visits to British hospitals, bonding with the patients as she fed them an estimated 1 million slices of cake. But Ryan brought more than treats. She brought herself—bubbly, irreverent, and fearless. As she could see that most of the injured were in a terrible state, she never asked, “How are you?” “I would go in with the trolley and apron and stand at the end of the bed, and say, ‘Can I lead you into temptation this evening?’” Ryan recalled. “Straight away, they would scream laughing.” One soldier got into the spirit and asked, “What’s on offer, love?” “Anything you want,” Ryan replied. “As long as it’s legal, moral, and on the cake trolley.”

With eye on China, India and U.S. sign accord to deepen military ties (NYT) India and the United States signed a pact Tuesday to share geospatial intelligence, paving the way for deeper military cooperation between the two countries as they confront an increasingly assertive China. The agreement will give India’s armed forces access to a wealth of data from U.S. military satellites to aid in targeting and navigation. The two countries signed the accord in New Delhi during a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper a week before the U.S. presidential election. The agreement is the latest example of how India and the United States—the world’s two largest democracies—are drawing closer together to respond to the challenge of China’s rise. For India, that challenge is no longer theoretical. In June, India and China engaged in their deadliest clash in more than 50 years high in the mountains near the unofficial border between the two countries. Twenty Indian soldiers died, while the number of Chinese casualties remains unknown. India and China are still locked in a dangerous standoff, with tens of thousands of troops preparing to wait out the harsh Himalayan winter.

Typhoon, landslides leave 35 dead, 59 missing in Vietnam (AP) Typhoon Molave set off landslides that killed at least 19 people and left 45 missing in central Vietnam, where ferocious wind and rain blew away roofs and knocked out power in a region of 1.7 million residents, state media said Thursday. The casualties from the landslides bring the over-all death toll from the storm to at least 35, including 12 fishermen whose boats sank Wednesday as the typhoon approached with winds of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour. Vietnamese officials say it’s the worst typhoon to hit the country in 20 years. At least 59 people remain missing in the landslides and at sea. The toll may rise with many regions still unable to report details of the devastation amid the stormy weather.

Scale of Qatar Airways scandal revealed (Foreign Policy) Female passengers on “10 aircraft in total” were forced into invasive physical examinations at Doha airport on Oct. 2, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Wednesday, as the Qatari government apologized publicly and began an investigation into the incident. The women were removed from flights after a newborn baby was found abandoned in one of the airport bathrooms. The Transport Workers’ Union of New South Wales, whose members service Qatar Airways planes in Sydney, condemned “the brutal attack on the human rights of Australian female airline passengers” and is considering industrial action in response. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged a “further response” after reviewing the results of an investigation. He told reporters, “As a father of daughters, I could only shudder at the thought that any woman, Australian or otherwise, would be subjected to that.”

Australia’s second-largest city ends 111-day virus lockdown MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Coffee business owner Darren Silverman pulled his van over and wept when he heard on the radio that Melbourne’s pandemic lockdown would be largely lifted on Wednesday after 111 days. Silverman was making a home delivery Monday when the announcement was made that restrictions in Australia’s second-largest city would be relaxed. He was overwhelmed with emotions and a sense of relief. According to the Victoria state government the lockdown changes will allow 6,200 retail stores, 5,800 cafés and restaurants, 1,000 beauty salons and 800 pubs to reopen, impacting 180,000 jobs.

Nigeria considers social media regulation in wake of deadly shooting (Reuters) Nigeria’s information minister said “some form of regulation” could be imposed on social media just a week after protesters spread images and videos of a deadly shooting using Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Images, video and an Instagram live feed from a popular DJ spread news of shootings in Lagos on Oct. 20, when witnesses and rights groups said the military fired on peaceful protesters. The protesters had been demonstrating for nearly two weeks to demand an end to police brutality. The army denied its soldiers were there. Social media helped spread word of the shootings worldwide, and international celebrities from Beyonce and Lewis Hamilton to Pope Francis since called on the country to resolve the conflict peacefully. Information Minister Lai Mohammed told a panel at the National Assembly on Tuesday that “fake news” is one of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria. A spokesman for the minister confirmed the comments, and said “the use of the social media to spread fake news and disinformation means there is the need to do something about it.”

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 4/16/2018

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Monday 16th April 2018. Remember that you can read full articles via subscribing to Nation News Online, purchasing Daily Nation Newspaper (DN) or via Barbados Today (BT).

GAS AND KEROSENE PRICES DROP, WHILE LPG RISES – Consumers will be paying less for gasoline and kerosene but more for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) effective midnight Sunday. The new retail price of gasoline will be Bds$3.31 per litre, down from $3.44 per litre, a decrease of 13 cents, while the price of kerosene will be lowered from $1.41 per litre to $1.36 per litre, a decrease of five cents The retail prices of LPG will be adjusted from Bds$168.69 per 100-pound cylinder to $169.88 per 100-pound cylinder, an increase of $1.19. The price of the 25-pound cylinder will move from $47.27 to $47.57, a 30 cents increase The new price of the 22-pound cylinder is $42.03, up from $41.76, an increase of 27 cents; while the price of the 20 pound cylinder has increased by 24 cents from $37.97 to $38.21. The price of diesel remains unchanged at $2.60 per litre. (BT)

HUNT FOR KILLER – TWENTY-FOUR HOURS after Onica King was stabbed to death in front of her two children, and as rumours surrounding the capture of her husband swirled, her family is remaining tight-lipped on the incident. And one Government agency is moving swiftly to help the children. King, 36, who lived at Leadvale, Christ Church, with her husband David King, became the island’s latest murder victim on Saturday. Police continue their hunt for the killer. When a DAILY NATION team visited the area where the couple lived yesterday afternoon, relatives declined to speak. However, several residents said they were not familiar with Onica, who was a Guyanese. One woman, though, said the situation was shocking because whenever she saw the couple on their way to work, they appeared to be in great spirits. Meanwhile, police public relations officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss dismissed rumours that the husband had been apprehended. The allegation made the rounds via a voice note on WhatsApp which suggested that a man was caught at Grantley Adams International Airport attempting to flee the island. “That is a rumour. That is not true,” Inniss said, adding that no one was yet in custody. However, lawmen yesterday issued a wanted notice for the husband and are asking him to turn himself in, in the company of a friend or an attorney. Meanwhile, Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett said the couple’s two children, who witnessed the act, would be getting counselling. “I know that the Child Care Board has come on board and is offering services and is offering counselling. That is my principal aim to have those children counselled,” Blackett said on CBC-TV last night. As he decried acts of domestic violence, the minister said he hoped estranged parties could solve their issues “before they reach the point where a life is lost. It saddens me every time something like this happens”. The nail technician’s death brought businesses on Swan Street to a halt on Saturday when she was killed around 2:45 p.m. at her work in Mandela Mall. A large crowd thronged the street as they tried to catch a glimpse of the body which remained at the scene until around 5:45 p.m. Businesses also closed. King was the tenth murder victim for the year. (DN)

CHILDREN OF SLAIN WOMAN TO RECEIVE COUNSELLING – The Ministry of Social Care and the Child Care Board have stepped in to provide assistance to the young children of 36-year-old nail technician Onica King who was fatally stabbed while at work at #41 Mandela Mall, Swan Street yesterday. Social Care Minister Steve Blackett expressed dismay at reports that the children, said to be ages six and three, witnessed the violent crime that occurred around 2:45 p.m. “The Child Care Board has actually come on board and is offering services of counselling for the children and that will be my principal aim at this point to have those children counselled,” he said. Blackett, a strong advocate against domestic violence, said there was an urgent need for partners to seek to resolve their differences peacefully. “I wish that as human beings that we could deal with these matters, trash them out in our own domestic spaces before they reach the point where a life is lost. It saddens me every time that something like this happens,” he said. Police said King was reportedly involved in an altercation with a man, said to be her husband, just before she met her death. The man fled the scene. The Minister noted that Government had taken action to deal with the problem, citing the Domestic Violence Order Act, which he tabled in Parliament that has widened the powers of the Parliament, the police and the Judiciary to handle matters related to domestic violence. However, the Gender Affairs Committee of the National Union of Public Workers today called on the Government to review the domestic violence laws and the criminal code to initiate and implement “an appropriate legislative framework” for cases where there was a history of violence and abuse. “Legislation and judicial reform is needed now more that ever if we are to save the lives of our men and women from acts of domestic violence. More must be done and with haste” said committee chairman, Makala Beckles-Jordan. (BT)

SHOW EMPHATHY, BAPSW SAYS – At the height of public outrage over the circulation of a social media video related to yesterday’s brutal killing of 36-year-old Onica King at Swan Street, the new executive of the Barbados Association of Professional Social Workers (BAPSW) is calling on Barbadians to show more empathy. Addressing the installation ceremony of the association at Sanctuary Empowerment Centre this morning, President Sharon-Rose Gittens did not directly refer to the shocking incident, but she raised concern about violence, deviance among youth and the influence of technology in society. “We need . . . Barbadians to put their phones down, and learn how to help, take a course in basic first aid, do something, do not make that something be a video and a video to share among other persons knowing that persons are being harmed. ” said Gittens to the congregation who nodded their approval. She revealed that a key mandate of the BAPSW in its 2018 – 2020 term would involve changing the Barbadian society through education and empowerment. She highlighted that domestic violence was particularly worrying even as she stressed that violence at all levels had to be tackled. “We need perpetrators of abuse to learn conflict resolution skills, to master the effective techniques on how to walk away from toxic relationships to a safe environment such as support groups. We need to understand that effective disaster management includes psychological and bereavement counselling,” said Gittens. “We also need to look forward to schools, positive changes that will take place in the child, . . . or the home as long as we are there, “ she added, pledging that the association was working on a comprehensive proposal to address the issues. “When Barbados adopts our proposal fully it is not just for Barbados but for the Caribbean region facing the issue of youth deviance and it will be a beacon to follow,” Gittens assured. (BT)

GENDER AFFAIRS GROUP URGES SERIOUS ACTION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – Heinous and callous! That’s how the National Union of Public Workers Gender Affairs Committee has described yesterday’s stabbing death of 36-year-old Onica King at #41 Mandela Mall, Swan Street, St Michael. “In this case, the attack on the helpless woman resulted in the loss of life in front of her children,” lamented Chairman of the committee Makala Beckles –Jordan. “Our hearts goes out to the family of this young lady, but moreso to the children who witnessed this act of violence at such a young age, no child should have to witness that type of crime.” Beckles-Jordan warned that cases of domestic violence were on the increase, and urged Government to act with haste to introduce stiffer penalties to deter would be offenders. “According to the RBPF [Royal Barbados Police Force] statistics cases of violence within homes are increasing with 1,667 cases of domestic violence cases reported in 2011, while 3,170 were reported in 2012. From January to September 2013, 4, 909 cases have been reported. The increase has shown that domestic violence is increasing quickly and at an uncontrollable pace , especially as it comes at a time when the Domestic Violence Act has been in force for the past few years.” Police said that King was reportedly involved in an altercation with a man. She received stab wounds and died at the scene. The man then fled the scene. Beckles–Jordan appealed for a review of domestic violence laws and the Criminal Code to initiate and implement “an appropriate legislative framework” for cases where there was a history of violence and abuse. “The Barbados law courts should complement this legislature to curb cases of domestic violence which are on the increase, by imposing stiffer penalties to those who break the law imposing deterrent sentences. [This] would send a strong message to perpetrators of domestic violence,” she stressed. (BT)

JONES APPEALS FOR CLEAN CAMPAIGN –Three-time Christ Church East Central Member of Parliament (MP) Ronald Jones warned last night that “dangerous signs [were] on the horizon” as he appealed to political leaders to keep their supporters in check for the upcoming general elections. Speaking at a community rally at Lodge Road, Christ Church, Jones condemned what he described as attempts to sabotage his campaign. Revelations surfaced last Friday from Jones and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) General Secretary George Pilgrim at a press conference held at the Christ Church East Central Constituency Office in Kingsland that a fake advertisement with the tagline ‘Help us BUY your Vote”, promoting that free alcohol would be distributed to those attending last night’s rally was being circulated. Pilgrim strongly distanced the DLP from the ad and expressed concern about the direction in which the campaign was headed. Last night Jones told the gathering at Lodge Road that Barbados had a long history of democratic elections and it was up to the leaders of the various political parties to ensure that the island’s reputation remained in tact. “We do not want clashes and skirmishes just to be elected to any office. We have never in my understanding of the political history of Barbados had one death as a result of political campaigning. Let it remain so,” he said to strong approval from the crowd. Jones said he had never “put a stumbling block in the way of anybody” and encouraged his opponents running in Christ Church East to “run the route, do what you have to do.” There was a party-like atmosphere at the event, which saw performances from Kadeem, Scrilla and Sanctuary. Jones who is seeking re-election for a fourth time, charged that the current waiting period for the announcement of the poll constitutionally due by June had shown up the Opposition Barbados Labour Party. “One of the things that has shown up as we move towards the election is that the longer it takes, the more mistakes the other side have been making. It shows you that they do not have the strength, they do not have the fortitude, they don’t have the capacity to stay the long journey, particularly if the journey is difficult, they want the easy road.” He urged his supporters to stick to the ruling DLP, insisting it was not the time for change. “Don’t let us change now we are at the time of reaping. We [DLP] have planted, now give us an opportunity to ensure that all persons benefit from the harvest and not just the few. “Know that you must be jonesing again, we ain’t changing in Christ Church East Central, We jonesing again”, he told supporters. (BT)

‘CUT DOWN RATIOS’ IN CLASSES – RETIRED PRINCIPAL Jeff Broomes wants the Ministry of Education to control the ratio of students to teacher in the classroom. He made the call while delivering a lecture titled Protect Our Children And Save Our Country last Thursday night at the Barbados Workers’ Union headquarters Solidarity House. “A full class of children, all with different personalities and specific needs, in itself can be very taxing for a teacher with his or her own personal and family challenges . . . . If we want to be good to our children and ultimately to our nation, ratios must not be allowed to swell to the point that compromises teacher effectiveness. Teachers are not magicians, although the work they do daily can often be seen as magical. Support them, please,” he pleaded. As well as suggesting that a hefty fine be imposed on all public service vehicle operators caught transporting schoolchildren in their vans between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Broomes wanted a change in the way students were allocated to secondary schools. According to him, it was one of the major contributing factors to the long-frowned-upon ZR and van stand culture, which he said greatly encouraged youth deviancy and violence. “It is nonsensical to me that at a time when we have more than enough secondary school spaces, and when there is at least one secondary school in every parish, we are still languishing in the practices that were necessary for a past that needed to function in the way to address the problems of the time, which is no longer the problem. “I see no reason why a child from St Philip should come to school in St Michael or St James. I see no reason why a child from St Lucy should come to school in St Michael or Christ Church . . . . We now have unnecessary mass daily student movement and the obvious gatherings in the van stand. In addition to negatively impacting the available time for students to be involved in the after-school, character-building, extra-curricular activities, it also leaves our children exposed and presents an expensive challenge to our transportation system,” he argued. Thursday’s lecture was hosted by the Child Care Board and aimed at addressing the scourge of youth violence. (DN)

