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chernobylbaby04 · 3 years

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Manuel Antonio Guzman

I met Manuel Antonio Guzman when I was 14 years old. I told my grandparents I was going to hang out with my friend, Katie Franks. Katie and I went to our very first backyard show ever. It was in Anaheim across the street from Sycamore Jr. High. For those who know, it was when Riff Raff played (first time I met Zach, he was the naked drummer) and someone ripped the toilet out of the bathroom? Yep! That one. My grandma called me because she had figured out where I really was and I was in trouble. Katie went to school with someone who was senior at Anaheim High School, Pedro Garcia. Pedro drove at the time which meant he could give us a ride. The sooner Katie and I were back at home, the less trouble we would be in. Pedro pulled up to Sycamore Jr. High and I drunkenly opened the backseat door. A face appeared and they said, “Nope!” and pulled the door back closed on me. I was soooo PuNk RoCk and annoyed that I threw my little 32oz. Smirnoff Bottle on the ground and kicked the car. He opened the door and laughed and let me in. That was the first time I met Manny. He was funny, he was cute, he was weird, and he was older. A few short weeks later Pedro invites me to Punk Rock Picnic. I accompany him and Manny joins us. I spent the whole day with Manny. We rode a ferris wheel together, my shoe was falling apart and we went back to the car so he could sew it back together, all that jazz. A week later, Zone 3 was playing at the Riff Haus and my grandparents were nice enough to drop me off. Manny met me there and we snuck off back to his house. I knew Manny was 20 years old, and he knew I was underage. We kissed. We made out. We cuddled. We had sex. When we were done, we did the math of how many years it would take until I was 18. It was 4.5. I did not know what the relationship between me and Manny be, because Katie had told me he was seeing her friend named Taylor. Taylor also went to Anaheim High School. Taylor was 15 years old. The person I broke up with to be with Manny was my high school boyfriend, who I will leave nameless. He was hurt and upset and wanted to talk, but I did not give him the time of day. He came over to the house my grandparents and I had just moved into and climbed through my window. He pinched my pinky toe to wake me up. He was really upset but we decided to talk things out. Unfortunately, my grandmother heard a boy in my bedroom in the middle of the night and tried to come into my room. My ex-boyfriend snuck back out my window as my grandmother came in. I was officially kicked out. I called Pedro Garcia and I lived in his car for 2 weeks. This was far from the first time I had been homeless. When I was 13 years old I tried living with my mom because my grandfather would get really drunk and kick me out of the house. My family struggled with my grandfather’s alcoholism. He was a working class blue collar man who had broken his neck on a job site. For four years my family bounced from motel to motel. My grandmother worked cleaning houses to keep us afloat, and my grandfather spent his mornings drinking. He was violent when he drank and I got into the habit, young, to just leave. Sometimes I would stay with my mother, but she was always in and out of jail or did not have an actual place to stay. She abused drugs, would give me drugs, and have various men around. I really did not have family at the time. So being back on the streets was not anything new for me. I eventually told Manny after a few days that I was living in Pedro’s car, and he insisted that I stayed with him. A warm bed, food, and someone who paid attention to me was what every child needed. I did not get that in my home life, but I got it from him. I put him on a pedestal for taking care of me and we never talked about my age. This however did not last very long at all. A good mutual friend had a recently divorced mother with a three story house. Her name was Ms. Kitty. Ms. Kitty insisted a 20 year old’s bedroom was no place for a 14 year old girl. She took me in and I lived with her for 5 months. A few weeks into me living with Kitty, I caught Manny cheating on me with a girl names Melissa. He had a Myspace blog online that was meant to be private, but it was not. He said specifically, I can have Melissa one day, and Ashley the next. Instead of confronting him about this, I did what every 14 year old girl would do. I made out with my ex boyfriend!!! Childish, huh? Well, that’s because I was a child! Manny found out and to him and I both we call this the “Blog War Era.” Because for the next 2 months or so, Manny publically bashed me for being this self-serving slut. And me? I just dedicated a bunch of bad GG Allin songs to him. We eventually let it go, and I continued my life without talking to him. 5 months into me living with Ms. Kitty, I fell into a deep deep depression. I needed family, I hadn’t talked to my grandmother in months and she missed my 15th birthday. My heart was broken. I had severe abandonment issues. I had emailed my grandmother about how lonely and lost I felt, but she did not respond right away. One night, at 15, I decided I couldn’t go on, and I drank a bottle of sleeping aid, took various pills from Ms. Kitty’s medicine cabinet, wrote a letter, filled the bathtub up with water. Put tape on my mouth, cut my wrist, and waited to fall asleep. I had flashes of people pulling me out of the bathroom, of opening my eyes for small moments to see a different face looking over me each time, and to my grandmother and mother taking me home. No therapy. No medication. That same night, my grandparents went to the bar and did not come home for a very long time. I grew up with a sense of purposelessness. I grew up without self-esteem, and I grew up with severe abandonment issues. I lived with my grandparents off and on for a few more months but I started drinking and doing drugs more and more. April 1st, 2010, I moved out of my grandparents’ house again. I was living in and out of different parks, schools, and churches. A friend, Bailee Wilcox from my high school let me stay with her and her family. I lived there for 8 months. Bailee’s sister, started dating Pedro Garcia… and Pedro Garcia was best friends with Manny. Therefore, I saw Manny around a lot more. It was before my 16th birthday that Manny and I inevitably started dating again. We had a sexual relationship. A very sexual relationship. I would ditch school just to be with him, or he would pick me up from school in his ~cool~ 1999 Ford Mustang. Briefly, I caught him cheating on me again with a girl he had an online relationship with. Her name was Victoria. Victoria had a tumblr called fleeting-m00ns. She was 16 years old. Manny and I broke up briefly, for about a month. And he called me one evening and we met each other at the Airplane Park in Anaheim. He immediately held me, started kissing me, and asked if we could go back to his dad’s house. I was dumb, naïve, impressionable, and agreed. I wanted this dumb man to love me. I did not care about how much older he was than me or what those implications were. We went back to his house and we slept together. I was on my period. I went home to Bailee’s that night with Manny as my boyfriend again. Manny, at this point, was 21ish years old. As time went on, I decided to quit doing drugs, I did not drink as much, and I had a job working at the Brea Mall. The house I lived in was a party house so I spent less and less time there. Eventually that put a strain on the relationship I had with the people I lived with, as I spent less and less time there and would not come home. Manny insisted that it was not a healthy environment for me and that I should just stay with him; where I was not surrounded by people who did still party. I loved feeling protected and cared for. I allowed myself to abide by his wishes. If I chose to stay at my friend’s house, he insisted I was not allowed to go into the living room, I was only allowed to stay in the bedroom. I will provide a screenshot of the facebook message I received from not listening to his wishes. September 20th, 2011; “You stupid fucking bitch you can’t just fucking stay in the bedroom and away from the living room. You know I fucking hate it when you’re in there bt you never fucking listen because you’re always so fucking right and mighty and have to fucking be in the living room when you know what the fuck happens there. STOP IT. And never call me again from there, because when ou do, the first thing I’m going to ask is if you’re there, and if you’re fucking lying to me, I will never talk to you again.”I listened. I was afraid of him not staying with me, meant I truly had no one else in the world. I was very submissive. He preferred me to be submissive in the bedroom and in person. He would, what he liked to call, “fuck my face.” He would shove me up against walls (I will provide screenshots of that evidence as well), and use degrading language. There was no love making, or passion, or sensitivity. I did not know what normal relationships looked like. What I knew was he was my protector, I am safe when I am with him. That is all. I sabotaged the relationship I had with Bailee’s family and for those who have known me for a long time, knows what happened. I was homeless again. I could not go back home, I was 16, and I lived in Pearson Park. I dropped out of high school. Sometimes I would stay with my best friend, Danielle, and sometimes I would stay with my sister. Manny did not like me staying with my sister because he told me she was toxic for me. He did not like my sister and would treat her poorly when she was around. If I was at my sister’s house, Manny would shut me out, ignore, more or once told me to stay out of his life. I learned quickly who I was and was not allowed to talk to. If I had friends from my old high school, I wasn’t allowed to talk to them because they might ~be friends with Bailee.~ I was not allowed to go to backyard shows because he “feared for my safety.” I fed into all of it. I truly believed that no one else cared about where I was or who I was with. Manny was my only source of family, love, and protection. It was the way he wanted it. If I wanted to take the bus to work, he’d insist on driving me. If my shoes were falling apart, he would yell at me for not telling him so he could get me new ones. If it was raining, and I chose to walk, I would be in trouble for not asking for a ride. My entire relationship with him, I walked on eggshells. A good friend of mine, Joey, almost punched me in the face once because I faked punching him in his balls. It was a hilarious to me and Joey. Manny told me I was not allowed to talk to Joey anymore because he was supposedly abusive. If I wanted to see friends or family, I had to sneak around. (Thankfully he forgot about the Joey thing, and let me still see him, I did NOT remind him). Simultaneously, I would catch Manny cheating on me with various women. Grace, Angie, Janet, Rachael (Mouth, for those of you who know her). Once, Manny broke up with me at his house and was texting Mouth saying I was crazy and he was so happy to get rid of me. He told her he was sick of me and he needed to breathe. The next day was my birthday and he picked me up because we still had plans. He must of have been real horny because he asked for me back, fucked me twice, and I was expected to carry on like we never broke up. Every time, Manny would tell me that him cheating on me was only because he was under so much pressure of being an adult and taking care of me, a minor. He would say that if I truly loved him, I would never leave him. He would tell me that if I broke up with, I would have to move out of his house. I had to swallow all of it and keep going. Some nights, I couldn’t take it though. It was the first of me starting to “lash out” or what Manny calls, “psycho.” One night I bashed my head against a wall. Some nights, I would just leave and walk around for hours, then wait somewhere that I knew he would find me at. Just to be found. Just to be taken care of and cared about. There was a brief time that Manny went to Mexico for 3 weeks. We broke up online and I took it like a champ. I was so relieved. I used the time to focus on myself. I had already started going to Gilbert Continuation School, so I spent my time catching up on years of not going to school. Manny spent those 3 weeks on tumblr telling his followers that when he got back home from Mexico, he expects me to “respect his space.” And that he won’t, “deal with my bullshit.” People would comment on these posts supporting him because he painted me into looking like I was this obsessive monster. I will be including those screenshots as well. When he broke up with him, I wished him the best. The very hour Manny came home from Mexico, he SOBBED to me about how he was going to be a better boyfriend for me, and how he would never hurt me again and that he didn’t want to lose me. I was so hurt about how he painted me on the internet but I was NEVER EVER EVER EVER allowed to talk about it online or to friends because HE WAS A GROWN ASS MAN AND IF I SAID ANYTHING AT ALL, HE COULD GO TO JAIL. I took him back. Nothing changed. I ended up in Foster Care 6 months before my 18th birthday. Manny and I were still together. I was living in a group home and he was fucking a girl named Nicole. I had no idea. I protected his name from social workers and different foster parents I had. Eventually, Manny’s mother, Ofelia took me in. Bless her heart. She always told me, “I don’t see you as my son’s girlfriend, I see you as my daughter.” Her and I are still close to this day and I love her very much. Time went on, I turned 18, I entered transitional housing, and I got my own apartment. Manny was still cheating on me though. But now he didn’t have any more excuses. I wasn’t a teen anymore, he didn’t have to hide from authorities… This was just who he was. We broke up when I met Zach. I hated Manny. I hated him so much from years of what he put me through. As I got older and started to build a life for myself and build new relationships, I realized how much control I let him have over me. Who I was and was not allowed to see, what family I could or couldn’t talk to, what jobs I was or wasn’t allowed to have. All while he slept with other women both older and younger than me at times. But I still talked to Manny.One afternoon he brought up that while I was in the group home, he was sleeping with someone else. Manny brought up even proposing to me to marry him that day. He cried, he came clean, he said he took advantage of me and how sickened he was with himself. He said I was just a child and I deserved so much better. I cried… I even considered breaking up with Zach. I was just 18 and I never knew my life without Manny and I was so so so afraid to find out. I had this attachment, and he still had so much control over me. Then his phone lit up, and it was girl named Janet. The messages were dirty and sexual. I lost my absolute shit. I picked up a knife from a plate of cake that was in my room and I cut myself. I held It up to my throat and told him that if I died it would be on his conscious. Manny wrestled to get the knife out of my hands. I ran to the bathroom and locked myself in there. Manny told me that if I did not let myself out of the bathroom he would kill himself. He was sobbing outside of the bathroom door and I wanted him to hurt. I did not care for one fucking minute what he did to himself. But I opened the door anyways. He pulled his phone camera out and started to record me. He started to narrate what was happening. He said, “really you’re going to hurt me? This is who you are, this is who she is…” So that he could have something to show people. So that he could tell people how crazy I was. I retorted by saying on camera, “tell them how old I was Manny, I was 14, tell them that, you’ll never tell the truth.” We did not talk for 4 years. I would occasionally look at his tumblr page and see what he would say about me. I’d occasionally get drunk and call and say something like, “you’re fucking stupiddddd” and hang up. Time healed, Zach and I made up.. We moved on. And I have been living my life ever since.Zach and I broke up, and I started dating someone else. It took me years to heal and I still am not there. I occassionaly still have suicidal tendencies. Or have the horrible habit to try and control the outcomes of situations. I still have abandonment issues.Manny sent me an email a year ago. Essentially wanting to talk things out. I agreed because I wanted a sense of validation. We met at the Continental Room in Fullerton. Manny showed up drunk. He immediately said, “you’re ass still looks just as good as the day I met you.” WHAT MANNY, WHEN I WAS 14??? BECAUSE THAT’S WHEN YOU FIRST MET ME. He said he learned “new things in the bedroom,” and asked me multiple times to go and get a hotel room with him. He made multiple attempts to kiss me. I politely left the continental room and left Manny alone. That’s all I needed, validation. Yep, Ash, Manny is a creep, it wasn’t all in your head. He had hit me up and asked if he left his ID in my car. He emailed me saying he doesn’t remember what happened that night and that he thinks we’re “cool now.” I will include that email as well. Manny also sent me an email admitting he lied to people about me trying to stab him. So!!! Did I try and stab him? No, I did not. Do I wish now? Hahaha, no. But really…And you know what, I confronted him about all of this. And he agreed, he said, in the end of all of this, he was an adult, and I was a child. I told him it wasn’t right for me to threaten suicide, but to NEVER EVER leave out the part that he was a rapist, and he said he wouldn’t. And a year later, after he tried to sleep with me, he comes to all of you to tell you that I was a psycho crazy ex stalker and that he fears for his life and BLAH BLAH BLAH. It’s fucking boring. Manny, I’m sorry trauma serves you in a way where your memory is fuzzy. But my trauma NEVER lets me forget. Fuck you. Lizz, I’m sorry, you are an apologist. He is a rapist. There is proof, you support him, you’re an apologist. So continue to brag about how many orgasms you gave me and cry about how you’re relationship with a child did not work out the way you wished it did, but when you tell your story, don’t forget to include the part where you fucked a child for 4 years. You’re sick. Eat shit, Die. Seacrest Out.

