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nobeliumoxygenoxygenmisc · 4 years

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Stars are brighter when you’re with me

There’s a power outage in the whole of Paris but instead of chaos, everyone’s united in this rare moment of utter peace beneath the stars. Marinette only wishes Nino was there to experience it with her. (Marinette x Nino, 1.6k words, fluff)

For @lahiffed in the @mlsecretsanta! I hope you enjoy this ninette fic and happy holidays!!

It was a rare night in Paris; no one could deny the unmistakable air of energy, not when there was this subtle hub of joy wherever you went, but at the same time, it was the most peaceful it had been in a long, long while. And that was saying something considering Hawkmoth’s defeat years ago, as well as the fact that most people had predicted it to be a hectic evening of people rushing to and fro to fix things.

The power outage had taken most by surprise. Sure, the news reporters had predicted it, had gone so far as to warn everyone to prepare themselves, but no one had quite believed that there would be a whole city wide outage. Paris was darker than ever, but the stars…

The stars were the brightest they’d ever been, and the people? Walking down the roads with their candles, singing carols in the streets, strangers joining hands and groups and hugs; some could have argued it was the happiest they’d been in a while.

Something like this took the edge of the rush of the holiday season; the rush to buy presents, to set up decorations, to cook and bake and design.

Marinette just wished Nino was here to see it all with her.

Though, she knew he was doing good at the club; despite the fact that the club would be relatively empty, the managers had wanted staff members on board to ensure things were kept smooth with the people who did come. She’d gotten a message from Nino earlier about most of the party goers bringing dozens upon dozens of glow sticks, giving them out and sharing them with others until the whole place was pretty much lit up with fluorescent arms.

He had told her it wasn’t chaotic or anything, so there was nothing to worry about, but if so, she couldn’t help the little wish in her mind; couldn’t he come home then?

Blushing, she glanced away from the second cup of hot chocolate she’d made. Of course, if anyone asked, she could just say it was for Tikki (even if she had ignored the sly look the kwami had given her as she’d made the second cup almost instinctively, before realising no one would be there to drink it), but of course she couldn’t deny she was also just being a tad too hopeful…

“You should go to sleep, Marinette,” said kwami piped up from her homemade (doll)house on the balcony table. “It’s getting late.”

She smiled wistfully. “I know. I will, don’t worry Tikki.” Tikki flew up to hug her cheek. “You go have fun with the others, okay? Tell them I can’t wait to see them this Friday.”

Tikki nodded. “Of course. I’m sure they can’t wait to see you too. You’re getting so much stronger with your guardian training, Marinette!”

She ducked her head, bashful. Her guardian training with Fu had begun years ago but she still couldn’t quite believe it; especially without a threat to visualise anymore. At the very least, it had made her get so much closer with all the other kwamis. “Thanks, Tikki.” She playfully pushed her away. “Now go. I’m sure they’ve been waiting for you for a while.”

Tikki laughed, doing a somersault in the air. “The party don’t start till I walk in!”

Marinette raised her eyebrows as she started flying away. “Who taught you that?” She called out after her.

“Trixx!”

She laughed, shaking her head. The fox kwami up to his usual tricks, it seemed.

But as Marinette turned back out to face the view over her balcony, she sighed.

It was just past twelve but the night felt so… young. Younger than it had felt in years. Even younger than the night it finally dawned that Hawkmoth was defeated (the first few nights after had been a whirlwind of numbness she’d rather forget).

It didn’t feel right to just… sleep it away. Not when so many people were having so much fun everywhere else. Even the ones in the street below looked so happy. Families huddled together in their warm winter gloves and beanies and jackets, candles and lamps flickering in the air, sparklers crackling and blazing.

She opened her phone again, flicking through everyone’s stories; late as it was, no one appeared to be sleeping. Alya was with her family, the whole Cesaire family hanging out everywhere in Paris if her selfies were anything to go by. Marinette saw the silhouettes of Anarka, Juleka, and Rose on Luka’s story, as well as other photographs of the Liberty going around the Seine with its lights illuminating the glittering waters. Adrien hadn’t posted anything, but considering his and Kagami’s steadily going private lifestyle (after years of being forced in the spotlight, she couldn’t blame them), she could tell they were probably enjoying this starlit night together somewhere too.

It’s not like she was jealous of everyone else and the fun they were having with all their loved ones… her parents were visiting her uncle in China and Nino… no, she was just sleepy so there wasn’t any time to feel jealous anyway. It’s not like she would have wanted to stargaze with him and point out constellations together and share the hot chocolate and blankets and--

Okay, she was. But when she looked into the sky and only the stars looked back, how could she help it?

Maybe she couldn’t. And maybe she’d just have to bear with it.

“Mari? You up here?”

She jumped, heart racing as she peered over the balcony railing. No, no it couldn’t be… there was no one there. She must have been hearing things.

But unless she was feeling things too--a certain, familiar hand on her shoulder, the glimpse of his red and blue and black wristband catching her eye--then--

She whirled around, eyes widening as she peered in to Nino’s amber ones, knowing his smile even if the world had gone pitch black. “Y-you’re here?” She gasped, confused and speechless before he laughed a little, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I wanted to surprise you… so, uh, surprise?” He grinned nervously.

She blinked before giggling, shoulders shaking at the raw joy she felt at seeing her lover. Marinette threw her arms around him, thanking the stars that had answered her hopes and wishes, even one as small and silly as this one.