BLP PLANS TO REOPEN ALMA PARRIS - The Barbados Labour Party has announced plans to re-open the Alma Parris Memorial Secondary School once elected to office in upcoming general elections.This was revealed by the party’s S t James North candidate Edmund Hinkson.Last year, Minister of Education Ronald Jones announced the closure of the Speightstown school, which had catered to students who scored low marks in the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination, citing low enrollment and its failure to meet stated objectives.Speaking at a spot meeting on 4th Avenue, Lower Carlton, St James last night, Hinkson however said that re-opening of the school was among plans to enhance special education in Barbados. (BT)

PROFESSOR: DON’T DISMISS NATALIE – The decision of a former prostitute to enter Barbados’ election campaign by seeking the Bridgetown parliamentary seat is a credible effort that’s focusing national attention on prostitution in the island-nation. That’s according to Dr Myrna Lashley, a Barbadian who is a McGill University psychology professor and an expert in cultural diversity in Canada. She said Barbadians were making a mistake if they dismissed Natalie Harewood’s vote-getting drive as laughable or meritless. “I don’t know why Natalie was going around The Garrison at night [as a prostitute]. I don’t know. Until we know why she did it we shouldn’t rush to judgement about her past and her current desire to be elected to Parliament. I was told that she is going around today urging young women not to get into prostitution because that’s not the way to do it” she said. “But those girls would believe her more than they would believe you or me who never went through that. If that’s what she is doing now in her campaign, all power to her. Nobody can do that better than someone who has lived through it.” Lashley, who once headed a national panel in Canada that looked into multi-culturalism, recalled driving along the streets that surround The Garrison one night with her husband and a prostitute came up to the vehicle, lifted her skirt and exposed herself to the couple. But apart from the initial shock she said she didn’t react negatively because she didn’t know why the prostitute had turned to sell her body in that way. Harewood’s candidacy has attracted international media attention, including interest from Sputnik International Online, a media service in Moscow, Russia’s capital. “If Natalie’s thing is to highlight some of the things that drove her into prostitution that would be a good thing,” said Lashley. “The scientific literature has shown that a lot of young girls who end up in prostitution come out of abusive situations. The psychologist cited the case of a Bajan man in Montreal who was luring young female offenders into prostitution by offering them shelter and illegal drugs but sexually abusing them. She believes many of the prostitutes in Barbados were mothers who turned to the adult sex industry to support their children. (DN)

JOSEPH TO LEAD NEW LOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATION – Veteran journalist Emmanuel Joseph is the new president of the now renamed Barbados Association of Journalists and Media Workers (BARJAM). Joseph, a senior reporter and producer with Barbados TODAY, was elected this afternoon at a special general meeting and relaunch of the previously named Barbados Association of Journalists (BAJ) at the Dalkeith Road headquarters of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW). The vice president is managing editor of the Nation Publishing Amanda Lynch-Foster while Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reporter Ryan Broome is the general secretary and Marlon Madden a senior reporter with Barbados TODAY is treasurer. CBC sports reporter Ann Marie Burke is the public relations officer. The three floor members are Lisa Lorde and Anthony Admiral Nelson of CBC and Motoring News Editor Trevor Thorpe. (BT)

FOGGING SCHEDULE APRIL 16 TO 20 – The Vector Control Unit of the Ministry of Health will continue its fogging programme aimed at eradicating the Aedes Aegypti mosquito next week in the parishes of Christ Church and St Michael. On Monday, April 16, a team will be in Christ Church fogging Highway 7, Worthing Main Road, Rockley, Hastings Main Road and environs. The exercise continues in Christ Church and St Michael on Tuesday, March 20, in Worthing with Avenues, Bamboo Road, Beckles Road, Harmony Hall, Top Rock and surrounding areas. On Wednesday, April 18, areas to be fogged are Marine Gardens, Queen’s Way, Halls Gap, Hood Road, Nelson Road, Rhystone Gardens, Browne’s Gap, Dayrells Road and neighbouring districts in Christ Church. The team returns to Christ Church on Thursday, April 19, to spray Dayrells Road, Rockley Terrace, Rockley, Blue Waters, Garden, Peronne Gap, Golf Club Road and environs. St Michael will be targeted on Friday, April 20, specifically Wildey, Laynes Gap, Gas Product Road, Flagstaff, Streat’s Road, Ifill Road, Forde’s Road, Clapham, Clapham Heights, Observatory Road, Clapham Park and neighbouring districts. The fogging exercises will be carried out between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. each day. Householders are reminded to open their doors and windows to allow the spray to enter. (DN)

POWERS CLEARS UP MISS WORLD SPECULATION – Ashley Lashley is Miss World Barbados 2018, a decision made by the judges, says national director of the Miss World Barbados franchise, Rodney Powers. Responding to comments on a social media website that first runner-up Zhane Padmore was the winner, and that collusion backstage robbed her of the crown, Powers told the DAILY NATION Sunday: “The judges’ decision was final. I’m not a judge nor did I judge the show. Ashley Lashley was the clear winner. That is what I was told by my head judge who gave the auditor the forms and final paperwork signed.” He said in his capacity as national director for Miss World Barbados, he was not at the prejudging of project or talent segments which would have seen the six contestants accumulate points before finals night. In respect of the issue of gowns, he pointed out that all girls had the opportunity to have the gowns made. “Ashley paid to have her gown made . . . . She drew her design and asked if she could have it made. Five out of the six girls are in school, so we worked with them to achieve their gowns.” Powers, who took over the franchise after the last Miss World was crowned in 2014, stressed that “everyone was treated fairly”. “No one has complained to me since the night of the show, so I was surprised to hear all this. “Ashley won the show and has started working on her project plan. We are about productivity and growth . . . . This event was designed to uplift and not pull down.” Miss World Barbados will represent the country in China in either October or November. (DN)

PETA ALLEYNE EXITS LAFF IT OFF STAGE – Laff It Off is part of Peta Alleyne’s DNA, and after 30 years of playing Willhelmina Herassofat in the popular local comedy, Alleyne is now stepping away from the stage. “It took a while to make up my mind to no longer do Laff It Off and to hand it over to the younger ones. I was just so blown away by the cast this year that I thought Laff It Off was in good hands,” she said. Alleyne, a producer at Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), said the schedule got a bit too hectic for her to continue being on stage. “I feel conflicted. It has become more and more difficult because of my responsibilities. My mum is not well; my work takes up a lot of my time, so I had to make that decision to step off the stage. This year especially it got a little tough with my mum being sick. Rehearsals were a push; my job at CBC is full time. There were times when Laff It Off had to make way for my job. You can’t sustain that, it wouldn’t be fair on them to do that,” she said. But Alleyne is quick to point out that her leaving the stage does not mean she is leaving the group all together. She told EASY magazine she would still very much be around. “I’m not by any stretch of the imagination leaving Laff It Off completely. People meet me up in the supermarket and asking me why. I’m still going to write, I still will be present in some of the videos and I guess to also lend my voice in recorded background vocals. But it’s the actual on stage that I’ve stepped away from,” Alleyne explained, adding that she would still be doing some things on other stages from time to time. “I will be acting as long as God gives me breath. It is too much a part of my DNA for me to leave it out. There are things I want to write, there’re things I still want to do. I have been asked many times about doing a one-woman show . . . it would frighten me, but it’s not something I would say no to. With the right director and the right writers, it’s something I look forward with much excitement to do,” she added. In an intimate interview with EASY magazine, Alleyne reflected on her journey with Laff It Off and marvelled at how far she had come. “Tom Cross and Ian Estwick asked me if I would come in. Laff It Off is by invitation. You don’t just go into Laff It Off. I entered Laff It Off having already known the actors and actresses who were there. It was literally like a family,” she said. Alleyne, who was quite soft-spoken throughout the interview, said she grew up with the Laff It Off group and made memories she would not trade for the world. “When I went into Laff It Off I was 23. Therefore my worldview was something completely different from how it is now. What I was passionate about then, I’m not passionate about now. I have matured; I have grown up with Laff It Off. “I performed pregnant with Laff If Off. I have memories of being onstage and then giving the others the look which meant, I have to go throw up. They were good enough to improvise and people would not realise that it was not a part of the scene. I also grew as a writer and I always wanted to write. It went from me writing a bit to writing entire scenes,” she recalled. Coming to the realisation that her life as she knows it now was about to change, and she would no longer be front and centre of something she has loved for 30 years, Alleyne speaking very softly at this point, said she was going to miss the audience the most. “When you think that it was in 1988 when I joined, it seems like a century ago. I will miss the audience the most. I always said, I never had to do drugs. The high that you get from performing in front of an audience, especially the laughter and the dynamic that you pick up from in the room, it’s like none other. I find it very cathartic; you could have the worst day, you could be feeling ill because the body ageing, but once you hit the stage and you get that first blast of laughter from the audience . . . that’s it . . . . All that is negative just goes away. At least, for me it does,” she added. Alleyne said though she leaves with some sadness, she is comfortable that the current cast will continue to fly the flag high. “I’m hoping that whichever female they bring in, I hope she syncs with the group seamlessly. I know that this group that we have right now is a talented group, and I will be there helping wherever I can in the background. I wouldn’t like Laff If Off to remain as is. I would like it to continue to evolve,” she added. In an emotional moment, Alleyne offered many thanks to all who would have contributed to her journey over the years with Laff It Off and made it the success it was. “I have been so lucky to work with these comic geniuses. To my Laff It Off colleagues, both past and present, I say thanks for the journey. It has been a journey, as with families, with ups and downs, but through it all we have remained steadfast, we have remained a strong unit, and whether you perform for just two or three years with us, you always consider yourself a part of Laff It Off.” “To Ian Estwick, Tom Cross, Cicely Spenser-Cross, thank you for trusting me and giving me the opportunity. To the audiences, thank you so much. Your being there and words of kindness and encouragement have sustained me over the last 30 years,” she added. (DN)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 262 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles #dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

#The Chase Files #Alma Parris #BLP #Gasoline #Crime #CCB #Child Care Board #nation new #Miss Barbados World #Miss World Barbados #Rodney Powers #LAFF IT OFF

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dancinginodessa · 6 years

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I’ve been doing this survey on New Year’s Eve for thirteen years, which is HALF MY LIFE, and I need to go sit down now.

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?

Officiated a wedding, crocheted a shawl, got a joint membership to something with somebody (the New York Botanical Gardens, truly the highest level of commitment before marriage), marched for my beliefs, called my elected officials on a regular basis, got a promotion, genuinely did not give one shit if my dad’s family figured out my sexuality, etc.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

My sole New Year’s resolution, as usual, was about how many books I wanted to read. I chose 100. I read 103.

In the new year, I (please hold on to your hats) want to read less, only so I can write more. It’s been a while now since I graduated from the MFA program. I want to go back to the work I was learning to do and keep doing it. That was the point: to keep doing it.

I always want to learn to be more comfortable with not being in control, which might actually take me the rest of my life, but I might as well start sometime.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No, though I know of lovely people who had equally lovely babies! Just, you know, not babies I know very well.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No. People got sick but recovered, and I am so grateful for that.

5. What countries did you visit?

I did not leave America for the...fourth year running? It’s a bummer.

6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?

Money that I am not actively setting on fire, and more room in this apartment.

7. What date from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

August 5: my best friend got married. I remember this on account of how I officiated, and also on account of it was one of the loveliest days of my life.

September 9: I had dinner at the American Girl Café, which I will not stop talking about until I am literally dead.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I got a therapist!!!

9. What was your biggest failure?

I was a real dick to myself. And I’m still very bad at emailing people back in a timely fashion. As far as society is concerned, the latter is a graver sin.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

A bunch of weird bruises and scabs from being too clumsy to live, plus a pretty nasty cold or two. And I guess mental illness more or less constantly. But I think I am okayer now, and was okayer all this year, than I have been for a long time.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

G and I went halvsies on a Nintendo Switch! I’m real bad at Mario Kart 8 Deluxe! But I guess love is being real bad at something in front of someone and not caring.

Also: plane tickets to Cleveland and Chicago, bus tickets home, yarn for my mother’s Christmas shawl, a new phone because that means my dad has inherited my old phone and we can send each other emoji-filled texts now.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Everyone who put up a good fight. The friends who hugged and fed me. G, for riffing off my bad jokes with his own bad jokes for another whole calendar year. My parents, for everything. The McElroy brothers, for making me laugh every time I needed to.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

The government? Evangelical Christianity? Lani Sarem? In no particular order?

14. Where did most of your money go?

Transportation to other cities and mental healthcare. Holy hell am I glad that I now see a therapist who does not cost $$$$$.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Karen’s wedding!! Seeing Welcome to Night Vale live!! Making things to keep people I love warm!! The 5 Boro Bike Tour!! Switching to a shampoo that makes my dry hair less dry and therefore more acceptable in polite society!!

16. What song will always remind you of 2017?

“New Rules” by Dua Lipa, no contest.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? Happier. Angrier. More willing to put up a fight.

ii. thinner or fatter? The same, I think, because we can’t afford an animator to redraw my sprite and I guess the series is going to be using this model until further notice.

iii. richer or poorer? Poorer. Woof.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Being honest about what I needed. Wearing a scarf instead of pretending I wasn’t cold. Watching Netflix, because now it’s almost 2018 and I still haven’t seen Stranger Things or Bojack Horseman and the entire zeitgeist has left me behind.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worrying (about whether I am secretly the most unbearable person alive/about what my face is doing/about spending too much money/about what I should be doing with my life/about whether or not I am literally about to die, which, so far so good), though that is kind of a tall order.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

I went home and spent December 25th at my grandma’s, where I was very cold and also very happy to be with my family. For Julian calendar Christmas, I think I am going to see family in Connecticut, and I haven’t seen them since I was 12, so this could be great AND/OR very awkward. Say a prayer.