#rapist orangecounty orangecountyphotography foxisstrange manuelguzman statutoryrape harrassment

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fallen-gravity · 4 years

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Steven got upset at Greg at the end of Mr. Universe for a valid reason; he never knew he had an option other than the gems. In Steven’s mind, Greg was being careless for never telling him he had a third option, a sanctuary to run to if he got too overwhelmed by staying with the gems.

Now imagine this: At some point, behind Greg’s back, Steven tries to return to his grandparents’ house, because if Greg isn’t willing to open up to him and explain further about why his childhood was terrible enough to keep Steven away from it, he’s going to find out himself. To Steven, it’s something he can control, because he figures that he can take whatever knowledge he learns and come to his own conclusion about whether or not he wants his human grandparents to be a part of his life.

Taking either the Dondai or finding the nearest warp, he makes his way over to Greg’s childhood home, and by unfortunate timing, he shows up when they’re at their timeshare on Florida Island. But he’s so, so desperate for answers that he climbs up the tree in the backyard and into Greg’s old bedroom to look around some more. He finds nothing new, so he tries looking around in the hallway, in his parents’ bedroom, and still can’t seem to find anything that leads him to believe the things that Greg told him about them.

Disappointed, and perhaps a bit resentful, he heads down the stairs to look around, just so he can experience something of having grandparents, and comes across the stack of unopened letters again, all signed from Greg Universe. He really hates to intrude, but he needs answers, and if they still hadn’t opened the letters since the last time he was here, they’re never going to, right? So he shoves them in his pocket, checks out the front window to check to make sure they’re not pulling up to the driveway. Once assured, he pulls one out of his pocket at random, and tears open one of the letters at random.

August 22, 2004

Hey, mom and dad. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I know we haven’t seen much of each other in a while, but I thought you’d like to know that our son was born last week. His name is Steven! Cutest thing you’ll ever see....

and before he can continue reading, a small photo that had been paper clipped to the paper slips out, and when he picks it up he sees it’s a photo of Greg holding him as a newborn baby. Just looking at the picture makes him too emotional to keep reading, so he folds the note up and places it back inside the envelope as best as he can.

He opens the next one.

August 8, 2005

Hey, mom and dad, just wanted to let you know that Steven’s first birthday is coming up in a few days, and wanted to extend an invitation to his party just in case-

and the next one

August 15, 2007

Hey, mom and dad, it’s Steven’s birthday again, and we’re all alone, and I really think he’d benefit from-

maybe he’s just really unfortunate, maybe if he chose one further down in the pile-

August 14, 2010-

August 29-

August-

Every single letter is dated in August. Every single year Greg tried to reach out to his parents about meeting Steven, and every year they ignored his letters. It makes him wonder if they even knew Rose was ever pregnant.

Or if they even knew who Rose was.

Steven thought that Greg had been keeping his grandparents away from him.

In reality, his grandparents were rejecting him before he was ever born

#suf #suf spoilers #steven universe #steven universe future #canon divergence #I will Not Accept Greg Hate if you hate Greg You Will Be Kindly Asked to Leave #I also just really want to know what was in those letters #let me dream a little

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sedehaven · 4 years

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How I Learned that it is Illegal to Hex People in Louisiana

Someone in a group chat asked about this story, and it’s a long one, so I figured I’d write it out and share it with the world.

I live in a gentrifying trailer park in Louisiana. That means that we still have problems with meth dealers, child molesters, and non-potable water, but we also have a gate and like 4? Air BnBs...

This story, though, is from before we started gentrifying. Around 2011. My grandmother died in 2010, and I’d just moved home after inheriting the trailer.

This trailer park used to be owned by a guy named John the Slumlord. John (not the gentrifying sort) inherited 1/3 of an acre of land from his dad, and built this trailer park. That was back in 1976 or so. My grandparents moved there in late 1978. This is the place that I was brought home to after I was born. We buried two cats, three dogs, and spread my grandfather’s ashes in the backyard. This is HOME.

I’m a witch, and a capable one. Not the magic-up-millions sort of witch, but the bring-nearly-deceased-kitten-back-from-the-dead, find-twenty-dollars-that-we-desperately-need, this-plant-will-help-a-burn (and, on one memorable occasion, give-horrible-carpet-bagging-yankee-whore-of-an-aunt-a-tumor) sort of witch. I’m one of those that--if we ever manage to escape this place--is going to have to take a coffee can of earth with me.

Because this is HOME.

I used to have a cousin who lived with me. His name was not Dipshit, but that’s good enough for this story. Dipshit had terrible taste in friends. One of the people in the park that he met was a low-level gangster that we’ll call Couillon for this story. Because he is one.

(Yes, there are gangs in the country. They’re heavily armed and they run drugs.)

Couillon needed a ride out to New Iberia. He offered us gas money for it, and my GF (who is the only one in this story who drives--except John the Slumlord) says sure. In order to make sure that we know he’s legit, he shows us his CAJUN COONASS tattoo.

If you learn one thing from this, know that Coonass is not a slur. It refers to poor whites in Cajun country, and is a shortening of “folks hungry enough to eat a raccoon’s asshole.” You’ve learned a thing. Good.

So, Couillon shows us this blackletter monstrosity across his back to show that he’s The Real Deal. That he is Not Playing Around.

My GF is from New Orleans. She is not impressed.

So we bring the dude out to his rendez-vous, where he was supposed to be getting a job of some sort. I know this because he. Would. Not. Stop. Talking. Through the whole trip. 45 minutes of what crimes he’d done, who he knew, and what a BIG SHOT that he was.

The dude had three teeth left and wanted to think he was Al Capone South.

Y’all.

We dropped him off and drove home. We sent Dipshit to collect the gas money the next day.

Shock to nobody at all, he didn’t have it.

A week later, he didn’t have it.

I told Dipshit to tell Couillon that he had until the next full moon to pay me, or I’d hex him.

This lead to Couillon showing up at my doorstep, demanding my gris-gris credentials.

My porch looks like the haunted house porch from movies. It’s cluttered with weird and unidentifiable stuff because Dipshit fancied himself a tinker. He was actually a hoarder, so lots of rust and lots of weird. I’d inherited the place from my grandmother, so a fair bit of windchimes as well.

The porch was not what convinced him. The dripping Pagan iconography did not convince him. I drew myself up to my full 5′6″ height and told him that I was taller than him.

Y’all.

Fun fact -- most dudes think that they’re taller than most chicks. Even with firm evidence that they are not. Also, most Cajuns are small. Couillon is about 5′4″. If I’m feeling generous.

Couillon decides that I am The Real Deal because I *suddenly* got taller than him. I used my devil powers to make him believe I was small.

Y’all.

Dude nearly trips over his own shitty sneakers getting down my porch and out of my yard.

I figured that’s the end of it. He’d pay us and we’d be done.

Nope.

Couillon tattled on me to John the Slumlord, which leads to a screaming confrontation on my porch. John has about four inches on me, and about 100 lbs. He was a farm boy. He’s about 70 years old, and absolutely terrifying.