Though, with his arms around her, it didn’t feel small and silly; it never did, not with Nino.

He pulled away but kept one arm around her, shaking the other as dozens of glow sticks jingled. He took a few off and put them on her instead, making sure her green and blue wristband was still visible at the top. “Got a few of these… this dude brought in so many. But Kim, Alix, and Max went wild with them, they were covered in hoops of these.”

Marinette laughed, admiring the light. “They were there?”

“Yeah, they knew I’d be on shift so they wanted to say hi. You’d think security would be even tighter tonight but…”

Marientte hummed. “The atmosphere is so peaceful though… you’d be worse than Hawkmoth to ruin it.” They laughed, pressing their foreheads together before Nino pulled away completely to look at the two mugs of hot chocolate on the table, a knowing smile on his face. Marinette flushed. “T-that was for Tikki!” She squeaked, even though she could vividly picture Tikki’s roll of her eyes.

“I thought Tikki was going with the others tonight?” Nino asked, his smile widening.

She groaned, hitting her head on his chest in defeat. “We-well, isn’t it a good thing I made you one since you’re here now anyway? You should be grateful,” She mumbled.

Even as he laughed, Nino couldn’t help the warmth growing in his chest. “I am. Dorkasaurus.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Moronasaurus.”

They sat down on the blanket she had put out earlier, drinking their hot chocolate as they leaned into each other, the cold winter air setting in. It was late, and yet neither felt sleepy, too content to end the moment.

Nino shifted. “They say the area around the Eiffel tower has been turned into a sort of camping-stargazing-spot for tonight.” He piped up, almost nervously (four years of dating the kindest, most amazing person he’d ever known and he still hadn’t quite gotten over the nervousness).

Marinette turned to look at him, eyes wide; shining even in the darkness of the night. “Do you want to go?”

Nino flushed, backtracking. “Oh I just wanted to mention it. I’d heard it in the club. Lots of people were going.”

Marinette opened her mouth in an ‘o’, cheeks flushing, hoping it wasn’t visible. “Oh.”

Nino gulped--she sounded disappointed, and that was definitely not his intention. “But I mean if you want to go--”

“W-well only if you want to go.”

“I don’t mind either way--I like this--but I’d also like that. Too. You know.”

“O-oh ye-yes but if you want to go to the Eiffel Tower the-then we can go.”

“But do you want to go?”

“Do you?”

They were facing each other now, visibly blushing in the moon’s glow after their verbal ping-pong, eyes just as wide.

Before they broke out into loud laughter at their antics, falling into each other’s arms, so reminiscent of their school days; when all had been silly crushes and not-very-well-planned-out dates and shockingly-not-like-the-movies-but-even-better first kisses (unless, of course, they counted the childhood kisses when all was nothing but playtime--but who knew that they’d predict their love life a decade in advance?).

“So... do you want to go?” Nino finally asked again, gently resting his chin on her head.

Marinette giggled again, before pulling away to shrug and press a quick kiss to his lips. “I think… I’m fine like this. We’re together either way, right?”

Nino smiled.

“Yeah. Yeah, we are.”

They laced their fingers, content with the faint carols in the streets, underneath the glimmering stars, and best of all; together.

#miraculous ladybug #mlsecretsanta2k19 #ninette #marinette dupain cheng #nino lahiffe #marinette x nino #marinette dupain cheng x nino lahiffe #nino x marinette #nino lahiffe x marinette dupain cheng #writing #my work

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tortoisesshells · 5 years

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Top ships (Like boats. Those kinds of ships)

nonny, you know me so well!

this list is the list I made after somewhat careful considerationover lunch break, and, to save everyone a lot of handwringing, I stuck to museum ships or ships you can still see/work aboard. Therefor, this is subject to change at any one point in time,depending on where I’ve been recently, what part of my diss. I’ve been focusingon, and whether or not I think fictional representations of ships (real orotherwise) are fair game.

(1) Charles W. Morgan. mon amour. Definitely thefirst ship of note I saw, at the ripe old age of probably four (there’s someembarrassing family photos lying around somewhere of l’il baby jamesknoxpolkalying around somewhere). I’ve heard that scent is a really powerful trigger formemory, and, before she was extensively repaired by the Seaport around2009-2012(?), I swear, you could smell the whale-oil. Mystic Seaport runs a24-hour Moby-Dick readingmarathon aboard the Morgan -do you know what it’s like to be lying on the deck of the last wooden whalingship in the world, staring up at the stars at 3AM, listening to someone readChapter 96, “The Try-Works”, where Ishmael compares the Pequod to Hell and gets disoriented in the long night watch? It’snot very academic of me, but the sense of lineage, of being part of a long lineof stewards and travelers holding and passing on the Morgan gives me the chills. A+ ship, will read Moby-Dick aboard it again.

(2)HMS Victory. Avery Long Trip for your humble narrator. A Spring Break trip, so’s we’re allclear on what my priorities were in college. I stood on the spot where Nelsonwas shot, and teared up. Horatio Hornblower was my maritime history gatewaydrug, and it’s a short hop from Hornblower to falling ass over tea-kettle intothe RN during the Napoleonic Wars. Wanna know how many biographies of Nelson Ihad on my bookshelf by the time I was fourteen? Seven (7). Victory is huge and beautiful and everything my little pre-teen andearly-teen self had imagined a ship-of-the-line to be. Oldest ship of war stillin commission, anywhere! I don’t know what series of events would lead theRoyal Navy to do anything with a 250+ year old ship, but I sure as shit wouldread that fantasy novel.