21. Did you fall in love in 2017?

Stayed in it. Bought a time-share in it. Built a house in it.

22. How many one-night stands?

I’ve been having the same one-night stand for two and a half years, am I doing this wrong?

23. What was your favourite TV program?

I watched little to no TV this year, but I did really like the one episode of My Brother, My Brother & Me I saw! If we’re counting Youtube channels, I would like to give an award to Geography Now! for being the glue that bonds my parents and my boyfriend.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Honestly, I don’t think so. 2017 is the year of smoldering resentment. I’m too tired to hate anybody extra.

25. What was the best book you read?

Oh geez. Lincoln in the Bardo was way up there. And Version Control. Also Shrill, and Her Body and Other Parties, and maybe a dozen more, but I’m trying to finish this before midnight (in five hours), so let’s stop there.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

This was not a year in which I listened to much music! That was weird. So I can’t say I really discovered anything; however, I certainly continued to be grateful for Ween.

27. What did you want and get?

A subscription to New York Magazine. Listen, it’s the little things. (Also, a raise.)

28. What was your favourite film of this year?

Thor: Ragnarok is the most profoundly bisexual movie I have ever seen. I would also like to nominate the trailer for A Wrinkle in Time, even though the movie is not out yet. It’s just that the trailer is very important to me.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 26! And my birthday just happened to fall on one of the dates of Welcome to Night Vale’s spring tour, so I went to the Bell House with G. There’s a doofy photo of us on Facebook looking pleased with ourselves on the train, and I treasure it.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I’m getting word that everybody else already submitted “a different president,” so how about...a rug in my living room that isn’t white? Come on, Past Nina. Who did you think you were? That kind of hubris is unbecoming, and we’re all paying the price now.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?

“Thanks, I Love Cardigans.”

32. What kept you sane?

Podcasts, crocheting, calling my mom to vent my spleen, and therapy (if you want the literal answer).

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Oscar Isaac is a beautiful man, and St. Vincent is my queen.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

[tense, angry silence; in the distance, thunder and a horse’s whinny]

35. Who did you miss?

Everyone. All the time. Especially my parents.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Who did I meet this year? It’s been a decade since January. The new tenants at the office are pretty delightful, and my first bonding activity with my roommate E was going with her and G to the Women’s March. (We three are the best apartment you know.)

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017:

It’s okay if you aren’t okay.

#the year in review

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an-inconvenient-dandelion · 6 years

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2017 in review.

1.What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before? made my own sauerkraut, made my own tomato sauce that actually tasted good, got a supervisor fired (definitely the best thing i did all year), took (part of) the GRE, went to humboldt county, drove on a road with traffic.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? no, not really.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? STEPHY!

4. Did anyone close to you die? several clients, several friends' cats, and Mrs. Bayer (part of my chosen fam) just died a few weeks ago :(

5. What countries did you visit? none.

6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016? more friends, more freedom, a driver's license, maybe a van? oh and for many politicians to be impeached. and if net neutrality is really dead i hope it means that people will put down their phones and close their laptop and overthrow the government with all the free time they'll have.

7. What dates from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? i remember certain protests, certain breakdowns, certain feelings of freedom.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? i played a huge part in getting my horrible abusive supervisor fired, which i didn't think was going to work, and almost resulted in ME getting fired. but i didn't! and my co-workers who were equally affected but too afraid to make waves were so grateful and proud. and it made me feel like i could maybe create positive change. a few months later i quit that job because it was making me miserable and took a huge pay cut but i have no regrets, even though i am having a lot more financial probz and it really sucks, my life is mine again.

9. What was your biggest failure? spending a lot of the year drunk. getting into a bike accident and losing my phone because i got too drunk. trying to get sober, multiple times, and failing.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? i got into a bike accident and bruised my chin and finger. and smashed my glasses. this summer i was hanging out in the hospital with my mom after she got her knee replaced and caught some particularly nasty strain of the flu. i got a 103 degree fever and felt like i was actively dying, but i didn't seek medical attention because it was the same day as the charlottesville murder and i was like, "well, maybe there are worse things than dying right now, like living through the rise of facism." plus i didn't have health insurance and i was traveling. but, obviously, i pulled through.

11. What was the best thing you bought? i really like my suitcase, although i may have bought it last year. my himalayan salt lamps. house plants. shelves. my new "i'm not a boy" hat. pesto.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? my friends, some clients, some co-workers, a few sweet and beautiful strangers. also all the LGBT/POC people who got elected last election day!!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? former co-workers, nearly everyone in power in the government right now, sometimes family, some shaky friends, former friends.

14. Where did most of your money go? just surviving i guess. i currently spend about 60-70% of my income on rent. i usually work 6 days a week. sometimes 5, sometimes 7. it's still better than working in an office.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? grad school, although i didn't get in. my friends visiting, visiting friends.

16. What song will always remind you of 2017? like half of the "hamilton!" soundtrack. i obsessed over other pieces of music, but they all pale in comparison. 17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? HAPPIER! b) thinner or fatter? thinner (not by a whole lot) c) richer or poorer? POORER (by a whole lot)

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? relaxing, traveling, making new friends

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? DRINKING, working, other self-injurious behaviors, looking at the internet. i quit my smart phone in september and it's been one of the best things i have ever done!

20. How will you be spending Christmas? i worked. i cried twice. it wasn't the worst day ever but i still hated it.

21. Did you fall in love in 2017? no.

22. How many one-night stands? None. I didn’t even really have any crushes.

23. What was your favorite TV program? "transparent" i guess? i don't really watch TV.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Yes.

25. What was the best book you read? “"you don't have to say you love me" by sherman alexie. "we were witches" by ariel gore. "life's work" by dr. willie parker. "the unsettlers" and "the man who quit money" by mark sundeen. "modern tarot" by michelle tea.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? omg, HAMILTON!!!!!

27. What did you want and get? Paid time off, quitting my old job, changes, nice co-workers, a small amount of excitement.

28. What did you want and not get? admission to grad school, a community, an impeachment.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? i was 35. my birthday party was not on my actual birthday. my actual birthday was kind of blah. i went to the ikea cafeteria and played sims.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? taking risks, being free.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017? "I give up"

33. What kept you sane? great co-workers, the sims, hamilton, far-away friends who visited.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? EVERYTHING.

36. Who did you miss? east coasters & dead people, like always.

37. Who was the best new person you met? everyone at my weed job! and everyone i met in pittsburgh over the past few days!

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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Mourning Humble ‘Uncle Kwok,’ Killed in Chinatown Rampage

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/nyregion/nyc-homeless-chinatown-killed-victims.html

SAY HIS NAME: CHEUN KWOK Rest In Peace Brother🙏🏼🕊️"But for the Grace of God"

Mourning Humble ‘Uncle Kwok,’ 83, Killed in Chinatown Rampage

He was among four homeless men beaten to death on Saturday. “Our friend and brother,” read a note left at a memorial.

By Sharon Otterman and Jeffrey E. Singer | Published Oct. 7, 2019 Updated 8:02 PM ET | New York Times | Posted October 7, 2019 9:24 PM ET |

For years, he lived outside, sleeping in a small alcove in a storefront on the southern end of the Bowery. For meals, he often ate at modest restaurants in the neighborhood, always ordering inexpensive, filling meals — a pork chop or roast duck over rice.

People tried to get to know him: an 83-year-old homeless man that some residents of Chinatown knew as Uncle Kwok. But he kept to himself, they said, never wanting to talk about what landed him on the streets.

Uncle Kwok, whose given name was Chuen Kwok, was bludgeoned to death on Saturday as he slept in the familiar alcove where he had sought a degree of security. He was among four homeless men beaten to death with a three-foot, 15-pound metal bar in attacks that took place just after 1:30 a.m. on a chilly night.

Randy Rodriguez Santos, a homeless 24-year-old man with a history of violence, was arrested two blocks away and charged with their murders.

Homelessness in New York is not always fleeting or anonymous. A homeless person can become a fixture in a neighborhood, accepted as part of the local community fabric, and cared for — a recipient of spare change, castoff clothes or the leftovers from a meal. Mr. Kwok seems to have been that kind of character, accepted and liked by those who encountered and helped him.

“There are many homeless men around, but for some reason he caught my eye,” said Kim Mui, who brought incense to his alcove on Monday to mourn him. “He’s such an elderly man,” she remembered thinking when she first met him. “He’s not bothering anybody. He’s so quiet. He just seemed so sweet.”

It was Mr. Kwok’s murder that led to the police finding and arresting Mr. Santos. A couple returning home saw Mr. Kwok being beaten with the metal bar, his blanket wrapped around him. They called 911, and then flagged down a passing police car and helped officers comb the neighborhood until Mr. Santos was found.

Mr. Kwok appeared to have been the last victim of the night.

Police said Nazario A. Vazquez Villegas, 54, had been killed minutes earlier, as was Anthony L. Manson, 49, whose last known address was the general delivery address of Manhattan’s main post office, a place where many homeless people get their mail. The fourth man, found at East Broadway, had not yet been identified on Monday.

All were killed by repeated blows to the head, resulting in skull fractures and brain injury, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Monday. A fifth man, David Hernandez, 55, was left in critical condition.

At around 2 a.m. on Saturday, Mr. Santos was arrested after a police officer spotted him near the intersection of Mulberry and Canal Streets, police said. Fresh blood and hair clung to the metal bar he was carrying, the police said.

On Monday, at the spot where he was killed, someone had placed a photo of Mr. Kwok, looking up as if to answer a question, amid bouquets of flowers. “A polite, humble, gentleman,” it read, under his name, which is sometimes spelled Kok, and the years of his birth and death, 1935 to 2019.

“Our Friend and Brother,” read another note, along with a translation in Chinese.

As people paid their respects on Monday morning, or gathered for a nearby vigil led by local elected officials, no family members of Mr. Kwok appeared. But Ms. Mui, her hair askew and in dark sunglasses, spoke lovingly of him to anyone who asked, taking on the role of surrogate daughter.

In an interview, she recounted that she had met Mr. Kwok two decades ago and had visited his apartment, when he still had a home. He had been an old friend of her mother’s family, known to her as Uncle Kwok, and he had lived in an old tenement building on East Houston Street with a bathtub in the living room.

“I remember him standing in the living room,” she said. “He was wearing a tank top and he was smiling.”

She said did not recognize Mr. Kwok at first when she befriended him about a month ago on the streets, helping him to get food and chatting with him in Cantonese. Then her mother told her he was the same family friend who had been living on the streets and tended to avoid people he knew.

What We Know About the Suspect in the N.Y.C. Homeless Killings: Randy Santos

Randy Rodriguez Santos, 24, had a history of violence and strange behavior before he was charged with murder on Sunday.

By Nikita Stewart, Ashley Southall and Katie Van Syckle | Published Oct. 7, 2019 Updated 7:17 PM ET | New York Times | Posted October 7, 2019 9:20 PM ET |

The man accused of bludgeoning four homeless men to death on Saturday had a history of violence and strange behavior leading up to the horrific attacks, which have shaken the homeless community and renewed awareness of the dangers faced by people living on the street.

The accused killer, Randy Rodriguez Santos, 24, was himself homeless, bouncing from a shelter in Brooklyn to his mother’s apartment in the Bronx and even to a squalid, abandoned building next door to her building.

Mr. Santos was formally charged with four counts of murder on Sunday, but did not speak or enter a plea.

The grisly murders have prompted calls for the city to do more to help an estimated 3,600 people living unsheltered and to address mental illness.

Here’s what we know about Mr. Santos:

Early Saturday morning, Mr. Santos, walked through Chinatown stalking men who lay on the ground. He swung a three-foot, 15-pound metal pipe at their heads, killing four men, including 83-year-old Chuen Kwok, whose surname is sometimes spell Kok. Another man was critically injured.

The first attack happened at about 1:30 a.m., when a homeless man asleep in front of 17 East Broadway was struck in the head and killed, according to a criminal complaint.

Minutes later, three men were attacked with a metal bar in front of a pharmacy at 2 East Broadway near Chatham Square, an attack filmed by a security camera. Two died.

Then at about 1:50 a.m., a fifth sleeping man was clubbed a block north at Doyers Street and East Broadway; he also died. Two passers-by witnessed the last attack and called the police, who arrested Mr. Santos at about 2 a.m. at Canal and Mulberry Streets, still carrying a metal bar with blood and hair sticking to it.

People who knew Mr. Santos in the Bronx neighborhood where his mother lives said he appeared to be unraveling mentally in recent weeks. He had been doing odd jobs for his mother’s neighbors, Lydia and Segundo Segarra, cleaning up debris in their yard, but stopped showing up in late September.

“He seemed lost,” Mr. Segarra said. “He would forget that he just saw you.”

The day before the attacks, residents of the building where Mr. Santos’s mother lived saw him lying down in an empty hallway, possibly trying to get his mother's attention to let him in. Mr. Santos, generally quiet and affable toward neighbors, was withdrawn.

“He wasn’t making eye contact,” said Candy Santos, 41, who had no relation. “He was just laying there. There was something in his eyes that felt different. It’s like he wasn’t there.”

Mr. Santos had previously been accused in a string of violent assaults targeting random people.

Much of his record is sealed, but he had most recently been arrested in May, when he was kicked out of a men’s shelter in East Flatbush. He pummeled another 24-year-old shelter resident in the face. That case was dismissed.

A year ago, Mr. Santos choked a 55-year-old man and bit his breast at an employment agency in the garment district in Manhattan, the police said. He had leapt across the counter to attack the man. Four days later, he was on a northbound Q train, between Canal Street and Union Square stations, when he yelled out, “We need to stop it!” and punched a 33-year-man in the eye.

He was charged with both assaults.

There were more incidents this year. On Feb. 25, police officers spotted Mr. Santos enter the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station in Brooklyn through an exit gate without paying and arrested him. At the precinct, he spat on the floor toward a sergeant, the police said.

Less than a week later, he was arrested on a charge of groping a 19-year-old woman at the front door of her apartment building in Jamaica, Queens.

