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fairfieldthinkspace · 1 year

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“The future belonged to the showy and the promiscuous”: Why the 21st Century Loves Edith Wharton

Emily J. Orlando

E. Gerald Corrigan Chair in the Humanities & Social Sciences and Professor of English

Fairfield University

Photo: John Singer Sargent, Sybil Frances Grey, later Lady Eden 1905.

If ever there were a good time to read the American writer Edith Wharton (1862-1937), who published over forty books across four decades, it’s now. Since the Wharton revival of the late 20th century, when directors were adapting (the Pulitzer-Prize winning) The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, The Buccaneers, and The House of Mirth, her star has continued to rise. As I yesterday prepared to teach The Custom of the Country, which many have called Wharton’s greatest novel, a friend texted me Sofia Coppola’s article on the surprising appeal of its social-climbing heroine. Coppola is developing Undine Spragg’s story for Apple TV. A kind of Gilded Age Material Girl, Undine has been ready for her close-up for years.

Coppola joins an impressive roster of contemporary admirers of Wharton that includes Roxane Gay, Laura Bush, Lisa Lucas, Peggy Noonan, Jennifer Egan, Stephin Merritt, Claire Messud, Meg Wolitzer, Mindy Kaling, Doug Hughes, Brandon Taylor, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ali Benjamin, Vendela Vida, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Kristin Hannah. At a time when publishing houses are compelled to scale back, new editions of Wharton’s books are appearing in print with introductions by Coppola, Egan, and Taylor.

Photo: Sofia Coppola.

Those who think they don’t know Wharton might be surprised to learn they do. A reverence for Wharton’s writings informs Sex and the City (whose pilot welcomes us to “the Age of Un-Innocence”), Gossip Girl, Downtown Abbey (whose “Lady Edith” suggests a nod to Wharton), and HBO’s The Gilded Age which, like Downton, is created by the Wharton-appreciating Julian Fellowes. His Bertha and George, after all, are named for the power couple from The House of Mirth.

But why Wharton? Why now? Perhaps it’s because for all its new technologies, conveniences, and modes of travel and communication, our own “Gilded Age” is a lot like hers. For the post-war and post-flu-epidemic climate that engendered The Age of Innocence is not far removed from our post-COVID-19 reality. In both historical moments, citizens of the world have witnessed a retreat into conservativism and a rise of white supremacy. Fringe groups like the “Proud Boys” and “QAnon” and deniers of everything from the coronavirus to climate change and Sandy Hook are invited to the table in the name of free speech, and here Wharton’s distrust of false narratives resonates particularly well. Post-9/11 calls for patriotism and the alignment of the American flag with one political party harken back to Wharton’s poignant questioning, in a 1919 letter, of the compulsion to profess national allegiance:

how much longer are we going to think it necessary to be “American” before (or in contradistinction to) being cultivated, being enlightened, being humane, & having the same intellectual discipline as other civilized countries?[i]

Her cosmopolitan critique of nationalist fervor remains instructive to us today.

Edith Wharton seems to have foreseen the excesses, obsessions, and spectacles of our current moment. The scandals documented in Wharton’s narratives serve as harbingers of the sensations that flash across our hand-held screens. Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking touches on the same nerve as the sexual exploitation of minors in Wharton’s Summer (1917) and The Children (1928). The quid pro quo run-in between Wharton’s Lily Bart and Gus Trenor looks uncomfortably forward to Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo. The rise to power of Donald Trump would not surprise Edith Wharton.

Photo: “Vanity,” by Auguste Toulmouche, circa 1870.

Wharton’s tenacious Undine Spragg—as horrifying to progressive era readers as she is admired by Generation Z—can be conceived of as the original social media influencer conscious of her brand. For Undine and her creator know that “the future belonged to the showy and the promiscuous”[ii] and that the turn-of-the-century “world where conspicuousness passed for distinction”[iii] foreshadows our own. Wharton would describe Undine in terms we might use for a “Real Housewife of Park Avenue”: “If only everyone would do as she wished she would never be unreasonable” (162). Undine’s world encourages her to aspire to the rank of trophy wife and the sexual double standard dictating that “genius is of small use to a woman who does not know how to do her hair”[iv] would apply to Wharton herself who, on the 150th anniversary of her birth, would be assessed by a male novelist in terms of how she sizes up to Grace Kelly or Jackie Kennedy.[v] The writer who would declare, in her wildly popular interior design manual The Decoration of Houses, privacy “one of the first requisites of civilized life”[vi] would be appalled by what is broadcast across social media. Wharton also would’ve anticipated the racism directed at Meghan Markle and why granting Oprah an interview would not help relations with her spouse’s family. Children forcibly separated from families due to morally dubious immigration policies echo the plight of war refugees for whose welfare Edith Wharton labored, while the distrust of the cultural other echoes the writer’s own complicated nationalist allegiances.[vii]

Ten years ago, Lev Raphael took the temperature of Wharton studies declaring in the Huffington Post: “Edith Wharton is hot.” She is now positively on fire. I offer below a short excerpt from the introduction to The Bloomsbury Handbook to Edith Wharton, which appears in print today.

*********************

The image gracing the cover of The Bloomsbury Handbook to Edith Wharton, capturing a scene on the terrace of Edith Wharton’s French home, reflects the cultural work that this book takes as its task. The writer is in her element: she cradles in her lap her beloved dogs, she sits outdoors at a well-appointed property she lovingly transformed, she surrounds herself with fashionably dressed cosmopolitans, and she smiles. The moment validates an idea expressed in The Age of Innocence: that “the air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.” As host, Wharton, by this point an internationally acclaimed artist, has brought together representatives of an admiring generation from diverse backgrounds that would outlive and perhaps learn from her. That sunlit terrace is doing something we hope this book will do: provide a foundation for future conversations with Edith Wharton at the center.

Photo: Edith Wharton publicity shot.

Around the time this photograph was taken, Wharton would reflect in A Backward Glance that “[t]he world is a welter and has always been one; but though all the cranks and the theorists cannot master the old floundering monster, . . . here and there a saint or a genius suddenly sends a little ray through the fog, and helps humanity to stumble on, and perhaps up” (379). Wharton’s writings arguably send a ray and help humanity stumble on and up in our own Gilded Age. It is the aim of this collection of essays, produced by leaders in the field at a time of global crisis, to make a meaningful contribution to the scholarship on and dialogue about the work of Edith Wharton and to open up new possibilities for understanding and embracing a writer whose corpus is as enormous as it is resonant. To borrow from Wharton’s preface to her anthology The Book of the Homeless (1916), in which she conceives of her volume, as she so often does, as a house: “You will see from the names of the builders what a gallant piece of architecture it is. . . . So I efface myself from the threshold and ask you to walk in.”[viii]

Emily J. Orlando is the E. Gerald Corrigan Chair in the Humanities & Social Sciences and Professor of English at Fairfield University. She is the author of Edith Wharton and the Visual Arts and editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook to Edith Wharton. She is currently preparing for publication a new edition of Edith Wharton’s first book, The Decoration of Houses.

[i]Lewis, Letters, 424.

[ii]Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country, New York, Penguin, 2006, 117.