The takeaway was, Couillon was a dangerous man who was out of prison (for murder) temporarily, awaiting sentencing for (a separate) assault and attempted murder (!!!), and John the Slumlord wanted a quiet park. (Dipshit has terrible taste in friends!) John the Slumlord did not want a convicted murderer (!!!) banging on his truck when he was rolling around the park and demanding protection from a witch. John the Slumlord finished by saying that he didn’t want a witch in HIS park and he’d evict me if I hexed any more of his renters. And he’d have the law on his side.

I had not, at this point, hexed anybody.

This was my HOME. He was threatening my HOME.

I did Google the law, and it was on John the Slumlord’s side. Hexing is illegal in the state. It’s also illegal in the city, but not in the parish. We weren’t TECHNICALLY in city limits, but still...

We’re past the statute of limitations on hexing (2-5 years, depending on which law), so I can tell you.

I hexed the crap out of Couillon. I made a witch bottle and buried that bitch deep down in the earth of my HOME.

After the full moon, Couillon had a heart attack and broke his hip falling. (Osteoporosis is a fun side-effect of long term drug abuse.) He was convicted of the assault and attempted murder. As far as I know, he’s still in prison.

John the Slumlord sold the park to an axe-crazy millionaire. I could write a novel about the hijinks of THAT man.

As for ol’ John himself? Last I heard, he’s got a tumor.

Bless his heart. He didn’t say anything about evicting me for hexing HIM.

#true story #prose #proseriot #writers on tumblr #louisiana #witchraft #paganism

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 5 years

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The two captors of the Dutch family held for 9 years had both been members of the Family Federation or Unification Church

Published October 17, 2019. Updated October 18 - 22, 2019.

‘John Eagles’ is Gerrit Jan van Dorsten – who ‘imprisoned’ six of his own children on a farm.

Police have rescued six young adults (four women and two men, aged 18-25) of the van Dorsten family living at a remote Dutch farm. Police were alerted when Jan Zon van Dorsten, a 25-year-old man, walked into a local bar. He looked dirty and was wearing old-fashioned clothes. He said he had not had a haircut in nine years. The bar-owner raised the alarm with police after Jan revealed he had never been to school and said he had run away and needed help. He said he wanted his lifestyle to “come to an end.” Jan said he was the oldest of the six children.

The Police came to investigate on Tuesday and found a hidden staircase behind a cabinet in the living room of the farmhouse. At the point when they were discovered, the five other siblings thought that they were the only people left on earth, the broadcaster RTV Drenthe reported. According to reports, they could barely speak and communicated in a “fantasy language” parts of which were “incomprehensible.” The father of the six young adults, Gerrit Jan van Dorsten, 67, was found bed-ridden. He had suffered a stroke about two years previous.

Josef Brunner, 58, who had rented the farm was arrested at the property. Reports say the farm was equipped with motion detectors and security cameras. Locals also claimed Brunner locked the gate and kept watch using binoculars. He’d reportedly chase away anyone who came too close to the secluded property.

After the young adults were released and living in a safe place, the former ‘prisoners’ were observed to be taking part in frequent rituals where they moved in circles. They were then taken to a more private safe location where they are being given appropriate care. The police want to understand what happened over the past decade, but are being considerate of their psychological needs.

Josef Brunner appeared before an examining magistrate on Thursday and was detained for 14 days on suspicion of unlawfully depriving the children of their liberty and money laundering. Later, Gerrit Jan van Dorsten was also arrested.

Brunner was born on March 3, 1961 in Waldhausen, Austria and was one of five peasant children. He completed a carpentry apprenticeship with distinction, but while enrolled in the army in Linz he joined a sect.

He met a Japanese woman who introduced him to the Unification Church (now the Family Federation for World Peace). He had two children with her. Through the ‘Moonies’, Josef Brunner came into contact with Gerrit Jan van Dorsten in the late 1990s. Gerrit Jan had been a member of the Unification Church in the 1980s. He left in 1987 but to this day he still embraces many of their ideas. LINK

Together Joseph Brunner, known as the Austrian, and Gerrit Jan moved to the farm in 2010. Joseph was a carpenter and lived in a caravan behind his workshop. It was some four miles from the farmhouse. Neighbors saw him regularly visit the farm in his Volvo where he dropped off groceries and supplies.

Joseph Brunner’s brother, Franz, claims Joseph became delusional after joining the Unification Church. He said, “Josef has a very strong persuasiveness.”

Franz said Josef had been married to a Japanese woman.

“In 2006 or 2007, Josef left his wife and children behind in Austria and went to the Netherlands.” Franz told NL Times.

“Josef regularly visited Gerrit Jan van Dorsten with his wife and daughters.”

“Josef’s daughters, now adults, tried in vain to get in touch with him in 2017.”

The two arrested men had close business ties. Brunner paid the rent on van Dorsten’s toy craft store in Mepple and another storage unit nearby – as well as the rent for the farm.

According to a van Dorsten family statement. “Eight years ago, three older children of Gerrit Jan – Dino (Endino), Shin and Marjan, 29 – fled the family in Hasselt and contacted their brother from a previous marriage, their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.”

"The family has taken notice of the events in Ruinerwold with dismay," the statement, translated from Dutch, says.

"Mr Gerrit Jan van Dorsten broke all ties with his immediate family in the 1980s. He told us not to make any attempt to find his place of residence."

"At present, it is the express wish of the family to support the discovered family," the statement said.

Gerrit Jan’s children were never registered with local officials or went to school.

Janny Knol, North Netherlands deputy police chief, said "on the farm there was actually a separate, closed-off area and its main aim was to keep the outside world out," she told Dutch TV.

She said the imprisoned family were kept in an 'enclosed space' that was 'divided into small compartments.' The room was hidden behind a staircase, behind a locked door. Daylight was allowed inside, and children were occasionally allowed into the yard but they didn't go beyond farm's perimeter fence during nine years of captivity. She said, “We are investigating whether a certain religion or philosophy forms the cause of their living situation.”

Police found “tens of thousands of euros of laundered money” hidden on the property.

Jan Zon van Dorsten, 25, stated that his mother died in 2004 and “every day we are happy to take care of Dad”.

Gerrit Jan was initially believed to be one of the victims of Josef Brunner, but he has now been charged as “co-perpetrator of unlawful deprivation of liberty and of abuse, in the sense of prejudicing the health of others and money laundering.”

When Gerrit Jan and his brother, Derek, both joined the UC in the 1980s, their devoutly Protestant parents were very much against it. The father was a prolific author of Christian novels. Gerrit Jan was active in the UC in Amsterdam.

Gerrit Jan van Dorsten was a member in 1984. He worked as a Munich correspondent for the New York City Tribune at that time.

Gerrit Jan left the Unification Church in 1987. His estranged brother Derek van Dorsten, a long-time member of the UC said, "I have not heard from my brother since 1984."

A Church spokesman, Willem Koetsier, said “Sometimes people with spiritual inclinations found their own church or movement. I think this was the case with him. It could be that he thought he had a special mission.”

After a few years in the UC Gerrit Jan appears to have become ill at ease. According to reports in the Dutch media, he retreated from the church after announcing that he had begun “receiving signals” from Moon’s son, who is regarded as a prophetic figure within the faith. That son was Heung Jin Moon who had died in a car accident on January 2, 1984.

Heung Jin was buried in Korea on January 8, 1984. A week later, Rev. Moon proclaimed that his son had a new mission and that he was free to travel between his spirit world and our physical world. Rev. Moon also proclaimed that Heung Jin became a leader to Jesus in the spirit realm and that he had assumed the role of “the commander-in-chief” to those who are unmarried in the spirit realm.”

▲ Sun Myung Moon wrote this calligraphy for his son: “Absolute Victory of Moon Heung Jin 文興進 as Commander-in-Chief of Heaven.”

On February 28, 1984, Heung Jin was married postmortem to Hoon-Sook Pak, the daughter of Colonel Bo Hi Pak, one of Moon’s top aides.

Colonel Pak was the president of the Washington Times at that time.

▲ At the wedding Julia Hoon-Sook Pak held a photograph of her new husband.

Colonel Pak stated that his son-in-law’s sacriﬁce “carries far greater importance then the cruciﬁxion of Jesus Christ.” According to Rev. Moon, his son needed to be married in order to move from prince to king in the spirit realm. Hoon-Sook was positive about her unusual marriage. “I will never forget in my whole life and for eternity this greatest honor of being Heung Jin Nim’s bride, which I do not deserve.”

Shortly after the death of Heung Jin, Uniﬁcationists in different parts of the world claimed to be receiving messages from him. Most of the alleged revelations took place in 1984, and in 1987 and were published in book form under the title The Victory of Love.

Revelations are also claimed from St. Francis, St. Paul, Kierkegaard, and Jesus. The last speaks both of his submission to Heung Jin and the True Parents. “I will show them that the Lord of lords and the King of kings and the king of glory is our precious Lord Sun Myung Moon and his beloved bride Hak Ja Han. They reign as king and queen of the entire universe. I, Jesus of Nazareth, known as the Christ, bow in humility before them. Any who will follow me must do the same.”

From 1984 Gerrit Jan also received messages from Jesus and Heung Jin Moon.

According to Algemeen Dagblad, Gerrit Jan ascribed “supernatural powers” to himself.

Older Unification Church members who knew Gerrit Jan in the 1980s had described him as a very "ritual" person who had set up his own group with his family.

Gerrit Jan’s wife, the mother of nine known children, died in 2004. It is possible he has even more children, the newspaper reported.

In an interview with De Telegraaf, a cousin said, “Gerrit Jan broke with the rest of the family a long time ago,” the 32-year-old cousin said.

“About thirty years ago anyway. There was a lot of disagreement between my parents and my uncle, and between my uncle and the Unification Church. At a certain moment he ran away angry. That was before I was born.”

Joseph Brunner and Gerrit Jan van Dorsten lived next door to each other in Hasselt, south of Ruinerwold before moving to the farmhouse in 2010.

Shortly after Brunner moved in next door to the van Dorsten family, they removed a fence that separated their backyards, according to a neighbor, Sandra Soer. Brunner left the block first, and then in 2004, Geert announced his wife had died of colon cancer, which came as a shock as no one knew she had been sick, Soer said. The family left not long after.

In an interview with the Netherlands' English language news outlet NL Times, the older brother of Josef Brunner said he was not surprised to learn his brother had been arrested.

Franz Brunner described Josef as "greedy, calculating and unpredictable" and the pair had not been in contact for a decade. "He always wanted money and was always after his own advantage.”

The brothers quarrelled over their parent's farm and fell out with Joseph moving out.

In Austria, Josef's brothers told the Kronen Zeitung website that he had joined a sect and had not turned up for the funerals of his parents in the past four years. "He thought he was better than Jesus," brother Franz told the paper. “We've had no contact with him for 10 years. I told him to get lost when he wanted me to become his financial guarantor.”

Police have admitted going to the farm in the past, following up reports of a cannabis farm on the property, but say they never entered the building.