His family in the Bronx had kicked him out. His mother, Fioraliza Rodriguez, told The Daily News she was afraid of him. “I never thought he would kill someone,” she said. “I was afraid of him, though, because he punched me. That’s when I told him to get out of my house.”

The Daily News also reported that Mr. Santos broke his grandfather’s nose in 2016, and sneaked into the family’s home last week and stole a watch, a phone and three phone chargers.

Denielda Jordan, a neighbor of Ms. Rodriguez, observed Ms. Rodriguez refusing to let Mr. Santos into her apartment. But the mother would give food to her son. “If your mother doesn’t let you in the house, there’s a problem,” Ms. Jordan, 58, told The New York Times.

The Post reported that Mr. Santos had been living in squalor inside an abandoned house at 691 East 183d Street, near his mother’s apartment.

Mr. Santos most recently worked in construction, a job he lost because of excessive drug use, said Nelson Reyes, also a neighbor of Ms. Rodriguez.

“He started smoking crack,” said Mr. Reyes, 39, in an interview with The Times. “Then he started losing his mind.”

The police said Mr. Santos’s last known address was a shelter in Brooklyn, the same shelter that kicked him out after he attacked another young man.

But he was frequently seen eating the free breakfasts and lunches served at the Bowery Mission, one of the city’s oldest aid organizations, located about ten blocks north of Saturday’s murders.

Laura Dimon, Edgar Sandoval and Alex Traub contributed to this report.

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sociologyontherock · 5 years

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Of Time and Serendipity: Sociological Roots and Surprising Swerves

By Anne Martin-Matthews

In October 2018, I stood on the stage of the Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre at a Memorial University Convocation ceremony as Dr. Holly Pike, a professor of English at the Grenfell Campus, gave a 10 minute “oration” on my career. I was receiving an Honourary Degree. Her perspective on my career was fascinating (certainly to me, anyway!), in its clever juxtaposition of prospective and retrospective views of time, and how I have integrated both throughout my career. It conveyed a sense of consistency and logic to ways of thinking that I had (apparently) manifested throughout my career – something that I had certainly not “seen” (in myself) before. Few of us have the opportunity of hearing others describe us, and our careers, in this way – with a perspective that was, with Dr. Pike’s deft touch, both thoughtful and reflective (without boring the young graduating class).

At the time, I was keenly aware of how social gerontology considers reminiscence as part of a life-review process, a typical aspect of socialization for old age. Often thought to be an inherently internal, psychological process, reminiscence is generally considered to be adaptive, enabling individuals to assess and reintegrate their lives. A well-known sociologist of aging, Victor Marshall, advanced understanding of a life review as much more than a mental process. He re-conceptualized it as a social process: not just thinking about the past, but also engaging with others in talking about the past, where in true symbolic interactionist fashion others help us in confirming or (re)defining our lives: “When people get help from others in re-writing their auto-biographies, they are more likely to develop ‘a good story’ of their lives” (Victor Marshall, 1980, Last Chapters: A Sociology of Aging and Dying).

Anne Martin-Matthews

This life review of a sociologist’s career is in response to Stephen Riggins’ invitation to write for this newsletter. However, my agreeing to do so, with my own reminiscences and reflections, was prompted by a recent sequence of events. First, in July 2018 came the 40-year milestone anniversary of my first academic appointment, at the University of Guelph. The death of Victor Marshall, my doctoral supervisor, mentor and collaborator, in August 2018, was a genuine loss, and prompted my reflections on how his life and career had impacted my own, as I collaborated with long-time colleagues in publishing about him in the Canadian Journal on Aging (2019, 38(2)). Then, in October, the MUN convocation oration mentioned above. And so, in this process of reminiscence and life review, I hope to convey the “good story” of the career that Newfoundland, Memorial University, and sociology have given me.

Time – and timing – are central features of enquiry for those of us interested in the sociology of aging/social gerontology. In research on aging, we make distinctions between age, cohort and period effects. “Age effects” reflect changes (typically, physical) with the passage of time (typically measured as time since birth; more recently being measured retrospectively in time from death). “Cohort effects” are related to the historical time of a person’s birth, with those born around the same time often sharing a common background and view of the world. So, I am a baby boomer – and that tells you a lot about me, my habits, values and lifestyle. Finally, “period effects” are due to time of measurement, when circumstances and events may have different influences on different age cohorts. So many aspects of (what I now look back on as) a wonderful, dynamic, stimulating career have been influenced by my experience of cohort and period effects.

Typically, I have attributed these influences to a fortuitous serendipity of timing. I was born in St. John’s two years after Newfoundland joined Canada. Thus, I started at MUN in September, 1967, in the glow of Canada’s Centennial Year celebrations, and benefiting from Premier Joey Smallwood’s offer of free tuition to Newfoundlanders as first-year students. My career aspiration was to become a journalist, and hence I enrolled as an English major (taught by prominent Newfoundland scholars such as Patrick O’Flaherty).

As a requirement of my English major, I had to take an Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology course. That brought me to the memorable day of social anthropologist Elliott Leyton’s introduction to the concept of “cultural relativity.” On the board, he wrote: “Nothing that you have ever been taught is true.” This notion truly challenged me – a product of an Irish Catholic family and a Catholic convent-school education – on multiple levels. There was a world view that was an inherent part of being an Irish Catholic in Newfoundland back then; one of the very first things you would know about a person (reflected in their name, or at the very least, which school – in a parochial school system – they attended) was: “are you Protestant or Catholic?” The concept of cultural relativity brought another level of understanding and insight about others’ beliefs, values, and practices. Concepts such as this hooked me on the idea of switching my major to sociology!

In the maze of portable buildings (where the QEII Library now is), at the entrance to the Department of Sociology, graduate students in the department had, at some point in the early 1970s, erected a banner: “Welcome to the Department of Sociology: Home of the Minnesota Mafia.” The banner’s message reflected the many connections between the two sociology departments: Minnesota-trained faculty (such as Roger Krohn and Noel Iverson) had left MUN before my time; but during my two years as a sociology Major (1969-1971), Minnesota-trained faculty included Ralph Matthews, Jack Ross, Robert Stebbins and Fraine Whitney. Other (then) current Minnesota faculty were visiting professors at MUN: I remember a fascinating 1970 summer course in Urban Sociology taught by Gregory Stone, who brought his family to St. John’s and attracted much attention, driving around in a converted hearse, painted white.

One course in particular was an especially impactful experience for me: Fraine Whitney’s research methods class. There, he offered us an opportunity to help Morgan Williamson, a graduate student in sociology, to complete the data collection for his Master’s thesis – subsequently completed under the title “Blackhead Road: A Community Study in Urban Renewal” (1971). Several of us volunteered to be trained to conduct interviews on “the Brow” (now known as Shea Heights). The Brow was a completely “other world” back then: dilapidated housing, no water and sewer facilities, known even then for its “night soil” trucks and what were called “honey buckets.” The lack of basic sanitation services, and the poverty of the living conditions of residents, was unlike anything I had seen in St. John’s. But the people were quite welcoming, and gave me an exceptional opportunity to experience first-hand how sociological inquiry could advance insight and understanding. As I completed my assigned roster of interviews, I became increasingly committed to the idea of a career in sociology.

There were comparatively few female professors during my undergraduate years at Memorial, and in sociology the only one was Lithuanian-born Marina Gorodeckis-Tarulis (briefly at Memorial before returning to her home in Venezuela). In a one-on-one directed studies course that I took with her in the fall of 1970, she strongly encouraged me to consider application to graduate school – an option that I had been completely unaware of prior to that. No other professor had ever, in any way, implied that I might possess the aptitude for a graduate career.

Eventually, I accepted an offer of admission from the Department of Sociology at McMaster University. That decision was influenced by a combination of several factors: McMaster’s generous offer of scholarship support; Hamilton’s proximity to Toronto (where my Dad, who was in the hardware business in St. John’s, would periodically come for trade shows); the familiarity of other MUN sociology grads “going to Mac” too (though, ultimately, they’d be homesick and leave before Christmas); and one of the MUN professors, Ralph Matthews, was moving there too. (I might add that I was third on the “alternate” list for admission to McMaster, after all their “first choices” had made their decisions. This fact – and the subsequent requirement that I take additional sociology courses to make up for the deficiency of a 4-year MUN degree that was not an “Honours” degree – made my receipt, 25 years later, of McMaster’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, all the more sweet, I must say.)

Although I could not have known it at the time, what would become the framing for my entire academic career was, in fact, cast almost immediately upon my arrival in Hamilton. First, I rented a flat in the home of an elderly widow, Mrs. Pelma Erskine, and quickly became aware of – and at times immersed in – her social world of older (often widowed) women, their mutually supportive friendship styles and their issues and concerns.

Second, I enrolled in Victor Marshall’s sociology course on Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology, and chose to present one of the elective readings, David Sudnow’s book Passing On: The Social Organization of Dying. This is an ethnographic study of “death work” in an acute care hospital, and the relevant social treatment associated with dying. Both these experiences opened my eyes to aspects of living as an older person (and a woman, especially) and to the social aspects of dying and death in modern society.

While I retained my core interest in social and organizational aspects of transitional life events and my commitment to my Master’s research on Newfoundland migrants living in Ontario, I was greatly impacted by the timing of a period effect. Almost simultaneously, numerous countries were establishing professional organizations to promote the study of aging and gerontology; Canada was no exception, with the establishment of the Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG) in 1972.

A newly-minted PhD himself, Victor Marshall was highly involved in building this new field in Canada, and as a founding member of the CAG. His scholarship and enthusiastic advocacy of studies of aging quickly engaged a cadre of my fellow graduate students in sociology at McMaster. The field of social gerontology and the sociology of aging was, quite literally, born in Canada just as I embarked on my graduate studies and, in working with Victor Marshall, I was right at “ground zero.”

No courses yet existed, but I became the Teaching Assistant for the special topics in an “Age-Related Studies” course that Victor Marshall offered at McMaster in 1972, and the next year I enrolled in his graduate directed-readings course, unofficially known as “sociology of aging.” While I took the course out of personal interest (with no particular aspiration beyond that), in the process I researched and wrote a lengthy paper on role changes associated with widowhood in later life – with the purpose of collating and synthesizing a body of inter-disciplinary research (much of it, social psychological) on widowhood. Constructs of role exit, role loss, and widowhood as essentially a “roleless role” pervaded the literature. I became interested in whether role change (or “exit”) was in fact the basis of identity change in widowhood, or if, rather, a redefinition of self, along with the behaviours of particular others and attitudes and structures of society in general, contribute to the social (re)construction of self and identity.

In 1974 (after being “advanced” to the doctoral program and completing PhD course work before I had even started collecting data for my Master’s degree), I completed the MA thesis (“Up-along: Newfoundland Families living in Hamilton, Ontario”), based on interviews with 61 Newfoundland families who had migrated in the previous two decades. (The interview data are now on file in MUN’s Centre for Newfoundland Studies.) I applied Frederic LePlay’s constructs of “stem” and “branch” families, to understand ties to Newfoundland and extent to which Newfoundlanders had established a community (formal and informal) in Hamilton and area. And, indeed, many study participants told me that, “lately, we’re tending to see more of foreign people, too” – foreign people, in this case, meaning non-Newfoundlanders.

On the other hand, I was quite intrigued to find evidence of another pattern: Newfoundland migrant families told me, “The last three years have made a difference with the Newfoundlanders here. With the children growing up and getting married, you go to your children’s houses to visit, instead of your friends…. You visit the kids, and if there’s time, you see your [Newfoundland] friends later. Then the hours are gone when you would have been together.” Quite unexpectedly, then, I was confronted with a generational, age-related explanation for what otherwise might have appeared to be evidence of assimilation of Newfoundlanders into the social life of Hamilton.

While I had hoped that the issues identified in that early widowhood research paper would be the basis of my doctoral dissertation, external constraints rendered this impossible. My PhD studies, initiated when I was still completing the Master’s research on Newfoundland migrants in Hamilton, were funded through a doctoral fellowship in Urban and Regional Affairs, from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. CMHC, understandably, expected my continuing research focus on issues of housing, migration, or urban affairs. In my original proposal to CHMC, I had proposed to study women’s experiences of long-distance family relocation. Thus in order to keep my funding, I pragmatically decided to rekindle my interest in this topic, completing a doctoral dissertation applying Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss’ concept of status passage (1971) to examine women’s experiences of relocation and the “moving career.” My commitment to research on aging would have to come in my post-graduate life, it seemed.

I have described, in some detail, this early stage of my career, the stage of developing my sociological roots and training, because, in fact, this was to be the most consistently and overtly sociological phase of my career. For, in 1978, I swerved.

In her best-selling book Becoming (2018), Michelle Obama describes several swerves in her own life: consciously making an abrupt change of direction, often involving moving away from a previously chosen career path. In 1978, on the job market, still ABD at Mac, and only seeking academic work within a 100-kilometre radius of my home life in Hamilton (I had married Ralph Matthews in 1974), I received two job offers from the University of Guelph. One was a one-year contract as a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology; the other, a two-year contract as a Lecturer in the Department of Family Studies. The position in Family Studies would allow me to teach courses in social gerontology.

The opportunity to teach social gerontology prevailed. As a result, I spent the next 30 years of my career (20 of them at Guelph, 10 at UBC) in more “applied” social science departments, working alongside colleagues with training in economics, psychology, sociology, education, nutrition and dietetics, and focusing on issues of the life course, aging and behaviour.

But here, once again, the serendipity of timing propelled my career forward. When the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada launched its Strategic Grants Division in 1980, one of the three themes identified was in “Population Aging”! It took a bit of doing to persuade the Senate of the University of Guelph to endorse a proposal initiated by a couple of untenured Assistant Professors in the Department of Family Studies, supported by a senior colleague in sociology and another in psychology – but they did. We developed a competitive bid and won in the 1982 competition (competing against the University of Toronto, I should add). I led the Gerontology Research Centre at the University of Guelph for 12 years, from 1983 until 1995.

Yes, the research and scholarship were primarily “applied social science,” but those years certainly provided me the opportunity to bring a sociologically-informed perspective to my research on aging and later life. And, in a research context that was becoming ever more focused on multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary research, I gained valuable experience in collaborating with geographers, psychologists, family economists, and even researchers in nutrition education and public health. This proved useful when, in 1990, I became one of four Co-principal Investigators on CARNET: the Canadian Aging Research Network. CARNET was the first Network of Centre of Excellence led by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and including, among its 26 network members, researchers funded by all three federal funding councils. This level of multi-disciplinary collaboration was unprecedented at the time.