[iii]Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, ed. Elizabeth Ammons, 2nd Norton Critical ed. (New York: Norton, 2018), 186.

[iv]Edith Wharton, The Touchstone, in Wharton, Edith, Collected Stories, 1891-1910, ed. Maureen Howard (New York: Library of America, 2001), 170.

[v]Jonathan Franzen, “A rooting interest: Edith Wharton and the problem of sympathy,” The New Yorker, February 5, 2012.

[vi] Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr., The Decoration of Houses (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1897), 22.

[vii]See Melanie Dawson, “The Limits of Cosmopolitan Experience in Wharton’s The Buccaneers.” Legacy 31.2 (2014): 258-80. Print.

[viii]Edith Wharton, Preface to The Book of the Homeless (Le Livre des Sans-foyer) (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1916), xxiv-xxv.

#Emily J. Orlando #Fairfield University #Edith Wharton #Gossip Girl #The Custom of the Country #Sofia Coppola #The Age of Innocence #Undine Spragg #Summer #The Book of the Homeless

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beardedmrbean · 6 months

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It has been reported that a Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between Finland and the United States could be ready for signing at the civil servant level as early as this week. Under its terms, it would, for example, allow for the construction of US military infrastructure in Finland, advance storage of materials, and for US soldiers to arrive at shorter notice for training and exercises in Finland.

Helsingin Sanomat reported that Jussi Saramo, the chair of the parliamentary group of the Left Alliance, and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, says his party is not yet ready to support the agreement on the basis of the information it currently has.

"We don't know anything about it, as far as what is being concretely agreed upon," Saramo said, referring, for example, to the areas that will be made available for use by US troops in Finland.

According to Saramo, the Left Alliance is also interested in information about the weapon systems that could be placed in Finland. He told the paper that weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons should be banned in the text, even though Finnish law already prohibits bringing nuclear weapons into the country.

"I am most pessimistic about legal jurisdiction on Finnish soil. In any case, we are going to give up some of our sovereignty regarding US [military] people who are here," Saramo stated.

The Left Alliance was in government when the DCA agreement negotiations began last year.

Saramo added that he does not oppose or support the agreement.

"Of course, since we're in Nato it's good that we created structures with which Nato's undisputed largest military power can more smoothly help us if necessary, and we can train together here," Saramo said.

It has been speculated that many of the US forces that will train in Finland under the terms of the DCA will be stationed in the far north of the country.

Helsingin Sanomat interviewed locals in Rovaniemi to find out how they feel about the prospect of a regular American military presence in the area.

The paper summed up the responses by writing, "US soldiers are welcome in the north just like other foreigners. Local businesses will get more customers at the same time, but they'll have to know how to behave themselves when enjoying the nightlife."

Covid risks

The Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) has recommended a new coronavirus booster for anyone over the age of 65, people 18 and over who belong to medical risk groups, and anyone over the age of 12 who is severely immunocompromised.

Aamulehti writes that the latest booster became available in the Pirkanmaa region on Monday. Tero Harjuntausta, the assistant chief physician of the Pirkanmaa welfare county, told the paper that hundreds of shots are being given daily, but that there may be a wait of several weeks to get an appointment, and in some locales the next free slots for a booking are not until December.

Harjuntausta, said that everyone in recommended groups should now book an appointment for a booster vaccination. "Now we are at the point where the number of coronavirus infections has started to rise," he pointed out.

On Monday, there were 39 patients with Covid in specialised hospital care in the Pirkanmaa region, with some in intensive care.

Harjuntausta noted that for the average person, a coronavirus infection is much like a regular bout of flu. Vaccinations are primarily intended to protect risk groups.

Migri hiring more staff

The Finnish Immigration Service Migri will be expanding staff by about 150 next year, the Uutissuomalainen news group reported.

According to Migri Director General Ilkka Haahtela, the additional resources will be allocated to speeding up permit processing, primarily for international protection, students and employees.

In addition to that, more resources are to be channelled into supervision and removal from the country.

Haahtela also said that Migri is undertaking an efficiency programme and organizational reform.

"We definitely need to make our own operations more efficient. The permits that are granted should be handled quickly, reliably and securely. If a person receives a negative permit decision or a permit is revoked, then the return from Finland should take place quickly," he said.

Waste and pay

Ilta-Sanomat tells readers that Suan Aahaan, a Thai restaurant in Sipoo, is battling food waste with a nearly 12-euro surcharge levied on customers who throw away food they take from the buffet table.

"I have signs everywhere in the restaurant that I show them before they pay. If they don't like it, they can leave," says restaurant owner and chef Vaw Myllynen.

Regular customers are already familiar with the practice, and Myllynen makes sure the policy is quite clear to first-time diners in the restaurant, as well.

"In addition, I explain the problem very loudly to those who look intent on wasting food. When I talk to them loudly, they start to feel embarrassed when the other customers look at them," Myllynen explained.

Myllynen said that the amount of waste from the buffet has clearly decreased and in practice the extra charge has only been imposed two or three times.

Ilta-Sanomat added that a few other restaurants in Helsinki have started the same practice, as has at least one in Tampere where diners may end up paying as much as 30 euros extra for a meal if they waste food from the buffet.

Myllynen thinks that many buffet restaurants may be afraid of bad reviews or comments online if they start charging customers for wasted food.

"It doesn't worry me. I would say that 95 percent of our customers have been satisfied and understand it."

#nunyas news #updates from up north

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timeagainreviews · 2 years

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“The Power of the Doctor” is a mixed bag

Psychologist Barry Schwartz once said, "The secret to happiness is: low expectations.” His reasoning was that if a person approaches everything in their life with either low or no expectations, they leave themselves open to being pleasantly surprised. Last night’s episode “The Power of the Doctor,” had me thinking about that quote a lot. In my previous article, I mentioned I only had the faintest of hopes that now former showrunner, Chris Chibnall, could end his era well. The bar was so low that I really only dared hope he would not make yet another controversial change to the mythology. Anything beyond that would be icing on the cake. It would seem that after a five-year period of shoddy writing, my expectations were low enough to leave me pleasantly surprised.

Those of you familiar with this blog will know that my number one consideration for every story of Doctor Who is simply- did I have fun? While “fun,” is a rather subjective concept, it’s really why I love Doctor Who. I have a lot of fun watching it. Mind you, I don’t apply this to every piece of media. Some media isn’t meant to be fun. Some of it is meant to be challenging. Even Doctor Who can be more like a medicine than a treat. While theme and character development are important, sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants. Sometimes we love something in spite of its flaws. It was actually in Nash Bozard’s review of “Revelation of the Daleks,” that I first heard anyone take this stance. After ragging on about the absurdity of the story, he had to admit that when it was all done, he wasn’t bored. “The Power of the Doctor,” is by no means perfect, but it was fun.

As many great stories begin, this one starts with a train heist. I was reminded of the Capaldi era’s “Mummy on the Orient Express,” and also to some degree “Time Heist.” The Doctor and her crew aren’t able to pilot the TARDIS directly into the speeding train so they have to improvise with what is one of two ladders in this episode which must be dropped down from a less-than-ideal height. The fam tucks and rolls but gets a little too close to death for Dan’s comfort. Upon entering the train, they discover a group of Cyber Masters attempting to hijack a sort of coffin which presumably holds someone or something important. In what turns out to be one of a number of fake-outs on Chibnall’s behalf, it is revealed that it’s a mere child within the coffin. I say fake-out because it was my and everyone watching with me’s dreaded assumption that this little girl was the infamous Timeless Child.