A team of 30 police are now trying to solve the mystery of the farm at Ruinerwold. The farmhouse is still being investigated and other properties have also been searched.

Police will question Gerrit Jan van Dorsten why he reported to Dutch immigration in 2009 that he had emigrated.

A large white board found pinned to a wall had a series of mysterious drawings and numbers in black felt ink. They went from top to bottom, side-to-side and ran across each other without making any sense. The board, and a set of books and records kept by the two men, have been taken away by detectives for analysis and forensic examination.

Police have brought in thermal imaging cameras to search under the soil of the fields around the farmhouse and sniffer dogs to examine underneath floor boards.

In a statement the police said, “We are investigating whether a certain religion or philosophy forms the cause of their living situation. Currently, a great deal of new information is received by us every day. It is our duty to verify the veracity of this information, and its relevance for our investigation. The circumstances the suspects and persons involved lived in require that we be extra careful when conducting our investigation.”

________________________________

‘John Eagles’ is Gerrit Jan van Dorsten – who ‘imprisoned’ six of his own children on a farm.

John Eagles video: “Each Soul is a Mirror”

Gerrit Jan van Dorsten, ‘Father Moon’ and the Divine Principle in his providence

Suspected of sexual abuse, ‘John Eagles’ aka Gerrit Jan van Dorsten is father of all nine children

Rev. Young Whi Kim testifies about Gerrit Jan van Dorsten

Jessica Villerius is making a documentary about the van Dorsten children of Ruinerwold

“Five beers and a plea for help is all it took” – Frank F

January 21, 2020 Gerrit Jan van D. sexually abused two of his children in Ruinerwold

________________________________

Black Heung Jin Moon – Violence in the FFWPU

The FFWPU / Unification Church and Shamanism

Hong Soon-ae, the mother of Hak Ja Han, was jailed for killing a young man in a shaman ritual

The FFWPU is unequivocally not Christian

A Korean perspective on Moon and his ‘Fall of Man’ teaching

How “God’s Day” was established on January 1, 1968

Rolling Stone: Children of Recluse Dutch Family Thought They Were the Only People Left on Earth

https://wikimili.com/en/Heung_Jin_Moon

#FFWPU #prisoners #Unification Church #Moonies #Netherlands #Gerrit van Dorsten #Family Federation for World Peace #Ruinerwold #Josef Brunner #John Eagles #captive children

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seravph · 5 years

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Okay I’m ngl 2010-2015 hit so different and I miss those years so much ... staying up late at my grandparents house playing Minecraft and eating ice cream..... adventure time.... playing w the neighbors in the backyard.... Gangnam style and call me maybe.... legendary activity literally legendary

#Me

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secretmagicalmuses · 5 years

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7th member of Vixx

Stage Name: Mimi (미미) Birth Name: Yang Mihyun (양 미현) English Name: Molly Corbyn Nickname(s): M&M, Double M, Molly Holly, Shorty Birthday: October 15, 1992 Zodiac: Libra Height: 167 cm (5′6″) Birthplace: Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Hometown: Manchester, England Position: Rapper, Sub-Vocalist Language(s): English, Korean, Japanese Social Media: Twitter - ShortyOfVixx Instagram - Yang_Mihyun_93 Face claim: jessie_ca_x Voice Claim: Rapping - Jessi (x)(x) Singing - Raon Lee (x)(x)

Backstory: Mihyun was born on Oct. 15, 1992 in Suwon, South Korea. Since her parents weren’t married, nor engaged, Mihyun’s great grandparents (Mom’s parents) weren’t too pleased because she was born out of wedlock. When her father got a chance to get a better job in the UK in 1993 when she was 2 years old (Korean age), her parents packed up everything they owned and moved them all to Manchester, England. Growing up, during her childhood in Manchester, she was bilingual. At home, her and her parents would talk to each other in Korean and when they went out they would speak to each other in English.

Mihyun wanted to be a performer from the time she was about 8 years old when she got into her mother’s old music records. Her parents honestly thought that she would grow out of it, but that never happened. At the age of 13, while she was outside a restaurant, rapping (mostly) and singing, she was scouted by someone from SM, She officially became a trainee for SM entertainment in 2005, which is when she moved to South Korea by herself. Her mother stayed for about 2 ½ weeks before going back to England.

From the very beginning, Mihyun made it very clear that she didn’t want to be a part of a girl group just because she didn’t want to be stuck doing nothing but cute concepts (and the occasional badass one), but SM didn’t want to let her debut as a solo artist; they kept pushing the issue about being in a girl group so she left. She auditioned for many other companies before finally settling on Jellyfish, where she was added to the line up of Vixx at the last minute.

Facts:

Trained with SM entertainment from 2005 to 2010

After she left SM, she almost gave up on her dreams of being an idol all together. Her mother is the one that convinced her to keep trying

Some of the other entertainment companies she auditioned for were MBK, Starship, Cube, FNC and Pledis

Originally, Mihyun was the one that asked to be added to Vixx. And it took a lot of begging on her part before the company finally approved of it

Her father (William Corbyn) is British and her mother (Yang Seunghee) is Korean

Her parents got married in the summer of 2008 in their backyard in Manchester

Has a little sister named Samantha, who was born in 2002

She’s a massive bookworm & anime/manga lover

Her love of anime and manga is what inspired her to teach herself how to read, write and speak Japanese

Back in Manchester, she has a white Samoyed named Boo, an orange male Bengal cat named Tojo and his sister, a silver Bengal cat named Oreo

#7th member of vixx #additional member of vixx #additional member au #vixx au #female addition #kpop au #member au #female oc #kpop oc #original character #idol au

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iso3200net · 11 months

Photo

Sunlit leaves {digging through the archive}

Some autumn leaves basking in the sun, in the backyard of my grandparents' house. Autumn 2010.

Taken with Nikon F60 film camera, and Nikkor AI 180mm F2.8 fast telephoto lens, on DM Paradies 400 Action film. Scanned with Plustek OpticFilm 8100 film scanner.

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luwucas04 · 3 years

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About 4000 (I am so sorry) Words Concerning Films that Helped Define My Existence

Ah, movies. So much in one package. Story, music, visuals, what’s not to love? Today I shall be elaborating on the most noteworthy films in the thrilling ever-changing saga that continues to be my life. Screenplay alongside a screenplay, if you will (please take this statement as modestly as you can).

The first ever thing in my entire life that I remember being an avid and enthusiastic fan about was the original Star Wars saga, written and directed by George Lucas, spanning May 1977 (A New Hope) – May 2005 (Revenge of the Sith).

As mentioned in the podcast and as you may be able to tell from said podcast, I can’t really pinpoint an exact point in my life where I was introduced to it as it was kinda integrated into my upbringing from the get-go—and due to this it’s a very near and dear franchise to me. And oh boy fun fact my first ever childhood crush was Luke Skywalker (I vividly recall my uncle asking why I had his page bookmarked haha). I remember it was something that I would always watch with my dad and or grandpa, and then when I couldn’t find the VCR set that we had for it, I officially commenced my illicit streaming career (not really though, I didn’t get very far. Only crappy 20-minute clips on YouTube). Star Wars for me was the first thing that I actively sought out stuff for or showed genuine interest in pursuing if that makes sense. Like, you’d watch whatever movies or shows were thrown at you and you never thought much of them. Ohoho not Star Wars, though, that one lasted years. My cousin and I would always bring our little action figures to play with whenever we visited—or we’d find long-ish sticks in the backyard and have lightsaber fights, I got the video games, posters, Lego sets of ships (X-wing and Y-wing to be exact), an entire encyclopedia that I still own to this day (I just checked and there’s a date written inside, April 9th 2010 (which is my 7th birthday)), and of course inspiration for my own art and such. I remember I made this magazine that was essentially just me redrawing pages from the guidebook I had. I still have it, too! Sitting at the bottom of a drawer right now. Also, later on for some reason I absolutely loved drawing Ashoka Tano. Over and over again man. I drew her taking up my cousin’s entire driveway in chalk once.

Not only are the Star Wars films a nostalgic and comforting series, but it held onto its marvel throughout the. Wow well over 10 whole years, I’m getting old. Additionally, because at the time we didn’t have as much access to the things we can achieve with modern technology, I was basically all on my own with it. I fueled my own fascination. And shockingly, not a lot of people in my elementary school (up until maybe grade 6-7) showed much interest in it either. So it was pretty much just me myself and I, and occasionally my cousin whenever he visited, and I think that made it all the more special to me. Also, at the time I think it was geared way more toward kids. There weren’t series like The Mandalorian or active internet communities that were obsessed with the series as far as I was aware, so there wasn’t the same quantity of content nor overall enthusiasm around it. Nonetheless, it was and still is a very personal series due to how engrained it is into basically every aspect of my childhood. I’ll try not to be too repetitive with what I said in the podcast, but ultimately the clear nature of the franchise (attractive character designs, colours, setting in general (it’s an action-packed space adventure what’s not to love)) is what really made me latch onto it, and it kickstarted my interest in the very essence of media and understanding the film medium and what it has to offer. I remember asking how they got Jar Jar to exist on screen and he told me they made him out of CGI, and I interpreted that as they somehow made a real-life computer model out of him and that they were actually interacting with like a physical, solid hologram. Anyway, revisiting the franchise and diving into more of its intricacies now (like the production diaries) is like an absolute goldmine. There are so many aspects of it that 100% contributed to and nurtured my goals, passions, and ultimately who I am as a person. Here is some of my very recent art for good measure:

Up next up we got Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson, December 2001 – December 2003) or I guess a better way to put it would be those plus The Hobbit (December 2012 – December 2014) trilogy. I think it was earlier than the Marvel phase (which follows this section) because like Star Wars I can’t really remember my first viewing of it, but I definitely watched it all. It might’ve been around grade 3 so 2011-ish? Quick anecdote, one time I had a sleepover I was really excited for, and as we all know when you’re excited for something as a kid and it’s later on in the day, time doesn’t actually pass at all, and so my genius ass decided to flip on The Fellowship of the Ring and boom it was 5 pm and time to leave. Also my grandparents from my mom’s side of the family (they’re German so we call them oma and opa) were visiting once and my opa (grandpa equivalent) wanted to watch something so I was like “omg Lord of the Rings is perfect there are so many characters he can feel empowered by (Gandalf and Saruman because they’re old)”. Phenomenal logic—now thinking back it was probably much too violent for his tastes but yknow.