Throughout those years, I maintained my own active research program (independent of the Gerontology Research Centre): writing a book on Widowhood in Later Life; publishing with my doctoral students (some with backgrounds in sociology) and colleagues on the gendered nature of filial care, care and caregiving, social supports in later life, aging and health behaviour, home and community care. Female colleagues in the sociology of aging (Ingrid Connidis, Western; Carolyn Rosenthal, McMaster; and Sarah Matthews at Cleveland State University) assured me that my work was sociological, even as I doubted that I was, any longer, a real sociologist. I recall that my doctoral supervisor, Victor Marshall, who maintained a strong reputation as a sociological theorist while active in research on aging, occasionally let me know that I was going a bit too far into “this caregiving stuff.”

And, of course, I collaborated with Ralph Matthews on several research initiatives – the most substantial being a SSHRC-funded study titled “Social and Psychological Responses to Infertility and its Treatment.” Ralph, indeed, likes to remind me that, despite my many publications in social gerontology and the sociology of aging, my highest citation is of a publication with him titled “Infertility and involuntary childlessness: The transition to non-parenthood,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1986, 48(3): 641-649.

Despite all those years outside a Sociology Department, a major source of academic connection for me became the Research Committee on Aging of the International Sociological Association (ISA). I found a true scholarly and intellectual home there, alongside colleagues with “real” sociological credentials and affiliations. Research Committee 11 provided the perfect context for presentation and discussion of my scholarly interests, the focus on the study of aging in multiple contexts, but quite explicitly within a sociological frame.

By the time I was elected President of the ISA Research Committee on Aging (2010-2014), I had spent more than a decade at the University of British Columbia. Again, there was some serendipity at play in that process: with an email unexpectedly landing in my inbox at the University of Guelph in the fall of 1996, inviting applications for the position of Director of the School of Family and Nutritional Sciences in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at UBC. (The School at UBC was much like the department in which I had spent nearly 20 years at Guelph.) Although another swerve, this time into academic administration, was not something I had ever considered, it became a vehicle for a mid-career move at a time when I was ready for a change. So, instead of moving east (as we had long thought we might do one day), Ralph and I, with two teenagers and a dog, headed west to Vancouver in December 1997.

Having assumed that moving to such a large, research intensive institution after nearly 20 years at a much smaller one would guarantee anonymity (a new little fish in a VERY big pond), I was surprised by the array (and pace) of challenges, opportunities, and some quite unanticipated swerves of those early UBC years. Within six years, I was in the Faculty of Arts, serving as Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies, and then, for 10 months, Dean pro tem. Surprisingly (!) enjoying some aspects of academic administration, but worried about its impact on my research career (which I was not yet prepared to abandon), I was just settling back into life as a “regular” faculty member, when the opportunity for making the most unlikely swerve in my career, unexpectedly came along.

It began, of course, with another coincidence of timing, another period effect. In June 2000, the Medical Research Council of Canada and the National Health Research and Development Program of Health Canada (from which I had received funding) merged to become the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). With a mandate to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system, CIHR was composed of 13 national institutes, one of them an Institute of Aging (IA). I had been serving on the IA’s inaugural Institute Advisory Board and was very engaged in that role, working to support the Institute’s Scientific Director in setting a research agenda in aging across biomedical, clinical, health services and policy, and population health research. When the Scientific Director (a geriatrician) resigned unexpectedly, I had the opportunity to apply for a job that, I immediately realized, I really wanted. This was as far away from sociology as I was ever going to get, and yet it afforded the opportunity to help set the national and international research agenda in my field of research, in aging – an extraordinary privilege and opportunity. I became the first (and, to date, only) “card carrying sociologist” to become a Scientific Director of a CIHR Institute – a position I held for two terms, from 2004-2011.

In my Scientific Director position, I was seconded from UBC on a .60 full-time equivalency basis (crazily unrealistic, in truth), but this “balance” enabled me to champion initiatives for the Institute, as well as maintain my own program of research. That research had assumed a particular focus when, in 1999, my mother was paralyzed by stroke, and, as I later wrote (in “Situating ‘home’ at the nexus of the public and private spheres: Aging, gender and home support work in Canada,” Current Sociology, 2007, 55 (2), 229-249), “home care entered my family biography.” For the eight years of my research stipend from CIHR while I was Scientific Director (and otherwise ineligible to apply for CIHR funding), I conducted research on the roles and perspectives of publicly-funded home care workers, older people as clients, and family members at the intersection of the public and private spheres of home-based health and social care services.

At CIHR, I had inherited from my predecessor a commitment to explore the feasibility of a Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging (CLSA); a very “big science” initiative; and I did. I am not a “visionary” and I would not ever have developed the idea for a CLSA – a 20-year study of 50,000 Canadians between the ages of 45 and 80 (at point of entry to the study), to examine the complex interplay between biological, social and behavioural aspects of aging. But I am a “process person,” and once convinced of the unique potential of the CLSA to advance understanding of aging, it became my driving mission to work with the research team to secure CIHR’s support for, and funding of, this ambitious initiative. The CLSA was launched in 2009, with one of its 10 Canadian research sites based in the Health Sciences Complex at Memorial University.

There were other initiatives over those 8 years at CIHR, with an especially meaningful one for me being the launch in 2006 of what has become an annual week-long Summer Program in Aging, bringing graduate students from all fields of aging research together from across Canada. But the CLSA is the key legacy of those years.

I returned full-time back to UBC in 2011, to an appointment in the Department of Sociology! At last, my sociological career had come full circle. (The move into sociology had actually occurred in 2008, while I was still part-time with the CIHR Institute of Aging, fully 30 years after my first academic appointment at Guelph). Aging is a very marginal research focus in this department, and so all but one of my PhD students have come to me via the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program.

Nevertheless, I graduated my first PhD in sociology in 2017. I taught my first (and only) graduate course in Aging and Society in the Department of Sociology the same year (with 2/3 of the course participants coming from disciplines other than sociology). And in 2016, I published a paper, “The Interpretive Perspective on Aging,” in Vern Bengtson and Richard Settersten (Eds.), Handbook of Theories of Aging, 3rd ed., pp. 381-400. My name appeared between two bona fide sociologists, my doctoral supervisor Victor Marshall (then at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Julie McMullin of Western University. By then I was beginning to think that, just maybe, I am sociological enough, after all.

Recently, in cleaning out my sociology office (I retain a .20 full-time equivalency appointment in sociology as I assume a new role of Associate Vice-President Health at UBC), I came across a paper that I cited in my 1978 job talk in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph. I could not have imagined then how the words of Stella Jones, in a publication titled The Research Experience, would so aptly capture the essence of my own academic (and, indeed, coast to coast, geographical) journey: Jones described doing research as “analogous to a journey across the country. [It] can be an experience with many serendipitous turns.… The traveler and the researcher alike find that the best laid plans must frequently be altered in transit. Unexpected delays occur; last minute changes in routing are sometimes necessary.… Such unexpected factors may add to or detract from the total travel or research experience” (pp. 327-328).

Certainly, I swerved – and often – between sociology and social gerontology (and various academic footholds around and between), and between scholarship and administration. Best laid plans were, indeed, altered in transit. And, as Dr. Holly Pike so insightfully deduced, my research has indeed juxtaposed prospective and retrospective approaches in the effort to advance understanding. This has become particularly pronounced now that I have become what I have been researching and teaching all through my academic career: a senior citizen. This has occasioned some self-reflexivity in my approach to my research, as I bring the “perspective of time” back to topics that I have researched and written about previously.

But there have also been two constants. While some other contributors to Sociology on the Rock have described themselves as an “accidental sociologist” (Porter, 2008) or a “reluctant sociologist” (Felt, 2012), my roots in sociology run deep. Memorial and McMaster gave me that. Victor Marshall, as my career-long academic mentor, and Ralph Matthews, as the sociologist who has been my life’s partner for 45 years, have kept me grounded in sociology even as more applied science, health research, and academic administration pulled me frequently away.

And then there is that other constant for me – The Rock itself. As I said at the end of my convocation address, “The Future is Aging,” to the graduating class at MUN’s Grenfell campus in October 2018: “For those of you who are from Newfoundland, or feel that you now belong to Newfoundland, I encourage you to honour these roots. This is a special place, and please don’t forget that. I recall how full my heart was at my graduation from Memorial 47 years ago, knowing that I was leaving soon to go to graduate school ‘on the mainland.’ I did not know then that I would not return to live here permanently – though I did marry a Newfoundlander, and have come back countless times almost every year since. I took it as a tremendous compliment when my mother said of me, shortly before she died, ‘Anne left Newfoundland, but Newfoundland never left her.’ Please do not ever lose the Newfoundland in you.” As for me, I’m inclined to think that I never have.

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huangbarbie · 7 years

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200 questions that caused me a headache.

I’m gonna be short with these answers cause lazy.

Thanks no thanks to @leinufleur and @oldchevyimpala79

200: My crush’s name is: Not worth to mention ‘cause no chance. 199: I was born in: September 1st, 1988. 198: I am really: sleepy right now. 197: My cellphone company is: Apple. 196: My eye color is: Brown. 195: My shoe size is: size 7. 194: My ring size is: 4.5. 193: My height is: 157cm. 192: I am allergic to: Dust. 191: My 1st car was: The Yellow banana. 190: My 1st job was: Waiter. 189: Last book you read: The Alchemist. 188: My bed is: King sized. 187: My pet: Two doggies. 186: My best friend: @slayeoff 185: My favorite shampoo is: I don’t have one. 184: Xbox or ps3: ps3. 183: Piggy banks are: Don’t have any. 182: In my pockets: No pockets. 181: On my calendar: Some appointments. 180: Marriage is: not for everyone. 179: Spongebob can: make me laugh. 178: My mom: is my role model. 177: The last three songs I bought were? I can't remember. 176: Last YouTube video watched: Something from Buzzfeed. 175: How many cousins do you have? Not many. 174: Do you have any siblings? A younger brother. 173: Are your parents divorced? No. 172: Are you taller than your mom? No. 171: Do you play an instrument? Sadly, no. 170: What did you do yesterday? Work, sleep.

[ I Believe In ] 169: Love at first sight: No. 168: Luck: Yes. 167: Fate: No. 166: Yourself: Sometimes. 165: Aliens: Maybe. 164: Heaven: Yes, kind of. 163: Hell: No. 162: God: Yes. 161: Horoscopes: Yes, haha. 160: Soul mates: Yes. 159: Ghosts: Sometimes. 158: Gay Marriage: Yes. 157: War: No. 156: Orbs: Yes. 155: Magic: Maybe.

[ This or That ] 154: Hugs or Kisses: Hugs. 153: Drunk or High: Drunk. 152: Phone or Online: Online. 151: Red heads or Black haired: I don’t mind either. 150: Blondes or Brunettes: Same as above. 149: Hot or cold: Cold. 148: Summer or winter: Winter. 147: Autumn or Spring: Autumn. 146: Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate. 145: Night or Day: Night. 144: Oranges or Apples: Apples. 143: Curly or Straight hair: Both. 142: McDonalds or Burger King: BK. 141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Milk chocolate. 140: Mac or PC: Mac. 139: Flip flops or high heals: Both. 138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: Sweet and poor. 137: Coke or Pepsi: Both. 136: Hillary or Obama: Obama. 135: Burried or cremated: Cremated. 134: Singing or Dancing: Dancing. 133: Coach or Chanel: Chanel. 132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: Neither. 131: Small town or Big city: Big city. 130: Wal-Mart or Target: Neither. 129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Ben Stiller. 128: Manicure or Pedicure: Both. 127: East Coast or West Coast: Both. 126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Christmas. 125: Chocolate or Flowers: Both. 124: Disney or Six Flags: Disney. 123: Yankees or Red Sox: Neither.

[ Here’s What I Think About ] 122: War: Bullshit. 121: George Bush: More bullshit. 120: Gay Marriage: Yay. 119: The presidential election: Injustice. 118: Abortion: You do what you want, it’s your body after all. 117: MySpace: Haha good times. 116: Reality TV: Sometimes fun. 115: Parents: Love them. 114: Back stabbers: Fuck them. 113: Ebay: Good. 112: Facebook: Meh. 111: Work: Love it. 110: My Neighbors: They’re okay. 109: Gas Prices: Okay. 108: Designer Clothes: Love them. 107: College: Good. 106: Sports: Love them. 105: My family: Love them too. 104: The future: Scary.

[ Last time I ] 103: Hugged someone: Today. 102: Last time you ate: 5 hours ago. 101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: A few weeks. 100: Cried in front of someone: A week or so. 99: Went to a movie theater: Tuesday. 98: Took a vacation: A few weeks ago. 97: Swam in a pool: Some months ago. 96: Changed a diaper: Wow, a long time, can’t remember. 95: Got my nails done: Saturday. 94: Went to a wedding: A couple of months. 93: Broke a bone: Can’t remember. 92: Got a piercing: A few years. 91: Broke the law: Not long ago considering it’s illegal to tattoo in Korea. 90: Texted: A minute ago.

[ MISC ] 89: Who makes you laugh the most: @sable-chevalier-masashi 88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: Family. 87: The last movie I saw: The latest Resident Evil- wait, after that I saw Moulin Rouge again actually. 86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: Life. 85: The thing im not looking forward to: People. 84: People call me: Bunny, Jiji, Minnie. 83: The most difficult thing to do is: Wake up. 82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: A few times. 81: My zodiac sign is: Virgo. 80: The first person i talked to today was: @shepherdofwrath 79: First time you had a crush: In middle school. 78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: Alex, Masashi and Taeyeon. 77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: Today? I think. 76: Right now I am talking to: Alex. 75: What are you going to do when you grow up: I am already an adult, lol. 74: I have/will get a job: Have. 73: Tomorrow: Friday, finally. 72: Today: Food awaits. 71: Next Summer: Pools, parties and bikinis. 70: Next Weekend: Sleep. 69: I have these pets: Bedlington Terrier and a Poodle. 68: The worst sound in the world: Nails on a chalkboard. 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: Myself. 66: People that make you happy: @sable-chevalier-masashi @shepherdofwrath @slayeoff @oldchevyimpala79 and so much more but I'm lazy. 65: Last time I cried: Wednesday. 64: My friends are: unique. 63: My computer is: a MacBook. 62: My School: All done. 61: My Car: I own three. 60: I lose all respect for people who: lie. 59: The movie I cried at was: Moulin Rouge. 58: Your hair color is: black. 57: TV shows you watch: Too many to mention. 56: Favorite web site: My own? Hahaha. 55: Your dream vacation: Beaches. 54: The worst pain I was ever in was: Surgery. 53: How do you like your steak cooked: Well done. 52: My room is: cozy. 51: My favorite celebrity is: I don’t have any... maybe Liam Neeson? 50: Where would you like to be: Clinging on @shepherdofwrath 49: Do you want children: Yes. 48: Ever been in love: Yes. 47: Who’s your best friend: @slayeoff 46: More guy friends or girl friends: Guy friends. 45: One thing that makes you feel great is: food. 44: One person that you wish you could see right now: @shepherdofwrath 43: Do you have a 5 year plan: No. 42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: No. 41: Have you pre-named your children: Yes. 40: Last person I got mad at: Hiro. 39: I would like to move to: Nowhere in particular. 38: I wish I was a professional: musician sometimes.