Chibnall continues to utilise these types of fake-outs throughout the rest of the episode. You get the feeling that it’s his little way of nodding to the story he would have liked to have told under different circumstances. Coronavirus may have been a factor, but ultimately it felt a lot like a mandate from the BBC. While his era is not without its fans, it has been hugely controversial. What’s funny then, is that while a lot of this feels like Chibnall being restricted, it oddly makes him seem like a better writer. In having to hint at the story he wanted to tell, it allowed for subtlety that a story like “The Timeless Children,” lacked. When Vinder and the Doctor part ways, you could almost imply that he is her father by the knowing look he gives her. They even hold on this look for a moment in order to highlight its implied significance. I like being able to wonder if he’s her father. Just as I like to wonder if the woman from “End of Time,” was the Doctor’s mother. With room to wonder, there is mystery, or as David Lynch puts it- room to dream.

Dan leaves the show almost as quickly as he joined it. After breaking open his space suit during their mission, Dan decides life with the Doctor is too dangerous and leaves the TARDIS, presumably to end up with his love interest Diane. It was interesting to me that an episode that re-introduces Tegan Jovanka says goodbye to another companion for very similar reasons to her own when she also parted ways with the Doctor. The violence and death became too much. Speaking of re-introducing characters, how could I go any longer without mentioning Ace? As you may recall, Ace was my biggest worry about the centenary special. After seeing her in promotional photos, I worried they were going to make Ace a boring old woman with her business suits and fancy job, but I was pleasantly surprised by her portrayal. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that Sophie Aldred has continued playing the character in audio format for the last two decades, but it was reassuring nonetheless.

The introduction to Ace and Tegan is a bit of a head-scratcher. Somehow, over the years, they have come into contact with one another and frequently work together on their Sarah Jane Smith-esque adventures. Ace is investigating a series of missing paintings, while Tegan is on the other side of the world tracking seismic activity. For no reason whatsoever, they assume these two instances are linked, and for no reason whatsoever, they’re absolutely right. After being recruited by Kate Stewart to help with official UNIT business, it is revealed that the Master has been adding himself to priceless works of art, something which never comes up again. It’s weird then that they dedicate so much time to this aspect of the story. They even rent out a gallery where Ace investigates a digitally removed painting. Seriously, there’s some weird cropping going on in that scene that prompted me to ask a curator friend what was up. According to her, it’s entirely plausible that they may not have had the budget to move the painting and therefore it would have been cheaper to remove it digitally. This somewhat begs the question why they didn’t just build a set or choose a different location, but whatever.

The Master appears in many different forms in this episode. So many that I might suggest they lose track of things a bit. We first see the Master in St Petersburg at the Winter Palace, posing as the mad monk Rasputin. Sacha Dhawan’s beautiful dark eyes are hidden under milky blue contacts which really sell the look. While I was collecting my notes about this episode I came to one puzzling question- why was the Master posing as Rasputin? It’s implied at the beginning that he may be the catalyst for the Russian revolution, but what that has to do with the rest of the story is anyone’s bet. I asked my friends and I skimmed through the episode on iPlayer, and nothing. I genuinely don’t know why he did that. While it gave us the opportunity to watch the Master gyrate his hips to Boney M’s “Rasputin,” the only reason I can think they chose Rasputin is that it looks cool.

When the promotional photos of Dhawan as Rasputin were released, I figured Chibnall was going to incorporate the bizarre (if not slightly embellished) account of how he died. According to some accounts, Rasputin proved to be notoriously difficult to kill. He was shot, poisoned, beaten, and drowned. It would have been a fun thing to incorporate into the story, as being a Time Lord would make the Master equally difficult to kill. Oddly this never comes up, and from what I can tell, he really only wants the Winter Palace as a base of operations where he and the Daleks and Cyber Masters can enact their grand scheme.

As grand schemes go, the Master’s Dalek plan doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Basically, the Master lures the Doctor in by holding the Earth hostage with stock footage of volcanoes poised to erupt due to Dalek intervention. The Master’s TARDIS has also merged with a planet that has been fully cyber converted. The planet hangs in the sky like a second moon harkening back to the Earth’s twisted double- Mondas. The little girl from the beginning turns out to be an energy being that takes the form of something you want to protect as a survival technique. The Master harnesses its power in order to bring his Deathstar-like monstrosity to life. The problem with most of this is that a lot of these elements exist purely to look cool, which is a continual problem of Chris Chibnall’s- great ideas without much exploration. The Doctor as a Weeping Angel looks cool. A guy with teeth in his face looks cool. The Master as Rasputin looks cool.

Another version of the Master that we see is the Master in the present day, giving a twisted lecture on plate tectonics and magma to a room of academics who have all been murdered by his tissue compression technique. UNIT comes and takes this Master away and he spends the rest of the episode giving Tegan, Ace, and Kate a hard time. The Master reveals that his tissue compression can be reversed and as he does, it is revealed that a small figure of the Lone Cyberman is actually a sort of Russian nesting doll full of Cybermen. This whole sequence was weird as the Master could have just used the Cyber Masters as he had been the whole time. I guess Chibnall wanted to see Ashad return. It’s fine though because the Master remarks how glad he is that he took the time to clone him down to every last detail, including battle damage! The line was about as shoehorned at Yaz saying “I love you,” to the Doctor at the beginning of the episode.

Speaking of shoehorned love, Thasmin is somewhat in effect, but I imagine not enough for the shippers out there. There’s no great kiss between the Doctor and Yaz, though there are implied moments of romance. More than the show ever implied before. Seriously, why pander to shippers? Have you seen some ships? They come out of nowhere at times, like this one. People want to see the Doctor and Yaz fall in love, so they invent a romance in their head. What I do like is that in this episode, Yaz is forced to view her own importance to the Doctor after seeing the number she did on both Tegan and Ace. We’ve seen it before with Rose and Martha. They’re not the Doctor’s first and they have to rectify that. Luckily, Dan has fucked off so the Doctor and Yaz get lots of downtime to partake in lesbian processing.

Did I say Dan fucked off? I meant to say the role of Dan will now be played by Graham. Now, if you thought the sudden appearance of Vinder was out of nowhere, just wait until Ace finds Graham inside a volcano! The episode shows us numerous times that there are multiple volcanoes set to explode, yet somehow Ace and Graham run into one another at the exact same time under one of many multiple volcanoes. Graham is down there doing his own Sarah Jane Smith-esque adventures. It’s sort of implied that this is what companions do after traveling with the Doctor- they continue her work. Fair enough, but still a bit too convenient. I’ll excuse it though because I rather like Graham, and watching him and Ace blow shit up with nitro nine is all I ever really wanted.