(3)USS Constitution.Despite being a US American, I do not have the same attachment to the Constitution as I do to the Victory, but the Constitution has(1) a much cooler design, h/t to Joshua Humphreys for the diagonal riders(? mynaval architecture glossary is weaaaakkk as hell) and building a ship that wassturdy enough to withstand (some) cannon shot as well as not hogginghorrifically over the past 210+ years & (2) a surreptitious role asinspiring the Acheron inthe seminal Western philosophical text, Masterand Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003). Owns onereasonably bad-ass nickname, “Old Ironsides”*, has a long and kind of weirdhistory after her fighting days were over. Like the Victory, is still, technically, in commission - but, unlike the Victory, actually still afloat!* addendum re: “Old Ironsides” - Constitution isnormally on display in the Charlestown Navy Yard across the pier from a WWIIdestroyer, USS Cassin Young. Ihave heard tourist ask the poor NPS rangers if the Cassin Young is “Old Ironsides”. Twice.

(4)USS Constellation. Ondisplay in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and, for a very, Very, long time, allegedto be one of the sainted ~Six Original Frigates~ of the United States Navy (ofwhich I can only name five at any one point in time, because I always forgetUSS Congress existed,and that’s not even a comment on current US politics). One of my favorite bitsof drama in US maritime history, to be sure! For a long time, the Constellation on display in Baltimore was supposed to have been the one built in 1797, although that’s not actually the case! The ship on display was built at Gosport in 1854 … at the same time that the old frigate Constellation was dismantled for parts … some of which ended up in the new sloop Constellation. There was something hinky going on with the Navy’s books, iirc, too - I don’t think the Navy took the old frigate off the books, and just ended up keeping the new sloop Constellation under the old listing. There’s an apocryphal story I’ve heard that the subterfuge was because Congress would fund repairs but not the building of a new sloop which, while amusing, isn’t actually the case. Anyway, I love a good historical quandary, & the Constellation checks off a number of boxes! Bureaucratic sleight of hand! The perplexing weirdness of the antebellum Navy Department! Weird pissing contests about “which ship is older?”!

(5) SS John W. Brown. Apart from the righteous name (okay, so she’s not named for the John Brown, but for an early 20th century labor organizer, so solidarity forever! ahem), she’s one of two WWII Liberty Ships (out of 2500+ built, which is just … shit. The US built and launched the SS Robert Peary in under five (5) days just to make a point - there was a lot left to do before the ship was functional, but, you get the point?) that are still afloat & functional. As in, the engine still works. The ship still goes out once in a while. Which I have yet to go on, but, some day! Anyway, the point in all this is the John W. Brown is neat and one of my favorite museum ships because there’s literally dozens of WWII subs and other vessels, but the history of the Liberty ship - the Ford Model T of 20th century shipbuilding - is cool and generally under-appreciated.(5b - because I flip-flopped twice) SSV Corwith Cramer. Not an old ship (she’s older than me, only just), but my first real sailing experience. I don’t think anyone ever forgets the first time they realize they can’t see land, anywhere? That if you fall overboard in the night, and no one misses you, you will die alone and never be found? The first time you go aloft while underway, that electric, anticipatory feeling in your hands, muttering “three points of contact, three points of contact at all times” to yourself? My bunk was in a part of the ship called “Squalor”. I accidentally got grease pencil on my face. I didn’t sleep for over a day because I was so excited! to be there! (& also watch) I heard whales spouting somewhere in the dark late one night, and it was one of the eeriest, most extraordinary things I can remember. on revient toujours a ses premieres amours.

put “top 5” anything in my ask and i will answer ok go

#polkaknox talks #that maritime aesthetic #ask meme

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iuniversallystudentperfectionme · 4 years

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Festus Adedayo

The symbolism of blood in Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings’ name must have terribly scared the Nigerian Army. So also the “baboon drenched in blood” picture of the July 29, 1966 mutiny-turned coup codenamed Operation Araba. Worse still was the image of bullet-ridden bodies of politicians in the January 15, 1966 coup, about the bloodiest putsch in the history of the Nigerian ruling elite’s struggle for the control of the levers of power. When the National Democratic Party, (NDP) upper week, barely a week to the 54th anniversary of the second Nigerian coup, canvassed the “Rawlings treatment” for masterminds of alleged monumental theft of Nigeria’s wealth in the Muhammadu Buhari government, the party had obviously shot the sling of a catapult on a hive of bees.

The January coup had ideological trappings, a warning against the misusage of power. Spearheaded by military officers of Igbo descent who eliminated key Northern politicians and military officers, there was no doubting the fact that it desired to mop up systemic maggots from Nigerian government. Unfortunately, however, the plotters left wounds that have since refused to heal. While the July coup was masterminded by vengeance-propelled Lt. Colonel Murtala Mohammed, who struck in concert with other disgruntled northern military officers, it left memories of an orgy of extreme torture, ambush killings and summary executions. Nevertheless, both coups, as well as the Ghanaian Rawlings coup of 1979, will make the ears of anyone who witnessed the bloodletting tingle.