I love Lord of the Rings so much because it’s the true embodiment of an ideal fantasy story; there’s such pure character dynamics and personalities and Tolkien created such an incredibly solid world in which these stories take place. Man knew his stuff, and in turn provided a charming and utterly wonderful scape for young minds to roam free within. I was going to talk about this if I did my other culminating idea regarding masculinity within the media, but I have the perfect opportunity to do so here: something so great about said world is how sincere and genuine a lot of the male characters are (yknow minus people like Denethor and Alfred). Namely the fellowship, they all openly care for and are affectionate towards one another, something we rarely see between men both in modern media and in real life. Aragorn is a perfect example of someone owning and being comfortable in his masculinity. He is kind to and uplifts others, and communicates openly with them. He isn’t afraid of being intimate and vulnerable towards them, either. We see this in Boromir’s death scene. Aragorn doesn’t patronize him for trying to take the Ring, he consoles Boromir in his last moments and they treat each other with the utmost tenderness and respect—not callously or stiffly. Right after decapitating an orc, Aragorn is still able to run to his side, hold him, and kiss him on the forehead following his passing. Aragorn also isn’t afraid to share fame or glory, in fact he never seeks it out in the first place despite his lineage. It was at the battle of Helm’s Deep that he embraced that destine to be king, not out of lust for power, but because these people needed guidance and leadership and he could provide it for them. He elevates others in an incredibly positive and empowering way, especially Frodo and Éowyn, and is content with the fact that the story is not about him. Even at his own coronation, he directs every single person’s attention to the literal earth-saving feat that the hobbits have achieved in light of his own massive accomplishment. He is such a great role model to have been able to look up and aspire to be like, and I wish there were more characters and people like him.

I was a fan of those original films at an earlier point in my life, but the thing that brought that interest back a little stronger was undoubtedly the release of the Hobbit prequels. Like the Star Wars prequels, everyone can say what they want but they are very gorgeous to me. I skipped out on seeing Frozen with my class to go see The Desolation of Smaug with my dad and that was SUCH a good decision. Although, I’m rewatching them all now and Battle of the Five Armies kinda sucks at the beginning. They kill Smaug in like the first five minutes and like it wasn’t bad but it was very anticlimactic. I also don’t like how they shoved Legolas in there, his personality is really jaded and he’s kind of a big prick in those films. But it’s fine I love Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage and the rest of the dwarves the most. They were obviously the most significant and I like them a lot, and there are three movies as opposed to the one book so there’s even more content!

WHEW sorry about that anyway The Hobbit really was the revival/rekindling of that past love for Tolkien’s world. I also had a good close friend who was also along for the ride as well—being able to be into these things alongside someone is always fun and I’m grateful she was there and shared my same energy. She had the Lego game for that one, very similar free-roam concept as my Marvel one (coming up next), so we had lots of fun with that too. To reiterate, I am rewatching these movies again now as an older person with like an actual conscience, and my takeaway from them is vastly different on more of like… a philosophical level, I suppose. I appreciate the process of things more and the backstory behind Tolkien’s lore and the timeless characters and deeper meanings that he’s conceived. But that wouldn’t be very chronological of me to go into it here so moving on.

Proceeding next, around grade four at the most (so just after it came out), I watched The Avengers (dir. Joss Whedon, 2012). Not only did this single-handedly make my art convictions explode (in a good way), it also instigated my love for soundtracks (and also the entire Marvel universe but we’ll obviously be covering that very soon).

The Avengers was like an epiphany for me. Literally ground-breaking and earth-shattering. Changed my entire 10-year-old life. It was all that I ever wanted and more, and since it was around 2012-13 that I became aware of its existence, the internet community was blossoming with possibilities and content. That same friend liked it as well! My Avengers/Marvel phase definitely rivals my Star Wars phase; I think I watched The Avengers first, and then my dad was like “yeah ok you need to watch everything else now” and so henceforth Captain America and Iron Man and Thor. Those were very good times, and I actually remember experiencing all of them for the first time ever. The Christmas of 2013 was absolutely wild. I only got Marvel related gifts which was incredible at the time. My first ever ‘art of’ book was for the Avengers film, too! I also got an arc reactor shirt that actually lit up and I thought that was the absolute coolest thing ever, and then I remember I cut my tongue on this candy I was eating and my mouth bled profusely for a while. However the most iconic gift of all was my copy of Lego Marvel Superheroes for the PS3. I finished it in about 2 days, and it’s the only Lego game that I’ve gotten 100% completed progress on. I love that game dearly and still play it sometimes. The thing that I love specifically about it was the ability to free-roam the entirety of New York City as any character you wanted, me and that friend would do that exclusively for hours on end and make up our own stories with all the characters. Here is Galactus perusing the streets

Speaking of characters, this was the first thing that really got me making up and drawing a shit ton (apologies for lack of a better phrase) of original characters. I’d make superhero characters for me and my friend (ok I guess I should give her a name huh), Mackenzie, and even for random people in my class cause we needed to fill in some blanks in the stories we’d make. I’d create comics, write little stories, make variation after variation of these people we came up with, and of course like normal children me and Mackenzie would go to the park near my old house and pretend we were said characters. Man it was so fun. Then we’d do all those personality quizzes to find out which member you were most like. Mackenzie and I would do these quizzes on none other than our state-of-the-art BlackBerry playbooks. For me it was usually either Iron Man or Thor, and Mackenzie had this weird curse where she’d only ever get Loki as a result for anything at all which was very hilarious to me. Circling back to soundtracks, The Avengers OST was one of my first full album purchases. The main theme was my favourite track out of all of them for obvious reasons, but I still paid respects to all of them and listened to it often. Since I bought it with my dad’s Apple ID, it’d show up on the communal iPad that we used for music in the kitchen and I have full recollection of my grandpa playing it on blast in the morning to wake us up one time. I was aggravated at first but then when I realized what it was I was like ah yes of course. After the Avengers soundtrack, I got the Wolverine (2013) OST and that was fun but I didn’t like all the tracks in the same way, but THEN I got the Days of Future Past soundtrack. THAT is a good soundtrack AND a phenomenal film.

youtube

Anyway, after that I was a Marvel connoisseur for a little while. Like Star Wars I got an entire character encyclopedia, a bunch of comics, posters, you name it. My parents and sister also enjoyed dabbling in stuff too; we’d watch the animated series together on Netflix and eventually ended up seeing all the new movies together when they came out in theatres (except not my mom though cause she gets motion sickness from action films). Marvel was a staple in the adolescence stage of my life before I was introduced to anime (then it was all downhill from there (I am kidding anime was a part of my life that I look back at with great fondness)). It was reason for so much of what I explored with my art and my own imagination, and was one of my first experiences in what it was like to be a part of a fandom-esque community. There were also memes ripe for the picking when it came to Marvel; as one can assume I had no access to memes in kindergarten to grade 1 in the late 2000s. It was such a lovely and warm point in my life, something that established what kind of passion I really poured into something when I really liked it. And akin to Star Wars, there’s just so much to like about it. There’s so much to offer, an array of colourful characters and storylines—and of course, creative liberty when it came to superpowers and that whole narrative. The sky was literally the limit. Here is some of my ancient 2014 portraiture that I dug up for the sake of this assignment

Ok heads up we are now veering AWAY from childhood content and touching on a film that played a more personal part, namely during a very pivotal point, in my life. I picked up The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 1999) at a bookstore and read it at the speed of light; I was crying in my room on my bed by the time I finished it. I love how we see Charlie’s character change over the course of the novel, not only through what he describes or how he perceives things but his style of writing in general. Anyway, I wanted to read the novel first before I watched the movie (dir. Stephen Chbosky 2012), and I was pleasantly surprised by how accurate the movie is to the book (well duh the author directed it). I read/watched this right before I started high school, so I was kind of (but not really considering the built-up childhood trauma he has yikes) in the same position as the protagonist, Charlie, as he was starting out (minus a lot of the major aspects of his character and what he went/goes through (like drugs)). A lot of the things that he learns were really important takeaways for me before heading into that new chapter of life like he did.

Contrary to the title of the (I know it started out as a novel but I’m just gonna say film) film, you need to put yourself out there and advocate for yourself in life. It’s great to be a trustworthy individual whom everyone is vaguely aware of and likes, but you need to approach things with reason and make yourself known somehow. At the time, both before and during grade 9, and even still sometimes in the present (though I do it more deliberately now), I found myself just standing on the sidelines as life happened before me and I let it sweep me away without having any feet planted on the ground. It was like I wasn’t in control of it, and in turn I might’ve struggled in some areas more than I should have. I didn’t own anything, like I wasn’t totally present. Similar to Charlie, I was a person who’d always be there for others, someone people could talk to and confide in, and ultimately someone people truly enjoyed having around—which is pretty great. But I didn’t fully know my position or what I ultimately wanted in any of those situations. Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful for my entire freshman experience and I absolutely wouldn’t have wanted it any other way considering all personal circumstances, but with that foreknowledge of the importance of making a name for yourself, especially in high school, I think I was able to branch out with ease a bit more than I would have without it. I at least was aware of what was going on in that sense. That movie is really special to me because it ended up being a pseudo-mirror of my own experiences. Charlie’s English teacher, Bill, embraced his writing abilities and urged him to participate more, share his own thoughts, and express more of his personality by giving him books for extra reading. My first ever semester of Laurier did the exact same for me as Bill did for Charlie. It fostered my interests and intellectual abilities, and you guys constantly urged me and everyone else to go above and beyond what we were used to because you knew we could do it (even though I feel like I could’ve done a lot better on some things as my marks in grade 9 are a bit lower than I’d like them to be, but hey it was a time of adjustment and I did my best and that’s what matters). As a direct result of Laurier, I’m really lucky to have been surrounded by an amazing group of passionate students, a handful of which became my closest friends throughout high school, and that my very first teachers of the day were people who uplifted me and genuinely cared not only about furthering my academic work, but about my growth as a person.

Whew let’s wade out of the sap and get into some more energetic stuff!!! To tie off this recollection of my life through film the most recent and notable movie that impacted my life was, the one and only, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (dir. Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, Rodney Rothman, 2018). Similar to The Desolation of Smaug and Frozen, I went with my dad to the cinema but parted ways with him to watch this movie by my lonesome (he went to the Aquaman theatre instead smh). Again, phenomenal choice. I talked about this in my grade 11 blog, but Spider-Verse is an absolute masterpiece in every way shape and form.

At the point I watched it, I knew what I wanted to generally do with my life (be part of the art industry) and the visuals of this movie alone were enough to make me want to elope with it and never see or talk to anyone ever again. It is such a gorgeous film. The way they strayed from the yucky 3D conventions norm—and there is literally no way they could’ve done the majority of what they did in that movie effectively if they did it live action. Or, they could definitely try and make an attempt, but it’d look like garbage. For example, a lot of the action scenes in general and also when they become abstracted like with the particle collider. 40-60 fps would not do that sense of movement justice at all. Too smooth. Not enough grit and personality.

Anyway, they also pioneered new animation techniques in mixing 2D and 3D, and explored a newer superhero trope where the main character’s own mundane life struggles are equally as important as him trying to sort things out with these new powers. It’s more of a battle between what Miles wants with his own personal life—new school, the friends he won’t be able to see because of said new school, owning his own abilities and adjusting to change. Then on top of that he’s met with all these alternate-dimension people that he has to work and be on par with. Aside from the art, I thought the overall message was every special: Miles learns through trial and tribulations, unsureness—and most importantly, failure. Confidence and optimism, in regard to what he thinks he can and can’t do, is vital. Amidst everything he is faced with, he starts out as just another kid who wants to be just another kid. But we all have something special inside us that we must choose to embrace if we want to truly flourish. We see him come to terms with the fact that he really is capable of greatness if he sets his mind to it—and that’s the main message: anyone can wear the mask. And can we talk about that soundtrack??? Not only the instrumentals, but the actual songs were great too! “Sunflower” and “What’s Up Danger”? Lovely and fitting. And back to the OST, the Prowler’s theme??? Shivers.