[ My Favorites ] 37: Candy: Does @shepherdofwrath count? Hahahaha, kidding, kind of. 36: Vehicle: I always wanted a Ferrari. 35: President: None. 34: State visited: California, though I haven’t been there yet. 33: Cellphone provider: None. 32: Athlete: Moon Sung Min. 31: Actor: Liam Neeson, maybe. 30: Actress: Meryl Streep. 29: Singer: Park Hyo Shin. 28: Band: Too many. 27: Clothing store: Mine, lmao. Ok, Victoria’s Secret. 26: Grocery store: None. 25: TV show: Too many. 24: Movie: WAY TOO MANY. 23: Website: Mine. 22: Animal: Puppies and pandas. 21: Theme park: I don’t know. 20: Holiday: Halloween and Christmas. 19: Sport to watch: Soccer, Volleyball and Ice Skating. 18: Sport to play: Volleyball. 17: Magazine: None. 16: Book: The Great Gatsby. 15: Day of the week: Saturday. 14: Beach: Many. 13: Concert attended: Many too. 12: Thing to cook: Brownies. 11: Food: Italian. 10: Restaurant: Korean BBQ. 9: Radio station: None. 8: Yankee candle scent: None. 7: Perfume: Chanel Nº 5. 6: Flower: Roses, especially black and red. 5: Color: Red and black. 4: Talk show host: Jimmy Fallon? 3: Comedian: Same as above lmao 2: Dog breed: All of them! 1: Did you answer all these truthfully? Yes.

#Fuck- it's finally over!#about

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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The 2008 Class that Explains Elizabeth Warren’s Style

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/the-2008-class-that-explains-elizabeth-warrens-style/

The 2008 Class that Explains Elizabeth Warren’s Style

In the middle of the volatile fall of 2008, with foreclosures skyrocketing and companies failing and unemployment spiking and the stock market sinking, 80 rattled first-semester Harvard Law School students stood outside a classroom and watched the Dow plummet yet again. Then they stepped inside and took their seats for their contracts course with professor Elizabeth Warren.

“And professor Warren’s like, ‘We’re actually not going to talk about contracts,’” former student Danielle D’Onfro told me. “‘We’re going to talk about what’s happening in the world.’”

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Warren ditched the syllabus and instead gave a lecture on the cratering economyand its causes, encapsulating the collapse as she understood it. In interviews over the past couple weeks, her former students described it as “riveting” and “engaging” and “eye-opening.”

“She basically proceeded to explain the financial crisis as it was happening,” Nigel Barrella said. “It was pretty amazing—at a time when no one else, really, seemed to have answers like that—that she would come in and talk about credit default swaps and collateralized mortgages, junk mortgages, carved up into tranches, and sold to financial institutions as high-quality financial products.”

Her impromptu primer on the crisis spanned two days, November 12 and 13, according to the calendar of one of her students, and their takeaway was twofold: (1) Professor Warren sure had a knack for talking about this stuff, and (2) this skill might take her somewhere beyond even the august confines of HLS.

“I think for all of us sitting there at that moment,” D’Onfro said, “we realized that, you know, this person is not just going to be our contracts professor.”

They were right. Warren’s gift for explication has led her almost inexorably from there to here—from explaining at Harvard, in classes, in a reading group, on a blog and on panels of academics and in the popular press, to explaining in Washington, where she came to prominence as a piercing watchdog before she was elected to the Senate. And on a historically crowded presidential campaign trail, she has steadily distanced herself from most of the field with her grasp of detail and capacity to break it down, standing as the top-polling Democrat not named Joe Biden heading into this week’s curtain-raising debates.

Warren’s professorial background, and her history as a Washington player on an issue as complex as financial regulation, has led some political observers to ask of late whether this particular gift could be a mixed blessing—a talent that also defines her ceiling, especially with the working-class voters who could make the difference in a presidential election.

“She’s lecturing,” David Axelrod, the top Barack Obama strategist, recently said of Warren in theNew York Times Magazine, wondering how that approach would play with non-college-educated white voters. (“I regretted that the rest of my thoughts were excised,” he told me in a subsequent conversation, saying Warren has “phenomenal strengths.” But still: “I think this is the last big hurdle for her,” he said.)

He’s not the only one who’s consideredthis. “It’s a fascinating question,” former Jeb Bush senior adviser Michael Steel told me. He called it “a huge challenge … figuring out how to explain her policy positions, the problems they purport to address, and how it fits in with her theory, in a way that somebody sitting on a stool in a Waffle House will understand and agree with.”

Others, though, push back on just the basic terms of this conversation. Progressive consultant Rebecca Katz said in an email, “Let’s call the attack on her ‘lecturing’ what it really is: sexist.” Added Boston-based political analyst Mary Anne Marsh: “She’s beendefiningthis race.”

On the debate stage Wednesday night, facing off against nine other contenders, Warren will have a platform, if a narrow one, to make the kind of vivid and persuasive case that grabs voters. In the Democratic Party, at least, there are footsteps for an expert explainer to follow: Obama had a professor’s demeanor and rhetorical tics, and Bill Clinton laid out big ideas and policy nuances at length, all while forging personal connections with a wide variety of audiences.

Some who’ve gauged her as a candidate think Warren is honing these same skills. “I thought at the beginning of the campaign watching her that she was lecturing,” longtime Democratic strategist Bob Shrum told me, “and then as time has gone on, and she’s done these town meetings, she’s gotten better and better at explaining and relating what she’s saying in human terms.”

Republican consultants I contacted concur. “I think she’s a much more formidable politician than a lot of people, especially, on the right, think,” Liz Mair, a communications strategist who’s worked for Scott Walker, Rick Perry and Rand Paul, said in an email.

If Warren grabs the spotlight on that crowded stage, there’s a group of former law students who can explain why.

***

“Will the Middle Class Survive?”

In the fall of ’08, that’s what Warren called her reading group, a quasi-extracurricular klatch of a dozen students who had signed up to explore the topic at the heart of her life’s work. The reading: some chapters from a book about class, some chapters from a book about health care and some chapters from a book of her own—The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Going Broke, which she wrote with her daughter and was published in 2003. “I’m looking forward to this,” Warren wrote to the students, according to emails one of them shared with me.

It took no time at all for current events to scramble the group’s schedule.

“Class Mattersis beginning to feel a bit dated,” Warren wrote to the group ahead of its first real get-together.Class Mattershad come out just three years before. “Would you like me to talk with you about how the subprime crisis started and what might be done about it? If that would be more timely, I’m glad to do it.”

The students made plain what they wanted. “Your responses overwhelmingly favored talking about the mortgage meltdown,” Warren wrote.

The rest of the semester, meeting on intermittent Thursday evenings at Warren’s dark green Victorian house with a wrought-iron fence, Warren served them salmon and ribs and ordered in Redbones along with peach cobbler that almost every student I talked to mentioned without prompting. They drank herbal tea and talked, taking turns petting Otis, Warren’s convivial golden retriever. They discussed the reading—but their conversations, members of the group told me, couldn’t help but veer away from the pages of the texts and toward the topsy-turvy economy.

“There’s a tendency in elite law schools to just remove yourself from the realities of the world, and it was a really strange time to enter law school, when the economy was collapsing around you,” Rachel Lauter said. “And I remember feeling incredibly lucky to have her on the ground floor explaining what was happening.”

“She can talk to normal people and explain complicated things in a way that’s comprehensible,” Jad Mills said.

“That’s not always how law professors communicate,” Libby Benton said.

Neither is this: Throughout that fall, Warren penned op-eds (families losing their homes were “casualties of a financial system that saw them not as customers, but as prey,” she wrote in theChicago Tribuneon September 22), she blogged at creditslips.org (the $700 billion bailout was “keeping me awake at night,” she wrote on September 23), fired off quotes on network news shows (she called a credit card “a poisonous snake in your wallet” on ABC’s “Nightline” on September 25) and lit up panels with fellow academics at Harvard.

At one, “The Financial Crisis: Causes and Cures,” she proved to be “an audience favorite,” according to the student newspaper, describing subprime mortgages as “35-cent bananas” that should’ve cost 15 cents. She was the only woman on the panel with five men.

“They were talking, just trying to explain the basics of, like, credit default swaps, and what a securitized trust was, and what had happened generally,” one of Warren’s former students told me, “because no one really understood what was going on, period. And so I remember that other people on the panel would speak and everyone would sort of tune out. … But then Elizabeth started speaking, and it just, like, made so much sense, and people were, like,cheeringandstanding up, and it’s hard to get a crowd on their feet when you’re talking about credit default swaps! … It was one of the most incredible things that I had ever seen in terms of somebody being able to take these really arcane concepts and make them feel relevant, accessible andoutragingat the same time.”

Back in the classroom, in another meeting of students, Warren asked what they would do if they were in charge of a big financial institution. Hunker down, some said, and tighten up. She made it clear that wasn’t the answer she was looking for. And then students’ hands started to shoot up. The answer, actually, was the opposite. “You grow as fast as you can. You buy as much as you can with borrowed money. And you lend and borrow from as many other large institutions as possible. Because then the government can’t afford to let you fail,” Warren would recall a student saying. “It took my students about two minutes,” as she put it later, “to see how to build a bank that would be Too Big to Fail.”

Warren’s teaching style was amped-up Socratic, fostering lightning-quick dialogue one student I talked to likened to dodge ball and another compared to machine gun fire. Her teaching assistants kept index cards to track who’d been called on how often, and it was standard, according to former students, for every one of them to be called on once if not twice every class. “Very demanding,” Marielle Macher said. “It was the class that we were all the most prepared for,” Caitlin Kekacs said. Warren’s classes, Charles Fried, her Harvard colleague who served as one of Ronald Reagan’s solicitor generals, told me, were “electric,” and her student evaluations were effusive. And she was known, at least inside the law school, specifically forneverlecturing. So what happened on November 12 and 13 was decidedly different from what she usually did. Mainly, on those days, she just talked—and her students just listened.

In its way, many students told me, Warren’s lecture was strangely comforting.

“The world’s ending,” Dan Mach remembered. “And here was a professor who knew a lot about it and could explain it better than other people,” Dave Casserley said. It was something they mostly weren’t getting from their other professors.

Larry Tribe, the preeminent constitutional scholar and Warren’s Harvard colleague, told me he heard this sentiment from students that fall. “That has stuck with me,” Tribe said. “It’s also stuck with me partly because of my own memory when I was a law student at Harvard when dramatic, terrifying things would happen. I mean, I was actually a first- or second-year law student when Kennedy was assassinated, and I remember coming to class the next day, barely able to hold myself together. And the professor, who was someone I really liked and admired, not only then but years after, barely paused. He basically said, ‘Terrible things are going on, but we have our work to do.’ And then he went right back to discussing complicated issues of civil procedure. And that was kind of an inhuman and inhumane environment. And in some ways Elizabeth Warren is … the absolute opposite of someone who would treat legal education as an insulated bubble separate from the world.”

Tribe told me, too, about the way Warren at the time helped the woman who would become his wife. Elizabeth Westling was going through a divorce, riddled with worry, when her therapist gave her … books—The Two-Income TrapandAll Your Worth—by Warren. “I thought to myself, ‘Well, this is ridiculous. What would I need this for?’” Westling told me. “But I went home, and I read them, and lo and behold, it really transformed my psyche, I think, because what it did was give me a sense of empowerment and confidence.”

It’s something I heard from many of the 19 former Warren students I talked to for this story. What they got from her in 2008 was not only edifying but also eased their anxieties about the economy. She helpedthembecause they felt she maybe could be a part of helping to fixit.

And on the evening of November 13, hours after finishing her lecture on the economy to her contracts class in Pound Hall and minutes before hosting a third of them for the first of three straight nights of dinners with students at her house, she got a call from Harry Reid. The Senate majority leader asked her to take the oversight position. And she was off to Washington. “Harry Reid,” she would say, “forever changed my life with that phone call.”

The next day, Reid made the announcement about Warren’s new role.

That afternoon, she sent an email to her students. One of them shared it with me. It was … not about her new role.

“Some of you have met Otis, the 100-pound golden retriever who lives with us,” Warren wrote. “He’s sweet and he’s lonely right now—desperate for someone who would like to play. If you are around and would like to have some puppy love, would you drop by to get Otis?”

***

Midday this past Saturday, in Columbia, South Carolina, I stood near the rear of the main hall of the convention of the South Carolina Democratic Party and took in what quickly turned into an episode of the prosecutor versus the professor.

Kamala Harris was first up among the catalog of 2020 Democrats, and she gave a spirited personal statement to the near-capacity crowd of 1,800. She said she knew how to “take on predators”—she didn’t need to say the name of the person she was talking about—and then built to a crescendo. “I’m going to tell you we need somebody on our stage when it comes time for that general election who knows how to recognize a rap sheet when they see it and prosecute the case!” she said. “Let’s prosecute the case!” Her speech elicited raucous cheers.

Warren came on some 20 minutes after Harris. She introduced herself as a practically accidental politician, self-identifying from the start as a teacher, although she didn’t mention Harvard. “Teachers,” she said, “understand the worth of every single human being. Teachers invest in the future. And teachers never give up.” In a checklist rundown of her “big plans,” she said her proposed 2 percent tax on net worth above $50 million could pay for universal child care and pre-kindergarten, tuition-free college, zap student loan debt, make billion-dollar investments in historically black colleges and universities, and provide higher pay for teachers. But her seven minutes on stage felt a little rote and a tad flat. As Warren spoke, I stood next to the raised platform made to be an MSNBC set and watched Harris get interviewed live.