The most venerated Northern politician of the time, the politically sacred Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, was felled by the audacious bullets of Igbo officers of the July coup. Bello’s counterpart in the West, the polyglot, erstwhile Editor of the Daily Service newspaper, Chief S.L. Akintola, was gunned down in the presence of his family. The highest victims of that counter-coup being General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lt. Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, Nigeria's first military Head of State and Governor of Western Region respectively, the ethnic bad blood it provoked left in its wake a civil war barely a year after, with residue of a million souls sacrificed.

Festus Adedayo

On the reverse, the coup in Ghana was a retributive strike against the 42-year old Lt. Gen. Frederick W. K. Akuffo-led Supreme Military Council of Ghana, which had earlier, on May 15, 1979, incarcerated Fl. Lt. Rawlings. Rawlings’ initial grouse against the Akuffo government was its refusal to pay salaries of the military. At his trial, Rawlings turned the tide against Akuffo by publicly alleging massive corruption of his government, which he claimed was reason for widespread suffering and disenchantment of the people of Ghana.

Shortly after, specifically on June 3, 1979, Major Boakye Djan and junior officers with allied disgruntled feelings about the Akuffo government, matched into the prison where Rawlings was incarcerated, yanked manacles off his arms and walked to the radio station to announce Akuffo’s overthrow. The coup-plotters thereafter rounded up the Head of State, Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and another former Ghanaian ruler, General A. A Afrifa and put them on trial. The allegations of the young new military rulers against them were, economic sabotage, abuse of power, amassment of wealth, as well as misuse of the Ghanaian state funds. On June 26, 1979, Acheampong, Akuffo and Afrifa, were publicly executed by firing squad. They were shot in company with five other senior officers. Venue of their last breaths on earth was a military firing range on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near Accra, witnessed by a huge crowd of bystanders.

I went into details of the above three military putsches in order to adequately situate the press release credited to the NDP National Chairman, Chidi Chukwuani. In the statement, Chukwuani had canvassed the “Rawlings treatment” for current Nigerian rulers as reprisal for the massive corruption which had seized the polity. Chukwuani’s statement had barely hit the airwaves by the time a rebound surfaced from the Nigerian army. In a statement signed by the Defence Headquarters’ spokesman, John Enenche, the army likened Chukwuani’s call to an “unguided utterance” and “call to insurrection” and pleaded with Nigerian soldiers to disregard the call to arms, reminding them of their oath to be loyal to Nigeria and its Commander-in-Chief.

“The Defence Headquarters… observe(s) that this, targeted at the Nigerian military, is inciting and instigative. What Chukwuani is calling for is a combination of unpopular acts of insurrection and mutiny, which cannot be taken for granted by the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Consequently, I am directed by the high command of the Nigerian military to let the general public know and remind personnel of the Armed Forces of Nigeria that all officers and men of the Nigerian military swore to an oath of allegiance to be totally loyal to the civil authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and protect the constitution. All officers and men of the Nigerian military are further reminded of offences contained in Armed Forces Act CAP A20. The laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, which include among others; mutiny in sections 52 and 53, which if committed are punishable,” Enenche sermonized.

Perhaps because they are soldiers, Enenche and his military constituency apparently have no patience for comprehensive interrogation of issues. No wonder their resort to lame placebo and placatory, as well as veiled threats. It’s our duty not to allow them get away with this rigor-less sanctimony. Rather than this cant, the first question they should have asked was, are there historical constellations between what led to the Rawlings revolution in Ghana, the Nigerian coups of 1966 and today’s chaotic Nigeria under the previous government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the current one under Muhammadu Buhari which Chukwuani and his NDP took liberty to compare and project? If the events are not dissimilar, shouldn’t there then be similar retributions for similar infractions?

The truth is that, the quantum of rot and corruption that instigated the 1966 Nigerian coup plotters and the Rawlings' putschists of 1979 to strike against democratic institutions of the time is grossly miniature compared to the huge systemic heists that have been inflicted on Nigeria in 20 years of the Fourth Republic. While the Aguiyi-Ironsi military government unilaterally and unconscionably subverted the country’s federal structure to unitarism, the coup-plotters of January alleged that Nigerian enemies, who their coup was aimed at, were “the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 percent, those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office… the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circle, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds.”

Now, check all the provoking indices of that Nzeogwu coup speech and tease out which is not present since two decades back. Politicians have literally stolen Nigeria blind and flushed her to the precipice. The cronyism of the Buhari government and the heavy theft under Goodluck Jonathan are undeniably worse than that which riled Nzeogwu to kill the crème de la crème of the polity. Worse than the ten percenters of 1966, votes for contracts are stolen 100 per cent in Nigeria’s current Republic. The divisiveness promoted by the Buhari government is the worst in human history by a government against its own people, a morbid version of tribalism perfected without any care in the world, with mindless abandon, if you like. You heard Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, putting “the Nigerian political calendar back” in words and deeds, by justifying the relinquishing of Nigeria’s sovereignty to China, in a bid to sign a $5.8 billion debt for the finance of rail projects which, trust Nigeria’s rapacious governmental elements, must have had them filch billions of Naira from? If a Minister didn’t see anything wrong in a contract which states that, "The borrower hereby irrevocably waives any immunity on the grounds of sovereign or otherwise for ITSELF or its property in connection with any arbitration proceeding pursuant to Article 8(5), thereof with the enforcement of any arbitral award pursuant thereto, except for the military assets and diplomatic assets,” then many of the government runners now and in the three administrations previously should thank their stars that the ghost of Nzeogwu isn’t as vengeful as the ghost of Julius Caesar.