In a somewhat cheeky fashion, Chibnall has the Master comment on just how messy and disparate his plan sounds. It felt like a moment of fourth wall breaking where Chibnall acknowledged some of the criticism his work has faced. That and the Master saying the words “The Master’s Dalek Plan,” made me smile. It takes guts to do such a bad pun. I was glad to see him having fun on his last outing. It’s odd that in his final moments, Chibnall finally seemed to be enjoying his role as showrunner. It felt more like a love letter to the things he admires about Doctor Who and less like a chore thrust upon him by the network. Part of me had wondered where this guy had been hiding for the last five years.

The Master manages to capture the Doctor in a Dalek. No dodgems jokes though, it’s all business. Luckily Yaz witnesses everything and begins to recruit a posse. The Master has amassed his new “fam,” and the Doctor has hers. Thus we reach the title of the episode as we learn that the real power of the Doctor is the fam we made along the way. Or as Davros would put it- she turns her friends into weapons. But this isn’t about that. New year, new me. And it’s a very new Doctor as the Master’s real plan would have it. Using his cyber planet as a source of power, the Master force regenerates the Doctor into himself.

Ok, let’s get this out of the way- it’s a bit John Simm. It’s a bit of a callback. I think that’s fine because it’s great to watch the Master parade around as the Doctor. It was fun to watch Missy do it, and it’s still fun now. The bit where he pulls out the recorder of the Second Doctor made me warm and fuzzy. The Master playing an eerie rendition of the Skye Boat song was mad and forlorn. Great imagery. You really get a sense that Sacha Dhawan’s performance is channelling a kind of deep melancholy. He sort of sits there like a pot about to boil over. He possesses a demeanour which causes one to wonder if he were to lunge at you, would it be to kill you, or to kiss you? He may just break down and cry. He seems constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown and I really like his take on the character. I wouldn’t want to be him either.

What’s strange, however, is the Master once killed off the Time Lords within the Citadel all because he found out he might have a little bit of the Doctor in him. I kinda wish the Doctor had called him out on his own double standard. But that’s the Master. He is a contradiction. Plus he’s also actively profaning the Doctor’s name. In the Master’s own twisted way, he’s living his truth. Reclaiming his body as his own by taking over the Doctor’s. Sure, a big problem with the Thirteenth Doctor and the Spy Master has been that it often ends with him pontificating while she’s tied up, and that’s still present. But the Master’s arc as a guy who is disgusted by his new truth to a guy who creates the next truth is a complete character arc for him.

As the Master reeks hell with Yaz in tow, a plan begins brewing, though I largely am not sure how. Vinder stows away on the TARDIS unbeknownst to the Doctor. I rather liked him in this episode. He had a badass moment where he puts the Master in his place. To borrow from Mike Tyson- “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Or in this case, shot in the shoulder. Where I am most confused is where the Doctor’s AI comes into play. I’m assuming it has to do with the static charge, but I’m not exactly sure how it worked. I thought maybe it was a “Day of the Doctor,” scenario where over a course of years the TARDIS AI system makes a facsimile of the Doctor’s consciousness for the purpose of its use now? Is that what happened?

What really matters is that none of that matters because we’re now at my favourite bit. Everyone quiet down. Alright, get this- David Bradley, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann all showed up. I mean, they were nearby, but they’re here… sorta! It was very much a Five-ish Doctors scenario. Sadly Tom Baker couldn’t attend and Madame Tussaud said no. Also, I think Shada’s canon now. The Thirteenth Doctor is also there, natch. She’s not quite crossed the rainbow bridge yet and the Doctor’s consciousnesses are here serving Missing Adventures book cover vibes in their matching red and black robes. All except the Eighth Doctor who looks suave as fuck. Love that for them.

One issue I feel has persisted throughout the Jodie Whittaker era is the BBC and the show’s desire to make her share the role of the main character. It’s incredible to see our favourite Doctors in one place, but even in her swan song, she’s forced to share the role. She doesn’t even get to have her own comic book, she has to share it with the Tenth Doctor. It’s like when Marvel used to try to sell books by throwing Wolverine in. I wish on some levels we could have gotten Jo Martin before or after Jodie. Part of me held out hope that she would regenerate into her in the end. I get that this isn’t just a regeneration episode, this is 100 years of the BBC, dammit. But still.

We did finally get to see Jo Martin do more and I couldn’t be any more excited about it. Somewhat surprisingly, and someone expectedly, they do not give her mystery away. What they do give is a lovely little bit of her coming in and being a chilly renegade, straight putting the hurt on the Master. What they did was leave me wanting more. More of her please. I’ll take one spin-off, thanks. I said it in the comments the other day that I was waiting for this episode before I could really take the entire era for what it was. Now that I know the Fugitive Doctor is to remain a mystery, I feel I know more about her, oddly. I mentioned last time that I was frustrated by the way she was written. Now I can quantify her character in my consciousness better.

Thanks to her friends and her AI selves, the Doctor gains control of her body once more. To stop the volcanoes from destroying the planet, the Doctor needs both her and the Master’s TARDIS. The Doctor gathers all of her friends around her TARDIS console like a remix of “Journey’s End.” By linking her TARDIS in tandem with the Master’s, they manage to jump the cyber planet forward to modern times when the volcanoes are erupting. The various stock footage shots of erupting volcanoes made me yearn for a bit of the RTD era which always felt like an invasion was happening everywhere. It wasn’t just the Doctor meeting Cybermen, they were showing up at your front door! Where are the people abandoning their homes and frantically rushing to leave the vicinity of their local magmatic spire? It seems small, but this involves the audience more than the knowledge that volcanoes erupt seemingly across the world at the same time of day. There aren’t time zones, silly. That’s why this episode wasn’t simulcast, it’s 7:30 pm everywhere!

The Doctor frees herself of the Cyber Masters. Ace and Graham have dispatched the Daleks in classic fashion, and Tegan and Kate prove themselves quite capable at demolition. Though I must say, I really need to know how 69-year-old Tegan Jovanka managed to drop into a dark hole and climb out unscathed. I’m 39 and I would have spent the next week in bed saying “Don’t touch me, I’m baby.” It’s the kind of discontinuity like Yaz and Dan seeing two old people get cracked like eggs by Weeping Angels and then appear in the next scene having somehow escaped. It’s not even that this is discontinuity, it’s that seeing Tegan with a serious limp would have ratcheted up the tension. Janet Fielding got some great moments that were very true to her character, but they missed a trick there. Imagine the next scene with her starting instead at the bottom of that lift shaft. Her leg is broken. She has to tie a bit of cable and rebar around her leg like a splint. She drags her way into the next room and still manages to save Kate from cyber conversion. It could have easily been more, but instead, it’s nothing.

The scenes which paired Ace and Tegan up with their respective Doctors left me feeling overjoyed. As a big fan of the Ace years with the Seventh Doctor, I was happy to see them get a proper emotional goodbye. Not just a voiceover done in post. It’s weird how natural it felt seeing them back together as if no time had passed. Both pairs. Having the Fifth Doctor say “Brave heart,” and Tegan say “Rabbits,” was fan servicey as hell, and I would have been upset if they hadn’t done it.