Something that’s helped Warren vault past Bernie Sanders and others in the polls and into that second slot behind Biden? Her town halls. In Iowa and New Hampshire and other early states. Even in places like West Virginia. And on CNN and MSNBC (but not on Fox News). She’s generally better, most observers and analysts agree, interacting with voters rather than delivering speeches. “I’ve seen her be very effective in small groups,” Axelrod told me. It’s the sort of setting that allows her to delve more deeply into her myriad detailed policy proposals.

An hour or so after her convention appearance, just across the street, Warren bounded into the homier, more intimate environs in the building hosting Planned Parenthood’s “We Decide” forum. In front of a gathering perhaps a quarter of the size, sitting between two women asking her questions instead of standing behind a lectern, Warren was kinetic in a way she simply hadn’t been at the convention. Here, she answered questions from people in the crowd. Here, she came off as a teacher but also as a fighter. Asked aboutRoe v. Wade, she was nothing if not animated. “The truth is,” she said, “we’ve been on defense for 47 years. And it’s not working. … I say it is time to go on offense!” She held her microphone in her right hand and gesticulated energetically with her left. She sat on the edge of her seat. She dropped a “by golly.” She left to a standing ovation.

A little later, up one floor, Warren darted into a small room set aside for candidates to talk to reporters if they wanted to and plucked a grape from a picked-at tray. She popped it into her mouth and faced the hasty half-moon of cameras. She was asked about Donald Trump. She dinged him for his “ineptitude.” She was asked about Pete Buttigieg and his trouble at home. She said she wasn’t going to criticize her fellow Democrats. And then she was asked why people should trust her. She gave an answer that would have sounded familiar to her first-semester law students in the fall of ‘08.

“This is a fight I’ve been in for all my life, long before I ever got engaged in politics of any kind,” she said. “I’ve spent my whole life on exactly this issue. What’s happening to working families in this country? Why is America’s middle class being hollowed out? Why is it that people who work hard every day find a path so rocky and so steep and for people of color even rockier and even steeper? And the answer is a government that works better and better for billionaires and giant corporations and kicks dirt in everyone else’s face. Well, I say: In a democracy, we can change that. And that’s why I’m in this fight.”

At that, it was time to go. It was her 70th birthday. She had a flight to catch to get home to continue to prepare for Wednesday’s debate. She reached for another grape.

“We got cake in the car,” a staffer said.

“We got cake in the car!” Warren said.

#Foreign #Politics #Style #Warren

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democratsunited-blog · 6 years

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The Democrats Where I’m From

https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=9397

The Democrats Where I’m From

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

THE LAST QUESTION of the night came from a man who kept his freckled arms folded tightly across his chest. I was standing toward the back of the room, hands in pockets, hoping not to be seen.

This group had been silent, mostly, besides the approving murmurs that signaled when Max Della Pia was hitting his notes. It was only my second day with his campaign — a run for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 23rd Congressional District — but it seemed like the evening was going well. Seven or eight questions had already been asked. They were the standard-issue declarations of moral outrage that are common among liberals of a certain age and inclination. Everyone’s just gone crazy or something to that effect.

Each person asked their question like they had been holding it in for weeks. Some asked about policy, but most just seemed interested in being heard. There was a lot of worry and a bit of anger. Mostly, though, there was the general sense that it really was quite a relief to be among people who were feeling the same way.

Max’s tone was conversational, although he wore a suit and tie, which was at least three degrees more formal than anyone else in the room. As each question was asked, he would nod carefully then begin slowly tracing a small pentagon with his feet while he spoke. His answers were gentle, mostly concerned with affirming the emotion that had been laid out in front of him. I’m not sure what I had expected from the event, but I was first shocked by the vulnerability of the whole thing.

As we inched closer to 8:00 p.m., people had begun to get visibly restless, no doubt remembering the remaining contents of their weekday evening. Recognizing that this would likely be his last chance, the man asked his question like he had tucked it in his back pocket before he left home. He cleared his throat — having diligently listened to the candidate make his case, he had the appearance of someone who was ready to get to the heart of some issue. In a level voice that echoed off cement walls, he made his demand.

“Thank you for your time, sir, but I have to ask: what the hell makes you any different from the rest of them?”

For the first time that night, I saw a wide gulf open up between Max and the crowd in front of him. Suddenly there was no shared catharsis, no vulnerable sameness. There was simply a candidate and a room full of voters, viewing each other at a distance. No magic set of facts Max could offer about himself would bridge the expectation of dishonesty and difference that had been placed between him and the people before him.

During the month I worked for Max, I heard him asked hundreds of questions. I listened as strangers lobbed aggression and anxiety at his open ears, heard people describe their life’s story and ask him what he planned to do about it. I don’t remember any question like I remember this one. It wasn’t confrontational, but earnest in a way that’s hard to capture, and it didn’t ask anything unusual or profound. Yet in a way that was jarringly direct, it spoke a mix of emotion that was absolutely ordinary and seemingly universal.

The incumbent Republican, who the winner of the primary would face, is Tom Reed, who has occupied the seat since the district was redrawn in 2011. He’s a typical conservative in today’s sense — loyal to the president and a consistent vote for the Republican majority. In 2012, he won a tight race, but earned double-digit victories in the two elections since. This isn’t a testament to his political acuity, although he has managed to avoid any major scandal. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district by about 50,000 registered voters, and despite stretching over 200 miles, it is carefully drawn to avoid any major cities.

It isn’t the type of district to end up on any red-to-blue list. Voters here chose Trump by double figures, and our politics were gripped with the same sort of angry disaffection that seems to color a large subsection of his support. The district doesn’t look like the gilded Republican suburbs that national Democrats seem to think they can convert. So the Democrats here don’t often expect to do much winning.

That night’s event was in Candor, which is a town that emerges gradually around a visitor. There’s a town line, which announces itself on a bright green sign, but this is really just a technicality. The houses lining Route 96, which snakes up New York’s Southern Tier, steadily increase in frequency before the speed limit drops and the road is suddenly dotted with municipal buildings. A school, a church, a library, and a town hall. There’s no clear moment when you enter the town, no busy Main Street or clustered suburban cul-de-sacs. But of course, at some point, you do realize you’re passing through a place where people live together. Then the houses dissipate, the speed limit shoots back up, and you’re back to driving between things.

Although I grew up a liberal college town in the eastern part of the district, I am a visitor in towns like Candor. My hometown has been largely spared the economic suffering felt by much of the region. Its economy is driven by two large universities, which allowed it to escape the worst effects of the transition away from industrial manufacturing. Moreover, because of the universities, its community is both more diverse and affluent than those of that surround it. All told, the infrastructure of my upbringing was just wholly different from that of a kid living 30 miles away. I did play sports, make friends, and spend time in the communities that fill the rest of the district. More than anywhere else, this is where I’m from, which carries all the meaning we tend to bake into that. This is all to say that the observations I made during the course of my work for Max’s campaign are colored by a half-familiarity stemming from a partially shared experience.

The basement of the Candor Free Library is naturally 68 degrees, no matter the season. It is a dry fluorescent cave, with a floor made of concrete or linoleum or some other hard and chilly material. Scattered around the outside of the room is a mix of bookshelves and boxes, both filled with the kind of things you expect to find in a room that plays a variety of roles. There are some art supplies, some paper plates, and a handful of board games in well-worn cardboard boxes. Long plastic tables were arranged into three rows in the center of the room, and lined with metal folding chairs. One small round table held an assortment of hand-wrapped baked goods and miniature water bottles. Walking in about halfway through the event, I found roughly 25 people quietly fixated on the man at the front of the room. The average age of the group was about 65, which is to be expected, if also mourned.

It was, to put it bluntly, an absolutely dull and totally pedestrian place to be. Yet here were 25 people, totally happy to spend their weekday evening in this mundane, fluorescent room, hearing from one of five candidates in a congressional primary. I’m a part of an age group that avoids electoral politics en masse, and a national culture that distrusts the political process as a matter of instinct. I’ve also worked on a handful of campaigns, each of which placed me in rooms like this one on an almost daily basis. As a result, I have found myself asking and re-asking: why the hell did these people show up?

I think that’s why I can’t let go of that man’s last question of the night.

The question carried a certain cynicism that kept most people away from events like these — the baked-in expectation that most politics is garbage or that campaigns are purely transactional — but it also held an uncommon curiosity that might explain what drew someone out on a Wednesday after dinner. That is, the simple optimism that sometimes, maybe, a candidate may actually be something different. Or at least that it was still worth asking.

There are a lot of very credible reasons to distrust the political process. It’s impossible to say which predominated in this man. He’s an older white man in a part of the country where anger and abandonment are common political sensibilities, so it’s possible he felt some blend of the two. Maybe he was responding to corruption and incompetence in government, or dishonesty in campaigns. Or maybe it wasn’t so acute, just an amorphous distrust coming from a mess of inputs. His specific reason for being wary doesn’t matter much here. What matters is how absolutely common his feeling was.

Max answered as best he could. There was no answer he could have given to earn trust for an entire system. For the most part, he only tried to prove that he had some skin in the game. He described his military background, explaining that he was running for office as a matter of national service. He mentioned his three adult children and the challenges they face, then reiterated the good he believes a Democratic Congress can do for the district.

All told, the answer lasted close to 10 minutes. Then the man nodded silently and allowed the event to end.

Max spent the last two weeks of this election on an RV touring the vast 23rd District. The district is impossibly large and the electorate knew very little about the candidates. There were a few small pockets that had been oversaturated with attention, but for most of the 11 counties, real time from the candidates was scarce. So the answer, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., was retail politics. We would stop in diners, walk down Main Streets, and race between festivals. In any extra time, we knocked on doors.

As a general rule, people don’t like to be approached about things. As a more specific rule, people don’t like to be approached about politics. Max happens to have an exceptional ability to plow through initial social discomfort and find some foothold for conversation, but most people had very little patience for the appearance of politics in their everyday. On two separate occasions, Max was kicked out of a diner for giving his pitch to a customer. Both times, the customer was adamant that they wanted to speak to him, but the owners were outraged that he had brought his campaign into their space. To them, Max’s intention could only be transactional, so it was as if he had begun selling magazine subscriptions in their restaurant.

For the folks in the Candor Free Library, demonstrating political care meant seeking out the candidate. The majority of the people we encountered demonstrated that care simply by being willing to talk. Sometimes it was as minor as listening to Max’s pitch, nodding, and taking his palm card. More poignantly, it was often the vulnerable act of sharing a personal story. Common to both cases is the simple courage of allowing an election to enter into one’s personal life. Both also carry that same optimistic curiosity that takes personal suffering and wonders whether there might be something someone can do about this.

At 11:00 a.m. on Primary Day, there were about 15 people, mostly older women, packed into a dingy office making phone calls to likely voters. There’s a real indignity to cold calling. You exist in a purgatory between telemarketer and real person, so while the person on the other line rarely hangs up, they are also by no means kind. It’s terribly important work — it turns out that peer pressure from strangers really is the only thing that really might get someone to vote in an election they otherwise would have forgotten — but it’s also absolutely unpleasant.

Our space only made matters worse. We had an unnecessarily large office that was, in my experience, nice by campaign standards. Of course it was still a fluorescent, windowless box that neighbored a dance aerobics studio through paper-thin walls. From all I could hear, the classes taught next door were fun and invigorating. They also formed the soundtrack to the final degradation of our collective sanity. The point being, the work these volunteers were doing that Tuesday morning was both pressingly important and absolutely draining.

Some were regulars. They had been working for months, as reliable as staff, stuffing envelopes and knocking on doors. There were many more throughout the district who had kept entire offices open, organizing their existing communities around shared purpose. Others had come in during the final few weeks — some friend had roped them into seeing this campaign they had been helping out with, and they got hooked.

This last way to show up is as complex as it is critically important. It is difficult to understand what makes people give so much of themselves for such an abstract and contingent goal. We were in a five-way primary election, five months before the general election, in a district that has never elected a Democrat. Yet here were these people, hard at work, enduring indignity to help Max win.

For these folks more than any, there’s some community to it. It may not be the type of community that typically rents the basement of the Candor Free Library. These are not usually people who seek each other out for guidance or support, nor are they friends before they step in the door. Instead, it’s a community arising from a very particular, narrowly shared purpose. There is something powerful and unique, that most regular volunteers describe, to spending time in a space dedicated to building something greater. You find it in any organization that aims to better the lives of others. Granted, this is an idealized version of the purpose of electoral politics. However, if you ask a volunteer, this is often why they showed up.

There isn’t much attention paid to the folks who cared about this campaign. They aren’t the mythical Rust Belt Trump voters, whose inner lives have been the subject of excessive fascination for 18 months, and they aren’t those coveted Independents and non-voters. They don’t live in cities, either, so they aren’t The Base in the way it’s discussed nationally. No, these are zealots with an unpopular orthodoxy. They are the Democrats-who-care in a place where those are few and far between. They don’t win many elections, but there’s a complexity embedded in the way they show up and when they care.

Max narrowly lost the primary. Although he was ahead by 26 votes after election night, once all of the absentee votes had been counted he had lost by a couple hundred votes. There’s a phenomenal Democrat now running against Reed. I sincerely hope she will win in November. However, this is also the reality that makes political involvement so difficult to muster. Tireless, passionate work can, and often does, result in defeat for the majority of people who do it. Whatever piece of yourself you might put into a campaign very likely will feel wasted at some point. But I’m absolutely certain that it’s still worth doing, so we need to learn how to keep people showing up.

The math of our elections has allowed us to focus, with microscopic precision, on the handful of people who decide outcomes. Energy and analysis are concentrated on what makes these people tick — how they vote, and what we can do to change their minds. It’s a valuable question, to be sure, but it’s also blindingly narrow. We have, for a very long time, been a nation of people who largely disengage from the political process. Understanding that tendency, from its structural to its personal causes, is thus a critically important national project. There is, I think, a tremendous amount to be found in the moments when, for even one person, politics ceases to be abstract, and is suddenly worth some part of them. We can seek to recreate the conditions of hope and collective concern that make participation, on any level, feel worthwhile, and we can challenge the sense of cynicism and distrust that so often tends us away from getting involved. We can learn from the ones who show up.