In 20 years of democratic practice, through the avarice of “political profiteers, the swindlers” hunger, squalor and hopelessness have colonized Nigeria. From the corruption dramatology in the NDDC perfected in the last 20 years and in virtually everywhere in Nigeria, politicians have done worse than, a la Nzeogwu, “mak(ing) the country look big for nothing before international circle” – they have miniaturized a giant. No one respects Nigeria or Nigerians in the whole wide world any longer.

In spite of the billions of Naira voted to protect Nigeria and combat crime, our people are killed like chickens in Kaduna, Katsina, Borno States by ragtag armies of bandits and insurgents every hour. A report, two days ago, said that 497 Nigerians were killed in three weeks, yet Buhari claimed he had done his best. In Southern Kaduna, more persons must have been hacked to death than were killed in Mali, yet Buhari not only didn’t find it necessary to be bothered enough to intervene, but he had no qualms in junketing to that country, ostensibly to go shop for an end to the “Malian crisis.” Jonathan was practically dozing while insecurity seized Nigeria too.

A few days ago, the Governor of Borno, Babagana Zulum, was almost assassinated by Boko Haram insurgents, provoking a threat from him to defend his state by returning to a pristine architecture of hunters as substitute to a Nigerian Army that gulps billions of Naira in annual budgets. In the midst of this plethora of crises that dwarf his essence in office, Buhari was either not aware or busy smiling in empty photo-ops and well-starched babanriga. So, what is wrong in canvassing similar remedy for same ailments?

Having said all this, however, military rule can NEVER be a substitute to the democratic flip-flops of the last 20 years in Nigeria under civilians. We do not need to engage in homilies to see that the 30 years of military rule, out of the 60 years of Nigeria’s independence, have destroyed the country almost irreparably. Patently ambitious, many times infantile and ostensibly incompetent military officers bayoneted their ways into Government House amid a ricochet of guns, trusting in their armory, rather than rich minds. They were bereft of the tiniest ingredients of leadership and ran this country not only by trial and error but with heavy brawns and nil brains. Just imagine for a second that, but for providence, a drunk, blabber and sybarite like Bukar Suka Dimka could have headed this country in 1976.

Leading Nigeria at a time of unprecedented boom, the ruling soldier elite literally administered Nigeria like a saturnalia. They quashed precious wealth on frivolities and were too conscribed thought-wise to plan for today. This produced a Yakubu Gowon who unabashedly announced to the world that the problem with Nigeria was not money but how to spend it. The soldier boys squandered trillions of Nigeria’s inheritance on playing Big Brother to Africa, rather than providing a future for millions of Nigerians unborn. Today, Nigerians live with the squalor resulting from and concomitant to that irresponsible and opaque military leadership. So, in all material particular, as lawyers say, military rule is not an option to move Nigeria forward at all.

But the right way to begin to address Nigeria’s problem of selfish and self-centered leadership isn’t to play the ostrich as Enenche and his Army Headquarters have done. A truism in the literature of Third World governance is that a people-centered democratic government is a sure antidote to the evil of military governmental hijack. There is no doubt that the Nigerian Army was scared by this harmless comparison made by the NDP, having also confronted the well-burnished disorder in the polity in the last 20 years under civilian rulers. The military must know as well that such hopelessness in Nigeria today is a lacuna which irresponsible soldier wayfarers exploit to headbutt democratic governments. NDP should, however, have told Nigerians that virtually all Nigerian politicians and not the APC-run government alone, is responsible for this colossal rot.

We all know that the democratic template we have had in Nigeria in 20 years is the worst form of representative democracy anywhere in the world. We also know as well that Nigeria is hemorrhaging terribly and is gasping for breath in the hands of the political class and its accomplices. Worse still, this same political class has corrupted the electoral process so much that the democratic lingo which says that irresponsible governments can be voted out of office at voters’ behest is, in Nigeria, at best a hollow and dud concept. We must engage our problems head on and military rule is not part of the options at all. Soldiers will further worsen and compound Nigeria’s bottomless problems. What we need is a nihilist return to reset mode. The way forward, I honestly cannot fathom though.

Buhari’s politics of memory

President Muhammadu Buhari, last week, rolled out a list of railway station corridors which were named after living and departed Nigerians, ostensibly with the aim of memorializing icons of the Nigerian state. The corridors are ones along the Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe/Ajaokuta/ Aladja/Warri corridors. He claimed that the Nigerians were so honoured due to the commensurate contributions they had made to the progress and development of their communities and Nigeria as a whole.

The honorees and their corridors were, Bola Tinubu (Apapa station), Mobolaji Johnson (Ebute Metta Station), Babatunde Fashola (Agege station), Lateef Jakande, (Agbado station) Yemi Osinbajo (Kajola station), Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (Papalanto station), Wole Soyinka (Abeokuta station), Segun Osoba (Olodo station), Ladoke Akintola (Omi-Adio station), Obafemi Awolowo (Ibadan station) and Alex Ekwueme (Operation Control Centre). He had earlier named one after Goodluck Jonathan. If you ask me, a Buhari who scarcely bothers about what the rest of the world says, must have fought for the inclusion of General Sani Abacha’s name on the list.