In a last fit of rage, the Master declares that if he doesn’t get to be the Doctor, then neither does she. The Master turns the floaty timeless child energy spider (I said what I said) and swipes the Doctor with it’s energy beam before collapsing. Yaz is forced to carry the Doctor back to the TARDIS like Kevin Costner in the Bodyguard. She then carries her over the threshold which I guess counts as the first Doctor Who gay marriage. The Doctor and Yaz are registered at John Lewis for anyone curious. Yaz takes everyone home like a good designated driver and later the Doctor wakes up from her blackout like “Whahappen?” She realises she’s regenerating so the Doctor takes Yaz on one last adventure- a bit of ice cream atop the TARDIS.

Whether or not you ship it, Mandip and Jodie are giving their whole ass in these scenes. I can count on my hand, maybe, the number of times we’ve seen the Doctor cry. Nine in “The End of the World.” Ten when the Master refused the regenerate. And the Eleventh Doctor when he’s pleading with Idris not to die in “The Doctor’s Wife.” It’s fitting then that the Thirteenth Doctor shed a tear for her oldest friend and semi-love interest. Both Jodie and Mandip left everything on the soundstage that day. It was a fitting goodbye for both characters. After Yaz gets dropped off, we learn that Graham and Dan have formed a sort of “friends of the Doctor,” support group. I liked this because it was more than a cute way of some great cameos (William Russell! William Russell!), but it was also an interesting take on the role of companion. Being the Doctor’s companion would leave scars, both physical and emotional.

The Doctor decides she needs to regenerate alone. She goes to Durdle Door, a picturesque vista overlooking a large body of water. She keeps her final moments short and playful, a bit like her. She tags the next Doctor in and braces for impact. Now, I know you probably all knew this was coming, but she regenerates into what BBC and Titan comics have always wanted- David Tennant. It’s always great to see Tennant, but I found myself strangely morose watching him appear. Seeing him in the trailer only compounded that feeling. Leading up to “The Power of the Doctor,” I had mostly ignored behind-the-scenes stuff other than what I saw on social media. It was a point of stress for me. But the David Tennant and Catherine Tate stuff I had absorbed a few months ago. I felt like I had gone from new Doctor Who to an older episode. But even more, I felt a tinge of regret at the state the show had gotten itself into.

Part of me wonders what Chibnall may have done given more time and less restraint. Part of me shudders to think it, but part of me sees that his story was unfinished. What happened to Lenny Henry’s character? Who were the Division? What was up with that Irish cop? What was the weird house? What was the whole point of the Grand Serpent? Who put the universe back after the flux? Didn’t the Daleks and Cybermen get genocided by the Doctor at the end of that story? What happened to the future Master? Was he crushed in that building alongside the Cybermen? Chris Chibnall once said that no showrunner adheres to what came before them. I can see why he said that, he doesn’t even pay attention to his own stories.

Perhaps waiting til the last episode to help me square away this era was naïve. If I hadn’t enjoyed the era by then, it was pretty apparent I still wouldn’t. Maybe it was a sort of morbid Halloween Michael Meyers deal when I need to see the body to know he’ll never be back. I need to see the life leave his eyes. In hindsight, I find myself still feeling about the same, but maybe a little more open to revisiting the episodes at some point. I don’t suddenly like bad writing because it has an ending. It does, however, give perspective. It is now a definite thing. The Chibnall era has a beginning and an ending. I had fun watching the final episode, which is more than I really hoped to ask for. Regardless of how much I may or may not have softened to the show, one thing remains a constant- I can’t forgive giving a brown man up to the Nazis.

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dwagom · 1 year

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The news appeared to deepen the turmoil that has beset the company following Musk’s takeover. Also on Monday, it was reported that Twitter’s former top safety official, Yoel Roth, was forced to flee his home amid escalating personal attacks, including from Musk himself.

Outlets including the Washington Post and CNN reported on Monday that Roth and his family fled after Musk’s tweets misrepresented Roth’s academic writing about sexual activity and children.

As head of trust and safety at Twitter, Roth was involved in many of the platform’s decisions about what posts to remove and what accounts to suspend. His communications with other Twitter officials have been posted in recent days as part of what Musk has dubbed “the Twitter files,” a series of internal documents that Musk has shared and disseminated on the platform via journalists including Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.

Musk’s tweets to his tens of millions of followers have for years prompted his supporters to deluge the targets of his ire with online threats – famously, a participant in the rescue of a boys soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand who Musk branded “pedo guy.” But now that Musk owns one of the most powerful social networks in the world and has gutted the division that previously policed online harassment, the stakes are even higher.

Musk’s recent condemnation of Anthony Fauci, the top US health official, has also drawn rebuke. Musk over the weekend tweeted: “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.”

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called Musks’ comment “dangerous” and “disgusting” in a press briefing on Monday.

“They are disgusting, and they are divorced from reality, and we will continue to call that out and be very clear about that,” Jean-Pierre said on Monday. She praised Fauci’s handling of public heath crises, including the coronavirus pandemic.

elon musk is a facilitator of internationalised far-right terrorism

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cassidylxioa · 1 year

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13 August 2021, Brandenburg, GrÃ¼nheide: Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, stands in the foundry of the Tesla Gigafactory during a press event. The first vehicles are scheduled to roll off the production line in GrÃ¼nheide near Berlin from the end of 2021. The US company plans to build around 500,000 units of the compact Model 3 and Model Y series here each year.

TWITTER

A REMINDER OF JUST SOME OF THE TERRIBLE THINGS ELON MUSK HAS SAID AND DONE

From regularly attacking his perceived enemies to running a company accused of rampant racism and sexism, it’s not hard to see why so many people are up in arms about him taking over Twitter.

BY BESS LEVIN

APRIL 26, 2022

Elon Musk Tesla CEO stands in the foundry of the Tesla Gigafactory during a press event.

Like the employees of Twitter, who reportedly reacted to yesterday’s news with “shock and dismay,” a lot of people are not enthused about the idea of Elon Musk buying the social media network. But now, he is, and if you’re not familiar with the guy, or just think of him as the dude who sells electric cars and is really into space, you might be wondering why so many people are up in arms. And the answer is: He’s a huge jerk! Who regularly uses his massive platform and other sources of power to do bad things!

Online, those things have included:

Claiming in March 2020 that people worried about the coronavirus were “dumb”

Predicting on March 19, 2020, that the U.S. was going to have “close to zero new cases” by the end of April

Questioning the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, and baselessly asserting that there were “quite a few negative reactions” to getting a second shot

Likening Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler

Saying the U.S. government shouldn‘t provide subsidies to companies after receiving billions in subsidies from the U.S government

Using Twitter to engage in securities fraud

Tweeting, “Pronouns suck”

Tweeting misogynistic things at Senator Elizabeth Warren because she said he should pay more in taxes

Writing to Bernie Sanders, who also thinks the richest man in the world should pay more in taxes, “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive”

Tweeting dumb, sexist jokes

Tweeting a photo of Bill Gates and writing, “in case u need to lose a boner fast”

Tweeting in 2018 that Tesla factory workers could lose their stock options if they unionized

Baselessly accusing a British cave diver instrumental in rescuing a trapped football team of being a “pedo guy” because he, like others, said Musk’s idea to send in a submarine wouldn’t work

While off-line, and more consequentially:

Reopening a Tesla factory in violation of public health orders, where 450 cases were subsequently recorded

Running a company (Tesla) that was ordered to pay nearly $137 million to a former Black employee who said the company ignored repeated complaints that he was called the N-word and that his colleagues “had drawn swastikas and scratched a racial epithet in a bathroom stall and left drawings of derogatory caricatures of Black children around the factory.” (In a message to Tesla employees, a human resources executive downplayed the man’s allegations, noting he was a contractor, not a full-time staffer, and that other witnesses had said that while they heard racial slurs, they were used in a “friendly” manner. The H.R. executive added that the company was “not perfect” at the time of the incidents, and “is still not perfect,” but has “come a long way.”)