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There is such a unique and beautiful vibe to this movie, and it’s inspired me in more ways than one. Aside from that nice motivational stuff, it also has recently played a tremendous part in developing my own art. All of the artists who worked on the film are people I immediately tried to find on social media so I could see more of their work. I purchased the art book, and even bought a 2D sequence illustration course provided by one of the art directors, Patrick O’Keefe. That course also came with the (digital) brushes he uses, and I’ve used them in pretty much every single one of my pieces since downloading them. This movie really showed me the possibilities of what could be achieved in the art industry, and it made me want to be a part of it so much more than I was before. I want to be involved in revolutionary visual achievements, and I want to develop characters and stories and worlds that are as interesting and loveable as the ones in Spider-Verse. (my stuff featured below)

So there you have it folks, 5 (five) of the most significant movies in my life relayed in a whopping just over 4000 words. I hope this has been enlightening for all you readers out there, perhaps you now have a better understanding of how I came to be personality/interest-wise, and I hope you can catch a glimpse of that same importance these pieces of media have in regard to me and my values.

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johnboothus · 3 years

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Wine 101: Syrah

This episode of “Wine 101” is sponsored by Columbia Winery. As Washington’s original premium winery, Columbia Winery proudly carries on a long legacy of discovering and celebrating exceptional Washington wine. Our rich history, as well as the distinct terroir of the great Columbia Valley, allows us to craft wines that embody Washington’s unique spirit and curious nature. Columbia Winery offers a collection of rich and deliciously drinkable wines inspired by the diversity of Washington’s best growing regions. Created through visionary winemaking and unrelenting curiosity: Columbia Winery.

In this episode of “Wine 101,” VinePair tastings director Keith Beavers discusses all things Syrah. Though Syrah is a dominant red variety in Australia, Beavers explains that its has roots in the northern and southern Rhône regions of France.

Listeners will learn how Syrah got its unique name through a series of dialects, and why the variety has different names in different parts of the world. Beavers also explains that Syrah is now being made in our own backyard; Washington State has emerged as a competitive producer of Syrah in hopes that it will become a successful player in the global market.

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Keith Beavers: My name is Keith Beavers, and yes, I did relive my childhood fantasies watching “Cobra Kai,” Season 1. The last scene, it’s incredible.

What’s going on, wine lovers? Welcome to Episode 9 of VinePair’s “Wine 101” podcast, Season 2, of course. My name is Keith Beavers, I am the tasting director of VinePair. Hi!

What are your thoughts on Syrah? What do you know about Syrah? What are your relationships with Syrah? My relationship with this grape is insane. You guys, we got to talk about Syrah. I know it’s a thing and it’s in Australia. What is this?

Deep, dark, brutish, spicy, savory. What is it? That, wine lovers, is Syrah. I know those are a bunch of general terms.

In this season, we are going to have a whole episode on the Rhône and when we talk about the Rhône, the southern and the northern Rhône, we’re going to get real deep into that area. This is where Syrah is from.

It’s really hard to talk about Syrah and not talk about the Rhône. But we’re going to figure this out, because I want you guys to understand how wonderful this variety is and what it does to your brain when you sip it in a certain way.

Let me just clarify. I absolutely love wines made from the grape Syrah. This is the thing about Syrah: As of 2010, it was the sixth most planted variety on the planet. It’s always been that way with Syrah. I’m really bad with orchestral stuff, the first chair, the second chair, but Syrah’s is like the timpani drums. It’s all the way in the back just chilling, knowing how awesome it is, not needing all the attention that all the other varieties get. But when it’s done in a certain way and it’s in a lower yield, it commands your attention. It’s almost haunting how beautiful this variety is when it’s turned into a wine on the lower-yield side.

Syrah, for me, is like Han Solo: roguish, rough around the edges, scruffy like a nerf herder, lopsided grin. Among and around all that toughness is an absolute charm. That’s what Syrah is. It’s dark but charming.

The trick with Syrah, though, is the higher the production rate goes, the quicker you lose those characteristics. I know I’ve mentioned this already twice in this episode — low yields. When we were talking about Pinot Noir, we were talking about hectoliter per liter. At some point, if you harvest a lot of Pinot Noir, it starts to lose its subtlety. There are grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, where you can harvest a lot of it and it still retains its character. Cabernet Sauvignon will always be Cabernet Sauvignon no matter what. You can always recognize it. But with Syrah, as the production level goes up, you begin to not recognize the subtleties of the variety. What it starts giving you instead is this soft, fruit-forward red wine.

We experienced this a lot when an ocean of Shiraz from Australia came onto our market. It started with Yellowtail. Of course, we all know Yellowtail and the Syrah or Shiraz — same grape, just different names — those were not the peppery, savory Syrah versions that I just talked about. But because of the popularity of Shiraz, that style became very popular and the New World started embracing that.

Where Syrah is from, its birthplace, where it thrives the most, where it expresses itself the most, it shows something completely different. The only issue is: The amount of wine that is made from the Syrah grape in the northern Rhône, in a little place called Hermitage, which we’ll get into in another episode, it’s a small place with small production. So you’re spending a ton of money on a wine that is absolutely going to blow your mind and change your life. The good news is: Surrounding that little area called Hermitage in the northern Rhône, which we’ll get into another episode, are other areas that show Syrah on a similar level but aren’t as expensive, in a really great way to get yourself into that realm of Syrah.

It’s in the northern Rhône, where Syrah was born. And the parents of Syrah are two varieties that we don’t really talk about. They’re out there on the market but not everywhere. The mother of Syrah is a grape called Mondeuse Blanche, which is around, but not a lot. The other grape is called Dureza. Now, these two varieties are actually related to Pinot Noir, making Pinot Noir the grandparent of Syrah. There’s a separation there. Syrah happened on its own, even though it has connections to Pinot Noir. And what it became was something completely different.

Like any grape throughout history, it’s had a few names. The word Syrah comes from the multiple writings throughout the history of this variety. It was called Serine. Basically what happened is: When it was born, as it arrived and was starting to be worked within the northern region of Rhône and spread down to the southern Rhône, it got different names based on the dialects of the different areas in which the vine was grown. This comes back to the story of Syrah versus Shiraz. In Australia, they call Syrah Shiraz, and it is the Syrah grape. The thing is, when James Busby, back in the 1830s, brought a bunch of vine cuttings from Europe to Australia to begin the Australian wine industry, one of those cuttings was a Syrah vine. There’s not a lot of documentation about this, but it is mentioned and it said that this is the way it was, so I will give it to you. I said it in the Australia episode that when he grabbed that Syrah vine from the Rhône and brought it to Australia, the name of the grape at the time was Scryas. The Australian accent in New South Wales where this all began, the Scryas became Shiraz or Shiraz.

And not only did the name change but because of the climate in the sun exposures and the complete different geography of this part of Australia than in the northern Rhône, the grape itself became something different. Because the yield for Syrah is one thing. Another thing is sun exposure. The more sun it gets, the fatter it gets, the more sugar it produces, and the softer the wine is. Australia created a different style of Syrah. It was a natural progression to call it Shiraz, but it’s kind of cool how the name is different and the style is different based on the natural elements the variety there has to work with. Does that make sense? I think that made sense.

I know this is going to be a general statement, and people might get mad at me in the industry, but that defines the two styles of Syrah in general. You have that dark charm that I was talking about, and then you had that soft, fruit-forward style. And sometimes you have somewhere in between.

Let me generally talk about where these are in the world so you can go out there and try these wines and get a sense of this. Again, I’m going to mention Rhône stuff, but we’re going to get deeper into that when we get into the Rhône episode. For the dark and brooding stuff — that cool, savory stuff, obviously where it was born is the best. There’s a big granite hill called Hermitage, and that is it. That is literally the heart of Syrah. In the surrounding areas, you have a place called Saint-Joseph or St. Joseph, also gets towards those dark, charmed vibes. Then, surrounding Hermitage is a larger appellation called Crozes-Hermitage that will also give you those savory vibes. It goes from the hill of Hermitage, out a little bit. That is the heart, the beating heart of Syrah.

Now, there are some places outside of this area of the world where you still can get that sort of dark, savory charm of Syrah. The closest to that area is a very large wine-growing region in southern France called Languedoc. It’s called the Languedoc-Roussillon. There are appellations throughout that area that just do beautiful Syrah. They often blend it with Grenache and Mourvèdre, but it still gives that nice, savory vibe. There’s actually a really awesome wine-growing region down there called Pic Saint-Loup, and wow, the winds are awesome. You’re going to see them around, but they’re still not as prevalent on the market.

The place that I think is very exciting for Syrah that the United States needs to recognize is Washington State. Washington State can produce Syrah on that dark charm, savory level. The thing is: Washington state was very popular for Riesling for a long time, and then it became popular for Cabernet Sauvignon, and now, it’s really killing it with the red blends. Quietly, I’ve talked to some winemakers in Washington and they’re very excited about Syrah. We just don’t see a lot of it out on our market, and we have to go to Washington to get it. I have tasted some Syrahs from Washington State that really gives me that dark, savory vibe. It’s very cool, and I’m really hoping that more Syrah of that style comes out onto the market because I think it would be awesome for us as a wine-drinking culture.

Now, the Syrah coming out of California doesn’t often reach the savory level. It’s often more on that fruit-forward vibe, and it can be blended with Merlot. There are places in California that have small production levels of Syrah that are very meaty. You guys know what I mean. It has that peppery, rosemary thing going on as well. And it’s not really a specific place or region in California or even the United States. It’s just when you see a Syrah from the United States, outside of Washington State, if it’s a more expensive Syrah, it’s probably going to be lower production and have those savory vibes to them. I think Syrah came to California in the late 1800s, so it’s been there for a long time.

Don’t get confused if you see a wine that has the Petite Sirah. It’s different, and it’s not the original spelling of Syrah. That’s a completely different grape. It’s actually a grape called Durif. Yes, it has a relationship to Syrah, but it is not Syrah. There’s actually a bunch of grapes that were brought over to California at one point, and they were all called Durif. The DNA profiling through UC Davis found that there’s a bunch of these Durif grapes that are actually different varieties. If you see Petite Sirah, it’s a grape and it makes wine, but it’s not the Syrah grape. It doesn’t have those vibes.

One thing you will not see in California or in the United States, in general, is you will not see Syrah be called Shiraz in the United States. Somebody might do it as an ironic sort of thing, but it’s generally just Syrah.