Anthropologists will be interested in the politics behind this memorialization by the Buhari administration. It reminds me of the theme of the 2017 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, which was, In Whose Honor? On Monuments, Public Spaces, Historical Narratives and Memory.

In naming monuments after persons, Buhari seemed to be acting as a steward of the past and present, arriving at a potpourri broth of good names sprinkled with dregs and suppressors of the people’s will, for political advantage. However, with the current mood sweeping round the globe, it is apparent that the correct and most enduring memorialization is in good deeds. For instance, Buhari does not have to erect any physical monument in Awolowo’s memory. He is etched in Yoruba people’s memories and will continue to occupy that space till the end of time.

Centuries-old statues perceived to have been erected to honour individuals who fought wars protecting the institution of slavery were recently pulled down. What that means is that, while Buhari has the presidential power to play politics of memory by erecting monuments in remembrance of people who catch his fancy, they will be pulled down long after we are all gone, when the correct reading of our memories are shoveled out. In fact, users of the railway corridors may not affix to them the names decreed by the President. I cite two examples to buttress this. The popular Ring Road named after MKO Abiola in Ibadan, Oyo State is seldom so referred while the New Garage road, never named after anyone, but built by a former Oyo governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, is so memorialized ever since.

Buhari himself should bother what monuments would be erected in his own memory decades to come. Perhaps in Daura where he has been a son-of-the-soil made good? Or in the Fulani nation where he had successfully muzzled merit into the dustbin to favour his ethnicity? In Daura, in Buhari’s very eyes, his monuments – billboards – were pulled down some months ago by his own people. It should tell him that memorialization is done by the people and has no place for politics.

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mikemortgage · 6 years

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The Cannabis Power List: Movers and shakers we’re buzzing about in the pot world

Serruya Brothers back row left to right, Michael, Jack, Simon and Aaron Serruya. Front row, Aaron, Nathaniel and Sammy.

The Money: Serruya Brothers, Private Equity

By Joe Costaldo

Michael Serruya has never used cannabis. “But I am anxiously awaiting October 17,” says the managing director of Serruya Private Equity, referring to the date on which Canadians can legally consume the plant. “I think there are a lot of people like me out there.” It’s more than an idle observation: He’s deeply invested in the cannabis sector.

Michael and his brothers, Aaron and Simon, are perhaps best known to most as the trio behind Yogen Früz, founded in 1986. Today, their stable of brands also includes Yogurty’s, Pinkberry and Swensen’s ice cream. Despite their sweet tooth, their investments through Serruya Private Equity have ranged from telecom to real estate over the years, but they have also invested in around two-dozen cannabis-related firms since 2013. They’re now planning a chain of retail dispensaries and developing edibles and marijuana-infused beverages.

The Serruyas are betting their three decades in food retail will allow them to emerge as significant players in the cannabis industry. The family declined to put a dollar value on their cannabis investments, but the sector represents a large portion of their portfolio. “By our standards, it’s very significant,” Michael says.

The Serruyas got their start in the sector through a seed investment in a Leamington, Ont., flower farm that was in the process of converting to a licensed producer under the federal government’s medical marijuana program. That company, Aphria Inc., is now one of the country’s largest producers with a market cap of roughly $4 billion. They’re also the largest shareholders in Liberty Health Sciences Inc., a medicinal marijuana company based in Florida. Another holding, a California maker of edibles called Plus Products Inc., filed a preliminary prospectus in August to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange. “We believe the U.S. is five or six years behind where Canada is today,” Michael says, adding he believes federal legalization is inevitable at this point given that so many states have already moved forward.

For now, though, much of the Serruyas’ attention remains at home. They have applied for retail licences in Alberta and plan to do the same in Ontario and British Columbia once the process is opened. They’ve already developed two different retail brands: One Plant, with the “Let’s be buds” slogan, is positioned as a higher-end label, while Purpl Flowr is designed to be a mid-market dispensary. Store renderings for both brands show bright, open concept layouts not unlike an Apple outlet, with display cases for cannabis strains, accessories and a clothing line. The stores will eventually be stocked with the Serruyas’ own line of edibles, including cookies, chocolates and gummies, which are in various stages of development. “We have an incredible ice cream,” Aaron says with a smirk. “Let’s leave it at that.”

The concept as depicted in the renderings, which show ample product branding, likely won’t comply with Canada’s strict approach to packaging, but the Serruyas believe governments will eventually loosen those restrictions. “We’re trying to stay ahead all the time to understand what the second and third innings will look like,” Michael says.

The Serruyas have identified around two-dozen properties in Ontario that could serve as retail locations. By April 2019, the date by which the provincial government has pegged for private sales, the Serruyas hope to have opened at least 10 stores followed by an aggressive rollout. The government has yet to outline private retail regulations, including how many outlets a single owner can operate. But the Serruyas are wagering Ontario will follow Alberta’s model, and the cap will be somewhere between 75 and 100 stores per operator. “We want to get to the max,” Michael says.

The cannabis business is a multi-generational family affair for the Serruyas. A fourth brother, Jack, is a director at Serruya Private Equity, and Michael and Aaron’s sons — Aaron, Samuel and Sammy — are driving the dispensary and edibles strategy. But Michael has made multiple trips to the U.S. states where cannabis sales are legal, spending hours hanging out in dispensaries to observe customers and staff, and glean which products are selling. (The family has also planted other observers in stores to count foot traffic.) “There are some insane, ridiculous numbers coming out of some of these dispensaries,” Michael says.