Rubin Danberg Biggs was a staffer for Max Della Pia’s campaign for Congress, and formerly worked as a field organizer for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He recently graduated from Cornell University.

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mercerislandbooks · 6 years

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Fall Book Preview 2018

It was a tough year for journalists with the rise of fake news, presidential name-calling, layoffs, and increasing threats worldwide. Authors, on the other hand, wrote from a safer position. They had the luxury of hiding longer in their offices. Writers and editors had a better chance of stepping back from the brutal news cycle and taking the longer view.

That time to breathe was a good thing. The book publishing industry’s deeper immersion in its work will be on full display this fall, which promises to be a good one for book junkies. From political exposés to psychological suspense to locally-inspired cookbooks to iconic memoirs, I’m not exaggerating when I tell you our fall tables will be a reader’s feast. Here’s a small sliver of what’s coming, and a few special preorder perks you’ll want to know about.

Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart (Sept 4): Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema—a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth—has her own demons to face. How these two flawed characters navigate the Shteyngartian chaos of their own making is at the heart of this piercing exploration of the 0.1 Percent, a poignant tale of familial longing and an unsentimental ode to what really makes America great.

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (Sept 11): With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.

Cooking from Scratch: 120 Recipes for Colorful, Seasonal Food from PCC Community Markets by PCC Community Markets (Sept 18): Eating healthy, local food prepared from scratch is at the heart of this cookbook from PCC Community Markets. Going strong for sixty-five years, they are respected and appreciated throughout our area for their commitment to local producers, sustainable food practices, and healthful, organic seasonal foods. You will find 120 recipes organized for every meal of the day, including many of PCC's most popular dishes, such as their treasured Emerald City Salad. The book also includes cooking, storing, and shopping tips—everything you need to know to make the most of the local bounty.

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh (Sept 18): During Sarah Smarsh’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, the forces of cyclical poverty and the country’s changing economic policies solidified her family’s place among the working poor. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country and examine the myths about people thought to be less because they earn less. Combining memoir with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, Heartland is an uncompromising look at class, identity, and the particular perils of having less in a country known for its excess.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (Sept 25): In his much-anticipated debut novel, Hank Green spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight YouTube celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined. Both entertaining and relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring from the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye.

***If you preorder An Absolutely Remarkable Thing from us before September 24th, you’ll receive an exclusive enamel pin as long as supplies last.

Transcription by Kate Atkinson (Sept 25): In a dramatic story of WWII betrayal and loyalty, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever. Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat.

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis (Oct 2): What are the consequences if the people given control over our government have no idea how it works? "The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. "And then there was radio silence." Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. Some even threw away the briefing books that had been prepared for them. Michael Lewis’s narrative takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. If there are dangerous fools in this book, there are also heroes, unsung, of course. They are the linchpins of the system―those public servants whose knowledge, dedication, and proactivity keep the machinery running. Michael Lewis finds them, and he asks them what keeps them up at night.

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen) (Oct 9): A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art—as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby, Murakami’s latest follows a thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo abandoned by his wife and holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist. When he discovers a previously unseen painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors.

***If you preorder Killing Commendatore from us by October 8th, you’ll receive a free exclusive tote bag as long as supplies last.

The Witch Elm by Tana French (Oct 9): Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who's dodged a scrape at work. He’s out celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life—he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family's ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he’s always believed.

Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott (Oct 16): "All truth is paradox," Lamott writes, "and this turns out to be a reason for hope. If you arrive at a place in life that is miserable, it will change. That is the time when we must pledge not to give up but "to do what Wendell Berry wrote: 'Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.'" In her profound and funny style, Lamott calls for each of us to rediscover the nuggets of hope and wisdom that are buried within us that can make life sweeter than we ever imagined. Divided into short chapters that explore life's essential truths, Almost Everything pinpoints these moments of insight as it shines an encouraging light forward.

Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver (Oct 16): Willa Knox has always prided herself on being the embodiment of responsibility for her family. Which is why it’s so unnerving that she’s arrived at middle age with nothing to show for her hard work but a stack of unpaid bills and an inherited brick home in Vineland, New Jersey, that is literally falling apart. The dilapidated house is also home to her ailing father-in-law and her two grown children: her stubborn, free-spirited daughter, Tig, and her debt-ridden son Zeke, who has arrived with his unplanned baby in the wake of a life-shattering development. In an act of desperation, Willa investigates the history of her home, hoping that the local historical preservation society might fund the direly needed repairs. Through her research, Willa discovers a kindred spirit from the 1880s, Thatcher Greenwood. A science teacher with a lifelong passion for honest investigation, Thatcher finds himself under siege in his community for telling the truth: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting new theory recently published by Charles Darwin. Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum, as they navigate the challenges of surviving a world in the throes of major cultural shifts.

Becoming by Michelle Obama (Nov 13): As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African-American to serve in that role—Michelle Obama helped create a welcoming and inclusive White House, established herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, changed the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and stood with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. In her memoir, Michelle chronicles the experiences that have shaped her, from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.

–Miriam

#miriam landis #fall book preview #coming soon #island books #hank green #duttonbooks #AbsolutelyRemarkableThing #michelle obama #bob woodward #Gary Shteyngart #PCC Community Markets #sarah smarsh #Kate Atkinson #michael lewis #Haruki Murakami #tana french

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 9/24/2018

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Monday September 24th 2018. Remember you can read full articles by purchasing Daily Nation Newspaper (DN), via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS).

NURSES TAKING FLIGHT – The Psychiatric Hospital is losing its most precious commodity. And the country’s loss is quickly becoming Bermuda and The Bahamas’ gain. Dozens of registered nurses specially trained to work at psychiatric facilities have chosen to take their talents to the northern Caribbean instead, mainly because they have been unable to be appointed to the more than 100 vacant posts available at the Black Rock, St Michael institution. The DAILY NATION has learnt that morale was at an all-time low at the hospital, with almost 100 temporary nurses not knowing when their next pay cheque would come. The temporary nurses make up almost half of the hospital’s entire staffing complement. (DN)

STOUTE, COSCAP IN MONEY ROW – Veteran entertainer and Teen Talent pioneer Richard Stoute is singing the blues. He laments he has never received “one red cent” in royalties for his music from COSCAP, the Copyright Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. The author of Goodbye Bajan Girl, Rocksteady Christmas, Mr Rich Man and Unity, among “a whole lot of other original songs”, says he feels very hurt. “I became a member of PRS [Performing Rights Society] in 1985 and they would send me money for my music played in Germany, England and Holland. “My attorney wrote CBC [Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation] years ago and asked them why I had not received any royalties from them for my music played in Barbados,” Stoute told the DAILY NATION in an interview. (DN)

GOVERNMENT EXPLORING UBER TAXI SERVICE – Governement is exploring travel options for Barbadians utilising the Uber service with taxi operators. Speaking during the service in celebration of tourism week at The Church of St John the Baptist, Holder Hill, St James, Minister of Tourism Kerrie Symmonds said this was one of the ways that the Mottley-led administration intended to take Barbados into the future. After the service, he elaborated to the NATIONNEWS on what the plans were. “We want to meet with taxi operators within the next week or two with a view of discussing options on how to improve business. We’re not enthusiastic about Uber generally because that will allow persons with deep pockets to become dominant so we are trying to make the small man get a greater share,” he said. Symmonds explained Uber taxi was a mobile app where potential customers could contact participating taxi operators in their area and would have access to information pertaining to that operator. He said it would prevent taxi operators from waiting around “hoping and praying” for customers. (DN)

PLANS PROGRESSING FOR TRUST LOANS, JOB PROGRAMME – Budding Barbadian entrepreneurs can look out for the promised trust loans by year-end. And hopefully, by the first quarter of next year, the First Jobs Initiative will be officially ready for roll out. Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Investment Marsha Caddle made this disclosure tonight. Caddle who is also the Member of Parliament for St Michael South Central was speaking at her Tweedside Road office after a new executive was elected. She reminded members about the Barbados Labour Party's campaign promises made during the election. Despite next year’s tentative rollout timeline, the minister said they have already been doing some work in this regard. “MPs are not waiting for the initiative to start. We are trying on our own to partner with private sector companies in our communities to pair them with young people,” she said. During her address, she mentioned youth empowerment as one of their focuses. Though Caddle suggested employment levels could be better, she said that there was more to empowerment than that. “We know there are high levels of unemployment. When I first came to St Michael South Central and started working I realised we had an entire generation of young people who had never worked before.... And evidence shows that the longer you stay out of the job market, the greater the chances that you will never work and so for me that group of people is extremely important. That’s one of the reasons why we established the trust loan and we will have that programme available before the end of the year. “And the truth is a lot of young people don’t mind working for themselves. There are a lot of talented young men. Some of them build their own shops and are tradespeople and have other kinds of skills so the trust loan will give them up to $5 000 on the first occasion to be able to invest in their own businesses,” Caddle said. (DN)

SMALL BUSINESS WEEK LAUNCHED – The Small Business Association (SBA) kicked off its 2018 week of activities with its church service at the First Baptist Church this morning. Under the theme The Role of SMEs in Building Sustainable Economies, the organisation will host several other events throughout the week. On Tuesday, the SBA will host their Youth Forum at Bagnall Point Gallery in Pelican Village. Thursday will feature a bus tour and community outreach and the SBA will host their annual general meeting and Award ceremony on Friday at the Savannah Hotel in Hastings, Christ Church. (DN)

YOUTH WEEK KICKS OFF – The Ministry of Youth is committed to creating safe spaces for the island's young people. Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment Adrian Forde said this was the ministry’s main focus during this year’s National Youth Week and beyond. “We are focusing on creating safe spaces where young people can express themselves as young people. As I said the creative element of our country must be that element that drives our economy. “The pool of creativity lies within the depths of our young people so we have to create spaces and environments where their talents are exposed, where their thoughts, creativity, innovation and imagination are exposed,” the minister explained. Forde was speaking at a church service yesterday morning at Bank Hall Church of the Nazarene to mark the beginning of National Youth Week, an annual celebration of youth development in Barbados. This year’s theme is Save Spaces for Youth and the week will run from September 23 to September 30. Forde said the government must walk hand in hand with the young people so their visions and dreams could be made a reality. (DN)

NEW MEDIA TEAM FOR US EMBASSY – The US Embassy recently introduced its new media team in the Public Affairs section to members of the Barbados media at a reception at Radisson Aquatica Resort. Public affairs specialist Kwayne Sanchez and social media assistant Nikisha Toppin socialised with representatives of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, Nation Publishing, Barbados Today, Loop News, the Barbados Advocate and other representatives of local media. In her welcoming address, Ambassador Linda Taglialatela restated the importance of a good rapport between the Embassy and the media, while toasting the new Embassy employees. (DN)

CLERGY TOLD TO SAY 'NO' TO GAY MARRIAGE – Do not give in to performing gay marriages, Pentecostal senior pastor Edwin Bullen is telling his fellow clergymen. He urged them to be as resolute as their counterparts in St Vincent, who rejected that government’s attempt to have a conversation with them about same-sex marriages. The senior pastor at Christ Is The Answer Family Church in Battaleys, St Peter, was just back from a trip to Mustique, an island in the St Vincent and the Grenadines chain. “In St Vincent the government called the pastors to sit down and have a conversation on same-sex marriages and the church told them we have no conversation because God said . . . we have no conversation. It is a waste of time having a conversation about what God has already settled. It is a waste of precious time,” he said. (DN)

THREE INJURED IN ACCIDENT ON ABC HIGHWAY – Three people suffered injuries in an accident on the ABC Highway around 1:50 a.m. According to police, two cars collided at the junction near the Deighton Griffith Secondary School and one vehicle overturned. The driver of the overturned vehicle was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance. His injuries were not disclosed. The other driver was accompanied by a female. They both suffered injuries to the head and feet and opted to seek private medical attention. Police are continuing investigations. (BT)

ONE INJURED IN SHOOTING INCIDENT IN NEW ORLEANS, ST MICHAEL – One person was injured in a shooting incident at New Orleans, St Michael around 9:30 last night. Police have recovered a large number of spent shells from various types of weapons. The victim sought private medical attention. Police are continuing investigations. (BT)

FREDERICK SMITH SECONDARY SCHOOL REMAINS CLOSED TODAY – The Frederick Smith Secondary School, at Trents, St James, will remain closed today, Monday, September 24. The school was closed on Friday, as a result of an environmental issue. It will reopen on Tuesday, September 25. The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training regrets any inconvenience which may be caused. (BGIS)

ST LEONARD’S BOYS’ SCHOOL CLOSED TODAY - The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training has advised that the St Leonard's Boys' School, at Richmond Gap, St Michael, will be closed today, Monday, September 24, as a result of environmental problems. It will reopen on Tuesday, September 25. The Ministry thanks parents and guardians for their understanding. (BGIS)

FOGGING SCHEDULE September 24 to 28 – Christ Church continues to be the primary target of the Vector Control Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, as it seeks to control the mosquito population on the south coast of the island. On Monday, September 24, the team will fog Balmoral Gap, Marine Gardens, Queen’s Way, Halls Gap, Hood Road, Exeter Road, York Road, Old Navy Road, Nelson Road, Rendezvous Hill, Rendezvous Ridge, Rendezvous Gardens, Amity Lodge with Avenues and environs. On Tuesday, September 25, the areas to be sprayed are Hastings, Rhystone Gardens, Browne’s Gap, Rockley Village, Rockley with Avenues, Bynoe Road, Dayrells Road, Rendezvous Hill, Brewster Road, Worthing with Avenues, Bamboo Road, Beckles Road, Harmony Hall, Top Rock and surrounding areas. On Wednesday, September 26, the targeted areas are Dayrells Road, Rockley Terrace, Rockley, Blue Waters, Garden, Peronne Gap, Golf Club Road, St Lawrence Gap, Paradise Village and surrounding districts. Highway 7, Hastings, Rockley, Casa Blanca, Rendezvous Hill, Worthing Main Road and neighbouring districts will be sprayed on Thursday, September 27. On Friday, September 28, the team will concentrate its efforts on the Graeme Hall Swamp and environs. The fogging exercises will be carried out between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. each day. Householders are reminded to open their doors and windows to allow the spray to enter. (BGIS)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 99 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

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