We got an episode of South Africa coming up that I’m very excited about. In South Africa, it’s both. It’s really wild. Sometimes they call their Syrah Syrah, and sometimes they call their Syrah Shiraz. I’m not sure if they use those two terms based on style. I’ve tasted Syrah from certain areas of South Africa towards the coast, and I’ve tasted Shiraz that’s made further inland. And the Syrah that I tasted had more of a peppery vibe to it, and as I drank the Shiraz from a little more inland, it was more fruit-forward. So there might be something there. I’m not sure, but I think it’s very cool how they are like, “You know what, we’re going to decide what we want to do, you guys figure it out.” We gotta talk about South Africa because it’s a really great place, with some great wines coming out of there.

So there’s something to be said about both of these styles. The fruit-forward style is soft, juicy, and awesome. It’s great with burgers and pizza. It also takes on this new style that is very interesting that started in the northern Rhône in a place called Côte-Rôtie, where they would blend a white wine grape called Viognier into the Syrah to soften it a little bit. In Victoria, Australia, they do that as well. It is just awesome. It’s different from Côte-Rôtie. We can get into that when we talk about the Rhône. That place is crazy. The Viognier-Shiraz blends in Victoria are on that awesome level. You can actually chill those wines down for about 30 minutes, drink them cold with pizza, burgers, all the stuff. It is just awesome.

Often in the wine world or in education, when we talk about age-worthy wines — especially about red wines — we talk mostly about Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux. We talk about Barolo, we talk about Burgundy. The thing is, Syrah can age 20 to 30 years, and it can just evolve and get better and better. Even after it peaks, it’s still really awesome. I actually read somewhere in the “Oxford Wine Companion” where Jancis Robinson tasted a 1961 Hermitage. I think at that point it was 30 years old, and it tasted like a Claret but had depth. Basically, what she was saying was that it was on the level of a fine Bordeaux, but with more depth. That’s cool, that’s what Syrah does.

Actually, here’s a fun, historical fact. The 18th- and 19th-century Bordeaux winemakers put Hermitage into their wine to give it more depth.

If you want to get into Syrah, I would say, wine lovers, you got some work to do. Because there are these two major expressions of Syrah, from the fruit-forward, to the savory craziness. And it can be anywhere in between. So depending on where you’re grabbing the Syrah from, it’s going to be different.

The cool thing about this is if you dig everything you’ve heard me say about Syrah, you can go out there and try to find different ones and taste the different styles. You can even indicate to the wine merchant what style of Syrah you would like. You can say “I want a savory, peppery-style Syrah, but I don’t want to buy a Hermitage.” They’ll know where to direct you. If you’re like, “I want a soft, more fruit-forward Syrah, just not an Australian Shiraz,” they’ll know how to direct you. Or “I want a nice, focused Australian Shiraz that’ll blow my mind” and they’ll know where to focus. Get into it. Syrah.

@VinePairKeith is my Insta. Rate and review this podcast wherever you get your podcasts from. It really helps get the word out there. And now, for some totally awesome credits. “Wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big ‘ol shout out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. And I mean, a big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darby Cicci for the theme song. Listen to this. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.

The article Wine 101: Syrah appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/wine-101-syrah/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/wine-101-syrah

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Woman accused of murdering her husband, concealing his disappearance is charged with illegally collecting his Social Security benefits Virginia Hayden, 69, is already charged with homicide in the death of Thomas Hayden Sr., of York County. Now she’s charged with collecting $113,471 of his benefits. CARLISLE, Pa. — A Cumberland County woman accused of murdering her husband is facing new federal charges claiming she defrauded the Social Security system for years after his death. Virginia Hayden, 69, of Carlisle, was indicted by a federal grand jury in U.S. Middle District Court this week on charges of fraud and conversion of government chargers. She is accused of concealing her husband’s 2011 death and collecting $113,471 in his Social Security benefits until 2017. Hayden was charged with homicide in the death of Thomas Hayden Sr. in April 2019 by Northern York County Regional Police. Thomas Hayden disappeared in 2011, but his wife never reported him missing — even though she was required by law to do so. Instead, the grand jury concluded, Virginia Hayden continued collecting her husband’s Social Security benefits in a checking account the couple shared. Those benefits were supposed to end when Thomas Hayden died. Virginia Hayden was charged with homicide in 2019 — more than seven years after some of Thomas Hayden’s remains were found in a plastic Food Saver shopping bag near the Conwago Creek in Dover, York County. Investigators did not know the remains were Thomas Hayden’s at the time, because there was no DNA match. On January 21, 2017, Kim Via, Thomas Hayden’s biological daughter, called state police in Carlisle to ask them to check on her father. Via had been estranged from her father since 2005 and is currently a resident of Louisiana, but had been attempting to call him only to be turned away be her stepmother, Virginia Hayden. Virginia Hayden would tell Via that her father didn’t want to speak to her. When police went to the first block Eastgate Drive in Carlisle to do a welfare check and stop by Virginia’s apartment, they found that Thomas Hayden had apparently been missing since 2011. According to court documents, on January 22, Virginia told police that Thomas had left Pennsylvania one night in 2011 to seek medical treatment for ALS. However, Virginia provided two different accounts of his departure: one account was that he left with his brother, Spencer Hayden at night, and another that Thomas left on his own with an overnight bag. During the interview, Virginia allegedly confirmed to authorities that she was still receiving Thomas Hayden’s social security benefits, as they were being deposited into the couple’s joint account. Later that same day, police went to the 3000 block of Barley Circle, which was the Hayden’s former residence. While attempting to find Thomas, police spoke with the home’s new owner, Robert Denoncourt. Denoncourt told police that he had bought the home from Virginia in November 2014 and during the process of completing the purchase, Virginia told Denoncourt that her husband was deceased. Police reviewed the deed of the property and found that in November 2013, Thomas had sold his share of the Barley Circle home to Virginia Hayden for one dollar. The deed transfer showed that Pender, the daughter of Virginia Hayden, was the notary for Thomas’s signature. Police brought the deed transfer to a handwriting expert that determined that Thomas’s signature was actually written by Virginia. While reviewing additional records about the sale of the home, police found that Virginia sold Denoncourt the home for $135,000, but in order for her to complete the sale of the home, Pender signed and notarized a Specialty Warranty Deed removing Thomas’s name. On January 27, police interviewed Spencer and Owen Hayden, Thomas’s brothers. Both told police that neither had seen or spoken to Thomas since October 2010, and denied ever taking their brother to get medical treatment. The Hayden brothers voluntarily submitted DNA samples that were then compared to the DNA found in the Foodsaver bag five years earlier. Results of the tests indicated that the blood, skin, and hair found in the bag likely belonged to a sibling of the Hayden brothers. As the police’s investigation continued, they found that Virginia had previously spoken about disposing of bodies, specifically referencing “feeding a body to pigs.” Carolyn Cooksey, Virginia’s daughter, told police that Virginia described how pigs “would eat everything but the skull.” Michael Harris, Virginia’s grandson, said he too had conversations with his grandmother about getting rid of bodies. In a July 2017 interview with police, Harris recounted that Virginia told him that if you fed a body to pigs, they would eat everything but the hair, the criminal complaint states. He also told police that he was close to his grandparents, but hadn’t seen his grandfather in several years. He also recounted that after Thomas Hayden left, Virginia Hayden gave him a credit card to use. The credit card had Thomas Hayden’s name on it, Harris said. In February 2017, police interviewed a former Barley Circle neighbor, who told police that her husband knew Thomas Hayden well, and that they would sit on the front porch and talk. When police asked the neighbor if she had seen Thomas recently, she said that Virginia told her that Thomas had moved to Mexico for ALS treatment and had died there. The neighbor noted that it was odd that Thomas just disappeared one day, and that her son-in-law would joke that he was buried in the backyard because Virginia had a concrete slab that doubled the size of the patio, poured behind her house. As police continued to review records, they found that the last time Thomas had been seen by a doctor was September 27, 2011, and that he had an appointment scheduled for October 25. That appointment was canceled by Virginia, who said that her husband was no longer in the area. Police obtained records from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms that showed that Virginia had bought a .357 caliber handgun from a store in York on October 2, 2011. When police asked her where the gun was, she told police that she had sold the gun through a dealer, but there are no ATF records of a sale. Police executed a search warrant on Virginia’s home and found a lock box that contained Thomas’s driver’s license, Social Security and Medicare cards along with his passport. They also found a day planner from 2011, with a note on Nov. 1 that said “Tom left for Mexico.” While searching the home, police found a Foodsaver system, similar to the bag that the blood, hair and skin had been found in in 2012. Police again interviewed Virginia on July 11, 2017. She gave conflicting accounts of Thomas’s disappearance, police say. She told police that Thomas had left sometime in 2011 and took $40,000 in cash, and that she had spoken to him recently but couldn’t provide a phone number or recall when they had spoken. When police asked if Virginia knew her husband’s whereabouts, she told police “maybe you ought to check the grave of my second husband for him.” Police say they consulted a handwriting expert in August 2017, who determined that several legal documents, checks, and other forms with Thomas Hayden’s signature on them had actually been signed by Virginia Hayden. The expert also determined a letter beginning with “Dearest Carolyn, don’t be upset” and ending with “Love you and the kids, Pop” was actually written by Virginia Hayden, according to the complaint. In an interview with police in December 2017, Pender allegedly told police she had signed and sworn to become a certified notary at the behest of Virginia Hayden, who had actually taken the online certification course. Pender told police she wasn’t sure why Virginia Hayden didn’t want to become the notary herself, since she was the one who had done all the course work. Pender allegedly admitted to police that she had notarized documents like the house deed, title to a trailer, and other paperwork brought to her by Virginia Hayden. Thomas Hayden was never present for any of the title transfer work, even though his signature was on the paperwork, Pender allegedly told police. Virginia Hayden would always bring her the documents pre-signed by Thomas Hayden, Pender said, and always had an excuse for why Thomas Hayden was not present, she told police. Pender told police she hadn’t seen or heard from Thomas Hayden in several years, according to the complaint. She, like others, said she had been informed by Virginia Hayden that Thomas Hayden had gone to Mexico for ALS treatment. Pender said she did not believe Thomas Hayden was alive, according to the complaint. Police charged Virginia Hayden with homicide after experts and FBI analysts examined the bloodstained items found in the FoodSaver bag and a medical expert analyzed Thomas Hayden’s medical records, police reports, the items found in the FoodSaver bag, and photographs of Hayden. The experts determined Hayden died from “a violent death at the hands of another individual,” citing the “scalp dismemberment, and degree of blood loss,” the complaint states. Source link Orbem News #Accused #benefits #charged #Collecting #concealing #disappearance #husband #illegally #murdering #security #Social #Woman

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gallery0022 · 3 years

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Cleveland Locavore

Wednesday, December 9, 2020 - Update

Cleveland Locavore Domain Name, free to a good home...

www.ClevelandLocavore.com

Monday, February 17, 2014

Urban Organics / SweetPeet

Hello All,

I found this lively thread that Maurice started in November, 2010.

I have fond memories of meaningful conversations with all of you about sustainability and local food from local farmers.

Since November, 2010 I made several changes in my life, as I am sure many of us have. Annette and I sold Morgan Farm Stay, my relationship with Urban Organics was paused.