Running a company (Tesla), where a female worker said sexual harassment was “rampant,” alleging “nightmarish conditions” and a factory that “more resembles a crude, archaic construction site or frat house than a cutting-edge company in the heart of the progressive San Francisco Bay area.” (The company did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Washington Post, which noted Tesla “does not typically respond to press inquiries.”)

Running a company (Tesla) that employees have called a “modern-day sweatshop” (In response, Telsa said it abided by California laws.)

Attempting to “destroy a Tesla whistleblower”

Reportedly exploding at “executives and lower-ranking workers” alike, and allegedly firing people who disagreed with him (Musk has denied allegations that he goes on firing sprees)

Announcing Tesla’s headquarters would move to Texas one month after the state effectively banned all abortions

Paying a private investigator $50,000 to dig up dirt on the cave diver he called “pedo guy”That’s a disturbing list for a random person not taking over a company that plays a role in millions of people’s lives, and exponentially more so for one who is.

Musk has said that Twitter should avoid getting involved in content regulation, and given his documented history of spreading misinformation, attacking his perceived enemies, and retaliating against individuals who he thinks have wronged him, it’s not hard to see why. Which is more than a little worrisome to people who already think Twitter has a problem with misinformation and abuse (particularly towards women). Musk claims he needs to rescue Twitter from its current owners, who he thinks do not respect the First Amendment. But, as many have pointed out, “no one has a legal right to tweet—that is, to post on Twitter, a platform owned by a private company,” and the First Amendment, for zillionaires who are unaware, is about protection from government entities restricting what people are allowed to say, not privately held social media networks. That’s how, for example, Musk can get away with allegedly firing Tesla employees who disagree with him. Whereas with Twitter, he apparently wants to manipulate the idea of what “free speech” means, and has suggested he’ll allow people to say whatever they want without consequence, even if what they want to say constitutes harassment or threats or the kind of misinformation that poses a genuine risk to people’s lives. Which, as the above list suggests, is very much his thing.

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wallisninety-six · 2 years

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Man living in a dying superpower is not the life I expected to live in

Oh, to write a scathing, scathing essay about how the US has become a bumbling, infighting and catastrophic failure of a global superpower, who not only is evil as hell home and abroad, but also completely fails/doesn’t even try to stop instability at home that could threaten it’s precious little evil empire and influence abroad Like the complete failure of the War on Terror (Iraq imploding with a million dead and the Taliban coming back to power again), plus Trump being Trump, China and the EU leading climate change action while the US flounders, the US’s failed reaction to coronavirus, etc.

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bills-bible-basics · 7 months

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Coronavirus: Defiant Christians, Stay Home! This two-part article can be read online at the following URL: https://www.billkochman.com/Articles/coronavirus-defiant-christians-stay-home-1.html As is my custom, below is my synopsis of this article: CORONAVIRUS: DEFIANT CHRISTIANS, STAY HOME! - PART 1 Copyright 1994 - 2020 Bill's Bible Basics Published On : April 8, 2020 Last Updated : April 8, 2020 Christians Viewing Government-Mandated Pandemic Guidelines From The Wrong Perspective, Christians In Defensive Mode And Motivated By Fear And Paranoia, Not Everything Is An Attack Against Christianity, For The Common Good, Fighting Against Nonexistent Windmills, Is God Really Pleased With Christian Acts Of Defiance By Attending Church Now?, The Stay-At-Home Orders And Social Distancing Are Not Attacks On Christians, Health Guidelines Are Being Applied To All Private American Citizens, Exceptions: Fallen Sinful World, Guidelines Are To Mitigate And Contain Coronavirus Pandemic, Goal: Save Lives, Is Going To Church More Important Than Saving Lives?, South Korean Church And Iglesia Ni Cristo And Spread Of COVID-19, Congregating In Churches Now Is A Really Bad Idea, Love Thy Neighbour As Thyself, Prefer The Well-Being Of Others, Love Worketh No Ill To His Neighbour, Congregating In Churches Right Now Endangers Your Neighbor And Is Pure Selfishness, Parable Of Good Samaritan: Who Is My Neighbor?, Our Fellow Countrymen Are Our Neighbors Who Need Our Help To Stop The Pandemic, Situation Will Grow Worse If We Don't Cooperate, Let Every Soul Be Subject Unto The Higher Powers, To Defy The Government Is To Defy God's Ordained Order Of Things, Live Peaceably With All Men, Defying Government Mandates Is Poor Example Of Our Faith, Acts 5:29: Only Resist When They Stop Us From Preaching Christ, Coronavirus Guidelines Don't Curtail Our Ability To Witness Or Fellowship, Guidelines Are A Temporary Practical Pragmatic And Science-Based Response, Part Of The Problem Or Part Of The Solution, Over Dependence On Physical Church Buildings, First Century Christians Had No Buildings Yet Were On-Fire And Fruitful, We Are All God's Living Temples, Jesus Filled With The Spirit Without Measure CORONAVIRUS: DEFIANT CHRISTIANS, STAY HOME! - PART 2 We Are God's Living Temples, Jesus Filled With Spirit Without Measure, The First Century Churches Were In People's Houses, Time To Return To The Original First Century Church Blueprint, More Intimate Spiritual Fellowship With Churches In Our Homes, Final Admonition To Defiant Christians, Suggested Reading List For those of you who may have possibly missed some of my previous coronavirus-related writings, following is a list of everything I have written to date regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. I believe that you will find a lot of useful, factual, instructive and Scriptural information in this material. Please feel free to share this list on your own timelines, pages, in your Facebook groups, and on any other social networks where you happen to participate. Thank you so very much, and God bless you! Bill's Bible Basics Coronavirus Information Center: Bill's Bible Basics Coronavirus Information Center Bill's Bible Basics Articles: BBB Article: "Coronavirus: Just the Facts, Ma'am": https://www.billkochman.com/Articles/coronavirus-1.html BBB Article: "COVID-19, Financial Assistance and Christian Love": https://www.billkochman.com/Articles/covid-19-financial-assistance-christian-love-1.html BBB Article: "Coronavirus: Defiant Christians, Stay Home!": https://www.billkochman.com/Articles/coronavirus-defiant-christians-stay-home-1.html BBB Article: "COVID-19: Exposure Logging and Contact Tracing: Is It Safe?": https://www.billkochman.com/Articles/COVID-19-ExposureLogging-ContactTracing-1.html Bill's Bible Basics Blog Posts: BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Latest Statistics - Bill's Bible Basics Blog": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-latest-statistics-bills-bible-basics-blog/ BBB Blog Post: "Stop Joking About the Coronavirus":