The older Aaron, meanwhile, can talk with ease about microdosing, dabbing and the high quality of California cannabis. If he gets a headache, he rubs some cannabidiol cream on his head. Even his mother, he notes, now uses CBD cream to help with a sore shoulder. “A friend of mine sent me an article recently that said there’s more money in cannabis than there is in ice cream,” he says. “It seems like a good time to transition.”

The Visionary: Bruce Linton, Canopy Growth

By Geoff Zochodne

A day after his company announced the biggest deal in the history of the cannabis industry, an audience with Bruce Linton had become a hot ticket. Originally, though, he was just supposed to give an early-morning PowerPoint presentation. “I thought, ‘How the hell am I actually going to get anybody to attend?’” he said to his audience. “And so then I orchestrated to get $5 billion invested. Because I didn’t want to be here by myself.”

The chairman and co-CEO of cannabis producer Canopy Growth Corp. looked and sounded confident that August morning, as he sat in front of a full room at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. His good mood was just- ified. Linton and Smiths Falls, Ont.-based Canopy had announced a day earlier that U.S. alcoholic beverage giant Constellation Brands Inc. would be boosting its stake in Canopy to around 38%. As Linton had noted, this worked out to an investment of about another $5 billion. The terms of the deal are such that Constellation, a Fortune 500 company, could increase its stake even further and become majority owner of Canopy.

The investment was the biggest yet in the cannabis sector, according to the two companies, and it followed an earlier investment by Constellation that had teed Canopy up to become a top player. Moreover, it sparked speculation that other big-name consumer companies may want to get into cannabis. Global giant Diageo PLC is one reported possibility.

The Constellation deal also puts Linton at the forefront of a part of the industry that isn’t even legal yet in this country. Of course, recreational cannabis isn’t quite yet legal either, though Canada will shortly become the first G7 country to take such a plunge. No wonder that audience with him in August was a full house. As he sat back, Linton weighed in on a wide variety of cannabis-related topics, as the blunt-talking exec has become a sort of spokesperson for his entire industry. “What I’ve learned is that if you’re not fairly specific and clear in your own head, and fairly specific and clear in how you express where you want to go, the best outcome could be random luck, because you’re easily misinterpreted,” Linton says.

After the Q&A in August, Linton allowed a scrum of media and conference attendees to form around him and lob questions for a length of time that would give any PR person nightmares. Selfies were taken. A green-and-white “Toronto Marijuana Leafs” jersey was produced and handed to Linton. The scene was a bit different than the one where Linton began his business career. According to his company bio, he started out at Ottawa-based firm Newbridge Networks Corp., which was gobbled up by French phone company Alcatel 18 years ago. But Linton has not strayed too far from those roots. He also co-chairs Martello Technologies Group Inc. alongside Terry Matthews, the billionaire founder of Newbridge. “To me, it’s something that means quite a bit,” says Linton of working with a former boss and mentor.

From Newbridge, Linton worked in leadership positions at webHancer Corp. and CrossKeys Systems Corp., before co-founding the company that would grow to be Canopy. His technology background might have shone through a bit in August, when he predicted there would be “Google-like” company in the cannabis industry. “Canopy is a tech company that produces and converts and commercializes marijuana,” he says. “Everything in tech is about how we go from creating one idea to one million units the fastest.”

Meanwhile, when acting as a de facto cannabis industry spokesperson, Linton tends to give a good quote. After the latest Constellation transaction was announced, and Canopy’s stock price took flight, Linton assured BNN that his lifestyle would not be in for any major changes. This, of course, was despite Linton owning approximately 2.8 million shares of Canopy, which are now worth more than $190 million, according to recent Bloomberg data. “I don’t think I need anything,” Linton told the business television network. “I got this suit at Winners. It looks okay on TV.”

Canopy still has some big plans, including one to tap the emerging medical marijuana market in Latin America. Linton has suggested Canopy could go even further with the added capital from Constellation. “This is really rocket fuel,” he says. “We’re going to be expanding production, we’re going to be doing more research, we’re going to develop more intellectual property, we’re going to create more leading brands, we’re going to have more products, and we’re going to be way more global.”

The Innovator: Brendan Kennedy, Tilray

By Rosalind Stefanac

Innovation is par for the course when you’re a company of firsts in an emerging market, and medical cannabis producer Tilray Inc. has been setting the bar high for what’s possible for what seems like ages in an industry that’s only just begun. “There’s a reason we’re in so many countries and why, when a country like the U.K. legalizes medical cannabis, Tilray products are the first they choose,” says CEO Brendan Kennedy, who joined the company’s Canadian subsidiary as CEO in 2013. “I think we are the gold standard.”

Among its many firsts, this Nanaimo, B.C.-based company — which was born out of a Seattle-based private-equity firm founded by Kennedy called Privateer Holdings — in October 2017 was the first Canadian producer licensed to export medical marijuana outside of Canada. Today, its products are available in 11 countries across five continents. “What differentiates us from competitors is the fact we’re recognized as being a scientifically rigorous pharmaceutical brand that is approved by governments and regulators across the world,” says Kennedy, noting that Tilray was also the first cannabis company to be approved by Health Canada in a clinical trial.