Although both were tremendous success stories on many levels, the good fight is often made more challenging by a different form of sustainability, economic sustainability. It was Robert Kennedy Jr. who made it clear to me, at an annual EcoWatch event, environmental and economic sustainability MUST go hand in hand.

My whole life has been about selling a service, photography. Of course I have certainly had my challenges continuing to keep this profession "sustainable" due to the changes in the industry. If you don't believe me just ask Karl Skalak, or George Remmington.

The past three years I have focussed on getting my Photography house in order.

Just last week, Mark Bishop, the founder of Urban Organics, contacted me to see if I could help him again with his social networking and PR needs.

Well I have to say, I can't help myself, I am happy to be back, I never really left of course...

I am proud of what I have done for Urban Organics, writing and designing the web site...

http://www.urbanorganicsohio.com/

Urban Organics hopes to sell more of its flagship product, Sweet Peet, in bulk and bags. There are many newcomers to the organic mulch market, but nothing beats Sweet Peet! Sweet Peet is a great way to charge up any community garden, school garden, corporate garden, rooftop garden etc...

I am hoping to write a few stories based on testimonials from happy customers, which there are many. If anyone can help me with media contact information, at Cleveland Magazine, Edible Cleveland, or similar local media contacts, I would appreciate it.

Also please put me on your E-Blast lists, I want to know what you are up to!

All The Best,

Dan Morgan

[email protected]

http://clevelandlocavore.com/

10:54 am est

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Cleveland Plain Dealer Article Published...

Dan Morgan on Vermicomposting

5:09 pm edt

Friday, May 10, 2013

Vermicomposting Story For The Plain Dealer

Hi Judy, (Judy Stringer -PD's rental section of the Sunday paper)

Vermicomposting is a great way to create a soil amendment that is 10 times better for the garden than traditional back yard composting without red wiggler worms. A backyard compost pile that has to be turned regularly, while a vermicomposting bin, a "worm farm" does not. The worms do all the hard work.

Why best for renters?

Clean, compact, self contained and what is the best advantage for renters, LOW MAINTENANCE. The bin can be left undisturbed for weeks at a time, or can be "fed" every day. General maintenance can vary widely if you just follow a few simple rules, very important rules.

The right worms are the key! Red wigglers or the formal name Eisenia Fetida, are a very specific type of worm needed. The worms are expensive, and widely available for sale on the internet. The best way to start a worm farm, is look for a local sustainable gardening blog community, https://www.facebook.com/localfoodcleveland is a good one on Facebook. Ask around, and you will find someone who wants to share their worms, and you will suddenly have someone to help you get started as well. Vermicomposters LOVE to share ideas and even recipes.

The simplest way to make your worm farm is to find 2 identical plastic bins. drill holes in the bottom of one of them, the one that will go inside the other. The holes are for drainage when the soil gets too moist. Proper drainage and soil moisture is CRITICAL for the whole process to work without becoming a horrible experience. The other most important factor to make a renter's worm farm a clean success, DO NOT PUT FRUIT SCRAPS in the bin. Most vermicomposting web sites will encourage all organic material including fruit and veggies but believe me, not a good idea!

Recap:

Two things that will ruin the experience,

1) Soil that is kept too moist,resulting in a stinky bin! These anaerobic conditions can also kill the worms (by drowning)

2) Fruit will attract / breed fruit flies, something nobody wants in their apartment (especially a landlord)

The finished product, after separating the worms from it, can be added to indoor plants or outdoor gardens. The best thing to too with the final product is to make a "teabag" from an old t shirt and bunch the t-shirt around a garden hose to make compost tea, right into a watering can. This tea can be sprinkled right on top of gardens, acting as both a fertilizer and insecticide, NATURALLY. There is no reason to use synthetic fertilizers or insecticides in any garden, or lawn for that matter.

Got unsightly weeds in your garden? PULL THEM.

My wife Annette and I are apartment renters in Lakewood (the Carlyle) and we have an Adopt A Spot garden at the entrance to Lakewood Park, part of Keep Lakewood Beautiful's Adopt A Spot program, with over 40 volunteer maintained gardens on publicly owned property around Lakewood.

http://www.onelakewood.com/Boards_Commissions/KeepLakewoodBeautiful.aspx

Let me know anything else you need.

Dan

10:41 am edt

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Morgan Farm Stay Sale...???

Hello Friends, and Family,

Here is an update of our day to day efforts to sell our farm to some, while continuing to make it a "once in a lifetime" vacation experience for others.

Since early May we have had some great guests this season. Sophie Brun came to the United States from France a few years ago. She and her family settled into a posh northern suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak. Spotting our vacation rental property listing on HomeAway.com, she was reminded of the farm stays she visited in Europe.

Sophie and her family had a great Easter dinner at our farm, feasting on Buckeye Chicken eggs, Berkshire grass fed ham, and cookies baked in a wood burning stove across the street by Edna, our Amish neighbor.

In late May we had guests staying at the farm who made reservations over a year ago. They have a daughter who is graduated from Oberlin College and wanted a very special family get together at this important time.

The rest of the summer has been mostly filled in with various guests, as usual. July, which always fully books, had grandparents coming from Germany to meet a new grandchild at the farm.

On a regular basis we have had a varied crew of family, friends and neighbors working together to clean up the gardens and plant some new flowers, veggies and herbs. The grass, well it kept on growing, and growing, and growing.

We have several educational components in place form the past few years. The Blue Orchard Mason Bee Box has almost half it's holes housing eggs ready to burst out and begin the process joining an army of beneficial mason bees, pollinating nearby flower, veggie and herb gardens. Amy Roskilly, with the Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District, hooked us up last year with a rain garden kit, containing several types of beautiful plants that thrive in a wet spot while filtering storm water runoff before reaching the stream nearby.

Our composting, both vermicomposting and traditional "back yard" composting operations are thriving and our rain barrels are very useful in areas our garden hose does not reach, particularly our companion garden, way out away from the main house. This year the companion garden will contain a few new plants. Comfrey is a great new addition, if I can manage to keep it from taking over the entire garden. Also this year I am cutting back on the heirloom tomatoes and adding some nice herbs.

In May we had a great deal of interest from a few interested buyers, one young man from California wants to take over the entire business, turnkey, keeping our furnishings, decor, web site and photos to promote. The only problem is, he is having some trouble getting financing. Sure the rates are great right now but banks are hesitant to lend. At the end of June we took our first nice vacation since moving back to Ohio in 2005. We of course worried about the Farm Stay rentals we had booked, but friends and family again came to our rescue.

On our second day in Europe, in Montpellier France, we got word from our realtor Teresa. She had an interested buyer making an offer. We spent a few hours on the iPad countering and the sale price was agreed on. After several anxious weeks awaiting financing approval for our buyers, it looks like the end of an era.

We have a closing date scheduled for this upcoming week. Our fingers are still crossed, because ya never know...

This has indeed been a great journey for Annette and I.

Au revoir for now, Thanks for all of your help and support over the past 7 years!

Dan and Annette Morgan

Dan Morgan

Straight Shooter

646-621-6434

www.AboutDanMorgan.com

10:22 pm edt

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Here is an update of our day to day efforts to sell our farm to some, while continuing to make it a "once in a lifetime" vacation experience for others.

We have had a great deal of interest from a few interested buyers, one young man from California wants to take over the entire business, turnkey, keeping our furnishings, decor, web site and photos to promote. The only problem is, he is having some trouble getting financing. Sure the rates are great right now but banks are hesitant to lend.

And so we keep on going, and going and going, while the grass keeps growing and growing and growing! This has indeed been a great journey for Annette and I. This summer we have made arrangements to visit the south France region and Spain, a nice little rest from all the political rhetoric and bickering here in the states.

Au revoir for now!

Dan and Annette Morgan

8:07 am edt

Thursday, April 26, 2012

2012 Season at Morgan Farm Stay

Check out our revamped web page with more about the farm, area attractions and recent stories "In The News"

Click Here, www.MorganFarmStay.com

3:11 pm edt

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Thank You Chris Hodgson -Dim and Den Sum for your support Now booking 2011spring summer fall season!

Our Farm Stay...

www.MorganFarmStay.com

Find Your Perfect Farm Vacation at www.FarmStayUS.com

11:05 pm est

Saturday, November 20, 2010

New Logo

Been a long time since I posted here. Now that the holidays and winter are coming I have decided to get back on my Cleveland Locavore horse. Check out the logo.

I am designing a great reusable bag that will help get this brand rolling. Cleveland local food advicates in many product and service areas are welcome to participate in this unique program. Come and have a seat at the table!

7:40 am est

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Local Farm Superstars

E4S held a great event Last Night

Click Here

Eight NEO Farmers told thier stories, pretty great. Common thread...Hard work that NEEDS to be supported by more and more of us at summer and winter farmers markets and CSAs

2010.03.01

Hello, I have found myself increasingly interested by how our food is produced since 2005. Annette, my wife, and I retuned to Ohio from NY and bought a farm in Ashland County. It did not take long to notice the backwards attitudes of most of today's farmers, urban planners, educators and politicians. During the Nixon administration, Earl Butz, Ray Crock and others had a seemingly harmless, goal in mind, produce and distribute the most amount of food for the least amount of money.

It has taken us a complete generation to figure out that this model just does not work, for so many reasons. The broken farming system effects everyone in profound ways, all connected. From healthcare to the economy, the way we produce and distribute food must change, and change dramaticly, NOW. Small scale farmers and farmers markets are the tip of the melting iceburg that will save the planet!

From Wikipedia...

The locavore movement is a movement in the United States and elsewhere that spawned as interest in sustainability and eco-consciousness become more prevalent.[1] Those who are interested in eating food that is locally produced, not moved long distances to market, are called "locavores." The word "locavore" was the word of the year for 2007 in the Oxford American Dictionary.[2] This word was the creation of Jessica Prentice of the San Francisco Bay Area at the time of World Environment Day, 2005.[3] It is rendered "localvore" by some, depending on regional differences, usually.[4][5] The food may be grown in home gardens or grown by local commercial groups interested in keeping the environment as clean as possible and selling food close to where it is grown. Some people consider food grown within a 100-mile radius of their location local, while others have other definitions. In general the local food is thought by those in the movement to taste better than food that is shipped long distances.[1]

Farmers' markets play a role in efforts to eat what is local.[6] Preserving food for those seasons when it is not available fresh from a local source is one approach some locavores include in their strategies. Living in a mild climate can make eating locally grown products very different from living where the winter is severe or where no rain falls during certain parts of the year.[7] Those in the movement generally seek to keep use of fossil fuels to a minimum, thereby releasing less carbon dioxide into the air and preventing greater global warming. Keeping energy use down and using food grown in heated greenhouses locally would be in conflict with each other, so there are decisions to be made by those seeking to follow this lifestyle. Many approaches can be developed, and they vary by locale.[8] Such foods as spices, chocolate, or coffee pose a challenge for some, so there are a variety of ways of adhering to the locavore ethic.[9]

Join me in promoting this just cause, starting right here in Northeast Ohio!, where we have already been recognized internationally for our efforts! Click here for Sustain Lane ranking

Dan Morgan, Cleveland Locavore [email protected]

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