https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/stop-joking-about-the-coronavirus/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: God Will Silence the Fools": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-god-will-silence-the-fools/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Be Still and Know That I Am God": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god/ BBB Blog Post: "Is COVID-19 the New Normal? : Don't Freak Out! Trust the Lord!": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/is-covid-19-the-new-normal-dont-freak-out-trust-the-lord/ BBB Blog Post: "Helpful Tips Regarding Using Face Masks and Respirators": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/helpful-tips-regarding-using-face-masks-and-respirators/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Why Do You Condemn Your Brethren?": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-coronavirus-why-do-you-condemn-your-brethren/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Are You Distracted?": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-are-you-distracted/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Wake Up, Already!": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-wake-up-already/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: 40 Bible Verse Lists Regarding God's Love, Patience, Wrath, Judgments and Repentance": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-40-bible-verse-lists-regarding-gods-love-patience-wrath-judgments-and-repentance/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Where is Your Common Sense?": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-where-is-your-common-sense/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: More Useful Information": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-more-useful-information/ BBB Blog Post: "The Doctor Anthony Fauci Debate: My View": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/the-doctor-anthony-fauci-debate-my-view/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: How to Respond to the Pandemic": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-how-to-respond-to-the-pandemic/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Face Masks or Bandanas?": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-face-masks-or-bandanas/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus and Beards and Mustaches": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-and-beards-and-mustaches/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Do You Need A Psychiatric Evaluation?": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-do-you-need-a-psychiatric-evaluation/ BBB Blog Post: "COVID-19: Attention iOS Users! This May Be of Interest to You if You Use the "Maps" App!": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/covid-19-attention-ios-users-this-may-be-of-interest-to-you-if-you-use-the-maps-app/ BBB Blog Post: "Apple iOS 13.7 Introduces COVID-19 Exposure Notifications With No Need For 3rd Party App": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/apple-ios-13-7-introduces-covid-19-exposure-notifications-with-no-need-for-3rd-party-app/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Are Vaccine Passports Inevitable?": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-are-vaccine-passports-inevitable/ BBB Blog Post: "Coronavirus: Don't Be So Harsh!": https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-coronavirus-dont-be-so-harsh/ Bill's Bible Basics Poetry: BBB Poem: "Coronavirus Kooks": https://www.billkochman.com/Poetry/coronavirus-kooks.html https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/coronavirus-defiant-christians-stay-home/?feed_id=78546&_unique_id=651313025041e&Coronavirus%3A%20Defiant%20Christians%2C%20Stay%20Home%21

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jdgo51 · 7 months

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How Does Your Garden Grow

Today's inspiration comes from:

The Garden Within

by Dr. Anita Phillips

You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. — Psalm 65:11 NLT

Tabitha Brown is one of my favorite influencers. She’s a comedian, an actress, and the patron saint of vegan living. I am not a vegan, and I think that’s true of many of the millions of people who follow her on social media. We just can’t get enough of Tabitha’s oh-so-infectious energy. She always brings inspiration no matter what she’s communicating. At the same time, she has been open about the pain in her own life. It’s the authenticity for me. The bright colors she wears, her Southern charm, and her unapologetic love for Jesus make her downright irresistible. An encounter with Tabitha’s content feels like an encounter with pure joy. So when she launched her children’s show, Tab Time, I watched that too (despite my age falling well outside the target demographic). The first episode became an instant favorite for me because Tab (and her buddy Avi the Avocado) taught us about how things grow.1

The episode begins in Ms. Tab’s real-life garden. Then she and Avi whisk us off to a brightly animated fruit orchard where we meet an orange-tree seed named Marmalade. Marmalade tells us that all she needs to start growing is good ground and some water. Ms. Tab tucks Marmalade into the soil and waters her well. Then we all pretend our arms are the arms of a clock; together, we speed up time by making big arm circles. A few seconds later Marmalade reappears, but now she is no longer a seed but a full-grown orange tree bearing her first fruit. Less than seven minutes into the episode, the preschool children for whom the show was created have already learned all they need to know to understand how gardens grow.

The garden within may be a completely different way of thinking about how we were created and what it means to flourish, but when it comes to what you need to know to live this powerful life, you probably learned it in kindergarten or — at the latest — by the end of a middle school science class.

The Creator made things very simple for us. No wonder Scripture encourages us to come to Jesus with the heart of a child (Mark 10:15). Things are so much easier when we do. And when it comes to letting the Creator change what we believe about how we feel, the timing couldn’t be better.

Your emotional well-being influences every other dimension of your life, including your spirit.

It’s Okay Not to Be Okay

When we catch a glimpse of Tabitha’s real-life garden, it is too lush for words! It’s full of bright colors and fruits and vegetables; this garden is useful. I don’t know Tabitha personally, but I wouldn’t be surprised if her garden looks exactly the way she wants her life to feel — a reflection of her goals for her garden within.

If you could design a garden that looked the way you want your life to feel, what would it look like? What would be growing there? Now ask yourself,

How is my inner garden looking? Don’t feel bad if the soil needs attention. Don’t be surprised or upset if you notice that some areas are bare, some are growing well, and others are dying. You’re not alone. In fact, a lot of people are not okay right now.

As I write these words, multiple global crises are affecting us all. It started in 2020 and it hasn’t slowed down. I’m not just talking about the coronavirus. I’m talking about the mental health pandemic that it triggered. Covid-19 claimed a staggering number of lives in a very short period of time, leaving a trail of emotional devastation in its wake. With every death, an average of five loved ones are left grieving long-term.2 That means that as of late 2022, more than thirty-three million people were grappling with the trauma attached to grieving someone who died not only unexpectedly but unimaginably, from a disease that seemed to come out of nowhere.3

There were other life-altering losses to grieve as well. So many of us missed attending not only funerals but weddings, baby showers, graduations, and milestone birthdays and anniversaries. These are the ceremonial moments that chart the timeline of our lives, shared memories that entwine us in relationship and in community.

On top of that, the way we understood and organized our lives fundamentally changed. People lost jobs. People lost homes. People lost businesses and dreams. People lost sobriety. People lost their sense of safety, and whether they have admitted it or not, some people lost their faith.

All that to say, a lot of people are not okay right now, and that likely includes you or someone you love very much. During 2020, global cases of major depressive disorder increased by 27.6 percent. That’s an estimated 53.2 million more people than the year prior. Anxiety disorders increased by 25 percent. There was more anxiety to start with, so that increase amounted to around 76.2 million more people.4 Of course, that’s just counting the people we know about. So many others haven’t sought help, so we don’t have reliable confirmation. But like diabetes or heart disease, the diagnosis doesn’t create reality; it just points it out. Maybe you haven’t been formally diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or another mental health problem, but that doesn’t mean what you are struggling with isn’t real.