A recent collaboration with pharmaceutical manufacturer Sandoz Canada will extend Tilray’s reach even further. “By being the first to partner [with a pharma company] we get to collaborate on the development of new products,” Kennedy says. “Partnering with a pharmaceutical brand that physicians and pharmacists are familiar with also inspires confidence with the mainstream medical community here and globally.”

Most of Tilray’s products outside of Canada are already distributed through pharmacies so its supply chain is identical to drug company supply chains around the world. The company will also ship its first product to a pharmacy chain in Canada within the next six months.

It’s this kind of global thinking at the helm that has set Tilray apart from the get-go. “This isn’t an industry you can study behind a desk or outsource to other people,” says Kennedy, who spent his first year in the industry back in 2010 conducting “boots on the ground” research. At times, that entailed travelling the world to talk to everyone from growers and processors to patients and politicians. “I started in Oregon and went right on through to the dirt roads of B.C. and coffee shops of Amsterdam,” he says. “I had to form my opinions first-hand.”

This hands-on approach to research has certainly paid off. Under Kennedy’s leadership, Tilray was the first pure-play marijuana company to go public on the Nasdaq, a tactic others are sure to follow, and continues to expand its cultivation facilities in Canada and Portugal. It has also secured distribution deals with five provinces and two territories for several of its brands. “We are very excited with these contracts and expect to see additional agreements coming,” he says.

With the impending legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada, Kennedy anticipates another enormous marketplace for Tilray to grow. This past April, the supplier announced the creation of High Park Co., a wholly owned subsidiary based in Toronto that will produce and distribute a broad base of adult-use products in Canada. “There’s this misconception that cannabis legalization is specific to North America and other niche areas, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he says. “We’re in the midst of a global paradigm shift where a multi-billion-dollar illicit industry will be transitioning to a legal one.”

Canada may be one of the first countries to legalize recreational cannabis, but other countries are looking at adopting a similar regulatory framework. Kennedy says that trend gives companies such as his a tremendous opportunity to build global, adult-use brands. “There is no road map for building an industry from scratch, but we really are trying to do it right from a scientific and business perspective.”

The Lawyer: Trina Fraser, Brazeau Seller Law

By Rosalind Stefanac

Early on, if someone had told contract lawyer Trina Fraser she’d be dedicating her career to the business of commercializing cannabis, she would have thought it unfathomable. “It didn’t enter my consciousness that I would be doing this, because I didn’t realize medical cannabis was even available,” she says.

But in 2013, while trying to help a family member access cannabidiol (CBD) oil for a severe form of epilepsy, Fraser’s advocacy side kicked in. “When I saw all the roadblocks preventing patients from accessing the medicines that would actually help them, I had to jump in and say, ‘That’s not right’,” she says.

Today, as one of the most prominent cannabis legal experts, Fraser says the cannabis business makes up 90% of her practice. As well as acting for licensed producers of medical cannabis, she advises industry players, including clinics, software/application providers, capital investors and those seeking entry to the consumer market. (Many of her clients are looking to be involved in both.) “There is no shortage of potential clients,” says the Ottawa native who is a co-partner at Brazeau Seller Law (BSL) and head of the firm’s CannaLaw Group. “I get multiple emails and phone calls [from prospects] every single day.”

Five years ago, BSL was among the first law firms to take on entrepreneurs and investors interested in the medical cannabis market when no one else would have them. It was a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of an emerging industry, Fraser says, and her firm’s partners were fortunately unconcerned by the stigma that prevented many established companies from participating. Yet even at that point, she never anticipated consumer legalization would be just around the corner. “Now the industry at large is getting seduced by the fact we are making law in uncharted territory and there are a ton of legal and financial firms looking at the opportunities.”

The craze is not just limited to those law and finance firms either. The looming deadline for legalizing consumer cannabis in October is causing a frenzy of new industry players of late. “In the last six months to a year, alcohol, tobacco and pharma companies are seeing the writing on the wall and recognizing they need to get in here too,” Fraser says. “This industry is not going away and the fact it’s grown to this behemoth even before recreational legalization is mind boggling.”

If Fraser sounds excited, she is. “I literally spend hours every day reading up on legislation and keeping track of what’s going on in the world at large in this area.” Her enthusiasm and knowledge has attracted 8,500 Twitter followers and she is regularly called on for speaking engagements, media comment and expert opinion, such as giving evidence to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health on Bill C45 when the cannabis act was being studied in 2017. “It’s an adrenaline rush to check my Twitter feed to see what deals were announced or who got licensed today.”

Indeed, Fraser, who also serves on the board of directors for Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana and provides legal advice to the Cannabis Council of Canada, is sometimes criticized for pushing the cannabis agenda a little too vehemently. But this mother of two says she would never promote policies or regulations that come at the expense of her children and the world they live in. “I believe legalization will benefit my children, because I can have a fact-based discussion with them about risks and good choices,” she says. “I’d much rather have a legalized cannabis store in my neighborhood than an illegal one.”

In the future, Fraser hopes to be remembered for having a “principled and balanced approach” to the business of cannabis. That means continuing to advocate for a system that makes cannabis accessible to the people who need it and ensuring there is space for a variety of players. “This is a diverse industry and Canada is being looked at as a world leader with a high-quality product and robust regulatory framework,” she says. “I don’t want the industry taken over by big operators at the expense of smaller ones who have unique products.” FPM

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