For the first time during my career, a significant number of mental health professionals have waiting lists. We can barely keep up with the demand. And from college kids to clergy, Christians are by no means exempt. At Christian colleges and universities, the number of students contacting campus counseling centers for issues like stress, depression, addictions, and suicidal thoughts also rose sharply.5 The pastors striving to lead these young people as part of their congregations found themselves struggling too. In an October 2021 Barna study, pastors were asked to rate their well-being across six dimensions. Nearly a quarter of pastors surveyed identified as unhealthy overall, with emotional well-being the dimension most often rated as below average or poor.6

Hear ye, hear ye! Knowing Jesus guarantees your salvation; it does not guarantee your emotional health. Reflecting on the lack of emotional awareness in the body of Christ, author Peter Scazzero writes this in his incredibly important book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality:

Christian spirituality, without an integration of emotional health, can be deadly — to yourself, your relationship with God, and the people around you... Sad to say, that is the fruit of much of our discipleship in our churches.7

He goes on to say that “a failure to appreciate the biblical place of feelings within our larger Christian lives has done extensive damage, keeping free people in Christ in slavery.”8 As a therapist and as a minister, I see this over and over and over. Christians haven’t had a scriptural model for understanding the critical role of the heart, so our response efforts have been unbalanced. But now you know that

your emotional well-being influences every other dimension of your life, including your spirit. Remember, the words of the Kingdom are constantly being sown in the ground of your heart, so nourishing the fertility of that sacred seedbed is Kingdom work. Living a powerful life requires you to embrace how your spirit, mind, and behavior work together seamlessly. That means approaching your own heart as a garden rather than a war zone where you’re constantly battling your emotions. Eden is our model for flourishing. The seeds of the garden of Eden were sown on good ground. That ground is our hearts.

Your heart is the soil of your life.

Tab Time, season 1, episode 1, “How Things Grow,” produced by Tabitha Brown, published December 1, 2021, YouTube video, 22:34, https://youtu.be /zUTZEk32tc8. Erika Krull, “Grief by the Numbers: Facts and Statistics,” The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Rehab, May 26, 2022, https://www.therecoveryvillage.com /mental-health/grief/grief-statistics/. “WHO COVID-19 Dashboard,” World Health Organization, accessed April 19, 2023, https://covid19.who.int. Damian F. Santomauro et al., “Global Prevalence and Burden of Depressive and Anxiety Disorders in 204 Countries and Territories in 2020 Due to the COVID- 19 Pandemic,” The Lancet 398, no. 10312 (November 2021): 1700–12, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140–6736(21)02143–7. Helen Huiskes, “It Takes a Campus: Pandemic Expands Mental Health Resources at Christian Colleges,” Christianity Today, December 17, 2021, https:// www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/december/christian-college-mental -health-counseling-pandemic-demand.html. “38% of U.S. Pastors Have Thought About Quitting Full-Time Ministry in the Past Year,” Barna, November 16, 2021, https://www.barna.com/research/pastors -well-being/. Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It’s Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017), 9, 44. Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, 44.

Excerpted with permission from The Garden Within by Dr. Anita Phillips, copyright Dr. Anita L. Phillips.

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beardedmrbean · 2 years

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Iltalehti tells its readers (siirryt toiseen palveluun) that the price of electricity is a small problem - a much bigger time bomb is awaiting and the ticking has now started to be heard.

It writes that in addition to the high price of electricity, consumers are being hit by general galloping price rises. In a market economy, high prices are an effective incentive to curb consumption. When we think about the even bigger crisis, climate change, the government's support measures should encourage a reduction in consumption, Iltalehti argues.

However, the paper also says that any acute electricity crisis and the current high level of inflation are likely to be temporary, and will certainly be overcome in Finland.

The big problem seen by Iltalehti is growing state debt, saying that the biggest problem is not necessarily even the volume of that debt in relation to the size of the Finnish economy.

It notes that according to the Governor of the Bank of Finland, Olli Rehn, the bigger concern is the way in which debt is growing. Government expenditures are constantly higher than income, interest costs are only increasing, and due to the aging of the Finnish population, the pressure on spending growth is increasing.

Many other countries have much more debt than Finland. But the problem in Finland is that the demographic structure of Finland will cause problems earlier than in other countries.

Rovaniemi's Lapin Kansa takes a very similar view (siirryt toiseen palveluun), writing that a long-running discussion about Finland's indebtedness has been on hold due to the coronavirus and Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Indebtedness has become a habit, the paper writes, and higher costs for health services are just ahead.

"Borrowing," writes Lapin Kansa, "has become Finland's new dogma."

Electricity shortages and blackouts

The national electricity transmission grid operator Fingrid has warned that Finland should be prepared for power outages caused by a possible power shortage this coming winter, reports Ilta-Sanomat's business and economic service IS Taloussanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun).

Fingrid has published its first assessment of electricity sufficiency for the upcoming winter months, according to which peak consumption may rise to around 15,100 megawatts. Average peak consumption for the years 2007–2022 was about 14,000 megawatts.

It is estimated that domestic power generation will be able to cover 12,300 megawatts of consumption at best, and in addition, there is a power reserve of 600 megawatts.

The rest will need to be covered by imports. Import capacity is 3400 megawatts, of which 2400 megawatts is from Sweden and 1000 megawatts from Estonia.

Finland usually imports electricity from Sweden, even when domestic capacity is nowhere near fully utilized. Finland also normally exports electricity to Sweden and Estonia.

Fingrid points out that the end of electricity and natural gas imports from Russia have weakened the situation in Finland compared to previous winters.

There is also uncertainty regarding the completion of the third reactor at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. Olkiluoto 3 should be in regular production in December, but a possible delay in commissioning the plant would significantly undermine the sufficiency of electricity in Finland.

Spreading "luxury drug"

Helsingin Sanomat (siirryt toiseen palveluun)looks at a fresh study on drug use in Finland published by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL.

Based on analysis of wastewater samples, research shows a continued increase in the use of what HS calls the "luxury drug" - cocaine.

THL studied the prevalence of drug use based on wastewater in 27 cities and their surrounding areas in March of this year. The survey covers about 60 percent of the Finnish population. For Helsinki, Tampere and Turku, the samples are for the year up to August.

The THL study indicates that the use of cocaine is increasingly concentrated in the capital region. The drug is not uncommon in southern parts of the country, but much less used north of Tampere.

In contrast, amphetamine use is found throughout the country, but has still remained lower than in the record year 2020.

According to the head of THL's Forensic Chemistry Unit, Teemu Gunnar, the increase in cocaine use is mainly due to the fact that the substance has been widely available in southern and central Europe in recent years. This is also being reflected in the situation in Finland.

Chilly weekend

Helsinki's Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet tells readers (siirryt toiseen palveluun) who are planning to head to a country cottage or sit in the stands at the Olympic Stadium to watch the athletics national championships this weekend that they would do well to put on a warm sweater and jacket.

FMI meteorologist Hannu Valta told the paper that in southern Finland and along the west coast, it will be approximately 3–5 degrees colder than normal for the time of year over the next few days.

That translates into daytime highs of around 13–15 degrees in southern Finland, and around 12–13 degrees in Ostrobothnia.

Nights are getting colder, too, with the chance of nighttime frosts throughout the country.

And, August's dry weather in southern areas is continuing, which means mushroom hunting enthusiasts will have little luck, at least this weekend.

#nunyas news #updates from up north

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murad3277 · 11 months

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